Craig Mokhiber, director of human rights body, accuses the US, UK and much of Europe as ‘wholly complicit in the horrific assault’

  • ubermeisters@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’m so heart broken and disturbed that we are just sliding this actively under the carpet.

    History is NOT going to remember our part in this kindly.

    • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Israel is playing a really dangerous game here. Not just in terms of its barbarism towards the Palestinians but because they’re risking the destabilization of the whole region.

    • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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      The support of the US, the UK, France, Germany and some smaller European countries like Austria needs to be constantly pointed out, as does their profound, two-weights two-measures, hypocrisy when you look at their differing postures on the situation in Ukraine vs the situation in Palestine.

      This would never have happenned (including Hamas’ terrorist attacks) if Israel had long ago been hit with sanctions for not abiding to the UN-agreed borders and their Appartheid state, just like South-Africa was (interestingly, the UK back then also “unwaveringly” supported the Appartheid regime in SA) until they changed their ways, and even now that it has happenned, the continued “unwavering” provision of material, information and even diplomatic support to an Israel already commiting Genocide means the leaders of those nations - and by extension the nations themselves (all of which are supposedly democracies) - share the blame for this Genocide.

      There are and always will be nations that fall to Fascism like Israel, and whilst fascists applying their “Strength is the only way” view of the world by acting in violent ways without any moral considerations is their choice and hence their fault, the entirety of the fault is not only theirs: those who provide cover and support the fascists are also to blame for freeing them to act as they do, and worse, those supporting the fascists in their exercise of violence are de facto accomplices in their violent deeds - they might not be the one “holding the knife” in the murder but they certainly provided it knowing what it was going to be used for.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I hate this.

    I hate when good people step down.

    They just open the door for some tool to step in and make the problem normal.

    • Chaotic Entropy@feddit.uk
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      1 year ago

      Good people letting themselves be complicit in bad things, whilst they are powerless to do good, helps no one.

        • chuckleslord@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I mean, cool, but he’s 64 and is retiring. He started at the UN in '92. He announced that he would retire in March of this year. Most sources list that now.

          • S_204@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            So it’s more of a ‘i don’t need to deal with this insane bullshit so I’m taking my very healthy retirement package and heading out’ more than a ‘im taking a moral stand and leaving my dream career over this insane bullshit’

            Good headlines though.

    • crackajack@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      More often, threat of resignation is a political tool to sway others. I mean, if everyone knows that the person threatening to resign is that good and irreplaceable, others would cave in. I don’t know how the UN works behind closed doors, and how capable Mokhiber is, but we’ll see if this works and the UN comes begging for him to return.

  • TinyPizza@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    “The current wholesale slaughter of the Palestinian people, rooted in an ethno-nationalist colonial settler ideology, in continuation of decades of their systematic persecution and purging, based entirely upon their status as Arabs … leaves no room for doubt.”

    Are we sure he just wasn’t retiring due to his age? This statement seems pretty vague.

    edit: for clarity, this is sarcasm

    • Actaeon@artemis.camp
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      1 year ago

      Sound pretty clear to me. And if you include the context of each sentence, before and after, I don’t see how much clearer it could get.

      He said that the UN had failed to prevent previous genocides against the Tutsis in Rwanda, Muslims in Bosnia, the Yazidi in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Rohingya in Myanmar and wrote: “High Commissioner we are failing again.

      “The current wholesale slaughter of the Palestinian people, rooted in an ethno-nationalist colonial settler ideology, in continuation of decades of their systematic persecution and purging, based entirely upon their status as Arabs … leaves no room for doubt.”

      Mokhiber added: “This is text book case of genocide” and said the US, UK and much of Europe were not only “refusing to meet their treaty obligations” under the Geneva Conventions but were also arming Israel’s assault and providing political and diplomatic cover for it.

      • TinyPizza@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        You’re 100% correct. I was making a joke about the people saying otherwise. I did an edit, but it wasn’t fast enough to save you the time. Thank you for the correction.

          • TinyPizza@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            Better than Murphy’s Law, because when that one strikes Matthew Mcconaughey falls out of a higher dimensional bookshelf worm hole in your ceiling. He is not fun company and keeps telling you to “just roll with it.”

            • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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              Around here Murphy’s Law strikes as something like “After 1/2h writting a well though insightful comment, just before the the would be commenter presses ‘Reply’ he up/downvotes the parent comment, thus losing the entire text of his own not yet posted comment”

              • TinyPizza@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                Halloweens over and yet you come with the spookiness. You gave me a small shiver with that one. It felt all too familiar.

    • qnick@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      based entirely upon their status as Arabs

      Why Israel doesn’t genocide 2 million Arabs that are Israeli citizens?

      • TinyPizza@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Oh hey boo, haven’t seen you since you tried to say all the Jewish people should flee Detroit for fear of being murdered in religiously targeted hate crimes. What you been doing gurl?

        • spyd3r@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I was wrong, it’s all the terrorist flag waving, pro-genocidal chanting, revolutionary socialists and useful idiots for Iran, China, and Russia that should be leaving.

          • TinyPizza@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            I hate to break it to you, but your track record of wrongness has not improved. Perhaps some courses at the community college may do some good?

            • spyd3r@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              The people I’ve seen entering the workforce out of college lately have been absolute morons that couldn’t figure out how to push a broom if it came with an instruction manual. So I’m going to have to pass on that idea.

              • TinyPizza@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                Are you calling them stupid, education stupid, or are you just saying they’re poor workers?

  • flathead@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    “Mokhiber, who was stepping down having reached retirement age…”

    • MrZee@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      While sometimes positions have a requirement to retire at a certain age and/or tenure, most don’t — I’m not sure if this particular role has such requirements. My reading of this is that while he was eligible to retire, he probably was not required to. Many people work past retirement eligibility.

  • Crikeste@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Can someone help me understand how this is positive? Or is it just abjectly hopeless and bleak, and that’s the reason he did what he did?

    Seems to me that leaving your role because of your opposing views allows those you disagree with to fill it themselves. Typically with someone who agrees with them.

    I guess that might answers my question: he felt hopeless.

  • kleenbhole@lemy.lol
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    1 year ago

    “Guy who can easily retire with a pension because he’s past retirement age anyway gives middle finger to his old boss as he leaves because he’s sick of things never changing”

    • Ashyr@sh.itjust.works
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      I don’t know if you actually read his letter giving notice, but Gaza has functionally been his life’s work. He’s lived there for many years and fought for human rights and equality.

      Whether or not he’s at retirement age, this is a dark culmination to his life’s work.

      • kleenbhole@lemy.lol
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        1 year ago

        Indeed. The idea that he was going to find a way around two incompatible cultures existing in the same space was too idealistic. The trick is to hate humanity and to expect nothing but terrible behavior from them and then you won’t be disappointed.

          • kleenbhole@lemy.lol
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            1 year ago

            Exhausted.

            I’m exhaust-ed. I have absolutely no expectation that religion will go away, which means I have no expectation that religious warfare is going to go away. Humans are tribal, tribes commit warfare, tribalism has only increased in my lifetime. You’re all doomed.

              • Kedly@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                I’m so exhausted with how humans other those who don’t belong to the same tribe as them so that they can more easily be shitty to them! Excuse me while I other religious people so I can blame them for this!

            • Kedly@lemm.ee
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              Lmao, if you think its religion why we’re tribal. Even without religion we’d be finding stupid ways and reasons to kill each other. I want to empathize with your emotional exhaustion with the state of humanity, but blindly throwing shade towards religion makes it hard. Yes there are a lot of people that use it as an excuse to be hateful and shitty, but those people where always going to find reasons for that. Religion ALSO gets used by many for a sense of peace/hope in a complex world, and as a reason to be good to others/love one another. And before you call me brainwashed, I’m ALSO athiest, but I get sick of other arhiests making us look like holier (ironic) than thou jackasses

              • kleenbhole@lemy.lol
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                1 year ago

                did I say anywhere that I think religion is why we’re tribal?

                did I? or are you fighting a straw man right now?

                • Kedly@lemm.ee
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                  1 year ago

                  You said that that you have no hope that religious wars wont go away because religioun wont go away, which yeah, sure thats how technicalities work. But the EXACT same type of wars would still happen without religion because, as you yourself pointed out, we’re tribal creatures. I’m not straw manning, I’m pointing out you’re being needlessly shitty to religion. But yeah, sure accuse me of straw manning, that’ll increase my empathy towards you! Its pretty funny that you yourself are engaging in similar seed behavior towards the thing thats exhausting you

      • Ashyr@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Your ignorance and cynicism are disheartening. The man is a human rights lawyer. He could have used his law degree to go live comfortably anywhere in the world.

        He chose to live in Gaza for years to fight for their rights.

        Shame on you.

      • betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Right, not like it’s a complex situation that spans many generations and will likely continue being a shit-show for the next several at least.

      • kleenbhole@lemy.lol
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        I’m not entirely sure you understand how any of this works. It would be quite a stretch of the imagination to suggest that a human rights lawyer at the UN is in any significant way responsible for the perpetuation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

  • cia@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Why is everyone so black and white on this issue? Israel has a right to exist. Palestine has a right to exist. It shouldn’t be hard to understand.

    • onkyo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      You can’t ‘both sides’ an issue where one side is commiting genocide and settler colonialism and the other doesn’t have access to clean water and electricity. That shouldn’t really be that hard to understand either

      • cia@lemm.ee
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        Its is a ‘both sides’ issue when the Palestinian side has rejected every peace deal, commits terrorist attacks, and calls for the genocide of Jews. Nobody looks good in this conflict.

        • onkyo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          Palestinian side? What the fuck are you talking about. Stop conflating hamas with all of palestine. It’s like conflating israel with all jews. You’re just being racist. Hamas has also repetedly requested a cease fire that israel always refuses so you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about. Stop trying to act like an enlightened centrist in a conflict you clearly know nothing about.

          • cia@lemm.ee
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            Hamas is the ruling, elected authority of Gaza. And even before them, other Palestinian officials have rejected multiple peace deals. That doesn’t mean all Palestinians are culpable, the same way not all Israelis are responsible for Netanyahu’s actions.

        • rambaroo@lemmy.world
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          Ah yes just keep lying about how Israel totally didn’t sabotage those peace deals deliberately.

        • Meowoem@sh.itjust.works
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          Yeah it’s so infuriating when people don’t acknowledge the very clear reality that if the shoe was on the other foot then the genocide would have happened long ago.

          Also this isn’t just Palestine it’s very clearly a lot of fundamentalist terror groups and countries like Iran. There are very real and scary threats to Israel, Hamas gets huge funding and help from so many places - which they use almost exclusively to build combat tunnels and rockets.

          It’s horrible for the Palestinian people but Israel isn’t the only one making their lives hard, Hamas isn’t about helping Palestinians it’s about hurting Jews and if their own people dying helps then they’re fine with it

          • Sparlock@lemmy.world
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            Yeah it’s so infuriating when people don’t acknowledge the very clear reality that if the shoe was on the other foot then the genocide would have happened long ago.

            Also this isn’t just Israel it’s very clearly a lot of fundamentalist terror groups and countries like the USA. There are very real and scary threats to Palestine, Israel gets huge funding and help from so many places - which they use almost exclusively to build tanks and rockets.

            It’s horrible for the Israeli people but Hamas isn’t the only one making their lives hard, Likud isn’t about helping Israelis it’s about hurting Arabs and if their own people dying helps then they’re fine with it.

    • dx1@lemmy.world
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      The more I read up on the history, the more I understand Israel’s “right to exist” took a huge bite out of Palestine’s “right to exist”. The Nakba in 1948 most prominently, and annexations in Gaza, Sinai, West Bank and Golan Heights ever since (some temporary - Sinai and former settlements in Gaza - and the rest very much permanent).

      It’s one thing to say an annexation of land is ancient history, but there are people alive who were displaced by Israel 75 years ago and are still living in refugee camps. We have two very incompatible things going on right now - Israel is basically screaming for blood because of Oct 7, and they are also living on recently stolen land that calls for reparations to be made to the Palestinian people - if you brought up the latter in this environment, you’d probably be accused of “supporting Hamas”, but it’s something that’s been true for decades. Really exhausting dynamic.

    • HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world
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      Im about 90% sure at least half the comments on lemmy, reddit, insertsocialmediahere are either bots or mass targeting one side of an agenda.