I learned so much from this piece, as I've learned so much from all of your writing. I have been ignorant of all of this and you are the number one reason I do not remain so. Thank you.
Netanyahu / Israel are terrorists shooting fish in a bowl, and he should be brought up on charges for war crimes, genocide and apartheid. America and the Brits need to stop enabling him.
Here is a visual of what Israel did and continues to do. 🤬
Thank you for your vital work. What is happening in Gaza is 100% genocide, and I agree with most of your points, except for some of the evidence. As a new follower, I’ve run into fact-check issues while checking a sample of your writing that I've read recently. Not to diminish the gravity of the heinous acts committed by all the belligerents, the few mistakes in this piece have different accounts from the UN’s and other investigators' findings.
Can you supply any links to interviews or articles in Hebrew with Israeli officials (law enforcement, investigative, whoever should be privy to the information) that there was no mass rape? I would be interested in reading those.
It's high time that someone laid out the facts! I see so many comments on the Post and Times websites that repeat the same old lies over and over again. Right now I have this page open to send a link to the National Catholic Reporter, where hopefully is columnist Michael Sean Winters will get a dose of reality. His recent column made me furious because of the dheer number of lies he repeated.
Joe, I greatly appreciate your courage in changing your views. I hope this is another one of those. I also greatly appreciate that you are following up with Qasim and are open to dialog. That deserves a lot of respect.
As you see, just about all comments are supportive of Qasim. I found very little to object to what he wrote. Our media and a very effective pro-Israeli lobby has kept what Israel has been doing out of the public eye. Evangelical's haven't helped. Please open your eyes to how Palestinians have been mistreated - go to the Save the Children report, that alone should be enough. I visited the West Bank in 2013 and saw how bleak the future was for Palestinians - but one example: settlements that the US objects to but does nothing of consequence to stop, making repeating calls for a two-state solution meaningless.
One suggestion is to make human rights a foundation for this discussion. That would not only be fair to Palestinians but might help Israel save itself from the disastrous path it is on.
This is a really important issue to get right not only for the lives of Palestinians and Israelis, but for our own country. Foremost for moral reasons. But also politically. It's dividing our country - Democrats in particular - and could play a part in loosing '26. A path that places conditions on support for Israel and forcefully defends human rights for Palestinians seems a way forward.
There's a lot more going on here -Netanyahu providing a playbook for Trump and a white supremacist nation. The US's largely unconditional support of Israel has been at great cost and harm to our own democracy and reputation. It's high time to be much more critical of Israel and follow it up with consequences.
That all said, Hamas should return all hostages and stop fighting. They have nothing to gain at this point, just incur more suffering, and are making it harder to work for peace.
We talk about Trump white washing American History, but this is history that most Americans have been shielded from their whole lives. We only know what we are taught. Thank you so much for this piece ❤️🩹
Thank you Qasim for this enlightening dialouge. I find the whole Palestinian/Israli/Jewish debate to be very confusing. I can't say that I understand it anymore than I did, but at least I have a new perspective.
Qasim Rashid Esq. Thank you so much for this detailed response. I have done a lot of research on Israel's history and Hamas but unfortunately it is hard for me to remember things now that I'm getting older. This was a succinct and easy read and reminded me of why I feel very strongly that this is indeed genocide that we are seeing. I like your ending paragraph, particularly this quote, "Let due process and the evidence exonerate or condemn those responsible for these atrocities." Frankly I have similar rage for what the Trump regime is doing to my country, particularly to the unfair treatment of immigrants. I hope that those that have shaped, fostered, and forced some of their worst policies through will be judged and held responsible. Not to compare atrocities because obviously what's happening in Gaza is absolutely appalling. I plan on rereading your response in the hopes of being better able to remember your great points. Thank you again.
Qasim, thank you for publishing this! It shows me that unlike some, you are genuinely committed to truth and justice! Many folks make claims which are contrary to facts and hold onto them no matter what. I appreciate how knowledgeable you are! I have learned a lot and have gained a genuine appreciation for your work. This is why I support your work! Please keep the work moving forward! We need more voices besides the useless corporate media! Someone earlier here said that any politician who support the Israeli government is supporting genocide. It is GENOCIDE! Plain and simple and it needs to stop! Stop sending Israel arms! Qasim, keep bringing these facts truth! They can’t handle the truth!
I commend the engagement and fact-based dialogue. One criticism however is of the appeal to historical evidence that Muslim-led states were more supportive of Jews and Jewish rights than Christian ones. Indeed that is historically true. But after 70 years of impassioned calls for the utter extermination of the Jews in “Arab lands” I think imagining any Jew would be comfortable living there is a fantasy - many current Israelis are in fact refugees not from Europe but from the Arab states where they historically had lived. So before we imagine Palestinians as ideal pluralist democrats without hatred and desire for revenge, we should explore the work actually needed to live “hand in hand” as a few brave peace activists on both sides have done. Many decades ago, when I was last in Israel, my husband and I went out of our way to dine at a restaurant jointly owned and managed by a Muslim Palestinian and a Jewish Israeli. We loved the dinner and the climate of mutual respect among the diners. Two weeks later it was blown up by a Palestinian bomb and soon we were in another Intifada. Our goddaughter was visiting a Palestinian Christian school while studying at Hebrew University for a junior year abroad when the bus directly behind hers was blown apart by a similar bomb. There is a lot of blood on a lot of hands and a lot of grievances and grief on both sides by this point.
We don’t get to a pluralist democracy without a heck of a lot of deep change and self examination on both sides. The US is a great case in point. If “Israel” is to become a fully pluralist democracy with equal citizenship rights for all rather than the theocratic state with a repressive and self-defeating understanding of “security” there has to be a peace movement of sufficient size and strength to be able to restrain the bloody murderers on both sides from focusing only on their own wounds.
still nothing?
I learned so much from this piece, as I've learned so much from all of your writing. I have been ignorant of all of this and you are the number one reason I do not remain so. Thank you.
Netanyahu / Israel are terrorists shooting fish in a bowl, and he should be brought up on charges for war crimes, genocide and apartheid. America and the Brits need to stop enabling him.
Here is a visual of what Israel did and continues to do. 🤬
https://youtu.be/yy3ATmzyeIY?si=zXN8c3xAlbMEXK_l
Stand with Palestine! 🇵🇸
was there any response from Joe so far?
Thank you for your vital work. What is happening in Gaza is 100% genocide, and I agree with most of your points, except for some of the evidence. As a new follower, I’ve run into fact-check issues while checking a sample of your writing that I've read recently. Not to diminish the gravity of the heinous acts committed by all the belligerents, the few mistakes in this piece have different accounts from the UN’s and other investigators' findings.
Can you supply any links to interviews or articles in Hebrew with Israeli officials (law enforcement, investigative, whoever should be privy to the information) that there was no mass rape? I would be interested in reading those.
It's high time that someone laid out the facts! I see so many comments on the Post and Times websites that repeat the same old lies over and over again. Right now I have this page open to send a link to the National Catholic Reporter, where hopefully is columnist Michael Sean Winters will get a dose of reality. His recent column made me furious because of the dheer number of lies he repeated.
Joe, I greatly appreciate your courage in changing your views. I hope this is another one of those. I also greatly appreciate that you are following up with Qasim and are open to dialog. That deserves a lot of respect.
As you see, just about all comments are supportive of Qasim. I found very little to object to what he wrote. Our media and a very effective pro-Israeli lobby has kept what Israel has been doing out of the public eye. Evangelical's haven't helped. Please open your eyes to how Palestinians have been mistreated - go to the Save the Children report, that alone should be enough. I visited the West Bank in 2013 and saw how bleak the future was for Palestinians - but one example: settlements that the US objects to but does nothing of consequence to stop, making repeating calls for a two-state solution meaningless.
One suggestion is to make human rights a foundation for this discussion. That would not only be fair to Palestinians but might help Israel save itself from the disastrous path it is on.
This is a really important issue to get right not only for the lives of Palestinians and Israelis, but for our own country. Foremost for moral reasons. But also politically. It's dividing our country - Democrats in particular - and could play a part in loosing '26. A path that places conditions on support for Israel and forcefully defends human rights for Palestinians seems a way forward.
There's a lot more going on here -Netanyahu providing a playbook for Trump and a white supremacist nation. The US's largely unconditional support of Israel has been at great cost and harm to our own democracy and reputation. It's high time to be much more critical of Israel and follow it up with consequences.
That all said, Hamas should return all hostages and stop fighting. They have nothing to gain at this point, just incur more suffering, and are making it harder to work for peace.
This is so informative 🤯
We talk about Trump white washing American History, but this is history that most Americans have been shielded from their whole lives. We only know what we are taught. Thank you so much for this piece ❤️🩹
Thank you Qasim for this enlightening dialouge. I find the whole Palestinian/Israli/Jewish debate to be very confusing. I can't say that I understand it anymore than I did, but at least I have a new perspective.
Thank’s, Qasim! I will be interested in Joe’s response, hoping it will contain as much backup for his views as much as you have.
Qasim Rashid Esq. Thank you so much for this detailed response. I have done a lot of research on Israel's history and Hamas but unfortunately it is hard for me to remember things now that I'm getting older. This was a succinct and easy read and reminded me of why I feel very strongly that this is indeed genocide that we are seeing. I like your ending paragraph, particularly this quote, "Let due process and the evidence exonerate or condemn those responsible for these atrocities." Frankly I have similar rage for what the Trump regime is doing to my country, particularly to the unfair treatment of immigrants. I hope that those that have shaped, fostered, and forced some of their worst policies through will be judged and held responsible. Not to compare atrocities because obviously what's happening in Gaza is absolutely appalling. I plan on rereading your response in the hopes of being better able to remember your great points. Thank you again.
Qasim, thank you for publishing this! It shows me that unlike some, you are genuinely committed to truth and justice! Many folks make claims which are contrary to facts and hold onto them no matter what. I appreciate how knowledgeable you are! I have learned a lot and have gained a genuine appreciation for your work. This is why I support your work! Please keep the work moving forward! We need more voices besides the useless corporate media! Someone earlier here said that any politician who support the Israeli government is supporting genocide. It is GENOCIDE! Plain and simple and it needs to stop! Stop sending Israel arms! Qasim, keep bringing these facts truth! They can’t handle the truth!
I commend the engagement and fact-based dialogue. One criticism however is of the appeal to historical evidence that Muslim-led states were more supportive of Jews and Jewish rights than Christian ones. Indeed that is historically true. But after 70 years of impassioned calls for the utter extermination of the Jews in “Arab lands” I think imagining any Jew would be comfortable living there is a fantasy - many current Israelis are in fact refugees not from Europe but from the Arab states where they historically had lived. So before we imagine Palestinians as ideal pluralist democrats without hatred and desire for revenge, we should explore the work actually needed to live “hand in hand” as a few brave peace activists on both sides have done. Many decades ago, when I was last in Israel, my husband and I went out of our way to dine at a restaurant jointly owned and managed by a Muslim Palestinian and a Jewish Israeli. We loved the dinner and the climate of mutual respect among the diners. Two weeks later it was blown up by a Palestinian bomb and soon we were in another Intifada. Our goddaughter was visiting a Palestinian Christian school while studying at Hebrew University for a junior year abroad when the bus directly behind hers was blown apart by a similar bomb. There is a lot of blood on a lot of hands and a lot of grievances and grief on both sides by this point.
We don’t get to a pluralist democracy without a heck of a lot of deep change and self examination on both sides. The US is a great case in point. If “Israel” is to become a fully pluralist democracy with equal citizenship rights for all rather than the theocratic state with a repressive and self-defeating understanding of “security” there has to be a peace movement of sufficient size and strength to be able to restrain the bloody murderers on both sides from focusing only on their own wounds.
Excellent. Thank you so much.
Joe Walsh is at heart a Republican. His “Come to Jesus” moment and subsequent conversion to the Democratic party is just a pragmatic tactic.