Israel: When the Drums of War Have Reached a Fever Pitch

[polishgenius]

32 minutes ago, HoodedCrow said:

On another topic: what are the chances of Putin invading at difficult time?

 

Invading where?

[Zorral]

5 hours ago, Toth said:

Mmh... thanks for the recommendation, but I'm not sure working this into my lesson won't be too much effort for too little gain. I want to focus on a conflict analysis and trying to put my students into the shoes of the actors, not necessarily expand upon how the conflict is being viewed from the outside. Also I would have to translate anything in there myself after all. Certainly, with other classes I probably should make room for a discussion about how pointing at Israel is used as a convenient excuse for antisemitism, but this class in particular is so frustratingly apolitical that I doubt there is anyone in it having strong opinions about the conflict (or would be easily willing to identify with youths who do).

Ya, this does sound like a detour for, as you say, not any necessary gain.  Applause for the efforts you are making to help kids understand what most of us don't understand either, not really.  We may think we do, but as there are so many ways to be outsiders, despite being personally and immediately affected by this conflict in so many ways, including our own politics in the USA, its still difficult. It's made all the more difficult that for many of us in the US, not just younger generations of Jewish heritage, our understanding and view of Israel as a political entity has  been seismically forced to shift over the same decades, for all the same reasons.

 

[HoodedCrow]

It seems like a good time to wag the dog for Putin.

[polishgenius]

Just now, HoodedCrow said:

It seems like a good time to wag the dog for Putin.

 

Not really. Certain governments (including the US) and press would leap at the chance to draw public attention away from criticism of an ally towards the old big bad Russia. 

[HoodedCrow]

You are welcome to criticize allies or enemies or in between.

[Toth]

17 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Ya, this does sound like a detour for, as you say, not any necessary gain.  Applause for the efforts you are making to help kids understand what most of us don't understand either, not really.  We may think we do, but as there are so many ways to be outsiders, despite being personally and immediately affected by this conflict in so many ways, including our own politics in the USA, its still difficult. It's made all the more difficult that for many of us in the US, not just younger generations of Jewish heritage, our understanding and view of Israel as a political entity has  been seismically forced to shift over the same decades, for all the same reasons.

I suppose I am hoping that by focusing entirely on how we got there and disassociate the conflict from all the emotions attached I can get my students to not get swayed by the usual unreflected platitudes. The few glimpses I had seen of Twitter threads some people seem to treat this conflict like a football game gleefully proclaiming the side they cheer on. Meanwhile I think threads like these here where people sit down and try to spit-ball solutions are a lot more constructive, at least when it comes to forming a reasoned political position of your own. Something that I desperately want my students to get. Especially that particular class because I noticed that their opinions sway like a flag in the wind according to the whatever opinion they have last been subjected to. "Sure, sounds reasonable".

... yeah, I better should stop complaining about their laziness and get back towards the other two lessons I wanted to prepare today. XD

[Zorral]

5 hours ago, Rippounet said:

This is a neat little article. Bias is often talked about, but can be difficult to prove conclusively.
Very often, when there is a discussion about the "Israeli-Palestinian conflict," the abysmal asymmetry gets obfuscated even by well-meaning people, so it is extremely interesting to be able to pinpoint and highlight the origins of such false equivalencies.

AP fires new staffer due to a tweet made in college.  This firing was caused by the same sort of people who got Chapel Hill's School of Journalism to rescind the tenure grant from the 1619 Project historian, Nikole Hannah-Jones's appointment, i.e. rethugs/cons/Very Rich People, etc. from the outside, demanding the institution's decision-makers do so. (The attacks on NC-Chapel Hill, Duke, on science and history particularly, etc. from North Carolina's POWERFUL, entrenched since slavery days, has been ongoing and escalating for decades.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2021/05/20/emily-wilder-associated-press-palestine/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/05/19/unc-nikole-hannah-jones-tenure/

[Rippounet]

3 hours ago, ASOIAFrelatedusername said:

Well it IS their home. Just like with any other nationality. I do not know what you want to say with this line.

The Israeli State demands that all citizens endorse, on some level, a form of right of conquest, i.e. the possession of a territory through military might.

[polishgenius]

1 hour ago, HoodedCrow said:

You are welcome to criticize allies or enemies or in between.

 

I'm not sure what your point is.

[ASOIAFrelatedusername]

4 hours ago, Rippounet said:

The Israeli State demands that all citizens endorse, on some level, a form of right of conquest, i.e. the possession of a territory through military might.

And what does that have to do with your previous statement (nevermind that this statement is rather questionable)?

[Toth]

I finally finished my summary along with the worksheet built around it. The summary still ended at 1100 words and I feel it gets a bit too dense at the end, but hope my questions are enough to draw my students' attention towards how the sequence of events played out after Oslo that make today's situation such a fuck-up.

[Zorral]

14 minutes ago, Toth said:

I finally finished my summary along with the worksheet built around it. T

Congratulations!  Also thanks for doing so much not easy work to make it.

 

[Toth]

14 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Congratulations!  Also thanks for doing so much not easy work to make it.

I mean, it kinda sorta is my job given that here history teachers are supposed to also teach politics because the people in the education ministries think that that's pretty much the same thing anyway. So that's what I do. XD

[Zorral]

Well here teachers are most def not supposed to teach politics -- unless, you know, those politics that support slavery, Native American genocide and the natural supremacy of white protestant men.

[TheLastWolf]

Truce? 

[Toth]

8 hours ago, Zorral said:

Well here teachers are most def not supposed to teach politics -- unless, you know, those politics that support slavery, Native American genocide and the natural supremacy of white protestant men.

I guess ordinarily I would be baffled at such a strong accusation at the American education system, but given that I have heard several first-hand horror stories from exchange students to the midwest and their surreal experiences... I'm not surprised at all.

I should point out that I was not complaining about politics being taught, I was complaining that I often feel in-equipped to do so myself given that history and politics are obviously different fields of study and yet despite not being taught how to do politics lessons up to and including teacher training it is still expected of me (and likewise it is expected from politics teachers to teach history without any preparation). But I suppose that is just entirely a Berlin thing to get around hiring the necessary number of teachers. -.-

2 hours ago, TheLastWolf said:

Truce? 

Let's see whether Bibi Blocksberg has any interest to do something with it except bluster. I'm not holding my breath though. This all worked out splendidly for him so far.

[TheLastWolf]

3 hours ago, Toth said:

Let's see whether Bibi Blocksberg has any interest to do something with it except bluster. I'm not holding my breath though. This all worked out splendidly for him so far.

Heh? What's a teen (cute) witch got to do with Islamic forces and Zionist zealots? 

[polishgenius]

1 hour ago, TheLastWolf said:

Heh? What's a teen (cute) witch got to do with Islamic forces and Zionist zealots? 

 

Bibi is Netenyahu's nickname.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, polishgenius said:

 

Bibi is Netenyahu's nickname.

I'd just assume his nickname is Dipshit. 

[TheLastWolf]

1 hour ago, polishgenius said:

 

Bibi is Netenyahu's nickname.

I thought it was Bolsonaro/Bolts on arrows