Paula 🍉

There's a woman eating corn on the cob on my bus.

The accurate word is occupy — not “keep control.” You don’t “keep control” over sovereign territory that isn’t yours. Words matter.

My father Stephen Lewis is spectacularly uninterested in social media, so I’m posting this myself (though he has read it and is prepared to suffer the indignity of all I'm about to reveal). When he was Canada’s ambassador to the UN from 1984-88, Dad was truly shocked by the regularity of open, vitriolic antisemitism in the cocktail parties and ambassadorial receptions that surround that crucial but flawed institution. For this reason (among others) he’s always been the one in our family with the deepest atavistic fear of antisemitism. He was sympathetic to the idea of Israel as a refuge longer than the rest of us. This is no longer the case. Like so many Jews who for decades adopted the dominant narratives of Zionism, he can no longer defend the current actions of the state of Israel. He now regards Israel as a rogue state, committing genocide and other crimes against humankind, which ought to be opposed by every tool and tactic in Canada's diplomatic arsenal. To return to the personal, seven years ago my Dad was diagnosed with a vicious cancer and was given as little as 3 months to live. It’s a sublime understatement to say that he’s a fighter - but he has persevered in life with a tenacity familiar from his political, diplomatic and humanitarian pursuits. Which brings us to this morning, when at 87 years old, he spent an hour standing at the side of the road in his old riding of Scarborough West. Standing up as a Jew against genocide. Standing up for justice for Palestine. Standing up on the right side of history, where the vast majority of humanity currently stands. I’ve never been prouder, never more humble before the stubborn principle and insistent moral clarity of the guy I’m so lucky to call Dad. People of Canada: don’t stop talking about Palestine. Starvation as collective punishment can never be forgiven. Burning and burying children alive can never be defended. Stand up against genocide until we make it stop! Thanks Dad. And special thanks to @CharlieAngusNDP for shining his spotlight on Ted Schmidt and the other excellent folks who gather every Thursday at 8 am at the corner of Victoria Park and Kingston Road in Scarborough.

Who killed them @AnitaAnandMP? Did they use Canadian made weapons? #ArmsEmbargoNow #SanctionIsrael

When the Knesset yesterday, passed the law approving the death penalty for Palestinians ONLY, they popped champagne bottles in the chamber as they applauded. You read that correctly. Not your problem? It’s complicated? STILL SILENT? SILENCE IS COMPLICITY.

He’s popping champagne to celebrate killing Palestinians. They don’t hide their genocidal hate, they toast to it.

Not even apartheid South Africa codified executions for only one ‘race group’. Israel is now the most racist state the world has ever known. Shame on every government, every company, every individual who offer it support.

Israel must immediately repeal the discriminatory death penalty law passed today by the Knesset, as it contravenes Israel’s obligations under international law. The United Nations opposes the death penalty under all circumstances. The implementation of this new law would violate international law's prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. Additionally, this law further entrenches Israel’s violation of the prohibition of racial segregation and apartheid as it will exclusively apply to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Israel, who are often convicted after unfair trials. Read @UNHumanRights earlier statement and analysis about the death penalty draft bill: ohchr.org/en/press-relea……

The Israeli government is about to pass a law mandating the death penalty, only for Palestinian prisoners. Mass execution by hanging, solely on racial lines. This is apartheid and the next step in the genocide of Palestinians, already systematically tortured in Israeli prisons.

This little illuminated dragon is very happy about Pretext. He's too busy having fun to care about people's "hot takes" on how "it's not that special." (This little dragon also only works on desktop right now but maybe I'll do mobile later) illustrated-manuscript.vercel.app

No country has ever killed as many journalists as Israel. It is a deliberate slaughter. And slaughter is the right word. They are intent on wiping out a generation of Arab journalists.

The IDF is intentionally assassinating journalists in Lebanon just as it did in Gaza.

People can watch whatever they want but Rowling is personally funding anti-trans legislation with every dollar she profits off Harry Potter. It’s not just a stance she has, it’s her whole mission. There’s no deniability here, it’s what you’re supporting

600,000 dead in Gaza..

Still no sanctions on Israel despite them massacring civilians in Palestine and Lebanon daily

the whales will not be watching the new hbo harry potter show. you might think this is because very few whales watch any television at all, but it is actually because jk rowling is a terf ass bitch

NYT finally got a community note for its whitewashing language.

I'm an American trauma surgeon. One year ago today I was volunteering at Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza when Israel fired a missile into the room of my 16-year-old patient, Ibrahim Barhoum. The missile killed him instantly. If it had hit the room 90 seconds later it would have killed me, too. Today the US and Israel are still blocking medical supplies from entering Gaza, and are repeating the assault on hospitals and healthcare workers across Lebanon. This is nothing but barbarism. It must be stopped.

Wait til you hear what they did to Palestinian journalists in Gaza.

Israel is destroying Beirut and literally no one in the mainstream media is talking about about it. These aren’t “military strikes”. They’re terrorist attacks.