cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/6758033

Archived link: https://web.archive.org/web/20231222185134/https://www.npr.org/2023/12/22/1221128897/masha-gessen-essay-israel-gaza-germany-hannah-arendt-prize

Prominent Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen received a prestigious award for political thought over the weekend, in a ceremony that almost didn’t happen due to backlash over their recent writings on Israel-Gaza.

Israel’s air-and-ground assault on Gaza has killed more than 20,000 people in the 10 weeks since the Hamas-led attack on Israel killed some 1,200 people and took more than 240 others hostage.

Gessen, who is Jewish and whose family lost loved ones in the Holocaust, has been criticized for a New Yorker essay published earlier this month in which they likened the Gaza Strip to the WWII-era ghettos that Nazis developed to segregate and control Jewish people in occupied Europe.

Gessen argues in the essay that treating the Holocaust as a “singular event,” unlike anything that has occurred before or after in history, not only is incorrect but makes it impossible to learn lessons from the Holocaust that are needed to prevent future genocides.

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  • LaChaleurDeLaNuit@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    I mean they had everything to turn it into that, including money and construction material provided by Israel so what stopped them? Ah silly me, Israel of course.

    • filister@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Ah yes, the paradise on earth that you cannot escape: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Strip to refresh your memory. The paradise on earth that is enclosed with walls, which is impossible to escape. I wonder how you would feel in this paradise yourself. But silly me, why asking you uncomfortable questions.

      • LaChaleurDeLaNuit@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        But why do you blame Israel for this shit hole? Do you understand HAMAS manages the money there and that its leaders live in wealth in Qatar? None of those stupid comments make me uncomfortable and I keep debunking them, and you keep denying them and downvoting me because what you want is not a debate but an echo chamber. So just say that and say you just want to blame Israel for everything Gazans go through, without checking how any of it really works on the field.

        • filister@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Your point of view is completely biased in this case, I don’t think you are objective.

          • Mrkawfee@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            He’s also gaslighting us. Israel has had Gaza under an insanely repressive economic blockade since 2006. There was 50% unemployment even before the lastest attacks. Israeli politicians even bragged about their power to put “Palestinians on a diet” by restrictions on food imports.

          • LaChaleurDeLaNuit@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            You’re not objecting to anything I’ve written, which is fine but don’t tell me I’m not being objective if you can’t prove me wrong.

    • chitak166@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I definitely see your point and think the nuance of the situation is worth mentioning.

      Essentially, you think Gazans should accept their annexation because they were not obliterated and given concessions for losing. Just like Native Americans.

      The problem is, some cultures don’t want to be relegated to the ‘loser’ slot that natives tend to occupy.

      • LaChaleurDeLaNuit@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        They want to remain the “poor” and good guy, while perpetrating massacres. And I have to give it to them, their propaganda is much stronger since most of the world stands behind them and either supports terrorism or says it didn’t happen.

        See what happens when I provide proof here.

        Also not sure what you mean by annexation since Israel got the fuck out of there entirely in 2005

    • yojimbo@sopuli.xyz
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      11 months ago

      Would you please share with us where is Israel providing building materials and money to Gaza?

    • Mrkawfee@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      No they didn’t stop lying. Israel has had Gaza under an economic embargo since 2006. Gazans can’t even dig water wells without the permission of the IDF.