Today marks both the first anniversary of the October 7 attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip and one week since Israel began its ground invasion of the neighboring country of Lebanon.

Israel’s brutal military response to the Hamas-led October 7 incursion has shown no sign of slowing down as the United States, its primary supplier of military aid, continues to commit weapons, funding and rhetorical support to its deadly assault on Arab populations in Gaza, the West Bank and now Lebanon.

Over 1,000 Lebanese civilians have been killed and over a million displaced as they flee the encroaching violence. From Beirut, we speak to Rima Majed, a professor at the American University of Beirut, who highlights the disruption to daily life that Israeli warfare has created.

“This is really a huge catastrophe, and it’s not a humanitarian one. It is a political catastrophe, and it’s a social catastrophe. And this would not have happened … if it wasn’t for the [international] backing and the arming of Israel.”

    • Mrkawfee@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Lebanon’s endgame is to survive Israel until it is dismantled as a racist colonial project that has brought nothing but death and misery for 76 years.

      • cygnus@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        Lemmy users casually talking about wiping a country off the map:

        • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          There’s a difference between a political entity and the people it represents. The people of Israel have a right to exist, just as you, me, the Palestinian people, Ukrainian people, and Lebanese people have a right to exist. Political entities do not have a right to exist. The fascist Israeli government should be dismantled.

        • itslilith@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          2 months ago

          I don’t know what’s so hard to understand. To bring an end to the violence and even begin to think about reconciliation, we need a secular state with equal rights and protections for Palestinians and Israelis. And that necessitates dismantling the colonial apartheid state that is current-day Israel.

          Any call to displace Israeli citizens is obviously despicable. But pretending that Israel’s settler-colonial actions are in any way justifiable, legally or morally, is also disgusting. The violence and displacement must end, and I honestly couldn’t care less what the resulting state is called, as long as Israelis and Palestinians are given the same protections under it.

          • cygnus@lemmy.ca
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            2 months ago

            Hmm yes, all Israelis are fascists. That definitely isn’t dehumanizing an entire people or anything.

            • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              Certainly not all Israelis but it’s depressing as fuck how many of them, even if they don’t support Netanyahu, are still more than OK with what the psychopathic prick is doing.

            • Keeponstalin@lemmy.worldOP
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              2 months ago

              Zionism is a fascist ideology that dehumanizes an entire people, Palestinians, and even neighboring people like Syrian and Lebanese people when it fits the needs of Settler Colonialism. But it’s important to note that not all Israelis are Zionist, there are anti-zionists within Israel.

              The end of Israel, as in a regime change, is about extending human rights to Palestinians, not the expulsion of Israelis. Equal rights, equal right of return, and equal representation.

            • SattaRIP@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              2 months ago

              Quite the opposite. Fascists are humans too. No fictional demon is capable of the shit Isn’trael has done. They’d be less scary if they weren’t human.

              Also, Israeli=/=Zionist=/=Jewish. They’re related, but conflating them is antisemitic.