The world needs Israel's help

12/29/23 So I hear that Israel has recovered 65,000 pages or so of Hamas documentation. Would be a reaaalll shame if Anonymous or some government or other posted the entire version of it in the original, complete, uncensored Arabic so the entire Arab-speaking world could read it at will on the Internet. A reaalll shame. ;) [of course if this actually happened, Hamas would then claim "no that's not it, here's the "real" version" so be prepared for that eventuality]

11/3/23 Adding to this section not only for Israelis but all innocent civilians in the region. Might want to read this, it's important. A little historic background for you: Israel, as far as I have known, has long prided itself on minimal civilian casualties in an effort to not be like the Nazis (edit: and all the other people that have historically hated Jews without bothering to actually know one). If the United States and Biden himself are saying that Israel needs to stop killing civilians on the other side, then they are. If Israel continues, and the US pulls its support as Biden has said it would, EVERYONE innocent in the region needs to get the fuck out pronto. The Middle East will explode, even after all the Israelis are long gone. Make your plans now. Find family or friends or sponsors in safe countries just in case. I hope it's not needed but damn, to the best of my knowledge Israel's never done this before, all the bad press notwithstanding. 11/17/23 You hear about Hamas? Yeah they really have been using civilians in the Gaza Strip as their meat shields basically since they began. Where do I hear about this? Family and friends in and from Israel. What I said about how it's evil to hate someone you don't know have never met and never care to meet is absolutely exemplified in Hamas. Watch and learn, world. Don't be like them. 11/19/23 SHIT. Refer to first part of this paragraph. 12/1/23 Here's an idea no one is going to like but it's necessary to figure out what the hell is going on over there: everywhere the Israeli military goes, the United States military should go. I mean every single operation, every routine and mundane shift and task, every barracks, every unit. Everything. Why? 1. To remind both Israel and the United States why we are allies in the first place, 2. To actually have some insight into the kind of shit that goes on there, 3. To strengthen ties between two countries - or if things have gone to shit in Israel's culture, to at least let the US know where we stand, 4. To reassess the entire situation in the Middle East from a strategic viewpoint that's a lot closer to where things are going wrong, and 5. To help Israel (hopefully) prove to the world what news is real versus what news is fake. It's a win win all around and if Israel doesn't agree to this, they are suicidal. 12/8/23 Get this. I'm personally involved in this because I have friends and family in Israel. However, I am still not qualified to properly judge or assess the situation because I don't know all the details. There are people out there who, I'm sure, are all "Palestinians/Arabs bad" or "Israel bad" because "they're just bad" and clearly the solution is "simple." And you know what? Those people are the kind of people who would gladly "solve" the conflict in Russia and Ukraine by pushing the button and causing total nuclear armageddon. Details. Are. Important.

11/24/23 Okay then, someone protested at the Macy's Day parade with a "genocide then, genocide now" banner, after assaulting cops. Play time is over kids, I'll tell you about some history that you probably didn't learn in school.

11/24/23 Now that we have looked at that lovely majesty of a meme, you get to learn that is really how it's gone down for years at this point. How do I know? Family and friends live there. Usual news from them is "we got bombed today." There is more to this story. Let's start at the beginning: Holocaust happened. How do I know? Holocaust survivor family. I've told y'all about this. Here's the bit most people aren't aware of: Jews were killed not just in Europe but escaped pogroms in Russia and the United States turned away Jewish refugees at that time also. Canada was also not welcoming. They actually had nowhere else to go but the area now called Israel and Palestine. So they went there, and pre-WWII there was no eternawar between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Then the British got involved. They used a policy of "divide and conquer" and created the original two-state "solution" that wound up in endless war. Every nation around Israel declared war on it when it was formed and it fought a war to make itself a country. So Israel wound up getting a draft for everyone, men and women, over the age of 18. Meanwhile, for whatever reason (12/4/23 edit, what I meant was "for whatever reason, people in Palestine have lived THERE of all places"), over the years people in Palestine lived their lives. Some virtuous and innocent, some anything but. The unique thing about the Palestinian lifestyle is simple: terrorists there such as Hamas really have been using civilians as their meat shields for decades now, building bunkers under hospitals and such. I do not have anything againt Palestinian civilians. Hardly. But you have to wonder if/when any of those folks are going to realize that when laying down with pigs it's hard to get clean. Regarding Israelis, the "genocide then" statement is incorrect. Unfortunately in a war of self-defense I'm certain some civilians on the sides opposite Israel died and that's the nature of war. The alternative was getting Israel wiped off the map, and I would not be here typing this if that was the case. You should also know that everything I told you on this page and/or bunchofideas about Israel's military policies of ensuring as few civilian casualties as humanly possible really were in place, at least when my parents were in (and they were pacifists! Drafts suck!). These days however? Well, fuck Israel's government for making the bad press finally have truth to it. They're the true traitors to the state of Israel and I hope they go to jail. I'm not even sure Israel is going to still be viable as a country if its people do not fix the government and instill a real democracy instead of the sham they have going now. Finally, I'd like to point out that the two-state solution has already been proposed, by Israel. Also proposed in the past by Israel: Israeli citizenship for every innocent Palestinian civilian. Both were denied, and peace talks died, because the Palestinian authorities at that point insisted only the extermination of every citizen of Israel would be enough. I don't think the former (two-state "solution") would work, but the latter (Israeli citizenship for all innocent Palestinian civilians) could because nowadays I think things have changed for the better enough - but I don't really know for sure.

MFW I hear some diehard Christian wax rhetorical about Jerusalem o_O ***(thought bubble: it's literally Israel's Compton, wtf are you on about)

Just an FYI, in the United States, my family and like 90% of the people from the Middle East we've talked to (IRL, not on the internet, most people from the Middle East work damn hard and actually have a life) have been like "oh God the conflict, just make it stop." Stop trying to recruit me for one side or the other please, I'm not in the mood to hate people for no reason other than they got born in a certain place. That's fucking stupid, stop it.

Message to everyone who hates Israel, particularly younger generations: the more you hate it, the more important it is that you visit. Preferably for at least a month and maybe two. Some Kibbutzes allow you to work there and pay for your stay via working. Because the amount of fact-spinning, complication of truth, and even outright fake news about Israel is extraordinary. Go there. See things for yourself. Make your call afterwards but not a moment before. And tell the rest of us what you see. I'd say to visit the surrounding areas as well to get an even take on what's going on but there is a distinct possibility of getting killed in any of the surrounding areas, with or without being a resident of the country in question (yikes!). Things are bad in most of the surrounding countries afaik, and they like to blame all of their problems on Israel, but alas, it's not that simple. Nonbiased reporters visiting each of those countries and Israel too would make the whole situation have a clearer picture to the outside world, but there's no such thing as nonbiased reporting these days ~~except for steady.substack.com~~ *11/17/23 Steady hasn't been reliable for more than a year. I'm sorry. Things are changing so fast I can't make every portion of the site keep up.* Maybe someday. Oh, and anyone who lives either within Israel or in the countries who surround it, you might like to know my family considered immigrating to Canada or Australia first, but wound up in America because despite everything, the immigration process turned out to be easier. Really. And it's underrated to take the pressure off a place (the Middle East) by emigrating elsewhere! "but war good" are you fucking serious?! I'm sure there are a lot of you in these countries who are already like "this war is stupid and pointless," and the other side of the coin is that if you stay there and fight tooth and nail (intelligently) to change things within your country to make the madness stop, you're the only ones who can really make a difference. (If you try to fix things, that is, which doesn't seem to be happening enough in any country; it's not just "the stupid" that's the problem but apathy and "not my problem" or worse "I can't do anything anyway" - yeah right) Too many like you leaving and the whole thing goes to shit. So it's not an easy choice. Best of luck to you no matter what you choose.

Notes For Everyone Within The Middle East And Outside Of It (section added 1/3/24)

There's this "new" and "radical" idea that you should really hate people you haven't met and don't care to ever meet. You can take fervor for ideology, for ideals, for honor, for religion etc. to "radical" and "action packed" heights. Whether it's taking the Landback philosophies for Native American folks to a racist extreme (although for the record I actually wish Native folks had initially won in the US! Initially. A lot of time has passed.) or taking the white-makes-right xenophobic racist cowboy rancher ideology to an extreme, or the "kill everyone who doesn't agree with us before they kill us" ideology to an extreme. Far right-wing rich landowner capitalist moneygrubbing at the expense of the poor and disenfranchised. Far left-wing poor communist stealing at the expense of the hardworking. Religious arguments intended to "save souls" by killing, or hurting kids. What do all these things have in common? They are not the inherited war of the younger generations, no matter what older generations are spouting off. War is not "traditional." Hatred of people you don't even know is not "honorable." You can take any ideology to an unethical extreme and just believe whatever you hear, to bravely go off and kill for some stupid cause because of "honor." Yeah, you can. And it will make you old before your time. And there is not a cure for that particular soul sickness. Enjoy?
I used that particular example because I'm kind of familiar, at least in passing, with extremists of all factions mentioned. I'd like to point out that the conquest of the United States really was a genocide of Native Americans. It was not the same in Israel. There was no eternawar in Palestine/Israel between the Muslims and the Jews (and the Christians) - all sides at the time, as far as I'm aware, either refugees or poor or both - before the British got involved and that is all I will say about that.

Within Israel it's tough to see things from a bigger picture but I am on the outside looking in, with an Israeli family. And I see several ways Israel as a government, as charities within Israel, and as people within Israel, can help the whole world. If you or family live there then I ask you to please think about this and talk about this and see what you personally can do.

From The Outside Looking In

It's been my observation that Israel is about 10 to 20 years behind the United States in terms of pop culture and popular trends. It's the opposite when it comes to technology. The living rooms and overall interiors of Israeli buildings look like they're from the 60s and 70s, and the style and trends in the 00s were pretty much the same as the early 90s in the US. But Israel was into drip irrigation and electric bicycles, plus greywater and permaculture, at about the same time (2000s) and that's only coming into vogue in the United States now. Also, Israeli rows in vegetable and grain (and food in general) farming pretty much aren't used anywhere else in the world that I know of, and those have been around for what, 40, 50 years? Same goes for certain kinds of seeds and crops, such as Beit Alpha cucumbers, Ha'Ogen and Malali melons, and the miraculous weird that is pitango, though cherry tomatoes have caught on. Ironic. I hate cherry tomatoes. Anyway it's a very good idea to look at Israeli tech innovations so as to take advantage of said innovation and bring some of that into your own life.

Actions individual Israelis can take

9/8/22 While discussing the Queen of England's (may she rest in peace) contributions to her country as a dignified public figure and living symbol of dignity and (at the very least public) polished image, my family and I came to an odd conclusion. I said "Gosh, wish we had our politicians get a little bit of that going, bring back dignity after the last lout we had in public office." And my family said "When Trump got elected, it was the first time in my life that an American president acted like every Israeli Prime Minister I ever had in my entire life." Apparently in Israel for more than 30 years, the way anyone gets elected over there is by determining who shouts the loudest and who bullies other people the best. So the de facto result is that Israel not only gets a Trump equivalent every few years, but each election is a competition of Trumps. I said, "Wow that explains a lot." Well, Israel, we managed to get rid of our public menace in public office. If we can do it, so can you.
Don't take this the wrong way, but both improve your personal level of education and the caliber of education for your family, friends, and Israel in general as much as possible. Israel seems like it's got it made right now, and I see dangerous levels of ignorance and arrogance there as a result. The whole "resting on laurels" thing in an active war zone makes no sense but I see more of it than I'd like to. Therefore I suggest going all in with the information vaccine to prevent the stupid, along the lines of the Big Brain Time idea. There is no such thing as too much education, but too little kills. And no one knows the boundary line between the two.
Reddit thread So apparently the Palestinian Authority gets lots of money for playing the victim card while driving its own citizenry into the dust? Why is this not well known worldwide?! Also, why is there not a website like Follow The Money for international politics and international corporations? If we could trace where the money is going worldwide, we could trace who is stirring the pot and trying to incite hatred, and why. The Catholic Church perfected this, and other bad actors only learned from it. In fact, a lot of the war over there and internationally against Israel is being waged via misinformation in the exact same way that vaccine hesitancy was being promoted to wage war on the United States by the Kremlin (aka QAnon). And why would Israel not fight the misinformation via real information, such as on the ground reporting, more cameras broadcasting live, citizen reporting, and so on? Why? It's just as if not more important (than the other IDF activities) to fight indoctrination. The IDF can only respond to mostly-immediate threats, realistically speaking. But in the long term, it's indoctrination that keeps the wars eternal. No one wants that.
Any kind of negative stereotyping of the citizens in the countries that Israel is currently at war with? Or of Muslims? Shut that shit down fast. None of that shit. Fuck no. No! Have zero tolerance for Israelis who are flirting a little too hard with being bigoted and/or Fascist. Particularly those who support current Israeli "right-wing" (Fascist) politicians. Give those Israelis no quarter and never spend any time with them. They are a disgrace to the state of Israel and its history, but I mean, you probably already knew that.
We need nonfiction books written by Israelis to get published worldwide. Number one: how to farm in extreme conditions with little to no initial resources. International food aid donations only go so far, Israel must teach the world how to farm. I am not sure how much Israelis appreciate the fact that it is smaller than New Jersey, in the middle of a desert, and a net exporter of food. That's damn near impossible yet it happened.
Also, we need the same thing, but on websites such as Neocities, and Instructables, for free.
Same basic idea can be applied to homesteading, living off the grid, home heating and cooling, proper construction, sewage treatment, environmental remediation, and DIYing basic human necessities in the middle of nowhere. Particularly all of the water technology, such as greywater, recirculation, water conservation, and stuff such as WaterGen. Israel is a badass place in terms of people knowing how to survive in extreme conditions. The American fascination with the pioneer days actually has nothing on what Israel accomplished in terms of homesteading on far less land under far harsher conditions, which says something since the pioneers weren't pushovers either. The whole world needs to know how.
Same basic idea for any and all engineering that makes life better.
Know a tip or trick for living better? Make your own Instructable. Everyone knows something. Israel can specialize in this and swarm Instructables.
Know anything at all? Each one teach one, put it online. Make your own Neocities site.
Do whatever is possible in terms of being politically active so idiots no longer get into Israeli politics... as much. Good luck.
Consider making better colleges within Israel than the ones that already exist, making them world-class, and encouraging foreign exchange students as much as possible. Worldwide, the state of higher education is not good. I think Israel can rise to this challenge.
Ditto, but online, either for fair tuition or for free, or even both (like with opencourseware for some of it and the rest has to be paid; Harvard, MIT, and Yale do this).
Israel has shown that its citizens are great at inventing stuff. Cell phones, drip irrigation, mock meats. You an Israeli inventor? Anything environmentally friendly and anything vegan is needed desperately right now.
Put useful things online, in general. For instance we really need social media alternatives that are not toxic drip feeds of Kremlin misinformation, an online library that is really good, and a better way of selling things online worldwide. I know Israel specializes in this and that is why I am asking.
Combat the misinformation online. That apathy towards the lies is going to cost Israel everything if it's not stopped. Worse, if Israel goes down, everything in the whole region and even the world goes to shit. Israel's the linchpin, take it out and the whole region (and world) explodes. "But the world doesn't care or believe us" yeah of course the world doesn't because you aren't saying anything or giving evidence for what the fuck's actually going on over there?! I know Israel doesn't really believe in the soft power approach but you can't say it's meaningless because look what it's done for the USA. Look what it's done for the Kremlin, and for QAnon, the brainchild of the Kremlin. You want truth or lies to win out? It's not just important at this point, it's of prime importance. "But we'll be canceled and labeled as hasbarah" oh come the fuck on. Now is not the time to be thin-skinned.

Actions the Israeli government can take, though it's so deluded I don't think it'll do anything worthwhile for the next ten years

Allow all the Ukrainian refugees into Israel as possible, including the non-Jews. Duh. I can't fucking believe they're only letting in Ukrainian Jews, what an international embarrassment. It's almost as embarrassing as having Trump as a president.
Along with sending IDF troops to Ukraine to train their army members, do the same when China inevitably creates yet another holocaust, for the countries that China will try to subjugate. Honestly, I think China is a greater threat to the world's safety and well-being than Russia, by a mile. Reasoning: they've already committed genocide on at least one vulnerable population, specifically Uyghurs, and also a much larger percentage of their citizen population supports their government and its murder-hobo attitude. As compared to Russia, that is. You think that Russia's behavior of its army is reprehensible, I'm telling you, it's probably small peas compared to the Chinese army. Worse, they seem to have less qualms about killing their own citizens in order to maintain order. And they are hungry for resources, and this particular culture (of the current CCP and its adherents, that is) has a nasty tendency towards being far more Ferengi than the most money-hungry robber barons in Western nations. Wealth and power, pride and social climbing/connections are glorified; virtue not so much. Plus it's got a very strong "only the strong will survive here" mentality. China is extremely diverse and wealthy in raw human resources, and indeed its citizenry is very strong in many areas, but the current regime squashes that in favor of the dog-eat-dog bullshit. China is just as full of dreamers as most other places, but the only realizable dream in it is that of being rich, powerful, and/or alive, as far as I can tell. Which is pretty damned un-creative and un-fun, not to mention stressful as it bears far too much resemblance to being within one of the less-ethical crime families in The Godfather. I'm scared for those of its population who are dealing with it. I am also scared of the brainwashing and propaganda because some (not a lot, thank goodness) of its expats, like some Russians, are so indoctrinated by the government that they keep believing in that human-rights-violating government despite being in say, the United States. Speaking from personal experience. Readers worldwide, please do not see this as justification to be anti-Chinese or racist. We're talking about an extremely diverse place that's every bit as diverse (or maybe even more) as the US. It has a CCP-brownnoser problem, like we have a MAGAt problem. Is what it is.
Make alliances with Tribal Nations and Indigenous folks worldwide. Officially. Strengthen these alliances through exchange programs, dual citizenship, and more.
Allow all the international refugees into Israel as possible, regardless of religion. It's already a refugee camp anyway. And if Israelis don't think it is, they've lost touch with the country's origins and roots and they're probably huffing paint or something.
This is weird but bear with me: Israel needs to negotiate with the Ukrainian government about either sharing or getting the land on the Ukrainian border with Russia, in a strip of land, and to see if the Ukrainian citizens are okay with it and ask permission. If and only if the Ukrainian citizens are okay with it (we don't want to create another Israel) Israel can set up camp right there and build up. Who better than Israel to settle that as a demilitarized zone to get the Russians to fuck off? Then later it can be where Israel's growing population can settle (along with the Ukrainians who already live there, no relocating them please, we do not want to create another Israel!), plus it can be a place where refugees fleeing to Israel can settle as well. This can even be adopted to other places threatened by dictatorships such as Tibet, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. At the very least some collaboration between these places in exchange for some things Israel needs is to everyone's benefit.
Not very likely, but switch from a Parliamentary style of government to an American style with three branches of government. And instead of having an electoral college have a popular vote with a test of the issues being discussed issues before the vote and only those who pass the test (which should have both the questions and answers exhibited in the news and online for months before the actual voter registration) can vote
Transition the whole country to 100% renewable energy as quickly and thoroughly as possible, with overkill. While doing so, assist the whole world to do the same. Should help a lot with the politics and proxy warfare issues too. To hell with Fossil Fuels, they're destabilizing the whole region.
Military advice for all democratic allies of Israel and the United States given from the IDF to all allied military forces
Forge alliance with Japan. Yes, Japan. Culturally the similarities are surprisingly strong.
Forge stronger alliance with US. Negotiate with US and Japan plus all other allies to make immigration and emigration far easier.
Divorce religion from all public education and from all laws, and strive to do the best to divorce religion from politics. State religions make things shitty for everyone.
Form a version of the Peace Corps, but an Israeli one
Make it very tax advantageous for all Israeli institutions of higher learning to accept more foreign exchange students
Take that Israeli knowledge of how to live in extreme conditions and apply it to space tech. When people think Israel they don't think "space program." There is no good reason for that. Take the Israeli government and make it go all in, with regards to space exploration and tech, and with regards to international collaboration on space stuff.
Invest as much as possible in scientific research
Tax the heck out of Israel's richest. You don't want to be like the US.
Be a peacekeeper on the world stage with a finger in every pie like the US appears to have. Strengthen alliances everywhere, strengthen collaboration everywhere, strengthen involvement everywhere that Israel is allied with. Also make more allies. Israel can really step up to the plate here, because that head-in-the-sand "i'm ignoring everyone around me" approach is not fucking working. Also make Israel's military collaborate with the US way, way more. Wherever the US is involved, Israel can and probably should also be just as involved.
Combat the misinformation online. That apathy towards the lies is going to cost Israel everything if it's not stopped. And as I've said before, this will cause a chain reaction and possibly bring the world into the Dark Ages so don't let it happen.

Actions Israeli charities can take

Anything at all for helping Ukraine. Anything and everything.
Ditto for any and all people suffering under dictatorships, and any and all refugees

Actions any or all of the above can take

Worldwide, indigenous and Native tribes, individuals, and nations are having a heck of a time. I'd say Israel might be the only example of a Nation that "made it" against the forces of zillions trying to kill 'em off. It would be beneficial to all parties to allow all of the former (mentioned in the first sentence) to come visit as an extension of "aaliyah" but without the religion. Also to assist the former bunch to defend themselves so they have rights and safety. Also to have citizen exchange programs of like programs to like programs. For instance, agriculture to agriculture, computer science to computer science, artisan to artisan. How would it be beneficial to all parties? Exchange of ideas. People always underestimate the importance of ideas.
Understand that deciding to have a war in the Middle East against people you a. don't know and b. don't care to know makes about as much sense as saying "Hey we're out of bowls but dinner is ready. Let's eat out of the toilet bowl. Dinner is served. Bon appetit!

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