Israel Tied With Iran Among Top Jailers of Journalists in 2023, Report Finds

Israel is also killing journalists, as well as aid workers, its own hostage citizens waving white flags, along with thousands of non combative Palestinians, the majority being women and children.
- Yeah, they don't even mention the 100+ journalists they murdered. Not sure if Iran even has one?
  
  other than the 834 executions last year of protesters / dissidents and general killings of protesters, here's 1 known killing of an iranian journalist.
  there's also the other attempts to kill iranian journalists abroad, but fortunately they're incompetent.

Why are we giving these guys any money.
- Serious answer?
  Not in any particular order:
  Military aid to Israel is a defacto rebate for all the stuff they buy and a subsidy for the US defense industry. A lot of US politicians are on the military industrial complex payroll or end up working for it. A lot of Americans work in related industries.
  Just like with Europe, pushing them to buy American weaponry, ensures their native defense industry can't become a significant competitor. (Obviously this is an issue in Europe right now, given we've been caught with a pants down because we're too reliant on the US defense industry) For example, wouldn't want the Israeli defense industry to develop their own highly capable missiles, because they might end up selling them to parties the US doesn't want to have advanced tech, eg. some Israeli companies were found to have illegally sold China cruise missiles a few years back. That kind of thing would explode if the Israelis were independent for defense.
  Strategically interesting to have an ally in the middle-east, especially one with an excellent (foreign) intelligence service. Giving Israel aid also ensures neighbours don't do anything stupid. A powerful military is the best deterent. A powerful conventional military, also avoids Israel going nuclear.
  Not the worst regime the US supports/has supported. Enemy of my enemy Real politik.
  AIPAC
  Evangelicals
  Outdated views of what Israel is actually like and a language barrier that has allowed Americans (and American reporters) to ignore the stuff not said in English.
  
  Military aid to Israel is a defacto rebate for all the stuff they buy and a subsidy for the US defense industry.
  Israel (and only israel) actually has a special exception where they don't have to spend all the money on American weapons. and they can bolster it into their own weapons industry. So it's actually the opposite of what you just said.
  All countries are required to spend their FMF funds in the United States - with the notable exception of Israel
  edit: the previous article was from 2002, here's one from not 22 years ago
  Israel has also historically been permitted to use a portion of its FMF aid to buy equipment from Israeli defense firms—a benefit not granted to other recipients of U.S. military aid
  
  Israel is used to ensure continued divide and destabilization to keep the Middle East at perpetual war, making resource extraction cheaper and preventing the formation of a unified Arab block, that would have more people than the EU, be economically en par but strategically much better situated.
  Note that this aspect is not exclusive to the US or EU. Russia is also quite happy with keeping the Middle East in this state. For China it remains to be seen, if they want a stable Middle East for the Belts and Roads, or if they arrange with the way it is currently.
- Because they are on your side of the river... oh wait, they are not. They must be wearing your color of t-shirt, then.

For those who missed how fun the Israel prison experience is; Israeli Channel 13 proudly reported on it
Video of Israel arresting random people in Gaza and claiming they are elite Hamas: https://files.catbox.moe/uqvfoa.mp4
Video of Israel making prisoners kneel for multiple hours a day https://files.catbox.moe/eg9xz7.mp4
Video of the Israeli prison tour featuring the real victims https://files.catbox.moe/zm7113.mp4
The dogs are used to attack prisoners. Even children. https://www.dci-palestine.org/palestinian_child_detained_without_charge_attacked_by_israeli_military_dog
" Israeli forces violated his rights, beat him, and unleashed an Israeli military dog which attacked him."

It can't be can it???
- They don't have that self awareness. The indoctrination starts at birth.
  
  “In Judaism, the concept of the Jews as chosen people (Hebrew: הָעָם הַנִבְחַר hāʿām hanīvḥar) is the belief that the Jews as a subset, via partial descent from the ancient Israelites, are also chosen people, i.e. selected to be in a covenant with God.”
  “According to Deuteronomy, when the Lord delivers the Israelites to the land, the other nations will be cast out, and "thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them"
  "But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth"”
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews_as_the_chosen_people

"Are we the baddies?"

Bloody hypocrites

It's sad, but I realized a few weeks ago that if you map out the direction of Israel, the hard right vision is essentially Iran.
Setting aside the treatment of the Palestinians, Israel was once known for its cosmopolitan night life and high quality universities. Now, its seen a takeover by the militant, backwards, misogynistic theocrats. And as more and more people get angry about losing their rights, the theocrats get more and more heavy-handed in militarizing their society, both inwardly and outwardly. And as the rest of the world becomes more and more disgusted, the country is becoming more and more isolated.
I still believe in a better way: I want to see a one state solution.
People don't say this often but I actually appreciate what there is to like about Israel. There's a lot of cool people and great culture and natural splendor. Same for Palestine too. If we can just apply enough pressure and stop saying "tWo sTaTE soLuTiON! tWO sTAte SoLUtION!!" and just say "Enough. It's time you recognized that it's been one country oppressing half its population this whole time, so stop oppressing people and give everyone the same rights."
I say this because the status quo is already over. I think that it can either become modern South Africa, or Iran. Those are the two most likely paths, and I really want the first one.
- You can admire Israel’s natural beauty (which is just deserts really?) and still support a two state solution though
  
  I think a one state solution is ultimately better. Needs a heavy handed 3rd party arbitrator. But it will work out in the end.
  
  You don’t think deserts can be beautiful?
  
  where'd you get that from? another "truthout" article?
  only the south of israel is mainly desert.
- The Zionists and their supporters do not want a two state solution ever. Zionism is a fascist ideology. As such it needs the perpetual doublethink of "we are the greatest and superior to everyone else" like written in the Israel constitution as an Ethnostate for ethnic Jews while also constantly claiming "we are at the brink of extinction and need a brutal government to protect us, from all the other people".
  The language, the demeanor and the actions of the mainstream Israel politics, media and culture are showing this to an extreme.
  A one state solution would be the polar opposite, as it would not only rely on acknowledging that ethnic or any other supremacism is always wrong, but also the realization that not everyone is out to get you, if you stop murdering and oppressing people.
  
  Well the Confederate states didn't want to end slavery, and South Africa's ruling elites didn't want to get rid of apartheid.
  This is what I want, and I'm going to keep saying that the world should compel them to accept it.
  
  how do you explain rabin and the oslo accords then?
  and all the israelis who voted for parties that support the 2 state solution?
- Here, here!

Freedom of depression.

This is not surprising.

They learned it from us.

Israel is pretty bad when it comes to freedom of the press. Bi please find a more credible source. https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/truth-out/
- I am SO sorry I had a source that published one moderately misleading article about GMOs 8 years ago. /s
  People love linking that article to debunk my Truthout stuff. I’m not a huge supporter of them but their articles seem well written in my experience. One slightly inaccurate article years ago shouldn’t discredit anything they do.
  
  Did you even read that link?
  It’s not negative