Rashida Tlaib, Noura Erakat, former NASA engineer Loay Elbasyouni, and more share their thoughts with me. Also, see what you may have missed from Zeteo during the DNC!
Mehdi, you say Thank god for Jon Stewart. I say thank god for both of you. I really don’t know how I could cope with the pitiless savagery without the sanity of your words on Zeteo. We can hear the voices of the Palestinian members of Congress and their constituents because of you, and alas from nowhere else…
I really liked the way Jon Stewart brought this injustice to our attention. I keep saying this and will reiterate: if we eliminate big money from politics, a lot will magically change and become more sane.
Yup! Two minutes? Two minutes to begin to heal a people who have been, and still are, being demonized, broken through exclusion, misdirected hatred and historical ignorance. Two minutes. Why not? Fear. Fear of showing decency towards Palestinian-Americans because of the fear of being called antisemitic. "One nation. Under God. With Liberty and justice FOR ALL?" (Least we forget what happened to the Native Americans, African American(enslaved against their will for centuries just to feed the greed of Capitalist.) Two minutes? Two minutes from a nation's time for humanity to begin to heal the festering sores of pain and exclusion. DNC got it wrong. SMH. IDK, BUT, I still try to not give up hope that justice, which is VERY, slow, will prevail. Thank you to ALL who speak out with dignity and respect for ALL the marginalized.
"here at Zeteo we try and give a voice to those who are ignored; our goal is to build a platform for marginalized figures in society, both at home and abroad."
Those words stopped me in my tracks and brought me to tears. Thank you so much, Mehdi. Thank you so much, Zeteo. You are us one of the few sources of light and of hope that we really need.
Not having a Palestinian speaker at the convention was inexcusable. It was vile. In the face of more than 40,000 known dead! The Dems make a habit of treating whole chunks of voters as nonexistent. There was H. Clinton's remark about "deplorables." They're just a low-down lot. The only reason to vote for Harris/Walz is to keep Trump out (iif possible). The Dems seem to make a habit of clumsy, cruel exclusions so that even if they win the election it's hard to believe they'll stop the genocide.
It isn't a question Dems of "asking" the Israelis to be a tad more careful where they drop bombs. Only an embargo on arms will lead to a ceasefire.
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
Watching Harris’s now famous description of “both sides” in the Israel/Palestine “conflict” makes me wonder if the DNC wasn’t actually afraid that an eloquent and powerful Palestinian speaker would have brought the house down with applause.
I’ve watched that segment of her speech several times and it seems the high mark of audience applause came immediately after her comments about Palestinians.
Could it be that the polls are right and people really don’t support Israel like they used to and they want an immediate ceasefire?
Even the DNC’s theater of the absurd can’t hide this.
And, how does the Biden/Harris $20 billion gift to Netanyahu help get us to a ceasefire?
Yes, I heard too, that the applause were actually greater after the comments about Palestine.
I believe many support lsrael less and Palestine more, but are quiet about it, like DNC and Harris/Walz are quiet about it. It's fear of loosing the election due to USA being "israelized" for so long. Also, Harris is still vp under current administration, but despite all that, I believe it was a mistake to not let Palestine being represented, and makes people suspicious...will they ever speak up? I do think they care and they will act more on Palestines behalf, more politicians in the Democratic Party, are doing just that. There is no other way.
Yes, it’s true—this is the best we can do at the moment b/c AIPAC & Co control American politics. Or, more accurately money controls American Politics and AIPAc is a chunk of that. I really hope Harris/Walz will at least be more constrained in their relationship with Israel. Such terrible devastation to Palestinians. We have to keep pushing for a free Palestine. Focus now on cutting aid—but as soon as we shift to that, Israeli government will launch another attack in Iran and use it to rally support in the US. It’s a really scary situation. Agree with your comment. We’re definitely in a spot!!! And everyday more people in Gaza get maimed and killed.
Yes, I hope the US would see through their game better. Israel acts like spoiled brats, kick and scream if they don’t get their way. US got to say NO, to Israel. All this big donor money circulating in the politics is undemocratic and immoral. How come US can’t see how wrong that is.
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
AIPAC did control the narrative at the DNC, how else would you explain what happened at the DNC?
Harris may not win because she would be losing the young and progressive votes needed to win in GA, MI, and WI for sure and maybe IL too.
The Israeli preferred candidate is DJT the Orange Monster and he is now expected to win.
Shame on us and the AIPAC controlled DNC
Hakeem and others are there because of AIPAC- you want to change the policies, you need to work to get your people like Andy Levin back in US Congress.
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
We can narrate what most people don’t know about Palestine. I count myself in that category until the last few years.
Who are the Palestinians?
They have an advanced medical system. During US civil war well meaning medical providers spread contagion from one amputee to the next. In Palestine they understood contagion when the west was in the “Dark Ages.” Ask an American dr who has served there, the practice is advanced, despite occupation and slaughter. Similarily they are highly educated, teens understand the math behind algorithms. They love theater. Palestinian poetry is known around the world.
All we hear in the US and inIsrael is that they are terrorists, and ceasefire is impossible. B.S.
Palestinian or not, all humans should be appauled by a genocide perpetrated by the west. I think it is very important to frame this as human issue, not muslim, not palestinian. We are all one and all babies are our babies. And anyone who knowingly drops bombs on our babies needs to be stopped.
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
All the speakers were firm, committed supporters of the Democratic candidates. Were the Palestinian speakers going to speak in firm support of the ticket or to speak about uncommitted voters and of what should be done differently? This convention was not a place for debate or giving “the other side” of issues.
I’m sorry, but this was a staged event with an agenda.
I didn’t know that. I bet few people did. Why isn’t it publicized? Why don’t you share a link instead of making it sound as if it is my fault for not knowing this? Were they excluded just because they are Palestinian?
It's your fault for not doing the due diligence of looking it up before posting something that excuses racism. The fact is, they were excluded specifically because of their ethnicity. They offered lists of names of possible speakers, from lawmakers to professors to doctors, agreed to have any speech pre-vetted, were in talks for weeks, the DNC chose to platform an Israeli family and not a Palestinian intentionally
Jason, you are being naive if you blame the public or little old me for not looking up the speech. Things don’t work that way. If the public is to know something it needs to be presented to them and in a persuasive way. Blaming me for not having researched this on my own is counterproductive. Assuming I’m your enemy is also making a mistake.
No, I'm not assuming you're my enemy, I'm pointing out a flaw in your ability to make decisions and come to conclusions. Reread your first comment. Now think about how if no one had come to correct you, given the clear pro-oppressor biased slant of your tone, you would contribute to the general atmosphere of denial of the prejudice Palestinians are facing here and abroad.
Consider instead you had that thought, you wondered what they intended to speak about, and instead of coming in with an accusatory tone that writes out the assumption that they were there to disrupt, you had come in with the simple, neutral question, "Does anyone know what their speech was going to be about?" Do you think that would have gotten the same reaction? Do you think it would have perpetuated the atmosphere of denying the experiences of the marginalized first and foremost?
Harris has some nerve telling us how her mom taught her to “Never let anyone tell you who you are, you show them who you are.”. Does she realize that people who have been living under occupation for 3 generations have no way to contact anyone in the world at large but their soldier captors? My entire life Israel has been telling the world who Palestinians are, they told the world we are terrorists, they told the world that the Keffeyeh is a symbol of terrorisim. They told the world we are animals and evil, they told the world we hate the Jewish religion,and just want to kill other people at random. They told the world we cheered in the streets on 9/11z They told the world that every Palestinian must be approached and treated as hostile until we prove otherwise by our complete submission to the occupation.
We have no way to offer a counter to this narrative. And she refused to allow us to show the world who we are with a small voice on the stage.
Let me tell you who we are. My father was born in the WB in 1931. During the Nakba my grandparents decided the best option of survival was to split the family. My father was sent to USVI, leaving his family. My cousins still live (hopefully) in the home my dad was born in.
My father made it to PR where he enlisted in the US Army as a Palestine National. He was sent to Korea in the first integrated unit the Army sent to Korea.
My brother served in the FBIi for nearly 2 decades, even receiving an award from Robert Muller, the director of the FBI at the time.
Palestinians are the highest educated group in the Arab world with nearly a 100% literacy rate in the WB and Gaza today.
47% of Palestinian Americans have at least a Bachelor degree. Making us second only to white males.
My grandfather spoke three languages and my father spoke 4.
Palestinians respect all religions because we were born in the holy land, home to holy sites of 3 major world religions. My mother is Christian, my brother is gay and we did not throw him off our roof, we went to his wedding.
Thank you for giving Palestinian the space to introduce ourselves to the world. People have told us who we are, and refused to let us show them.
Thank you, thank you for seeing us.
I will not vote for Harris because she will not recognize me as human.
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
Many thanks to Jon Stewart and to Mehdi for speaking truth to power. I was appalled that the DNC refused to give the Palestinian American delegation an opportunity to address the convention, and Harris should have used her status as Vice-President to let them speak but instead, they chose an Israeli couple whose son is a hostage. I am not trying to diminish their pain and anguish but what about the slaughter of over 40,000 Palestinians in a genocide war that the US is funding with American tax dollars? There is NO justification for this and if Biden had any moral integrity, he could tell Netanyahu that the US will stop funding his campaign but sadly, he will not. I thought about Martin Luther King's 1967 speech at Riverside church in New York when he spoke out against the war in Vietnam and the criticism he endured for telling the truth. There are not many leaders in today's world with that kind of courage. Thanks to Zeteo for an invaluable forum without the hype.
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
Mehdi, yes the greatest disappointment and biggest failure, perhaps only failure, of the Democratic Convention was the intentional exclusion of a Palestinian-American speaker to highlight the grim horror innocent Gaza Palestinians are facing at the merciless hands of a Netanyahu-controlled, out-of-control IDF. The exclusion of Palestinian Americans from speaking made me sick. It was a throwback to the old Neoliberal days of the Democratic Party that I thought were in our rear-view mirror. Evidently not. But as disgusted as I am, my existential radar tells me we must not be distracted from the job of getting Kamala Harris elected in November and Donald Trump well and soundly defeated. Once that is done. Then, take the gloves off and let the Democratic Party and President-Elect know where we stand in no uncertain terms. That is my opinion. I welcome disagreement.
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
I am profoundly ashamed of and disturbed by our response to Israel’s war crimes. I am even more disturbed by the possibility of Tr*mp’s re-election. There is no doubt in my mind that should the Dems upset them, AIPAC, the ADL, and Netanyahu would do everything in their considerable power to torpedo Harris’s campaign and re-elect Tr*mp.
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
Mehdi, you say Thank god for Jon Stewart. I say thank god for both of you. I really don’t know how I could cope with the pitiless savagery without the sanity of your words on Zeteo. We can hear the voices of the Palestinian members of Congress and their constituents because of you, and alas from nowhere else…
I really liked the way Jon Stewart brought this injustice to our attention. I keep saying this and will reiterate: if we eliminate big money from politics, a lot will magically change and become more sane.
Yup! Two minutes? Two minutes to begin to heal a people who have been, and still are, being demonized, broken through exclusion, misdirected hatred and historical ignorance. Two minutes. Why not? Fear. Fear of showing decency towards Palestinian-Americans because of the fear of being called antisemitic. "One nation. Under God. With Liberty and justice FOR ALL?" (Least we forget what happened to the Native Americans, African American(enslaved against their will for centuries just to feed the greed of Capitalist.) Two minutes? Two minutes from a nation's time for humanity to begin to heal the festering sores of pain and exclusion. DNC got it wrong. SMH. IDK, BUT, I still try to not give up hope that justice, which is VERY, slow, will prevail. Thank you to ALL who speak out with dignity and respect for ALL the marginalized.
"here at Zeteo we try and give a voice to those who are ignored; our goal is to build a platform for marginalized figures in society, both at home and abroad."
Those words stopped me in my tracks and brought me to tears. Thank you so much, Mehdi. Thank you so much, Zeteo. You are us one of the few sources of light and of hope that we really need.
Thank you, Mehdi, for your commitment to telling the truth and amplifying Palestinian voices. None of us can give up this fight.
Not having a Palestinian speaker at the convention was inexcusable. It was vile. In the face of more than 40,000 known dead! The Dems make a habit of treating whole chunks of voters as nonexistent. There was H. Clinton's remark about "deplorables." They're just a low-down lot. The only reason to vote for Harris/Walz is to keep Trump out (iif possible). The Dems seem to make a habit of clumsy, cruel exclusions so that even if they win the election it's hard to believe they'll stop the genocide.
It isn't a question Dems of "asking" the Israelis to be a tad more careful where they drop bombs. Only an embargo on arms will lead to a ceasefire.
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
Watching Harris’s now famous description of “both sides” in the Israel/Palestine “conflict” makes me wonder if the DNC wasn’t actually afraid that an eloquent and powerful Palestinian speaker would have brought the house down with applause.
I’ve watched that segment of her speech several times and it seems the high mark of audience applause came immediately after her comments about Palestinians.
Could it be that the polls are right and people really don’t support Israel like they used to and they want an immediate ceasefire?
Even the DNC’s theater of the absurd can’t hide this.
And, how does the Biden/Harris $20 billion gift to Netanyahu help get us to a ceasefire?
They have to bury it.
Yes, I heard too, that the applause were actually greater after the comments about Palestine.
I believe many support lsrael less and Palestine more, but are quiet about it, like DNC and Harris/Walz are quiet about it. It's fear of loosing the election due to USA being "israelized" for so long. Also, Harris is still vp under current administration, but despite all that, I believe it was a mistake to not let Palestine being represented, and makes people suspicious...will they ever speak up? I do think they care and they will act more on Palestines behalf, more politicians in the Democratic Party, are doing just that. There is no other way.
Yes, it’s true—this is the best we can do at the moment b/c AIPAC & Co control American politics. Or, more accurately money controls American Politics and AIPAc is a chunk of that. I really hope Harris/Walz will at least be more constrained in their relationship with Israel. Such terrible devastation to Palestinians. We have to keep pushing for a free Palestine. Focus now on cutting aid—but as soon as we shift to that, Israeli government will launch another attack in Iran and use it to rally support in the US. It’s a really scary situation. Agree with your comment. We’re definitely in a spot!!! And everyday more people in Gaza get maimed and killed.
Yes, I hope the US would see through their game better. Israel acts like spoiled brats, kick and scream if they don’t get their way. US got to say NO, to Israel. All this big donor money circulating in the politics is undemocratic and immoral. How come US can’t see how wrong that is.
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
likewise, at this time, I'm choosing NOT to vote for Harris or Trump. Neither have earned my vote. Jill Stein has!
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
AIPAC did control the narrative at the DNC, how else would you explain what happened at the DNC?
Harris may not win because she would be losing the young and progressive votes needed to win in GA, MI, and WI for sure and maybe IL too.
The Israeli preferred candidate is DJT the Orange Monster and he is now expected to win.
Shame on us and the AIPAC controlled DNC
Hakeem and others are there because of AIPAC- you want to change the policies, you need to work to get your people like Andy Levin back in US Congress.
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
We can narrate what most people don’t know about Palestine. I count myself in that category until the last few years.
Who are the Palestinians?
They have an advanced medical system. During US civil war well meaning medical providers spread contagion from one amputee to the next. In Palestine they understood contagion when the west was in the “Dark Ages.” Ask an American dr who has served there, the practice is advanced, despite occupation and slaughter. Similarily they are highly educated, teens understand the math behind algorithms. They love theater. Palestinian poetry is known around the world.
All we hear in the US and inIsrael is that they are terrorists, and ceasefire is impossible. B.S.
Free Barghouti, the Palestinian Mandela.
Palestinian or not, all humans should be appauled by a genocide perpetrated by the west. I think it is very important to frame this as human issue, not muslim, not palestinian. We are all one and all babies are our babies. And anyone who knowingly drops bombs on our babies needs to be stopped.
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
All the speakers were firm, committed supporters of the Democratic candidates. Were the Palestinian speakers going to speak in firm support of the ticket or to speak about uncommitted voters and of what should be done differently? This convention was not a place for debate or giving “the other side” of issues.
I’m sorry, but this was a staged event with an agenda.
The speech they were going to give is publicly available, you can see for yourself instead of excusing racism
I didn’t know that. I bet few people did. Why isn’t it publicized? Why don’t you share a link instead of making it sound as if it is my fault for not knowing this? Were they excluded just because they are Palestinian?
https://youtu.be/T8K5FIp-GN8
It's your fault for not doing the due diligence of looking it up before posting something that excuses racism. The fact is, they were excluded specifically because of their ethnicity. They offered lists of names of possible speakers, from lawmakers to professors to doctors, agreed to have any speech pre-vetted, were in talks for weeks, the DNC chose to platform an Israeli family and not a Palestinian intentionally
Jason, you are being naive if you blame the public or little old me for not looking up the speech. Things don’t work that way. If the public is to know something it needs to be presented to them and in a persuasive way. Blaming me for not having researched this on my own is counterproductive. Assuming I’m your enemy is also making a mistake.
No, I'm not assuming you're my enemy, I'm pointing out a flaw in your ability to make decisions and come to conclusions. Reread your first comment. Now think about how if no one had come to correct you, given the clear pro-oppressor biased slant of your tone, you would contribute to the general atmosphere of denial of the prejudice Palestinians are facing here and abroad.
Consider instead you had that thought, you wondered what they intended to speak about, and instead of coming in with an accusatory tone that writes out the assumption that they were there to disrupt, you had come in with the simple, neutral question, "Does anyone know what their speech was going to be about?" Do you think that would have gotten the same reaction? Do you think it would have perpetuated the atmosphere of denying the experiences of the marginalized first and foremost?
Harris has some nerve telling us how her mom taught her to “Never let anyone tell you who you are, you show them who you are.”. Does she realize that people who have been living under occupation for 3 generations have no way to contact anyone in the world at large but their soldier captors? My entire life Israel has been telling the world who Palestinians are, they told the world we are terrorists, they told the world that the Keffeyeh is a symbol of terrorisim. They told the world we are animals and evil, they told the world we hate the Jewish religion,and just want to kill other people at random. They told the world we cheered in the streets on 9/11z They told the world that every Palestinian must be approached and treated as hostile until we prove otherwise by our complete submission to the occupation.
We have no way to offer a counter to this narrative. And she refused to allow us to show the world who we are with a small voice on the stage.
Let me tell you who we are. My father was born in the WB in 1931. During the Nakba my grandparents decided the best option of survival was to split the family. My father was sent to USVI, leaving his family. My cousins still live (hopefully) in the home my dad was born in.
My father made it to PR where he enlisted in the US Army as a Palestine National. He was sent to Korea in the first integrated unit the Army sent to Korea.
My brother served in the FBIi for nearly 2 decades, even receiving an award from Robert Muller, the director of the FBI at the time.
Palestinians are the highest educated group in the Arab world with nearly a 100% literacy rate in the WB and Gaza today.
47% of Palestinian Americans have at least a Bachelor degree. Making us second only to white males.
My grandfather spoke three languages and my father spoke 4.
Palestinians respect all religions because we were born in the holy land, home to holy sites of 3 major world religions. My mother is Christian, my brother is gay and we did not throw him off our roof, we went to his wedding.
Thank you for giving Palestinian the space to introduce ourselves to the world. People have told us who we are, and refused to let us show them.
Thank you, thank you for seeing us.
I will not vote for Harris because she will not recognize me as human.
Fatima
,
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
Many thanks to Jon Stewart and to Mehdi for speaking truth to power. I was appalled that the DNC refused to give the Palestinian American delegation an opportunity to address the convention, and Harris should have used her status as Vice-President to let them speak but instead, they chose an Israeli couple whose son is a hostage. I am not trying to diminish their pain and anguish but what about the slaughter of over 40,000 Palestinians in a genocide war that the US is funding with American tax dollars? There is NO justification for this and if Biden had any moral integrity, he could tell Netanyahu that the US will stop funding his campaign but sadly, he will not. I thought about Martin Luther King's 1967 speech at Riverside church in New York when he spoke out against the war in Vietnam and the criticism he endured for telling the truth. There are not many leaders in today's world with that kind of courage. Thanks to Zeteo for an invaluable forum without the hype.
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
Mehdi, yes the greatest disappointment and biggest failure, perhaps only failure, of the Democratic Convention was the intentional exclusion of a Palestinian-American speaker to highlight the grim horror innocent Gaza Palestinians are facing at the merciless hands of a Netanyahu-controlled, out-of-control IDF. The exclusion of Palestinian Americans from speaking made me sick. It was a throwback to the old Neoliberal days of the Democratic Party that I thought were in our rear-view mirror. Evidently not. But as disgusted as I am, my existential radar tells me we must not be distracted from the job of getting Kamala Harris elected in November and Donald Trump well and soundly defeated. Once that is done. Then, take the gloves off and let the Democratic Party and President-Elect know where we stand in no uncertain terms. That is my opinion. I welcome disagreement.
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF
I am profoundly ashamed of and disturbed by our response to Israel’s war crimes. I am even more disturbed by the possibility of Tr*mp’s re-election. There is no doubt in my mind that should the Dems upset them, AIPAC, the ADL, and Netanyahu would do everything in their considerable power to torpedo Harris’s campaign and re-elect Tr*mp.
Hi friends, pls sign this petition to list individual IDF soldiers accountable on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist List: https://chng.it/sPyssnJYbF