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Something terrible may be about to happen in Jerusalem. There is an annual march through the city, including its Muslim quarter, that attracts a strong racist element. Every Israeli security agency has called for it to be rerouted today. They were overruled. It begins in 1.5 hrs.
This conflagration is entirely preventable, and is only happening because politicians—likely Netanyahu's toady public security minister Amir Ohana—are disregarding what the entire Israeli security apparatus, including defense minister Benny Gantz, has said. https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/1391733718356742149
Meanwhile, at the same time, there is a peace march going through Jerusalem right now, which will probably get no coverage or social media attention, because almost nothing non-polarizing and positive-sum in Israel-Palestine ever does. That's a choice too. https://twitter.com/Plus61J/status/1391725898366390273
UPDATE: This is good news. Hopefully it's not too late and the police can actually keep the marchers to the new route. Let's hope more responsible decision-making follows. https://twitter.com/haaretzcom/status/1391743454821093379
I already got one "Hitler was right!" reply to this thread. One reason Israel-Palestine and the discourse around it is so toxic is because people insist on demonizing one side, when they are all just ... human beings. Flawed and hurt and broken, just like the rest of us.
If you truly want to understand Israel-Palestine, talk to actual Palestinians & Israelis. Not just extremists who go viral precisely for their extremism, chanting "Bomb Tel Aviv" or "Death to Arabs." Most Palestinians & Israelis are nothing like that, if you bother to meet them. https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/1391746473914732544
One toxic effect of social media is that it ensures that we only know of entire communities through tiny clips that are incendiary enough to go viral. This means that outsiders end up viewing these communities through the lens of their extremists, not their ordinary people. https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/1391749818087886853
UPDATE 2: After the police rerouted the Jerusalem march, reportedly at Netanyahu's direction, the organizers cancelled it in protest. Better for all concerned, though one wonders whether some extremists who showed up will leave quietly.
