TGIF: Useful Idiots: Nellie Bowles
EXCERPTS
War escalating: Rockets have started flying from Yemen toward Israel, as Iran-backed Houthi rebels (who control the country’s capital) enter the fray. Rockets are also being launched toward Israel by Hezbollah in Lebanon. China’s Baidu (basically Google but more so) removed Israel from its maps. And TikTok’s 150 million users in the U.S. were held like foie gras geese and fed pro-Hamas propaganda through their eye holes. Never before has a foreign adversary had a direct line to feed agitprop into the youth of their enemy, and that’s what China has with TikTok, the viral video app managed by (call me crazy) the Chinese Communist Party.
It seems fitting that all our national defense—the world’s greatest army!—was outsmarted by an app shimmying into our lives with fun viral dance videos, makeup tutorials, and instructional videos on how to have dissociative identity disorder. There’s a great new essay by tech entrepreneur and investor Sam Lessin: “TikTok needs to go.”
Hamas’s useful idiots: There are a lot of hardened antisemites in this world, but there are also a lot of sweet dumb people who like to go along with things, and that brings us, this week, to a Senate hearing. A group of protesters from CODEPINK, no doubt among whom are some very nice people, directed by some savvy activists, painted their hands red and sat in a Senate Appropriations Committee meeting calling for Israel to declare a cease-fire. They were told to raise their hands up high and they did. Perhaps what they didn’t realize is that the image mirrored a very famous moment. . . of celebrating murder. After a mob in Ramallah lynched two Israeli soldiers, one of the Palestinian men involved raised his hands to show the Jewish blood to a cheering crowd. Do I think the Senate protesters had any idea? No. Or at least, I hope not. But wow: imagine being a Hamas leader right now in some plush Qatar hotel looking at these Americans mimicking that celebration. It’s incredible! And college kids chanting for jihad and praising the martyrs. Could Hamas have ever imagined how successful October 7 would be for them?
Or watch these peaceful protesters try to lead a group in London cheering: “Khaybar ya yahud.” Which means: “Jews remember Khaybar,” where Muslims defeated a Jewish community. Repeat after me, guys! 5, 6, 7, 8!
Here is Ghazi Hamad, of Hamas’s political bureau, on Lebanese TV on October 24: “Israel is a country that has no place on our land. We must remove that country. . . . We are not afraid to say this with full force. . . . We must teach Israel a lesson and we will do it again and again. The Al-Aqsa flood is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth. . . . We are called a nation of martyrs and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs.” The television interviewer asks: “Does that mean the annihilation of Israel?” Response from Hamas chief: “Yes of course. The existence of Israel is illogical.”
Fun fact: whenever a Hamas leader says their goal is to kill the Jews, the BBC translates it to “Israelis.” There are actually two separate words in Arabic for Jews and Israelis (I just double-checked). But the BBC knows best. They know what Hamas was really trying to say.
Hamas × Vogue collab: All this is so chic. Like, it’s pretty edgy to say babies are fair game because the moment calls for any means necessary. Anyway, Vogue staffer Laia Garcia-Furtado was into it, and so there she is posing at a protest with a flyer in her mouth that reads “RESIST COLONIAL POWER BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.” And Ahed Tamimi, the charismatic young Amnesty International cover girl, who has been celebrated in The Atlantic and CNN as “a symbol of resistance” and leader for peace, had this to say: “Come on settlers, we will slaughter you. We are waiting for you in all the cities of the West Bank. What Hitler did to you was a picnic. We will drink your blood and eat your skulls. We are waiting for you.” Edgy and chic. Cool and normal. Vogue shoot upcoming, no doubt.
→ Weird how Hamas never runs out of fuel: There are a lot of calls for food and fuel (a.k.a. humanitarian aid) to Gaza, which makes sense until you realize that there’s actually tons of food and fuel in Gaza, hoarded by Hamas, which rules Gaza. Credit where it’s due—there were two great stories this week in the mainstream media on this exact fact. First, from NBC: “[M]ore than 80% of [Gaza’s] population lives in poverty, according to the United Nations. [But] Hamas has an investment portfolio of real estate and other assets worth $500 million, say experts, and an annual military budget of as much as $350 million.” Second, from The New York Times’ Matt Rosenberg, we have this piece on the stockpile: “Hamas has hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel for vehicles and rockets; caches of ammunition, explosives, and materials to make more; and stockpiles of food, water, and medicine.”
Asked why Hamas, the ruling government of Gaza, felt no need to help their civilians, a Hamas leader explained “that is the responsibility of the occupation.” And if you’re interested, here’s some footage of the high life in Gaza.
→ My once and future Queen: Hillary Clinton, who has spent the past few years on long walks in flowing clothes, sauntered down the mountain to do what she does best: beat the drums of righteous war: “People who are calling for a cease-fire now do not understand Hamas. That is not possible. It would be such a gift to Hamas because they would spend whatever time [that] there was a cease-fire in effect rebuilding their armaments, creating stronger positions to be able to fend off an eventual assault by the Israelis.” Reader, I voted for Hillary and I’d do it again. Sound off in the comments, Hilla-haters. I don’t care. Emails? I want her to have more secret emails.
Comments are closed.
