Honest Government Ad | Israel & Gaza 🇮🇱 🇵🇸
Dear Patrons
Here is our latest Honest Government Ad: Israel & Gaza
Thank you to all the Patrons who sent me thoughts and feedback on the preview a few days ago - both supportive and critical. This helped me to make some changes to the script, and to the visuals, to address the valid points raised. I really appreciate it.
As I said when I shared the preview, it's hard to say anything about what’s happening without pissing someone off. But it's even harder to remain silent in the face of what’s happening.
I am deeply inspired by the voices of humanity and reason amid the chaos - so I chose to amplify those of these Israeli and Palestinian writers, whose words I hope you will read below.
👉 Inspired by Daniel Levy & Zaha Hassan
👉 And by Yuval Noah Harari
Our hearts go out to all those who have lost family and friends, regardless of nationality.
Thank you for supporting our work - even when we venture into treacherous terrain like this. And if our opinions differ, I hope we can always meet in the common ground of truth and humanity. Which is where I have tried to pitch the tent of this Honest Government Ad.
Giordano & team
Link to Youtube video
Comments (35)
Given all the sensitivities around so many of the "shit locations" in the world, you pulled off quite the balanced video - demonstrating the amazing ability of theJuicemedia team. (I particularly liked the rapid fire images of, as you would call it, shitfuckeries and shitfuckers. Made my day to see Elon included as he's certainly responsible for quite a few unhinged things.) One minor quibble: the disinformation pushed out into the press does not, in my mind, cause all this. It is more the way of justifying it or refocusing people onto irrelevant points - often not even factual. That sustains whatever shitfuckery is being reported on ... as opposed to causing it in the first place. The tired old geezers clinging to power are usually the causal elements as they are really good at whipping up emotions, particularly irrational, nationalistic hatred, through disinformation.
That's a good point, Robert. Thanks for noting an important subtlety at work. I reckoned Giordano was riffing on the idea of Chomsky's five filters, Arendt's enchantment with success, or Lippmann's "bewildered herd". That mass media is our immediate interface with power, so -- from the bottom of the pyramid anyway -- they are the immediate source of distorted perception. Angry old fuckwits are at the tip of the pyramid flowing shit down the slope. Mass media uses their position part way down to add mono-flavour and pump that shit over everything below in a nice, even coating. We look up and can kinda see the nozzles labeled "LULZ Network" or some such, and in the process ingest some of the mono-flavoured bullshit. If all goes to plan we ask for more.
What a puerile, poorly researched piece of 'bullshit propaganda'. Israel withdrew from Gaza 18 years ago. For the last 18 years Gaza has NOT been occupied by Israel.Throughout that time Israel has provided Gaza with water, electricity, health services and other humanitarian aid. This is despite the fact that Gaza has been under the control of Hamas since 2007. Hamas is a terrorist organisation that kills and tortures its own citizens. It embeds its military operations within schools, hospitals and residential buildings, thereby using civilians as human shields. Juice Media, you have forever lost my support for spreading such misinformation.
Hi Anna, I can't argue with you if you didn't like our latest HGA, but I can certainly defend against your claim here that we "spread misinformation" re: Israel's occupation of Palestine, of which Gaza is a part. Of course you are free to believe whatever you like - and to end your support of our work over those beliefs. But for anyone else here wondering whether our work is indeed "poorly researched", I'd like to reassure you that accuracy and solid research are my priority and I take this extremely seriously in all of my HGAs - especially sensitive ones such as this one. So firstly, you can confirm for yourself that Gaza is defined as being part of the "Palestinian *Occupied* Territories" with a simple search on wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_territories) or any other independent entity such as the UN or even the US State Department (https://www.state.gov/reports/2016-report-on-international-religious-freedom/israel-and-the-occupied-territories/israel-and-the-occupied-territories-the-occupied-territories/). Yes, Israel withdrew troops from Gaza in 2005 but that doesn't mean it left Gaza to be free and self-determinant - which is the *definition of NOT being occupied*. This blockade - in which Israel sealed off Gaza from the outside world, turning it into an open air prison and preventing normal trade with the outside world - has long been considered a form of collective punishment and illegal under international law: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-gaza-rights-idUSTRE78C59R20110913 Yes, Israel provided Gaza with water, electricity etc - but that's not charity: that's a necessary part of Israel's illegal blockade / occupation of Gaza; for if Gaza were truly free and not occupied, it would have its own ways of obtaining water, electricity aid etc. Moreover, the water in Gaza was almost entirely polluted; most people lived with food insecurity; a third of Gaza's arable land and most of its fishing waters are inaccessible due to IDF measures - and so much more, which you can verify in this UN report: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2011/09/how-can-israels-blockade-gaza-be-legal-un-independent-experts-palmer-report Should I have used "blockade" instead of "occupation" in order to address this critique? No, that would be minimising the broader context of the conflict, which the HGA defines as being Israel's occupation of Palestine (which as mentioned includes not just the West Bank and East Jerusalem, but also the Gaza Strip). Should I have gone into more detail on this to make that point clear? Perhaps. The reason I didn't, is what makes the HGA format work: simplifying some things helps make it easier for people to understand, knowing that we back up that simplicity with accurate research. You can totally criticise the HGAs for that approach - but that does not mean it's "misinformation" or "poorly researched". I'd like to end by saying that NONE of this of detracts from our condemnation of Hamas's actions - and the empathy we have with victims and their families - which is clearly stated in our HGA. And that's because, as the video makes clear, we can and should hold all three of those truths simultaneously: that Hamas's attacks were inhumane and illegal; that Israel's collective punishment of Gaza for those attacks is inhumane and illegal; and that both occured within the context of an *occupation* that is inhumane and illegal.
I was concerned that this would be grief you didn't need. But congratulations to you for being brave enough to tackle it, and double congratulations for modifying your usual style to suit the topic and for giving us the three key truths so powerfully. (Perhaps the excellent essay by Levy and Hassan would have sufficed for background wisdom)
Thank you Richard. It certainly is, but the thought of remaining silent to avoid that grief, would have caused far more grief!
Thanks, JuiceMedia. It's a horrible subject for one of your videos; but the world can't look away from events which are so harmful.
Cheers John
Nice job! Here's to holding 3 truths in your head.
Indeed, thanks Drew xo
Great job. You made so many good choices with this to keep the focus where it should be. All three. At the same time
Thank you Vicki. It was tempting to try and say more, to venture further out. But every time i tried, i ended up coming back to these three truths - i'm not sure where to go from there tbh, but surely that's where we need to congregate before going further. That, and stopping the killing of civilians and children in Gaza
You did it, Giordano. Not that I'm surprised. And look around your tent. See how many others are there?
Yes :) Thanks for your encouragement Justin, it helped a lot.
Well done, Giordano! Zoë's expressions were spot on! It really is hard to believe that so many of our species are still clinging so hard to Bronze Age fables that they're willing to murder innocent civilians.
Cheers Mark xo
Thank you for expressing the conflicting emotions in our minds, and the conflicting solutions which rely on the history of cause and effect of Occupation.
you're welcome Jayjay xo
Great video, it captures what needs to be said, and repeated loudly in a perfect balance. I was already a fan of your channel, but here you've stepped up to the next level. Amazing work, and thanks for creating it, so that it can be shared!
You're welcome Benjamin - thanks to you and all our Patrons for making it possible to create it!
Well done Giordano. Brilliant handling of an extremely volatile subject, where there are no winners amongst the civilian populations.
Thank you Alan xo
Umm , well did you notice all the people of Israel in the streets protesting Netanyahu’s reasonableness claim. You know, run Israel like an Old Testament theocracy shit! Funny how Hamas that was started with full approval from Israel attacks just as the world notices the theocracy shit in the supposed only Democracy in the Middle East. I know “Conspiracy theory” is a mental illness but it might explain a lot if only it had credibility. #BDS, REMEMBER THE USS LIBERTY. Keep up the great work on such delicate topics as the apocalypse, thanks again from NYC
Ever noticed any demonstrations against the Hamas in Gaza? No? That's because they threw their rivals (and gays, and anyone who winked in the wrong way) off the roofs back when they took control around about 2007. There were huge demonstrations against the Israeli government BECAUSE it's still not a theocracy and the demonstrators are trying to stop it from becoming one.
A tricky subject to cover - you did it very well. Let's hope the killing on all sides stops soon.
Thanks Ewan - i doubt it but I share your hope
Very well done.
Cheers Paul xo
Thank you for this! The killing needs to stop
agreed
Israel is doing in Palestine exactly as did the Nazis in Europe 85 odd years ago.
Perfectly balanced message, perfectly delivered. I especially like 'Enshittenment' - as a contrast to the enlightenment it encapsulates our era well!
Thanks Marc! We might make more Enshittenment episodes - lord knows there's a few examples to cover
I just watched the YouTube version of this and the video and audio are quite out of sync. Otherwise I think you hit the nail fairly on the head.
Weird - it looks okay on our end (apart from the usual small sync issues)... I've found sometimes online videos can be out of sync for other reasons... have you tried on another device / browser?