Just a reminder that censorship is not okay

 I'm seeing a lot of accusations online that some European countries are cracking down on pro Palestinian sentiment in their country. it's almost reminding me of what we did during WWI where anyone who spoke out against the war was arrested. You know how that happened to Eugene Debs that one time? Good times. Not. 

Part of this seems to be based on the idea of wanting to create a pro war narrative that can't be disputed without being demonized or criminalized, but part of me also thinks it's just anti immigrant sentiment, Europeans don't like Muslims much it seems...

To me, this is disturbing. Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of democracy, and given my support of Israel is because they are the more pro western and pro democracy faction occupying that land, it bothers me to see censorship there. Also, Europe, wtf Europe, I know a lot of people dont like Muslims there but wtf. 

Honestly, it's even worse when you consider that all of Palestine is not Hamas. hamas is a radical, genocidal, terrorist faction of Palestinians. They do control Palestine's territories as they were elected in 2006, but they are very much a terrorist group not representative of all Palestinian views. And it is possible to be moderately pro Palestine and be anti Hamas. A lot of us moderates on the left probably have sympathy to both factions in this region of the world to varying extents. Just because I think one is not as bad as the other doesn't mean both suck. I personally think Netanyahu is going too far at times and he's cynically manipulating the situation to push his own pro Israel agenda. He didn't prevent the attacks despite potentially knowing of them, and he's using the situation to make the world sympathetic to his cause, while he just goes in and acts as brutally as he can get away with. Which is kinda messed up. Don't think that because I understand Israel needs to do something that I support Israel doing ANYTHING. No. I'm a nuanced free thinker. Bombing of civilians (when not an accident or some necessary evil) is not okay (even then...). Censoring opposing viewpoints is not okay. Settlements are not okay.

Yes, go after Hamas. But do it as sanely and civilly as you can. Try to be the moral faction, and by the way, I like how Biden is actually trying to rein in Netanyahu here. I watched Biden's 60 minute interview this morning and I support the dude's amount of nuance he uses in approaching the situation. he too wants Netanyahu to act, but to do so within the confines of morality and international law. And I support that moderate approach. I don't want him to go full neocon and do war crimes and crap. I just wanna get the job done with the least amount of harm done as possible.