this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2025
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Summary

Trump plans to lift the Biden administration’s freeze on supplying 2,000-pound bombs to Israel and reverse sanctions against Israeli settlers.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (6 children)

At no point did Biden ever, once, tell Israel to continue killing Palestinians. The support was provided for defense from Iran, full stop.

October 25th, 2023: https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-criticizes-extremist-settlers-west-bank-2023-10-25/

August 1st, 2024:
https://www.jns.org/biden-reaffirms-support-for-israeli-self-defense-against-iran-in-call-with-netanyahu/

November 26th, 2024:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/biden-says-israel-has-right-to-self-defense-if-hezbollah-or-anyone-else-breaks-deal/

What Israel chose to do with that support is on Israel, not Biden.

Removed again for misinformation and temp banned.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

What Israel chose to do with that support is on Israel, not Biden.

This is an awfully subjective political opinion to be moderating on.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

It's not subjective. Biden's opinion on Israel is matter of fact stated and quoted multiple times.

Subjectively, I find it incredibly naive (especially for a President), but it's not the same as Biden dropping the bombs himself which is how the "buh buh gEnOcIdE!" folks are playing it.

In the end, we now have a President whose only opinion* is Israel didn't commit the genocide fast enough.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/04/politics/trump-israel-comments/index.html

“They’ve got to finish what they started, and they’ve got to finish it fast, and we have to get on with life.”

That's what a pro-genocide President looks like.

* That's unfair, he's also of the opinion that a ruined Gaza is a great beachfront development opportunity.

https://youtu.be/gSoT22pCBGM

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I quoted the subjective opinion. "I just gave the murderer a gun, and told him to only use it for legitimate self-defense" isn't a situation where most people would consider the gun-giver to have no moral responsibility for a future killing. If you think it is, that's an unusual but valid opinion, but calling that an objective fact is not true.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

That doesn't work as a matter of international law.

For example, we have had multiple instances where we provided civil aid to a country only to have it confiscated and misappropriated by a corrupt government, that doesn't mean we stop sending aid.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

You're not the Hague and law is not morality. Taking the stance that a "plz don't use for genocide" note absolves the United States of responsibility is a subjective stance. You can carry on an argument for why you think that should be the case, but you shouldn't be moderating because someone does not hold your view.

And none of your examples apply in the least to sending weapons to Israel post invasion. They're using our weapons to do genocide, the same people are in power, and the weapons are being used out in the open as official acts by the government.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

The fact of the matter is that Israel is (correctly) being blamed by the ICC, NOT America.

Not that it matters what the ICC says anyway, but that's an entirely different problem.

The real problem is Israel doesn't need our help exterminating Gazans, they never have. They didn't need our help starting the blockade back in the 90s, they didn't need our help killing people immediately following Oct. 7, and their snipers don't need our help killing kids today in violation of the cease fire.

https://lemmy.world/post/24563168

The notion that it would have all stopped except for Biden's aid is a child-like understanding of what's been happening over there and the knee-jerk lemmy reaction of "US bad".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

This is a fine subjective argument you're making. You keep coming back to this with your opinion on responsibility and not addressing that this is your opinion on a subjective subject (how responsibility is divided between an actor and someone who has supported them). There's lots of interesting moral philosophy about the subject.

What it isn't is objective truth. No amount of arguing is going to change that. You might theoretically even change my opinion, but it's never going to become an objective truth that justifies moderating someone saying "Biden supported genocide" as misinformation.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Again, not subjective. The ICC has charged Israel, not the United States, not Biden.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/11/israel-opt-netanyahu-gallant-and-al-masri-must-face-justice-at-the-icc-for-charges-of-war-crimes-and-crimes-against-humanity/

If the US were to blame for the Genocide, the ICC would have charged Biden right alongside Netanyahu just like they charged Putin over Ukraine, they did not.

But, like I say, it doesn't really matter as the ICC rulings have no enforcement. Would be nice!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

JFC dude. The ICC is not the arbiter of people's legitimate moral philosophy and you are not a judge at the Hague. You can't export your moral (or moderation) judgement to the court system.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

Philosophy doesn't enter into it, this is about legal liability and the facts are right behind what I'm telling you. Quoted, cited facts.

I'm not asking you to LIKE it. But you have to accept the reality that only a very small fringe believes Biden is to blame for this.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 45 minutes ago) (1 children)

only a very small fringe believes Biden is to blame for this

You have this so backwards it actually makes my head hurt.

It is a shame you are a moderator in this community given your strange sense of when appealing to an authority for truth is acceptable and when it isn't.

Like... sure the ICJ is necessary and great but who is to say they don't believe the US and Biden are directly complicit they just know saying the whole truth gives them zero chance of winning? That is a very simple but reasonable hypothetical and I made it to point out the massive blindspot in your understanding of the world.

Biden absolutely is as directly morally culpable as if he had dropped the bombs himself, you don't get to play games with escaping culpability when you get the job as president...

and just to be clear, fuck Trump

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Again, morality and philosophy are subjective. Legally, which is objective, Biden is not responsible.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 54 minutes ago* (last edited 47 minutes ago) (1 children)

So we are only allowed to discuss responsibility in the context of a narrow legal definition... on a world news sub?

You are searching for a line between the black and white and you don't realize you are in a sea of different shades of grey.

The question over whether Biden is responsible is inherently subjective and even if it wasn't an authorities' conclusion that Biden is or isn't responsible for the Palestinian genocide is inherently subjective...and subject to interests that may influence and distort a picture of the truth.

Also, what would happen if the legal definition of responsibility was unethical and unjust and you knew it? Would you still moderate according to those rules even if they violated your core values?

The law is a record of political and human struggle, there is nothing about it that makes it somehow impervious to bias or corruption like (arguably) the study of pure math or logic is.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 47 minutes ago (1 children)

No, you can discuss anything you want, but you won't be allowed to assert blatant falsehoods as true.

Same goes when I remove the arguments about Ukranians being Nazis or how they were the real aggressors after Russia invaded them or how the Uyghur genocide is all made up by Western powers to make China look bad.

Bullshit gets removed, repeated, unrepentent bullshit gets a temp ban. Repeated temp bans get longer and longer until the bullshit is excised.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 33 minutes ago (1 children)

Same goes when I remove the arguments about ... how the Uyghur genocide is all made up by Western powers to make China look bad.

What an example to choose. I.C.C. Won’t Investigate China’s Detention of Muslims

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 minutes ago (1 children)

From your article:

"Prosecutors in The Hague said on Monday that they would not, for the moment, investigate allegations that China had committed genocide and crimes against humanity regarding the Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group, because the alleged crimes took place in China, which is not a party to the court."

They have no legal jurusdiction in China.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 minutes ago

They don't have legal jurisdiction in the United States either!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

NO, IT ISN'T. The discussion was never about legal liability. You made that excuse! Whether Biden is responsible is a moral question, not a legal one. There's whole fields of moral philosophy about these things. You can be responsible for simply not stopping a third party from doing something, let alone actively enabling them.

But you have to accept the reality that only a very small fringe believes Biden is to blame for this.

Even if that's true, that doesn't matter, and SUBJECTIVELY, I think you're the one with a weird minority position (no responsibility for arming someone known to be dangerous). The whole point is that neither of these position is an objective truth, because they're about moral belief. You've got an opinion, it could even be the majority opinion, but it's an OPINION, because the whole question doesn't have an objective answer.

I really don't get how you think this is a legal question, or that the ICC would be the ultimate deciding body of what legitimate opinions people can hold about responsibility for immoral acts. It's a baffling opinion, and I'd love to do this debate back and forth, but the resolution of our moral debate is irrelevant, because the real problem is that you're moderating based on a subjective belief and for some reason unable to even recognize that moral responsibility is a subjective topic.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

It absolutely is, you kept bringing up the subjective vs. objective argument.

The objective truth is the legal rulings from the ICC court cited above.

Your subjective notion of what's "philosophically true" cannot be objectively proven one way or the other. That's the very nature of philosophy.

I gave you the citations from Biden stating his reasoning, I gave you the ruling from the ICC. These are all the legal standings surrounding Biden's support of Israel.

If you want the objective truth, you have it, quoted and sourced. If you choose to reject it, well, I can't help you with that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Holy fuck man, go talk to one of your other mods, because you're not really not addressing this at all.

This was never a legal matter. YOU injected that to justify moderating a moral viewpoint. The original comments are in the modlog. They weren't making a statement about law. I wasn't making a statement about law. YOU are the one defining the only legitimate "responsibility" a human can hold being if they are charged with a crime.

Do you think China is not responsible for the genocide of the Uyghurs because the ICC isn't charging them? Was Netanyahu not responsible for the genocide before the ICC case? Are only Netanyahu and Gallant responsible because they were the only ones charged? "What the court says is the only allowed truth" is such a broken viewpoint for a moderator to hold on a message board.

Your subjective notion of what’s “philosophically true” cannot be objectively proven one way or the other. That’s the very nature of philosophy.

YES. THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT. You moderated a subjective opinion as misinformation and then justified it with your own subjective opinion. Then insisted you were making an objective decision by pretending this was a conversation about the ICC. What the ICC thinks is irrelevant to the whole conversation. You can cite them as much as you want, but it was never the question being discussed. And like really trivially obviously so.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 52 minutes ago* (last edited 51 minutes ago) (1 children)

Again, not a moral viewpoint.

Objectively, by any and all legal definition, Israel is responsible for the genocide in Gaza NOT Biden.

Quoted, and cited. You can go on and on about how you "feel" diferently, but you can't say that and ignore a legal ruling as being subjective.

Unless, and I'm open to the very real possibility at this point, that you don't ACTUALLY know the definitions of "objective" and "subjective".

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/objective

1: expressing or dealing with facts or conditions as perceived without distortion by personal feelings, prejudices, or interpretations

The ICC found Israel and Netanyahu responsible for the genocide in Gaza. Factually true. They did not charge Biden. Factually true. Cited above. This is the objective reality of the situation and comments accusing Biden of genocide will continue to be removed as misinformation.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subjective

3a : characteristic of or belonging to reality as perceived rather than as independent of mind

4a(1) : peculiar to a particular individual

(2) : modified or affected by personal views, experience, or background

5 : lacking in reality or substance

"I don't care what the ICC says! I feel different!"

That would be you. We're done here, it's like talking to a poorly informed wall.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 46 minutes ago

TALK TO YOUR FELLOW MODERATORS. This is both a massive failure as a moderator and breaking your own civility rules. I've been a mod, it's a hard job, but right now you're totally failing at the role and need to step back and reevaluate what you've been doing.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Israel_in_the_Israel%E2%80%93Hamas_war

Are you really trying to claim that USA supported israel without knowing they would have leveled gaza?

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

No, I'm saying Biden stated, repeatedly, he was providing support for the legitimate defense of Israel, for which he was a full supporter.

October 25th, 2023: https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-criticizes-extremist-settlers-west-bank-2023-10-25/

August 1st, 2024:
https://www.jns.org/biden-reaffirms-support-for-israeli-self-defense-against-iran-in-call-with-netanyahu/

November 26th, 2024:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/biden-says-israel-has-right-to-self-defense-if-hezbollah-or-anyone-else-breaks-deal/

What Israel chose to do with that aid is on THEM, not Biden.