Shalom Mahmoud, the Occupation Is Home
FREE THE HOSTAGE.
That’s it, people. We’ve reached the point where polite dissection no longer works. The relentless stream of outrageous news has us all feeling drunk, high, anxious, delirious—or, more often than not, all of the above.
You’re used to well-researched, sourced articles grounded in journalistic rigor here on Antagolist. But lately, I’ve been coming out of left field, right field, any field, hitting you with poems or pure rage. And I’ve noticed an overwhelming number of you responding to my rage far more than to polite dissection—because my rage doesn’t just reflect yours. It feels it. It bears witness to it.
One such piece was Small Bodies, published last month, which was shared over 10,000 times across social media. Celebrities, actors, singers, and activists shared it—rage finds us all, big or small, and we find our own in someone else’s. If you haven’t read it yet, check it out below.
Small Bodies
It’s the inequality that kills me. Watching it daily, how did I not notice it before Gaza? Or was it not egregious enough to break through our perception? Watching Palestinian people be so worthless in the eyes of the entire world, watching the Israeli Armed Forces dump their bodies, excavate their bodies, drive over them, steal their organs—bodies of p…
I’ve been told it’s a therapeutic read.
While I’m writing this, Alon Mizrahi, one of my favorite anti-imperial writers, just posted: “This is the written version of me punching walls and breaking furniture with rage”, accompanying his latest article.
The rage is exactly what it is. We are angry, tired, appalled. There are dead bodies everywhere—those actively opposing this are being disappeared by governments, while those of us bearing witness are being gaslit about the reality unfolding before our eyes.
My latest rage?
“Shalom, Mahmoud.”
It’s been five days, and I’m still floored by the White House doing this. It feels unreal, like a dream, a nightmare, a dystopia even stronger than what we’ve witnessed over the past 17 months:
These words alone are as enraging as ICE snatching a legal resident — Columbia graduate and green card holder with an American wife — for speaking. For organizing protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, demanding that Columbia University divest from companies funding Israel’s occupation, dehumanization, and slaughter of the Palestinian people. HIS people.
Times are so dire that it's crucial we call things by their rightful names and not get lost in the sandbox of political jargon designed to throw us off track.
The who and the why is important here.
Who?
Let’s start with “Trump bringing fascism back”. I’m going to stop you right there. Fascism was already here. Were you at the Columbia University encampment in April of last year when the NYPD, under the Biden Administration, marched onto the campus in lockstep like the Gestapo before throwing students on the floor like they were pieces of furniture, before arresting them on no charge?
I was.
Were you present on Earth when the Heritage Foundation started to draw Project Ester in October of 2024, before Trump was in office?
I was.
Where were you during 2023 and 2024 while Democrats committed unrestrained genocide with maximum weapons and zero conditions?
I was here.
Where you here?
Whether you are conscious of this or not, liberals worked very hard to convince you we just need one big Ogre, one Marvel Villain to direct all our rage at, so that they can normalize injustice under the illusion of virtue, which makes them the agents of oppression, and not your friend.
Read this tweet and read it well:
The Biden administration started what Trump is implementing right now, and if Kamala had won instead of Trump, she would be siccing ICE to snatch people in the middle of the night right now. This is teamwork, people. Things we see today were already put in place, and the figurehead in the Oval Office is just that. A figurehead. This fascism is bipartisan. Trump is just putting an uglier face to it.
Stephen Semler expands in his piece for Forever Wars:
“The Biden Administration gave political cover to the universities that employed a violent response to the protests. When President Biden addressed the campus protests on May 2, he portrayed the protests as violent and outside the bounds of protected speech. “We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent…But neither are we a lawless country,” Biden said. “Order must prevail.” A few weeks later, First Lady Jill Biden implied that the protests were largely violent during her appearance on The View.”
Why?
The important thing right now is to be precise, to know exactly the who, and the why. Why do we keep analyzing why this is happening within the realm of the US government, when we know the US government is doing this because the Zionist donors are demanding this from the US President? After all, they paid him 100 million dollars for it.
For days, I have been reading tweets, threads, articles, and opinion pieces on the authoritarian American government that’s going insane. Let’s imagine for a second that Zionism doesn’t exist and Jewish people migrated to Palestine after WW2, but chose to live under one state, together with Arabs, Muslims, Druze, and Christians — in peace, like centuries before. Imagine that reality.
Do you really think the White House would be hunting down students in the US, in that reality? It barely registers in the Western consciousness just how much the state of Israel and the Israel lobby influence our government, laws, bills, and policies.
Max Blumenthal explained it well, as always:
“The Trump Administration is being pressured by Zionist groups—it's relying on extreme fanatical radical Zionist groups to gather names and data, and then it's going after them in order to appease the Trump's donors who paid for his campaign, and who are going to pay for the Republican midterm campaigns.
Trump is sending out this bat signal whenever he does something, and he wants his Zionist billionaire sponsors to know that he's doing it—he's saying Shalom, we will find, apprehended, deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country never to return again.
Shalom Mahmud, it says on the White House's official Twitter account; Shalom Colombia—this is also from the White House Twitter account. Shalom Hamas, means hello and goodbye—you can choose to release all the hostages or there will be hell to pay later, and this was part of justifying Israel's starvation and siege of Gaza which is resumed, so Shalom—the kind of Hebrew greeting for peace associated with Judaism is being used as a term as a declaration of war, and repression of descent at home.
How are people going to, the people who don't support these measures, who don't like having their rights taken away, who don't like watching two million people be starved, who don't like seeing higher education be defunded because of the whining of a select group of extremely easily triggered students—how will they view Jews while Trump is doing this?”
howard zinn american writer and activist - our problem in the world is not civili disobedience is not our problem, civil obedience is our problem -
this is the madness of the moment
Project Esther
To answer that, Project Esther is an initiative linked to the Biden administration. It was started by the U.S. government in response to the rising threats against the Jewish community, aiming to combat anti-Semitism while also protecting the rights of Palestinians. The project was a response to the ongoing issues surrounding the Middle East conflict.
Project Esther is an initiative launched by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, in October 2024. The project aims to combat antisemitism by targeting individuals and organizations it associates with promoting antisemitic content. However, it has faced criticism for allegedly incorporating antisemitic tropes into its rhetoric and for not addressing right-wing antisemitism.
In January 2025, reports revealed that the Heritage Foundation's Project Esther included plans to identify and target Wikipedia editors accused of publishing allegedly antisemitic content.
Additionally, the project has been linked to policy proposals during the Trump administration, such as executive orders aiming to combat antisemitism on university campuses. Critics argue that these measures could suppress free speech and disproportionately affect pro-Palestinian activists.
In Palestine, the broad umbrella term meant to legitimize mass murder is 'Hamas'. In Syria, it is 'Assad supporters'.
In both Palestine and Syria, the slaughter of innocents, the respective genocide, has been organized, armed, and enforced internationally by Western countries that have no historical or geographical link to the Levant.
Both genocides are genocides of preference and convenience for cold political calculation and the spread of Western domination. These are not spontaneous outbursts of uncontrollable popular rage; these cold-clooded, calculated genocides, planned strategically and performed mechanically by people whose only link to the Middle East is their desire to control it.
We must remember this, and, when the ride shifts and the balance of power changes, each of the individuals who planned and enabled this must pay the price for their actions. They must stand trial and have all their crimes detailed and exposed in full.
The culture that breeds such monstrosity can only and will only be hated and detested by the rest of humanity and we need to teach ourselves and our children to hate Western culture; it is a culture of fake and cold-blooded murder. There is absolutely nothing else to it.
zioness
Several Jewish Democratic activists told Jewish Insider that they think it is crucial for speakers, particularly Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, to clearly state their support for Israel.
“The overwhelming support for Jewish safety and sovereignty within our party is unequivocal,” said Amanda Berman, founder and executive director of the Zioness Movement, an advocacy organization focused on growing support for Israel in progressive spaces. “For … Jewish voters across key swing states, it is both morally and politically important that the DNC reaffirm it at every opportunity.”
this state and this many donations - they are
criminalizing conscience under the guise of safety
settlements
The funding of Israeli settlements in the West Bank is a complex and contentious issue, involving a mix of private donors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and government entities. Below is a general overview of the types of groups and sources that have been reported to fund or support settlements, based on publicly available information up to October 2023. Note that this is not an exhaustive list, and the specifics of funding can vary over time.
1. Private Donors and Philanthropists
Many Israeli settlements receive funding from private donors, both within Israel and internationally, particularly from Jewish communities in the United States and Europe. Examples of organizations that facilitate such donations include:
The Jewish National Fund (JNF): While primarily focused on land development in Israel, some of its activities have been linked to settlement projects.
One Israel Fund: A U.S.-based nonprofit that provides financial support for infrastructure, security, and social services in settlements.
Christian Zionist Groups: Some evangelical Christian organizations in the U.S. and elsewhere support Israeli settlements as part of their theological beliefs.
2. Government Funding
The Israeli government provides significant financial support to settlements through infrastructure development, housing subsidies, and security.
Some government ministries, such as the Ministry of Construction and Housing, have been involved in funding settlement expansion.
Indirect funding also occurs through tax breaks and incentives for Israelis who move to settlements.
3. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
Several NGOs actively support settlements through fundraising, legal advocacy, and land acquisition. Examples include:
Ateret Cohanim: Focuses on acquiring property in East Jerusalem and the West Bank for Jewish settlement.
Elad (Ir David Foundation): Works to strengthen Jewish presence in East Jerusalem and surrounding areas.
Regavim: Advocates for Israeli land rights and opposes unauthorized Palestinian construction, often supporting settlement expansion.
4. International Funding
Some funding comes from international sources, including diaspora Jewish communities and pro-Israel advocacy groups.
U.S.-based organizations like The Hebron Fund and Central Fund of Israel have been reported to provide financial support to settlements.
5. Corporate and Business Involvement
Certain businesses and corporations operate in or provide services to settlements, indirectly supporting their economic viability.
For example, Israeli banks and construction companies have been involved in settlement-related projects.
6. Crowdfunding and Online Campaigns
In recent years, crowdfunding platforms have been used to raise money for specific settlement projects or to support settler families.
Controversies and Criticisms
Many of these funding sources are controversial, as settlements are considered illegal under international law by most of the international community, including the United Nations.
Some countries have taken steps to restrict or ban funding to settlements, and there have been calls for greater transparency and accountability regarding such funding.
Research and Advocacy Groups
Organizations like Peace Now and Yesh Din in Israel, as well as international groups like Human Rights Watch and B'Tselem, have documented and criticized settlement funding and expansion.
If you're looking for specific names or more detailed information, I recommend consulting reports from these organizations or investigative journalism outlets like Haaretz, The Guardian, or The New York Times, which have covered this topic extensively. Let me know if you'd like help finding specific sources!