Jonathan Basest 🇨🇦✡️

If the pro-Israel side here in Ireland had a 'comedian' repeatedly making 'jokes' about being sexually aroused by the thought of Gaza being bombed, it would be a national scandal. People would react with revulsion - and rightly so. Yet this 'comedian' has repeatedly 'joked' that he's aroused by the thought of Israelis dying and by Israelis being bombed. He also reposted content about making shoes for Palestinian children from the skin of dead Israels. How disturbing is that!? Seriously. If this isn't another perfect example of double standards and antisemitism in Ireland, I don't know what is. I don't know any Irish Jew or anyone on the pro-Israel side here in Ireland who would behave like this, and if they did, they would likely be publicly condemned and asked to leave the community. Yet, we're repeatedly told to 'name one example of antisemitism in Ireland, I'll wait.' It's beyond a joke at this stage. One positive in all of this is that these people are exposing themselves publicly, so we don't have to, but imagine what it's like to live here at the moment! And yet, many on the pro-Palestine side here either laugh along with this sick and twisted individual or try to explain away his behaviour. The Palestinian people should reject people like this, who are obviously using them for their own agenda, whether that's making money, attracting attention, or incorrectly projecting our conflict with Britain onto their one. In my view, they have cheered them towards destruction and are in no position to look down on or judge anybody else.

Today is International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. Sadly, women and girls have been targeted with sexual violence throughout history's wars and conflicts. Today, we remember every single victim and every survivor. I want to particularly address the case of Naama Levy, an Israeli woman whose obvious assault has been mocked, minimised, and denied by many people simply because she is Jewish. A man with a gun dragged her around as a trophy, celebrating while she bled from her genitals and her hands were tied behind her back. Yet people still deny that she was sexually assaulted. In fact, many of those doing so are women who consider themselves left-wing, women who consider themselves 'humanitarians,' women who consider themselves 'feminists.' Truly sickening. I'm not sure what kind of mental gymnastics someone has to go through to look at what happened to Naama and conclude that she was not sexually assaulted. What I do know is that it requires abandoning the most basic standards of empathy, consistency, and humanity. Today, I am sharing a photograph of Naama looking happy, healthy, strong, and beautiful. I refuse to share the image of her bleeding from her genitals, and I wish her nothing but happiness, healing, and peace 🤍

Tomorrow, Kim Damti should be celebrating her 25th birthday, a milestone cruelly denied to a young woman who embodied the very best of both the Irish and Israeli communities 💔

Shalom, mo chairde! I'm back. While creating a new profile, I found an old backup account I'd forgotten about - saving me a lot of hassle 🙏 Since it's never been used, it seems profile edits are limited for now. Any help boosting it is appreciated. More posts soon! ❤️