(…) Ben Gvir and Smotrich leading the charge
Late last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu entered into a coalition government with Itamar Ben Gvir’s Jewish Power party and firebrand Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionist Party.
Ben Gvir’s far-right Jewish Power party was founded by Meir Kahane. A far-right rabbi and former MP, he previously led the Kach party, an organisation which was outlawed by Israel after one of its followers gunned down 29 Muslim worshippers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron as they prayed.
Meanwhile, Smotrich, a self-declared “fascist homophobe”, was appointed finance minister and also handed broad authority over civilian issues in the West Bank, enabling him to increase settlement construction and thwart Palestinian development.
Since then, Smotrich has been in charge of civilian affairs in Area C of the occupied West Bank, where Israel has full security and civilian control. (…)
They are not settlers! That’s the wrong word. Maybe invaders, but definitely genicidal maniacs
Colonists fits way better
Settlers make it seem like they’re just building their homes in uninhabited places.
They are. Just not on owned legal land by them… They’re not moving into existing houses or something like that which, the impression I got, you think they do.
@Linkerbaan settlers sounds like a bunch of violent colonists to me.
Maybe it’s because I come from a country where settlers came and took people’s land etc.
Conquerors, mebe.
No, conquerors implies there’s some kind of war. Killing random civilians and taking their homes isn’t conquering anything.
Yeah the word “settler” sounds so benign, but displacing human beings and chasing them from their homes is far from benign.
And I’m not even talking about any of the violence, murder and trauma that’s often involved.
How many times have people “settled” areas that didn’t have others living on there?
To anyone who’s keeping up with Palestine, settler doesn’t sound like anything but “invading genocidal maniac”, so in that case it’s the appropriate term.
The problem is that a lot of people aren’t keeping up
I wonder why you say this? Anyways, I had the same conversation yesterday, so I hope you won’t mind if I just copy-paste the answer.
According to the United Nations they are settlers. [link - March 2022]
Also even The Times of Israel calls them settlers
Palestinian shot dead by settler while harvesting olives in West Bank – report
So, I think it would be fair to say it is the correct word?
Let me ask you something… If I threw Molotov cocktails through your windows while you and your family slept. Then built my new house on the ashes. What am I?
A meanie 😡