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The 7th of October 2023

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Kat van Suz en Ro

Links about the Simchat Torah massacre by Hamas

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Amsterdam, summer of 2005

‘

 It can happen again

’

"It can happen again..." Ronald shook a cigarette from the package and put it in his mouth. The room at the Nieuwe Achtergracht was pleasantly lit. There were candles on the overflowing bookcase, and next to the round dining table was a large vase with twigs carrying strings of lights.
"Do you really think so?" I asked him, "so much has changed..."
"No. Everything is still there..." Ronald looked at me wearily over the flame of his cigarette lighter.
"What do you mean, 'everything'...? You mean... civil registration, the railways, the hatred...?"
Ronald nodded and blew out cigarette smoke, "Everything. Hatred, infrastructure, technology — I better not say what I think about it, but it only needs one tiny incentive — or nothing.. just nothing... a scapegoat.. a diversion, a decoy — and everything explodes again."
An ominous feeling came over me, which I immediately tried to refute.
"But Ronald, think of everything you and Suzette did with Magenta, think of all your efforts to stream the reading of the 102,000 names at Westerbork earlier this year..."
Ronald shook his head somberly.
"We think the 1930s are far away. But seventy years... it's nothing. It's all still there. It can happen again."
"Ronald!" Suzette came dashing in from the kitchen, "Where's that large gas lighter? Help me flambé the crème brûlée!"
"Flambéing, the best part of dinner — besides eating it," Ronald grinned and followed Suzette to the kitchen.

What would..?

Does it make sense, to wonder: "What would Suzette, what would Ronald have thought about this? What would they have done, in the afternoon of October 7?" Although I did promise Suzette to do that: when I told her how often I wonder 'What would Suzette do in a situation like this?' she asked me: Oh..! Will you still do that when I am gone...? 'Ofcourse Suzette, I will!'

It doesn't make sense to just wonder, what someone else would have done — and then mourn that they are no longer here, and ...do nothing yourself. That's like getting good advice, and not following up on it.

So I started to collect links

While I was collecting news about the October 7 massacre, I soon noticed the escalating antisemitism. On social media platforms, I noticed posts who justified the attack by Hamas, or even supported, denied or celebrated these perverted acts of violence. Not just pathetic persons who by lack of other talent make a living out of trolling like Jackson Hinkle, but also by politicians who claim to fight for justice and equality, regardless of religion, nationality, skin color or gender identity. And by large groups of small people who follow & copy these people.
Unfortunately, I have even seen (proof of) friends receiving full blown antisemitic messages from ...their own friends.
It was and is beyond me how someone doesn't understand there is never an excuse to commit atrocities of the sort that Hamas committed.
And, it is beyond me how someone can start to send their own life long friends antisemitic messages, when someone disapproves of the response of a Prime Minister —who wasn't even elected by these friends.

Our power of discernment

When did we lose the capacity to distinguish fact from fiction and good from bad? OK, I agree that AI technology or smart make-up can suggest things that didn't happen. And I agree that we have seen (former) World Leaders who lie over 30,000 times without blinking an eye, while accusing the media of fake news. All this must have bruised our trust and eroded our confidence in our own power of discernment.

Distinguish good from bad

But even someone with an insecure or critical eye is able to distinguish good from bad. Oh, I hear you say: ‘What is good, what is bad? Nothing but relative concepts.’
No, I am not joining you in your relativism.

Everyone everywhere shares a common moral code

It's true that our concepts of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are grounded in the stories we are raised with. The stories of our cultures may differ. But, like many of us already guessed: Seven moral rules are found all around the world, the University of Oxford has discovered.

What more do we need to understand that October 7 was bad, other than our heart, our brain and the stories of the survivors — or, if you are numbed by the former US-president's 'fake news' rants: the surveillance/dash cam/go-pro videos of the terrorists?

Paralyzing polarization

We need to stop the paralyzing polarization of the “debate”. We (especcially us far away) need to inform ourselves carefully. We need to wonder who benefits from this war. (Putin?) We need to refrain from heavily charged statements, from jumping to conclusions, from justifying evil, from calling for revenge. And let us also stop being an armchair critic, or armchair general.

This is the shortest and sixth version of this text ;-)
Much information is gathered with a browser from 2016, on a 2009 computer, avoiding Google and Personalized search. Thus slightly avoiding the filter bubble pitfall

Links to reports and information

Warning — links may contain photo or video content and/or descriptions, that may be harmful or traumatizing. Viewer discretion advised | Back to Contents

  • October 7
  • Geolocated photos of four civilians, handcuffed, right before, and right after they were killed in Be'eri
  • Text message on x with terrible video of Israeli men taken hostage. The reason I include this link, is that the person who posted it understands Iranian, and mentions the fact that he hears guards singing a song in Iranian to praise Khamenei. The video shows Elkana Bohbot, visibly hurt, and, among several other hostages, a handcuffed man with a T-shirt that reads "אבטחה/avtacha" (security.)

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  • No link, description of link content only:
  • Video; highway with overpass in Israel. Several (8) vehicles, dead persons lying inside and next to the cars on the road. Closeup of a mini van. Passenger door is open, dead person next to the car. Driver, also murdered, still behind the wheel. Dead body in the back of the mini van. Camera switches to murdered female, lying on the road. Camera switches to two cars, passengers killed, dead person lying next to the car.
  • This violent barbaric scene is filmed from two perspectives, possibly with more than one camera or camera angle. Man with yellow T-shirt with hebrew letters on it, lying on a kitchen floor, bleeding from his stomach, obviously alive, because he is moving his arms and hands. His attackers are screaming above him, according to the translation they are fighting who is allowed (WTF?) to kill the man. One of them grabs an object that looks like a shovel with a blade tilted at 90 degrees. The shovel blade is struck several times with great force on the neck of the living man, while loudly shouting the Takbir (Allahu Akbar)
  • Photo of rescue workers recovering the body a terribly burned dead girl. Hands tied with belt-like material. Hands are held in front of the face, frozen in burns and rigor mortis.
  • A video so gruesome that words fail to describe it. Girl, partially naked, open wounds on her leg, a rollerskate lying next to her. Skirt pulled up above her pubic area. Her arm and hand (with still some beautiful fingernails) frozen in rigor mortis and burns, trying to protect her face. Her face is black, totally burned, lips and eyes are gone.

Note: descriptions are mine, I do have these links, and they can also be found through the 21+check-sites mentioned, but the content is too graphic and may lack respect for the victims families

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  • Reports of antisemitism that preceded and followed on October 7; reports of anti-Muslim hate
  • Antisemitism: Dramatic rise in 2021, the report, by the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, also calls out the vast reach of social networks for spreading lies and incitement (BBC, 27 April 2022)
  • Is Hamas winning the online war against Israel? It is fair to assume that the next terrorist [..] was influenced by the extreme, inciting content posted on social networks against the Jewish community, Tomer Aldubi, founder and executive director FOA, about the escalating antisemitism online, Jerusalem Post
  • Fighting Online Antisemitism (FOA) Established in 2020, FOA has trained hundreds of international volunteers to monitor antisemitic content in multiple languages, across leading social media networks

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  • Background, future
  • Whispered in Gaza Hamas has placed Palestinians in Gaza under a communications blockade. Peacecomms.org helps them breach it. Gazans from all walks of life share their stories, struggles and hope for the future.
  • NIF: “Bring. Them. Home.” The New Israel Fund is mobilizing supporters around the world, calling on those in power to help bring home all hostages, now captives of Hamas terrorists who have proven themselves murderous, merciless, and inhumane
  • What International Law Has to Say About the Israel-Hamas War Israel is defending itself, Article 51 of the UN Charter permits actions of inherent self-defense, and the article does not limit that right to actions against the conventional armed forces of another state; Expert article by Council of Foreign Relations

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Cartoon in Farzi on x: How many Hamas terrorists did you find? Share with us
Bakery — Kindergarten

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Demonstration, UK, Visegrad24 on x: "Now do you understand why the
TREES and the ROCKS have to speak?"

  • What if the US Didn’t Go to War in Afghanistan after 9/11? An alternative reaction to 9/11 could have been to expand police/intelligence operations and to work with allies to pressure organisations, which had nothing to do with the terror-attack, to dismember al‐Qaida and to turn over its top members — I include the thought exercise of Cato Institute, even thought there are of course differences
  • Combatants for Peace The Joint Memorial Ceremony, organized by Combatants for Peace (CfP) and The Parents Circle Families Forum, is the largest Israeli-Palestinian jointly organized peace event
  • The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, founded in 1972, ACRI is advocating across the broad spectrum of human rights and civil liberties for everyone living in Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Large version of the Would Would Ro and Suz.... Cartoon



Memories



About the Multi Perspective Collage

Memories, our conscious storage and recollection of events, are always personal. Every photo, every video, every eyewitness account, has a unique perspective and shows a unique part of an event. When we combine multiple memories, we get a multi-perspective account of an event. It may not be perfect, there may still be holes, but overall, we get a good impression what happened.

Large version of Multi Perspective Collage Dinner, august 14, 2005, Photos of the room: Ronald Eissens

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Suzette en Ronald
This website...

...is dedicated to Suzette Bronkhorst and Ronald Eissens, and their relentless, uncompromising battle against racism, discrimination, fascism, extremism and cyber hate. We will preserve their legacy and continue to give our best for a better world, a world of peace, hope and respect for all.

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