The Massachusetts Senate unanimously passed two bills late last week that would provide better access to menstrual products and help reduce the spread of HIV.
An Act Enabling Pharmacists to Prescribe, Dispense and Administer PrEP is a bill that would allow Massachusetts pharmacists to prescribe PrEP — pre-exposure prophylaxis — a medication effective in stopping the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus.
Currently, Massachusetts residents who use PrEP must make an appointment and go through their doctor, which lawmakers say can be a barrier for people who need the medication on short notice, cannot make an appointment, or cannot access medical care.
And S.2481, An Act to Increase Access to Disposable Menstrual Products, passed the Senate as well. It would require safe and disposable menstrual products to be provided in primary and secondary schools, correctional facilities, and shelters and temporary housing facilities at no cost to recipients.
Both bills have been backed by local state Senator Julian Cyr, who represents the Vineyard.
“PrEP is a game-changer in HIV prevention. Yet while this life-saving medication reduces the risk of transmission by 99 percent, it remains inaccessible for too many,” Cyr is quoted in a release about the PrEP bill. “Allowing pharmacists to prescribe and dispense PrEP on a short-term basis, similar to what’s already allowed for contraceptives, would significantly increase the accessibility of this essential HIV prevention tool. With greater access to PrEP, we can narrow the gap in PrEP utilization among LGBTQ people of color. I am someone who uses PrEP, and most of my gay, bisexual, and queer friends rely on it too. With this legislation, we are once again putting people at the center of our public health policy. I’m thrilled it has passed the Senate.”
On the menstrual products bill, Cyr said that the legislation would provide equal access to Massachusetts residents. “Period products are not luxuries, but necessities required for people’s basic needs, health, and hygiene,” the senator said. “An inaccessibility of period products speaks to the longstanding and persistent misogyny in our society, a bias that intersects with inequalities in housing, education, socioeconomics, and beyond. By ensuring better access to these products, we support further access to essential health needs regardless of our situation in life.”
A similar bill passed the Senate in the last legislative session, but was not backed by the House.
I can’t wait to read what the Christian
nutcases think about this one !
After all, the bible is pretty clear about menstruation;
https://www.biblestudytools.com/nlt/leviticus/passage/?q=leviticus+15:19-33
Reading this passage really reinforced my notion
that people who believe this crap deserve my
complete and utter disdain.
Imagine living a life that is so dedicated to the word
of their god, that they think they will be “unclean”
if they touch a woman ( that includes a handshake)
or happen to sit on a subway seat that a menstruating
woman had sat on. How would they know?
Should menstruating women be required to wear
a scarlet “M” ?
And then they have to wash
all their clothes.. And they are “unclean”, whatever
that means, until evening.
Yeah, I am trolling you— You know who you are…
What is she going to do for men?
Don, your hatred of people with different views than yours is offensive . I’m not Christian and don’t go by what every passage in the bible says. Obviously you hand picked this passage to show your perceived hatred of Christians towards women. How about passing along the previous passages relating to men. Oh ya, that wouldn’t fit your hate filled narrative. Most bible scholars refer to these passages as merely informing the flock on hygiene in a time when that was not really a big priority.
John. In case you haven’t noticed there
are a significant number of people
in congress who quote the bible when it suits
their hate filled agendas and argue that the word
of their god should be the basis of the
“morality” of our society.
Certainly, a lot of people who hate the LGBTQ
community site the bible as their reason to
have complete and utter disdain for their
chosen lifestyle and values, and try to pass
laws to discourage them.
Look at how long it took just to get the basic right
to marry a person of your choice.
How about abortion ?
As for cherry picking bible verses, the article here
mentions menstruation.
I went to bible gateway, and there they were.
It’s not like I had to sort through all the ones about
having understanding and compassion for any women.
They are ALL about rejection and shame.
Perhaps you could cherry pick some passages
that encourage homosexuality or a woman’s right to
choose. I can find ones where it’s OK for a father
to sell his daughter.
it would be nice if the “bible scholars” actually told
their “flock” that various passages were “merely
informing” them about various issues.
Sort of like— you know— Grimms
fairy tales. They are not real, but no one in
congress tries to pass laws based on them.
Good for Massachusetts to get this one passed.
John, the Bible is chock full of hate.
Keller understand little about Scripture. The Mosaic Law under which this code was written was 500BC or more and does not apply. It applied to Jews for ceremonial issues and never applied to Christians who have Calvary as their authority not Sinai.
Andy–so you agree with me.
All those biblical stories; the flood,
the plagues of Egypt, Tower of babble,
burning bush, Abraham willing to kill his
son, ten commandments, the concept
of “the holy land” dietary laws, proverbs
about how to behave etc. are all just made up.
It seems , from your comment you may even
actually think that the earth is more than
6,000 years old.
As for politics, the newly elected speaker
of the house managed to get taxpayers to
subsidize a full size replica of “the ark”, which
came complete with dinosaurs when he was a lawyer
in the mid 2010’s. To this day he is absolutely
convinced that dinosaurs were on it.
He’s third in line for the presidency, for FSM sake.
He can believe whatever he wants, but to spend hard
earned taxpayer money to subsidize his fairy tales
is unacceptable.
Keller, we were talking about menstrual laws were we not.?
It’s always interesting when men try to comment intelligently about the needs of women having their period once a month. Did the bible mention mansplaining? Meanwhile, please pass the tampons to women who need them. Don’t forget the condoms, too.
Condoms? God wants every sexual union to produce one, or more, of his children. .
The mv times wouldn’t allow any slurs such as Muslim whack jobs or lbgtq crazies, but I guess Christians are fair game
John– jackie recently said if you think I am talking
about you, than I probably am .
it seems your comment is in reply to mine.
Nothing slurring about any of my comments.
OK —perhaps “christian nut cases”. But we both know
there are nutcases in all religions, and all political
parties. Feel free to call me a nutcase. I couldn’t care less.
My comments on this are 100% true. So are andy’s for that
matter in the context of his religious beliefs.
Growing up as a Catholic, I was told that the old testament
was very much a part of Christianity. I don’t hate him
for thinking my mother lied to me. He doesn’t hate me
for thinking his wife lied to him when she introduced him
to Jesus.
Axel seems to be the only one directly slandering
someone. He DIRECTLY accused ME of hating and hatred.
I think we can agree that no religion (with the possibility
of Pastafarianism and a few others ) is void of hate.
Jackie are you refuting my comment as to it’s accuracy?
Andrew, your comment hadn’t yet posted when i wrote my comment, so no, i wasn’t refuting your comment. FYI, among orthodox Jews it is still common practice to abstain from intimacy when a woman is menstuating– until 7 days after it has ended! The ceremony you refer to I beileve is the mikvah– the ritual cleansing bath women take before resuming relations with her husband. I’m no expert on this, though.
The previous comments were unnecessary, and in fact, obnoxious, in my view.
Jackie– The entire biblical culture was geared around
the superiority of men. As far as I can tell, women had
virtually no role in how things went.
Condoms, by the way, are considered by some to
interfere with god’s will and therefore are evil.
This is about access to menstrual products.
Without all the negative comments, these are two great pieces of legislation. No better place to live than-Massachusetts.
Aside from the negative comments, these are excellent pieces of legislation. For men or women Massachusetts is a great state to live in.
Glad to see a bit of good news.
And just so you know, Don, actual feminists, not the fake hypocrites on the liberal left screaming “Free Palestine” and “but the civilians” (when they were dead silent on October 7, October 8th, and October 9th), are well aware of religious and cultural misogyny. That’s why they support Israel 100% in the latest war Hamas terrorists started. No ceasefire until all hostages are released and Hamas surrenders. The world didn’t scream CEASEFIRE and THE POOR CIVILIANS after we invaded Afghanistan after 9/11, so why now? As if I don’t know. How dare anyone condemn a country defending itself and surrounded by enemies trying to obliterate it. And yet, Israel still warns civilians to evacuate specific areas. Israel doesn’t want to kill civilians. Hamas does, and does it routinely, financed with money supposed to be for Palestinian aid. The only ones responsible for ALL civilian deaths and not allowing evacuation now are the terrorists who invaded and started this war. You want to further expose yourself as a fake liberal know it all and talk about a bible and Jewish rituals you know nothing about, when the topic is help for women in need of feminine products? Be my guest. It’s a free country.
Jackie– Perhaps we live in different worlds, but what I saw ,
across virtually every news source was an outpouring of
condemnation of a horrific terrorist attack and support
for the sate of Israel. If you didn’t see that, you were being
willfully blind to reality.
And in case you were being wilfully blind in 2002, the “liberals”
were if fact supporting the United States in its’s efforts to remove
the Taliban from power. Myself included. I fully supported the
U.S in that conflict.
Where the world, and myself stopped supporting the U.S
military was when “W” invaded Iraq on a false pretense and
targeted civilian infrastructure. That is never acceptable
either by my definition of morality or in the international
“agreements” about the rules of war and the treatment
of civilians. I don’t see you spending much time
condemning the actions of Russia targeting civilians
in Ukraine. I am of Ukrainian descent, but I do not
criticize every [person who does not offer full and
unconditional support and praise for the government
of Ukraine. What have you done to support Ukraine?
Many in congress want to end financial and military
support for Ukraine. We do not have a word that
conveniently divides the world into 2 categories
when it comes to support for Ukraine.
Let me be clear, the state of Israel has every right
to exist. I hold no animosity towards any Jews.
I also think the Palestinian people have a right to exist.
Terrorism is not an acceptable course of action regardless
of the circumstances.
Israel has the right to defend itself.
I condemn the terrorist of oct 7 and their actions.
I condemn the policies, goals and actions of Hamas
I think they are led by a bunch of ruthless radical
sociopaths.
I condemn the indiscriminate bombing of apartment
complexes, hospitals and crowded refugee camps.
I condemn the use of food, water, electricity and
communications as weapons of war.
If that makes me antisemitic in your view,
well, you have your opinion.
You have not worshiped at the feet of Zelensky.
Shame on you for supporting the Russian terrorist.
Leaders and the atrocities the Russian soldiers have
committed .
Keller the ”outpouring of condemnation” you refer to was from willfully ignorant people who nothing of the conflict.
The demonization of Israel on campuses has reached the extreme that a professor in a large crowd including students expressed his ‘exhilaration’ at a bloody and brutal attack on civilians. That crowd then offered a genocidal chant ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.’ Against what other people other than Jews is mass rape, torture, and kidnapping of children deemed exhilarating? Against what other people is such brutality ‘contextualized’ and excused? If a white professor proclaimed exhilaration and glee at the death of George Floyd he would be fired immediately. This anti-Jewish agitation flourishes on a campus and culture where the Big Lie is spread daily that Jews have no legitimate claim to the land of Israel and are outside occupiers and colonizers in their own historical homeland, when in fact the opposite is true. The Jewish claim to the land, which would be celebrated if it were any other indigenous people, is reviled and used to stoke and spread the Jew hatred masquerading as anti-Zionism and decolonization. University Boards need to take action to examine the antisemitism problem on campus and the connection to the ‘intersectional’ racialist ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ advocacy and programming which isolates and marginalizes Jews. Anti semitism is Satanic. Anti semitism has become normalized. We see it in universities, we see it in congress we see it everywhere including MV. The Iranian representative to the united nations who threatened the US at the podium should not be allowed to leave the country until the hostages are released. Those from the media who immediately supported the Hamas assertion that Israel bombed the are showing their moral bankruptcy and backwardness. In the meantime we know Hamas insurgents hid under the largest hospital in Gaza and Israel has now found 300 miles of tunnels all funded by Iran. An American Jew is safer in Saudi Arabia than at Columbia University today.
There is no indiscriminate bombing. There is proof the mosques, hospitals, and all sites attacked are where Hamas operates and stocks arms. The “refugee” camps are 5 story UN-built apartment buildings that have been there for decades, and so have the Gaza RESIDENTS who are not refugees. The “refugee” lie is just that. Many residents heeded the evacuation urging of the IDF, but Hamas blocked the route the IDF gave safe passage to for the Palestinian civilians trying to escape from the north. Have you watched the videos from outside a Gaza hospital where Hamas shows movies to cheering throngs of Palestinians of attacks on IDF tanks! Lots of windows lit and lots of charged phones. Pretty good hir no electricity or fuel.
Of course there are civilian deaths too, and that is tragic. It is Hamas to blame. Israel has no choice but to destroy Hamas. Did Americans protest about civilians when we bombed Nazis in ww2? Hamas uses their civilians and Israeli hostages as shields.
I feel sorry for the liberal left now. How difficult it must be for them when it comes to all the information coming from the Gaza Health Ministry, AKA, Hamas. the opposite of what Israel says. I mean really, who to believe? The ones who chop off infant heads and burn children and mothers alive? Or the IDF? Terrorists or Jews? Gotta be tough on liberals these days.
Jackie, we may be at odds on some issues, but on this one, we are in complete sync. I have found that when discussing the matter with those who defend Hamas (as defined, in part, by not condemning the terrorist regime) I simply substitute Isis for Hamas. It makes the Hamas apologists get that glazed look.
Thank you so much, John.
Don,
“what I saw, across virtually every news source was an outpouring of condemnation of a horrific terrorist attack”
People around the globe—including some of our fellow citizens in Times Square—gathered to cheer on the massacre, rape, and kidnapping of Israelis.
One of our U.S. politicians—an alleged progressive at that—refused to condemn the murder of babies when asked, opting instead for cacophonous silence. She’ll be allowed to remain in a powerful position, of course.
So-called social media influencers, always keen to feign concern with a trending graphic, had zero words of comfort for those affected by the Hamas attack. Meanwhile, the Jewish folks I follow on Insta were busy penning messages of compassion for *all* innocent lives lost or in jeopardy, even in the midst of their personal tragedy.
Few reached out to them in return. Almost no one liberal-leaning bothered to echo their grace. They haven’t received a fraction of the support that was shown to Ukrainian victims of war, and while it’s not a competition per se, the disparity is glaring.
Some have said they were afraid to speak up because “it’s a complex topic.” In terms of the history of the region and conflict, fine. However, I see nothing complicated, or even political, about sending love to people feeling (justifiably!) alone and heartbroken. ?
The images of take-to-the-streets joy in response to the loss of Jewish lives has been sickening. I’ve been obsessing over it all month. Over what may happen next. Makes me ashamed to be American. This country has lost its collective mind and purpose, on multiple levels, feeding into the precise brand of hatred it claims to abhor.
I can provide more specific examples if needed, but it should be evident to anyone looking around sans agenda.
“…If you didn’t see that, you were being willfully blind to reality.”
Antisemitism has skyrocketed since October 7th. Again, on a global, measurable scale. That IS reality. It is well documented. It is also inhumane, opening old wounds and salting fresh ones. It has fueled the kind of fear that America swore the Jewish community—aka our neighbors and friends—would NEVER AGAIN be subjected to.
Never is a promise. How quickly some abandoned our supposed values once doing so proved popular. Please, don’t tell Jackie that she’s choosing a certain viewpoint just because she’s been noting public displays of prejudice. That’s one of the most unkind things you can do to someone who is grieving—attempt to invalidate a factual experience.
It is not a matter of perception. This anti-Jewish wave is happening. Jewish students on ultra-liberal campuses have been taunted and threatened by their ultra-liberal classmates.
Ultra-liberal admins have proceeded to indulge these brats.
It got so bad that the Jewish kids were told to “hide in the attic” for protection.
That warrants repeating:
Jews were told they needed to HIDE. IN. THE. ATTIC.
In 2023.
How much more dire does the situation need to be? How much longer are we gonna add insult to injury by accepting this? Ignoring this?
I remember that you, Don, were eager to spar with those who hung a pro-supremacy sign in OB. Okay. I’m no fan of that group, either. But why not reserve some anger for your political allies who are actively doing harm? The call is coming from inside the house this time, and it’s ringing off the hook.
And if you’re only game to acknowledge antisemitism when it involves Republicans, then I have to assume you simply dislike conservatives. That’s not the same as caring about the welfare of the Jewish community or the betterment of society as a whole.
Unthinking partisanism helps nobody. It’s the default of folks who are truth-challenged or more invested in appearing right than doing right. We don’t have room for such biased allowances on this subject. Not when diseased mentalities are spreading like wildfire.
Not when the consequences can literally be life and death.
Katie, Katie, Katie. ❤️❤️❤️
Katie, your comment means the world to me. Thank you for getting it so clearly and so eloquently.
Once again Keller you are wrong. The Catholic Church condemns condoms not Protestants.
andy– did I say protestants condemned condoms?
ANDREW, pants on fire.
“An official document of the Russian Orthodox Church prohibits contraception except when it is specifically approved by a confessor,”
“Certain Conservative (ANDREW) Mennonites such as Beachy Amish Mennonite fellowships, maintain a prohibition against the use of birth control, though natural family planning is permitted.”
“The Hutterite Brethren use contraception only if it is recommended by a physician”
“Laestadian Lutheran Churches do not permit the use of birth control.”
In 1936, the Christian Reformed Church “adopted an official position against birth control…based on the biblical mandate to be fruitful and multiply, and in keeping with this reasoning the church discouraged birth control and encouraged married couples to produce as many children as is compatible with the physical, spiritual, and mental well being of the mother and children”.
Keller, Jackie did not support Putin ever.
You are bobbing and weaving selectively to somehow give legitimacy to your support of the so called Palestinians. Before 1948 everyone was called a Palestinian who lived in that area. Jews and Arabs alike. There is no Palestinian State. Please read the History of the area. Palestinians are an invented people. Gaza was an Egyptian territory and the so- called West Bank was administered by Jordan. The people who lived in the area known as Gaza and the West Bank before 1967 never asked for an independent country never. Only after Israel won the 1967 war and defeated the aggressors of Egypt and Jordan did those people living there demand their own country. Israel is not an occupier. It lives in harmony with 2million Arabs. Nazareth is almost entirely Arab. Maybe you should visit Israel. I have.
andy– I never supported Hamas.
Jackie is accusing me of being a “fake liberal”
because I do not support the policies of the
Netanyahu administration.
She implies quite clearly that if I do not
agree with everything the state of Israel
does, then I support Hamas. Guilty by
deflection.
But it goes the other way, also;
my people are being massacred in Ukraine.
Her silence on Ukraine is deafening. Calls
by the radical right in congress and some commentor’s’
here calling for the end of support for Ukraine can only
imply they support Putin.
“invented people” ? are you serious ?
not occupied ? Are you serious ?
Of course you have your own definition
of what “occupied” is, but it does not
agree with “normal” definitions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli-occupied_territories#:~:text=The%20United%20Nations%2C%20Human%20Rights,Gaza%20by%20air%20or%20sea.
Keller read the history of Palestine. You love research. You are spouting conventional lies. You simply do not know the history. To suggest I am calling for their eradication is a desperate ploy on your part. Bibi suspended the man who made that dumb remark. Partial and selective posts from you are normal.
Andrew, yes, antisemitism using selective, out if context, and false information has become normal.
I feel like I personally cannot recover from this barely disguised Jew hatred coming from former friends who would rather blame Jews (Israeli policy, lol) for what Hamas has done, not only to Jews in Israel, but to it’s own people in Gaza. Whose fault is the humanitarian crisis? Who wanted it, CREATED it, to bolster their evil cause? Does a meticulous plot include the sick barbarism of one day only, without any expectation of a reaction? The only objective of Hamas is to rid the world of Jews and Israel, and the liberal left has fallen willingly into this manipulative plot.
A headless infant, an extracted eyeball, a burned alive corpse are not about land, Netanyahu, or politics. It’s antisemitism. Jew hatred. Nothing more.
You either have to be severely intellectually challenged or else an antisemite not to see that the “martyrdom” of Gazan civilians was part of the evil plan by Hamas to erase Israel and did the world of Jews. The liberal left has been entirely and shockingly easily manipulated by propaganda. How? By having their innate antisemitism fed and nourished by the evil that’s diving this
Keller, to go to the UN for your definition of occupied is not smart. UN is a bunch of thugs and anti Israel and anti US for 30 years or more.
If I said you were a fake liberal, I misspoke, Don. You are the epitome of what has become frighteningly real about the liberal left. The liberal left, in my view, are hypocrites when it comes to human rights. I cannot distance myself far enough from a group I had so much in common with prior to these events. I don’t see antisemitism as an accusation when the liberal left is spouting all this undeniably antisemitic rhetoric. It’s a fact, not an accusation, spelled out clearly, every time a left liberal opens his mouth about Israel, forgetting to spell out the necessity to eliminate Hamas. Hypocrite liberals are on the wrong side of history— the evil side.
andy– “so called Palestinians ” ?
You say they are “invented”.
So it seems you are calling for their
eradication. A ‘final solution” as it may
be interpreted… Indeed , a minister in the
Israeli government suggested that nuclear
weapons were an option in Gaza;
Israel’s Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu
said in an interview that dropping a nuclear
bomb on the Gaza Strip was “one of the possibilities,”
the government announced on Sunday.
Yeah, ok —
Don, do you know what gaslighting is? Accusing Andrew of promoting a “final solution“ for the people calling themselves “Palestinians” is quite the leap. And you clearly have zero knowledge of ancient history of the Middle East, or even the last several hundred years.
Forget facts, Andrew. Don also won’t hear how many times a Palestinian state was rejected since Israel was born. Israel agreed. But you can’t have a two state solution with only one state going along. Just like you can’t have a one-sided ceasefire. There was a ceasefire in effect on October 6th.
Antisemites in general hear only what terrorist-controlled ministries and spokespeople have to say, rather than look at a map or history book. You expect it from the idiots in college looking for a fight, but the grown up liberal left are leading the way. It’s just so much more reliable for jew haters to believe the propaganda originating from blood thirsty terrorists than from the one democracy involved…the one they’ve demonized, when that democracy is the only Jewish nation in the world, compared to… how many Muslim countries? The liberal left has digested the narrative of lies about Israel and all Jews.
Meanwhile the IDF is now escorting Palestinian civilians to the south, something the civilians were shot to death for by Hamas, when they were trying to evacuate as per the Israeli urging. As Israel has surrounded much of the north, they can help civilians escape and hopefully find the Israeli hostages still alive. May all innocents live snd be well.
As world wide events have proven, including the willfully blind acceptance of false intel coming outta Hamas, (refugee camps, indiscriminate bombing of hospitals and ambulances, etc) this has absolutely nothing to do with “occupation” of Gaza or caring about civilian deaths. It’s about pure Jew hatred and believing terrorists, rather than Jews. But thank you for trying.
Why have these comments been so wildly derailed? Look at the headline: Senate passes menstrual products access bill. Not about the Bible, not about religion, certainly not about the conflict in Israel. Some people like to use any article at all as an excuse for a soapbox. But menstrual products? Really?
Ms Crafts you are seeing these posts because the MV Times has studiously avoided any news about the conflict for two weeks and yet is the most talked about everywhere. why?
Dear Sara, some of us are in deep mourning and shock and are fearful for loved ones and extended family—and ourselves. This colors all else. I can’t speak for anyone else, but when I see antisemitic tropes, under any topic, I say something.
For example, it is antisemitic to quote the Hebrew bible with a misunderstanding and repulsive commentary on menstruation without having any understanding of ancient Jewish ritual and hygiene. It’s possible that hearing oneself talk about that which one knows nothing, can be just that. But it got uglier.
The trope that pro-Palestinian support in Hamas’s war to eliminate Israel and all Jews, everywhere, is about not liking Netanyahu’s policies needed mention— This trope is antisemitic because it ignores the fact that killing all Jews worldwide was the impetus for the unspeakable brutality of Oct 7, and of the promised-by-Hamas Jewish slaughters to come. Antisemitic views fail to notice the necessity to eliminate Hamas from Gaza. The view concerned only with civilian Palestinians, who Israel does not want harmed, is antisemitic. There was even another comment under a different article, maybe about MV housing costs or Chip Chop sale, that mentioned incomes of poor people in different locations, including Gaza! Gazan income would be much higher and living standards so much better had the terrorist Hamas not stolen billions in aid— but the narrative of Palestinians being victims of Israel, not Hamas, is the antisemitic version. Hamas has kept Gaza what it is, something the liberal left ignores.
There’s also been incorrect information on this page, gleaned originally from terrorists sources, about nonexistent “refugee” camps, as well as false claims of Israel indiscriminately bombing of Israel. There is no mention of Hamas putting their people in the line of fire, using them and hostages as shields, and preventing them from evacuating the areas on top of the tunnels. There is proof of Hamas shooting Palestinians trying to evacuate.
It’s easy enough for you to scroll by this discussion if you don’t like it. I am living with it 24/7, since October 7th, so you will please forgive me for speaking out against the rising antisemitism that some do not recognize in themselves. Silence is complicity. We set the clocks back on Sunday, to what feels frighteningly like 1939.
Hess you are stumbling around. Russian Orthodox is not Protestant. Laestadian is tiny splinter group. Beachy Amish have 11 thousand worldwide. Nice try but you are ill informed.
Greatest comment thread in history! Well done everyone!
“I stand with Israel and the Jewish people. But I do not condone genocide.”
~Don Keller~ written 10 days after Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and purposely committed the most vile war crimes against innocent civilians.
Don was already prepared to look at Israel as “genocidal”— for having a will to live and right to protect and defend itself from this massacre ever happening again.
People who actually do stand with Israel understand the position terrorists have created for thus democracy. The planning for the massacre had to be so decisively horrendous that Israel would react exactly as she has— with Gaza civilians knowingly sacrificed as shields as Israel tries to defend itself and root out the cowards hiding behind Gazans— not to mention, hostages, including 30 Israeli children. What was Israel supposed to do, how to react to the assault, other than what they are doing?
You seriously have to be an idiot to think that, even without the massacre, Hamas has ever had any interest in peace or talks or any ceasefire that they won’t abuse. Civilian deaths are always tragic, unless you are a sick terrorist who welcomes them as martyrs. You’re either with Israel or you’re standing with others carrying the “From the river to the sea” signs. Those who stand with Israel and support the Jewish people know what Israel does to avoid civilian death and allow for evacuations and humanitarian aid.
I’ll also add that the horribly high death counts of Palestinians should be taken with a grain of salt, considering where they are coming from. Hamas controlled spokespeople lie, as they did when they lied about Israel bombing a hospital in Gaza causing 500 deaths. It was a misfired missile from Gaza hitting a parking lot. There were not 500 deaths from that. How many of the thousands of Palestinian deaths are terrorist fighters killed by IDF soldiers? How many Palestinians were shot by Hamas as they tried to escape to the south were it is relatively safer? Why has not one single Muslim country stepped up to negotiate a safe passage out for civilians via Egypt, not just the Americans in Gaza? The world watching wants the civilian deaths to be at the hands of Israelis, so they, like Don, can scream GENOCIDE. Don is against Israel, as is much of the world.
If anyone other than Jews and a few of our friends actually cared about the hostages (and Israel) the protesters around the world would be carrying signs saying FREE HOSTAGES and HAMAS MUST SURRENDER. But the world would rather not stand with Israel. Obviously.
The people indigenous to Israel are Jews. There is historical, archeological proof. Do antisemites think Aquinnah Wampanoags are occupying “Gay Head” land and colonizing it? Or is that kind of ridiculous, hateful stupidity saved for Israel? The liberal left calling Gaza, especially, “occupied” is beyond ignorant. It’s intolerance of Israel and Jews and a lack of historical knowledge. The West Bank situation has been exacerbated by Netanyahu sending in more Israeli settlers. I know that. But to say that Israel is a colonizer and occupier just shows ignorance of historical fact. Really, Israel is the only country in the world that gets attacked like this from people like Don… FOR BEING ATTACKED!
Free the hostages. Hamas must surrender. Then the fighting can stop.