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Der Spekter

@derspekter.org
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Bundist perspectives, original artwork, journalism, and more. www.derspekter.org

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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 11h
How the f- is any of this normal? Labour can choose to undo this immediately. Deproscribe Palestine Action. It was a disastrous decision by the Starmer admin and Burnham can undo it.
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Der Spekter @derspekter.org · 20h
A DS editor will be in the audience at the 10/7/2026 Oakland show with a whole bunch of our stickers. Keep an eye out!!
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Der Spekter @derspekter.org · 26/09/2026
Always fitting
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Nathan Tankus @nathantankus.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
If i were more of a hack i would compare the data center boom to soviet break-neck industrialization of the late 1920 and early 1930s
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Der Spekter @derspekter.org · 24/09/2026
bsky.app/profile/gold...
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Der Spekter @derspekter.org · 24/09/2026
Preorder this book edited by Nathan and translated by DS editor @eyshe.bsky.social
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Alex @alxlndomountain.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This is where the long-held Bundist goal of "National Cultural Autonomy" comes in to play. @derspekter.org, which I help edit has discussed at length what this means www.derspekter.org/bundism-toda...
Now, ‘two states’ may take many shapes: geographical contiguous entities, or a confederation of two governmental authorities, or others. But in some form, Palestinians and Israelis must be in charge of themselves.

National Cultural Autonomy
130 years ago, Bundists and other Eastern European socialists organised in a reality dominated by multinational autocratic monarchies, such as the Russian, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian Empires. However, the “National Question,” as it came to be known, was not the immediate priority following the movement’s founding. While freedom from antisemitic discrimination and violence was never questioned among the revolutionary socialist left, institutional demands to support cultural and communal fulfilment for the Jewish national masses were not unanimously agreed upon. Many Bundists during this time would describe themselves as “neutralists,” seeking a middle path of “neither assimilationism nor nationalism.” These discussions began in earnest starting from the Bund’s Fourth Congress in 1901, crystallising in the aftermath of the 1905 Russian Revolution. They took place within the context of the broader Russian revolutionary movement (with strong polemics made against Lenin and the Bolsheviks in particular) as well as the rising philosophies of Austro-Marxism and the various Zionist movements.

What came out of these discussions began to be articulated by Bundists as a policy of “National Cultural Autonomy” — institutional self-determination for minority diasporic Jewish communities. The Bund always believed that only in a socialist society would it be possible for NCA to be fully implemented. But when Bundists began to be elected into Jewish community councils in interwar Poland, they tried transforming them by pushing for general reforms and specific policies based on the principles of NCA. Their approach can be broadly summarised in the following way: 

1. Jewish NCA should not be limited to a specific geographic administrative subdivision of a country. Similar models of NCA may be adopted by other nationalities in the same country. Whether Jewish communities in any particular country may wish to adopt a NCA framework is dependent upon local factors.

2. Individual participation in (Jewish) NCA institutions should be voluntary and based on self-identification. The Bundists did not refuse the right for individuals to assimilate, nor did they intend on using Jewish religious law as the sole means of identifying someone as Jewish.

3. The NCA institutions should either receive funding from the government or be able to raise financial levies on their own members. In either case, some sort of institutional relationship with the government should be maintained.4. The NCA institutional leadership should be elected democratically by the membership base. The Bundists recognised that they would not be the only political organisation competing for power in the Jewish NCA institutions, were they to be established in their ideal form in the near to mid-future. Ultimately, only the victory of socialism would allow for NCA to be fully implemented.

5. The primary task of the Jewish NCA institutions should be to foster cultural and educational development in the language of the Jewish working people. For the Bundists, this was, of course, Yiddish.

6. As for other tasks, there are reports of Bundists using their position of power in existing Jewish communal institutions to socioeconomically benefit Jewish working people (such as by trying to decommodify Kosher certification). However, given that the Bund categorically rejected the idea of creating a ‘united Jewish political voice’ with non-socialist Jewish parties, they did not envisage Jewish NCA institutions as a means of doing so.
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Ⓐnarchohoodism 🐈‍⬛ 🏴 @161bklyn.myatproto.social · 23/09/2026
He's not wrong. www.commondreams.org/news/iran-ac...
commondreams.org
In Defiant UN Speech, Iranian President Says US and Israel Are the Real Terrorists | Common Dreams
Masoud Pezeshkian delivered his address after the president of the United States—which one progressive commentator called "the world's biggest terrorist"—again threatened to "annihilate" Iran.
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Der Spekter @derspekter.org · 23/09/2026
Sholem aleykhem khaveyrim! We're a bit late with the High Holidays, and we hope you had an easy fast if you observed. This week we present two pieces. First, Zach Moscze resumes his Bundism Today series with an essay on the "Jewish Street" and our what Jewish organizing means today.
George Benjamin Luks (American, 1867–1933). Street Scene (Hester Street), 1905. Oil on canvas, 25 13/16 x 35 7/8 in. Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 40.339. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Peddlers on the Lower East Side

https://www.blavatnikarchive.org/story/jewish-ghetto-postcards

https://iiiflb.blavatnikarchive.org/iiif/3/baf__4ce5d094801f3ef8df666da2063c9e652c9b2882c2d78b831c572ff50b29cc02/401,162,2883,1922/%5E!1000,1000/0/default.jpg
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Micheeel @micheeel.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
🚨 9 days with zero support. Our situation is extremely bad. Here in Gaza, asking for help is not weakness; it comes after all doors were shut in our faces. We are in urgent need of assistance to provide food and basic daily essentials for my kids. Please share 🧡 tinyurl.com/2etna36k
A collage of 5 photos of Ziyad and his sister Mirna, playing, smiling and posing in the rubble of Gaza. On the top left and bottom right photo, they are with their mother, also smiling.
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Alex @alxlndomountain.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
There's a lot to like about this article but it ultimately pulls its punches and misses the mark. Lets start off noting @scottwiener.bsky.social hasn't reckoned with the consequences of his years of genocide enthusiasm as @nadiarahman.bsky.social said and continues trying to avoid the issue.
The Wiener campaign did not respond to requests for an interview.
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Nathan Tankus @nathantankus.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
So @jamellebouie.net says this down thread, but its worth emphasizing, Ron Dreher's OWN FATHER WAS IN THE KKK. www.theamericanconservative.com/a-darkness-r...
theamericanconservative.com
A Darkness Revealed
What the FBI archives showed about my dad's distant past
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Ham Roids 🎃 @anarchymarshmallow.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Ed Sheeran could have refused to boot Macklemore and forced venues to decide if they wanted to lose all that revenue or not. What is the point of being rich and having a platform if you're so easily bullied into being a useless coward?
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David Zoltan (he/they) @wonkicorn.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Sheeran didn't have "friends" hurt by Macklemore. He was under threat by Zionist billionaires. Sheeran chose making money over standing up for human rights. Shame.
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Christopher Mathias @letsgomathias.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
NEW: @talkingpointsmemo.com can reveal GOP nominee for Florida legislature: -marched at deadly Charlottesville Nazi rally w/ white supremacist group's flag -has *many* white supremacist donors -appears to advocate lynching He is expected to win Nov. election talkingpointsmemo.com/news/florida...
talkingpointsmemo.com
Exclusive: He Marched With Nazis in Charlottesville. Now He’s Expected to Join the Florida Legislature.
The Republican nominee for a seat in the Florida House of Representatives...
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Rabbi Emily Cohen @thatrabbicohen.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Coffee-drinking Jews: This is your annual PSA that if you plan to fast on Yom Kippur (note that you should absolutely *not* fast unless it's mentally & physically safe for you), you should start tapering your caffeine now. Your Yom Kippur self will thank you.
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#StupidSuez @diplomatofnight.com · 14/09/2026
For all the talk about omnicause on here, you rarely ever see people say that US elites have an omnicause which is protecting Israel from the most banal criticism at all times
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Gabrielle A. Perry, MPH @geauxgabrielle.blacksky.app · 13/09/2026
They laid off every Black woman Ive ever worked with except 2 at my job and me. And I work in private industry.
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Fal Rising @falrising.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Trump today: "There’s very little happening right now in Gaza." At least 10 Palestinians were killed in Gaza over the past 48 hours, along with a pregnant woman who succumbed to her wounds after being shot by Israeli forces three days ago. His disregard for human life is despicable.
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Der Spekter @derspekter.org · 11/09/2026
Shabbat shalom, buen Shabbat, a gutn Shabbos! Shanah tovah umetukah; anyada bueno, dulse, i alegre; a freylekhn nay-yor!
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#StupidSuez @diplomatofnight.com · 10/09/2026
The fact that the states friendliest with Israel and the UAE are the most eager to contribute soldiers to the so-called peacekeeping force for the so-called "Board of Peace" should again reiterate what is already obvious: the BoP plan is a US-Israeli colonial scheme to reject Palestinian rights.
timesofisrael.com
Somaliland president says country could contribute troops to Gaza peacekeeping force
Abdirahman Abdullahi tells ToI he could offer 2,000 soldiers, but US hasn't asked, as move would likely anger Gaza mediating countries who oppose African state's split from Somalia
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Der Spekter @derspekter.org · 09/09/2026
Sholem aleykhem khaverim Our newsletter this past week was short and centered around music. First, this past Saturday Der Spekter joined DJ Chaia at the @audium.bsky.social for her sold out shows with Arshia Fatima. We were glad to meet supporters, make new friends, & build diasporic community.
DJ Chaia in the booth at the Audium in very low lightphoto of audium ceiling sound tiles
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Isaac (proud small hat wearer) Gantwerk Mayer @isaacgantwerkmayer.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The President of the United States has made a post celebrating a Nazi victory. The President of the United States has made a post celebrating a Nazi victory. The President of the United States has made a post celebrating a Nazi victory. The President of the United States has made a post celebrating
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👁️🍄🪸 @bloomfilters.plus · 08/09/2026
anglofascism (of which trumpism is a form), zionism, hindutva, & terfism all share extremely similar characteristics that are incredibly appealing to "centrist media"
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Der Spekter @derspekter.org · 08/09/2026
Its no mystery why the US's paper of record has been laundering the fascistic tendencies of Trumpism, Zionism, and now Hindutva
Daniel Larison - @daniellarison.bsky.social

There are many ways to describe the RSS. "Indian nonprofit" is the
most ridiculous whitewash I have ever seen.

Mamdani Denounces an Indian Nonprofit
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Der Spekter @derspekter.org · 04/09/2026
Make sure to check out Elia's podcast with @nathantankus.bsky.social & Der Spekter editor @eyshe.bsky.social
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
I know this fella! My two pieces (so far) for @derspekter.org The Zionist War on Yiddish in Palestine www.derspekter.org/the-zionist-... German Catechism Versus Memory Culture www.derspekter.org/german-catec...
Der Spekter 2nd Anniversary Edition Table of Contents
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Artist statement by Ryan Fliegelman
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Letters on Zionism, Part t: The Two Worlds of Socialism and Zionism, translated and introduced by Eyshe Beirich
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The Bund and Colonialism: essay and translation by Zach Mojsze
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Why the Left Should Embrace Jewish Tradition by Zohare Jacobi
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Plowshares into Swords: Religion, War, and Jewish Secularism by Lane Silberstein
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Letters on Zionism Part 2: Socialism on Occupied Land, translated by Eyshe Beirich
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Organized Labor, Politics and Klezmer Musicians in New York Until the First World War by Daniel Carkner
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Daniel Kahn on Radical Yiddish Autonomy, Bundism, and Productive Provocation: interview by Abe Plaut
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Diaspora Hymn by Ramsey Margolis and Isabel Frey
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Doikaytn in Oceania by Adam Hinden
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The Zionist War on Yiddish in Palestine by Elia Ayoub
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
You can support my work on Patreon (patreon.com/thefirethesetimes), Substack (hauntologies.net) or through ko-fi.com/eliaayoub
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Greetings, non-Jews in academia! As we start another semester, here's your regularly scheduled reminder that the Jewish High Holy Days are coming up. If you wouldn't schedule an important meeting or exam on Christmas or Easter, don't schedule one on Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur.
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Der Spekter @derspekter.org · 27/08/2026
jewish antizionists have been making the same argument for more than 100 years
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Unperson @col-do-ma-ma-daqua.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
> To put it differently, German redemption requires the genocide of Palestinians. @ayoub.bsky.social simplifies the equation factoring Israel and "post-nazi" Germany. In their so-called defeat, the nazis hit all of their ideological goals, because they were so aligned with those of polite society.
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Molly Crabapple @mollycrabapple.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
If you loved my book on The Bund and want to go deeper into primary sources, this is the book for you
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Der Spekter @derspekter.org · 25/08/2026
The link at @haymarketbooks.org is live.
haymarketbooks.org
We, Traitors
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Der Spekter @derspekter.org · 24/08/2026
We're going to plug this from now until either September 5th or its sold out. Make sure you don't miss Kleztronica creator and friend of Der Spekter Chaia and Arshia Fatima Haq at @audium.bsky.social in a couple of weeks. We'll be there with some merch, zines, & our 2nd anniversary mag. Join us!
ra.co
Yiddish and Sufiana Archives in Spatial Sound: Chaia & Arshia Fatima Haq [discostan] at Audium, San Francisco/Oakland ⟋ RA Tickets
Join Chaia and Arshia Haq for an evening showcasing fusions of Yiddish and Sufiana traditional music. The duo presents at Audium-Theatre of Sound, a 176...
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
My latest essay is out
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Der Spekter @derspekter.org · 21/08/2026
Sholem aleykhem, khaveyrim! Der Spekter is back this week with two pieces tackling the role of memory in our movements and in the world shaped by the contest of what that memory means. Before we do, though, we have some exciting announcements.
The “Garden of Exile” in Berlin’s Jewish Museum, 2026. Image: Malka Leah, Der Spekter.
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Der Spekter @derspekter.org · 18/08/2026
Freedom is a Verb youtu.be/QFu0o8NB5Io?...
youtu.be
Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird - "Freedom Is A Verb" (official video)
YouTube video by Daniel Kahn
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Der Spekter @derspekter.org · 18/08/2026
This is still behind by the paywall but readers of Der Spekter would this is something modern Bundists are keenly aware of jewishcurrents.org/back-to-the-...
A 21st-century Jewish left following specifically in the footsteps of the Bund would have to consider its relation to the whole of the group’s ideological project. What would it mean to be a true Bundist in a world where the group’s Jewish proletarian base, as well as its broader socialist context, is long gone? What does reviving diaspora culture mean when the Bund’s trademark Yiddish programs no longer hold relevance to much of Jewish life? And, most pressingly, how can we envision Bundist “national autonomy” in a context where individual Jews have assimilated as liberal citizens and the politics of Jewish collectivity have been captured by the runaway ethnonationalism of Zionism? 

Reggae singer Peter Tosh sang, “I’m a man of the past, living in the present, and walking in the future.” Crabapple’s history helps ground the Jewish left in a past that has been hidden from many of us and offers the raw material for a way forward. The working class Jewish culture of the Pale may no longer exist, but we continue to hear echoes of its milieu. Today’s neo-Bundists are working to rebuild it amidst a radically different landscape where Western Jews are often at least comfortably middle class, where Ashkenazim are beneficiaries of provisional whiteness, and where there exists a Jewish nation-state run by the political heirs of a “fascist clown” (Jabotinsky) whose “soldiers are nothing more than tragicomic caricature of Hitler’s SA....the same beasts [with] some muscle strength, some territory, and a political opportunity.” Neo-Bundists are doing so by learning from the victories and defeats of the past. They are building the future that we will walk in.
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Micah @fatcrab.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Very grateful to @derspekter.org for publishing my poem and author's note! Israel is a Dybbuk; or, an Ana B'Ko'akh That We May Liberate Stolen Brakhos www.derspekter.org/israel-is-a-...
derspekter.org
Israel is a Dybbuk; or, an Ana B'Ko'akh That We May Liberate Stolen Brakhos
A plea to Zionists to recognize the oppression they are visiting upon their fellows — to exorcise their minds and our own of this terrible dybbuk.
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Jack Mirkinson @jackmirkinson.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Today in @thenation.com: a harrowing piece written from inside the Dilley ICE detention center by Maryam Tahmasebi, a green card holder who's been locked up along with her husband and son for months despite none of them committing any crime. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
thenation.com
One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention
My husband, son, and I have been locked up for months—despite being permanent residents with no criminal record. It is an unendurable, unending nightmare.
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Human rights groups sue Trump administration over ‘crippling’ ICC sanctions www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Human rights groups sue Trump administration over ‘crippling’ ICC sanctions
Lawsuit challenges executive order targeting international criminal court for investigating Israeli crimes in Palestine
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Der Spekter @derspekter.org · 10/08/2026
We're back after our July vacation* and ready to share more great Bundist work from around the world. * We didn't rest with four events on two American coasts, from a workers’ happy hour in San Francisco to two media workshops in Boston and Philadelphia, and a klezmer picnic in Brooklyn.
bundists with flag and clarinet
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ME @capnmax.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
I wrote about why we need to build our own Jewish institutional spaces in the DC area for @derspekter.org. www.derspekter.org/why-we-shoul...
derspekter.org
Why we Should Build our own Institutional Spaces - A Response to Bundism Today, Part 3: Doikayt
The beauty of doikayt as a guiding principle in our organizing is that the local context is essential to decision making.
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Der Spekter @derspekter.org · 06/08/2026
A few years ago @uhshanti.bsky.social wrote this great piece for us titled "Doikayt in the Desi Diaspora" about the parallels between Hindutva and Zionism and how Desi organizers are pushing back by way of socialist universalism. Love seeing it remain relevant.
derspekter.org
Doikayt in the Desi Diaspora
April 25, 2023, was a typical spring Tuesday outside the California State Capitol: thermostats across Sacramento climbing well into the eighties by noon, harried staffers’ and lobbyists’ hair and make...
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Daniel Felsenthal @dfelsenthal.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
For @newrepublic.com , I wrote about about the Jewish Labor Bund—who predicted the evils of Zionism from the very invention of the philosophy—and the new book by @mollycrabapple.bsky.social newrepublic.com/article/2121...
newrepublic.com
The Jewish Radicals Who Wanted Equality for All
In her history of the Jewish Labor Bund, Molly Crabapple tells the story of workers who opposed prejudice, tyranny, and nationalism.
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#StupidSuez @diplomatofnight.com · 31/07/2026
A lot of people seem to be under the impression that Haley is Jewish
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Aditya Mukerjee 🦦 🏳️‍🌈 @chimeracoder.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
I don't think people understand how thin the line between "deportation" and "extermination" really is - not just in Europe, but everywhere the topic comes up. Many people feel comfortable with the idea of deportation because it obscures the underlying violence that is necessarily implied.
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Avlaremoz @avlaremoz.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Der Spekter (@derspekter.org) editörü Malka Leah, Avlaremoz'un 10. yılında kurucu-editör Eli Haligua ile bir araya geldi.
avlaremoz.com
Hadi Konuşalım: Der Spekter’den Malka Leah’nın Avlaremoz’dan Eli Haligua ile Röportajı
Aile soyağacıma ilgi duymaya başladığımdan beri ziyaret etmeyi hayal ettiğim iki şehir olan İstanbul ve İzmir’i Aralık 2025’te ziyaret ettim. Baba tarafından dedemin ailesi Yunanistan’ın Selanik şehri...
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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Never have I seen a dispute that more makes me say, “Let them fight.”
Shmuley Boteach and Ben Shapiro feuding about Candace Owens
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