You Dont Talk Too Much. You Arent Too Loud. You Arent Too Needy. You Arent Too Sensitive. You Arent Too

you don’t talk too much. you aren’t too loud. you aren’t too needy. you aren’t too sensitive. you aren’t too this, or that. you aren’t too much anything. you will never be too much: you are you, and you are allowed to take up space. you are allowed to exist however you choose.

Amnesty's defense of its anti-Israel lies: "Trust us, bro. We have experts."

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

There was a remarkable Twitter exchange between a number of critics of the Amnesty “apartheid” report and Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty UK campaigns manager.

CAMERA created a video showing specific lies in Amnesty’s video supporting the report.

If Amnesty had a good case, why would it need to manipulate viewers? 15 Lies in 15 Minutes: Amnesty International’s ‘Apartheid’ Video":#Israel pic.twitter.com/PFMqfs5T4T

Benedict responded:

Please send this as ‘evidence’ to the chief prosecutor of the ICC..  

David Litman of CAMERA:

Now that we have your attention, perhaps someone from Amnesty could finally address some of those blatant factual errors

I pointed out directly to your colleague, which suggest your organization is knowingly lying or doesn’t actually understand the law.

Kristyan Benedict

Benedict: “Sound like you’ve already made your mind up. Good luck with that.”

Adam Levick (CAMERA-UK): “Why don’t you just respond to the CAMERA video, Kristyan.”

Benedict: “We’ve laid out our findings in a very detailed report and stand by it. We didn’t just put it out without serious review from experts. You however, should make your case to the likes of the ICC chief prosecutor and the COI. Would be a better use of your time in all seriousness.”

Eitan Fischberger: “Who were the experts?”

Benedict: “External experts on international law including those with specialist knowledge of apartheid in international law.”

Fischberger: “No I’m sure, but who? A couple of names for reference would be most appreciated.”

Benedict: “Afraid not. External (and internal) colleagues have many reasons to not be public about such work - one of them being the awful smear campaigns that sometimes occur. Not everyone wants that nastiness in their lives. Hopefully that’s understandable.”

Fischberger: “I can certainly understand the need for privacy. Yet, I can’t help but worry this creates a situation in which Amnesty can issue reports on highly contentious topics, and when confronted with counterarguments, defers to unanswerable experts whose objectivity can’t be verified.”

Internalized ableism is taught, often at a young age.

I've seen many autistics go through the journey of unlearning their internalized ableism, but they wouldn't have to make that journey if they themselves hadn't been shamed.

We don’t unite with fascists.

We don’t unite with traitors.

We don’t unite with terrorists.

We don’t unite with white supremacists.

We don’t unite with racists.

We don’t unite with anti-Semites.

We don’t unite with homophobes.

We don’t unite with transphobes.