Dissonant Cogitant, Autodidact, Dilettante, Effer of the Ineffable, Epistemic Rupturer. Adding Value since 1970.
Albuquerque, NM
Joined April 2011
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Michael R. Bernstein retweeted
Israeli journalist @lucyaharish has been an incredible voice for our country, against racism and antisemitism, and for peace.
Countless pro-Israel accounts have shared her content when she defended us in English around the world from a unique point of view of an Arab Israeli. This past week she has faced racist attacks over the elections and her identity.
Lucy, I admire you. Every time I have watched you, you were trying to do the right thing, even when it cost you. I know exactly where your heart is, and it is with this country.
When I speak up for Israel and for Jews, I am also speaking up for Lucy and for every Israeli, whatever their background or their vote.
You cannot share her videos when she defends us and then turn on her when she disagrees with you. That isn’t loyalty to Israel. Lucy is Israel, and she doesn’t stop being Israel when the election is over.
Michael R. Bernstein retweeted
Still unemployed and getting increasingly worried about my situation. Any help finding a good, stable tech job is deeply appreciated!
I've coded for 30 years, since I was an eight-year-old. I was a CTO of a Y Combinator company. I'm a polyglot down to work in most languages.
Michael R. Bernstein retweeted
New rule: if you wanna whine about free software being built with the help of Claude, you have to submit at least one (1) useful PR to their project on Git
Otherwise, you're literally just demanding people work way harder for free — you're an entitled asshole
Michael R. Bernstein retweeted
אני קורא תגובות של כל מיני ימנים מטעם עצמם לצעד המבריק, הערכי, והאמיץ של ר"מ פולין דונלד טוסק, ויש כאן לקח חשוב מאוד גם עבורינו בארץ.
על רגל אחת, פולין עברה ניסיון הפיכה משטרית, ובדומה להונגריה, הצליחה למנות ממשלה ליברלית. בניגוד לאורבן ולהונגריה, "חוק וצדק" הפולנים היו הרבה פחות מושחתים לאורך רוב הדרך, והביאו לשגשוג כלכלי. הם גם פעלו באופן שונה שריכז את הכוח בצורה שונה מאוד מהונגריה.
אחת הרשויות שהן השתלטו עליהן היא בית המשפט (הטריבונל) לחוקה. המקבילה הפולנית לבג"צ. הם ניצלו את המינויים שלהם לטריבונל, ואת הווטו הנשיאותי (הנשיא נאוורוצקי מזוהה עם מפלגת חוק וצדק) כדי לטרפד את השבת הדמוקרטיה על ידי הממשלה.
בחודשים האחרונים, אחרי שלוש שנות כהונה, הבשילו מהלכים לתיקון ביה"מ שבין היתר כללו מינויים. נשיא הטריבונל, שוויינצ'קובסקי, ניסה, באופן לא חוקי ולא חוקתי, לטרפד את זה, יחד עם פעולות רבות לשיתוק הממשלה, ונהנה בשבועות האחרונים ממטרייה נשיאותית של נשיא פולין נאוורוצקי (שנודע באמירות שבעיני גובלות בהכחשת שואה).
הלילה, בעת שנאוורוצקי בדרכו לסנגל, הודח נשיא הטריבונל, במהלך מעורר השראה של טוסק. פורעי חוק הגיעו לבניין יחד עם הנשיא המודח, פרצו באלימות, בעץ שהנשיא נאוורוצקי שב לפולין, הגיע בעצמו למתחם, ותקף את שופטי הטריבונל פיזית באלימות.
עבור ימנים ישראלים בטוויטר, שתמכו בניסיון ההפיכה בישראל, מדובר כמובן בתמונת מראה לניסיון ההפיכה שלהם, ובכך זה מראה את הצביעות של השמאל. הרי אם ישנם מוסדות, חייבים לכבד אותם, לא?
רק שהם משתמשים בטקטיקה מלוכלכת. הרי, המינוי של נשיא הטריבונל עצמו היה כוחני ואנטי דמוקרטי באותה מידה, והוא ביטל את שלטון החוק. כעת, המהלך הזהה של טוסק הוא הפיכה כי טוסק הוא דמוקרט ולכן מצופה ממנו לנהוג בדמוקרטיה (כפי שאכן עשה).
כלומר, מה שמותר להם, כי הם גם ככה לא דמוקרטים, אסור לנו, כי אנחנו כן. אם הם היו ממנים בכוח שופטים לבג"ץ והיינו מנסים לפנות אותם משם, זה לא דמוקרטי פתאום, גם אם המינוי לא היה ראוי. אני שומע אותו דבר גם על גופמן וזיני.
כך זה למרות שהסיבה למינוי היא כי המינוי המקורי פגע בשלטון החוק, וצריך להעביר אותו ממקומו כדי להשיב את שלטון החוק.
לכן, אם נמשיך להתנהל כאילו להם מותר מה שלנו לא, הם ירסקו את הדמוקרטיה, ולכן אסור יהיה למצמץ. על אותו משקל, להם היה מותר להקים ממשלה עם רע"מ, ולנו אסור.
הם לא קובעים את כללי המשחק. כללי המשחק הם דמוקרטים, ואם נאפשר להם להשתמש בכלים דמוקרטים כדי להפוך אותנו לדיקטטורה, נאבד את הדמוקרטיה. אסור לנו לבחול באמצעים כל עוד הם דמוקרטיים.
כנ"ל לגבי ממשלה עם המפלגות הערביות. שוברים את המונופול של נתניהו על תחכום פוליטי.
Michael R. Bernstein retweeted
Some Middle Eastern conflicts will never be solved. But this is what we agree on:
✅ The Abraham Accords should expand, including to Lebanon
✅ The biggest threat in the Middle East is Iran, not Israel
✅ Keffiyeh Karens who've never been to the Middle East don't speak for us
@Jonathan_Elk, @Fatemaal7rbi, and I took @eighteenorg’s Voices of the Middle East tour to college campuses across the country and showed students what peace and coexistence actually look like.
Michael R. Bernstein retweeted
🕊️ וואו. תקשיבו לבחור הזה עד הסוף. כמה בהירות, כמה אנושיות וכמה תקווה.
אדם שנלחם, שהטנק שלו נפגע, שנפצע בעצמו ומסביר בפשטות למה הכאב שלו לא הופך כל ערבי לאויב. הוא זוכר גם את הרופאים והאחים הערבים שטיפלו בו. הוא יודע להבדיל בין מי שפגע בו לבין אזרחים שזכאים לשוויון ולשותפות בקבלת ההחלטות במדינה.
ובתוך כל ההסתה, הוא גם אומר את מה שכל כך הרבה פוליטיקאים מסרבים להגיד: אפשר להקים ממשלה עם ערבים. אפשר לבחור בשותפות.
בימים האלה, כשכל כך קל לאבד תקווה, לשמוע אותו נותן לי אוויר. הלוואי שמי שמתיימרים להנהיג אותנו יגלו קצת מהאומץ ומהאנושיות שלו. 🤍
Michael R. Bernstein retweeted
Why does the Jewish community tolerate hate? Why do many insist on preserving space for nuance around “free Palestine” and “globalize the intifada?” I answer below :
Michael R. Bernstein retweeted
אילו היו לי מספיק עוקבות, הסרטון הזה היה מתפוצץ בעשרות אלפים.
גברים 100%
אחד אחד.
Michael R. Bernstein retweeted
Israeli Elections: The Arab World’s Favorite Soap Opera
Remember when Mexican soap operas swept Morocco in the 1990s? You or Nobody, Guadalupe, and others, dubbed into Arabic, had millions of Moroccans glued to their television screens. Everyone watched them. Everyone talked about them.
Years later, Turkish soap operas produced the same obsession.
But why were people so captivated by these stories of love, heartbreak, betrayal, and passion?
I noticed something fascinating among people I personally knew: many watched because their own lives lacked the love and romance they saw on television.
They wished their relationships resembled those fictional love stories. They lived their dreams and fantasies through the characters.
Television gave them a parallel world in which they could experience what reality had denied them.
Now look at the Arab world’s fascination with Israeli elections.
I see exactly the same phenomenon.
Israeli elections are the political soap opera of the Arab world.
Millions follow every development, every coalition negotiation, every political scandal, and every confrontation involving Netanyahu.
They hate the villain, Netanyahu. They cheer for the opposition. They celebrate Arab parties gaining influence. They fantasize about Netanyahu losing power.
But beneath all that excitement lies something much deeper.
They are watching a democracy because they don’t have one.
For many viewers living under authoritarian governments, Israeli elections offer a political drama their own countries rarely provide: genuine competition for power, an opposition capable of removing a prime minister, and coalition negotiations that actually determine who governs.
They are voting against Netanyahu in their imagination because they cannot vote against their own rulers in reality.
And that’s the great irony.
They passionately debate who should govern Israel while having almost no say in who governs them.
They celebrate Israeli opposition leaders challenging Netanyahu while their own opposition leaders are either in prison, in exile, or playing the role of decorative furniture in their dictators’ parliaments.
They dream of Netanyahu losing an election while their own dictators keep winning with 99% of the vote.
And that’s why Israeli elections remind me of those Mexican soap operas.
The woman who never experienced romance cried watching fictional lovers on television.
And the Arab who never experienced democracy cheers watching Israelis vote.
One dreams of a lover she doesn’t have. The other dreams of a ballot box he has never truly owned.
The difference?
At least the woman knows she’s watching fiction.
The Arab viewer thinks he’s following Israeli politics. In reality, he’s watching a democracy from the political prison his own rulers built for him.
And when the show ends, Israelis get a government they voted for.
He gets another episode of his dictator.
Michael R. Bernstein retweeted
Or Szneiberg is an IDF soldier who was injured in Gaza.
While you may think he takes issue with forming a coalition with Arab parties, he explains why that is far from the truth.
Michael R. Bernstein retweeted
This video’s whole message is basically “Jews are why your life is hard.”
That’s called scapegoating.
Scapegoating means blaming a small group for problems they didn’t cause so everyone else can ignore the real reasons and feel good about attacking them.
And “Jews are the reason your life sucks” (prices, wars, healthcare, all of it) is the oldest version of this there is.
We’ve seen it over and over throughout history:
-Black Death (1300s): Jews poisoned the wells. Massacres and expulsions followed.
-Blood libels (Middle Ages–1800s): Jews murder Christian kids for rituals. Pogroms and expulsions.
-Russian pogroms (1881–1921): Jews caused the misery. Tens of thousands dead, mass flight.
-Nazi Germany: Jews lost the war, ruined the economy, corrupted the culture. Laws, Kristallnacht, then 6 million murdered.
-Kielce (1946): Even after the Holocaust, Jews were still the problem. More killings, more people running.
The pattern never changes:
1- Pick a small, visible minority and call them the secret controllers.
2- Tie them to whatever’s hurting people that week.
3- Move from propaganda to boycotts, laws, expulsions, and violence.
What’s happening right now follows the exact same script, blaming Jews, “Zionists,” or AIPAC for grocery prices, healthcare, and wars. Historians don’t treat this as some novel political analysis. They recognize it as the same move that has preceded catastrophe every single time.
Doesn’t matter if they say “Jews,” “the lobby,” or “the Jewish state.”
The functional claim is identical: a Jewish collective is why your life is hard. And that claim has a very long, very ugly track record.
Michael R. Bernstein retweeted
It’s remarkably easy to go through your life as a non-Jew barely thinking about Israel or antisemitism.
I think that’s how these ideas penetrated the Democratic Party. We had Jew-haters within our midst, but the issue never came up, so we just didn’t know. I didn’t know.
And they waited and waited and waited until this information warfare succeeded, and convinced people of this false genocide. Now we have all these antisemites operating in the Democratic Party, working on political goals that are literally identical to the jihadists. Annihilate Israel, controversialize Jews in American life, cede the Middle East to theocratic Islam.
And I will admit, I am among the responsible. I wish I’d started thinking about these issues earlier. Because now the cancer has metastasized and it may be too late.
I am sorry. I would make a lot of different decisions today.
Michael R. Bernstein retweeted
Israeli musician Itay Benda just lost his entire YouTube channel after 17 years.
Terminated over copyright strikes.
17 years of music.
Thousands of hours of content.
Him playing every instrument himself.
His whole journey… gone in a second.
And the timing couldn’t be more painful.
He’s been using music to connect people from different countries, religions, and cultures — “Peace Through Music.”
Now he’s asking for help.
If you know anyone at YouTube, in the music industry, or rights holders who can actually look at this with human eyes… please reach out.
Share this.
Help bring his channel back.
He’s not giving up.
Neither should we.
Instagram Profile: instagram.com/itaybenda/
TikTok Channel: tiktok.com/@itaybenda
Facebook Hub: facebook.com/bendaitay/
Am Yisrael Chai 🇮🇱🎶
Michael R. Bernstein retweeted
We just got an endorsement from the Israeli equivalent of Dolly Parton (if in addition to being a singer and actor she would have also happened to be a decorated soldier who was wounded in battle and went back to fighting) - Idan Amedi.
Thank you Idan!
Michael R. Bernstein retweeted
The following is intended for those who want to put “די” in the ballot box but are hesitating because of the electoral threshold. (Those who have no intention of supporting us can simply skip this...)
One of the biggest (and most common) mistakes Israeli voters make is giving up on voting for the party that truly represents them in favor of a “larger party,” believing that this is a smarter (and more “strategic”) choice.
Why is this a mistake?
Voters who believe in a small party and what it has to offer, but nevertheless choose to vote for other parties they identify with less, create a self-fulfilling prophecy, especially for parties that are just above the electoral threshold.
Worse still, Israel’s political graveyard is full of large and medium-sized parties that urged voters to support them solely on the basis of the “large party” argument, only to lose the opportunity to form a government precisely because they weakened the smaller parties they needed to build a coalition.
So, to everyone who wants to vote for us with their heart, I would add that voting for us is also the rational choice. Not only are we crossing the electoral threshold in most polls, but your vote will help ensure that all the other people who currently support us also receive the political representation they want. In this sense, a marginal vote for us is a vote that is “worth more,” because it helps push the party across the electoral threshold, which translates into four seats in the Knesset.
Putting “די” in the ballot box is the most rational vote you can cast, and the highest-value vote you can give in this election.
Michael R. Bernstein retweeted
If you want to understand modern antisemitism, you need to go back to Moscow in 1982.
This is the cover of Mahmoud Abbas’s thesis, later published as The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism.
Abbas is not just another Palestinian politician. He is the President of the Palestinian Authority, Chairman of the PLO, and the man Western governments have treated for decades as a partner for peace.
Yet Abbas wrote his thesis in the Soviet Union, promoting Holocaust distortion and the antisemitic conspiracy theory that Zionists collaborated with the Nazis.
But the story goes much further.
Documents from the Mitrokhin Archive identified Abbas as a KGB agent in Damascus in 1983, operating under the codename “Krotov,” meaning “Mole.” Think about what this means: The man who leads the PLO today was KGB agent.
For decades, the Soviet Union weaponized the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It supported Palestinian organizations and systematically repackaged antisemitism in the language of anti-Zionism, anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism.
Abbas emerged from this Soviet political environment and maintained close relations with Moscow. Russia continues to exploit the Palestinian issue to expand its influence, destabilize Western societies and undermine Western alliances.
And here is what I find extraordinary.
The West has allowed itself to be overwhelmed by a political narrative shaped by one of the most successful and enduring influence campaigns in modern history.
An entire generation has been taught to see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through an ideological framework that was cultivated decades ago by Soviet propaganda.
Today, that framework has found powerful new allies in the Red-Green alliance between radical progressive movements and Islamist organizations.
The accusations have barely changed. Zionists are Nazis. Israel is responsible for the world’s suffering. Jews are portrayed as powerful conspirators controlling governments, media and wars.
What Soviet propaganda once spread through political organizations, universities and intelligence networks is now amplified by social media algorithms, influencers, university campuses and mass demonstrations across Western cities.
The technology has changed. The distribution has accelerated. But the ideological foundations remain remarkably familiar.
And the most disturbing part? Many Western institutions, politicians and intellectuals have embraced elements of this narrative without questioning where it came from or whose geopolitical interests it serves.
The Palestinian cause has become far more than a national movement. It has also been exploited as an instrument of ideological warfare against Israel, Jews and the democratic West.
Abbas’s 1982 thesis is not simply a disturbing historical document. It is a window into the ideological origins of a campaign whose influence we continue to witness today.
