May 21, 2026 - Thiago Avila, a participant in the Global Sumud Flotilla which was bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza recounts the horrific treatment the activists endured in Israel.

Israeli soldiers raped and sexually assaulted multiple activists, many people's ribs and arms were broken, people were shot at point blank range with rubber bullets, people were tortured with stress positions, and it goes on and on.

He correctly points out that if this is what they do to prisoners from the US and Europe and many other countries, while the whole world is watching, what they have been doing for decades to the thousands of Palestinian prisoners must be unimaginable.

Also, when we move too much during an argument, or lean forward, it’s scary, and I never knew. I was even a little insulted at first, because surely she didn’t think I would hurt her. But see, that doesn’t matter. It wasn’t a sign that she mistrusted me specifically; it’s a conditioned response. (Although if you keep doing it once you realize it scares her, she SHOULDN’T trust you.)

Not every woman has been physically harmed by a man she trusted, but every woman KNOWS a woman who has.

I used to be horrible about this, because I didn’t realize how intimidating it was. I didn’t understand why the woman I was with clammed up or tried to tell me what she thought I wanted to hear, and I only got angrier, and acted even more like an asshole. It was wrong. It was abusive. It didn’t matter if I INTENDED it that way; it was still emotionally abusive. And it was inexcusable.

I get that when passions are high, and when you’re frustrated, it’s a natural tendency to let your voice get louder, to shout and gesture and lean forward. But you can train yourself to do better. You can train yourself to keep more of an even tone, to refrain from large and fast gestures, to not lean into her personal space. I did. I’m not perfect at it yet, but goddamn it, I WILL be.

History is littered with the bodies of women who believed a man “would never.” This includes women killed by men who honestly, deeply, truly believed they “would never”… right up until she said that one thing or moved in just that way and he just got so mad, just that once, and pushed her or punched her or slashed her or shot her… just once, y’know, to shut her up, or because she was flinching and didn’t she know that HE’S NOT LIKE THAT and I’LL TEACH HER TO BE AFRAID OF ME…

We are trained, from infancy, that Men With Loud Voices are a source of pain from which we cannot escape, and attempts to escape may result in more pain. And as soon as we’re old enough to comprehend a world broader than our immediate circle, a world that extends into the past and will run into the future, we realize that there is no way, no way at all, to tell which men “would never” and which men “would never… except if.”

We live or die on that “if.” And any man who doesn’t like facing that hyper-vigilance can work on fixing OTHER MEN, not women’s fear.

The reaction shouldn’t be “not all men are like that;” it should be “no woman should have to live in fear.”

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They start to water

Let's take a moment to remember that Palestinians in Gaza are going through a man-made famine right now. It's got really bad that people have died of hunger [x], people have had to search for food in the trash [x], children are so malnourished that they are skins and bones [x], children wish to die [x], people get shot at "aid centers" [x].

While aid and food definitely need to get into Gaza, please keep donating even if it's just $5. Some Palestinian grassroots groups are still actively delivering water and whatever food they can get.

Donate to Palestinian grassroots groups:

The Zaynab Project

The Sameer Project

Water Is Life Gaza

We Feed Gaza

Fund a Kitchen Gaza

Their campaign needs about $3,600 to $5,000 every day just to cook 250 meals and prepare 10 pots of lentils or bulgur. Medical work adds another $5,000 every 10 days. Now, water trucks are becoming a top priority—but those come with a hefty price tag too. On top of it all, they have to hire a lot of labor, which has to be paid in cash.

They need to reach at least $10,000 a day for the South campaign to provide some of each of those. Please donate today and share with your family and friends:

Other ways to donate include:

p*ypal.me/mahertali (Paypal option, please make sure to add a message saying "South aid")

If people are lucky enough to get their hands on flour, much of it is spoiled and/or contaminated with insects. The choices are disease or death by starvation. This kind of life is being imposed on almost two million people, roughly half of whom are children.

We want to provide bread made from safe flour to the families in Mawasi Al-Qarara refugee camp.

This will take about 7-10 bags of flour each costing $500 each. It’ll take $3,500-$5,000 in order to make enough loaves to feed 560 people.

You can help by donating at the link here:

immigration law help, database of free and low-cost immigration lawyers, searchable by zip code as well as by detention facility if you or a loved one has already been detained

report an ICE raid or arrest in Chicagoland to the Resurrection Project, a Chicago nonprofit that works on immigration justice as well as housing affordability and other community needs

for those of us watching in horror from the sidelines, one of the best things we can do right now is donate to immigrant justice legal services, like the National Immigrant Justice Center or a local group in your community