This account documents that Israel's inhumanity knows no bounds and that the U.S. government has no morality left in not condemning and stopping this immediately. As a health professional, it is so frustrating that the only thing I can do is pray for and be in solidarity with these health care workers and patients who are martyrs in every sense of the word.
I hope I will live long enough to see Bibi, Biden, Blinken, et al, in the docket, as in Neuremberg after WW II, and see them pay for their crimes against humanity.
The situation in the Gaza hospitals is heart braking. It surely involves multiple violations of international law! And yet the US, UK, and EU stand by and do absolutely nothing to stop it. Are they so afraid of the Zionists that they've lost all of their compassion and humanity? It appears so. History will not treat them kindly. The horror in Gaza is comparable to the Armenian, Rwandan, and Jewish genocides.
As horrifying as this is, we need to use this moment to learn. We are dealing with a power structure where the US (and Israel) are so powerful that they can conduct a genocide for the entire world to see and regardless of how much vocal opposition there is, we still cannot be stopped. Even the US public is now mostly opposed to this crime against humanity and we are a small percentage of the humans on this planet Earth. We need to wake up and begin to really figure out how to resist, because this is absolutely not sustainable - for the world, but also for us.
How to resist??? That is the main problem we have to solve. Any suggestions? I already support UNRWA but that looks as if it is inconsequential to any real change.
I’ve been following the situation in Gaza closely—the relentless attacks, the destruction, the suffering—and it’s impossible not to feel how terrible it is for the people living through this. But there’s one word that always stops me in my tracks when I’m trying to empathize: martyr.
That word, to me, is inseparably linked to a death cult mentality—one that glorifies sacrifice through death. And when I hear it used so often, it creates a barrier. I can’t bring myself to fully empathize with what feels like a celebration of suffering and loss, even if that’s not the full picture.
To be clear, I’m not trying to smear anyone, nor do I claim to know everything. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to understand. From the very beginning of the conflict, I’ve read countless articles, watched hours of Al Jazeera, listened to Francesca Albanese’s reports on Gaza, followed debates, and consumed hundreds of hours of documentaries and analysis. I’ve pored over thousands of pages of commentary, history, and analysis from all perspectives.
And yet, martyr always feels like a wall I can’t get past. I understand that Hamas, Hezbollah, and similar groups are steeped in a death cult ideology—where death in conflict is revered as the ultimate act of meaning. But it’s not just these militant groups. The broader Palestinian culture, from what I’ve observed, seems to carry traces of this mindset. There’s a deep cultural context that I can’t fully grasp, and it makes me pause. It creates a dissonance between the immense suffering I know is real and the language that seems to frame it.
Maybe I’m not the only one who struggles with this. I’d genuinely like to understand: why is this word so central? What cultural or historical meaning am I missing here? If there’s more to it—if it’s more than what I perceive on the surface—I’d appreciate hearing an explanation that could help bridge this gap. Because right now, the constant presence of martyrdom makes it harder for me to fully connect with what’s happening.
It is a word of reverence for the soul - akin to how American culture will name someone who has passed and immediately following their name, “rest in peace”. It’s a wish for an afterlife better than what they endured in life and it’s repeated almost as more of a comfort to those still alive, trying to process their loss. A shred of comfort to think your loved one will have peace or glory in an afterlife. Language and religious nuance splits what is very much a universal practice when processing loss and grief - we exalt that person. The loss of a universe.
The exact part that boggles me is this principle: I will take an action—let's use Hamas as an example—that I know will result in the deaths of thousands, even tens of thousands, of my own people, literally my family. And I am willing to sacrifice them so that my organization becomes stronger in the name of God.
It’s one thing for individuals to be brainwashed into doing irrational or destructive things—that’s not new. What I can’t wrap my head around is how the broader society seems to accept this. They don’t revolt or push back against leaders who are essentially treating them as expendable pawns. The fact that this dynamic doesn’t lead to mass rejection, anger, or rebellion against those responsible is genuinely weird to me.
We are all Homo sapiens. A part of our brain, often referred to as the "lizard brain" (the basal part of our brain), is responsible for our most primal instincts, like survival, self-preservation, and avoiding harm. This is supposed to act as a natural safeguard against behaviors that would jeopardize our own lives or the lives of those we care about. Yet here, that self-preservation instinct seems completely overridden by ideological brainwashing.
And that’s what’s so weird to me—so freaking weird. It’s as if the fundamental drive to stay alive has been suppressed or redirected toward something abstract, like martyrdom or collective sacrifice, and I just can’t make sense of how that happens on such a large scale.
Thank you for the explanation. I still struggle to comprehend the afterlife aspect of this, which makes it hard for me to fully grasp. I know there are cultures that venerate their dead, where funerals are more about celebrating life and achievements than just grieving the loss. Maybe this concept of martyrdom is an offshoot of that?
Even so, there’s a lingering sense of collective goals that feels distinct here. When I compare it to other struggles, like Ukraine’s fight for freedom, it stands out. Ukrainians also honor those who sacrifice their lives, but the focus is on patriotism, national sovereignty, and resistance—not on afterlife rewards or divine glory. The reverence exists, but it feels different, more grounded.
Similarly, when I look at other freedom movements, I don’t see the same emphasis on martyrdom. Groups that fight for independence or against oppressive regimes—whether secular or culturally driven—often frame sacrifice as part of a collective cause, not as a path to spiritual reward. I know there are exceptions, like certain militant factions that adopt similar language, but it still doesn’t center around the afterlife in the same way.
The closest comparison I can think of is Imperial Japan during World War II. Their glorification of sacrifice, through the kamikaze mindset and the broader cultural ideals of duty and honor, feels somewhat similar. There, death was portrayed as noble and necessary for a greater cause, combining cultural and spiritual beliefs. However, in Japan, much of this was driven by state-engineered propaganda, whereas what I see here appears far more deeply embedded in cultural and religious frameworks.
I realize martyrdom isn’t unique to any one group—it can exist in both religious and secular contexts. Nationalist movements, revolutionary struggles, or state propaganda have all framed sacrifice as heroic. But what feels distinct here is the centrality of the afterlife and divine reward. That’s where I’m stuck. I’m trying to approach this rationally, but the glorification of death in such spiritual terms feels foreign to my way of thinking.
Yeah, what sort of crazy people would seek religious explanations for why insane Zionist baby-killers get to murder them with impunity just to steal shit. Must be a death cult, huh?
Understanding would require empathy and you seem in short supply.
I’m from the Czech Republic, and during World War II, there was an assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, as part of Operation Anthropoid. This was a Czechoslovak-led mission carried out by trained paratroopers sent from London. The assassination was successful, but the consequences were catastrophic—thousands of people were killed in retaliation. Entire villages, such as Lidice and Ležáky, were wiped off the map, and countless innocent lives were lost.
We refer to these victims as part of the Heydrichiáda (the period of brutal reprisals following Heydrich's death), but they were never glorified as martyrs. Even the soldiers who carried out the attack—Jan Kubiš, Jozef Gabčík, and their team—were not revered as martyrs of Czech freedom. They were remembered as brave heroes, yes, but there’s an important distinction in how we see these roles.
The people who died in retaliation were not celebrated as heroes or martyrs either. They were seen as victims of Nazi brutality, innocent lives unjustly taken. There was no glorification of their deaths, no cultural framework that turned their suffering into something symbolic. They were mourned, remembered, and honored, but in a grounded, human way.
The way we perceive these roles matters. In Czech history, there was no cultural reverence for martyrdom. Death was never elevated to something symbolic or holy. Heroes were respected for their courage, victims were mourned for their suffering, but martyrdom—this glorification of death—was absent.
Therefore, I have a hard time understanding the whole concept of martyrdom because it feels so distant from my line of thinking. And when I asked for clarification, I got a crybaby response instead.
Yo, short supply, how is calling you a sociopath being a crybaby?
You weren't asking for clarification, you were rationalizing Zionist perspective - that any religious reaction by slaughtered Muslims is illegitimate and must be death-cult logic. Got called on your bs, cope.
Dude, I’m a sociopath—I know it, it is what it is. I’m trying to understand the world around me, why people act the way they do. I only have my own perception of the world, and from that perspective, when I observe certain behaviors, they seem completely irrational to me.
I don’t care much about Israelis in this context either. Honestly, the ultra-Orthodox Jews are on the exact same level of bullshit as fundamentalist Islamists or evangelical Christians in the USA—same shit, different name. What Israel is doing is absolutely disgusting, but at least it’s rational.
What I can’t wrap my head around is how Palestinians behave. To me, it seems irrational, and the main reason for that is this concept of martyrdom and the profound religiosity of their society. That’s the sticking point for me.
If someone could decode this concept of martyrdom in a way that makes it rational, I might be able to understand it better. And that’s what this is all about—trying to make sense of it.
Why are you bringing up Zionism? I don’t care if there ends up being a Greater Israel or not. I believe Israel should never have been created in that location in the first place. It was essentially a way for the Allies to whitewash their incompetence in handling the Jewish situation after WWII. Israel should have existed, but as part of some Western country, not forcibly dumped into the middle of the Middle East.
But that’s irrelevant now. My opinions can’t change the past—nothing can. All I can do is try to understand the situation as it is today.
This account documents that Israel's inhumanity knows no bounds and that the U.S. government has no morality left in not condemning and stopping this immediately. As a health professional, it is so frustrating that the only thing I can do is pray for and be in solidarity with these health care workers and patients who are martyrs in every sense of the word.
I hope I will live long enough to see Bibi, Biden, Blinken, et al, in the docket, as in Neuremberg after WW II, and see them pay for their crimes against humanity.
The situation in the Gaza hospitals is heart braking. It surely involves multiple violations of international law! And yet the US, UK, and EU stand by and do absolutely nothing to stop it. Are they so afraid of the Zionists that they've lost all of their compassion and humanity? It appears so. History will not treat them kindly. The horror in Gaza is comparable to the Armenian, Rwandan, and Jewish genocides.
Unless the people of the US can throw off the yoke of zionist control
there seems nothing is going to happen to save the Palestinians.
Any country that stands in the way of Israel will be attacked by the US.
Excellent article Herman, thank you for bringing attention to Dr. Abu Safiya's pleaful messages.
Appalling! Israel is a terrorist state.
Excellent documentation of what is happening, though the "More than 4,000 Palestinians have been killed" seems to be lacking a zero to make it 40,000.
Or is it 4,000 since Oct 2024??? And, Gaza only or the West Bank? This wasn't clear to me.
Israel should not be able to get away with this. But it does, thanks to the complicity of the USA and its allies.
I read "you know who rules you by who you are not allowed to criticize".
As horrifying as this is, we need to use this moment to learn. We are dealing with a power structure where the US (and Israel) are so powerful that they can conduct a genocide for the entire world to see and regardless of how much vocal opposition there is, we still cannot be stopped. Even the US public is now mostly opposed to this crime against humanity and we are a small percentage of the humans on this planet Earth. We need to wake up and begin to really figure out how to resist, because this is absolutely not sustainable - for the world, but also for us.
How to resist??? That is the main problem we have to solve. Any suggestions? I already support UNRWA but that looks as if it is inconsequential to any real change.
I’ve been following the situation in Gaza closely—the relentless attacks, the destruction, the suffering—and it’s impossible not to feel how terrible it is for the people living through this. But there’s one word that always stops me in my tracks when I’m trying to empathize: martyr.
That word, to me, is inseparably linked to a death cult mentality—one that glorifies sacrifice through death. And when I hear it used so often, it creates a barrier. I can’t bring myself to fully empathize with what feels like a celebration of suffering and loss, even if that’s not the full picture.
To be clear, I’m not trying to smear anyone, nor do I claim to know everything. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to understand. From the very beginning of the conflict, I’ve read countless articles, watched hours of Al Jazeera, listened to Francesca Albanese’s reports on Gaza, followed debates, and consumed hundreds of hours of documentaries and analysis. I’ve pored over thousands of pages of commentary, history, and analysis from all perspectives.
And yet, martyr always feels like a wall I can’t get past. I understand that Hamas, Hezbollah, and similar groups are steeped in a death cult ideology—where death in conflict is revered as the ultimate act of meaning. But it’s not just these militant groups. The broader Palestinian culture, from what I’ve observed, seems to carry traces of this mindset. There’s a deep cultural context that I can’t fully grasp, and it makes me pause. It creates a dissonance between the immense suffering I know is real and the language that seems to frame it.
Maybe I’m not the only one who struggles with this. I’d genuinely like to understand: why is this word so central? What cultural or historical meaning am I missing here? If there’s more to it—if it’s more than what I perceive on the surface—I’d appreciate hearing an explanation that could help bridge this gap. Because right now, the constant presence of martyrdom makes it harder for me to fully connect with what’s happening.
It is a word of reverence for the soul - akin to how American culture will name someone who has passed and immediately following their name, “rest in peace”. It’s a wish for an afterlife better than what they endured in life and it’s repeated almost as more of a comfort to those still alive, trying to process their loss. A shred of comfort to think your loved one will have peace or glory in an afterlife. Language and religious nuance splits what is very much a universal practice when processing loss and grief - we exalt that person. The loss of a universe.
Truly the loss of a universe.
The exact part that boggles me is this principle: I will take an action—let's use Hamas as an example—that I know will result in the deaths of thousands, even tens of thousands, of my own people, literally my family. And I am willing to sacrifice them so that my organization becomes stronger in the name of God.
It’s one thing for individuals to be brainwashed into doing irrational or destructive things—that’s not new. What I can’t wrap my head around is how the broader society seems to accept this. They don’t revolt or push back against leaders who are essentially treating them as expendable pawns. The fact that this dynamic doesn’t lead to mass rejection, anger, or rebellion against those responsible is genuinely weird to me.
We are all Homo sapiens. A part of our brain, often referred to as the "lizard brain" (the basal part of our brain), is responsible for our most primal instincts, like survival, self-preservation, and avoiding harm. This is supposed to act as a natural safeguard against behaviors that would jeopardize our own lives or the lives of those we care about. Yet here, that self-preservation instinct seems completely overridden by ideological brainwashing.
And that’s what’s so weird to me—so freaking weird. It’s as if the fundamental drive to stay alive has been suppressed or redirected toward something abstract, like martyrdom or collective sacrifice, and I just can’t make sense of how that happens on such a large scale.
Thank you for the explanation. I still struggle to comprehend the afterlife aspect of this, which makes it hard for me to fully grasp. I know there are cultures that venerate their dead, where funerals are more about celebrating life and achievements than just grieving the loss. Maybe this concept of martyrdom is an offshoot of that?
Even so, there’s a lingering sense of collective goals that feels distinct here. When I compare it to other struggles, like Ukraine’s fight for freedom, it stands out. Ukrainians also honor those who sacrifice their lives, but the focus is on patriotism, national sovereignty, and resistance—not on afterlife rewards or divine glory. The reverence exists, but it feels different, more grounded.
Similarly, when I look at other freedom movements, I don’t see the same emphasis on martyrdom. Groups that fight for independence or against oppressive regimes—whether secular or culturally driven—often frame sacrifice as part of a collective cause, not as a path to spiritual reward. I know there are exceptions, like certain militant factions that adopt similar language, but it still doesn’t center around the afterlife in the same way.
The closest comparison I can think of is Imperial Japan during World War II. Their glorification of sacrifice, through the kamikaze mindset and the broader cultural ideals of duty and honor, feels somewhat similar. There, death was portrayed as noble and necessary for a greater cause, combining cultural and spiritual beliefs. However, in Japan, much of this was driven by state-engineered propaganda, whereas what I see here appears far more deeply embedded in cultural and religious frameworks.
I realize martyrdom isn’t unique to any one group—it can exist in both religious and secular contexts. Nationalist movements, revolutionary struggles, or state propaganda have all framed sacrifice as heroic. But what feels distinct here is the centrality of the afterlife and divine reward. That’s where I’m stuck. I’m trying to approach this rationally, but the glorification of death in such spiritual terms feels foreign to my way of thinking.
Yeah, what sort of crazy people would seek religious explanations for why insane Zionist baby-killers get to murder them with impunity just to steal shit. Must be a death cult, huh?
Understanding would require empathy and you seem in short supply.
Drop[Site] needs a "Dislike" button.
I’m from the Czech Republic, and during World War II, there was an assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, as part of Operation Anthropoid. This was a Czechoslovak-led mission carried out by trained paratroopers sent from London. The assassination was successful, but the consequences were catastrophic—thousands of people were killed in retaliation. Entire villages, such as Lidice and Ležáky, were wiped off the map, and countless innocent lives were lost.
We refer to these victims as part of the Heydrichiáda (the period of brutal reprisals following Heydrich's death), but they were never glorified as martyrs. Even the soldiers who carried out the attack—Jan Kubiš, Jozef Gabčík, and their team—were not revered as martyrs of Czech freedom. They were remembered as brave heroes, yes, but there’s an important distinction in how we see these roles.
The people who died in retaliation were not celebrated as heroes or martyrs either. They were seen as victims of Nazi brutality, innocent lives unjustly taken. There was no glorification of their deaths, no cultural framework that turned their suffering into something symbolic. They were mourned, remembered, and honored, but in a grounded, human way.
The way we perceive these roles matters. In Czech history, there was no cultural reverence for martyrdom. Death was never elevated to something symbolic or holy. Heroes were respected for their courage, victims were mourned for their suffering, but martyrdom—this glorification of death—was absent.
Therefore, I have a hard time understanding the whole concept of martyrdom because it feels so distant from my line of thinking. And when I asked for clarification, I got a crybaby response instead.
Yo, short supply, how is calling you a sociopath being a crybaby?
You weren't asking for clarification, you were rationalizing Zionist perspective - that any religious reaction by slaughtered Muslims is illegitimate and must be death-cult logic. Got called on your bs, cope.
Dude, I’m a sociopath—I know it, it is what it is. I’m trying to understand the world around me, why people act the way they do. I only have my own perception of the world, and from that perspective, when I observe certain behaviors, they seem completely irrational to me.
I don’t care much about Israelis in this context either. Honestly, the ultra-Orthodox Jews are on the exact same level of bullshit as fundamentalist Islamists or evangelical Christians in the USA—same shit, different name. What Israel is doing is absolutely disgusting, but at least it’s rational.
What I can’t wrap my head around is how Palestinians behave. To me, it seems irrational, and the main reason for that is this concept of martyrdom and the profound religiosity of their society. That’s the sticking point for me.
If someone could decode this concept of martyrdom in a way that makes it rational, I might be able to understand it better. And that’s what this is all about—trying to make sense of it.
Can't admit to rationalizing Zionism any better than that. I rest my case.
;(
Why are you bringing up Zionism? I don’t care if there ends up being a Greater Israel or not. I believe Israel should never have been created in that location in the first place. It was essentially a way for the Allies to whitewash their incompetence in handling the Jewish situation after WWII. Israel should have existed, but as part of some Western country, not forcibly dumped into the middle of the Middle East.
But that’s irrelevant now. My opinions can’t change the past—nothing can. All I can do is try to understand the situation as it is today.