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Category: israel

  • Italy just sent a naval vessel to support the Gaza flotilla against Israel

    Italy’s defence minister Guido Crosetto has today strongly condemned last night’s Israeli attack, in international waters off the coast of Greece, on the volunteer humanitarian flotilla en route to deliver aid to Gaza. The latest in a string of bombings by the rogue state involved bombs dropped by at least fifteen drones – revised up from initial reports of twelve – some hitting small vessels directly.

    Italy: a pointed move against Israel?

    Crosetto has ordered an Italian navy frigate to join the flotilla immediately, joining Turkish and Egyptian navy ships pledged to its defence.

    The flotilla had already delayed its departure on its final leg to Gaza until the weekend, but has said the latest attack has not changed its schedule:

    Despite last night’s attacks, the Global Sumud Flotilla is still sailing strong towards Gaza. Solidarity cannot be bombed, and humanity cannot be silenced.

    As the Times of Israel reported:

    Crosetto said the Italian Navy’s frigate Fasan, which was sailing north of Crete, was “already heading towards the area for possible rescue operations.” Italy has informed Israel about the decision.

    “In a democracy, demonstrations and forms of protest must also be protected when they are carried out in accordance with international law and without resorting to violence,” Crosetto said.

    UN Rapporteur Francesca Albanese and crew volunteer Greta Thunberg went live this afternoon on the flotilla’s ‘X’ stream with legal observers from the Shireen boat to discuss the attacks as violations of international law.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Israel launches more drone attacks on the Gaza humanitarian flotilla

    The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), which is currently in Crete, was attacked by Israel with drones in the early hours of this morning, 24 September, just days before its expected arrival in Gaza.

    Israel attacks the Global Sumud Flotilla with drones – again

    In a post on X, the GSF said:

    Explosions, unidentified drones, and communications jamming. We are witnessing these psychological operations firsthand, right now, but we will not be intimidated.

    The peaceful humanitarian mission, which is carrying aid for the people of Gaza and aiming to break Israel’s ongoing siege, reported that at least 13 explosions were heard on and around several flotilla boats, with widespread disruption in communications, raising urgent concerns for the safety of the activists on board:

     

    In a statement which claimed drones or aircraft also dropped sound bombs and chemical materials, and unidentified objects on at least 10 of the boats, the GSF said:

    The lengths to which Israel and its allies will go to prolong the horrors of starvation and genocide in Gaza are sickening. But our resolve is stronger than ever. These tactics will not deter us from our mission to deliver aid to Gaza and break the illegal siege. Every attempt to intimidate us only strengthens our commitment.

    Ongoing campaign by the occupation to criminalise the flotilla

    For weeks, the Israeli occupation, which is now referring to the GSF as a ‘Hamas flotilla’, has escalated its campaign to discredit and criminalise the GSF, portraying it as a “security threat” and trying to manufacture consent for lethal force against the flotilla. The flotilla consists of more than 45 ships, with a crew of more than 500 unarmed civilians from 44 countries. According to the occupation, the flotilla’s crew are “insincere” and “pursuing a violent course of action” because they refuse to transfer the aid to Ashkelon Marina so Israel can:

    forward it promptly to the Gaza Strip.

    The activists, although concerned, say they will continue with their mission undeterred.

    In a post on X, Israeli occupation’s Ministry of Foreign Affair’s spokesperson Oren Marmorstein, who believes Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza is legal, again threatened the flotilla:

    This flotilla, organized by Hamas, is intended to serve Hamas. Israel will not allow vessels to enter an active combat zone and will not allow the breach of a lawful naval blockade
.If the flotilla continues to reject Israel’s peaceful proposal, Israel will take the necessary measures.

    Post on X from Oren Marmorstein which reads: "t? Israel Foreign Ministry reposted Oren Marmorstein @OrenMarmorstein · 18h Ø ... We were sorry to hear the response from the Hamas flotilla representative that the flotilla insists on pursuing a violent course of action and refuses our proposal to transfer, in a coordinated and peaceful manner, any aid that might be aboard the flotilla to the Gaza Strip via the nearby Ashkelon Marina. This response once again highlights the insincerity of the flotilla members and their mission to serve Hamas, rather than the people in Gaza. If the flotilla continues to reject Israel's peaceful proposal, Israel will take the necessary measures to prevent its entry into the combat zone and to stop any violation of a lawful naval blockade, while making every possible effort to ensure the safety of its passengers. We reiterate: if your intentions are sincere, transfer any such aid to the Ashkelon Marina so it can be forwarded promptly to the Gaza Strip in a peaceful and non-violent manner."

    On Sunday night, several drones followed the flotilla across the Mediterranean, but no incidents were reported. In a statement, the flotilla said:

    This surveillance is not neutral. It coincides with the ongoing attempts to criminalise and delegitimise a civilian mission whose only purpose is to challenge the siege and stand with Palestinians. For Palestinians in Gaza, drones are not just cameras. They are daily tools of terror and violence, used to surveil, intimidate and kill. Their constant presence is a reminder of the occupation’s grip over every aspect of life. The policing of these waters is part of the same system that denies Palestinians freedom of movement and keeps Gaza cut off from the rest of the world.

    Earlier this month, the GSF was again attacked by drones, while in Tunisia.

    A call for international protection for the flotilla crew

    The flotilla is now around 600 nautical miles from Gaza. Its volunteers are sailing to break the occupation’s siege of Gaza, which has been ongoing for the last 18 years. They are acting in accordance with international law, because they are civilians undertaking a humanitarian mission in international waters. They are asking for international protection for all participants on the ships.

    Last year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza illegal under international law. This means all states are legally bound to recognise Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory as unlawful, and must take action to end this situation, while also not aiding Israel in maintaining its occupation.

    Feature image via Al Jazeera/Youtube.

    By Charlie Jaay

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Israel’s apartheid systematically destroys all aspects of Palestinian life

    Through its practices, laws and policies, the Israel enforces systematic segregation, discrimination, and domination over Palestinians across the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, and within Israel itself – amounting to apartheid.

    Widespread consensus on Israel’s apartheid regime

    A multitude of human rights organisations and legal experts – including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and even the former head of Mossad, have all concluded that these combined policies and practices constitute a regime of apartheid because they are intentional, systematic, and widespread, and intended to dominate Palestinians and deny them equal rights based on their ethnicity or race.

    In 2024, the ICJ issued a historic advisory opinion finding that Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) constitute apartheid and breach international law, demanding urgent international action to end this regime, and concluding that:

    Israel’s legislation and measures impose and serve to maintain a near-complete separation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem between the settler and Palestinian communities.

    Apartheid is an Afrikaans word meaning ‘separation’. It is a crime against humanity under international law, as defined in the Apartheid Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), entailing inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group over another, and characterised by systematic discrimination, oppression, and segregation. In the case of Israeli apartheid in the occupied territory, it is a system whereby Jewish Israelis receive special rights and freedoms while Palestinians living under Israeli rule, in the same area, are treated as inferior in rights and status to Jews, and systematically deprived of their rights.

    Israel’s apartheid aims to advance Jewish supremacy

    According to Amnesty International, the Israeli occupation enforces a system of apartheid against all Palestinians living under their effective control – whether they live in Israel, East Jerusalam, the West Bank, Gaza, or in other countries as refugees. Oppression is institutionalised, and Israeli laws and policies are specifically designed to deprive Palestinians of their rights, while advancing the regime’s goal of Jewish supremacy in the entire area under its control.

    This has even been confirmed by Netanyahu, when he came to power in 2023 and declared:

    The Jewish people have an exclusive and inalienable right to all spaces of the Land of Israel. The government will promote and develop settlement in all parts of the Land of Israel – in the Galilee, in the Negev, in the Golan, in Judea and Samaria (the biblical name for the West Bank.

    While Israeli law gives people and their spouses from anywhere in the world with one or more Jewish grandparents the right to relocate to Israel and acquire citizenship, the 7.25 million Palestinians who were expelled from their homes or homeland during Israel’s formation in 1948, and are now refugees in their own country or abroad, are being denied by the occupation their legal right to return to areas from which they have fled or were forced. They’re unable to receive compensation for damages, and to either regain their properties, or receive compensation and support for voluntary resettlement.

    Although it withdrew its military and its settlers in 2005, the Israeli occupation still maintains complete control over Gaza and its population of two million, through a land, sea, and air blockade. This means it’s effectively controlling the movement of people and goods. Because of the Israeli occupation’s actions, Gaza has long been referred to as an ‘open-air prison’, with a failing economy and the inability to travel to the rest of Palestine, or abroad.

    Separate legal systems for Jews and Palestinians

    In the West Bank, where oppression due to Israel’s apartheid is most severe, discrimination is institutionalised, as two separate legal systems are applied in a single territory, and which one you have depends on who you are. Palestinians live under Israel’s harsh military law, marked by arbitrary detention, torture, and discrimination, while illegal Jewish settlers, who live in illegally established settlements in the same territory, live under the protection of full Israeli civil law.

    More than 1,800 military orders intervene in almost all aspects of Palestinian daily life, while the Israeli occupation’s police, soldiers, and private security firms are stationed throughout the area to ensure these orders, which are justified as ‘state security’, are obeyed.

    For those not adhering to these military orders, punishment is severe, with military law ignoring basic rights such as fair trials, and allowing arbitrary detention of Palestinians. Palestinians are often arrested and taken from their home unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, and interrogated without a lawyer. They are tried in a military court, with military judges, prosecutors, and translators. Proceedings are conducted in Hebrew, which many Palestinian defendants do not understand, and there is a conviction rate greater than 99%.

    A two-tier legal system legitimising apartheid

    This dual legal system, in violation of international law, has helped to legitimise the occupation and illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, enforces inequality, and is a key part of Israel’s apartheid as it creates two populations living in the same area with drastically different rights.

    Since 1948, when Israel forcibly displaced almost 800,000 Palestinians from their homes and destroyed hundreds of towns an villages, the occupation has aimed to control as much Palestinian land and resources as possible, and to take this for the Jewish population only. By expanding its settlement enterprise in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Israel has not only demolished the possibility of a Palestinian state, but is also cementing its control over the territory.

    Illegal Jewish settlements soaring: Palestinian home demolitions on the rise

    These Israeli settlements are segregated housing units for Jewish Israelis built on Palestinian land and, although illegal under international law, Jews from around the world are welcomed by the Israeli occupation to colonise Palestine.

    There are currently more than 737,000 illegal Jewish settlers living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and these have the state’s full ideological and material support, being armed by the government and protected by the Israeli occupation’s police and soldiers. These settlers only aim is to force Palestinians off their land, so their colonial settlements can be built there instead, and they do this by storming villages and terrorising residents, burning homes, killing livestock, and destroying crops and trees.

    Israel’s steps to replace Palestinian communities with settlers and extend its sovereignty over the West Bank and East Jerusalem have accelerated. The biggest expansion of Jewish settlements in decades is now taking place, while the number of Palestinian home demolitions in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem is the highest it has been since occupation started in 1967.

    Forced demolitions: a tool of ethnic cleansing

    Forced demolition of homes and other structures – including water pipes, wells, and roads – have long been a tool of ethnic cleansing. They are a war crime, and devastate Palestinian families and communities. When carried out by the Israeli occupation, these demolitions can cost the owner of the structure the equivalent of around ÂŁ20,000. So, to avoid paying this fine, Palestinians are often forced to bulldoze and tear down their own home, making their family homeless in the process.

    The majority of demolition orders are issued because a home or structure is supposedly ‘illegal’, as it has been built without an Israeli permit, which are almost impossible to obtain. Demolitions are a form of collective punishment and can also be carried out as part of military activities. Thousands of Palestinians lose their homes yearly through demolitions, and this forced displacement breaks Palestinian communities and increases Israeli control over the land.

    Water apartheid by Israel

    The Israeli national water company Mekorot implements an apartheid policy of water management in the occupied Palestinian territory, illegally restricting access to water, depriving Palestinians of a sufficient water supply, and violating World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.

    So, while these illegal Israeli settlements have unrestricted access to water, 65% of the Palestinians in the West Bank are not even supplied with daily running water in their homes, according to B’Tselem. And in the Jordan Valley, the herding communities consume just 26 litres a day, while the settlers consume 400-700 litres of water per capita per day. This is collective punishment and apartheid directed at Palestinians.

    Military checkpoints fragmenting Palestinian communities

    And while Israeli settlers living in these illegal settlements drive freely on Jewish only roads, and can move between the West Bank and Israel, Palestinians are unable to do this, instead, facing severe movement restrictions. Military checkpoints, roadblocks, and the separation barrier – which the Israeli occupation calls the ‘security fence’ – fragment Palestinian communities and restrict access to education, health services, and economic opportunities, splitting Palestinian homes and farmland apart, and creating isolated enclaves. Meanwhile a strict permit system controls when and where Palestinians can go and makes life extremely difficult. These movement barriers destroy their social and economic life.

    Even when traveling within their own neighbourhoods, they are held back at checkpoints, and treated as intruders in their own land. Palestinian authorities last week warned that in East Jerusalem alone, the Israeli occupation has erected 88 military checkpoints and iron gates in and around the city. This is not about security, but about an apartheid system of control.

    Failed responsibility of the international community

    Apartheid is both an international wrong and a crime against humanity. When a crime against humanity is committed, the international community has an obligation to not only prevent it, but also to hold those who have committed the crime to account. This has not yet happened in the case of the Israeli occupation.

    Michael Lynk, the UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, summed up the situation in 2022, when he said:

    For more than 40 years, the UN Security Council and General Assembly have stated in hundreds of resolutions that Israel’s annexation of occupied territory is unlawful, its construction of hundreds of Jewish settlements are illegal, and its denial of Palestinian self-determination breaches international law

if the international community had truly acted on its resolutions 40 or 30 years ago, we would not be talking about apartheid today.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Charlie Jaay

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The UN just exposed orphaned children in Gaza are eating sand and drinking poisonous water

    On Tuesday 23 September, the president of the UN General Assembly Annalena Baerbock warned of the worsening humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip, confirming that thousands of orphaned children are wandering among the ruins of destroyed homes. The tragic conditions have driven some of them to eat sand and drink contaminated water due to Israel’s blockade and lack of basic necessities.

    Annalena Baerbock: UN failing Gaza’s orphaned children

    Referring to the international community’s failure to stop the tragedy, during her speech, Baerbock asked:

    When civilians are killed in Gaza, is it international humanitarian law at fault, for failing to protect them?

    Her warning comes many months after the Israeli occupation resumed its air strikes on Gaza on 18 March. This was in a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement that came into effect on 19 January, lasting for nearly two months. The raid violating the agreement resulted in more than 400 martyrs and 500 wounded in a few hours. Most of them women and children, bringing scenes of destruction and mass killing back to the forefront.

    The first phase of the ceasefire ended in early March after 42 days. It saw the implementation of a prisoner exchange deal in several stages between Palestinian resistance factions and Israel. This was along with a limited withdrawal of Israeli forces that allowed thousands of displaced people to return to their destroyed homes. However, these understandings quickly collapsed with the renewal of aggression and the absence of any real commitment on the part of the occupation.

    Calls for the international community to hold Israel to account

    UN data indicates that Gaza’s population of approximately 2.3 million is facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern times. Most are suffering from severe shortages of food and drinking water and a collapsed health system. Children are experiencing psychological distress due to the ongoing war and the loss of their loved ones.

    The ongoing tragedy in Gaza is putting international humanitarian law to the test. Baerbock’s delivered her speech amid growing calls for the international community to intervene decisively to stop the aggression and hold those responsible for crimes against civilians accountable, given the continuing blockade and the absence of any prospect of a political solution that would protect lives and stop the bloodshed.

    Feature image via screengrab.

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Displacement in Gaza begins with bombing – but doesn’t end in the open air

    The Gaza Strip is experiencing one of the largest waves of forced displacement in its history. Israel has forced tens of thousands of families leave their homes under the weight of continuous bombing. With the destruction of towers, homes, tents, and shelters, many have found themselves homeless, resorting to living in the open or even next to garbage dumps, in a scene that sums up the scale of the worsening humanitarian disaster.

    Displacement does not begin with a family’s decision, but with a moment of bombing that wipes out a home or an entire neighbourhood. Suddenly, civilians find themselves with only one choice: to leave. There is no time to gather their belongings, no safe place to go. Memories are left under the rubble, and fear dominates their faces. It is the beginning of a journey into the unknown.

    In just two weeks, more than 1,600 towers and residential buildings were destroyed, along with 13,000 tents. It has left thousands of families homeless on the streets.

    Gaza displacement: walking into the unknown

    After leaving, a difficult journey begins along dangerous roads. Some families walk on foot, others ride in crowded trucks. However, they all share the same experience: thirst, hunger, and constant anxiety from the bombing that follows them, even on the road.

    Every step of the way is a new battle for survival. Children sleep on sidewalks, women drag older people along with them, and fathers carry what remains of their lives on their shoulders. There is not enough water or food to sustain them. Fear of the unknown looms at every stop.

    Lost shelter: worn-out tents or the open air

    When the displaced arrive in the south, they do not find the safe haven they dream of. The tents that were set up two years ago have worn out. They are no longer fit for habitation. The occupation prevents the entry of temporary homes or new tents, leaving hundreds of thousands without a roof over their heads.

    The statistics reveal the scale of the disaster. More than 288,000 families are homeless, and 125,000 tents have been completely worn out. And the occupation has destroyed 273 shelters. The result: hundreds of thousands are crowded into a small geographical area, where there is neither space nor capacity to accommodate such a huge number of people.

    Life next to garbage: dignity under threat

    In some cases, the displaced have found no place to live but garbage dumps. Amid foul odors, skin diseases, rodents, and insects, families live in conditions unfit for human dignity. Displacement is no longer just the loss of a home, but the loss of the minimum conditions for life.

    Amid these conditions, tattered tents near garbage dumps become a ‘temporary home’. There, children are forced to play among filth and the sick must coexist with suffocating odors. The cruel irony is that the search for safety from bombing has led them to live in the midst of health and environmental hazards.

    An endless wait: a future without answers amid Gaza’s displacement

    After a bitter journey and living in the open or among garbage, the displaced face a painful question: where to go? The future seems uncertain, return is not guaranteed, and the present is fraught with difficulties. Hundreds of thousands live in areas no larger than a few square kilometres. They do so amid daily evacuation orders and scarce aid that barely keeps them alive.

    It is a harsh wait, accompanied only by a faint hope that something will change. With each passing day, the feeling grows that displacement is no longer a temporary stop, but a long-term fate that threatens to turn the lives of an entire generation into an open-ended journey of wandering and suffering.

    What is happening in Gaza shows that displacement is not just a ‘forced move from one place to another’, but a journey of suffering that begins with bombardment, continues along a desolate road, and ends in places unfit for human habitation. It is a loss of home, memory, dignity, and the most basic necessities of survival.

    Feature image via Al Jazeera/Youtube.

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Recognition Of Palestine: What It Does, What It Doesn’t Do, And Why Now

    The United Kingdom, Canada, Portugal, and Australia officially recognized the State of Palestine in a series of separate but coordinated statements on Sunday, September 21. Other European and Western nations, including France, Belgium, New Zealand, and several other key allies of Israel, are expected to join the chorus of recognitions at today’s UN General Assembly meeting in New York. The summit is based on a joint Saudi-French initiative to revive a two-state solution called “the New York Declaration,” which was first issued at a conference on September 12. The conference was boycotted by the U.S, which opposed the summit.

    The post Recognition Of Palestine: What It Does, What It Doesn’t Do, And Why Now appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Unidentified Drones Circle Sumud Flotilla En Route To Gaza

    The International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza (ICBSG) said on 21 September that unidentified drones have flown over the Global Sumud Flotilla, with some passing unusually close to the vessels.

    The group described the activity on Facebook as an “unusual level of drone activity causing concerns.”

    Volunteers on board confirmed they are preparing for the possibility of Israeli interception, holding nighttime drills as the ships entered the so-called “yellow zone” south of Greece, where Israeli attacks are considered increasingly likely.

    Organizers said the training focused on nonviolent responses should Israeli forces storm the flotilla as they did with the previous two missions to Gaza.

    The post Unidentified Drones Circle Sumud Flotilla En Route To Gaza appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Israeli Foreign Ministry Says It Won’t Allow Aid Flotilla To Break Blockade

    The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Monday issued a threat to the Global Sumud Flotilla, which is attempting to break Israel’s starvation siege on Gaza, warning that it wouldn’t allow the boats to breach the Israeli blockade.

    The Israeli Foreign Ministry has also labeled the flotilla as “Hamas,” suggesting that Israel may target the boats with military strikes. Earlier this month, two of the boats came under drone attack while they were in port in Tunisia, causing fires and damage but no injuries to the crew.

    “Statement Regarding the Hamas Flotilla (‘Sumud’): This flotilla, organized by Hamas, is intended to serve Hamas,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry wrote on X. “Israel will not allow vessels to enter an active combat zone and will not allow the breach of a lawful naval blockade.”

    The post Israeli Foreign Ministry Says It Won’t Allow Aid Flotilla To Break Blockade appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Mask Off, Maersk

    In a monumental victory for the Palestinian liberation movement, one of the world’s largest integrated logistics and shipping companies, A.P. Moller-Maersk (or Maersk, for short) announced it would halt its transport and business in illegal Israeli settlements, ​“following a recent review of transports related to the West Bank.” The announcement follows a number of reports released revealing their involvement in the weapons trade and genocide of the Palestinian people.

    This announcement marks not only an unprecedented victory for the movement but also the making of the successful ​“Mask Off Maersk” campaign that began at last year’s People’s Conference for Palestine, when the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) launched a transnational people’s arms embargo against the Copenhagen-based company.

    The post Mask Off, Maersk appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Teachers And Unions Fight Back As US Campuses Prepare To Fuel Witch Hunt

    Outrage flared last week about the University of California’s capitulation to this era’s resurgent McCarthyism, as news spread that the university has provided the names of at least 160 students, faculty members, and staff at the University of California, Berkeley, to federal officials who — under the guise of investigating “alleged antisemitic incidents” — are scrutinizing people who have expressed opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

    Judith Butler, a UC Berkeley philosophy professor and Jewish critic of the Israeli government, said in a recent interview with Democracy Now!, “There is no good evidence that antisemitism is rampant on campus,” adding, “To take a position against genocide is certainly not an antisemitic thing to do.

    The post Teachers And Unions Fight Back As US Campuses Prepare To Fuel Witch Hunt appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • A bloodless massacre: Gaza’s children are being assassinated in the silence of their mothers’ wombs

    In Gaza, death is no longer an event that follows birth, but one that precedes it. There, Gaza’s unborn children do not wait for the moment of birth to face their fate, but are taken from life while still fetuses, without even the chance to cry out for the first time, without even a single first breath.

    At the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, doctors recorded the deaths of 13 children in 24 hours on Sunday. They included 10 fetuses who died in their mothers’ wombs and three premature babies who breathed their last breaths, after their fragile bodies were unable to withstand the cold and darkness due to power cuts and a shortage of incubators.

    Medical staff confirmed that six of these cases arrived from the north of the Strip. This was after a journey fraught with fear, hunger, and thirst, during which the mothers suffered from severe malnutrition and acute psychological breakdown. It’s all as a result of continuous Israeli shelling and forced displacement. Their bodies were exhausted by hunger and their hearts were worn down by loss, so death was faster than life.

    Gaza’s unborn children: fetuses are being lost in the womb, and hospitals are mourning life.

    The scene is no longer an exception. What is recorded daily in Gaza’s hospitals is no longer just numbers, but recurring chapters of an escalating humanitarian tragedy. Hospitals without medicine, without equipment, without electricity. Mothers enter the delivery rooms carrying life, only to leave them weighed down by loss.

    Food shortages, scarce healthcare, and the complete collapse of the medical system have turned delivery rooms into farewell stations. Every day, Gaza loses children who were never given the chance to be born. Meanwhile, miscarriage rates have reached alarming numbers, with dozens of cases daily in the Strip’s hospitals.

    International warnings… and global silence

    UNICEF recently warned that one in three children in Gaza suffers from severe malnutrition. Thousands of infants have been left without their mothers’ milk due to hunger and exhaustion. The World Health Organization (WHO), for its part, has clearly stated that the health system in Gaza has reached a the brink of complete collapse. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X on Thursday 18 September that:

    Hospitals, already overwhelmed, are on the brink of collapse

    This is threatening the lives of every pregnant woman and every newborn baby.

    At the Nasser Medical Complex, in delivery rooms that have been turned into battlefields, you don’t hear the cries of babies, but the moans of mothers and the silence of a place where the shelves are empty of medicine and there are few hands left to save lives.

    Lives erased before they begin

    In Gaza, children are buried before they are born. Lives are snatched from their mothers’ wombs, leaving grief in their hearts like a scar that will never heal. There, birth certificates are not issued. Instead, it’s death certificates for fetuses that the war did not allow to live for even a minute.

    Faced with this horrific scene, the world remains silent. It watches from afar as the tragedy continues, with lives lost every day, not only under the rubble, but also in the heart of hope, in the womb of a mother who dreamed of giving life, not saying goodbye to it.

    Feature image via Al Jazeera/Youtube

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Zionist settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque under the armed protection of the IDF

    Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surrounding compound in Jerusalem, known as Haram al-Sharif to Muslims and the Temple Mount to Jews, is one of the world’s most sensitive religious sites. However, its significance making it a persistent flashpoint for conflict.

    Hundreds of Israeli settlers entered Al-Aqsa Mosque today, 23 September, under heavy protection from Israeli occupation forces, marking the Hebrew New Year with rituals, singing, and dancing, while Palestinians were subjected to identity checks and blockades at the mosque gates:

    Among those present was former Knesset member Rabbi Yehuda Glick, escorted by police and wearing religious attire, further intensifying the provocative nature of the incursion.

    Al-Aqsa Mosque: Israeli settlers storm religious site

    Yesterday, saw almost 300 extremist settlers storm the mosque in the morning, while another 120 entered in the afternoon. On Sunday, 21 September, settlers performed rituals and said prayers inside Al-Aqsa for US far right activist and influencer Charlie Kirk, who was recently shot and killed.

    For Muslims, Al-Aqsa is the third holiest site after Mecca and Medina. It was the original direction for prayer before it was changed to Mecca, and the compound is also associated with the Prophet Muhammad’s night journey and ascension to heaven, making it a central spiritual symbol for Muslims worldwide. For Jews, the area is the holiest site, believed to be where the First and Second Jewish Temples once stood. The Western Wall, adjacent to the compound, remains a focus for Jewish prayer, while Jewish law traditionally restricts entry onto the Temple Mount itself, due to its sanctity.

    The Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, administered by Jordan, manages the site’s internal affairs, while Israeli forces control security. Muslims are allowed to worship freely, while non-Muslims – including Jewish visitors – can only enter during specifically designated hours and are not permitted to pray within the compound.

    Far-right raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque

    Recent years have seen far-right activists challenging these rules, pushing for increased Jewish access and even prayer, which has heightened tensions and political rhetoric in Jerusalem. Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to al-Aqsa in 2023 was the first by a senior cabinet minister since 2000, but these raids are now growing in frequency and scale, and many Palestinians view them as efforts to Judaize the compound and erase the Islamic heritage and sovereignty of the site.

    The site’s unique status means any breach of protocol, such as collective prayer or ritual conducted by non-Muslims in the mosque’s courtyards, can provoke widespread anger and international condemnation, as it is seen as an attempt to alter the longstanding religious balance. In the past, incidents surrounding Al-Aqsa have triggered mass protests, diplomatic crises, and even armed clashes in and around Jerusalem.

    Incursions intended to undermine Islamic and historical identity

    In the wake of the latest incursion, Palestinian authorities have called on Jerusalemites and residents of occupied areas to mobilise in defense of Al-Aqsa. Regional leaders and countries like Qatar and Pakistan have, in the past, issued statements condemning what they describe as escalations designed to undermine the mosque’s Islamic and historical identity, emphasising that Al-Aqsa remains a ‘red line’ for Palestinians and Muslims worldwide.

    Respecting established visiting arrangements, such as maintaining exclusive Muslim worship, ensuring respectful visits by non-Muslims during limited hours, and refraining from altering religious practices at the site, is critical to preserving Jerusalem’s fragile stability, Palestinian rights, and protecting the sanctity and heritage of one of the world’s most revered religious landmarks.

    Feature image via screengrab.

    By Charlie Jaay

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • 15 out of every 16 Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza are civilians, data shows

    The Guardian has revealed that about 15 out of every 16 Palestinians killed by the Israeli army in Gaza City since last March were civilians, in a new indication of the scale of the humanitarian disaster facing the Strip. The revelation comes from data collated by independent organisation ACLED, which tracks armed conflicts.

    According to ACLED, the Israeli occupation army has carried out more than 3,500 airstrikes over the past six months, resulting in the deaths of more than 9,500 people, most of them civilians, as well as the assassination of at least 40 leaders and members of Hamas. The newspaper considered that the rate of civilian casualties during this period is the highest since the outbreak of the war nearly two years ago. This will increase international pressure on Israel as it expands its ground operations in Gaza City.

    Civilians account for 80% of Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza

    The report also noted a significant increase in the rate of building destruction. The occupation army completely or partially destroyed more than 3,600 buildings and residential towers between 11 August and 13 September. This was in addition to destroying some 13,000 tents that were sheltering displaced persons, according to data from the Government Media Office in Gaza.

    These findings echo a joint investigation conducted by the Guardian, the Hebrew website Local Call, and the magazine 972+ at the end of August. It revealed that civilians accounted for 83% of the total number of casualties, based on a confidential database of the Israeli military intelligence division ‘Aman’. The investigation showed that the number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad members killed by mid-May did not exceed 8,900 fighters. This compared to more than 52,000 martyrs counted by the Ministry of Health in Gaza for the same period. It means that fighters account for only 14-17% of the victims, compared to 83-86% civilians.

    According to estimates, around 10,000 bodies remain buried under the rubble, along with thousands of missing persons, and many of the bodies have been burned beyond recognition. These figures, according to the Guardian, mean that five out of every six martyrs in Gaza are civilians, which contradicts the official Israeli narrative that exaggerates the number of faction casualties to justify the scale of the destruction.

    Admission from within Israel

    In a remarkable development, former Israeli army chief of staff Herzi Halevi acknowledged on 13 September that more than 200,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured since the start of the war. This represents more than 10% of the Gaza Strip’s population. He emphasised that legal advice “did not restrict the army even once”, referring to the absolute freedom granted to the forces in carrying out their military operations.

    Feature image via TRT World/Youtube.

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Hastings Jews for Justice invite public to join them inside ‘Solidarity Sukkah for Gaza’

    The Hastings Jews for Justice group is inviting the public to join its members for dinner in a small shelter called a ‘sukkah’ each evening from 6-10 October in Hastings town centre.

    Hastings Jews for Justice: solidarity sukkahs

    A ‘sukkah’ is a three-sided structure traditionally erected during the harvest festival of Sukkot, with Jewish families taking all their meals there during the festival. It is often decorated with symbols of the harvest like lemons, palm fronds and willow branches. Now the group has adapted the tradition to draw attention to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, where there is an Israeli-imposed famine and most of the population are living in tents, having been driven from their homes and facing daily bombing and shooting even in so-called ‘safe zones’.

    The ‘Solidarity Sukkah’ will be erected each night in Hastings Town Centre between 5pm and 7pm from Monday 6 October until Friday 10 October and members of the public are invited in for food and discussions.

    Hastings Jews for Justice member Shelley Feldman said:

    The original sukkahs were built to remember how God protected exiled Jews during their time in the wilderness after leaving Egypt and the festival was one of gratitude – for the harvest and for shelter.

    But today a sukkah holds particular poignancy as almost all Palestinians in Gaza are living in temporary structures because Israel has destroyed more than 90 per cent of all homes there.

    In the West Bank too, military incursions and home demolitions have left thousands with nowhere to go.

    We are holding the Solidarity Sukkah to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians violently forced from their homes, and to make clear that Israel’s appalling crimes are not being done in our name. Hastings Jews for Justice stands against apartheid Israel’s genocide and ethnic cleansing.

    It is a tradition to invite strangers and guests to the sukkah so we welcome the opportunity to share our food, thoughts and ideas with the wider community.

    Collective liberation

    Hastings Jews for Justice started in 2024 as a coalition of Jews and people of Jewish heritage living in Hastings and the surrounding districts advocating for ‘collective liberation’ and an end to British ‘complicity with the apartheid state of Israel’. The group hosts regular social gatherings in the community, attends events locally and nationally and holds public gatherings, often rooted in Jewish traditions and values.

    In April this year the group hosted a Freedom for All Passover Seder in Stade Hall attended by over 70 people including local councillors, members of the mosque and prospective parliamentary candidates. It is also planning a film screening night in November.

    To find out more visit hastingsjewsforjustice.org.

    The Solidarity Sukkah will be open to the public from 5pm-7pm at Wellington Place, Hastings, TN34 from 6 October – 10 October.

    Featured image supplied

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Israel has escalated its use of boobytrapped robot vehicles in Gaza City

    According to new research by Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med Monitor), over the past week, Israeli occupation forces have loaded up about 120 old armoured vehicles with large amounts of explosives, and detonated them in busy residential neighbourhoods of Gaza City.

    Each blast is equivalent to the force of an earthquake measuring 3.7 on the Richter scale, not only shaking buildings which are several kilometres away from the blast centre and destroying homes, but also spreading fear and panic throughout the city.

    Israel using boobytrapped remote robot vehicles to detonate devastating explosions

    These boobytrapped robot vehicles, which are decommissioned US made M113 armoured personnel carriers – large military vehicles which were once used to carry soldiers – are each loaded with six or seven tonnes of explosives and remotely piloted through central residential neighbourhoods in Gaza City. There, they are directed to explode in locations which are carefully selected to maximise destruction.

    Euro-Med Monitor has estimated that each robot can completely or partially destroy around 20 housing units, while the shockwaves of these detonations can destroy buildings within roughly 90 metres. They can cause cracks in buildings and damage windows hundreds of metres further away. Because Gaza’s buildings have been weakened by almost two years of continuous bombing, the damage from each blast is much worse than it would normally be.

    This method of using boobytrapped vehicles on such a large scale is unprecedented in modern warfare, and is seen by Euro-Med Monitor as an attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians and eliminate their presence from Gaza.

    The damage caused by each explosion is enormous, with the blasts producing shockwaves so powerful they can be heard up to 40 kilometers away, across southern Israel. Each explosion destroys or makes unsafe around 20 homes, leaving even more Palestinians fighting for survival – with no food, medical care, or shelter.

    Boobytrapped robots ‘mercilessly’ wiping entire neighbourhoods ‘off the map’

    Israel’s boobytrapped vehicles do not only cause physical destruction. Euro-Med Monitor says they are also used as a:

    systematic tool of psychological terror, spreading extreme fear among civilians and coercively driving them to flee.

    The powerful explosions are designed to break the spirit of the Palestinians by making them feel unsafe even in their own homes. A resident of the obliterated Zaitoun neighbourhood in southeastern Gaza City told the NGO:

    For weeks we have barely managed to snatch a few minutes of restless sleep. Booby-trapped robots pound through the night, mercilessly tearing down homes and buildings, wiping entire residential neighbourhoods off the map.

    International humanitarian law prohibits the use of weapons such as these boobytrapped vehicles, whose effects cannot be limited to military targets. These explosions affect homes and people indiscriminately, violating the rules of war, which aim to protect civilians. This use of force is a war crime, and when done systematically, as the Israeli occupation has done for the past 24 months, it rises to the level of crimes against humanity and genocide.

    International leaders are still failing to act

    The use of these boobytrapped vehicles by Israel was first documented during its incursion of Jabalia refugee camp in Northern Gaza, in May 2024. Since then, they have been used more and more across the Gaza Strip and, last week, the Israeli publication Walla, reported that the Israeli army had begun deploying an ‘unprecedented’ number of remote-controlled armored vehicles packed with explosives into Gaza City.

    Despite this evidence of illegal and devastating tactics, the international community has failed to act, to stop Israel’s genocide, and hold the occupation accountable. Urgent international action is essential, right now, and Euro-Med Monitor is urging the UN General Assembly to use its emergency ‘Uniting for Peace’ resolution to call a special meeting aimed at sending peacekeepers to Gaza. These peacekeepers would protect civilians, allow humanitarian groups to deliver aid safely, and pressure Israel to stop its genocidal campaign against the population of Gaza. This intervention, necessary under international law, would challenge Israeli impunity and protect civilian lives amid escalating war crimes.

    On 18 September 2024, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) set a 12-month deadline for Israel to end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This has now expired.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Charlie Jaay

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • ‘Everyone is Khamas’! Exposed as genocidal ethnic supremacists, Israel loses it

    The Israeli government and its mouthpieces seem to be feeling the strain of being outed as genocidal ethnic supremacists. Given that they’re genocidal ethnic supremacists, this spells danger for anyone who, well, isn’t.

    ‘Everyone is Khamas’

    With its lies and propaganda exposed and debunked almost as fast as it can issue them, Israel has now decided to lash out at pretty much the whole world – or the majority of it who recognises it as genocidal ethnic supremacists – as ‘Khamas’ (for some reason its spokespeople always think it’s clever to add the ‘k’, even though Hebrew has a perfectly serviceable letter for the ‘h’ sound ‘Ś”’).

    No, seriously.

    This practice has been around for a long time, of course, but has recently achieved a new pervasiveness. The humanitarian flotilla of more than fifty vessels on its way to Gaza – now reportedly with warships from Egypt and Turkiye providing protection – appears to be causing considerable consternation, as it’s not as easily attacked as the individual vessels that tried previously. Israel needs more cover – so that is now a ‘Hamas flotilla’, because ‘Sumud’ – an Arabic word meaning steadfastness or perseverance – is the same as ‘Hamas’. Apparently:

    United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, an expert on human rights and international law, is an outspoken and highly effective critic of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and Israel failed to prevent her re-accreditation. So – of course –  she’s Khamas:

    Children’s entertainers? Pfft, they’re Khamas – even when they’re Jewish like the popular Rachel (‘Miss Rachel’) Accurso – if they consider killing Palestinian children to be a bad thing:

    Renowned humanitarian group Doctors without Borders (MSF)? Khamas, obvs, especially to Trumpian Israel fanatics:

    The United Nations’ Office for Humanitarian Affairs? Ha, should be office for Khumanitarian affairs, if it cares about human beings Israel is slaughtering, it’s clearly Khamas:

    And ‘comedy’ writer Lee Kern has long been one of the more deranged and least self-aware (a high bar) of Israel’s advocates throughout its genocide in Gaza. Not one to be too subtle, Kern basically thinks – and is perfectly ready to say out loud – that everyone is Khamas:

    Writer ‘The Fuddhist‘, who compiled the examples, summed up:

    The ship is Kh-amas. All 36 hospitals in Gaza are Kh-amas. All universities+ every school, Kh-amas. UNRWA is Kh-amas. The U.N. is Kh-amas. The World Central Kitchen aid workers, Kh- amas. O·ver 400 mosques, Khamas. Ambulances are Kh-amas.The children re Kh-amas. 380,000 residential homes in Gaza, Kh-amas. Refugee tents and camps in the sand are Kh-amas. Journalists are Khamas. Doctors are Kh-amas. Water pipes, Kh-amas. The Flotilla .. The West Bank is ….

    BBC= Hamas
    Channel 4 = Hamas
    Sky News = Hamas
    The UN = Hamas
    Red Cross = Hamas
    Doctors & Nurses = Hamas
    EVERYONE IS HAMAS !! !! !! !! !!

    The Zionists are legit losing it.

    The Zionists never had it

    Of course, the Zionists never had ‘it’, if ‘it’ is remotely related to morality, humanity, respect for international law, or even a sense of shame. If ‘it’ is arrogance and a sense of murderous entitlement, then yes- and that they haven’t lost.

    Tragically for the innocents of Palestine and the rest of us, the refusal of almost all governments to take the required action against the genocidal occupation, Israel ‘losing it’ continues to be a deadly threat.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The consensus is clear: it’s genocide. Now will international law die in Gaza too? | Raji Sourani

    There is a UN convention for exactly this kind of horror: the convention for the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide. When will the world act on it?

    • Raji Sourani is the coordinator of the Palestinian legal team at the international criminal court (ICC)

    Israel has committed and continues to commit genocide in Gaza. That is the conclusion of a UN commission report. Since the release of the report last week, Palestine has finally been recognised as an independent state by the UK and a number of other countries. In his announcement at the weekend, Keir Starmer called the death and destruction in Gaza “utterly intolerable”. This recognition comes too late and is still conditional, but has the UK government indeed now stopped tolerating Israel’s devastation of Gaza? Has anything changed for the people there who are being starved and bombed? Far from it.

    Even as the UN publishes the findings of its independent commission, and a flag is raised outside the Palestinian mission in London, mass displacement and killing continues to take place in Gaza City as Israel attacks. As a lawyer who has spent my life believing in the rule of law, this makes me wonder: will Gaza’s destruction also bring with it the death of international law?

    Raji Sourani is the director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, the coordinator of the Palestinian legal team at the international criminal court (ICC) and a member of South Africa’s legal team in the genocide case against Israel at the international court of justice (ICJ).

    Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Labour conference to see mass protests over Palestine Action ban

    Over 100 ordinary citizens will risk arrest under terrorism laws outside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool. On the opening day of the conference this Sunday, protesters will peacefully hold signs saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”.

    Labour Party conference: Palestine Action protests

    The ban on Palestine Action is hugely unpopular with Labour members. 71% have said they oppose the ban. Trade Unions also oppose it. At its annual conference earlier this month, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) voted unanimously to reverse the ban.

    When Jack Straw brought in the Terrorism Act 2000, he assured the House of Commons that it would never be used against a protest group.

    Many Labour lords and MPs feel the government has misled them. Labour backbencher Kim Johnson called on ministers to rethink the “authoritarian attack of the right to protest” which she branded “unsustainable and unworkable”. The New York Times has published the intelligence services assessment on Palestine Action. The document undermines the government’s claims that the group poses a danger to the public. Lawyers have accused former home secretary Yvette Cooper of conducting “a cynical media campaign”.

    Despite the evident hunger to discuss the genocide in Gaza, the Labour government’s complicity and their ban on a domestic nonviolent protest group, party officials have ruled out all 30 motions on Palestine submitted by local branches.

    Defend Our Juries protesters to face arrest at Labour’s conference

    A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said:

    Labour members and trades unions are against their party’s complicity in genocide and the ban on Palestine Action. Yet party officials have shut down all the debates that members wanted to have on these issues during their conference.

    Defend Our Juries will bring the ‘Lift The Ban’ campaign to the door of the party that continues to deny genocide and has banned the direct action group that was trying to prevent it.

    The action will pose a dilemma for the Merseyside Police: prioritise human rights and community relations like Police Scotland and other forces around the UK, or trample over fundamental rights to protest and free expression like the Met Police by arresting over 100 peaceful sign-holders under this ridiculous ban.

    Labour has reneged on Jack Straw’s promise that the Terrorism Act he introduced would never be used against a domestic protest group. Unless the law is redrawn and the ban overturned, any group that this government or a future government does not like could be treated as terrorists. This ban cannot and will not stand.

    The government has misled the public and MPs about why Palestine Action was proscribed. Instead of shutting down protest, it’s time the Labour Party took the responsibility to prevent genocide seriously and impose blanket sanctions on Israel including stopping the flow of arms from factories in this country.

    Keir Starmer says he will ‘jealously and fiercely’ protect free speech – a bit rich

    Last week the UN Commission of Inquiry found that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Yet the Labour government continues to say that:

    any formal determination as to whether genocide has occurred should be made following a judgment by a competent national or international court.

    The UN report rejects this position, noting that:

    Since at least January 2024, when the International Court of Justice ordered its first provisional measures, all states
 have been on notice of a serious risk that genocide was being or would be committed.

    The UK government has therefore been negligent of its obligations under the Geneva Convention to prevent and punish genocide.

    Despite recent mass arrests of over 1,600 people for peacefully holding cardboard signs, and scenes of an 83 year old Anglican priest being led into a police van, prime minister Keir Starmer, in his recent press conference with US president Donald Trump, said:

    free speech, it’s one of the founding values of the United Kingdom and we protect it jealously and fiercely and always will.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Fears of ‘false flag’ attacks after Israel propagandists push Islamophobic propaganda

    Observers are raising fears of ‘false flag’ attacks on the UK, US and France after pro-Israel propagandists claimed attacks are imminent on those countries from Palestinians and a Muslim terror group.

    Last week, US Israel fanatic Laura Loomer claimed to have ‘sources’ who informed her that al-Qaeda connected ‘Islamic terrorists’ are on US soil and are ‘actively planning a series of coordinated Islamic terror attacks’. In case you missed it, she wants you to be thinking ‘Islamic’ and ‘terror’:

    One commentator concluded that the alleged:

    Israeli Intel asset and Influencer Laura (formerly known as Larry) Loomer posts message about possible “coordinated Al-Qaeda terror attack on U.S. soil”.

    Possible false flag imminent. They need a big diversion from the Charlie Kirk Assassination.

    Remain alert and vigilant citizen.

    Form

    Loomer has form, having warned her readers in May to ‘get ready for another 9/11’ – because Muslim candidate Zohran Mamdani had won the Democratic Party primary to stand for election as New York City mayor.

    And yesterday, in response to France, the UK, and Australia recognising Palestinian statehood, former Israel PM Naftali Bennett published a lie-laden video claiming that the UK and France will be the next victims of a ‘Palestinian’ terror attack. Posting “Palestine today. The UK tomorrow”, Bennett’s video – against a backdrop saying “Islamist terror” just in case we didn’t get the point, regurgitated Israeli propaganda about Gaza and a string of outright lies about the events of 7 October 2023, and claimed that “Israel won’t fall for this again” so “France and Europe” will cop it:

    Bennett’s lies come thick and fast:

    • Hamas doesn’t say it wants to kill ‘Christian infidels’ – and thousands of them lived peacefully in Gaza until Israel slaughtered or expelled them during the genocide, including bombing churches and sniping old ladies in church courtyards
    • Israel has never ‘tried a Palestinian state’ in Gaza or anywhere else. Just in recent days, Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior government figures have said they will never allow a Palestinian state, which is why they’re making threats now that a few more countries have recognised statehood
    • There were no rapes, no burned or beheaded babies, on 7 October 2023
    • Palestinians have not ‘launched terror attacks all across Europe’
    • Palestinian resistance groups are not linked to ISIS. What is linked to ISIS is Abu Shabab – a criminal gang that works with and is funded and armed by Israel. And of course, ISIS is affiliated with ISIS – and Israel has spent years equipping ISIS in Syria and treating its wounded fighters

    Israel: a history of false flags?

    In case anyone thinks ‘false flag’ attacks designed to put blame on an uninvolved group or nation is the stuff of conspiracy theories, Israel has long, long form for them. In June, former Israeli negotiator Daniel Levi warned that a false-flag attack was likely as Israel sought to increase US engagement in a direct war on Iran. His warning was inadvertently reinforced by the actions of pro-Israel mouthpieces in the US, who at the same time began setting the scene by predicting an Iranian attack on US soil or against a US vessel.

    Information obtained by the Iranian media around the same time indicated that Israel was plotting to carry out a bombing on US territory to be blamed on Iran, in an attempt to trigger a full-scale war between the US and Iran. – a ‘destructive event’ with fabricated evidence to implicate a different country, known as a ‘false flag attack’, to ‘manufacture consent’ for war in public opinion.

    The plot was reportedly uncovered through a third-party nation, which warned the Iranians who used diplomatic back-channels to reach out to the US, which deterred Israel and thwarted the plan.

    Meanwhile, its genocide continues

    Israel has a long, proven history of such false-flags to try to achieve political and strategic aims, from the ‘Lavon affair‘ of the 1950 in which it bombed Jewish buildings in Egypt and tried to blame it on Muslim groups, to its air attack on the USS Liberty in 1967 to try to provoke the US into attacking Egypt, to the 1994 bombings in London blamed on Palestinian activists. Now it may well be shaping up to do so again and, many argue, may already have started with the killing of far-right US podcaster Charlie Kirk earlier this month.

    Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which has killed around 700,000 innocent civilians and is starving and slaughtering 1.7 million more, continues unchecked, with the collusion of the US, UK and other western governments.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Two violent attacks on Palestine protesters just took place in Belfast over the weekend

    Peaceful pro-Palestine protestors in the North of Ireland were yet again subjected to violent assaults in two separate incidents in Belfast over the weekend.

    Violent Islamophobia-motivated attack on pro-Palestine protesters

    In the first attack, a demonstrator who was part of a protest at BBC Broadcasting House building was struck in the face during an attempted theft of a Palestine flag. Witnesses reported two visibly intoxicated men – one still holding a bottle of alcohol – charge towards the protestors. As they lunged for the flag shouting “get that fucking flag out of our country”, one Palestine activist was hit, before a tussle ensued over possession of the flag. After the fracas, the two drunken thugs continued with an Islamophobic tirade, saying:

    Fuck Islam! Take Islam back to your own country, you Muslim bastards!

    None of the protestors present were Muslim. The parting act of the racists was to hurl the bottle of alcohol in the general direction of the activists. When it broke on the ground, a large shard of glass struck a passerby on the neck, though no injury was sustained.

    BBC and Barclays bank: both complicit in genocide

    The group present at the BBC had been there as part of a regular protest intended to highlight the ongoing failures in the corporation’s coverage of so-called Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

    In one speech, an activist drew attention to an incident on Radio 4’s Today programme in which human rights lawyer and United Nations (UN) official Chris Sidoti was absurdly asked whether the organisation is a “Hamas proxy” and “openly antisemitic”. This is part of a pattern in which the broadcaster straight-facedly uses patently ridiculous Zionist talking points. Presumably, to maintain consistency, its journalists will solemnly call on astronomers to urgently answer flat-earther claims that the planet can’t be round if the horizon always appears flat.

    The second incident occurred outside Barclays bank on Castle Place. Another routine fixture for protest in the city, the bank frequently sees activists picket outside to highlight its support for the arms companies whose weapons have rendered Gaza almost entirely uninhabitable. The genocide-backing financial institution has bankrolled the likes of Britain’s BAE Systems, which was reported to have:

    cooperated with Lockheed Martin, one of the largest arms companies in the world, to develop F-35 fighter jets, which have been sold to Israel.

    The warplane has played a key role in the Zionist entity’s murderous campaign. The bank also has an agreement with the illegitimate state to act as a primary dealer for their government bonds, helping them to directly:

    raise money to fund its genocide and apartheid against Palestinians.

    Older protester dangerously barged to the ground

    While drawing attention to the above crimes, an older woman was barged to the ground when gently offering a man an informational leaflet, causing her to strike her head against the paving. The man – estimated to be in his late 50s – then attempted to flee the scene, and another activist tried to get hold of the attacker and perform a citizen’s arrest, though he did ultimately manage to escape.

    Witnesses reported the Police Service of Northern Ireland [PSNI] arriving after around 5 minutes, with the attending officers informing those present that the guilty party had been captured nearby in the vicinity of City Hall. A witness, named Ann, praised the attitude of individual officers in dealing with the victim, but questions must be asked about why the PSNI did not already have a presence at the well-known picket, which has been subject to harassment from hostile Zionists previously.

    They have instead typically been more keen to criminalise Palestine supporters, such as an infamous case where cops bundled a 72-year-old Jewish grandmother into the back of a police van for allegedly placing an anti-genocide sticker on the Barclays ATM machine, despite videos clearly showing no damage had occurred. That case remains ongoing and is in the hands of the Public Prosecution Service (PPS).

    Irish cops stay true to form: reprimanding peaceful Palestine protesters

    Following the incident on Saturday, the PSNI remained true to form, choosing to reprimand the activist who had bravely attempted to stop the attacker’s escape. The effort to apprehend the attacker apparently did not meet the very narrow rules required to make a citizen’s arrest, so witnesses saw an officer lecturing the anti-genocide protestor for “laying hands on” the fleeing culprit.

    The injured woman was taken to hospital, where she was assessed by medical staff and released later that evening. She was left with a large lump on the back of her head, and instructed to rest and be alert for symptoms consistent with head injury that may emerge in the coming days. The witness, Ann, said the incident could have been much more serious, even potentially fatal.

    It follows previous incidents in recent weeks in which activists have been pelted with eggs, struck in the face with a camera, and assaulted while putting up posters.

    Campaigners that the Canary spoke to expressed hope the assault would be a wake-up call for politicians and police, who will now hopefully recognise the necessity of stepping up actions against a resurgent far-right that is increasingly turning to violence to target migrants and the Palestine movement.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Robert Freeman

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Israel Is Committing Genocide In Gaza, UN Commission Says

    A United Nations commission has conclusively stated that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.

    This genocide has had the full support of the United States, under both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

    In fact, since October 2023, the US government has vetoed six resolutions in the UN Security Council that called for peace in Gaza.

    The latest example was on 18 September, when 14 of the 15 members of the Security Council voted for a resolution that demanded a ceasefire and the release of all hostages.

    The United States was the only country that opposed it, and Washington has veto power, so it killed the measure.

    The post Israel Is Committing Genocide In Gaza, UN Commission Says appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Global Sumud Flotilla Enters Crucial Phase En Route To Gaza

    The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) humanitarian mission, now sailing in international waters near Greece before heading to Gaza, has entered its most crucial phase, described as the decisive moment of the entire movement within the coming week.

    Founder of Cinta Salam Malaysia (CSM), Ahmad Musa Al-Nuwayri Kamaruzaman, who is part of the mission, said the GSF vessel was currently en route to gather with other ships participating in the effort.

    Ahmad Musa, who is aboard the vessel Alma, said it was expected to arrive near Greece in the next two days.

    “In fact, the distance from Greece is very close to Gaza. I asked the chief executive officer of Cinta Gaza Malaysia, Muhammad Nadir Al-Nuri Kamaruzaman, and he said it may take another four to five days from Greece before reaching Gaza.

    The post Global Sumud Flotilla Enters Crucial Phase En Route To Gaza appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • As Israel Faces Increasing Isolation, BDS Becomes More Crucial

    On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent the Israeli stock market into a fall by doing what he so often does: saying the quiet part out loud.

    The market rebounded, as it always does from these sorts of brief panics. But Netanyahu and Israel in general are finally being forced to grapple with some of the real, long-term consequences of their actions.

    Netanyahu told a group of American and Israeli business people at the “Fifty States, One Israel” conference (a name that, itself, inspires many associations of Israel being the fifty-first U.S. state, but also shows Israel’s permanent inability to truly stand alone):

    “
I am a devotee of the free market, but we’ll have to have some signs of an autarky
We’ll need to develop weapons industries here. We’re going to be Athens and super Sparta. Over the next few years, we’ll have no other choice. We’ll have to defend ourselves and know how to attack our enemies
We need to cut back the bureaucracy in a draconian fashion.

    The post As Israel Faces Increasing Isolation, BDS Becomes More Crucial appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Mike Huckabee Likens Israel to the “Wife” of the United States

    At the 50 States, One Israel conference, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told a delegation of more than 200 U.S. lawmakers that Israel is akin to the “wife” of the United States. “It may sound a little bit this afternoon as if I’m almost speaking on behalf of Israel rather than the U.S.,” Huckabee said in his comments last week, and then went on to explain the unique relationship…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Teachers and Unions Fight Back as UC Campuses Prepare to Fuel Trump’s Witch Hunt

    Outrage flared last week about the University of California’s capitulation to this era’s resurgent McCarthyism, as news spread that the university has provided the names of at least 160 students, faculty members, and staff at the University of California, Berkeley, to federal officials who – under the guise of investigating “alleged antisemitic incidents” – are scrutinizing people who have…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Western Nations’ Support for Palestinian Statehood May Prove to Be Only Symbolic

    Recognition of a Palestinian state is likely to dominate proceedings at the U.N. beginning Sept 23, 2025, when world leaders will gather for the annual general assembly. Of the 193 existing U.N member states, some 150 now recognize a Palestinian state. Ahead of the U.N. gathering in New York, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom become the latest. And that number is expected to increase…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • EXPOSED: Samsung phones embedded with ‘unremovable’ Israeli spyware

    Social Media Exchange (SMEX), a nonprofit digital human rights organisation focusing on the West Asia/North Africa (WANA) region, has warned people living in these regions that an effective spyware app developed by an Israeli firm is quietly embedded in Samsung smartphones across the region and poses a serious surveillance threat.

    Samsung phones: embedded with Israeli spyware

    SMEX has written publicly to Samsung complaining that its A and M series mid-range handsets either come with the ‘Aura’ app already installed or installs it automatically through system updates without user consent – and demanding it end the practice. This ‘bloatware’ application, according to SMEX:

    collects sensitive personal data, cannot be removed without compromising device security, and offers no clear information about its privacy practices.

    SMEX warns that this data can easily be misused to identify users, particularly if location tracking is enabled on any apps installed via Aura, creating a serious security threat in a region – even more so in a region where Israel has repeatedly used technology either to spy on users or to target them for assassination.

    The app’s privacy settings claim that users can disable this data collection by turning off “AppCloud” in the app list. But, according to SMEX, deletion requires the user to submit a form that does not exist, making it impossible to fully remove, at least without advanced technical expertise.

    Collecting biometric info, IP addresses, and fingerprints without consent

    ​​Since 2022, Samsung in the region has partnered with Israeli tech company ironSource to integrate the software into phones across the region, supposedly to “enhance user experience”. In its letter to Samsung, SMEX describes the firm as “notorious” and the software as “impossible” to remove:

    According to our analysis, this intrusive software is unremovable, deeply integrated into the devices’ operating system, making it nearly impossible for regular users to uninstall it without root access, which voids warranties and poses security risks. Even disabling the bloatware is not effective as it can reappear after system updates.

    The privacy policy is opaque, there is no accessible and transparent privacy policy for this bloatware and users are in the dark about what data is collected and how it is used. There is also no straightforward opt-out mechanism. The bloatware collects sensitive user data, including biometric information, IP addresses, device fingerprints.

    The installation of AppCloud is done without any consent from the user, which violates GDPR provisions in the EU and relevant data protection laws in the WANA region states.

    AppCloud is developed by ironSource, an Israel-founded company (now acquired by American company Unity), raising additional legal and ethical concerns in countries where Israeli companies are barred from operating, such as Lebanon. ironSource is notorious for its questionable practices regarding user consent and data privacy.

    The scandal is reminiscent of the ‘Pegasus’ spyware scandal involving Israeli hacks into the ‘WhatsApp’ messaging programme, reportedly spying on human rights activists, senior government and UN officials, including in Europe, and allegedly used in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

    Feature image via the Canary.

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Alleged war criminals and the racist far-right pile in to criticise the UK recognising Palestine

    On 21 September, the UK finally acknowledged Palestinian statehood. As we reported, there’s a 100+ year history behind this, and the majority of UN nations had already done the same thing. The reason it happened now is because Israel’s genocide in Palestine escalated into a man-made famine, and Western governments needed to give the impression they were doing something.

    In response to this late gesture, senior Israeli politicians (and the British far-right) have blown a gasket. As these same politicians are accused of war crimes, it’s unclear why anyone would take them seriously:


    Two-state solution: Israel is NOT happy

    Yesterday, we covered Palestinian ambassador Husam Zomlot who explained why recognition of Palestinian statehood is overdue. Zomlot said:

    What does 7th of October, Hamas, have to do with the Palestinian right to self-determination? May I ask you, Laura?

    This right to self-determination, the right to exist on our homeland, has come long before Israel, long before Hamas. This is an inalienable right of the Palestinian people, a birthright, long overdue. And the question is never, why should the UK recognise the state of Palestine? The question is why didn’t the UK recognise the state of Palestine all along?

    It’s noteworthy that we don’t withhold recognition of statehood from other countries who do things we condemn. It’s also obviously the case that we refused to acknowledge their statehood long before October 7th. Oh, and do you know who supported Hamas being in power – that’s right – Benjamin ‘war crimes’ Netanyahu – all to make the Israeli project of oppression easier to sell to the West.

    Western politicians have long claimed to be pursuing a ‘two-state solution’ in which Israel and Palestine exist in harmony alongside one another. This is what our apparent ally Netanyahu thinks about that (translated from Hebrew):

    There will be no Palestinian state. The response to the latest attempt to force upon us a terror state in the heart of our land will be given after my return from the United States

    I have a clear message to those leaders who are recognising a Palestinian state after the horrendous October 7 massacre: You are rewarding terror with an enormous prize.

    And I have another message for you: It’s not going to happen. There will be no Palestinian state to the west of the Jordan River.

    For years I have prevented the creation of that terror state, against tremendous pressure, both domestic and from abroad.

    Netanyahu also confirmed a dedication to continued expansion:

    We have done this with determination, and with astute statesmanship. Moreover, we have doubled the Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, and we will continue on this path.

    People understand it’s bad to expand into surrounding countries, right? Like what Putin is doing in Ukraine, or what Hitler did in Poland, or what the Normans did in England?

    You almost have to feel sorry for our politicians, because it’s getting harder and harder to defend this freak.

    Netanyahu finished by saying:

    The response to the latest attempt to force upon us a terror state in the heart of our land will be given after my return from the United States. Stand by.

    The International Criminal Court (ICC) has an arrest warrant out for Netanyahu for alleged war crimes. They also have an arrest warrant out for his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, who had this to say:

    It’s not just Netanyahu and his allies either:

    Home grown hate

    You know who else is siding with the accused war criminals? That’s right, little Tommy Robinson:


    What a grim bunch, eh?

    And it’s a bigger bunch than you think; here are some allegedly serious Tory MPs siding with the war criminals and the far right:

    People keep saying ‘at this time’ without acknowledging we’re in a moment at which Israel seems to be pushing a final solution against the Palestinians. If something doesn’t happen soon, there may not be another time.

    And to people referencing the hostages, please bear in mind that Israel has repeatedly made it clear it will continue even if the hostages are released.


    How are you going to negotiate a two-state solution when you won’t even acknowledge that one side is a state, or that the other side is committing a genocide (and before that committing an illegal occupation and/or apartheid)?

    Another group supposedly committed to a two-state solution is Labour Friends of Israel, who had this to say:


    Dark times

    As many have noted, there’s a very real risk that recognising Palestinian statehood ends up being little more than an empty gesture. The reason people are opposing it is because the crime of genocide is so great it must be defended at all times from all angles. As soon as those defences fall, the criminals who enacted and supported these acts are in trouble. And whether they like it or not, the defences are falling.

    Featured image via Hindustan Times

    By Willem Moore

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Israel’s latest social media campaign is another exercise in genocide denial

    On September 20, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) – an arm of the Israel’s Defense Ministry responsible for implementing government policies – accused Hamas of directly firing at UN teams via social media. They were preparing a new route for aid trucks from the Israel-Gaza Kerem Shalom crossing to the so called ‘humanitarian zone’ in the south of the Gaza Strip.

    Israel’s COGAT making baseless smears on social media – nothing new

    COGAT claimed the supposed new road is:

    part of the humanitarian component of Operation Gideon’s Chariots II.

    It was scheduled to open in a few days, to increase the number of aid trucks providing:

    food, medical supplies, tents and shelter equipment for families who fled Gaza City and moved south for safety.

    Once the gunmen supposedly forced the UN out, they were then said to have used a stolen UN vehicle to erect a sand barricade to prevent future aid deliveries.

    Ghassan Alian, head of COGAT, who has played a role in the occupation’s atrocities in Gaza and said, in 2023, that “human animals must be treated as such”, took to social media saying:

    Hamas proves again and again it has no interest in the welfare of Gaza’s residents
..Even when Israel works with the UN and international groups to expand humanitarian aid, Hamas desperately tries to sabotage it.

    Alian vowed that Israel would:

    not allow Hamas to create false narratives of a crisis in Gaza.

    As evidence of Hamas firing at UN teams, COGAT published the following photograph:

    A silver van with supposed bullet holes and a flat tire, and damage.

    This supposed incident was reported by Israeli publication Ynet, with the headline: Hamas fires on UN team, steals baby formula in Gaza: ‘Trying to create crisis narrative’.

    Systematic misinformation campaign

    In response to these accusations, Hamas issued a statement of its own, denying the allegations against it, claiming they are:

    entirely baseless and are part of a systematic campaign of misinformation aimed at distorting the facts and reversing the narrative.

    It said it holds the Israeli occupation:

    fully responsible for obstructing humanitarian work and manufacturing security chaos.

    Hamas has long been calling for the full, unhindered access of UN agencies such as UNRWA, to carry out their duties, but instead, the Israeli occupation continues to obstruct aid deliveries, imposes severe restrictions on the work of the UN, bombs its facilities and warehouses, and deliberately targets humanitarian workers.

    Multiple reports and investigations, including from Amnesty International, indicate that the Israeli occupation, not Hamas, deliberately uses starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinians in Gaza. Not only does it control and restrict humanitarian aid, and “routinely opens fire on starving Palestinian civilians”, but the occupation is also intentionally bringing about social collapse, by supporting and protecting armed criminal gangs which create chaos and insecurity by looting aid warehouses and attacking convoys.

    This results in food being diverted from starving Palestinians, and resold in the markets at prices beyond the reach of almost all of the population, fueling violence and corruption. At the same time, the Israeli occupation prevents and targets government security personnel when they attempt to protect these convoys.

    While analysis of aid theft incidents reported between 2023 and 2025 found no credible evidence that Hamas was systematically stealing or diverting humanitarian aid, Ynet’s accusation that Hamas was ‘trying to create a crisis narrative’, is yet another example of the occupation’s denial of famine and food scarcity in Gaza, a false narrative which the occupation has supported by extensive propaganda efforts.

    Multimillion pound campaign attempts to stop criticism from Western countries

    Recently launching a campaign on social media to discredit UN famine reports and humanitarian organisations, the occupation has denied there is any famine in Gaza, showing a video with busy restaurants and markets full of fruit and vegetables with the message:

    There is no famine in Gaza. Any other claim is a lie.

    This is part of a million pound effort involving Google, YouTube, X, and others, in which the Israeli occupation denies the UN’s famine declarations in Gaza, and its own involvement in crimes against humanity and war crimes taking place in the Gaza Strip.

    The video – which does not reflect the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands face severe malnutrition and food insecurity – along with other advertisements, have reached millions through paid promotion, and aimed to counter international criticism in parts of Europe and North America. But the goods shown in the images are unaffordable for the vast majority of Gazans, most of whom either have no money, or are struggling hugely in a situation where withdrawal fees can reach 50% and banknotes are often refused by businesses.

     

    Shameless Israel social media campaign to deny reality of its continued war crimes

    This social media campaign is being used by Israel to deny the lived reality which it has intentionally created, of the mass starvation of the civilian population, brought on through blockades and military force, while it openly advocates the cutting off of food and water to Gaza.

    The so called ‘humanitarian safe zone’ in the south has been bombed more than 100 times, and has no essential services, hygiene facilities, water or food supplies. According to human rights organisations, the displacement of Palestinians into this area amounts to forcible transfer, with the aim of eventually ethnically cleansing Gaza of its Palestinian population.

    Between October 7 2023 and September 10 2025, 540 aid workers were killed by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza, including 373 UN staff and team members, making this genocide in Gaza the most deadly conflict ever for UN staff. As of September 20 2025, 65,208 Palestinians have been killed and 166,271 injured.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Charlie Jaay

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Clip of Chinese academic dismantling Israeli genocide propagandist goes ultra-viral

    A video of Chinese university dean Yan Xuetong giving an Israeli military propagandist a figurative spanking at a ‘top-level forum’ in China has gone viral after it was posted on X by a popular French political observer.

    Yan Xuetong destroying an Israeli propagandist’s argument

    Arnaud Bertrand posted the attempt of Israeli military spokesman Elad Shoshan to justify Israel’s mass murder of Palestinians based on a few ‘hostages’ being held in Gaza – many of whom have been killed by Israel’s bombing, shot by occupation soldiers or suffocated in Israeli gas attacks – and the astonishingly frank response, given China’s usually circumspect approach, of Yan Xuetong, who asks Shoshan whether, if robbers were holding up a bank, he’d kill all the customers and staff in the bank to get the robbers.

    Bertrand explained:

    Absolutely extraordinary exchange between Israel and China  I’ve never seen such a heated exchange come out of top-level forum in China (this is from the 12th Beijing Xiangshan Forum that started yesterday), this normally never happens.

    The guy speaking is Yan Xuetong, the dean of the Institute of International Relations at Tsinghua University, the most prestigious university in China.

    Speaking for Israel is a military officer apparently called Elad Shoshan.

    Yan Xuetong truly doesn’t hold back:

    – When the Israeli officer tries to bullshit him around how Israel supposedly protects civilians in Gaza, he replies: “You killed more than 70,000 civilians!… The fact is not decided by you… It is not decided by your government. Your government has no legitimacy or the right to decide or defend what is fact”

    – And when told that the war will end when Hamas release hostages he replies: “No, this kind of propaganda have too many. No one believe it! Too many! Too much! No one believe it, except a few Israelis”

    The post has been shared more than 33,000 times and viewed almost 5,000,000. Russell Dobular of the Due Dissidence podcast commented that the death count mentioned by Yan is a massive underestimate – experts have calculated a conservative toll of almost 700,000 killed by direct violence or else by hunger and disease – then went on to describe the video as:

    the best thing you’re going to see all week… that was really amazing, when he says “Yeah no one believes you [but] a few Israelis”.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.