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Category: israel

  • Israel’s Genocide Day 440: New Reports Of Mass Killings In Gaza

    On Wednesday, the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz published an investigative report based on testimonies of Israeli army members under the condition of anonymity, describing various acts of intentional killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

    According to the testimonies gathered by Haaretz, soldiers, and officers of the Israeli army’s 252nd brigade described a line north of the Netzarim corridor, the depopulated military area created by Israel cutting the Gaza strip in half south of Gaza City. According to testimonies, this line is known as “the dead bodies line”, which Gaza people “know very well.”

    The post Israel’s Genocide Day 440: New Reports Of Mass Killings In Gaza appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Veteran Calls Out House Committee For Supporting Genocide

    Washington, DC – On Wednesday, 17-year veteran and intelligence officer Josephine Guilbeau disrupted the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs to call out the billions of dollars Congress sends to fund genocide in Gaza while neglecting veterans at home. Here is what she had to say: 

    “US Congress is complicit in the genocide in Gaza! You keep sending billions of dollars to Israel meanwhile veterans are homeless and committing suicide with more budget cuts on the way. As a 17-year veteran and intelligence officer, I am watching you destroy American values and jeopardize our national security.

    The post Veteran Calls Out House Committee For Supporting Genocide appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Protests Highlight Maryland’s Ties To Israeli Tech And Defense Systems

    More than a year after the Oct. 7 attacks that spurred Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, some Maryland residents have continued protesting Israel’s conduct in the conflict. 

    Like others around the world demonstrating in solidarity against Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestinian territories and the tens of thousands killed, these protestors have illuminated the local dimensions of this international issue. Much of their attention has fallen on an organization using public and private resources to facilitate economic exchange with Israel — including with companies developing tech for its military actions. 

    The post Protests Highlight Maryland’s Ties To Israeli Tech And Defense Systems appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Palestinian Americans File Lawsuit Against US for “Abandoning” Them in Gaza

    A group of Palestinian Americans is suing the U.S. government for failing to evacuate American citizens and legal residents stranded in Gaza amid Israel’s genocide, saying that the U.S. is violating constitutional protections afforded to all Americans by discriminating against Palestinians and leaving them stranded. The group of nine Palestinian Americans, either themselves stuck in Gaza or…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • New reports prove Facebook owner Meta has manufactured consent for Israel’s genocide

    Billionaire corporation Meta – the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp – has received two massive blows to its reputation this week. Because on 18 December, two separate reports showed how the company has helped to manufacture consent for Israel’s genocide in Gaza by systematically targeting and silencing Palestinian voices.

    On one hand, BBC News Arabic carried out a “comprehensive analysis of Facebook data” and revealed that “Facebook has severely restricted the ability of Palestinian news outlets to reach an audience” since October 2023. It also saw “leaked documents showing that Instagram” made its algorithm “more aggressive” in that month to increase its “moderation of Palestinian user comments”.

    On the other hand, the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media (7amleh) released a report on how Meta has systematically “erased and suppressed” Palestinian voices since October 2023. Within a year, “out of 1551 censorship-related digital rights violations documented through the Palestine Observatory of Digital Rights Violations (7or), 69% of those violations were reported to have occurred on Meta’s platforms, Facebook and Instagram”.

    Palestinian engagement slashed, Israeli engagement increased

    BBC News Arabic analysed “engagement data on the Facebook pages of 20 prominent Palestinian-based news organisations”, comparing the year up to 7 October 2023 with the year that followed. Engagement, it explained, means things like the “comments, reactions and shares” that posts receive. And it pointed out that it would be normal for engagement to increase “during a period of war”.

    The results presented a stark picture of bias. Because while the engagement of the Palestinian organisations plummeted by a whopping 77%, “data analysis on the Facebook pages of 20 Israeli news organisations” showed an increase in engagement of about 37%. “The same analysis on Facebook pages for 30 prominent Arabic-language news sources” outside Palestine also showed a surge in engagement. So it was just Palestinian engagement that fell significantly, while engagement outside Palestine grew. Clear as day.

    This difference matters all the more because social media has stepped in to fill the vacuum that Israel has created with its tight control of which journalists can enter Gaza during its genocidal campaign there. It also matters because media workers are risking their lives in occupied Gaza to document what’s happening there. Since October 2023, Israeli occupation forces have reportedly murdered 196 media workers. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says that, of the journalists who were killed in 2024, “Israel is responsible for two-thirds of those deaths and yet continues to act with total impunity”.

    In December 2023, Human Rights Watch had already spoken of “systemic online censorship” at Meta, with the corporation “silencing voices in support of Palestine and Palestinian human rights on Instagram and Facebook in a wave of heightened censorship of social media”.

    Meta ‘complicit in injustice via its collective silencing of Palestinian voices’

    7amleh, meanwhile, explained in its report that:

    Over the years, Meta’s content moderation policies have demonstrated a troubling and consistent pattern of suppressing Palestinian voices while allowing harmful and inflammatory content targeting Palestinians to remain, particularly during critical moments of conflict

    Via “testimonies from Palestinian journalists, influencers, and media organizations who are active users of Meta platforms”, the group documented “the systematic censorship and digital rights violations that they have experienced”.

    For example, Meta lowered its “automated moderation system’s confidence threshold for content by “users in Palestinian territories” to 25%, down from 80% previously”. This led to “the removal of significantly more content”. And as 7amleh stressed:

    This is a disproportionate and discriminatory measure. Palestinian journalists, influencers, and media organizations faced severe restrictions that limited the reach of their content and affected their ability to share vital information, organize, or advocate for their rights.

    It added:

    The disproportionate over-moderation measures implemented by Meta had a wide-reaching impact in silencing Palestinian voices collectively. Meta’s policies not only suppressed Palestinian voices but also allowed rampant hate speech and incitement against Palestinians. The company’s AI-driven systems exhibited bias, such as flagging Palestinian content as harmful while failing to act against incitement to violence in Hebrew.

    Meta’s policies, it asserted, forced Palestinians to face “discrimination, economic deprivation, and psychological harm”. And as it emphasised:

    The silencing of Palestinian journalists and human rights defenders strips them of their ability to inform the world about the realities on the ground, turning Meta’s platforms into accomplices of suppression

    It also “led to a widespread erosion of trust in Meta’s platforms”, the group argued. As it concluded:

    Meta’s actions have profound real-world consequences, and its role in dehumanizing Palestinians and silencing their stories makes it complicit in perpetuating injustice

    Meta has shown once and for all – it is part of the descent into dystopia

    The billionaire corporation has, of course, denied showing bias in its silencing of content. But the evidence speaks for itself. Meta has sided with settler-colonial genocide and the imperialist project that has armed, funded, and supported it.

    As civil society network APC (the Association for Progressive Communications) said in October:

    Over one year into the war on Gaza, we continue to see escalations in human rights violations through the use of technology, including artificial intelligence (AI). Tech companies have been facilitating Israel’s atrocities against civilians through censorship, surveillance, cyber attacks, disruption of services, mis/disinformation and weaponisation of communication technologies, enjoying full impunity and a shocking lack of accountability.

    We now know more clearly than ever which are the forces that are happy with our descent into dystopia and which aren’t. And if we’re going to stop that trend, we need to unite behind the forces that aren’t.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • UN Asks International Court to Probe Legality of Israel’s Ban on UNRWA

    The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to ask the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to issue an opinion on the legality of Israel’s latest legislative attack on the primary humanitarian group for Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere as experts and advocates say such attacks warrant expulsion from the international body. The resolution, brought by Norway, passed on Thursday, 137 to 12…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Bristol Palestine protest this Saturday will show a Christmas nativity scene under the horrors of Israel’s genocide

    Palestine supporters will be marching through central Bristol this Saturday 21 December to draw attention to the links between Palestine and Christmas.

    Palestine protest: ‘Jesus was a Palestinian’

    Bristol Palestine Alliance (BPA) are calling for people to join the protest this Saturday 21 December at 12pm on College Green.

    The group has previously organised twenty major demonstrations in Bristol, together with a large number of rallies, meetings and fundraisers for Gaza. Alongside these, it has coordinated five major rallies outside the new Elbit Israeli arms factory in north Bristol.

    Protesters will lead the march with a banner reading: “JESUS WAS A PALESTINIAN?”

    BPA rally organisers aim to draw attention to the connections between the Christmas story and Palestine. The group said that:

    Jesus is respected in the Abrahamic religions and the Christmas story is well known in Britain. But surprising few people realise Bethlehem exists outside the Christmas story and is a real city in Palestine!

    The history of the Holy Land is inevitably complex. But it’s not unreasonable to claim that according to modern geopolitics Jesus was a Palestinian!

    The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in the West Bank is the oldest site continuously used as a place of worship in Christianity. The floor of crypt is marked with a silver star which is reputed to be the actual birthplace of Jesus.

    One thing is certain – if Jesus was born now he would undeniably be Palestinian.

    However, they also highlighted that:

    Unfortunately, the odds of him surviving today in Palestine might not be very good.

    Nativity scene not like you know it…

    As part of the procession there will be a float depicting a ‘2024 Palestinian Nativity Scene’. This will include the following elements:

    1. Bethlehem – surrounded by massive concrete 9 metre (30 ft) ‘apartheid wall’.
    2. The Three Kings stranded OUTSIDE the wall as they have not been allowed through the main checkpoint to Bethlehem.
    3. The Shepherds have arrived but their sheep and the other animals have been killed by settlers.
    4. The olive groves for which Palestine is famous and are a well-known symbol of peace are being uprooted.
    5. The stable where Jesus would be born is being bulldozed. The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) has documented well over a thousand domestic and agricultural buildings demolished last year alone. JCB is one of the well known companies selling bull-dozers to Israel. Israel is using these for demolitions, so the company is the target of an international boycott campaign
    6. Above the holy couple is the well known “SCAR of Bethlehem” in the shape of a bullet hole on the wall by Bristol artist – BANKSY.
    7. Joseph is portrayed blindfolded and handcuffed. He represents the large number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons Israeli human rights group BTSELEM has reported that nearly 10,000 Palestinians are currently held in prison. Many report systemic abuse and torture while in jail.
    8. Mary is portrayed in the cross-hairs of a sniper rifle. Israeli officers have been proudly wearing army t-shirts depicting a pregnant women in the cross-hairs of a sniper’s sight with the legend “1 shot 2 kills”.

    Christ would be born in the rubble of Gaza

    Although the genocide in Gaza is well reported, by contrast, the West Bank receives much less attention.

    Nearly two hundred children have been killed by settlers and the Israeli army in just over a year in the West Bank. Amnesty International reported that a hundred people were being killed every month.

    Supporters on the demonstration will be carrying placards linking Christmas and Palestine. Alongside these, they will march with a selection of Banksy murals which have been painted on walls in Bethlehem.

    The Apartheid Wall, built predominately from the early 2000s onwards, is a 9 metre high concrete wall surrounding urban areas such as Bethlehem. The International Court of Justice has declared the route of the wall illegal and that it should be removed.

    Early in the 2000s Banksy was one of the first artists to use the Wall as a canvas for his work.

    In December 2023 the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem “cancelled Christmas” in response to the genocide unleashed on Gaza and built a nativity scene on a pile of rubble.

    Reverend Munther Isaac, Palestinian Christian pastor and theologian said:

    If Christ were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble and Israeli shelling.

    This year, the Vatican has built a nativity scene showing baby Jesus wrapped in a Palestinian Keffiyeh scarf.

    Meanwhile, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem has also produced a similar nativity scene with baby Jesus wrapped in Palestinian Keffiyeh scarf.

    Join the rally!

    A spokesperson for Bristol Palestine Alliance said:

    While many will be spending time with loved ones, in our warm homes enjoying our Christmas holiday, Palestine – the land that Christians believe to be Christ’s birthplace – is being bombed and its people the victims of an ongoing genocide.

    For more than a year, Gazans have been subjected to constant bombing, starvation, dehumanisation, ethnic cleansing, mass murder on horrific scale – most of which have been women and children. Medics, journalists, emergency aid workers, charity workers, UN peace keepers and children are deliberately targeted and it is all being live streamed on our phones.

    This Saturday, whilst our Palestinian brothers, sisters and children, are suffering, we will gather to reflect and grieve and show them we are with them.

    Speakers at the event will include:

    • Dr Diana Slim of Lebanese heritage
    • Rev Sue Parfitt
    • Farook Siddique – community activist and columnist
    • Moosa – 9 year old activist
    • Rachael Bee – co-founder of two local refugee organisations
    • Bahirah Malak – masters of law student
    • Muneera Pilgrim – poet
    • Soraya – who will speak on the role of Palantir in the privatising of the NHS

    A local choir is also joining the demonstration.

    At 12.30pm there will be a rally with speakers. Following this, at 1pm the march departs and circuits Broadmead Shopping Centre before returning to College Green for the closing rally.

    Featured image supplied

    By Hannah Sharland

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • With nowhere left to turn, Gaza’s refugees shelter in hospitals

    Nearly all of Gaza’s population of 2 million people have been displaced by the last 14 months of Israeli genocide. At the same time, Israeli bombing has destroyed over two thirds of the Strip’s buildings, leaving the majority of people without adequate shelter. While many live in tents, some are eking out an existence in the remaining hospitals, many of which are now doubling as refugee camps. The Real News reports from the European Hospital in Al-Fukhari near Khan Younis, where families have taken up residence after being displaced on multiple occasions.

    Producer: Belal Awad, Leo Erhardt
    Videographer: Ruwaida Amer, Mahmoud Al Mashharawi
    Video Editor: Leo Erhardt

    Transcript

    Narrator: 

    The European Hospital is one of the last functioning medical facilities in Gaza. But as well as working as a hospital, it’s also become a place where many are taking refuge, in a gaza where in the face of bombing, evacuation orders and military sieges, places for people to be are steadily disappearing. 

    Sabreen Al Masri: 

    When you see injured people, it aects your mental state. When they bomb, you also get scared; you think, “The Israelis are here.” You’re aected. You’re scared. I’m mentally exhausted. I left my beautiful house and came to live in the European Hospital, in a tent. The tent is terrible—when it rained, we drowned. Then the summer came with its heat. We suered. I mean, we’re living through something very dicult. Please, God, let there be a ceasefire so we can go home. We’ll go, even if it’s to a tent—we just want to go home. We’re from Gaza City, not from here. 

    Narrator: 

    Majdi is a taxi driver who has been continuously displaced multiple times by Israel over the last year

    Majdi Majid Razeq Lahan: 

    I was going to the Jabalia market at the Aleppo crossing when the airstrikes hit. I didn’t understand how. I was walking, and then suddenly, I was on the floor. I looked and saw blood gushing. I found a rope on the ground, cut like this. So I tied my leg here and here. I was bleeding, and no one could rescue me. No ambulance could reach me. I was surrounded by corpses. Many. Around 50. It was a market; do you understand what that means? A market full of people, and bombs fall on it. The only survivors were me and two others, one from the Najjar family. We were the only ones from around 30 or 40 people. There were no doctors; the pharmacy was hit. The central clinic at the Indonesian Hospital was hit. There were multiple incidents. Then they said the tanks had come; some of the doctors ran away. Some stayed. My leg wasn’t supposed to be amputated. I was injured in one leg—it was just flesh. The other leg had a cut artery. They searched for a doctor for two hours. The doctor couldn’t get to the hospital; he was on his way but couldn’t get through because of the tanks and the siege. So they decided, after consulting my brother, who’s a nurse, to amputate my leg. 

    There are no antibiotics. I’m surviving on painkillers like Tramadol. I stayed three days in the Indonesian Hospital: Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. On Monday at midnight, we were told to move to the European Hospital. Due to extreme pressure, they couldn’t bring us in an ambulance. A bus with 50 passengers came instead. One guy was wounded and bleeding. Every 2–3 hours, he would get a blood transfusion. People were sitting on seats or thrown on the floor, lying there. 

    My child was killed. He was 24. My hopes were like any father’s hopes—to be proud of his son, to see him get married, to watch him grow. Every time I go to eat, I think of my son. In the month of Ramadan, my son was working in a shop to contribute to the household. But during the sweep of Jabalia Al Balad, while he was in the school, they hit him in a strike. What was the crime of a

    24-year-old boy? I raised my son for 24 years; I fed him and provided for him. Suddenly, he’s taken from me. They took our lives, took everything. Where are the people who feel for us? Bring us someone who feels for us—not just me. I’m one of a million. I’m one of 1.5 million refugees. I’ve become hopeless and helpless. What was my crime? My crime was trying to find food for my children. I left on two feet, walking and whole. My son was working in a shop, and a strike hits him while he’s working? What was his crime? 

    Who will I leave all these people to? I was the only breadwinner in the entire house, more or less. There are around 15 people I am responsible for. Now, as you can see, I am helpless. 

    Narrator: 

    Isad is Majid’s mother, who alongside Majid has been displaced multiple times.

    Isad Mohamed Slimane Rayhana – Majdi Majid’s mother: 

    No medicine, no therapies, no doctors. Today, whoever gets sick, dies. What’s the crime of children like this? What’s the crime of this child? What’s their crime? They can’t find a place to play. If the Israelis had just killed us, it would have been better than this. I swear. Maybe we would have rested. They asked us to move to the south. We didn’t leave willingly. We left with our children, whose legs and arms were chopped o. I miss the land, the trees, and the olives. I have land, I have trees, and I have a house. Every day, I die for my home. Every day, I die for my house. Literally, I burn inside because of my home. I grieve for my home every day. We left with our youth, our children. First, my son-in-law was killed. Then my son was killed, my brother-in-law was killed, and my grandson was killed. My son lost his leg. We used to be a happy family. Now we are an unhappy family. We are sad. This one kills us; this one humiliates us. The prices and the inflation we are experiencing—we can’t survive with them. 

    Look. This is our bread, our food. This is how we’re living—with the sewage, the bedding, and the dogs. What has happened to us? We can barely get a drop of water. The bathroom is far away. It’s used by around 700 people. We have to wait our turn. We fight over it. Every day, there are problems. Soon, people are going to start killing each other—over the bathroom, over water, over food and drink. We’re not living a dignified life.

    This post was originally published on The Real News Network.

  • The Canary’s A-to-Z of 2024: from Apathy to Zionism and everything in between

    “A round up of 2024 would be good”, said the editor of the Canary, no doubt before they jet off to the Dominican Republic via the Seychelles for a three-week, five star winter sunshine getaway while the rest of us dream of a wet weekend in Margate via Cobham Services on the M25.

    That’s what media barons do, right?

    I can just picture our editor, in their finest leopard print Speedos, sipping on poolside cocktails with Rupert, while you and I are contemplating if it’s okay to start on the Quality Street, at 6am.

    To be honest, there’s a better chance of the editor pushing the coffin-dodging wart, Murdoch in the pool face-first, with sandbags tied to his matchstick legs to make sure the old ballsack-faced-bastard stays down.

    Think of a British Luigi Mangione, minus the Ivy League education and with a much better hair-do.

    *checks outside for blue flashing lights*

    So. I have been tasked with a round-up of the year 2024, and whilst this probably sounds simple to most people, I’ve never been one for doing simple.

    The first thing that came to mind was it being a bit like getting The Beano being delivered once a week throughout the year, then along comes Crimbo and you get a Beano Annual.

    So let me introduce to you, dear Canary reader, the official Swindon A to Z of 2024. Factual, opinionated, and we might even stray outside of the political comfort zone. But I hope this will serve as a useful reminder of what has been the most incredible year, geopolitically, since, erm… 2023.

    2024 has been a year of global unrest and historic elections. Almost 50% of the world’s population went to the polls in 2024 while war raged on in Ukraine, Russia, Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza.

    So let’s crack on.

    A to D: Biden and Corbyn in 2024

    Starting with the letter A, we have apathy.

    In the UK’s general election of 2024 voter turnout was estimated to have been just 60%, the lowest turnout since 2001, when it was 59.4%.

    So the biggest winner of the 2024 general election was apathy, scoring around 40% of those eligible to vote, and almost 10% more than those that delivered a Labour government.

    Something has to change. Politics has to change. How can we possibly call ourselves a functioning democracy when four in ten voters feel like there’s nothing worth voting for?

    Moving on to the letter *checks notes* B.

    Step forward, Joe Biden. While it hasn’t been particularly pleasant to watch Biden stumbling and mumbling from one press gathering to the next, it’s been a damn sight worse watching innocent Palestinian children being ripped to shreds by American made and supplied weapons of death and destruction.

    If I was being kind to the outgoing US president I could describe him as forgetful, confused and easily manipulated. But it’s said that sometimes you need to be cruel to be kind, so I will put on record that I think Biden is as mad as a box of genocidal maniac frogs and should’ve been withdrawn from frontline politics several years ago.

    Some of my favourite words begin with C.

    There’s cake, Christmas, coffee, cocker spaniels, cats, celery, curry, Come Dine With Me, and that four-letter-word. But there was one particular C that performed political miracles – again – and that is none other than the independent member of parliament for Islington North, Jeremy Corbyn.

    The race for Islington North meant choosing between a longstanding affinity for Labour and a politician who had represented the area for more than 40 years and was a deeply familiar presence in the community.

    Corbyn rose to the challenge, of course, and he comfortably defeated the amoral sham of a party that he once led and continued with his FIFTH decade in the House of Commons.

    Moving on to the letter D, it was this time last week we witnessed a monster of a storm named Darragh, uprooting trees and leaving thousands without power across our tiny islands.

    The devastating extra-tropical cyclone saw winds of nearly 100mph battering into Britain, but with the world now being a couple of degrees warmer than it was a few decades ago, we are going to have to start getting used to the consequences of the man-made climate catastrophe.

    E to H and Gaza in between

    Now we make our way to the letter E and the short thirty mile trip across the English Channel to Europe and the deeply worrying rise of the ultranationalist far-right.

    Seven EU Member States – Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, and Slovakia – now have far-right parties within their governments and a political party viewed as potentially ‘extremist’ by the German government has won a state election in Germany and immigration-driven far-right parties gave strong showings in the summer’s European Parliament elections.

    If it is small boats full of refugees crossing the channel that keeps you awake at night, you will absolutely shit yourselves when fascism creeps up your street and arrives on your doorstep.

    F? Don’t tempt me.

    Poverty is rife, disabled people are persecuted by a LABOUR government, our streets are lined with rough sleepers, and Jeremy fucking Clarkson wants me to feel the anger of multi-millionaire farmers?

    See, I was tempted.

    The letter G gets two outings in just two words: Gaza genocide.

    Israel has been committing the act of genocide with roots that extend way beyond the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023.

    “Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza is an escalatory stage of a longstanding settler colonial process of erasure.”

    — UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese.

    You don’t even need to take my word for it. Israel’s far-right government makes absolutely no secret of their plans to turn Gaza into Greater Israel.

    H? Dig out your hammer and sickle, seize the means of production, and raise your fist in solidarity with the American Mao, Comrade Kamala Harris.

    Okay, Harris is as much a communist as I am one of those libertarian weirdos, but it worked for the giant tangerine tantrum so I thought I would give it a spin.

    What an awful joke of a politician and a dreadfully weak candidate to put up against a populist danger with a habit for pulling off the unexpected.

    I to L: obviously Israel in 2024

    It’s just gone 1am and the letter I is next up on the A to Z of 2024.

    Having another pop at Israel is a bit like picking the low hanging fruit, but I don’t fancy giving myself a nasty backache in the days leading up to Christmas.

    The corrupt child killer, Benjamin Netanyahu, has destroyed Israel’s reputation in a remarkably dangerous and ultimately pointless attempt to protect his own.

    If the people of Israel haven’t yet worked out the ongoing genocide of Gaza isn’t just a colonialist ethnic cleansing project, but simply being dragged out to protect Netanyahu from charges of internal corruption for as long as inhumanly possible, there’s really not very much hope for them.

    If the deranged fugitive Netanyahu really wanted to ‘free the hostages’, he only had to stop the bombing so it was safe for them to be freed.

    I do not condone the taking of any hostages, and that also applies to the thousands of Palestinians being held hostage in Israeli prisons, often without charge or trial under Israel’s administrative detention laws, and often raped, tortured and beaten to a pulp by their TikTok army captors.

    Fuck Israel, and all those that support the American’s favourite colonial outpost.

    Okay, I admit our J should really be an A, but what’s a few letters between friends.

    The 25th June, 2024 was a day of massive celebration for the family and supporters of the journalist and Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange.

    Assange should never have been imprisoned in the first place. We kept him in UK state custody for FIVE years. Why aren’t we more concerned about the type of journalist that hacks the voicemail of a murdered child than the type of journalist that shines a bright light on some of governments darkest corners?

    Looking back, what a fantastic victory for Stella, Julian, and all of the activists that stood by him and the fundamental principles that should govern society’s right and access to information and justice.

    Keith? King Sausage Fingers? Nope.

    I don’t know if anyone actually noticed, but the Tories chose the anti-woke, hard-right Kemi Badenoch to continue on the dreadful work of the useless half-billionaire drip that was deliciously routed at the general election of 2024.

    As dead-in-the-water as the Tories might well be, I really wouldn’t be too shocked if we end up with a Tory/Reform UK coalition government in 2029, unceremoniously booting Keir Starmer out of office after just one term in power.

    Badenoch, who likes taking donations from racists, may not last until 2029 because the Tories love a leadership contest, indeed, she may not even last to the end of 2024 if the backstabbing Tories — or whatever is left of them — aren’t particularly keen on the new leaders first Christmas card.

    We arrive at the letter L as we steadily make our way through my A to Z of 2024, and I ask you this one question: when is a landslide not really a landslide?

    Labour’s ’landslide’ election triumph, nearly six months ago now, wasn’t really that much of a landslide by any stretch of the imagination. If our archaic electoral system was modernised to become representative of how people actually voted we wouldn’t end up with one unpopular party seizing 100% of the power with a little over 30% of the share of the votes from those that actually voted.

    The system is made to look even more bizarre when you consider Keir Starmer secured his ‘landslide’ victory with less votes than Corbyn’s Labour picked up in 2019 — often touted by the establishment media as Labour’s worst election defeat since the beginning of time.

    M to P with some Oasis thrown in

    We arrive at the letter M and only need to cast our minds back a couple of weeks and head to New York City when United Healthcare’s chief executive Brian Thompson, was fatally shot.

    The accused, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione was allegedly motivated by resentment at what he called “parasitic” health insurance companies. Mangione ‘allegedly’ makes a bloody good point.

    Do I approve of the brazen and brutal assassination of multi-millionaire Thompson? Of course not. But I do understand the potential motive and the immediate reaction to the shooting also exposed a simmering rage against the trillion-dollar private healthcare industry.

    On to letter N and we have the Russian anti-corruption activist and politician Alexsey Navalny, who achieved international recognition as one of the most prominent domestic critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who died at the ripe old age of 47 while in prison.

    Britain and its allies were very distressed by the death of the ultranationalist-turned-pro-European-centrist Navalny. Me? I thought he was a famous tennis player, to be honest.

    O takes us away from politics, almost, as you may remember millions of thirty and forty somethings selling everything from a kidney on eBay to their family heirlooms at Cash Converters in the hope of being able to afford a ticket to see the return of Oasis.

    The Gallagher brothers reunion was overshadowed by the Ticketmaster dynamic pricing scandal which saw fans paying more than £350 for tickets that were originally advertised at £148.50, and in some cases paying more than three times the face value.

    Between you and me, I will be attending one of the Oasis reunion gigs. My husband was a huge fan back in the 1990’s, and with a bit of good fortune we ended up with a few tickets at face value to the opening night in Cardiff.

    Mad fer it.

    Now we arrive at the letter P.

    Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 subpostmasters were convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting based on faulty Horizon data, with about 700 of these prosecutions carried out by the Post Office.

    The British Post Office Scandal is up there as one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history. People who worked hard to serve their communities had their lives and reputations destroyed, through absolutely no fault of their own.

    On Wednesday 13 March, legislation was introduced to ensure hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters who were wrongly convicted as a result of the ‘Horizon scandal’ will have their convictions quashed.

    Whilst justice is something to treasure, we cannot overstate the human cost that came with these wrongful convictions. There’s no justice to be had for the dead.

    Q to T – of course the chancellor is in there

    Q was never likely to be an easy one, although it would’ve been very helpful if the Queen could’ve held on for a couple more years.

    But November did see the death of a music titan, Quincy Jones, aged 91.

    Jones worked with many of the biggest names in jazz, rock, R&B, pop, and hip-hop and is especially known for his work on Michael Jackson’s blockbuster 1982 album, Thriller.

    R is a whole lot easier than Q. In fact, Britain’s first female Chancellor of the Exchequer can give us two R’s in one name.

    Nobody expected Rachel Reeves to be a chancellor for the people. If you asked her for thoughts on Chairman Mao she is likely to ask you which FTSE 100 corporation they head up and if you wanted her opinion on Engels she will tell you she likes most of Robbie Williams songs.

    Married to an ex-DWP executive and on record as saying Labour isn’t a party for people on benefits, it didn’t take a genius to work out who Reeves will be expect to cover the bulk of the cost of filling this magical £22 billion black hole that appeared within hours of a Labour election victory, on 4 July.

    Reeves is unlikable, untrustworthy, and an absolutely ideal link to the letter S, which comes in the shape of her boss, the equally unlikable and untrustworthy prime minister, Keir Starmer.

    Sure, I could’ve picked that stupid little shit, Streeting, but Keir Starmer is on another level of his own.

    Dull, unpopular, uncharismatic, unrelatable, and overseeing the worst start to a new government in living memory.

    Despite Starmer being a loyal columnist for much of the establishment media, they still hate the impossibly awkward human colonoscopy as much as you and I.

    The broken promises of years gone by are beginning to hit Starmer where it hurts. The latest milestones are yesterday’s ten pledges and the day before’s five missions. We’ve heard it all before, Keith.

    Question: How did our subject of the letter T, Donald Trump, manage to go from being found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records — becoming the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime — to President-elect Trump, in the space of just six months?

    Only in America?

    The perceived weakness of his opponent, the aforementioned Kamala Harris certainly played its part in this remarkable but worrying turnaround for Trump.

    But, it is imperative for us to understand why poor and working class people are happy to give their vote to characters like Donald Trump, and to a lesser extent, Nigel Farage if we are to ever learn how the left can have a meaningful impact on our politics in the years and decades to come.

    U to X: who remembers Blockbusters?

    The letter U leaves me posing another question for you.

    Do you remember Bob Holness on Blockbusters? You need to adopt his questioning style for this one.

    Which U was guaranteed at least £3 BILLION A YEAR, for “as long as it takes”, by then-new British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, whilst people on his own country, such as veterans and disabled pensioners, are sleeping in fucking shop doorways?

    Ukraine is the correct answer.

    I know the comedy President isn’t ever going to read this, he’s far too busy flying around the Western world to see what else he can get out of the global community before Trump begins his second term as President.

    But I can assure Mr Zelensky, support for the West’s proxy war with Russia is minimal. We’re sick of sacrificing our human lives for other people’s wars, and if we cannot afford to feed the poor and needy in Britain we certainly cannot afford to fuel a conflict in Ukraine, the Middle East, or anywhere else.

    The letter V leads us to a chap by the name of Vivek Ramaswamy, a tech entrepreneur who is said to be worth at least $1 billion. Mr R will join forces with Elon Musk to spearhead a newly created department of government efficiency, already known by its acronym Doge, whose mission is to cut waste from public spending.

    This means huge cuts in services and funding for the very people that delivered Trump back to power just last month, or as Musk puts it, “temporary economic hardship”, which always sounds a bit off when it’s coming from the richest person in the world, don’t you think?

    We move on with haste to the letter W, and we arrive just in time to see the end of Justin Welby.

    Just last month, Welby was forced to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury following allegations that he failed to handle and follow through on allegations of child sexually abuse in the correct manner.

    What is it with the church and nonces? I’m not saying Welby is an abuser, but his failure to follow the abuse claims gave the alleged abuser a further ten years to sexually abuse children, and that is a very serious matter for Welby and the Church of England.

    X isn’t a difficult one. I think I still only know one other word beginning with the letter X, and that is xylophone.

    Back in August, Brazilian authorities decided to block X (previously Twitter), largely because of rampant disinformation on the site. The ban was lifted in October after X agreed to various requirements, including the removal of certain accounts.

    Y and Z of 2024

    We are now at the penultimate letter of the 2024 review, Y.

    The genocide of Gaza has seen an incredibly muted response from Arab and Muslim nations that traditionally support the Palestinian state.

    But one state didn’t just roll on to its back and open its legs for the Israeli war machine, and that was Yemen.

    While the Yemeni Houthi’s own style of government isn’t something that would appeal to most sane individuals, they cannot be faulted for having the balls to stand up to Israel and the United States.

    And so we reach the end of my A to Z of 2024, which just leaves us with the letter Z.

    Zuckerberg is still a weirdo, and we spoke about Zelensky just a few paragraphs back, so let’s finish with a few words about Zionism.

    Be in no doubt, Israel’s war on Gaza and Lebanon has exposed Zionism for the genocidal dealt cult that it is.

    Since its inception, the Zionist movement has always set out to ethnically cleanse Palestine of the country’s indigenous Palestinian population.

    I cannot see how it is possible for both Zionism and Palestine to exist on the same planet when the former is hellbent on terminating the latter.

    So on that basis, Zionism must be dismantled. It might not happen in my lifetime, but when it does happen it will be the best Christmas gift for the Palestinian people.

    Fuck Israel, fuck Zionism, fuck Trump, double-fuck Starmer, and have a peaceful and fulfilling festive season.

    See you next year.

    Featured image via Rachael Swindon

    By Rachael Swindon

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Report: Israel “Systematically” Uses Palestinian Children as Human Shields

    Israeli forces carried out an “unprecedented assault” on Palestinian children in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in 2024, a children’s rights group has said, including repeatedly using children as human shields amid Israel’s genocide. Israeli forces have killed over 17,500 children in Gaza since October 2023, according to Gaza health officials, with the true death toll likely far higher as…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • 2 Key Humanitarian Groups Join Chorus Saying Israel Committing Acts of Genocide

    On Thursday, two major humanitarian groups joined the chorus of experts and other human rights organizations saying that Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians and leveling of Gaza for the past 14 months is consistent with genocide under international humanitarian law. In a 179-page report, Human Rights Watch concluded that Israel’s deprivation of water for Palestinians in Gaza is one of the five…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Western media ignores Médecins Sans Frontières report accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing

    Médecins Sans Frontières (also known as Doctors Without Borders, herein referred to as MSF) have released a new report which outlines exactly how Israel have been carrying out ethnic cleansing in Palestine. Yet nearly all Western media has ignored it.

    MSF are a humanitarian organisation, and one of the few still allowed to operate in Gaza. Their latest report is yet another damning indictment of the depravity of Israel’s terrorism in Palestine. Just in the past couple of months, Amnesty International have declared Israel to be carrying out a genocide; Oxfam have said that Israel is carrying out ethnic cleansing and stopping their staff from delivery life-saving aid to Palestinians; the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification collective have issued a famine alert in the Gaza strip; a report from Human Rights Watch found Israel has committed “acts of genocide” in Palestine.

    Organisation after organisation have rigorously and meticulously gathered evidence, testimony, and expert research to reach their findings. Now, the pressure on Israel – however much Western powers may wish to ignore it – is further mounting as MSF’s report puts forward a harrowing reality of Israel destroying healthcare systems in Palestine.

    Médecins Sans Frontières: Israel’s blockade to siege

    The report lays out how the blockade of the last 17 years has now become a siege, exacerbating already dire conditions for food, water, healthcare, and other basics for survival. MSF’s secretary general, Christopher Lockyear, said:

    People in Gaza are struggling to survive apocalyptic conditions, but nowhere is safe, no one is spared, and there is no exit from this shattered enclave.

    Lockyear also referred to the numerous reports from other organisations, saying:

    What our medical teams have witnessed on the ground throughout this conflict is consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organisations concluding that genocide is taking place in Gaza.

    While we don’t have legal authority to establish intentionality, the signs of ethnic cleansing and the ongoing devastation – including mass killings, severe physical and mental health injuries, forced displacement, and impossible conditions of life for Palestinians under siege and bombardment – are undeniable.

    The MSF report states:

    Throughout the offensive, Israeli forces have blocked essential items such as food, water and
    medical supplies from entering the Strip. They have either denied, delayed or instrumentalised
    humanitarian assistance, allowing insignificant quantities of aid into Gaza with a complete
    disregard for the actual needs and the level of suffering of the population.

    Harrowingly, the report discusses how, even if the offensive were to end today, its impact would be “unprecedented.” MSF make an important distinction between a blockade and a siege, explaining:

    Major restrictions on the aid that Gaza is allowed to receive are not new: this small piece of land had been under an Israeli blockade for over 16 years when the war began. The UN estimated that the population already relied on external supply and aid at 80 percent before the war.

    However, since 7 October 2023 the blockade has turned into a siege.

    Israel is demonstrably holding the Palestinian population hostage. And, as MSF note, any sanctions or orders from the international community have been ignored:

    In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to implement provisional measures to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza. Despite this, no action has been
    taken to address these measures.

    Israel has done nothing to scale back its actions; if anything they have escalated already horrific actions to further destroy basic infrastructure that allows residents to survive.

    Humanitarian workers targeted and killed

    The report explains that 8 MSF workers have been killed, with many family members of MSF workers also having been killed. Many more MSF workers have been injured. This is in line with how Israel has targeted journalists and their families over the past year.

    MSF medical coordinator for Palestine, Guillemette Thomas, said:

    Hospital staff are no longer able to treat the injured properly, or even admit new patients, and everything is being done in extremely poor conditions, with too few staff and without the necessary medical equipment.

    Javid Abdelmoneim, head of the MSF medical team in Gaza, said:

    In the emergency room blood was all over the floor and I had to kneel down to see the patients on the floor. They were spread out all over the place, there were no beds left. I could feel my knees getting wet with blood. At the same time, more and more patients were arriving.

    I’ve worked in similar situations with mass influxes of injured people all over the world and the smell of blood is the same wherever you are. But here, in Gaza, the horror really hit home.

    Each piece of evidence for Israel’s ethnic cleansing and genocide is invaluable. Whatever may come, we are able to collect in real time piece after piece of documentary evidence of the impact of Israel’s bloody campaign. It is striking to see the number of organisations producing reports, just like this one from MSF, that systematically outline the quantitative data behind Israel’s genocide, testimony from professionals and civilians in Palestine, and expert reflection.

    Destruction

    Médecins Sans Frontières have had to open two field hospitals to “address the skyrocketing medical needs.” However, these field hospitals “cannot replace a functioning health system.” The report meticulously details the timeline of destruction at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis and at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah. There are descriptions of Israel targeting hospitals purposefully, snipers shooting at those trying to leave, and arresting MSF workers. One witness to the attacks at a hospital said:

    The attacks on Nasser hospital by Israeli forces were deliberate, methodical and extremely violent.

    Basic medical items cannot get past Israel, with MSF describing the “painstaking formalities” that mean the likes of generators, scalpels, scissors, desalination units, and oxygen concentrators cannot make their way to the Palestinians that desperately need them. MSF explain:

    For every order, they must request specific authorisation from Israeli authorities, providing a photo, technical sheet, intended use, and the GPS location where the item will be used. Even with authorisation, items can still be blocked.

    One such cargo from MSF was rejected eight times, with many deliveries arriving in terrible condition, if they arrive at all. Naturally, this extreme difficulty has meant that medical protocols have had to be scaled back, with people having recently had surgery left with inadequate dressings that leave them vulnerable to infection. Here, the term ‘excess deaths’ is used by MSF to describe:

    deaths that occur above what would normally be expected in a population under stable conditions, encompassing both direct deaths from violence and indirect deaths resulting from the collapse of healthcare services, malnutrition, and disease outbreaks.

    As a vital part of their ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, Israel have destroyed the healthcare infrastructure of the region. All this comes while they bomb, burn, and maim Palestinians.

    The lie of ‘safe zones’

    Importantly, MSF’s report makes the connection between this evidence and how to characterise Israel’s ethnic cleansing. For example, they call out Israel’s repeated lies about safe zones for exactly what they are:

    Civilians are ordered to go to areas designated as “safe zones” by Israeli forces, only to be hit by deadly airstrikes once they are sheltering there: many have died simply for seeking shelter exactly where they were told to.

    The report describes in excruciating detail the consequences of people being hunted down in a grotesque game from Israel, as they rush from so-called safe zone to so-called safe zone. MSF describe, from the experiences of their own workers and the testimony of civilians in Palestine, how:

    People live in a constant state of nerve-wracking hyper-vigilance, always ready to flee to yet another unknown location.

    MSF explain the mental toll of living in such constant anguish and show the scale of the issue:

    By early October 2024, more than 86 per cent of the Gaza Strip’s space was affected by over 40 unreversed evacuation orders issued in 2024 alone.

    Many people have been displaced several times over, including MSF workers:

    To date, 1.9 million people, representing 90 per cent of the population of Gaza, have been displaced since the start of hostilities.

    MSF also outline the mental toll of Israel’s genocide:

    The psychological and psychiatric impact of Israel’s campaign of death and destruction cannot be overstated. Since we are still in the most acute phase of the offensive, the impact is unquantifiable, but it is quite certain that entire generations will be affected by it, including those who are too young to realise what is happening.

    Mental health is an important healthcare concern. Destruction of hospitals and the targeting of aid workers are a pressing and immediate concern, but it is vital that MSF dedicates space in their report to mental health concerns. Their analysis makes clear that Israel is waging a war of terror. This is not in the sense of the US military industrial complex, but in the original sense of the word. Palestinians are living in absolute terror caused by Israel’s relentless assaults. The lie of safe zones, the continual displacement, the deliberate starvation, the destruction of hospitals and schools: these are all done by Israel to spread fear and terror into a besieged population.

    Médecins Sans Frontières: no future

    An MSF psychologist in Gaza, Davide Musardo, poignantly describes the hopeless reality for Palestinians:

    I have seen people break down when receiving news of another evacuation order. Some people have changed places as many as 12 times in eight months. ‘I won’t move my tent anymore, I might as well die,’ I have heard people say.

    Musardo continues:

    In Gaza, one survives but the exposure to trauma is constant. Everything is missing, even the idea of a future.

    This is the impact of Israel’s actions – a destruction of a future for people beset by the terror of ethnic cleansing. The work of organisations like MSF and their communication of what their staff see are incalculably precious. This is what Israel cannot stamp out no matter what it does – the history of Palestine, the present of solidarity with Palestine, and the future of a free Palestine.

    Featured image via Doctors Without Borders

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Report: Israel Kills Anyone Who Crosses Line Splitting North and South Gaza

    Israeli forces have deemed everyone a “terrorist” in Gaza, adult or child, and are killing any Palestinians who cross an arbitrary line drawn by the military, leaving their bodies to be eaten by dogs, a horrific new investigation reveals. A report by Haaretz published Wednesday finds that Israeli military officials have designated the area around a line separating southern Gaza from north…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • “Extermination & Acts of Genocide”: Human Rights Watch on Israel Depriving Gaza of Water


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Anti-Genocide Activists Target Israeli Drone Manufacturer in Brooklyn

    On December 11, activists opposing the ongoing Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip picketed the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City for the fifth time since September. The activists, collectively known as Demilitarize Brooklyn Navy Yard (DBNY), seek to pressure the manufacturing complex’s board of directors to evict two tenants connected to the Israeli military: Crye Precision…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • A Palestinian survivor of Israeli torture’s chilling testimony: ‘Even their medics are Nazis’

    Dogs. Hunger. Humiliation. Beatings. Rape. The testimony of survivors from Sde Teiman, Israel’s torture camp for Palestinians based in the Negev Desert, paint a consistent portrait of inhumanity and savagery with few parallels in modern history. The Real News reports from the Gaza Strip, where Sde Teiman survivor Rafik Hamdi Darwish Yasin shares his experience at the hands of his Israeli captors.

    Producer: Belal Awad, Leo Erhardt
    Videographer: Ruwaida Amer, Mahmoud Al Mashharawi
    Video Editor: Leo Erhardt

    Transcript

    Narrator: 

    In November 2023 Rafik Hamdi Darwish Yassin was detained by the Israeli Army in Gaza. Later he was transferred to the Israeli military-base-turned-detention-camp Sde Teiman and it was here where he says he was further subjected to multiple forms of physical and psychological torture for a further 25 days. 

    Rafik Hamdi Darwish Yasin: 

    I would have preferred they shoot me in Gaza than leave Gaza. We wanted to leave, two of our neighbors left the building; we were surprised by snipers and these two neighbors were killed. So we were besieged for five days until they came in their tanks. They smashed the front of the building, destroyed the stairs, then they entered and took us out. There were people that they didn’t detain; they just killed them in their homes. They entered and told us – I was wearing a jacket – they told me to take the jacket off and to lower my trousers a little. We got dressed, then they blindfolded us and tied our wrists with electric wire from the back. 

    Narrator: 

    Leaked CCTV footage from Sde Teiman appears to show Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting an inmate with the help of dogs, and the camp is awash with accusations of both psychological and physical torture. 

    Rafik Hamdi Darwish Yasin: 

    Most of the hits were to the head, I lost four teeth. Four teeth from my mouth. They hit the sides, the joints, anywhere it would not be easy to recover from, they would hit. Apart from that, the dogs. The dogs were muzzled, but if the dog stood on you it was like being stabbed five times. The cold, we were sleeping on one blanket and a mat that was less than one centimeter thick. On concrete, and the whole prison where we were was raised around one to one and a half meters in height. It was winter. We were there from November 23 to December 23. 

    A month? One month, correct. A month that for the prisoner feels like 30 years. 30 days blindfolded, then we were tied, cuffed from behind for five days. Then they cuffed us from the front – even worse. Two plastic ties around each wrist with a metal chain in between. So that your hand – here, look: this is from December, it went all the way to the bone. They killed people in front of us. They used to take people to the top of buildings, tie them with rope to make it look like they were special forces in front of your eyes. What kind of torture is this? Who can tolerate this torture? They would hit you in the head with the rifle, there was a man who was killed as he got off the bus. They whacked him in the head, and he died right there while getting off the bus. 

    They use their boots. They use dogs. Some would use music. They would lock you in a room and play loud music for three, five hours. 10 hours, 12 hours. I mean… the worst possible. They would force you to sit on your knees. Four hours. Standing, four hours. You would stay standing. Even the medic who would come to treat you, one of their medics – I had these ties here cutting to the bone – on both sides. A medic would come and bandage

    your hand today. The day after the next medic would come and tie your wrists so tight that your hand would start bleeding again and would tie it with such pressure so that your wrists become deformed. Even their medics are Nazis. 

    You can tolerate the physical torture… But the psychological torture and the humiliation. If you understand Hebrew, it becomes much more difficult. Many didn’t understand the humiliating things they were saying. A horde of criminals, and there are levels with them: from those who hate the Palestinian people, to those who want to kill every single Palestinian, to those who would shoot at Palestinians directly. Three levels, and all three are criminals. Every one would show their hatred at a specific level. 

    The Israeli army, the Israeli intelligence, says that whoever didn’t celebrate on October 7 ate sweets, and whoever didn’t eat sweets gave shelter to Hamas. What has October 7 got to do with me? What did I do on the 6th or 7th of October!? What did I do? I did not take part in this whole story. 

    Narrator: 

    Though it’s been almost a year since Rafik was released, the long term effects of that single month of detention remain. 

    Rafik Hamdi Darwish Yasin: 

    When I was in prison, I lost 43 kilos. Forty-three kilos in 30 days. 43 kilos, look. You can see how my body is wrinkled. I didn’t go to the toilet for around 6 days from lack of food. I started to bleed in my gut, and I was hospitalized. Now I can’t lift my arm. More than this I can’t lift my arm. To this moment I am on anxiety meds. These are the medications I take for the effects of the detention. These are strong psychological drugs. This one is half a pill at night, you couldn’t take this in the day. 

    Every day I walk around 15 kilometers, so I can sleep on top of the anxiety meds. I mean, you can say that I have lost my life. We are alive but dead at the same time. 

    They released us in Karma Abu Salem; of course, they didn’t tell us. They want to steal any joy from you until the last moment; they didn’t tell us we were being released. In Karma Abu Salem we were barefoot, none of us were wearing shoes. We walked for three and a half or four kilometers, walking on asphalt, covered in debris. The feeling of freedom… There wasn’t a lot of happiness. Why? Because we were far from family, and there’s a war that continues, and the blood is still flowing. There’s no reason to celebrate until now. There’s no reason for joy. 

    You know the time that I used to be able to relax? When I would think of my family. That’s it. I would be able to leave the world I was in. I would remember my son who… I have one son who suffers from autism. I worry about him a lot. Even the buildings, the trees, the buildings, what was their crime? We evacuated the area; why are you bulldozing the buildings? Why are you bulldozing the trees? I mean they want to destroy everything that the Palestinians have built in 50 years. 

    That’s the sound of strikes. 

    – That’s the sound of strikes, yes. It’s far away, east of Deir. 

    – God help us. 

    – God help us.

    This post was originally published on The Real News Network.

  • Amnesty just directly called out Keir Starmer’s genocide apologism for Israel

    Amnesty International has openly called out Labour Party prime minister Keir Starmer’s genocide apologism. And this comes just as fellow campaign group Human Rights Watch has also called Israeli forces out for their genocide in Gaza. This adds to Starmer’s increasing isolation over his shameless defence of Israel’s crimes.

    Amnesty directly calling out Starmer

    Amnesty tweeted:

    A few weeks ago Keir Starmer said he doesn’t think Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

    But we investigated and now have the evidence – this is genocide.

    This came two weeks after Amnesty finally proclaimed that Israel “has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip”. Numerous genocide experts had already called out Israel’s heinous crimes in this way, but the report from “the world’s largest grassroots human rights organisation” was a landmark moment. And on 19 December, Human Rights Watch also added its voice to the sea of condemnation regarding Israel’s actions. The group said:

    Israeli authorities have intentionally deprived Palestinian civilians in Gaza of adequate access to water since October 2023, most likely resulting in thousands of deaths and thus committing the crime against humanity of extermination and acts of genocide

    It also explained that:

    Israeli authorities have intentionally created conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza in whole or in part. This policy, inflicted as part of a mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, means Israeli authorities have committed the crime against humanity of extermination, which is ongoing.

    This policy also amounts to one of the five “acts of genocide” under the Genocide Convention of 1948. Genocidal intent may also be inferred from this policy, coupled with statements suggesting some Israeli officials wished to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, and therefore the policy may amount to the crime of genocide.

    https://x.com/hrw/status/1869609986222968873

    UK apologism, participation, and complicity in Israel’s genocide

    The comments of Human Rights Watch focused on the issue of water deprivation. And as Declassified UK reminds us, Starmer suggested in October 2023 that Israel ‘had the right’ to cut off water to Gaza’s population:

    Starmer also refused over a year later, on 13 November 2024, to call Israel’s actions genocide. This was despite his past work as a human rights lawyer and despite all of the crimes of a smaller scale that he had previously condemned as genocide.

    On 21 November, the walls closed in on Starmer a bit more, with the International Criminal Court (ICC) finally issuing arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel‘s former defence minister Yoav Gallant. This raised the important question of what their accomplices in the West would do. Would they now speak out? Would they now face justice too for supporting and participating in the genocide?

    After all, both Starmer and his predecessor Rishi Sunak have used RAF Akrotiri (the unique colonial relic on occupied Cypriot land which is part of the “largest Royal Air Force base outside the United Kingdom”) to lend a helping hand to Israeli war criminals. So far, RAF Akrotiri has supported covert US flights to occupied Palestine, sent dozens of British warplanes to both Israel and Lebanon, and facilitated British spy flights and the passing of intelligence from officers on the ground to Israel. And as Declassified co-founder Matt Kennard has insisted, these are the actions of “a country which is participating” in Israel’s genocide – “a direct participant”.

    Starmer won’t take action. So we must.

    Starmer is unlikely to call Israel’s crimes ‘genocide’ any time soon, because he’s surely fully aware that doing so would attract more scrutiny of his participation and complicity. As a lawyer, meanwhile, he must know he’s violating Britain’s international responsibilities by continuing to support Israel.

    People across the UK, however, are calling for action. They’re also taking action. And this must continue until all of those who’ve committed and supported genocide have been brought to justice.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • “Extermination & Acts of Genocide”: Human Rights Watch on Israel Deliberately Depriving Gaza of Water

    Seg2 hrwreportbetter

    Human Rights Watch is accusing Israel of committing acts of extermination and genocide by deliberately restricting safe water for drinking and sanitation to the Gaza Strip. The report details how Israel has cut off water and blocked fuel, food and humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip, and deliberately destroyed or damaged water and sanitation infrastructure and water repair materials. We speak to one of the report’s editors, Bill Van Esveld, the acting Israel and Palestine associate director at Human Rights Watch, who describes “a clear state policy of depriving people in Gaza of water,” that HRW is, for the first time in the current Israeli assault on Gaza, characterizing as a genocidal act.


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Israel accused of act of genocide over restriction of Gaza water supply

    Human Rights Watch says Israeli forces have acted deliberately to cut availability of clean water

    Israel’s restriction of Gaza’s water supply to levels below minimum needs amounts to an act of genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity, a human rights report has alleged.

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) investigated Israeli attacks on the water supply infrastructure in Gaza over the course of its 14-month war there.

    Continue reading…

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

  • Inside ‘Greater Israel’: Myths And Truths Behind The Zionist Fantasy

    As Israel pushed its forces deep into sovereign Syrian territory following the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime the term ‘Greater Israel’ has resurfaced in media coverage. The term has been used in recent days to describe Israel’s military expansion beyond its currently recognized borders, an ever-expanding definition of what the Israeli state can come to encompass. The maps used to describe the vision often echo biblical stories that many Zionists consider as history. But what is the ‘Greater Israel’ idea in actuality? Is there really such an Israeli project? And how realistic is it that it will be realized?

    The post Inside ‘Greater Israel’: Myths And Truths Behind The Zionist Fantasy appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Palestinians Sue State Department Over Failure To Stop Genocide

    Five Palestinian families filed a lawsuit against the US State Department on 17 December over Washington’s support for the Israeli military, citing the Leahy Law, which prohibits assistance to foreign military or security forces implicated in human rights violations.

    The suit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. It accuses the State Department and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken of deliberately circumventing human rights to allow continued support for Israeli military units accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

    The post Palestinians Sue State Department Over Failure To Stop Genocide appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Israel Destroys Only ICU in North Gaza as Hospital Head Reports Tanks Closing In

    Israel has made the last ICU in north Gaza look like a war zone after striking it with tanks, rendering the unit inoperable as part of the military’s months-long attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital, the facility’s director has said. On Tuesday, Israeli jets struck numerous buildings in the vicinity of the hospital, killing at least eight people, with many children still trapped under the rubble…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • 19,000 Children Have Been Hospitalized for Malnutrition in Gaza in Last 4 Months

    Over the past four months, nearly 19,000 children in Gaza were hospitalized for acute malnutrition due to Israel’s starvation campaign, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has reported. This is almost double the number of acute malnutrition cases among children in Gaza in the first six months of 2024, the agency reports; at that time, the World Food Programme’s (WFP)…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi’s Family Says She Was Always Drawn to Helping Her Community

    We speak with the husband and sister of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, the 26-year-old Turkish American activist killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank in September, who have criticized the Biden administration for failing to independently investigate her death. The recent University of Washington graduate was fatally shot in the head after taking part in a weekly protest against illegal Israeli…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Inside Gaza’s last hospitals: ‘We’re experiencing loss everyday’

    As of Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has attacked 162 healthcare facilities in Gaza and rendered 114 hospitals and clinics inoperable. In the midst of starvation by siege, daily bombardment, and threats to their lives, Gaza’s remaining healthcare workers continue to care for the sick and wounded. The Real News reports from Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital and Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in the Gaza Strip.

    Producer: Belal Awad, Leo Erhardt
    Videographer: Ruwaida Amer, Mahmoud Al Mashharawi
    Video Editor: Leo Erhardt

    Transcript

    Rula Khaled Khalil Awadh – Nurse, Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital: 

    My brother was killed while I was at work. They called me and said, “Admit your brother, he has been killed.” 

    Narrator: 

    Rula Khaled Khalil Awadh is a nurse at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Southern Gaza. She was on shift when her brother’s body was brought into the hospital after he was killed in an Israeli strike. 

    Rula Khaled Khalil Awadh – Nurse, Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital: 

    This is Mohamed, my brother, the martyr, who died when I was on shift. He was martyred and left this world. The occupation took him, against our wishes. He has two sons and a girl: Firas, Khaled, and Ruweida. Ruweida is named after our mother, God rest her soul. He grew up an orphan from an early age. Now he’s left behind three children—orphans. 

    I won’t lie to you, from day one, we were witnessing how many doctors, nurses, and medical staff had lost their family members while they were at work. So we put the scenario in our minds: How would I face this situation? Then we’d say, “No, God forbid!” But then it happened. He has no connection to anything. He went to chop wood because there isn’t any gas. While he was cutting wood, he was hit by a drone. This is during his funeral. This is during my meeting with him. The experience of loss. We’re experiencing loss every day. 

    Narrator: 

    Dr. Ahmed Radi is a doctor volunteering at the Al-Ahli hospital in besieged Northern Gaza. It was here, on the 17th of October 2023, that a missile struck the courtyard of the Al-Ahli hospital killing 471 people and wounding 342 others. 

    Since then, Israeli air strikes have pummelled Gaza’s medical infrastructure, making life incredibly difficult for doctors like Ahmed 

    Dr. Ahmed Radi – Volunteer Doctor, Al Ahli Hospital: 

    The experience of loss, I mean: Mothers losing their sons. Children losing their mothers. People losing children, losing the elderly. These experiences have been difficult, not just as a doctor but as a human being. We haven’t found the time for grief or sadness, for expressing our feelings, because events are continuing, the genocide is continuing, the misery is continuing in Gaza. The war has eliminated all aspects of life for us, especially this war, the likes of which we have never seen. This has been a war of annihilation from every angle. It’s affected us psychologically, it’s affected us physically. 

    With regards to displacement, of course, there’s no one, especially in northern Gaza, who hasn’t been displaced multiple times in light of the continuing military operations by the occupation forces. We’ve suffered from displacement; we’ve been forced into uninhabitable areas, unfit for life.

    Narrator: 

    The North of Gaza has been under complete siege since October 1st 2024, with tens of thousands of people trapped without access to food and water. Israeli forces have been using military vehicles, drones and sand barriers to stop any movement of people, goods and aid. It’s under these conditions the staff at the AL-Ahli hospital are forced to function. 

    Dr. Ahmed Radi – Volunteer Doctor, Al Ahli Hospital: 

    This is a small hospital; it can’t accommodate these large numbers. The rooms are filled with patients; the corridors are filled with patients. This is the biggest, most difficult challenge for keeping on top of the patients. 

    Rula Khaled Khalil Awadh – Nurse, Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital: 

    – Hello. How are you? How is Heba? Is she doing OK? When did Heba arrive? – Two days ago. 

    – What happened to Heba? 

    – Our school was bombed, ‘The Martyrs School’ in Nuseirat. The classroom that was next to us, she was standing at the door when it was bombed. 

    – She was in the middle of the strike? 

    – Yes, in the middle of it. 

    – OK. What happened to her exactly, with her head, what’s the situation? – It’s all open from here to here; they did a CT scan. There’s a piercing to the cranium, internal bleeding, and we are keeping track, with God’s will. 

    – Did they change the bandage? She’s taken her medication? 

    – She’s taken her medication. 

    – OK, is she always crying like this? 

    – She’s quiet, then cries, quiet, then cries. 

    – This is from the fear, the effects of the hit, she’s scared. 

    – Yes, at night she freezes. 

    – It’s not like at the beginning, though. She’s scared, but it’s less. Thanks be to God. – OK, but try as much as you can to feed her, so her immune system strengthens, so that also the stitches will close up faster. 

    The problem, of course, is that there is no food available. Nothing is available. OK, try, for example, milk: things like this. There are vitamins, the doctor—you will be prescribed it. We received a child; she was one and a half years old, identity unknown. She was completely burnt. Two hours later, while they were treating her, the situation deteriorated from complications brought on by the war, from inhalation of the chemicals released by the missiles. The child suffered from complications, and we transferred her to intensive care. Two hours later, the child died, and she was unidentified. 

    Some of the injured, it’s as if you have opened a diagram that shows, separately: the skin, the muscles, the flesh, the bone. Shown in a clear picture, in the wounds of the patients and the injured.

    Painkillers, the absolute basic medication required for the injured, is not available in the hospital. Paracetamol is not available—or only in tiny amounts. 

    Dr. Ahmed Radi – Volunteer Doctor, Al Ahli Hospital: 

    The killer in this war is the silence. In light of the genocide, in light of the mass killings, and the mass burnings, we haven’t found a single person that’s stood and said: “Stop the war on Gaza!” Where is the world? 

    [Explosions] I would describe myself as a normal Palestinian citizen who’s suffering from this war and its woes, whose house was destroyed, who was displaced. But we have no choice but to stay in our homes in northern Gaza. The cutting off of the evacuation routes, the destruction of every possible evacuation route to evacuate the Palestinian people. The medical staff have been exhausted, and pressure has been applied on them; some were arrested, some were killed. But the decision has been to remain in the Gaza Strip, to remain specifically in the north of the Gaza Strip. 

    We will follow through with what we were born to do, and we pray that God ends this war and ends this genocide and returns peace to this beautiful city. 

    Rula Khaled Khalil Awadh – Nurse, Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital: 

    – Hi Bashoura. How are you? How’s things? Good? Where’s your needle? You’re playing with the ball? How? You’re squeezing it? Good. Does it hurt? No? OK, great. In a little while, we are going to change it for you. Can I see your head wound? What’s its status? Are you getting headaches, Bashayir? No pain? Nothing. Good. OK, let me just grab this and see to your injection. Is there any pain? 

    – [Silently] A little. 

    – Good. 

    A flood. I describe this war as literally a flood. The name matches. They called it a flood, and it is, in fact, a flood. We used to be in a state of independence, stability, and safety. Now we’re in a state of fear, anxiety, displacement, and loss. This is the war, summed up—a flood. We will grow in resilience and strength and more giving, God willing. We are a mighty people; we will remain a mighty people. God willing.

    This post was originally published on The Real News Network.

  • Casar, 19 Democrats Demand End to “Offensive” Weapons Transfers to Israel

    A group of Democrats led by Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), the new head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has sent a letter to the Biden administration urging officials to follow their own policies and stop “offensive” military transfers to Israel amid its genocide in Gaza. In a letter, the lawmakers say that the administration’s failure to adhere to its own 30-day deadline to improve…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Justice for Ayşenur Eygi: Family of U.S. Citizen Killed by Israel Meets with Blinken Demanding Probe


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • UK protests continue against genocide-apologist Tzipi Hotovely – and Ireland shows they can work

    Ireland has decided to contribute to the ongoing International Court of Justice (ICJ) case against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

    Predictably, Israel has responded with a tantrum, withdrawing from its embassy in the country and launching bogus antisemitism allegations at its people. The question now is, could Israel also withdraw its genocide-apologist ambassador to Britain too? And protesters in the UK are hoping their unfaltering efforts can help to make that happen.

    The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) has been committing time every week to protesting against far-right ambassador Tzipi Hotovely, who has previously egged on the genocide in Gaza. And faithful to its mission, the group will be outside Hotovely’s residence in London yet again this Friday from 5.30pm to 6.30pm:

    Ireland puts Britain to shame over Israel

    As the Irish Law Society Gazette reported on 11 December:

    The Government has approved a plan for Ireland to intervene in South Africa’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) case against Israel under the Genocide Convention.

    It added that:

    Filing of the intervention will take place at the court in The Hague later this month.

    And it explained that:

    Ireland would be asking the ICJ to broaden its interpretation of what constituted the commission of genocide by a State.

    In response to this decision, Israel chose to shut its embassy in Ireland. This came months after the apartheid state recalled its ambassador temporarily following a move by Ireland, Norway, and Spain to recognise Palestinian statehood earlier in the year. As Al Jazeera wrote on 17 December:

    Even if their actions sometimes fall short, Ireland and Irish politicians have provided vocal criticism of Israel throughout its war on Gaza, reflecting a feeling polls show to be widespread across a society that finds much in Palestinian history to mirror its own.

    As diplomatic tensions rose between Ireland and Israel, one particularly crazy response was the Times of Israel publishing a blog post with the title “Why the Irish hate the Jews”. This included the claim that “Christianity is inherently antisemitic”.

    The Times of Israel seemed to rethink its decision later, apparently taking the post down.

    Keep standing up

    The IJAN previously promised to continue its protests until the UK followed the example of other countries by expelling its Israeli ambassador:

    The event has been growing in size, and the police would hate it if it grew even more. In fact, police have sought to crack down on courageous activists – Jewish and non-Jewish alike – who are opposing Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

    Haim Bresheeth, for example, is a 79-year-old Jewish peace activist and an “advanced cancer patient with a serious heart condition”. His parents survived the Holocaust. He grew up in Israel, and fighting in two wars for the country turned him into a pacifist.

    And in early November, police arrested him because he now opposes Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and its decades-long oppression of Palestinian people.

    He had spoken at a weekly IJAN protest, as SKWAWKBOX reported, making factual critiques of Israel’s “colonialism, racism and violence, including the mass murder of civilians”. Despite his arrest, though, Bresheeth is not backing down.

    Demonstrations take place weekly at Swiss Cottage (near the Israeli ambassador’s home in London), usually at 5.30pm.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Justice for Ayşenur Eygi: Family of U.S. Citizen Killed by Israel Meets with Blinken Demanding Probe

    Seg2 ayashenoor ezgi aygi guest splits

    We speak with the husband and sister of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, the 26-year-old Turkish American activist killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank in September, who have criticized the Biden administration for failing to independently investigate her death. The recent University of Washington graduate was fatally shot in the head after taking part in a weekly protest against illegal Israeli settlements in the town of Beita, which she attended as an international observer. Witnesses say she was shot by an Israeli sniper after the demonstration had already dispersed. Members of Eygi’s family spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this week but left the meeting with little hope the U.S. would hold Israel accountable. “Accountability starts with an investigation by the U.S. of the killing of one of its own citizens by an ally,” says Eygi’s husband Hamid Ali. “The answer to the question of why my wife is not getting justice is because Israel enjoys this level of impunity throughout its existence that no other country, no other state in the world enjoys.”


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • “Obey the Law”: Palestinians Sue State Dept., Saying Arms Sales to Israel Violate U.S. Human Rights Law

    Seg1 leahy law split w guests

    A new lawsuit accuses the State Department of failing to ever sanction Israeli military units under the Leahy Law, which was passed in 1997 to prevent the United States from funding foreign military units credibly implicated in gross human rights violations. The case was brought by five Palestinians in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and the United States and is supported by the human rights group DAWN. Former State Department official Charles Blaha, who served as director of the human rights office tasked with implementing the Leahy Law, says there is a mountain of evidence of Israel carrying out torture, extrajudicial killings, rape, enforced disappearances and other abuses. “Despite all that, the State Department has never once held any Israeli unit ineligible for assistance under the Leahy Law,” says Blaha, now a senior adviser at DAWN. We also speak with Palestinian American writer Ahmed Moor, one of the plaintiffs in the suit, who has family in Gaza and says the last year of genocide has made the lawsuit more urgent. “The conditions of basic life are not being met. Gaza is unlivable,” says Moor.


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.