The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a monumental new tool of repression, the “Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act,” otherwise known as H.R.9495. The bill will now head to the Senate for a vote. The bill would allow the U.S. Treasury Secretary, soon to be appointed by incoming president Donald Trump, to unilaterally designate any U.S.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Campaigners from Fossil Free London disrupted the opening night of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, demanding the venue sever ties with Barclays over the bank’s funding of fossil fuels and arms.
During the Swan Lake interval, protesters staged a dramatic lobby demonstration, pouring oil on two campaigners dressed in Swan Lake costumes while others chanted, “Sadler’s Wells, drop Barclays”. Their banner read, “Cut Ties with Barclays”:
Security escorted them out of the building.
The disruption followed an earlier protest outside the theatre, where 10 campaigners in Swan Lake costumes staged a “die-in” next to a banner that read, “Barclays Funds Bombs and Big Oil”. Leaflets explaining the protest were handed out to theatre goers:
Sadler’s Wells has a close relationship with Barclays, which is one of the theatre’s main sponsors. Additionally, Nigel Higgins, the chair of the Sadler’s Wells Board of Trustees, also serves as the chairman of Barclays. So, protesters made the Swan Lake audience aware:
By February 2024, Barclays had £2bn in shares in eight of the nine companies providing military equipment to Israel.
This included £2.7m in Elbit Systems. Elbit provides 85% of Israel’s military drone fleet and land-based equipment. Alongside this, it supplies bombs, missiles, and other weaponry. It markets these as “battle-tested” after bombardments in occupied Palestine.
Barclays has provided over £6.1bn in loans and underwriting to the arms and military technology companies Israel has violently deployed against Palestinians. These include arms firms like BAE Systems, Boeing, and Raytheon.
Meanwhile, Barclays is also making a killing bankrolling the climate crisis. Between 2016 and the end of 2023, Barclays has poured US $235.2bn into fossil fuels. This is according to the latest ‘Banking on Climate Chaos’ report, which placed Barclays among its ‘Dirty Dozen’ – the top twelve worst banks for financing the polluting sector.
Moreover, it has invested over US $190bn in fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement. Whilst Barclays committed to stop financing new oil & gas expansion ‘projects’ in a renewed energy policy in February, this restricts just 10% of their fossil fuel funding.
Joanna Warrington, campaigner with Fossil Free London, said of the Swan Lake protest:
It’s time for Sadler’s Wells to stop dancing around the issue.
By continuing to partner with Barclays, a bank that fuels climate breakdown and genocide, Sadler’s Wells is complicit in global suffering and the destruction of our future. This sponsorship lets Barclays hide behind a veil of corporate responsibility, while it continues business as usual, bankrolling the industries driving environmental devastation and violence across the world.
Art holds immense power to inspire change and shape our world for the better, but it’s meaningless if we don’t act to protect the future it imagines. Sadler’s Wells must choose: uphold the values of art and humanity, or remain complicit in the destruction and greed that threatens us all.
Featured image and additional images via Talia Woodin
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
A petition has been launched by Cardiff Palestine Solidarity Campaign to call on Cardiff Council to divest from companies complicit in Israel’s criminal activity against the Palestinian people. The objective is to encourage those companies to cut their support for the apartheid Israel regime and its 14-month-long genocidal war.
The Cardiff and Vale Council Pension Fund invests £111m in companies actively linked to Israel’s illegal war against Palestinians and its illegal occupation of Palestinian land in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank. Targetting civilians, starving them, stealing their land, and forcibly displacing a whole population are all illegal under international law.
Now, everyone living or working in Cardiff can express their view by signing the petition that will be put before city councillors in January for them to act in a simple but effective way. Sign here.
Every democratic representative body has an interest in abiding by the rules based international order for resolving conflict – otherwise the bullies always win. There is a duty on everyone to play a part in echoing and amplifying the daily pleas from Palestinians:
Cardiff Council can make a simple switch of the 3.5% of its total pension fund pot to companies not on the list of those complicit with the Israeli regime. This a call from Palestinian civil society: including the Federation of Trade Unions, political parties, NGOs, Palestinian women, refugee and cultural organisations, and many others.
Featured image via the Canary
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
In just the first week since a ceasefire commenced in Lebanon, Israeli forces have already broken the agreement and launched dozens of attacks, reports from humanitarian organizations find. CNN’s Clarissa Ward reported on Monday, citing a UN peacekeeping source, that Israel has committed an estimated 100 violations of the ceasefire agreement that went into effect last Tuesday.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
A top official at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said Monday that food availability across Gaza has reached “an all-time low” under Israel’s suffocating blockade, which has heavily restricted the entrance of lifesaving humanitarian assistance and plunged the enclave into famine. “Food supply has sharply deteriorated,” FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol said at a…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Joining a growing chorus of liberal-leaning Israelis, a former Israeli defense minister has accused the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of war crimes and carrying out ethnic cleansing in besieged northern Gaza as Israeli forces block humanitarian aid and dig in for a long-term occupation. Moshe Ya’alon, a member of Israel’s center right Telem party who served for three decades…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Hunger. Cold. Thirst. Disease. These are the daily realities of life in Gaza, where for the past 423 days, Israel has unleashed a genocide that will come to define our contemporary era. As Palestinians struggle to meet their daily needs, they are also faced with a battle to preserve their memories and dignity. Over the past year, journalist and filmmaker Ruwaida Amer has produced numerous powerful, heart-wrenching documentary reports for TRNN from the rubble and ruins of Gaza, shining a light on the darkest realities of Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinians, even as she herself suffers from—and struggles to survive—the onslaught. Calling in from Gaza, Amer joins The Marc Steiner Show to share an honest portrait of her life and the lives of her fellow Palestinians in the midst of genocide.
Please watch and share Ruwaida Amer’s on-the-ground reports from Gaza for TRNN, including…
Studio Production: David Hebden
Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Marc Steiner:
Welcome to the Marc Steiner Show here on The Real News. I’m Marc Steiner. It’s good to have you all with us. The War on Gaza has killed at least 45,000 people. No less than 10,000 have been children. Most of the hospitals have been destroyed. Patients are dying, children are dying. The infrastructure has been obliterated. 90% of the 1.2 million Gazans have been displaced. There’s been no food. People living on one meal a day, if they’re lucky. And still it goes on, as I’ve said for decades, not in our name. This must end, and we must help to end it. Israel just appointed Yechiel Leiter, who was part of the fascist, Rabbi Meir Kahane’s, Jewish Defense League, as ambassador to the United States, with Trump’s approval.
Now here, the war rages on. And many of you have seen the documentaries we’ve published by the amazing and brave, Ruwaida Amer, who lives in Gaza, whose home and family have been torn apart. Ruwaida is a video and documentary filmmaker, writer, and producer. You’ve seen her brave and brilliant work here at Real News, as I’ve said, and also appeared on Al Jazeera, BBC, ABC, CNN, Euro News, among others. And written for The Nation and Slate, among others. And Ruwaida, welcome to the Marc Steiner Show. It’s good to have you with us.
Ruwaida Amer:
Hi.
Marc Steiner:
Thank you so much for taking the time and being with us today. Can you just tell us where you are at this moment?
Ruwaida Amer:
Yeah, as you know, I’m in Gaza, okay. And I’m in south of Gaza because I live in south of Gaza. Okay, so it’s my home there. Also, there’s no difference between north and south of Gaza, so anywhere there’s a very hard situation. And everywhere, the bombing, that mean maybe in the beginning of the war. So if you are in the south, you aren’t safe, no. I’m in the south, but I live in very hard situation. Every time I hear the bombing, before a few minutes, I was very scary because I had a very strong bomb around my area. So the situation here is not good and not safe. It’s not better than anywhere in Gaza. All the areas under hard bombing, and the worst war in the world. So no one is safe.
Marc Steiner:
And you’ve lost friends and family personally in this war.
Ruwaida Amer:
I have many stories about the losing of people in my life. In general, I don’t like to talk about this, but because I like to be my works private. Or if I’m working as journalist, so the people know that I’m a journalist. But I have another work, I’m teacher. So as a teacher, I lost my students. My students, they are in five grade and sixth grade, that’s mean they’re age nine years and 10 years. And recently I know I lose more than two or three or four students. I lose more than them. And my student told me we have another one, we lose them. In the beginning, in the war, he killed by a very hard bombing in the north. And all the building, a huge building structure, arrived on his head, with his family. So I lost my student, I lost my friends, I lost my close friend. Also, I lost my cousin. Also, maybe I want to be more negative, but I want to tell you, anyone we lose in Gaza, I consider him or her like one of my family, one of my society, one of my people.
Because all the people we lose during the war, they have a great story. They have dreams. They were planning to the future for their families, their children. And we lose very close people in our life. We know them in our normal life, we meet them every day. So now we don’t have them. So maybe it affected in my feeling, my mind. So when I write my articles or when I produce my stories, I feel very sad about the people in Gaza. So to be more clear, I don’t like to talk about my experience because I don’t like the wars. And usually I told my friends after the war ended, I said for my friends, “I think anyone died in the war, is the one, he won, has life.” Because when you be alive and you remember your family, your friends, your studies, you will lose your mind when you think, “How’s my life without them? How I can go to my school without my students? How I can go to the restaurant without my friends?
How I can go to my work without my friend, also? How I can be strong when I see my auntie, when she back from Egypt, and she will back to Gaza when the Rafah Crossing open, and she will not find his son because he killed by bombing Israel in the beginning of this war? Maybe the best thing for me, during this war, I’m writing everything. I live in this war, so I like to comment it. Everything, every situations, anything happened with me, I wrote about it in my articles, also in my documentaries. Like what I work them for Real News. So when you lose anyone from your people, you will feel like lose your life. So it’s not easy. So you will not be sad for your friend just, or one of your family, no. For example, I used to go to the restaurant, very, very famous restaurant in Gaza. So I have very beautiful moments and memories there. All the people working in this restaurant, they killed by Israel. Who will open the restaurant again after the war?
Last two days or three days, I saw post in this restaurant page, they posted the memory for the owners of this restaurant, because all of them killed by the Israeli bombing. And all the comments asking who will reopen this restaurant. If we will see this restaurant again after the war. It’s not just people or persons, no, the places, the streets. I live in Khan Younis city. If you will come to this city, you will just see destruction. Everything is destroyed, weed. You will not find any building good. All of them destroyed by the bulldozers of them and the bombing of them. So also we have memories with the places, the streets, the sea. I feel like our sea is very sad because there is, near the sea, tents for the people. All the people put their tents near or on the beach of the sea. They used to just visit the sea to relax, now they are living near the sea. And the water attack them because we are in the winter season. So maybe you see some news about many tent destroyed by the water, sea and the raining.
So it’s so sad. Just the situation in Gaza, it’s hard to express about it in the words or sentences, or paragraphs or articles, or by documentaries. Need a lot of documentaries to show the situation in Gaza. Sorry, I’m not speaking like the answer about the question.
Marc Steiner:
No, that’s fine. It’s fine.
Ruwaida Amer:
About all the question. Sorry about that. Really, the lose is not just a person, the lose also places, also streets, sea, our safe, our peace. We lose everything, by the way.
Marc Steiner:
It’s hard, watching all of your documentaries, reading what you’ve written, following it every day, it’s hard to imagine, for you, to be able to keep up your creative spirit and work in the midst of the madness that surrounds you. Living in that death and destruction, maybe lucky if you have a meal a day, and be able to produce what you produce. I’m sorry.
Ruwaida Amer:
Okay, I will tell you something. Every day I say with myself, I will not work. I will stop my work. Because the war, it’s not just one day or two days, or one month or two month, we are under this war more than one year. So every day I say, “No, I will not work. I will not send ideas. I will not discuss with my friends about the ideas, if I can do that or not.” But in the same time I would say, “No, I will keep my working, continue. I will cover the stories because we need to show for the world, the situation in Gaza.” I want to show for the world, or the people out Gaza, we are human. We deserve to live in good situation. We deserve to find food, water, electricity. Our children deserve to go to their schools. Our children deserve to live with their parents. I work in story about children lose their parents. Maybe you watch this video, and I saw that there is tens of thousand on views on this story.
It was very sad story to hear children talk about their family and their parents, and they will not see their parents again. It’s very sad. Also, if I have patience to work, and complete my work, when I go to film the works or the story, I back to my family, my home, with very bad mood, sad. And I come to sleep, and to think, I said with myself, “When this war will finish?” I ask my friends, “There is any hope to finish this madness or this crazy war?” It’s not easy to go to the people and talk with them about their situation, because you know their situation. You live in this situation. You are not different about them. By the way, I live in the same situation with the people. And many times the people don’t like to talk with me. They say, “Sorry, Ruwaida, because there is no people hear us.” I respect them, by the way. I respect them because they told me there is no people hear us.
If there is people hear us, there is people consider the people in Gaza as human, like them, and deserve to life, like them, the war stop for a long time. But we are more than one year in the same situation with. And I will tell you something, the war, it’s not different in the beginning and the middle. The situation, it’s not different. Because I will be not honest when I say, “No, now the situation better than last two months or three months.” No, no, no, it’s the same thing. Now we don’t have food. I live in very hard hunger. So I don’t know what my family eats every day. There is no food, there is no water, there is no electricity. So the war is, every day worse than before. So there is no change in the situation in Gaza. So when you go to the people to make interviews or to film with them, many people don’t like to do that. I’m one of them. I respect them. A lot of time I leave them and say sorry, and go back again, call them.
I support them. I give them positive energy. I told them this is our right to talk about our situation. We need the world to know what we are living. So some people say, okay, and complete the story with me. Some of people told me no, and I respect them. And I stopped the filming with them, and looking for another family, like this. So the people in Gaza live in very bad psychology feeling. So they are very nervous. They are very sad. They don’t hope for tomorrow. Today the war in Lebanon stop, they have ceasefire. But Gaza, no. All the people in Gaza very sad about it, because why we are allowed? Why the people don’t care? The world don’t care about Gaza, to stop the war in Gaza. Why we will live in Gaza, live in this world, many days or many months? We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. So when you work as a journalist in Gaza, during the war, you will live in very hard challenge to complete your work, to continue your work. And also, as filmmaker or producer, before the war, it’s totally different during the war.
So my work, it was totally different. Because before the war, I filmed very hope and happy stories. And the communities, I was so happy when I would film with a music group. And when I film with the sport, the group or teams. Now I film with the people to talk about hunger, about bombing, about losing, about no schools, about no education, about no health, about no life. So it’s totally different. So it’s not easy for me to work like this, but I did it. And when I finish any work, I feel happy. When I saw a good reaction from the people, out Gaza, about their feeling, their support, I feel like I fresh the letter from Gaza, or the message from Gaza. And I told them what’s happening in Gaza. And because there is big thankful for the journalists in Gaza, photographers in Gaza, because they are working very hard to send the real stories in Gaza, about the real happening in Gaza, during more than one year. And they are under the bombing. The journalists are also targeted by Israel. So we are not in safe, but-
Marc Steiner:
Including you?
Ruwaida Amer:
Yeah, but we are working, still working.
Marc Steiner:
And it’s amazing to me that you can continue to produce and write just amazing, creative, brilliant work. You’re telling the story the world has to see. No one else is telling it like you’re telling it, because you’re telling it from the perspective, in the eyes of the people of Gaza, what they’re seeing and feeling. It’s not a detached person. And after watching your films and reading your articles, I just was amazed about how you can continue to do it in the midst of the destruction around you. Almost all the Gazans now are homeless. It’s been destroyed.
Ruwaida Amer:
Yeah. Yeah. Also, I displaced my home last August.
Marc Steiner:
August?
Ruwaida Amer:
Not August, no, July. And when I displaced my home, I went to my sister home. Also, my sister’s home destroyed. But we live in straight rooms. Just we bought plastic paper to close the walls, because we see the street from the rooms. Her home is not good. You can’t live in it, but we don’t have a place to go there. Also, I have private, my mother, she’s not good. Her health, not good. So we can’t go anywhere with her because she has problem in her walking. So we talked about good place to go there. So it was like just my sister’s home, destroyed. But there’s just one room. It’s good, but we can see the streets, the people on the road, because it was very bombing. And her living room and kitchen don’t have windows and doors. And also the bathroom, like this. And her home, not just destroyed, or so you can see plaque everywhere. That’s affected in my feeling so sad. I couldn’t still there, because I know my my sister home, it was very beautiful. We had very beautiful [inaudible 00:24:18] when visited her.
And she didn’t have also internet. And I wanted to work, I wanted to complete my work. So I were just writing article, and go to hospital to send my work. And under very hard situations, I’m challenged, I work it. I want to work, I want to write because it make me better. When I write what I feel, what I think, it will be good. Also, when I sent in, she left a refuge camp, by the way. And I saw this refuge is totally destroyed. Maybe you can find some articles about this thing. So I want to work and I complete that. I complete my work, and still working until now. Many challenge. If I want to tell you about the challenge I live in, I will not finish, because every second I have a challenge.
Every second living in Gaza, you are challenged. Challenge, the situation, how you want to complete your day, how you want to work, how you want to contact with your friends, or your people, you work with them. It’s not easy to live in this war. I used to live in wars, by the way. I’m not very young. I lived in three wars before, or four wars before. But it’s not like this war. No, this is not war. This is very, very bad thing. It’s not normal war, no, it’s very hard war.
Marc Steiner:
People have called it genocide.
Ruwaida Amer:
Yes, maybe it’s more genocide, by the way. I don’t eat very well for two months. Also, we have people need to take their medicine. To be good, they need to eat very well, because their health is not good. There is no food. I don’t know why there is no food in Gaza. I don’t know, really. I want to tell you something. I told my family, all the time, by the way, I told my family, and give them advice. It’s not advice. It’s crazy advice, by the way. I told them, “Live without think. Stop your mind and live. Just, if you will think about the situation, you will be crazy.” I do that, by the way. I’m trying to be good like this. I don’t like to think about my situation around me. If I will think, I will be crazy, I will not be Ruwaida. No, I’ll be crazy again. So I stop to think.
Marc Steiner:
I was wondering, as you’re speaking, how you have remained so calm, and sound so calm, in the midst of all you have to live in the war, people dying and places have been destroyed. And you tell the story so vividly. The way you tell the story, you almost feel like you’re there, you’re in the middle of it. But somehow you manage to keep yourself calm. I can imagine you as a teacher in school, you were probably a great teacher for the kids. I mean to be able to be this calm.
Ruwaida Amer:
Yeah, yeah. I’m still teaching them. I stopped to contact with them a long time, but before one month, I restart to contact with them, because a lot of them in Egypt. So I’m teaching them every Saturday. Teaching them science. So I’m clever girl, but in this war, I’m not sure, still clever, by the way. It make me crazy. When I teach them science, I told them, “Oh, I’m very happy because I’m still saved the information of science in my mind.” I thought I lost all the information, all my study, all my culture and science, but Alhamdulillah, I’m still saved a lot of information, and I can think and I can teach them. So really, really, maybe it’s like crazy words, but this is the real life in Gaza. If you think about what you are life, you will be crazy. Because it’s not normal, it’s abnormal.
If you don’t have a problem today… If you don’t have problem with the food, you will have a problem with the water. If you don’t have problem with the water, you have a problem with the food. Maybe one of your family sick, you need medicine, and there there’s no medicine. And the pharmacies are in the hospitals. We was very sick last three weeks and I didn’t find any medicine on how I can be good, because there is not any medicine supplies come to Gaza. So I feel like I will die by flu. But I’m still stronger, Alhamdulillah. And also, every time I told my friends, I’m trying to be strong until the war finish. I am not sure if I will be strong until the… I don’t know if I can keep my energy until the war finish or not, but still trying to be strong. Trying to save my mind at least.
Marc Steiner:
It seems, just seeing you and listening to you, that you’re tapping into some internal strength, that you probably didn’t even know you had. To see what you’ve been able to do, to make the films you’re making. I can say here, that at Real News, we, and I personally, will do everything possible for the world to see your work. Because you tell the story that is real, that nobody else is telling in the way you’re telling it. Especially when you hear the voices of the children in your documentaries.
Ruwaida Amer:
Yeah, so hard.
Marc Steiner:
It’s hard. It must be hard for you. It’s hard living through what you’re living through, but to have to embrace the pain of the stories of the children and families every day on your work, because you clearly are a person who, you take that in. It’s not like a-
Ruwaida Amer:
Yeah-
Marc Steiner:
Go ahead.
Ruwaida Amer:
Yeah, when I see the children. So if I want to help any family, I help them because they have children. Because the children don’t deserve to live in this world. We lost many thousands of children, babies. Babies, just two days, three days, or month, two months, their age. So when I meet the children… My sister have two children, five years and three years, and they lose their home. Every day they are telling me about their memory in their home. Five years and three years. I think they don’t have big memories in their home because they are very child, but they have. Her son, so Spiderman can come to Gaza and rebuild their home. He wants Spiderman to come to Gaza and rebuild their home. Can you imagine how is the children think in Gaza, because they lose their childhood? There is a lot of children have responsibility, their home, their families. So if you want to go to the market, you will see children sell in the market.
Simple things. They sell simple things just for $1, $2, $3, $5, and they back to their family to buy any food for them. The children live in very hard situation. Our children, their place is in the schools, not in the markets, not in the streets, not in bad tents, not with crying about their parents or their families. So they lose their child heart. So many times when I film it with the children, they are crying. And I hug them and say, “You are heroes. You will be good in the future. And it will end very soon, and you will back to your home in the north. And your mother and father, see you in the paradise. They are in the paradise, and they see us in Gaza and they are very proud of us because we are very strong and still alive in Gaza. And you will complete your family life.” But they are children, and very clever. They know the reality story in Gaza. You can support them, but they know the real story. They know they will not see their parents again. So it’s very hard for them.
So you can’t say anything for child said, “I hope to hug my mother again.” How you can pray her mother to hug her? How you can? So when you work as journalists, or especially filmmakers or produce long video stories, like my works, you will spend more time with the children. Every place or every family in Gaza have children, and you will take your time for them and listen to their words and support them. You don’t know you need to support your family, yourself, your family or the people in your work, or the people you filmed about them. You don’t know. So as I told you, I’m trying to don’t think about my life during the war. Because if I will think, I’ll lose my mind and go to be crazy.
Marc Steiner:
Which is why I am deeply thankful and grateful that you agreed to this today, because I know as calm as your demeanor is, this is very difficult.
Ruwaida Amer:
Yeah, so hard. It’s not difficult, difficult is symbol. Word to describe the situation here. No, it’s not easy. You feel like you want to cry every step you walk in the street, every second you meet the people outside. Really, many times I don’t like to call and ask about my friends, because I know the situations. My situation, it’s not good. And their situation, it’s not good, but maybe worse than me, because they are in tent, and they are out their cities. We are living Gaza Strip, there is Gaza City. So they are out of their cities, Gaza, and the cities in the north, in more than one year, it’s a long time. So no one can appear to be away from their place long time, like one year. And we live in the situation our grandfather, grandmother live in ’48.
Marc Steiner:
’48, yeah.
Ruwaida Amer:
1948. Okay? We live in this situation. I remembered when I wrote article about Nakba, I asked my grandmother about how the experience was, that he died for the last two years. It’s good thing to die last two years, because he didn’t like the wars. And I will tell you, they destroyed his grave, by the way, also earlier.
Marc Steiner:
Really?
Ruwaida Amer:
Yeah. They destroyed his grave. And if we want to visit his grave, we will not find it, because they destroyed it as well.
Marc Steiner:
I don’t think, in many ways, that the world, this country especially, really understands the devastation that’s taking place in Gaza. That’s part of the reason that your documentaries and your writing are so, so important. And I would encourage the world to watch everything you do, if you want to feel and understand what is going on. Because you do it from the heart and you do it from the head, and you bring that story to all of us. I think it’s unfathomable. Most people can’t even begin to understand what it’s like to have to live in this dystopian hell that you have to survive in.
Ruwaida Amer:
Yeah. Many times I feel like we live… The people out Gaza, or anyone support the war in Gaza to be continued, they consider the people in Gaza, not to human. But we are human. We are doctors, teachers, journalists, and very important people. We are people, have dreams, we have plans for our future. We deserve to life, and we deserve to stop this war very soon, like Lebanon. So I hope to wake up on good news like this, stop this war in Gaza. I will be so happy, so very happy. Because we don’t have energy to complete or to live in more days in this war. Not just the young people or the men or the woman, no, the children. Also, always I said, “Please, stop the war, not just for the people in Gaza, just for the children, because they need to sleep. They need to be in their homes. They deserve to back to their schools. This is the second year without schools, it’s too much. They will lose their education. So the schools is their place, is not the road or the markets or the tents.
So I hope the people out Gaza can know more about the situation in Gaza, and support ceasefire in Gaza. Stop the war. And anyone can work to stop this war. Don’t be slow. Just work very hard to stop this war, because the situation is very hard. And day by day, and second by second, we lose a lot of people, a lot of places, a lot of safe, a lot of peace. So peace is the best solution for everything. The war’s not good thing, by the way, because we lost everything. So I hope my documentaries, my articles, my works, can wish for a lot of people, and very important people in the governments, countries, and they can to work hard to stop the war in Gaza. I hope that. Because the war is not good solution, just the peace.
And all the people deserve to live in peace, especially the Gazan people. Because they live in siege more than to 20 years maybe, and they didn’t find any good day. So solution for the life in Gaza. The people in Gaza want to complete their life without wars, so enough. I posted story on Instagram. I said, “Gaza want to stop the war. Ceasefire now.” And enough. Really, enough.
Marc Steiner:
Enough.
Ruwaida Amer:
It’s too much.
Marc Steiner:
Enough. I know. And you’re doing it now, in terms of talking to our audience. And we can just maybe close with this, to continue what you’re saying about this and why it’s so important to watch your work, for people to understand what is going on, to see and feel what Palestinians are going through, and what we can do to stop it, that’s why your work is so critical.
Ruwaida Amer:
I show the humanity sides of the people in Gaza because all the stories in Gaza now about the human people, they lose their life, their safe, their very important things, like food and water. Imagine you live without food for just one day. How will you feel? Okay, imagine to try all your day to looking for water. Measure your life, your children life without schools. Measure your life without home. Measure your life to live and sleep in the roads, in the streets, without blanket, without good clothes, without good water. Imagine your life without medicine, without good health or good hospitals. Imagine to spend just one day, anyone, feel sick and go to hospital, and sleep in the hospital just one night. He will be very nervous, and, “I want to back to my home.” But the people in Gaza live more than one year in the hospitals, and they made tent in the hospitals, and see the suffering of people in the hospitals.
And it’s very important to look to Gaza, because when you see or watch the stories from Gaza, you will see there is no humanity in the world, because they accepted to be the war more than one year. And the people live in that situation more than one year. By the way, I was very positive in the beginning of the war, and make support for my families. And for my family, I told them, “No, no, no, this war will be just one week, two weeks, three weeks.” But it’s more than one year. I’m very surprised, because we are in this war more than one year. It’s too much, too much. So it’s very important to follow the situation in Gaza, and Gaza need the world. Don’t leave us alone, because we need the people support, out Gaza. Maybe their support will stop this war. Maybe. I hope that.
And if I receive any support message from my friends out Gaza, I feel like I am not alone. There is people feel about my situation, and don’t leave me alone. Also, I’m teaching Arabic language for non-speakers. I have students from America, Australia, Holland, and French, and many Europe countries. And they supported me, and still support me, so I feel I’m good. There is people think about Gaza. There is people support me. Sometimes they send me photos, “We are with Gaza. We are in the roads and street, we call it to stop the war in Gaza.” So it’s good. So I’m working to show for the people what’s happening in Gaza. So I hope they are supporting us and working to stop the war in Gaza. I hope that maybe one day we will be in freedom. I hope that.
Marc Steiner:
Ruwaida Amer, we, here at Real News, will be standing by you and with you as much as we can, and help bring your voice and your work out to the world. You need to be heard. And I want to thank you for everything you’ve done, the work you’ve done as a filmmaker, as a teacher, as a human being.
Ruwaida Amer:
Yes. Also, I want to say I’m not working for me. I’m working for the world to see Gaza, to watch what’s happening in Gaza.
Marc Steiner:
Yes.
Ruwaida Amer:
I’m working every day to be the people following what’s happening in Gaza. If you want to come for me, many times in depression, many times in bad moods, times very bad psychology, my feelings’ very bad, but I’m working hard to show the situation in Gaza, to be the people know what’s happening in Gaza. My work’s not for me, it’s for the world. See Gaza, to watch what’s happening in Gaza, to know what the people, how they live in Gaza during the wars. What is the situation in Gaza? How they get the water, the food. How is the life for the children in Gaza also? So I hope my work reach the people, and they see that, and they watch that, and they work hard to believe the people in Gaza have right to still alive, and have right to be free, and live in freedom and live in safe and peace, and move in their countries and around the world, as any person in the world.
Because we don’t have right as normal people. No, the Palestinians living under bad situation in the world. So maybe the Palestinians come to live, and safe, come to take their rights because we are under occupation. So I know many people no more about the Palestinian case during this war. So that mean our work reached the world. So maybe it’s good point for the journalists in Gaza, they show the real case of Palestine for the world. Maybe the people now they have more information about the situation in Palestine, in general, especially in Gaza. So I hope that if you like my work, I think the people also like my work.
Marc Steiner:
People love your work.
Ruwaida Amer:
Yeah, thank you so much.
Marc Steiner:
You’re telling the story that has to be told, and we are here for you as much as we can be. And you, Ruwaida Amer, I want to thank you for telling the story of the Gazans, of the Palestinians, that needs to be told, and working with us here at Real News. And we’ll be linking to all of your work. And I promise you that I will do everything I can to spread that work so people see the real story through your eyes, through the eyes of the Palestinian people in Gaza. And-
Ruwaida Amer:
Thanks.
Marc Steiner:
Please stay safe. And we’ll stay in touch.
Ruwaida Amer:
I will try, I hope to succeed to be safe. Inshallah.
Marc Steiner:
Inshallah. Once again, let me thank Ruwaida Amer for joining us today. She joins us in the midst of a war that has taken the lives of people she loves, of her students and her friends. Through it all, she keeps writing and making her documentaries that bring into stark reality what Palestinians face every day in Gaza. I have seen few do it as well. I encourage all of you listening to go to our website, type in her name, Ruwaida Amer, R-U-W-A-I-D-A-M-E-R, and experience the reality of what Gazans face every day. We must do what we can to end the carnage in Gaza. And thanks to David Hebden and Cameron Grandino for running the program today, and audio editor Alina Nehlich for working her magic. Rosette Sewali for producing the Mark Steiner Show and the tireless Kayla Rivara for making it all work behind the scenes. And everyone here at Real News, for making this show possible.
Please, let me know what you thought about what you heard today, what you’d like us to cover. Just write to be at MSS at therealnews.com and I’ll get right back to you. And once again, thank you to Ruwaida Amer for your work, for your bravery, for telling the story of the Palestinians in Gaza. And for joining us today in the midst of all of it.
This post was originally published on The Real News Network.
Gaza now has the largest population of child amputees per capita in the world, the UN has reported, as a result of 14 months of Israel’s genocide, which has especially targeted children in relentless bombings and attacks. Israel’s genocide in Gaza has “caused an epidemic of traumatic injuries with no rehabilitation services available,” the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
“Canada needs to stop arming Israel and implement an immediate arms embargo.” In Ottawa, over 100 Jewish activists began a sit-in inside a Canadian parliamentary building Tuesday to demand Canada stop arming Israel. Rachel Small, a member of the Jews Say No to Genocide Coalition and a member of the sit-in, says that the Canadian government’s claims that it is halting arms shipments to Israel are…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
It’s emerged that the UN is investigating how private sector companies and institutions have been complicit in Israel’s apartheid and ethnic cleansing in Palestine and Gaza.
So, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians has answered a call for evidence from the UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, ahead of a report to the UN Human Rights Council on how the private sector has contributed to establishing and maintain Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The UN says the report will:
be part of a broader investigation into the involvement of business enterprises, including financial institutions such as banks, pension funds, insurance companies, universites, as well as private military and security companies (PMSC) and weapons manufacturers (WM) (hereinafter all together referred to as “private sector”), in the commission of international crimes connected to Israel’s unlawful occupation, racial segregation and apartheid regime
The deadline for the call for submissions was 30 November 2024, ahead of a report by the Special Rapporteur that will be sent to the 58th Session of the Human Rights Council in March 2025. The thematic report will form part of a broader investigation into the involvement of business enterprises in the commission of international crimes related to Israel’s unlawful occupation, racial segregation and apartheid regime in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The report will focus on business enterprises including financial institutions such as banks, pension funds, insurance companies, universities, as well as private military and security companies and weapon manufacturers.
ICJP’s submission particularly focuses on the complicity of universities and the third sector. The submission refers to UK case studies including some of ICJP’s longstanding experience working to hold UK-based universities and other UK-registered charities to account.
In particular, the submission explains the case studies of Trinity College Cambridge and three other UK based charities: UK Toremet, JNF UK, and Achisomoch Aid Company. The submission details how these groups may be aiding and abetting international crimes against Palestinians, violating Palestinians’ fundamental human rights and disregarding human rights due diligence requirements.
The submission also details the obligations of Member States, following the landmark Advisory Opinion by the International Court of Justice in July 2024, and makes recommendations on opportunities for international mechanisms to fill the accountability gap that exists in this space.
Featured image via the Canary
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
It’s emerged that the UN is investigating how private sector companies and institutions have been complicit in Israel’s apartheid and ethnic cleansing in Palestine and Gaza.
So, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians has answered a call for evidence from the UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, ahead of a report to the UN Human Rights Council on how the private sector has contributed to establishing and maintain Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The UN says the report will:
be part of a broader investigation into the involvement of business enterprises, including financial institutions such as banks, pension funds, insurance companies, universites, as well as private military and security companies (PMSC) and weapons manufacturers (WM) (hereinafter all together referred to as “private sector”), in the commission of international crimes connected to Israel’s unlawful occupation, racial segregation and apartheid regime
The deadline for the call for submissions was 30 November 2024, ahead of a report by the Special Rapporteur that will be sent to the 58th Session of the Human Rights Council in March 2025. The thematic report will form part of a broader investigation into the involvement of business enterprises in the commission of international crimes related to Israel’s unlawful occupation, racial segregation and apartheid regime in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The report will focus on business enterprises including financial institutions such as banks, pension funds, insurance companies, universities, as well as private military and security companies and weapon manufacturers.
ICJP’s submission particularly focuses on the complicity of universities and the third sector. The submission refers to UK case studies including some of ICJP’s longstanding experience working to hold UK-based universities and other UK-registered charities to account.
In particular, the submission explains the case studies of Trinity College Cambridge and three other UK based charities: UK Toremet, JNF UK, and Achisomoch Aid Company. The submission details how these groups may be aiding and abetting international crimes against Palestinians, violating Palestinians’ fundamental human rights and disregarding human rights due diligence requirements.
The submission also details the obligations of Member States, following the landmark Advisory Opinion by the International Court of Justice in July 2024, and makes recommendations on opportunities for international mechanisms to fill the accountability gap that exists in this space.
Featured image via the Canary
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
Israel killed more than 200 Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday, including 40 members of a single family. The official death toll in Gaza is now over 44,000, although experts believe that is a vast undercount of the true figure. Israel’s onslaught has continued to kill medical and aid workers in recent days, including three people with World Central Kitchen, the head of the intensive care unit at…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
In his final weeks as president of the United States, Joe Biden is using whatever remaining time and capital he has to continue his lockstep support for Israel as it continues violating the so-called ceasefire in Lebanon, as it further immiserates, starves, and destroys what remains in Gaza, and as it codifies the ethnic cleansing and permanent settlement of Northern Gaza. In a 24-hour period two weeks ago, The Times of Israel reported that the Biden White House aggressively lobbied “Democrats to reject [the] progressive push to block arms transfers to Israel” (which most ultimately did). And Biden’s UN ambassador, Robert Wood, vetoed yet another UN resolution calling for an immediate, lasting ceasefire in Gaza and a return of all Israeli hostages.
This fact is at odds with a broader excuse-making media regime that assured readers over the past few months that Biden was only backing Israel’s genocide in Gaza because he was compelled to by mysterious outside forces: a bearhug “change things from the inside” strategy, electoral considerations in the lead-up to Nov. 5, the Israel lobby, or a broader assumption he is simply too helpless to do anything. Once Biden was no longer constrained by these factors, it was assumed, the White House would finally make some effort to rein in Israel. But the election came and went and Biden’s support for Israel has only intensified, capping off with a scathing admonishment and delegitimization of the International Criminal Court, which finally issued an arrest warrant last month for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Recently in The Nation, I detailed how this elaborate excuse-making regime emerged over the last year, and how US media helped shape, promote, and disseminate this regime to the broader public. The three major media tropes are as follows:
- Helpless Biden is any report, analysis, or opinion that describes Biden as unable to do anything to stop Israel from committing war crimes or end the war overall. This is typically framed as a “limit” to US power, often accompanied with a picture of Biden looking overwhelmed, sad, or doddering. These are sourced almost entirely by anonymous Biden aides and Biden allies in the think-tank world.
- Fuming/Deeply Concerned Biden is any report, analysis, or opinion that paints Biden as secretly upset, outraged, or privately sad or anguished about civilian casualties. These articles are also sourced almost entirely by anonymous Biden aides and Biden allies in the think-tank world.
- Third Partying is a variation of an anti-labor propaganda concept whereby corporations treat unions as somehow separate from workers and worker democracy in order to portray unions as an outside “third party.” Just the same, media reports consistently paint the United States as separate from the conflict, despite the United States being the major patron of one side, deploying troops and military hardware, assisting in military operations, providing intel, and protecting Israel at the United Nations. US media consistently frames the United States as a neutral party—even a humanitarian force—always looking (but, mysteriously, always failing) to end the conflict. This is typically done through coverage of largely fictitious cease-fire talks, whereby US media conflates efforts for a short-term pause for the purpose of hostage exchanges with “ending the war.”
To quote the late British theorist Stafford Beer, “The purpose of a system is what it does.” We can say that Biden supports genocide because, for almost 14 months, this is exactly what he has done. Everything else is window dressing, moral performance, unfalsifiable theory of mind assumptions, and collective partisan delusion. These media genres fed into a broader excuse-making regime that also includes popular assumptions about Biden being held back by electoral considerations and being subject to the undue influence of the Israel Lobby.
Biden supports genocide because, for almost 14 months, this is exactly what he has done. Everything else is window dressing, moral performance, unfalsifiable theory of mind assumptions, and collective partisan delusion.
On the issue of electoral considerations, this excuse, even if true, was never morally useful. If “winning elections” justified everything—and surely genocide would be the most extreme example of a policy that ought not be permitted simply because it could “win” an election—then every single bad thing Trump does could be defended along the same lines. Mass deportations are popular. Does this make Trump campaigning on them and carrying them out justified? Of course not.
But even accepting the logic of the excuse, it falls apart. Poll after poll shows support for an arms embargo would have helped Harris defeat Trump: The massive reduction in support from Arab and Muslim voters, young voters, and the fact that there were 6.2 million fewer votes overall compared to 2020, clearly indicates that Gaza helped depress turnout. It wasn’t the decisive factor—indeed, no single factor was—but it no doubt was a major contributor in alienating core constituencies and helped doom Harris’ campaign. And we know those running her campaign thought so because her superficial distance from Biden on Gaza was, according to a leaked internal memo prior to Biden dropping out, listed as a major factor in her favor. ”She’s broadly considered to be to Biden’s left on Israel-Palestine, an issue where he has major vulnerabilities,” it read. The day after the election (before the usual scapegoats were settled on), the New York Times reported that campaign officials “conceded that Ms. Harris had paid a price for not breaking from Mr. Biden’s support of Israel in the war in Gaza.” The premise that the general voting public was crying out for more shredded Palestinian toddlers on their social media timeline was always a dubious one. Yes, the public supports Israel in the abstract. But when asked specifically about an arms embargo and ceasefire, the public was—even despite the overwhelming power of bipartisan polarization—opposed to the Biden/Harris policy of unqualified support for Israel’s “war in Gaza.”
Another popular excuse, which often veered into antisemitism, was that Biden only backed genocide in Gaza because the Israel lobby forced him to do so. While there is obviously an influential Israel lobby in Washington, its impact is largely relegated to the margins of Congress, having recently been decisive in pushing out Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman. Biden, a self-identified Zionist for decades, with nothing to lose in the 2024 election, early on supported the genocidal logic of Israel’s campaign in Gaza—and likely never thought much about it beyond that. While backing Israel was no doubt helpful to Biden’s rise in politics (and certainly essential to pro-Israel groups spending millions targeting Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2020 primary), pro-Israel lobby groups had little influence over Biden in his final year in office. Even after he dropped out of his ill-fated re-election bid, even after his replacement lost the election itself, Biden continued and continues to this day to do nothing but arm, protect, and justify Israel’s countless war crimes. This is why there is a whiff of antisemitism to this popular line: If Biden had been Jewish, his ironclad commitment to Zionism would simply be seen as an earnest ideological commitment. But because he’s Catholic, there has to be dark and mysterious forces making him do bad things against his will.
But if the past 14 months have shown anything, it’s that Zionism is a colonial ideology that requires no religious or ethnic identity. It is as American as apple pie, and the simplest explanation—that Biden just agrees with Israel’s genocidal campaign and thinks it’s justified—is all there needs to be. No lobby pressure necessary.
Even after he dropped out of his ill-fated re-election bid, even after his replacement lost the election itself, Biden continued and continues to this day to do nothing but arm, protect, and justify Israel’s countless war crimes.
But these excuse-making regimes aren’t only about providing a moral cover for President Biden. They’re very much about creating—to use a vogue term of the day—a permission structure for liberals to go about the usual work of Professional Politics. They permit compartmentalization, however tenuous. This system, over the past 14 months, has allowed, above all, liberals to enjoy politics. From TikTok memes to MSNBC to the social settings of campaigns and government workers, people develop a parasocial relationship with those in power, especially those leading their own party. Uncle Joe, Joe of the Parks and Rec cameo, Obama’s lovable sidesick, Joe of the AOC selfie, Joe of the “a decent man who has done nothing wrong” fame—surely he can’t back the genocide of Palestinians. This reality is too difficult to face; it offends both our chauvinism and partisan identity which, in key ways, is more essential to people’s sense of self than religion or race. So the incentives to build these excuse-making regimes, to provide thin journalistic legitimacy for them, and to push out into our airwaves and Twitter timelines pat thought memes—“… Biden’s bear-hugging Netanyahu so he can influence him as a friend…,” “… he has to back Israel to win the 2024 election…,” “… It’s the Israel Lobby…,” “… he’s working for a ceasefire…,” “…even if he cut off Israel, it wouldn’t matter…”—is tremendous.
It is not only essential to ameliorating cognitive dissonance, it is essential to the basic functioning of civil society and our liberal body politic. So it developed, became a career-maker for many, and largely served its function. But this doesn’t make it any less of a lie. There was never any outside force compelling Biden to back the wholesale destruction of a people, and there was nothing compelling liberals to look the other way. There was nothing forcing progressives, nonprofits, labor unions to endorse Biden, or his equally pro-genocide replacement, without conditioning said endorsement on a change in Gaza policy. These were choices they made. And when it’s all said and done—when the legacy of the Biden administration is invariably written about and debated—the choices we make, more than any hand wringing or “change things from the inside” self-rationalization, are all we have and all we are.
This post was originally published on The Real News Network.
Israel’s war on Gaza — marked by extensive war crimes, and widely seen as an ongoing genocide — has been backed by the U.S. government, which has provided Israel with billions of dollars in weapons to be used against Palestinians. On the ground and from the air, the genocidal siege has been carried out by Israel’s military, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), whose soldiers regularly post videos and…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Despite it being illegal in Australia to recruit soldiers for foreign armies, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) recruiters are hard at work enticing young Australians to join Israel’s army. Michael West Media investigates.
INVESTIGATION: By Yaakov Aharon
The Israeli war machine is in hyperdrive, and it needs new bodies to throw into the fire. In July, The Department of Home Affairs stated that there were only four Australians who had booked flights to Israel and whom it suspected of intending to join the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
The Australian Border Force intervened with three of the four but clarified that they did not “necessarily prevent them from leaving”.
MWM understands a batch of Australian recruits is due to arrive in Israel in January, and this is not the first batch of recruits to receive assistance as IDF soldiers through this Australian programme.
Many countries encourage certain categories of immigrants and discourage others. However, Israel doesn’t just want Palestinians out and Jews in — they want Jews of fighting age, who will be conscripted shortly after arrival.
The IDF’s “Lone Soldiers” are soldiers who do not have parents living in Israel. Usually, this means 18-year-old immigrants with basic Hebrew who may never have spent longer than a school camp away from home.
There are a range of Israeli government programmes, charities, and community centres that support the Lone Soldiers’ integration into society prior to basic training.
The most robust of these programs is Garin Tzabar, where there are only 90 days between hugging mum and dad goodbye at Sydney Airport and the drill sergeant belting orders in a foreign language.
Garin Tzabar
In 2004, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon asked Minister for Aliyah [Immigration] and Integration, Tzipi Livni, to significantly increase the number of people in the Garin Tzabar programme.
The IDF website states that Garin Tzabar “is a unique project, a collaborative venture of the Meitav Unit in the IDF, the Scout movement, the security-social wing of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, which began in 1991”. (Translated from Hebrew via Google Translate.)
The Meitav Unit is divided into many different branches, most of which are responsible for overseeing new recruits.
Powerful and unique journalism by @yaakov_aharon on a story that receives shamefully little coverage in Australia; the recruitment of Australians to serve in the Israeli military: https://t.co/OdNVzzMEbx
— Antony Loewenstein (@antloewenstein) December 2, 2024
However, the pride of the Meitav Unit is the branch dedicated to recruiting all the unique population groups that are not subject to the draft (eg. Ultra-Orthodox Jews). This branch is then divided into three further Departments.
In a 2020 interview, the Head of Meitav’s Tzabar Department, Lieutenant Noam Delgo, referred to herself as someone who “recruits olim chadishim (new immigrants).” She stated:
“Our main job in the army is to help Garin Tzabar members to recruit . . . The best thing about Garin Tzabar is the mashakyot (commanders). Every time you wake up in the morning you have two amazing soldiers — really intelligent — with pretty high skills, just managing your whole life, teaching you Hebrew, helping you with all the bureaucratic systems in Israel, getting profiles, seeing doctors and getting those documents, and finishing the whole process.”
The Garin Tzabar programme specifically advertises for Australian recruits.
The contact point for Australian recruits is Shoval Magal, the executive director of Garin Tzabar Australia. The registered address is a building shared by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and the Zionist Council of NSW, the community’s peak bodies in the state.
A post from April 2020 on the IDF website states:
“Until three months ago, Tali [REDACTED], from Sydney, Australia, and Moises [REDACTED], from Mexico City, were ordinary teenagers. But on December 25, they arrived at their new family here in Israel — the “Garin Tzabar” family, and in a moment, they will become soldiers. In a special project, we accompanied them from the day of admission (to the program) until just before the recruitment.“ (Translated from Hebrew via Google Translate).
Michael Manhaim was the executive director of Garin Tzabar Australia from 2018 to 2023. He wrote an article, “Becoming a Lone Soldier”,’ for the 2021 annual newsletter of Betar Australia, a Zionist youth group for children. In the article, Manhaim writes:
“The programme starts with the unique preparation process in Australia.
. . . It only takes one step; you just need to choose which foot will lead the way. We will be there for the rest.”
A criminal activity
MWM is not alleging that any of the parties mentioned in this article have broken the law. It is not a crime if a person chooses to join a foreign army.
However, S119.7 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995 states:
A person commits an offence if the person recruits, in Australia, another person to serve in any capacity in or with an armed force in a foreign country.
It is a further offence to facilitate or promote recruitment for a foreign army and to publish recruitment materials. This includes advertising information relating to how a person may serve in a foreign army.
The maximum penalty for each offence is 10 years.
Rawan Arraf, executive director of the Australian Centre for International Justice, said:
“Unless there has been a specific declaration stating it is not an offence to recruit for the Israel Defence Force, recruitment to a foreign armed force is a criminal offence under Australian law, and the Australian Federal Police should be investigating anyone allegedly involved in recruitment for a foreign armed force.”
Army needing ‘new flesh’
If the IDF are to keep the war on Gaza going, they need to fill old suits of body armour with new grunts.
Reports indicate the death toll within IDF’s ranks is unprecedented — a suicide epidemic is claiming further lives on the home front, and reservists are refusing in droves to return to active duty.
In October, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid accused Bibi Netanyahu of obscuring the facts of Israel’s casualty rate. Any national security story published in Israel must first be approved by the intelligence unit at the Military Censor.
“11,000 soldiers were injured and 890 others killed,” Lapid said, without warning and live on air. There are limits to how much we accept the alternative facts”.
In November 2023, Shoval Magal shared a photo in which she is posing alongside six young Australians, saying, “The participants are eager to have Aliya (immigrate) to Israel, start the programme and join the army”.
These six recruits are the attendees of just one of several seminars that Magal has organised in Melbourne for the summer 2023 cycle, having also organised separate events across cities in Australia.
Magal’s June 2024 newsletter said she was “in the advanced stages of the preparation phase in Australia for the August 2024 Garin”. Most recently, in October 2024, she was “getting ready for Garin Tzabar’s 2024 December cycle.”
There are five “Aliyah (Immigration) Events” in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. The sponsoring organisations are Garin Tzabar, the Israeli Ministry for Aliyah (Immigration) and Integration, and a who’s who of the Jewish-Australian community.
The star speaker at each event is Alon Katz, an Australian who joined Garin Tzabar in 2018 and is today a reserve IDF soldier. The second speaker, Colonel Golan Vach, was the subject of two Electronic Intifada investigations alleging that he had invented the 40 burned babies lie on October 7 to create a motive for Israel’s onslaught in Gaza.
If any Australian signed the papers to become an IDF recruit at these events, is someone liable for the offence of recruiting them to a foreign army?
MWM reached out for comment to Garin Tzabar Australia and the Zionist Federation of Australia to clarify whether the IDF is recruiting in Australia but did not receive a reply.
Yaakov Aharon is a Jewish-Australian journalist living in Wollongong. He enjoys long walks on Wollongong Beach, unimpeded by Port Kembla smoke fumes and AUKUS submarines. First published by Michael West Media and republished with permission.
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
Israel bombed a humanitarian vehicle in Gaza on Saturday, reportedly killing three aid workers with World Central Kitchen and Palestinian bystanders who tried to come to help after an initial strike. “We are heartbroken to share that a vehicle carrying World Central Kitchen colleagues was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza,” the U.S.-based aid group founded by chef José Andrés…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Over the past year, analysts and writers in the mainstream press as well as in some left-wing media have argued that China has upended its relationship with Israel in its defense of Palestine in the wake of October 7. But China’s relationship with Palestine is not so clear-cut: While it has offered moderate rhetorical criticism of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, China has maintained investments in…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
An unusual roadside protest in Hastings has gone viral, attracting over three million views worldwide and sparking similar actions in towns and cities across Europe. It was over Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and apartheid across the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The simple drive-by action of people holding placards on the side of the A21 spelled out a powerful message that resonated across the world:
It read: “In the Last Year. Israel has killed. 16,000 children in Gaza. There are 16,00 children. In Hasting. Imagine. This town. With no children. Stand up. Speak out. Stop the genocide”:
The one minute video, filmed from a passing car and set to the track ‘Where do the children play?’ by seventies folk musician Cat Stevens – now known as Yusuf Islam – was picked up and shared on all the major social media platforms including Instagram, TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook with thousands of comments remarking on the moving post, heaping praise on the people of Hastings and the “humanity” of its inhabitants.
And since it was first shared on 9 November the same action has been replicated in Wales, Ireland, Oslo, and in towns and cities like Hitchin and Ealing.
One X account in the name of Rania had over 1.6 million views alone with over 550 comments. The video was also shared on the Instagram account of political analyst Yousef Alhelou, attracting 832,000 views, 87,000 likes and hundreds of supportive comments such as “Powerful and thought-provoking activism. Well done Hastings”, “Love to the people of Hastings. It gives us all hope in humanity”, and “Thank you Hastings. Great action. Tears are running over my face”.
On X, @Karen_commited said:
Every town could/should do this. Such an effective way of drawing people’s attention to the ongoing genocide.
@Hirubaig1 wrote:
Good people of Hastings, thank you!
And @zeenatroomanev said:
Thank you Hastings for showing the world that humanity is still alive. Your efforts won’t go unnoticed.
As the video continues to be shared and reposted, the number of views now totals over 3 million.
Israel’s 13-month assault on Gaza has so far resulted in over 44,000 Palestinian deaths including over 17,500 children.
The action, staged by the Hastings & District Palestine Solidarity Campaign, was designed by member Phil Colley.
He said:
I was brought up on images from WW2 and taught that such a genocide mustn’t happen again. But it is happening again, just as the International Court of Justice said was plausibly happening as far back as January, as did UN experts and genocide scholars.
Today, Gaza has been turned into a modern-day extermination camp, our government is actively involved and yet no one is sounding the alarm. Journalists that do speak out are now being harassed and arrested under draconian anti-Terrorism laws. It is shameful beyond belief. But we the people must not stay silent or, because it’s just too awful, pretend it is somehow not happening. We must stand up and speak out and demand action from our representatives. I’m so proud that in Hastings we are doing exactly that.
Featured image and additional images supplied
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
A Fiji solidarity group for the Palestinians has accused the Rabuka-led coalition government of “complicity” in Israel’s genocide and relentless war in Gaza that has killed more than 44,000 people — mostly women and children — over the past year.
The Fijians4Palestine have called on the Fiji government to “uphold the principles of peace, justice, and human rights that our nation cherishes”.
“We urge our leaders to use their diplomatic channels to advocate for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, to support international efforts in providing humanitarian aid to the affected regions, and to publicly express solidarity with the Palestinian people, reflecting the sentiments of many Fijians,” the movement said in a statement marking the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
The group said it was “ashamed that the Fiji government continues to vote for the genocide and occupation of Palestinians”.
It said that it expected the Fiji government to enforce arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.
The Fijians4Palestine group’s statement said:
It has been over one year since Israel began its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Over the past year, Israeli attacks have killed more than 44,000 Palestinians living in Gaza, equal to 1 out of every 55 people living there.
At least 16,756 children have been killed, the highest number of children recorded in a single year of conflict over the past two decades. More than 17,000 children have lost one or both parents.
At least 97,303 people are injured in Gaza — equal to one in 23 people.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, every day 10 children lose one or both legs, with operations and amputations conducted with little or no anaesthesia due to Israel’s ongoing siege.
In addition to the killed and injured, more than 10,000 people are feared buried under the rubble.
With few tools to remove rubble and rescue those trapped beneath concrete, volunteers and civil defence workers rely on their bare hands.
We, the #Fijians4Palestine Solidarity Network join the global voices demanding a permanent ceasefire and an end to the violence. We express our unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian struggle is not just a regional issue; it is a testament to the resilience of a people who, despite facing impossible odds, continue to fight for their right to exist, freedom, and dignity. Their struggle resonates with all who believe in justice, equality, and the fundamental rights of every human being.
Families torn apart
The images of destruction, the stories of families torn apart, and the cries of children caught in the crossfire are heart-wrenching. These are not mere statistics or distant news stories; these are real people with hopes, dreams, and aspirations, much like us.
As Fijians, we have always prided ourselves on our commitment to peace, unity, and humanity. Our rich cultural heritage and shared values teach us the importance of standing up for what is right, even when it is not popular or convenient.
Today, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, not out of political allegiance but out of a shared belief in humanity, justice, and the inalienable human rights of every individual.
We unequivocally condemn the State of Israel for its actions that amount to war crimes, genocide, and apartheid against the Palestinian people. The deliberate targeting of civilians, the disproportionate use of force, and the destruction of essential infrastructure, including hospitals and schools, are in clear violation of international humanitarian law.
The intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group is evident. The continuous displacement of Palestinians, the destruction of their homes, and the systematic erasure of their history and culture are indicative of genocidal intent.
The State of Israel’s policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, characterised by racial segregation, discrimination, and domination, amount to apartheid as defined under international law.
Oppressive regime
The construction of settlements, the separation wall, and the system of checkpoints are manifestations of this oppressive regime. Palestinians are subjected to different laws, regulations, and treatments based on their ethnicity, clearly violating the principle of equality.
We call upon the Fiji government to uphold the principles of peace, justice, and human rights that our nation cherishes. We urge our leaders to use their diplomatic channels to advocate for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, to support international efforts in providing humanitarian aid to the affected regions, and to publicly express solidarity with the Palestinian people, reflecting the sentiments of many Fijians.
We are ashamed that the Fiji government continues to vote for the genocide and occupation of Palestinians. We expect our government to enforce arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.
The silence of the Fiji government is complicity, and history will not forgive their inaction.
Our solidarity with the Palestinian people is a testament to our shared humanity. We believe in a world where diversity, is treated with dignity and respect. We dream of a future where children in Gaza can play without fear, where families can live without the shadow of war, and where the Palestinian people can finally enjoy the peace and freedom they so rightly deserve.
There can be no peace without justice, and we stand in unity with all people and territories struggling for self-determination and freedom from occupation.
The Pacific cannot be an Ocean of Peace without freedom and self determination in Palestine, West Papua, Kanaky and all oppressed territories.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
On 13 November in Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), independent MP Ayoub Khan asked about Israel’s genocide in Gaza:
On the 28 October the foreign secretary denied that a genocide was even taking place and suggested that the Israeli army had not yet killed enough Palestinians to constitute a genocide… Will the prime minister share his definition of genocide with this House? And will he state what further action he is prepared to take to save lives of desperate and starving men, women and children?
Keir Starmer replied:
It would be wise to start a question like that with reference to what happened in October of last year. I’m well aware of the definition of genocide and that’s why I’ve never referred to it as genocide.
On the previous day, a Commons committee heard an eye-witness account of genocidal atrocities.
Professor Nizam Mamode, former clinical lead of transplant surgery at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London, testified at the first meeting of the International Development Committee about his experiences working as a volunteer surgeon in the Nasser hospital in southern Gaza from August to September.
Professor Mamode spoke of bombings every hour or two. There was no battle frontline, just “1.4 million people trapped there – they cannot leave – having bombs dropped on them on a daily basis, and then drones coming in and shooting them”.
Living in tents, the people faced the prospect of evacuation orders sent out to mobile phones in a message saying “Area number whatever, evacuation order” and people had to run, not knowing if the Israeli army would attack in hours or minutes.
Professor Mamode said that he and his colleagues “had one or two mass casualty incidents a day, which meant 10 to 20 dead and 20 to 40 seriously injured… and 60-70% of the people we treated were women and children.” They saw this as, Mamode said, “clearly persistent, deliberate targeting of civilians… One of the surgeons… had been to Ukraine five times and said, ‘This is ten times worse’”.
Professor Mamode spoke of the constant whine of surveillance drones:
This was day after day after day of operating on children who would say, ‘I was lying on the ground after a bomb had dropped, and this quadcopter came down and hovered over me and shot me.’
The drones would shoot small cuboid pellets, which don’t act like bullets:
What I found is that they would go in and they would bounce around, so they would cause multiple injuries.
And:
We saw a number of children with sniper injuries—a single shot to the head, but no other injuries; so clearly deliberately targeted by Israeli snipers. That was day after day.
Nasser was probably the best hospital in Gaza, but even there surgical operations were done with lack of the most basic equipment:
I remember, one Saturday night, operating on an eight-year-old who was bleeding to death. I asked for a swab and they said, ‘No more swabs’… I did amputations on people who just had to take paracetamol after the operation as pain relief. That medical aid was sitting at the border and not being allowed in… Basic things like soap and shampoo are also not being allowed in. I do not know how many wounds I saw with maggots in; one of my colleagues took maggots out of a child’s throat in intensive care. There were flies in the operating theatre, landing in the wounds … You just do the best you can. But a large number of our patients – perhaps the majority; I don’t know – would survive the operation and die of infections afterwards.
A doctor in his 30s working in intensive care got hepatitis A, a disease of poor hygiene for which there is a vaccination, but he could not get treatment and he died in his own intensive care unit. “We asked for him to be evacuated, but he wasn’t”.
Professor Mamode spoke of over 160 documented examples of ambulances being targeted:
So many people never got an ambulance. People would carry casualties in; sometimes they would bring them in on donkey carts.
For him and his colleagues the biggest danger was travelling in and out of hospital on a UN convoy in armoured vehicles, clearly marked and carefully organised with a predetermined route given to them by the Israeli army. He said:
There is a radio check at the start before they leave, during the journey and at the end, so the Israeli army know that they are there and where they are. Despite that, they have been shot at five times [by the Israeli army].
People starved with no escape, forced into tents and bombed relentlessly, drones shooting injured children on the ground, snipers shooting children in the head, ambulances attacked trying to give aid, hospitals denied basic medical supplies: what word sums up such atrocity?
Israel doesn’t let foreign reporters into Gaza, and has gunned down as many as it can of those who do enter.
We wait to hear Keir Starmer’s definition of genocide, while his government continues to deny the evidence and to supply Israel’s jets and drones and even, through the RAF, to aid the lethal surveillance.
Perhaps Sarah Champion, as chair of the committee who were so moved by what they have heard, can bring Starmer nearer to facing the truth. If he continues to support Israel he will bring international condemnation of the UK for complicity in genocide.
See for yourself the International Development Committee’s transcript of Professor Mamode’s testimony and video of the meeting.
Featured image via the Canary
By Andy Wallace
This post was originally published on Canary.
Pressure is growing on the Labour Party government to end its support for Israel’s war crimes as tens of thousands are set to march in London on Saturday 30 November in solidarity with Palestinians – on the 22nd major demonstration for Palestine since October 2023.
It comes the day after the annual UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and a national workplace day of action on Thursday 28 November that was backed by the TUC.
The march will continue the demand for the UK government to abide by international law, ending all complicity with the Israeli genocide, including an immediate arms embargo.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators will march through London on Saturday to highlight their anger and frustration with the UK government’s continuing refusal to take meaningful action to end their complicity with Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Last week the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former defence minister for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The UK government signalled it would enforce the warrants if the wanted men arrived in British territory, but continues to allow arms exports to Israel to commit the crimes the ICC has judged to be indictable. Indeed, the UK Government refuses to describe Israel’s actions as a genocide, despite the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that that is plausibly the case.
This week the Palestinian solidarity movement in the UK has held a series of actions to show the breadth and depth of the opposition to the government’s illogical and immoral position.
On Wednesday hundreds of Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) supporters came to parliament to lobby their constituency MP in person. Then, there was a national workplace day of action backed by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), in which workers and students organised a wave of protests and meetings around the country.
Ben Jamal, PSC director, said :
Keir Starmer and David Lammy are still hiding from their responsibilities under international law, but their cover is blown. The world’s highest courts have confirmed that our leaders are giving political, military, diplomatic and financial support to a state carrying out war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The resistance to their complicity from ordinary citizens is growing in strength and spreading form the streets into workplaces across the land. This week saw unprecedented support for our latest workplace day of action with the backing of the TUC representing millions of British workers.
We will never stop lobbying, protesting, and boycotting until our Government, corporations and public bodies end their complicity with Israel’s decades of oppression of the Palestinian people.
The march will leave Park Lane at 1230pm. It ends with a rally at Whitehall at 2:30pm.
Featured image via the Canary
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
In commemoration of the partition of Palestine in 1947, 29 November marks the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. After more than a year of Israeli genocide, and decade upon decade of Israeli aggression and ethnic cleansing.
Lecturer and genocide expert Arnesa Buljušmić-Kustura explained that even the commemoration itself “laid the groundwork for the ethnic cleansing and ongoing genocide of Palestinians and dispossession”:
The UN plan divided Palestine into two states:
• A Jewish state (55% of the land), despite Jews making up only ~30% of the population and owning ~6% of the land.
• An Arab state (45%). • Jerusalem as an internationally governed city.
The plan ignored the will of the indigenous majority, the Palestinians.
Buljušmić-Kustura goes on to explain how the UN resolution laid the foundation for Israel to encroach onto indigenous Palestinian territory over the proceeding decades. Britain’s role in the internationally-sanctioned colonisation of Palestine cannot be forgotten, as Buljušmić-Kustura outlines:
The British Mandate played a key role in this tragedy. Britain’s Balfour Declaration from 1917 promised a “Jewish national home” in Palestine while simultaneously assuring Palestinians of independence. By 1948, Britain withdrew, leaving chaos in its wake.
She goes on to conclude:
The anniversary of UN Resolution 181 is not just a historical event. It’s a reminder of how international institutions facilitated the dispossession of Palestinians; a process that continues today. Understanding this history is vital to addressing the injustices of the present.
The United Nations has commemorated this day of recognition for Palestine every year since 1947. However, for the reasons Buljušmić-Kustura outlines, we cannot allow the UN to set the tone for solidarity with Palestine. Unless we can understand the settler colonial history that has laid the foundation for Israel to be colonial settlers in Palestine for over 75 years, then our solidarity isn’t worth much.
Ayman Khwaja, writing for The New Arab, argued:
Liberation requires action, and it goes without saying that solidarity extends beyond just bearing witness. We have seen this in the remarkable work of Palestine Action – shutting down weapons and munitions manufacturers. We have seen it in the success of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement – with multi-billion-pound conglomerates reporting record losses.
Genocide has been a regular feature of social media timelines for over the last year, at an overwhelming rate. As Khwaja writes:
If you are haunted by Gaza, you are of the few still in possession of their humanity. Take what little of it remains and in every hour of your day, build the time to centre Palestine. There can be no other reason for why we are alive in this moment. The reality remains: it is not us who will save Palestine and Palestinians; it is them, yet again, saving us from ourselves.
Plenty of actions, both local and national have been organised by a range of pro-Palestine groups. Flags are being raised at local town halls, messages of solidarity are being shared on social media, and preparations are being made for a national demonstration.
The likes of the UN cannot pave the way in remembrance and solidarity for Palestine. The UN is little more than a conduit for settler colonialism. Having seen the ethnic cleansing, the horrific scenes as Israelis bomb hospitals and schools, the images of children blown literally to pieces, of mass graves being uncovered, of purposeful starvation, it would be an abomination to look away now.
Agitation and demonstration must be the watchwords on this International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
Featured image via Unsplash/Nathan Neve
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
Flooding induced by heavy rainstorms in recent days has compounded the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, intensifying the already-high threat of disease as nearly two million displaced people struggle to survive Israel’s U.S.-backed assault. Save the Children, a humanitarian group working on the ground in Gaza, said Friday that torrential rainfall has…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
This content originally appeared on The Intercept and was authored by The Intercept.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
For months, residents of northern Gaza have been living in extremely harsh and inhumane conditions. The situation has worsened recently. Initially, our goal was to find food, but now even finding clean drinking water is considered a stroke of luck. One woman recently told me while we were waiting in line for aid, “Days have passed, and I could only get bread and water for my children.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Just as France U-turned on its pledge to arrest Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in accordance with an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant, a close ally of incoming US president Donald Trump, Lindsey Graham, said the quiet part out loud – that the West doesn’t consider itself to be accountable to international law.
Trump ally Lindsey Graham, a gobby US senator, has led the way in raging against the ICC after it issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over his role in the Gaza genocide. But when the ICC issued a warrant for Russian leader Vladimir Putin just last year, Graham happily praised the court. So what changed?
Well, as Graham said quite bluntly on 27 November (from occupied Jerusalem):
The Rome Statute doesn’t apply to Israel, or the United States, or France, or Germany, or Great Britain, because it wasn’t conceived to come after us.
The Rome Statute, as the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) explains, “is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague” back in 2002. The IIEA adds that, according to the treaty, “the ICC has jurisdiction over four categories of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community; genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression”.
So there you have it. The ICC wasn’t meant to hold all criminals to account, just the ones the West doesn’t like.
“The Rome Statute doesn’t apply to Israel, or the United States, or France, or Germany, or Great Britain, because it wasn’t conceived of to come after us.”
— Lindsey Graham admits Int’l Law is a tool of Western supremacy that does not apply to the West pic.twitter.com/VWJ1xz3v5o
— Tiberius (@ecomarxi) November 28, 2024
As Al Jazeera reports:
After initially stating that it would adhere to the ICC statutes, Paris has since suggested that Netanyahu enjoys immunity from the arrest warrants as Israel is “not a party to the ICC”.
Middle East Eye (MEE) says France:
alleged that Netanyahu is covered by immunity as a sitting head of government because Israel is not a member of the ICC.
Legal experts, however, insist France is wrong. And as MEE explains:
judges have consistently rejected those arguments as contrary to the provisions of the Rome Statute.
Apart from being wrong, France’s decision is also highly hypocritical. Because like the US, it previously welcomed the ICC’s warrant for Vladimir Putin (also a head of state of a country not within the ICC) with open arms. Regarding Putin, France had said that “no one… regardless of their status, should escape justice”.
Additionally, there have been suggestions that France backtracked in exchange for its inclusion in Israel’s Lebanon ceasefire deal.
Lindsey Graham previously stressed that no amount of civilian deaths in Gaza would make him oppose Israel’s genocide there. And after the ICC issued its arrest warrant for Netanyahu, Graham threatened countries not to act on it:
I’m working with [Sen.] Tom Cotton to have legislation passed as soon as we can to sanction any country that aids and abets the arrest of any politician in Israel… So, to any ally — Canada, Britain, Germany, France — if you try to help the ICC, we’re gonna sanction you.
He added that, if allies decided to follow international law, “we should crush your economy”.
As MSNBC highlights:
The United States historically has refused to recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction, holding concerns that the court could bring charges against American troops abroad.
And that’s likely the source of Graham’s tantrum, because he admitted:
we’re next. Why can’t they go after Trump or any other American president under this theory?
Given the USA’s long history of committing and supporting crimes against humanity around the world, he’s not wrong. The ICC absolutely should seek accountability for the crimes of past and current US politicians. Whether it has the guts to do so, however, is a completely different matter.
By Ed Sykes
This post was originally published on Canary.
With two visits to UAV Engines Staffordshire plant already this week, Palestine Action went for the hat trick today – which this time targeted the factory roof.
From 4.45am on Thursday 28 November, two activists scaled the high roof of the building next door, giving them a vantage point to target Elbit’s Israeli drone maker:
BREAKING: Palestine Action are on a roof above Elbit's Israeli drone maker in Shenstone, Staffordshire.
From here, actionists are able to dismantle the factory and halt the production of weaponry. pic.twitter.com/CiivraNDTi
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) November 28, 2024
The activists managed to throw bricks to break through the roof of UAV Engines, spray red paint inside the building and damage contents within the Israeli weapons factory:
Palestine Action throw bricks to break the roof of Elbit's Israeli drone maker in Staffordshire pic.twitter.com/ngNmWhZFz7
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) November 28, 2024
On Monday 25 November, Palestine Action started the week by shutting down the UAV Engines plant, locking-on inside vehicles, to block the factory gates. On Wednesday 27 November, they were back again, to once more blockade the gates to the Shenstone plant, and close production down.
Now, Palestine Action returned, and this time its actionists scaled the roof of one of the factory’s two buildings. The action coincides with blockades at the Department of Business & Trade and the Foreign Office by allied groups, including the Palestinian Youth Movement.
In addition to these actions, on Tuesday 26 November, the UAV Engines factory was the scene of a well-attended protest by Palestine solidarity activists from the local community.
UAV Engines is operated by Elbit Systems, Israel’s biggest weapons manufacturer, and produces engines for Elbit’s killer drones. In addition to making engines for Elbit’s Hermes 450 drone, which has been deployed as a mass-murder device throughout the Gaza genocide, the UEL AR731 Wankel-type rotary engine, produced at the Staffordshire factory, is being used in Israeli Harop Kamikaze drones, which are currently being upgraded to kill autonomously.
Elbit have dishonestly claimed that they do not export to Israel, but this is disproven by export license data for military end use.
Every day UAV Engines factory loses production, Palestinian lives are saved, and Palestine Action have been targeting the plant since the start of our four-year long direct action campaign. Blockades, occupations, vehicular lock-ons, and now another assault on the factory roof, have shut the plant down repeatedly.
UAV Engines most recent accounts show that the company is now losing money – nearly half a million by the end of 2023.
This week’s actions come in the face of mounting state repression, designed to stifle protest, by terrorising activists, and locking them behind bars.
So-called anti-terror laws have been used to smash into people’s homes, detain family members, and hold activists for days at a time, without charge. Yet, none of these people have subsequently been charged with any ‘terrorist’ offence. Palestine Action now have 22 political prisoners in Britain.
A spokesperson for Palestine Action said:
Our level of activity this week, should be seen as a clear rejection of the attempts to intimidate us, and show that we will not be cowed. It is the State’s thugs who are the real terrorists, along with those involved in producing the weapons used by Israel to bomb hospitals, schools, mosques, and now even tents. The British government itself, is a participant in the Genocide, and one day it will be them, and their Israeli pay-masters, who will be facing trial, and imprisonment, for their crimes against humanity.
Featured image via screengrab
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
Singaporean cultivated seafood leader Umami Bioworks and Israeli 3D-printed protein producer Steakholder Foods are aiming to bring “commercial-ready” alt-seafood products to market after successfully completing a two-year-long R&D project.
The collaboration, backed by the Singapore-Israel Industrial R&D (SIIRD) grant, established the feasibility of producing 3D-printed cultivated fish fillets at scalable volumes, and will see the companies now team up with Singapore’s National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster (NAMIC) to commercialise these products.
It comes a year after the two firms created a 3D-printed cultivated grouper fish that formed the centrepiece of dishes in a public tasting attended by industry and political leaders.
Listed on the Nasdaq and Tel Aviv stock exchanges, Steakholder Foods has been around since 2019 and makes 3D-printing production machines and premix blends for plant-based and cultivated proteins, including beef steaks, white fish, shrimp, and eel. It’s also exploring the integration of cultivated cells.
Umami Bioworks, meanwhile, has used machine learning and bio-analysis to create a plug-and-play bioplatform for the discovery and development of cultivated seafood, and is working on a number of species with various partners. In March, it merged with fellow Singaporean startup Shiok Meats, establishing itself as a leader in the global cellular agriculture industry.
The two companies first came together on the joint project in July 2022, aiming to marry Umami Bioworks’s tech platform with Steakholder Foods’s 3D bioprinting capabilities to develop a scalable process for producing structured cultivated fish products.
Less than a year into the collaboration, they developed the grouper fish, a hybrid protein that was ready to cook, unlike fully cultivated meat products that still require incubation and maturation after being printed.
Now, the two have “laid the groundwork” for producing premium cultivated fish cuts, creating a portfolio of prototype designs to demonstrate the versatility of their technologies. To translate this effort into commercialisation in Singapore, they are working with NAMIC, a national platform hosted by the government’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
“Partnering with UMAMI Bioworks allows us to further extend our longstanding expertise in 3D printing of plant-based seafood to the production of cultivated products,” said Steakholder Foods CEO Arik Kaufman. “By leveraging our collective strengths, we aim to quickly develop commercial products that meet industry needs while aligning with regulatory and sustainability goals.”
Ho Chaw Sing, CEO of NAMIC, noted that the collaboration was timely, given Singapore’s push to achieve its food security goal of producing 30% of its food locally by 2030.
“With the aquaculture sector contributing significantly to this goal, we hope to bolster the cellular agriculture industry as an alternative to the agri-food industry by leveraging on Steakholder Foods’ proprietary 3D printing technology and Umami Bioworks’ cultivated bioproduct expertise to accelerate the development of alternative seafood products, with comparable taste and texture to natural seafood,” he said.
With NAMIC’s support, the companies will aim to develop product for both local and international markets. Their partnership also sets the stage for proactively navigating food safety standards and regulatory frameworks, which will ensure that these products can be rolled out swiftly when ready.
Singapore has a world-leading food tech ecosystem. It was the first country to clear the sale of cultivated meat back in 2020, and has a regulatory framework used by several countries and regions as a benchmark for novel food approval. But to date, no nation has given the go-ahead to a cultivated seafood product.
That may change soon, with Umami Bioworks pursuing approval in several markets, including Singapore, the US, and Europe. “Our partnership with Steakholder Foods is well aligned with our strategy to create a sustainable seafood platform with the scalability required for global impact,” said Mihir Pershad, founder and CEO of the cultivated seafood firm.
Over the last year, Umami Bioworks has been expanding its presence across the globe, setting up production lines in Malaysia and South Korea, collaborating with research initiatives in India, opening an office in the UK, and working with a pet food company to launch cultivated fish treats for cats in the US next year.
And last month, it launched a biotech tool for pathogen detection and quality assessments in the conventional seafood supply chain, expanding beyond alternative proteins to improve the efficiency of existing seafood production systems.
The post Israeli-Singaporean Project to Bring ‘Commercial-Ready’ 3D-Printed Cultivated Seafood to Market appeared first on Green Queen.
This post was originally published on Green Queen.
The Biden administration is reportedly advancing a sale of weapons, worth nearly $700 million, to Israel as its military furthers its plan of ethnic cleansing in north Gaza and despite the ceasefire agreement Israel reached with Hezbollah this week. As first reported by Financial Times, which cited people familiar with the sale, the administration has notified Congress that it is moving…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Israeli forces fired on two locations in southern Lebanon just hours after a much-vaunted ceasefire agreement began on Wednesday morning, declaring that the southern region is still a military zone. Lebanon’s news agency reported that Israeli forces opened fire on two journalists in the southern town of Khiam. Both journalists, one working for The Associated Press and the other for Sputnik…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.