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Category: Palestine

  • More evidence emerges of Israel’s ‘serious and alarming’ abuse of Dr Abu Safiya

    Since his arbitrary detention by Israeli occupation forces in December 2024, the health and wellbeing of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the esteemed pediatrician and director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, have significantly deteriorated amid reports of abuse, neglect, and inhumane conditions in Israeli custody.

    Dr Abu Safiya’s condition: ‘serious and alarming’

    Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI), who were given rare permission to visit Abu Safiya on 25 September in Israel’s Ofer Prison, say a “serious and alarming” picture has emerged, of medical neglect of the doctor. He has lost nearly 25 kilograms, suffers from untreated scabies, and shows signs of severe malnutrition and exhaustion.

    There are also reports of repeated torture, including beatings and electric shocks, alongside denial of essential medical care despite suffering from heart problems. Basic hygiene and sanitation are non existent, with Abu Safiya prevented from showering, or changing his clothing, including his underwear. Before yesterdays visit, he had not changed his clothes since his arrest in December.

    Abu Safiya refused to abandon his patients and colleagues

    For over two decades, Abu Safiya dedicated his life to pediatric care in northern Gaza, eventually becoming the head of the crucial Kamal Adwan Hospital. Located in North Gaza, Kamal Adwan was one of the last functioning hospitals in the region, providing vital care to Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip. Dr Abu Safiya refused repeated orders from Israeli forces to evacuate the hospital, realising that his patients – many children – had nowhere else to turn.

    Despite personal loss, including the killing of his son in an Israeli drone strike in October 2024, and injuries he sustained during bombing of the hospital, Abu Safiya continued to provide medical care, refusing to abandon his patients. He became known for documenting the siege on the hospital via social media, appealing publicly to the international community to intervene and prevent what he described as a genocidal assault on Gaza’s health infrastructure.

    Detained under the Unlawful Combatants Law

    On 27 December 2024, Israeli forces stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital, forcibly evacuating more than 350 patients and staff, including over 180 medical workers, and family members. They then set fire to the hospital, putting it completely out of service and leaving northern Gaza residents without essential healthcare services. Among those detained was Dr Abu Safiya.

    For weeks, his location and condition were unknown to everyone, despite urgent appeals by human rights organizations. The Israeli military classified him under the controversial Unlawful Combatants Law, allowing indefinite detention without charge or trial, stripping detainees of basic legal protections. His first visit by a lawyer occurred on 11 February 2025, 47 days after his capture.

    Violations of the laws of war

    Abu Safiya’s continued detention without charge, and documented abuse and medical neglect, is a serious violation of international humanitarian and human rights law.

    Medical personnel, facilities, and patients must be protected and allowed to operate without discrimination or interference during conflicts, yet there is a systematic pattern by the Israeli occupation of targeting them, in direct breach of medical neutrality and the Geneva Conventions.

    Human rights organisations including Amnesty International, Front Line Defenders, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, and others have been urgently calling for Abu Safiya’s immediate and unconditional release.

    But Abu Safiya’s case is not isolated. Since the start of this genocide, according to the Gaza Government Media Office, more than 1,670 medical personnel have been martyred by the Israeli occupation, and more than 360 arrested, many without formal charges or access to legal representation.

    Call to action for Dr Abu Safiya’s urgent release

    This systematic targeting of health professionals is a serious breach of international law and an attempt to dismantle Gaza’s healthcare system and inflict the most harm possible to Palestinians. But, it has continued unabated because the international community has never held the Israeli occupation to account for any of its multitude of war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people. The time to act is now.

    Write to Israeli occupation authorities demanding the release Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and all other arbitrarily detained Palestinian health workers, using Amnesty International’s letter template.

    For more information about Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, watch Al Jazeera’s: The Disappearance of Dr Abu Safiya.

    Feature image via Al Jazeera English/Youtube.

    By Charlie Jaay

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Attempts to Delegitimize: Netanyahu at the UN General Assembly

    It takes a lot to make UN delegates walk out from an address to the General Assembly. But this was precisely what Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, managed to achieve in his September 26 speech. His address began by attempting to show his country as a guardian of law and civilisation, fighting a lonely, unsupported war against fiendish barbarians. “Last year I stood at this podium and I showed this map. It shows the curse of Iran’s terror axis.” Such an axis threatened “the peace of the entire world. It threatened the stability of our region and the very existence of my country, Israel. They were meant also to threaten the United States and blackmail nations everywhere.”

    The speech then moved into a triumphant register. Hezbollah had been cowed. The Houthis had been “hammered”. The “bulk of Hamas’s terror machine” had been “crushed”. The armaments of Bashar al-Assad had been destroyed, Iran’s Shiite militias in Iraq deterred. “And most importantly, and above everything else that I could say to you or that we did in this past year, in this past decade, we devastated Iran’s atomic weapons and ballistic missile programs.” Israel’s assassination program – the slaying of Iranian nuclear scientists, the killing of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, the slaughter of half of the Houthi leadership – were also points of celebration. Regarding Hamas, Netanyahu offered the following: “The final remnants of Hamas are holed up in Gaza City. They vow to repeat the atrocities of 7 October again and again. That is why Israeli must finish the job.”

    Anyone familiar with Netanyahu’s streaky command of Disney cartography or predictive assessments on the military power of other states already knows the strained performance here. Vital to his argument is delegitimizing the cause of Palestinian statehood, treating it as an annex of a foreign power and a foreign movement. He goes on to link with little effort Iran’s “massive nuclear weapons program and massive ballistic program” to the late Yahya Sinwar’s “dispatched” terrorists of Hamas as they made their way into Israel on October 7, 2023, to Hezbollah’s missiles and rockets in Lebanon, to Syria’s now deposed Assad regime, which “hosted Iran’s forces, tightening the noose of death around our throats.” For good measure, the Houthis in Yemen were also thrown in.

    This shoddy reasoning shares the strain of paranoia US strategists demonstrated with feverish intensity during the Cold War. There was a stubborn refusal, at least till the Nixon administration, to see Communist insurgencies as the product of indigenous conditions rather than directed movements from Moscow and Peking. Assistance and aid to North Vietnam, for instance, was misconstrued as command and control.

    Similarly, Netanyahu sees radical Islam as a monolithic bloc of obscurantism that has absorbed the Palestinian cause. Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis all shout “Death to America”. All had “murdered Americans and Europeans in cold blood.” Israel’s enemies were enemies of the West. “They want to drag the modern world back to the past… to a dark age of violence, fanaticism, and terror.” With demagogic purpose, he also pointed to “the radical Islamist surge” in the societies of Israel’s allies. Thank Israel, he declared, for having the capacity to supply the intelligence of five Central Intelligence Agencies, for doing, to quote German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, “the dirty work for all of us.”

    The Israeli PM represents a country whose magistrates and representatives sneer and mock international law, treasuring an exceptionalism that have given it an increasingly roguish character. He is contemptuous of accusations that the IDF is not minimising harm to civilians, claiming that the ratio of non-combatant to combatant casualties is “less than two to one”, one much “lower than NATO’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq”. This is an astonishing view, given that Israel’s own military data, as revealed by The Guardian, +972 magazine and Local Call, shows that 83 percent of those killed in Gaza have been civilians.

    Besides, even where civilians were killed, they only did so under coercion from Hamas. The oft repeated claim was made that the organisation “implants itself in mosques, schools, hospitals, apartment buildings and tries to force these civilians not to leave, to stay in harm’s way”. This is a convenient spread, justifying the destruction of critical infrastructure and the essential features of a functioning society. Unfortunately, evidence from the IDF on many of these claims has been skimpy.

    The allegations of genocide, firmed up by the findings of an independent UN commission of inquiry, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and numerous human rights groups including Israel’s own B’Tselem, were also swatted away as blood libels. Those wishing to commit genocide would never “plead with the civilian population it is supposedly targeting to get out of harm’s way.” The Nazis were never good enough to tell Jews to “kindly leave”.

    As for the starvation policy, this was yet another lie. “There’s one ton of aid for every man, woman and child in Gaza” with each person receiving 3,000 calories per day. “Some starvation policy!” It takes some gumption to embrace such mendacity and self-imposed delusion, denying the militarisation of the aid model in the Strip, with necessaries drip-fed through a limited number of delivery points defended by private contractors and trigger-happy IDF personnel.

    Regarding the latest round of countries recognising Palestinian statehood, Netanyahu could only hector. “Murdering Jews pays off.” The forces of antisemitism had been rewarded by France, Britain, Australia and Canada, along with other states. “Your disgraceful decision will encourage terrorism against Jews and against innocent people everywhere.”

    On the issue of the two-state solution, the argument was slyly inverted. Israel did believe in the formula. It was those nasty, ungrateful Palestinians who never did. They were “given territory” only to then attack Israel in “totally unprovoked” circumstances. Absurdly, Netanyahu even called Gaza a proto-Palestinian state, a gift from the Jewish state. Never mind that it became the world’s largest open air prison, its residents the convenient lab rats of Israeli surveillance, technology and military experimentation.

    As long as Palestinians exist in Gaza and the West Bank, they are unsettling reminders of the colonial project, the thefts, the dispossessions, the habitual violence. As long as they have political representatives of any stripe, or any voice uttered through any form – literature, media, the podium, and even the gun – they are exercising the very same rights to self-determination that saw the creation of Israel. It is those rights that Netanyahu showed such withering contempt for in this indignant address.

    The post Attempts to Delegitimize: Netanyahu at the UN General Assembly first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Starbucks To Shut Down Hundreds Of Stores Amid Global Boycott

    Starbucks announced on 25 September that it will permanently close 900 stores across the US and Canada, saying the decision was linked to “underperforming” outlets and a $1-billion restructuring plan, while dismissing any connection to the global boycotts that have heavily targeted the brand during Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.

    The company framed the move as an attempt to revive business after six straight quarters of falling US sales.

    Chief Executive Brian Niccol said certain cafes could not deliver the “physical environment our customers and partners expect,” adding that the closures are part of a $1-billion restructuring drive to cut underperforming outlets, reduce management layers, and speed up service. 

    He described the plan as an effort to restore the chain’s “coffeehouse” feel and move away from the sterile, corporate setting that had replaced it over time.

    The post Starbucks To Shut Down Hundreds Of Stores Amid Global Boycott appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Gustavo Petro Calls for UN to Be Moved After Trump Revokes His Visa

    The Trump administration on Friday revoked left-wing Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s visa after he spoke to crowds of protesters in New York City, urging US soldiers not to point their guns at innocent civilians and to disobey the orders of US President Donald Trump. The US State Department wrote on social media on Friday that Petro had “urged US soldiers to disobey orders and incite…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • George and Gayatri Galloway latest to be detained under counter-terror laws

    Counter-terror cops detained George Galloway and his wife Gayatri at Gatwick Airport on Saturday 27 September, in the latest crackdown on anti-genocide speech.

    George and Gayatri Galloway: held under counter-terror laws

    George Galloway has been a consistent and fierce critic of the Zionist regime in Israel. In 2014, he was attacked by a far-right Zionist in London. Over the years, his position on Israel has made him a target of mainstream politicians and the Zionist lobby. But now, it seems that Galloway has been caught up in the current state crackdown on pro-Palestinian voices.

    The Workers Party of which he founded put out a statement at 4:30pm on 27 September. It said:

    At 11am we were informed by police officers in Gatwick that our party leader George Galloway and his wife have been detained at the airport…

    The police agreed that they would pass a message to our comrades from us and pass back a reply from them.

    Despite repeated attempts to gather further information, and despite repeated calls to the police, we have no further information on their wellbeing, nor on the observation of their Rights.

    There is no information on charges or alleged offences. Therefore we may conclude this is politically motivated intimidation.

    We call on all supporters and friends to amplify this message and demand the IMMEDIATE RELEASE of our leaders.

    Skwawkbox noted that:

    Galloway and his wife were detained by police at Gatwick airport incommunicado – despite a police promise to party workers to pass a message to him and obtain a wellbeing update – almost certainly under Keir Starmer’s abuse of anti-terror laws to arrest, harass and seize the devices of anti-genocide journalists and activists.

    It is unclear why Galloway and his wife were detailed, although they were on their way back from Moscow.

    The Met Police said:

    We can confirm that on Saturday, counter-terrorism officers at Gatwick airport stopped a man in his 70s and a woman in her 40s under schedule 3 of the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019.

    Neither of them were arrested and they were allowed on their way.

    State oppression

    George Galloway joins a growing list of pro-Palestine, anti-Zionist voices that the state has targeted.

    As the Canary previously reported, on 17 May 2023 six cops also detained Grayzone journalist Kit Klarenberg – again under counter-terror laws, but this time the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act (2019). This seemingly was due to Klarenberg’s work at the Grayzone, which is an anti-imperialist outlet. Also in 2023, cops similarly detained Craig Murray.

    Journalists Richard Medhurst and Sarah Wilkinson have also been targeted – as has Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada. And all this is against the backdrop of the state’s repression of Palestine Action – and therefore, be default, Defend Our Juries.

    As Skwawkbox said:

    The Starmer regime’s ever-escalating war on free speech, protest rights and resistance to Israeli genocide and apartheid has kicked up another notch, with the forcible detention of a rival party leader. If there was any room for doubt that fascism is here in the UK, it just disappeared.

    George Galloway and Gayatri’s detention will not be the last time the state targets anti-Zionist voices – and it may not be the last time it targets the Galloways, either.

    Featured image via the Canary

    Additional reporting via Skwawkbox

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • 30,000 march in Liverpool for Gaza and against Starmer – video and images

    Around 30,000 people massed in Liverpool this afternoon to march from the city’s Lime Street station to the Labour party’s waterfront conference venue in support of the Palestinian people against genocide – and against genocide-enabler Keir Starmer.

    Liverpool: against Starmer, against the Labour conference, against genocide

    The atmosphere was loud and proud, but entirely peaceful – with the local police force barely in evidence – as a mass gathering of all creeds, colours and ages joined against the UK government’s collaboration in Israel’s Holocaust of extermination and cruelty in Gaza, in a march whose front was far out of sight before the tail end even started moving off its St George’s Plateau starting point:

    The boisterous gathering was a far cry from the arrival – usually solitary, rarely even in dribs and drabs – of the stony-faced suits arriving for Labour’s conference.

    The party had arranged a ‘zero-emissions shuttle’ to take conference attendees to the venue but it’s a good thing the bus was zero-emissions, otherwise the carbon per passenger of the usually empty eco-bus would have been horrendous.

    Featured image and additional images/video via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Wanted war criminal running terrorist state boasts of Nazi terror tactic against Gaza civilians

    Wanted Israeli war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu has boasted of forcing hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza to listen to his genocidal speech at the UN on Friday – a speech that was booed and which prompted a mass walk-out of delegates. Somehow, it seems unlikely that those bits were transmitted.

    Netanyahu: disgusting

    Netanyahu posted about his regime’s hacking of mobile phones in Gaza to force his victims to listen to his psychopathic droning:

    And in case anyone didn’t have a phone, the occupation parked lorry-mounted speakers to blare it out over Gaza:

    The Canary’s Charlie Jaay spoke with people inside Gaza. She noted that:

    According to Israeli occupation forces, speakers were placed inside the Gaza Strip on trucks and cranes, and not along the Israel-Gaza border, as Netanyahu had previously claimed.

    The military said nine loudspeaker systems were brought into Gaza as part of an ‘influence campaign’ aimed at Palestinian civilians in Gaza and also Hamas, aiming to transmit Netanyahu’s message in both Hebrew and English, a tactic both of psychological warfare and media outreach intended to influence public opinion inside Gaza.

    All-too familiar

    If this scene seems somehow chillingly familiar, it’s because it is: the Nazis frequently blared music, propaganda and Hitler’s or Himmler’s speeches across the camps in which they concentrated and killed their victims as a form of psychological torture. As the Holocaust Music memorial website notes:

    Music from radio broadcasts or record players was played over loudspeakers installed in some camps. In addition to propaganda speeches, military marches and ‘German’ music, in 1933-1934 the guards at Dachau played Richard Wagner’s music in order to ‘re-educate’ political opponents. At Buchenwald, established in 1937, loudspeakers broadcast nightly concerts from German radio, depriving prisoners of sleep. Additionally, march music was played to drown out the sounds of executions…

    …From the outset, Nazi camp commanders made deliberate use of music to mentally break the prisoners and to rob them of their dignity and cultural identity…

    Music from radio broadcasts or record players was played over loudspeakers installed in some camps.. In addition to propaganda speeches.

    Netanyahu was actively boasting of behaving like the Nazis. Not that this is a new phenomenon, of course. The whole genocide in Gaza has been a Holocaust inflicted by a state that believes it is ethnically and genetically superior to the victims it slaughters in their hundreds of thousands, with additional cruelty shown to children instead of mercy.

    Featured image via the Canary

    Additional reporting by Charlie Jaay

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • President Of Colombia Calls For International Army To Stop Genocide

    On Tuesday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned the United States’ extraterritorial policy of war and its active military presence in the Caribbean Sea during his participation in the 80th United Nations General Assembly, held in New York, at the headquarters of the UN. He also called for the formation of an international armed force to stop the Gaza genocide that is being committed by the Zionist entity.

    At the beginning of his speech on Wednesday, September 24, the Colombian president emphasized that US actions in the Caribbean today are making barbarism a global reality. He added that the US is trying to impose on Latin America what has been happening in Gaza for years, amounting to genocide.

    The post President Of Colombia Calls For International Army To Stop Genocide appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Microsoft Revokes Cloud Services From Israel’s Unit 8200

    Microsoft has terminated the Israeli army’s access to technology it was using to store vast troves of intelligence on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and Gaza, the tech giant informed Israel’s Defense Ministry in a letter late last week, according to the Guardian.

    The decision followed an exposé last month by +972 Magazine, Local Call, and the Guardian revealing how Unit 8200, the Israeli army’s elite cyber warfare agency, was housing intercepted recordings of millions of mobile phone calls by Palestinians on Microsoft’s cloud platform, Azure, creating one of the world’s most intrusive collections of surveillance data over a single population group. According to the joint investigation, this data has been used over the past two years to plan lethal airstrikes in Gaza, as well as to arrest Palestinians in the West Bank.

    The post Microsoft Revokes Cloud Services From Israel’s Unit 8200 appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • On International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian Journalists, 250 cameras fell silent in Gaza

    Today marks the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian Journalists, at a time when the Gaza Strip is experiencing one of the bloodiest periods for journalists and media professionals. The number of martyrs has risen to more than 250 journalists since the start of the Israeli aggression nearly two years ago, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.

    Silencing the truth

    Observers agree that the targeting of journalists in Gaza is ‘systematic’, as the attacks have not been limited to field reporters and photographers. They have also affected media institutions, press headquarters and even the homes of journalists and their families. This onslaught has made Gaza the most dangerous place in the world for journalists today.

    International human rights organisations have confirmed that the killing of such a large number of journalists in such a short period of time is unprecedented and constitutes a war crime that must be investigated. Despite repeated condemnations, no practical measures have yet been taken to protect Palestinian journalists or hold the perpetrators accountable for their crimes.

    A profession fraught with death

    Despite these dangers, journalists in Gaza continue to carry out their professional and ethical mission. They steadfastly document in sound, images, audio, and more the bombing, starvation and destruction suffered by civilians. Many of them work with limited resources, without protective equipment or technical facilities, but they remain committed to their mission of bringing the truth to the world.

    Although the number of journalists killed in Gaza has exceeded that of any previous conflict, international organisations concerned with press freedom continue to issue only formal statements of condemnation, without taking any practical steps to stop the targeting or hold those responsible to account. This silence, in the view of many, is not only a failure, but also complicity that allows the killing of journalists and the silencing of the truth to continue.

    In contrast, Palestinian journalists continue their work, defying death, hunger and siege, to remain witnesses to what is happening in Gaza and a voice for their people before the world. As they bury their colleagues one after another, they find only their pens and cameras as weapons in an unequal battle, whose slogan is that the truth alone is what the occupation fears and what the world ignores.

    Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Al Jazeera English

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Netanyahu’s UN speech contained at least eight blatant lies

    The Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip accused the Prime Minister of the Israeli occupation, internationally wanted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, of promoting a series of lies and fallacies during his speech to the UN General Assembly on Friday 26 September, asserting that it was nothing more than “misleading rhetoric” aimed at justifying war crimes and genocide against the Palestinian people.

    Netanyahu’s lies during his UN speech

    The Gaza Government explained that Netanyahu relied on eight major lies alongside dozens of false claims, highlighting the most prominent of them as follows:

    1. The issue of prisoners: He claimed that his government “has not forgotten the hostages,” when in fact its policies of killing, destruction, and displacement put the lives of prisoners in direct danger.

    2. International support after October 7: He claimed that “many leaders supported Israel,” but later acknowledged that this support had declined, while in reality the majority of countries reject genocide and are close to recognizing the rights of the Palestinians.

    3. Alleged Islamic pressure: He attributed the decline in international support to “pressure from radical Islamists,” but the truth is that public opinion has exposed the falsity of his narrative, prompting several countries to correct their course and recognize Palestine.

    4. War on terror: He described the aggression against Gaza as a “war on terror,” while statistics indicate that 94% of the martyrs are civilians, including more than 30,000 children and women, and that 90% of the infrastructure has been destroyed.

    5. Forced displacement: He accused the resistance of preventing residents from leaving, but in the same speech he spoke of the displacement of 700,000 Palestinians, a contradiction that exposes his claims.

    6. Exoneration of the occupation from genocide: He said that “Israel did not seek genocide because it asked civilians to leave,” while his forces dropped more than 200,000 tons of explosives on residential neighborhoods and wiped out thousands of families entirely.

    7. Humanitarian aid: He claimed that the occupation provides food to civilians, while in reality his forces committed massacres against the hungry at aid distribution points, killing, injuring, and kidnapping thousands of civilians.

    8. Recognition of the Palestinian state: It considered that the recognition of Palestine by new countries “encourages the killing of Jews,” but recognition is a legal and moral entitlement that has been delayed for more than seven decades.

    Ongoing war crimes by Israel

    The media office stressed that these lies “will not change the established facts,” affirming that the occupation is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity and is practicing genocide as defined by international law.

    It also held the Israeli occupation and the US administration fully responsible for the “catastrophic reality” in the Gaza Strip, reiterating its demands for:

    • An immediate end to the genocide and aggression.
    • Complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
    • The urgent opening of crossings to allow food and medicine to enter.
    • Completion of steps to recognize the Palestinian state and end the occupation.

    The office concluded its statement by emphasizing that the world has become more aware and conscious of the nature of the colonial occupation based on lies and misinformation, and that the moment to correct historical mistakes is imminent through practical steps to end the occupation and achieve Palestinian rights.

    Hamas responds to Netanyahu’s UN speech

    The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) affirmed that the speech of war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, before the UN General Assembly came in an atmosphere of isolation after the majority of the world’s countries boycotted his speech, leaving him to address only himself and a few of his supporters.

    The movement said in a press statement that allowing Netanyahu to take the podium at the United Nations to talk about justice and rights was a “major paradox,” stressing that he violates these values daily through crimes of genocide, displacement, and systematic starvation against the people of Gaza.

    It added that Netanyahu’s repeated lies and denial of internationally documented crimes “will not change the established facts,” considering that his propaganda about October 7 “has collapsed in the face of global public opinion and is no longer promoted except by him and a few of his supporters,” and that his use of the term “anti-Semitism” has become “a worn-out excuse to reject international positions condemning his aggression.”

    Hamas held Netanyahu fully responsible for the continued suffering of Israeli prisoners, asserting that his intransigence and reneging on previous agreements, as well as his failed attempts to assassinate the negotiating delegation, are what are hindering any settlement, and that his brutal bombardment and massacres of civilians are threatening the lives of his prisoners.

    A “false cover”

    The movement also described the occupation’s justifications for continuing to target civilians in Gaza as “a false cover to conceal war crimes and crimes against humanity,” stressing that its resistance “is directed solely against the occupation until the Palestinian people achieve their full right to self-determination.”

    Hamas stressed that Netanyahu’s announcement about controlling Gaza and installing a “puppet government” there “will not come true,” and that the Palestinian people have proven their resilience and rejection of all forms of guardianship and subordination.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Breaking: flotilla insiders believe UEFA to announce BAN of Israeli clubs from European competition

    European football bosses UEFA have decided that they WILL ban clubs hailing from genocidal apartheid Israel from participating in European competitions. The move has come despite pressure from US president Donald Trump. The news comes according to crew members of the Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla with connections inside the organisation.

    After heavy pressure from Trump’s envoys, UEFA had originally decided to ignore demands from the United Nations Office for Human Rights, Qatar, The Italian Football Coaches’ Association and others to kick Israel out because of its genocide in Gaza, blatant contempt for humanity and international law and the openly racist and violent behaviour of its fans. However, after further backlash from fans, players and international coaches, UEFA has apparently u-turned and an announcement is expected soon.

    As usual, Israel wanted to have its cake and eat it: Zionists claim Palestine is theirs because they are the original West Asian owners of it, but also want to be treated as European when it comes to sport and music. Now it appears they’ve hit a roadblock.

    Featured image via YouTube screenshot/UEFA

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Israel Issues New Evacuation Orders in Gaza City as Ground Forces Push Deeper

    Israel’s military has issued new evacuation orders for neighborhoods of Gaza City as Israeli ground forces pushed deeper into the Gaza Strip’s largest urban area. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have already fled Gaza City for overcrowded areas further south, as Israeli forces systematically flatten much of the city. Meanwhile, Israeli bombardment continues to kill dozens of Palestinians…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Ridiculous terror charges against Irish rappers Kneecap dropped

    A judge at Woolwich Crown Court has today dismissed charges against Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by his Kneecap stage name Mo Chara. The move comes after technical failures in how the prosecution brought the case forward. The matter was in relation to the alleged brandishing of a flag representing the so-called terror group Hezbollah, proscribed by the actual terrorists that run the British state.

    In Woolwich Crown Court this morning, Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring ended the exercise in time-wasting and profligate use of public funds by saying:

    I find that these proceedings were not instituted in the correct form, lacking the necessary DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) and AG (Attorney General) consent within the six-month statutory time limit.

    Kneecap go free

    The dismissal stems from the attorney general Richard Hermer neglecting to grant permission for the case to proceed against the Irish rapper following police informing him of the trumped up charge on May 21. The procedural failing ultimately led Goldspring to rule that his court had “no jurisdiction to try the charge.”

    Speaking outside court to a throng of supporters, Liam Óg thanked his legal team (which included Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, who represented South Africa in their ICJ genocide case against so-called Israel) and went on to say:

    This entire process was never about me, never about any threat to the public and never about “terrorism”, a word used by your government to discredit people you oppress.
    It was always about Gaza.
    About what happens if you dare to speak up.
    As people from Ireland we know oppression, colonialism, famine and genocide.
    We have suffered and still suffer under “your empire”.
    Your attempts to silence us have failed, because we are right, and you are wrong.
    We will not be silent.
    We said we would fight you in your court and we would win.
    We have.
    If anyone on this planet is guilty of terrorism, it is the British state.
    Free Palestine!
    Tiocfaidh ár lá [Our time will come].”
    Darragh Mackin, one of the solicitors representing Liam Óg, then commented:
    History will be kind to Kneecap, and to Palestine, because they are writing it.  The reality is that the British government have nothing in their entire arsenal that can break the spirit of a West Belfast rap group.

    Charges have affected Kneecap’s ability to tour

    The confected charges have acted as an impediment to the band’s ability to perform abroad. Genocide enthusiasts in the Canadian government are the latest pack of criminals to attempt to conceal their own misdeeds through cracking down on the musicians.  In a previous case, Nazi-holocaust revisionist Victor Orban also threw stones inside a glass house, and banned the group from his despotic jurisdiction for their non-existent anti-Semitism.  Such crackdowns impose real costs on bands, where touring is a vital source of income in an era of artist-gouging subscription services.

    The performative attacks from this rogues’ gallery came in spite of the climbdown the group sadly embarked upon when media pressure mounted following publicity around their prior actions. In an April statement, the group said:

    Let us be unequivocal: we do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah.

    Targeting of civilians

    The ‘Party of God’, as Hezbollah translates, have been one of the few entities attempting to meaningfully hold the Zionist regime to account for their mass murder in Gaza and beyond.  In response, they have been met with a brutal response from the butchers in West Jerusalem as they’ve proceeded to kill 1000s of innocent Lebanese people. This includes use of the ‘Dahiya doctrine‘, an overt policy calling for:

    the use of massive, disproportionate force and the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure.

    First used in Lebanon in 2006, the criminal practice has reached its tragic current peak in the holocaust perpetrated against the civilian population in Gaza.  It was also seen in action during the illegal assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, with the obliteration of the entire surrounding area and all life within it.  The British government’s own article on Hezbollah, found on its list of proscribed groups, blurs the line between the group’s armed wing and its civilian departments, saying:

    The group in its entirety is assessed to be concerned in terrorism.

    This kind of framing has helped to legitimise the kind of indiscriminate attacks the Zionist entity has launched against the south of Lebanon as a whole, where Hezbollah essentially functions as a state within a state, providing many essential social services.

    Judicial charade that obscured Britain’s participation in genocide

    The trial against the Kneecap member is just one strand of a massive effort on the part of Britain’s political class to attack those peacefully attempting to prevent the worst crime imaginable, as the British state continues to participate in it.

    From the start of the Zionist pseudo-state’s assault on Gaza, Royal Air Force (RAF) planes have:

    flown near-daily from RAF Akrotiri, Britain’s sprawling airbase on Cyprus, for almost the entire duration of Israel’s assault on Gaza

    sharing this intelligence with Netanyahu’s murderous regime.  A new US plane which took off from Akrotiri flew for “three hours over Khan Younis”, with Israeli airstrikes killing civilians in the area the following day.

    F35 parts continue to be produced within British jurisdiction, before being sent into a global pool, ultimately ending up in the jets used by the Zionist entity to murder innocents across West Asia.

    Furthermore, the practice of training Israeli soldiers at British army bases has continued, and number 10 has recently rolled out the red carpet for war criminal Isaac Herzog. Israeli Genocide Forces (IGF) soldiers with British passports have been allowed to return from contributing to the Gaza holocaust, with no action yet taken.

    In the face of such overwhelming criminality, it shouldn’t take a technicality to halt proceedings against the likes of Mo Chara. Such charges ought not to be brought in the first place; rather it should be the likes of Starmer and Lammy that find themselves before a judge in The Hague.

    Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Sky News

    By Robert Freeman

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • ‘We have experienced every kind of oppression’: Gaza’s children speak

    For the last two years, Israel’s US-backed genocide has destroyed every facet of normal life in the Gaza Strip. While Palestinians cling to hope that they will live to see the end of the war, the incalculable trauma inflicted on Gaza’s children will leave permanent scars. “In these two years, we have experienced every kind of oppression,” 13-year-old Abdelrahman Bashir Jundia tells TRNN. “From living in tents, to refugee centers that are not fit for living in at all… We have suffered torture, torture, and more torture.” In this on-the-ground report, TRNN speaks with children in Gaza about how the war has forever changed their lives.

    Producers: Belal Awad, Leo Erhardt
    Videographers: Ruwaida Amer, Mahmoud Al Mashharawi
    Video Editor: Leo Erhardt

    Transcript

    ABDELRAHMAN BASHIR JUNDIA – 13 YEARS OLD: 

    In these two years, we have experienced every kind of oppression: From displacement, to living in tents, to refugee centers that are not fit for living in at all. We have endured every form of oppression, from relying on soup kitchens, and depending on water stations, and the water trucks that arrive. We have suffered torture, torture and more torture. I’m Abderahman Bashir Jundiya, I’m 13 years old, in the 8th grade. During the war, I took on the role of an electrical engineer. I started working with electrical appliances that I didn’t know much about before. The war taught me these things. Electrical equipment: we opened a charging station. Electrical equipment, inverters, chargers, [inaudible], fans, batteries, electrical panels, things like that. Before the war, I used to be bigger, but since the war, I’ve lost a lot of weight due to hunger and lack of nutrition. Before the war, my blood was healthy. Now, I have anemia, because of a lack of vitamins and iron. Before the war, we had healthy food, we had buildings and electricity, we had schools—my right to health and education was guaranteed. Now, we’ve been deprived of all of that. 

    UM ALAA JUNDIYA – ABDELRAHMAN’S MOTHER: 

    They used to be calm—very calm. Honestly, after the war started, it felt like all the children became aggressive. All of them, including my son, Abderahman. He’s become really aggressive, and it’s the same with all the children. Every time I speak to other moms, they say: “My child wasn’t like this before the war.” “I don’t know what’s happened to my child since the war.” “My child used to be calm and relaxed.” And it’s true—I knew these kids. They were calm kids. Now, they say, “My child is very aggressive.” They cause trouble; if anyone speaks to them outside, they immediately start fighting. What should I do? Even when I try to tell him to come meditate or recite the Quran, he refuses. 

    ABDELRAHMAN BASHIR JUNDIA – 13 YEARS OLD: 

    Before, water and food were always in our homes. Water used to come to our doorstep or be stored in tanks above our houses. Now, we have to collect water and go from soup kitchen to soup kitchen. When the water truck arrives, we run to get drinking water. All of this was available before the war, but now it’s gone. This exhausts us physically, and all the kids are suffering the same way I am. Nowadays, when I feel hungry, I try to distract myself sleeping or playing. I feel like I want to escape how I feel, through sleep or play. 

    UM ALAA JUNDIYA – ABDELRAHMAN’S MOTHER: 

    Every mom I meet says the same thing about her child: Why? Because all their dreams have been destroyed. Their neighborhoods are in ruins, and they live in tents. Their lives now revolve around soup kitchen—water—soup kitchen—water. It’s either, “I need to get water,” or, “The soup kitchen is here!” Even when we were in the south, there were some tent schools. The kids would go there, but as soon as the soup kitchen arrived, they’d run out of class while the teacher was talking to get food. The teacher would turn around and find the classroom empty. This has become their entire life. They’ll receive a qualification in chasing after water and soup kitchens.

    ABDELRAHMAN BASHIR JUNDIA – 13 YEARS OLD: 

    Before the war, my friends and I used to meet up at the mosque, in our homes, at the playground, at school—but now, all of that has been cut off. We only see each other occasionally while evacuating, getting water, or at the soup kitchens. Some have been killed, and others have survived, but we can’t reach them. I miss them more and more, because I was really attached to them before the war. Now, we’ve lost them suddenly. Some were martyred—may God rest their souls—and for the others, we pray for their safety. My dream is to live in safety—me and the children. To have a home, to live securely. My right to health, my right to education. To live like any other child in the world: and be able to go to school. To have all the rights that every child deserves. 

    UM ALAA JUNDIYA – ABDELRAHMAN’S MOTHER: 

    I want to provide everything for my children, but I can’t—I’m out of options, as they say. The grief in my heart—my heart is being torn apart, and my tears never stop falling. My tears say it all. Once, my child Abderahman and I were looking at the phone, and we saw a video of a chef cooking a feast—delicious food, meats, and other dishes. He turned to me and said, “Oh my God, if I die and go to heaven, will I get to eat food like this?” I said, “No, you’ll find even better than this!” Because the wonders of heaven are beyond our imagination. He put his head down and went to sleep. The next day, he woke up and said: “Mom, seriously, will I get food like this in heaven?” We just have to be patient, and we’ll find this in this world and the next, God willing. My heart is breaking—I despair for my child and all the children. You hear all of them saying, “I’m hungry, give me food! I’m hungry, give me food!” But there’s nothing we can do.

    This post was originally published on The Real News Network.

  • Texas Judge Overrules Jury to Send Anti-Genocide Activist to Jail for Graffiti

    The artist Banksy recently drew a mural at the Royal Courts of Justice in London depicting a judge in a traditional wig and a black robe, thrashing an unarmed protester with his gavel. The protester is lying on the ground in a defensive position, with one hand raised, while the other hand holds up a blank sign splattered with blood — the only red in the otherwise black-and-white mural.

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Delegates Protest Netanyahu’s UN Speech With a Mass Walkout

    Dozens of delegates in the United Nations General Assembly walked out in protest on Friday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to deliver an address. Video posted on X by Axios reporter Barak Ravid showed United Nations delegates from multiple countries standing up from their seats and exiting the chamber as Netanyahu took to the podium and prepared to deliver his address.

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Was that the Best the “Civilised” World Could Do?

    For the last 77 years the West has watched Israel devour Palestine, plunder its resources and mercilessly kill and maim its citizens. They finally say ‘we recognise Palestine’ when it’s far too late to be of real use. I have no words to express my contempt for the United Nations.

    Where are the hard-biting sanctions?

    Where is the total worldwide boycott?

    Where is the UN’s armed protection force to push Israel’s genocidal maniacs back to the Green Line?

    Where are the naval escorts to ensure aid is safely landed on Gaza’s beaches?

    When will Israel’s embassies around the world be shut down and their staff ejected?

    Why hasn’t Israel been sacked, or at least suspended, for its disregard of UN values and Charter obligations?

    Why hasn’t the General Assembly used the tools available to bypass the US’s repeated abuse of its privileged position? Every day they hesitate hundreds more women and children are exterminated.

    It’s simple. Palestinians have an inalienable right to freedom and self-determination regardless of what anyone else says, and the international community has a sworn duty to recognise Palestinian statehood. It’s not a matter for ‘negotiation’. So it is nonsense for Palestine’s enemies to claim that recognition is “a reward” for the resistance some describe as terrorism. Besides, it can be argued that the UK’s refusal until now to recognise Palestinian statehood has encouraged and rewarded Israel’s 77-year reign of terror, brutal occupation, massacre and dispossession in the Palestinian territories, and now the 2-year genocide.

    Let’s just look at Britain’s disgraceful performance. We should have granted provisional independence in the 1920s in accordance with our Mandate agreement, but didn’t. We should have ensured Palestinian statehood in 1948 but didn’t, accepting instead an Israeli ‘state’ with no borders so they could pursue their outrageous land-grab. We’ve used every silly excuse since then to block Palestinian freedom and buy time for Israel to establish irreversible facts on the ground. It’s been a long story of betrayal.

    Now, instead of punishing Israel’s vile butchery we make Hamas the villain. “They can have no future, no role in government,” says Starmer without explaining how he can legally interfere and dictate who may (and may not) rule the Palestinian state. That’s a matter entirely for the Palestinians, surely. He still speaks about a 2-state solution where there’s “a safe and secure Israel… alongside a viable Palestinian State”, as if Palestinians are children of a lesser God, don’t deserve security and only qualify for second-class statehood. And despite endless blather neither he nor anyone else has described what a 2-state setup would look like.

    Starmer once again shows he is only concerned about the Israeli hostages and not the 7,200 Palestinian captives, including 88 women and 250 children, held by Israel on that fateful day in October 2023. Have they all been released? He forgets — if he ever bothered to find out — that in the 23 years up till then Israel had been slaughtering Palestinians at the rate of 8:1 and children at the rate of 16:1 (actual figures: Palestinians killed by Israelis 10,651 including 2,270 children and 6,656 women; Israelis killed by Palestinians 1,330 including 145 children and 261 women – source: Israel’s B’Tselem). And Gaza had been under cruel blockade for 16 years, turning the enclave into an open-air prison with Israel periodically ‘mowing the grass’. Were the Palestinians supposed to put up with that indefinitely?

    Just saying “We recognise you” while the genocide continues unabated is unbelievably pathetic. Britain and the international community must accompany those words with speedy, concrete action to put an end to Israel’s genocide and illegal occupation immediately. To make sure, the British Government and others must persuade the UN to intervene militarily with a protection force, sending Israel back to the internationally recognised ‘Green Line’. We should also pull the plug on all trade, military and security links with the Israeli regime until its conduct improves sufficiently to re-join the civilised community of nations.

    But there’s a problem. The British Government remains a Zionist stronghold. Starmer has said, “I support Zionism without qualification”. Lammy has made similar declarations. Yvette Cooper is a signed-up Friend of Israel. Can they ever be trusted to do the right thing? Peace can never be achieved without justice, but that is a word you seldom, if ever, hear from their lips.

    “Nowhere near enough aid is getting through,” Starmer tells us, “let the aid surge in.” But he hasn’t bothered to send an escort from Gibraltar to protect the aid flotilla sailing to Gaza from drone attacks and the armed Israeli boarding parties that are expected to repeat their acts of piracy on previous mercy flotillas. The Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip amounts to collective punishment on the Palestinians living there and is therefore considered illegal under international law. The flotilla is entirely peaceful, does not seek to travel to Israel, let alone ‘attack’ Israel, so is entitled to free, safe and unmolested passage to its destination.

    Meanwhile we see Israel, with massive US help and tacit UK approval, rushing to complete ‘Plan Dalet’, the Zionist terror blueprint for taking over the Palestinian homeland drawn up in early 1948 by the Jewish militia Haganah at the behest of David Ben-Gurion, who later became Israel’s first prime minister. It anticipated the British Mandate Government’s withdrawal and the Zionists’ declaration of Israeli statehood, and correctly assumed the British authorities would no longer be there to block Plan D’s hideous purpose. The document shows how “expulsion and transfer” (i.e. ethnic cleansing of Palestinians) was key to the Zionists’ ambition. The Israelis, backed throughout by the US and UK, are still busily fulfilling it.

    Netanyahu’s response to the flurry of recognitions is to carry on regardless, insisting yet again there’ll be no Palestinian state and increasing Israeli settlements in the West Bank (which is classed as a war crime). Starmer’s reacts by announcing more sanctions against Hamas while still giving the real terrorists a free pass as they step up the genocidal slaughter. None of them gives a damn about international and humanitarian law, human decency, or justice.

    A UN commission of inquiry now reports that Israel seeks to establish permanent control over Gaza and a Jewish majority in the occupied West Bank, which comes as no surprise to anyone who’s paying attention.

    I expect maximum foot-dragging, as before, to prolong the misery and ensure the Zionists’ ultimate triumph.

    The post Was that the Best the “Civilised” World Could Do? first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Football in Gaza is being completely destroyed: Israel has killed players, coaches, referees, and fans

    In Gaza, death has left no room for neutrality – nor for football. The green field is free of weapons, and the stands are empty of threats, but rockets have mercilessly pierced the heart of the sport.

    The death of football in Gaza: a silent witness to Israel’s genocide

    This is not just a cancelled match or a postponed tournament, but a story about a sport that has been wiped out in its entirety. The ball that used to bring young people together in the alleys and playgrounds is now a silent witness to their absence, rolling in the void with no one to touch it.

    Here, it is not the referee who blows the whistle, but the rockets; it is not flags that are raised in celebration, but bodies on shoulders; it is not the commentator who shouts with joy at a goal, but the muezzin calling for funeral prayers.

    For the youth of Gaza, football was more than a game; it was a temporary respite from the siege, a window to a dream bigger than the boundaries of the land, but the occupation saw it as a threat that warranted bombing.

    No element of the game was spared: the players died dreaming of better stadiums, the coaches left before they could explain their plans, the referees were targeted without a chance to blow the final whistle, and the fans were buried under stands that had been reduced to ruins. This is not just a sports story, but a testimony to a silent genocide that targeted one of the faces of life in Gaza, carried out without fanfare or protest.

    The players: dreams killed before they were realised

    At the Yarmouk Stadium, the locker rooms were empty of the players’ laughter. Many of them died as martyrs, buried with the dreams they carried as symbols. Mohammed al-Malouf (23), a striker for Jabalia Youth Club known as “the fast horse”, was killed in a bombing that targeted his home. Ninety-five players were children who dreamed of reaching the world stage and carrying the Palestinian flag in tournaments, but the occupation ended their lives and dreams, adding them to the list of martyrs.

    The occupation deliberately killed dozens of players who represented the Palestinian national football team, many of whom were talented players who dreamed of becoming like Messi and Ronaldo.

    Al-Yarmouk Stadium, one of the most famous historical Palestinian stadiums, hosted thousands of matches, and everyone in Gaza has memories of it, whether they were players, fans, or children who dreamed of one day playing on the green grass. No one imagined that some of them would be buried in this stadium after the occupation turned it into a mass grave and a detention center for civilians.

    The coaches: tomorrow’s strategies stopped at death

    In Gaza, where football dreams grew with every training session and every new lineup, the coaches sat down to draw up tomorrow’s strategies, distribute the players, and determine who would lead the attack and who would stand in defense. But the war approached relentlessly, and death did not wait.

    Tomorrow was stolen from them before it began, turning their fields into rubble and their hearts into pits of pain. They were creating heroes on the field, only to find themselves fighting a battle that only those who persevere can win.

    They planned for victory, but realised that survival had become the greatest challenge, and that soccer was a dream postponed behind a wall of smoke and tears.

    The referees: whistles powerless in the face of death

    The referee’s whistle, the sound that regulates the game, was unable to stop the bombing or protect the innocent in Gaza.

    International referee Hani Masah, known for his calm demeanor, only raised the red card when necessary, but the bombing did not give him a chance to make his final call, and he died a martyr, like some of his colleagues who were killed or injured during the war. Their whistles were a symbol of order, but no order can control aircraft that do not distinguish between civilians and athletes, between players and combatants.

    The referees used to officiate matches in front of thousands of fans, but some of them left without a funeral or even a few people to see them off.

    The fans: silent stands, death in attendance

    The stands collapsed under direct bombardment, so neither the audience nor the players were present. The only attendees were missiles and aircraft. Entire families of football fans died in their homes or places of refuge, and Gaza, which used to be decorated with the colors of local clubs, became a city engulfed in darkness.

    The world is silent: institutions that do not see the blood. Despite documented reports and testimonies, no serious position has been taken by FIFA or international sports federations, as if the lives of Palestinian players are outside the scope of “sportsmanship”. Israel has killed all elements of the sports system, but continues to play at the international level without sanctions, while other countries have been sanctioned for their wars.

    There is no football left in Gaza

    In Gaza, there are no teams, no referees, no coaches, and no fans left. There are no more matches, only heavy silence, a destroyed stadium, and blood on the dry grass: this is where football used to be… and it has been completely killed.

    The Palestinian Sports Media Union reported that Israel’s war of extermination on the Gaza Strip, now in its 23rd month, has resulted in the deaths of nearly 800 Palestinian athletes, including nearly 400 football players and 95 children, and the destruction of 273 sports facilities.

    Israel destroyed all five official stadiums that used to host thousands of fans, turning them into either mass graves or displacement centers for thousands of families who found no place to pitch their tents except these burned-out stadiums.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • UN just revealed that Israel has killed one child killed every hour for nearly two years

    The UN assistant secretary general for humanitarian affairs, Tom Fletcher, expressed his helplessness in the face of what he described as the “horrors” of the situation in the Gaza Strip, sharply criticising the lack of action by those capable of putting an end to Israel’s genocide, according to Agence France-Presse.

    Fletcher’s remarks came during a meeting dedicated to discussing the situation of Palestinian children in the besieged enclave, organised by Belgium and Jordan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

    Israel killing one child every hour in Gaza – for nearly two whole years

    The UN official said:

    We meet again to share our testimony and express our shame, trying to find words to describe the horror and emphasize the need for action, but I fear that in the end we will accept doing nothing.

    He explained that “a child has been killed in Gaza almost every hour for nearly two years”, noting that:

    the luckiest children sleep in tents, while schools have been turned into places of terror, depriving more than 700,000 children of their right to education.

    He added:

    We are constantly told that what is happening is the price the population must pay for war.

    And he warned that:

    historians and lawyers will long debate the legal characterization of these crimes, and despite the ban on international journalists, there will be enough evidence to bring justice.

    International meetings ‘repeated to count the dead’ with no concrete action

    Fletcher emphasised that:

    our words will not reach the children under the rubble, or those searching for food amid the debris, or undergoing amputations without anesthesia.

    He stressed that appeals fall on deaf ears among those who have the power to stop these “unforgettable atrocities in the 21st century”. He expressed his fear that:

    international meetings will only be repeated to count the dead and repeat calls, without any concrete action.

    Crucially, he asked:

    How many more lives will be lost, and how much more damage will we inflict on our shared humanity?

    Condemnation not translating into practical results

    According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Israel’s genocide, which has been going on for nearly two years, has claimed the lives of more than 65,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians. This includes more than 19,000 children, according to UNICEF deputy executive director Ted Sheiban.

    Gaza has been under a tight Israeli blockade for 18 years, leading to a catastrophic deterioration in humanitarian conditions, with hospitals suffering from a shortage of medicines and fuel, while the population faces a severe food crisis.

    Despite repeated condemnations from the UN and international human rights organisations, political efforts to end the siege and lift the blockade have yet to translate into practical results.

    Feature image via Al Jazeera English/Youtube.

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Foreign Office won’t tell the Canary if Lammy met Muslim groups over Israel’s genocide

    On 29 January 2025, David Lammy met with the Board of Deputies of British Jews in his then-role as foreign secretary. The purpose of the meeting was:

    to understand the sentiment in the UK Jewish community in relation to the FCDO’s policy to the conflict in Israel/Gaza.

    This is a perfectly legitimate reason for a meeting, especially as the ongoing genocide is being directed by politicians like Benjamin Netanyahu who frequently conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism. The problem is there’s no evidence of Lammy conducting a similar meeting with British Muslim or Christian groups – the majority / significant minority groups in Palestine.

    British sentiment?

    We noticed Lammy’s Board of Deputies meeting in the January to March 2025 tranche of ministerial meetings for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The listing for it reads as follows:

    Meeting date: 29/01/2025 Meeting guests: President of Board of Deputies of British Jews Reason for meeting: Meeting to understand the sentiment in the UK Jewish community in relation to the FCDO's policy to the conflict in Israel/Gaza.

    The FCDO refer to it as “the conflict in Israel/Gaza”; at the time of the meeting, we were referring to it as a ‘genocide’ in line with groups like Amnesty International, who made their official declaration of genocide in December 2024. As of today’s date, the UK has still not accepted that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza, but the UN has.

    In the January to March tranche of ministerial meetings, there are other meetings which relate to ‘Israel/Gaza’, but there isn’t a comparable meeting with British Muslim / Christian representatives. The same is true of the October to December 2024 tranche of ministerial meetings.

    In the July to September 2024 tranche, Lammy held the following meeting with ‘British Jewish Community Leaders’:

    Meeting conducted: 2024-08-12 Meeting with: 'British Jewish Community Leaders: President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews Phil Rosenberg, 45 aid society, Director of External Affairs of the Office of the Chief Rabbi Dan Bacall, Progressive Judaism Co-Leader Rabbi Charley Baginsky, Progressive Judaism Co-Leader Rabbi Josh Levy, Historian and Novelist Simon Sebag Montefiore, Senior Masorti Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, Labour Friends of Israel, former MP Louise Ellman, Holocaust Educational Trust, Community Security Trust, Jewish Leadership Council, Jewish Care , inter-faith social activist Laura Marks, Labour friends of Israel' Reason for meeting: 'Lunch at 1 Carlton Gardens with British Jewish Community Leaders to discuss Israel/Gaza conflict'

    Two days later, he held this meeting with the chief rabbi:

    Meeting date: 2024-08-14 Meeting guest: Chief Rabbi Meeting reason: Meeting to discus Israel/Gaza conflict

    Once again, there are no comparable meetings between Lammy and representatives of the UK’s Muslim or Christian communities. There have been several months since March, though, and Lammy could have conducted multiple meetings before being shunted into the deputy leadership position. You’d think this would be easy to confirm, right?

    Unfortunately, you’d think wrong.

    Muslim groups Stonewalled by Lammy

    We sent a Freedom of Information request (FOI) asking for details on the meetings conducted by David Lammy, Catherine West, and Raymond Collins – the three ministers who left the FCDO in September. We suggested it was in the public interest to scrutinise their engagements now that they’ve left office. The FCDO denied our FOI on the grounds that they do not need to publish meetings in advance of the publication schedule.

    As we only needed to know if Lammy had conducted a comparable meeting, we contacted the FCDO press office. Noting that this matter was very much in the public interest given the UN’s verdict that Israel is committing genocide, we asked if Lammy had conducted any meetings with Muslim / Christian leaders in the April to September window.

    While the FCDO did ask what our deadline was, the deadline has now passed, and we haven’t heard from them.

    One group we did hear from was the Muslim Council of Britain, who we believed would be seen as an appropriate representative group for ‘British Muslim sentiment’. When asked if they had conducted a meeting with Lammy, Mustafa Al-Dabbagh (assistant secretary general) told us:

    We did not hold such a meeting, nor where we approached for one by Mr. Lammy or his team.

    Two tier politics

    If Lammy did not conduct comparable meetings with Muslim and Christian representatives, this suggests that the FCDO adopted a one-sided approach to ‘community sentiment’. Lammy would potentially point to a rise in antisemitic incidents as his reason for meeting with Jewish groups, but there’s been a similar increase in Islamophobia over the same period. This is what Middle East Monitor wrote in February 2025 – the month before Lammy’s meeting with the Board of Deputies:

    Anti-Muslim hate crimes and incidents in the United Kingdom reached a record high in 2024 amid Israel’s offensive in Gaza, a report has revealed.

    According to Tel MAMA, an organisation which monitors hate and assaults on Muslims within the UK, data that it compiled showed that 5,837 anti-Muslim hate cases took place last year, in comparison to 3,767 cases in 2023 and 2,201 the year before that.

    With those incidents having been both online and in person, the increase marked a sharp rise of 165 per cent within only two years.

    The article goes on:

    In a statement, the organisation attributed the drastic increase to Israel’s 15-month-long offensive in the Gaza Strip, littered with numerous war crimes, human rights violations and the breaking of international law.

    “The Middle East conflict super-fuelled online anti-Muslim hate,” Tell MAMA stated, asserting that “the Israel and Gaza War, the [UK’s] Southport murders and riots… created a surge in anti-Muslim hate cases.”

    It should be noted that the Board of Deputies of British Jews have a highly politicised stance on Israel’s genocide. As noted by Alex Nunns, this is an intervention they made in January, two months before the meeting with Lammy:


    Palestinian historian Zachary Foster, meanwhile, criticised the group for its ultra-hardline stance:


    Most recently, the Board of Deputies has criticised the UK government for recognising the Palestinian state:

    Panic

    Over the past few months, there’s been a notable sense of panic from politicians and institutions. Perhaps they expected Israel to step back instead of inflicting a man-made famine and levelling what remained of Gaza.

    Israel hasn’t stepped back, of course, and now that the UN agrees it’s a genocide, people are scrambling to protect their reputations.

    As of right now, refusing to answer our questions comes across like the FCDO trying to save itself another embarrassment – no different from Lammy tweeting the following even as we continued to support the Israeli military:


    Of course, if Lammy did hold comparable meetings, we’re eager to hear about them.

    Our emails remain open.

    Featured image via Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (Wikimedia)

    By Willem Moore

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • BREAKING VIDEO: Iranian spies just ‘hacked Israel’s secret nuclear programme’

    Video published by an Iranian TV station claims to show footage shot by Iranian spies inside Israel’s nuclear facilities. Reports indicate that Iran’s agents have been able to obtain:

    ● IDs and addresses of 189 Israeli nuclear and military specialists and details of the projects they are involved in.
    ● Detailed geographic coordinates of sensitive dual-use military sites.
    ● Full blueprints for Israeli nuclear reactors.
    ● Details of current and past weapons projects.
    ● Details of joint projects with the USA and European states.

    Iranian spies just ‘hacked Israel’s secret nuclear programme’

    In an unprovoked attack in June, Israel killed one of Iran’s leading nuclear scientists and at least eight of his colleagues, despite US intelligence assessing that they were involved only in civilian nuclear power projects. The assassinations followed years of similar attacks by Israel on Iranian soil. In this context and that of Israel’s recent strikes around the region, even on the territory of supposed allies, the potential for Iran to retaliate against scientists involved in Israel’s nuclear weapons programme will be a serious concern to the Israeli regime.

    Featured mage via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Google running paid Israeli government ads smearing the Hind Rajab Foundation

    The Hind Rajab Foundation is a justice organisation set up to pursue Israeli war criminals legally in the name of Hind Rajab, the five-year-old girl murdered along with her family by 355 bullets from an Israeli tank at point blank range. It has lodged criminal complaints with local governments against a number of alleged war criminals sheltering in countries outside Israel.

    The regular breaking news of these pursuits of justice against alleged mass murderers means that many people around the world will be looking for information on the Hind Rajab Foundation every day – but US search engine Google, the world’s biggest, is running paid ads linking to a page on the Israeli government’s website that smears the Hind Rajab Foundation as a ‘dangerous’ and ‘disturbing’.

    And because such ‘sponsored’ posts always appear at the top of Google’s search results, they appear first – above the human rights organisation’s actual, authentic website:

    Google pushing Israeli propaganda against the Hind Rajab Foundation

    Anyone clicking through to the government page are assaulted by typical Israeli propaganda that treats perpetrators as victims and those fighting for justice as terrorists. The Hind Rajab Foundation is, we are asked to believe, a “facade” [sic] for a “disturbing reality” of “deep connections to extremist ideologies and terrorist organisations”, and a group that – oh the horror – “actively gathers and disseminates information on IDF soldiers living abroad, aiming to subject them to legal harassment and potentially jeopardise their safety”.

    Poor lambs. Always the victims, even as they slaughter.

    Google has long been accused, even by its own employees, of promoting Zionist interests and ‘downranking’ Palestinian and anti-Zionist sites so that they appear many pages deep in search results, as well as of profiting from Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people and its rampant illegal seizure of Palestinian land and homes.

    Israel, Google’s client in its assault on the Hind Rajab Foundation, is now reported to be planning harm to its chair Dyab Abou Jahjah and his family.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • After denying involvement in Trump’s ‘Gaza riviera’ plan, Tony Blair is set to run it

    When the Tony Blair Institute was first accused of involvement in Donald Trump’s deranged and criminal ‘Gaza Riviera’ plan to drive out or kill Gaza’s Palestinian population and turn the Strip into a ‘riviera’-style beach resort, it tried to deny it – telling the Financial Times (FT) when approached for comment on a ‘slide deck’ outlining the plan that:

    Your story is categorically wrong… TBI was not involved in the preparation of the deck, which was a BCG deck, and had no input whatever into its contents.

    However, the FT subsequently confirmed that, while not ‘author[ing] or endors[ing] the final slide deck’, Tony Blair Institute staff were involved in the plan:

    The Tony Blair Institute participated in a project to develop a postwar [sic] Gaza plan that envisaged kick-starting the enclave’s economy with a “Trump Riviera” and an “Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone”.

    The plan outlined in a slide deck, seen by the Financial Times, was led by Israeli businessmen and used financial models developed inside Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to reimagine Gaza as a thriving trading hub.

    Titled the “Great Trust” and shared with the Trump administration, it proposed paying half a million Palestinians to leave the area and attracting private investors to develop Gaza.

    While the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) did not author or endorse the final slide deck, two staff members at the former UK prime minister’s institute participated in message groups and calls as the project developed, according to people familiar with the work.

    One lengthy document on postwar Gaza, written by a TBI staff member, was shared within the group for consideration. This included the idea of a “Gaza Riviera” with artificial islands off the coast akin to those in Dubai, blockchain-based trade initiatives, a deep water port to tie Gaza into the India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor, and low-tax “special economic zones”.

    The Tony Blair Institute document also described Israel’s destruction of Gaza as:

    creat[ing] a once-in-a-century opportunity to rebuild Gaza from first principles… whose assets could be sold to investors via digital tokens traded on a blockchain.

    Trump does want Tony Blair to run Gaza

    Despite its initial attempts to distance itself from the plan, the institute and Blair personally are now reported to be in line, not just to help implement the plan but to run the whole of Gaza. According to press reports (emphases added):

    The White House is backing a plan that would see Tony Blair head a temporary administration of the Gaza Strip – initially without the direct involvement of the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to Israeli media reports.

    Under the proposal, Blair would lead a body called the Gaza International Transitional Authority (Gita) that would have a mandate to be Gaza’s “supreme political and legal authority” for as long as five years.

    His and his institute’s plan for Gaza led non-profit news site currentaffairs.org to describe Blair as:

    The monster we always knew he was.

    The Tony Blair Institute has claimed that its planning has:

    always been dedicated to building a better Gaza for Palestinians.

    The foundation and its founder should be nowhere near Gaza. They should, however, be very, very close to the Hague.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • A Group Of US Veterans Has Joined The Global Flotilla Sailing To Gaza

    The Global Sumud Flotilla, which departed Barcelona on August 31, is the largest civilian maritime attempt to break Israel’s siege of Gaza. Dozens of boats are sailing across the Mediterranean to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

    On the night of September 23, the boats were hit with a barrage of attacks.

    “Multiple drones, unidentified objects dropped, communications jammed and explosions heard from a number of boats,” said the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) in a statement. “We are witnessing these psychological operations first-hand, right now, but we will not be intimidated.”

    This was not the first time the flotilla had been targeted.

    Alleged drones hit two boats in the flotilla earlier this month, and, while Israel’s involvement has not been proven, the country’s Foreign Ministry has denounced the mission as a “jihadist initiative.”

    The post A Group Of US Veterans Has Joined The Global Flotilla Sailing To Gaza appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Yemen just ramped up their retaliatory action against terrorist Israel with another drone strike

    As the Israeli occupation’s air and ground offensive is obliterating Gaza City, Yemen’s Houthis are taking retaliatory action. Yesterday, 24 September, they launched a drone strike which hit the city of Eilat.

    Yemen retaliatory drone strike: serial failures of Israel’s Iron Dome

    The drone struck near a shopping centre in the Red Sea tourist resort in southern Israel, injuring 20. Israeli media has reported at least five people were hit by shrapnel, one of them seriously, and others were treated for “anxiety”:

    The Iron Dome failed to intercept and shoot down the Yemen drone strike, which may have been because it was flying very low over the city and, because of its late detection, the Israeli occupation’s air force was unable to dispatch fighter jets in time, to shoot it down. The air force now says it is investigating the failure.

    This attack comes a week after the iron dome failed to intercept another drone from Yemen, which exploded at the entrance to a Hotel in Eilat, sparking a fire but causing no injuries, and two weeks after the Houthis hit the passenger terminal at Ramon Airport, which left two airport employees slightly injured.

    Israel’s Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, has vowed revenge, posting on X:

    The Houthi terrorists refuse to learn from Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza – and will learn the hard way. Whoever harms Israel will be harmed sevenfold.

    These attacks also come after previous strikes on Ben Gurion Airport, signaling a sustained campaign targeting Israel’s key infrastructure. Analysts warn the attacks expose vulnerabilities in Israel’s defenses and could mark a dangerous escalation in the regional conflict.

    Houthi attacks the occupation to show solidarity with Palestinians

    The Houthis say their military actions against Israel are a response to Israeli aggression and genocide in Gaza, and it is their religious and moral duty to stand in solidarity with, and defend the oppressed Palestinians. They insist they will continue until a ceasefire and end to the Gaza blockade is achieved.

    Since October 2023, the Houthis have carried out near-daily attacks against Israeli-linked commercial shipping in the Red Sea, as well as targeting Israeli infrastructure, such as air and sea ports. They have stepped up their campaign against the occupation since Israel broke the ceasefire in March, launching dozens of missiles and drones at it.

    These attacks have been successful, with huge impacts on Israel. More than 100 commercial ships in the Red Sea have been targeted, resulting in costly detours and insurance hikes, and Eilat Port has been forced to reduce its operations by 90 percent.

    Israeli occupation war crimes in Yemen

    These actions have been met with relentless Israeli retaliation against Yemen. This month, a day after the Israeli occupation bombed Doha, Israeli strikes in Yemen killed at least 46 people and wounded over 165 in Sanaa and the Al-Jawf Governorate, hitting civilian residential areas, medical facilities, government buildings, and media offices, killing 31 journalists. But according to the Israeli occupation forces, the strikes hit:

    Houthi military camps where operatives were gathered, the headquarters of the terror group’s propaganda division, and a fuel depot.

    In late August, Ahmed al-Rahawi, the Houthi-backed Prime Minister of Yemen was killed by an Israeli occupation airstrike on Yemen’s capital Sanaa, which the military had said struck a “Houthi terrorist regime military target”.

    Feature image via screengrab.

    By Charlie Jaay

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Israel’s brutal genocide has left 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza at risk of hearing loss

    A Palestinian association has warned that around 35,000 children and adults in the Gaza Strip are at risk of permanent or temporary hearing loss as a result of Israel’s ongoing genocide and its severe impact on the deaf community.

    Israel’s genocide leaving tens of thousands in Gaza with hearing loss

    The association Our Children for the Deaf explained that children under the age of five are most at risk. It noted that this group faces a direct threat to the development of their speech and language skills due to the difficulty of accessing appropriate treatment and rehabilitation.

    The association detailed that the destruction of rehabilitation and treatment infrastructure has prevented those affected from accessing treatment centers. Israeli restrictions have led to the loss of assistive devices, including hearing aids, cochlear implants, spare parts, and batteries, further increasing the suffering of children and those affected.

    It confirmed that more than 89% of children suffer from psychological trauma, including night crying and bedwetting. The association has suffered severe damage that has led to a complete halt in its educational and rehabilitation services.

    It stressed that repeated displacement hinders the injured from reaching health centers. The organisation is therefore calling on the relevant authorities to urgently secure hearing aids, establish mobile units to test children’s hearing in displacement areas, and support the remaining rehabilitation centers to provide the necessary care.

    Disabled Palestinians under attack

    The association added that 8% of Palestinians over the age of 18 in Gaza are disabled. In 2023 alone, there were more than 12,000 new cases, including deafness, reflecting the worsening crisis and the urgent need for intervention to prevent the deterioration of the health situation of disabled Palestinians.

    These warnings come amid the ongoing genocide on Gaza, which has had a devastating impact on children, older, and disabled people. Israel’s siege has led to a scarcity of basic services and ongoing challenges in accessing medical and rehabilitation assistance.

    For years, the Gaza Strip has suffered from a tight blockade and repeated crises as a result of armed conflicts, leading to a sharp deterioration in health, education, and social infrastructure. Children and disabled people are the most affected, as they face extreme difficulty in accessing necessary treatment and rehabilitation. This increases their suffering, and threatening their lives, as well as their educational and social future.

    Care services for deaf children are extremely limited, with a shortage of assistive devices such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and batteries. This is in addition to the wholesale destruction of rehabilitation centers and disruption of educational services.

    This situation exacerbates the psychological trauma of children and those affected, making humanitarian intervention urgent and necessary to avoid permanent damage to their health and psychological and social development.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Israeli soldier confirms troops ordered to stand down, not patrol on 7 October

    An Israeli soldier who survived the Palestinian raid on 7 October 2023 told reporters, on camera, that he and all the troops in the area of the fence between southern Israel and Gaza were ordered, early on the morning of 7 October, to stay in their posts and not to patrol the fence for several hours – the hours in which the raid began.

    The soldier’s testimony, from August 2025, is being recirculated on social media:

    The fact that Israel knew – and was warned by other governments – in advance of the raid has been discussed openly in Israeli media since shortly after the raid:

    Curiously, this is still being ignored by UK media and politicians eager to maintain and amplify Israel’s propaganda justifying its genocidal slaughter of approaching 700,000 Palestinians, around 94% of them civilians according to the Israeli military’s own data.

    The same UK silence has applied to the long-known fact that Israel killed most of the Israelis who died that day.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Spanish government seems united in its response to Israel’s terrorism on the flotilla

    Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez announced on that his country will send a warship from the port of Cartagena in southeastern Spain to support the international Global Sumud Flotilla heading to the Gaza Strip with the aim of breaking the Israeli blockade.

    Spain to send a warship to protect the ‘ray of hope’ Gaza humanitarian flotilla

    Sánchez said in a press statement after participating in the UN General Assembly session on Wednesday that:

    a naval vessel equipped with all the necessary resources will leave tomorrow (Thursday) from Cartagena to support the flotilla and carry out rescue missions if necessary.

    Spanish media reported that the government’s decision came after a similar move by Italy, noting that the Spanish Ministry of Defence confirmed that the ship would operate exclusively in international waters.

    Commenting on the move, deputy prime minister and minister of labor and social economy Yolanda Diaz said:

    We have called for the protection of the flotilla, and we are proud that the government has decided to send a ship for this purpose.

    She added via the Bluesky that:

    pressure works, and the Gaza flotilla is a ray of hope that must be protected.

    For her part, minister of youth and children Sira Rego called for:

    lifting the blockade, opening humanitarian corridors, and stopping the genocide,” stressing that “the Global Solidarity Flotilla is moving forward and will not remain alone.

    Culture minister Ernesto Urtasun stressed that:

    Spain is taking action while others remain silent. Solidarity is not just rhetoric, but action.

    Spain and Italy stepping after Israel’s attacks

    The Spanish move comes after Italy announced it was sending the multi-mission frigate ‘Fasan’, stationed north of Crete, to the Aegean Sea to secure its citizens and support the Global Sumud Flotilla after it was attacked by drones. The Italian government stressed at the time that protecting activists and humanitarian crews is a moral duty, while the Italian opposition emphasised the need for broader action at the European level.

    The Global Sumud Flotilla, which includes more than 50 boats heading towards Gaza to break the siege and open a humanitarian corridor, was attacked on 24 September by drones believed to be Israeli, resulting in several explosions and a loss of communication, but no human casualties.

    In this context, UN Human Rights Commission spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan condemned the targeting of the flotilla, while the opposition in Greece and France called for its protection.

    Israel’s repeated threats

    The flotilla confirmed that 12 explosions targeted nine of its ships as a result of drone strikes, without specifying the timing of the attacks or who was responsible for them, while Israel remained silent despite its previous threats to prevent the flotilla from reaching Gaza.

    Israel has previously detained individual ships that attempted to sail to the Strip in recent years and deported the activists on board. Now, for the first time since the start of the 18-year blockade, this large number of ships is setting sail together, loaded with humanitarian aid, including medical supplies, towards Gaza. The fleet is doing so in solidarity with 2.4 million Palestinians that call the besieged Strip home.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Israel just shut off the only land crossing between Jordan and the occupied West Bank

    The Israeli occupation indefinitely closed the Allenby Bridge border crossing – also called King Hussein Bridge or Karama Crossing – on Wednesday morning, 24 September, marking a significant heightening of tensions in the West Bank. Although it has been announced that passenger traffic will be allowed to cross once again, from Friday, the closure still deeply impacts over three million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

    Closure of Karama Crossing between Jordan and West Bank ‘collective punishment’

    Karama is the only land crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan, and is vital for Palestinians. It not only allows international travel and family visits- because the Israeli occupation’s restrictions severely limit their travel through Israeli airports, but is the only route for the transport of commercial goods between Jordan and the West Bank, and aids Gaza via humanitarian convoys. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has called its closure an “unjustifiable” act of “collective punishment”.

    The closure follows an incident last week in which a Jordanian truck driver transporting humanitarian aid to Gaza opened fire at the occupation’s soldiers stationed at the crossing, killing two of them. The Israeli occupation responded by temporarily closing the border, then fully and indefinitely shutting it down from Wednesday morning, 24 September, without specifying a reopening date.

    This crossing is critical for Palestinians as it is the only international gateway from the West Bank that does not require passing through Israeli territory, and is the only route for goods to enter and leave the West Bank.

    In a statement on 25 September, Palestine’s Ministry of National Economy called the decision to close the Karama border “arbitrary”, and warned of serious economic, social, and humanitarian repercussions.

    The occupation is tightening its control

    The decision to reopen the Karama Crossing for pedestrians tomorrow will be welcome news for the thousands of Palestinians left stranded, but the economic and humanitarian implications are grave, as the flow of goods is halted, making worse an already fragile economy in the West Bank, and a desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza, especially as the Zikim crossing in the North of Gaza has been closed since 12 September, severely limiting aid getting to the north.

    The occupation is tightening its control over the occupied West Bank. While some coalition members are pressuring for annexation of the territory, Palestinians believe the Karama border closure coincides with growing international recognition of the State of Palestine, which seems to have prompted a hardening Israeli response.

    Netanyahu has publicly rejected the idea of a Palestinian state and to enforce this idea he has recently approved the E1 Settlement Plan, a project that will completely split the occupied West Bank in two and separate East Jerusalem from the rest of the territory.

    Since the start of the Israeli occupation’s genocide in Gaza there has also been a significant surge in the number of movement obstacles in the West Bank, including military checkpoints, isolating communities, and controlling the population.

    Around 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by the occupation since October 2023, while mass arrests, home demolitions, and forcible displacement due to settler attacks and access restrictions have further fragmented Palestinian society.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Charlie Jaay

    This post was originally published on Canary.