We can’t cover all that’s happening in Gaza, but we’ll try to fill in some of the gaps created by poor coverage in the mainstream media.
It’s hard to fathom how the Israelis can be so dismissive of the Palestinian people, especially after what the Jews suffered in the Holocaust. Instead of living up to the great lesson of the holocaust — ‘Never Again’ — they have chosen to repeat it. Of course, many Israelis are overwhelmed by pain and grief resulting from last week’ Hanas attack. (Apparently they choose to ignore the fact that Israeli settlers and the so-called Israeli Defense Forces [IDF] attack Palestinians on a daily basis.)
Kelly Hayes has another good update in Truthout , ‘“I Lived All My Life as Collateral Damage,” Says Palestinian Activist’. Here are a couple of excerpts:
MSNBC reported on Saturday that Israeli airstrikes had struck three convoys of Palestinian refugees who were fleeing northern Gaza, killing at least 70 people.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has stated that there are no innocent civilians in Gaza. “It is an entire nation out there that is responsible,” Herzog said at a press conference on Friday. “It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not being aware, not involved. It’s absolutely not true. They could have risen up. They could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d’etat.”.
Using Herzog’s logic, one could argue that the 1,200 Israelis who were killed in a surprise attack by Hamas were all responsible for the apartheid conditions, mass bombings, torture and occupation waged by the state of Israel, but the idea that an entire people can be guilty and deserving of collective punishment has always been applied selectively in Israeli and U.S. politics.
[Note: international observers said Hamas rose to power in a free and fair election, not a coup d’etat.]
A retired/reservist general was called to active duty and offered this advice:
“Be triumphant and finish them off and don’t leave anyone behind. Erase the memory of them,” Yachin told Israeli soldiers, in a video that has since gone viral. “Erase them, their families, mothers and children. These animals can no longer live. Every Jew with a weapon should go out and kill them. If you have an Arab neighbor, don’t wait, go to his home and shoot him.”
On Tuesday, far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced that his ministry would purchase 10,000 rifles to distribute to “arm civilian security teams” in border towns near the Gaza Strip, in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and in “mixed Jewish-Arab cities” in Israel.
Another piece that’s well worth the time to read is ‘Gaza Is a Prison Under Siege. This Is My Letter to the World Outside‘, openly inspired by MLK’s 1963 ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’.
Imagine that you put a human being in a room and close the door and deprive them of food, of their freedom of movement, of medicine, of everything, violate them, and humiliate them time and time again. Then if they try to break the door, you say to the world, look they are a terrorist, barbaric, a “human animal.” This is exactly what Israel is doing, completely backed by the United States. They have put us in inhumane conditions, humiliated us, deprived us of everything.…
Our protest demanded the implementation of international law. As refugees, we demand our right to return to our villages. And we marched nonviolently to voice that demand. And yet, what was the result? The result was that Israel deliberately shot at us, unarmed protesters, killing at least 270 of us, and wounding and crippling thousands.
What was the message? Israel’s message was that you as Palestinians, you should not struggle by peaceful ways. This is the message of Israeli violence. So when you deprive the Palestinians of everything, when you kill them when they try to scream peacefully, then you don’t have the right to blame the Palestinians when they try to say to the world “we are here.”
Ahmed Abu Artema helped organize the Great March of Return, with weekly protest that continued for well over a year. It was held in Gaza, well back from the border and was entirely nonviolent — except for snipers in the IDF who shot hundreds of people at will.
A final note: Apparently the IDF continues to target journalists, possibly to avoid coverage of the atrocities by the military.
And here in the US, thousands of young Jewish activists with IfNotNow surrounded the White House yesterday to protest the genocide by Israel. Breaking news was posted on X (formerly Twitter) by @IfNotNowOrg.
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