OMNI
GAZA ANTHOLOGIES
# 9
October 17, 2023
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of
Peace, Justice, and Ecology.
(#1: 3-3-08; #2 Nov. 16, 2012; #3 Nov. 17, 2013; #4 May 31, 2014; #5 July
28, 2014; #6 August 30, 2014; #7 April 8, 2015; #8 May 13, 2021).
What’s
at stake: One UN Principle with Two Specifications: Adhere to the UN Charter’s prohibition of
national invasions and follow conventions, treaties, resolutions prohibiting
illegal occupation. That is: Defend Israel from foreign invasion. Defend Palestinians from Israeli invasion and
occupation. I add a third: Always acknowledge context: In any report on
Gaza, include the full historical context; i.e., always begin discussion way
back before the latest violence.
[The reporting of GAZA has so escalated that I am unable
to arrange the selections into a design, except by reverse chronology 2023 to
2014, but perhaps some of you will be glad to have this partial archive. I regularized all titles by italics and 16
point, most texts by 12 point, and I
omitted most of the graphics.]
SOURCES
Al Jazeera
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
ANSWER Coalition
Canadian Dimension
Consortium News
B’Tselem
Chris Hedges Report
Consortium News
Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC)
Friends Committee for Nationnal Legislation (FCNL)
Friends of Sabeel N. America (FOSNA)
In These Times
The Intercept
La Izquierda Diario
Mondoweiss
Middle East Monitor
MintPress News
Monthly Review
MPower Action
New Day Films
Orinoco Tribune
The Nation
George Paulson
People’s Dispatch
Popular Resistance
Mazin Qumsiyeh
Scott Ritter
Alex Tripodi
Truthout
United Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)
UN Development Program (UNDP)
War Resisters’ League
Women’s March on the Pentagon
Workers’ World
2023
Ceasefire
in Gaza Now! Friday October 13, 2023
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salaamu alaykum, Dick —
It is horrific that Palestinian and Israeli
civilians are bearing the brunt of the tragedy we are witnessing.
Israel, which has one of the most powerful
militaries in the world,¹ has vowed to reduce Gaza to rubble and so far
they are moving steadfastly towards that goal. As of yesterday:
·
At least 1,120 people in
Gaza have been killed and 5,300 injured. Hospitals and morgues are overwhelmed.
·
Israeli fighter jets
have struck 450 targets in northern Gaza in 24 hours, leaving the streets
unrecognizable in some places.
·
More than 300,000
people have been displaced in Gaza.²
Palestinians are being slaughtered in Gaza.
Tell Congress: Ceasefire in Gaza
Now – Open a Pathway to Humanitarian Aid.
Gaza, an open-air prison, under blockade and
siege for 16 years, is at a breaking point. Medical personnel and aid workers
are facing huge barriers to delivering desperately needed supplies to the over
two million who are trapped there. Israel has cut off lifelines of electricity,
water, and food and now Gaza is out of fuel.³
Take this one quick action with
MPower to call for a ceasefire now.
We need a humanitarian corridor
into Gaza to protect civilian lives.
Palestinians have the right to live in dignity
and peace, the right to movement, and as refugees, the right of return.
In solidarity,
Linda, Yasmine, and the team at MPower Action
P.S. As we work with partners and allies,
we’ll be sharing more actions in the upcoming days.
Sources:
“Israel ranks among 10 most powerful
countries in annual list; 4th strongest military,” The Times
of Israel, Jan. 2, 2023.
“Israel-Hamas war live updates:
Israel says fighting will intensify, Gaza’s sole power plant shuts down,” NBC
News Updates, Oct. 11, 2023.
“Gaza 'soon without fuel, medicine
and food' - Israel authorities,” BBC News, Oct. 9, 2023.
MPower Action is the
political and lobbying arm of MPower Change, a grassroots movement of diverse
Muslim communities working together to build social, spiritual, racial, and
economic justice for all people.
[The
following 3 articles appeared in Consortium
News (10-13-23). ]
“History of the Gaza Strip.”
Maha Nassar provides historical context to the
current violence in the densely populated and besieged enclave. Read here...
“‘Israel’s 9/11’.”
This is a terrible echo of the approach by the U.S. government after
Sept. 11, which from the outset conferred advance absolution on itself for any
and all of its future crimes against humanity, writes Norman Solomon. Read here...
“US Jewish Group Calls on
Congress to Halt Gaza Carnage.”
As Biden pledges military assistance to Israel and
anti-Palestine rhetoric intensifies on Capitol Hill, Jewish Voice for Peace is
calling on Americans to pressure lawmakers to help end the air strikes on
Gaza. Read here...
WAR
RESISTERS LEAGUE
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“Why I no longer stand with Israel, and never will again.”
Israeli bombs pummel Gaza, October 2023 The Gates of Gaza “The attackers came at dawn, quickly
occupying the town. The men were separated from the women and shot. One of
the attackers, opening the door of one of the homes, found an old man
standing there. He shot him. ‘He enjoyed shooting him,’ an eyewitness to the
attack said afterwards. Soon the town was
empty—the entire population of 5,000 had either been killed or expelled,
those who survived put on trucks, and driven to Gaza. The empty homes were
looted. ‘We were very happy,’ one of the participants said afterwards. ‘If
you don’t take it, someone else will. You don’t feel you have to give it
back. They were not coming back.’” It sounds like a
narrative torn from the front pages of today’s newspapers, one of many such
stories—too many to count—describing the atrocities inflicted on the civilian
populations of Israeli towns and Kibbutzes adjacent to the Hamas-controlled
Gaza Strip. But it is not.
Instead, it is the recollections of Yaakov Sharett, the son of Moshe Sharett,
one of the fathers of Israel, a signatory to Israel’s Declaration of
Independence, and Israel’s first Foreign Minister, and second Prime Minister.
Yaakov Sharett was recounting the seizure of the Arab town of Bersheeba, in
1948, by Israeli soldiers, during Israel’s War of Independence. MORE click on title I arrived late to
the Palestinian cause, but now that I am here, I can say this—the best way to
defeat both Hamas and Zionist Israel is to support a free and independent
Palestinian state. I have never stood
with Hamas, and I never will. I once stood with
Israel, but I will never do so again. For four decades
now, the Israeli-Hamas collusion has run its tragic course, each side
proclaiming its desire to destroy the other, and yet each side knowing the
awful truth—that one cannot exist without the other. The
Israeli-Palestine problem has become a never-ending cycle of violence which
feeds off the pain and suffering of the Palestinian people. It is time to
bring this cycle to an end.. From this moment
forward, I will always stand with the people of Palestine, convinced that the
only path for peace in the Middle East is one that leads through a viable
Palestinian homeland, its capital firmly and forever ensconced in East
Jerusalem. [he
following 13 articles appeared in Popular
Resistance.org (10- |
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“Israel Tells
1.1 Million Gazans To Evacuate In Under 24 Hours” By People's Dispatch.
On
the seventh day of its war in the besieged Gaza Strip, Israeli occupation forces
ordered over 1.1 million Palestinians in the northern parts of the territory to
evacuate their homes and move to the south in the next few hours on Friday,
October 13. Israel claimed it may launch a ground offensive to clear Hamas
operatives who are allegedly hiding in the territory, AP reported. The Israeli
ultimatum includes the UN staff and all the shelters run by them for the Gazans
who were displaced in Israeli bombings in the last seven days. The order has
raised the fear of a looming ethnic cleansing of Gaza and expulsion of over a
million... -more-
Israel Is
Using Starvation As A Weapon Of War Against Palestinian People
By Marjorie Cohn, Truthout. After Hamas launched
more than 2,000 missiles from Gaza and sent hundreds of fighters into Israel on
October 7, killing hundreds of civilians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
declared war on Hamas. But Israel’s retaliation, including massive bombing from
the land, air and sea, and its collective punishment of Gazans — denying them
food, water, electricity and gas — reveals that Netanyahu has actually declared
war on the Palestinian people, especially those in Gaza. Israeli warplanes are
conducting indiscriminate bombings throughout Gaza, targeting homes, schools,
hospitals, mosques and civilian buildings. -more-
Watch The
Mintpress News Documentary: Gaza Fights Back
By Dan Cohen, Mintpress News. Filmed during the attack
and in the days following the ceasefire, the documentary tells the story of how
Gaza’s armed resistance groups outwitted the vastly superior Israeli military
and established their ability to intervene against Israeli ethnic cleansing of
neighborhoods like Sheikh Jarrah and provocations at the al-Aqsa compound in
occupied East Jerusalem. “The Palestinian military capabilities are not highly
sophisticated and destructive, but it becomes so effective when it’s used by
Palestinian smart youths who believe in their rights and freedom,” a masked
al-Qassam commander says. T -more-
The Axis Of
Resistance: What Does It Mean For A Palestinian?
By Al Hadf Editorial Team, Orinoco Tribune. It is superficial and
patronizing to reduce all of the forces combating the Zionist entity and
Western imperialism in the region to being “Iranian proxies.” This view is only
espoused by the defeatists and the allies of the colonizers. Conversely, a
substantial portion of those who have shed blood in the face of the colonial
project understand that today’s battle is an extension of a long-standing
conflict that began before the Zionist project itself. Iran’s central role in
this current struggle dates back to the same year [1978] that the Zionists
signed the Camp David Accords with Egypt. -more-
France
Threatens To Dissolve Pro-Palestine Organizations
By La Izquierda Diario Argentina, Left Voice. The
French Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, has deemed that displaying a
flag or expressing support for the Palestinian people is an anti-Semitic act
and is threatening to prosecute and even dissolve social or political
organizations that do so. The French government has started laying the
groundwork for an escalation in the criminalization of the Palestinian cause.
At the same time, there has been a police and military presence deployed
outside all Jewish places of worship in France, and the Minister of the
Interior has already begun equating any form of criticism of the policies of
the State... -more-
How A DC
Think Tank Helped Cause The Gaza ‘Deluge’
By As’Ad Abukhalil, Consortium News. The
Hamas attack (with the loss of civilian lives) shook the Middle East and
shattered many assumptions and misconceptions about the region. It’s not that
Israel was shocked at the daring nature of the attack, but that Israel had long
assumed that the Palestinian problem is dead and that there is no need to
engage in a so-called peace process — even if managed by the U.S., the least
neutral party in the Arab-Israeli conflict outside of Tel Aviv. Reflecting the
belief in the death of Palestine as a question, the Biden administration was
the first U.S. administration since Lyndon Johnson to not even attempt... -more-
By Betsey Piette, Workers' World. Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania - With the rapidly growing Palestinian resistance to Israeli
occupation increasingly in the news, it is important to show solidarity with
Palestinian journalists, often on the front lines of the struggle and
increasingly at risk. “Reporting Palestine” was the topic of the final plenary
session at the Palestine Writes Literature Festival at the University of
Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on Sept. 24. Moderated by award-winning journalist
Marc Lamont Hill, host of BET News, the panel included four Palestinian
journalists. -more-
Propaganda Blitz: How Mainstream Media Is Pushing Fake Palestine Stories
By Alan MacLeod, MintPress News. After Hamas launched a
surprise attack on Israel, IDF forces responded with airstrikes, leveling Gazan
buildings. The violence so far has claimed the lives of more than 2,500 people.
Western media, however, show far more interest and have much greater sympathy
with Israeli dead than Palestinian ones and have played their usual role as
unofficial spokespersons for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). One case in
point is the claim that, during their incursion into southern Israel, Hamas
fighters stopped to round up, kill and mutilate 40 Israeli babies, beheading
them and leaving their bodies behind. -more-
Israel Bombs
Syrian Airports, Increases Possibility Of Wider Conflict
By Wyatt Souers, People's Dispatch. Israel forces
simultaneously bombed the Damascus and Aleppo airports in Syria early on
Thursday October 12, in flagrant violation of international law. According to a
report from the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the airstrips in both
airports–which are primarily for civilian use–were damaged and both airports
were taken out of service. Flights were instead diverted to Latakia in
Northwest Syria. Israel has yet to speak publicly on the strikes. In response
to the strikes, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the attack
was an attempt by Israel to “export its crises, inflame the ... -more-
The Labor
Voices Opposing US Military Support For Gaza Siege
By Jeff Schuhrke and Sarah Lazare, In These
Times. As
the Israeli military relentlessly bombards 2.4 million Palestinians in the
besieged Gaza Strip and a ground invasion appears imminent, one storied,
national union — the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America
(UE) — is opposing U.S. military aid for the state of Israel whose assault on
the besieged strip has already taken the lives of at least 1,800 Palestinians
(a number that is quickly rising) and displaced more than 420,000 others. The
Israeli government’s overwhelming violence comes on the heels of
a surprise attack by Hamas militants on October 7. -more-
Over Ten
Thousand March For Palestine In Historic New York Action
By ANSWER Coalition, Popular Resistance. These days may be
remembered as a turning point for the Palestine solidarity movement in the
United States. Despite every effort by the most powerful people in New York
City, over 10,000 protesters courageously marched to demand freedom for
Palestine. Starting in Times Square, the massive crowd made it clear where the
people stand. The politicians and generals who are rushing to guarantee
limitless support and weaponry to Israel as it carries out a massacre in Gaza
of massive proportions do not speak for the people of this country. The people
are for Palestine! -more-
Israel
Detains, Expels To West Bank Hundreds Of Gaza Palestinian Workers
By Ayman Nobani, Al Jazeera. Nablus, occupied West
Bank – At three o’clock in the morning, Loay Zaqout found himself staring up at
Israeli police surrounding him and two of his colleagues where they were
staying in Nazareth. The police began beating them up, shouting insults before
arresting them in the early hours on Monday and taking the three Palestinian
workers to the station. “They treated us horribly because, they said, we were
from Gaza,” the 31-year-old father said. “The police threatened to return us to
Gaza and said that our workers’ permits were invalid.” -more-
Hamas
Campaign Recalls Tet Offensive: Could This Also Be A Turning Point?
By Larry Haiven, Canadian Dimension. If
you stand back just far enough, history repeats itself. And we might just learn
something from the outlines. The lesson comes from the Vietnam War. On January
30, 1968, during the Vietnamese New Year festival,
approximately 85,000 combatants from the National Liberation Front (the
so-called “Viet Cong”) and North Vietnam staged a surprise attack all across
South Vietnam. The scale and the audacity of the campaign was unprecedented.
But more than that, it was the surprise element that stood out. The offensive
targeted over 100 locations, including cities, towns and military
installations, and the capital... -more-
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“U.S. networks are committing journalistic
malpractice by only posting reporters in Israel.” Editor. mronline.org (10-15-23). U.S. reporters
are providing breathless around the clock coverage from Israel, but none are
reporting from the destruction of Gaza. The result is that Palestinians are
dehumanized and Americans are missing the story.
“Israelis mulling ‘Leningrad approach’ in Gaza:
Seymour Hersh report.” Editor. mronline.org (10-15-23). An Israeli source told Seymour
Hersh that Hamas forces are believed to live underground, rendering the
Leningrad approach more effective as it would avoid a ground offensive. “Israel is preparing to commit genocide.” Editor. mronline.org (10-15-23). Israel has
already dropped more bombs on Gaza in six days than the U.S. dropped on
Afghanistan in a single year. Now, the Israeli military is ordering over one
million Palestinian civilians to flee their homes. This is genocide and
ethnic cleansing. |
“Palestinians speak the language of violence Israel
taught them.”
Chris Hedges. 10-14-23.
The indiscriminate shootings of Israelis by Hamas and other
Palestinian resistance organizations, the kidnapping of civilians, the barrage
of rockets into Israel, drone attacks on a variety of targets from tanks to
automated machine gun nests, are the familiar language of the Israeli occupier.
Biden lied about seeing photos of beheaded Israeli
children
Editor.
mronline.org (10-14-23).
The White House confirmed on Wednesday evening that
President Joe Biden’s claim that he had seen photos of Israeli children
beheaded by Hamas fighters is false.
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[Gaza]
Canadian Boat to Gaza participates in Freedom Flotilla 2023
For #GazaKids, help
us to #EndGazaBlockade Dear friends and
supporters, The Freedom Flotilla
vessel Handala, sailing against the blockade of Gaza, has been
visiting English and Welsh ports this month. Supporters of human rights for
Palestinians, especially for the Palestinians of Gaza who are mostly children
and refugees, have greeted Handala at events in Liverpool,
Cardiff, Bristol and most recently Southampton. This 18 metre former fishing vessel from northern Norway joins
more than 12 years of Freedom Flotilla Coalition sailings which have
challenged the illegal and inhumane blockade of Gaza with successive voyages
since 2010. With support from local chapters of the Palestinian Solidarity
Campaign, welcome events included greetings from trade unionists, progressive politicians and community representatives. Vancouver film-maker and Canadian Boat to Gaza
(CBG) Steering Committee member Jase Tanner joined the voyage from Scotland
to Bristol, documenting many of
the events and speakers along the way. From Bristol to Southampton to Rotterdam, the Freedom Flotilla
Steering Committee is represented by London women's Advocate/Counsellor and
CBG member Wendy Goldsmith, who
also participated in the 2016 Women's Boat to Gaza. Wendy says she is sailing with Handala to
help raise awareness of the plight of Palestinian children in Gaza, the
world's largest open air prison, deemed uninhabitable by the United
Nations: "We sail to bring awareness to Israel's ongoing
violations of International law, their apartheid regime and their blatant
disregard for the humanitarian crisis it has created and sustains." Montreal
lawyer-journalist Dimitri Lascaris, who covered the 2018 Flotilla For a Just Future for Palestine, will join this year's final leg in
Scandinavia in August. This year's voyage began in early April in
Kristiansund, Norway and crossed from Oslo to Scotland in June. Our boat will
continue to visit northern European ports in July and August of 2023 to raise
awareness about Western governments' complicity with the illegal Israeli
blockade of Gaza and occupation of Palestine. The vessel was named Handala at a ceremony in Bergen on April 13, in honour
of the emblematic Palestinian refugee child waiting for return to a free
Palestine. This same Freedom Flotilla vessel will sail to the Mediterranean
to challenge the blockade of Gaza more directly in 2024. For more background on the 2023 Freedom
Flotilla, see our FAQ. Please follow and share our videos on Youtube, our messages on Twitter, on Facebook and on Instagram. In solidarity, In solidarity, the Canadian Boat to
Gaza team -- Canadian Boat to
Gaza: www.canadaboatgaza.org email: canadaboatgaza@gmail.com |
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Western silence needs to be confronted: Ilan Pappe on
the Nakba, Gaza and inclusive solidarity
Editor.
Mronline.org (5-19-23),
Once more the Gaza Strip is bombarded from the air, land,
and sea, and, once more, Israeli inhumanity and cruelty are met with Western
silence.
Join the online launch of “Light in Gaza: Writing Born of
Fire” (Oct. 6, 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT): AFSC’s new book “Light in Gaza” is an anthology of essays and
poems by 12 Palestinians writers on the future of Gaza beyond the Israeli
occupation. This online event will feature three of those writers, Mosab Abu
Toha, Refaat Alareer, and AFSC’s Jehad Abusalim. Register today.
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Join our next “Light in Gaza” webinar (Sept.
12, 12 p.m. ET/9 p.m. PT/ 7 p.m. Gaza time) AFSC. Under Israel’s military blockade in Gaza, over 2 million Palestinians
face many challenges—including poverty, lack of access to clean water and
electricity, and a deteriorating health care system. The impacts are
particularly devastating for the elderly. In this webinar, we’ll discuss the
humanitarian crisis and how we can advocate for change. AFSC staff will be
joined by Issam Younis, director general
of Al Mezan, the Center for Human Rights in Gaza.
Broken
Dawn over Gaza 3-7-23
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New book from AFSC: “Light in Gaza:
Writings Born of Fire”: For 16 years,
Palestinians in Gaza have lived under a brutal blockade. Our new book features
essays and poems by 12 Palestinian writers on what the future of Gaza could
be. The New York Times recently
highlighted “Light in Gaza,” writing that the “searing collection anthologizes
works by Palestinians from Gaza — some residents, some refugees — describing their
lives under occupation and amid the ongoing struggle for freedom.” Get your copy today.
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From: Friends
of Sabeel North America Aug.11, 2022 Gaza: Cruelty
Without Consequences By Jonathan Kuttab Israel is currently gloating over its recent
operation in Gaza. It succeeded by all measures: Israel initiated the
conflict, first by arresting an Islamic Jihad leader in the West Bank city of
Jenin and dragging him out in humiliation, as he was bitten by a dog; then,
anticipating a reaction by his organization, Israel proceeded to bombard Gaza
“preemptively.” In three short days, the Israeli military managed to rain
death and destruction on Gaza, assassinating another Islamic Jihad leader,
killing 46 Palestinians (including 16 children), and wounding 460 others.
Meanwhile, it suffered no casualties itself aside from a few lightly wounded
by shrapnel. The world press largely followed the Israeli narrative, giving
credit to Israeli lies that it was Palestinian fire that killed its
child-victims. Israel succeeded in calculating and limiting the actions it
initiated, as Hamas was both bribed and bullied into staying on the sidelines
and Egypt quickly moved in to suggest a ceasefire once Israel felt satisfied. The operation succeeded in further
fragmenting the Palestinians by distinguishing Hamas from Islamic Jihad and
Gaza from the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Palestinians within Israel’s borders,
as well as the wider Arab world. Israel suffered no losses, illustrating the
power of its iron dome defenses and setting the stage for seeking additional
military aid from the supportive US. It achieved a muted response from Arab
countries and the international community, which found itself busy elsewhere.
Israel successfully used varying tools of influence to “manage” the event,
and it got what it wanted at little or no cost. In addition, the Gaza
operation served as a useful tool for internal Israeli politics, improving
the chances of the interim government ahead of elections. The operation's
success was such that Israel did not even need to pretend it was defending
itself or only retaliating. Now, the discourse is about Israel’s “right to
protect itself” from anticipated Palestinian reactions to Israeli provocations. Its power and
military dominance was in full display yet again, as was the weakness and
helplessness of the Palestinians. Israel could now magnanimously turn the
faucet and judiciously allow a few droplets of benefits for the imprisoned
Gazans: a few more work permits, a few more medical permits, a few more
truckloads of food, some fuel for electricity, a bit of water, and some
relief aid from Qatar—subject to their continued subservience and “quiet”
acceptance of domination and control by Israel. The biggest victory for
Israel was in the muted response by the American media. National Public Radio
did not even cover the story until the third day when it gave a three minute
report that merely parroted the Israeli line, falsely claiming that the
bombardment of Gaza was a response to Palestinian rocket fire. Even Israel
itself proclaimed that its actions were “preemptive” and not retaliatory. By
keeping the operation short, while the attention of the world was diverted
elsewhere, it achieved all its objectives and now life could “return to
normal.” Israel was even emboldened to step up its arrests, assassinations,
raids, and other outrages in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Yet this “success” belies certain realities,
which are slowly becoming known to all:
Strategically, Israel has no plans for Gaza
or the Gazans. It believes it can use its power and influence to continuously
“manage” the situation, while its connections, influence, and clever hasbara (“propaganda”)
will continue to ensure that it faces no consequences for its actions. The
world will conveniently look away and forget or ignore Gaza and its Gazans. For this situation to persist in perpetuity,
it is necessary that a number of things continue to happen:
Take action!
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AFSC
Weekend Reading (7-2-22).
Take action: End the blockade on Gaza: It’s been over 15 years since Israel imposed its military blockade
on Gaza. Today the humanitarian crisis is worsening—with more than 80% of
Palestinians in Gaza dependent on international assistance to survive. The U.S.
can help to end this situation. Tell your representatives to call for an
immediate end to the blockade. To learn more, visit AFSC’s Gaza Unlocked site.
Take a
look at our new Gaza Unlocked site
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AFSC
Weekend Reading, 3-12-22
Join our webinar
“Gaza in Focus” (Mar. 15, 12 p.m. ET): We will hear from human rights defenders in Gaza. And we will discuss
recent U.S. opinion polling data on U.S. policy supporting the 16-year-old
blockade on Gaza. This webinar is part of AFSC’s No Way To Treat a Child
campaign with Defense for Children International-Palestine.
Rare
Good News for Gaza
UNDP project aims to restore Gaza nature preserve
A $66
million plan by the United Nations Development Programme set to begin next
month aims to restore the historic Gaza Valley to its former status as a nature
preserve. The first phase of work in the wetland area will involve removal of
sewage waste, trash and other debris, as well as soil reclamation and tree
planting. UN Wire (2-9-22).
Full
Story: The Jerusalem Post (free registration)/Reuters (2/7)
Israel’s friends struggle to justify unprovoked attack
that killed 17 children
Philip Weiss. Mronline.org (8-15-22).
Israel's supporters are crowing that the Gaza
attack was successful, but these advocates have blinded themselves to the moral
dimension of such awful force.
2021
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The construction of Israel’s Gaza concentration camp
is complete. Mondoweiss (12-11-21). |
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Film Recommended by George Paulson, 5-27-21
Also, Abby is the one who made the great documentary film, “Gaza Fights for Freedom.” We’ve watched it, gut wrenching, but
jaw dropping. It’s a couple of years old, which is truly stunning,
because all the death and destruction we’ve witnessed in Gaza in recent days is
ON TOP of what is shown in this film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnZSaKYmP2s
Defend
the Rights of Palestinian Children - Urge Rep. Womack to Act!
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Dear James, This week, we watched
in horror as Israeli warplanes, armed with U.S.-made weapons, bombed innocent
civilians and journalists in Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed,
including at least 59 children. As taxpayers, it's
imperative that we do everything we can to end U.S. complicity in
ongoing human rights violations against Palestinian children and families. Rep. Betty McCollum
(MN- 04) recently introduced the Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian
Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act (H.R.
2590). This bill is a critical step that would prohibit the use of U.S. funds
to support the military detention of children, the demolition of Palestinian
homes, and the annexation of more Palestinian territory. Israel’s actions
violate Palestinians’ safety, dignity, and human rights. They are also
inconsistent with international law and longstanding American policy.
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We are Quakers and friends changing public policy. |
MEMBER OF OMNI BOARD SPEAKS UP FOR ACTION
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May 12, 2021, 6:41 PM (14 hours ago) |
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Good Evening Fellow
Board Members,
Gladys has asked me to
draft this email synopsizing a conversation we had earlier today. I hope to
start a dialogue that will continue at our next board meeting. I called Gladys
expressing concern regarding OMNIs informal neutrality on issues of
Israeli-Palestinian relations and what I believe to be our moral obligation as
an anti-war group to express solidarity with the victims of ongoing Israeli
military aggression, and our local Palestinian diaspora and Muslim
communities.
For those out of the
loop, the Israeli state has been aggressively pursuing a campaign to displace
Palestinian residents of the Sheikh Jarrah district of Jurusalem, forcibly
evicting civilian residents in violation of the Geneva Convention. The UN has
denounced these resettlement efforts as potential war crimes. A few days ago,
IDF forces firebombed the Al-Aqsa mosque while thousands of Muslims were inside
and outside, simultaneously protesting Israeli occupation and celebrating
Ramadan. Retaliatory missile strikes by Hamas followed in Gaza, which has in
turn led to increased Israeli military action in that colonized region,
resulting in 65 Palestinian civilian casualties (including 16 children) so far.
As a Jewish-American, I
know how sensitive issues of Israeli politics can be for our community. My hope
is not that OMNI will condemn Israel or even these specific actions, which
would be hollow and performative in and of itself. Rather, we should recognize
that our Muslim and Palestinian friends are vulnerable right now. We should
reach out to these communities and see what, if anything, we can do to help them
in light of the fact that they just watched their third holiest religious site
being torched, in light of the suffering their friends and family are
experiencing here and back home, and in light of the very real potential for an
uptick in Islamophobic violence like we saw after 9/11. None of this would
require we as a group take or advocate any unified stance on broader Israeli
politics. But we can and must offer support to communities suffering under
military aggression. Our principles require it.
Lastly, I ask that you
remember that the violence of an oppressor is not equivalent to the violence of
the oppressed. Our media so often rushes to describe these events as “potential
war” or “conflict” or some other term that obscures the fact that we are talking
about the world’s fourth largest military on one hand and a desperate,
dispersed, and colonized group on the other. Just as we view police violence in
our country differently from the violence of the broken communities they so
often oppress, the retaliatory violence of even problematic groups like Hamas
is not the same as the violence imposed by the forces that control the
military, courts, press, and weapons of war in that country. I ask that we keep
this understanding in mind as we decide whether and how to act on this issue. I
look forward to what I hope will be healthy debate and attempts at shared
understanding as we continue talking about this.
All the Best,
Alex Tripodi
Letter to Mr Tripodi
Mr. Tripodi, 5-14-21
Thank you for your excellent
May 12 letter. It arrived too late for
my May 13 newsletter on Gaza, but may I include it in my next Gaza newsletter,
edited perhaps as you wish? I have one
correction. OMNI has never been neutral
regarding Israel and the Palestinians, because we are founded in UN
principles. We began with an absolute
commitment to the protection of Israel from foreign invasion. We would protect Israel from bullies. Then as Zionism deepened and hardened in
Israel we increasingly protested Israeli crimes against the Palestinians, again
based upon the Charter plus UN conventions, treaties, and resolutions. We would
protect the Palestinians from the Israeli bully. Some other foundations were the AFSC and
FCNL, Jimmie Carter’s Palestine: Peace
Not Apartheid, Pappe’s The Ethnic
Cleansing of Palestine, Khalidi’s The
Hundred Years War on Palestine, and of course more.
And thank you for being
on OMNI’s board. I would be pleased to
know more about you.
Dick Bennett, Prof.
Emer., Founder of OMNI
[Gaza] With Your Support, New Ambulances on their
way to Gaza ! #VotePalestine
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Aug 28, 2021, 2:46 PM (21 hours ago) |
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With Your Support, Ambulances on their way to
Gaza! #VotePalestine
The Canadian Boat to
Gaza would like to express its appreciation for the generous contributions of
our supporters! With the help of people like you, we were able
to contribute 10,000 US dollars, our commitment towards the purchase of
one of these much needed new ambulances for Gaza.
Through this
collaboration with Miles of Smiles and
our Freedom Flotilla partners, 25 ambulances
are being outfitted and prepared for travel to Gaza from Egypt, with 10
more ambulances to follow soon from Jordan. (Please visit here in order
to view Miles of Smiles
in its original Arabic). Watch and share this video of Miles of Smiles organizer Dr Essam
Mustafa showing the
preparation of the ambulances.
Visit this post from
one of our Freedom Flotilla partners to find out more about the recent
arrival of truckloads with vital medical aid for Gaza. As you
will see there, these efforts were made possible by people and organizations
from 15 countries. Thank you once again
for your support in making the Canadian Boat to Gaza campaign part of this
effort!
in solidarity
The CBG Team
Those of you in Canada
: our campaign endorses the #VotePalestine initiative, to make Palestinian
human rights an election issue. Please visit https://votepalestine.ca/ to learn more and share these
messages widely.
Please continue to
help us spread the word about our campaigns:
Twitter:
@CanadaBoatGaza @GazaFFlotilla
www.facebook.com/CanadaBoatGaza
www.facebook.com/BateauCanadienGaza
www.facebook.com/FreedomFlotillaCoalition
Together, we can help
end the blockade!
Canadian Boat to
Gaza: www.canadaboatgaza.org email: canadaboatgaza@gmail.com
Palestine:
Gaza makes the NYTimes Page One again - sadly:
https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/middleeast/100000007787471/israel-airstrikes-gaza.html?action=click>ype=vhs&version=vhs-heading&module=vhs®ion=title-area&cview=true&t=3
Video: Gaza’s Deadly Night: How Israeli
Airstrikes Killed 44 People
On May 16, Israeli airstrikes destroyed three
apartment buildings, decimating several families. We visited the scene,
interviewed survivors and analyzed videos, photos and satellite images to find
out what happened.
www.nytimes.com
https://www.juancole.com/2021/06/netanyahu-official-washington.html
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Fwd:
Sen. Sanders speaks for those with Conscience.
Palestinian lives matter 5-15-21
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11:54 AM (0 minutes ago) |
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Date: Fri, May 14,
2021 at 8:46 PM
Subject: Sen. Sanders speaks for those with conscience:..Palestinian lives
matter
To:
The U.S. Must Stop
Being an Apologist for the Netanyahu Government
May 14, 2021By Bernie Sanders
“Israel has the right to defend itself.”
These are the words we hear from both Democratic and Republican
administrations whenever the government of Israel, with its enormous military power, responds to
rocket attacks from Gaza.
Let’s be clear. No one is arguing that Israel, or any
government, does not have the right to self-defense or to protect its people.
So why are these words repeated year after year, war after war? And why is the
question almost never asked: “What are the rights of the Palestinian people?”
And why do we seem to take notice of the violence in Israel and
Palestine only when rockets are falling on Israel?
In this moment of crisis,
the United States should be urging an immediate cease-fire. We should also
understand that, while Hamas firing rockets into Israeli communities is
absolutely unacceptable, today’s conflict did not begin with those rockets.
Palestinian families in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh
Jarrah have been living under the threat of eviction for many years, navigating
a legal system designed to facilitate their forced displacement. And over the
past weeks, extremist settlers have intensified their efforts to evict them.
And, tragically, those evictions are just one part of a broader
system of political and economic oppression. For years we have seen a deepening
Israeli occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and a continuing
blockade on Gaza that make life increasingly intolerable for Palestinians. In
Gaza, which has about two million inhabitants, 70 percent of young people are
unemployed and have little hope for the future.
Further, we have seen Benjamin Netanyahu’s government work to
marginalize and demonize Palestinian citizens of Israel, pursue settlement
policies designed to foreclose the possibility of a two-state solution and pass
laws that entrench systemic inequality between Jewish and Palestinian citizens
of Israel.
None of this excuses the attacks by Hamas, which were an attempt
to exploit the unrest in Jerusalem, or the failures of the corrupt and
ineffective Palestinian Authority, which recently postponed long-overdue
elections. But the fact of the matter is that Israel remains the one sovereign
authority in the land of Israel and Palestine, and rather than preparing for
peace and justice, it has been entrenching its unequal and undemocratic
control.
Over more than a decade
of his right-wing rule in Israel, Mr. Netanyahu has cultivated an increasingly
intolerant and authoritarian type of racist nationalism. In his frantic effort
to stay in power and avoid prosecution for corruption, Mr. Netanyahu has
legitimized these forces, including Itamar Ben Gvir and his extremist Jewish
Power party, by bringing them into the government. It is
shocking and saddening that racist mobs that attack Palestinians on the streets
of Jerusalem now have representation in its Knesset.
These dangerous trends are not unique to Israel. Around the
world, in Europe, in Asia, in South America and here in the United States, we
have seen the rise of similar authoritarian nationalist movements. These
movements exploit ethnic and racial hatreds in order to build power for a
corrupt few rather than prosperity, justice and peace for the many. For the
last four years, these movements had a friend in the White House.
At the same time, we are seeing the rise of a new generation of
activists who want to build societies based on human needs and political
equality. We saw these activists in American streets last summer in the wake of
the murder of George Floyd. We see them in Israel. We see them in the
Palestinian territories.
With a new president, the United States now has the opportunity
to develop a new approach to the world — one based on justice and democracy.
Whether it is helping poor countries get the vaccines they need, leading the
world to combat climate change or fighting for democracy and human rights
around the globe, the United States must lead by promoting cooperation over
conflict.
In the Middle East, where we provide nearly $4 billion a year in
aid to Israel, we can no longer be apologists for the right-wing Netanyahu
government and its undemocratic and racist behavior. We must change course and
adopt an evenhanded approach, one that upholds and strengthens international
law regarding the protection of civilians, as well as existing U.S. law holding
that the provision of U.S. military aid must not enable human rights abuses.
This approach must recognize that Israel has the absolute right
to live in peace and security, but so do the Palestinians. I strongly believe
that the United States has a major role to play in helping Israelis and
Palestinians to build that future. But if the United States is going to be a
credible voice on human rights on the global stage, we must uphold
international standards of human rights consistently, even when it’s
politically difficult. We must recognize that Palestinian rights matter.
Palestinian lives matter.
Responding
in Gaza, demilitarizing the federal budget,
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7:31 AM (3 hours ago) |
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🚨Act
Now: Palestinians Under Attack
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May 13, 2021, 6:49 PM (15 hours ago) |
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Israel
& Palestine: Stop the Carnage! Cease Demolitions and Evictions 5-15-21
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2020
More
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[Gaza]
Freedom Flotilla online events: Saturday 9 May through May 31
Dear supporters & friends, Please join us for a Webinar on Saturday, May 9 on the Free
Gaza Movement: Breaking the Israeli Naval Blockade of Gaza--Organizing the
first Boats to Gaza In
May 2020 the Gaza
Freedom Flotilla Coalition is sponsoring a series of webinars to
commemorate those killed on the 2010 Gaza Freedom flotilla and the thousands
of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel that have been killed by
the Israeli military and the inhumane policies of the Israeli
government. May 31, 2020 is the 10th anniversary
of the deadly Israel military attack on six civilian boats that were sailing
to bring international attention to the plight of Palestinians living under a
brutal Israeli land, sea and air blockade of Gaza. Israeli commandos murdered
ten and wounded fifty unarmed civilians on the Mavi Marmara ship and beat up
passengers on the other five boats. Over the past 12 years,
international solidarity activists have sailed 18 voyages with over 30 boats
to break the illegal Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. The next flotilla,
originally planned for this month, has been postponed due to Covid19
conditions. The idea of sailing to
break the Israeli naval blockade began in 2008 with a group called Free Gaza Movement.
Their story of the challenges of actually getting boats into Gaza, the first
boats in 41 years to arrive in the Gaza City port, the only port Palestine
has, is remarkable. Join us on Saturday,
May 9, (10 am Pacific North America, 12 Central,
1 pm Eastern Time, 18h00 England, 19h00 France and 20h00 Greece/Gaza) to
hear from founding members of the Free Gaza Movement, Greta
Berlin, Paul Larudee, Mary Hughes-Thompson, and Vangelis Pissias, with Ann
Wright of the US Boat to Gaza campaign moderating, about the challenges of
fundraising and organizing the first two boats to reach the shores of Gaza
and see photos of the outpouring of goodwill from Palestinians in Gaza as the
boats arrived in Gaza in 2008. We will show the trailer of a new movie
“Rock the Boat” of the 2008 flotilla
by directed by Kathy Sheetz. The Free Gaza Movement
organized five voyages to Gaza in 2008 and two voyages in 2009. This
screening is presented by Freedom Flotilla Coalition and the Free Gaza Movement and
co-hosted by US
Boats to Gaza, and Canadian Boat to Gaza. Please register in advance for this webinar by clicking here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/5315887118264/WN_1-qpTaVwQSO4K6EBbfjJfw.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing
information about joining the screening and webinar. The Gaza
Freedom Flotilla raises awareness by sailing against the blockade of
Gaza, with a focus on the children and youth of Gaza. The Freedom
Flotilla’s next sailing, For the Children of Gaza, will challenge
the blockade, while focusing attention on young people in Gaza, who form more
than half of the 2 million population in that tiny blockaded area. Don't
miss this exciting opportunity to hear from those who started this movement!
Please register by clicking here.
Watch
for more Gaza Freedom Flotilla webinars in May, including: May
23: Award-winning film The
Truth: Lost at Sea, followed by a discussion with film-maker and
Mavi Marmara survivor Rifat Audeh. Hosted by Canadian
Boat to Gaza. May 28:
Legal actions against Israel originating from the Gaza Flotillas hosted by
South Africa's Palestine Solidarity committee May 30: Filmmaker
Iara Lee & her film “Attack on the Mavi Marmara” hosted by US Boats to
Gaza May 30:
Event hosted by allies in 48 Palestine. May 31:
Events in Istanbul, Turkey to commemorate the 10 deaths by Israeli commandos
on the Mavi Marmara ship hosted by IHH, Humanitarian Aid. May 31: Evening
Concert in Norway hosted by Ship to Gaza Norway. A critical way to help our campaign is to contribute
financially. There are different
ways you can make a donation. Click here to donate. We ask you to consider a monthly
donation. We are pleased to accept e-transfers from Canadian bank
accounts (Interac) or online using a major credit card or PayPal account. You
can also donate by cheque or money order and mailing to Canadian
Boat to Gaza, PO Box 1950, London Stn. B, London, Ontario N6A 5J4,
CANADA. In other countries,
please consider donating through one of our Freedom Flotilla
coalition partner campaigns : https://freedomflotilla.org/donate/ Please help us spread the word about our campaigns: Twitter: @GazaFFlotilla www.facebook.com/CanadaBoatGaza
-- Canadian Boat to Gaza: www.canadaboatgaza.org email: canadaboatgaza@gmail.com To unsubscribe from this list please send e-mail to: Attachments area Preview YouTube video TRAILER Rock the Boat
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[Gaza]
Flotilla to sail later than planned / La Flottille partira plus tard que
prévu (+ online film screening!)
*le français
suit* The Freedom
Flotilla will sail later than planned against the illegal blockade of Gaza. In light of global health restrictions on travel and public
gatherings, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has decided to delay our planned
departure towards Gaza. We had initially planned to visit several southern
European ports in April and May of this year, and head for Gaza at the end of
May, to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Israeli attack on the Mavi
Marmara and other Freedom Flotilla vessels in 2010, that killed
10 peace activists. We will of course stand with our partners at IHH
(Humanitarian Aid Foundation, Turkey) as they commemorate those deaths
and press for justice at the International Criminal Court. The Covid-19
pandemic has created new challenges for our Coalition members in each of our
countries, especially as our grassroots civil society organizations depend on
public support. We also know that conditions in Gaza are immeasurably more
difficult, and that Palestinians there are particularly vulnerable now
that the first Covid-19 cases have arrived there.
The crowded conditions in Gaza, with a healthcare system which is already
stretched, and extremely limited access to outside medical aid, all mean that
we must keep the Palestinian people of Gaza in mind as we adapt to new
realities worldwide. In solidarity, **Please
join us on Saturday April 25 at 10:30 in Sydney / Melbourne, Australia, 12:30
in New Zealand / Aotearoa (thats's Friday April
24, at 5:30pm Pacific Time in British Columbia; 8:30 pm EDT / 1:30 am GMT /
12:30 NZST ) for another Zoom online screening of the film "Gaza
Fights for Freedom". This webinar is free but you must register
online by clicking here. After
registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information
about joining the screening and webinar. Film-maker Abby Martin will join us after the screening to
discuss the making of her documentary, including a questions and answers
period. Filmed during the height of the Great March Of Return protests,
it features riveting exclusive footage of demonstrations. The documentary
tells the story of Gaza past and present, showing rare archival footage that
explains the history never acknowledged by mass media. You hear from victims
of the ongoing massacre, including journalists, medics and the family of
internationally acclaimed paramedic, Razan al-Najjar. At its core, ‘Gaza
Fights For Freedom’ is a thorough indictment of the Israeli military for war
crimes, and a stunning cinematic portrayal of Palestinians' heroic
resistance. We will also be joined for part of the discussion by a
Palestinian participant from one our partner organizations in Gaza We Are Not Numbers, a
group of aspiring and inspiring young journalists telling their stories of
daily life in the Gaza Strip. Don't miss this
exciting opportunity to view a film, interact with the film-maker and more!
Please register by clicking here. If you wish to donate
to UNWRA's Covid-19 urgent response appeal for healthcare in Palestine,
see: https://donate.unrwa.org/covid-19/~my-donation To support our work to end the blockade of Gaza, y ou can donate online or by postal mail (see canadaboatgaza.org/donate). In other parts of the world, please
consider donating through one of our Freedom Flotilla
coalition partner campaigns : freedomflotilla.org/donate/ Whether you can donate financially or not,
please help us spread the word about our campaign: ·
share our messages with your family, friends and/or work
colleagues and encourage them to join our mailing list; ·
send an endorsement message from your association, union,
congregation or political party; ·
organize and attend events to raise funds and awareness for
our campaign; ·
join a Freedom Flotilla campaign near you and
encourage others to do so; ·
follow us on the web, Facebook, Twitter (see below), and
share our posts widely. Twitter: @CanadaBoatGaza @GazaFFlotilla www.facebook.com/CanadaBoatGaza
Together, we can help end the blockade! |
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|
EMERGENCY MESSAGE ON
GAZA CRISIS COVID-19 has entered the Gaza Strip, endangering
thousands of Palestinians. Gaza is densely populated, making physical
distancing difficult. Decades of Israeli siege have devastated the
infrastructure and crippled the medical system. It is urgent that
medical supplies and other forms of relief be delivered to the residents of
Gaza. TAKE ACTION: Call your Representative
and your Senators and ask them to demand that the Trump Administration
release funds that Congress allocated to Gaza via the United Nations Relief
and Works Agency. Your members of Congress can be reached through the
Congressional Switchboard (1-202-224-3121) or at their district/regional
offices. If all else fails, send an email. SUPPORT RELIEF
EFFORTS: If you are able to
donate, please give to UNRWA via the USA Committee for UNRWA, Middle
East Children’s Alliance, Rebuilding Alliance or United Palestinian Appeal. Some useful
articles: The Gaza Strip Has Been Under
Siege for Years. Covid-19 Could Be Catastrophic. On the Brink of Its Own
Coronavirus Crisis, Gaza Appeals to Israel and the World for Help Israel’s caging of Gaza is a
recipe for coronavirus disaster Israeli-made nightmare scenario:
COVID-19 in Gaza Warren, Van Hollen lead Senators
in demanding Trump admin send aid to Palestine amid COVID-19 crisis Note: You are
receiving this email as a member or friend of Historians for Peace and
Democracy (see https://www.historiansforpeace.org/).
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2020
Flotilla Delayed
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My list of people who might wish to read the following on Gaza
and view the film is short, so if you find them valuable, please forward. Dick 3-24-20
[Gaza]
Join us for online screening of "Gaza Fights for Freedom" +
discussion with film-maker
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Dear supporters & friends,
Please join us for a film webinar for the screening of Gaza Fights for
Freedom, a film by US journalist Abby Martin.
This screening is presented by Social
Justice Event Collective and co-hosted by Canadian Boat to Gaza, Independent
Jewish Voices- London, Ontario and People
for Peace- London, Ontario.
The original event was to be held during Israeli Apartheid Week on
the International Day for the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination, calling on progressive movements, groups and
organizations fighting all forms of racism, racial discrimination,
marginalization and oppression to join forces in advocating for Palestinian
rights in the context of global struggles against racial oppression. When public venues were closed due to Covid19
measures, we postponed that event,
now to be held through a Zoom online webinar on March 28th,
2020 at 1:00 PM Eastern Time. Please register in advance for this webinar by
clicking here. After registering, you will receive a
confirmation email containing information about joining the screening and
webinar.
Film-maker Abby Martin will join us after the screening to
discuss the making of her documentary, including a questions and answers
period. Filmed during the height of the Great March Of Return protests, it
features riveting exclusive footage of demonstrations. The documentary tells
the story of Gaza past and present, showing rare archival footage that explains
the history never acknowledged by mass media. You hear from victims of the
ongoing massacre, including journalists, medics and the family of
internationally acclaimed paramedic, Razan al-Najjar. At its core, ‘Gaza Fights
For Freedom’ is a thorough indictment of the Israeli military for war crimes,
and a stunning cinematic portrayal of Palestinians' heroic resistance.
We will also be joined for part of the discussion by a
Palestinian participant from one our partner organizations in Gaza We Are Not Numbers, a
group of aspiring and inspiring young journalists telling their stories of
daily life in the Gaza Strip.
The Canadian
Boat To Gaza raises awareness and support for the FreedomFlotilla’s sailing against the blockade of
Gaza, with a focus on the children and youth of Gaza. The Freedom
Flotilla’s next sailing, called For the Children of Gaza, will challenge the
blockade, while focusing attention on young people in Gaza, who form more than
half of the population in that tiny blockaded area. The Canadian Boat to Gaza
is part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which contributed for a
decade to initiatives including the Women’s Boat to Gaza (2016), Solidarity with Gaza
Fishers (2017), and Right to a Just Future for Palestine (2018). We
welcome all support and endorsements that contribute towards the goals and
principles of our campaigns.
Don't miss this exciting opportunity to view a film, interact
with the film-maker and more! Please register by clicking here.
If you wish to donate to UNWRA's Covid-19 urgent
response appeal for healthcare in Palestine, see here: https://donate.unrwa.org/covid-19/~my-donation
In Solidarity,
Social Justice Event Collective
Canadian Boat to Gaza
Independent Jewish Voices -London, Ontario
People for Peace- London, Ontario
Please help us spread the word about our campaign:
·
share
our messages with your family, friends and/or work colleagues and encourage
them to join our mailing list;
·
send
an endorsement message from your association, union, congregation or political
party;
·
organize
and attend events to raise funds and awareness for our campaign;
·
follow
us on the web, Facebook, Twitter (see below), and share our posts widely.
Twitter: @CanadaBoatGaza @GazaFFlotilla
www.facebook.com/CanadaBoatGaza
www.facebook.com/BateauCanadienGaza
www.facebook.com/FreedomFlotillaCoalition
Together, we can help end the blockade!
--
Canadian Boat to Gaza: www.canadaboatgaza.org email: canadaboatgaza@gmail.com
Bateau canadien pour GAZA: www.canadaboatgaza.org courriel: canadaboatgaza@gmail.com
To unsubscribe from this list please send e-mail to:
gaza-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net
Attachments area
2-4-20
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[Gaza]
Why We Sail, Sail, and Sail Again: Freedom Flotilla 2020
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11:01 AM (1 hour ago) |
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Dear Supporters,
Freedom Flotilla sailors and participants are sometimes asked: Why do you keep
sailing toward Gaza only to be captured? Why not give the funds you raise
directly to the Palestinians of Gaza as aid? Our rationale for sailing and
our experiences in 2018 provide some answers. Our Palestinian partners in Gaza
are asking us to challenge the illegal blockade. In May 2018 the Norwegian
fishing trawler Al Awda (The Return) and the Swedish sailing
ship Freedom sailed from Scandinavia. Over two months, we
called on ports in Denmark, Germany, Holland, England, France,
Spain, Portugal and Italy spreading the message of freedom for Palestinians.
Israel has extended its reach, pressuring governments in Cyprus,Turkey, and
Greece to prevent our ships sailing from their ports.
Canadians Karen DeVito and John Turnbull joined
the sailing ship Freedom in Denmark and crewed her from
Copenhagen to Palermo where John then captained the ship on the final leg
toward Gaza. Other Canadians, including Heather Milton-Lightening, Ron Rousseau, Majed Khraishi, Kathy Wazana, and Larry Commodore of the Stó:lo
Nation, were on board Al Awda at different
points in her voyage, and Canadian journalist Dimitri
Lascaris reported
for The
Real News Network from
Flotilla boats and from several ports.
The arrival of the ships at each European port
occasioned special events, marches, music, speaking opportunities, as well as
visits with municipal and provincial politicians. In some places cities and
regions had passed motions to support the Flotilla and recognize Palestine.
In Amsterdam, activists organized a
small-boat Flotilla through the canals with music, banners and
flags. Supporters followed along the canals and bridges handing out hundreds of
flyers. Brighton, England gave
a rousing welcome on the pier, held an information event in a local park, and a
packed house speaking event in the town. Gijón, Spain held a
march through the city with about 800 people with music, dancing, singing and a
Palestinian flag that required 40 people to parade it through the streets.
The City Council of Cádiz, Spain voted
the Flotilla "Illustrious Visitor." Two smaller Swedish sailboats
crossed Netherland, Belgium and France by river and canal, catching public
interest when authorities prevented
them from mooring in Paris, and visited a number of other waterside
communities.
Energizing local solidarity groups, providing
outreach and diplomacy are all aspects of the Flotilla's work. The voyage
around Europe is so valuable in these respects. We also discovered that
refugees would visit our ships at each port. The mayors of three Italian ports
met our ships at the piers and declared refugees welcome to their
cities, regardless of their then-Prime Minister's negative attitude.
Our crew met with local and provincial politicians, ambassadors-- they attended
regional parliamentary sessions, municipal meetings and gave presentations to
the public as well as tours of the boats. All these activities are part of why
we sail.
Palestinians in Gaza are now more than ever connected with the
rest of the world by the internet. They know when the Freedom Flotilla is
coming; they go to the seashore and wait. We are answering a civil society call
when we sail--when we ask our partner organizations in Gaza if they would
prefer a donations over a Flotilla, they always respond saying we should to
sail and raise international awareness about the blockade. They prefer we
expand awareness of the longest running occupation in modern history. They also
tell us that our sailing gives Palestinians hope and the knowledge that
they are not alone.
The Flotilla movement has launched successful
legal challenges to Israel for improper confiscation of our ships. One recent
court victory by Ship to Gaza Sweden provided the funds for purchase of
the Freedom and two smaller sailboats that travelled through
France to the Mediterranean. And so Captain John, when interrogated on the way
to an Israeli prison, was pleased to answer this question: "Did a
terrorist organization provide your funding?" with a solid "Yes".
Then to "Which one?" , John replied: "The
Israeli government."
The Freedom, aside from its main cargo of hope, also
carried some medical aid that Israel is required to deliver. To date our 114
boxes remain in Israel, awaiting delivery to Gaza. While these medical supplies
were not a significant quantity, they provide another opportunity for ongoing
legal action in Israeli courts against the blockade.
The Flotilla will sail again in 2020, at the request of Palestinians of Gaza.
This is the year the UN report declared that Gaza will be unliveable. Right
now, most of its drinking water is contaminated. Every child shows symptoms of
psychological distress. Each Friday Palestinians stand on their own land near
the fence asking for their human rights as Israeli snipers shoot them. In 2018
the IDF has killed 254 people in Gaza, 47 of them children. Thousands have been
injured; many amputations have resulted.
There are shortages of medicine in Gaza.
Children go to school in shifts. Many are orphaned. Israeli drones fly overhead
day and night. Hospitals are overwhelmed, especially on Fridays. Last summer we
met young Jamil from Gaza in an Italian
port; his mother had applied to Israel for permission to take
him there for medical treatment. During the years of waiting he had survived on
blood transfusions from his grandfather. He must return once his rare blood
condition is treated. We saw the worry in his mother’s eyes. Gaza is hazardous
even for a healthy child.
And so the flotilla will sail again in
2020, even more mindful this year of the children of Gaza and
the tenth anniversary of the attacks on the Mavi Marmara and other Flotilla vessels
in 2010.
A critical way to help this campaign is to contribute
financially. There are different
ways you can make a donation. Click here to donate. We ask you to consider a monthly
donation. We are pleased to accept e-transfers from Canadian bank
accounts (Interac) or online using a major credit card or PayPal account. You
can also donate by cheque or money order and mailing to Canadian
Boat to Gaza, PO Box 1950, London Stn. B, London, Ontario N6A 5J4, CANADA. In other countries, please consider donating
through one of our Freedom Flotilla coalition partner
campaigns : https://jfp.freedomflotilla.org/donate
Please help us spread the word about our campaigns:
- share our messages
with your family, friends and/or work colleagues and encourage them to join our
mailing list;
- send an endorsement message from your association, union, congregation or
political party;
- organize and attend events to raise funds and awareness for our campaign;
- join a Freedom Flotilla campaign near you and encourage others
to do so;
- follow us on the web, Facebook, Twitter (see below) and share our posts
widely.
Twitter: @GazaFFlotilla @CanadaBoatGaza
www.facebook.com/CanadaBoatGaza
www.facebook.com/BateauCanadienGaza
www.facebook.com/FreedomFlotillaCoalition
Together, we can help end the blockade!
Attachments area
Preview YouTube video Freedom Flotilla to Sail in
2020 : For the Children of Gaza
Quarantine, Lockdown, and Blockade: COVID-19 in Gaza
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November/December
2020, pp. 48-49
https://www.wrmea.org/israel/palestine/quarantine-lockdown-and-blockade-covid-19-in-gaza.html
By Mohammed Omer
But now, they must deal with COVID-19.
CORONAVIRUS INEQUALITY
Now, coronavirus (COVID-19) is here.
Now, he fears his options are reduced to searching around the garbage
bins to find something to eat.
The Link: "Uninhabitable: Gaza Faces Moment of Truth"
BY MIDDLE EAST & EUROPE - GLOBAL MINISTRIES ON OCTOBER 13,
2019
2019 [Gaza] Freedom Flotilla Coalition: Shoulder
to Shoulder with the Great Return March
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3-29-19, 7:42 AM (3 hours ago) |
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On the first anniversary of the beginning of the
#GreatReturnMarch protests by Palestinians in Gaza to mark #LandDay on March
30, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition stands in solidarity with our Palestinian
friends who are demanding full freedom of movement, including the right to
return to their homes in historic Palestine.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition joins the Palestinian Human Rights Institutions
Association and demands that:
1.
the international community fulfill
its responsibilities, condemn the aggression and actively intervene to compel
the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) to stop their ongoing and escalating
aggression on the Gaza Strip and to respect International Humanitarian Law.
2.
all parties to the Geneva Convention IV uphold
their legal responsibilities under Article 1 of the Convention which states
that these parties are committed to respect the Convention and to ensure that
the Convention is respected in all circumstances, in addition to its obligation
to prosecute those accused of committing serious violations of the provisions
of the Convention under Article 146.
3.
the Prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court open an official investigation into the killings committed by
the IOF against the population of the Gaza Strip to ensure that the IOF are
held accountable.
4.
the European Union and other world
bodies suspend their Association Agreements with the Israeli Occupation for
failing to respect human rights, and that they cease all forms of cooperation
with the Israeli Occupation.
We urge supporters to participate in solidarity protests
wherever possible, to write to the media demanding they report the truth about
what is happening to Palestinians in Gaza (see these talking points from the American
Friends Service Committee) and to contact their governments. Our
friends at Code Pink offer more resources here,
including a petition we all can sign to the US Congress.
We join the Israeli NGO Gisha and
many others in calling for an end to blockade and full freedom of movement for
all Palestinians, including access to the sea. In the spirit of the historic
2008 call from the Free Gaza movement, we pledge to continue
sailing against the blockade until Palestine is free.
Further Background:
The UN Human Rights Council report on
Israel’s violation of international law during the 2018 Great Return March can
be found here. The most recent
“Protection of Civilians” report by the UN OCHA can be found here. Our partners
at We Are Not Numbers have regular updates
from Palestinian voices in Gaza. Al Jazeera video about the
Palestinian poet and non-violent resistance activist, Ahmed Abu Artema who
inspired the Great Return March protests in Gaza. Also: Hundreds killed, thousands wounded:
A year of Gaza rallies, by Ben White on Al Jazeera.
Infographic
from Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Get dates
FOUR
ITEMS FROM MAZIN QUMSIYEH (visited Fayetteville/OMNI several years
ago)
Sewage
plant in Gaza fails; Stop funding genocide; Decades of deceit; Song and video
for Palestine:
In photos:
….A major waste water treatment plant in
al-Zaytoun neighborhood of
the neighborhood and blocking passage for
residents through the city's
darkened alleyways.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=647939
The choice is revealingly simple. Stop funding
genocide in the
East
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/02/332516/cut-zionist-genocide-feed-americans/
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The
Link: "Uninhabitable: Gaza Faces Moment of Truth"
BY MIDDLE EAST & EUROPE - GLOBAL
MINISTRIES ON OCTOBER 13, 2019
https://www.globalministries.org/the_link_uninhabitable_gaza_faces_moment_of_truth
The Link,
published on a bi-monthly basis, is Americans for Middle East Understanding's
primary education and information tool. More than 175 issues of The Link have
followed since the first issue written by Humphrey Walz appeared in 1968.
The Link archive
constitutes a body of informed commentary, fact and anecdotal evidence that is
all the more valuable for writers, researchers and historians because each
issue (for the most part) covers only one subject.
Click here to read the current issue, entitled,
"Uninhabitable: Gaza Faces Moment of Truth." It is authored by
Jonathan Cook, a freelance writer who lives with his family in Nazareth.
The essay starts, "The only way Israelis
can be made to sit up and take note of the disaster unfolding next door in
Gaza, it seems, is when they fear the fallout may spill out of the tiny coastal
enclave and engulf them too. Environmental experts from two Israeli
universities issued a report in June warning that the imminent collapse of
Gaza’s water, sewage and electricity infrastructure would soon rebound on
Israel."
Uninhabitable:
Gaza Faces Moment of Truth - Global Research
https://www.globalresearch.ca
› uninhabitable-gaza-faces-moment-of-truth
1.
Oct 14, 2019 - Uninhabitable: Gaza
Faces Moment of Truth. By Jonathan Cook ...
Gaza would be “uninhabitable” by 2020 if the trends
then current continued.
Jonathan Cook on
Twitter: "My latest: Israel has ignored UN ...
https://twitter.com
› Jonathan_K_Cook › status
1.
Oct 14, 2019 - My
latest: Israel has ignored UN warnings that Gaza will become uninhabitable next
year – continuing to act as if some 2 million Palestinians ...
Article:
Uninhabitable: Gaza Faces the Moment of Truth ...
https://www.opednews.com
› articles › Uninhabitable-Gaza-faces-by-Jonat...
1.
Oct 13, 2019 - Article: Uninhabitable: Gaza
Faces the Moment of Truth - Stories of Gaza's endless suffering a short
distance from Israelis' ... By Jonathan Cook
Uninhabitable:
Gaza Faces Moment of Truth by Jonathan Cook
https://israelgenocide.com
› 2019/08/31 › uninhabitable-gaza-faces-mome...
1.
Aug 31, 2019 - Is
Israel Committing the Crime of Genocide? by Amandla!February 11, 2015In
"Articles about Genocide and Israel". Gaza is facing genocide.
The Link:
"Uninhabitable: Gaza Faces Moment of Truth ...
https://www.globalministries.org
› the_link_uninhabitable_gaza_faces_mo...
1.
Oct 13, 2019 - Click
here to read the current issue, entitled, "Uninhabitable: Gaza
Faces Moment of Truth." It is authored by Jonathan
Cook, a freelance writer ...
Imagining a free Palestine should be
commonplace—that’s why I wrote the novel ‘Siegebreakers’. Mronline.org (8-14-19). The
siege of Gaza is crushing the people who live under it, and it is crushing all
of our imaginations. Source Middle
East Monitor
SF Gaza Fights For
Freedom Film Screening w/ Abby Martin Q&A
Join Abby
Martin for the one-night-only theater screening in San Francisco. The
documentary tells the story of Gaza past and present, showing rare archival
footage that explains the history never acknowledged by mass media. Victims are
heard from the ongoing massacre, including journalists, medics and the family
of internationally-acclaimed paramedic, Razan al-Najjar. Hosted by the
ANSWER Coalition.
Saturday, October 5th
5:30 pm-8:30 pm
Brava Theatre Center, 2781 24th St.; San Francisco, CA
2019
The United Nations say 1,700 young Gazans are facing amputation, mainly of their legs, in the next two years. They’re among the 7,000
unarmed Palestinians in Gaza shot by Israeli snipers over the last year.
---UNICEF
Don't
miss the LA premiere of 'Gaza Fights For Freedom'! Tickets for screening,
Q&A and reception
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Mon, May 20, 2019 12:15 AM (1 day ago) |
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LA Premiere of
Empire Files Gaza Film Thursday, June 20, 7PM Join us for a
reception and screening of the new Empire Files documentary, Gaza Fights For
Freedom, followed by a Q&A with director Abby Martin. Click here for more information and to buy tickets Be the first to see
this riveting collaboration between The Empire Files and a heroic team of
Palestinian videographers in Gaza, featuring exclusive coverage of the
‘Great March of Return’ protests. This film was
fully funded by your donations! Make a one-time donation or contribute monthly. |
2018
While Razan lost her life, Nikki Haley lost her humanity
June 3, 2018 at 9:55
am | Published in: Article, Asia & Americas, International Organisations, Israel, Kuwait, Middle East, Opinion, Palestine, UN, US
The United Nations say 1,700 young Gazans are facing amputation, mainly of their legs, in the next two years. They’re among the 7,000
unarmed Palestinians in Gaza shot by Israeli snipers over the last year.
---UNICEF
Last Friday, 1 June, a Palestinian volunteer medic, Razan Al
Najar, was fasting and tending to the wounded at Gaza’s artificial fence with
Israel. Thousands of miles away, the US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, was
scheming on behalf of Israel at the world body. The day ended with martyrdom
and glory for Razan and shame and humiliation for Nikki.
Just like she had done since the start of the Great March of
Return on 30 March, Razan said goodbye to her family to go to the border,
knowing that her skills would undoubtedly be called upon to treat Palestinians
planning to march to the fence that artificially separates Gaza from the rest
of historic Palestine. They have been marching to exercise their right of
return to the homes they and their families hail from and which Israel and its
terrorist gangs had expelled them from in 1948 and continued to do since then.
Razan’s medical skills would surely be needed because Israel decided to deploy
tens of highly trained snipers to kill Palestinians. The number killed has now
reached 119, with over ten thousand injured; some estimates put this figure at
over 13,000.
File photo of 21-year-old
Razan Al-Najar, a volunteer medic in Gaza, killed on June 1, 2018, during the
10th week of the ‘Great March of Return’ protests at the Gaza-Israel border
A post on Facebook whose accuracy I cannot verify says that her
last words to her mother were to ask her to cook stuffed vine leaves for her
breaking of the fast meal at sunset. She said her goodbyes and left to join her
medical colleagues at the fence. Nikki Haley would at that time been probably
having her breakfast before heading to the UN to decide how to deal with the
15-member Security Council. It had failed to agree on any statement regarding
the events at the Gaza fence since the start of the marches, despite the high
number of casualties. The choice for the Council that day was whether to back a
resolution tabled by Kuwait calling for protection for the Palestinian people
or to back an American resolution condemning Hamas for a volley of rockets
fired from the Gaza Strip in response to Israeli crimes.
READ: ‘Hit me with your bullets. I am not afraid’ – Israel
kills budding Gaza nurse
Twenty-one-year-old Razan was the eldest of six siblings. She
had a diploma in general nursing and had completed some 38 first aid courses.
Although she had not secured paid work, she volunteered in hospitals and with
NGOs and medical organisations, building skills and experience that made her an
asset when it came to the Great March.
In an interview with The New York Times last month, Razan explained why she
had volunteered to help with the Great Return March, especially as a woman.
“Being a medic is not only a job for a man,” Razan said. “It’s for women, too.”
She also bore witness to the
final moments of some of those who were fatally wounded. “It breaks my heart
that some of the young men who were injured or killed made their wills in front
of me,” she told Al Jazeera. “Some even gave me
their accessories [as gifts] before they died.”
In a post on her Facebook account on the 16 May, Razan
denied claims that she and others went to the fence under duress.
On 1 June, she was shot in the back by an Israeli sniper, the
human rights group Al Mezan stated, citing
eyewitnesses and its investigations. She was100m from the fence the moment she
was shot and was wearing clothing which clearly identified her as a medic. Her
blood stained medical vest accompanied her to her grave during what was a
massive funeral the following day.
Contrast the humane and selfless acts of 21-year-old Razan, with
limited opportunities to bring peace and justice to her people, with the
shameful and brazen attempts in the Security Council by US Ambassador Nikki
Haley to deny another people, Razan’s people, protection from Israeli terror.
While Kuwait had brought a resolution to the Council to call on it to fulfil
its responsibility to an oppressed people and ensure their protection, Haley
was bringing a resolution to denounce Hamas for the volley of rockets that were
launched into other Israeli controlled areas following the deadly attacks at
the fence and bombings of the beleaguered enclave.
Gaza: Palestinians return
to Israel border for 10th Friday in row
Votes on the two texts came
shortly after Razan’s death. Haley failed to garner any votes for the
resolution except her own, with three countries voting against it and 11
abstaining. A complete humiliation for the US and for Haley personally, leaving
observers scrambling through historical records to find another occasion when a
resolution only had the support of the country proposing it. None were found at
the time of writing this piece.
Palestinians attend the
funeral ceremony of Razan Ashraf Najjar, 21, a female paramedic who was shot
dead by Israeli forces while healing wounded demonstrators during ‘Great March
of Return’ protests in Khan Yunis on Friday, in Huzaa neighbourhood of Khan
Yunis, Gaza on June 02, 2018 [Mustafa Hassona / Anadolu Agency]
Haley was again isolated when the US vetoed a resolution to
protect Palestinians. With her Israel proxy, she had turned her back on a
largely unarmed Palestinian people, facing the might of Israel’s military,
aided by American military hardware worth billions of dollars. She had walked out of a
previous Council meeting on Israel’s killing of Palestinian protesters when
their representative began to speak. It was a clear breach of protocol which
brought heavy condemnation. Given her overall performance as US
ambassador, President Trump should, without delay, sack Haley. She has brought
isolation and disgrace to her country; all for the sake of an undeserving ally,
Israel.
On 1 June 2018, Razan lost her life while Nikki Haley lost her
humanity defending the terrorist actions of a rogue state, Israel. Razan died a
proud Palestinian full of humanity and will be remembered with the same name
she was born with. In contrast, Nimrata Randhawa, the daughter of Sikh
immigrants will one day pass away to be remembered by her adopted name, Nikki
Haley, hiding her Indian heritage. Razan will be remembered for her selfless
volunteering while Haley will be remembered for her astonishing role,
supporting and shielding the world’s only apartheid state.
Razan had little power to change the dynamics and bring peace to
the holy land, while Haley, from one of the most powerful offices in world
politics, could have helped protect Palestinians and bring peace to the region.
If only Razan had such a high profile office, the world would be a better
place.
Rest in peace Razan Al-Najar, you are worth more than a million
Nikki Haleys.
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Secret Israeli Report Reveals Armed Drone Killed Four Boys Playing on
Gaza Beach in 2014 A
secret Israeli military police report offers direct evidence that four
Palestinian children were killed by missiles fired from an armed Israeli
drone. |
The Freedom Flotilla departs for Gaza
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6:02 AM (3 hours ago)
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Fwd: Sacrificing Gaza
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/06/04/sacrificing-gaza-the-great-march-of-zionist-hypocrisy/ ---------- |
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JUNE
4, 2018
Sacrificing
Gaza: The Great March of Zionist Hypocrisy
by JIM KAVANAGH
Photo by Jordi Bernabeu Farrús | CC
BY 2.0
The Great March
of Return is a startling, powerful expression of Palestinian identity and
resistance. Thousands of Palestinians have come out, bravely and
unapologetically, to say: “We refuse to remain invisible. We reject any attempt
to assign us to the discard pile of history. We will exercise our fundamental
right to go home.” They have done this unarmed, in the face of
Israel’s use of deadly armed force against targets (children, press, medics)
deliberately chosen to demonstrate the Jewish state’s unapologetic
determination to force them back into submissive exile by any means necessary.
By doing this repeatedly over the last few weeks, these incredibly brave men,
women, and children have done more than decades of essays and books to strip
the aura of virtue from Zionism that’s befogged Western liberals’ eyes for 70
years.
FOSN Friends of Sabeel North America
A Christian Voice for Palestine: Thou Shall Not Kill
5-5-18 |
9:01 AM (7 hours ago)
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EARLIER THAN 2018
“THREE VIEWS: WILL
FATAH-HAMAS RECONCILIATION SUCCEED?” WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST
AFFAIRS? (Nov. – Dec. 2017).
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FW: Freedom Flotilla Coalition goes
to Israeli court
You might have seen this already, but just in
case... ecs Ethel Simpson Fayetteville AR From: US to Gaza [mailto:womensailtogaza@gmail.com]
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[Gaza] Opposing Israeli attempt to
legalise theft of Zaytouna-Oliva. Israël essaie de légaliser le vol de la
Zaytouna-Oliva ; nous nous y opposons.
Opposing Israeli attempt to
legalise theft of Zaytouna-Oliva On Monday 19 December, 2016
(13:00) Haifa District court (acting as Maritime court) at Ave. Pal Yam
15a, Haifa, there will be a protest against the ongoing illegal blockade of
Gaza and to demand the return of our Freedom Flotilla boat so that we can
take it to Gaza without delay. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition
(FFC) has been challenging the illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip for years,
employing direct action, consisting of boats sailing to and from Gaza. The
most recent attempt was the Women's Boat to Gaza,
which ended when a sailing boat (Zaytouna-Oliva), with 13 women from
different countries, sailed across the Mediterranean Sea towards Gaza. As
with all of our boats in the last five years, the Israeli Occupation Forces
attacked it. Zaytouna Oliva was illegally boarded in international waters and
taken against our will to Ashdod, denying us the ability to reach our sisters
and brothers in Palestine. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition is
represented in this case by the Israeli law firm of Gaby Lasky, who
helped free many of our Women's Boat to Gaza participants and who
successfully challenged the Israeli government's illegal seizure of the
Swedish Ship to Gaza sailing vessel Estelle in the Israeli Supreme Court. These legal cases are part of our
ongoing strategy to challenge and end the illegal and inhumane blockade of
Gaza. To help cover our legal costs and contribute to our ongoing work,
visit wbg.freedomflotilla.org/donations and
donate to any of our Freedom Flotilla Coalition campaigns. For more information, contact
Zohar Chamberlain Regev <zohar995@nodo50.org> +34647077426 Or other Freedom Flotilla media
contacts: wbg.freedomflotilla.org/media-room |
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From Ann Wright: Thanks so much. You are welcome to
take anything from by article about the trip to
Gaza:
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May 2016, pp.
57-61
PANEL 3: Responding to Israel’s
Influence On Campus and in Court
Holding
Israel Accountable for the Gaza Flotilla Raid
Huwaida
Arraf
Janet
McMahon: Over the years,
countless lawsuits have been filed against Iran for terrorist attacks it
allegedly made possible. These lawsuits have not accused Iran of directly
killing Americans, but rather of providing material support to Hamas,
Hezbollah, the Khobar Tower bombers, you name it. Just last month, in fact,
367—I counted—family members and estates sued Iran for providing material support
for the killing or injuring of Americans, including soldiers—in Iraq! As if
Iran, not the U.S., had been the one to invade that country.
Israel,
on the other hand, has directly killed and injured Americans,
from the crew of the USS Liberty in 1967—34 Americans killed,
171 wounded, in international waters; to 23-year-old nonviolent activist Rachel
Corrie, killed 13 years ago this past Wednesday, days before we invaded Iraq;
and 18-year-old Furkan Doğan, a passenger on the humanitarian vessel Mavi Marmara, who was killed six years ago.
The U.N. Human Rights Council described his killing as, I quote, “summary
execution,” by Israeli commandos who boarded the unarmed ship, also in
international waters.
Our
final speaker, Huwaida Arraf, was a passenger on the Challenger I, one of the other vessels in that 2010
Gaza flotilla. She is one of four Challenger passengers who are suing the
State of Israel and four of its ministries for torture; cruel, inhuman, or
degrading treatment; arbitrary arrest and detention; assault and battery; and
intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Huwaida
is a Palestinian-American lawyer and human rights advocate. As the daughter of
an Israeli-born Palestinian, she is also a citizen of Israel. She received her
bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and her Juris Doctor from the
American University Washington College of Law, where she focused on international
human rights and humanitarian law. In 2001, Huwaida co-founded the
International Solidarity Movement, or ISM, for which Rachel Corrie was
volunteering when she was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer. Huwaida is
coeditor of the book Peace
Under Fire: Israel, Palestine and the International Solidarity Movement—an
organization which has twice been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Huwaida
was one of the initiators and organizers of a delegation of American lawyers to
Gaza in February 2009 and co-authored the report on their findings, Onslaught: Israel’s Attack on Gaza
and the Rule of Law. She is
the former chairperson of the Free Gaza Movement, and from August to December
2008 led five successful sea voyages to the Gaza Strip to confront and challenge
Israel’s illegal blockade. Huwaida was one of the primary organizers of the
Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which Israeli forces lethally attacked on May 31, 2010.
Please join me in welcoming Huwaida Arraf.
Huwaida
Arraf: Thank you, Janet.
Thanks to the Washington
Report for inviting
me again, and thanks to all of you for being here. I must admit, I am now a
little intimidated to go after all these wonderful speakers, especially since
I’m a little out of my element here. I usually speak kind of as a human rights
activist about what’s happening in Palestine, what we’re doing about it.
Sometimes I’m called to speak up as a lawyer about some legal issues
implicated. But today I’m not speaking as either one of those, because the
topic here is pending litigation. It’s rather sensitive, and I’m not the lawyer
on the case, but rather a plaintiff, and one of my lawyers told me, don’t speak
about the legal issues. I’m like, what am I going to speak about, then?
And
last year when I spoke here I had my six-month old daughter with me, and she
just captivated the audience and really added to my talking. Nobody paid
attention to what I said—and I could really use her right now! But she had
other plans this weekend, so she’s not here. I’ll try not to bore you. It won’t
be that bad, but if you can just understand that there are probably some things
that I won’t be able to talk about.
So,
by way of a brief background, as Janet already said in my introduction and some
of you already know, I was one of the organizers of the Gaza Freedom
Flotilla in 2010, and I was one of the passengers. The Gaza Freedom Flotilla sought
to challenge Israel’s illegal blockade on Gaza. And to do that, we organized
seven ships carrying over 700 people from over three dozen countries, and over
10,000 tons of urgently needed materials in Gaza. I was on the Challenger I, which was a small U.S.-flagged vessel.
It was sailing very close to the bigger ship, the Mavi Marmara, which was carrying a bulk of
the passengers.
On
the night of May 30th into May 31st, I was in the wheelhouse of the Challenger I. Around midnight, the Israeli navy
contacted us, and they proceeded to ask us questions about who we were, what
our vessel numbers were, where we came from, where we were heading. The
captains of the various ships answered these questions, so they knew very
clearly who we were.
Then
I took over in speaking on behalf of the flotilla, and I repeatedly told the
Israeli navy that we are unarmed civilians. We are carrying only humanitarian
aid for the people of Gaza, who are under an illegal blockade. We are not going
near Israeli waters. We’re going from international waters into Gaza’s
territorial waters. We constitute no threat to the State of Israel or its armed
forces. Do not use force against us. And I repeated that we are unarmed
civilians. Do not use force against us.
At
about 1:30 in the morning, the communication from the Israeli navy stopped, and
about three hours later we heard shooting. It was still the dead of night.
There was shooting going on all around us. I went out onto the deck, and I
could see helicopters overhead and Israeli Zodiacs, gunships. The Mavi Marmara was the first boat to come
under attack. Our ship sped off. We were hoping to delay the boarding of our
ship at least until we could get word out on our satellite phones that we were
under attack, but the Israeli ships quickly overtook us. At least two Zodiacs
filled with armed masked men trying to board our boats, and I remember myself
holding up my arms saying, stay away from us. This is an American ship. We’re
only civilians. Do not come on board. And I was screaming, this is an American
ship, stay away from us. And then chaos ensued.
They
threw sound bombs. I looked at one of my colleagues. She had blood all over her
face. I don’t know what had happened to her. I was thrown down to the ground.
My face was smashed into a deck full of glass, and as a soldier stepped on my
head, others were trying to get my hands cuffed behind my back. When I was
finally cuffed, they dragged me to one end of the ship, pinned me down and put
a sack over my head as they were searching my body, went into my pants looking
for any media equipment I had on me. Primarily, they were looking for our
cameras and our phones, and they indeed succeeded in taking those away from us.
Our
boat was eventually taken to the now-Israeli port of Ashdod, where violence
continued. I was carried off the ship, as were a lot of my colleagues, by our
hands and feet and thrown to the ground. I was later detained for hours,
interrogated and, toward the end of the day, was physically abused to the point
where I passed out and was taken to a hospital.
But
what happened to me, to us, on that Challenger, was nothing in comparison to what
happened to our colleagues on the Mavi
Marmara, in which nine of
our colleagues were shot dead. One was lethally injured and passed away four
years later.
And
it pales in comparison to what’s happening to the people of Palestine every
single day, to what’s happening to the people of Gaza—the very situation that we
were attempting to draw attention to with our action. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a
minor thing, and we are thankful to be alive.
When
we first founded the International Solidarity Movement, we did it believing
that Israel kills Palestinians, they have a freehand to do so, no one has ever
held Israel accountable for killing Palestinians—but Israel does not want to
kill internationals. It doesn’t look good for them. Internationals have
governments which will stand up for them, at least try to hold Israel accountable.
But
then, as Janet mentioned, 13 years ago they killed our colleague, Rachel
Corrie, in Gaza in a brutal way, ran her over with a huge armored bulldozer.
And a few weeks later, they killed another foreign national, Tom Hurndall, a UK
citizen. He lay in a coma for nine months before he died from a bullet wound to
the back of the head. And then a month after that, they killed a British
journalist, James Miller. They got some bad PR, but they weren’t held
accountable.
For
Tom Hurndall’s death, because his parents pursued, went after really—and not
only his parents, because also Rachel Corrie’s parents were very active in
this—but Tom Hurndall’s parents had a bit of support from their government, and
in a sense it pressured Israel a little bit to arrest the soldier who shot Tom,
in a sense to hold him out as the sacrificial lamb, but it did nothing to
address the total impunity with which the Israel military operates or the
government that gives those orders and uses this policy. It’s a matter of national
policy.
No one was ever held accountable, and the culture
of impunity Ccntinues. MORE http://www.wrmea.org/2016-may/panel-3-holding-israel-accountable-for-the-gaza-flotilla-raid-huwaida-arraf.html
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A medical defense of mass
murder, ethnic cleansing and genocide
Professor Sir Mark Pepys, Kt, MA,
MD, PhD, FRCP, FRCPath, FRS, FMedSci has an unending list of
accolades, awards, accomplishments and honors. He was knighted in 2012
for his service to medicine. One would think that his highest principle
is to preserve and enhance human life and health.
But one would be wrong. The benighted
Sir Mark values the state of Israel far above human life and presumably even
farther above the British realm that bestowed his peerage. If the state
of Israel wishes to wantonly murder children in their homes and schools,
pregnant and nursing mothers, the elderly and handicapped in their wheelchairs,
patients and medical personnel in hospitals and ambulances in the streets of
Gaza, Sir Mark will defend the bloodletting and the spilling of brains and guts
in front of their colleagues and loved ones.
This is why he is leading the
charge against the esteemed British medical journal The Lancet for
considering whether the slaughter and denial of medical services to 1.8 million
Palestinians in Gaza might possibly have medical implications. In this,
he and his co-signers seem to be following the ancient hypocrite oath,
"First, do as much harm as possible." We suggest a reclassification
of his status from knight to knave.
In defense of the actual
Hippocratic oath, I refer you to the letter from Dr. Derek Summerfield to Mr.
Pepys, below. Please also see this extraordinary report:
24 April 2015
Dear Sir Mark Pepys and signatories
I am aware that Professor Graham Watt and colleagues have already sent
you a response to your attack on The Lancet editor Dr Richard Horton and
the signatories to the Manduca et al letter published in The Lancet
during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza last summer. As one of the
signatories of that letter I wish to reply on my own account.
An early indication that yours is simply an indiscriminate smear letter
is the inclusion of entirely irrelevant material- the Lancet publication
of the Wakefield MMR paper 17 years ago, your highlighting of what one
signatory might have said in a talk somewhere, what Internet material
another signatory might have looked at etc.
Our case rests on the substantive evidence base from a range of
international and regional human rights and documentation centres
generated by Operation Protective Edge and precedent events like the
long-running seige of Gaza. The indiscriminate bombardment and mass
killing of a helpless, trapped civilian population (including the
killing of hospital patients in their beds, and of health professionals
on duty) is at the centre of all these accounts. Look at the photo I
attach. You cannot be unaware of this evidence base but your letter
ignores it entirely. I attach just one example, an independent medical
fact-finding report organised by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and
other reputable documentation centres. (1)
Your detachment from the human costs of Operation Protective Edge, and
the medical ethical issues thrown up, was there from the start. I note
that you, Sir Mark, were quoted in the Telegraph of 22 September 2014 as
saying on 29 August, at the height of the bombardment, that the Manduca
et al authors were displaying "most serious, unprofessional and
unethical errors". Not a word about events on the ground in Gaza, yet
these were the events which even then the UN, Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch were all recording as prima facie evidence of war
crimes! Since then The International Criminal Court has opened a
preliminary examination of war crimes violations during Operation
Protective Edge.
I would suggest that if a letter of protest with exactly the same
contents had appeared in The Lancet, but where the State concerned was,
say, Sudan or Syria, you would have no reason to see as it as
objectionable or as inappropriate material for a medical journal, and
might well have applauded such coverage- after all, the medical
profession has a duty to individual patients, but also a generally
recognised wider ethical duty to address the social origins of distress
and disease. So how are we to understand the apparent exceptionalism you
display? In his classic work "Phenomenology of Sociopolitical Actions: A
Methodological Approach to Conflict", the sociologist Max Weber
distinguished between an "ethic of responsibility" and an "ethic
of
conviction". By "ethic of responsibility", Weber meant
conformity to
professional standards and accountability. In our profession this means
the ethical standards by which doctors should practice, including a
commitment to factual evidence- standards determined by their peers,
employers, the General Medical Council and, on the international scene,
by the World Medical Association. By "ethic of conviction", Weber was
identifying actions that were inspired by personally valued ideals,
political or other philosophies, or identities. In my 29 years of
conflict-related human rights work (23 on Israel-Palestine), I have
witnessed how regularly an ethic of conviction trumps an ethic of
responsibility, not least amongst doctors, and this is sadly true of you
too. The signatories of your letter seem united around a felt connection
with Israel and a wish to defend it, and this is what counts. In the
service of this you can dismiss war crimes, seek to bludgeon a medical
journal into silence, and demand that a letter grounded on so multiply
documented an evidence base be retracted. This is a flagrant abuse of
medical ethics. You write as if you had the ethical clarity that would
attach, say, to your discovery of research fraud in a published paper,
and your further discovery that the editor of the journal concerned had
been in knowing collusion with this fraud!
Those signatories who are Israeli are in support of the state of which
they are citizens; the majority of signatories who reside elsewhere are
serving the propaganda interests of a foreign power.
Your allegations are defamatory and libellous: that we published
"deliberately inflammatory falsehoods....abusive
dishonesty.....unverifiable dishonest 'facts'.....malignant wilful
disregard of honest and ethical medical authorship and
editorship.....under the direction of Horton, The Lancet has become a
vehicle for publication of deliberately false material..." So we - both
authors and editor- are publishing lies which we know to be lies in a
famous international medical journal? Few allegations made against a
doctor could be much graver than this.
I quote from the GMC publication Good Medical Practice (2006). In the
section on Working with colleagues, doctors must "respect the skills and
contributions of your colleagues" (para 41); "you must treat your
colleagues fairly and with respect. You must not bully or harass them
or unfairly discriminate against them by allowing your personal views to
affect adversely your professional relationship with them. You should
challenge colleagues if their behaviour does not comply with this
guidance" (para 46); "you must not make malicious and unfounded
criticisms of colleagues that may undermine patients' trust in the care
or treatment they receive, or in the judgement of those treating them"
(para 47). In the section on Probity, the GMC says that "probity
means
being honest and trustworthy, and acting with integrity: this is at the
heart of medical professionalism" (para 56); "you must make sure that
your conduct at all times justifies your patients' trust in you and the
public's trust in the profession" (para 57). In the section on
Writing
reports, giving evidence etc, the GMC says that "you must do your best
to make sure that any documents you write or sign are not false or
misleading. This means that you must take reasonable steps to verify the
information in the documents, and that you must not deliberately leave
out relevant information" (para 65); ...you must be honest in all your
spoken and written statements. You must make clear the limits of your
knowledge or competence" (para 67).
As one of the signatories whose academic reputation your letter seeks to
blacken, I am an involved party and I challenge you retract your
allegations promptly or justify them evidentially. If you fail to do so
I will look to appropriate action, starting with a formal complaint to
the General Medical Council naming yourself as lead signatory for a
start.
Yours
Derek Summerfield
Honorary Senior Lecturer, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College,
London Consultant Psychiatrist, South London & Maudsley NHS Trust
Formerly Research Associate, Refugee Studies Centre, University of
Oxford; Consultant to Oxfam and other humanitarian organisations;
Principal Psychiatrist, Medical Foundation for Care of Victims of
Torture.
Sent WS and Blog
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1.
Videos of Albert and Chomsky on Gaza 2014 bing.com/videos
"A Hideous Atrocity": Noam Chomsky on Israel's
Assault o…
Noam Chomsky - The Israel/Palestine Conflict I Chomsky on Palestine and Israel See more videos of
Albert and Chomsky on Gaza Plus a note on Telesur
English |
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Hello, A considerable
part of our daily coverage of events and relations is currently devoted to
Gaza. Below are two recent pieces. A short personal piece by
Michael Albert. And a full length discussion by Noam Chomsky. We hope these
help with understanding, and with prodding effective activism. And likewise
for the rest of our material on that topic, and others. You may have
noticed, in other news, that there have been many essays on ZNet coming from
Telesur English. This is a new project, discussed in an interview with Greg
Wilpert, who is heading iT up, available on ZNet. I am also involved with the
project, responsible for amassing and delivering sixty Opinion Pieces a
month, two per day, for the site. [Z MAGAZINE WAS FOR MANY YEARS A CUTTING EDGE FOR MANY
URGENT ISSUES.] |
Chris Hedges | Let My
People Go
Chris Hedges, TruthDig , Reader Supported News, August 11, 2014
Hedges writes: "God weeps because families, huddled in terror in their
homes, are dismembered and killed by Israeli bombs. God weeps because mothers
howl in grief over the bodies of their children in U.N. schools hit by Israeli
shells."
READ MORE
A DAILY INDEPENDENT GLOBAL
NEWS HOUR
with Amy Goodman &
Juan González
MONDAY, AUGUST 11,
2014 FULL
SHOW | HEADLINES | NEXT:
"Sadistic & Grotesque": Noam Chomsky on How...
Noam Chomsky
on BDS and How the Israeli Occupation is "Much Worse Than
Apartheid"
DOWNLOAD: VIDEOAUDIOGET
CD/DVDMORE
FORMATS
TOPICS
GUESTS
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"A Hideous
Atrocity": Noam Chomsky on Israel's Assault on Gaza & U.S. Support
for the Occupation | Daily Digest 08/07/2014 |
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Killling “Snakes” and
Selves By Michael Albert
Source: teleSur English
August
2, 2014
[To read the
entire essay click on title]. . . .What does matter is the absolute,
unmitigated horror that is now occurring in Gaza. Yet, there are so many
horrors. Can words situate this one in the evil hall of fame?
Corpses?
Yes. Plenty of corpses are piling up. Broken buildings? Yes. Rubble is waste
high and climbing.
When
I was becoming adult, violence was Vietnam. In the midst of that, I wondered
how humans who had enjoyed even modest personal freedom and development, rather
than, say, being beat up and caged as kids and denied education and culture,
could be even a fraction as cynical and delusional as my own government was.
But
while “destroying the City to Save it” set an incredibly high standard for vile
rationalization – I can’t help but notice the “to save it” part of the phrase.
In those days, and even more so since the movements of those days had their
effects, if nothing else, to perpetrate vile actions in pursuit of reasons of
state or reasons of profit required aggressive claims of high motives. Yet, for
the Israelis, this no longer seems true.
Yes,
for international consumption they fabricate idiotic justifications – mainly
they say this is our defense against them defending themselves. And, just to be
clear, to those who say that Israel has a right to defend itself, there is only
one correct answer. Yes. It does.
And what that means is to
escape being attacked by the occupied, Israel can leave Gaza, cease the
occupation, cease the racism. That is the only legitimate way for an occupying
force – anywhere, anytime – to defend itself against the colonized. Stop
perpetrating the crime. There is no warrant for an occupier to get violent.
That is just more crime. The solution is to get out.
If
you don’t understand that, think of it this way. Imagine the British who were
in the U.S. fighting the colonists saying, hey – we have a right to defend
ourselves. The reply ought to have been: yes, you do, and your right to do so
sanctifies your leaving, but not your shooting us.
Or
how about the Nazi in France, or perhaps a better analogy is the
Nazi in Poland – in Warsaw. Imagine they said, hey, we have a right to defend
ourselves. Again, the reply ought to have been, yes, you do, and that right
sanctifies your leaving, but not your obliterating our lives, culture, and
constructions.
Ditto
for the U.S. in Indochina and a long list of other places. And ditto for Israel
in Gaza. Defend yourselves, by all means, sure, and to do so, get out. MORE https://www.telesurenglish.net/opinion/Killing-Snakes-and-Selves-20140803-0026.html
RELATED ANTHOLOGIES
See OMNI: ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS ANTHOLOGIES-- #13-16. Here is August 13, 2016: http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2016/08/israeli-palestinian-newsletter-13.html
Contents of Gaza ANTHOLOGIES #8
https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2021/05/omni-gaza-newsletter-8-may-13-2021.html
PART
I
ASSAULT
ON GAZA MAY 2021
PART
II
BACKGROUND:
OCCUPATION AND REPRESSION
2010
2014
2018
RESISTANCE
END GAZA ANTHOLOGY #9
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