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A Second Nakba? Israel Orders 1.1 Million Palestinians to Evacuate Northern Gaza Amid Bombing & Siege
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
OCTOBER 13, 2023
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/13 ... evacuation

Transcript

Israel’s military on Friday ordered 1.1 million civilians in the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate “southwards” in just 24 hours, a demand that aid groups say will cause untold human suffering. The ultimatum comes ahead of an expected ground invasion of the besieged coastal enclave, where authorities say 1,537 people have been killed since Israel began devastating airstrikes in retaliation for a Hamas attack in which militants killed 1,300 people and took some 150 hostages. Hamas says the intense Israeli bombardment that has pulverized much of Gaza also killed 13 hostages. Meanwhile, Israel continues to maintain a total blockade of the territory, blocking food, water, fuel and medicine from reaching those trapped inside. For more on the crisis and mounting human toll, we speak with Gaza writer Muhammad Shehada, who condemns the international community and mainstream media for its complicity in Israel’s destruction of Gaza. “These things are unimaginable horrors that are inflicted on Gaza right now with no one intervening to stop it,” he says. “This is pure madness.”

AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show in Gaza, where Israel last night ordered the evacuation within 24 hours of all Palestinians living in the northern Gaza Strip — some 1.1 million people within 24 hours. The United Nations has condemned the order, saying it’s, quote, “impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences,” unquote.

Much of Gaza is already in the dark, as Israel has cut off energy, food and water supplies. The seven-day Israeli bombardment has killed at least 1,500 Palestinians. Israel declared war after Saturday’s surprise brutal attack by Hamas militants on Israel, where the death toll has reached 1,300. Israel is now amassing tanks on the border of Gaza ahead of what appears to be an imminent ground invasion.

Some 400,000 Palestinians had already been displaced prior to Israel’s evacuation order last night. Some groups have announced plans to defy Israel’s order. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said, quote, “Despite the occupation’s threats to shell; the decision has been made. We did and will not leave. Our medics will carry on their humanitarian duties. We won’t leave people face death alone,” unquote.

Many in Gaza fear Israel’s evacuation order is the start of a second Nakba. Seventy-five years ago, in 1948, some 700,000 Palestinians fled from or were violently expelled from their homes upon Israel’s founding in 1948. Much of Gaza’s population are refugees from families displaced 75 year ago.

We begin today’s show with Muhammad Shehada, a writer and analyst from Gaza, chief of communications at Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, columnist at The Forward newspaper, a Jewish weekly in New York. He’s joining us from Copenhagen.

Muhammad, welcome to Democracy Now! Can you describe what’s happening on the ground? And first respond to this order from the Israeli government that half the population of Gaza, 1.1 million people, must leave the north and head south, and they gave them 24 hours last night to do it.

MUHAMMAD SHEHADA: Yes. Thanks, Amy.

I’ve been through at least six Israeli military operations, or even more. This is like nothing I’ve ever seen in my entire life and nothing like Gaza has ever seen, in terms of magnitude, scale, level of destruction and death. Entire neighborhoods are totally unrecognizable.

With the evacuation orders, it’s basically plain and very obvious forcible transfers. And its most important thing about it is that it’s unimplementable. If you know Gaza geographically and physically and the devastation of infrastructure there, you would know that most roads are broken. There is vast electricity, internet outages. People are not getting any news. At the same time, the area that Israel wants people to go out of is the most densely populated part of Gaza and the area with the most safe shelters, these U.N. schools — although not very safe, because Israel bombed a lot of them over the last six days, but it’s the area with the most U.N. schools. It’s the area with the most hospitals. And right now you have over 7,000 Palestinians wounded in al-Shifa Hospital and other hospitals around Gaza, around the area that Israel wants them to evacuate from. So, by the mere act of evacuation, many people are going to lose their lives.

The other issue is that there are not enough houses, not enough spaces or shelter in the south of Gaza that Israel wants to push people towards to be in. The only realistic outcome of this is that we’re going have people just literally baking in the sun in 30 degrees Celsius temperature, about 85 degrees Fahrenheit, daily, in the sun, in the street, without any access to hospitals, any access to food or water, let alone the sheer terror of Palestinians experiencing a second Nakba. Many people there are saying, “We’re not leaving our homes.” The Palestinian Red Crescent said, “We refuse to evacuate, because we’re not going to let our people face death alone.”

At the same time, I’m aware that there is some pressure from European officials on the Israeli government discreetly to sort of backtrack this decision, but they are telling me, quite obviously, that it’s unlikely they would have much influence on Israel without the U.S. coming on board. And until now, the Biden administration hasn’t made its mind up about an event that’s way, way more horrendous than the Palestinian Nakba. We’re talking almost about double the amount of Palestinians that were displaced in 1948 just gone in 24 hours.

AMY GOODMAN: We’ve been trying to reach guests in Gaza and were not able to make any connection at this point. Muhammad Shehada, if you could explain more the conditions on the ground? And the significance, as I listened last night to the general director of the Palestine Red Crescent Society say, “How do we move people out of hospitals with this short amount of time, not to mention more than a million people?”

MUHAMMAD SHEHADA: Yes. So, before the evacuation orders, almost everyone I know in Gaza, they say, “Our knees cannot lift us up.” They haven’t had any sleep for more than two to three hours a night, punctuated by constant military airstrikes, because Israel dropped, up until yesterday, about 6,000 bombs on Gaza in six days. That’s about a bomb every one-and-a-half minutes. Every single neighborhood in Gaza was damaged, every single street, area. All the famous sites are completely gone, pulverized.

At the same time, I talked — the last time I talked to people was this morning. I talked to at least two to three people, and I lost them as I was talking with him on the line, because of airstrikes or running out of electricity and internet. Israel bombed Gaza’s main telecommunication company on the third or fourth day of this escalation, bombed it completely, leading to outages in vast areas of Gaza. And the last time I talked to someone, the last one I spoke to is a Gazan Irish citizen. He holds Irish citizenship, European. And he was telling me basically this: “I only have few liters of water in my home, for a family of six. I don’t know where am I going to go. I have a few batteries, and they’re running out of power.” And he doesn’t know if he’s going to stay alive.

Most people I know in Gaza are uploading — literally, uploading their wills and last words to their social media accounts and begging for forgiveness from anyone that they’ve ever wronged or done anything to, and saying, “Please forgive us, and we forgive you, as well.” This is what it has come down to.

AMY GOODMAN: Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett exploded at a Sky News anchor, Kamali Melbourne, during an interview Thursday, after Melbourne pressed Bennett on Israel’s attacks on Palestinian civilians. Here’s a portion of the exchange.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: What about those Palestinians in hospital who are on life support and babies in incubators, whose life support and incubator will have to be turned off because the Israelis have cut the power to Gaza?

NAFTALI BENNETT: Are you seriously keep on asking me about Palestinian civilians? What’s — what’s wrong with you? Have you not seen what happened? We’re fighting Nazis. We don’t target them. Now, the world can come and bring them anything they want, if you want to bring them electricity. I’m not going to feed electricity or water to my enemies. If anyone else wants, that’s fine. We’re not responsible for them.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: But this is the point —

NAFTALI BENNETT: But you keep on —

KAMALI MELBOURNE: This is the point —

NAFTALI BENNETT: You — I want to tell you —

KAMALI MELBOURNE: No, no, Mr. Bennett, this is the point.

NAFTALI BENNETT: No. No, listen.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: Listen.

NAFTALI BENNETT: You listen to me right now.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: No, you’re raising your voice. And we’re trying —

NAFTALI BENNETT: I’ve heard you enough.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: No, no, I understand. We’re trying to have a conversation here.

NAFTALI BENNETT: I’ve heard a lot of you.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: Listen, this is my program.

NAFTALI BENNETT: No, you’re not having a —

KAMALI MELBOURNE: This is my show.

NAFTALI BENNETT: And that’s exactly —

KAMALI MELBOURNE: And I am asking the questions. You’re raising your voice.

NAFTALI BENNETT: But it’s my country.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: And I’ve asked you. And we’ve already —

NAFTALI BENNETT: And when people — when people —

KAMALI MELBOURNE: We’ve already — stop, please.

NAFTALI BENNETT: When people —

KAMALI MELBOURNE: And let me finish. We’ve already distinguished —

NAFTALI BENNETT: Shame on you, Mister.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: — between Hamas —

NAFTALI BENNETT: I want to tell you, you — shame on you.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: You’re trying to speak over me.

NAFTALI BENNETT: Because we are not —

KAMALI MELBOURNE: No, no.

NAFTALI BENNETT: Shame on you.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: It’s nothing about shame.

NAFTALI BENNETT: I am the — I was the prime minister.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: We’re trying to have a conversation —

NAFTALI BENNETT: There is absolutely shame.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: — about a very serious situation here.

NAFTALI BENNETT: Because when you just jump —

KAMALI MELBOURNE: And you are refusing to address it.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s Sky News anchor Melbourne challenging the former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who said to him, “You’re daring to ask me about Palestinian civilians?” Muhammad Shehada, your response?

MUHAMMAD SHEHADA: Well, I’m afraid that this is now becoming a mainstream sentiment in Israel — and not just in Israel, amongst official European and American leaders, and in the media, as well. If you’ve been looking at what Israeli politicians are saying, about two days ago, an Israeli lawmaker, senior one in the ruling coalition, Limor Son Har-Melech, she wrote on Twitter, saying, quote, “There are no innocents in Gaza. Flatten Gaza,” quite literally, very openly. Now we have the architect, the godfather of the Israeli judicial coup, or judicial overhaul, Simcha Rothman, he is now saying that the main goal of this operation is that a Jewish kid can walk freely in Gaza alone, if there would be a Gaza at all. So this sentiment is shared widely.

But what I find most striking are two things. Number one, European diplomats in the Occupied Territories are telling me that their leaders, their bosses, their foreign ministries, for the last at least five to six days, were not bringing Gaza up to their Israeli counterparts at all. That’s the same with the U.S. government. They’re not bringing what’s Israel’s conduct in Gaza at all, aside from the issue of the humanitarian corridor. This might change now with the forcible transfer of 1.1 million people. But at the same time, this level of complicitness, I’ve never seen before.

And it’s the same with mainstream media. I’ve seen circulation of allegations, that were completely debunked, of extreme, horrendous atrocities, like mass rapes and decapitation of babies, being taken at face value by virtually all the mainstream media, circulating immediately and without the slightest work of journalistic integrity or investigation, although it was later debunked. And at the same time, when we have Human Rights Watch coming out yesterday and saying, “We have solid evidence of Israel using phosphorus munition on Gaza’s civilian populations” — that’s a chemical incendiary weapon that burns on immediate and ignites on immediate impact with oxygen, and it burns flesh and bone, and it cannot be turned off, and the toxic fumes of it can be lethal and can cause respiratory — permanent respiratory damage. Human Rights Watch says Israel is using it. This is a war crime. And virtually not a single mainstream media is picking up and reporting on this.

So, it’s unimaginable, the level of complicitness that I see in this round of escalation. Nobody is calling for deescalation or ceasefire, not even a humanitarian ceasefire, although they did that in the last major war on Gaza, 2014. That was the United Nations and the U.S. We had a humanitarian ceasefire for 72 hours. But this time there is not even any talk about it, not even a thought for it. And that, I find most frightening.

I get a lot of questions from my colleagues, family and people I love in Gaza, asking, “Are we going to stay alive?” One of my friends, she says, “I just gave birth about a month ago. My baby is clinging to me. I’m afraid if he’s going to die from a heart attack from the airstrikes and fear and terror,” at the same time that she’s afraid that her husband might get killed or taken away from her if there’s a ground invasion, at the same time that she’s afraid that she’s going to end up permanently a refugee in the Sinai desert. These things are unimaginable horrors that are inflicted on Gaza right now with no one intervening to stop it. This is pure madness.

AMY GOODMAN: On CNN last night, a former military Israeli analyst said, “Our goal isn’t turning Gaza City into a parking lot. Our goal is to turn Gaza into a Hamas-less region.” Muhammad Shehada, if you can respond, in this last answer?

MUHAMMAD SHEHADA: Yeah, exactly. As I said, Israeli leaders, politicians and members of the ruling coalition are openly admitting that the goal is flattening Gaza. Simcha Rothman, as I said, he is the architect, the chief architect, of the Israeli judicial overhaul. He is one of the top lawmakers in the Israeli ruling coalition. And he is saying openly the goal is that a Jewish Israeli kid can walk in and out freely, if there would be a Gaza at all. He is admitting it very openly.

And I’ve seen the sentiment not just from Israeli politicians, but from Israeli media, as well, from Israeli pundits, analysts and commentators. Voices of reason in Israel are now becoming a shunned minority. Many of them are afraid to speak up, because now the atmosphere is so hostile, so polarized and toxic and dehumanizing for people in Gaza that whenever Gaza is brought up, the only thing that’s brought up with it is Nazis. Can you imagine if any person in Gaza would refer to Israel as such, how many condemnations would be poured on their heads immediately?

AMY GOODMAN: Muhammad Shehada, I want to thank you so much for being with us, usually based in Palestine, in Gaza, a writer and analyst, chief of communications at Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, columnist for The Forward newspaper, a Jewish weekly here in New York.

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Former EU Envoy: Israel’s Forced Transfer of Palestinians in Gaza Would Be a War Crime
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
OCTOBER 13, 2023
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/13 ... aza_israel

Transcript

Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, recently retired European Union ambassador to Palestine, says Israeli pain and anger cannot justify war crimes in Gaza, where Israeli bombardment has already killed over 1,500 people. Now with Israel demanding the relocation of 1.1 million people ahead of an expected ground invasion, von Burgsdorff says Israel must adhere to international law and protect civilians. “No matter what Hamas did, it does not justify the incredible use of lethal force without distinction and without proportionality as far as the Palestinian population is concerned in Gaza,” he says.

AMY GOODMAN: We turn right now to Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, a former EU, European Union, ambassador to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, served in that post up until July.

Your response to this order by the Israeli military that half the population of Gaza must move within a 24-hour period, starting last night, from the north to the south, Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff?

SVEN KÜHN VON BURGSDORFF: Yeah. Thank you, Ms. Goodman. And, of course, I can fully second what Muhammad Shehada has so well described as the absolute catastrophe which 2 million Gazans are facing.

Let me start by saying I’m fully aware of this deep hate and frustration and despair which befell the Israeli society. And when they speak of their 9/11, of what happened last Saturday, I understand, of course, that view and that emotional tension they are under right now, and that makes it so difficult to have a rational discussion, not only in Israel, but also in Europe and in the U.S.

But we have to be aware that we still are governed by international law. We have left the medieval times. We have rules of conduct for war. We have rules of conduct of how apply humanitarian principles. And no matter what Hamas did, it does not justify the incredible use of lethal force without distinction and without proportionality as far as the Palestinian population is concerned in Gaza. Distinction, proportionality and precaution are sacrosanct principles for the code of conduct of armed hostilities. And Israel, as a democracy, cannot escape that and has to be held accountable. It cannot be that Israel has a carte blanche because terrible acts, brutal, gruesome acts happened to 1,000 or even 1,200 Israelis. That is not the excuse you can use to flatten Gaza.

And let me come back to the point of what you exactly asked. The announcement of the IDF to basically forcibly evict more than 1 million Gazans from their homes in the northern part of the Strip is likely to be criticized by international legal experts as a war crime, if there is no provision made for ensuring humanitarian access and exit and the necessary facilities to accommodate the basic human rights to water, energy, food and physical safety, let alone health. And this is also clearly signed in all international conventions Israel has ratified and is accountable to. So it is unexcusable if the international community does not use its pressure point to hold Israel to account for what they have pledged before the international community to respect.

I understand the emotions, they run very high right now in Israel. I am in retirement right now in France, so I am not now on the post. But I can understand that. But as I said, we all have to uphold international law, international humanitarian law and international human rights law. That is the yardstick. That is the most important measure of conduct for all of us.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, who arrived in Israel today, and play for you a comment she made last year about Russia targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

URSULA VON DER LEYEN: War crimes. Targeted attacks on civilian infrastructure, with a clear aim to cut off men, women, children of water, electricity and heating, with the winter coming, these are acts of pure terror. And we have to call it as such.

AMY GOODMAN: So, she’s talking about what Russia is doing in Ukraine. Would this also apply to Israel and Palestine?

SVEN KÜHN VON BURGSDORFF: International law applies everywhere. Human rights are universal, indivisible and inalienable. This is the EU position across the world.

AMY GOODMAN: Let me ask you about a statement by Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. He’s got dozens of workers in Palestine. We just spoke to Yousef yesterday from the Jabaliya refugee camp, is where he lives. He came in, talked about the difficulty of even moving to be able to talk to us, to find a space that had electricity. Today we can’t reach people in Gaza. But Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, commented on the Israeli relocation ultimatum of Gaza civilians, saying, “The Israeli military demand that 1.2 million civilians in northern Gaza relocate to its south within 24 hours, absent of any guarantees of safety or return, would amount to the war crime of forcible transfer. It must be reversed,” he said. Your response, Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff?

SVEN KÜHN VON BURGSDORFF: I fully subscribe to the statement of Jan Egeland. As an international legal expert, as a political scientist, as a former diplomat and as a human being, there is no doubt that this has to be respected.

And by the way, let me just underline this: If Israel decides to close its crossings in Kerem Shalom and in Erez, Egypt is bound by international law to open its border crossing in Rafah. And it cannot be that Israel threatens to bomb corridors and transports carrying humanitarian facilities and equipment. It cannot be. This is another war crime if that would take place. Egypt also has to ensure that its obligations towards refugees under international law are fully respected. So, it’s not just ensuring that in the space of the south, if one were actually to displace people, all the facilities are there, fully knowing that this amounts already, this forced eviction, to a war crime, but also the ability for people to be able to exit for humanitarian reasons this highly dense populated strip in Gaza in the south would also need for Egypt to open its borders. And, of course, it has community of providing the necessary provisions to facilitate that people can live there.

Again, this can only be a temporary solution. It cannot be that, as Muhammad Shehada said, we are basically witnessing a second Nakba, whereby the entire Gazan population is forcibly evicted from their homeland, which is Gaza, from their homes. And that is also something I think we have clearly to underline when talking to Israel and when engaging with them on finding a solution.

Let me just say an important thing right now: The key political measure right now is to deescalate and stop any further war crime and try to ensure that the people of Gaza are fully safe and protected. And, of course, I understand that there’s the important issue of freeing the hostages. I don’t know whether it’s 150 or whatever the number is. But it’s very important that this process be done as soon as possible and through negotiations. This is also a very important element which we have to be aware of. So, humanitarian access and exit and freeing the hostages and deescalating are the three key, I think, objectives one has to engage on now.

AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you for being with us, Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, former EU ambassador to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, served in that post up until July, speaking to us from France.

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Noura Erakat: Western Leaders & Media Are Justifying Israel’s “Genocidal Campaign” Against Palestinians
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
OCTOBER 13, 2023
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/13 ... aza_israel

The unfolding crisis in Gaza, where relentless Israeli bombardment has killed more than 1,500 people since Saturday, is “a humanitarian catastrophe,” says Palestinian American human rights attorney Noura Erakat. She says Western leaders and the mainstream media have relied on racist, Islamophobic tropes to build a false consensus “that war is inevitable and that whatever consequences come out is the fault of Hamas, thereby further blaming the victims for their own killing and massacres.” Erakat also decries the Israeli order that 1.1 million residents in Gaza relocate under threat of a ground invasion. “What we are seeing is a genocidal campaign. You cannot forcibly transfer 1.1 million Palestinians in a 225-square-mile enclosed area. There is nowhere for them to go,” says Erakat, an associate professor at Rutgers University and author of Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

Last night, the Israeli army ordered half the population of Gaza, 1.1 million residents, to evacuate their homes within 24 hours from northern Gaza to the south, in what many Palestinians fear is the start of a second Nakba. The U.N. said the mass transfer of half of Gaza’s population would have devastating humanitarian consequences. This comes as Israel has bombed Gaza for seven straight days, killing at least 1,500 people.

Joining us now, Noura Erakat, Palestinian human rights attorney, associate professor at Rutgers University, author of Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine. She’s speaking to us from Philadelphia.

Noura, if you can respond to this order and what’s happening in Gaza?

NOURA ERAKAT: Good morning, Amy, and thank you.

Your reporting has been an oasis in a sea of warmongering across mainstream media, for which I have deep contempt at this moment. They have mobilized almost every racial trope of savagery, barbarian. They have built on Islamophobia and the infrastructure of the “war on terror” to create a commonsense, logical conclusion that war is inevitable, and whatever consequences come out is the fault of Hamas, thereby further blaming the victims for their own killing and massacres.

At this point, we have to understand that there is no military solution. There has never been a military solution to this. Hamas cannot be eradicated. As we’ve seen, right now Palestinians are being killed, pulled from out of the rubble. We have not given them hope. I saw a young girl staring in trauma at the screen, her entire family decimated. What will happen to this young girl in 20 years? What will we tell her? That Israel had no choice? That this was your fault, and now your future is to continue to be stuck in an open-air prison?

There must be hope. And that hope lies in a political solution and in the responsibility of the international community to dismantle an apartheid system, to dismantle prolonged military occupation, the longest in the world, to lift a debilitating siege that has condemned Palestinians to slow death. This is a human-made disaster, a catastrophe, according to the World Health Organization. This is not a crisis; it is a humanitarian catastrophe. If we are to create a future, it has to begin and end with a political and diplomatic solution.

AMY GOODMAN: We have this update: Palestine’s Ministry of Health said seven Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank today. Five hundred Palestinian children have been killed in Gaza, and at least Hamas is saying that 13 of the hostages have died in the Israeli airstrikes. These are hostages that Hamas took from the Gaza border. Your response to all?

NOURA ERAKAT: It’s devastating, Amy. All of us are watching this. But one of the things that we’ve been emphasizing is that although what we’re seeing is devastating, we’ve also been laying a pathway out of it. While international human rights organizations and Israeli human rights organizations came to near consensus in 2020 that Israel oversees an apartheid system, a crime against humanity, what is the greatest crime, that is sustaining this ongoing structure of violence, there should have been mobilization to impose weapons sanctions on Israel, to impose a diplomatic solution, to force Israel in order to dismantle this racist, colonial structure that has basically condemned Palestinians to permanent subjugation. It is the failure of the international community to mobilize that has now produced this outcome. It is all of our responsibility. There is blood on all of our hands.

And now the way out is not a military solution. We have to deescalate. There must be a ceasefire. There must be a recognition that Hamas, unlike these awful comparisons to ISIS and al-Qaeda, is actually a nascent sovereign of the Palestinian people, who has only targeted Israel. That gives them the right to use armed force, though that right is not qualified — that right is not — excuse me — unqualified. They cannot use it however which way, based on ongoing trauma and violence. But it must be recognized that as a nascent sovereign, they are representing a Palestinians’ people struggle for freedom.

And as we’ve seen from the broad Palestinian public institutions, civil society organizations, other political parties, they have all insisted that responsibility for this lies at the feet of Israel. The Haaretz editorial team has also said this lies at the responsibility of Israel.

This is not about finger-pointing, nor is it about bean counting the dead. There is tragedy on all sides. But if we are interested, if we are interested in not only ending this particular crisis, but of also achieving a durable, truthful, long-lasting solution, we have to go beyond this moment to dismantle the structures of violence that are sustaining it and creating these tragedies that are hurting everybody and will spill, beyond Israelis and Palestinians, throughout the region and throughout the world.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to ask you about the White House just saying that Gaza City’s evacuation is a “tall order.” The Israeli army’s call for more than a million people to evacuate North Gaza, a “tall order,” the White House has said, adding the U.S. understands Israel is trying to give civilians “fair warning.” Your response, Noura Erakat?

NOURA ERAKAT: That is so cynical. That is so cynical and can only be corroborated by an irresponsible media that has failed to show decimation of Palestinian communities, the attack on shelters, the attack on refugee camps. What warnings? To what end? Palestinians have been under siege for 16 years. There are no humanitarian corridors. The one corridor with Egypt was bombed by Israel. The minister of Israeli defense literally said that there will be no — there will be no exit, that there will be a siege, that electricity will be cut off, that water will be cut off, that Palestinians are “human animals.”

There has been a priming that all of these mass atrocities will be accepted by a population who will watch it with lament but think to themselves, “But what else was Israel supposed to do?” We are all being primed to accept mass atrocities. This historically is the playbook of how genocides happen. What we are seeing is a genocidal campaign.

You cannot forcibly transfer 1.1 million Palestinians in a 225-square-mile enclosed area. There is nowhere for them to go. The largest hospital, Palestinian hospital, that is literally on life support — no pun intended — to stay functioning, is in the north. Where will these Palestinians be treated?

What we are seeing is an ongoing shrinking of Palestinian land, is an ongoing campaign to take that land without the people. They want to shrink and concentrate the Palestinians now below Wadi Gaza in what is an untenable situation. As much as we think that this is about war and conflict and perpetual animosities, this is about land and water.

And there is only one viable future. We either all live together, or we all die together. And despite all of our appeals for us to survive and live together, the international community, mainly the Western governments, led by the United States — the European capitals, who have already cut off aid to Israel, France, which has banned Palestinian protests, Germany, which has banned Palestinian protests — are intent on a military option where there is no outcome. Military solution will not produce an outcome of a viable future for anybody.

AMY GOODMAN: You know, I already played this, but I’m going to play a much shorter clip of the former Israeli prime minister, because of how significant he is, Naftali Bennett, who’s now serving in the army in Gaza, exploding at the Sky News anchor Kamali Melbourne when asked about what’s happening with Palestinian civilians.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: What about those Palestinians in hospital who are on life support and babies in incubators, whose life support and incubator will have to be turned off because the Israelis have cut the power to Gaza?

NAFTALI BENNETT: Are you seriously keep on asking me about Palestinian civilians? What’s — what’s wrong with you?

AMY GOODMAN: “Are you seriously asking me about what’s happening to Palestinian civilians?” the former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said. You’re a human rights attorney, Noura Erakat. Your response?

NOURA ERAKAT: My response is, doesn’t have to be based on any expertise in human rights. This is about morality. This is about decency. The fact that Naftali Bennett can get upset about Palestinian civilians and the death of babies in incubators should be indicative to us that Palestinians do not have the same right to survive, that we are not exacting an equality and a respect and a decency for all civilian life.

We have set up this situation, Amy. We have set up this situation where Palestinians are expected to die. And what we are seeing in this moment is now an expectation that they can die in mass numbers, that they can die being in hospitals where they are cut off by electricity by the Middle East’s only nuclear power, the 11th most powerful military in the world. It’s the 12th largest military exporter, and the United States and the European community is sending them arms. They do not need arms. This is not a security situation. This is not a failure of security. This is a crisis of political will.

AMY GOODMAN: Noura —

NOURA ERAKAT: This is a — rather than normalize apartheid by inviting Israeli President Isaac Herzog to the Congress, Congress should have mobilized for an immediate imposition of sanctions in order to create a future where all people live, where all of us live, not just some of us.

AMY GOODMAN: Noura Erakat, we want to thank you for being with us, Palestinian human rights attorney, associate professor at Rutgers University. You just talked about hospitals.

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Gaza’s Health System at a “Breaking Point” Amid Israeli Siege & Bombing
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
OCTOBER 13, 2023
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/13 ... cal_system

Transcript

The World Health Organization warns Gaza’s healthcare system is at a “breaking point” under Israel’s unabated bombing of civilians, and its blockade of resources and medical supplies. The WHO also reports dozens of attacks on hospitals and ambulances. We speak with Dr. Zaher Sahloul, a physician specializing in disaster relief with the international medical nonprofit MedGlobal, which is supporting doctors in Gaza. He calls the situation there “beyond catastrophic” as the number of critically injured patients far outstrips available hospital beds. Sahloul says the U.S. must tell Israel to stop the “hell that is raining on Gaza.”

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization warned the health system in Gaza is at a breaking point. The WHO said, quote, “Without the immediate entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza — especially health services, medical supplies, food, clean water, fuel, and non-food items — humanitarian and health partners will be unable to respond to urgent needs of people who desperately need it. Each lost hour puts more lives at risk,” they said.

We’re joined now by Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president and CEO of MedGlobal, an international medical nonprofit that provides healthcare in disaster regions. He’s joining us from Chicago.

Dr. Sahloul, we only have three minutes. Can you talk about the situation on the ground, what’s possible, what is happening right now to the people of Gaza, especially with this demand that half of the population move from north to south? This is including the populations of the hospitals.

DR. ZAHER SAHLOUL: The situation is beyond catastrophic. I mean, I don’t have words to describe what’s happening right now. I’ve been in Ukraine, actually. I just came from Ukraine two weeks ago and visited some of the areas that were hit by the Russians. I’ve been in Syria. I’ve been in Lebanon, other places. I’ve been to Gaza four times. But this is the worst I have seen, in Gaza.

Children are dying unnecessarily because of this bombing. What happened in Israel a week ago should not justify what’s happening to the Palestinian children and the women and the elderly right now, and what will happen, the futures.

Hospitals are overwhelmed. We have only 2,500 beds in Gaza, and right now we have 7,000 critically ill, injured patients in Gaza. I’ve seen videos yesterday that was promoted by Dr. Hassam, who works in one of the hospitals in Gaza, where patients are on the floor of the emergency room because there’s not enough beds. Every exam bed has three children crying, and many of them are not crying because they are in shock. Doctors and nurses are in shock, not because of the overwhelming patients that are coming to the hospital, but because also they are not sure whether their families are safe or not or whether they will live for one more day or not. There is 75 attacks, according to the World Health Organization, in the last six days on hospitals, on ambulances, that led to 15 medics who were killed and 30-plus who were injured.

The situation going to get worse. That means more innocent people will die unnecessarily. Our hearts and prayers are with the people of Gaza, with the Palestinian people of Gaza, who are not responsible for what happened in Israel. Every loss of life should be treated the same way. And I don’t think — as a physician, I’ve been in crisis areas and disasters for the past 12 years. This is the worst I have seen. And I’m really fearful for the Palestinian people and the children, that have no connection to what happened in Israel. They’re not responsible for what happened in Israel.

The situation is beyond catastrophe. And I urge our government, because they are the only party that is able to stop this hell that is raining on Gaza.

AMY GOODMAN: President Zaher Sahloul, I want to thank you for being with us, president and CEO of MedGlobal, speaking to us from Chicago.

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“Gaza Is Running Out of Life”: Human Rights Watch Sounds Alarm on Israel’s Collective Punishment
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
October 16, 2023
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/16 ... transcript

The death toll from Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has topped 2,700, including more than 1,000 Palestinian children. As the humanitarian crisis worsens, we get an update from Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, who says conditions in Gaza are dire, as Israel has cut off access to electricity and safe water, and many disabled and ill residents are physically unable to obey the evacuation order. This comes as Israeli President Isaac Herzog said his government holds the entire population of Gaza, including civilians and children, responsible for Hamas’s attack. Shakir also discusses Israel’s use of white phosphorus, an illegal weapon of war. “People in Gaza are saying their goodbyes to the world,” says Shakir.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show in Gaza, where the death from Israel’s 10-day bombardment has topped 2,750. The dead include over a thousand Palestinian children. Over 50 Palestinians have also been killed in the occupied West Bank. Over 1 million residents of Gaza have been displaced, including many who fled their homes after Israel ordered the entire northern Gaza Strip to be vacated. More than a thousand people are believed to be trapped under rubble following Israeli airstrikes.

And the humanitarian catastrophe is growing as hospitals are running out of electricity and water due to the Israeli siege. Water has already run out at U.N. shelters across the Gaza Strip. This is Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaiseeb, deputy medical coordinator in Gaza for Doctors Without Borders.

DR. MOHAMMED ABU MUGHAISEEB: The situation is very difficult. I mean, today we were for two hours searching for drinkable water. Even drinkable water is not available anymore. It’s very difficult. Food, still there is food. No electricity, no pumping of normal water, as well. The hospitals are barely working. I mean, there’s a lot of medical staff who left the hospital with their families because you cannot — I mean, they are not safe, so they need to stay with their families to evacuate, as well. Medication is really decreasing in the private pharmacies, as well. So, I mean, it’s very dangerous. I mean, they are bombing all the day, so, I mean, there is no humanitarian corridor. Today I am in contact with some hospitals, mainly Shifa. Burn unit, there is only one surgeon, one anesthesiologist, no nurses at all in the hospital, in this burn unit especially. They have a lot of shortage or — I mean, we don’t know what will be tomorrow and where we are going.

AMY GOODMAN: Oxfam’s Omar Ghrieb recorded this audio message from Gaza after fleeing the northern Gaza Strip after Israel ordered the area fully evacuated. He described the mass exodus as “Nakba 2.0.”

OMAR GHRIEB: Perhaps yesterday was one of the worst days of my life. We spent years hearing from our grandparents about Nakba and what that was and how they felt. And I think yesterday we had the chance to actually see it with our own eyes when we were all pushed into mass expulsion, to go from north and center Gaza into southern Gaza. And it was really horrible. People spent over 14 hours in an influx of a sea made of people, just walking with their belongings, holding children, holding sick people, holding people with disability, just walking and walking and walking under the sun, begging any passing car to take them, but most cars were full to the brim. It was Nakba 2.0 happening right in front of our eyes, and we are actually a part of it.

I don’t know how and when we reached the south, but people kept coming. The streets were frantically busy. And I saw so many people just taking the streets, like putting their children and their belongings in the street and just sitting there, because most really left aimlessly with nowhere to go and no one to seek refuge to. And on top of that, they talked about a safe humanitarian route, and then they bombed two trucks filled with people. Tens were dead. I saw the bombing place. I don’t know what’s going to happen next.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Oxfam’s Omar Ghrieb speaking from Gaza. Many Palestinians say there’s no place for them to go. This is Um Muhammad Al-Laham, a grandmother, speaking from a hospital in Khan Younis next to her 4-year-old granddaughter, who was the only member of her family to survive after Israel bombed their home.

UM MUHAMMAD AL-LAHAM: [translated] They were sitting inside the house. My sons and his sons and one of their mothers-in-law were at his house. Suddenly, without warning, they bombed the house. Fourteen people were killed. Only this girl, my granddaughter Fulla, survived. I hope she’ll get better and stay safe and heal. May their souls rest in peace. God is the one who gives patience to people. … May God keep me alive to take care of her, and she will be a good person. She is the only person alive from her father’s family, who is martyred, also her brother, sister, mother, grandmother from her mother’s side, her uncles — all of them, 14 people all at once.

AMY GOODMAN: In Israel, family members who have loved ones kidnapped by Hamas held protests over the weekend demanding their safe return. Israel now believes Hamas is holding 199 hostages, a figure that’s higher than previous estimates. This is Avichai Brodetz, a farmer from kibbutz Kfar Aza. His wife and three children were taken captive in Gaza — to Gaza.

AVICHAI BRODETZ: And my kids are over there, along with my wife, I hope in good health. And I want them to come back home in good health. And I came here. This is where decisions are being made in Israel. If I could go to the center of Gaza and do the same thing, I would. And I wish I could go there some day. … We have to stop. I think we got this right now as a sign from God just to stop the bloodshed. And I ask Hamas, which is holding my family — I hope, again, in good health — please stop, and the Israeli government to please stop and just bring the women and children back.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined now by Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. He’s joining us from Chicago.

Omar, tell us the latest — it’s so difficult to make contact with people in Gaza right now — what you understand is happening, Israel demanding that the entire population of northern Gaza, which is the main population center, including Gaza City, must move south of Khan Younis, then, though, that we heard that they were bombing Khan Younis. Talk about the situation now.

OMAR SHAKIR: We’re witnessing a situation that’s simply not fathomable for any of us on the outside. We’re talking about a population that has now for days been without electricity, that has been without water, that has been without — for large parts of it, without internet, that’s been without food, that’s been without aid. Hundreds of thousands have left northern Gaza. You know, if they’re lucky, they’ve been able to get to relatives and family homes south of Wadi Gaza, as many do not have that privilege and, you know, are making temporary accommodations. They’re under constant bombardment. We’ve seen some of the more intense bombing of Gaza take place over the last 24 to 48 hours. There have been reports of people killed as they were taking a safe route out of Gaza. The hospitals are operating on generators, which are running out of fuel. People are now resorting to water that’s unfit for human consumption. There are people that have not been able to leave northern Gaza, because you have there Gaza’s main hospital. You have people with disabilities. You have older people. And they’re terrified of what might come ahead. You have Israeli officials who are signaling their intent to commit large-scale atrocities.

So we really have a terrifying situation where people in Gaza are saying their goodbyes to the world. They’re not sure, you know, whether or not they’ll make it to the evening, to tomorrow morning. The humanitarian situation, despite reports, people are not being allowed — have not been allowed to leave via Rafah as of the time we’re speaking. Aid is still not getting in. Electricity is still not getting in. There’s no confirmed reports of even water having come back in. So it’s a really desperate situation.

AMY GOODMAN: Heard that the Secretary of State Antony Blinken had pushed them to turn the water back on, but because the electricity isn’t on, it couldn’t be pumped.

OMAR SHAKIR: Exactly. I mean, in order for water to be provided, you obviously need the electricity to allow the water to be pumped. You also need — you know, the ability for the desalinizational plant to operate, you need electricity. Water infrastructure has been damaged in the airstrikes. And again, the water was only being provided to a certain part of southern Gaza, which is clearly part of the Israeli government’s strategy of trying to empty northern Gaza of its population. There are obviously many other areas in Gaza. So, right now people have no choice but to turn to water which is unfit for human consumption and which carries the risk, for those who drink it, of waterborne illnesses. So, amid everything else, not having water — as the U.N. has said, water is life. And Gaza is running out of life.

AMY GOODMAN: Omar Shakir, in a long Twitter thread you posted on Saturday, you warned Israeli authorities are signaling their intent to commit mass atrocities. You cite a number of Israeli officials making statements suggesting precisely that. Can you document what you’re saying and what they’ve been saying?

OMAR SHAKIR: Absolutely. I mean, we have seen rhetoric from the Israeli government that signals that they hold the entire 2.2 million people of Gaza responsible for the heinous attacks that took place on October 7th. You have the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, who has said very clearly that the entire nation of Gaza is responsible. He notes that the people there could have risen up to topple the Hamas government. You have statements from Israel’s energy minister, who was responsible for cutting the water, the fuel, the electricity, who has similarly talked about, you know, cutting off the last drop of water and the last battery until they’re defeated. Again, he’s referring — it’s a statement that refers both to Hamas authorities but also to evacuating the entire population. You have statements, of course, from Israel’s defense minister, that’s gotten much attention, about fighting “human animals,” declaring an entire siege on Gaza. You have Israel’s U.N. ambassador that was on CNN a couple of days ago and spoke about how, you know, “Let’s remember that Hamas — you know, that the population of Gaza elected Hamas.” Of course, he neglects to mention that nearly half of Gaza’s population are children who weren’t even alive to vote at the last time there were elections.

All these statements should worry the international community, because they’re not happening in a vacuum. They’re happening as the Israeli government reduces entire neighborhoods and blocks to rubble, as hundreds of children and civilians have been killed in relentless bombardments, 6,000 bombs dropped in a 25-by-7-mile area, I mean, an open-air prison. So these statements aren’t happening in a vacuum. They’re happening amid the most intense bombardment of Gaza we’ve maybe ever seen, in a situation where more than a million people, according to reports, have been displaced from their homes. So, the international community must act to stop this. There is a moment that we can try and stop this, and we must do so before it’s too late.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to play for our audience Israeli President Isaac Herzog claiming no one is innocent in the Gaza Strip, including civilians.

PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG: We are working, operating militarily, according to rules of international law, period, unequivocally. It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It’s not true, this rhetoric about civilians were not aware, not involved. It’s absolutely not true. They could have risen up. They could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d’état. But we are at war. We are at war. We are at war with the other. We are defending our homes. We are protecting our homes. That’s the truth. And then, when a nation protects its home, it fights. And we will fight until we break their backbone.

AMY GOODMAN: “We will fight until we break their backbone.” I want to turn to your post on Saturday, where you wrote, “History teaches us that, when there are clear calls to commit large-scale atrocities by a party capable of doing so & actions taken consistent with those words, they need to be taken seriously & stopped. That’s where we are today in Israel & Palestine. A descent into darkness.” Omar Shakir, if you can take it from there?

OMAR SHAKIR: Yeah, I mean, Present Herzog talked about breaking their back. They have broken the back of the people of Gaza in a way that’s simply unprecedented. The statement that the Israeli government is complying with international law is pure fiction. I mean, we know they’ve cut vital necessities, as we’ve discussed, to the entire civilian population. They have sealed the crossings. We know that they have bombed in a way that, again, has reduced — as has been proudly boasted by the Israeli Air Force on Twitter, of reducing entire neighborhoods and blocks to rubble.

You know, we really need to take note of these statements, because the Israeli government — and again, what’s striking here is that it’s not meeting the sort of pushback that one would expect in a situation like this. I mean, it took days for Europe and the United States even to reiterate basic platitudes about the need to comply with international humanitarian law. You’re not seeing sufficient effort taken to warn of the risks to Gaza’s population. It is a situation that, as we speak, is deteriorating, and not enough is being done to stop it.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to ask you about white phosphorus. You tweeted — Human Rights Watch tweeted October 12th, “Israel has used white phosphorus in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, putting civilians at risk of serious and long-term injuries. White phosphorus causes excruciating burns and can set homes afire. Its use in populated areas is unlawful.” Israel has denied this. What proof do you have of this, Omar Shakir?

OMAR SHAKIR: I mean, Israel also denied it in 2009, when Human Rights Watch documented it, and that turned out to be false, as was disproven by numerous other voices. Human Rights Watch verified this evidence. It’s confirmed. We were able to take video footage that took place both in Lebanon and Gaza, verified that it was recorded when it was taken. We ran these by weapons and munitions experts, who confirmed that it was — you know, that what was shown was white phosphorus. And then we interviewed people who live in the communities where the white phosphorus was dropped in Gaza, near the port area, and their description of what it looked like and smelled like was consistent with the use of white phosphorus.

Amnesty International followed up with their own reporting, where they were able to verify additional areas in which white phosphorus was used. They were able to look at footage that was provided by the Israeli government of some of the weapon systems being used in Gaza, again being able to source that it was white phosphorus that was being carried by those planes.

And, of course, we’re talking about a weapon that is, when dropped in civilian areas, unlawful, because it can burn homes and other structures. It can cause lifelong suffering for the communities that live there. The fact that the Israeli government is using it — and let’s note that they have — even when not used as a weapon, even when white phosphorus is used for signaling or obscuring the army, it can cause harm to civilians. And the Israel army has readily available alternatives that have much of the same effect in terms of signaling or obscuring, without the harm it causes to civilian populations. Its use is [inaudible] —

AMY GOODMAN: Well, Omar Shakir, I want to thank you very much for being with us, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, also authored the landmark 2021 Human Rights Watch report titled “A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution.”

Coming up, Israeli historian, Holocaust scholar Raz Segal. He says Israel’s assault on Gaza is “a textbook case of genocide.” Back in 30 seconds.

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“A Textbook Case of Genocide”: Israeli Holocaust Scholar Raz Segal Decries Israel’s Assault on Gaza
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
OCTOBER 16, 2023
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/16 ... transcript

Raz Segal, an Israeli expert in modern genocide, calls Israel’s assault on Gaza a textbook case of “intent to commit genocide” and its rationalization of its violence a “shameful use” of the lessons of the Holocaust. Israeli state exceptionalism and comparisons of its Palestinians victims to “Nazis” are used to “justify, rationalize, deny, distort, disavow mass violence against Palestinians,” says Segal.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

“A Textbook Case of Genocide: Israel has been explicit about what it’s carrying out in Gaza. Why isn’t the world listening?” That’s the headline of a new piece in Jewish Currents by our next guest, Raz Segal. He’s an Israeli historian, associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University, where he’s also an endowed professor in the study of modern genocide. Raz Segal joins us now from Philadelphia.

Professor Segal, welcome to Democracy Now! Lay out your case.

RAZ SEGAL: Thank you for having me.

I think that, indeed, what we’re seeing now in Gaza is a case of genocide. We have to understand that the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide from 1948 requires that we see special intent for genocide to happen. And to quote the convention, intent to destroy a group is defined as racial, ethnic, religious or national as such that is collectively, not just individuals. And this intent, as we just heard, is on full display by Israeli politicians and army officers since 7th of October. We heard Israel’s president. It’s well-known what the Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on 9th of October declaring a complete siege on Gaza, cutting off water, food, fuel, stating that “We’re fighting human animals,” and we will react “accordingly.” He also said that “We will eliminate everything.” We know that Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari, for example, acknowledged wanton destruction and said explicitly, “The emphasis on damage and not on accuracy.” So we’re seeing the special intent on full display. And really, I have to say, if this is not special intent to commit genocide, I really don’t know what is.

So, when we look at the actions taken, the dropping of thousands and thousands of bombs in a couple of days, including phosphorus bombs, as we heard, on one of the most densely populated areas around the world, together with these proclamations of intent, this indeed constitutes genocidal killing, which is the first act, according to the convention, of genocide. And Israel, I must say, is also perpetrating act number two and three — that is, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and creating condition designed to bring about the destruction of the group by cutting off water, food, supply of energy, bombing hospitals, ordering the fast evictions of hospitals, which the World Health Organization has declared to be, quote, “a death sentence.” So, we’re seeing the combination of genocidal acts with special intent. This is indeed a textbook case of genocide.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the displacement? Israel is saying that the entire northern Gaza — now hundreds of thousands of people have complied — must move south. The northern part of Gaza is the most populated, with Gaza City.

RAZ SEGAL: Yeah, definitely. I mean, as is well known, this is an impossible order. It’s impossible for specific groups of people — people in hospitals, people defined as disabled, elderly people — many Palestinians who refuse to leave their homes because of their histories and their memories of the Nakba. This is an impossible order. It’s yet another indication of the intent to destroy, the intent to commit genocide.

It’s also worthwhile to emphasize Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a new term that he coined, “complete siege.” It seems like a completely new term that really takes what was already a 17-year siege on Gaza, the longest in modern history, which was already a clear violation of international humanitarian law — it takes this siege and now turns it into a complete siege, which really signals the turn to this kind of genocidal destruction that we’re seeing, including with this eviction order.

It’s also worthwhile to try to explain, I think, why Israel is so explicit in its declaration. We’ve heard Israel’s president talk about evil. We’ve also heard about Biden’s use of the word “evil.” EU leaders describe the Hamas attack as “evil.” And it has to be said, the Hamas attack were clear war crimes, the mass murder of more than 1,000 Israeli civilians, a horrendous war crime that rightfully shocked many Israelis and many, many people around the world. But “evil” is not a term to describe them. “Evil” is a term to decontextualize. “Evil” is a term to demonize and to really enhance the widespread fantasies of Israelis today that they’re fighting Nazis. Actually, former Prime Minister Bennett, Naftali Bennett, said that directly in an interview yesterday: “We are fighting Nazis.” We see this and many, many other indications in Israeli society and politics today. And if we’re fighting Nazis, then everything is permissible.

AMY GOODMAN: Professor Segal —

RAZ SEGAL: No law —

AMY GOODMAN: I actually wanted to go to the former prime minister, Naftali Bennett, who’s currently in the Israeli army. This is from a few days ago, where he exploded at the Sky News anchor Kamali Melbourne during an interview Thursday, when Melbourne pressed him on Israel’s attacks on Palestinian civilians. This is a part of what he said.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: What about those Palestinians in hospital who are on life support and babies in incubators, whose life support and incubator will have to be turned off because the Israelis have cut the power to Gaza?

NAFTALI BENNETT: Are you seriously keep on asking me about Palestinian civilians? What’s — what’s wrong with you? Have you not seen what happened? We’re fighting Nazis. We don’t target them. Now, the world can come and bring them anything they want, if you want to bring them electricity. I’m not going to feed electricity or water to my enemies. If anyone else wants, that’s fine. We’re not responsible for them.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: But this is the point —

NAFTALI BENNETT: But you keep on —

KAMALI MELBOURNE: This is the point —

NAFTALI BENNETT: You — I want to tell you —

KAMALI MELBOURNE: No, no, Mr. Bennett, this is the point.

NAFTALI BENNETT: No. No, listen.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: Listen.

NAFTALI BENNETT: You listen to me right now.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: No, you’re raising your voice. And we’re trying —

NAFTALI BENNETT: I’ve heard you enough.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: No, no, I understand. We’re trying to have a conversation here.

NAFTALI BENNETT: I’ve heard a lot of you.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: Listen, this is my program.

NAFTALI BENNETT: No, you’re not having a —

KAMALI MELBOURNE: This is my show.

NAFTALI BENNETT: And that’s exactly —

KAMALI MELBOURNE: And I am asking the questions. You’re raising your voice.

NAFTALI BENNETT: But it’s my country.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: And I’ve asked you. And we’ve already —

NAFTALI BENNETT: And when people — when people —

KAMALI MELBOURNE: We’ve already — stop, please.

NAFTALI BENNETT: When people —

KAMALI MELBOURNE: And let me finish. We’ve already distinguished —

NAFTALI BENNETT: Shame on you, Mister.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: — between Hamas —

NAFTALI BENNETT: I want to tell you, you — shame on you.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: You’re trying to speak over me.

NAFTALI BENNETT: Because we are not —

KAMALI MELBOURNE: No, no.

NAFTALI BENNETT: Shame on you.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: It’s nothing about shame.

NAFTALI BENNETT: I am the — I was the prime minister.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: We’re trying to have a conversation —

NAFTALI BENNETT: There is absolutely shame.

KAMALI MELBOURNE: — about a very serious situation here.

NAFTALI BENNETT: Because when you just jump —

KAMALI MELBOURNE: And you are refusing to address it.

AMY GOODMAN: So, that is the former Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, exploding at the Sky News anchor Kamali Melbourne. Professor Segal, you’re an Israeli historian. This is what you’re talking about, when he uses the Nazi analogy and also when he says, “Are you seriously talking about Palestinian civilians?” Your response?

RAZ SEGAL: That’s exactly what we’re — it’s very important to understand this context, the idea of fighting Nazis, the idea of using Holocaust memory in this way. There is a broad context, a long history, of course, of this shameful use of Holocaust memory, which Israeli politicians have used to justify, rationalize, deny, distort, disavow mass violence against Palestinians. And it has allowed also a view to develop that sees Israel as somehow exceptional, providing it impunity. The truth, however, is that all perpetrators of genocide actually see their victims as dangerous, as vicious, as inhuman, right? That’s how the Nazis saw the Jews. And that’s how today Israelis see Palestinians.

And that’s why the lessons of the Holocaust, actually, which were never meant to provide cover and rationalize state violence and genocide, but, rather, protect groups, especially stateless and defenseless groups, groups under military occupation and siege, from violent states — the lessons of the Holocaust are now very, very urgent. We need to center the voices of those facing state violence and genocide, and we need to move to prevention as fast as possible. In order to do that, we need to recognize what’s going on around us, what’s unfolding in front of our eyes, which is really a textbook case of genocide, with the rhetoric, with the actions, with everything involved.

AMY GOODMAN: Raz Segal is associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University and the endowed professor in the study of modern genocide. He is an Israeli historian. His new article for Jewish Currents, we’ll link to, “A Textbook Case of Genocide.” The subtitle, “Israel has been explicit about what it’s carrying out in Gaza. Why isn’t the world listening?” Back in 30 seconds.

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Remembering Issam Abdallah, Reuters Journalist Killed Covering Israeli Missile Strikes in Lebanon
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
OCTOBER 16, 2023
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/16 ... df_lebanon

On Friday, an Israeli shell reportedly landed among a group of international journalists covering clashes on Lebanon’s border with Israel, killing Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and injuring six others. We speak to Abdallah’s close friend Lama Al-Arian, an international producer for Vice News in Beirut, who says colleagues believe that Abdallah’s death was the result of a “targeted attack.” Abdallah, whose hometown of Khiam had been occupied by Israel during the 15-year occupation of southern Lebanon, became a journalist “to tell stories from this region that he cared about so much, that he thinks is very misunderstood by Western media.” Remembers Al-Arian, “He always wanted to show the humanity of people suffering.”

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

On Friday, an Israeli artillery strike reportedly landed among a group of international journalists covering clashes near Lebanon’s border with Israel, killing 37-year-old Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah, who was part of a Reuters crew providing a live video signal. Six others were injured in the strike, including reporters for AFP — that’s Agence France-Presse — and Al Jazeera.

The Lebanese army said in a statement Israeli troops fired the shell that struck the journalists. Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry has requested a complaint be filed by Beirut’s mission to the United Nations over what it called a, quote, “flagrant violation and a crime against freedom of opinion and press,” unquote. The Israel Defense Forces say the incident is being looked into. Reuters says it’s, quote, “urgently seeking more information, working with authorities in the region, and supporting Issam’s family and colleagues.”

Just before the show, just before yet another funeral for Issam, I spoke with one of his closest friends, Lama Al-Arian. She’s an international producer for Vice News based in Beirut, Lebanon. I asked her to describe what happened.

LAMA AL-ARIAN: Well, Amy, since the bombing of Gaza began, there’s been a lot of tensions and flare-ups in the south of Lebanon between Israel and different groups there, and he was one of the many journalists who traveled there to cover what was happening.

He was in a group, in a press scrum, in a group of journalists, who were standing right in front of the Israeli border, clearly marked as press, you know, wearing their jackets, wearing their helmets and doing just live positions. They weren’t embedded with any sort of group. They were just there, you know, to tell the story of what was happening in the south. He even posted a selfie a few — maybe like 30 minutes before the events took place, you know, just showing what was happening. He was wearing his jacket and his helmet.

And then, you know, speaking to journalists who were there and also watching the Reuters live feed, which caught the moment they were hit, two Israeli strikes — we’re not sure what kind of artillery yet — hit them. And one of them, unfortunately, killed our friend and beloved journalist Issam and injured six other journalists, including Christina Assi, who’s still undergoing surgery at the moment.

AMY GOODMAN: And who did they all work for?

LAMA AL-ARIAN: There were journalists from the AFP. There were journalists from Reuters. There were journalists from Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera had been there for many days doing lives from this very position. Nobody thought that they were unsafe there. Issam was somebody who used to call me reckless and say that “I’m worried about you,” because he was somebody who really valued safety. And he’s been to many conflict zones. And he just always put safety of colleagues and himself, you know, even before the story. And so, that’s why many of his colleagues and his friends think they were targeted, because there were no, like, Hezbollah members or any members of armed groups in that area. It was just a group of journalists who were hit.

AMY GOODMAN: And where did the airstrike come from? And where exactly did it hit?

LAMA AL-ARIAN: It came definitely from the direction of Israel, because they were standing right in front of the border. Of course, there’s going to be investigations into this, but this is from eyewitnesses who were there, including his colleagues who survived the attack. The Lebanese army has also made a statement saying that it came from the direction of Israel and it was an Israeli strike. The Lebanese prime minister said the same thing, the acting prime minister, Najib Mikati.

And when the Israeli officials were asked about this, they, of course, haven’t taken any responsibility yet. The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations even was a little bit callous. He says, “We’re sorry. We’ll look into it. But we’re in a time of war, and things happen.”

So, it came — you know, as his colleagues, eyewitnesses and friends say, and many, many official reports, it came from Israel, but it’s very unlikely that there will be any accountability.

AMY GOODMAN: Did Issam die immediately?

LAMA AL-ARIAN: It seems from the videos that were published online, the very grim videos, that he did die immediately. You can hear other colleagues screaming in the background, saying, “My legs! My legs! I can’t feel my legs!” You have Dylan from the Associated Press — or, sorry, you have Dylan from AFP, who immediately ran to help his colleague. He put a tourniquet over her leg. When the second strike came — he was saying yesterday he wasn’t sure if it was the first strike or the second strike that killed Issam. But, unfortunately, I’ve been looking for his voice in any of the videos that have been published, especially immediately after the attack, when I was trying to figure out if my friend was safe or not, and I couldn’t hear his voice. So I think it was an immediate death.

AMY GOODMAN: How did you learn?

LAMA AL-ARIAN: I read on Twitter that a journalist had been injured, and I immediately started to call his friends. And they were all, you know, trying to also find out more information. And I kept calling his phone. And usually during any big incidents that happen in the country, like the Beirut explosion, he just declines my phone call. But this is the first time that I didn’t get like a declined phone call or him picking up, saying, “I’m busy. I’m working, but I’m OK.” And so, I just — unfortunately, I — I just felt that it was him who had passed away. We knew that he was with the other journalists that day. And it was a Reuters live feed that had caught the moment of impact, which, you know, he was running with two of his other colleagues who traveled here from Iraq.

AMY GOODMAN: When was the last time you saw him?

LAMA AL-ARIAN: I was actually just with Issam and a group of his friends two days before he passed away and a day before he traveled to the south. He was telling me that he was going to cover these events, but he was also mentioning, you know, how broken up he was about the images coming out of the Gaza Strip and also how upset he was by the coverage of many Western media outlets regarding this war. He had also told a friend earlier that this — he had also told a friend earlier last week that, you know, he was worried about safety concerns along the border. And what he feared most was that if he was to pass away or to die, nobody would name his killer.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you tell us about the funeral?

LAMA AL-ARIAN: The funeral was, of course, extremely sad. It took place in south Lebanon, you know, amongst the olive and pomegranate trees, which he loved so much. We’ve taken trips there in the past, where we drank coffee in the homes of his aunts, who all live there. And I know that he loved Lebanon very much. He loved the south very much. It took place, again, in his hometown, Khiam, which is a place that saw a lot of war and destruction previously. It was under, I think, 22 years of Israeli occupation before it was liberated May 25th, 2000. So, of course, there’s a lot of symbolism there. And it was attended by a lot of officials from many different political parties and, of course, many, many journalist friends of his. He was buried along with his press jacket, and on top of his grave, they lined his grave with his cameras.

AMY GOODMAN: Why did he become a journalist?

LAMA AL-ARIAN: I think the reason why Issam really became a journalist is to tell stories from this region that he cared about so much and that he thinks is very misunderstood by Western media. And he worked for Reuters for a very long time covering many different stories. He covered the Egyptian revolution in 2011, which I know he was very proud of. He covered stories from Lebanon. After the explosion, he was one of the first journalists to go straight to the port, and he interviewed injured people. He always took risks to make sure that people’s voices got out there. He covered the war in Ukraine. He was interviewing grieving mothers. He was in Turkey after the earthquake for weeks interviewing people living in the rubble. He was there when they were pulling people out from under the rubble. He was there, you know, covering funerals. And he just always wanted to show the humanity of people suffering.

AMY GOODMAN: And why had he gone to the border that day with the other journalists?

LAMA AL-ARIAN: He went to the border that day because there was, you know, back-and-forth fire between Israel and different armed groups in Lebanon. Because of what was happening in Gaza, you know, tensions and flare-ups started to happen at the border. And that was his job. His job was to go and tell people what was happening.

AMY GOODMAN: Lama, I’m talking to you today right before you’re going to another funeral for Issam?

LAMA AL-ARIAN: Yes. He was somebody who was extremely loved within the community. And, you know, it’s very common in Muslim and Arab culture to go and spend the first week with the family. So that’s what we’re going to be doing to try to give them as much support as possible, to the family members, to the journalists, who’ve also had to mourn their colleague but also keep working, reporting on what’s been happening in Gaza, reporting on what’s been happening inside Lebanon, and also the very real — also preparing for the very real possibility that there could be, you know, another war here.

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Lama, your sister Laila wrote a piece about your family and about your grandfather buying land in Gaza, investing his life savings, and about what’s happened to your own family in this last week in Gaza. Could you tell us about that?

LAMA AL-ARIAN: Of course. I mean, this is what I’ve been telling friend, like, who’ve been sending condolences. This is the second time this week, you know, friends from around the world have had to send me condolences. Earlier this week, my mother lost 11 of her extended family members in a single airstrike on her family home inside Gaza. And that was already very difficult on my mother and, of course, on our family. I didn’t know these family members very well, but it was still extremely heartbreaking to see videos of people who share our last name on the internet pulling out dead children from the rubble and injured people. And, you know, amongst the people that were killed was a 6-month-old baby named Zeineddine [phon.].

AMY GOODMAN: That was Lama Al-Airan, an international producer for Vice News, speaking to us from Beirut, Lebanon, about her dear friend Issam Abdallah, the Reuters videographer killed last week reportedly in an Israeli airstrike while reporting on the Israel-Lebanon border. The strike injured six other journalists, as well.

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Twelve Journalists, Mostly Palestinians in Gaza, Killed in “Deadliest Time for Journalists”
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
OCTOBER 16, 2023
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/16 ... m_abdallah

At least 12 journalists, mostly Palestinians, have been killed over the past 10 days of conflict in and around the Gaza Strip. Sherif Mansour of the Committee to Protect Journalists says it is one of the highest death tolls for journalists covering the conflict since 1992 and calls today it the “deadliest time for journalists in Gaza.” He joins Democracy Now! to discuss the role of journalism in combating misinformation during times of violence and the threat of widespread censorship by Israel and other state actors.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: In the first week of fighting in Gaza, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports at least 12 journalists have been killed. More are missing and injured.

We’re joined now by CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, Sherif Mansour.

Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Sherif. In these last few minutes we have — we’ve heard the story of Issam — tell us what you understand about what’s happened to journalists. He was on the Israel-Lebanon border. Israel says they’re looking into it. What’s happening in Gaza?

SHERIF MANSOUR: Well, this is the deadliest time for journalists in Gaza. That is, according to our count, one of the highest tolls for journalists covering the conflict since 1992. Since 2001, we’ve recently published stories of 20 Palestinian journalists who have been killed over the years covering IDF operations. Many of them, 13, were in Gaza before the start of this war. But right now we’re looking at at least 10 Palestinian journalists, mostly freelance photojournalists, for taking outsized challenge and risk in order to tell the story of what’s happening. But there are, in addition to Issam, from Lebanon, at least one or two journalists from Israel who have been killed and went missing since the beginning of the raid on October 7. We are also still investigating a lot of damages to media facilities in Gaza that were bombed over the course of the week, reportedly at least 48 or so. Many were injured. Many lost their homes. And many cannot access the outside world because of lack of internet.

AMY GOODMAN: So, let me ask you: What are the international laws and conventions in place to safeguard journalists and hold those responsible for their killings?

SHERIF MANSOUR: Well, we call on Israel to immediately investigate what happened to Issam and his six colleagues who were injured. We support the Lebanon complaint in the U.N. to make an investigation. And we also call on Brazil, who is presiding right now, on this week, on the U.N. Security Council, to make sure that journalists’ safety is included in any talks that’s happening diplomatically.

AMY GOODMAN: And let me ask you — last week, BBC Arabic journalists Muhannad Tutunji and Haitham Abudiab were reportedly stopped, assaulted and held at gunpoint by Israeli police in Tel Aviv. What do you know about this situation?

SHERIF MANSOUR: Unfortunately, censorship is widespread, not just on covering Gaza in Israel, and we’ve seen and reported a lot of journalists being threatened live, including from Al Araby TV just couple of days ago. And journalists have told us they have received threats, in addition to all the misinformation that has been spread to justify those attacks against those journalists. And we saw the Israeli government right now making decrees to censor and close Palestinian media outlets and inciting against even Israeli journalists who, quote-unquote, “harm national morale” during the war.

AMY GOODMAN: And I wanted to ask — on Friday, the U.S. news organization Semafor reported, quote, ”MSNBC has quietly taken three of its Muslim broadcasters out of the anchor’s chair since Hamas’s attack on Israel last Saturday amid America’s wave of sympathy for Israeli terror victims.” The article detailed how Mehdi Hasan, Ayman Mohyeldin and Ali Velshi have all seen their roles reduced over the past week, even though the three have some of the deepest knowledge of the region at the network, Semafor reported. Your final comments on this?

SHERIF MANSOUR: Well, journalists must provide accurate and independent account of what’s happening, including in time of crisis. We rely on them so that the misinformation that we see does not fuel the conflict. We rely on them so that we know the motivation and the implication of all the warring parties. And we rely on them to expose the potential of human rights violation or war crimes. So, we call for the absolute resilience of journalists and the support of their editors so that they can do their job fairly, without censorship.

AMY GOODMAN: Sherif Mansour, we want to thank you so much for being with us, Middle East and North Africa program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists.

That does it for our show. A happy birthday to Juan González and Miguel Nogueira! I’m Amy Goodman. Thanks for joining us.

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“We Will Never Leave”: Human Rights Lawyer Raji Sourani in Gaza City Refuses to Be “Good Victim”
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
OCTOBER 17, 2023
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/17 ... urani_gaza

We go to Gaza City to speak with Raji Sourani, director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza, who is refusing to move south after Israel’s evacuation order. “Why should we be good victims for criminals who do war crimes [in] the daylight in front of the whole world, and the world is watching?” asks Sourani, who says there are no safe havens in Gaza, but social solidarity is high among survivors. “They can bomb us. They can kill us. But they cannot take the love and the justice from our hearts and minds.” Since October 7, Israel’s attacks on Gaza have killed 2,800 people — over a third of them children — a figure that does not include an estimated 1,000 additional Palestinians trapped under rubble of homes and businesses. Civil groups are sounding the alarm as civilians in Gaza are being forced to use contaminated water, a majority of hospitals remain partially operational, and critical supplies are running low under Israel’s complete siege of the territory.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: The death toll from Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has topped 2,800 after Israeli airstrikes killed at least 71 people in the southern Gaza Strip. The attacks came just days after Israel ordered residents of the northern Gaza Strip to head south. Gaza’s civil defense force estimates at least 1,000 Palestinians remain trapped under rubble from recent Israeli strikes.

ABID SAQIR: [translated] The number of martyrs who are under rubble is 1,000, according to the figures of the Ministry of Interior. Work is underway to extract them, though we don’t have heavy machinery to do so. We are exerting individual efforts by civil defense personnel with some excavators. From Gaza Valley until the governate of Rafah, there are only two excavators working. And in each operation an excavator gets damaged, we postpone taking out martyrs until we fix it.

AMY GOODMAN: Earlier today, the Gaza Ministry of Health announced Gaza’s only oncology hospital, the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, will be forced to close within 48 hours due to a lack of fuel. On Monday, UNRWA, the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency, warned that Israel’s siege is having a devastating impact on civilians.

JULIETTE TOUMA: No supplies have come into Gaza since the 7th of October. Nothing. No fuel, no food, no water, no other types of assistance. No supplies have gotten into Gaza since the 7th of October. That, I can confirm. Not for UNRWA and not for other U.N. agencies. … There continues to be no water for the vast majority of the population in Gaza. We’re talking about 2 million people in the Gaza Strip who do not have water. And water is running out. And water is life. And life is running out of Gaza.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken announced President Biden will visit Israel Wednesday to show support for Israel following last week’s surprise attack by Hamas that killed over 1,400 people in Israel. During the attacks, Hamas and other militant groups seized as many as 250 hostages, most of whom are civilians. On Monday, Blinken said a deal is being developed to resume the delivery of some aid to Gaza.

SECRETARY OF STATE ANTONY BLINKEN: To that end, today, and at our request, the United States and Israel have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organizations to reach civilians in Gaza — and them alone — including the possibility of creating areas to help keep civilians out of harm’s way. It is critical that aid begin flowing into Gaza as soon as possible.

AMY GOODMAN: President Biden is also expected to travel to Amman to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah, the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Biden has so far refused to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. And on Monday, the U.S. voted against a ceasefire resolution proposed by Russia at the U.N. Security Council. On Monday, more than 50 protesters were arrested at the White House in demonstrations calling for a ceasefire. The protest was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow.

The head of U.S. Central Command, Army General Michael Kurilla, flew into Israel today as the United States continues to rush ammunition, air defenses and other weaponry to Israel ahead of a possible Israeli ground invasion of Gaza.

We go now to Gaza City, where we’re joined by Raji Sourani. He’s the award-winning human rights lawyer and director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza. He’s also the 2013 Right Livelihood Award laureate. He’s on the executive board of the International Federation for Human Rights. He received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in 1991, also twice named an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience. And years ago, when he was denied entry into the United States, it was former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, among others, who advocated on his behalf to secure a visa.

On Monday, he shared this message with his friends, quote:

“Good morning from Gaza
The most wonderful city l loved and wish to end my life on its soil
Terrible and unbelievable the criminality
We did not sleep from the bombing
Freedom and dignity so costly and we are ready to pay our lives for it
No right to give up
I am so proud of my people, unbelievable courage and strength
Keep the strategic optimism
Love and hugs to you all my friends.”

Raji Sourani, you’re in Gaza City. We spoke to you a week ago. You have remained in Gaza City, which is in the north of Gaza. You have not moved south. Can you talk about what’s happening in your city and why you’ve chosen to remain there?

RAJI SOURANI: Hi, Amy.

You know, I mean, Gaza, 85% of its population are refugees, and they suffered the Nakba in 1948. And there is the cultures and subcultures of Palestinians having always the Nakba in their minds and hearts. And what Prime Minister Netanyahu asked people of Gaza, day one, he asked Gazans to leave. His minister of defense, he said, “No electricity, no water, no fuel and no food.” And from the first minute for their reaction, they began to bomb everywhere and made sure no safe haven in Gaza. Much more than that, they were targeting civilians and civilian targets.

And later on, they asked people in the north of Gaza to move to the south, as if the south is the safe haven. But when people even, hundreds of thousands of them, moved to the south, the Israelis bombarded them. More than 170 were killed en route to the south. In the last two days, the south has had the hell of bombing and the concentration of bombing of the Israeli F-35, and the smart bombs of GBU-31/32/37, the most smart American bombs, are targeting everywhere. So, they left nothing. Nothing.

Why should we be good victims for criminals who do war crimes at the daylight in front of the whole world, and the world is watching? I cannot be, you know, good victim for the Israeli criminal occupation in this sixth war, launched against us after a blockade of 16 years and after occupation of 55 years. After 75 years, we have no right as the Palestinians to do another Nakba. We will resist that, because we knew the disaster which came to the Palestinian people 75 years ago. Israeli criminals, their criminality, it’s not a secret. It’s there in the real time, and the whole world is watching. And those who are backing it, politically, militarily, are complicit and part of the crime committed against Palestinian people.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Raji Sourani, how are the people, you and others, surviving without water, without electricity, without fuel?

RAJI SOURANI: I’m proud of my people, because with all the might of Israel, the strongest army in the Middle East, towards Gaza, the 365 square kilometers, and after a blockade of 16 years in the most dense populated area on Earth, which is lack of everything, they are still strong, still surviving. They didn’t give up. They have no right to give up. And they are managing. We have death everywhere, in the streets and the sky — and the deaths coming from the sky, from the sea, from the artillery. Everywhere, I mean, there is death and destruction. With that, I mean, people having super fantastic social solidarity. And they are trying to resist this aggression once and again. We have no right to give up. I’m very proud that I’m Gazan. I’m very proud I’m Palestinian. I’m very proud that we are not good victims for the criminals.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And when you hear the report now that President Biden, in the midst of this colossal war crime that is being committed, is going to travel to Israel?

RAJI SOURANI: I don’t know why he and Mr. Blinken insisting on bringing humanitarian aid, as if we are animal farm and all what people need, food. I’m telling you 1,200 children have been killed in Gaza. Nine hundred fifty women have been killed in Gaza. More than that, we have 7,000 injured people, who are, hundreds of them, in very critical conditions. We are having 1,200 under the rubble. People cannot uncover them because we have no means to uncover them in Gaza. And the civil defense was bombarded, and seven of them have been killed. More, I mean, even hospitals were asked to evacuate. To evacuate to where? Like, you are imposing death penalty, imposing death penalty on injured people who are treated in the hospitals, and trying to — Gaza, I mean, doctors, nurses have the courage to say, “No, we are not going to evacuate. Bomb us. Bomb us.”

And they are, you know, doing all these horrendous acts. Is this the most moral army on Earth who bombs schools of UNRWA youth shelters with thousands of people? Is this the most moral army who cuts water, electricity, food supplies on civilians? Is this the mighty Israel?

International law, international humanitarian law and the human rights, it’s there to protect civilians at the time of war. That’s why Geneva Conventions are there. That’s why Rome Statute are there. That’s why ICC is there. I mean, civilians need protection. They need to have a safe haven, but not only food. We have a prolonged occupation. Nobody is talking about occupation. We have crimes on our skins, on our ideas. The deaths of people in obscenity way, I mean, Israel dealing with it.

And then, I mean, this is Blinken and Biden bringing some food and medicine to the animal farm? We want dignity. We want freedom. We want the end of the occupation. That’s what we want. They have to stop these atrocities. And that is there is something called a free world, civilized world should call for. Why U.S. supported Ukraine? Because Russia invaded and occupied Ukraine. They give them political support. They give them financial support. They give them military support. And they ask Americans, and with them Europeans, to go and try for the freedom of Ukraine, to end the occupation of Russia. We are occupied 55 years, the Nakba since 75 years. We want to have an end for this occupation. We are not the criminals. No just or fair occupation on Earth. All international human rights organizations — name it — Human Rights Watch, Amnesty, EuroMed Human Rights Network, FIDH, even Israeli leading human rights organization B’Tselem and others — they said we have to hold Israel accountable for the crimes they are committing and doing, even before this war. With this war, I believe Mr. Biden, what he should say is, “Stop this aggression promptly, immediately. Stop attacking civilians. End the occupation. Give the Palestinians dignity, freedom and their independence.” That’s what we want from the free world. We don’t want one more bag of flour. No, we want end of the occupation. We want dignity, and we want freedom.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re sticking with you, Raji. It’s a little hard to understand as you speak on the phone, but rarely do media organizations have people on the phone from Gaza. It becomes increasingly difficult to hear what is happening on the ground there. So we appreciate and will — at democracynow.org, the transcript of this conversation will be available. I wanted to ask you about the State Department memo that was revealed, warning diplomats not to use the word “de-escalate,” and an Israeli military strategist saying, “Our goal isn’t turning Gaza City into a parking lot. Our goal is to turn Gaza into a Hamas-less region.” Can you respond to that, Raji?

RAJI SOURANI: Hamas, Fatah, PFLP, Jihad Islamic combatants, they are part of a resistance. Israel has a problem with them. We have no problem. There is rules of engagement between militaries. We have no problem with that. The real, real serious problem, it’s not that Israel is engaging with these. They are revenging from the civilians in Gaza. What hospitals, the schools, houses, towers had to do with Israel, with the attack which had happened? What 1,100 children have been killed has to do with the attack? The women have been killed, those who under rubbles and under destruction and unable to be recovered. Why patients cannot — I mean, receive all this? Why our fate and destiny to stay under occupation?

Everybody should think about the root causes of this. There is an occupation by Israel. This occupation committed many, many crimes. It’s the most well-documented conflict in history. And there is an open investigation at the ICC. And the prosecutor, Mr. K.K., Karim Khan, didn’t move one millimeter, while with Putin, in one year, he gave warrant to be arrested, and lies of sanctions — layers of sanctions have been imposed on Russia in unprecedented way. Now with Israel, everything is OK? Our blood is obscene?

They have the right to kill and destroy us, not to destroy what’s happening, even destroy our tomorrow. It’s shame on the West to support such criminal country who do these war crimes. We cannot be like old Rome. In old Rome, there was rule of law for masters, not for slaves. Palestinians are not the slaves of the 21st century. We will not accept that. We will die with dignity and with pride, but we are not going to be killed according to the Israeli army orders and instructions.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Raji, we have heard now for a week that the Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza will be opened, but it continues to be closed. What are you hearing about why it has taken so long to allow at least the most injured and those who are most vulnerable to leave Gaza?

RAJI SOURANI: Egypt knew the real intentions of Netanyahu. They knew that the real ultimate goal of this, to push all Gazans, the 2.4 million people, toward Sinai and Egypt. And they cannot be complicit, part of this crime. And they closed the border from their side, because they don’t want Gazans to live there. The Israeli-orchestrated bombing, the level of bombing, the architect of bombing, pushing people toward the south, toward Egypt. And that’s why Egypt, I mean, closed that. Israel wants the border to be open to make Gazans leave. Most of the Gazans won’t leave. And Egypt understood this is the Israeli plan. That’s why they blocked it. And they said, “If you want to open the crossing, I will only do that if you allow the humanitarian aid coming to Gaza.”

AMY GOODMAN: Raji —

RAJI SOURANI: Israel doesn’t want the humanitarian aid to come to Gaza. And they bombed and — Rafah crossing twice. Sorry, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: Yes, it was just bombed again, the area leading to Rafah, today. We just have 30 seconds, but just to understand: Are you going to leave Gaza? Are you going to leave your home? The last time we talked to you, your house was shaking. They had bombed the Islamic University nearby. What are your plans now?

RAJI SOURANI: On my body, I have no plan. I am here like an olive tree. We will never leave our homeland. I’m eight generations — I’m eight centuries, my family, I mean, living in this part of the world. I’m not going to reward Netanyahu by leaving because he threatened of that. They can bomb us. They can kill us. But they cannot take the love and the justice from our hearts and minds. We are defending just, fair, right cause. We know dignity and the freedom so costly. We will fight for that.

AMY GOODMAN: Raji Sourani, I want to thank you for being with us, award-winning human rights lawyer, director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza, recipient of the Right Livelihood Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, speaking to us from his home in Gaza City. Please be safe, Raji.

Next up, we go to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank to speak with Sari Bashi of Human Rights Watch. Back in 30 seconds.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: “We Are Palestinians” by the Palestinian singer Dalal Abu Amneh, who has been arrested by Israeli forces in the West Bank after she shared a social media post in support of charities working in Gaza.

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HRW Condemns Israel’s Collective Punishment on Gaza, Urges Biden to Help Restore Humanitarian Aid
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
OCTOBER 17, 2023
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/17 ... _west_bank

Israeli soldiers and settlers have cracked down on the occupied West Bank since Hamas’s shocking attack on Israel on October 7, killing at least 55 and arresting over 700 Palestinians, including several prominent lawmakers. “People are worried. All of this is unprecedented,” says Sari Bashi, program director at Human Rights Watch in Ramallah. Bashi is co-founder of Israeli human rights group Gisha, which works against apartheid policies that affect Palestinians, and urges U.S. lawmakers to address the human rights violations that led to this conflict. “No U.S. policy toward Israel-Palestine will be successful if it doesn’t address the abuses on the ground.”

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

We head now to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 55 Palestinians in the West Bank since Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel October 7th. Israeli authorities have also arrested over 700 Palestinians, several prominent lawmakers, including Aziz Dweik, the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

To talk about the situation in the West Bank and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, we’re joined by Sari Bashi, program director at Human Rights Watch, co-founder of Gisha, the leading Israeli human rights group promoting the right to freedom of movement for Palestinians in Gaza.

Sari, if you can talk about the entire situation, the imminent invasion of Gaza? You just heard Raji Sourani. And also talk about what’s happening in the West Bank. In the last year, approximately — it’s a bit more, but a Palestinian a day has been killed since the beginning of the year.

SARI BASHI: Yes. Thank you.

And I’m sorry to say that since October 7th in Gaza, Israeli airstrikes have killed, on average, 100 children a day. And that’s the statistic that stays with me.

So, this latest escalation began on October 7th, when Hamas-led fighters entered Israel and committed unspeakable war crimes against Israeli civilians. They massacred partygoers at an outdoor dance party. They entered homes, in some cases burning the homes, in other cases shooting families. And they took hostage men, women, older people, children, people with disabilities. Appropriately, the U.S. government and people in the United States condemned those acts, because they were unspeakable crimes against civilians that have no justification.

So the answer cannot be for the Israeli government, with the backing of the American government, to then target and harm civilians in Gaza. I am particularly concerned about the collective punishment of civilians in Gaza. The Israeli military cut food, electricity, water and fuel supplies on October 7th, which is contributing to the humanitarian catastrophe. And the Israeli military is engaging in — is dropping explosive weapons in densely populated areas with wide area effects. So, when you do that, when you drop bombs on crowded urban centers, it is predictable that you will kill civilians. It is predictable that you will kill children. And that’s what’s happening. Gaza is the size — about the size of the U.S. city of Philadelphia. It’s 2.2 million people. Nearly half of those people are children.

And that’s something that we need to see more of the United States government addressing. We’ve heard thus far general comments about the need to respect international humanitarian law. We need very specific directives for the Israeli government to immediately restore food, fuel, electricity and water supplies and to stop dropping weapons in densely populated civilian areas.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Sari Bashi, I wanted to ask you — the prime minister, Netanyahu, has urged the Palestinians in Gaza to flee to Egypt if they want to avoid the horrors of the bombing and the invasion. Isn’t this itself a form of ethnic cleansing? After all, Israel is not telling the Palestinians, “Hey, if you want to escape the bombing and the invasion, move into Israel or be transported to the West Bank.” After all, even Putin, in his invasion of Ukraine, ended up admitting 1.2 million Ukrainians into Russia to avoid the worst impact on them of the war itself.

SARI BASHI: So, the first thing to say is that the countries that are neighboring Gaza — Israel and Egypt — have an obligation to open their borders and let people who are fleeing for their lives enter. Not to do that risks violating the principle of non-refoulement. When you have mothers with children who are trying to save their children’s lives, Israel and Egypt need to open their borders and let that happen. But the Israeli evacuation order risks forcible transfer. The Israeli military has called on half the population in Gaza in the north to go to the south, and Israeli military officials have also called on people in Gaza to flee to Egypt.

Now, for people in Gaza, Gaza is — 70% of the people living in Gaza are refugees from what is now Israel. Some of the older people who fled Friday, Saturday from northern Gaza to southern Gaza, they remember fleeing the Israeli army 75 years ago. They remember the homes they left behind in what is now Israel. And they remember that they were never allowed to come back, although international law defends the right of return for all refugees, whether they’re Ukrainians trying to resume — to return to areas that have been liberated from Russian occupation or under Russian occupation, or people from Gaza coming back after the army has left.

My concern is that while it’s acceptable, and in some cases advisable, for warring parties to issue warnings, those warnings are only effective if there are safe ways for civilians to avoid harm. So, when you tell a million people to evacuate but there’s no safe place to go to and no safe way to get there, that’s not an effective warning. And another thing that the United States government should do very clearly is to call on the Israeli government to cancel the evacuation order and to take all measures to protect civilians who remain in the north. There are many people — men, women, children, older people, people with disabilities, hospital patients — who either cannot or will not leave the northern Gaza, and they retain their protections under international law.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And could you talk to us about how Palestinians in the West Bank are being impacted as a result of the continuing conflict in Gaza?

SARI BASHI: So, here, people are mostly worried. There have been road closures. Workers have not been allowed to enter Israel for their jobs. There have been increased military activity in the West Bank, including incursions and arrests. You mentioned arrests of people who expressed support for the attacks on October 7th. Businesses who engaged in that have been closed at night, with the Israeli army coming in. For the most part, people are worried.

All of this is unprecedented. The attacks that Hamas-led fighters committed against Israeli civilians on October 7th are unprecedented. It was the worst massacre of civilians in Israeli history. And the level of harm, targeted harm, that the Israeli military is inflicting on civilians in Gaza is also unprecedented.

At Human Rights Watch, we’re trying to hold open a narrow space for universal basic principles of humanity. It is never OK to commit unspeakable war crimes against civilians, as was done in southern Israel on October 7th. And that in no way justifies committing war crimes against civilians in Gaza.

And for Americans who are confused by all of what’s going on, I would suggest you just remember that very basic principle that civilians need to be protected, and then encourage your elected representatives to remind the U.S. government of that principle, because the United States government is providing $3.8 billion in annual military aid to Israel, and it’s rushing even more weapons here right now. It has a responsibility to rein in the attacks on civilians, to call on Israel to cancel the evacuation order and protect civilians in Gaza and to immediately restore humanitarian supplies to civilians.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the difference between your experience on the West Bank, as an Israeli Jewish lawyer, and your husband’s experience, as a Palestinian professor, a resident of Ramallah, for people to understand? And also this issue — you know, Jake Sullivan recently said, just a few weeks ago, Biden’s national security adviser, that it’s been quieter in the Middle East than any time in 20 years. This is the time that at least a Palestinian a day was being killed. And talk about settlers and the army.

SARI BASHI: Yeah. I think part of the concern — and I know Raji was addressing that when he talked about root causes — is that some of the root causes of the violence, including what Human Rights Watch and many other groups have called apartheid, are invisible to U.S. policymakers. We have a situation where U.S. policymakers are very busy brokering normalization deals between the most right-wing Israeli government in history and dictatorial Arab governments, and it’s not paying attention to what’s happening on the ground.

For decades, the Israeli authorities have engaged in systemic repression of Palestinians, including not allowing people in Gaza, refugees in Gaza, to return to their homes in what is now Israel, and including a punishing closure for the last 16 years that has not allowed appropriate supplies to enter and leave Gaza and has not allowed people to travel. And that’s part of the reason why people in Gaza were so vulnerable even before this violence began.

In addition, the Israeli government is privileging Israeli Jews over Palestinians. And that’s the essence of the crime against humanity of apartheid, when you commit inhumane acts and engage in systemic repression in order to privilege one group over another. So, I’m Israeli Jewish, American, as well. My partner is Palestinian. And I can do things that he can’t do. I can travel quite freely. And even though his mother is a refugee from what is now Israel, he can’t pass areas that are off limits to Palestinians. I have excellent rights. I have health. There are cities in Israel being built for Jews only, and also in the West Bank, settlements being built for Israeli Jews only, while Palestinians are hemmed in, unable to build cities, and their homes are being demolished for lack of permits that are almost impossible to get. The Israeli authorities are engaging in forcible transfer, where they remove Palestinian communities in the West Bank to make room for settlements. All of these are part of the root causes of the violence.

And the only thing I can hope is that U.S. policymakers will realize that it’s not quiet here. There’s terrible abuses going on. You just have to listen to what people on the ground are telling you, and adjust accordingly. No U.S. policy toward Israel-Palestine will be successful if it doesn’t address the abuses on the ground, first, second and third.

AMY GOODMAN: Sari Bashi, we want to thank you for being with us, program director at Human Rights Watch, co-founder of Gisha, the leading Israeli human rights group promoting the right to freedom of movement for Palestinians in Gaza.

Next up, we go to a former Israeli peace negotiator. His recent interview on BBC went viral. Back in 20 seconds.

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“Step Back from the Brink”: Ex-Israeli Peace Negotiator Daniel Levy Decries Israel’s Actions in Gaza
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
OCTOBER 17, 2023
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/17 ... levy_media

President Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday in an unprecedented show of support for the country following last week’s surprise attack by Hamas that killed over 1,400 Israelis, including many civilians. The United States continues to rush ammunition, air defenses and other weaponry to Israel ahead of a possible Israeli ground invasion of Gaza. To end this conflict, former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy says, the U.S. must change course to end Israel’s impunity toward Palestinians. If Biden refuses to recognize Palestinian suffering, “then he is, by sins of omission, encouraging the kind of … genocidal language that is proliferating right now and that is incredibly dangerous to everyone,” says Levy.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! — that’s “Rahawan” by Haya Zaatry — democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report.

Critics of the mainstream media’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war say a key problem has been its failure to challenge the dominant narrative from Israel that its military response in Gaza is targeting Hamas. Former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy recently challenged BBC News presenter Maryam Moshiri on this point. He’ll join us in a minute. First, the clip of their exchange, which went viral.

MARYAM MOSHIRI: The Israelis would say, “Well, look, you know, we are defending ourselves. We are targeting Hamas targets in Gaza. We are trying to put an end to what we believe is a terrorist organization once and for all.”

DANIEL LEVY: Do you really keep a straight face when you say that? Do you think terrorist organizations, embedded in populations who are denied their most basic rights, are ended once and for all in a military campaign? Does that happen in history? Can someone credibly tell me that when the leadership of a country says, “We are cutting off food, electricity, water, all supplies to an entire civilian population,” that they’re targeting militants?

I’m sorry, these kind of lies can’t be allowed to pass. And when you tell yourself the lie, it leads to the wrong policy. If anyone told me that what the militants did on the weekend was a legitimate response to years and years of occupation, I would say, “No, you’re wrongheaded. You’ve lost sight of humanity and reality.” And if anyone tells me that what Israel is doing in Gaza today is a legitimate response to what happened on the weekend, it’s exactly the same.

MARYAM MOSHIRI: And yet they are saying it. And yet the international community is saying that.

DANIEL LEVY: Yes, and people need to challenge them on it, because it’s a lie. And we’re warmongering if we allow them to get away with it.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we are joined by Daniel Levy, who you just heard in that clip, president of the U.S./Middle East Project, former Israeli peace negotiator with the Palestinians at Taba under Prime Minister Ehud Barak and at Oslo-B under Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He co-wrote a piece with Zaha Hassan for The Irish Times headlined “The outside world must walk Israel back from the abyss. It cannot be part of the choir of incitement.”

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Daniel Levy. We only have a few minutes. President Biden is arriving in Israel tomorrow. He’ll be meeting with Netanyahu. Can you talk about what needs to happen, what Netanyahu needs to do? You were the peace negotiator and adviser to the office of the former prime minister. Can you talk about what Israel needs to do and what the U.S. needs to do?

DANIEL LEVY: Well, first of all, it’s good to be with you.

Israel needs, as we have heard just now from Sari Bashi, to operate within the confines of international law and international humanitarian law and to not collectively punish the civilian population of Gaza. And then it has to address the ongoing crimes being committed under the occupation. That is not the mood in Israel right now, and it wasn’t on October 6th, before the horrific events of October 7th and before everything that has transpired since.

Therefore, it will be for the U.S. administration to do the thing that it has conspicuously failed to do historically, and which was a significant contributor to how we got here in the first place, because according Israel impunity, guaranteeing that there can be no accountability for what Israel does, has been the worst lesson one could possibly impart, the worst political guidance, and it contributed, not to everything that’s gone wrong, but it also contributed to the hubris and complacency which I think were a major part of how October 7th happened.

So you’re going to have the public messaging of President Biden, and I fully expect him to wrap his arms around the Israeli leadership and their people, show empathy — and he should. The first thing to say is, if he fails to humanize Palestinians, to show empathy to Palestinians, to speak of Palestinian pain and suffering, which is all too real — and we heard Raji Sourani — then he is, by sins of omission, encouraging the kind of — I don’t use this word lightly — genocidal language that is proliferating right now, and that is incredibly dangerous to everyone. So, that’s in public.

In private, I hope — my hopes aren’t high, I have to say, but what needs to happen is a strong message to the Israelis — it will have to go public, if necessary — of what they can and cannot do, and how do we prevent broader escalation, not only on the northern border, where many people are anticipating, and not only in terms of stopping what’s going on in Gaza, but we’ve just heard, and I think we have to take a long, hard look at what might happen and what is already happening in the West Bank and inside Israel itself, where people are terrified on all sides, but what you see is an impossible set of circumstances toward the Palestinian citizens of Israel.

AMY GOODMAN: You have said, “We do not say this lightly: if the international community does not intervene to stop what is coming, we could be watching a combination of mass killing and forced expulsion in real time.” Elaborate on this.

DANIEL LEVY: Well, I think we’ve heard what is going on right now in terms of the killings of Palestinians, and that number goes up all the time. The number of children go up all the time. And what you’ve seen on the Israeli leadership declarations is a real refusal to draw a distinction between combatants and civilians.

And we have heard a lot of talk coming out of Israel in the last years, and it has only intensified, including after October 7th, of a second Nakba, of a second forced displacement of Palestinians. Israel has gone through an interesting transition, where first the Nakba was denied, and then it was embraced as something that needs to be completed — not by everyone. I want to make that very clear. But that threat is real, and it doesn’t just hover over Gaza, which has largely been cut off from the broader expanse of Palestinian territory anyway.

And so, that is why we raised the alarm bell and called on internationals not to join this choir of incitement, because it is the road to hell for everyone. If Israel is going to exist in that part of the world, then it has tied its fate to the Palestinians in that part of the world. And it cannot be zero-sum, because what we are doing is just creating more and more hatred. And you step back from that; you don’t propel yourself further into it.

AMY GOODMAN: We have 30 seconds, Daniel Levy. Your message to the U.S., to Israel, to Palestinians and the world?

DANIEL LEVY: Step back from the brink in the immediate term, and then get to grips with the fact that Palestinians, who live without hope, rights, the ability to plan a future, are not going to succumb to that. It doesn’t justify anything, but we have been warning for years that this will explode, and it has. And now we need a different approach.

AMY GOODMAN: Daniel Levy, president of the U.S./Middle East Project, former Israeli peace negotiator with the Palestinians.

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A Letter from Michael Moore Regarding the Killings of Palestinians and Israelis
by Michael Moore
OCT 17, 2023
https://www.michaelmoore.com/p/a-letter ... dium=email


Actor/playwright Wally Shawn at the White House with a massive turnout of Jewish peace groups @IfNotNowOrg and @JvpAction demanding President Biden fight for a cease fire and end the killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians.

To My Friends and Loved Ones,

No one ever wants to wake up on a Saturday morning to a thousand dead Jews in the street. Anywhere.

SHAME!

I still have not been able to process this and I still can’t believe this is the world I live in. I was born 8+ years after the Holocaust. And now I sit and wait for the mass slaughter of Palestinians, a Semitic tribe, cousins to Jews.

Not one Palestinian helped build Auschwitz.

Not one Palestinian led a Spanish Inquisition.

Not one Palestinian in New York City turned away a boatload of Jewish refugees trying to dock here to escape the Nazis — and not one Palestinian escorted those Jews back to their death in Germany.

And yet they, the Palestinians, will now be exterminated like something less than insects by the descendants of the very people who have suffered one extermination attempt after another for 5,784 years! Cousins! Cease! The Madness! Your only true enemy for the past 2,000 years has been and still is the White “Christians”! Ask the Native Americans. Ask any Black American. Ask the Mexicans. Ask the Indigenous Peoples of the British Empire, the Vietnamese under the boot of the French, and on and on. And now this week, the people of Gaza must be wiped out or forcibly moved into the Sinai Desert? Those left behind have already had their food and their drinking water cut off (humans can only live 4 days without water).

WHY?! Palestinians didn’t take your land, your water, your fruit groves. They share the same prophets with you. They eat hummus and you eat hummus. No Palestinian ever murdered you while you were registering voters in the South. No Palestinians ever paraded with tiki torches through Charlottesville chanting “THE JEWS SHALL NOT REPLACE US!” That was US! Why not punish us? No. Instead you’ve given us great masterpieces of music, art, comedy, literature, philosophy, film, medicine, science and a moral compass which you gave us to live by, to help create a world of love and peace with each other. Now you throw your compass away? You were supposed to be our guiding light, even in the midst of unspeakable horrors. You’ve let a fascist gang take over, a group of killers who seek genocide — and our only hope of stopping them is that there are too many smart citizens of Israel who’ve already figured it out. They are asking the right questions. Why did Netanyahu pull the army back from the Gaza border? For 6-18 hours no help arrived. People were left to be slaughtered. And now comes news from the Israeli press that Netanyahu’s administration has for years been holding secret meetings with Hamas because they wanted to use them and turn them against the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Divide and conquer, one of the oldest fascist tricks in the book.

But the Israeli peace movement is vibrant and loud and there is nothing like them in the U.S. When we, the few of us, tried to stop the invasion of Iraq, we were denounced and opposed by 29 Democrats in the U.S. Senate, the New York Times, and other “liberals” who called us “unpatriotic” for not “supporting the troops.”

But too many Israelis now know the truth about October 7th, and they will not go away. As the bank for this now in-progress-slaughter — a bank called the United States of America — the citizens of my country must support the voices against genocide in Israel. You do not defeat evil by becoming evil. Those with the most courage and humanity rise up and say, “NO! Never! Not I!! I will not do to others what has been done to me.”



***

Thanks to our friend, Donald Borenstein, for researching and providing us with these 10 links, many of them from Israelis who are trying to get the word out to stop the impending slaughter of Palestinians. Please share.

On Netanyahu and Hamas:

“For years, Netanyahu propped up Hamas. Now it’s blown up in our faces”

On Netanyahu and the assassination of PM Rabin:

“Labor chief Michaeli: Rabin was assassinated with Netanyahu’s cooperation”

On the uncomfortable and widespread far-right sentiments in the current Netanyahu govt, which has now secured an emergency unified govt with its primary opposition in a time of war:

“Likud court restores member who said ‘6 million more’ Ashkenazim should burn”

Likud court restores member who said ‘6 million more’ Ashkenazim should burn: Panel says Itzik Zarka’s remarks ‘crossed red lines’ but hails him as ‘devoted and committed’ to ruling party, rejects petitions against two other activists for contentious acts
by Toi Staff
The Times of Israel
22 September 2023, 4:45 pm


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center) embraces Likud activist Itzik Zarka during a party faction meeting at the Knesset on July 9, 2018 (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

The ruling Likud party’s internal court on Friday rejected petitions to boot several party activists for inflammatory remarks and actions.

In July, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the removal of Itzik Zarka after he was caught on video shouting at protesters, “Ashkenazim, whores, may you burn in hell,” referring to Jews of Eastern European origin.

“I am proud of the six million that were burned, I wish that another six million will be burned,” Zarka said at the time, referencing the Holocaust.“Leftists are traitors, you are the cancer of the country.”

While not acquitting Zarka for his remarks, the court restored his membership effective immediately and handed him a yearlong conditional suspension, which will kick in if he makes any comments over the next three years “relating directly or indirectly to the Holocaust or the murder of six million people because they belong to the Jewish people.”

In its decision, the court described Zarka as “devoted and committed” to Likud and said he “crossed red lines in a manner that cannot be accepted,” before reinstating him.

“There are comments that have no justification and no atonement. Zarka’s inconceivable comments became the property of the entire public in Israel and will accompany us and especially him for many years to come, like a blue number that is burned on the arm and cannot be removed,” it said, in an apparent reference to the tattoos received by prisoners of Nazi concentration camps.

Zarka, a prominent Likud activist, has a long history of violent statements against those who oppose Netanyahu or his government’s policies, while still enjoying close ties to senior politicians including the premier, as well as to his family.


Likud activist Itzik Zarka celebrates the election results with pink champagne in an apparent reference to party leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial, in Jerusalem, November 1, 2022 (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

The tribunal outright rejected petitions to ban activists Rami Ben-Yehuda and Moshe Meron for their contentious statements and actions, saying they “are lovers of their people and country” and lauded their commitment to the party in the face of “incited zombies.”

Among other incidents in the past, the two were documented with posters reading “leftists are traitors” near the Western Wall during a protest by veterans of the 1973 Yom Kippur War against the government’s judicial overhaul.

Part of their defense was a letter from Jerusalem District Prosecutor Nurit Litman, who determined that “leftist traitors” cannot be considered incitement to violence and is protected as freedom of expression.

Ben-Yehuda is known for his attack dog tactics against political rivals and opponents of the party. He was suspended from the Likud in September after physically assaulting anti-Netanyahu protesters, and placed under a restraining order in 2021 for verbally abusing the wife of Likud defector MK Ze’ev Elkin.

Despite his antics, which include calling opponents of the judicial overhaul both “Hitler’s contemptible handmaids” and wishing a lawmaker would be sent “to the gas chambers,” Ben-Yehuda has been feted by senior Likud members and photographed alongside them, and last month received birthday greetings from far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Meron, a former Kahanist, was a leading figure in protests against the previous government.


Rami Ben-Yehuda arrives for a court hearing at the Magistrate’s Court in Tel Aviv on December 18, 2022. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Responding to Friday’s rulings, Likud put out a statement saying it was “sorrowed” the court reinstated Zarka’s membership and said the party’s position was that he should be permanently barred.

“We will appeal with the appropriate procedures,” the statement said.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party slammed Likud, accusing it of “spitting in the face of hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors.”

“Shame on you,” it added.

Elkin, the former Likud lawmaker, condemned Likud for its praise of Ben-Yehuda.

“To where have you declined?!” Elkin, now a member of the opposition National Unity party, wrote on X. “And after this they will again tell us that Netanyahu and Likud are not responsible for [Ben-Yehuda’s] thuggery.”

On Gaza as an open air prison:

“Israel occupation makes Palestinian territories 'open-air prison', UN expert says”

On the influx of Evangelical Christian money and American right-wing support for the Netanyahu government:

“Half of evangelicals support Israel because they believe it is important for fulfilling end-times prophecy”

Please watch this. It is not easy and it is morally required of you as an American paying for this:



On how this is not being carried out in the name of anyone but Benjamin Netanyahu:

Gilad Melzer
October 13 at 9:08 AM
Dear Friends all around the world.
Here is "Little Rock", a 19 years old young woman from Kibbutz Beeri - less than 3 miles from the border with Gaza. 110 of her neighbors were slaughtered. Buildings burnt to the ground. The community destroyed. Her friends in near by communities suffered no less. AND HER HER PLIGHT; STOP THE BOMBING OF GAZA. EXCHANGE PRISONERS NOW. SIT DOWN FOR PEACE TALKS.
"Little Rock" is our mountain of hope. She asks that we all listen to her, we owe it to her. I ask that you all spread the word. Words of hope. Re-post, re-twitt, on all mediums
Translated, Ilana Goldberg. Edited, Eitan Mor.
Here it is also in YOUTUBE - SPREAD THE WORD

On where this fits in to the struggle for Palestinian Liberation (written before the seige escalated):

“A Siege Broken”

https://twitter.com/ayaghanameh/status/ ... nNQgSnHV3s

Most importantly, if you wish to take action, call your congressperson NOW:

Jewish Voice for Peace: URGENT: Stop genocide against Palestinians in Gaza (call now)

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For years, Netanyahu propped up Hamas. Now it’s blown up in our faces. The premier’s policy of treating the terror group as a partner, at the expense of Abbas and Palestinian statehood, has resulted in wounds that will take Israel years to heal from
by Tal Schneider
Times of Israel
8 October 2023, 3:58 pm
https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-years ... dium=email

THE MOSSAD'S FALSE FLAG AL QAEDA CELL

Rashid Abu Shbak, the head of Palestinian Preventive Security in the Gaza Strip said on Friday, December 6, 2002 that his forces had identified a number of Palestinian collaborators who had been ordered by Israeli security agencies to "work in the Gaza Strip under the name of Al-Qaeda." Al-Jazeera TV reported that the Palestinian authorities had arrested a group of Palestinian "collaborators with Israeli occupation" in Gaza, who were trying to set up an operation there in the name of bin Laden's Al-Qaeda. The Palestinian Authority spokesman said the members of the group had confessed that they were recruited and organized by the Israeli intelligence, Mossad. Sharon had personally claimed on December 4, 2002 that he had proof of Al-Qaeda operations in Gaza, and used the allegations to justify brutal Israeli Defense Forces attacks in the Gaza Strip the next day -- which was the start of the Islamic holiday, Eid, celebrating the end of Ramadan. Ten civilians were killed in the IDF assaults. Reuters published an extensive featured story on the affair by Diala Saadeh on December 7, 2002, under the headline "Palestinians: Israel Faked Gaza Al Qaeda Presence." The article quoted President Arafat, who told reporters at his West Bank Ramallah headquarters, "It is a big, big, big lie to cover [Sharon's] attacks and his crimes against our people everywhere." Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo explained: "There are certain elements who were instructed by the Mossad to form a cell under the name of Al Qaeda in the Gaza Strip in order to justify the assault and the military campaigns of the Israeli occupation army against Gaza." (Haaretz, Reuters and Al Jazeera, December 7, 2002) Sharon is of course a past master of false-flag tactics like these, having been implicated in the direction of the Abu Nidal organization and also in the setting up of Hamas.

On Sunday, December 8, 2002, Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian Authority Planning and International Cooperation Minister, held a press conference with Col. Rashid Abu Shbak, head of the PA 's Preventive Security Apparatus in the Gaza Strip, to release documents and provide further information about the Israeli intelligence creation of a self-styled Al Qaeda cell. Shaath called on the diplomats to "convey to their countries that they assume the responsibility of exerting pressure on the Israeli government to stop the Israeli aggression," and announced that the PA had handed ambassadors and consuls of the Arab and foreign countries documents revealing the involvement of the Israeli Intelligence in recruiting citizens from Gaza Strip in a fake organization carrying the name of Qaeda. The goal of the operation was to create a new pretext for aggression against the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip. Shbak said that the PA had found eight cases of fake Al Qaeda recruiting over the previous nine months. Three Palestinians were arrested, while another 11 Palestinians were released, "because they came and informed us of this Israeli plot." The PA Security Service had traced mobile phone calls and e-mails, purportedly from Germany and Lebanon, back to Israel; these were messages asking Palestinians to join Al Qaeda. One e-mail even bore the forged signature of Osama bin Laden. "We investigated the origin of those calls, which used roaming, and messages, and found out they all came from Israel," Shbak said. The recruits were paired with collaborators in Gaza, and received money and weapons, "although most of these weapons did not work." The money was provided by collaborators, or transferred from bank accounts in Israel and Jerusalem. (Palestine Ministry of Public Information, Islam Online, December 9, 2002)...

Palestine -- After Israeli had occupied the west bank of the Jordan River, the Gaza strip and the Sinai peninsula in June, 1967, the Israelis found themselves ruling over some two million Palestinians. Under the United Nations system it is illegal to annex territory acquired through armed conflict without the approval of the United Nations Security Council, which in this case was not forthcoming. Rather, the UNSC passed resolution 242, calling on Israel to withdraw to the internationally recognized borders as they had been before June 1967. (In the run-up to the Iraq war, Bush spokesmen accused Iraq of having violated some 17 United Nations Security Council resolutions; they conveniently forgot that Israel was the all-time champion in that department, since Israel is currently in violation of some 30 UNSC resolutions regarded the territories it has occupied since 1967. But the US never proposed war to enforce compliance with those resolutions.) The Israeli occupation of conquered Palestine was oppressive and humiliating, and a national resistance soon emerged in the form of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Its leader was Yassir Arafat, a secular nationalist more or less in the Nasser mold. Since the PLO had few weapons, and since the Israeli army was a dominant presence, the PLO began doing what the Jews had done between 1945 and 1948 against the British occupation of the same territory: they launched guerilla warfare, which the occupiers quickly labeled terrorism. The official Israeli line was that there was no Palestinian people, but this was soon disproved. From the beginning, the Israeli Mossad was active in conducting provocations which it sought to attribute to the PLO and its peripheries: attacks on airliners and on the 1972 Olympic games in Munich are therefore of uncertain paternity. The more horrendous the atrocity, the greater the backlash of world public opinion against the PLO. There is no doubt that the Mossad controlled a part of the central committee of the organization known as Abu Nidal, after the nom de guerre of its leader, Sabri al Banna. In 1987-88, just as the first Palestinian intifada uprising was getting under way, there emerged in the occupied territories the organization known as Hamas. Hamas combined a strong commitment to neighborhood social services with the rejection of negotiations with Israel and the demand for a military solution which was sure to be labeled terrorism. Interestingly enough, one of the leading sponsors of Hamas was Ariel Sharon, a former general who was then a cabinet minister. These facts are widely recognized; US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurzer, an observant Jew, stated late in 2001 that Hamas had emerged "with the tacit support of Israel" because in the late 1980s "Israel perceived it would be better to have people turning toward religion, rather than toward a nationalistic cause." (Ha'aretz, Dec. 21, 2001) In an acrimonious Israeli cabinet debate around the same time, Israeli extremist Knesset member Silva Shalom stated:

"between Hamas and Arafat, I prefer Hamas ... Arafat is a terrorist in a diplomat's suit, while the Hamas can be hit unmercifully." (Ha'aretz, Dec. 4, 2001)

This tirade provoked a walkout by Shimon Peres and the other Labor Party ministers. Arafat added his own view, which was that

"Hamas is a creature of Israel which, at the time of Prime Minister Shamir, gave them money and more than 700 institutions, among them schools, universities, and mosques. Even [Israeli Prime Minister] Rabin ended up admitting it, when I charged him with it, in the presence of Mubarak." (Corriere della Sera, Dec. 11, 2001)

With incredible arrogance, the Bush administration has pronounced Arafat as unfit to be a negotiating partner. In effect, they are choosing Hamas -- or worse, an act of incalculable folly for Israel and for the United States as well.

-- 9/11 Synthetic Terror Made in USA, by Webster Griffin Tarpley

Palestinians wave their national flag and celebrate by a destroyed Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of Khan Younis, Oct. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Yousef Masoud)

For years, the various governments led by Benjamin Netanyahu took an approach that divided power between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank — bringing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to his knees while making moves that propped up the Hamas terror group.

The idea was to prevent Abbas — or anyone else in the Palestinian Authority’s West Bank government — from advancing toward the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Thus, amid this bid to impair Abbas, Hamas was upgraded from a mere terror group to an organization with which Israel held indirect negotiations via Egypt, and one that was allowed to receive infusions of cash from abroad.

Hamas was also included in discussions about increasing the number of work permits Israel granted to Gazan laborers, which kept money flowing into Gaza, meaning food for families and the ability to purchase basic products.

Israeli officials said these permits, which allow Gazan laborers to earn higher salaries than they would in the enclave, were a powerful tool to help preserve calm.

Toward the end of Netanyahu’s fifth government in 2021, approximately 2,000-3,000 work permits were issued to Gazans. This number climbed to 5,000 and, during the Bennett-Lapid government, rose sharply to 10,000.


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads a government conference at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on September 27, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Since Netanyahu returned to power in January 2023, the number of work permits has soared to nearly 20,000.

Additionally, since 2014, Netanyahu-led governments have practically turned a blind eye to the incendiary balloons and rocket fire from Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel has allowed suitcases holding millions in Qatari cash to enter Gaza through its crossings since 2018, in order to maintain its fragile ceasefire with the Hamas rulers of the Strip.


A Palestinian man receives financial aid at a supermarket in Gaza City, on September 15, 2021, as part of the UN’s Humanitarian Cash Assistance program, supported by the state of Qatar. (Mahmud Hams/AFP)

Most of the time, Israeli policy was to treat the Palestinian Authority as a burden and Hamas as an asset. Far-right MK Bezalel Smotrich, now the finance minister in the hardline government and leader of the Religious Zionism party, said so himself in 2015.

According to various reports, Netanyahu made a similar point at a Likud faction meeting in early 2019, when he was quoted as saying that those who oppose a Palestinian state should support the transfer of funds to Gaza, because maintaining the separation between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza would prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

While Netanyahu does not make these kind of statements publicly or officially, his words are in line with the policy that he implemented.


Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas looking on as he receives Palestinian athletes in Ramallah in the West Bank on August 4, 2023. (Wissam KHALIFA/PPO/AFP)

The same messaging was repeated by right-wing commentators, who may have received briefings on the matter or talked to Likud higher-ups and understood the message.

Bolstered by this policy, Hamas grew stronger and stronger until Saturday, Israel’s “Pearl Harbor,” the bloodiest day in its history — when terrorists crossed the border, slaughtered hundreds of Israelis and kidnapped an unknown number under the cover of thousands of rockets fired at towns throughout the country’s south and center.

The country has known attacks and wars, but never on such a scale in a single morning.

One thing is clear: The concept of indirectly strengthening Hamas — while tolerating sporadic attacks and minor military operations every few years — went up in smoke Saturday.

Just a few days ago, Assaf Pozilov, a reporter for the Kan public broadcaster, tweeted the following: “The Islamic Jihad organization has started a noisy exercise very close to the border, in which they practiced launching missiles, breaking into Israel and kidnapping soldiers.”


The body of a person killed by Hamas terrorists lies covered inside a bullet-riddled car in the southern city of Sderot on October 7, 2023 (Oren ZIV / AFP)

The difference between Islamic Jihad and Hamas doesn’t matter much at this point. As far as the State of Israel is concerned, the territory is under the control of Hamas, and it is responsible for all the training and activities there.

Hamas became stronger and used the auspices of peace that Israelis so longed for as cover for its training, and hundreds of Israelis have paid with their lives for this massive omission.

The terror inflicted on the civilian population in Israel is so enormous that the wounds from it will not heal for years, a challenge compounded by the dozens abducted into Gaza.

Judging by the way Netanyahu has managed Gaza in the last 13 years, it is not certain that there will be a clear policy going forward.