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Scottish Friends of Palestine
Briefing Paper
February 2024
· Israel said its military is starting to shift from a large-scale ground and air campaign in the Gaza Strip to a more targeted phase in its war against Hamas, and Israeli officials have privately told their American counterparts that they hoped the transition would be completed by the end of January. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief spokesman for the Israeli military, said the new phase of the campaign involved fewer troops and airstrikes. (January 8, 2024). For further details, click here
· Israel announced that retired Supreme Court President Aharon Barak, 87, will be Israel’s appointee to the 15-judge panel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague that will hear South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. (January 9, 2024). For further details, click here
· The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, said: “Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population. Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law.” (January 10, 2024). For further details, click here
· Israel’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by international media organizations to allow independent access for journalists to the war-torn Gaza Strip. The court argued the restrictions were justified on security grounds, as the independent entry of journalists could endanger Israeli soldiers. (January 9, 2024). For further details, click here
· Israel rejected the genocide charge in the lawsuit filed against it by South Africa before the ICJ. Foreign Ministry legal adviser Tal Becker asserted before the court that the case is ‘a libel,’ aimed ‘to deny Israel the right to defend itself’. He claimed that “The key component of genocide — the intention to destroy a people, in whole or in part — is totally lacking. What Israel seeks by operating in Gaza is not to destroy a people, but to protect a people — its people, who are under attack on multiple fronts — and to do so in accordance with the law, even as it faces a heartless enemy determined to use that very commitment against it”. (January 12, 2024) For further details, click here
· Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Israel’s unwavering commitment to pursue the conflict until total victory, emphasizing that “Nobody will stop us – not The Hague, not the axis of evil, and not anybody else.” He criticized what he termed a “hypocritical onslaught at The Hague,” dismissing the genocide charge against Israel as “a moral low point in the history of nations.” Netanyahu expressed gratitude to Germany for its readiness to send a delegation to The Hague to counter what he referred to as a despicable lie. (January 13, 2024) For further details, click here
Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, reportedly instructed Israeli police officers to use lethal force against Palestinians, even if they do not pose an immediate threat to their lives. During a visit to a military base in the West Bank, he stated: “You have complete backing from me. When your life is in danger or you see a terrorist — even if he does not endanger you — shoot. I have your back.” Ben Gvir later clarified his statements, stating that he meant they should shoot any “armed terrorists” and not wait for the latter to shoot first. (January 18, 2024). For further details, click here\ here
During a press conference, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized his opposition to establishing a Palestinian state. He emphasized his intention to resist the United States on this matter. Netanyahu underlined the importance, in his view, for Israel to maintain security control over all lands west of the Jordan River, meaning, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. (January 18, 2024). For further details, click here
Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich presented a proposal to the security cabinet regarding the transfer of funds allocated to the Palestinian Authority through a third party. However, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir announced his refusal to the plan, asserting that these funds should remain in Israel and should not be acquired by terrorists, whether they are from Gaza or the Palestinian Authority. (January 19, 2024)
The Israeli Security Cabinet approved a plan regarding the frozen funds allocated for the Gaza Strip, with support from the United States and Norway. It stipulates that, under no circumstances, will the Palestinian Authority transfer the money or its consideration to Gaza without the approval of the Israeli Finance Minister. As a result, the frozen funds will not move to the Palestinian Authority but will be held by a third country. Any breach of this agreement will lead to an immediate freeze of all Palestinian financial payments. (January 21, 2024) For further details, click here
Israeli Army weighs plan to arm west bank settlements with anti-tank missiles. The move would be aimed at arming civilian security squads in order to defend themselves from attacks like those on Oct. 7. (January 24, 2024) For further details, click here
Commenting on the International Court of Justice’s ruling, the Israeli Prime Minister reaffirmed Israel’s commitment to international law and its inherent right to self-defense. He strongly rejected accusations of genocide, considering them false and outrageous. He stressed that Israel’s war targets the terrorist organisation Hamas, not Palestinian civilians, while emphasizing the continued provision of humanitarian assistance and the protection of civilians. (January 26, 2024) For further details, click here
“Constant terror” in the West Bank as 2023 ends Tamara Nassar EI 01/01.2024 Israel is subjecting Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to a state of “constant terror,” a report released by the United Nations Human Rights Office has warned.
As Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip carries on without interruption, 2023 has been the deadliest year in the occupied West Bank since UN monitoring group OCHA began recording casualties in 2005. With over 120 Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces in the area this year, children’s agency UNICEF has also described 2023 as the “deadliest year on record” for Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/constant-terror-west-bank-2023-ends
Gaza war takes medical apartheid to new extreme Sewar Elejla EI 01/01/2024 The Fourth Geneva Convention obligates an occupying power to ensure that proper medical supplies are provided and that hospitals and health services are maintained in the territory under occupation. Israel is doing the exact opposite. It is subjecting healthcare to collective punishment so that Palestinians are tortured, displaced and killed. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/content/gaza-war-takes-medical-apartheid-new-extreme/43466
Sexual violence report renounced - reporters manipulated them The Short String NY Times 03/01/2024 On December 28, the New York Times published an “investigative” report on gender-based violence allegedly committed by Palestinians during the October 7 attack. . . . The story concludes that Hamas fighters engaged in systematic rape and sexual violence against Israeli women. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/family-of-key-case-in-new-york-times-october-7-sexual-violence-report-renounces-story-says-reporters-manipulated-them/?ml_recipient=109450929041835110&ml_link=109450825113273949&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2024-01-14&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines+RSS+Automation
What makes this evidence all the more disconcerting is its origin Issue 209 Law for Palestine 04/01/2024 . . . a compelling body of evidence exposing the proliferation of incitement to violence and genocidal intent perpetrated by Israeli officials and public figures, against Palestinians. Our documentation encompasses over 500 incitements of violence and genocidal incitement, appearing in the forms of social media posts, television interviews, and official statements from Israeli politicians, army personnel, journalists, and other influential personalities. Read more: https://law4palestine.org/law-for-palestine-releases-database-with-500-instances-of-israeli-incitement-to-genocide-continuously-updated/
I could have been one of those who broke through the siege on October 7 Salman Abu Sitta M/Weiss 04/01/2024
The settlers set up prefab units on my land, which developed into Kibbutzim. Their names are current in the media nowadays. Nirim was built on my father’s land. I was born a few meters away from the Kibbutz site. Ein Hashlosha Kibbutz, a few kilometers to the north, is built on land that belonged to my father and his cousins, a huge wheat and barley field. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/i-could-have-been-one-of-those-who-broke-through-the-siege-on-october-7/
NY Times revives rape propaganda Nora Barrows-Friedman EI 04/01/2024
“This is still a genocidal propaganda campaign, not based on any credible evidence, and I hope to show that,” Ali told us. Over the next hour, Ali unpacked some of the key themes “which help us understand this sophisticated piece of war propaganda and how it’s constructed, and I think will also be tools for people to start to deconstruct other pieces of war propaganda.” Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/day-89-roundtable-ny-times-revives-israels-rape-propaganda
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NY Times "investigation" of mass rape by Hamas falls apart Ali Abunimah EI 09/01 2024 https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/watch-ny-times-investigation-mass-rape-hamas-falls-apart
Humanitarian aid prolongs Gaza genocide M C Murphy EI 05/01/2024
Aid groups say that a ceasefire, which is opposed by Israel and the US, is necessary to ramp up the delivery of life-saving aid. Human rights and humanitarian groups meanwhile contend that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. Palestinian organizations have cautioned the UN secretary-general that the world body’s aid agencies in Gaza were “aiding Israel’s war objectives, in breach of international law” by showing deference to its “unlawful restrictions.” Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/us-uses-humanitarian-aid-prolong-gaza-genocide
Jenin - ‘Body parts strewn on the ground’ S Hanaysha & Y Patel M/Weiss 07/01/2024 At least 11 Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, including seven who were killed in a single Israeli airstrike on the northern city of Jenin. One Israeli border police officer was also killed, and several others were injured during confrontations with local armed resistance groups. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/body-parts-strewn-on-the-ground-israeli-airstrike-kills-7-in-jenin-including-4-brothers/?ml_recipient=109813392361916166&ml_link=109813230238435092
“investigation” of mass rape by Hamas falls apart Ali Abunimah EI 09/01/2024
But Abdush’s family have repudiated this claim, saying that there is no evidence she was raped. They say they were manipulated by The New York Times and had no idea the newspaper was going to use their loved one to further the rape narrative despite the lack of any evidence that it occurred. The distortions and manipulations in this article are now reportedly causing “growing concern” even within the newsroom of The New York Times, a private newspaper that has long-functioned as a semi-official mouthpiece for the US government and intelligence agencies, most notoriously its laundering of their lies about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/watch-ny-times-investigation-mass-rape-hamas-falls-apart
A Comprehensive Overview of South Africa’s Legal Battle with Israel at the International Court of Justice Leela Jadhav, Kathryn Ravey, James Henderson, and Anisha Patel Law for Palestine 10/01/2024
Since the 7th of October 2023, Israel has launched a continuous assault upon Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, indiscriminately targeting civilians and protected objects in violation of international law. It has become clear from the scale of the attacks against Gaza that Israel is attempting to conduct a genocide, with many academics and world leaders accusing Israel of conducting a genocide against Palestinians within Gaza. On the 29th of December 2023,following 83 days of non-stop onslaught by Israeli armed forces, South Africa (SA) filed an application instituting proceedings against Israel (IL) in front of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), concerning alleged violations by Israel of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the “Genocide Convention”) in relation to Israel’s assault upon Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Read more: https://law4palestine.org/the-gaza-genocide-case-a-comprehensive-overview-of-south-africas-legal-battle-with-israel-at-the-international-court-of-justice-highlights-and-faqs /
Palestinian journalists targeted Ali Abunimah EI 10/01/2024
“At least 84 of the 95 deceased journalists were killed in ‘surgical’ or sniper Israeli attacks that targeted either their homes (or, in one case, their personal vehicle) or the area where they were reporting, filming or otherwise covering news stories,” the brief adds. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/watch-israels-genocide-targets-palestinian-journalists
International law, South Africa and the ICJ Yumna Patel M/Weiss 10/01/2024
“To not only be accused of genocide, but to be charged by the court, and to be seen as a country guilty of genocide is very important,” he said. “In my opinion, everything that happens in the International Court of Justice now, is likely to influence thousands of lives in the future. So whatever these judges will decide will actually be a question of life and death for many, many Palestinians.” Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/an-international-law-expert-explains-why-south-africas-case-at-the-icj-is-so-important/
A level of inhumanity that, for me, is beyond comprehension Nora Barrows-Friedman EI 12/01/2024 Andrea De Domenico, head of the UN’s local Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, asserted on Friday that “the Israelis have systematically, or quasi-systematically, refused” to allow the aid trucks through. He explained that Israel had only partially approved three out of 21 aid missions requested by his agency. “In particular, they have been very systematic in not allowing us to support hospitals, which is something that is reaching a level of inhumanity that, for me, is beyond comprehension,” he said. . . Israel is methodically blocking aid convoys headed for hospitals in northern Gaza, or slowing them down using lengthy inspections, according to United Nations aid agencies.This week, PRCS held funerals for four of its paramedic team members killed in a targeted Israeli airstrike on their ambulance in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. Two patients inside the ambulance were also killed. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/israel-blocking-aid-fuel-gaza-hospitals
How Israeli forces trapped and killed ravers at the Nova Festival William Van Wagenen The Cradle 12/01/2024 Israeli officials allege that Hamas carried out a pre-mediated and carefully executed massacre of 364 Israeli civilians at the Nova music festival near Gaza on 7 October as part of the Palestinian resistance's Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. They claim that Hamas and other Palestinians had hours to murder Israeli partygoers before the army reached the scene.
However, new details have emerged showing that Israel's Border Police was deployed at the Nova site before Hamas stumbled on the festival, causing the eruption of a major battle. Read more: https://new.thecradle.co/articles-id/18526?fbclid=IwAR2qxwkg77NlPwxhDKT4kF19gzbIiLLOMiTBIYxvO0tgfGHdWkKlLx6CP0k
On the urgent need for provisional measures to protect Palestinians in Gaza: Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh’s presentation to the International Court of Justice Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh M/Weiss 13/01/2024 The United Nations Secretary-General and its Chiefs describe the situation in Gaza variously as “a crisis of humanity”193, a “living hell”194, a “blood bath”195, a situation of “utter, deepening [and unmatched] horror”196, where “an entire population” is “besieged and under attack, denied access to the essentials for survival”197, “on a massive scale”198. As the United Nations Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs stated last Friday: “Gaza has become a place of death and despair . . . Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/on-the-urgent-need-for-provisional-measures-to-protect-palestinians-in-gaza-blinne-ni-ghralaighs-presentation-to-the-international-court-of-justice/?ml_recipient=110356963954525698&ml_link=110356783412807129
No respite. . . Mondoweiss Palestine Bureau 13/01/2024
“From what we hear from our staff and partners, there are women who do not survive childbirth. Premature babies die or will have to live with lifelong disabilities, as they do not receive the necessary medical support. One hundred days of war have brought darkness and destruction, and the suffering, especially of mothers and children, is simply unimaginable,” CARE acting deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa Hiba Tibi said. “The joyous time of having a baby is now overshadowed by dread and desperation given the many dangers mothers and their babies are facing.” Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-99-yet-another-gaza-hospital-runs-out-of-power-as-demonstrators-across-the-globe-call-for-ceasefire/?ml_recipient=110266257353213027&ml_link=110266181033658342
Analyses of resistance videos from Gaza Jon Elmer EI 15/01/2024
Watch: A collection of breakdowns and analyses of resistance videos from Gaza Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/jon-elmer/watch-collection-breakdowns-and-analyses-resistance-videos-gaza
‘Worst man-made medical disaster in modern history’ Leila Warah M/Weiss 15/01/2024 Similarly, Diaa Rashwan, the chairman of Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) says Israel is the sole cause of the lack of aid entering Gaza through Rafah and other border crossings.Rashwan added that the Rafah crossing hasn’t been closed “for a single moment” on the Egyptian side. At the same time, Israeli authorities deliberately disrupted or delayed the entry of aid “under the pretext of inspecting it.” “Throughout these 100 days, has been the stubbornness and intentionality of the occupying Israeli authorities, at other Gaza Strip crossings, delaying the inspection of aid before allowing its passage to the Palestinian side, by virtue of its military control over the territory of the Gaza Strip,” he was quoted as saying in an SIS post on Facebook, as cited by Al Jazeera. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-101-the-collapse-of-gazas-health-sector-the-worst-man-made-medical-disaster-in-modern-history/?ml_recipient=110447523178480721&ml_link=110447397979555760
‘Nobody will stop us’ Jonathan Ofir M/Weiss 15/01/2024
But Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is not ashamed. If he is outraged at anything, it is about the “hypocritical onslaught at The Hague against the state of the Jews.”
On Saturday, in a nine-minute live speech (in Hebrew) on Israeli Channel 14, Netanyahu once again evoked the “war of the sons of light against the sons of darkness,” the same imagery that he used back in October. He also directly defied the ICJ: “Nobody will stop us – not The Hague, not the axis of evil and not anybody else.” . . . Netanyahu also lied in his speech, claiming that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Hamas the “new Nazis” when in fact it was Netanyahu himself who said that But Netanyahu doesn’t care, not about the truth nor about tarnishing the ICJ. He was speaking in Hebrew to his crowd. And while his scandalous dismissal of the ICJ made headlines, Netanyahu’s speech included other chilling warnings that Israel has no plans to relent in its genocidal attack. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/netanyahu-defies-the-international-court-of-justice-nobody-will-stop-us/?ml_recipient=110538064068085282&ml_link=110537987501065764
Birthdays under bombardment Abubaker Abed EI 16/01/2024
“From getting up early in the morning with a huge smile on her face, to crying every night because of the massive bombardment, this is her life now. She cannot sleep at night and always cries out in panic, ‘I am afraid.’ Her life is nothing but torment,” Muhammad said.
Aya tries to keep her happy, but it’s a tough task to make a birthday cake under the circumstances. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/content/birthdays-under-bombardment/43946
The lies of Lior Haiat Michael F. Brown EI 16/01/2024
Lior Haiat, spokesperson at the Israeli foreign affairs ministry, has leveled an extraordinary charge against South Africa, claiming that the anti-apartheid state “is functioning as the legal arm of the Hamas terrorist organization.” This charge is without basis in fact. His effort to undermine Palestinian-South African solidarity and bludgeon a legal team that inspired millions around the world underlines why so many people are disturbed by how Israel operates in the occupied Palestinian territories and on the world stage. Read More: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/lies-lior-haiat-spin-doctor-israel
The shocking inhumanity of Israel’s crimes Tareq S Hajaj M/Weiss 17/01/2024
Amid the long lines of the elderly, the ill, and mothers carrying their children, a man appearing to be middle-aged leaning on a young boy arrives, speaking in a loud voice and asking to be allowed to jump the line — he’s just been released from prison, and can barely stand. “I spent sixty days of constant beating and humiliation,” he says. “They just released me, and I need to just get my medicine. Please let me take it without having to wait any longer.” Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/the-shocking-inhumanity-of-israels-crimes-in-gaza/?ml_recipient=110719380907624403&ml_link=110719191255877126
Israel destroys Gaza’s last university Mondoweiss Palestine Bureau 19/01/2024
Meanwhile, shocking footage has circulated this week of Israeli forces detonating al-Isra University on Wednesday, effectively destroying the last remaining university in the Gaza Strip. “The Israeli occupiers, through these actions, aim to propagate a culture of ignorance, keeping our people away from the march of knowledge and civilization, and forcibly displacing intellectuals outside of Palestine,” the university said in a statement. Meanwhile, even as the Israeli army claimed to have razed Hamas’s main weapons manufacturing location, Palestinian factions reported ongoing fighting with Israeli ground forces from northern to southern Gaza, including Jabalia, Gaza City, Bani Suheila, Abasan, and Khan Younis. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-105-israel-destroys-gazas-last-university-as-netanyahu-doubles-down-on-rejection-of-a-palestinian-state/?ml_recipient=110809926898550110&ml_link=110809790553261807
Israel - no hunger/humanitarian crisis in Gaza Nora Barrows-Friedman EI 19/01/2024 Philippe Lazzarini, the director of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, stated on 13 January that “the crisis in Gaza is a man-made disaster compounded by dehumanizing language and the use of food, water and fuel as instruments of war.”
“The humanitarian operation has fast become one of the most complex and challenging in the world; largely due to cumbersome procedures for the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip and a myriad of obstacles to the safe and orderly distribution of aid, including ongoing hostilities,” Lazzarini said. After a three-day visit to Gaza, UNICEF’s deputy executive director Ted Chaiban said on Thursday that “the situation has gone from catastrophic to near collapse.”
Water melon imagery, a symbol of solidarity Anna Furman APNews 19/01/24
The trio was later summoned by an Israeli officer. According to artist and exhibit organizer Sliman Mansour, an Israeli officer told him, “It is forbidden to organize an exhibition without permission from the military, and secondly, it is forbidden to paint in the colors of the Palestinian flag.” The officer mentioned a watermelon as one example of art that would violate the army’s rules, Mansour told The Associated Press last week.
In protest, people began to wave the fruit in public Read more: https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-watermelon-symbol-protests-832c9a21b82015356f0ef99d17df2633
Troops ordered to shoot Israeli captives Asa Winstanley EI 20/01/2024
At midday on 7 October Israel’s supreme military command ordered all units to prevent the capture of Israeli citizens “at any cost” – even by firing on them.
The military “instructed all its fighting units to perform the Hannibal Directive in practice, although it did so without stating that name explicitly,” Israeli journalists revealed last weekend. The revelations came in a new investigative article by Ronen Bergman and Yoav Zitun, two journalists with extensive sources inside Israel’s military and intelligence establishment. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/israeli-hq-ordered-troops-shoot-israeli-captives-7-october
Why Israel attacks Gaza hospitals Tamara Nassar M/Weiss 20/01/24
As Israel’s lies about Gaza’s health sector crumbled one after another, so too did any pretense that the systematic destruction of Gaza’s health sector would generate international condemnation or intervention. Israel now hardly bothers to justify its ongoing attacks on health facilities. More than half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals have completely shut down and none remain fully operational. Abu Sitta said that Israel has systematically attacked medical professionals “with the aim of eliminating an entire generation of doctors.” The Israeli objective, according to Abu Sitta, is that “even if you rebuilt hospitals, you wouldn’t be able to build the health sector.”He said that the Israeli army even destroyed solar panels placed on hospitals so they wouldn’t have to rely entirely on fuel, the supply of which is controlled by Israel. Israel’s ultimate aim is to make Gaza unliveable to force the expulsion of its population, Abu Sitta said. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/ghassan-abu-sitta-why-israel-attacks-gaza-hospitals
Israel losing war in Gaza, commanders admit Ali Abunimah EI 21/01/24
srael is losing its war against the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, senior commanders have told The New York Times.“After more than 100 days of war, Israel’s limited progress in dismantling Hamas has raised doubts within the military’s high command about the near-term feasibility of achieving the country’s principal wartime objectives: eradicating Hamas and also liberating the Israeli hostages still in Gaza,” the newspaper reported on Saturday.
“Israel has established control over a smaller part of Gaza at this point in the war than it originally envisaged in battle plans from the start of the invasion, which were reviewed by The New York Times,” the paper added. The Israeli military leaders admit, according to the Times, that their advances have “been stymied by a Hamas infrastructure that was more sophisticated than Israeli intelligence officers previously assessed.” Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-losing-war-gaza-commanders-admit
New Global Initiative Aims for Justice and Accountability in Palestine
Amsterdam 22/01/2024 Today marks the launch of a groundbreaking international effort, “The Justice and Accountability for Palestine Initiative,” spearheaded by Palestinian and international legal experts and human rights advocates. This decentralized global network comprises legal organizations, lawyers, and human rights defenders committed to investigating and pursuing legal actions against individuals and entities implicated in crimes in Palestine. The initiative is coordinated by Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD), the European Legal Support Center (ELSC) and Law for Palestine (Law4Palestine). Read more: https://law4palestine.org/new-global-initiative-aims-for-justice-and-accountability-in-palestine/
The political domestication of Palestinian citizens of Israel Mohamad Kadan M/Weiss 23/01/2024 How did this deterioration take place? One of the answers relates to the political agenda, perspective, and vision among ‘48 Palestinians that limits itself to Israeli standards and boundaries. In this scenario, ‘48 Palestinians conceive of themselves as part of a political “opposition” working within the framework of the state. This “opposition” strategy has put ‘48 Palestinians in the position of constantly reacting to Israeli policies — Israel introduces a racist law, and the “opposition” strategy requires that protest is mobilized solely for the overturning of that particular law, but never challenging the “default” status quo of a racist and oppressive settler colonial state. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/from-the-unity-uprising-to-silence-amid-genocide-the-political-domestication-of-palestinian-citizens-of-israel/?ml_recipient=111262839043262217&ml_link=111262768716318484
Israel besieges hospitals MC Murphy EI 24/01/2024
The UN’s humanitarian chief said on Tuesday that “24 people were killed in strikes on an aid warehouse, UN center and humanitarian zone in the Khan Younis area” and that an aid distribution center “was heavily bombarded,” Reuters reported. The Israeli military issued new forcible displacement orders targeting residential areas of Khan Younis, affecting more than half a million people, the vast majority of them already displaced. The area that Israel ordered evacuated includes the Nasser Medical Complex, where some 18,000 displaced people were sheltering, as well as al-Amal hospital and the Jordanian hospital, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
“Israeli tanks are everywhere and we are completely surrounded,” Muhammad Harara, a doctor at Nasser Medical Complex, said in a video published on Tuesday: Read more:
Targeting of Palestinian journalists Hanna M Warsame M/weiss 24/01/2024
Palestinian journalists have been subjected to every form of state-sponsored violence that Israel has thrown their way in order to stop the dissemination of information. Whether through means of intimidation, such as phone calls from anonymous numbers, kidnappings, and unlawful detentions in Israeli prisons, or through more violent and calculated efforts, such as airstrikes targeting journalists or their entire families, Israel has made it clear that Palestinian journalists — who pride themselves on sharing the truth to the rest of the world — are as much a threat to Israel as Hamas. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/palestinian-journalists-are-stopping-their-reporting-for-a-world-that-doesnt-know-the-meaning-of-humanity/?ml_recipient=111353437077112725&ml_link=111353360534209744
Israeli fire kills Palestinians waiting for food aid and at UN shelter
M C Murphy EI 25/01/2024 Israel has denied UN humanitarian agencies access to the hundreds of thousands of increasingly starving Palestinians who remain in northern Gaza, including Gaza City. . . . Earlier this month, quadcopter drones opened fire on civilians waiting to receive flour from UN trucks in western Gaza City, killing 50 and injuring “numerous others,” Euro-Med said. The organization accused Israel of deliberately creating an unsafe and chaotic environment to obstruct the delivery of humanitarian aid as it uses starvation as a weapon of war. The systematic dismantling of Gaza’s health facilities is another key strategy of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israeli-fire-kills-palestinians-waiting-food-aid-and-un-shelter
Israel is breathing its last breath Ari Shavit Green Watch [originally published in Ha’aretz] 25/01/2024 The writer sought help from Western and Jewish archaeologists, the most famous of whom is “Israel Flintstein” from Tel Aviv University, who confirmed that “the Temple is also a lie and a fairy tale that does not exist, and all excavations have proven that it completely disappeared thousands of years ago, and this was stated explicitly in a large number of Jewish references.” , and many Western archaeologists have confirmed that ...
The last of them was in 1968 AD, the British archaeologist Dr. Caitlin Kabinos, when she was director of excavations at the British School of Archeology in Jerusalem. She carried out excavations in Jerusalem, and was expelled from Palestine because of her exposure of “Israeli” myths about the presence of traces of Solomon’s Temple under Al-Aqsa Mosque . .. Read more: https://greenwatchbd.com/opinion/40666
ICJ orders Israel to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza . . . David Kattenburg M/Weiss 26/01/2924 After a detailed review of the procedural requirements for the court to ‘indicate preliminary measures’ (an injunction of sorts) – all of which were met in South Africa’s application, she confirmed – Judge Donoghue read out a half dozen preliminary measures the court expects Israel to carry out as state party to the 1948 Genocide Convention. Four of the six measures passed by a vote of 15-2. Two passed by a vote of 16-1. Read more:
U.S. and allies withdraw funding to UNRWA Mondoweiss Palestine Bureau 27/01/2024 On the very day that the ICJ ordered for Israel to ensure the unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, Washington saw fit to cut off all funding to UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-113-a-day-after-icj-ruling-u-s-and-allies-withdraw-funding-to-unrwa/?ml_recipient=111534604595234023&ml_link=111534540202181792&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2024-01-31&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines+RSS+Automation
pregnant women at high risk amid dire conditions in Rafah various authors Medecins sans Frontieres 29/01/2024
Maha* went into labor as she arrived to the hospital, only to be turned away because all delivery rooms were full. Discouraged, she returned to her makeshift tent in the cold, one of many in Rafah’s camps for displaced people in Gaza, Palestine. Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, housed 300,000 Palestinians before the war; that number has soared to 1.5 million, as Gazans have fled bombings and evacuation orders in the North and Middle Area of the enclave. Unfortunately, Maha wasn't able to return to the hospital. She gave birth to her deceased son in a public bathroom. Read more: https://www.msf.org/gaza-displaced-pregnant-women-high-risk-amid-dire-conditions-rafah
Executed in their sleep: How Israeli forces assassinated three Palestinians in a raid on a West Bank hospital Shatha Hanaysha M/Weiss 30/01/2024
Basel, 19, was receiving treatment for a critical injury he sustained last October when an Israeli drone strike rendered him paraplegic, bound to a wheelchair. Accompanying him in the hospital were his older brother, Mohammed, 24, and their friend, Mohammed Jalamneh, 28. According to witnesses, in the early morning hours of Tuesday, January 30, the three young men were asleep in Basel’s hospital room when an undercover unit of Israeli special forces entered their room on the third floor of the hospital and executed them at point-blank range, with silenced firearms. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/executed-in-their-sleep-how-israeli-forces-assassinated-three-palestinians-in-a-raid-on-a-west-bank-hospital/
The ICJ just took the Holocaust monopoly away from Israel Jonathan Ofir M/Weiss 29/01/2024 Barak’s long dissenting opinion on the ICJ Order consists of 49 points, including a whole section titled “GENOCIDE: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL REMARK,” where he describes his own experience in the Holocaust as a child in Lithuania. He waxes emotional about how “the Nazis succeeded in murdering many of our people, but they could not take away our humanity.” Barak goes through the tiresome hasbara claims that “Israel is a democracy with a strong legal system and an independent judicial system” (which is an apartheid state with a supreme court that has legalized its most central aspects, not least under his presidency), bizarrely claims there is a lack of evidence for Israeli “intent” for genocide (rarely has a genocide case been so explicit on that matter) . . . Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/the-icj-just-took-the-holocaust-monopoly-away-from-israel/?ml_recipient=111806413755385740&ml_link=111806346299442581
Forced displacement campaign Tareq S Hajjaj M/weiss 31/01/2024
“The occupation would call us on our phones and order us to go to specific locations within Gaza City,” Mahmoud tells Mondoweiss. “They would call someone in Ansar [west of Gaza City] and tell them to go to north of Gaza. Then, when we reached a shelter in al-Daraj [in the north], we got another call telling us to evacuate back to the West.” Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/testimonies-describe-forced-displacement-campaign-in-northern-gaza/?ml_recipient=111987678472307932&ml_link=111987559954908336
Nick Clegg assures EU that Palestinians are being censored David Cronin EI 27/12/2023 They require the rapid censorship of material deemed to advocate “terrorist offenses” either “directly or indirectly.” Advocacy can include the “glorification of terrorism.” Material sympathetic to Palestinians and their right to resist Israel’s brutality is being removed from social media websites because of such rules. Meta’s censorship began long before 7 October. hey require the rapid censorship of material deemed to advocate “terrorist offenses” either “directly or indirectly.” Advocacy can include the “glorification of terrorism.” Material sympathetic to Palestinians and their right to resist Israel’s brutality is being removed from social media websites because of such rules. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/metas-nick-clegg-assures-eu-palestinians-are-being-censored
UK related articles
Britons participating in Israel’s war crimes must be held accountable Ayesha Khan EI 05/01/2024 I n 2015, Shamima Begum, a British national of Bengali descent, was groomed online to join ISIS at the age of 15. She was then trafficked over the border from Turkey into Syria by a Canadian spy. Just days after arriving, she became the child bride of an ISIS soldier from the Netherlands. She bore him three children. All died from malnutrition and disease before they reached 5. ISIS is a proscribed terrorist group in the UK. Supporting it is a criminal offense and joining it is an automatic crime. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/content/britons-participating-israels-war-crimes-must-be-held-accountable/43641
UK establishment closes ranks to protect Israel Omar Karmi EI 09/01/2024
Last week, a leading British attorney and a former UK prime minister also criticized British police for an ongoing investigation into war crimes in Palestine. Simon Myerson – the lawyer in question – echoed remarks made by former PM Boris “The Truth” Johnson, who suggested that UK police would be “better off fighting knife crime” in London. Myerson called war crimes investigations by the British police – investigations the police are treaty bound to pursue under the terms of the 1998 Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court and to which the UK is a signatory – “virtue signaling.” Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/omar-karmi/uk-establishment-closes-ranks-protect-israel
Safeguarding Zionist fragility on UK campuses Shaida Nabi M/Weiss 18/01/24
The perversity of the present genocidal moment is such that whilst words/motifs have become the source of angst for Zionists in Britain, in Palestine, and for those bearing witness, their trauma is the loss of limbs, parents, mass executions, displacement, white phosphorous, homelessness, and starvation. It is a genocide that has targeted all of Gaza’s four universities (90) and left numerous leading academics and students dead. For perspective, as Professor Awartani, president of the Palestine Academy for Science and Technology, put it, “The priority isn’t science — the priority is staying alive.” That was in early November. One of the last standing universities in Gaza was obliterated today. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/safeguarding-zionist-fragility-on-british-campuses/?ml_recipient=110809926898550110&ml_link=110809790603593465
Labour suspends MP over Gaza comments in Holocaust message Rowena Mason The Guardian 28/01/2024 The Labour MP Kate Osamor has had the whip suspended while she is investigated for saying Gaza should be remembered as a genocide on Holocaust Memorial Day. The MP for Edmonton in north London is due to meet party whips on Monday after issuing an apology over the message she sent on the eve of the day marking the murder of 6 million Jews during the second world war. Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/jan/28/labour-suspends-kate-osamor-over-gaza-comments-in-holocaust-message
