Scottish Friends of Palestine

Briefing Paper                                                     

March 2024           

Judicial decrees, decisions, positions, and orders issued by official Israeli bodies    Source: Law for Palestine

·         The Israeli Land Authority sent a letter to UNRWA demanding that the agency vacate the buildings of a compound in the village of Kafr Aqab, a neighborhood north of Jerusalem, and pay a fine, under the pretext that it was built without obtaining a proper permit for its current usage. (January 26, 2024) For further details, click here

·         Following the news that spread about a new deal between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli Prime Minister stressed that, “the war on Gaza is not 'another round', neither is it an exchange of blows, nor is it an operation – it is total victory.” He added, "We will not conclude this war without achieving all of its goals. This means eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel.” He stressed that Israel will not withdraw the IDF from the Gaza Strip and will not release “thousands of terrorists.” (January 30, 2024) For further details, click here

·         During his meeting with a delegation of ambassadors to the United Nations (UN), the Israeli Prime Minister called on the delegation to recognize that UNRWA's mission must end because it “is totally infiltrated with Hamas”. He added, “I think it's time that the international community and the UN itself understand that UNRWA's mission has to end. UNRWA is self-perpetuating. It is self-perpetuating also in its desire to keep alive the Palestinian refugee issue.” Netanyahu called for replacing UNRWA with other organizations. (January 31, 2024) For further details, click here

·         The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth revealed a plan led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to establish 7,000 new housing units in settlements in the occupied West Bank. The newspaper said that Smotrich intends to hold a meeting of the so-called “Supreme Planning Committee” to approve the construction of approximately 7,000 new colonial units. (February 2, 2024) For further details, click here

UNRWA Intel obtained through torture Ryan Grim X  29/01/2024

Israeli officials originally told the press that they obtained intel about the 12 former UNRWA employees — 7 teachers, a custodian and other ground level staff — through interrogation of detainees. Because Israel has long been criticized by human rights groups for abusing and torturing detainees, the optics of that explanation were awkward in the West. Now Israel is telling the NYT they got the info through surveillance. The (New York) Times ran that new explanation without even mentioning the original one. Read more: https://twitter.com/ryangrim/status/1751964953945256266

Israeli settler colonialism is at an end  Ilan Pappe Islamic Human Rights Commission 1/02/2024   We have seen already the indication for that before 7th October, how Israelis who have opportunities in other parts of the world due to their dual nationality, professions and their financial abilities, are thinking seriously of relocating both their money and themselves outside of the state of Israel.  What you will be left with is a society that is economically weak, that is led by this kind of fusion of messianic Zionism with racism and eliminatory policies towards the Palestinians.  Yes, the balance of power at first would be on the side of the elimination, not with the victims of the elimination, but the balance of power is not just local, the balance of power is regional and international, and the more oppressive the eliminatory policies are (and it’s terrible to say but it’s true) the less they are able to be covered up as a ‘response’ or ‘retaliation’ and the more they are seen as a brutal genocide policy. Thus, it is less likely that the immunity that Israel enjoys today would continue in the future. Read more: https://www.ihrc.org.uk/it-is-dark-before-the-dawn-but-israeli-settler-colonialism-is-at-an-end/

UNWRA – states complicit in genocide  Michael Brown EI  01/02/2024

Francis Boyle, the first lawyer to successfully argue a genocide case at the ICJ, told MSNBC anchor Ayman Mohyeldin on Saturday that, by halting funds, these countries had made themselves active participants in the genocide. “The cut-off of UNRWA funds with no due process of law, no investigation, nothing at all of that nature, for the governments that did this, they are now in violation of 2(c) of the Genocide Convention, ‘deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,’” said Boyle. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/states-gutting-unrwa-are-complicit-genocide

October 7 - We deserve the truth  Nick Burbank   M/Weiss 01/02/2024

In the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attacks by Hamas, narratives of atrocity dominated the news cycle. It is only now, four months later, that the events of that day are being clarified. The New York Times has reportedly pulled a high-profile podcast on the “weaponization” of rape in response to concerns of “major discrepancies.” Journalists are challenging state spokespeople, and researchers cross-referencing claims against the list of terror victims maintained by Israel’s own Social Security Administration have shown that several horrifying stories first responders and IDF members initially told reporters do not reflect actual people or deaths. The IDF itself has said it cannot confirm some of its own reporting. Read more:  https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/we-deserve-the-truth-about-what-happened-on-october-7/?ml_recipient=112078322317395174&ml_link=112078162720982736

Escalating home demolitions in fight against messianic settlers 

Ibrahim Husseini M/weiss 03/02/2024  Home demolitions in East Jerusalem are rampant, but none more than in Silwan, where messianic settlers backed by the state are attempting to establish fanciful “archaeological” parks on top of Palestinian homes. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/silwan-faces-escalating-home-demolitions-in-fight-against-messianic-settlers/?ml_recipient=112259468371167165&ml_link=112259336378517334

Unverified Israeli UNRWA claims  Mitchell Plitnick  M/Weiss  03/02/2024

The root of the attacks [on UNRWA], prior to October 7, 2023, has been UNRWA’s unique mission which is to provide humanitarian assistance — including food, housing, medical aid, and the role that has taken up the bulk of its budget for years, education — to Palestinian refugees exclusively. Because of this mandate, Israel and its supporters blame UNRWA for the definition of “refugee” in the Palestinian context, which includes not only those made refugees by the 1948 and 1967 wars, but also their descendants born into refugee status. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/u-s-admits-it-hasnt-verified-israels-unrwa-claims-media-ignores-it/?ml_recipient=112259468371167165&ml_link=112259336452966239

Testimonies emerge of Israel torturing detained Palestinians in Gaza  Mustafa Abu Sneineh M/weiss   06/02/2024   An already infamous image of an Israeli soldier standing in front of a tortured Palestinian man came to summarise nearly five months of Israeli  , aggression, and disregard for Palestinian lives in Gaza. An Israeli soldier has taken a video of him interrogating a Palestinian man from Gaza and posted it on his social media account. The Palestinian appears handcuffed, with signs of blood and torture on his body and a wound in his right thigh and sitting naked on a chair while the soldier is standing, fully armed, in front of him .Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-123-new-testimonies-emerge-of-israel-torturing-detained-palestinians-in-gaza/?ml_recipient=112440649913993018&ml_link=112440533150860790

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New testimonies detail torture and abuse of Gazan detainees in Israeli jails, detention centres  [https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6138/New-testimonies-detail-torture-and-abuse-of-Gazan-detainees-in-Israeli-jails,-detention-centres ]

Israeli troops target ambulances MC Murphy EI  09/02/2024

Red Crescent paramedic Mohammed al-Omari, father to three children aged between 8 and 14, was killed. He and the rest of the crew were trapped for more than an hour while bleeding, according to the Red Crescent.The Red Crescent said that 12 of its colleagues, including al-Omari, have been “killed while carrying out their humanitarian work since the beginning of the war.” The actual number may be higher. The fate of two Red Crescent paramedics and a young girl they were attempting to rescue in Gaza City last week remains unknown. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israeli-troops-target-ambulances-kill-medic-gaza-city

Dehumanization and misinformation in service of genocide Mitchell Plitnick M/Weiss 09/02/2024 Cutting off the funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) just at the moment when its services are more desperately needed than at any point in its history is cruel beyond measure, and is, itself, an act of genocide. It cannot be anything else, as the known consequence of that cutoff under current circumstances will lead to massive numbers of deaths and an unimaginable increase in illness, injury, and profound trauma among the 2.2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, not to mention the damage it will also do to Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria who also rely on UNRWA’s services for daily needs.

This level of monstrous inhumanity would seem to be as horrific as it could get. But now consider that the United States — which has now led nearly twenty countries to suspend funding for UNRWA — has explicitly admitted that it took this murderous course based on nothing more than Israel’s word. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/dehumanization-and-misinformation-in-service-of-genocide/?ml_recipient=112893580852331721&ml_link=112893494002976481

Six year-old Hind Rajab found dead in Gaza days after plea for help  Jane Dodge Channel4News 10/02/2024   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it has ordered the military to plan the evacuation of Rafah and to destroy four Hamas battalions it believes are deployed there. Elsewhere the perils facing those who try to flee in Gaza were illustrated by the discovery of the body of six year-old Hind Rajab, twelve days after she went missing in Gaza City. Read/hear more: https://www.channel4.com/news/six-year-old-hind-rajab-found-dead-in-gaza-days-after-plea-for-help-2

‘Guardian’ exposé on CNN’s pro-Israel bias ignored by US media

James North M/Weiss 11/02/2024  A week has passed since the British Guardian newspaper ran its remarkable exposé of how CNN’s top leadership deliberately distorts the cable network’s coverage of Israel’s assault on Gaza — but so far, the rest of the U.S. mainstream media establishment has not said a single word about the scandal.  Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/u-s-mainstream-media-ignores-guardian-expose-on-cnns-pro-israel-bias/?ml_recipient=112987963557676051&ml_link=112987876608705680

Thousands of Gazans “Forcibly Disappeared” by Israeli Forces Diane Paul Israel-Palestine News 12/02/2024  Numerous Palestinian and international human rights organizations, UN agencies and news sources report that following the events of October 7, 2023, Israeli forces and prison guards have arbitrarily detained thousands of Gazans in secret locations under circumstances referred to by human rights experts as “enforced disappearance.” Estimates of the number of “disappeared” range between 1000 and 5000, but rights groups say no one knows the true number. Read more: https://israelpalestinenews.org/no-access-no-information-thousands-of-gazans-forcibly-disappeared-by-israeli-forces/

Too little, too late: UN genocide office Ali Abunimah EI  12/02/2024

In her release on 9 February, Nderitu “reiterates” her pro-Israel statement from October, but in addition says she “echoes” a statement from Guterres’ office last month “taking note” of the International Court of Justice ruling ordering Israel to halt what the judges plausibly found to be a genocide. But Nderitu’s response is being described as too little too late.

“This statement underscores the failure of the special adviser on the prevention of genocide to meaningfully fulfill her mandate without biases or double standards,” the Gaza-based Palestinian human rights group Al Mezan said. “It also disregards 100,000 Palestinians killed, injured or missing under rubble in Gaza over the past four months.” Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/too-little-too-late-un-genocide-office-breaks-silence-gaza

On Mourning  Zubayr Alikhan  M/Weiss  12/02/2024

Mothers shiver and convulse, holding their lifeless hearts in their arms. “Oh my mother, oh my head, my heart,” screams a woman in black, fully covered, in hijab and niqab as she weeps over her son’s body. Yes, her son. Her “mother.” His name is Mahmoud. This mother, like most Palestinian parents, calls her son “mother” out of overwhelming love. It is an expression of endearment with no English parallel, and after 128 days of a genocide, this chasm in language is not without reason—it speaks volumes .Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/on-mourning/?ml_recipient=113074865467032655&ml_link=113074709478770249

Israel engineers “deep pockets of starvation”  N Barrows-Friedman EI  14/02/24

There are only 70-100 trucks entering Gaza per day “in the best case scenario,” with only “two of those trucks going to the northern governorates,” according to estimates by the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. Before Israel’s attacks began in October, approximately 500 trucks entered Gaza each day. “What enters the Strip does not meet the minimum level of the population’s needs in light of the severe, continuous and accumulated deprivation of food, drinking water and medicine supplies [amid its] growing need due to the ongoing siege and genocide,” stated Lima Bustami, legal department director at Euro-Med. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/israel-engineers-deep-pockets-starvation-across-gaza

Israel bombards Nasser hospital  Leila Warah M/weiss 15/02/2024  

On Wednesday night, Israeli forces shelled the Nasser Hospital’s orthopedic department, killing at least one person and seriously injuring several others, reported Wafa Israeli troops reportedly stormed the hospital compound and opened fire, forcing doctors, nurses, and displaced Palestinians to evacuate the hospital and head to Rafah, but Israeli forces arrested dozens of people when they attempted to do so. Gaza’s Health Ministry also reported the Israeli army demolishing its southern wall before storming the complex. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-132-israel-bombards-nasser-hospital-reports-of-egypt-preparing-buffer-zone-ahead-of-gaza-expulsion/?ml_recipient=113256088896275939&ml_link=113255912094827535

Former Mossad official: Children in Gaza over the age of 4 deserve to be starved  Jonathan Ofir M/weiss 15/02/2024

Igra echoed President Isaac Herzog’s claim that there are “no uninvolved [civilians] in Gaza.” Igra emphasizes the point by saying “There is no such thing,” as Hasson disrupts him in agreement with an affirming “You’re right, you’re right.” Igra then goes on to specify this genocidal axiom in a bizarre manner, exempting children below age four:

“In Gaza, everyone is involved. Everyone voted Hamas. Anyone over the age of four is a Hamas supporter. And our goal at the moment, and this is in continuation of what you said, is to turn them from Hamas supporters to Hamas dislikers.” Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/former-mossad-official-children-in-gaza-over-the-age-of-4-deserve-to-be-starved/?ml_recipient=113346670846018662&ml_link=113346497700955264

Armed resistance spreads in the West Bank Shatha Hanaysha  M/weiss  15/02/24

Earlier that day, prior to his assassination, Khashan had headed into the city as the army began its raid. There, he confronted Israeli military vehicles, firing a hail of bullets towards the army convoy. According to a local source, after the forces withdrew, Khashan returned to his village, just 15 km (~9 miles) outside the city. On his way back, he was followed by an Israeli drone that tracked his movements up until the moment he returned to his house. Shortly after he arrived home, Israeli special forces raided his house and assassinated him. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/from-the-cities-to-the-countryside-armed-resistance-is-spreading-in-the-west-bank/?ml_recipient=113346670846018662&ml_link=113346497713538188

What I saw wasn’t war — it was annihilation  Irfan Galaria LA Times  16/02/2024

Entering southern Gaza on Jan. 29, where many have fled from the north, felt like the first pages of a dystopian novel. Our ears were numb with the constant humming of what I was told were the surveillance drones that circled constantly. Our noses were consumed with the stench of 1 million displaced humans living in close proximity without adequate sanitation. Our eyes got lost in the sea of tents. Read more: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-02-16/rafah-gaza-hospitals-surgery-israel-bombing-ground-offensive-children

The role of food in the movement for Palestine Nylah Burton M/weiss 17/02/24

Assil is a member of Hospitality for Humanity, a coalition of pro-Palestinian chefs, food industry workers, food writers, and other culture makers in the space, who in the face of the genocide in Gaza, where over 30,000 people have been killed in the past four months, have committed to supporting Palestinians and urging chefs and other people in the industry to boycott Israeli products and abstain from any cultural or political promotion of Israel. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/the-role-of-food-in-the-movement-for-palestine/?ml_recipient=113527814933710588&ml_link=113527678481466598

Fleeing Rafah  Tareq S Hajjaj M/weiss 18/02/2024

Jamila said that the decision to return to central Gaza was mainly informed by the need to calm Lara and Yara, who were gripped with terror at reliving the day their mother was taken from them. This did not make the refugee camps of central Gaza any safer, however, since the army’s threats of invasion also encompassed those areas. “The coastal road from Rafah to Nusierat was terrifying, even though thousands were walking that road,” Jamila recounted to Mondoweiss. “We walked under the gaze of the Israeli warships, which were not far away. And the Israeli surveillance drones were above us.” Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/fleeing-rafah/?ml_recipient=113618449234658736&ml_link=113618290049288004

Israel builds highway cutting Gaza Strip in two  Mustafa Abu Sneineh M/weiss 20/02/24     Israeli forces are building a fortified east-west corridor just south of Gaza City, which will cut the Gaza Strip into two halves and block Palestinians from traveling north on Salah al-Din Street, the main central highway connecting northern Gaza with the south. Israel razed and demolished numerous houses and buildings to make way for a 1-kilometer buffer zone around the “Netzarim Corridor,” including the Turkish Hospital, the Al-Aqsa University campus, and the entire villages of Mughraqa and Juhor al-Dik in the eastern Gaza Strip.

Israel aims to finish constructing the highway before the beginning of Ramadan on March 10 and ahead of its planned invasion of Rafah. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-137-israel-builds-highway-cutting-gaza-strip-in-two/?ml_recipient=113708982974023496&ml_link=113708889387566319

Exhausted, and terrified of what is to come Yousef Khelfa   MWeiss  20/02/2024

I was in Gaza leading a five-person medical delegation. Our team consisted of me (an oncologist), two surgeons, an anesthesiologist, and a nurse. We only had to look into the eyes of our colleagues at the European Hospital in Khan Younis to understand the depth of their exhaustion. We dove in wherever support was needed; wound care, amputations, surgeries–even those outside of our specializations. My team had never witnessed these kinds of explosive injuries before. We worked under the constant buzz of Israeli military drones and vibrations from ever-closer and more frequent bombings. On my ninth day, shrapnel killed a man outside the hospital. On my tenth, the bombing cut the electricity, and ceiling tiles fell on us as we worked. I thought about death every minute, but the fear allowed me to better understand what more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza have endured the last four months, half of them children. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/my-medical-colleagues-in-gaza-are-exhausted-and-terrified-of-what-is-to-come/?ml_recipient=113799646016439810&ml_link=113799489061390103

US blocks Gaza ceasefire for third time  MC Murphy EI  21/02/2024

The US vetoed a draft United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday. Thirteen states voted in favor of the Algerian initiative while the UK abstained. It was the third time that Washington exercised its veto at the Security Council in the past four months in order to prolong Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which the International Court of Justice determined in an interim ruling may plausibly constitute a genocide. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/us-blocks-gaza-ceasefire-demand-security-council-third-time

Yemeni blockade is working  Ahmed Alqarout  M/weiss  22/02/2024

Since the beginning of its genocidal war on Gaza, Israel’s supply lines have been jeopardized. After Israel closed all its borders to imports headed to Gaza and struck the Rafah crossing to put it out of order, Hamas attacked the ports of Ashkelon and Ashdod, which were used to import oil and supplies used in the war machine, after which Israel had to halt port operations and shift ships to Eilat. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/israeli-lies-about-a-land-bridge-to-the-gulf-show-the-yemeni-blockade-is-working/?ml_recipient=113980835352282574&ml_link=113980682438445006

New evidence emerges of Israel killing its own civilians Ali Abunimah EI 22/02/24

Almost all the information about so-called friendly fire incidents on 7 October comes from Israeli sources and media, and yet this is rarely reported in mainstream Western outlets, which continue to stick closely to Israel’s official propaganda narratives . . . In December, the Israeli military admitted to an “immense and complex quantity” of friendly fire incidents on 7 October, but is refusing to investigate them, claiming that to do so would not be “morally sound.” Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/new-evidence-emerges-israel-killing-its-own-civilians?utm_source=EI+readers&utm_campaign=2996d33504-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e802a7602d-2996d33504-299228964

Israeli drone strike in Jenin refugee camp Shatha Hanaysha M/Weiss 23/02/2024

The Israeli army is now killing resistance fighters in the Jenin Brigade using drones after several failed assassination attempts by Israeli special forces on the ground . . . The assassination operation took place on a busy street in the center of the camp, which is considered a densely populated residential area filled with commercial stores. The attack was in front of an e-games store, where children and teenagers often play, explaining the numerous children’s injuries. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/two-palestinians-killed-14-injured-by-israeli-drone-strike-on-vehicle-in-jenin-refugee-camp/?ml_recipient=113980835352282574&ml_link=113980682414327744

Over 2/3 of Jewish Israelis oppose humanitarian aid 

Jonathan Ofir M/weiss 23/02/2024

This is a shocking data point. The Israeli Democracy Institute released a survey this week showing that over 2/3 of Jewish Israelis – 68% that is – opposed “the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza residents at this time.”  It gets even worse – the survey lowered the bar to exclude any possible opposition to either UNRWA (which Israel has been inciting against) or the Hamas authorities (which Israel considers terrorists). To no avail. Over two-thirds still oppose humanitarian help “via international bodies that are not linked to Hamas or to UNRWA… A majority of Jewish respondents (68%) oppose the transfer of humanitarian aid even under these conditions,” the survey notes. The numbers are worse when it comes to right-wing Jewish Israelis, where the opposition is at 80% – four out of five. And consider that about 2/3 of Israeli voters are considered right-wing. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/over-2-3-of-jewish-israelis-oppose-humanitarian-aid-to-palestinians-starving-in-gaza/?ml_recipient=114071332906337490&ml_link=114071256562664472

German leaders face criminal complaint  Ali Abunimah EI 24/02/2024

Members of two Palestinian families have filed a criminal complaint against German leaders for aiding and abetting Israel’s genocide in Gaza.  . . “German criminal law requires a ground for initial suspicion to start investigations on a potential crime being committed,” lawyers for the Palestinian families said Friday. “The ICJ ruling clearly showed that there is such ground for initial suspicion when it comes to the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.” Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/german-leaders-face-criminal-complaint-over-gaza-genocide

Bloodthirst of Israel lobby can’t be quenched David Cronin EI 24/02/2024

Foreign interference in European affairs is frowned upon – unless that interference comes from Israel and its supporters. A group called the European Leadership Network has been responsible for much of the interference. The European Leadership Network’s goal is to make lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic equally beholden to Israel. Its website notes that while 80 percent of US Congress members have visited Israel, “only 10 percent of European counterparts have done so.” To rectify that imbalance, the group regularly organizes junkets to the Middle East. Since 7 October, it has hosted 12 “solidarity missions” for politicians who approve of the genocidal war against Gaza. Involving sojourns in luxury hotels, the trips have invariably been expensive. . . Despite how it is buying influence, the activities of and the agenda pursued by the European Leadership Network have been subject to hardly any scrutiny in the mainstream media. Although its fundraising arm is based in Illinois, many of the group’s activities are coordinated from its Tel Aviv office. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/bloodthirst-israel-lobby-cant-be-quenched?utm_source=EI+readers&utm_campaign=95708b41ea-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e802a7602d-95708b41ea-299228964

Charges of bias emerge against NYTimes reporter James North M/Weiss 25/02/2024  New doubts are emerging about the New York Times’s coverage of sexual violence in the October 7 attack. The paper must explain why it broke its own rules by hiring a clearly biased writer who endorsed racist and violent rhetoric toward Palestinians. Read more:   https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/extraordinary-charges-of-bias-emerge-against-nytimes-reporter-anat-schwartz/?ml_recipient=114165708574689041&ml_link=114165624806049533

Violating intimacies  Nina Berman M/weiss 29/02/2024

There is something unspeakably vile and infantile about the images of Israeli troops circulating on social media showing them posing for pictures with intimate apparel pilfered from the bedrooms of Gazan women. Amid the daily onslaught of murder, deprivation, and forced starvation, not to mention images of mutilated Palestinian children, here are Israeli soldiers beside themselves with self-congratulatory glee, gallivanting around snatching bras and ogling panties.Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/violating-intimacies/?ml_recipient=114615012499130281&ml_link=114614869980874265

Massacre of civilians waiting for aid Leila Warah  M/weiss 29/02/2024

“At about 4:30 this morning, trucks started to come through. Once we approached the aid trucks, the Israeli tanks and warplanes started firing at us as if it were a trap,” the man recounted to Quds News Network, as cited by Al Jazeera.  

“As the Israeli military opened fire on the aid seekers, Israeli tanks advanced and ran over many of the dead and injured bodies in the southwestern parts of Gaza City. It is a massacre, on top of the starvation threatening citizens in Gaza,” Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul said. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-146-israeli-forces-massacre-civilians-waiting-for-humanitarian-aid/?ml_recipient=114524498197218484&ml_link=114524275099043439

UK related articles

Landmark Victory in Employment Case for Prof David Miller v Bristol University Z Rahman/D Miller 04/02/2024   The determination that I was sacked for my anti-Zionist views is a huge vindication of my case all the way through this process.  The University of Bristol maintained that I was sacked because Zionist students were offended by my various remarks, but it was plain from the evidence of its own witnesses that this was untrue, and it was the anti-Zionist nature of my comments which was the decisive factor. Read more:  https://www.rllaw.co.uk/rahman-lowe-secures-landmark-victory-in-employment-case-for-professor-david-miller-against-bristol-university/

SOAS suppression of Palestine solidarity SOAS Alumni4Palestine M/weiss 07/02/24   We write as alumni and graduates of SOAS to express our deepest outrage at the university administration’s suspension of four students supporting the SOAS Palestine Society in the September 29 and October 9 protests, as well as several SOAS alumni who have been banned from campus. By immediately suspending the students without due process, the SOAS administration is in violation of its own disciplinary procedures. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/soas-alumni-speak-out-against-the-suppression-of-palestine-solidarity/?ml_recipient=112621869400589779&ml_link=112621722294814668

Muslims abandon UK Labour  Omar Karmi EI  15/02/2024

Parroting Conservative policy on domestic issues to leave your opponents without ammunition ahead of a vote is one thing; parroting the British government’s fulsome support for a foreign country’s genocidal violence against a largely defenseless civilian population takes craven to quite another level. Starmer has twisted himself into pretzels trying to avoid calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. He has tried out concepts like “sustainable” ceasefires or “humanitarian pauses” all, it seems, in an attempt to give Israel as much time as it wants to finish its campaign of ethnic cleansing in Gaza under the guise of “self-defense.”  Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/omar-karmi/muslims-abandon-uk-labour-over-deeply-offensive-gaza-position

A Parliament Against Palestine  Karl Hansen Tribune  22/02/2024

This is why the establishment encourages the most grotesque of smears against the Palestinian people and will go to such lengths to stifle discussion. The prevention of the SNP’s motion was cynically justified by Hoyle as necessary to protect pro-war MPs from a feral public, and Labour framed it as beyond the boundaries of acceptable debate, refusing to accept a text referring to Israel’s ‘collective punishment’ of Palestinians. After 30,000 deaths, the destruction of 70 per cent of Gaza’s buildings, and a famine looming, a fundamental denial of the Palestinian people’s humanity is a precondition to such political assertion. Read more: https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/02/a-parliament-against-palestine