"It's not plausible that the shooter could not have seen that the car was occupied by civilians, including children," an investigation of the five-year-old #Palestinian girl's death found.
#UK / Politicians are avoiding the Israel-Gaza war in the current election campaign
In an opinion piece for The Guardian, columnist Owen Jones criticizes the lack of discussion around the Israel-Gaza war during the UK's current election campaign. He argues that despite the scale of the conflict and Britain's complicity through its support for #Israel, neither the government nor the opposition have adequately addressed the issue.
[…] Both party leaders should be scrutinised for having backed what became one of the great atrocities of our age, despite the bloodcurdling promises made by Israeli leaders from the start.
Jones suggests this reflects a broader lack of serious engagement with substantive foreign policy matters in the election, prioritizing domestic political drama over global atrocities. He contends that the public appears to be more concerned about the situation in Gaza than the political parties, and calls for the candidates to be held accountable for their positions on the conflict.
#Israel / Hamas' complete defeat - and then Gaza's rehabilitation
#Ynet is publishing a disturbing proposal written by some Israeli academics and “policymakers,” who are promoting the establishment of a system of governance in Gaza that eerily resembles US's failed state-building experiment in #Iraq, or more closely, the apartheid-era Bantustans of South Africa. The working paper was allegedly already read by government officials.
The paper is titled "From a murderous regime to a moderate society". It was written by four Israeli academics, and reviewed by members of the Military Intelligence Directorate and the War Cabinet. Its authors state that there is a need for Hamas' "complete defeat" - which, in their opinion, includes losing control over territory and "public trials" for its leaders. It also outlines a path for rehabilitation and de-radicalization. "Rehabilitation under fire is doomed to fail," the authors wrote.
The document, written in February, deals with the question of how Gazan society can become “a peaceful neighbor to the State of Israel.” The authors assume that victory - at least in the sense of preventing Hamas' resurgence and harming Israel - requires "rehabilitating and transforming a nation led by “a murderous ideology,” and cultivating stable institutions and an Arab culture that does not educate for jihad and accepts the existence of the of Israel as the Jewish people's nation-state."
The authors’ conclusions are provocative. First, there is a need for Hamas' "complete defeat," which means losing territory (for an unlimited period of time) and "public trials" for Hamas leaders. One of the authors, Dr. Palmor, says: "My position is that the average Palestinian needs to feel defeated. He needs to feel that the path they've taken so far, including education, hasn't worked. In my opinion, we should have declared the entire northern Gaza Strip as Israeli territory, for all intents and purposes." This is his opinion, not the document's recommendation.
All the writers agree that Hamas' defeat is necessary and that “rehabilitation under fire is doomed to fail." To succeed, they propose setting a "positive horizon for the defeated nation, conditioned on achieving concrete and measurable goals," and suggest establishing an "autonomous Palestinian entity."
The authors proposed (already in February) the immediate establishment of an effective mechanism to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. They wrote that "it is necessary to achieve control as soon as possible over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza in order to prevent further deterioration and to deprive Hamas of one of its most important recruitment bases."
But this is clearly not a “peace plan”: "The state independence of this entity must be conditional on strict conditions, including education for peace, renunciation of violence and terror, and effective security and administrative capabilities," they write. "Even if Israel is not interested in ruling Gaza and prefers to establish a different civilian government in the Strip, the option of Israeli military rule must hover in the background."
A glaring omission in the proposal is, understandably, the occupation itself. Regardless of how Israel chooses to frame the events of October 7th, it's impossible to detach them from the broader context of Palestinian resistance and the right to self-determination, which is enshrined in international law. Israel can continue down the path of entrenching its occupation, but it's unlikely to find much support from its allies. In fact, by doing so, Israel risks becoming increasingly isolated and likened to the apartheid regime of South Africa, a comparison that already has severe diplomatic and economic consequences.
The full article will be published on Friday in "Yediot Ahronot" and ynet.
[…] We’re heeding the call from over 1000 #Google and #Amazon workers to rise up against the contract, known as Project Nimbus. Technology should be used to bring people together, not enable #apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and settler-colonialism. Following in the footsteps of those who fought to divest from apartheid South Africa and won, it’s our responsibility to rise up in support of Palestinian freedom. The Amazon and Google execs who signed this contract can still choose to be on the right side of history.
Demand Amazon & Google stop doing business with Israeli apartheid & powering the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza
#US / American Immigration Authorities to Israelis: Have You Committed War Crimes?
Requests by Israelis for a "Green Card" are being delayed due to an in-depth investigation into their military service: "The interviewer was very curious about my weapon skills and wanted to know details about my reserve duty in Gaza", "I travel to the US so often, I've never experienced such bullying", "It feels like they copied questions from the office of the Chief Prosecutor in The Hague"
These probing and questions seem to be aimed at investigating whether the person being questioned may have been involved in any war crimes or unethical uses of force during their military service. The tone and framing suggests the immigration authorities have serious concerns they are trying to scrutinize very carefully.
For example:
Have you ever actually used weapons or explosives? If so: What kinds of weapons or explosives did you use? How did you use the weapons or explosives? In how many cases did you use weapons or explosives? How frequently did you use weapons or explosives?; Did you ever discharge a weapon and/or explosive against another person? If so, please detail the circumstances for doing so, and explain why you discharged a weapon and/or explosive against another person/other people.
Note: take with a grain of salt, given the source's tendency toward sensationalism and accusations of discrimination/antisemitism, even when the scrutiny may be reasonably warranted given the serious nature of potential war crimes, or a routine. The article is not based on any meaningful research work, and seems to be a collection of anecdotal first hand reports (with the obligatory “product placement” of a specific legal service provider.)
Gaza protest t-shirt - I came up with the design, and a vendor of Etsy produces and sells it. Still for sale on Etsy - see link below. (Full disclosure - I get no material benefit from sales, only the vendor does.)
#Gramnay / German Ambassador: Israel and we had military relations for years, I will not apologize for that
The German Ambassador to Israel, Stephan Seibert, said at the "Tel Aviv University - The Future of Israel" conference that "I do not see all of Europe and Germany following Spain and Ireland, which recognized a Palestinian state. We believe that a sustainable agreement should be in the form of a peace agreement based on two states, with all security arrangements."
Seibert added that "for many years there have been military relations between our two countries, and I will not apologize for that."
#US / Key Democrats approve major arms sale to Israel, including F-15s
[…] Meeks told The Washington Post that he has been in “close touch” with the White House about the package and “repeatedly urged the administration to continue pushing Israel to make significant and concrete improvements on all fronts when it comes to humanitarian efforts and limiting civilian casualties.” He underscored that the F-15s will be delivered “years from now” and said he remained supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself against threats from Iran and Hezbollah.
[…] In Washington, U.S. military support for Israel receives overwhelming support from Republicans and Democrats in Congress, backed by powerful interest groups including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is spending tens of millions of dollarsthis election cycle to unseat Democrats it views as insufficiently pro-Israel.
#Gaza / Israeli fire kills 8 Palestinians amongst merchants and civil guards waiting for commercial trucks, health officials say
[…] Eight Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire as merchants and civil guards waited for commercial trucks along the eastern road of the Gaza Strip, which is designated for commercial trucks to roll on, health officials told Reuters on Monday.
#US / Bild: Blinken promised to remove restrictions on arms transfers to Israel
According to Israeli government circles, U.S. Secretary of State #Blinken has signaled that the U.S. will soon lift the restrictions and supply more weapons to Israel.
Maintaining the appearance of power, influence, and moral authority is hard work. The performative rituals of U.S. international diplomacy also appear cynical, if not worse.
On Monday, the United Nations Famine Review Committee (FRC) published a report on the situation in the northern Gaza Strip, concluding that there is insufficient reliable information to declare a famine. While some Israeli media outlets, including #Haaretz, perceive the report as a net positive for #Israel, the conclusion actually highlights the challenges posed by Israel's restrictions.
The FRC's inability to endorse the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) findings stems from the lack of access to Gaza, which prevents the collection of essential data required for its work. This underscores the limitations imposed by Israel's prevention of journalists and international organizations from entering Gaza and evaluating the circumstances on the ground.
Rather than being positive news for Israel, the report underscores the concerning lack of transparency and the inability of independent observers to accurately assess the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Ultimately, this lack of access and information is detrimental not only to the people of Gaza but also to Israel's stated commitment to facilitating humanitarian aid and relief efforts in the region.
[...] Firstly, all stakeholders who use the IPC for high-level decision-making must understand that whether a Famine classification is confirmed does not in any manner change the fact that extreme human suffering is without a doubt currently ongoing in the Gaza Strip and does not in any manner change the immediate humanitarian imperative to address this civilian suffering by enabling complete, safe, unhindered, and sustained humanitarian access into and throughout the Gaza Strip, including through ceasing hostilities. All actors should not wait until a Famine classification for the current period is made to act accordingly.
[...] Secondly, the FRC would like to highlight that the very fact that we are unable to endorse (or not) FEWS NET’s analysis is driven by the lack of essential up to date data on human well-being in Northern Gaza, and Gaza at large. Thus, the FRC strongly requests all parties to enable humanitarian access in general, and specifically to provide a window of opportunity to conduct field surveys in Northern Gaza to have more solid evidence of the food consumption, nutrition, and mortality situation.