Peace activists will demonstrate next Friday (5/24) at 10:30 am in front of the Spanish Embassy in Tel Aviv, 3 Daniel Frisch Street, with the slogan "Spain, recognize the State of Palestine for the benefit of both peoples."
The call for the demonstration stated:
"On October 7, the State of Israel experienced a massacre unlike any since its establishment. The massacre proved that occupation does not provide security, nor does any military operation. A political solution is the only thing that will lead to security and stop the loss and suffering among both peoples."
#Israel / Peace activists will demonstrate next Friday (5/24) at 10:30 am in front of the Spanish Embassy in Tel Aviv, 3 Daniel Frisch Street, with the slogan "Spain, recognize the State of Palestine for the benefit of both peoples."
The call for the demonstration stated:
"On October 7, the State of Israel experienced a massacre unlike any since its establishment. The massacre proved that occupation does not provide security, nor does any military operation. A political solution is the only thing that will lead to security and stop the loss and suffering among both peoples."
#Judaism / There Are No Lights in War: We Need a Different Religious Language (Ariel Schwartz [January 16, 2024])
Ariel Schwartz comes from a right-wing, religious Zionist family, in the political dialing areas of Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. He studied at the Etzion Yeshiva, in southern Mount Hebron, and during his regular service in the settlements in the West Bank, he asked himself who those stateless Palestinians were, "who live under the daily rule of the IDF." These questions caused him to become a left-wing activist.
He tells #Haaretz […] "They took from me the thing most precious to me, my faith, and directed it against me. As religious people, we believe that our tradition demands a different moral stance, one that can restrain the war instead of fueling it."
[…] An example of this can be found in the recent words of R. Amihai Friedman, the rabbi of the Nahal brigade’s training base: “I sit and imagine that in these days there are no casualties, hostages, or injured,” he told his soldiers. “And the second I remove them from the screen, I’m left with what is maybe the happiest month in my life since I was born.”[1]
[…] R. Friedman’s words give rise to a harsh realization: around us is a religious world that is happy, in many respects, about the current war.
[…] Thus, for example, writes R. Yigal Levinstein in the pamphlet He Leaps Up Like a Lion: On the Exaltation of the Spirit and the Special Level of Life During Times of War that saw light in the situation: “The war is not a marginal thing, and we should not view it as a ‘mistake’ or a ‘mishap’ which we would have preferred to avoid. The war is a great thing and, at the end of the day, brings a great message to humanity on its wings.”[2]
[…] According to R. Levinstein, the greatness of the war is rooted in the fact that it is one of those extraordinary moments in which “the inner soul shines in all its vitality.” Indeed, for the individual, the war is a difficult event, but at the national level it calls forth great moments in which the people of Israel “reveals from within itself its mighty heights of life.”
[…] Widening segments of the contemporary religious community are seeking to wrap the war in a halo of enchantment and holiness and turn it pleasant, ideal, and even joyous from an emotional perspective. In furtherance of this aestheticization and idealization, there are those who seek to remove any ethical brakes from the war. They call for us not to differentiate between blood and blood and condone any action done in its framework. These conceptions treat the spirit of battle as the climax of the revelation of the human spirit, but within this, implicitly, it is as though they require war to happen again and again, so that this “spirit of battle” may be revealed. In light of this attempt, we must seek a different religious language―one that remembers that the Jewish horizon is not war but peace, that the goal of the Jewish nation’s existence on this land is not “to shorten the life of man but to lengthen,” and that ethical conduct even in times of war is the soul of our religious tradition.
#Belgium / Ghent university severs ties with three Israeli institutions
[…] The university's rector, Rik Van de Walle, said in a statement that ties were being cut with Holon Institute of Technology, MIGAL Galilee Research Institute, and the #Volcani Center, which carries out agricultural research.
[…] "We currently assess these three partners as (very) problematic according to the Ghent University human rights test, in contrast to the positive evaluation we gave these partners at the start of our collaboration", Van de Walle said.
#Gaza While Israel's fascists are pushing for full occupation of Gaza and imposing a 'military rule’, Netanyahu is not saying no, and the army warns of dire consequences of such a plan
At the dramatic press conference he held the day before yesterday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that he will not continue in his position if there is Israeli control over Gaza. Gallant believes that the current conduct has led to a situation where Israel is currently controlling the Strip, but this is a dangerous situation.
"A trend is developing that is promoting military and civilian rule in Gaza. This is dangerous for us, Israel must not have civilian control over the Gaza Strip. Since October I have been raising this issue in the Cabinet without receiving an answer. The end of the military operation is through political action," he warned.
These are the financial and administrative implications of 'martial rule' in Gaza.
Budget
NIS 20 billion in yearly operational costs
NIS 150 million for building an additional "corridor"
Reconstruction costs not included
Personnel
400 positions to staff five district governorates
4 offensive divisions and 1 defensive division - forces that will be drawn from the Northern and Central Commands
A dramatic increase in the scope of reserve duty for operational employment will be required
#Gaza While Israel's fascists are pushing for full occupation of Gaza and imposing a 'military rule’, Netanyahu is not saying no, and the army warns of dire consequences of such a plan
At the dramatic press conference he held the day before yesterday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that he will not continue in his position if there is Israeli control over Gaza. Gallant believes that the current conduct has led to a situation where Israel is currently controlling the Strip, but this is a dangerous situation.
"A trend is developing that is promoting military and civilian rule in Gaza. This is dangerous for us, Israel must not have civilian control over the Gaza Strip. Since October I have been raising this issue in the Cabinet without receiving an answer. The end of the military operation is through political action," he warned.
These are the financial and administrative implications of 'martial rule' in Gaza.
Budget
NIS 20 million in operational costs
NIS 150 million for an additional "corridor"
Reconstruction costs not included
Personnel
400 positions to staff five district governorates
4 offensive divisions and 1 defensive division - forces that will be drawn from the Northern and Central Commands
A dramatic increase in the scope of reserve duty for operational employment will be required
#Spain / Museo Reina Sofía renames program titled “from the river to the sea” after backlash from Jewish community and the Israeli embassy
The Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid is organizing a special program from May 8 to September 30, 2024 in solidarity with #Palestine and as a call to end the war and genocide in the region. The program, which was initially titled “from the river to the sea”, includes lectures, conversations, and encounters with Palestinian artists to connect their struggles to international solidarity networks.
#Gaza / Spain denies port call for ship carrying arms to Israel
[…] "We have detected this ship, we have refused to allow it to dock, and I can tell you that this will be a consistent policy with any ship carrying Israeli arms and arms cargo that wants to dock in Spanish ports," Albares told reporters in Brussels.
#US / Today, I became the first Jewish-American political appointee to resign from the Biden-Harris administration over its policies in Gaza. Here is my resignation letter...
#Gaza / Settlers looted and desecrated food intended for Gaza in front of soldiers, peace activists were attacked, and two trucks were set on fire
Dozens of settlers and far-right Israelis looted yesterday the humanitarian aid trucks making their way to the Strip through the Tarqumiya crossing near Hebron. The humanitarian aid was blocked at two points in the area south and west of Hebron Hill - near the Tarqumiya checkpoint and near the Negohot settlement. After being blocked and looted, two trucks were set on fire near the Tarqumiya checkpoint.
B'Tselem stated that the looting continued for hours, "in front of soldiers and police officers, as well as security personnel at the crossing, who did not lift a finger to stop the desecration of food. This conduct by the Israeli authorities grossly violates the interim orders of the International Court of Justice, which demanded that Israel allow the supply of humanitarian aid to Gaza."
A new analysis from #HumanRightWatch argues that numerous attacks on humanitarian relief operations by #Israeli forces prove the bombing that killed 7 people was "far from being an isolated 'mistake.'"
Massive fire ongoing at military storage facility in Tel Hashomer, Israel, May 14.
Authorities are reportedly responding to a warehouse fire at Tel Hashomer military base the afternoon of May 14. The cause of the blaze is currently unclear. There are no immediate reports of casualties.Heightened security and localized transport and business disruptions are likely in the affected area over the coming hours. Officials could evacuate nearby premises as a precaution.
There are no reports of what caused the fire, but it's one of the largest weapons storage locations in Israel.
With a greenlight from Biden to continue the its invasion into #Rafah, despite evidence of war crimes https://kolektiva.social/@oatmeal/112421478297802310, #IDF is now calling residents of eastern #Rafah to evacuate to the “humanitarian zone” in the coastal al-Mawasi region in southern #Gaza. Similarly IDF called residents of Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya, two neighborhoods in northern Gaza, to evacuate to western Gaza City.