10-year-old child shot in chest with live ammunition
International Solidarity Movement | August 6, 2014
Hebron, Occupied Palestine – In al-Khalil (Hebron) on Sunday August 3rd, a 10-year-old Palestinian boy was walking to his home near the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba when the Israeli military shot him in the chest with live ammunition.
The following day, ISM volunteers went to visit the young boy in al-Mezan hospital. The young boy was in critical condition, and although doctors were able to save his life, the bullet remains in his left lung, as it is too dangerous to remove it.
His father told the ISM volunteers that a relative of the boy witnessed the shooting and that it had been a man in a soldiers’ uniform that shot him, without any visible motive. His father also pointed out that even if there had been a motive, such as if the boy would have been throwing stones, nothing could have justified this shot, which was clearly aimed at the heart of this 10-year-old child.
A funeral for a soldier that died in Gaza was held in the Tel Rumeida area of al-Khalil between 1 AM and 3 AM last Sunday evening. The area was under heavy military presence, shop owners were forced to close down their shops early and Palestinians living in the area received orders stay in their homes and turn the lights off. Doctors at al-Mezan hospital have reported that in recent weeks there has been an increase in the number of bullet wounds resulting from live ammunition. Many of these wounds have been in the chest and abdomen, seemingly aimed to kill.
Will there be accountability for Brits fighting in Israel?
By Shazia Arshad | MEMO | August 6, 2014
The Israeli army is currently waging a cold blooded campaign against the Gaza Strip, the third of its kind in less than six years. As thousands of Palestinians are killed and injured by Israeli forces, attention is slowly but surely turning towards those who are committing some of the most cruel and gruesome acts of war.
After Operation Cast Lead (2008-2009) there were attempts to use universal jurisdiction to bring about the arrest of senior Israeli officials visiting the UK who were accused of war crimes. Although the laws on universal jurisdiction were changed by the current British government, inevitably the spotlight remains on the illegality of the IDFs actions during the course of war.
During this war, however, the spotlight has shone upon a slightly different element, those British nationals who are serving in the IDF. In recent months there has been much scrutiny of British nationals who have left the UK for Syria. A letter to the Home Secretary and MP for Hayes and Harlington, John McDonnell, highlighted that 20 British nationals have had their citizenship withdrawn as a result of their activities in Syria. Media reports have suggested that hundreds of British nationals were going to Syria to take part in activities against Assad as the civil war in Syria continues to rage on some three years later. As these reports filtered out, the British government voiced concerns that upon their return these British nationals would be radicalised and become involved in extremism. This is not the first time that government officials have linked foreign affairs to extremism in the UK, but almost exclusively the conversations about extremism in the UK have consistently focused on the Muslim community.
Yet what these conversations have missed is another potential force for radicalisation. This has been missed because this radicalisation will not be of Muslims by Muslims nor at the hand of Muslims; in short it is because that spell happens in Israel.
The IDF do not actively recruit foreign nationals in the UK, yet despite this figures from Channel 4 News suggest that at least 100 Brits are currently active in the Israeli army. The Israeli army do not provide figures for the number of foreign recruits they currently have and whilst British MPs have quizzed the government on this, ministers have been unable to report back on the exact numbers. Indeed, when Lord Ahmed of Rotherham asked the then minister about this in 2009, the minister reported that this information would only be available from the Israeli government.
However, back in 2010 the Independent newspaper reported that a new organisation, Aish Malach, had been established to help foreign nationals enlist in the army. Most can join through a programme known as Mahal, which allows a person who is Jewish or of Jewish ancestry to join the army; they need not be a citizen of Israel in order to do so.
With or without structured recruitment programmes young British Jewish recruits are keen to sign up to the IDF. When the Guardian covered this in 2006, they spoke to a British recruit who said that he was joining, along with other recruits, to show his love and support for Israel. And it seems according to one report in the New Statesman that this indoctrination into support for the IDF starts early, with 16 and 17 year-olds joining the Marva programme, which echoes the training of the IDF soldiers in order to encourage the young participants to empathise with the army. These young British recruits are encouraged to join by youth groups such as the RSY Netzer and the Federation of Zionist Youth. Many of these participants did go on to join the IDF.
Whilst many of these recruits do go on to take Israeli citizenship with many becoming dual nationals, this is not the case for all recruits. Some recruits choose not to take on citizenship and remain British nationals only. Whether or not they have citizenship, these foreign recruits take on a full role in the army and serve in the same way as any other recruit in the IDF. And this inevitably means that they will take part in those same actions which the British public have watched unfold in Gaza over recent weeks resulting in the death of nearly 2,000 Palestinians.
The current conflict in Gaza has undoubtedly seen a breach of international law and it would be no stretch of the imagination to assume that war crimes had not been committed. As Palestinian officials met with International Criminal Court prosecutors, a group of senior British lawyers wrote to the ICC urging them to investigate noting that the ICC had a duty to do so given the UN’s recognition of Palestine. And if Israel is found guilty of war crimes at the ICC, then it follows that Israeli officials would have to be held to account over their actions. And under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Britain would have a duty to ensure that it plays its role in ensuring that justice is served.
With British nationals active in the IDF, there is no doubt that some of these recruits will have taken part in the current campaign in Gaza. As Foreign Office Minister, Lord Malloch Brown, noted after Operation Cast Lead: “anybody who has broken the fourth protocol of the Geneva Convention deserves to meet justice in some court or another.” The minister also said that it would not be right to draw a distinction between “British nationals and others”. Should British nationals return to the UK having partaken in such crimes it should be inevitable that justice would follow. In reality, it is unlikely that any such action would be taken by British courts against British IDF soldiers.
Whilst there have been no moves to prevent Brits enlisting in the IDF, there is a law which states it is an offence for a British national to enlist in a foreign army and should they do so it would be an offence “punishable by fine and imprisonment.” The law however has been barely used and became almost redundant when British nationals left the UK to join the struggles during the Spanish civil war. With no laws to effectively prevent Brits joining the IDF, British nationals remain vulnerable to arrest – if they choose to leave the country and take up arms with the Israeli army, who have been killing and wounding civilians in Gaza they are culpable of committing crimes against a besieged civilian population, almost certainly illegal under international law.
Britain has always been troubled by its role in the Middle East and the effect of its foreign policy on communities at home in the UK. When the current government launched its report into British nationals fighting in Syria, the focus was on how to prevent radicalisation of the Muslim communities in the UK. Those Brits arrested after returning from Syria have been accused of partaking in terrorist activity, but those Brits in the IDF are no less guilty of that. The only difference being that the the Israeli army’s actions are state sanctioned and as of yet have not been condemned by the British government.
When British Foreign Office Minister Baroness Warsi resigned she noted that the UK needs to end its complicity by looking to bring about an arms embargo. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg went on to call for a suspension of arms export licenses within hours of Warsi’s resignation, but if the UK is to fully end its complicity in Israeli war crimes, it needs to look closely at the actions of its citizens who are taking part in the IDFs assault of the Palestinian people.
Gaza’s children will not forget
By Roqayah Chamseddine | Al-Akhbar | August 6, 2014
As Israel withdraws its ground forces from Gaza “to defensive positions” outside the Gaza Strip there are already obscene calls for Israel to re-engage so that Israel may “finish the job” and “go all the way” by demilitarizing Gaza, purging the 360 sq. km strip of its native Arab inhabitants and reoccupying it. Nearly 1,900 Palestinians have been killed and at least 500,000, who are already refugees, have been internally displaced once more as a result of 29 days of implacable Israeli attacks. Parts of Gaza have been emptied, with entire neighborhoods eradicated as though they had never existed. From space the Gaza Strip was captured veiled in black, with Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment glowing bright — the widespread pockets of shelling luminous amongst the darkness, like blazing sulfur. If this is what was witnessed from space imagine what horrors the people of Gaza will see on earth as the dust settles.
Citizens of Gaza’s southern town of Khuza’a who fled unwavering bombing campaigns describe harrowing scenes of bodies lining the streets, children being kept in ice cream freezers as morgues could no longer accommodate the dead, and tell of being deliberately targeted by Israel, some narrowly escaping with their lives.
In one incident, reported by 15-year-old Akram al-Najjar to Human Rights Watch, after Israeli soldiers found more than 100 people huddled together in one house, they were all forced out: “The first one to walk out of the house was Shahid al-Najjar. He had his hands up, but the soldiers shot him. He was shot in the jaw and badly injured, but he survived. Two of the people in the house spoke Hebrew and asked the soldiers why they shot him, and the soldiers said that the rest of the men had to take our clothes off before we walked out.”
In another eye-witness account in Khuza’a, the Israeli military had trapped at least 32 people in a home and then prevented the Red Cross from evacuating them before then shelling the area. After they moved to a neighbor’s house they sought refuge in the basement where they found families already inside. “By that point we were 120 people, 10 men and the rest women and children,” Kamel al-Najjar told Human Rights Watch. After dawn, without warning, Israel struck the house, killing three people and wounding 15 others.
The toll this war had on Gaza’s children has been “catastrophic” according to the United Nations. At least 429 children have been killed in this latest Israeli onslaught, and those who have not been buried have had their innocence entombed, another casualty in this war against all things daring to live and resist in Gaza. “I watched the missile falling on my home. My home burned. It burned all my toys, clothes and my room. I think I will not survive,” a nine-year-old girl from Rafah told a UNRWA counselor.
Gaza’s children were robbed of hundreds of blissful mornings, from witnessing the sun rising to kiss the earth as they sit restless, listening to the reassuring pulse of their parents’ voices, tasting the sugar of happiness from their smiles. Some will no longer feel their mother’s soothing arms rock them still into the night, nor see the inspiring glimmer of hope, like constellations, dancing in their father’s eyes, nor will they hear stories told by their grandparents of golden sunsets in Palestine bleeding into mornings — and when the homes are rebuilt there will be corners of emptiness inside that had once been filled to the brim with the laughter of a sibling or cousin, as they sat amongst flat bread and plates of labneh, za’atar and olive oil.
Israel has forced the children of Gaza to lay flowers atop headstones, and watch helplessly as coffins that are filled with not only their most beloved family members, teachers, neighbors, and friends but also their most treasured memories, lullabies, lessons learned and those that will never come, descend into the belly of the earth. Their lips will memorize and form prayers for the dead and the stars that defied the siege, that flickered freely high above them, will be snatched from their skies. In so many interviews after countless attacks we hear Palestinians, both young and old, say: “Israel has stolen everything beautiful in our lives,” and Israel’s barbarity continues to reaffirm this sentiment.
Yet despite the blood soaking the dirt beneath the feet of mourners, despite this cataclysmic butchery and theft, Palestinians continue to resist. Israel has attempted with all of its militaristic might to remove not only the Palestinian will to resist but to extract Gaza, the land and the identity, from the Palestinian character as a whole, by way of the siege — but it is a part of Palestine as much as one’s heart is a part of the body.
Gaza is Palestine. So long as a single voice remains in Gaza calling for resistance, for an end to the siege and the greater occupation, come what may, Israel will answer for the destruction of villages, the arbitrary detention of children, the normalization of indefinite detention without charge or trial for political prisoners, the detainment of asylum seekers, the racism that has become part and parcel of the occupation. Israel will answer for its culture of impunity.
The children of Gaza will not forget the people and the land that Israel has snatched from them and so long as a single flag stands amongst the rubble, so long as a single voice cries for justice, despite the sounds of drones buzzing up above, the people of Palestine shall endure.
Roqayah Chamseddine is a Sydney based Lebanese-American journalist and commentator. She tweets @roqchams and writes ‘Letters From the Underground.‘
More than 70 per cent of Gazans have no drinking water
MEMO | August 6, 2014
Head of the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) Shaddad Attili said on Tuesday that the Gaza Strip is suffering a severe shortage of clean drinking water, calling the water situation “disastrous” after heavy Israeli attacks on the network of water pipes.
Speaking to Anadolu news agency, Attili said that 70 percent of the water pipelines have been damaged and that the 1.8 million Gazans are surviving on only 30 percent of the Strip’s capacity.
He went on to say that the water from some of the wells along the Strip was mixed with sewage. In addition 50 per cent of the sewage was pouring into the sea without being filtered because of the damage to the pipelines.
Gaza is one of the world’s most densely populated areas, where around 1.8 million people live in 360km2.
The PWA previously condemned Israeli plans to establish a security area 3km along the Gaza Strip. The PWA said this area, 36 percent of the Gaza strip, includes most of the resources for drinking water.
The PWA called upon the international community to intervene in order to prevent this and to allow chloride, which is used to sterilise drinking water, into the Strip. They also called for fuel to be allowed in to run water wells.
According to the statement, the Gaza Strip is in an urgent need of large tankers to distribute drinking water to urgently fulfil the needs of its residents.
During the war, the Palestinian housing and work ministry said that Israel had destroyed 25 percent of the infrastructure. Executive manager of the Palestinian Telecom Company said that 85 percent of wired and wireless telephone facilities were destroyed.
Israel killed 1,875 Palestinians, including 426 children and 255 women, and wounded 9,893; more than half of them are children and women, according to the ministry of health. 10,606 homes were destroyed, including 1,724 that were completely destroyed. It attacked 132 mosques; 42 of them were completely destroyed. Six universities and 188 schools, as well as 19 banks and exchange offices were directly attacked.
More than 315 factories, 27 public services facilities and 52 fishing boats were also destroyed.
Embedded Reporter Says Israel Targeted Guided Missile at UNWRA School, Killing 15 Civilians
By Richard Silverstein | Tikun Olam | August 5, 2014
An Israeli reporter for Maariv, Aviram Zino, has been embedded with an Israeli unit during the current invasion. Noam R writes in his Israeli political blog about Zino’s fawning enthusiastic response to being given the chance of a lifetime to be a reporter in the middle of the “action.” His reporting comes across as cheerleading rather than objective journalism. But in spite of himself, Zino reveals a damning fact that impeaches the Israeli’s credibility regarding its denial of deliberately targeting UN buildings housing Palestinian civilian refugees.
Zino reports that the unit commander, Nadav, ordered the firing of a $100,000 Tamuz (aka Spike) heat-seeking anti-tank missile on a UNWRA school in Beit Hanoun on July 24th:
Nadav tried to clarify what means were available to him. A survey of the field shows clearly fire coming from an UNWRA school in the center of Gaza. The order is given and a Tammuz missile is fired at the school. The commanding general, who arrives later for a press conference, says in response: “This is yet another example of Hamas’ cynical use of civilian structures for the purposes of terror.”
It’s a bit aggravating since the unit tried from the beginning of the Operation to do minimal damage, as best as possible, to the “uninvolved” [military jargon for “civilians”].
15 Palestinian civilians died from this missile and 150 were injured. As Noam R points out in his blog post, this is the first eyewitness, definitive evidence that Israel deliberately ordered a lethal guided-weapon (not indiscriminate artillery fire) to be fired at a civilian building in Gaza knowing there were unarmed non-combatants inside who would be killed.
Two things to point out about this report. Clearly, Zino didn’t see firing from the school. He trusted the unit commander’s word that such fire had been confirmed. But by whom and how is not mentioned. Second, the commander speaking at the press conference only notes the attack by Israel on the school without explaining how it justified killing civilians. Zino, in the closing sentence, admits explicitly that the attack was both disproportional and knowingly attacked civilians. As Sara Lee Whitson says in the paragraph below: that “is a war crime.”
In fact, Human Rights Watch’s Sarah Leah Whitson spoke about Israel’s responsibility to Gaza’s civilian population:
…The…presence of… civilians despite a warning to flee cannot be ignored when attacks are carried out, as Israeli forces have done previously.
“Warning families to flee fighting doesn’t make them fair targets just because they’re unable to do so, and deliberately attacking them is a war crime,” Whitson said.
In other words, you may not attack a civilian target containing unarmed civilians using heavy lethal weapons, even if you believe there are armed fighters engaged in combat operations against you. The safety of civilians trumps any desire to eliminate the armed threat, if there is one. This is reinforced by the fact that the Israel never presents any proof of its claims that armed fighters are firing from such structures and didn’t do so in this particular case.
There is yet another instance of serious Israeli prevarication. Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Lerner told AP 900 Palestinian fighters had been killed during the war. Yet Israel itself only two days before had put that number at 300. When asked why it jumped so much, AP characterized his response:
Lerner said the figure of 900 militants killed was an approximation, based on reporting from individual Israeli units, but provided no further detail.
In other words, “900″ is nothing more than the old Vietcong “body count” released by the U.S. army to persuade the press it was killing gooks and winning the war. The truth turned out to be quite different, as it will be in Gaza as well.
Palestinian and UN reports place the number of dead fighters at 20% of the overall total, which is 1,900. That would mean that 380 militants were killed. My own Israeli source reports more candid Israeli claims that 500 fighters have been killed. Certainly, the final number will be somewhere between 380-500, but nowhere near Lerner’s prevaricating claim of 900.
My Operation Protective Edge debrief yesterday argued that while both sides had gotten bloody noses, Hamas, simply by remaining standing, had gotten the better of Israel. Sheera Frenkel interviewed soldiers leaving Gaza and they uniformly told her they believed both that their objectives hadn’t been clear going into Gaza, and now that the Operation had ended, they hadn’t “gotten the job done.” Meaning, don’t believe the PR-bloviating you’ll hear from Benny Gantz and Bibi Netanyahu saying that Hamas had been dealt a mortal blow, that Israel had achieved all its objectives, etc. None of that happened. … Full article
Gaza industrial sector hit hard as 134 factories destroyed
Ma’an – 06/08/2014
GAZA CITY – At least 134 factories were destroyed during Israel’s four-week military offensive in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian industrial union said Wednesday, causing severe damage to an already fragile industrial sector.
The union of Palestinian industries said that most factories stopped operations for over 30 days, with reported losses of at least $70 million.
Over 30,000 workers were made redundant due to the closures.
“The Israeli war machine deliberately destroyed the infrastructure of the Palestinian national economy by targeting factories which posed no security threat to the occupation,” the union said.
The industrial sector had already suffered major damage during previous Israeli military offenses in Gaza in 2012 and 2008.
The ongoing Israeli blockade has also severely limited the productivity of the industrial sector since it was imposed eight years ago, forcing factories to close or fire workers to remain in operation.
“Israel shouldn’t be rewarded for this aggression, and so Israeli products should be boycotted both locally and internationally,” the union added.
Deputy PA economy minister Taysir Amro said the 29-day war had caused total damage of up to $6 billion dollars.
US objects Palestinian bid to International Criminal Court
MEMO | August 6, 2014
Spokesperson of the US Department of State Jen Psaki said on Tuesday that her country objects to the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to try Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Commenting at a daily press briefing in Washington on what she called “reports of a push for an ICC investigation”, she said: “Our view is that we continue to strongly oppose unilateral actions that seek to circumvent or prejudge the very outcomes that can only be negotiated.”
She continued: “We’ve been very clear that, while we’ve expressed concerns when we’ve had them, there is – the only realistic path for realising Palestinian aspirations of statehood is through direct negotiations between the parties.”
Earlier on the same day, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki said he is optimistic that the latest ceasefire in Gaza will hold, even as Palestinians renewed efforts to bring Israel before the ICC.
“We expect the ceasefire to expand into another 72 hours and beyond,” Al-Malki told reporters at a press conference at The Hague, where he met the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda.
“We have heard that Israel has really committed itself to withdrawing… but it really depends on Israel and the seriousness of the Israeli side,” Al-Malki said.
He also openly expressed that the Palestinian Authority is planning to bring Israel to the ICC over the massacres carried out in the Gaza Strip during the last four weeks.
Eyeless in Gaza
Israeli deceptions revealed in story of ‘kidnapped’ soldier
By Jonathan Cook | Dissident Voice | August 4, 2014
A single incident at the weekend – the reported capture by Hamas on Friday of an Israeli soldier through a tunnel – illustrated in stark fashion the layers of deception Israel has successfully cast over its attack on Gaza.
On Sunday, as the army indicated it would start limited withdrawals, Israel claimed Hadar Goldin was dead, possibly buried in a collapsed tunnel as Israel bombarded the area in which he was seized. His family said he was being left behind.
Israeli officials or media did not view Hamas’ operation dispassionately. Goldin was not “captured” but “kidnapped” – as though he was an innocent seized by opportunistic criminals.
As occurs so often, many western journalists followed Israel’s lead. The London Times’ front page blared: “Kidnapped in Gaza”, while the Boston Globe called him the “abducted Israeli soldier”.
From western reactions, it was also clear the soldier’s capture was considered more significant news than any of the massacres of Palestinian civilians over the past weeks.
Israel’s cynical calculus – that one soldier is more valuable than large numbers of dead Palestinian civilians – was echoed in the diplomatic and editorial corridors of Washington, London and Paris.
Misleading too was the general agreement that, in attacking a group of soldiers in Rafah and seizing Goldin, Hamas had violated the first moments of a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire.
The Washington Post reported on the circumstances as a Hamas suicide bomber emerged from a tunnel to explode his vest, killing two soldiers, and Goldin was pulled into the shaft. “>On Friday morning, Israeli troops were in the southern Gaza Strip preparing to destroy a Hamas tunnel, said Israeli military officials. Suddenly, Palestinian militants emerged from a shaft.”
CBS reporter Charlie D’Agata parroted the same Israeli briefings, also inadvertently exposing the central deceit. The soldier was “suspected of being kidnapped during an operation to clear tunnels – crucially, [officials] say, this happened after the ceasefire was supposed to take place.”
So if a ceasefire was in place, what were Goldin and his comrades doing detonating tunnels, tunnels in which Israel says Hamas is hiding? Were Hamas fighters supposed to simply wait to be entombed in their bunkers during the pause in hostilities? Or was Israel the one violating the ceasefire?
And then there was the explosion of military fury as Israel realised its soldier was missing. Israeli correspondents have admitted that the notorious “Hannibal procedure” was invoked: the use of all means to stop a soldier being taken alive, including killing him. The rationale is to prevent the enemy gaining a psychological advantage in negotiations.
The unleashing of massive firepower appeared designed to ensure Goldin and his captors never made it out of their tunnel, but in the process Israel killed dozens of Palestinians.
It was another illustration of Israel’s absolute disregard for the safety of civilians. At least three-quarters of the more than 1,700 Palestinians killed so far are non-combatants, while almost all Israeli casualties have been soldiers. This has been a pattern in all Israel’s recent confrontations.
Israel’s official justifications for taking the fight into Gaza have been layered with deceit too.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has argued that Israel was dragged into a war of necessity. Barack Obama echoed him: Israel had a right to defend itself from a barrage of rockets fired out of Gaza. Later the pretext became Israel’s need to destroy the “terror tunnels”.
The logic is deeply flawed. Israel is occupying and besieging Gaza, conferring on its inhabitants a right under international law to fight for their freedom. How does the oppressor, the lawbreaker have a right to self-defence? If Israel objects to being scratched and bruised, it should stop choking its victim.
The degree to which Israel’s narrative of “self-defence” has come to dominate news coverage and diplomatic statements was revealed in a CNN interview. Anchor Carol Costello asked a baffled interviewee in all seriousness: “Why doesn’t Hamas just show Israel where these tunnels are?”
Equally significantly, Israel has obscured the truth that it picked this particular round of its ongoing confrontation with Hamas – and did so entirely cynically.
A BBC reporter recently confirmed with an Israeli police spokesman a rumour that had been circulating among military correspondents for weeks. The group behind the abduction in June of three Israeli teens in the West Bank – the trigger for Israel’s campaign against Hamas – was a lone cell, acting on its own.
Claiming precisely the opposite – that he had cast-iron proof Hamas was responsible – Netanyahu gave the army free rein to arrest hundreds of Hamas members and smash the organisation’s institutions in the West Bank.
The crackdown created the necessary provocation: Hamas allowed Gaza’s factions to start firing limited numbers of rockets. Analyst Nathan Thrall noted recently that Hamas had impressed the Israeli army until that point by enforcing the ceasefire agreed with Israel 18 months earlier, even though Israel violated the terms by maintaining Gaza’s siege.
Now the rockets gave Netanyahu an excuse to strike.
So what was his real reason for going into Gaza? What were these many deceptions designed to hide?
It seems Netanyahu wanted to end a strategic threat: not Hamas rockets or tunnels, but the establishment of a unity government between Hamas and its long-time rivals Fatah. Palestinian unity risked reviving pressure on him to negotiate, or face a renewed and more credible Palestinian campaign for statehood at the United Nations.
But Hamas’ unexpectedly impressive martial display against Israel – killing dozens of soldiers, firing long-range rockets into Israel throughout, closing briefly the sole international airport, launching attacks into Israeli territory, and causing a loss to the economy estimated so far at more than $4bn – may have changed the calculus again.
For the moment, Netanyahu seems to prefer to pull back Israeli soldiers rather than be forced under international pressure to negotiate with Hamas. He knows that its key demand will be that Israel end the siege.
But in the longer term, Netanyahu may need Palestinian unity, at least on his terms, to undermine Hamas’ gains.
As Israel began its attack on Gaza, Netanyahu turned his attention to the West Bank. He warned that there could never be “any agreement in which we relinquish security control” over it for fear that, given the West Bank’s larger size, Israel might “create another 20 Gazas”.
He was ruling out any hope of Palestinian statehood. A “demilitarised” entity, heavily circumscribed and absolutely dependent on Israel and the US, seems to be all that Israel will ever put on the table.
Allowing Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah into Gaza could justify loosening the siege. But only as long as Abbas agrees to remove Hamas’ military infrastructure and export to the coastal enclave the model he has established in the West Bank – of endless accommodation to Israeli and US dictates.
Jonathan Cook, based in Nazareth, Israel is a winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His latest books are Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East (Pluto Press) and Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair (Zed Books).
In defense of Palestine
Silvio Rodriguez OJALA
Bolivia Rising | August 5, 2014
The following statement in defense of Palestine and encouraging people to join the BDS campaign has been signed by Bolivian president Evo Morales, former Honduran president Mel Zelaya, Nobel peace prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano, Cuban musician Silvio Rodríguez and many more (see list below) To add your name email endefensadepalestina@gmail.com
In defense of Palestine
Faced with the tragic events our Palestinian brothers and sisters are living through in Gaza, the Network in Defense of Humanity (REDH) assumes our responsibility and expresses the following:
We take up as our own the words of compañero Evo Morales, a founder of the Network in Defense of Humanity and President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, who has declared Israel to be a terrorist state.
We express our absolute repulsion at the genocide being carried out against the Palestinian people by a state founded on dispossession and the colonial occupation of Palestinian territories.
We pay recognition to, and express our solidarity with the Palestinian people and its resistance organizations, especially in Gaza, in their heroic struggle against Israeli attempts to exterminate them and seize the small pieces that remain of what was once their homeland.
We condemn the imperialist role of the United States that politically, financially and militarily sponsors and backs Israel, in the face of the extraordinary inaction of the UN Security Council whose resolutions on the question of Palestine are systematically violated with complete impunity by Washington. The United States is once again demonstrating the hypocrisy and cynicism with which it has acted throughout history, threatening sanctions and interventions against the peoples of Latin America, Africa and Eurasia who defend their sovereignty at the same time as its backs the actions of Israel.
We denounce the complicity in what is occurring, by default in some cases, of the governments that make up the European Union, as well as the unconditional subordination of the media oligarchs to Washington’s dictates. Enough of calling it a war when in fact it is a genocide being perpetrated by one of the best equipped armies in the world against a people whose defensive resources are infinitely inferior in quantity and quality!
We encourage you to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against the terrorist state of Israel, as it is time for active and creative solidarity that goes beyond statements of condemnation. We have failed the more than 1,600 people killed in Palestine over the last few weeks, as well as the more than 9,000 injured since the start of the terrorist operation hypocritically named “Protective Edge”.
We demand an end to apartheid and genocide, as well as to the walls and illegal settlements. We call on the governments of the world to demand that Israel complies with US Security Council resolutions that oblige it to withdraw from Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, return to the borders that existed prior to the “Six Day War” (1967) and guarantee the right of return for Palestinian refugees, as per Security Council Resolution No. 242, November 22, 1967, a resolution that has been consistently ignored by the state of Israel.
We call for a real political solution to the conflict in Palestine on the basis of dialogue, negotiation and the existence of two states with equal rights and delineated borders that are internationally recognized. We believe this solution must begin with the immediate lifting of the blockade on Gaza and the liberation of all Palestinian political prisoners. We congratulate the governments of ALBA [Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our Americas], Mercosur [Common Market of the South] and other governments of the South for their position of solidarity against the barbaric actions of Israel in Gaza.
We adopt as our own the words of the revolutionary, Nelson Mandela: “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” We affirm that Israel has morally and politically lost this battle in the face of the brave Palestinian people and the growing condemnation by the peoples of the world of a “criminal” state that violates international law. The unbreakable Palestinian resistance will be rewarded, sooner rather than later, with the smiles of their children in a free homeland.
Against Israeli terrorism and US imperialism, in defense of the right to self-determination for Palestine and all the peoples of the world!
Initial signatories: Evo Morales, Bolivia; Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Argentina; Pablo González Casanova, México; Eduardo Galeano, Uruguay; Roberto Fernández Retamar, Cuba; Federico Mayor Zaragoza, España; Silvio Rodríguez, Cuba; Luis Arce Catacora, Bolivia; Gianni Vattimo, Italia; Gabriela Rivadeneira, Ecuador; Istvan Meszaros, Hungría/Reino Unido; Samir Amin, Egipto; Alfonso Sastre, País Vasco; Nardi Suxo, Bolivia; Enrique Dussel, México; Marta Harnecker, Chile; Carmen Bohorquez, Venezuela; Cesar Navarro, Bolivia; Miguel Barnet , Cuba; Franz Hinkelammert, Alemania; Héctor Arce Zaconeta, Bolivia; Piedad Cordoba, Colombia; Reverendo Raúl Suarez, Cuba; Martin Almada, Paraguay; Fernando Rendón, Colombia; Graziella Pogolloti, Cuba; Sacha Llorenti, Bolivia; Ana Esther Ceceña, México; Luis Britto, Venezuela; Rafael Cancel Miranda, Puerto Rico; Atilio Boron, Argentina; Theotonio Dos Santos, Brasil ; Alfredo Rada, Bolivia; Piedad Cordoba, Colombia, Farruco Sesto, Venezuela; Ángel Guerra, Cabrera, Cuba/ Mexico, Juan Carlos Trujillo, Bolivia; Mel Zelaya; Honduras; Hildebrando Pérez Grande, Perú; Patricia Villegas, Colombia/Venezuela; Maria Nela Prada, Bolivia; Stella Calloni, Argentina; Omar González, Cuba;; Hugo Moldiz, Bolivia; Pascual Serrano, España;; Raúl Pérez Torres, Ecuador; Obispo Raúl Vera, México; Joao Pedro Stedile, Brasil; Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Portugal; Rodrigo Álvarez Cambras, Cuba; Socorro Gomes, Brasil; Katu Arkonada, País Vasco/Bolivia
Full list of signatories
Abdón Ubidia Ecuador
Adalberto Santana México
Adelaide Gonçalves Brasil
Ademar Olivera Uruguay
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel Argentina
Adriana Rossi Argentina
Adys Cupull Cuba
Aitana Alberti Cuba
Alba Carosio Venezuela.
Alba Estela Maldonado Guatemala
Alberto Abreu Arcia Cuba
Alberto Acosta Cuba
Alberto Ferrari Argentina
Alberto Mass Argentina
Alberto Rabilotta Argentina/Canadá
Aldo M. Etchegoyen
Alejandra Ciriza Argentina
Alejandra Claros Borda Bolivia
Alejandra del Palacio México
Alejandro Dausa Bolivia
Alejandro Hamed Franco Uruguay
Alejandro Moreano Ecuador
Alejandro Zárate Bladés Bolivia
Alex Pausides Cuba
Alexis Adarfio Marin Venezuela
Alfonso Herrera Franyutti Mexico
Alfonso Sastre País Vasco;
Alfredo Rada Bolivia
Alfredo Serrano Bolivia
Alfredo Vera Arrata Ecuador
Alicia Castellanos México
Amelia Barreda Argentina
Américo Díaz Núñez Venezuela
Ana Bas Cortada Argentina
Ana Carolina Strongoli Argentina
Ana Cristina Abud Argentina
Ana Esther Ceceña México
Ana Leticia Vargas México
Ana María Aragonés México
Ana María Ramb Hughes Argentina
Ana Mariaa Vera Smith México
Ana Paula de Teresa México
Ana Ruiz España
Ana Zambrano Estados Unidos
Anahit Aharonian Uruguay
Andrea Fernández México
Andrea Trejo Márquez México
Andrea Vlahusic Argentina
Ángel Guerra Cabrera Cuba/ México
Ángel I. Baños
Ángeles Maestro España
Angelo Baracca Italia
Anita Leocadia Prestes Brasil
Annamaria Testi Italia
Antonella Signorini Italia
Antonio Elías Uruguay
Antonio J. Martínez Fuentes Cuba
Antonio Preciado Ecuador
Araceli Cortes México
Ariana López Marth Cuba
Arlete Moysés Rodrigues Brasil
Armando Fernández Cuba
Arturo Corcuera Perú
Arturo Escobar Estados Unidos
Atilio Bonilla Perú
Atilio Borón Argentina
Augusto Plaza Bolivia
Aurelio Alonso Cuba
Beatriz Stolowicz México
Beilton Freire da Rocha Brasil
Bernard Duterme Bélgica
Betinho Duarte Brasil
Beto Almeida Brasil
Betty Tejada Soruco Bolivia
Boaventura de Sousa Santos Portugal
Boris Brito Bolivia
Bruno Portugués Perú
Camilo Valqui Cachi México
Carla Espósito Guevara
Carlin Shapiama Perú
Carlos Aznárez Argentina
Carlos Borroto Cuba
Carlos Cabal Mirabal Cuba
Carlos Chanove Bolivia
Carlos Fazio México
Carlos Fernández Liria España
Carlos Moya Ureta Chile
Carlos Zamora Cuba
Carmen Bohorquez Venezuela;
Carol Proner Brasil
Carolina Sánchez Cuba
Cecilia Todd Venezuela
Cesar Navarro Bolivia
Cesar Navarro Bolivia;
Cesar Pedros Fernández Cuba
Christian Mirza Uruguay
Christian Mirza Uruguay
Clara Algranati Argentina
Clara Ferri México
Clara Rivas España
Claudia Camba Argentina
Claudia Gómez Haro México
Claudia Iriarte Chile
Claudia Yarza Argentina
Clemencia Correa México
Colette Louise Wall México
Crisbeyle González Bolivia
Cruz Mejía México
Crysbeylee González Venezuela
Danny Rivera Puerto Rico
Darío Machado Rodríguez Cuba
Delfina Paredes Perú
Denis Merino Perú
Derlei Catarina De Luca Brasil
Domenico Losurdo Italia
Domenico Vasapollo. Italia
Edgar Butron Bolivia
Edgar Llanos Bolivia
Edgard Sánchez México
Edgardo Lander Venezuela
Edmundo Cepeda México
Eduardo Arroyo Perú
Eduardo Galeano, Uruguay
Eduardo González Cuba
Eduardo Heras Cuba
Eduardo Neururer Argentina-España
Eduardo Paz Rada Bolivia
Eduardo Raúl Neururer Rabottini España
Elena Jiménez Cuba
Elisa Rando Argentina
Elma Beatriz Rosado Puerto Rico
Elza Neves Moraes Brasil
Emiliano Teran Mantovani Venezuela
Emilio Comas Paret Cuba
Emira Imaña Bolivia
Enrique Dussel México;
Enrique González Ruiz México
Enrique Rajchenberg México
Enrique Ubieta Gómez Cuba
Epigmenio Ibarra México
Epitacio Paes Brasil
Eréndira Salazar México
Esteban Falcón
Esteban Silva Cuadra Chile
Estefanía Prado Bolivia
Estela Fernández Nadal Argentina
Eugenio Sánchez Aldana México
Eva Björklund Serbia
Eva Forest-Sastre País Vasco
Eva Golinger Venezuela
Evaliz Morales Alvarado Bolivia
Evo Morales Bolivia
Fabio Grobart Sunshine Cuba
Fanny Palacios Izquierdo Perú
Farruco Sesto Venezuela
Federico García Perú
Federico Mayor Zaragoza España
Feliciano Padilla Perú
Felipe de J. Pérez Cruz Cuba
Fernando Bossi Venezuela
Fernando Buen Abad Domínguez México
Fernando Martínez Heredia Cuba
Fernando Medina Venezuela
Fernando Mijangos País Vasco
Fernando Morais Brasil
Fernando Rendón Colombia
Fernando Rodríguez Bolivia
Flora Rocha Bolivia
Francesco Spinazzola Italia
Francisco García Bolivia
Francois Houtart Belgica
Frank Gaudichaud Francia
Franz Hinkelammert Alemania;
Franz Sandoval Bolivia
Fred Fuentes Australia
Freddy Salazar Sanjinés
Fredy Salazar Bolivia
Froilán González Cuba
Gabriel Coderch Díaz Cuba
Gabriel Pérez México
Gabriel Vargas Lozano México
Gabriela Rivadeneira, Ecuador
Gabriela Sosa Martínez México
Gianni Vattimo Italia
Gilberto López y Rivas México
Gilda Girardi Venezuela
Gina Rey Cuba
Gladys M Quiroga Argentina
Gloria Sellera Uruguay
Gonzalo Perera Uruguay
Gorki Tapia Perú
Graciela Masetti Argentina
Graziella Pogolloti Cuba;
Griselda Ramos Suco Cuba/México
Guillermo Azzi Argentina
Guillermo Rodríguez Rivera Cuba
Guillermo Tineo Bolivia
Gustavo Codas Paraguay
Gustavo Espinoza Perú
Gustavo Rojas Perú
Gustavo Valcárcel Perú
Héctor Arce Zaconeta Bolivia
Héctor Bernardo Argentina
Héctor de la Cueva México
Héctor Fernando Aguilar Venezuela
Hector Udaeta Bolivia
Henrique Galarza España
Henry Morales López Guatemala
Hernando Calvo Ospina Colombia
Hildebrando Pérez Grande Perú
Homero Castro Guzmán México
Horacio E. Pérez López Cuba
Hugo Chinea Cabrera Cuba
Hugo Moldiz Bolivia
Humberto Zambrana Bolivia
Ilonka Vargas Ecuador
Inés Izaguirre Argentina
Inés Lucero Belgrano México
Iraida Vargas Venezuela
Irene León Ecuador
Iroel Sánchez Cuba
Isabel Monal Cuba
Isabel Sanginés Franco México
Isel Llerena del Castillo Cuba
Ismael Hamdouch Argentina
Istvan Meszaros Hungría/Reino Unido;
Iván Padilla Bravo Venezuela
Jacques de Novion Brasil
James Cockcroft Canadá
Javier García Bolivia
Javier Lenz Bolivia
Javier Lenz
Javier Vargas Lozano México
Jessica Saravia Atristain Bolivia
Jesús Guanche Cuba
Jesús Ramírez Cuevas Mexico
Joan Tafalla España
Joaquín Arriola País Vasco
Joel Suárez Cuba
John Catalinotto Estados Unidos
John Saxe-Fernández México
Jonas Rojas Bolivia
Jorge Bustillos Bolivia
Jorge Castañeda Zavala Mexico
Jorge Wejebe Cuba
Jorge Fons Mexico
Jorge Fonseca España
Jorge Guichón Uruguay
Jorge Montemayor México
Jorge Orbe León Ecuador
Jorge Rachid Argentina
Jorge Veraza Urtuzuàstegui Mexico
Jorge Winter Argentina
Jorge Zabalza Uruguay
José Adeildo Ramos. Brasil
José Antonio Almazán González Mexico
José Antonio García Araujo Venezuela
José E. Díaz Uruguay
José E. Díaz Uruguay
José Enrique González Ruiz Mexico
José Gandarilla Mexico
José García Bolivia
José Luis Rubén Silber Argentina
José Luis Silverio Peralta México
José Luis Tagliaferro Argentina
José María Barreiro España
José Pertierra Estados Unidos
José Regato Ecuador
José Steinsleger Argentina/ México
Juan Antonio García Miranda Cuba
Juan Carlos Biani Argentina
Juan Carlos Calvimonte Bolivia
Juan Carlos Gómez Leyton Chile
Juan Carlos Medrano Bolivia
Juan Cristóbal Perú
Juan Diego García España
Juan Manuel Navarro Reina España
Juanita Conejero Cuba
Julio Benavides Perú
Julio C. Gambina Argentina
Julio Ferrer Argentina
Julio Manduley Panamá
Julio Muñoz Rubio México
Katiuska Blanco Cuba
Katiuska García Alonso Cuba
Katu Arkonada País Vasco/Bolivia
Laritza González Achón Cuba
Laura Encinas Bolivia
Lautaro Chanove Bolivia
León Moraria Venzuela
Leonel Nodal Álvarez Cuba
Lidia Fagale Argentina
Lilian Vega El Salvador
Liliam Álvarez Navarrete
Lino Morán Venezuela
Liseth Ortuño Bolivia
Lois Pérez Leira España
Lourdes Cervantes Cuba
Lourdes Garzón México
Luciano Andrés Valencia Argentina
Luciano Concheiro Bórquez Mexico
Luciano Vasapollo Italia
Lucio Triolo Italia
Lucrecia D’Agostino Argentina
Luis Arce Catacora Bolivia
Luis Arce Catacora, Bolivia
Luis Baudoin Olea Bolivia
Luis Britto García Venezuela
Luis Carlos Marrero Chasbar Cuba
Luis Edgar Páez Venezuela
Luis Ernesto Quesada Cuba
Luis Felipe Vázquez Vázquez Cuba
Luís H. Vignolo Uruguay
Luís H. Vignolo Uruguay
Luis Hernández Navarro México
Luis Morado Argentina
Luis Sexto Cuba
Luis Zorraquino Brasil
Magdalena Gómez México
Manolo Monereo España
Manuel Cabieses Donoso Chile
Marcelo Colussi Argentina/Guatemala
Marco A. Gandásegui Panamá
Marcos Roitman Rosenmann México
Mareelen Díaz Tenorio Cuba
Marga Herrera Aguirre
María Augusta Calle Ecuador
María Bolivia Rothe Bolivia
María del Pilar Muñiz López
María Esther Aguirre México
María Eugenia Pulido México
Maria Gabriella Italia
Maria Luisa Mendonça Brasil
María Martha González Bolivia
María Nela Prada Bolivia
Maria Nela Prada Tejada Bolivia
María Teresa Díaz Álvarez Cuba
Mariana Espinosa Obarrio Argentina
Mariela Flores Torres Argentina
Marilia Guimaraes Brasil
Marina Rossi Italia
Marina Taibo México
Mario Augusto Jakobskind Brasil
Mario Fiore Italia
Mario Jorge da Motta Bastos Brasil
Mario López Bolivia
Mario Sanoja. Venezuela
Mario Saucedo Pérez México
Marta Harnecker Chile;
Marta Speroni Argentina
Martin Almada Paraguay
Martin Almada Paraguay;
Martin Schwander Suiza
Maurício Vieira Martins Brasil
Mauro Cristaldi Italia
Max Murillo Mendoza Bolivia
Mayra Godoy Guatemala
Mel Zelaya Honduras
Melissa Arria Venezuela.
Mely González Aróstegui Cuba
Mercè Escayola Cabrejas España
Michael Lebowitz Canadá
Miguel Ángel Herrera C. Costa Rica
Miguel Angel Puigvert Valerio Argentina
Miguel Barnet Cuba;
Miguel Enrique Lagarde Cuba
Miguel Mejides Cuba
Miguel Urbano Rodríguez Portugal
Milagros Rivera Pérez Puerto Rico
Milton Pinheiro Brasil
Mirtha Isabel Tomas Argentina
Mónica Bruckman Brasil
Montserrat Ponsa Tarrés España
Morales Paco César Abraham Mexico
Nardi Suxo Bolivia
Nardi Suxo Bolivia;
Nayar López Castellanos México
Nelson Aguilar Bolivia
Nestor Kohan Argentina
Nila Heredia Bolivia
Nils Castro Panamá
Norbert Froufe González España
Norberto Vilar Argentina
Norma Núñez Montoto Panamá
Obispo Raúl Vera México
Octavio Rodríguez Araújo México
Olmer Torrejón Alcoba Bolivia
Omar González Cuba
Omelio Esteban Borroto Leiseca Cuba
Óscar Adolfo Suárez Morales
Oscar Guerrero Bolivia
Oscar Kuperman Argentina
Oscar Oramas Oliva Cuba
Oscar Ugarteche México
Pablo González Casanova, México
Pablo Guayasamín Ecuador
Pablo Kunich Venezuela
Pablo Navarrete Reino Unido
Paco Guardeño Sáez España
Paco Ignacio Taibo México
Paloma Saiz México
Paola Tiberi Italia
Pascual Serrano España
Patricia Rodas Honduras
Patricia Vaca Bolivia
Patricia Villegas Colombia/Venezuela
Patricio Montesinos España
Patxi Erdozain Beroiz País Vasco
Paul-Emile Dupret Bélgica
Paulino Núñez Venezuelal
Pavel Égüez Ecuador
Pedro de la Hoz Cuba
Pedro Gellert México
Pedro Hernández México
Pedro Marcel Oliva Estofan
Pedro Pablo Rodríguez Cuba
Percy Francisco Alvarado Godoy Guatemala/Cuba
Peter Rosset México
Piedad Córdoba Colombia
Piero Arria Venezuela
Pierre Mouterde Canadá
Pilar Roca Perú
Pocho Álvarez Ecuador
Porfirio Martínez México
Rafael Cancel Miranda Puerto Rico
Rafael Cancel Miranda Puerto Rico
Ramón Mier García México
Ramón Pedregal Casanova España
Rashid Sherif Túnez
Raúl Antonio Capote Cuba
Raúl García Linera Bolivia
Raúl Miranda Ocampo Mexico
Raúl Pérez Torres Ecuador
Raúl Pérez Torres Ecuador
Raúl Zibechi Uruguay
Rebeca Peralta Mariñelarena México
Rene Peres Bolivia
Reverendo Raúl Suarez Cuba;
Reynaldo Naranjo Perú
Ricardo Acuña Gómez Reino Unido
Ricardo Bajo Bolivia
Ricardo Cohen Uruguay
Ricardo Flecha Hermosa Paraguay
Ricardo Gayol Rodríguez España
Ricardo Salgado
Rigoberto Lopéz Cuba
Rina Bertaccini Argentina
Rita Martufi Italia
Robert Austin Australia
Roberto Ávila Toledo Chile
Roberto Battiglia Italia
Roberto Burgos Colombia
Roberto Fernández Retamar Cuba
Roberto Leher Brasil
Roberto Núñez Cuba
Rodrigo Álvarez Cambras Cuba
Rodrigo Loyola Chile
Rogelio Rodríguez Coronel Cuba
Roger Olmedo Bolivia
Roque Aparecido da Silva Brasil
Rosa Cristina Báez Valdés Cuba
Rosa Miriam Elizalde Cuba
Rosario Arroyo Perú
Rosina Valcárcel Perú
Roy Chaderton Matos Venezuela
Ruth Cartaya Suecia-Venezuela
Sacha Llorenti Bolivia
Salim Lamrani Francia
Samir Amin Egipto;
Santiago Alba Rico España
Sara Rosenberg Argentina/ España
Sergio Argüello Guatemala
Sergio Arria Venezuela
Sergio Guerra Vilaboy Cuba
Sergio Serrano Soriano México
Silvia Tamez México
Silvio Rodríguez Cuba
Silvya de Alarcón Bolivia
Simona Yagenova Guatemala
Socorro Gomes Brasil
Sonia Quiroga Bolivia
Stella Calloni Argentina
Susana Molina Suárez Cuba
Susana Oviedo Rosales España
Susana Rodríguez Venezuela
Tania Jamardo Faillace Brasil
Tania Temoche Perú
Techi Cusmanich Paraguay
Telma Luzzani Argentina
Teófilo Gutiérrez Perú
Teresa Toca México
Thalía Muklan Fung Riverón Cuba
Thelvia Marín Mederos Cuba
Theotonio Dos Santos Brasil
Urda Alice Klueger Brasil
Veronika Engler Uruguay
Víctor García Calvo España
Víctor Hugo Parés Lores Cuba
Víctor Regalado El Salvador
Víctor Ríos España
Víctor Vacaflores Bolivia
Victoria Fernández Bolivia
Virginia Fontes Argentina
Virginia Gutiérrez Argentina
Vivian Prado Bolivia
Viviana Ramírez Australia
Walter García Bolivia
Walter Martínez Venezuela
Win Dierckersen Costa Rica
Winston Orrillo Perú
Yamandú Acosta Uruguay
Yasser Gómez Perú
Yemil Antonio Harcha Chile
Yolanda Añasco Ecuador
Yolanda Rojas Urbina Venezuela
Zulema Hidalgo Cuba
Organizations and institutions:
Organización de Solidaridad con los pueblos de África, Asia y América Latina, Cuba
MST, Brasil
Partido Comunista Revolucionario, Uruguay
Tricontinental Internacional de la Solidaridad, Venezuela
Unión Provincial de Organizaciones Campesina de Manabí, Ecuador
Movimiento Autónomo Utopía e Luta Porto Alegre Brasil
Movimiento Mexicano de Solidaridad con Palestina México
Movimiento Tzuk Kim-pop Guatemala
Grupo de Reflexión y Solidaridad Oscar Arnulfo Romero Cuba
Coordinadora de Solidaridad con Palestina México
Casal de Amistad con Cuba de Badalona España
Centro Mandela DD.HH., el Chaco Argentina
Annihilate Gaza: Israeli official
Press TV – August 5, 2014
Israeli Knesset’s deputy speaker Moshe Feiglin has called for the “annihilation” of the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip.
Feiglin, who is also a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party, wrote about the plans in a post on his Facebook page at the weekend, the British Daily Mail reported on Monday.
The Israeli official also called for “the conquest of the entire Gaza Strip.” He spoke of plans for the destruction of Gaza, which would include expelling residents and shipping them across the world.
Feiglin also wrote about his plans in a letter addressed to Netanyahu, in which he said he wanted the measures to be enforced as soon as possible.
In the letter, Feiglin said he wanted Israeli military forces to find areas on the Sinai border to set up “tent encampments… until relevant emigration destinations are determined.” Furthermore, he wants Gaza’s electricity and water supplies to be disconnected before shelling the besieged area “with maximum fire power.”
The Israeli forces would then “exterminate” resistance centers and Israeli law would be extended to cover the entire Gaza Strip and “the city of Gaza and its suburbs will be rebuilt as true Israeli touristic and commercial cities.”
The Israeli military launched its recent offensive against the Gaza Strip on July 8. At least 1,867 Palestinians, including around 430 children, have so far been killed and over 9,500 others injured during the onslaught. Tel Aviv says 64 Israelis have been killed in the war, while Hamas puts the number at more than 150.
Google Play offers ‘Bomb Gaza’ game that lets you kill Muslim women and children
By Tom Boggioni | Raw Story | August 4, 2014
Google Play, the official app store for Android operating systems, is currently offering a side-scrolling game called “Bomb Gaza.”
The description of the game states: “Bomb Gaza – drop bombs and avoid killing civilians. new version uploaded. improved performance. added new israel’s theme music.”
In a screen shot shown on the page (seen below) Israeli jets can be seen flying over a terrain dotted with cartoon Islamic terrorists and women attempting to protect children.
The game currently has a 3.7 star rating among users, with 47 reviewers giving it the highest rating, 5 stars, and 22 giving it a 1 star.
Commenters on the page both praised and condemned the game, with one writing, “Spineless disgusting filth trying to profit from genocide of Palastinians (sic) Trying to profit from the sufferings of others. Scumbag of the worst kind. Would you be doing the same if a member of your family was murdered? Utterly vile filth of a game from a sick twisted individual.”
According to the Google Play Developer Program Policies regarding Hate Speech: ” We don’t allow content advocating against groups of people based on their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation/gender identity.”
There is no indication whether Google Play would consider the game “hate speech.”
The developer of the game, which was uploaded to Google Play on July 29, is listed as PlayerFTW.
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From the Archives
UK Researchers: Tax Food to Reduce Climate Change
I doubt these professors have anything to fear from a food tax
By Eric Worrall | Watts Up With That? | November 19, 2016
A group of researchers in Oxford University, England have suggested that imposing a massive tax on carbon intensive foods – specifically protein rich foods like meat and dairy – could help combat climate change. […]
This proposal, from a group of people who have probably never missed a meal in their lives, is totally obscene. High income countries often have a lot of poor people who would be hard hit by increases in the price of food.
Needlessly exacerbating the risk poor people don’t get enough to eat, especially children and pregnant mothers, who are especially vulnerable to adverse health impacts from lack of protein in their diet – if this ghastly proposal is ever implemented, future generations will look upon it as a crime against humanity. – Read full article
Blog Roll
Aletho News- Iran, Saudi FMs hold phone talks as Persian Gulf states rethink US ties
- The Illusions of Western Virtue: Ursula von der Leyen and Europe’s Moral Bankruptcy
- AIPAC-backed candidates lose New York primaries as voters reject pro-genocide lobby
- The West’s Post-Soviet ‘Democracy’ Playbook
- UK suppressed intel on Sudan genocide to protect UAE ties: Report
- Starmer’s exit exposes dirty secret: UK can’t afford Ukraine War
- Putin Warns the West: Russia Is Ready
- BEN-GVIR: “ALL OF LEBANON MUST BURN” — w/ Mouin Rabbani
- There Are No Budget Constraints In New York City: “Coastal Resiliency” Edition
- The UN’s plan to levy taxes on global trade is a sinister power grab
- If Americans Knew
- Israel’s Attacks on Gaza’s Children (Photos)
- ‘His only crime is that he is a Palestinian doctor’
- ‘Killed pursuing her dream’: Gaza girl on her way to school dies in Israeli drone strike
- Unbelievable pressure on Gaza from Israel, “Board of Peace” – Daily Update
- UN: Israel Continues to Commit Genocide and Other Atrocity Crimes by Deliberately Targeting Palestinian Children
- Bari Weiss, Free-Speech Fraud & Zionism Promoter, Would Rather Deport Than Debate
- ‘Doctor of the Poor’: Israeli Occupation Arrests Prominent Palestinian Physician
- Search for Your Church (and see if it has been targeted by the Israeli gov’t)
- Mark Levin Flying to Israel as Netanyahu Reportedly Seeks to ‘Leverage’ Levin to Trash Trump’s Iran Deal
- Watch: Zionist Brags about Israel’s Power to Get the World to Do What Israel Wants
- No Tricks Zone
- 3 New Studies Find Increasing Trends In Solar Radiation Since The 1980s – Easily Explaining Warming
- THE TRANSCEIVER PARADOX: Why Organoid Intelligence (OI) Could Become Our Ultimate Alien Predator
- German Wind Turbines Face Regulatory Shutdown Due To Excessive Noise
- New Study: Chile’s Relative Sea Level Was 3.2 Meters Higher Than Today During The Mid-Holocene
- Beyond The Pitch: Why FIFA’s World Cup Is One Of Humanity’s Best Investments
- Climate Alarmists Now Using Natural Phenomena To Support Their Claims
- New Study: Significant CO2 Fluxes From Non-Volcanic Sources Are Largely Neglected In Carbon Budgets
- Women Climate Scientists Being Harassed, Insulted By Skeptics, Claims Berkeley Earth Researcher
- Germany’s Longterm Spring Climate Data Show “No Climate Trend”
- New Study: Solar Photovoltaic, Wind Power Fail To Meet Annual Energy Demands 62% Of The Time
Aletho News 