When some things end in your life, often there is a certain moment, a certain episode, where you know you cannot do it any longer. You know it's over. I had my final and complete disillusionment with my country the summer they shot and killed 223 and wounded thousands of demonstrators using live fire during the 'The Great March of Return'. Every weekend, from March 2018 until December 2019, Gazans would gather along the border with Israel, with thousands and thousands in attendance. They wanted to break the siege and attract the world's attention to their plight and oppression under so many years of brutal occupation, with no end in sight.
They were quiet demonstrations: no Israeli soldier was hurt in any of them (there may have been one case of counter-violence by Palestinians, and maybe not even that). Israel's murderous overreaction that time was placing tens, or maybe even hundreds of snipers in positions overlooking the border and the adjacent Gaza lands.
Those snipers shot and shot and shot people in unbelievable numbers. on May 14th, 2018, 52 Palestinians were k
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When some things end in your life, often there is a certain moment, a certain episode, where you know you cannot do it any longer. You know it's over. I had my final and complete disillusionment with my country the summer they shot and killed 223 and wounded thousands of demonstrators using live fire during the 'The Great March of Return'. Every weekend, from March 2018 until December 2019, Gazans would gather along the border with Israel, with thousands and thousands in attendance. They wanted to break the siege and attract the world's attention to their plight and oppression under so many years of brutal occupation, with no end in sight.
They were quiet demonstrations: no Israeli soldier was hurt in any of them (there may have been one case of counter-violence by Palestinians, and maybe not even that). Israel's murderous overreaction that time was placing tens, or maybe even hundreds of snipers in positions overlooking the border and the adjacent Gaza lands.
Those snipers shot and shot and shot people in unbelievable numbers. on May 14th, 2018, 52 Palestinians were killed in one demonstration. Rouzan al-Najjar, a 20-year-old nurse, was sniped to death two weeks later, on the 1st of June. She was hundreds if meters away from the fence. Her death may have been what broke me. Or maybe it was the complete obedience of everyone in the IDF. No one said: we cannot do that. This is insane. No one felt bad about it. I felt like I was losing my mind. Or maybe it was the big live concert at the center of Tel Aviv that very summer, given by Israel's fresh Eurovision winner, a day or two after one of the bloodiest weekends in The Great March of Return. It was a big deal, and everyone was happy and celebrating and proud.
- On Local Call, the Hebrew version of +972 Magazine, I wrote an article titled "Accept that it is over". In that article, I also wrote that I was not going to vote in Israeli elections again, as there was no point, particularly as so many people who are ruled by Israel cannot vote.
- 2018 seems like so long ago now. It was before Covid, before October 7th, before the genocide. But it was that summer, that year, that I knew I lost my country.
And the absolutely beautiful, angelic face of Rouzan al-Najjar brings tears to my eyes to this day. To this moment. It is such a heartache. Such a loss to this world. Such a stupid, monstrous crime.
There has to be justice for Palestine someday. There simply must be.
Quds News Network: "Israel's army kills the eldest daughter of professor Refat Al Areer, Shaima'a, along with her husband and newborn baby, in a strike on an apartment in Al Rimal neighbourhood in #Gaza
The AI-assisted #genocide: with #Lavender the #zionists set their objective regardless of casualties, women, children, non-combatants. They know exactly where and when there are children. They know it.
“After determining that three military battalions with the Israeli army committed ‘gross human rights violations’ against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, the United States decided that they will not be sanctioned, American Broadcasting Company (ABC) reported on Friday.
According to ABC, the battalions will remain eligible for US military aid ‘because of steps Israel says it’s taking to address the problem.’”
“After determining that three military battalions with the Israeli army committed ‘gross human rights violations’ against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, the United States decided that they will not be sanctioned, American Broadcasting Company (ABC) reported on Friday.
According to ABC, the battalions will remain eligible for US military aid ‘because of steps Israel says it’s taking to address the problem.’”
This half hour report (with transcript) is a pretty good condensation of where things are in North Gaza with the discovery of mass graves - 3 sites with a total of about 700 bodies found at the time of the report.
The call for a no-fly zone is such a "no shit" moment but it's way past overdue.
At least 320 bodies have been discovered buried in a mass grave at the destroyed Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, just weeks after a similar mass grave containing up to 400 bodies was discovered amid the ruins of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
AlJazeera: Gaza Civil Defence issues #HeatRisk warning to displaced Palestinians
As temperatures soar in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Civil Defence has warned that conditions are ripe for “the expansion of the spread of epidemics & diseases among [displaced Palestinians], especially among children & pregnant women”.
“Drink plenty of water, try to ventilate the place, keep children away from the sun’s rays, especially at peak heat times, & be sure to wipe their bodies with cold water constantly”, spokesperson Basal said in a statement on Telegram, speaking to the thousands of displaced Palestinians currently sheltering in tents.
Number of civilian casualties doesn't "prove" it's a genocide. I also think getting hung up on whether the word applies or not isn't the most important thing; it's stopping the horror. Having said that, the imposed famine, seemingly used as a weapon of war, convinced me that this is genocide.
Meanwhile, an Israeli holocaust researcher put out a really good case explaining why this is a genocide (original is in Hebrew and long, but Google did a good job on this chunk):
Holocaust researcher Amos Goldberg on #Gaza and genocide "In known ways, Palestinian Gaza as a geographical-political-cultural-human complex no longer exists. Genocide is the deliberate extermination of a collective or part of it - not of all its individuals. And this is what is happening in Gaza. The result is undoubtedly genocidal. The numerous declarations of extermination from senior officials in the Israeli government, and the general destructive public atmosphere, which was rightly pointed out by Carolina Landsman, show that th
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Number of civilian casualties doesn't "prove" it's a genocide. I also think getting hung up on whether the word applies or not isn't the most important thing; it's stopping the horror. Having said that, the imposed famine, seemingly used as a weapon of war, convinced me that this is genocide.
Meanwhile, an Israeli holocaust researcher put out a really good case explaining why this is a genocide (original is in Hebrew and long, but Google did a good job on this chunk):
Holocaust researcher Amos Goldberg on #Gaza and genocide "In known ways, Palestinian Gaza as a geographical-political-cultural-human complex no longer exists. Genocide is the deliberate extermination of a collective or part of it - not of all its individuals. And this is what is happening in Gaza. The result is undoubtedly genocidal. The numerous declarations of extermination from senior officials in the Israeli government, and the general destructive public atmosphere, which was rightly pointed out by Carolina Landsman, show that this was also the intention."
"Israelis are mistaken in thinking that genocide should look like the Holocaust... However, although each case of genocide has a different character, in terms of the scope of the murder and its characteristics, the common denominator of most of them is that they were committed out of an authentic sense of self-defense. From a legal point of view, an event cannot to be both an event of self-defense and an event of genocide. These two legal categories are mutually exclusive. But historically, self-defense is not at odds with genocide, but is usually one of its central causes."
כן, זה רצח עם. למרות שכל כך קשה וכואב להודות בכך ולמרות כל המאמצים לחשוב אחרת, בתום חצי שנה של מלחמה אכזרית לא ניתן יותר לחמוק ממסקנה זו. ההיסטוריה היהודית תהיה מוכתמת מכאן ואילך באות קין של "פשע הפשעים", שלא יוכל להימחות ממצחה.
...do believe that there now is sufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges against the #Netanyahu Regime for #EthnicCleansing and, possibly, #génocide in the #WarInGaza, despite the savage assault by #Hamas October.
...do believe that there now is sufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges against the #Netanyahu Regime for #EthnicCleansing and, possibly, #génocide in the #WarInGaza, despite the savage assault by #Hamas October.
...violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.”👈
This could constitute the following crimes:
"The Commission of Experts added that these practices can “… constitute 👉crimes against humanity👈 and can be assimilated to specific 👉war crimes.👈 Furthermore, such acts could also fall within the meaning of the Genocide Convention.”
There are "reasonable grounds" to believe that #Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories said on Tuesday.
There are "reasonable grounds" to believe that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories said on Tuesday.
"The developments over the past week mark a political turning point. The Biden administration, in alliance with the fascist-led Republican Party, has moved to criminalize political opposition to the Gaza genocide, currently centered on campuses, through a massive police state mobilization."
The Biden administration, in alliance with the fascist-led Republican Party, is criminalizing political opposition to the Gaza genocide, the greatest war crime of the 21st century.
“HAPPENING NOW: #Police are arresting hundreds of American Jews with [Jewish Voice for Peace and other Jewish advocacy groups] as they hold an emergency #Passover seder at [Senator Schumer’s] doorstep demanding the US stop arming and funding the Israeli government as it carries out a #genocide.” #protest #FreePalestine #NYC #Democrats #Israel
« I voted no tonight on the foreign aid package for one simple reason: U.S. taxpayers should not be providing billions more to the extremist Netanyahu government to continue its devastating war against the Palestinian people.
34,000 Palestinians have already been killed and 77,000 have been wounded – 70% of whom are women and children.
...Enough is enough. No more money for Netanyahu’s war machine. »
“Since 2014, Amazon has been pouring billions into Israel, contributing to illegal settlement programs and the relentless surveillance of Palestinians. Israel’s dystopian end goal: to compile biometric profiles and security ratings for every resident of the West Bank.”
[..]
“The company claims the benefactors of Amazon Web Services (AWS) will be ‘Israeli entrepreneurs and businesses.’ In reality, the primary winner will be the military. AWS will expand ‘Project Nimbus,’ which provides the cloud service ecosystem for Israel, primarily serving the country’s military. (Google also invests in Project Nimbus.)”
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Yes!
…. and it’s Important we don’t forget this ⤵️ too:
“Amazon Is Investing in AI-Assisted Apartheid in Palestine”
“Since 2014, Amazon has been pouring billions into Israel, contributing to illegal settlement programs and the relentless surveillance of Palestinians. Israel’s dystopian end goal: to compile biometric profiles and security ratings for every resident of the West Bank.”
[..]
“The company claims the benefactors of Amazon Web Services (AWS) will be ‘Israeli entrepreneurs and businesses.’ In reality, the primary winner will be the military. AWS will expand ‘Project Nimbus,’ which provides the cloud service ecosystem for Israel, primarily serving the country’s military. (Google also invests in Project Nimbus.)”
I, for one, am shocked that The Baroness Shafik sided with the powerful against the Palestinians being exterminated by Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.
‘Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of its claims that employees of the UN relief agency Unrwa are members of terrorist organisations, an independent review led by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna has said’
“Israel is killing people based on being in the same Whatsapp group as a suspected militant. Where are they getting this data? Is WhatsApp sharing it?”
I feel we have to make this relevant to USians given how low the exchange rate of Palestinian lives to the US Dollar is: Think of it this way, this probably means your credit score is also affected by the people in your WhatsApp groups.
A little-discussed detail in the Lavender AI article is that Israel is killing people based on being in the same Whatsapp group [1] as a suspected militant [2].
This evening, Google indiscriminately fired over two dozen workers, including those among us who did not directly participate in yesterday’s historic, bicoastal 10-hour sit-in protests. This flagrant…
"Today, April 17th, is #PalestinianPrisonersDay. The Palestinian BDS National Committee (#BNC), the largest coalition in Palestinian society, condemns the complicity of silence surrounding Israel's relentless polic
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Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC): *Israel holds over 10,000 Palestinians captive. This Palestinian Prisoners’ Day act to #FreeThemAll*
"Israel is abusing and torturing thousands of Palestinian prisoners. The #BDS movement calls for urgent and meaningful pressure to #FreeThemAll."
"Today, April 17th, is #PalestinianPrisonersDay. The Palestinian BDS National Committee (#BNC), the largest coalition in Palestinian society, condemns the complicity of silence surrounding Israel's relentless policy of mass arrests and the systematic and horrific infringement of the most basic rights of the Palestinian political prisoners in its prisons and detention centers, as an integral component of #Israel’s genocidal apartheid regime. We commit to intensifying our campaigns with our partners globally to #FreeThemAll.
This year, #Palestinians in #Gaza are enduring an ongoing live-streamed #genocide, and Palestinians everywhere are enduring an ongoing #Nakba. Since the beginning of Israel’s genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, unknown numbers of Palestinians have been rounded up, detained, stripped, severely tortured and taken to numerous locations where their fate remains unknown. ..."
"Twelve days later, when a #Palestinian civil defense crew finally reached the area, they found Hind’s body in a car riddled with bullets...
The ambulance lay charred roughly 50 meters away (about 164 feet) from the car, its destruction consistent with the use of a round fired by #Israeli tanks, according to six munitions experts." #GiftArticle #GiftLink https://wapo.st/4aCoCqA
"Around 1 p.m., Hind’s cousin, 15-year-old Layan, called [her uncle] Samir. She told him they were surrounded and the Israeli army had opened fire on their car.
Everyone in the vehicle, except for Hind and Layan, were dead, she said. Samir called another uncle, Mohammed, who eventually reached the PRCS."
“This decision is not only necessary to maintain the safety of our campus and students, but is consistent with the fundamental legal obligation – including the expectations of federal regulators – that universities act to protect students and keep our campus community safe" Imagine cancelling what's probably the proudest day of this young woman's life because you don't want to damage your image.
Do you think anyone is still listening to your propaganda? While my friends are in shelter and a 10 year old girl is hit in our partner city. Well, it is not me anymore.
We received various complaints from the community about antisemite and inhuman comments which we will assess now.
70,000 kilos of explosives (twice Hiroshima and Nagazaki combined), the assistance of big countries, and after 6 months, Israel has still not achieved its military goal. But the #genocide is going well.
Support our work: https://www.democracynow.org/donate?campaign=sm-desc-yt&utm_campaign=sm-desc-yt&utm_content=description&utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtub...
![Screen shot of an audio player embedded in the article. The text above the audio bars reads: "A dispatcher, Omar al-Qam, first reached Layan around 2:30 pm."
The text below the audio bars reads: "[sounds of gunfire and Layan screaming]"
Behind the audio player embed is a satellite photo of an area of Gaza with a small circle and text showing "Hind's family car stop point" and "Layan's location during the 2:30pm phone call"](https://friendica.hellquist.eu/photo/preview/640/2498456 "Screen shot of an audio player embedded in the article. The text above the audio bars reads: \"A dispatcher, Omar al-Qam, first reached Layan around 2:30 pm.\"
The text below the audio bars reads: \"[sounds of gunfire and Layan screaming]\"
Behind the audio player embed is a satellite photo of an area of Gaza with a small circle and text showing \"Hind's family car stop point\" and \"Layan's location during the 2:30pm phone call\"")
