B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights group, took out newspaper ads captioned “Sorry Commander, I cannot shoot” urging soldiers to refuse orders to shoot protesters in Gaza because it is illegal to shoot unarmed protesters. There is no report yet on whether any soldiers violated orders. But Israel may have chosen snipers from among their most psychotic & deranged soldiers as the US deploys special forces. It will be important to follow this to see if any Israeli soldiers found shooting unarmed protesters more genocide than they could swallow at one time.

Here women protesters are running for cover from tear gas fired by Israeli forces on May 11, 2018.

(Photo by Reuters)

The UN Special Rapporteur on the state of human rights in occupied Palestine says Israel’s actions against Palestinians amount to a war crime. The problem with that designation is that only one side of that “war” is armed. Although isn’t that the prevailing situation with all modern wars where civilians who bear the brunt of the violence are considered only “collateral damage”? The problem in Gaza is that when Israeli snipers gather at the buffer zone with two levels of apartheid fencing around Gaza & start shooting unarmed protesters, that is treating human beings like fish in a barrel. It’s a very strong statement from the Special Rapporteur & worth reading here in full: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180516-un-special-rapporteur-israels-actions-against-palestinians-amount-to-war-crime/

(Photo of snipers at the buffer zone from Human Rights Watch)

https://english.palinfo.com/news/2018/5/18/6-500-Palestinians-to-spend-Ramadan-behind-Israeli-bars

According to the Palestine Information Center, “6,500 Palestinians will spend the month of Ramadan in Israeli jails, including 350 children, 62 female prisoners, 8 of whom are minors, 500 administrative detainees, & 48 prisoners who have spent over 20 years in prison. They face systematic torture including unfair trials, abuse during detention & interrogation, medical negligence & arbitrary detention without charge or trial.”

Student protesters in Srinagar: where are their parents? Covering the other end of the street.

(Photo by Faisal Khan)

(Reposting from May 17, 2017)

Not to be sour grapes, but how many schools & clinics do you think they closed to pay for that damn wedding? And how will the bride deal with the irrepressible racism in the family?

There are several ways to show solidarity with Palestinians. This is their most immediate need–donations to provide medical aid for the over 3,000 who are injured, some critically, in Gaza. Please consider giving as generously as you can since the Israeli embargo has significantly damaged the medical & health infrastructure of Gaza. If you give, when you get to heaven, all other infractions will be forgiven & you will whiz past the pearly gates.

https://www.facebook.com/donate/252021992035461/10214143802982135/

To further unravel the confusions, Ro Nay San Lwin tells me the plural of Rohingya is Rohingyas & that Rohingyans is a more formal, literary style. That’s three different answers from three different Rohingya. It should be noted that only the oppressed present this confusion around their proper name. In my lifetime, Blacks have had at least five names, not including most of the racist epithets. It’s the same for the oppressed castes & of course it’s true for women. Hopefully, this will clarify rather than confuse more.

Is Israel engaged in genocide against Palestinians or is it ethnic cleansing? Since the same question comes up with Rohingyas & Kashmiris, the real question is, how the hell can we tell the difference? And is it a difference worth defining? Some scholars call it incremental or slow genocide against Palestinians & also Kashmiris. Kashmiri activists & the Rohingya International Tribunal on Human Rights Crimes straightened me out on this question & demolished all the equivocations & classifications written into international law.

As Kashmiri Mohamad Junaid has written, it is the oppressed who define what is happening to them, not legal scholars with a vested interest in parsing & equivocations to justify the UN standing by & doing nothing. Does that demean the importance of genocide as compared to ethnic cleansing? Is the human suffering any less? Are the scale or violence of the crimes any less? Has designating something a genocide ever prompted the UN to action to prevent or stop the violence? Has designating something an ethnic cleansing prompted them to action? So what is the legal point of such distinctions when they have no bearing on action?

One stands aghast at the public TV interview of Hamas political bureau member Salah Al-Bardawil claiming that 50 of the 62 Palestinians shot in cold blood at the Trump embassy massacre were Hamas supporters. His comment in Arabic is being translated by media around the world as Hamas operatives, fighters, armed terrorists. He didn’t bother to clarify that even though he played directly into the hands of Israeli propagandists & the justification by governments & media around the world for shooting down unarmed Palestinian protesters. Israel, Zionist bloggers, & media are having a field day with this. Didn’t he see that coming?

Our man Al-Bardawil probably would have claimed all 62 for Hamas were one of them not an 8-month old infant & the other eleven teenagers. He sits on television shooting his fat mouth off when he was most likely sitting at home out of the line of danger. Otherwise, what can explain his absolute political bankruptcy or his inability to grasp the art of defensive formulation? Even if it were true that fifty of those young men killed were Hamas supporters, one would hope he had the political savvy to explain that they had every right to support the political parties of their choice, just like elsewhere in the world. In fact, he probably has no idea what their political sympathies are other than their demand for refugee rights, opposition to occupation, & their demand for self-determination for Palestinians. Mostly, he should have emphasized that whatever their political ideas, those young men shot down in cold blood were unarmed.

Hamas, whatever their politics & political failings, should throw him out on his ass. Or at least keep him from shooting his mouth off for all the world to hear. He has no right to jeopardize unarmed Palestinian protesters now & in the future. For the first time in 70 years, there was a turning of the tide for Palestinians because so many finally saw that Israeli snipers were shooting at Palestinians like fish in a barrel & targeting youth without mercy. The video & photo documentation was irrefutable & it was all over world media. Now Al Bardawil, talking out his ass, puts that new understanding in jeopardy, allowing some to retreat to blithering about Hamas terrorism rather than denouncing Israel for genocide–& they can claim they got it directly from Hamas. Palestinians deserve a better leadership than this & it is found in the trade unions, civil society groups, & activists who called & administer the Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions (BDS) movement.

(Photo is screenshot of Al Bardawil shooting his mouth off)