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?