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)

When I say Mahmoud Abbas is to Palestinians as Omar Abdullah is to Kashmiris, I know that at least Kashmiris will know exactly what kind of rat Abbas is. Abdullah is the elected guy who authorized the use of pellet guns in Kashmir among other crimes.

#HowDoYouSleepAtNight?

There’s always someone who takes umbrage at my criticisms of Mahmoud Abbas by claiming erroneously that he is the elected leader of the Palestinians. Would you make the same case for Trump, Modi, Putin, Assad, Duterte, & other such rats who were “elected” in mostly fraudulent elections? But it wouldn’t matter if Abbas were elected because he is the enforcer of the Oslo Accords, a US-brokered peace plan which legalized the continued occupation & expropriation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, & Gaza. Do you want to argue the Accords were legitimate because Yasser Arafat signed them when the past 23 years of their existence show them to be a betrayal, whether Arafat understood that or not? Just take a look at the plan, as Edward Said & others did when it was brokered, & you will agree with them that it embodies the terms of Palestinian surrender to colonialism. The US would be unwilling to broker any other kind of arrangement.

Abbas also has to answer for his treachery in holding diplomatic tete-a-tetes with Modi while Kashmiris are suffering Indian military occupation. Any Palestinian stone pelter would stand steadfast with Kashmiris rather than betray their just struggle like Abbas the rat. But then the stone pelters represent a very different class than Mahmoud Abbas. Mahmoud Abbas is to Palestinians as Omar Abdullah is to Kashmiris.

(Photo is Abbas with Modi)

This is a hell of a time for millions of Muslims who enter Ramadan today while under war, occupation, the scourge of genocide, & the reign of Islamophobia. Ramadan Mubarak & blessed Ramadan from those of us who stand with you.

“Apartheid Israel is disgusting! Now dropping skunk water from the air {over Gaza} & jokingly referring to it as chocolate drinks.
#GreatMarchOfReturn #Gaza”

–Israeli Ofer Neiman on Twitter

As Israel flies bombers over Gaza on the first day of Ramadan: “Ramadan Mubarak from Gaza.”

(Photo & comment in quotes from Palestine Observer)

Kashmir & Palestine: two nations, brothers & sisters, suppressed by occupiers India & Israel. They stand in solidarity with each other. The betrayals of Mahmoud Abbas include both Palestinians & Kashmiris since he is an enforcer of the Oslo Accords which lay out the Palestinian terms of surrender to Israeli colonialism & he engages in diplomacy with Modi at the expense of Kashmiris. He does not speak for the Palestinian people who stand with the oppressed in Kashmir & elsewhere.

(Photo collage from Rida on Twitter)

https://thekashmirpress.com/2018/05/17/it-took-killing-of-460-militants-and-235-civilians-in-28-months-for-delhi-to-halt-security-operations-in-ramzan/

After killing 460 militants & 235 civilians in 28 months (nearly 25 Kashmiris every month since about October 2015), the Indian government announced it will halt hunt to kill operations during the month of Ramzan, the month of fasting. Since the summer of 2008, Indian occupying forces have killed over 600 civilians in street protests. An army spokesperson said they “reserve the right to retaliate if attacked or if essential to protect the lives of innocent people.” That means we can expect deaths possibly to abate but not to end during Ramzan.

A very sick 14-month-old Amal Muhammad Felfel from Gaza required medical care in a West Bank hospital. Israel allowed the little girl to be moved to hospital in the West Bank but refused to allow her parents out of Gaza to go with her. They expect her to be there for ten days of treatment. A very sick & frightened little girl with tubes & plugs all over her body & the state of Israel will not allow her mother & father to hold her hand! For anyone who has ever dealt with a sick child, that small-minded but vicious cruelty is enough to indict Israel.

This cruelty could be considered another nail in the coffin of a bantustate (two-state) ‘solution.’

Build BDS.

(Photo from several sources on Twitter, including Muhammad Smiry 🇵🇸 Gaza)

There’s a video on Twitter of a small group of Palestinians peacefully protesting in Al-Bireh in the West Bank as part of the 1948 Nakba commemorations. In the video, Israeli soldiers shoot an elderly man in the leg or foot & when medics rush to attend him where he is collapsed on the ground, they shoot at the medics too. With such documentation, it must be asked why the UN or ICC will not get off their dead rumps to charge & prosecute Israel for clear violations of international law. But then of course, they never charged them for shooting ambulances or bombing hospitals & clinics in 2014. Or for injuring & killing clearly marked journalists covering the Great Return March.

This is 35-year-old Mousa Jabr Abdulsalam Abu Hasnayn, a paramedic at the Great Return March, taking a selfie with his mother. He is among the 61 Palestinians shot down in cold blood by Israeli snipers on May 14th who are being vilified as Hamas terrorists. If the UN or ICC refuse to prosecute these human rights crimes, we must try them before the court of world opinion & build Palestinian solidarity & the BDS movement as a peaceful weapon for telling the truth. May they Rest In Peace.

(Photo of Mousa from Basem Naim on Twitter)