Tag Archives: Israeli ethnic cleansing in Gaza

The sociopathology of Zionism

Sderot July 19 2014

And while Gazans grieve & have no place to run for cover, these Israelis continue to gather on hilltops to suck down sodas, chat with neighbors, & cheer as they watch their military carry out genocide.

This is the sociopathology of Zionism: a racist hatred so profound it can witness ethnic cleansing not just with equilibrium but elation. Those Israelis who stand against genocide are not on hilltops cheering; they are protesting & demanding “Stop the massacre in Gaza!” Our deepest respect for those protesters.

Long live Palestinian intifada!

(Photo by Jim Hollander/EPA)

A moment to pay respects to those who have died in Gaza

Gazan funeral July 19 2014

We should take a moment to pay respects to those who have lost children & other beloved in the murderous siege of Gaza, which continues to target children. Here a woman holds the body of her 1-year-old daughter at her funeral in Rafah (July 18th).

“How will we return to life its splendor after the bodies of the young are stolen? He carries his body in his hands and needs no coffin. His hands have become a coffin for his child shrouded in white cloth. He walks with his head high and his tears flowing. But he is lucky that he is still alive to pay his child the last honors. Entire families were buried in their homes and no one remained to pay them these last honors. It is so simple. In this civilized world of international rights and conventions and the right to life and the right to housing and the right to education and the right of expression, these rights are not for Palestinians but for someone else.”

{By the Palestinian blogger, Hedaya Shamun, “I Do Not Wish For You To See Gaza As Anything But a Rose”}

(Photo by Finbarr O’Reilly/Reuters)

The grief of ethnic cleansing and the strength of intifada

Gaza funeral in Rafah July 17 2014

There have for days been many photos of burials & grieving in Gaza–often multiple burials. The most wrenching have been of children being buried or weeping for family, neighbors, & playmates–or of parents wailing for the loss of children, like the family who lost four young sons yesterday, bombed while they played football on a Gaza beach.

There’s something about this man’s grief that is particularly powerful. He is holding the body of 4-year-old Sara Sheik el Eed at her funeral in a village outside Rafah. She was killed in a bomb strike along with her father & uncle. This mourner is among her relatives.

This is not just the face of Palestinian bereavement; it is the face of 66 years of ethnic cleansing & Israeli genocide. When Israel targets children–& the bombing of four small boys playing soccer on a Gaza beach is only the latest instance making crystal clear they target children (even a NY Times reporter acknowledged that)–it is to break the spirit of men & women like this who’ve been fighting intifada since 1948. Taking out the children is to destroy the younger generations of intifada. That’s why it’s called ethnic cleansing.

For most of those 66 years, Palestinians stood alone against one of the mightiest military apparatuses in the world. They’ve witnessed thousands die, thousands driven off their lands into exile or refugee camps, thousands carted off to the Israeli gulag, thousands of family & kin die under the tyranny of Israeli apartheid. And against all odds & very much alone, they stood steadfast.

Something is changing now–dramatically. And it is the thunderous sound of solidarity from every corner of this globe: from El Salvador, South Africa, India, Morocco, Algeria, Kashmir, Ireland, Italy, the UK, US, France, Norway, Scotland, Israel, Canada, Yemen, Spain. And we know that if these countries weren’t under siege, we would see massive solidarity in Egypt, Afghanistan, & elsewhere.

But Zionism has been riding high for 66 years, inspired by the schmaltz of Andy Williams singing “The Exodus Song”. It’s time to change the soundtrack to Roger Waters “We Shall Overcome (for Palestine)”.

All out in solidarity: Stop the massacre in Gaza!

A portrait of grief; a portrait of 66 years of Palestinian intifada

Palestinian woman July 17 2014

A portrait of grief; a portrait of 66 years of resistance & Palestinian intifada: this Palestinian woman fled her home close to the Israeli apartheid wall for refuge at the school in Gaza City opened by the UN to accept the thousands fleeing from Israeli bombing.

Photos of the school show it hasn’t a stick of furniture & no place for refugees to sleep. Instead they are on bare floors & the cement courtyard sleeping on what they managed to bring with them. (Remember that the next time the UN comes tugging on your heart strings for money.)

When you picket & rally in the coming days, keep this beautiful woman in your heart; she has a right to see peace before she dies & we have every obligation to render active solidarity against those who consider her an encumbrance to their racist, colonial project.

Stop the massacre in Gaza! Boycott Israeli goods.

(Photo by Finbarr O’Reilly/Reuters)

Egyptian cease fire proposal another version of the Trojan Horse

Israelis cowering July 15 2014

You don’t have to be a classical scholar to recognize a Trojan Horse when you see one. Confidence tricks & scams are the nature of military diplomacy. But when it comes to Israel, 66 years of romanticized Exodus-style propaganda has blunted political perception & nourished stupidity with racism.

The Los Angeles Times has an article today on the latest Trojan Horse, with a headline proclaiming, “Hamas keeps up rocket attacks after Israel agrees to cease-fire”. As of Saturday, Israel was ignoring appeals for a cease fire from the UN security council, Britain, France, Germany, & the US. (They must have made those appeals in a tiny whisper since most of us never heard them.) Now today we read Israel accepted a cease fire proposal by Egypt to suspend all land, sea, & air strikes & sit down with Hamas & mediators in Cairo.

With the German foreign minister at his side (& John Kerry somewhere in the wings grooming himself), Netan-psycho-yahu said Israel accepted the proposal for the purpose of “demilitarizing the Gaza strip of rockets & tunnels by diplomatic ways.” He added, that if Hamas did not accept the proposal “Israel will have every international legitimacy to expand its military operation to restore the necessary calm.” In other words, this peace proposal is just another ruse to justify escalation.

Hamas officials–referred to in the LA Times as “the Hamas militia that controls Gaza”–rejected the proposal, calling it an ambush & complained that everybody in Kingdom Come was consulted about it except the Palestinians. Let’s do a little exegesis here in defense of Hamas’ decision: for months (years?), Egypt has been acting as Israel’s proxy by flooding sewage into the smuggling tunnels on the border, by closing the Rafah border crossings, including in this crisis when thousands of Gazans are fleeing for their lives. The entire country of Egypt is on lockdown, with hundreds being sent to jail for life for exercising democratic rights. Would any political leadership in their right minds trust those guys to negotiate justice for Gaza?

But the most compelling reality is that Israel has one of the mightiest militaries in the world & is conducting land, sea, & air strikes against Gaza. Who knows what the hell Hamas has in rocketry–& it certainly isn’t much because of the blockade–but are they supposed to stand before the onslaught without any attempt at self-defense?

After the fiasco of the last peace talks between Israel & the Palestinian Authority (PA)–when Israel & the US badgered the PA for surrender, escalated settlements, & finished them off with their jackboot operation–does anybody in their right mind think negotiations will settle differences between those being violently dispossessed & the dispossessors? Differences of this scale require intifada.

Many will want to know where Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the PA, is in all this since he’s been quiet as a mouse–which is good, because when he opens it, it’s to chide Hamas. No need to wonder; he’s where he always is–in the pockets of Israel & the US. When Palestinians finally run him out of there on a rail, he expects remuneration for betrayal rendered in the form of peace prizes & speaking engagements.

An interesting aside is that the LA Times article included 33 photos, mostly of the devastation in Gaza. The few of Israel were of people in shelters escaping sirens & one described as a bomb disposal crew inspecting the damage caused to a house in Israel by a Hamas rocket. In the past hour they added several more photos, including a few others of alleged bomb damage in Israel so they must know that photojournalism belies hasbara.

Befitting the idiocies of hasbara, the article ended with a guy from Sderot, Israel complaining the cease fire was insufficient & residents were “willing to spend a month & more in the bomb shelter for them to finish this rocket fire once & for all.” Nice try, bucko, but the world has seen several photos of residents from Sderot sitting on lawn chairs, eating popcorn & sucking down sodas while watching Israel’s murderous assault of Gaza like it was a football game.

There’s a sardonic element to all this hasbara crap but it’s hard to find the humor when there’s a genocide going on. The mission for Palestinian supporters is clear: continue to build massive public protests demanding “Stop the massacre in Gaza”; support the economic boycott of Israel (barcode beginning 729); support the cultural boycott of Israel; demand “No military aid to Israel!”

Once again, in the interests of journalistic integrity, we post this photo of Israelis in Nitzan, Israel, lolling more than cowering in a drain pipe from what is identified as a Hamas rocket attack but is more likely an Israeli siren assault.

(Photo by Menahem Kahana / AFP/ Getty Images)

Solidarity rallies in Kashmir in solidarity with Gaza

Kashmir solidarity with Gaza protest July 14 2014

In the past week, there have been several Palestinian solidarity rallies in Indian-occupied Kashmir. The conflict between India & Kashmir results from the British colonial partition when it gave up colonial control of South Asia in 1947. The occupation by the Indian military is every bit as brutal & relentless as the British colonial arrangement with Zionism in 1947 that led to Israeli apartheid & Palestinian bantustates.

The resistance among Kashmiri youth has been called intifada because of it’s similarities to Palestinan political resistance. As we can see from these photos, Kashmiri solidarity with Gaza is rooted in their own struggle against occupation & their heartfelt, blood-soaked understanding of injustice, persecution, & social hatred.

Our solidarity with the Kashmiri freedom movement who also stand with Gaza. Stop the massacre in Gaza! End the occupation of Kashmir!

(This photo from INn AMm)

Documentation of Israeli war crimes in Gaza

Israeli rocket in Gaza July 12 2014ic cleansing in

Are these traumatized Israelis examining a Qassam rocket lobbed by Hamas from Gaza? No. It’s documentation of Israeli war crimes against Gaza–& it isn’t the only evidence, which mounts in photo after photo of Israeli aircraft exploding massive bombs over Gazan cities with homes, schools, clinics. These are in fact Palestinians in the town of Deir El-Balah (on the coast of central Gaza) examing a missile dropped from Israeli aircraft.

One would hardly take present international law as a guide to the oxymoronic (with emphasis on moronic) “humanitarian conduct of war”. But Israeli bombing of Gaza violates umpteen international treaties about bombing civilians & civilian property. And it must be remembered, every single person in Gaza is a civilian because there is no form of military & homemade rockets are no form of self-defense against one of the most sophisticated military arsenals in the world.

Deir al-Balah, which has a nearby refugee camp, is a frequent site of Israeli military incursions by land & by air because of its location & because it is a center of political opposition to Israeli apartheid. Israeli bombers & bulldozers have razed acres of orchard land in the area; tanks have occupied the area under the pretext of routing out Hamas arsenals shooting off rockets to Israel. Since in several decades of military incursions in the region Israel hasn’t been able to rout them out, maybe it’s a failed military strategy–or more likely, those arsenals don’t exist & never existed at all.

Deir al-Balah was once a center of Zionist settlements but under the despicable prime minister Ariel Sharon, Israel implemented a disengagement plan in 2005 & forcibly removed the Zionist settlers from Gaza. It now seems evident Israel’s strategy was not to generate peace between Israel & the bantustate of Gaza but to isolate Gaza to more effectively bombard it, ethnically cleanse it of Palestinians, & return it to Zionist freebooters.

Many Palestinian supporters around the world are traumatized watching the carnage & feel helpless to stay the hand of Israeli genocide. Maybe that partially explains why the antiwar movement is so weak: because military power is so daunting & seemingly impregnable. But we must never underestimate the power of resistance, of political education, of persistence. Our strength lies in numbers & in commitment & in steadfast solidarity with Palestinians, Afghanis, Iraqis, Pakistanis, & all others.

(Photo by Ashraf Amrah/Reuters)

Israel preparing massive occupation of Gaza

Israeli tanks at Gaza border July 11 2014

During the Vietnam War, there was widespread opposition among US soldiers to the war & they played a central role in mobilizing antiwar sentiment. It was common to see photos of US GIs in Vietnam flashing the peace sign or wearing it as an insignia on their helmets in solidarity with the antiwar movement. The breakdown in military discipline justifiably made the Pentagon sweat bullets about its ability to conduct the war. That’s a proud part of GI antiwar activity.

But that history makes this photo even more repugnant. These are two of the tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers lined up in tanks on the Gaza border preparing for what Netanyahu & the Israeli war minister claim will be an extended offensive against Gaza by land, air, & sea. These two guys are preparing for genocide by taking a selfie & flashing a peace sign for ethnic cleansing. Of course, what he’s really doing is flipping the bird to the humanity of Palestinians.

Someone recently pointed out that genocide is happening in several countries including Sri Lanka, Burma, Kashmir, & elsewhere, & objected to Palestinians receiving more political attention & solidarity than other peoples. It’s a peculiar complaint because clearly, with Israel embarking on a major escalation of ethnic cleansing, Palestinians are not receiving enough solidarity to restrain genocide. For decades, Palestinian intifada stood alone against Israeli apartheid & they did not retreat against the insuperable odds of US & Israeli military might. Now the boycott movement (BDS) has changed all that & they have allies across the globe willing to stand with them–but still insufficient to restrain genocide.

What makes the Palestinian struggle evoke such widespread support is the pivotal role their struggle plays in world politics, especially in the Middle East. The US bankrolls Israeli apartheid with billions of dollars a year. They don’t do that to protect democracy in the Middle East but to maintain tyranny & the Arab uprisings made that absolutely clear. Palestinian courage & intransigence challenge the colonial schemes.

Israel, with US & European backing, is preparing to do in Gaza what was & is being done to suppress the Arab uprisings. We need only look at Egypt to see what they have planned for Gaza & the West Bank.

There can never be too much solidarity until justice is achieved. It’s time to mobilize; time to hold forums, speak-outs, rallies defending Palestinian justice & opposing genocide.

Support Palestinian justice by boycotting all Israeli products (barcode beginning 729); supporting the cultural boycott of Israel; & demanding “No military aid to Israel!”

(Photo by Ariel Schalit/AP)

Media lies to cover Israeli ethnic cleansing in Gaza

Gaza bombing (2) July 10 2014

Photojournalists are documenting Israeli human rights & war crimes in Gaza, including hundreds of tons of explosives raining down on cities. While the photographic testimony is massive & irrefutable, world media tries to turn the story on its head with headlines like “Israel under renewed Hamas attack” (BBC, July 8th); “Israel Continues Offensive in Gaza: Gaza Raids a Response to Palestinian Rocket Attacks on Israeli Towns” (Wall Street Journal, July 9th); “Israel and Hamas trade attacks” (NY Times, July 9th).

Shame-faced lying is the nature of media reporting on Israel & the Palestinians. If they could put a soundtrack to their pile of lies, it would be Andy Williams singing “The Exodus Song (This Land is Mine)” from the film justifying the expropriation of Palestine with paramilitary death squads & colonial hatred. The ABC news reader Diane Sawyer, who has made a career for herself croaking lies for the Pentagon, actually borrowed film footage of bombing carnage in Gaza & described it as Israel. There is no actual footage because there is no carnage in Israel comparable to the ethnic cleansing siege of Gaza. They’ve only been able to produce a few photos of Israelis cowering from sirens & a couple photos of property damage in Israel, allegedly from Hamas rockets.

Media publish the photos & try to counter their impact with captions. The Wall Street Journal album of carnage in Gaza used captions like: “At least 66 Palestinians have been killed so far, more than 50 of them civilians.” Since Gaza does not have any form of military they are all unarmed civilians–but the caption suggests Hamas militarism. Photo after photo of rubble in Gaza, of people running from air strikes in residential areas, of Israeli aircraft bombing cities are described in captions as “what police claimed was from Israeli bombing”–like it was just allegations from Palestinian authorities. What about what the Israeli military brazenly calls Operation Protective Edge? They bomb the hell out of Gaza & leave it to world media to cover for them.

The caption to this photo read: “A Palestinian woman runs carrying a girl following what police said was an Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza City.” You can stick any caption of lies on this photo & dramatize it with Andy Williams singing, but the overwhelming weight of evidence is that Operation Protective Edge is a massive Operation Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians by Israel. Those who want to stand on the side of ethnic cleansing using cynicism & mysticism, claiming the disputes are ancient or even genetic to semites, shaking their naughty fingers at both sides, ought to hang their heads in shame.

Stand against ethnic cleansing by supporting the economic boycott of Israel (barcode beginning 729); supporting the cultural boycott of Israel; & demanding “No military aid to Israel.”

(Photo by Majdi Fathi/Reuters)