(this continues the ongoing Palestine genocide threads)
posted by cendawanita at 11:34 PM on November 5 [18 favorites]

In a letter to his son, Ghassan Kanafani wrote:

I heard you in the other room asking your mother: "Mama, am I a Palestinian?" When she answered "Yes," a heavy silence fell on the whole house. It was as if something hanging over our heads had fallen, its noise exploding, then— silence.

Afterwards... I heard you crying. I could not move. There was something bigger than my awareness being born in the other room through your bewildered sobbing. It was as if a blessed scalpel was cutting up your chest and putting there the heart that belongs to you... I was unable to move to see what was happening in the other room. I knew, however, that a distant homeland was being born again; hills, plains, olive groves, dead people, torn banners and folded ones, all cutting their way into a future of flesh and blood and being born in the heart of another child... Do not believe that man grows. No; he is born suddenly— a word, in a moment, penetrates his heart to a new throb. One scene can hurl him down from the ceiling of childhood on to the ruggedness of the road.

posted by ftrtts at 12:07 AM on November 6 [14 favorites]

A bit of a retrospective:

1 Nov: Israeli assault has caused ‘apocalyptic’ situation in northern Gaza, UN warns -
Key officials say entire population of northern Gaza ‘at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence’

1 Nov: Exterminate, expel, resettle: Israel’s endgame in northern Gaza -
Debates over the details of the ‘Generals’ Plan’ distract from the true brutality of Israel’s latest operation — one that drops the veneer of humanitarian considerations and lays the groundwork for settlements.
The reality, however, is even more appalling. What the army has been implementing in northern Gaza since early October is not quite the “Generals’ Plan,” but an even more sinister and brutal version of it within a more concentrated area. One could even say that the plan itself and the intense international media and diplomatic storm it has created has helped keep everyone in the dark as to what is actually going on, and obscure the two ways in which the plan has already been redefined.

The first, most immediate distinction is the abandoning of provisions for reducing harm to civilians, i.e. giving residents of northern Gaza a week to evacuate southward. The second departure concerns the real purpose of emptying the area: while portraying the military operation as a security necessity, it was, in fact, an embodiment of the spirit of ethnic cleansing and resettlement from day one. **

2 Nov: Israel is falling far short of a US ultimatum to surge aid to Gaza
In hard-hit north Gaza in particular, an escalated Israeli military campaign and restrictions on aid have kept all food and other care from reaching populated areas since mid-October, aid organizations say. It could set the stage for famine in coming weeks or months, international monitors say.

Leaders of 15 U.N. and humanitarian groups, including the World Food Program and World Health Organization, warned Friday that “the situation unfolding in north Gaza is apocalyptic.”

2 Nov: ‘Death is everywhere’: fears grow that Israel plans to seize land in Gaza -
Increasingly violent siege of north raises suspicions about Netanyahu’s war aims
The IDF says it is hunting Hamas militants but suspicions are growing that Israel is putting into practice a blueprint it had officially distanced itself from, known as the “generals’ plan”.

The plan, named after the retired senior officers promoting it, was intended to depopulate northern Gaza by giving the Palestinians trapped there an opportunity to evacuate and then treating those that stayed as combatants, laying total siege.

The government insisted the plan had not been adopted, but some IDF soldiers in Gaza, as well as Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups, say it is being implemented on a daily basis, but with a major difference: the Palestinians in northern Gaza were not given a realistic chance to evacuate. They are trapped.

**Additional quotes: As opposed to the picture painted by the army, implying that residents in the northern areas were free to move south and get out of the danger zone, local testimonies presented a frightening reality: anyone who so much as stepped out of their home risked being shot by Israeli snipers or drones, including young children and those holding white flags. Rescue crews trying to help the wounded also came under attack, as well as journalists trying to document the events.

One particularly harrowing video, verified by The Washington Post, shows a child on the ground pleading for help after being wounded by an airstrike; when a crowd gathers to help him, they are suddenly hit by another airstrike, killing one and wounding more than 20 others. This is the reality amid which the people of northern Gaza were supposed to walk, starved and exhausted, into the “humanitarian zone.”

In view of this brutality, the Israeli propaganda machine spurred into action to offer a slew of excuses as to why civilians were not evacuating — primarily that Hamas was “beating with sticks” those who tried to leave. If Hamas did indeed stop civilians from evacuating, how can the army then claim that those who chose not to evacuate are terrorists condemned to be killed? But listening to the residents themselves, one could hear the same desperate cry repeatedly: “We cannot evacuate because the Israeli army is shooting at us.”
posted by cendawanita at 12:09 AM on November 6 [16 favorites]

.
posted by constraint at 12:40 AM on November 6 [3 favorites]

[ungated]
posted by kliuless at 1:23 AM on November 6

Not sure if the crowd in the election thread would want to be so explicitly reminded of Palestine, so I'm parking this Ynet (in Hebrew) article here: Trump won, and in Israel they fear "revenge" in the two months left for Biden -
The current American president is expected to promote arrangements and a hostage deal in the two months he has left, in the face of Netanyahu's insistence on continuing the war in Gaza - which the new president also wanted to end. And also: the expected effects on Iran, the settlements, The Hague and the arms embargo

Intercept earlier did a report: How Does AIPAC Shape Washington? We Tracked Every Dollar. (which may mitigate such concerns)
posted by cendawanita at 2:52 AM on November 6 [10 favorites]

I notice that everyone is avoiding the term "Final Solution" when referring to what Israel is doing to the Palestinians.

But that's sure as Hell what it's starting to looks like.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 3:29 AM on November 6 [15 favorites]

So in this now truly rump term, what does Biden have to lose? There's no more excuse, not that there used to be any.
posted by runcifex at 4:19 AM on November 6 [8 favorites]

Biden is a life-long zionist, according to himself. If he realises there is no longer anything to lose, he's more likely to order more bombings than fewer.
posted by Dysk at 4:35 AM on November 6 [18 favorites]

Ah that is reminding me to track from now on if the coverage on that ultimatum letter (for Israel to improve aid) will now die down and disappear.
posted by cendawanita at 4:40 AM on November 6 [4 favorites]

Whatever Biden does or does not do, I would be very very surprised if Trump does not give Bibi free reign - in fact, I expect Jared is as we speak having architects draw up plans for sea-side developments for all that soon-to-be depopulated real estate.
posted by From Bklyn at 4:45 AM on November 6 [7 favorites]

I promise to indulge in this Trump tangent for only this comment: can't believe it's going to be the battle of the Zionist (and Jewish) son-in-law versus the Lebanese-American son-in-law in currying favour. I guess the favoured daughter will win this fight.
posted by cendawanita at 4:55 AM on November 6 [5 favorites]

OK, I've reached my limit of the winning. Can we have a little losing now?
posted by evilDoug at 5:12 AM on November 6

Whatever Biden does or does not do, I would be very very surprised if Trump does not give Bibi free reign - in fact, I expect Jared is as we speak having architects draw up plans for sea-side developments for all that soon-to-be depopulated real estate.

I understand that Bibi congratulated Trump earlier this morning.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:51 AM on November 6 [1 favorite]

Gallant was the last honest person in the room, as terribly flawed as his outlook is.

Also, do not be fooled by the noticeable, inorganic activity on social media crowing about how Trump is "better for the Palestinians" or how leftists are supposedly celebrating a Harris loss because of Gaza. We've just passed through much of the workday in Russia and US right-wingers are waking up from their benders.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 6:02 AM on November 6 [7 favorites]

Right: Israeli soldiers in Gaza surprised to be identified by their online posts

Gaza's Reality Has Been Hidden From the Israeli Public
This is a humanitarian disaster of enormous proportions, and it is not covered in Israel. Almost at all. Occasionally there will be a laconic report, mainly of statistics, little more than lip service offered out of obligation, without any professional sense of proportion indicating that in Gaza there is a human disaster transpiring that is almost beyond description, and that the people living there are in fact human beings.

Israel's media have acted this way for years. They conceal the occupation and whitewash its crimes. No one orders them to do this; it is done willingly, out of the understanding that this is what their consumers want to hear. For the commercial media, that is the top and foremost consideration. In this way Israel's media have become the most important agent for dehumanization of the Palestinians, without the need for censorship or a government directing it to do so. The media take on this role in the knowledge that this is what their customers want and expect of it. They don't want to know anything about what their state and army are carrying out, because the best way to be at peace with the reality of occupation, apartheid and war is with denial, suppression and dehumanization.

(...) The second wave of potential opposition to the war should have arisen among Israel's Palestinians, the "Israeli Arabs," as they are referred to here. But the Israeli Arabs have been in a state of paralysis since October 7, paralysis caused by fear and near-existential terror. Not since 1948 have they been so fearful. They were scared to come into contact with Jews, they were scared to leave their homes or go to work, they were scared to speak Arabic among the Jewish public. They were scared to breathe, sensing that they were en masse suspected of supporting the Nukhba—the name of the Hamas commando force that invaded Israel that day.

Many Arabs were called in for questioning by the police because of a tweet or other social media post in which they had expressed human concern regarding their own relatives in Gaza, or solidarity with them. Many were fired or laid off from their work, as an Israeli McCarthyism took hold of the public arena, and with it a witch hunt. Under such circumstances, one couldn't expect the Arabs to express opposition to the war or to head to the streets to demonstrate against it. They were silenced and silent.

Lebanon's ancient Baalbek city endures week of death, destruction and displacement -
Israeli strikes on Bekaa Valley have killed about 160 people in a matter of days
Israel's first bombing notice for Baalbek and the surrounding area came late – two days after the country began escalating its attacks. The maps, published regularly by the Israeli army and criticised by rights groups for sparking mass displacement, also appear to be inaccurate.

Many villages around Baalbek where Israel has launched deadly attacks are not included in the maps. These include the village of Bednayel, where a strike on a residential building killed eight people last Wednesday. When The National visited Bednayel on Thursday, as part of a rare Hezbollah media tour of the Bekaa Valley, rescue workers were still searching through the rubble, where nappies, children’s socks and pyjamas were scattered.

The victims were all from the same family. "Is that what Israel is targeting?" a man asked, as he picked up a pair of tiny pink shoes from the rubble.

Israel has damaged or destroyed nearly a quarter of buildings in Lebanon’s south -
Almost 6,000 structures have been affected in border villages, including at least nine religious sites demolished in controlled explosions, a Post analysis found.

The demolitions clearing Israel’s ‘first belt’ in Lebanon -
IDF decimates towns and villages within 3km of border as it fights Hizbollah

The Israeli task force deporting foreign activists from the West Bank -
Solidarity volunteers describe threatening interrogations, false charges, and swift expulsion orders by a new police unit established by Ben Gvir.
The task force was set up shortly after the Biden administration and other foreign governments began imposing sanctions on violent Israeli settlers and settler organizations, and appears to be a direct response to it. According to data from the Human Rights Defenders Fund, 15 foreign human rights activists have been detained and then deported or coerced into leaving the country under the task force’s authority.

(...) Michal Pomerantz, an attorney who represented several of the detained or deported American activists, explained that the police’s flimsy accusations would not stand up in court, hence why the activists were transferred to the immigration authorities. “It is also no coincidence that many of them are Americans,” she added, as it shows the Israeli authorities “clearly want revenge for the sanctions [issued by the U.S. on settlers].”

Witnesses say the Israeli army is using facial recognition technology in its assault on north Gaza
posted by cendawanita at 8:15 AM on November 6 [17 favorites]

we live in hell world
posted by nofundy at 12:29 PM on November 6 [12 favorites]

But that's sure as Hell what it's starting to looks like.

There's never a real "never again", the oppressor/oppressed dynamic being solely a matter of historical opportunity.
posted by ryanshepard at 1:53 PM on November 6 [3 favorites]

This was the most neutral account I could find of what happened - UN Peace Flags exhibit takes down "Free Palestine" quilt after complaint from Israel's ambassador - Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations has welcomed the removal of an exhibit at the UN headquarters which showed a panel with the slogan “From the River to the sea, Palestine will be free”. But, charging the UN with “hypocrisy” and “antisemitism”, Danny Danon said the panel should never have been there in the first place.

Vincenzo Pugliese, acting chief of the UN’s visitors’ services, explained that the Peace Flags exhibit “was compiled by a fashion designer, who asked students and other community groups in several countries to draw messages of peace on fabric scraps as a way to repurpose fashion waste for positive impact. The pieces of fabric were woven together into quilts, each with 36-48 square pieces, with these messages (‘peace flags’), meant to represent a variety of views and perspectives that symbolise peace”.

Students stage pro-Palestine "pray-in" protest at Harvard Divinity School Library - More than 55 graduate students called on the University to divest from Israel’s war in Gaza and end censorship on campus during a “pray-in” protest at the Harvard Divinity School’s library on Monday.

The demonstration, which was led by Jewish students at HDS, lasted for roughly 45 minutes and was open to participants from all religious traditions. Several students brought their own religious texts – like the Quran, Torah, and Bible – and silently prayed.

Carrefour chain of retail stores forced out of Jordan due to boycott campaign - The Carrefour chain of retail stores announced the closure of all its locations in Jordan amid a boycott campaign targeting US and European companies supporting Israel in its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and war on Lebanon.

In an official statement on its Facebook page, Carrefour Jordan confirmed that it will halt all its operations in the kingdom, and apologized for any "inconvenience this decision may cause."

Carrefour's West Asia franchisee, the Emirates-based Majid Al Futtaim Group, says it is replacing the French retailer in Jordan with a new brand, Hypermax, which will focus on locally sourced products.

Palestinians will not be allowed to return to homes in north Gaza, says IDF - Israeli ground forces are getting closer to “the complete evacuation” of northern Gaza and residents will not be allowed to return home, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said, in what appears to be the first official acknowledgment from Israel it is systematically removing Palestinians from the area.

In a media briefing on Tuesday night, the IDF Brig Gen Itzik Cohen told Israeli reporters that since troops had been forced to enter some areas twice, such as Jabaliya camp, “there is no intention of allowing the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return to their homes”.

He added that humanitarian aid would be allowed to “regularly” enter the south of the territory but not the north, since there are “no more civilians left”.
posted by toastyk at 4:42 PM on November 6 [6 favorites]

The fact that this thread has so few comments is just so, so disheartening.
posted by Gadarene at 10:57 PM on November 6 [5 favorites]

Thank you cendawanita for posting this especially given the recent US elections, and thanks also to the people who read this and commented.
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 11:32 PM on November 6 [10 favorites]

the carrefour article in toastyk's comment reminds me: know what to boycott.

new thread, same unrwa donation link.

seconding the thanks to cendawanita for this post and everyone commenting.

anecdote with an eventual point: a few people i know have volunteered with academic solidarity with palestine, which is working with An-Najah University (in Nablus) to run online courses for students in Gaza whose universities are destroyed right now. one friend told me briefly how it's going. from the prof's point of view, it sounds about like teaching during covid: you lecture on zoom to nobody, and then post the video. i don't even know how the students are getting reliable enough internet access to follow along, among many other more urgent obstructions. but my friend said they seem to manage. young people doing the homework, during what's not only the apocalypse but also a calculated deliberate apocalypse directed at them in particular, seems to me like rejecting despair in a way that might be of interest over in the election thread, for instance.
posted by busted_crayons at 3:23 AM on November 7 [4 favorites]

Uhuh: Lebanese-American father-in-law of Trump’s daughter says he’ll be US point man for Lebanon

Kinda makes sense this is the society that produced Borat: Israeli soldiers are leaving Google reviews for Lebanese places they destroyed -
Troops revel in the destruction they have caused in southern towns and villages, joking about a blown-up mosque and torched hospital

Otherwise back to more straightforward crimes:
Knesset approves law to expel terrorist family members
(Terrorist = profiled '48 Palestinians , basically - Britons may be familiar with this angle through the Shamima Begum case)
61 Knesset members reportedly supported the proposal, and 41 opposed it. The law grants the interior minister authority, following a hearing, to order the deportation of a terrorist’s family member—such as a father, mother, sibling, child, spouse, or common-law partner—to Gaza or another location. (oh, Gaza huh. How convenient for future operations.)

Al-Araby TV journalist shot, wounded by Israeli forces while covering West Bank raid -
Rabie Munir sustained a injury in his abdomen after he was shot by Israeli troops in Qatabiya, during a deadly incursion in the West Bank town.

As always, it's never just "Gaza".

Mondoweiss take of the fake documents scandal (as covered above in the Haaretz piece): Fake document scandal reveals Israeli efforts to undermine ceasefire talks -
A scandal over fabricated documents allegedly leaked by an aide to Benjamin Netanyahu has revealed Israel’s efforts to sabotage Gaza ceasefire negotiations.

Which reminds me -- The fact that this thread has so few comments is just so, so disheartening.

Can't use the hostages as a rhetorical cudgel; can barely threaten with Trump because while things can become worse of course this is now a rogue state fighting on more than one front outside its own borders not to mention de facto ethnic cleansing was achieved as the votes were counted; can't keep dehumanizing Palestinians because now the Lebanese are part of this belligerence too--
posted by cendawanita at 3:32 AM on November 7 [8 favorites]

Wait, so people actually believe Trump when he says he's going to bring peace to Israel-Palestine and Lebanon? And y'all think that peace is going to involve anything besides removing all the Palestinians from Gaza in whatever way Netanyahu chooses to make way for coastline resort development with Trump's name on every building?
posted by hydropsyche at 3:52 AM on November 7 [2 favorites]

I don't know if there's any such people commenting and posting on metafilter, but the world is huge.
posted by cendawanita at 3:57 AM on November 7 [1 favorite]

Lebanon files complaint against Israel at UN labour body over pager attacks -
Labour Minister Mustafa Bayram says 4,000 civilians were killed or wounded in the September attacks.


‘Drop it and we’ll bomb you’: Israeli soldiers mark displaced Palestinians with glow sticks -
Legal expert warns Israel’s use of such arbitrary methods could make civilians vulnerable to targeted attacks
The human imagination is an incredible thing: After being expelled from Gaza’s Jabalia under intense bombing, and following hours of questioning, Israeli soldiers handed Samir* a glowing stick.

He was then forced to flee south and was given a simple instruction: drop the light and you will be bombed.

It is a new practice by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip to mark forcibly displaced Palestinians, eyewitnesses have told Middle East Eye.

The light sticks, originally intended for emergency signalling or visibility in the dark, are being used to indicate which group of Palestinians has been interrogated, cleared and is following orders for forced displacement from northern Gaza.

But legal experts warn that it leaves people without the stick vulnerable to Israeli attacks, as they could be seen as potential targets.

(...) “When we arrived at the Kuwait school [in Beit Lahia], the Israeli army asked the women to keep walking while the men entered the school. There were elderly women in wheelchairs left in the street who couldn’t move because the army had detained their sons in the schools, leaving them alone and unable to move,” Hamdan recalled.

“They detained us from 8am until midnight. We stayed in the school for hours without the soldiers taking any action. They just watched us all day as we stood in the sun, with no water or food.

“In the afternoon, they started taking us and putting us in front of [facial recognition] cameras, selecting who they wanted. I stood in front of the camera, and they took me in for interrogation.”

Hamdan then had to wait for hours as he saw dozens of young men stripped down to their boxers and dressed in white clothes before being taken by the soldiers to the Sheikh Zayed Towers.

“I could hear them screaming as they were being tortured there,” he said.

But actually the Carrefour story reminded me of my open tabs on the subject of boycotts:-

5,000 more writers have joined the boycott of complicit Israeli cultural institutions.
In the week since their letter was published [with over 1000 signatures], a staggering 5,500 more writers and book workers have signed the boycott pledge.

Major LGBTQ+ federation suspends Israeli group, drops bid for Tel Aviv event -
Palestinian campaigners call on ILGA World to explore further ways to divest from Israeli groups 'complicit in genocide'

Ben-Gurion Airport’s Terminal 1 Closes as Air Travel to War-torn Israel Declines

Barclays sells all shares in Israeli weapons firm Elbit amid pro-Palestinian pressure -
British banking giant has reported zero shares in Israel's Elbit Systems, down 16,345 since a previous filing, after accusations of aiding genocide in Gaza

McDonald’s posts biggest decline in global sales in four years -
Amid sluggish spending in US, Europe and China, sales fell by 1.5% between July and September
---

Things that can't happen without friends, be it 70-odd years or 13 months and counting*: We are witnessing the final stage of genocide in Gaza -Omer Bartov is an Israeli-American professor of Holocaust and genocide studies. He has issued a grim warning on Gaza

*One of the notable things when I visited not just the Genocide Memorial in Kigali (which is foreign-sponsored) but also the Museum of the Campaign Against Genocide which is more local and housed at the Parliament building**, was how much the French was fingered as culpable in propping up the genocidal regime/government. The extent was such that the society basically shifted from a francophone one to an anglophone one (in a way that reminds me of Cambodia tbh though that was due to American presence).

**Consequently that exhibition had more of a focus on armed resistance/military operations that as far as that narrative was concerned, was what really led to the end of the genocide as the groundwork was in place by the time peacekeeping troops arrived. Feel free to draw your own conclusions, I'm not gonna tell the Rwandese I was with that their current president would've been seen as a terrorist.

Oh right, missed this one: U.S. inundated with claims that American arms killed Gaza civilians -
The State Department has received hundreds of reports that Israel’s use of U.S. weapons is responsible for excessive casualties. It has yet to take action.
posted by cendawanita at 4:54 AM on November 7 [8 favorites]

Wait, so people actually believe Trump when he says he's going to bring peace to Israel-Palestine and Lebanon?

Prior to this election I would have said no, of course not, no one is that out of touch with reality; then I met someone who voiced exactly that rationale for voting for him. Extreme times bring out people's extreme beliefs, I guess?
posted by mittens at 4:55 AM on November 7 [3 favorites]

You know what? I accidentally stumbled on a r/teachers post yesterday (I can't find it anymore, don't know where it went) where a teacher mentioned that all her students were glad that Trump won because it meant that World War 3 wasn't going to happen anymore. They are in a completely different information environment than we are - their social media is different, the people who influence them are different, and also - are they necessarily wrong? Trump has said stuff like he'll bring peace to the Middle East and he would resolve everything in Ukraine in like a day. Whether it's believable or not is not really the point - he said it, he campaigned on it, he reached out to Michigan and promised things they wanted to hear, and Biden and Harris campaigned on "working tirelessly for a ceasefire" that never seemed to come to fruition, and continually giving money away to Ukraine, whose war has been dragging for years now, and to Israel, who is continuing to bomb Arabs, and now dragging US troops into the mix. Does it seem more or less believable that Harris would be the one to end military conflicts, when at the DNC she bragged about making sure that the US has the most lethal fighting force in the world?

On Time to Say Goodbye's "Emergency Podcast" they discussed what happened with minority voters going to Trump, and there's a part where they mention day-to-day discussions with minority men, and a large part of it was that "they do the version of the, you know, you go to a diner, they go to a black barbershop and they talk to black folks about like what issues are driving them. War is a huge one that gets consistently... People just ignore, but it comes up again and again and again if you read any reporting about the black male vote. Why are we sending money to Ukraine? Why are we sending money to Israel? Why are we sending money overseas? We need help at home. And so I think... You know, it's sort of a perfect storm where the Democrats have become embroiled in two foreign wars - It's important to remember, we're talking about 20 to 25 percent. Like, this is not a huge like it does not stretch the bounds of imagination that some socially conservative black men who don't like what's going on in the Middle East and Eastern Europe and who are culturally conservative on a host of issues might say,you know what? Trump sent us checks and the economy was pretty good under him. And everyone's all the liberals on MSNBC said I was going to get sent to the camps, but nothing changed for me. So, you know what? I don't I don't care. I'm not voting for Harris. I'm going to go vote for Trump again."

Anyway, Israel just signed an agreement to buy 25 F-15 fighter jets from Boeing for $5.2 billion.

IDF reports 110 strikes in Lebanon, Gaza.
posted by toastyk at 5:56 AM on November 7 [15 favorites]

and also - are they necessarily wrong?

Of course they are -- the risks of widespread war in Europe just went up substantially. There's a real chance that an emboldened Putin is going to try something with the Baltics. And there's a real risk that the forces Russia can bring to bear against the Baltics will be so thoroughly slaughtered by the Finns and especially Poles that Putin might lob a nuke or two.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 6:03 AM on November 7 [5 favorites]

I mean do you expect your average voter to be able to game all that out with the knowledge that they have? Does the average voter think about the Baltics? I am super informed about Israel/Palestine and I acknowledge that I am not a normal voter - I couldn’t tell you anything about Russia and what’s going on there.
posted by toastyk at 6:15 AM on November 7 [2 favorites]

GCU Sweet and Full of Grace

I agree with you except for one thing: the odds of a big war in Europe IN SEVERAL YEARS went up.

In the short term, Trump will indeed bring peace. He's going to cut Ukraine off, I doubt the EU will make up for the shortfall, Zalinski is going to have to do like Musk kept saying he did and give Russia the land Putin says he wants.

A few weeks after Trump takes office you'll never see Ukraine in the news again. Peace at last!

And on the Israel side, he's going to give Israel bigger and better weapons and they'll finish their job of eradicating and/or driving out the Palestinian population from the land that Israel claims was given to them by God himself. Come the midterms Israel will also be out of the news and all the average American moron will remember is that Trump campaigned on peace, Biden/Harris resulted in war, and now there's no war on social media so Trump clearly did what he said he would.

Putin isn't going to start expanding into Moldovia or wherever right away. He needs time to consolidate, push a few more detractors out windows, build up his military so it isn't quite so much of a joke, finish exterminating all the people in his newly claimed territory who won't submit, and let the Russian people have a few years of peace and prosperity before he kicks off the next conquest.

Assuming there are elections in 2028 either a Democrat will win (lulz yeah right) and Putin will be able to kick off his war right afterward so that yet again his Republican allies can campaign on "peace" via surrender, or Vance will be President and he can assure the American public that he won't be embroiling them in foreign wars and there is not going to be one single American dollar going to help the idiots who keep resisting Putin's very legitimate and totally cool claims to their territory.
posted by sotonohito at 6:50 AM on November 7 [7 favorites]

The fact that this thread has so few comments is just so, so disheartening.

I am one data point, but I'm checking cendawanita's FPPs multiple times per day. I really don't know what to say, I have nothing to contribute beyond what others share here. A person can only add the combination of words signaling their horror and anger so many times. And quite frankly, it's a relief to finally rid these threads of the apologists, the clever wordsmiths who poke and nibble at the meanings of words that result in long derails. Those fucking people finally know better to just stay the fuck away, because no-one has time for that anymore.
posted by ginger.beef at 8:11 AM on November 7 [23 favorites]

The fact that this thread has so few comments is just so, so disheartening.

Those fucking people finally know better to just stay the fuck away

I am probably one of those people. I was asked to step away from Metafilter about a month ago -- maybe others were asked to as well.

Can't say I'll apologize for what I've posted because if anything, my thesis on this situation is only further incensed by this week's election results. But given how limp Metafilter is on actual, meaningful discussions that tackle the problem of race, racism and its causes in the North American population as it tends towards increasing inequity throughout the world population, I can stay away.
posted by human ecologist at 11:27 AM on November 7 [1 favorite]

I am probably one of those people.

Have you shown up to respond to anything posted by anyone with "SO YOU'RE SAYING ISRAEL DOEN'T HAVE A RIGHT TO EXIST??"

Have you debated whether the situation in Gaza constitutes apartheid, or repeatedly split hairs on whether genocide is happening

Have you issued multiple accusations of antisemitism?

I don't think you are one of the people I have in mind.
posted by ginger.beef at 12:03 PM on November 7 [11 favorites]

These threads have been and will hopefully continue to be an oasis of information in a news environment that seeks to downplay and obfuscate the genocide.

I have been reading Metafilter for two decades and never before on this subject has there been such a concerted effort to keep track of the crimes, depravity and hypocrisy. These threads have made sure that the apologists don't have a leg to stand on.

Thank you cendawanita, toastyk and all the users who gather and make this information accessible.
posted by Kitten as a cat at 2:41 PM on November 7 [14 favorites]

Just another day where someone like Peter Beinart is being accused of being antisemitic for writing: Democrats Ignored Gaza and Brought Down Their Party (ungated)
But people who are passionate about Palestinian rights rarely occupy influential positions in Democratic campaigns. For decades, the party’s politicians and operatives have treated the struggle for Palestinian freedom as a taboo. They’ve grown so accustomed to sequestering it from their stated commitment to human rights that, even amid what prominent scholars call a genocide, Ms. Harris thought it wiser to campaign with Ms. Cheney than, say, Representative Rashida Tlaib. Despite overwhelming evidence, her campaign could not see that among progressive voters, the Palestine exception no longer applies.

There is only one path forward. Although it will require a fierce intraparty brawl, Democrats — who claim to respect human equality and international law — must begin to align their policies on Israel and Palestine with these broader principles. In this new era, in which supporting Palestinian freedom has become central to what it means to be progressive, the Palestinian exception is not just immoral. It’s politically disastrous.

For a long time, Palestinians in Gaza and beyond have been paying for that exception with their lives. Now Americans are paying too. It may cost us our freedom.

Lara Friedman:
Roadmap for Trump Admin Israel policy 👇
>Greenlight settler terror
>Promote Gaza ethnic cleansing
>Endorse Israeli territorial expansion
>Sanction ICC
>Normalize settlements/annexation
>Destroy/sue UNRWA, destroy UNIFIL
>More weapons for Israel
>Punish recognition of Palestine

/SIKE

Video from Louise Wateridge's visit: Across northern #Gaza, there is no way of telling where the destruction starts or ends.

No matter from what direction you enter #Gaza City, homes, hospitals, schools, health clinics, mosques, apartments, restaurants - all completely flattened.

An entire society now a graveyard.

I hope Trump gives Biden a gift basket - it's one thing less to worry about when you don't need to budget for demolitions for that beachfront chalets (oh no, not the chalets). Just need to start the order for the foundation piling. What's that what Timothy Snyder said? Do not obey in advance? Defend institutions?
Should I add another "sike"?

Trump Wants to End Gaza War on Israel’s Terms

Brb Ctrl+F for "Jake Sullivan" or "Brett McGurk".
Like the Biden administration, which worked for a cease-fire in Gaza that never was, Trump wants the war there to end sooner rather than later. In a phone call ahead of the election, the president-elect told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to wrap up major military operations in Gaza before Inauguration Day. That is consistent with the Biden team’s efforts, though it is inconsistent with Israel’s timeline.

Unlike Biden, however, Trump and the people around him are unlikely to apply pressure on the Israelis to get there.

Hmmm...

Q: What will happen to the 500 incidents being investigated on what Israel has done in Gaza

Miller: I can’t give timetable on when we’ll reach conclusions but obligation to follow the law doesn’t stop when there’s a change in power

----
Six Malaysian peacekeepers injured in blast targeting convoy near Saida stadium, Lebanon, or: An Israeli military drone attack on the city of Sidon in southern Lebanon has claimed the lives of three local residents and injured three Lebanese soldiers as well as six Malaysian soldiers serving with the United Nations (UN).

The bulk of the following however came out before the US elections:

Summaries of events-
- Turmoil at the ICC as fears rise over Israel and the U.S. interference -
The delay in issuing ICC warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, followed by the replacement of the presiding judge, has raised serious concerns about the court's functioning and possible machinations behind the scenes.

- The Knesset is back and with it, a new wave of oppressive legislation targeting Palestinians

(Canada) The Israel Lobby Wants You Suspended, Fired Or In Prison -
A new ‘seven-point plan’ from B’nai Brith outlines a disturbing co-ordinated effort to punish advocacy for Palestine.

Belated newsy shares -
- Israel's Knesset Approves Bill to Block U.S. Consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem -
'In the previous term, we had to threaten to resign from the government' said one MK responsible for the bill, 'From today, there is no longer any reason to pressure the State of Israel; it is simply prohibited by law' (ungated)
The legislation passed on Tuesday amends a basic law – meaning one with semi-constitutional status. The change can be repealed by a simple majority, but it's not certain whether there would be a majority in the current Knesset, or in the future, to reverse the new provision and permit consulates serving the Palestinian public to operate in Jerusalem.

- (Australia) Women-led online campaign to sanction Israel launches as humanitarian crisis in the Middle East worsens

- Israel occupation forces ‘exhausted, lost 12 battalions’ in Gaza war, say media

- (personally a big one for me)South Africa’s legal team says ‘intent is clear’ in Israel’s Gaza genocide -
Lawyers submit hundreds of pages of evidence to meet Monday ICJ deadline to prove, on paper, that Israel is guilty of genocide in Gaza.
Monday (October 28) is the deadline for South Africa to submit a detailed memorial against Israel to the ICJ, lawyers and diplomats told Al Jazeera. Its legal submission aims to definitively establish that Israel’s military actions in Gaza amount to genocide.

Despite new evidence emerging daily, senior South African officials instructed the legal team to stick to what they had already collected to meet the approaching deadline.

The legal team is however confident that the hundreds of pages of evidence are more than enough to sustain their case.

“The problem we have is that we have too much evidence,” Ambassador Vusimuzi Madonsela, South Africa’s representative to The Hague, explained to Al Jazeera.

Zane Dangor, the director-general of South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation, said: “The legal team will always say we need more time, there’s more facts coming. But we have to say you have to stop now. You [have] got to focus on what you have.”

Initial application: 84 pages
This application: 500+ pages

- the full clips have been bad enough but even this cleaned up version is wtf:
Reservist eulogized for desire to take revenge against Gazans, setting home on fire to ‘boost morale’
During the recent funeral of an IDF reservist who was killed fighting in Lebanon, his loved ones eulogized him as someone who was determined to take revenge against Gazans, even women and children, and who allegedly set a home in the Strip on fire without authorization from his superiors in order to cheer up his fellow soldiers.

“You entered Gaza (after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught) to take revenge — as much as possible. [Against] women, children — everyone you saw. As much as possible. That’s what you wanted,” said Uriah Ben-Natan, the brother of 22-year-old Sgt. First Class (res.) Shuvael Ben-Natan, from the northern West Bank settlement of Rehelim.

Clips from the controversial eulogies have been picked up by left-wing media watchdog The Seventh Eye, which criticizes Israeli media outlets for mostly not including them in their coverage of Ben-Natan’s funeral in what it claims is an extension of an effort to hide or downplay alleged IDF war crimes in Gaza.
Ben-Natan was killed along with three others during a clash with Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon on Wednesday. Earlier in the war, though, he fought in Gaza as well.

“You were the happiest and biggest goofball in the platoon. We realized this for the first time when you set a house on fire without approval in order to boost morale,” said one of his fellow soldiers in a subsequent eulogy at the funeral.

Based on the date, may not make the cut in SA's filing.
posted by cendawanita at 8:25 PM on November 7 [7 favorites]

Ten Israeli soccer fans injured in Amsterdam by assailants chanting "Free Palestine" - According to Dutch media reports, the events in Amsterdam did not come out of the blue. On Wednesday, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration scheduled to take place near the stadium where Maccabi Tel Aviv played, and on Wednesday she told council members that authorities were aware of rising tensions over the war in Gaza. Apparently the Israeli government is chartering flights to rescue these people. After getting into fights with the locals after a football game. Fights that they apparently could not handle, even though they did tours in Gaza.

Forward has a more neutral account.

Sorry I'm just a bit speechless. When Americans can't even get their government to investigate the murders of their own citizens. Or rescue them from a place becoming an active war zone.

Anyway, the Daily Mail of all places, reported the actual context: Israeli football hooligans tear down Palestine flags in Amsterdam as taxi drivers 'fight back' in night of chaos ahead of Maccabi Tel Aviv's visit to Ajax. Anyway here's a clip of them chanting "Let the IDF win to fuck the Arabs".

Houthis shoot down an apparent US drone.

After his firing, Gallant tells hostage families that Netanyahu is needlessly keeping IDF in Gaza.

Apparently the majority of Jewish voters in the US are open to a partial arms embargo on Israel.
posted by toastyk at 10:55 PM on November 7 [11 favorites]

Just wanted to say thank you for the post(s) and comments. I try not to follow the 24/7 news cycle (because most of it is useless crap and the rest just too depressing) so it is very important for me to have a place where to follow this. I agree with someone earlier who said something along the lines that they don't comment because they don't know what to say anymore. I am one of those people, I read and appreciate but seldom comment – thank you everyone.
posted by fridgebuzz at 12:48 AM on November 8 [7 favorites]

Canada's Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia made a statement about her meeting with Justin Trudeau on Canadian Muslims and ongoing racism against Arabs and Muslims - Through a series of roundtables across Canada, members of Parliament and my Office heard clearly that exclusion and erasure that are being reported by our communities, including among youth, are in part due to a lack of federal acknowledgement of anti-Palestinian racism. I welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment on adopting a definition of anti-Palestinian racism to describe the bias and discrimination far too many Canadian Palestinians are experiencing.

Furthermore, I outlined how I have been working with my team to fulfill the mandate, including providing training for federal employees on Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism, as well as providing policy advice on key files. These have included guidance on Employment Equity, Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate, Online Harms legislation, special immigration measures to support Gazans and Sudanese fleeing war, and extensive public consultation and engagement to raise awareness on Islamophobia.

I learned about this because there is already what reads like a campaign of astro-turfing statements by Zionist orgs/people objecting to it: Current definitions classify basic expressions of Jewish identity and support for Israel—such as wearing an Israeli pin, opposing BDS, or disagreeing with the Nakba narrative—as racist. This concept has no basis in human rights law and risks undermining existing Canadian policy and the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
posted by toastyk at 8:50 AM on November 8 [5 favorites]

undermining....the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

The IHRA definition of antisemitism is bullshit that ought to be undermined because it only exists to make it impossible to criticise Israel.
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 9:10 AM on November 8 [6 favorites]

I regret to inform you that all the politicians are already making statements condemning what happened to the Israeli football fans as anti-Semitism, including Joe Biden, who has still not reached out to the family of murdered Turkish-American citizen Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi. Haven't seen him issue a statement about black people getting racist texts telling them to go pick cotton either.
posted by toastyk at 1:56 PM on November 8 [9 favorites]

...every accusation claiming that every accusation to the effect that every accusation that the b'nai brith canada tweet said 'Canada risks branding legitimate critiques of Palestinian political narratives as “racist” or “discriminatory.”' is a confession is a confession is a confession...
posted by busted_crayons at 4:51 PM on November 8 [3 favorites]

all the politicians are already making statements condemning what happened to the Israeli football fans as anti-Semitism

No mention of the fact that they were tearing down Palestinian flags and chanting "death to Arabs", of course; in reality some genocidal dickheads travelled to another country with, apparently, the express intent of starting shit, fucked around, and found out, and now want to cry about it because they got their asses handed to them.
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 7:55 PM on November 8 [11 favorites]

Younis Tirawi on Twitter (tweet has a video):

Israeli soldiers blow up homes in Gaza this morning, in revenge for the events in Amsterdam the two past days.

“We dedicate this explosion to all the fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv. We’ll get to all of you, you sons of **”

posted by adrienneleigh at 8:58 PM on November 8 [7 favorites]

But let's give kudos where it's due: faster at saving their citizens than the US; faster at providing aid than towards the Palestinians.
posted by cendawanita at 10:19 PM on November 8 [4 favorites]

the purpose of a system is what it does:

• U.N. Agency Aiding Millions of Palestinians Is in Jeopardy—and There's No Plan B - "The Biden administration has said it opposes the laws, but hasn't indicated willingness to take action against Israel, a close ally, to stop them. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said last week that the U.S. would engage with Israel and monitor the impact of any legal challenges."
• Nearly 70% of Gaza war dead women and children, UN rights office says - "Israel says it takes care to avoid harming civilians."

fwiw...
-Israel says it will re-open crossing into Gaza as pressure builds to get more aid in
-Trump tells Palestinian president he wants to end Gaza war
posted by kliuless at 4:20 AM on November 9 [5 favorites]

Just because i want to make sure everyone understands: Israeli forces committed war crimes as revenge for a football riot. That their people started.
posted by adrienneleigh at 5:45 PM on November 9 [12 favorites]

Zeteo has a run-down of the Western mainstream media re-write of what happened in Amsterdam.

Israel strike kills 20 people north of Beirut, health ministry says (NYT, no ungated link yet)

Qatar suspends mediation efforts on Gaza and the Hamas office may have to leave - this is how AP/Reuters et al are reporting it, but Al-Jazeera says: However, al-Ansari said that reports regarding the Hamas political office in Doha were inaccurate, “stating that the main goal of the office in Qatar is to be a channel of communication between the concerned parties”.

A senior Hamas official said they were aware of Qatar’s decision to suspend mediation efforts, “but no one told us to leave”.

Man, it would be great if I could actually get a straightforward report from a Western mainstream media source without having to track down what actually happened or was said, about anything, not just this genocide. This year-long exercise in tracking down information has been great at teaching me how disinformation actually works in America.
posted by toastyk at 6:57 AM on November 10 [11 favorites]

Tiffany Trump's Lebanese-American father-in-law Massad Boulos met Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas.

Trump is eyeing Iran hawk Brian Hook as first foreign policy pick.

Netanyahu admitted to the pager attack.
posted by toastyk at 8:33 PM on November 10 [6 favorites]

Man, it would be great if I could actually get a straightforward report from a Western mainstream media source without having to track down what actually happened or was said, about anything, not just this genocide.

Word. And as follow-up:
Qatar denies withdrawing from Gaza cease-fire mediation -
Foreign Ministry spokesman says efforts stalled temporarily

Tariq Kenney-Shawa: As always, it’s important to consider why these “reports” always originate from Israeli officials/journalists before being proven inaccurate or entirely false. It’s part of Israel’s strategy to paint Hamas as the sole obstacle to a ceasefire and absolve Israel/Netanyahu.

We’ve seen reports like these of Qatar withdrawing from its mediation role or booting Hamas several times before. Debunked each time. Yet credulous or complicit journalists continue to parrot out Israeli-sourced“scoops” and “reports” with little further investigation.

Probably related but in a tangential way for now (my country's Prime Minister has been travelling so much to the various related countries before this event that even my mother commented because of the news coverage which was just fairly anodyne state news stuff): Saudi-hosted summit to discuss Gaza, Lebanon

Speaking of my country: From Gaza to Malaysia: a Taiwanese surgeon recounts the horrors of Israel’s war -
Wu Yi Chu wasn’t prepared for the profound suffering he witnessed while working in Gaza. But he’s still preparing to return
(Coverage of an event organized by Medecins Sans Frontières)

In Canada, fairly big news: JNF loses court appeal- Canada’s most iconic Zionist charity has days to disband

Back in Palestine:
The Israeli Army Is Allowing Gangs in Gaza to Loot Aid Trucks and Extort Protection Fees From Drivers (ungated)
This reads like the reasoning of a teenager having a tantrum: Armed clans in the Rafah area are blocking trucks entering Gaza from Israel, leading some organizations to avoid sending desperately needed humanitarian aid. These incidents are occurring in an area under full IDF control, with the army refraining from action due to concerns that harm to aid workers could provoke international criticism

No never mind, back to being a clown regime: The sources say the looting of the convoys reflects the complete anarchy that prevails in Gaza due to the lack of any functioning civilian government. In several cases, they add, the last remnants of the local police forces tried to take action against the looters, but were attacked by Israeli troops, who view them as part of Hamas.

The aid groups say there is no solution that would enable aid to reach the residents without some police force, whether Palestinian or international, being stationed in Gaza. But both the Israeli government and the IDF object to this. The Israeli government wants the army to take responsibility for aid distribution, but the defense establishment opposes this idea as well.

The problem of armed gangs has gotten worse since the IDF took control of Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt in May and Egypt shut down the crossing in response. Until then, Rafah was the main conduit for bringing goods into Gaza. Since then, most aid has entered through Kerem Shalom, but armed gangs control the area on the Gazan side.

Not Gaza (and this is not even a unique event at this point in the last year, pogroms have been rife): Armed Israeli settlers torch Palestinian homes, cars and olive trees across West Bank

That reminds me, let's check back on the pogrom that wasn't:
The Media Can’t Figure Out Why Some Racist Israeli Soccer Hooligans Were Beaten Up

Dutch Jews grapple with ‘weaponization’ of their fear following attack on Israelis -
Many in the country’s small Jewish community say the incident was stripped of context, even as they worry about their own safety

Larger context (earlier piece in fact): FIFA has multiple obvious grounds to suspend the Israeli Football Association

Dropsite: A Dutch journalist is demanding an apology and removal of her footage, used by @BILD, @CNN, @BBCWorld, @Guardian, and @nytimes in their reporting on the post-match clash between Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters and Amsterdam locals. She accuses them of misusing her footage and insists the truth be stated: “Maccabi supporters attacked Amsterdam citizens in front of Central Station after the game.”

“Journalism is about finding truth. It’s time to show some respect to reality. That’s your job,” she adds.

There's also an additional longer piece that's shared by the journalist herself:
Confirmation of my story / footage thanks to Bender! Very happy with this man. Watch the video.

youtu.be/ySHIOYyJ95A

Maccabi supporters were agressive and attacked the Amsterdam citizens in front of Central Station.

I will sue you @EYakoby if you don’t delete your post of my footage.


And among places they've caused damages at (including tagging the Star of David, the way we've been seeing throughout Palestine): Maccabi Tel Aviv fans vandalized homes in Amsterdam with graffiti, and of all places, they chose to do it in Buitenveldert, the modern Jewish Quarter of the city!

Last one, another Haaretz piece (ungated): Correspondence Proves Far-right, Jewish Supremacist Leader Gopstein Advises Israel's National Security Minister Ben-Gvir -
Targeted assassinations, blockading whole East Jerusalem neighborhoods, and mass arrest campaigns are just some of the ideas convicted criminal Benzi Gopstein proposed to Israel's national security minister. 'Demolishing a house is nothing,' said the Kahanist leader who is sanctioned by the Biden administration. 'You can't wait, demand to send in the army'

I'm taking a breather a bit because I'm getting twt-only breaking news stuff about more territories being back to formally occupied with administrative infra set up etc
posted by cendawanita at 8:15 AM on November 11 [9 favorites]

Oh!!! I missed this one, which just shows satire is dead: Did a former UNRWA teacher help organize the Amsterdam pogrom?
posted by cendawanita at 8:30 AM on November 11 [4 favorites]

Quick updates (diplomatic/political):

Saudi Arabia’s MBS demands immediate end to Israel’s war in Gaza, Lebanon
Saudi crown prince condemns ‘massacre’ committed against Palestinian and Lebanese people at the Arab-Islamic summit.

(in Arabic) Saudi Crown Prince receives call from Iranian President
Pezeshkian praised Saudi Arabia's initiative to call for an Arab-Islamic follow-up summit

//Related to my remark about the 'battle' of the Trump sons-in-law - PA/Abu Mazen is taking a lot of meetings with the Lebanese dad-in-law apparently//

Netanyahu appoints hardline backer of settlements as Israeli envoy to US -
Yechiel Leiter, American-born rightwinger, has called for ultimate Israeli ‘sovereignty’ over West Bank territories

Israel’s Smotrich orders prep work for annexation of occupied West Bank
posted by cendawanita at 5:36 PM on November 11 [3 favorites]

I swear there's a huge overlap between people who want "peace" in Ukraine by forcing Zalinski to surrender and people who want "peace" in Israel by wiping out all the Palestinians.
posted by sotonohito at 6:41 PM on November 11 [5 favorites]

Today's to-do for Americans: call your reps to oppose H.R. 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax
Penalties on American Hostages Act (PDF), which can take away funding from any non-profits if a high enough official deems it to be supporting terrorism. It is being voted on today. From the letter opposing it: The potential for abuse under H.R. 6408 is immense as the executive branch would be handed a tool it could use to curb free speech, censor nonprofit media outlets, target political opponents, and punish disfavored groups across the political spectrum. Moreover, the addition of this authority to the tax code would allow the IRS to explicitly target and harass domestic nonprofits using its investigative authority. It is also not hard to imagine a future administration using this power in far broader circumstances that have nothing to do with the hostilities in Gaza.6
And as more recent congressional oversight efforts make clear, these efforts are part of concerted attack on civil society that is targeted at more than just groups involved in the campus protests regarding Gaza.
posted by toastyk at 7:10 AM on November 12 [6 favorites]

In other news:

Israel has missed the US deadline to boost Gaza aid - TBD if Biden actually does anything about this. But unlikely.

Israel publishes footage of Hamas torturing Palestinian detainees in Gaza - Clips show people bound, beaten, their limbs forced into unnatural positions; IDF says video shows terror group’s ‘brutal method’ of repressing dissent.

Haaretz - Maybe Israel is committing genocide after all? (ungated)

Israel pounds Beirut suburbs with heavy daytime airstrikes.

Arab, Muslim leaders call for immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon at Saudi summit - Trump had said he would prioritize expanding the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and some Arab states during his first term as US president. Once back in office, the president-elect is expected to revive a plan for a Saudi-Israel peace deal, including a strengthened defense agreement with Riyadh in exchange for the resumption of diplomacy with Tel Aviv. Saudi officials, however, have said a deal is “off the table” until there is “a resolution to Palestinian statehood.” One expert told Breaking Defense that discussions of Israeli normalization are “toxic” in the Arab world, adding that Riyadh would be taking a significant risk by signing a deal at a time when “images of death and destruction in Palestine are livestreaming 24/7.”
posted by toastyk at 8:47 AM on November 12 [7 favorites]

the images in that link posted above (thank you toastyk), Al Jazeera coverage of the Israeli assaults in Lebanon. I'm not seeing this destruction in my domestic Canadian coverage. How is this commensurate with the rocket attacks from Hezbollah?

anecdata, but speaking with Druze friends they really sound siloed away ("we don't let that stuff happen in the mountains"). I can't imagine how these attacks in Lebanon can read as anything but _attacks against Lebanon_ but perhaps a combination of the sectarian divisions and the fact that I'm speaking with someone who has lived in Canada for decades has something to do with it? Certainly when I speak with the wife of a Muslim barber I used to frequent, she has all kinds of information about how this is impacting extended family in the country.
posted by ginger.beef at 9:56 AM on November 12 [2 favorites]

Israel has missed the US deadline to boost Gaza aid - TBD if Biden actually does anything about this. But unlikely.

Dropsite News: (with video; the following is all directly from their twt)

The State Department says it does not know how many trucks have entered Gaza over the past 30 days, despite demanding that Israel allow 350 trucks daily or face policy consequences. And in a notable shift, the spokesman characterized the demands in the letter as simply “suggestions for Israel to take.”

BBC’s @tombateman pressed further, reporting that the UN says only 37 trucks have entered each day—about one-tenth of what was requested: “Have the Israelis ended the isolation in the north?”

Patel: “They have taken steps to restore deliveries in the north in areas surrounding Jabalia..”

Bateman (interjecting): “You said surrounding Jabalia. But not in Jabalia… the besieged area where the UN says 100,000 people are trapped. There’s been no food, no water, there’s been daily and repeated denials of humanitarian convoys…”

Patel: “I will not go down a rabbit hole of a specific tit-for-tat on each item...”

Bateman: “As far as I can see from what you’ve said today, absolutely nothing that you’ve asked for is actually happening.”
-----
CNN Reporter Jennifer Hansler: "Is this not inconsistent with U.S. law that you had to send this letter and lay out this timeline because they had withheld so much aid up to this point?"

Vedant Patel: "Jenny, the point of this letter was to raise some areas of concern and to lay out some steps in which we thought that addressing some of these areas would lead to steps in the right direction when it comes to humanitarian assistance. We have seen some steps being taken."

-------

(A reply: The Blinken-Austin letter didn't say Israel “must implement” the “measures”—just that they should “demonstrate” a “commitment to” doing so.

We warned at the time that they seemed to be playing word games.)
posted by cendawanita at 4:59 PM on November 12 [7 favorites]

Then there's this dumb shit playing out in Canada

Remembrance Day in Canada can only be about those brave white boys who fought in the wars we can all be proud of.
posted by ginger.beef at 5:39 PM on November 12 [3 favorites]

I seriously can never forgive the extent to which European antisemitism is both alive and has led us to this
posted by cendawanita at 5:59 PM on November 12 [3 favorites]

@hasanabi: 52 pro israel dumbass dems voted in favor of stripping the nonprofit status of ANY charitable organization that the trump treasury declares a terrorist org without any evidence necessary. luckily it failed.
Screenshot of the names. Concerning to think what would happen otherwise.
posted by cendawanita at 7:33 PM on November 12 [6 favorites]

With video:
The gaslighting from this admin is unreal, you can see the frustration of reporters.

Matt Lee: Why did you bother to put in 350 trucks a day if it doesn’t matter

Patel: I’m not gonna speak to—

Lee: We didn’t give the Israelis 30 days, you guys did, and now those 30 days are up and all the metrics you put out don’t matter

Patel: I never said they don’t matter

@humeyra_pamuk: You said ‘rabbit hole’

Patel: I don’t want to take up time getting into truck numbers

Lee: Then why did you put them in the letter
posted by cendawanita at 7:45 PM on November 12 [13 favorites]

We were supposed to vote for that
posted by ginger.beef at 8:21 PM on November 12 [5 favorites]

The gaslighting from this admin is unreal, you can see the frustration of reporters.

The verbal gymnastics the guy is doing just to avoid having to give a straight answer to any question (because a straight answer would incriminate Israel or be provably false) says everything you need to know about how righteous and justifiable this war is.
posted by Dysk at 12:39 AM on November 13 [2 favorites]

Israel has missed the US deadline to boost Gaza aid - TBD if Biden actually does anything about this.

US says Israel hasn't breached its law against blocking aid in Gaza [BBC]

"A group of eight humanitarian aid agencies said conditions had actually deteriorated since the letter was sent.

But the US reaction on Tuesday indicates that Washington will continue to supply weapons to its ally, despite growing warnings from aid groups about civilians being killed and displaced by Israel’s assault on the north."
posted by Dysk at 1:50 AM on November 13 [4 favorites]

Dropsite: As Infested Flour Becomes a Staple, State Dept “Still Assessing” Israel’s Aid Restrictions to Gaza

This is the most difficult period I have endured since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began last year. Everyone is so hungry.

Over the past week, my family and I have resorted to eating canned pet food mixed with poor-quality rice that feels like chewing plastic. We live in Deir al-Balah, and like everywhere else in Gaza, there is nothing to buy in the markets. We typically eat one meal a day, usually some canned food along with olive oil and za’atar. To bake bread, we have to use bug-infested flour. Some days, when we are unable to find anything else, we are forced to pay absurd prices for vegetables that are rotten. I have severe stomach pains. I would rather fast than eat this.

posted by Noisy Pink Bubbles at 1:52 AM on November 13 [5 favorites]

ICYMI: Biden hosts Israeli President Herzog at White House
Biden reiterated that the US "commitment to Israel is ironclad" and that "first and foremost, we have to get the hostages back home" from Gaza.

My belated share (mainly because this scandal died in the water in western media; probably because they can't blame Dutch taxi drivers for antisemitism) is timely after all:
Report: Probe into doctored PM’s office protocols centers on signs of Hamas attack -
Senior official allegedly ordered clerk to adjust transcripts, ostensibly to create impression premier was less aware of indications of a potential assault

Amid the ongoing probe into allegations that senior officials in the Prime Minister’s Office sought to alter protocols from security meetings, a new report says at least some of the ostensible changes had to do with how much knowledge the premier had of the potential for a Hamas attack immediately before the October 7, 2023, massacre took place.
The allegation that senior officials tried to blackmail an IDF officer in the PMO to get him to change records of meetings is one of several scandals swirling around the PMO in recent weeks.

(...) Citing officials familiar with the details, Ynet reported Monday that law enforcement is checking whether senior officials in the PMO attempted to alter protocols to create the impression that the premier was less informed on the matter of the SIM cards than he actually was.

The report says Col. “Shin,” an IDF officer at the PMO identified only by his initial, received an update hours before the attack about Hamas units in both northern and southern Gaza activating SIM cards. It says investigators suspect the colonel was later blackmailed by a top official — who supposedly possessed a “sensitive” video of the officer — to later change protocols related to the SIM cards.

Separately, according to Ynet, months after October 7, Avi Gil, who was Netanyahu’s military secretary at the time, was surprised to find during a review of transcripts and logs from that night that key details had been altered.

When Gil questioned the clerk who had prepared the record about the incident, she explained that she had made the changes on the orders of a senior official in the bureau. She added that she couldn’t refuse his instructions for fear of the consequences.

I don't think Biden cares for the hostages either. Don't mind me - I'm just a person who observed that it's like Biden wanted Harris to lose.

(If you have twt, this nested thread of Hebrew and Israeli reports might be of interest)

+972: The not-so-secret history of Netanyahu’s support for Hamas -
From sabotaging Oslo to funneling Qatari cash into Gaza, Bibi has spent his career bolstering Hamas to help perpetuate the conflict. Even after Oct. 7, argues historian Adam Raz, he's still advancing the same strategy.

Apologies if that piece sounds like a non surprise to any, but it just came out and revolves around Raz's just published book that is making the case.
----
//In other countries//

Japan: 7-Eleven operator closes all Israel stores amid tensions.
The retailer is the first known Japanese company to conduct a large-scale closure of stores or withdraw from Israel since the latest Israel-Hamas conflict erupted in October last year, according to credit research company Teikoku Databank Ltd.

Australia amends or ends 16 defence export permits to Israel amid review -
Deputy secretary of defence told Senate estimates onset of violence can mean a ‘much tougher test’

Canada: UPDATED: National Post admits to spreading disinformation in column by Former Canadian Ambassador to Israel, issues correction
Initially, the opinion piece by Vivian Bercovici falsely claimed that Sinwar's body was found with an UNRWA identity card, a baseless assertion without credible evidence. This defamatory accusation aimed to malign the UN's relief agency and create misleading associations between humanitarian aid organizations and Hamas. The correction was prompted by a combination of CJPME's alert, complaints by Media Responders, and public call-outs. The result reinforces the value that grassroots flak has in challenging unfair media narratives and false claims about Palestinians.

Not only did the National Post correct the error, it has now added an editorial note:

This column has been updated to remove the incorrect claim that the body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was not found with an UNRWA identity card.

However, CJPME did not initially notice that the editor's note itself, as seen above, introduced an error, as it suggests Sinwar was "not" found with an UNRWA identity card. In a follow-up with National Post's Editor-in-Chief, CJPME forced another update to resolve the issue. The editor's note now reads:

Editor’s note: This column has been updated to remove the incorrect claim that the body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was found with an UNRWA identity card.

(Reminds me that I didn't share Hebrew reports that basically takes as a given that they have a right to Sinwar's body, and was reporting the results of the autopsy showed that he hadn't ate for about three days - mainly because I saw telegram screenshots. I thought he was living large in the tunnels? Anyway.)

Still Canada: Meet The Canadians Fighting In Israel’s War On Gaza -
The Maple has identified 11 Canadians that have fought as part of the Israeli army since Oct. 7, 2023.

The Netherlands (in Dutch): Amsterdam considered ban on Ajax-Maccabi after incidents with fans and taxi drivers - which basically had to objectively report that the Maccabi hooligans had been inciting violence for a couple of days before the match, hence why there were already arrests. Regardless the piece didn't let facts get in the way of feelings.

Swiss foreign ministry memo on UNRWA funding raises alarm
Switzerland could be prosecuted for complicity, even though proceedings have already been opened against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), according to the memo.

This assessment by the foreign ministry, which Swiss public television RTSExternal link was able to consult, has not been put forward for discussion. It is a key element in the debate on the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) funding that is currently underway in Swiss Parliament.

IDK, but ok, sure: Ex-Trump aides warn Israeli ministers not to assume he’ll back annexation in 2nd term -
Cabinet members told support for controversial move could hamper other US foreign policy goals, would only happen as part of peace plan like the one in 2020 that far-right opposed
posted by cendawanita at 2:25 AM on November 13 [7 favorites]

BTW, Biden's contempt isn't just for the Arabs - this is how he responded to an Israeli journalist asking if he thinks he can get a hostage deal before he's out of office: “Do you think you can keep from getting hit in the head by that camera behind you?” the president told Neria Kraus, a correspondent for Israel’s Channel 13 News, apparently referring to the equipment of the crew recording the meeting. He immediately launched into a different topic after the remark.

AOC confirms that the activism and phone calls persuaded members to vote no on H.R. 9495 and suggests that you call your members to thank them for their votes.

Side note: if, like many of us, you are currently enjoying BlueSky, please do not flag any Palestinian accounts as spam, especially if they are asking for money. They are begging for money to stay alive in a genocide. One power user Molly Shah has been in touch with many of them and a lot of them are getting their accounts flagged and deleted without explanation.

Trump named Mike Huckabee as his ambassador to Israel, a Christian Zionist and a guy who once said "there's really no such thing as a Palestinian".

Zeteo has an exclusive interview with the Dutch photographer whose video clip was misused in Western mainstream media to claim that Arabs were enacting a pogrom on Jews. In an exclusive interview, de Graaf tells Mehdi that outlets like CNN, BBC World News, and the New York Times “told the opposite of what happened in that footage.” She adds that they erased the responsibility of the Maccabi fans behind the attacks because “the truth is inconvenient.”

Remember I said it's a true pain to track down the truth in Western mainstream media?

Anyway, further fallout from this football riot:

The Europa League match between Turkey’s Besiktas and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv, scheduled for Nov. 28, has been moved to a a neutral venue in Hungary, UEFA announced on Monday.

New arrests made in Amsterdam - Schoof promised that the Netherlands would focus on bringing perpetrators of Thursday's violence to justice.

"The images and reports for Amsterdam and what we've seen this weekend of antisemitic attacks against Israelis and Jews are nothing short of shocking and reprehensible," he told journalists.

He also commented on reports that Maccabi supporters had attacked a taxi and burnt a Palestinian flag in Amsterdam, as well as chanting anti-Arab slogans.

"We are well aware of what happened earlier with Maccabi supporters but we think that's of a different category and we condemn any violence as well, but that is no excuse whatsoever for what happened later on that night in the attacks on Jews in Amsterdam," he said.

The broader ban on pro-Palestinian protests has angered activists.

For the game in Paris, security is heightened and Palestinian flags have been banned.
posted by toastyk at 6:52 AM on November 13 [4 favorites]

The gaslighting from this admin is unreal, you can see the frustration of reporters.

we need the hostages returned asap. specifically the families of biden admin spokespeople who are presumably being held at gunpoint somewhere in order to coerce that sort of excruciating public self-debasement from said admin spokespeople. because i can't imagine anyone being willing to do that to themself for any lesser reason.
posted by busted_crayons at 11:00 AM on November 13 [4 favorites]

UK Prime Minister denies genocide and fails to offer his own definition

Tangential: I loathe that man and am perpetually baffled at what CLPs thought they would get when they backed a knight.
posted by Kitten as a cat at 4:48 PM on November 13 [4 favorites]

GOOD THING THEY TURFED THE ANTISEMITIC CORBYN BUT I REPEAT MYSELF

Edit: does anyone want to relitigate that shameful era in England's Labour Party? Wtf happened if it wasn't a political hit
posted by ginger.beef at 9:29 PM on November 13 [6 favorites]

It's the British Labour Party, not England's. And what happened was a hostile press which Corbyn and his team were utterly unprepared to handle.
posted by Dysk at 11:57 PM on November 13 [3 favorites]

Mehdi Hassan straight up asked Sen Van Hollen if SecDef Austin and Blinken were lying when they wrote that leaked (I really have to emphasize this, it was a high-profile "leak" and reporting never updated to show confirmation or announcement, but everyone from then on took it as de facto statement) and Van Hollen basically in the end said, that in light of everything, it looked like a political stunt. Around min 11:30.
posted by cendawanita at 2:08 AM on November 14 [4 favorites]

It has been clear for many years what happened to Jeremy Corbyn in 2019. Labour leaders turned on him for his support for Palestine. It was evidently unjustified to many of us at the time even if we didn't know all the details yet.
posted by ftrtts at 2:20 AM on November 14 [6 favorites]

it may be clear what happened to Jeremy Corbyn in certain bubbles, but I refute that it is clear to the populations of the so-called western democracies

antisemite and pedophile remain among the most expedient shortcuts to ruining a person's political career
posted by ginger.beef at 7:58 AM on November 14 [3 favorites]

speaking of the UK, here's the link to the palestine solidarity campaign's complaint to ofcom about sky news's little "what? comrade yezhov was never in the picture!" moment re: the israeli football hooligan thing, in case anyone would like to complain about that.
posted by busted_crayons at 10:28 AM on November 14 [4 favorites]

Israel’s warfare methods in Gaza ‘consistent with genocide’: UN committee -
Report says Israel ‘using starvation as a method of war and inflicting collective punishment on the Palestinian population’.
In a report published on Thursday, the UN Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices accused the country of “using starvation as a method of war”, resulting in “mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions” for Palestinians.

“Since the beginning of the war, Israeli officials have publicly supported policies that strip Palestinians of the very necessities required to sustain life – food, water, and fuel,” it said.

“These statements along with the systematic and unlawful interference of humanitarian aid make clear Israel’s intent to instrumentalise life-saving supplies for political and military gains.”

(...) It covers the first nine months of Israel’s war in Gaza, which followed the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel in October 2023 in which an estimated 1,139 people were killed and more than 200 taken captive.

The report also pointed out that despite repeated UN appeals as well as binding orders from the International Court of Justice and UN Security Council Resolutions, Israel continued to inflict “collective punishment” on the Palestinian population.
--
The view from Gaza: What the US decision not to punish Israel looks like -
The US decision not to follow through on its past warning to Israel carries fatal consequences for many trapped in Gaza.
--
Ynet: Saudi-Iranian geopolitical romance blossoms as Israel is cast aside -
Saudi Arabia and Iran, under the watchful mediation of China, are engaged in rebuilding relations marked by joint military exercises and economic cooperation, which strategically positions Saudi Arabia as a humanitarian conduit for Iran amid American sanctions; Normalization with Israel is not on the menu, at least for now
--
Israel accused of crimes against humanity over forced displacement in Gaza -
Human Rights Watch says it has evidence that suggests ‘the war crime of forcible transfer’ of civilians
Calling for Israel’s policy of forced displacement to be investigated by the international criminal court, Human Rights Watch also urged targeted sanctions against Israel including the cessation of arms sales.

The report by the prominent international rights group, titled ‘Hopeless, Starving, and Besieged’: Israel’s Forced Displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, takes aim at one of Israel’s most controversial policies: the use of evacuation orders, which have driven mass displacement inside Gaza, with many people being displaced on multiple occasions.

That has led to the displacement of more than 90% of the population – 1.9 million Palestinians – and the widespread destruction of much of Gaza over the last 13 months.

The HRW report is in stark contrast to the assessment by the US state department earlier this week that Israel had not breached American laws on blocking aid supplies after the lapse of a 30-day deadline it gave Israel to boost humanitarian aid access in Gaza or risk having some military assistance cut off.

(...) Under international law, Israel – as the occupying power in Gaza – is under a legal obligation to facilitate the return of displaced persons to their homes in areas where hostilities have ceased.

Instead, the reports say, Israel has “rendered large areas of Gaza uninhabitable” by carrying out demolitions, intentionally destroying or severely damaging civilian infrastructure, including schools and religious and cultural institutions, including after hostilities had largely ceased in an area.

HRW added that the permanent displacement of civilians to create military buffer zones within the Gaza Strip would also amount to ethnic cleansing.

According to a report in the leftwing Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Israeli forces in Gaza are clearing large areas with the apparent intention to remain inside the territory until at least the end of 2025.

The newspaper reported that a “combat graph for 2025” distributed in recent weeks to Israeli soldiers and commanders in Gaza describes “exposing large areas” in the coastal strip: destroying existing buildings and infrastructure in addition to the construction of roads and preparations for building more permanent military facilities.

Nadia Hardman, refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “The Israeli government cannot claim to be keeping Palestinians safe when it kills them along escape routes, bombs so-called safe zones, and cuts off food, water, and sanitation.

“Israel has blatantly violated its obligation to ensure Palestinians can return home, razing virtually everything in large areas.”
--
Entire generation in Gaza would lose education if UNRWA collapses, UN says -
UNRWA chief warns new Israeli law threatens education for 660,000 Gaza students and risks extremism and marginalisation.
--
IDF Gearing Up to Remain in Gaza Until End of 2025, at Least. This Is What It Looks Like -
The images are the same in several parts of the Gaza Strip: the Israeli Army is widening roads, building substantial outposts and installing long-term infrastructure – including on roads that used to lead to the Israeli settlements. According to one officer serving in Gaza: 'The IDF won't withdraw before 2026' (ungated)
--
101 Hostages, 404 Days in Captivity | Israeli Hostage's Father: 'We're Second-class Citizens in a Fascist Country' -
Yuval Or, whose son was murdered on October 7 and whose body remains in Gaza, says he wasn't surprised when he was informed in May that his son was dead: Netanyahu, 'heartless as he is, wouldn't bring back any additional hostages, because he's interested in war. He understood that a war would keep him in power' (ungated)
--
Israel's Army Investigates if It Breached International Law by Killing Hundreds of Gazans -
Since the start of the operation in the northern Gaza Strip, dozens of deaths from IDF fire have been reported almost every day. Haaretz learned that at least 16 attacks will be investigated, with the aim of fending off demands by international authorities to investigate soldiers or officers suspected of committing war crimes (ungated)
--
Israeli drones shooting children in Gaza deliberately 'day after day', UK surgeon tells MPs -
Nizam Mamode, a retired NHS doctor who recently returned after working at Nasser Hospital, said he had 'never seen anything on this scale ever'
--
Israeli minister says Palestinians should have no voting or land rights -
Settlement minister Orit Strock says only Jewish people should have national rights
--
Don't forget Lebanon: 'Nowhere is safe': Concerns grow as Israel strikes new areas of Lebanon

---Hmmm--
Turkey severs all relations with Israel, says Erdogan -
Turkish president says he will not 'continue or develop relations' with Israel in future

Australia backs UN resolution recognising ‘permanent sovereignty’ of Palestinians in major departure -
Vote cast with 158 other countries to recognise ‘permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory’

(Reuters) Exclusive: Ben & Jerry's says parent Unilever silenced it over Gaza stance
Ice cream brand Ben & Jerry's said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that parent company Unilever has silenced its attempts to express support for Palestinian refugees and threatened to dismantle its board and sue its members over the issue.

The lawsuit is the latest sign of the long-simmering tensions between Ben & Jerry's and consumer products maker Unilever. A rift erupted between the two in 2021 after Ben & Jerry's said it would stop selling its products in the Israeli-occupied West Bank because it was inconsistent with its values, a move that led some investors to divest Unilever shares.

The ice cream maker then sued Unilever for selling its business in Israel to its licensee there, which allowed marketing in the West Bank and Israel to continue. That lawsuit was settled in 2022.

In its new lawsuit, Ben & Jerry's says that Unilever has breached the terms of the 2022 settlement, which has remained confidential. As part of the agreement, however, Unilever is required to "respect and acknowledge the Ben & Jerry's independent board's primary responsibility over Ben & Jerry's social mission," according to the lawsuit
posted by cendawanita at 9:30 PM on November 14 [7 favorites]

Also, can someone take over the football beat? Hooligans be beating up ppl in France now.
posted by cendawanita at 9:44 PM on November 14 [2 favorites]

I got you:

Arab media: Israeli hooligans assault French fans at football game. Al Mayadeen's correspondent in France reported that Israeli fans were the first to assault the rival fans, confirming that Israeli Mossad agents were present among supporters.

The clash happened in the French city of Saint-Denis during the fifth round of the UEFA Nations League.

CNN: Fans scuffle despite heavy security presence at France-Israel soccer match. French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said he was expecting 12,000-13,000 fans total for the match, one of the lowest turnouts ever at the 80,000-capacity Stade de France, the centerpiece of Paris’ 2024 Olympic Games.

On Sunday, Israel specifically warned its citizens against attending the match over fears for their safety. Even so, officials were determined for the game to go ahead.

Protests erupt in Paris over pro-Israel gala organized by far-right figures - Protests erupted in Paris on Wednesday against a controversial gala organized by far-right figures in support of Israel. The event, intended to raise funds for the Israeli military, included Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich among its invited guests.

The demonstrations came on the eve of a high-stakes soccer match at France’s national stadium against the Israeli national team, overshadowed by tensions around the wars in the Middle East. Authorities in Paris announced that more than 4,000 police officers and 1,600 stadium staff will be deployed for the game. (Anyone more knowledgeable know why they need to raise funds for the Israeli military? Seems strange to me.)

US people: I don't remember where I saw it but I think HR 9495 is being put back up for a vote again next week. (Sorry I didn't bookmark it.)

Another thing to bug your rep about is the PRESS Act which would protect journalists from having to reveal their sources except for national security reasons. It's got bipartisan support from Sen Ron Wyden and Lindsay Graham, so maybe even the Republicans are movable on it.

Sen Elizabeth Warren joins Bernie Sanders in endorsing a joint resolution of disapproval - For the first time on the issue, Warren threw her weight behind a joint resolution of disapproval, a legislative tool that enables Congress to overturn actions taken by the executive branch. Such a resolution must pass both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

She added: “The failure by the Biden administration to follow US law and to suspend arms shipments is a grave mistake that undermines American credibility worldwide. If this administration will not act, Congress must step up to enforce US law and hold the Netanyahu government accountable through a joint resolution of disapproval.”

UNESCO calls for emergency session to protect Lebanese heritage sites.

BlueSky starter packs:

Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) contributors, editors, and comrades

Middle East News & Commentary

Middle East News & Commentary Part 2

Palestinians
posted by toastyk at 10:33 PM on November 14 [7 favorites]

Ah well, if I can stick on Twitter just to catch news I guess I'll set up a Bs as well...
posted by cendawanita at 12:58 AM on November 15

Most news is still faster and more available on X/Telegram etc, but there's that whole AI Grok thing going into effect today I think.

Anyway, nice of Times magazine to join us and get a bit of a clue: Does Israel Plan to Occupy North Gaza? (The answer is yes. Next q.)

Top Iranian official vows support for Lebanon on Israel-Hezbollah as US pushes for ceasefire.

I don't remember if I posted this but LATimes owner Patrick Soon-Shiong cited Gaza as one of the reasons he decided not to endorse Harris or Trump in an internal email but I'm still calling BS as he hasn't done anything about their journalists being banned from reporting on Gaza.

According to JNS, "Free Palestine" is now a pogrom slogan.

281 detained at pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protest for defying Amsterdam ban.

From the Al-Jazeera live-blog -

At least 28 Palestinians are killed and 120 injured across Gaza in the past 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry.

Foreign ministers of the European Union will discuss proposals to ban imports from illegal Israeli settlements and suspend political dialogue with Israel.

The bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced he is proposing the measures because of the many violations of international law committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief condemned the Israeli killing of 15 Lebanese paramedics in Baalbek.

“Attacks on healthcare workers and facilities are a grave violation of international humanitarian law. The protection of medical personnel in conflict zones is non-negotiable,” Josep Borrell said.
posted by toastyk at 7:15 AM on November 15 [7 favorites]

Anyway, call your reps, here's the story about GOP ramming through H.R. 9495 next week.
posted by toastyk at 7:40 AM on November 15 [5 favorites]

LATimes alum Matt Pearce confirms my assessment that Patrick Soon-Shiong was bullshitting (the substack has a lot of links): If you own large newspaper and have strong opinions about Israel’s war in Gaza, and those opinions about Gaza directly affect how you influence the newspaper’s engagement with politics and the public during an election, then you should probably print your opinion about Gaza in the newspaper you own instead of publicly dumping on your employees and claiming you’d asked them to do some other nonsense that you hadn’t actually asked them to do, and then lying to reporters about your opinions on Gaza not having influenced your political decisionmaking while publicly scolding your daughter for telling the New York Times hey my dad did this because of Gaza, which you followed by writing an internal email to your chief operating officer and executive editor to more or less elaborate at length that hey I did this because of Gaza (feelings which themselves have already gotten watered down in the only-sort-of-coming-clean interview with CNN).
posted by toastyk at 10:22 AM on November 15 [2 favorites]

Twitch changes its hateful content policy to include "Zionist" as a potential slur - what the article leaves out is that this policy is based on the community of the controversial streamer Destiny launching a campaign against leftist streamer Hasan Piker, who has been outspoken about the genocide, which he details in this video.

In Edmonton, this headline: 'If you're Jewish, you never feel safe': Community leader ponders leaving Edmonton due to anti-Semitism - does not cover that the community leader in question accused a Middle Eastern family gathering of being a pro-Palestine protest, and he felt unsafe because of the consequences of his mistake - He was out for a walk with his wife and their dog one weekend morning when they saw a loud group of Middle Eastern people chanting and banging drums in the driveway of a house, a Palestinian flag flying above them. Oshry assumed it was the beginning of a protest and posted a photo and a comment on social media. “This is fun, in my neighborhood. Coming to our neighborhood soon.”

A short time later, a friend contacted him to say this did not look like a protest but more like a family gathering. Oshry realized he had made a mistake. He deleted the post at once, but not before it had been copied and broadcast far and wide, bringing on denunciations of him.

Molly Shah has an update where she says that BlueSky is taking her concerns seriously, but is waiting for more feedback first before posting about it.

Congrats to CNN for publishing an article on Saturday with the headline: Israel’s war conduct in Gaza ‘consistent with the characteristics of genocide,’ UN Special Committee finds.

Al-Jazeera live-blog - Israel pounds Lebanon and Gaza with 160 strikes

Guardian liveblog - Israeli troops reach deepest point into Lebanon since invasion, local media says.

Iran backs Lebanon in ceasefire talks, seeks end to problems - interesting choice of url vs headline, there Reuters: israel-hits-beirut-suburb-after-us-delivers-truce-proposal.
posted by toastyk at 8:18 AM on November 16 [9 favorites]

ftrtts, you shared a quote from an article by Abdaljawad Omar over in that ongoing sprawl of a US election thread and like the comment from busted_crayons on all the vibes nonsense re: the Harris campaign, it just really crystallized a few things for me, all at once, and that's really valuable. Thank you.
posted by ginger.beef at 8:34 AM on November 16 [6 favorites]

US-side of things:

Bishop O'Dowd high school teacher in Oakland fired for "insubordination" after refusing to take off a "Free Palestine" pin on her lanyard.

Students suspended from Harvard Divinity School Library after pray-in.

Biden administration imposes sanctions on key settlement organization Amana.

The GOP is bringing back HR 9495 again for a vote this week; this time it only requires a simple majority to pass.

Sen Chris Van Hollen supports joint resolutions of disapproval limiting offensive weapons to Israel.

Update from BlueSky on the many Palestinians in Gaza getting flagged/reported as spam, and best practices to help.

Worldwide:

The Pope calls for investigation to determine if Israel's actions in Gaza constitute genocide.

Israeli strike kills Hezbollah spokesperson as group prepares response to fresh ceasefire proposal.

Al-Jazeera live-blog - Israeli strikes kill 76 in a day, and Netanyahu claims attacks in Iran hit "nuclear component".

Convoy of more than 100 UN aid lorries carrying food was violently looted Saturday, according to UNRWA. (In case you are wondering why people in Gaza are fundraising for food for survival, this is one of the reasons.)

According to DropSiteNews, 2 bakeries n Deir El Balah, central Gaza, serving over 700,000 Palestinians, have announced they will not be supplying bread tomorrow due to a flour shortage.
posted by toastyk at 9:41 AM on November 18 [12 favorites]

The Case Against Joe Biden for Complicity in Genocide (The Nation):

In the end, it’s the American taxpayers who are financing the genocide. According to Bruce Fein, an expert in international law, “The United States has clearly become a co-belligerent with Israel in its war against Hamas-Gaza Palestinians by systematically supplying the IDF with weapons and intelligence without conditions.”

posted by kmt at 3:36 AM on November 19 [7 favorites]

WaPo: Gangs looting Gaza aid operate in areas under Israeli control, aid groups say (archived) "A U.N. memo obtained by The Post concluded that gangs “may be benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence” or “protection” from Israel’s military."

My take: Israel has degraded Hamas' capabilities to such an extent that Hamas is now unable to suppress the criminal elements of Gaza that were quiescent under their more secure rule. Israel is happy to turn a blind eye to this criminality, due to it both serving as an additional means of delegitimizing Hamas in Gazans' eyes and further impoverishing Gazans via diverting aid away from its intended recipients. It furthermore serves Israel's purposes by allowing them to divert blame for the lack of aid reaching Gazans from themselves to shadowy Palestinian forces.
posted by Noisy Pink Bubbles at 7:56 AM on November 19 [5 favorites]

Soccer hooligans story continues:

NYT accidentally CC's Electronic Intifada with email about killing a proposed visual investigation of the story from Dutch reporter Christiaan Triebert.

Ryan Grim has the followup internal email from NYT: Editor Phil Pan claims the story was not "killed" but the details incorporated into a different story. That would be fine, except the story they incorporated it into kept the same, original, inaccurate framing.

Pan writes: "You may have seen an article in the online outlet Electronic Intifada criticizing our coverage of the violence in Amsterdam and making the claim that we “killed” a visual investigation into those events. I wanted to let you know this is untrue. In fact, we merged material from that visual reporting effort with our reporting on the ground in Amsterdam into one story. That allowed us to include all of our material in a single, more comprehensive and timely piece with official statements, verified video and accounts from witnesses we interviewed directly. As many of you know, this is not unusual. Some of our most powerful pieces of journalism in recent years have been collaborations with the Visual Investigations team, which regularly produces outstanding work around the world."

Amsterdam mayor regrets using the word "pogrom" to describe attacks on Israelis: Femkle Halsema says Israeli government and Dutch politicians use term as ‘propaganda’ to discriminate against Dutch Muslims, says Israeli fans also behaved violently. (Times of Israel)

Euronews: Asked whether she would use the term again, Halsema said "I did not make a direct comparison but said that I could imagine the feeling. And with that I wanted to express grief. But I am not an instrument in a national and international political fight."

The mayor has criticised local security services for their failure to anticipate the violence, saying "That information was not known to me...The story of a racist club was never properly told to me."

She also condemned Israel for its swift portrayal of the incident as an attack on Israelis, despite prior behaviour by Maccabi supporters in which they chanted anti-Arab slogans and tore down Palestinian flags.

"We were completely caught off guard by Israel. At 3am, (Israeli) Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu was already giving a lecture about what happened in Amsterdam, while we were still gathering the facts," she said in Sunday's interview.
posted by toastyk at 8:30 AM on November 19 [4 favorites]

Times of Israel quotes a Jewish Federations of North America executive: “We should all look forward to the day we can hope to buy townhouses in the West Bank and Gaza.”
posted by Noisy Pink Bubbles at 10:08 AM on November 19 [4 favorites]

a light-hearted ethnic cleansing and plunder joke, as will lighten the hearts of very normal people who definitely aren't thinking of plundering after the ethnic cleansing

”Karen was trying to put an optimistic spin, some potential advantages for Jewish communities as a result of the new elections, and joked.”

The official continued, “I think her jokes were meant simply as jokes to alleviate tension
posted by away for regrooving at 11:00 AM on November 19 [5 favorites]

Biden is campaigning for Democrats to vote against the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval, which is happening 11/20 -

In making the case against the Senate resolutions, Biden aides have argued that the weapons in question are essential for Israel’s defense and won’t be delivered for another year or two, “So the likelihood of them being used in this iteration of the Gaza context is very low,” explained one US official.

“At a time when Hezbollah is about to agree to a ceasefire, now is not the time to send a message to Israel’s adversaries that there is a break in the relationship between the United States and Israel,” the US official continued. “It actually only encourages Israel’s adversaries to be more obstinate and sends a terrible message to Iran, as Iran considers retaliation against Israel.”

Additionally, on those gangs roaming Gaza - they're looting aid with Israeli support according to Dropsite News - A member of a humanitarian organization in Deir al Balah, who spoke to Drop Site on condition of anonymity because they feared for their safety, said that transporting goods in Gaza has become extremely difficult. Trucks are frequently hijacked and organizations often must pay steep extortion fees to gangs for the trucks to pass, they said.

“We are forced to pay excessive amounts to Israeli-backed tribes to ensure the delivery of aid,” they said, adding that the organized groups threaten to loot all or some of the goods in the trucks if payment is not made. “We calculate a significant portion of the funds raised for us just for this procedure. It's truly crazy,” they said. “I can assure you that some of these militias coordinate with other organizations' members who are in charge of this whole situation, all directed by the Israeli army.”

Haaretz - ungated - The IDF lookouts, both on the ground and in the air, operate 24 hours a day along the logistical routes the army has paved throughout Gaza. These are the roads the aid convoys use. Truck drivers and officials from international aid organizations charge that the soldiers can see the attacks on the convoys, yet do nothing.
The IDF says another road was recently opened in southern Gaza that will enable truck drivers to bypass the looting zone. Yet several incidents have already occurred along this road as well. Palestinians say the gangs are still collecting protection money for letting aid convoys into both "safe areas" and combat zones.
posted by toastyk at 8:34 PM on November 19 [6 favorites]

US vetoes another UN Security Council resolution seeking Gaza ceasefire -
Call for ceasefire in Gaza receives 14 votes in favour, with Washington being the lone veto

Grrr, Trump.
posted by cendawanita at 7:49 AM on November 20 [8 favorites]

Apparently Netanyahu is offering $5 million and safe passage out of Gaza to anyone returning a hostage.
posted by toastyk at 9:35 AM on November 20

Akbar Shahid Ahmed: 🚨 Schumer is whipping Democrats to vote “no” (OKing weapons for Israel) “in a way he hasn’t before,” a Senate aide tells me — another sign of how seriously this vote is being taken.

ETA (missed this one): Prem Thakker: President Joe Biden, Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, and Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer are all together urging senators to vote against US & international law today and approve more offensive weapon sales to Israel.

RESIST going along well I see.

[Note: it seems like nitter sites and similar can still work. Am using xcancel.com]

Also new from Ahmed: Exclusive: White House Says Democrats Who Oppose Weapons To Israel Are Aiding Hamas -
HuffPost obtained a White House message to senators ahead of a crucial vote on sending the Israelis more arms amid the Gaza and Lebanon wars. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is helping the administration shield the policy

Yesterday's Politico: Fresh protest in White House on Biden’s Israel policy
Still, these types of letters offer more clarity into the steep internal resistance Biden and his top aides are facing in their support for Israel as the death toll mounts in Gaza. And in this case, the letter likely represents a last-ditch push to convince the outgoing president to alter course before leaving office (and before Trump allies begin preparing a sweeping purge of the federal workforce).

One senior White House staffer explained why they sent it: “One thing that drew me into this was legacy,” the staffer said. “If the course is continued, it will be a legacy of horror.”

Over in the UK:
Top genocide scholar calls Starmer and Lammy ‘hypocrites’ over Gaza stance -
William Schabas noted how British leaders previously voted in favour of recognising genocides in conflicts of a lesser scale than Gaza

Back in Israel (in Hebrew): Similar to Obama: the Biden administration plans to approve a resolution against the settlements in the West Bank in the Security Council -
According to an American source close to the administration, this decision, similar to Resolution 2334 from the Obama days, will establish that Israel's presence in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Old City [that] is against international law
posted by cendawanita at 9:50 AM on November 20 [9 favorites]

Still ongoing, however Akbar Shahid Ahmed filed this for this particular voting: 18 Senators Vote Against More U.S. Weapons For Israel -
Wednesday was the first time Congress has voted on blocking specific arms transfers to Israel, reflecting deep frustration among lawmakers with Israeli conduct in Gaza and Lebanon.

On twt: View from anti-war activist @epeikenberry: “Senior admin officials had to drop everything & run to the Hill for a full court press. Senate Democratic leadership had to twist a bunch of arms. And still, 18 senators held firm on a vote that would've been 98-1 earlier this year.”
posted by cendawanita at 5:08 PM on November 20 [7 favorites]

Here we go: Today, on 21 November 2024, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (‘Court’), in its composition for the Situation in the State of Palestine, unanimously issued two decisions rejecting challenges by the State of Israel (‘Israel’) brought under articles 18 and 19 of the Rome Statute (the ‘Statute’). It also issued warrants of arrest for Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Yoav Gallant.

The Palestine one is only for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri (Deif) since Yahya Sinwar has been killed.
posted by cendawanita at 4:24 AM on November 21 [11 favorites]

Canada will abide by ICC rulings.

France & the Netherlands to enforce ICC warrants.

EU says ICC arrest warrants are "binding".

US Sen Lindsay Graham called for sanctions on the ICC.

Dearborn mayor Abdullah H. Hammoud vows to arrest Netanyahu if he steps within city limits and calls for other US mayors to do the same.
posted by toastyk at 10:06 AM on November 21 [5 favorites]

BTW the House passed HR 9495; notably the 52 Dems who voted for it originally have now shrunk down to 15 Dems. House Rep Adam Schiff, soon to be CA-Sen Adam Schiff, was one of the ones who flipped on it. Time to bug your Senators about it.
posted by toastyk at 10:36 AM on November 21 [6 favorites]

Alternatively, the United States is allowed to use military force against the ICC, informally known as The Hague Invasion Act.
posted by rubatan at 7:30 PM on November 21 [1 favorite]

Not behind a paywall because it's under their livepost template: (WaPo) Israel and U.S. condemn ICC arrest warrants; other nations vow to enforce
posted by cendawanita at 9:15 PM on November 21 [2 favorites]

Is it too much to hope that some future airplane pilot has the good sense to land Netanyahu/Gallant in an ICC compliant country?
posted by Kitten as a cat at 2:38 AM on November 22 [2 favorites]

@Kitten sadly, it is too much to ask for (from cendawanita a few comments earlier)

Scotland Yard allowed a suspected war criminal [Israeli Major General Doron Almog] to escape Britain because officers feared an attempt to stop him would lead to a gun battle at Heathrow airport...

posted by rubatan at 2:57 AM on November 22 [6 favorites]

The irony being countries like mine (for its own authoritarian contrarian "we'll do it our way") or Indonesia ("sooooo we also have a war criminal incoming president and an active occupation besides) aren't signatories but the western countries are. Aha.
posted by cendawanita at 5:14 AM on November 22 [2 favorites]

sadly, it is too much to ask for

apparently last year his El Al flight crew just straight up refused to transport him to Rome (not over Gaza, over his proposed constitutional changes). But their equivalent to Air Force One ("Wing of Zion") has just now entered service so I imagine as long as he's in government he'll be able to fly with Israeli Air Force pilots, who probably aren't very likely to mutiny.
posted by BungaDunga at 6:25 AM on November 22 [2 favorites]

AlJazeera liveblog - Israel continues to bomb Lebanon and Gaza.

It's Bisan From Gaza, And We're Picking Olives In A Genocide - Bisan (still alive) explains the importance of the olive harvest to Palestinians and Palestinian identity.

Israel ends administrative detention for settlers as West Bank annexation looms. Palestinians, have, and are, subject to being held without charge, for unspecified time periods, and this includes Palestinian children.

The ICC warrants over Gaza are a warning for the US, too - The U.S. and Israel are not members of the ICC, but 124 of the world’s countries — the majority — are. After the warrants were issued, officials in several European countries and Canada said they would respect the ICC order, suggesting they would arrest Netanyahu and Gallant (though some ICC member countries have previously failed to execute ICC warrants). The deputy prime minister of Belgium, Petra de Sutter, argued the continent’s reaction could extend to challenging the European Union’s association agreement with Israel, which involves a lucrative free trade deal.

The warrants could “stiffen the spine of national authorities in other countries to pursue their own prosecutions related to Gaza,” said Brian Finucane, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group think tank.

Citing the principle of “universal jurisdiction,” under which governments can pursue suspects for major international crimes regardless of their nationality or where the incidents occurred, Finucane said: “Israeli officials will face possible criminal exposure in third states for years to come.”

Biden-Harris' Gaza policy abandoned American workers - An arms embargo on Israel is not just a specific focus of the working class and labor unions, it was and remains a popular position for most Americans, again demonstrating that Gaza was not an issue relegated solely to Arab-Americans. According to the Institute for Middle Eastern Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project, pledging to impose an arms embargo would have given Kamala Harris an edge in Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, states Harris lost. The IMEU study found that 35% of Democrats and Independents polled in Arizona said they would be more likely to vote for Harris had she embraced an arms embargo, versus 5% who said they would be less likely. The figures were similar in Georgia (39% versus 5%) and Pennsylvania (34% versus 7%).

Polling in other groups paints a similar picture. A poll conducted by CBS in June 2024 showed that 61% of Americans (including 77% of Democrats) were against sending aid to Israel. Additionally, studies conducted by CIRCLE at Tufts University in January 2024 showed that 38% of youth ages 18-34, including 56% of those who identify as Democratic or lean Democratic, thought Israel’s military operation was going “too far.” CIRCLE also noted that that 49% of youth voters believed there was a genocide happening in Gaza.

BTW, in "liberal", "progressive" SF: UCSF medical workers are being punished for speaking out for Palestinians - Rupa Marya, an internal medicine physician and professor at UCSF, is perhaps the most notable and vocal among those who have received pushback. In her social media posts in January, Marya, an expert in decolonial theory, questioned the impacts of Zionism as “a supremacist, racist ideology” on health care and drew immediate criticism from pro-Israel colleagues and Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener.

The university then published a statement across its social media accounts addressing the posts without naming Marya, disavowing her statements as “antisemitic attacks.” Wiener thanked UCSF for the statement. A flurry of online attacks against Marya followed, including racist and sexist attacks and threats of death and sexual violence. Wiener has continued to single out Marya on social media.
posted by toastyk at 7:02 AM on November 22 [9 favorites]

Inside Josh Shapiro's covert push for influence at Penn - Later on May 9, Shapiro — before Penn’s plans to disband the encampment the following day were public — jumped ahead of the planned police action by publicly stating it was “past time” for the University to do so during an unrelated speech in Pittsburgh.

Shapiro, referencing the encampment’s expansion the night prior, said that “the situation has gotten even more unstable and out of control” over the past 24 hours and described the situation as “absolutely unacceptable.” He also called called on universities to use their police departments or work with local police to handle the demonstrations.

At 6 a.m. the next morning, Penn and Philadelphia Police officers disbanded the encampment and arrested 33 protesters. In a community-wide email, Jameson explained his rationale for ordering the sweep, citing the need to “take action to protect the safety and rights of everyone in our community” and prevent “further disruption of our academic mission.”

2 day strike at Concordia University in Montreal - Close to 85,000 students across Quebec voted in favour of a two-day "strike" to boycott classes Thursday and Friday to demand their universities divest from companies they allege have ties with Israel and weapons manufacturers, and for an end to the siege on Gaza.

Students from McGill University and Dawson College joined the protest at Concordia. Dawson cancelled all classes Thursday out of “concerns about the safety of students and employees on the day of the boycott," though students gathered there to protest before making their way to Concordia.

Standing on the bed of a U-Haul truck, a protest organizer led chants accusing universities of being "complicit in genocide" and demanding they put "students over donor money."
posted by toastyk at 12:13 PM on November 22 [4 favorites]

I made an FPP about ethnic democracies, that uses Israel as its archetype. Hopefully not too much of a distraction from this as the Israel discussion post.
posted by rubatan at 4:39 PM on November 24 [6 favorites]

Let's see ...
Israel sanctions Haaretz due to articles that ‘hurt’ Israeli state -
The Haaretz newspaper called the decision ‘another step in Netanyahu’s journey to dismantle Israeli democracy’.

Strauss divests stake in Sabra US hummus venture to PepsiCo for $244 million -
Food manufacturer sells holding in joint venture after declining sales, amid fierce competition and an uptick in the anti-Israel boycott campaign in the US

(Personal warning for a Ravid story) Israel and Lebanon on cusp of ceasefire deal, officials say
Babying in progress:
Behind the scenes: The agreement was nearing completion last Thursday when the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, U.S. and Israeli officials say.

- The news came while Netanyahu was meeting with U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who has been mediating for a year between Israel and Lebanon.
- Netanyahu was outraged, and grew even more angry after the French Foreign Ministry announced that France would implement the court's ruling.
- That threw a wrench into the negotiations, as Lebanon had wanted France to be part of the oversight committee to monitor implementation of the agreement.

On Friday, Biden spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron to try to solve the problem.

- A U.S. official said Biden told Macron that Netanyahu was right to be angry, and that it was not possible to mediate a deal while also pledging to arrest the head of state of one of the parties.
- Macron told Biden he wanted to help but that his Foreign Ministry was only making clear its legal obligations towards the ICC. The French issued second statement to try to tamp down the tensions.

Wah so nice, got international friends make calls for you like a post-kindy meltdown.
posted by cendawanita at 9:58 PM on November 24 [4 favorites]

Collapse of international western order proceeding unwantedly:
Ex-Israeli defense minister to travel to US despite ICC arrest warrant over Gaza war crimes

VS

Israel expresses outrage at Australia's decision to deny a visa to its former justice minister Ayelet Shaked

Speaking of Australia: Israel Border Police confirms firing live rounds into West Bank buildings on day Melbourne student was hit in the eye

Elsewhere: Pro-Palestinian groups sue Dutch gov’t for failing to stop Gaza ‘genocide’-
The NGOs want the Netherlands to ban the export and transit of weapons, weapon parts, and dual-use items to Israel.

EU’s Borrell: ICC warrants are law, no room for exceptions after Hungary invites Netanyahu for visit

In Poland, where criticising Israel remains taboo, Gaza solidarity rises -
A Polish artist is among those raising awareness about alleged atrocities committed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza


Back in the region:
Belated ICYMI 1: Israel’s Netanyahu acknowledges pager attack, says he sees ‘eye-to-eye’ with Trump on Iran
The decision by the government to brief Israel’s media on Netanyahu’s remarks – and by extension, confirm Israel was behind the operation – appears to be another chapter in the domestic political machinations that have dominated Israel in recent weeks. (this is pre-ICC warrants)

ICYMI 2: Metropolitan Police say they referred Israel-Gaza war crimes cases to ICC -
London police say they have no active investigations related to the conflict, while a Palestinian advocacy group says they are duty-bound to pursue potential war criminals in the UK


What satellite images tell us about North Gaza as report accuses Israel of 'ethnic cleansing' -
The Israeli military's latest offensive in northern Gaza began last month. While it's difficult to understand the full extent of the operation with independent media access into Gaza denied by Israel, satellite imagery does offer some indications into how it's developed.

Killing of journalists in Israeli strike could be a war crime, legal experts say -
Israel used US munition to target and kill three members of the press in Lebanon, Guardian investigation reveals

The World Rejects Israel's 'Generals' Plan' for Gaza, So the Generals Work Around It -
A former Military Intelligence chief believes that in the coming years the army will slice up Gaza and use the strips for raids into populated areas to fight Hamas' efforts to organize (ungated)

Israel cracks down on Palestinian citizens who speak out against the war in Gaza
posted by cendawanita at 2:32 AM on November 25 [5 favorites]

BDSmovement.net | BDS Impacts in the Times of Genocide (July 2024 listicle of the tangible impacts of the Israel BDS movement)

I read Haaretz' "Israel at war: What you need to know – day XXX" almost everyday. Its informative and offers things missed in most media sources, that I dig into elsewhere. Its a wonderful daily reminder of organic opposition to ethnic cleansing in Israel.


From Rubatan's never finished folder:

[Click for "Are BDS campaigns effective? South Africa thinks so." (incomplete) ]

The South African apartheid began in 1948. Even with other countries committed to economic and cultural BDS, it was not until the US congress overrode Reagan's policy of "constructive engagement" support for the South African government in 1986, and the US implementation of economic sanctions, that the apartheid regime crumbled. However, the African National Congress (political party) of South Africa has consistently argued BDS prepared the apartheid government to see "the handwriting on the wall and begin discussing how best to dismantle apartheid."

Most sources cite the demoralizing effect of isolation of academics, athletes, culture, and economic sanctions and divestment as preparing South Africans and the Apartheid government for reconciliation, but the ANC also recognized the power of BDS movements to democratize resistance and empower individuals in the international community to keep up pressure. [The last are all undeveloped wikipedia links]

"The multi-pronged offensive of the democratic forces [i.e. cultural and academic boycotts] ,... has resulted in the transfer of the initiative from the oppressor regime to the people. An important and dynamic dimension of this democratic offensive against the structures and institutions of apartheid colonialism is the sphere of culture...."

Nelson Mandela was a terrorist until 2008, despite serving as the first President to post-apartheid South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

posted by rubatan at 2:39 AM on November 25 [7 favorites]

Israel bombs Beirut ahead of ceasefire talks with Hezbollah.

5 days on a media junket in Israel - Perhaps most striking were the claims that videos of suffering or killed Palestinians had been elaborately staged using actors, prosthetics, and makeup, a supposed ruse Israeli propagandists refer to as “Pallywood,” a portmanteau of Palestine and Hollywood. “The way Hamas make makeup before hosting television crews, [it’s] quite professional, I must admit,” Tal Rabina, strategic director and head of the Israel Office for the European Jewish Association and the owner of a crisis management and lobbying firm in Israel, told us as we rode to Israel’s northern border in a chartered bus. Palestinians had been elaborately staged using actors, prosthetics, and makeup, a supposed ruse Israeli propagandists refer to as “Pallywood,” a portmanteau of Palestine and Hollywood. “The way Hamas make makeup before hosting television crews, [it’s] quite professional, I must admit,” Tal Rabina, strategic director and head of the Israel Office for the European Jewish Association and the owner of a crisis management and lobbying firm in Israel, told us as we rode to Israel’s northern border in a chartered bus.

Prem Thakker criticizes the Washington Post editorial board for saying the ICC isn’t the right venue to hold Israel to account - Consider the rather shameful innuendo here that some of the 44,000 had it coming, given their alleged possible “combatant” status – or the phrasing “far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed and maimed,” as if there is some acceptable amount.

The Post editorial represents an establishment view that is driven by geopolitics, not morals: If Israeli forces kill tens of thousands of civilians while Hamas kills hundreds, one group remains a valued democratic ally, but the other is still a bunch of “terrorists.” That allyship is what automatically and conveniently precludes any condemnation of Israel.

Strauss divests its US stake in hummus brand Sabra and sells it to PepsiCo amid BDS challenge.

University protests continue - Sarah Lawrence has fallen (sorry I just thought this headline was hilarious), Cambridge students renew protests, Illinois college students are facing felony mob charges.
posted by toastyk at 9:46 AM on November 26 [7 favorites]

Lebanon is STILL being bombed even as news of ceasefire terms has been reached by Hezb and Israel:
Within five minutes or so of Biden completing his speech, we heard loud explosions in Beirut.

And once again, sirens started sounding in northern Israel, in the upper Galilee.

Hezbollah fired a large amount of rockets across the border into Israeli territory, fulfilling a pledge that if the Israelis strike central Beirut, Hezbollah will strike Israel.

We’ve counted a dozen different Israeli strikes in central Beirut throughout the course of the day.

Within minutes of Biden completing his speech, we heard a loud jet fly over our heads.

Meanwhile, as presented by the BBC: Israeli anger at 'irresponsible and hasty' ceasefire

National-level deprogramming seems so necessary it's not funny.
posted by cendawanita at 4:20 PM on November 26 [5 favorites]

Good news for the civilians (for now): LIVE: Ceasefire starts between Israel, Hezbollah to end fighting in Lebanon
- A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect at 4am local time in Lebanon (02:00 GMT) amid hopes the truce will bring a permanent end to Israeli attacks on Lebanese towns and cities and more than a year of fighting in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

- US President Joe Biden says the deal between Israel and Hezbollah involves Israeli forces withdrawing from Lebanon over 60 days, with Lebanon’s military taking control of territory in the south of the country to ensure Hezbollah does not rebuild forces.
posted by cendawanita at 7:34 PM on November 26 [3 favorites]

For months I’ve searched for an arcgis map of missile strikes w/ casualties and details in the Israel-Lebanon war to no avail. Some detail is out there, Hareetz was doing daily casualty annoucnements for Israeli missiles; I understand information on strikes against Israel have been suppressed. Has anyone come across an up to date list or anything?


There is the updated map of IDF offenses in Gaza.
posted by rubatan at 8:14 PM on November 26 [2 favorites]

Forensic Architecture does keep regular reporting, using the same data source I think. They've set up a subsite now also (apologies for keep overlooking to share this).
posted by cendawanita at 8:58 PM on November 26 [3 favorites]

How the US Media Helped the Biden Administration Distance Itself From the Horrors of Gaza (Adam Johnson and "Othman Ali" (a pseudonymous coauthor), for The Nation)
posted by adrienneleigh at 9:56 PM on November 26 [6 favorites]

Full text of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire agreement.

Doesn't mean Israeli forces stopped firing at journalists though.

NYT Daily podcast episode on how IDF uses Palestinians as human shields.

Axios account of how ceasefire negotiations went - full of consequences if Hezbollah violates ceasefire, nothing on if Israel violates it.

Puma has decided to end sponsorship of the Israeli soccer team. BDS hails this as a win although the company denies this as a reason, claiming the contract was already set to expire.

Israeli strikes in Gaza leave 15 dead.
posted by toastyk at 8:12 AM on November 27 [5 favorites]

Biden walks into a bookstore and walks out with Rashid Khalidi's The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017.
posted by mittens at 5:05 PM on November 29

Very celebutante doing a pap walk with a deep book of him.
posted by cendawanita at 7:19 PM on November 29 [2 favorites]

Apparently Israeli forces carrying out air attacks on Lebanon is not a breach of ceasefire terms.

Israel killed 3 World Central Kitchen aid workers, again. This time the victims are Palestinian, so who knows if there will be any consequences, and of course, Israel says it was "targeting a terrorist", which they honestly do any time they kill Palestinians.

Oxford Union, after a fiery debate, declares Israel an "apartheid state responsible for genocide".

Trump wants a Gaza ceasefire deal before inauguration according to Sen Lindsay Graham.

Muslim charities are getting kicked off payment platforms for supporting people in Gaza.

BTW you guys remember HR 9495, the bill that would allow the government to designate any nonprofit as supporting terrorism without proof, right? Well, Biden is now delaying funding a previously designated grant to a climate nonprofit, one of the only ones to speak up on Palestine.

Hundreds of authors have signed an open letter in support of Lisa Ko -

After privately expressing her support for Aisha Abdel Gawad—an Arab American writer who chose to withdraw from a panel at the Albany Book Festival due to a series of social media posts and published articles written by the panel’s moderator, Elisa Albert, about Israel’s assault on Gaza—Ko, a fellow panelist, was subjected to weeks of harassment as well as a broader smear campaign in the media which resulted in a loss of professional opportunities.

The open letter—which was organized by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Viet Thanh Nguyen—calls for the New York State Writers Institute (which runs the Albany Book Festival) to issue a full correction of the misinformation they circulated in September 2024 regarding Ko and Gawad:

We are disturbed and offended by the defamation of our colleagues, which has caused deep-seated harassment and loss of professional opportunities for both. Such harassment is rooted in a long history of silencing and mischaracterizing non-white voices in mainstream western media.

Here's the link to the open letter:

According to Ko: “I wrote the New York State Writers Institute in support of Aisha Abdel Gawad, expressing concern about a panel moderator’s public rhetoric. In social media posts and published articles, the moderator mocked people who advocate for a ceasefire by calling them ‘terror apologists’ and other names. In response, the assistant director of the Writers Institute emailed the moderator and called these concerns ‘crazy,’ going so far as to fabricate a story that I refused ‘to be on a panel with a Zionist,’ a message that was then made public. This has resulted in death and rape threats, harassing messages, and the loss of livelihood for both me and Aisha, including Aisha’s dismissal from her writer-in-residence position.

“To set the record straight, I neither refused to be on the panel nor used the word ‘Zionist,’ but this clarification, while necessary, is not the point. The implication is that vitriol directed at those opposing war and genocide is acceptable; objecting to such vitriol is not.”

Solidarity in the wake of the deadliest war to ever be recorded on children is not only essential, it is imperative. The resilience of minoritized and colonized peoples, from Asian to Black, Indigenous, Latino, Muslim, and Arab populations, is built on standing together. From the civil rights movement to recent Hollywood writers’ strikes, history has shown us that gatekeepers only negotiate when workers unite. The sustained campaign of conflating any criticism of Israel, including US-supported military action, as anti-semitic, reduces and dehumanizes the suffering and grief of entire groups and populations.
posted by toastyk at 3:26 PM on November 30 [7 favorites]

Nothing on the Beeb or CNN websites but Oxford Union declares Israel ‘apartheid’ regime committing ‘genocide’. Which I came across when reading a Mastodon thread of Susan Abulhawa words from the event (I can't seem to see if anyone has it on YT - would love to hear it delivered).
posted by phigmov at 10:29 PM on November 30 [6 favorites]

Wow all it took was Trump saying he wants a ceasefire before inauguration huh. /s (or am I)
----
Taleed al -Sabawi:

Ceasefire news update from Israeli news source

⚡️ ☄️Channel 12 Hebrew:

“The security discussion that Prime Minister Netanyahu is holding tonight with the Minister of Defense, the leaders of the security establishment, and the negotiating team on the issue of the hostages, aims to "accelerate" the negotiations for the exchange deal.”

2/ More Ceasefire News Analysis from Israeli media (aka what they are telling their public)

⚡️ 🔴Channel 14 Political Affairs Commentator "Jacob Bardugo":
“⬅️Several things may push the exchange deal forward Among them, and the most important, is President Trump's arrival to power in the United States..
👈And the ceasefire agreement in #Lebanon..
🔴Two things may push #Israel to show flexibility in the negotiations..
🔴Bardugo adds..
⬅️Apart from ending the war in #Gaza..
👈We know that Biden and Blinken will not allow us to return to fighting after the ceasefire..
👈But today we can trust President Trump, who may allow us to return to war..
🔴Bardugo adds..
👈There is no choice..We are going to the Biden-Netanyahu understandings..which stipulate a ceasefire for 42 days..
🔴And I think that #Israel can accept that..and then return to fighting whenever it wants..
🔴He says Bardugo..
⬅️The Netzarim axis is out of the game..
But the Philadelphia axis will be the issue in which stopping the war on #Gaza is linked..”

3/ ⚡️ Channel 13 Hebrew: Sources indicate that with Trump's encouragement, Netanyahu will agree to move forward with reaching an agreement with Hamas.

4/ A source familiar with the negotiations told the Palestinian affairs correspondent for the Hebrew channel Kan: “We have not yet reached the stage where we should be optimistic, but there is a more positive trend.”

---
Lost the elections, and for what. Can't even use Trump as boogeyman while having brunch with Liz Cheney. Hope that Khalidi book is fun beach reading.
posted by cendawanita at 7:51 PM on December 1 [3 favorites]

Grrr why can't Trump be as civilized as everyone else, and just allow active warfare to continue AS YOU'RE CLAIMING OCCUPIED LAND FOR SALE like the rest of us - the absolute rudeness of the man, now that trump card (heh) is even more mouldy and expired.

/S (or am I)
posted by cendawanita at 7:55 PM on December 1 [3 favorites]

Speaking of Khalidi, the interview he gave Haaretz is worth reading - kind of hard to pick out a specific quote, but here's a snippet (ungated):

You are critical of Israel for ignoring the possibility that Hamas underwent a change in those years. But what many Israelis ask themselves is why the Palestinians didn't use the opportunity of Israel's disengagement from Gaza to develop their society and build a peaceful alternative.

"Because the occupation never ended. That is a profoundly stupid question, which is put forward by people who are trying to justify a fundamentally false narrative. Gaza was never open; it was always occupied. Airspace, sea space, every entry, every exit, every import, every export – the f---ing population register remained in Israel's hands. What changed? A few thousand settlers were removed. So instead of being in small prisons within Gaza, the Palestinians were now in one large prison in Gaza. That is not an end of occupation, it's a modification of occupation. It's not an end to colonization.

"You leave Gaza in order to intensify [your hold] on the West Bank. You have Sharon's aide, Dov Weissglas, saying [in an interview in Haaretz in 2004, that Sharon's disengagement plan], 'supplies the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary so there will not be a political process with the Palestinians.' You think we can't read Hebrew, for God's sake? A state means sovereignty. And sovereignty doesn't mean a foreign occupying military power controlling your population register. Think about that for two minutes. I mean, it's like the United States Census Bureau being controlled in Moscow. Seriously? Imports and exports are decided by some corporal or some bureaucrat in some ministry in Tel Aviv or in Jerusalem? I mean, seriously? And Palestinians are supposed to say, 'Oh, let's create a nice little utopia inside the prison'? What kind of nonsense is that?"
posted by toastyk at 7:29 AM on December 2 [8 favorites]

Mahmoud Almadhoun of Gaza Soup Kitchen was killed by an Israeli drone, this is not a duplicate of the prior link on the World Central Kitchen workers killed on the same day, two different attacks on two different humanitarian aid groups.
posted by away for regrooving at 12:50 PM on December 2 [7 favorites]

Because the occupation never ended. That is a profoundly stupid question, which is put forward by people who are trying to justify a fundamentally false narrative. Gaza was never open; it was always occupied.

There was a circulating narrative among official and unofficial war apologists that would say "Why didn't they use the time to create a Singapore?" It was consistent enough you could tell a memo had gone out. Again, Singapore's success was contingent on self-determination and not having a blockage on all of its borders: land, air, and 3 nautical miles out at sea...

I was looking at night maps of the world. You can see the wall at sea: lights of fishing boats at 3 nautical miles.
------

“The path they’re dragging us down is to occupy, annex, and ethnically cleanse — look at the northern strip,” [former Israeli Defense Minister, including under Netanyahu, Moshe Yaalon] said. He also said Israel was being pulled in the direction of building settlements in Gaza, a notion that is supported by far-right politicians in Mr. Netanyahu’s government....

Mr. Yaalon doubled down on his accusations on Sunday, saying on public radio that Mr. Netanyahu’s government was exposing Israeli commanders to lawsuits at the International Criminal Court and was putting their lives at risk.

“I’m speaking in the name of IDF commanders who are operating in the northern strip,” Mr. Yaalon told the Reshet Bet radio station. “They reached out to me expressing fear about what’s happening there.”
(archive)

---

⚡️ ☄️Channel 12 Hebrew, from sources:

The security establishment warned Netanyahu's government that continuing to dismantle Hamas would lead to the collapse of the regime capable of releasing the hostages.

Looking for sources.
posted by rubatan at 7:34 PM on December 2 [7 favorites]

Seeing same claim elsewhere

"The defense establishment's assessment is also unequivocal: a new opportunity has been created to bring the hostages home. It must be exploited before more hostages die or disappear in captivity. There is also a risk that further damage to Hamas' leadership will result in such domestic breakdown that there will be no one with whom to secure a deal or trust to know how to locate all the living hostages and bodies… but so long as Trump does not make a direct demand, it is doubtful that Netanyahu will reach a deal"

--Amos Harel (Haaretz gated)
posted by rubatan at 10:36 PM on December 2 [5 favorites]

Uhuh (in rough chronological order):

U.S. tells Israel it is concerned Lebanon ceasefire could unravel

After days of Israeli strikes, Hezbollah hits back

Israel strikes Lebanon, but hopes ceasefire will hold

---

Anyways: Trump says ‘hell to pay’ if captives in Gaza not released -
Threat of escalation comes amid reports Trump seeking Israel-Hamas ceasefire before he takes office in January.

Lazy guy continues taking credit for other people's work.
posted by cendawanita at 11:08 PM on December 2 [4 favorites]

Syria rebels appear to credit Israeli strikes on Hezbollah with aiding shock advance (Times of Israel), by taking advantage of shifting of Hezbollah forces (Times of Israel). Timeline of Hezbollah in Syria (Wikipedia). The Israeli defense establishment, however, fears rebels gaining access to weapons and chemical weapons stores in Aleppo (JPost), though same articles purport Syrian rebels support Israel advance and future peace with Israel and "all of Syria's neighbors". Up to this point, Hezbollah had prevented the expansion of other movements like the Salafist Al-Nusra Front and Islamic State.
posted by rubatan at 7:05 AM on December 3 [2 favorites]

It really does become clear as time goes on, how much going into Syria in support of Assad, cost Hezbollah their opsec and general integrity (edit: the intelligence needed to commit the pager attack), not to mention moral standing (for Palestinians). Anyway, so that's another front opening up.
posted by cendawanita at 9:04 AM on December 3 [3 favorites]

Israel-adjacent: US directly intervenes in Syria and is accused of (continuing) aid and air support of HTS advance. For reference, HTS is “complicated”: the largest military group of the Syrian Opposition, it’s Salafist ideology is largely unpopular in much of Syria and it is labeled a terrorist organization by many western nations (including the US who purportedly supports them to oppose ISIS). However, it has undergone recent PR campaigns to support the Druze and permitted Christians to celebrate mass, stressing Islamic precedent for protecting non-Islamic people.

I was refreshing on the 1956 tripartite war and precursors to the Six Day War. Alliances and actors are different today. But many of the motivations and lessons remain: Israel’s desire to control the Jordan and Litani (water security with its source in Syria) and the Golan and Gaza (nation building to control ancient mytho-historical boundaries), Egypt’s apparent desire to defensive posture and bellicose language without provoking over the line (which it misestimated with the closure of the Straits of Tiran), Israel’s firm refusal of UN peacekeepers from its own soil, settlers in the Golan, and the perceived security dilemma that any force on its boundaries was a threat. Begun by a (false) Soviet report of troops massing in Syria (not a primary belligerent in the conflict), the result left belligerents in an escalation they didn’t want.

Point being: TBD how this shapes out in the region.
posted by rubatan at 9:06 PM on December 3 [1 favorite]

TNH: Targeted aid killings: How Israel starved a population and sowed chaos in northern Gaza

For a few days in mid-March, the system worked. UN convoys brought significant amounts of food aid into parts of northern Gaza that had been cut off since near the start of the war, without the looting or Israeli attacks and interference that had been impeding humanitarian relief efforts for months.

But then – less than 48 hours after the first successful delivery – an Israeli airstrike on 18 March hit a warehouse used to store aid for the initiative, killing two people working there. Over the next two weeks, in what appears to be a series of targeted strikes on individuals and key distribution points, the Israeli military went on to kill more than 100 Palestinians – those involved in the effort and, in many cases, family members and civilians who just happened to be nearby.

These repeated attacks forced the committees to back out, effectively crippling the plan, which came during a critical period in northern Gaza when children were dying of malnutrition and dehydration on an almost daily basis.

“Our committees were subjected to direct Israeli bombing, despite the UN informing us that they were in constant contact with Israel and that they were providing them with the coordinates of our presence and the details of our role,” said Yahya al-Kafarna, 60, a leader of a prominent family in northern Gaza. “The committees were targeted anyway, and a number of us were killed.”

...

In tandem with continued Israeli restrictions and siege, the rise of gangs raiding aid convoys has caused the availability of food to completely collapse. In November, the IPC determined that famine is once again imminent in northern Gaza and the food supply “sharply deteriorated” in the rest of the territory.

The threat posed by the gangs, and Israel’s role in enabling them, was dramatically illustrated when armed looters hijacked 98 out of 109 UN trucks in a food aid convoy that entered Gaza in mid-November.

On the route to the border, Israeli army quadcopters hovered over vehicles carrying aid workers as they rotated in and out of the enclave, several aid workers told The New Humanitarian, adding that they also appeared to turn a blind eye to the looters as they attacked aid convoys in broad daylight.

“The idea of coming together with the community leaders was to help us to not reach the point where we are right now,” Touma said, adding that the UN no longer has anyone it can rely on to provide security for aid convoys. “Every time we bring in trucks, we take a risk,” she said.

The string of killings in March was a prime example of how Israeli actions have systematically undermined local leadership and humanitarian actors for a chaos-endgame, according to a UN aid worker involved in the effort, who asked to remain anonymous to be able to speak candidly.

“Things are so bad and so deliberate and so cynical that no one outside of Gaza believes it can possibly be true. Israel has strategically turned the situation into exactly what it wants the world to perceive Gaza and the Palestinians as,” the aid worker said. “It’s abhorrent and criminal.”

posted by away for regrooving at 10:34 PM on December 3 [5 favorites]

Sad news for war criminals: The Hague effect: IDF combat soldiers at risk of arrests abroad -
Israel prepares legal response to footage posted online by officers, soldiers operating in Gaza, exposing them to danger when overseas; at least 8 had to leave countries immediately after Pro-Palestinian organizations draw blacklists
&
Legal noose tightens: Israeli commanders, politicians, 1,000 soldiers could face ICC action -
The Hind Rajab Foundation has filed several cases at the ICC and local courts in various countries against Israeli individuals, including a landmark challenge targeting 1,000 Israeli soldiers

Meanwhile: Hamas and Fatah agree to create committee to run postwar Gaza Strip -
Two main Palestinian factions agree during talks in Cairo that politically independent technocrats will run territory

And then: Hamas says 33 captives killed in Gaza as Palestinian factions hold talks -
Hamas’s announcement comes as the group and Fatah discuss the Palestinian Authority’s management of post-war Gaza.

The pre-post-war Gaza: Israel building new military dividing line across Gaza, satellite images suggest

Outside:
Norway wealth fund divests from Israel's Bezeq for providing telecoms services to West Bank settlements
(Apparently the country's biggest telco)

Al Jazeera’s Wael Dahdouh wins RSF Courage Award for work in Gaza

UNESCO adopts decision to include Nablus soap making tradition on Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

Macron: France, Saudi Arabia will co-chair conference on creating Palestinian state

(Coincidentally: NOW: The UN General Assembly adopts resolution deciding that the High-Level International Conference on the peaceful settlement of the Question of #Palestine and the implementation of the Two-State solution will take place at #UNHQ in New York in June 2025. The conference will be aimed at adopting "an action-oriented outcome document" in order "to urgently chart an irreversible pathway towards the peaceful settlement of the Question of Palestine and the implementation of the two-State solution." 157 member states voted in favor of the resolution, 8 voted against and 7 abstained.)

(An Australian report: Australia splits with US to back UN resolution demanding end to Israel occupation of Palestinian territories -
Vote marks a change to the nation’s official stance held for more than two decades )

(Adil Haque: Note that the resolution demands strict compliance with international law as reflected in the ICJ's Advisory Opinion.

The September resolution—which set a 12 month deadline for withdrawal and called for sanctions—only got 124 yes votes.

This one got 157.)
posted by cendawanita at 7:33 AM on December 4 [4 favorites]

Yesterday was Giving Tuesday, so if any of you are still inclined, the following are options for helping people affected:

Palestine Children's Relief Fund: They are fundraising for both Gaza and Lebanon. They are on the ground.
Gaza Soup Kitchen - They are in Gaza.
Doctors Without Borders
UNRWA
Palestine Legal - Our mission is to bolster the Palestine solidarity movement by challenging efforts to threaten, harass and legally bully activists into silence and inaction.
Operation Olive Branch - lots of direct actions suggested, many of which are non-monetary.
GazaFunds

In the US/Canada:
Police raid pro-Palestine students' home in FBI-led graffiti investigation.
POTUS issued a statement on the death of Omer Neutra, an American citizen whose body has been held by Hamas - he apparently was serving in the IDF as a tank commander.
The last US gov issued statement I found on Turkish American citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was from U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal on October 8 - “It has been 32 days since Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was killed in the West Bank, and we have seen no movement toward an independent investigation by the U.S. government and no additional information on changes in the practices of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) units that are using live ammunition on those who are peacefully protesting."
Jewish pro-Palestinian protesters occupy Canadian parliamentary building to protest arming of Israel.
Can Texas ban masked protests? Ungated.
How Universities Cracked Down on Pro-Palestinian Activism (NYT) - ungated.

Some good interviews that I have watched/listened to - they're all long, so plan accordingly:
Marc Lamont Hill interviews Rashid Khalidi
Makdisi Street interview with poet/physician Fady Joudah - Makdisi Street is 3 brothers (nephews of Edward Said) who are all professors interviewing people; I also found the one with Ta-Nehisi Coates and Mehdi Hasan (this one is prior to the election) illuminating and insightful.
Also liked Friday Night Semites (this one is infrequent) with Palestinian comedian Sammy Obeid and Jewish filmmaker Josh Healey.
posted by toastyk at 7:51 AM on December 4 [3 favorites]

I missed this originally, but Sen Van Hollen wrote an op-ed in WaPo stating "History will judge Biden harshly on Gaza" (ungated) - To send this signal, President Biden should immediately impose sanctions on the ultraright members of the Netanyahu government who have fomented violence and supported expanded settlements on the West Bank, including Smotrich and Ben Gvir. The United States must draw a red line against further settlements, not just in words but in deeds.

It’s also time to acknowledge that the Netanyahu government has violated its assurances under National Security Memorandum 20 and that it is not in compliance with the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act (Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act). As documented by leading human rights organizations, the Netanyahu government has arbitrarily restricted desperately needed humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza and has used American weapons in contravention of international humanitarian law. These determinations should trigger a pause in U.S. offensive security assistance — a consequence the Netanyahu government must face until it comes into compliance.

In addition to these actions, the administration should ban the import of any goods from settlements in the occupied territories or, at the very least, take the long-overdue step of reinstating the labeling policy that differentiates products made there from those made in the state of Israel. And it must continue to show its support for UNRWA — and encourage our allies to support its efforts — especially in light of the Knesset’s recent vote to ban the organization.
posted by toastyk at 3:40 PM on December 4 [4 favorites]

Perfect cap to a thread that's closing soon.
posted by cendawanita at 3:38 AM on December 5 [2 favorites]

It might be a good starting point for a new thread, have there been any major reactions yet?
posted by Kitten as a cat at 5:27 AM on December 5 [1 favorite]

Google alert tells me that Amnesty Israel rejected the report conclusions but the ToI liveblogging link doesn't show it (or it's buried already). Otherwise I just see chatter that BBC is barely reporting it and no presentation on NYT....
posted by cendawanita at 7:05 AM on December 5 [1 favorite]

Israel Foreign Ministry says it's Hamas that's committed the real genocide.

ADL - "The organization’s false and callous use of the term “genocide” diminishes the gravity of the crime and is a transparent attempt to malign the Jewish state."

From Al Arabiya English - Gazans - "Amnesty report came late".
posted by toastyk at 7:28 AM on December 5 [2 favorites]

BBC article on the report:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjwl0v4w5j3o
posted by Kitten as a cat at 10:33 AM on December 5 [2 favorites]

NYT coverage: subhead: Israel rejected the charge — the first of its kind by a major human rights organization — saying it was “based on lies.”
posted by toastyk at 12:08 PM on December 5 [2 favorites]