Netanyahu and Gallant in the Israeli war cabinet room.
The ICC has finally charged Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant with war crimes in Gaza and issued warrants for their arrests. The ICC charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include not only specific atrocities in Gaza but also the more encompassing and systematic allegation of committing “crimes against humanity.” The ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber found enough evidence to charge both Netanyahu and Gallant with: “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts. The Chamber also found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.”
Statement of ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan on the indictment of Netanyahu, Gallant and Deif (assuming he’s still alive)….
On 20 May 2024, my Office submitted applications for warrants of arrest before Pre-Trial Chamber I in relation to the situation in the State of Palestine.
Today, based on the evidence presented by my Office, the judges have confirmed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Rome Statute crimes have been committed.
With respect to Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, more commonly known as Deif, Commander-in-Chief of the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas,” known as the Al-Qassam Brigades, the judges of the International Criminal Court have found reasonable grounds to believe that he is responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder, extermination, torture, and rape and other forms of sexual violence; as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture, taking hostages, outrages upon personal dignity, and rape and other forms of sexual violence.
With respect to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant, the judges of the International Criminal Court have found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that each has committed the war crime of using starvation as a method of warfare and crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts, as a direct perpetrator, acting jointly with others. The Chamber also found reasonable grounds to believe that they are each responsible for the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against civilians as a superior.
My Office had also submitted applications for warrants of arrest for Mr Yahya Sinwar, then Head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and Mr Ismail Haniyeh, former Head of the Hamas Political Bureau, but later withdrew them following evidence confirming their deaths.
Today, our collective mind and focus should be on the victims of international crimes in Israel and in the State of Palestine. In my own meetings with the victims and families of hostages taken from kibbutzim, and with victims from Gaza who have lost so many loved ones, I have underlined that the law is there for all, that its role is to vindicate the rights of all persons.
The decision of the independent judges of the International Criminal Court affirms that international humanitarian law must be upheld in all circumstances through fair and impartial judicial processes.
As I emphasized in May, these applications were made following an independent investigation, and on the basis of objective, verifiable evidence vetted through a forensic process.
I appeal to all States Parties to live up to their commitment to the Rome Statute by respecting and complying with these judicial orders. We count on their cooperation in this situation, as with all other situations under the Court’s jurisdiction. We also welcome collaboration with non-States Parties in working towards accountability and upholding international law.
I will also continue to seek cooperation from all stakeholders, including the State of Israel and the State of Palestine, to ensure my Office fully meets its responsibility pursuant to Article 54 of the Rome Statute to investigate incriminating and exonerating circumstances equally. In line with the Rome Statute, the door to complementarity continues to remain open. As with all situations, we will continue to actively assess the application of this fundamental principle, which requires genuine domestic investigations and any necessary prosecution of the same individuals for substantially the same conduct.
In parallel, my Office is continuing to pursue its independent and impartial investigation in the situation in the State of Palestine with focus. We are taking forward additional lines of inquiry in areas under the Court’s jurisdiction, which include Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. I am deeply concerned about reports of escalating violence, further shrinking humanitarian access, and continued expansion of allegations of international crimes in Gaza and the West Bank.
We will continue to carry out our mandate in order to fulfill the fundamental commitment forming the basis of the Rome Statute: that the lives of all human beings have equal value.
+++
The ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant intentionally deprived Gaza’s civilian population of essential items such as food, water and medical supplies. The Israeli leaders are also charged with using starvation as a method of warfare and deliberately targeting medical facilities. The court warned that the Israeli government had “created conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population in Gaza,” a finding that could open the door to a charge of genocide.
The arrest warrants, which were initially classified as “secret,” were made public, the Court said, because it found that “conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing.”
The ICC stated that its Pre-Trial Chamber rejected Israel’s jurisdictional challenges and issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant; they are now internationally wanted suspects who risk arrest if they travel to any of the 124 countries that are members of the ICC.
The decision to issue the warrants was unanimous.
Neither Israel nor the United States recognize the court’s jurisdiction.
The arrest warrants had been requested on May 20 by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan for Netanyahu and Gallant’s responsibility in “war crimes and crimes against humanity” committed by the Israeli army in Gaza since October 7, 2023. The six-month delay in issuing the warrants is the longest in the court’s history. (The ICC took less than a month to approve arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, for the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children.) During the interval, Palestinians in Gaza have suffered tens of thousands of casualties, endured repeated displacements, lack of water, sanitation and medical treatment. Meanwhile, nearly the entire Gaza Strip is now in the grip of a lethal famine.
During the delay, the Court and its prosecutors came under unrelenting attack by Israeli officials, the pro-Israel lobby online trolls, and leaders of the US government, including President Biden, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and leaders of both major parties.
Biden on the ICC’s indictment of Netanyahu and Gallant: “The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
The ICC made no equivalency between the crimes of Hamas and Israel. Each was charged with separate crimes. What’s outrageous would be to ignore the crimes of one and indict those of another.
+ The editors of the Irish Times know how to design a front page…
+++
Netanyahu’s response was predictably hyperbolic:
The antisemitic decision of the International Criminal Court is a modern Dreyfus trial – and will end the same way. Israel utterly rejects the false and absurd charges of the International Criminal Court, a biased and discriminatory political body. No war is more just than the war Israel has been waging in Gaza since October 7th, 2023, when the Hamas terrorist organization launched a murderous assault and perpetrated the largest massacre against the Jewish People since the Holocaust. The decision to issue an arrest warrant against the Prime Minister was made by a corrupt chief prosecutor who is trying to save himself from sexual harassment accusations and biased judges who are motivated by antisemitic hatred of Israel. The ICC prosecutor lied when he told American senators that he would take no action until he had visited Israel and heard its side. Instead, he canceled his arrival in Israel last May, several days after suspicions of sexual harassment were made against him, and announced his intention to issue arrest warrants against the Prime Minister and former Defense Minister. No anti-Israel decision will prevent the State of Israel from defending its citizens. Prime Minister Netanyahu will not give in to pressure. He will continue to pursue all the objectives that Israel set out to achieve in its just war against Hamas and the Iranian axis of terror.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog was only slightly less melodramatic:
“This is a dark day for justice. A dark day for humanity. Taken in bad faith, the outrageous decision at the ICC has turned universal justice into a universal laughing stock. It makes a mockery of the sacrifice of all those who fight for justice – from the Allied victory over the Nazis till today. It ignores the plight of the 101 Israeli hostages held in brutal captivity by Hamas in Gaza. It ignores Hamas’ cynical use of its own people as human shields. It ignores the basic fact that Israel was barbarically attacked and has the duty and right to defend its people. It ignores the fact that Israel is a vibrant democracy, acting under international humanitarian law, and going to great lengths to provide for the humanitarian needs of the civilian population. Indeed, the decision has chosen the side of terror and evil over democracy and freedom, and turned the very system of justice into a human shield for Hamas’ crimes against humanity. This cynical exploitation of the international legal institutions reminds us once again of the need for true moral clarity in the face of an Iranian empire of evil that seeks to destabilize our region and the world, and destroy the very institutions of the free world.”
+ On the day the indictment was handed down, Israel escalated the tempo and barbarity of its attacks across Gaza.
It bombed at least five crowded homes in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, killing at least 66 Palestinians, many of whom remain buried under the rubble.”
It attacked Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, injuring seven nurses and medical lab specialists, some critically. Another airstrike destroyed the hospital’s main generator and water tanks, leaving the facility without oxygen or water and endangering the lives of 80 patients, including 8 in ICU.
Israeli forces bombed a displacement tent in the so-called “humanitarian zone” in Mawasi Khan Younis that killed several civilians, including a Palestinian mother and her daughter.
The Israelis also bombed a house in the Sabra neighborhood during the night, killing all 12 members of the Al-Daya family.
+++
Here’s a sampling of the global reactions to the ruling…
+ UK’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on whether Britain would enforce the ICC warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, “That’s not a matter for me.”
+ Ireland’s Tánaiste and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense, Micheál Martin: “The ICC today decided to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Israel and Palestine. This decision follows the court’s determination that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the alleged crimes were committed by these individuals. Ireland is a strong supporter of the ICC and calls on all States to respect its independence and impartiality, with no attempts made to undermine the court. Ireland has committed €3 million in voluntary contributions to the ICC in the past year.”
+ Hungary: “This shameful and absurd decision disgraces the international judiciary by equating leaders of a country attacked by a heinous terror attack with the leaders of the terrorist organization responsible. Such a decision is unacceptable.” Viktor Orban later invited Netanyahu to visit Budapest and guaranteed his safety from arrest.
+ Husam Zumlot, Palestinian Ambassador to the UK: “The ICC arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant is not only a step towards accountability and justice in Palestine but also a step to restore the credibility of the rules-based international order and its judicial system. It is now incumbent upon all parties who say they support the institutions of international law, human rights and justice to act on the ICC’s warrants. Today is a good day for all those who believe in internationalism.”
+ French Foreign Ministry statement: “France supports the court prosecutor’s action who acts in all independence … and the fight against impunity is our priority…We offer continued support to the ICC’s action. Our reaction will align with those principles.”
+ South Africa: “The South African Government welcomes the ICC’s recent warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant, and Mohammed Deif of Hamas. These actions mark a significant step towards justice for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Palestine.”
+ Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, the hawkish Green, said, “We are now carefully examining what this means for our national implementation.” The German government supplies at least 30% of Israel’s weapons imports. Even so, it has already announced it will not pause any planned weapons shipments.
+ Later, the German government issued this equally opaque and contradictory statement:
The Federal Government has taken note of the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the requested arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant. The Federal Government was involved in drafting the ICC statute and is one of the ICC’s largest supporters. This attitude is also the result of Germany’s history. At the same time, the consequence of Germany’s history is that we have unique relationships and great responsibility towards Israel. We will now carefully examine the necessary domestic steps. Nothing further is at question until there is a foreseeable[/expected/planned] stay[/visit] of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant in Germany.
+ The new rightwing government of Sweden refused to comment on the warrants but said it “supports the work of the ICC.”
+ Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine: “Despite all the limitations of the international justice system, which has reacted very late and still very late and very limited, this is such a historic day for the Palestinian people. The decision to charge two of the major architects of the crimes that have been executed against the Palestinians is just the beginning of, I hope, a long but not slow process of accountability. May this be followed by full cooperation from member states. If the system is not respected, it will fall and it will fall on our heads.”
+ Senator Tom Cotton, the hothead from Arkansan, threatened military action against the ICC, invoking a Bush II era law popularly known as The Hague Invasions Act, designed to protect shield US personnel and allies from ICC prosecution: “The ICC is a kangaroo court and Karim Khan is a deranged fanatic. Woe to him and anyone who tries to enforce these outlaw warrants. Let me give them all a friendly reminder: the American law on the ICC is known as The Hague Invasion Act for a reason. Think about it.”
+ Israeli journalist Ben-Dror Yemini weighed in with a frontal embrace of the apartheid theme…
+Dark Nations, Unite!
+ Jeremy Corbyn: “Will the UK government now, finally, honor its international obligations to prevent genocide and end all arms sales to Israel?”
+ Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune called on Congress to pass bipartisan legislation sanctioning ICC prosecutors attempting to prosecute Israeli officials. The Biden administration has spent much of the past year undermining the legitimacy of international law and the jurisdiction of the ICC investigation of Israel. Some 42 Democrats voted for the House bill Thune is vowing to pass.
+ Rep. Rashida Tlaib: “Today’s historic arrest warrants cannot bring back the dead and displaced, but they are a major step towards holding war criminals accountable.”
+ Human rights lawyer Craig Mokhiber: “It is likely that more charges will follow as the investigation proceeds. Many legal experts and genocide scholars expect that a charge of genocide may well be added as more evidence is gathered and as the genocide case against the state of Israel proceeds across the Hague at the International Court of Justice.”
+ Uri Kurlianchik: “Half of Israel wants to see Bibi arrested, just not by the ICC.”
+ Israeli human rights group B’Tselem:
The ICC’s issuing of international arrest warrants for Israel’s leaders on the suspicion they committed the crimes of starvation, persecution, and intentionally directing an attack against civilians is one of the lowest points in Israeli history.
Unfortunately, all we know about the conduct of Israel in the Gaza Strip over the past year – which was conducted with the knowledge and the direction of the prime minister and the ministerial cabinet – it isn’t surprising that the evidence indicates that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Personal accountability for decision-makers is a key element in the struggle for justice and freedom for all human beings living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Therefore, all state parties to the court must respect the Pre-Trial Chamber’s decision and enforce the warrants.
B’Tselem and other organizations have warned for years that the Israeli apartheid regime inherently involves severe human rights violations. During the past year, these violations have intensified to unimaginable dimensions. The Israeli government’s policy has resulted in tens of thousands of civilians killed, hundreds of thousands of civilians starved and the horrific suffering of millions.
+++
For the fourth time, the Biden administration has vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. This resolution called for “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” and the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.” Fourteen members of the UNSC voted in favor. Only the US voted against it.
China’s envoy, Fu Cong, asked, “Do Palestinian lives mean nothing? How many more people have to die before they (the US) wake up from their pretend slumber?… The repeated vetoes by the US have reduced the authority of the Security Council and international law to an all-time low.”
+ Calling the latest US veto “unconscionable,” Russia’s Ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said, “For months, the US has obstructed and obfuscated, standing in the way of the Council action to address the catastrophic situation in Gaza and playing on one side of the conflict to advance its own political objectives at the expense of Palestinian lives. We do not need to be lectured by the United States on hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is what they exhibit every day in different conflicts.”
+ Nicolas de Riviere, France’s envoy to the UN, called the US veto “regrettable,’ and lamented that “international humanitarian law is being trampled underfoot.”
+++
+ This week, UNRWA published its latest map depicting the extent of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. According to UNRWA commissioner Philippe Lazzarini: “80% of the Gaza Strip is now high-risk areas where people are forced to flee in search of the basics, especially the non-existent safety. They are trapped with no safe place to go. In northern Gaza, people remain under a tight siege. They run for their lives in vicious circles and have been deprived of humanitarian aid for more than 40 days now. Across Gaza, the delivery of the little aid allowed in has become overly complex, including because of insecure routes. Civil order has been destroyed. It can be reestablished by ceasefire + accountability.”
+ The latest Israeli attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia killed at least 66 Palestinians and wounded 100. The hospital’s director, Dr. Husam Abu Safiyah, said that some of the victims were “torn to pieces” and that many of the victims died unnecessarily because of a lack of medical supplies.
+ In the last two weeks, Israel has conducted at least six airstrikes targeting tent encampments of displaced Gazans located in Israeli-designated “safe zones,” most of the victims were women and children.
+ Israeli forces have prohibited the entry of tents into Gaza. As a result, people live in makeshift shelters made of sheets of plastic, scraps of tin, old rugs and blankets, which have all been flooded due to the heavy autumn rains.
+ Israeli troops have transformed North Gaza’s only water desalinization plant into an Army base.
+ Israel’s new Defence Minister, Israel Katz, announced this week that Israeli settlers will be immune from administrative detention, where the Israeli and military can arrest and hold people without charges or trial. In the past, the policy, in theory at least, applied to both non-Jews and Jews in the Occupied Territories. In practice, it has been invoked almost exclusively against Palestinians. Since October 7, 2023, Israel has arrested and imprisoned 9,500 Palestinians on administrative detention orders while detaining only 8 Jewish settlers in the same time frame. The new order makes official what has been a covert reality and makes explicit the apartheid nature of the regime. The Israeli antiwar group Peace Now denounced the move, saying: “The cancellation of administrative detention orders for settlers alone is a cynical move that whitewashes and normalizes escalating Jewish terrorism under cover of war.”
+ Matthew Miller, State Department: State Department on Gaza humanitarian situation today: “We have seen the situation improve, though to see the actual realization of all those improvements will take some time.”
+++
Map of Israeli airstrikes in south Beirut. Beirut Urban Lab.
+ Since the 27th of September 2024, Israel has issued 186 “evacuation threats” for over 262 buildings in South Beirut, which have targeted residential and commercial urban neighborhoods, according to data compiled by Beirut Urban Lab. In the past week alone, 50 new orders were issued, representing a 213% increase compared to the previous week.
+ Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 3,558 people(including more than 200 children) and injured 15,123 since October 7, 2023, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
+ Naim Qassem, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, says that Hezbollah has two main requirements in ceasefire negotiations: The complete end of the war and the safeguard of Lebanon’s sovereignty, rejecting Israel’s demand that it be granted freedom of military action in Lebanon’s territory.
+ A new report from the World Food Program estimates that around 1.26 million people in Lebanon – 23 percent of the country’s population – now face acute food insecurity. The situation is expected to worsen this winter as Israel’s military operations continue to disrupt supply chains and restrict humanitarian access.
+ Access to food remains limited for many Lebanese families. Since March 2021, the minimum cost for a family of five to survive has soared by 190 percent.
+ The crisis is also impacting the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees still in Lebanon, more than half of whom are experiencing acute food insecurity and are entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance.
+ In 2024, cereal harvest shows concerning declines, with wheat and barley production 40 percent below average at 113,700 tons, according to the report.
+ At least 190 health workers have been killed in Lebanon in less than two months. The Israel invasion and bombardment have forced the closure of 50 primary healthcare centers and eight hospitals in Lebanon.
+ On Saturday, Israel’s Channel 14 released a poll showing that 54% of Israelis now favor a ceasefire in Lebanon.
+++
+ James Zogby: I have been on the DNC for 32 years: 16 on the Executive Committee, 11 as chair of the Resolutions Committee, and on the Unity/Reform Committee. I’m pushing for budget transparency and accountability, and party democracy. But I guess all I’ll ever be is that “pro-Palestinian” guy. It’s bigotry.”
+ Trump ended up winning New Jersey’s Ninth Congressional district, which includes South Paterson, often referred to as “Little Palestine” because of its sizeable Palestinian-American population.
2020: Biden +19%
2024: Trump +1.2%
+ Although he has stocked his incoming administration with a gang of pro-Israeli neocons hot for war with Iran, there was a report out this week that Trump said he would oppose any attempt by Israel to annex the West Bank and East Jerusalem, despite having blessed the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights in his previous term. Time will tell.
+++
+ 2024 is now officially the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers. According to the Aid Worker Security Database, at least 281 aid workers globally have been killed this year, breaking last year’s record of 280 killings in 33 countries. Most of the killings have taken place in Gaza, at the hands of Israeli forces. Since October 7, 2023, more than 320 humanitarian personnel have been killed in Gaza, many while providing humanitarian assistance. Most of the slain workers were staff members of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
“Humanitarian workers are being killed at an unprecedented rate, their courage and humanity being met with bullets and bombs,” said Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. “This violence is unconscionable and devastating to aid operations. States and parties to conflict must protect humanitarians, uphold international law, prosecute those responsible, and call time on this era of impunity.”
+ On November 20, a Palestinian Civil Defense was attacked by Israeli forces as the rescuers and medics treated victims of an airstrike on a home in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City.
“The occupation aircraft directly bombed our crews while they were trying to retrieve the martyrs and the injured from under the rubble of a house that was bombed in the Sabra neighborhood in southern Gaza City,” Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said. “The targeting led to the death of rescue worker Ali Muhammad Mustafa Omar and the injury of others, bringing the number of Civil Defense killed to 87. We condemn this blatant targeting of humanitarian service providers, who are urged to be protected by the Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law.”
+ This is the 18th time that Israeli forces have targeted Palestinian Civil Defense teams as they were helping to rescue and tend to the victims of Israeli airstrikes.
+++
+ The West Bank continues to be under ferocious assault by the Israeli military and raids from settler paramilitary gangs.
+ On November 12, Israeli forces shot and killed an 18-year-old Palestinian man near the Deir Sharaf checkpoint northwest of the city of Nablus. According to eyewitnesses, the Palestinian man was walking near the checkpoint when Israeli soldiers called him and ordered him to lift his shirt to check for weapons and shot him. The Israeli soldiers improbably claimed he drew a knife and tried to stab them.
+ The following day, Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinian men in Ezbet al Jarad, east of Tulkarm city. Undercover Israeli forces surrounded a building where two men and a two-year-old child were staying and opened fire. An eyewitness reported that as one of the two men tried to surrender and put the child safely aside, he was shot. The child was struck in the face by shrapnel from a grenade. Israeli forces withheld the bodies of the men and took the injured child with them. An hour later, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) received the child from the forces and transported him to the hospital. Another Palestinian was injured by gunfire from the Israeli soldiers while he was near the house.
+ On November 19 and 20, Israeli forces conducted a military raid in Jenin and the Jenin refugee camp, during which two Palestinians were killed, residential shelters were damaged, and the residents were displaced. Over four kilometers of roads, including bridges, culverts, water lines and other underlying civilian infrastructure, were damaged. Later that day, Israeli forces launched multiple air strikes against the village of Kafr Dan outside of Jenin. The bombings were followed by a raid on the town by Israeli ground forces. Three Palestinians were killed. Israeli forces withheld the bodies of two of them.
+ In the last week, 43 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces in the West Bank, 25 of whom were children, including 19 schoolgirls who were treated for tear gas inhalation after Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters in two separate incidents on November 13 and 17 near their school compound in Al Khadr outside of Bethlehem. In two other incidents on November 13 and 14, Israeli soldiers shot and injured three boys (aged 14 to 15) during a raid on Beit Furik near Nablus, whom the soldiers accused of throwing stones.
+ Since November 14, Palestinians in the West Bank have been subjected to 47 attacks and raids by Israeli settlers. At least 25 attacks resulted in casualties, property damage, or both. More than 200 olive trees were damaged or destroyed.
+ Since October 1, 2024, UN observers have documented 225 attacks by settlers directly related to the olive harvest in 82 communities across the West Bank.
+++
Forensic Architecture map of Israeli evacuation orders, military operations and road corridor construction in northern Gaza.
+ A new study by Forensic Architecture maps how the Israelis are implementing their policy of ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza: “We are witnessing an intensification and acceleration of military tactics previously used by the Israeli military throughout the Strip, this time aimed at enforcing large-scale displacement from the north. Analysis of Israeli ground operations reveals a new military corridor slicing through the fabric of northern Gaza from east to west, further isolating northern Gaza from the rest of the Strip. Meanwhile, hospitals in Jabalia are under attack once again, some for the third time, and aid remains obstructed, exacerbating an engineered famine.”
+++
+ For the first time, the US Senate was compelled to vote on whether it would enforce its own laws (Leahy Act) when it comes to Israel. On Thursday, Bernie Sanders brought to the floor three Joint Resolutions of Disapproval of Certain Offensive Weapons Sales to Israel. Using the determination that Israel has impeded humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza and that Israel had used US weapons in the indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian civilians, the Resolutions sought to block the sale of three types of weapons: 120mm tank rounds; 120mm high-explosive mortar rounds: and JDAMs, the guidance kits attached to many of the bombs dropped in Gaza.
+ Sanders noted during his floor speech that the “United States cannot provide weaponry to countries that violate internationally recognized human rights.” Despite having the backing of pro-Jewish organizations such as J Street, several of the largest labor unions in the country, including the SEIU, the United Auto Workers, and the United Electrical Workers; humanitarian groups like Amnesty International and Doctors of the World; and religious groups like the United Methodist Church and the Friends Committee, the resolutions went down to defeat with every Republican senator, including Rand Paul, and more than half of the Democrats voting against it.
+ In the end, Sanders could only muster 19 votes to block “some” US weapons sales to Israel: Durbin, Helmy (on one of 3 resolutions) Heinrich, Hirono, Kaine, King, Lujan, Markey, Merkley, Murphy, Ossoff, Sanders, Schatz, Shaheen, Smith, Van Hollen, Warnock, Warren, and Welch. Tammy Baldwin, the Wisconsin progressive, courageously voted: “Present.”
+ In the last year, the U.S. has provided more than $18 billion in military aid to Israel and delivered more than 50,000 tons of military equipment and weapons.
+ Sen. Chris Van Hollen on his support for the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval against weapons to Israel’s Netanyahu government: “…President Biden has failed to hold Netanyahu accountable—ignoring US law & undercutting his own stated policies as well as America’s interests and values.”
+ Chuck Schumer, who Trump now demeans as “the Senator from Palestine,” explaining his vote against Sanders’s resolution to block arms sales to Israel: “Voting to block assistance today could very well embolden Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran. We have no idea what kind of threats Israel will face by then. It could be an even more emboldened Iran…”
+ Sen. John Kennedy, the crackpot from Louisiana, made some typically depraved remarks about Palestinians on the floor of the US Senate during the debate over Sanders’s resolutions to block arms sales to Israel: “They’re just bad people. And they hurt other people and they take other people’s stuff…They want to kill us and drink our blood out of a boot. It’s just a fact.”
+++
+ As the famine worsens across Gaza, the World Food Programme (WFP) reports that only seven of the 19 bakeries in Gaza are still operating: two in Deir Al-Balah, one in Khan Younis and four in Gaza City.
+ The lack of medical supplies in Gaza is forcing more and more doctors to resort to amputations for wounds that would otherwise be treatable.
+ Israeli forces have prohibited the entry of tents into Gaza. As a result, people are living in makeshift shelters made of plastic sheets, tarps and rugs, which have all been flooded in the heavy rains that have drenched Gaza this week.
+ This week, the BBC canceled a planned interview with Israeli historian Ilan Pappé, citing “unforeseen circumstances.” Even Oepidus, after gouging out both of his eyes, could have foreseen these circumstances.
+ The Jerusalem Post published the results of a survey conducted by Israel’s own Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combatting Antisemitism and found that 42 percent of Jewish-American teenagers believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and 37 percent of Jewish-American teens sympathize with Hamas.
+ Last week, Pope Francis called for an international investigation into charges that the Israeli army is committing genocide in Gaza. In the Hippie Pope’s forthcoming book, Hope Never Disappoints. Pilgrims Towards a Better World”, the Catholic pontiff wrote: “According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of genocide.” Netanyahu responded with characteristic bombast, calling the Pope: “disgraceful.” There have been no statements from the White House in defense of the head of Biden’s church.
+++
Let’s give the last word this week to Dr Hussam Abu Safiya,
A short while ago, the hospital was targeted, the surrounding area of the hospital, the hospital gates, and the entrance of the emergency and reception. This scene is now being repeated almost constantly—very violent targeting, with shells from tanks.
We were dealing with one of the injured people inside the intensive care department, and shrapnel hit us in the workplace. The situation is very dangerous and can’t be tolerated. We work and provide humanitarian services, and then we get bombed in a terrible way at Kamal Adwan Hospital. Hospitalized patients were afflicted with fear and horror; in the background, one can now hear continuous shelling in the vicinity and in the hospital itself. There is a clear targeting of the hospital.
What is required? I do not know. We are providing humanitarian services. We are now resuscitating some of the injured inside the operating rooms of the hospital; what is happening is a real crime. The world must stop this crime and stop this ongoing killing mechanism against the citizens in the northern Gaza Strip and against the health system. This killing machine must be stopped; the bombing must be stopped.
A little while ago, the Badran family was targeted; a doctor working in the ICU department his house was targeted, everyone in the house was martyred, and his children and all his relatives were martyred. More than 17 half of them are still trapped under rubble. Yesterday, Dr Nihad Ghuniem was targeted; the entire family of Dr. Ghoneim was martyred and is still under rubble. This means that we are now in the scene of a martyr bidding farewell to a martyr.
This is the truth. This is the actual scene. How long will this mockery last? How long will this criminal aggression against the health system go on?
We are being targeted while we are providing a humanitarian service. We are being targeted while saving the lives of sick and injured people.
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