Palestine today
Don’t say you didn't know
Who is running our public media, and how do we make them accountable?
Why are our public media outlets, the ABC and SBS, covering up Israel's actions and failing to mention the war crimes it commits daily? For instance, two days ago, last Thursday, Israel killed 77 people, and yesterday, Friday, it killed 100—yet these crimes were not mentioned in a single word in the news. If they were Jewish Israelis, would they have kept quiet about it?
Both outlets continue to find ways to dismiss complaints. There is a clear need for a public inquiry into how our public media operates, who is running it, and the right-wing politics that control it.
I think there is also a need for a group of lawyers, journalists and others to make our public media accountable and not get away with their pro-Israeli policy.
Ali
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Palestinians rescue Mahmoud al-Ghol from under the rubble of a house with asbestos ceilings that was struck by Israel F-16s in Rafah [File: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]
‘Most Severe Bombardment since WWII’ | Horrific Massacre in Beit Lahia –
The United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said in a statement that since October 2023, Gaza has been witnessing the most intense bombing targeting civilians since World War II. Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued to carry out massacres in the Strip, especially in central Gaza, killing and wounding scores of Palestinians. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry (Gaza), 44,330 Palestinians have been killed, and 104,933 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Israel army killed 100 Palestinians in northern Gaza in past 24 hours: Civil Defence
The Gaza Civil Defence, on Friday, said as many as 100 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks and massacres in northern Gaza in the past 24 hours, Anadolu Agency reports. In a statement, Civil Defence spokesman, Mahmoud Basal, said 75 of the victims were killed in Israeli air strikes on two homes in Beit Lahia, while the others were targeted in Jabalia and other areas of northern Gaza. “The number of martyrs since the start of the Israeli military operation in northern Gaza (on 5 October) has reached 2,700 Palestinians, and 10,000 others are injured,” Basal told Anadolu.
Overall, the Israeli onslaught that began after the 7 October, 2023 Hamas attacks have killed more than 44,000 people in Gaza, and the enclave is now uninhabitable. Last week, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Palestinians in north Gaza describe 'real life horror movie'
Palestinians in the north of the Gaza Strip have been living under relentless Israeli bombardment for days, and say their situation is 'indescribable'. Palestinians on Thursday described a "real life horror movie" in the Gaza Strip's north as ferocious Israeli air strikes continued across the devastated territory, a day after a ceasefire began in neighbouring Lebanon. Israel on October 6 began an intensive siege and air and ground attacks in Jabalia and then expanded it to Beit Lahia.
It is believed to be implementing a "General's Plan" designed to kill, starve, and expel the remaining inhabitants of north Gaza "We are living in a real life horror movie, the situation is indescribable, the Israeli bombing doesn't stop from the air or on the ground," said Umm Ahmad Lubbad, 52, from Beit Lahia. Abu Muhammad Al-Madhoun, displaced from Jabalia camp to the central Gaza Strip, said the situation was "catastrophic". "It is getting worse every day," he said, adding: "The bombing does not stop." The Gaza health ministry said at least 37 people were killed on Thursday across the territory by Israeli air strikes. Hossam Abu Safiyeh, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north, described the situation there as "tragic and very difficult".
Australian police: Watermelons are ‘anti-Semitic’
Australian police stopped a man because his car had 'anti-Semitic' material on the window. When the driver queried what the anti-Semitic material was, the dejected-looking officer replied, ‘The small watermelon'. The incident is emblematic of how solidarity with Palestine is policed in countries like Australia, the US and Europe, where the individuals tasked with enforcing the law often have very little knowledge about Gaza, Palestine or Israel. see the short video.
Anti-Palestinian discrimination in NSW public schools
Over 4000 people have signed a petition in three days, calling for an apology for a student who was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald to have been banned from attending his Year 12 formal for wearing a keffiyeh (Palestinian scarf) at his graduation. The student is from a Palestinian background, and the scarf is traditionally worn at significant events such as graduations. It should be unthinkable to ask a Jewish student to remove their kippah at a graduation, so why is anti-Palestinian discrimination acceptable? How has the NSW Education Department come to tie itself in knots over this issue? It is not simply a question of decision making at Condell Park High School. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the NSW Education Department backed the school’s decision, paying lawyers to prevent the student from attending his formal.
The sanctioning of the student flows from the document “Supporting the school community during the current conflict in the Middle East” that initially required schools to be neutral on genocide.
The document comes from the NSW state Labor government, who have consistently supported Israel, claiming its actions in Gaza are “self-defence” and allowing NSW weapons companies like Quickstep and Bisalloy to continue to supply weapons parts to Israel. They also allow weapons companies that supply Israel, to run or sponsor third party STEM programs for school students.
For the NSW Labor government the horror in Gaza is an inconvenient truth, so they clamp down on any discussion, or visible reminder, of it. They want to prevent political support for Palestine growing. Suppressing cultural expressions, and Palestinian identity itself, are part of this process.
Renewed crackdown on free speech aims to overwhelm US student protests
How universities respond to the suppression could define the boundaries of campus activism for years to come. With President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House in January, universities across the United States face a frenzy of pressure over handling student protests and free speech. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations, sparked by Israel's ongoing war in Gaza, have become a political flashpoint that refuses to go away. In May, during a congressional hearing, a Republican-led House Committee accused university leaders of giving into antisemitism, with the US director of national intelligence even alleging that Iran is providing financial support to pro-Palestine activists.
The incoming Trump administration has promised even more aggressive crackdowns, which could reshape the landscape of campus activism and _expression_. The Trump administration could double down by weaponising the Department of Education’s Title VI anti-discrimination act to target campus activism, cloaking it as an effort to combat antisemitism. Legal advisors and student activists fear this could spell the end of free speech in higher education, with students and faculty alike facing reprisals for simply engaging in pro-Palestinian or anti-war rhetoric.
Oxford Union declares Israel an 'apartheid state responsible for genocide'
Union president denounces Israel's war on Gaza as a 'holocaust' at a fiery event where pro-Israel speaker was ejected for harassing Palestinian student. The prestigious Oxford Union voted by an overwhelming majority that Israel is an "apartheid state responsible for genocide" at a fiery event in which the society's president denounced Israel's war on Gaza as a "holocaust", and a pro-Israel speaker was ejected from the debating chamber.
The exclusive debating society, founded in 1823, held an unprecedented debate on Thursday night on the motion: "This house believes Israel is an apartheid state responsible for genocide". The motion was carried with a thumping majority of 278 to 59. At one point, the debate became so fiery that opposition speaker Yoseph Haddad, an ardent supporter of Israel, was told to leave the chamber. Haddad, who produced several props and posters during his speech, wore a T-shirt displaying a photo of killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrullah and the caption: "Your terrorist hero is dead! We did that."
Dutch Advocate General to Top Court: Uphold Export Ban on F-35 Jet Parts to Israel
The Dutch Supreme Court has been advised by its attorney general that the ban on the export of spare parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel be upheld. This comes after the Hague Court of Appeal ordered the government in February to block those exports citing “a clear risk” that the parts could be used “in serious violations of international humanitarian law.” Following the ruling, the government sought advice from the Supreme Court. “According to the advocate general, the Court of Appeal was justified in finding that there is a clear risk that Israel’s F-35 fighter jets are being used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law in the Gaza Strip,” the court’s adviser said. “Under various international regulations to which the Netherlands is a party, exports of military goods must be banned if such a clear risk exists,” the adviser added. The appeals court ruling followed an appeal from human rights organizations who argued that supplying the parts contributed to “violations of international law by Israel” in its military action in Gaza.
UK's David Lammy blasted for saying 'there are no journalists in Gaza'
Journalists around the world condemn the British foreign secretary for erasing the work and suffering of Palestinian journalists. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has been blasted for saying “there are no journalists in Gaza” at a meeting in parliament on Wednesday. Lammy was asked by fellow Labour MP Matthew Patrick at a House of Commons foreign affairs committee meeting about his assessment "of the nature of the conflict" in Gaza and "how that impinges on getting aid in”. "As I said, there is now widespread looting," Lammy said in his reply. "There are no journalists in Gaza and there are no politicians such as me who are able to go to Gaza, so I am unable to verify who is behind the looting," he added. Journalists from around the world condemned the British foreign secretary for appearing to erase the work and suffering of Palestinian journalists - at least 127 of whom have been killed during the course of Israel’s war on Gaza, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Zionism: An existential threat to Judaism
The error, personified in recent comments from Senator James Paterson, the Australian shadow minister, is that Israel is not only righteously defending itself, it is defending democracy. As Netanyahu’s actions have amply demonstrated, this ‘war’ is not about defending the right of Israel to exist, it is certainly not about the defence of democracy; it is about attacking and eliminating those who get in the way of, or oppose, Israel’s annexing of Palestinian land and diminishing Palestinian people. It is about treating every Palestinian as the ‘enemy’, simply because they exist.
It is ill-informed, or worse, for public figures to claim those who condemn Israel’s violence are antisemitic.
Indeed, many Australian Jewish groups make the same criticism of Israel that I do. The critique is of Zionism and its cruel agenda. The Zionist Federation of Australia most certainly does not speak for all Jews. Zionism, in and of itself is a threat to Judaism as amply demonstrated by the extra security good Jewish people worldwide have now needed to avail themselves. The real terrorists are the rightwing messianic thugs of Israel and those who do their bidding. The real terrorists are those responsible for the death of Zomi Frankcom, as well as countless journalists, doctors, nurses, and aid workers.
Australia and the ICC arrest warrants
If Australia is to have any influence at all in resolving the horrendous carnage now taking place in the Middle East it needs to demonstrate that it acts independently of American pressure. The politicians who lament the fraying of our ties with Israel seem totally unconcerned about the impact of our position on countries far more significant to Australia, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, whose support for Palestine recognition goes far further than anything supported by the Albanese government. There are three claims that underline the opposition to accepting the International Criminal Court’s issuing of warrants for Israeli leaders which need be answered.
We should support Israel because it is a democracy: Both the World Population Review and the Economist Democracy Index rate Israel—like the United States—as a “flawed democracy”. However this only refers to the internationally recognised boundaries of Israel. If we consider the de facto control of Gaza and the West Bank, where Palestinians have none of the rights of Israeli citizenship, it becomes impossible to maintain the argument. The claims for Israel’s democracy rest on both ignoring the occupied territories—which some Israeli politicians claim as part of Greater Israel—but also skirt over the inconvenient fact that until the current war there were mass protests against attempts by the Netanyahu government to curtail judicial review, which millions of Israelis saw as an attack on basic democratic rights…
If Tel Aviv was reduced to rubble like Gaza, the world would stop the war immediately
My mother survived the WW2 Nazi Auschwitz extermination camp, and she always asked why was the world silent? Why did they look away from the genocide of the Jews and do nothing? Today we know the answer as our government and media look away and do nothing for the Palestinians. I’m among very many Jews, here and around the world to protest what Israel is doing in our name, and I’m proud to join you every week for over a year in solidarity with Palestinians. The ICC has issued warrants for the arrest of two of Israel’s leaders – Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Gallant. Both are charged as perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Of course, Zionists in Australia are apoplectic and having a melt-down echoing Netanyahu’s excuses.
Predictably, he called it an “antisemitic decision.” But even in Israel’s newspaper Ha’aretz the headline says: “Netanyahu Brought the ICC Ruling on Himself and Now He’s Whining About Antisemitism”. Israel has dropped more bombs on Gaza than the Allied bombing in World War 2 on Dresden, Hamburg, and London combined! That’s more bombs on Gaza in a week than the US dropped on Afghanistan in one year. In 1967 during the Vietnam War, American scholar Noam Chomsky said something relevant today: “With no further information than this, a person who has not lost his senses must realise that the war is an overwhelming atrocity.”
Orban and Netanyahu: the transnational Right’s pervasive Islamophobia
Viktor Orbán’s obsequious letter to Benjamin Netanyahu offering him sanctuary from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Hungary is not a surprise. It is another red flag in the Islamophobic world of the transnational Right. The mass and prolonged slaughter of Palestinian Muslims (and Christians) cannot be seen as a crime committed against other humans in this worldview. The bloodshed must be revered as a form of “moral courage” in defence of the West. At the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship Conference (ARC) in London last year, one attendee told Rod Dreher that Hungary is our “Israel.” The ARC Advisory Board includes John Howard, Tony Abbott, John Anderson, Amanda Stoker and Andrew Hastie amongst its numbers.
ARC co-founder John Anderson hosted fellow Board member and divisive activist Douglas Murray on his influential YouTube channel last year. Over one million people have viewed the grim piece of hysterical fear mongering about Muslims. In this propaganda movement, the vast variety of Muslims around the world is reduced to stereotypes and enemies. This genteel-washing of bigotry promotes sympathy in the chattering classes for the conspiracy-infused hatred fostered by online influencers. It promotes acceptance of violence against Muslims. Israel’s continuing and gruesome persecution of Palestinians is concealed by a Western sense that Muslim lives do not matter. Our politicians do not dare to confront the bloodshed in any but the most mealy-mouthed fashion. The mainstream media barely covers the facts to prevent politicians facing the appropriate mounting horror at our complicity in these crimes against humanity.
Amazon Black Friday boycotted over company’s links to Israel
The retail giant is facing global backlash for 'enabling illegal occupation' in Palestine through its work with the Israeli military. Workers, unions, and activist organizations have come together to protest Amazon’s involvement in controversial projects with the Israeli military. A coordinated series of international boycotts and strikes, organised by UNI Global Union and Progressive International, will take place from 29 November to 2 December. At the heart of the criticism is Amazon's role in Project Nimbus, a cloud computing contract between Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, and the Israeli military. The partnership provides the Israeli army with cloud services and AI tools used for surveillance, data analysis, and the targeting of individuals. Critics argue that the company is profiting from Black Friday sales while simultaneously enabling Israel's military operations in Gaza.