1. New from FMEP
2. Gaza
3. West Bank
4. Region/Diplomacy
5. US Scene
6. Long Reads/Perspectives
Three new Occupied Thoughts podcast episodes:
- Humanitarian Catastrophe in Gaza, Palestinian Refugees, and the Campaign Against UNRWA – FMEP non-resident fellow Peter Beinart interviews Chris Gunness, formerly the Spokesman and Director of Strategic Communications at UNRWA. They discuss the enormous humanitarian crisis in Rafah and Gaza more broadly as well as the history and function of UNRWA – the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East – and the campaign against it.
- Promoting Risk & Undermining Rights: Morningstar’s Betrayal of Palestine & ESG (Part 2) – FMEP’s Lara Friedman speaks to international legal expert in business and human rights Tara Van Ho about the latest twist in the ongoing controversy involving the Chicago-based financial services company Morningstar Inc. and its subsidiary Sustainalytics, over how it deals with Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territories. Specifically, the podcast explores Morningstar’s recently released (January 31, 2024) 37-page report, written by a pair of “independent experts,” laying out recommendations regarding how Morningstar conducts its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) assessments, such that Israel and companies operating in Israel are absolved of any possible association with ESG risks, real or potential.
- Israel’s War on Gaza: Implications & Impacts on Saudi Policies & Politics – FMEP President Lara Friedman speaks with Saudi researcher and analyst of Saudi foreign policy Aziz Alghashian about the impact of Israel’s now more than 4-month-long war on Gaza on the political calculations and policies of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Aziz is a fellow at Sectarianism, Proxies & De-sectarianisation (SEPAD) and at the Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO). The focus of his current research and writing is Saudi policy towards Israel, and Arab-Israeli relations.
FMEP Legislative Round-Up: February 16, 2024 (Lara Friedman) – 1. Bills, Resolutions; 2. Letters; 3. Massive Supplemental Aid for Israel Takes Center Stage; 4. Hearings & Markups; 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements
Settlement & Annexation Report: February 16, 2024 (Kristin McCarthy) – 1. Tenders Issued for Construction in Geva Binyamin and Karnei Shomron Settlements, Bringing 2024 Total to 523 Tenders; 2. Hebron Settler Council Launches Crowdfunding Campaign for U.S.-Sanctioned Settler & His Illegal Outpost; 3. New Outpost Near the Tekoa Settlement; 4. Israel Has Expedited East Jerusalem Settlement Planning & Home Demolitions in Wake of October 7th; 5. Israel to Pay Immigrants $550/Month to Move to Settlements; 6. East Jerusalem Cable Car Project Stalled as Israel Looks for Construction Company; 7. Settler Population Grew By 3% in 2023; 8. B’Tselem Details “Extreme Restrictions” on 2023 Olive Harvest; 9. Peace Now Launches New Settler Violence Hotline; 10. Israel to Buy 200 Armored Vehicles for Civilan Standby Units, Including in Settlements; 11. Israel Spying on U.S.-PA Settler Violence Channel; 12. News & Analysis of Sanctions on Settlers; 13. Bonus Reads
As Israel corners Rafah, Netanyahu defies the world (Ishaan Tharoor//WaPo) – “The chorus of warnings is hard to ignore. International organizations, rights group advocates and even a growing number of Western leaders are all urging Israel to refrain from launching a full-scale ground offensive on Rafah, the overwhelmed city on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt. Close to a million and a half displaced Palestinians are crammed in makeshift encampments there, the majority having fled other parts of Gaza already ravaged by the Israeli military campaign that followed the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas…“We will fight until complete victory, and this includes a powerful action also in Rafah after we allow the civilian population to leave the battle zones,” Netanyahu said Wednesday.” See also “Where Can We Go?”: Terror and Panic Set in as Israel Readies to Invade Rafah (Intercept); Short of options, Gazans try to flee Rafah ahead of Israeli operation (WaPo); If Israel invades, hell looms in Rafah (The Economist); Palestinian ambassador to UK says eight relatives killed in Israeli strikes in Rafah (Guardian); In Rafah, we sit in flimsy tents as the bombs fall. There is no escape: we can only wait for the worst (Bahzad Al-Akhras//Guardian); Egypt threatens to suspend Camp David Accords if Israel pushes into Gaza border town (Politico)
In call, Biden warns Netanyahu on Rafah; PM vows to resist Palestinian state (Times of Israel) – “Amid growing tensions between the two leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden spoke by phone for 40 minutes Thursday evening, according to the Prime Minister’s Office…On Rafah, the [White House] statement said Biden “reiterated his view that a military operation should not proceed without a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for the civilians in Rafah.” See also Standoff over Rafah assault tests Israel’s most important alliances (WaPo); Leaders of Canada, Australia and New Zealand jointly call for ‘immediate humanitarian ceasefire’ in Gaza (JTA); US won’t punish Israel for Rafah op that doesn’t protect civilians (Politico); Israel Gaza: UN warns of ‘slaughter’ if Israel launches ground assault on Rafah (BBC);
Satellite photos show Egypt building Gaza wall as Israel’s Rafah push looms (Al Jazeera) – “Egypt is building a fortified buffer zone near its border with the Gaza Strip as fears mount of an imminent Israeli ground invasion of the southern city of Rafah, which could displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians across the frontier, according to satellite images and media reports. Footage from the site in the Sinai desert and satellite photos show that an area that could offer basic shelter to tens of thousands of Palestinians is being constructed with concrete walls being set up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, the only non-Israeli-controlled crossing to and from Gaza.” See also Gaza cease-fire talks in Cairo appear to stall as Rafah offensive looms (WaPo); Bibi declines to send Israeli delegation to Egypt for more hostage talks (Axios)
Palestinians Flee as Israeli Forces Raid a Major Hospital in Gaza (NYT) – “Explosions and gunfire rocked the hospital in the city of Khan Younis, the Nasser Medical Complex, before the predawn raid, killing and wounding several people including at least one doctor and a patient, according to a doctor there, as well as the charity Doctors Without Borders, which had staff members at the hospital, and Gaza health authorities…The Israeli military said it had detained dozens of people, but did not say who or why…The military did not say whether hostages or Hamas fighters had been found. Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the health ministry in Gaza, said that Israeli forces had used bulldozers to dig up graves on the hospital grounds.” See also Destroying Gaza’s Health Care System Is a War Crime (Annie Sparrow & Kenneth Roth//Foreign Policy); Surgeon describes ‘horrible’ scenes at Nasser Hospital, says Israel bombing hospital for last three days (Middle East Eye); The Trauma of Giving Birth in Gaza (New Yorker); 5 patients die as oxygen runs out in Gaza hospital seized by Israeli forces, health officials say (AP); IDF Sent In Handcuffed Prisoner to Evacuate Hospital, Then Killed Him When He Left (Intercept); Israeli troops raid Gaza’s Nasser Hospital amid fears of imminent Rafah operation (Al Monitor); ‘Catastrophic situation’ at Gaza’s Nasser Hospital amid Israeli raid (Al Jazeera)
Dozens reported dead in Rafah strikes as Israel rescues two hostages (WaPo) – “Israel’s military said it rescued two hostages from the southern Gazan city of Rafah early Monday while carrying out a wave of strikes, which Gaza’s Health Ministry said killed at least 67 people. As Gazans reported violent bombardment from all directions in Rafah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would use “continued military pressure” to return the remaining hostages.” See also She Survived an Airstrike That Killed Her Entire Family in Gaza (NYT)
“They brought Israeli civilians to watch our nude torture”: IDF torture of Palestinian prisoners is turned into entertainment for Israeli viewers (Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor) – “The Israeli army introduced groups of Israeli civilians into detention centres and prisons holding Palestinian prisoners and detainees from the Gaza Strip, permitting the civilians to witness torture crimes against the detainees, with many allowed to film them on their own phones. Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor received shocking testimonies from recently released Palestinian prisoners and detainees, in which they reported that the Israeli army invited a number of Israeli civilians during their interrogation sessions to witness torture and inhumane treatment, to which they were deliberately subjected in the presence of the civilians…The released detainees told Euro-Med Monitor that the Israeli soldiers had purposefully presented them before Israeli civilians, falsely claiming that they were fighters affiliated with Palestinian armed factions and that they had taken part in the 7 October attack on Israeli towns on Gaza Strip borders. According to testimony received by Euro-Med Monitor, groups of ten to twenty Israeli civilians at a time were permitted to watch and laughingly film Palestinian prisoners and detainees in their underwear while Israeli army soldiers subjected them to physical abuse, including beating them with metal batons, electric sticks, and pouring hot water on their heads. The detainees were also verbally abused.”
The Campaign to Abolish UNRWA (Peter Beinart//Jewish Currents) – “The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which has provided education, health care, and other essential services to Palestinian refugees since 1949, could soon disappear. In recent weeks, the United States and at least 18 other countries have suspended aid to the agency, which operates in the Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, serving more than five million people. The House and Senate are both considering legislation to prevent the US—which is UNRWA’s largest donor—from ever resuming that funding. UNRWA officials have said that if funding is not restored, the organization will likely halt operations as early as the end of this month. The current effort to abolish UNRWA dates from late January, when Israel alleged that 12 of the agency’s staff members took part in the October 7th massacre, and that roughly 1200 employees—10% of UNRWA’s workforce in Gaza—have ties to Hamas or other militant groups. But Israel and its supporters in the US have been seeking to undermine the agency for at least a decade.” See also Palestinian UNRWA agency faces ‘deep’ cash crunch in April, chief says (Reuters)’ U.N. agency struggles to serve Gaza as scrutiny mounts over alleged Hamas links (WaPo); Israel in breach of international law if it denies Gaza food and water, says UK foreign secretary (Guardian)
‘I’m so scared, please come’: Hind Rajab, six, found dead in Gaza 12 days after cry for help (Guardian) – “Trapped in the vehicle and surrounded by her dead relatives, for three hours she pleaded with the Red Crescent to save her. But the aid agency lost contact with the ambulance dispatched to her aid on 29 January and its crew and Hind remained missing. Now Hind’s family has said that she was found dead inside the car in the Tel al-Hawa area of Gaza City on Saturday morning…The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that it had located its bombed-out ambulance just metres away, and that its two paramedics, Yusuf Al-Zeino and Ahmed Al-Madhoun, had also been killed…The PRCS accused Israel of deliberately targeting the ambulance. “The occupation deliberately targeted the Red Crescent crew despite prior coordination to allow the ambulance to arrive at the site to rescue Hind,” it said in a statement.”
War on Gaza: Israeli army chief urges soldiers to stop looting Palestinian homes (Middle East Eye) – “The Israeli army’s chief of staff has warned soldiers against looting homes in Gaza after numerous videos emerged showing houses being vandalised and ransacked…Earlier in January, the Gaza government media office said the Israeli army had, since 7 October, looted money, gold, and artefacts worth around $25m. The media office said it had “dozens of testimonies” provided by residents of the Gaza Strip regarding the thefts.” See also Young Israelis block aid to Gaza while IDF soldiers stand and watch (WaPo); Scoop: Israeli minister blocking flour Bibi promised Biden would be allowed into Gaza (Axios)
What is ‘domicide,’ and why has war in Gaza brought new attention to the term? (NPR) – “As of early February, more than 70,000 housing units in Gaza have been destroyed and nearly 300,000 have been damaged, OCHA reports. Taken together, it represents 60% of all housing units in the Gaza Strip…Some researchers and human rights advocates say the destruction amounts to “domicide,” or the widespread or systematic destruction of homes, often during conflict…More than half of all buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed as of Feb. 2, according to analysis of satellite imagery by a team of researchers at Oregon State University and the City University of New York. In northern Gaza, the most populous area of the territory before the war, as much as 82.9% of all buildings were damaged or destroyed.
Moody’s Downgrades Israel’s Credit Rating, Citing Toll of War (NYT) – “Moody’s on Friday became the first major rating agency to downgrade Israel’s creditworthiness, citing the prolonged war with Hamas and the toll it is taking on the country’s finances. Moody’s, one of three major rating agencies alongside S&P Global Ratings and Fitch, lowered Israel’s rating from A1 to A2…A rating of A2 is still a high rating, but Moody’s also noted that the outlook for the country was negative, dented by the social, political and economic risks arising from the conflict with Hamas.” See also Smotrich calls Moody’s downgrade of Israeli credit rating ‘politicized, unreasonable’ (Times of Israel)
Families of Israeli hostages to file war crimes complaint against Hamas in The Hague (Times of Israel) – “Some 100 family members of Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza are set to file a complaint of war crimes Wednesday against the leaders of the terror organization at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Over the past four months, lawyers for the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which is representing the hostages’ relatives, have prepared a legal submission demanding that arrest warrants be issued against the Hamas leadership for the October 7 atrocities.”
The journalists killed in Gaza — and what they tried to show the world (WaPo) – “At least 85 journalists and media workers, such as interpreters and support staff, have been killed over four months of war in the Middle East, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The rate, about five a week, is the highest since the CPJ began keeping global records over 30 years ago. All but seven of them were Palestinians killed in Israel’s war in Gaza. Many were freelancers or worked for local outlets, with little of the protection usually afforded to international reporters. The CPJ’s tally also includes four Israeli journalists killed on Oct. 7 in Hamas’s cross-border attack into Israel, and three Lebanese journalists killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, according to their media outlets.”
Two killed, 4 hurt in terror attack at Re’em Junction in south Israel; gunman dead (Times of Israel) – “Two Israelis were killed and four others were wounded, including two in serious condition, in a shooting attack at a junction in southern Israel on Friday afternoon, police and medics said…The terrorist was identified by the Shin Bet as Fadi Jamjoum, 37, from East Jerusalem’s Shuafat. He holds Israeli residency.”
Israel Authorities Demolish Home of East Jerusalem Social Activist, Drawing U.S. Ire (Haaretz) – “On Wednesday morning, a large police force descended on the home of Fahri Abi Diab, one of the most prominent social activists and neighborhood leaders in East Jerusalem. Masked officers forcibly moved Abu Diab, his wife and son and a number of journalists away from the house. Shortly afterward, a municipal bulldozer demolished the house…Abu Diab is a well known figure in Jerusalem’s diplomatic community. In the past month, when the city indicated it was going to demolish his house, numerous diplomats visited it. One of them was Andrew Miller, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs in the U.S. Department of State and diplomats from the European Union, France, Britain, Turkey and others.” See also Five Years and 30 Million Shekels Later, East Jerusalem Cable Car Project Remains Stuck Midair (Haaretz)
Israel is surveilling U.S. data on settler attacks to thwart sanctions, sources reveal (Yuval Abraham//+972) – “Israel has been surveilling information provided to the United States by the Palestinian Authority regarding settler violence in the occupied West Bank in recent months, +972 Magazine and Local Call have learned. Sources in Israeli intelligence told both sites that they have been tracking materials passed through private channels by the PA to the Office of U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (USSC) in Jerusalem in order to “understand what the U.S. knows about settler violence.” The intention, they explained, is not to act against the perpetrators but to prevent the collected information from “developing into sanctions…A source with direct knowledge of the process behind the recent U.S. sanctions told +972 and Local Call that another announcement of economic sanctions by the White House is likely, which could also include high-level Israeli settlers and senior civil servants with a background of violence against Palestinians. According to the source, the “blacklist” of settlers subjected to a travel ban is also expected to expand, and the final number could reach “hundreds of settlers.”’ See also France to impose travel bans on violent Israeli settlers (Reuters)
US investigators visit homes of two Palestinian-American teens killed in the West Bank (AP) – “The families of two Palestinian-American teenagers killed in separate but eerily similar incidents in the West Bank say investigators from the American Embassy have visited their homes to look into the shootings. Launching American probes into the killings of Mohammad Khdour and Tawfic Abdel Jabbar reflects what appears to be a lack of confidence in the Israeli justice system to properly investigate the cases. Rights groups have long said that Israeli investigations into killings of Palestinians rarely lead to prosecutions, and the State Department has previously called for an “expeditious” and “thorough” Israeli investigation into Abdel Jabbar’s killing.” See also Family grieves after American teenager shot dead in West Bank (WaPo)
Israel’s Crackdown on Hebron (Maya Rosen//Jewish Currents) – “In an interview with Jewish Currents, [Hebron resident & human rights activist Issa Amro] described being taken to a nearby military base where he was tortured continuously for ten hours and sexually assaulted…Amro’s experience is just one example of the wave of violence and repression that has intensified against Palestinians in Hebron since October 7th. In the past four months, as anti-Palestinian sentiment has soared in Israel and the world has largely focused its attention on Gaza, Israeli settlers and soldiers have killed 384 Palestinians, including 97 children, in the West Bank and injured 4,443 more…In addition to affecting Hebron’s Palestinian residents, Israel’s brutal crackdown on the city poses a threat to Palestinians across the West Bank, because restrictions and tactics that start in Hebron often end up spreading to the rest of the region. It was in Hebron, for example, that the Israeli army first used military orders to establish segregated roads; such roads are now a feature across the West Bank. Hebron is also where facial recognition technology was first used to surveil Palestinians in 2021; this, too, has spread to the rest of the West Bank. Now, as local Israeli soldiers begin to impose new restrictions in Hebron with impunity—at times seemingly acting against the official policy of their military commanders—many fear that these tactics will similarly spread, worsening the already dire situation of Palestinian communities in the West Bank.” See also Israelis filmed hurling stones at Palestinians in West Bank, aided by uniformed settlers who opened fire (Times of Israel); A Fanatical Israeli Settlement Is Funded by New York Suburbanites (New Lines Magazine); Israel holds female Palestinian rights lawyer without trial or charge (Al Jazeera)
Israel used the Gaza war to impose extreme restrictions on the annual West Bank olive harvest (B’Tselem) – “The annual olive harvest in the West Bank is a key element of the Palestinian economy and a crucial source of income for tens of thousands of families. The World Bank and the Palestine Trade Center estimate that in good years, it injects almost 200 million dollars into the Palestinian economy. However, every year, Israel extensively restricts Palestinians’ ability to carry out the harvest, using official and unofficial means. In 2023, while the war in the Gaza Strip was underway, these restrictions reached new heights, leaving about 50% of Palestinian farmers unable to harvest their trees, according to estimates of the Palestinian Farmers’ Union.”
Art world takes the stage to defend a Palestinian theater (Dana Mills//+972) – “In the early hours of Dec. 13, Israeli forces raided the offices of the Freedom Theatre, a world-renowned bastion of artistic expression in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. The soldiers ransacked the building and defaced it with graffiti bearing Jewish symbols, before violently abducting three members of the theater’s community from their homes: artistic director Ahmed Tobasi, producer Mustafa Sheta, and a graduate of the theater’s performing arts program, Jamal Abu Joas…While this attack comes in the context of a brutal crackdown across the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, it also represents the latest escalation in Israel’s decades-long persecution against the Palestinian cultural sphere in general, and Jenin’s Freedom Theatre in particular. This time, however, Israel’s aggression has not gone unchallenged, and the response from the global artistic community in solidarity with the theater has been unprecedented.”
U.S., Arab nations plan for postwar Gaza, timeline for Palestinian state (WaPo) – “The Biden administration and a small group of Middle East partners are rushing to complete a detailed, comprehensive plan for long-term peace between Israel and Palestinians, including a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state, that could be announced as early as the next several weeks. The urgency of the effort is tied directly to a proposed pause in the fighting and release of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas that is being negotiated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt…The elephant in the planning room is Israel, and whether its government will acquiesce to much of what is being discussed: the withdrawal of many, if not all, settler communities on the West Bank; a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem; the reconstruction of Gaza; and security and governance arrangements for a combined West Bank and Gaza. The hope is that Israel would also be offered specific security guarantees and normalization with Saudi Arabia and other Arab states that would be hard to refuse. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given no indication that he is ready to budge on either Hamas demands for a hostage deal, or his opposition to a Palestinian state.” See also Scoop: Bibi warned Blinken recognizing Palestine would be “prize” for Oct. 7 (Axios)
World Court to Review 57-Year Israeli Occupation (Human Rights Watch) – “An unprecedented number of countries and international organizations are expected to participate in the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) oral hearings on Israel’s occupation beginning February 19, 2024, Human Rights Watch said today. Fifty-two countries and three international organizations will participate in the oral proceedings, more than in any other case since the world’s highest court began functioning in 1946. The broad participation in the hearings and the many written submissions reflect growing global momentum to address the decades-long failure to ensure respect for international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Israeli jets hit Lebanon in heaviest strike since Gaza war began (WaPo) – “Israel on Wednesday launched its longest and heaviest attack on neighboring Lebanon since the start of the Gaza war, striking several locations in the south, killing at least three Hezbollah fighters and seven civilians, and raising further the specter of war between the two long-standing enemies…The action followed a morning attack launched from Lebanon into the northern Israeli town of Safed that struck a house and an Israel Defense Forces base.”
Dutch Court Orders Netherlands Gov’t to Halt Exports of F-35 Parts to Israel, Citing Breach of Humanitarian Law (Haaretz) – “A Dutch appeals court on Monday ordered the government to block all exports of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel over concerns they were being used in violations of international law during Israel’s Gaza offensive.” See also Which countries have stopped supplying arms to Israel? (Al Jazeera); EU’s top diplomat slams US for sending arms to Israel as Gaza deaths mount (Politico)
Biden signs order to shield Palestinians in US from deportation (Guardian) – “Joe Biden has signed an order shielding several thousand Palestinians in the United States who need protection from deportation for the next 18 months, the White House said on Wednesday, citing deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza. The move grants “deferred enforced departure” to an estimated 6,000 Palestinians, a Biden administration official said.”
25 Democratic senators call for temporary cease-fire, hostage release (Jewish Insider) – “Twenty-five Democratic senators joined a call on Wednesday to offer “urgent support” for efforts to reach a deal to free additional hostages from Gaza “in tandem with a restored mutual ceasefire in Gaza.” The letter to President Joe Biden was led by Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA). An Ossoff spokesperson clarified that the letter is seeking a temporary pause in the fighting, consistent with what has been publicly reported about the hostage talks.” See also Is Biden’s Gaza Policy Alienating Black Voters? (Foreign Policy)
Van Hollen accuses Israel of ‘war crime,’ says U.S. aid should be suspended (Jewish Insider) – “Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) accused Israel of a “textbook war crime” in a speech on the Senate floor on Monday, calling on the administration to suspend aid to the U.S. ally. Van Hollen accused Israel of deliberately obstructing food aid from being provided to Gaza for the purpose of causing starvation inside the territory, an allegation vigorously denied by an Israeli government official on Tuesday. “Kids in Gaza are now dying from the deliberate withholding of food,” Van Hollen alleged. “That is a war crime — it is a textbook war crime. That makes those who orchestrate it war criminals. So now the question is, what will the United States do?”…Even so, Van Hollen said he’d vote for additional aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan because he supports Ukraine assistance.”
Opinion: Secretary Blinken, this is the uncomfortable truth about America and Israel (Rajaie Batniji//CNN) – “On February 1, I met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for a 90-minute private discussion on the situation in Gaza…Here is what I told him:…Mr. Secretary, you have provided the weapons and the political cover that enabled the murder of 65 members of my family, mostly women and children, over the past four months. In strikes in mid-November, three generations of my family were killed by missiles as they sought shelter and safety. I carry their memories with me. I see their crushed bodies when I close my eyes…In a dignified world, I would be asking for justice, not mercy. That day will come.” See also In Private Remarks to Arab Americans, Biden Aide Expresses Regrets on Gaza (NYT); Gaza ceasefire activists to march from Philadelphia to D.C. in week-long protest
J Street’s Pro-War Stance Prompts Staff Departures (Mari Cohen//Jewish Currents) – “Since October 7th, at least seven staff members have left J Street, with at least four making it known to colleagues that the liberal Zionist lobby’s lack of support for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza had motivated their resignation, according to three former and current J Street employees. These departures are among several indications that J Street’s three-and-a-half months of support for the war—which, to date, has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians, and which many experts consider a genocide—sparked significant dissent from the group’s employees and supporters. In late November, 19 employees signed an internal letter to the executive team asking the group to call for a ceasefire. In the letter, obtained by Jewish Currents, the staffers describe themselves as “increasingly troubled by our organization’s reluctance to commit to an end of violence and suffering.”’
Meta’s review of hate speech policy sparks concern of further censorship of pro-Palestinian content (Guardian) – Meta is considering expanding and “revisiting” its hate speech policy around the term “Zionist”, the Guardian has confirmed. The company reached out to and met with more than 10 Arab, Muslim and pro-Palestinian organizations on Friday to discuss the company’s plans to review the policy to ensure the term “Zionist” is not being used as a proxy for Jewish or Israeli people, according to an email the Guardian reviewed. The policy as it exists allows “Zionist” to be used in “political discourse but removed when it’s used explicitly as a proxy for Jews or Israelis in a dehumanizing or violent way”, according to an email a Meta representative sent to the organizations inviting them to the Friday meeting…Organizations involved in discussions, which include MPower Change, 7amleh and Jewish Voice for Peace, expressed deep concern in the meeting about whether this change would further censor pro-Palestinian voices. Several reports commissioned by 7amleh and Human Rights Watch as well as one commissioned by Meta confirmed that Palestinian accounts have long been systematically silenced and stifled on Meta-owned platforms.
Edward Said seems like a prophet: 20 years on, ‘there’s hunger for his narrative’ (Moustafa Bayoumi//Guardian) – “Reading these lines, you might believe Said is a prophet. How else could his decades-old words sound like they’ve been ripped from this morning’s headlines? In truth, it’s not that Said was prescient – it’s that Palestinian dispossession continues, that the Israeli occupation remains, that justice for Palestinians is as elusive as ever. If anything has changed, it’s the scale of the violence, but not the violence itself. Reading Said reminds us of the necessity of standing against oppression everywhere, of discovering an ethical position that translates into action, and of adopting skepticism before partisanship. “Never solidarity before criticism,” as Said was fond of saying, just as he often talked about Palestine being the “touchstone” for human rights globally today.”
Gaza and the End of the Rules-Based Order (Agnès Callamard//Foreign Affairs) – “The United States and many Western countries have supported Israel, providing military assistance, opposing calls for a cease-fire at the United Nations, stopping funding of the UN Relief and Works Agency serving Palestinian refugees, and rejecting South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), even as the carnage continued to unfold. Today’s diplomatic complicity in the catastrophic human rights and humanitarian crisis in Gaza is the culmination of years of erosion of the international rule of law and global human rights system. Such disintegration began in earnest after 9/11, when the United States embarked on its “war on terror,” a campaign that normalized the idea that everything is permissible in the pursuit of “terrorists.” To prosecute its war in Gaza, Israel borrows ethos, strategy, and tactics from that framework, doing so with the support of the United States. It is as if the grave moral lessons of the Holocaust, of World War II, have been all but forgotten, and with them, the very core of the decades-old “Never Again” principle: its absolute universality, the notion that it protects us all or none of us. This disintegration, so apparent in the destruction of Gaza and the West’s response to it, signals the end of the rules-based order and the start of a new era.”
Israeli settlements stand in the way of peace. Biden can defund them all (Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man//Guardian) – “If the president ever wants to use the full range of sanctions he signed into, it could very well defund the entire Israeli settlement enterprise. However, because the Israeli economy is in reality not at all distinct from the settler economy, sanctions of that scale could force a reckoning for which Israelis are entirely unprepared. Biden’s executive order allows for sanctioning violent Israeli settlers, but also those complicit in, or who plan or direct settler violence — including soldiers who don’t enforce the law against settlers…One of the foreign policy objectives listed in Biden’s executive order includes ensuring “the viability of a two-state solution and ensuring Israelis and Palestinians can attain equal measures of security, prosperity, and freedom.” But is not individual violent settlers who stand in the way of Palestinian security, prosperity, and freedom — Israeli settlements and the systems of apartheid and occupation they breed are responsible for that.”
Opinion | We Find It Easy to Accept War, Peace Not So Much (Yonatan Zeigen//Haaretz) – “My mother, Vivian Silver, was slaughtered in her house on October 7th. She always had a clear anti-war moral stance, but she was also pragmatic, saying that peace is an Israeli interest and that we will never be safe without it…When I talk to people about peace, they insist that I, an ordinary citizen, come up with a solution. Do they insist on the same thing from someone who talks about war? The answer is no. In the Israeli context, war is perceived as something to be taken for granted, that is managed professionally and done out of no choice as a response to existential danger. But if we were to put this conception to the test, we would find that Israel is an established fact, and that therefore war does not bring more security and does not protect us. It brings only death and destruction and increasing, ongoing security risks.”
‘Change in Israel will only happen when there are costs that force our eyes open’ (Meron Rapoport//+972) – “Few books can aptly be described as “prophetic,” but the latest release by the Israeli political sociologist Yagil Levy is certainly one of them. Levy submitted the manuscript of “Shooting and Not Crying: The New Militarization of Israel in the 2000s” in April 2022, and the book was published in February 2023 by Lamda – The Open University Press, as if to prepare us for the events of October 7. Almost every chapter and subsection in the book points to a phenomenon whose consequences we witnessed that day: the military’s complete reliance on technology as a decisive factor in warfare; the adoption of the concept, promoted by previous IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, of an army that is “small and lethal”; the obsession with the idea of “deterrence,” which is supposed to negate the other side’s will to fight; and the complete addiction to the status quo as the only possible and desirable state of affairs. All these factors, together and separately, can explain the resounding and shocking military failure of October 7.”
Who Should Lead the Palestinians After the Gaza War, and How? (Mahmoud Jabari and Dahlia Scheindlin//Haaretz) – “Outsiders, including the United States, the EU and key Arab states, may have ideas about the future of Palestinian leadership; but it’s Palestinians who must ultimately decide. Many are already having that conversation, far outside the sclerotic political system. We are writing this article to open a window onto the coming from Palestinians themselves.”
Our Wish is to Sleep Peacefully (Hamdan Huraini//Humans of Masafer Yatta) – “What I see on the ground and what my village is witnessing now is completely different from what is written about in the media. When settlers come to our homes, they wear Israeli army uniforms and threatens us. “If you do not leave your home, I will come back and shoot you,” they said to me. How can I trust what is called “international law to protect human rights?” It makes no sense. My village is besieged, my family is terrified. I do not even feel safe inside my house. My land cannot be cultivated — the army has made it into “a closed military zone.” Yes, I cannot enter my land, which is 100 meters away from my house.”