NEW FROM FMEP
FMEP Legislative Round-Up December 13, 2024 (Lara Friedman)
- Bills, Resolutions; 2. Letters; 3. Hearings; 4. Selected Members on the Record; 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements
Settlement & Annexation Report: December 13, 2024 (Kristin McCarthy)
1.More Demolitions in Silwan Imminent, Threatening Displacement and Replacement; 2. Israel Seizes Land Northwest of Jerusalem, Possibly to Expand Settlement; 3. Israel Demolishes Structures in “Agreed Upon Reserve” Near Bethlehem; 4. Weiss Details Work Towards Gaza Settlements; 5. Settlers Move on Plans to Settle South Lebanon & Syria; 6. U.S. Senator Intro’s Bill to Compel U.S. Adoption of Settler Terminology “Judea and Samaria”; 7. U.S. Democrats Introduce Bill to Codify Biden’s Sanctions on Violent Settlers; 8. Bonus Reads
How and Why South Africans Care About Palestinians (Occupied Thoughts episode)
FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with writer and editor William Shoki about the history of South Africa and Israel, how South Africa’s government sees its global role, and how South Africans think about Israel/Palestine in comparison to post-apartheid South Africa.
GAZA
Israel’s war in Gaza amounts to genocide, Amnesty International report finds (Guardian 12/4/24)
“The 296-page report examining events in Gaza between October 2023 to July 2024, published on Thursday, found that Israel had “brazenly, continuously and with total impunity … unleashed hell” on the strip’s 2.3 million population, noting that the “atrocity crimes” against Israelis by Hamas on 7 October 2023, which triggered the war, “do not justify genocide”. Israel has “committed prohibited acts under the Genocide Convention, namely killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction” with the “specific intent to destroy Palestinians” in the territory, the report said. It marks the first time Amnesty has alleged the crime of genocide during an ongoing conflict, and builds on a March report by the UN special rapporteur for Palestine that concluded “there are reasonable grounds to believe” Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians…“We did not necessarily start out thinking we would come to this conclusion. We knew there was a risk of genocide, as the international court of justice said,” Budour Hassan, Amnesty’s Israel and occupied Palestinian territories researcher, told the Guardian. “When you join the dots together, the totality of the evidence, it is not just violations of international law. This is something deeper.”’ See also “You Feel Like You Are Subhuman”: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza (Amnesty International 12/4/24); Amnesty says Israel committing acts of genocide in Gaza. Here’s what to know. (WaPo 12/4/24); Middle East latest: Israeli strikes in Gaza kill more than 50 people, including kids (AP 12/12/24); Palestine is most dangerous country for journalists, Reporters Without Borders says (Guardian 12/12/24)
Gazans face extreme hunger as ‘real famine’ spreads from north to south (Ruwaida Kamal Amer//+972 12/4/24)
“Since the start of October, when the Israeli army encircled northern Gaza and began subjecting it to a campaign of expulsion and extermination, no goods — including humanitarian supplies — have entered the area. In early November, a UN panel warned that famine was imminent in the besieged area in the north of the Strip, where around 75,000 Palestinians were estimated to still remain. Local organizations have since urged the UN and international bodies to formally declare a famine. Now, with the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) forced to pause aid deliveries through the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south, hunger and malnutrition across the enclave are set to intensify…“In the north of the Strip, there is a real famine,” Adnan Abu Hasna, an UNRWA spokesman, told +972. “The situation is very dangerous: there is no food, potable water, or any supplies. All health facilities have collapsed, and there are dozens of bodies lying in the streets and under the rubble.”…Even as northern Gaza bears the brunt of Israel’s policy of starvation, Palestinians throughout Gaza are going hungry…According to the UN, food security conditions are “alarmingly deteriorating” in the central and southern areas of the Strip — with wheat flour shortages forcing bakeries to close, and only 16 percent of the population able to receive reduced monthly food rations.” See also Cash Crisis in Gaza: “I barter my belongings to eat” (Abubaker Abed//Drop Site 12/6/24)
Revenge, fire and destruction: A year of Israeli soldiers’ videos from Gaza (WaPo 12/3/24)
“In the 14 months since the Israeli military launched its invasion of Gaza, videos and photographs have repeatedly shown its forces demolishing entire buildings, including homes and schools, as well as looting and torching them. Other visuals have Israeli soldiers posing next to dead bodies and calling for the extermination and expulsion of Palestinians. Running through many of these images is the theme of exacting revenge on Gaza for the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack, the bloodiest day in Israel’s history — with Hamas posting videos of atrocities committed by its fighters in attacks on Israeli civilians. Israeli soldiers have posted thousands of photos and videos from the battlefield, recording their actions in the war and broadcasting them on social media. Though the Israel Defense Forces have ordered troops not to film and post “revenge” videos, they have continued to appear online throughout the war. The result is a vast cache that gives a rare and troubling view of how some elements of the Israeli military have conducted themselves during one of the most deadly and destructive wars in recent memory. The Washington Post verified more than 120 photos and videos of the war in Gaza posted between October 2023 and October 2024, most of which were recorded by soldiers or shared publicly on their personal social media accounts. They show soldiers blowing up or setting fire to buildings — and often celebrating the destruction — occupying destroyed buildings, mocking Palestinians and calling for the Israeli resettlement of Gaza…Legal experts who reviewed videos compiled by The Post said in the most egregious cases soldiers are effectively logging evidence of possible violations of international humanitarian law.”
My Brother, Chef Mahmoud Almadhoun, Died Because He Fed Gaza’s Starving Citizens (Hani Almadhoun//The Nation 12/11/24)
“For two consecutive Thanksgivings, I have mourned the deaths of my brothers, both killed by the Israeli military in Gaza. Last year, my brother Majed and his family were killed in their sleep by an Israeli air strike. This past November 30, my brother chef Mahmoud Almadhoun was targeted by an Israeli drone just 30 yards from the shelter in northern Gaza where his seven children waited for him. Mahmoud’s killing wasn’t just an attack on my family; it was a message. He wasn’t a fighter—he was a father, a humanitarian, and a man devoted to his community. His only “crime” was slowing the ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza through tireless efforts to organize aid, deliver meals, and sustain those around him. I believe his killing was not an accident; it was meant to silence the helpers—the humanitarians who stand in the way of Gaza’s complete erasure. When the Israeli military ordered Palestinians in northern Gaza to flee south last October, our family chose to stay. They knew the history and the trauma of the Nakba too well and refused to be forcibly displaced again…Mahmoud wasn’t the only high-profile victim in northern Gaza last week. His friend the head of the ICU at Kamal Adwan Hospital was killed by the Israeli military a day earlier. Their deaths sent a chilling message: No one is safe, not even humanitarians.” See also Targeted aid killings: How Israel starved a population and sowed chaos in northern Gaza (The New Humanitarian 12/3/24);
Death march from Beit Lahia (Hossam Shabat//Drop Site 12/6/24)
“The Israeli military forced thousands of Palestinians in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, to flee from one of the last remaining shelters and surrounding homes in the besieged town in the early hours of Wednesday morning, sending men, women and children on an hours-long death march under heavy artillery shelling and gunfire…Leaving much of their scant belongings behind, civilians were forced to walk for an hour and a half, along Salah al-Din road—the main thoroughfare running through the enclave—before being forced to pass through an Israeli checkpoint…At the checkpoint, Israeli troops separated the men and detained them as their families screamed in desperation. Witnesses described children clinging to Israeli tanks in a desperate attempt to stay with their fathers…Two weeks ago, the UN estimated that between 100,000 and 131,000 people had been displaced from the North Gaza governorate to Gaza City since October 6. As of November 18, between 65,000 and 75,000 people were estimated to remain in North Gaza, according to the UN, accounting for less than 20% of the population there before Israel’s military campaign there began.” See also Israeli strikes kill at least 200 in Gaza as UN halts aid deliveries after more trucks stolen (CNN 12/1/24); Israeli attacks kill dozens of Palestinians hours after UN demands ceasefire in Gaza (Guardian 12/12/24)
Patterns of harm analysis (Airwars 12/12/24)
“This report focuses on the pattern and intensity of civilian harm during the opening weeks of Israel’s campaign in Gaza, comparing the level of civilian harm with military campaigns documented by Airwars over a decade of work in some of the world’s most intense and complex conflict zones…By almost every metric, the harm to civilians from the first month of the Israeli campaign in Gaza is incomparable with any 21st century air campaign. It is by far the most intense, destructive, and fatal conflict for civilians that Airwars has ever documented…Families were killed together in unprecedented numbers, and in their homes. More than nine out of ten women and children were killed in residential buildings. In more than 95 percent of all cases where a woman was killed, at least one child was also killed. On average, when civilians were killed alongside family members, at least 15 family members were killed. This is higher than any other conflict documented by Airwars.”
Death feels imminent for 96% of children in Gaza, study finds (Guardian 12/11/24)
“A new study of children living through the war in Gaza has found that 96% of them feel that their death is imminent and almost half want to die as a result of the trauma they have been through. A needs assessment, carried out by a Gaza-based NGO sponsored by the War Child Alliance charity, also found that 92% of the children in the survey were “not accepting of reality”, 79% suffer from nightmares and 73% exhibit symptoms of aggression. “This report lays bare that Gaza is one of the most horrifying places in the world to be a child,” Helen Pattinson, chief executive of War Child UK, said. “Alongside the levelling of hospitals, schools and homes, a trail of psychological destruction has caused wounds unseen but no less destructive on children who hold no responsibility for this war.”’ See also ‘We can’t give up on 1 million children’: the charity bringing psychological first aid to Gazans (Guardian 12/7/24)
Claims of Hamas fighters in Gaza hospitals may have been exaggerated, says senior ICC prosecutor (Guardian 12/11/24)
“Claims about the presence of Hamas fighters in hospitals in Gaza under siege by Israel’s military have been “grossly exaggerated”, a top prosecutor at the international criminal court (ICC) has said. Andrew Cayley, who is leading the ICC’s Palestine investigation, questioned the reliability of claims about military activity in Gaza’s hospitals which have been made to justify Israeli attacks on healthcare facilities in the territory…According to the latest figures published by the World Health Organization (WHO), of the 35 hospitals in Gaza it has evaluated only 17 are described as “partially functioning”. Five are “fully damaged” and 13 are categorised as “non-functional”…He said Gaza’s health system is now barely functioning. “Airstrikes, sieges, raids on hospitals. Add to that lack of fuel, electricity, food, medicine. That’s why the system has collapsed.”’ See also Palestinian rivals Hamas, Fatah agree on committee to run post-war Gaza (Al Monitor 12/3/24);
REGION/GLOBAL
How Israel used a power vacuum to destroy Syria’s military assets (WaPo 12/12/24)
“The battle plans had been drawn up years ago, and when the Syrian state fell suddenly, Israel wasted no time putting them in motion. The hundreds of strikes Israel carried out across Syria this week constituted one of the largest single operations in its history, experts said — effectively destroying its neighbor’s military capabilities in a matter of days. In parallel, Israeli forces have seized military posts in southern Syria, beyond a U.N.-monitored buffer zone established after the 1973 Yom Kippur war…U.S. officials told The Washington Post that Washington had given its blessing years ago to Israeli freedom of action in Syria, including airstrikes, as a self-defense measure, and that it extended to the present. The officials emphasized that Israel neither needed nor asked for U.S. approval or assistance for its operations in Syria since the rebel takeover…In the skies, meanwhile, Israeli airplanes began by targeting “chemical and biological weapons and long-range ballistic missiles,” said Eisin…Successive waves of strikes, the military said, took out Syrian missiles, drones, fighter jets, attack helicopters, tanks, radar systems and the country’s small naval fleet, sitting unprotected in the western port of Latakia…On Wednesday, the commanding officer of Israel’s 210th Division said that at least seven brigades, including special combat forces, were operating along the Syrian border and inside Syria. IDF international spokesman Nadav Shoshani said in a briefing Tuesday that the deployment of troops in the buffer zone “and a few additional points” is temporary but set no end date. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that troops would remain “until security on our border can be guaranteed.”’ See also Israel Says Its Troops Will Stay in Seized Territory for Now (NYT 12/12/24); Benjamin Netanyahu says Golan Heights will remain part of Israel ‘for eternity’ (Guardian 12/9/24); Israel’s Defense Minister Tells IDF to Prepare for Winter Stay on Syrian Side of Mount Hermon (Haaretz 12/13/24)
Iran’s supreme leader accuses U.S. and Israel of orchestrating Assad ouster (WaPo 12/11/24)
““The main plotter, the main planner, the main agent, the main command room is in the United States and in the Zionist regime,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday to a crowd of hundreds packed into a Tehran hall to hear his address. His remarks, while steeped in the Islamic Republic’s rhetorical tradition of condemnations of Israel and its Western allies, verged at moments into rare confluence with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s characterizations of Assad’s fall. In an address earlier this week, Netanyahu said the collapse of the Assad regime was “a direct result of the blows” Israeli forces “have dealt to Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.”…Khamenei sharply criticized Israeli military actions in Syria since Assad’s fall — a campaign of heavy airstrikes and the movement of ground forces into Syrian territory along Israel’s border. He praised Iran’s military and intelligence services and said Syria’s army was too weakened for help from Tehran to have made a difference. And he pledged that setbacks in Syria would only strengthen the resistance against the United States and Israel.”
Why Europe Has Gone Cold on Israel’s Blitz and ‘Temporary’ Occupation in Syria (Amir Tibon//Haaretz 12/12/24)
“In the four days that have passed since the collapse of the Assad regime, Israel has done three extraordinary things there. First, it took over the demilitarized zone established as part of the 1974 Israeli-Syrian armistice. Then it went further, conquering the peaks of Mount Hermon. On top of that, it initiated an unprecedented aerial bombing campaign, decimating most of the country’s military capabilities before the rebel groups that had toppled the regime could get their hands on them. There was radio silence from Israel’s allies throughout these dramatic events, as they watched in astonishment the Israeli response unfold. The first governments to offer an official response were Arab ones, particularly those of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who issued critical statements denouncing Israel for breaching Syrian sovereignty. They sounded the alarm that the Netanyahu government was perhaps seeking to permanently occupy Syrian territory, using the fog created by Bashar Assad’s stunning loss to create facts on the ground…Two senior European diplomats told Haaretz at the start of the week that their governments saw the logic behind Israel’s swift move to capture Mount Hermon, and that they not only understood but fully supported any Israeli actions to wipe out the remaining reserves of chemical weapons left behind by the Assad regime. Yet by the middle of the week, the diplomatic winds were blowing in a different direction: France, Germany and Spain all issued statements calling on Israel to withdraw from the demilitarized zone. They also stressed concerns that Israeli actions taken since the fall of the regime could lead to tensions with whichever government ends up replacing it in Damascus.”
‘As much and as quickly as possible’: Israeli settlers eye land in Syria, Lebanon (Illy Pe’ery//+972 12/12/24)
“The Nachala movement — led by Daniella Weiss, who has been spearheading efforts in recent months to resettle Gaza — expressed a similar sentiment in a post on Facebook…“In Gaza, in Lebanon, in the entire Golan Heights including the ‘Syrian Plateau,’ and in the entire Mount Hermon,” it added — attaching a biblical map titled “Abraham’s Borders,” in which Israel’s territory includes the entirety of Lebanon as well as most of Syria and Iraq. This is not mere talk; these groups mean business. Nachala has already mapped out where it plans to build new Jewish settlements across the Gaza Strip, and claims that more than 700 families have committed to move when the opportunity arises (Daniella Weiss herself has already been into Gaza with a military escort to scout out potential locations). And last week, Uri Tsafon, which has bided its time over the past year, made its first attempt at a land grab in southern Lebanon — where Israeli soldiers are still present following the ceasefire deal.”
Mossad Chief Discusses Hostage Deal With Qatari PM in Secret Doha Visit as Hamas Reportedly Drops Key Demand (Haaretz 12/12/24)
“Mossad chief David Barnea made a secret trip to Doha on Wednesday to meet with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani and discuss a hostage release deal. Barnea’s trip comes as Israel, Hamas and mediators attempt to complete a deal by next month, in keeping with the short timetable set by President-elect Donald Trump, who called on the parties to reach an agreement by the time he takes office on January 20. Barnea and Al Thani also met to discuss a cease-fire and hostage deal over a week ago in Vienna. The Wall Street Journal reported that in recent days Hamas has backed down from one of its central demands and agreed to a deal that would entail a temporary Israeli army presence in the Philadelphi route and Netzarim corridor after the cease-fire goes into effect. According to the report, Hamas “has also agreed it wouldn’t run or have a presence in the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza” and that Hamas has presented mediators with a list of hostages – including American citizens – it is prepared to release in the first stage of the truce. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz told U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Wednesday that there is now a chance for a new deal that would enable the return of all the hostages, including those who hold U.S. citizenship. Katz’s statement, which was officially publicized by the Defense Ministry, is an unusual public comment by Israel on the negotiations with Hamas, which have been operating under the radar in the past weeks.” See also
The ‘Ceasefire’ in Lebanon is a Ticking Bomb (Jeremy Scahill & Sharif Abdel Kouddous//Drop Site 11/27/24)
Fearing war crimes claims, Israel warns 30 soldiers not to travel abroad: What we know (Al Monitor 12/4/24)
“The Israeli military warned 30 soldiers and officers who fought in Gaza to avoid traveling abroad or to return from vacation abroad, reports revealed on Wednesday. The warnings came after pro-Palestinian groups filed complaints with the ICC and national courts abroad against several Israeli soldiers and officers, alleging war crimes in the Gaza Strip, Ynet reported on Wednesday. It also follows the decision by the International Criminal Court last month to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.” See also Netanyahu Must Be Brought to Justice. But We Can’t Stop There. (Dyab Abou Jahjah for the Hind Rajab Foundation//The Nation 12/11/24) See also Norway’s sovereign fund divests from Israel’s Bezeq over West Bank links (Al Monitor 12/4/24)
RIVER TO THE SEA
As Israel bans UNRWA, Palestinians stand to lose schools and clinics, not only in Gaza (NPR 12/3/24)
“But new legislation requiring Israel to cut ties with UNRWA has thrown the future of Qalandia and the agency’s other schools into doubt. A question mark also hangs over dozens of UNRWA-operated health clinics and the wide-ranging social services the agency provides, not only in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, but also in war-torn Gaza. Without the cooperation of Israel that has existed since UNRWA’s inception some 75 years ago, many fear the agency cannot continue functioning, as supplies and staff are halted at Israeli checkpoints…What’s more, UNRWA is the second-largest employer in the West Bank after the Palestinian Authority, so the agency’s collapse would throw even more people out of work.
Israeli soldiers systematically abusing Palestinians in Hebron, report reveals (Oren Ziv//+972 12/9/24)
“Random detentions, abuse, and humiliation by Israeli soldiers without cause: this is what daily life has looked like for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron in recent months, according to testimonies gathered by the human rights group B’Tselem and published in a new report last week. While most Palestinian armed resistance in the West Bank is concentrated in the northern cities of Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nablus, Israeli soldiers seem to have decided that, after October 7, all Palestinians are Hamas supporters — and nobody is innocent. “It appears that Palestinian residents of Hebron may, at any moment, fall victim to brutal violence openly inflicted on them as they go about their daily affairs,” the report explains. “The victims were chosen randomly, with no connection to their actions.”…The uptick in harassment and abuse of Palestinians in Hebron is not happening in a vacuum. Since October 7, the Israeli army has killed over 730 Palestinians in the West Bank — in part due to the re-adoption of significant air power in the territory for the first time since the end of the Second Intifada nearly 20 years ago. Simultaneously, Israeli settlers have ethnically cleansed over 50 rural Palestinian communities with the military’s backing.” See also Unleashed: Abuse of Palestinians by Israeli Soldiers in the Center of Hebron (B’Tselem, December 2024 Report); Israeli soldiers conducting campaign of ‘beatings and abuse’ in Hebron (Guardian 12/3/24); Four Palestinians Have Died in Shin Bet Interrogations Since War Started (Hagar Shezaf//Ha’aretz 12/12/24)
The West Bank villages wiped off the map by Israeli settler violence (Oren Ziv//+972 12/4/24)
“According to new data gathered by the left-wing Israeli NGO Kerem Navot, which monitors Israel’s dispossession of Palestinian land in the West Bank, at least 57 Palestinian communities have been forced to flee their homes since October 7 as a result of Israeli settler attacks. Of these, seven have been partially displaced — meaning the expulsion of at least one residential cluster, located several hundred meters away from the next — and 50 have been wiped off the map entirely. Most of the displacement has been concentrated in four areas: the northern Jordan Valley, east of Ramallah, southeast of Bethlehem, and the South Hebron Hills. “Unsurprisingly, most new outposts have been established in these areas,” Etkes explained. “There is a direct link between their establishment and the rise in violence [against Palestinians].”’ See also ‘I lost my wife and my land’: A deadly olive harvest season ends in the West Bank (Imad Abu Hawash//+972 12/12/24); On the Road to Annexation, Israel Is Intentionally Causing Economic Collapse in the West Bank (Haaretz 11/19/24)
Israel committing Gaza war crimes and ethnic cleansing, says Moshe Yaalon (Al Jazeera 12/2/24)
“Former Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon has accused Israel of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip, echoing the allegations by the International Criminal Court against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant. Yaalon, a former army chief of staff, told Israeli media that hardliners in Netanyahu’s far-right cabinet were looking to chase Palestinians from northern Gaza and wanted to re-establish Jewish settlements there…In an interview with the private DemocratTV channel, Yaalon said, “The road we are being led down is conquest, annexation and ethnic cleansing.” Pressed on the “ethnic cleansing” appraisal, he said: “What is happening there? There is no more Beit Lahiya, no more Beit Hanoon, the army intervenes in Jabalia and in reality, the land is being cleared of Arabs.”’ See also Expulsion and Talk of Depopulating Gaza? That’s Exactly What Ethnic Cleansing Looks Like (Former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon//Haaretz 12/6/24); The real reason a former Israeli army chief called out ethnic cleansing in Gaza (Mero Rapoport//+972 12/5/24); Show and Tell: Why Israeli Settlers Are Happy to Reveal Their Plans for Gaza (Haaretz 11/27/24)
Netanyahu takes the stand in his corruption trial. Here’s what to know. (WaPo 12/10/24)
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu testified Tuesday in his corruption trial, becoming the country’s first sitting leader to take the stand as a criminal defendant and marking an unprecedented moment in its political history…Netanyahu has tried for years to avoid appearing in court, with critics accusing him of undermining Israel’s judicial system, most recently by encouraging members of his right wing Likud party to call for the firing of the attorney general…The stakes have never been higher — both for Netanyahu, who may ultimately face jail time, and for the court itself, which the prime minister’s far-right supporters have characterized as a threat to democracy. Here’s what to know.” See also Israeli government orders officials to boycott left-leaning paper Haaretz (Guardian 11/24/24); Israeli, International Journalists Assail Government Boycott of Haaretz (Haaretz 11/26/24); ‘The whole foundation is rocking’: inside the explosive film about the investigation of Benjamin Netanyahu (Guardian 12/2/24); The Bibi Files review – tapes and testimony expose paranoia and petulance of Netanyahu family (Guardian 12/11/24)
U.S. SCENE
Congress Keeps Trying to Hide the True Gaza Death Toll (The Intercept 12/12/24)
“Tucked into a $895 billion Pentagon bill making its way through Congress is a little-noticed provision to further conceal the death toll in Gaza — the latest effort by U.S. policymakers to cast doubt on casualty figures reported by Palestinian health officials…The death toll provision of the must-pass bill, which passed 281-140 with 81 Democratic votes, has received significantly less attention. It would bar the Pentagon from publicly citing as “authoritative” casualty data from the Gaza Health Ministry, effectively concealing the full extent of the death toll in Gaza in the military’s public communications. The data from Palestinian authorities has been the only consistent and reliable count of the death toll out of Gaza over the last 14 months, with Israel consistently denying human rights workers access to the enclave and preventing foreign media journalists from entering…International human rights bodies, including the United Nations, have long relied on the data from the Gaza Health Ministry and considered it credible and in line with their own findings.”
Trump’s Israel Instincts Don’t Matter (Peter Beinart//Jewish Currents 11/26/24)
“The president will criticize Israeli behavior in ways that surprise the media and rattle his allies on the pro-Israel right. But it won’t matter, because he is again surrounding himself with passionate supporters of the Jewish state. And given Trump’s ignorance, laziness, and incompetence, his pro-Israel advisers will maneuver around him to ensure that Israel enjoys a free hand…If anything, Trump’s advisers will be even more uniformly pro-Israel than they were the first time around. At the beginning of Trump’s first term, his establishment-minded secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, and his secretary of defense, James Mattis—both of whom opposed moving the US embassy to Jerusalem—at times sought to counterbalance hardline advisers like Kushner, Friedman, and Greenblatt. But now that Trump has fully vanquished the GOP’s comparatively cautious old guard, he has appointed a Middle East team filled with extremists. Huckabee has said there is no such thing as a Palestinian. Stefanik has used allegations of antisemitism to launch an assault on campus free speech. Rubio is close to mega-donor Miriam Adelson, who reportedly wants the US to bless Israel’s annexation of the West Bank. And now that Trump is 78, and in evident decline, it’s even less likely that he’ll have the physical stamina and mental coherence to override a team that appears dedicated to letting the Israeli government pursue policies that crowd Palestinians into ever smaller ghettos, where their choices range from misery to expulsion to death.” See also U.S. Nonprofit Raised $300,000 for Israeli Sniper Unit Associated With Killings of Unarmed Palestinians (Drop Site 12/11/24)
Scoop: Internal Project Esther documents describe conspiracy of Jewish ‘masterminds’ seeking to dismantle Western values (Arno Rosenfeld//The Forward 12/6/24)
“The Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther, a conservative plan to counter antisemitism, sees the problem as one in which a handful of “masterminds,” including Jews like George Soros and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, are seeking to “dismantle Western democracies, values and culture,” according to internal Heritage documents obtained by the Forward. The documents, a pitch deck that Heritage used in trying to build support from Jewish foundations and other organizations, also outline several tactics the group plans to use to undermine a collection of anti-Zionist nonprofits and progressive groups that it refers to as the Hamas Support Network. The actions include identifying “foreign members vulnerable to deportation” and enlisting law enforcement to “generate uncomfortable conditions” for progressive activists.The think tank, which also produced the controversial Project 2025 blueprint for a second Trump administration, has struggled to attract Jewish supporters for its antisemitism plan, which appears to have been assembled by several evangelical Christian groups. Project Esther focuses exclusively on left-wing critics of Israel, ignoring the antisemitism problems from white supremacists and other far-right groups.” See also U.S. Nonprofit Raised $300,000 for Israeli Sniper Unit Associated With Killings of Unarmed Palestinians (Drop Site 12/11/24)
How the Trump administration and congressional Republicans may crack down on pro-Palestinian protesters (NBC 11/24/24)
“Judging from what has been pushed thus far, there are several legal measures most likely to be used once Trump returns to Washington. One would be deporting foreign college students in the U.S. on a visa after they’re found to have openly advocated for Hamas or another U.S.-designated terror group, or after they participated in an unauthorized campus protest and were suspended, expelled or jailed. Another measure would be to pursue federal prosecutions of demonstrators who block synagogue entrances or disrupt Jewish speakers at events. A third approach is to charge protest leaders and nonprofits that aid in fundraising for protest groups with failing to register with the U.S. Justice Department as an “agent of a foreign principal.” And a fourth avenue is to open investigations into protest leaders who are in direct contact with U.S.-designated terror groups while advocating on their behalf.” See also Deportations, lawsuits, increased scrutiny: How the Trump administration could handle campus antisemitism (Forward 11/27/24); ‘Climate of fear within philanthropy sector’ and ‘silencing’ taking hold over Gaza, new findings suggest (Alliance 12/10/24)
PERSPECTIVES//LONG READS
A year ago, an Israeli airstrike buried me alive. I’m still clawing my way out (Mohammed R. Mhawish//+972 12/10/24)
“Eventually, they took us to the hospital. I remember the dulled lights, the cold metal of the stretcher, the hurried whispers of the doctors. They poked and prodded at me. Their faces were grim as they cataloged the fractures to my elbow, seven fingers, and both ankles, as well as to my wife’s arm; my internal bleeding; and the scratches and bruises on all of us that would take months to fade. But the real damage wasn’t something they could see or treat. In the days that followed, I struggled to speak, eat, or sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I was back under the rubble, choking on dust, hearing my son’s faint cries and wondering if this time I wouldn’t wake up. I stopped speaking altogether — not because I didn’t have words, but because none of them felt big enough to hold what I was feeling. How do you describe the way it feels to watch everything you love reduced to nothing? These days, as I mark the one-year anniversary of that attack from exile in Cairo, I still hear the explosion in my dreams. I still wake up in a cold sweat, reaching out to make sure my son is breathing beside me. The physical scars have mostly healed, but the emotional ones remain as fresh as the day it happened. People tell me I should be grateful we survived, and I am. But surviving isn’t the same as living.” See also The Underground Network Helping Gazan Refugees Survive in Egypt (The Nation 12/9/24)
Trump’s Return: Implications for the Palestinian Struggle (Tariq Kenney-Shawa,Hanna Alshaikh,Abdullah Al-Arian,Andrew Kadi//Al Shabaka 11/20/24)
“While many aspects of the incoming Trump administration’s foreign policy plans remain uncertain, they will undoubtedly continue to have devastating consequences for the Palestinian people. In this roundtable, Al-Shabaka analysts Tariq Kenney-Shawa, Abdullah Al-Arian, Andrew Kadi, and Hanna Alshaikh offer insights into how Trump will compare to his predecessor, what his presidency will mean for US policy across the Arab region, what lies ahead for Palestine solidarity organizing in the US, and the material impact will be on the ground in Palestine.”
‘I Would Like for Israelis to Understand That Zionism Is Racism’ (Haaretz 11/23/24)
“’Lyd,’ co-directed by Palestinian journalist and activist Rami Younis, depicts what life might have been like if there hadn’t been a Nakba. Banned in Israel, the film is drawing crowds in North America. ‘To this day, apart from the Arab world and a few bleeding-heart left-wingers – no one actually acknowledges what happened to us,’ Younis says in an interview”
For Those Who Know They Have Not Done Enough to Stop Israel’s War on Gaza (Haggai Mattar//The Nation 12/3/24)
“Like me, perhaps, these people have learned of the many harrowing crimes that nations have committed throughout history and have asked themselves: where were the people of conscience? Like me, perhaps, they believed they would have acted differently, would have been among the righteous. And yet, like me, when history came knocking and demanded they step up, they too have found their actions wanting.
Perhaps, like me, they simply needed to be reminded that failure is not predetermined…If, like me, you feel like you have not done enough to stop the onslaught funded and backed by your government, this is the time to act. The new U.S. administration is clearly going to be an enemy of Palestinian rights—more hostile even than the Biden administration—which puts more responsibility on ordinary civilians to act. It may not be easy, it may require you to go up against a government that, as in Israel, actively wants to silence you. But, as one of your own great freedom fighters wrote, power concedes nothing without a demand. It is time for you to join us by promoting the BDS campaign in whatever way you can—at work, at university, vis-à-vis your retirement fund, your union or our religious community, and most importantly the incoming administration, which in spite of everything we know about it may somehow still be open to stopping this madness. As much as Trump is committed to Israel, to Netanyahu, to annexation and settlements, he also wants to keep Arab gulf countries on his side, and minimize wars so he can cut back on American spending and active intervention in the region. That internal contradiction in Trump’s priorities could be something we can exploit.” See also Grappling with Jewish fears in a just Palestinian struggle (Haggai Matar//+972 11/26/24)
History will judge Biden harshly on Gaza (Senator Chris Van Hollen//WaPo 12/2/24)
“President Biden has a limited amount of time to take action. But even at this late hour, it is critical that he do so — even at the risk that President-elect Trump will reverse course. The United States must send a strong signal to the people of Israel, to Palestinians and to the world that we will not stand idly by as the extremist Netanyahu government dismantles the possibility of peace in the Middle East and ignores the root causes of conflict: the need for security and self-determination for both Israelis and Palestinians. To send this signal, President Biden should immediately impose sanctions on the ultraright members of the Netanyahu government who have fomented violence and supported expanded settlements on the West Bank, including Smotrich and Ben Gvir. The United States must draw a red line against further settlements, not just in words but in deeds. It’s also time to acknowledge that the Netanyahu government has violated its assurances under National Security Memorandum 20 and that it is not in compliance with the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act (Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act). As documented by leading human rights organizations, the Netanyahu government has arbitrarily restricted desperately needed humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza and has used American weapons in contravention of international humanitarian law. These determinations should trigger a pause in U.S. offensive security assistance — a consequence the Netanyahu government must face until it comes into compliance. In addition to these actions, the administration should ban the import of any goods from settlements in the occupied territories or, at the very least, take the long-overdue step of reinstating the labeling policy that differentiates products made there from those made in the state of Israel. And it must continue to show its support for UNRWA — and encourage our allies to support its efforts — especially in light of the Knesset’s recent vote to ban the organization. Last, but perhaps most important, the Biden administration should recognize a state of Palestine, subject to terms set out by the United States.”
Why I resigned as chairman of Amnesty Israel (Daniil Brodsky//The Forward 12/10/24)
“But even before the report came out — one week before, to be exact — I resigned my position as chair of the board of Amnesty Israel. I didn’t step down because of the imminent controversy over the conclusions of Amnesty International’s report. I resigned because I could no longer chair a branch that did not treat Palestinians as equal partners, and I could not sign off on a critique of Amnesty International’s report that pretends to be an expert minority opinion, but is instead little more than the expression of an Israeli-Jewish worldview, to the exclusion of Palestinian voices.”
How a hostage family leader became one of the loudest anti-war voices in Israel (Edo Konrad & Oren Ziv//+972 12/6/24)
“Polls show that Metzger’s views are today in line with the vast majority of the Jewish-Israeli public, which has shifted over the last year from wall-to-wall support for the war to an overwhelming majority in favor of a negotiated deal to end it and return the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. She came to the conclusion “early on” that the war had to end, and like many others, she couldn’t comprehend how every soi-disant military “victory” — from the invasion of Rafah to the assassinations of Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, and Hassan Nasrallah — wasn’t bringing the release of the hostages any closer…Metzger is convinced that Netanyahu’s doctrine of “total victory” is a euphemism for abandoning the remaining abductees. “It was clear to me from the start that Netanyahu wasn’t seriously considering anything but the military route,” she says…Despite the respectable showings at the weekly protests in support of the hostage families, Metzger feels the activists have been left with little recourse. But there is one act she believes could force the government to end the war and cut a deal: conscientious objection, a phenomenon that gained popularity during last year’s protests against the government’s judicial overhaul, but became a near-treasonous position following the Hamas attacks.”