NEW FROM FMEP
FMEP Legislative Round-Up September 27, 2024 (Lara Friedman)
- Bills, Resolutions; 2. Letters; 3. Hearings; 4. Targeting/Slandering/Inciting Against Rep. Tlaib, Again (& twice over); 5. Israel/Palestine in 2024 Elex/Politics; 6. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements
Settlement & Annexation Report: September 27, 2024 (Kristin McCarthy)
- High Court Denies Request to Allow Zanuta to be Even Minimally Rehabilitate Village After Settler Destruction; 2) Bimkom Report on Outpost Retroactive Authorization; 3) Israeli Groups Release Report on Annexation; 4) U.S. Congress Votes to Advance Bill that Labels Settlements As Israel, Greenlighting Annexation; 5) Bonus Reads
REGION/DIPLOMACY
Israel Targets Hezbollah Chief Nasrallah in Massive Beirut Strike; Israeli Officials Estimate 300 Killed (Haaretz 9/27/24)
“The Israeli army attempted to assassinate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday evening at the group’s central headquarters in Beirut. The Israeli security establishment estimates that Nasrallah was present in the headquarters at the time of the bombing and that he was hit, and that the commander of the organization’s southern front, Ali Karaki, as well as the commander of the Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon, Abbas Nilforushan, were killed in the attack. According to estimates by Israeli defense officials, about 300 people were killed in the air force strike. Some of the victims were in nearby buildings. IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari said that the facility that was targeted is located underneath residential buildings. Despite Israeli assessments, a Hezbollah source told Reuters that Nasrallah survived the attack. Saudi media, including Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath, also reported that Nasrallah survived and that he was “at a safe location.” Despite this, Israel’s security establishment maintains that Hezbollah was present in the headquarters at the time of the attack. An Iranian source told Reuters that Tehran is attempting to discern his condition.” See also Who is Hasan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah? (WaPo 9/27/24); Middle East crisis live: Israel continues Lebanon airstrikes; Iran says attack targeting Hezbollah leader ‘changes rules of the game’ (Guardian 9/27/24); Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon – a visual guide (Guardian 9/27/24); Israel conducts massive strike in Beirut targeting Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (Axios 9/27/24)
Netanyahu vows to continue Hezbollah war, defying U.S. cease-fire plan (WaPo 9/27/24)
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed during a fiery address to the U.N. General Assembly on Friday that his country would continue its military operation in Lebanon in defiance of a U.S. cease-fire proposal demanding a temporary halt in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. His swaggering, bellicose remarks included a warning to all of Israel’s enemies, namely Iran, that there is no place to hide from Israel’s might. “If you strike us, we will strike you,” Netanyahu said. “There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach, and that’s true of the entire Middle East.”…Friday’s speech at the United Nations is the latest in a series of remarks from the Israeli leader that have embarrassed U.S. officials, who earlier this week touted a “breakthrough” in negotiating a proposal for a 21-day truce that they insisted was done in full coordination with the Israeli government.” See also Netanyahu tells UN Israel will continue attacks on Gaza, Lebanon (Al Jazeera 9/27/24); At the U.N., overwhelming anger at Israel (Ishaan Tharoor//WaPo 9/27/24); ‘Stop killing children’: protests as Netanyahu arrives for UN address (Guardian 9/26/24); Leader of Palestinian Authority denounces Israeli Gaza offensive at UN, insists: ‘We will not leave’ (AP 9/26/24)
From yes to no to maybe: Behind Netanyahu’s shifting stance on Lebanon cease-fire (Al Monitor 9/27/24)
“The Biden administration was shocked and frustrated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s flip-flopping over the US-French cease-fire proposal to stop fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, with his vowing upon arriving in New York that the fighting will continue. On Wednesday, Axios reported that Netanyahu had given his explicit approval to an Israeli team to pursue discussions on the proposal. That was before he boarded a flight to New York to attend the annual UN General Assembly meeting. Al-Monitor confirmed Axios’ reporting through a source in the negotiating team and that Netanyahu gave a greenlight to the US on the proposal ahead of landing in New York. After landing on Thursday, Netanyahu vowed that Israel would keep fighting the Iran-backed Lebanese militia. Diplomatic sources confirmed that his backtracking took the Americans by surprise. That Washington would be surprised seems odd given the considerable experience of successive US administrations in dealing with Netanyahu and his ways over the past 15 years.” See also US, France call for 21-day cease-fire on Israel-Lebanon border (Al Monitor 9/25/24); Netanyahu softens position, says Israel discussing US-France cease-fire plan in Lebanon (Al Monitor 9/27/24); Israel rejects US-backed Lebanon ceasefire plan, hits Beirut again (Reuters 9/26/24); US, frustrated, says ceasefire plan rejected by Netanyahu had been coordinated with him (Times of Israel 9/26/24);
At least 700 killed, 120,000 displaced as UN calls Lebanon situation ‘catastrophic’ (Al Monitor 9/27/24)
“At least 700 people, including women and children, have been killed and approximately 2,600 others injured amid ongoing, wide-scale Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon that have rendered the situation in the country “catastrophic,” according to the United Nations. More than 120,000 people are believed to have fled their home amid heavy fighting in the southern and eastern parts of the country, according to local authorities. “We are witnessing the deadliest period in Lebanon in a generation, and many express their fear that this is just the beginning,” said Imran Riza, the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, in a Friday press release. Israel has expanded the scope of its airstrikes since Monday, initially hitting thousands of Hezbollah targets in the south and to the east in the Bekaa Valley and in the previously untargeted districts of Keserwan and Jbeil (Byblos), north of Beirut. In the past week, Hezbollah, engaged in cross-border exchanges of fire with Israel since last October, has announced the killing of several of its top commanders, including the head of its Aerial Command, Mohammad Hussein Srour, in an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Thursday…In response to the extensive airstrikes, Hezbollah has continued to launch rockets at military sites in northern Israel. On Friday, it claimed rocket attacks on Kiryat Ata, Tiberias and Ilaniya.” See also Missile intercepted above Tel Aviv as Hezbollah targets city for first time – video (Guardian 9/25/24); Hezbollah steps up rocket attacks on Israel in retaliation for attacks (Axios); Israel calls up reservists, telling troops to prepare for Lebanon incursion (WaPo 9/25/24); Israel’s Bloodbath in Lebanon (Jeremy Scahill and Murtaza Hussain//Drop Site 9/23/24); Lebanon says Israeli airstrikes kill at least 492, residents flee from south (Reuters 9/24/24); Over 90,000 people in Lebanon had to flee Israel’s bombardments this week (NPR 9/26/24); More than 30,000 people crossed into Syria from Lebanon: UN (Al Jazeera 9/27/24)
Israel: Pentagon finalizes $8.7B arms package as strikes on Lebanon continue (Al Monitor 9/26/24)
“The State Department unlocked an additional $3.5 billion in funding to enable the Israeli military to purchase more American-made weapons this week, even as Biden administration officials publicly called for de-escalation in response to Israel’s intensified bombardment of Lebanon. The additional funds – previously approved under the supplemental spending bill passed by Congress in April – were part of a larger $8.7 billion package finalized during negotiations between senior US and Israeli officials at the Pentagon on Wednesday. Israel’s Defense Ministry announced on Thursday that $5.2 billion of the latest package would pay for additional air defense systems, while the $3.5 billion released this week will go to “essential wartime procurement” in order to “support Israel’s ongoing military efforts.”’ See also Pentagon to Send More U.S. Troops to Middle East as Tensions Rise (NYT 9/23/24); ‘End This War’: Biden Calls for Gaza Cease-fire in Final U.N. Speech (NYT 9/24/24); ‘Houthi missile’ seen over Israeli city before interception (Al Jazeera 9/27/24); Houthis boast they fired missile, drone at Tel Aviv and Ashkelon, vow to launch more (Times of Israel 9/27/24);
With pager blasts and airstrikes, Israel unleashes its terror on Lebanon (Elia Ayoub//+972 9/23/24)
“Gaza has long been Israel’s preferred military laboratory, and Israeli start-ups that market “battle-tested” weapons have reaped the benefits. This has turned Gaza into a place where the most morbid world records have been broken — home, for example, to the highest percentage of child amputees, with around 10 children per day losing one or both of their legs to Israeli bombs, according to the UN.
But Lebanon, too, has been a key battleground for Israel to develop its military stratagem. First outlined by IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot during the 2006 war, the infamous Dahiya doctrine endorses “disproportionate” force to “the enemy’s actions and the threat it poses,” and includes specifically targeting civilian infrastructure “to an extent that will demand long and expensive reconstruction processes,” according to a 2009 report by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel. Anyone affected by Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon instinctively understands the Dahiya doctrine. And after the nearly year-long genocide in Gaza, which has seen the relentless destruction of entire cities, and recent statements from Israeli leaders, Lebanese citizens are firm in conviction that the Israeli military will not hesitate to inflict massive civilian casualties. Last November, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared that “what we can do in Gaza, we can do in Beirut,” while last week, IDF Major General Ori Gordin proposed re-occupying south Lebanon to create a “buffer zone” with Israel.” See also Did exploding pagers attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon violate international law? (NPR 9/20/24); Are Israel and Hezbollah Headed Toward an “Open-Ended Battle”? (Rania Abouzeid//New Yorker 9/24/24); Israel’s Pager Bombs Have No Place in a Just War (Michael Walzer//NYT 9/21/24); Doctors Describe the Horror of Israel’s Pager Attack in Lebanon (New Lines Magazine 9/25/24)
GAZA
Israel attacks school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza (Al Jazeera 9/27/24)
“An Israeli air attack on a school sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza has killed at least 15 people. The Israeli military confirmed it struck the school in the Jabalia refugee camp, claiming it was targeting Hamas fighters. The bombing on Thursday brought the number of people killed in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours to 36…In the southern city of Khan Younis, the authorities buried the bodies of 88 Palestinians that Israel returned to Gaza in a mass grave. The Health Ministry denounced what it called the “inhumane and immoral” way Israel had treated the bodies, saying they were sent back piled in a truck with no information to identify them.”
Israel Deliberately Blocked Humanitarian Aid to Gaza, Two Government Bodies Concluded. Antony Blinken Rejected Them. (Propublica 9/24/24)
“The U.S. government’s two foremost authorities on humanitarian assistance concluded this spring that Israel had deliberately blocked deliveries of food and medicine into Gaza. The U.S. Agency for International Development delivered its assessment to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the State Department’s refugees bureau made its stance known to top diplomats in late April. Their conclusion was explosive because U.S. law requires the government to cut off weapons shipments to countries that prevent the delivery of U.S.-backed humanitarian aid. Israel has been largely dependent on American bombs and other weapons in Gaza since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. But Blinken and the administration of President Joe Biden did not accept either finding. Days later, on May 10, Blinken delivered a carefully worded statement to Congress that said, “We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.”’
How the Health Ministry in Gaza Counts the Dead (Sharif Abdel Kouddous//Drop Site 9/25/24)
“Every day, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza publishes a bulletin of the number of people killed and wounded in Gaza over the previous 24 hours and updates the total number of casualties since October 7. Today’s report shows 24 Palestinians killed and 85 wounded, bringing the totals to 41,495 and 96,006, respectively. The ministry also works to keep track of the names, ages, ID numbers, and other biographical data of those killed, periodically making its latest list public. The most recent published list includes biographical information for 34,344 Palestinians killed between October 7 and August 31—with the important caveat that there are over 6,000 more confirmed dead that the ministry had not been able to successfully identify. The Health Ministry has persisted in documenting casualties despite the health care system in Gaza coming under a direct and sustained assault by the Israeli military, with multiple hospitals being bombed, besieged, and invaded by Israeli forces, doctors arrested and killed, and severe restrictions on medicine and medical supplies allowed into Gaza. Out of 35 public hospitals treating patients in Gaza before October 7, only 16 are partially functioning today. To understand how it has managed to document tens of thousands of dead in Gaza to a high degree of accuracy, the processes it has used, and the philosophy behind it, Drop Site conducted an interview with Dr. Zaher al-Wahaidi, director of the information center at the Ministry of Health in Gaza who is based at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.”
Giving Birth in Gaza (Marie Claire 2024 Changemakers Issue)
“Lesser known is the story of birth taking place amid so much death, with about 180 babies being born in Gaza every day. Mostly, it is a story of extreme hardship—a maternal health crisis where nearly every mother is malnourished like Abed, leading to preterm and low birthweight babies, miscarriages and stillbirths; women who cannot reach the few remaining hospitals to give birth due to the danger, so they deliver unsafely at home or in tents; gender-based violence against birthing women on the rise, spurred on by all the stress; serious infections in both mother and child; postpartum hemorrhaging of the mother, sometimes leading to death; and nearly every woman suffering from post traumatic stress—trauma they pass on to their babies. Juliette Touma of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), one of the main UN agencies providing emergency humanitarian aid to Gaza, said that she has worked in conflict zones for decades, and never seen a crisis of this magnitude. “I tell you, it’s probably one of the most difficult places on earth to be a woman,” she said, especially a woman who is pregnant. But it is also a story of heroism, of the doctors, midwives, and other healthcare staff who are delivering babies and caring for birthing women amid tanks and bombs and gunfire; who are continuing to work despite having lost homes and belongings and loved ones themselves.”
Hamas Stopped Responding to Gaza Cease-fire, Hostage Deal Proposals, Diplomatic Source Says (Haaretz 9/26/24)
“A diplomatic source said that Hamas has stopped responding to proposals relayed by mediating countries in recent weeks regarding negotiations for a hostage release and cease-fire deal. “We have no information suggesting that Yahya Sinwar is dead, but he has been out of contact for at least a few weeks,” the source stated. “In fact, we are not receiving any communication from Hamas, but we cannot determine if this is related to Sinwar.”’
For Gazans with disabilities, Israel’s genocide shows no mercy (Ibtisam Mahdi//+972 9/27/24)
“Feeling but not hearing the bombs, displaced without their specialized equipment, mauled by army dogs: this is how Palestinians with physical and cognitive impairments are surviving and dying amid Israel’s onslaught.
RIVER TO THE SEA
Israeli Bulldozers Flatten Mile After Mile in the West Bank (NYT 9/25/24)
“Over two weeks, Palestinians watched as Israeli military bulldozers tore up mile after mile of their streets and alleys, sewage seeping into the dusty ruts left behind. The people of Tulkarm and Jenin, the two West Bank towns that were the focus of Israel’s latest military raids, said they had never before experienced such a scale of destruction…Visual evidence analyzed by The New York Times supports accounts from residents about the damage from Israel’s latest raids. Videos filmed in Tulkarm and Jenin show bulldozers destroying infrastructure and businesses, and soldiers impeding local emergency responders. “We watched their bulldozers tear up streets, demolish businesses, pharmacies, schools. They even bulldozed the town soccer field, and a tree in the middle of a road,” said Kamal Abu al-Rub, the governor of Jenin, a governorate in the northern West Bank. “What was the point of all of this?”’ See also Settlers attacked Bana’s village. Then a soldier shot her through her window (Oren Ziv//+972 9/23/24)
Israeli forces shut down Al Jazeera’s West Bank bureau (WaPo 9/22/24)
“Israeli security forces shut down Al Jazeera’s Ramallah bureau in the West Bank on Sunday, the country’s latest action against one of the few news organizations providing nearly uninterrupted coverage of the war in Gaza and a surge in violence in the West Bank. Footage broadcast on Al Jazeera’s Arabic network showed heavily armed Israeli troops entering the bureau on Sunday morning. According to the network, soldiers arrived around 3 a.m. local time and ordered employees to evacuate within 10 minutes, leaving any equipment behind. Al Jazeera said a 45-day closure order was handed to the Ramallah bureau chief, Walid al-Omari. None of the network’s employees were harmed in the raid, but some journalists were threatened with laser-pointed weapons, Al Jazeera said — preventing them from covering the operation. On Sunday, it said the bureau was sealed off with two large metal plates welded over the entrance, making it inaccessible. In a subsequent statement, the Israel Defense Forces said it had confiscated the broadcaster’s equipment.” See also Israel closes Al Jazeera bureau in Ramallah: All you need to know (Al Jazeera 9/22/24); Palestinian Journalist Mujahed al-Saadi Violently Arrested by Israeli Forces in Home Raid (Drop Site News 9/24/24); The Shutdown of Al Jazeera Is a Dire Warning for All Journalists in Israel: You’re Next (Sheren Falah Saab//Haaretz)
Human Rights Groups: Israel’s Far-right Channel 14 Has Called for Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza More Than 50 Times (Haaretz 9/24/24)
“Since the start of the war, Israel’s Channel 14 has given a platform to more than 50 statements calling for genocide or supporting genocide against the Palestinians, and to more than 150 statements calling for the commission of war crimes and of crimes against humanity (or supporting the commission of such crimes). Dozens more statements included calls for the mass expulsion of the population in Gaza and the use of starvation as a weapon of war. In addition, dozens of statements of racist incitement against Gazans and Palestinians have also been documented. These figures were compiled by three organizations – Zulat for Equality and Human Rights, Hatzlacha: Movement for the Promotion of a Fair Society, and the Democratic Bloc. In letters sent Monday morning to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and to the Ombudsman of the Second Broadcasting Authority, these organizations call for a criminal investigation to be opened against the Channel 14, arguing that it is responsible for systematic and widespread incitement for the commission of these offenses. They also call for sanctions and serious fines to be levied against the channel for violating the rules of ethics in its broadcasts.” See also Jerusalem’s Ultranationalist Deputy Mayor Probed for Terror Incitement After anti-UNRWA Posts (Haaretz 9/23/24)
As war widens and costs mount, Israel’s economy is in ‘serious danger’ (WaPo 9/26/24)
“The country has seen its credit score downgraded and its gross domestic product shrink sharply. Tens of thousands of businesses have closed, and a growing number of jobs are being moved offshore. Israeli reservists have put careers on hold — or struggled to juggle them with military service. While Israel’s massive high-tech industry has remained resilient, construction and agriculture — which relied heavily on Palestinians whose work permits were canceled by Israel after Oct. 7 — have been hit hard. Tourism has plunged by more than 75 percent, the Central Bureau of Statistics said in June, leaving many shop fronts shuttered in the usually bustling thoroughfares of Jerusalem’s Old City. Defense spending, meanwhile, has at least doubled, with the Central Bank warning that the war could cost $67 billion through 2025 — a prediction made before Israel’s recent escalation in Lebanon and the mobilization of two reserve brigades to the northern front on Wednesday.” See also Moody’s Lowers Israel’s Credit Rating for Second Time Amid Escalating Security Situation (Haaretz 9/27/24)
In Israel’s prisons, skin diseases are a method of punishment (Vera Sajrawi//+972 9/25/24)
“Pale and frail, with an unkempt beard and a prosthetic eye, his emaciated body testifies to the neglect and torture he experienced inside Israeli prison. “Stay away,” he shouts at the eager crowd surrounding him upon his release. “I don’t know what disease I’m carrying — I have a rash and can’t risk shaking hands.” But his parents, overcome with emotion, move forward to embrace him. He shrinks away, fearfully insisting that he should remain untouched. Mo’ath Amarnih, a Palestinian photojournalist from the occupied West Bank, was released from Ktzi’ot prison in July…Amarnih is one of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners recently released from Israeli jails whose skinny bodies have been marred by scabies — a parasitic infestation caused by mites, leading to severe itching and rashes that often worsen at night and are exacerbated by the summer heat. The outbreak has been reported in multiple prisons…Over the past year, the total prison population has risen significantly: from 16,353 on Oct. 6, 2023, to over 21,000 by June of this year, according to Israel Prison Service (IPS) data. Around half of them, approximately 9,900 at the time of writing, are defined as “security prisoners,” of whom more than 3,300 are being held in administrative detention. With this sharp spike in the prison population, conditions inside Israeli jails have worsened drastically.”
U.S. SCENE
Targeting/Slandering/Inciting Against Rep. Tlaib, Again (& twice over) (Lara Friedman’s Legislative Round-Up 9/27/24)
“9/19/24: Racist, Inciting Cartoon targeting Rep. Tlaib: On 9/19/24, on the heels of an Israeli operation in Lebanon, in which thousands of booby-trapped pagers exploded, maiming and killing a large number of people (an operation that former CIA director and former, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called “a form of terrorism”) the National Review published a political cartoon (see on X) featuring a caricature of Rep. Tlaib (D-MI) pictured seated at her desk, with a burned a smoking object on the desk, and a thought bubble with the words “Odd. My pager just exploded.”…9/20/24: Inciting Cartoon Against Tlaib Used as Hook for…Further Incitement Against Tlaib. On 9/20/24, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, speaking out on X, posted a comment that in effect shifted the focus away from the racist, dangerously inciting cartoon depicting Tlaib as a terrorist who Israel might have tried to assassinate (in a military action that was framed in a positive light by many in Congress and the media), to focus instead on false – and inciting – accusations against Tlaib, who (along with others, including the ACLU) has called Nessel out for what they see as the targeting of Palestine rights protesters (some of whom, by the way, are Jewish) with criminal charges. Nessel posted on X on 9/20/24: “Rashida’s religion should not be used in a cartoon to imply that she’s a terrorist. It’s Islamophobic and wrong. Just as Rashida should not use my religion to imply I cannot perform my job fairly as Attorney General. It’s anti-Semitic and wrong.” With that post — for which Nessel did not provide any evidence Nessel re-cast Tlaib — the victim of a racist, anti-Palestinian, Islamophobic, inciting cartoon, and a voice standing up for students’ right to protest — as the antisemitic victimizer, and cast herself as the righteous victim of Rashida’s evil action. That re-casting of Nessel as the righteous victim of Tlaib’s alleged antisemitism immediately took over and became the theme of the coming days.” See also Fact-check: Tlaib did not say Nessel charged pro-Palestinian protesters because she’s Jewish (Detroit Metro Times 9/23/24); Anatomy of a Smear Campaign Against Rashida Tlaib (Prem Thakker//Zeteo 9/24/24)
Sanders Files to Force First-Ever Vote in Congress on Blocking Weapons to Israel (Truthout 9/26/24)
“en. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and two other senators have introduced resolutions that will force the Senate to undertake the first-ever vote in Congress on blocking weapons to Israel. On Wednesday, Sanders introduced six resolutions blocking six sales of different weapons contained within the $20 billion weapons deal announced by the Biden administration in August. The sales include many of the types of weapons that Israel has used in its relentless campaign of extermination in Gaza over the past year. The senator said it is clear that the sales must be blocked as Israel openly violates humanitarian guidelines — making it a violation of multiple U.S. laws to continue funding its military, Sanders said.”
‘American society will have to divest from Israel before our leaders do’ (Samer Badawi//+972 9/27/24)
“In Ohio and around the U.S., pro-Palestine activists alienated by the presidential race are redoubling their efforts in local elections.”
Top Muslim-voter organization endorses Harris as Middle East conflict escalates (AP 9/25/24)
“Emgage Action, the political arm of an 18-year-old Muslim American advocacy group, endorsed Harris’ presidential campaign on Wednesday, saying in a statement provided first to The Associated Press that the group “recognizes the responsibility to defeat” Donald Trump in November.”
How the Powerful Outmaneuvered the American Protest Movement (Zeynep Tufekci//NYT 9/21/24)
“Over the summer, while protesters scattered to pursue internships or wait tables or help out at home, many institutions quietly changed the rules regarding political action. Mother Jones reported that dozens of institutions of higher education, in charge of nearly 100 campuses, were “effectively banning many forms of protest” with new regulations going far beyond the “time, space and manner” restrictions that were already in place. Students will still raise their voices, of course, but don’t count on seeing many big encampments, nor administrators paralyzed for months on end, unsure how to deal. The balance of power has tilted sharply back in their favor, where it is likely to stay for a while… Those in power have figured out how to outmaneuver protesters: by keeping peaceful demonstrators far out of sight, organizing an overwhelming police response that brings the threat of long prison sentences, and circulating images of the most disruptive outliers that makes the whole movement look bad. It works. And the organizers have failed to keep up.” See also Palestine Legal and CAIR File Lawsuit Against U. of Maryland for Canceling Palestinian and Jewish Student Groups’ Vigil (Palestine Legal 9/17/24); UChicago Students File Civil Rights Complaint After Disciplinary Charges, Arrests, and UCPD Surveillance (Palestine Legal 9/25/24)
After the Encampments (Aparna Gopalan//Jewish Currents 9/26/24)
“In hindsight, it is clear that—with few exceptions—neither negotiation nor escalation managed to secure real commitments to divestment last spring. Instead, both the deals that came from negotiations and the sweeps that followed escalations seemed to have hastened the end of the encampments, and thus the dissipation of students’ leverage. Such decampments, whether voluntary or forced, ultimately worked together with the arrival of the summer break to offer a reprieve that universities could use to refortify themselves against future uprisings. Administrators at more than 100 schools took to this task with gusto, instituting draconian policies penalizing protest; cordoning off lawns and other common campus spaces; announcing sweeping bans on pro-Palestine speech and, at times, speech writ large; and giving themselves new pretexts for calling the police on demonstrators who do not, say, confine their rallies to specific corners of campus or certain hours of the day.”
Pro-Palestinian Activists Shut Down a Campus Job Fair. One Student’s Punishment Could Get Him Deported. (Chronicle of Higher Education 9/24/24)
“After more than 100 students disrupted an on-campus job fair last week, Cornell University vowed to suspend all of them. For Momodou Taal, the promise came with an additional worry: deportation. Taal, a 30-year-old British graduate student and a prominent voice in Cornell’s pro-Palestinian protests, said this week that he is facing possible deportation as the university threatens to revoke his student visa. Some on Cornell’s campus see Taal’s case as a telling example of how colleges are ratcheting up pressure on pro-Palestinian protesters this fall. Administrators say they have tightened policies to try to curb the chaos of last spring, while some students and faculty have raised alarms about what they see as a crackdown on pro-Palestinian speech.”
Meet the First Tenured Professor to Be Fired for Pro-Palestine Speech (Natasha Lennard//The Intercept 9/26/24)
“Maura Finkelstein never hid her support for Palestinian liberation during her nine years working as a professor of anthropology at Muhlenberg College, a small liberal arts school in Allentown, Pennsylvania…Neither her longtime public support of Palestinians, however, nor the courses on Palestine she taught in her early years at the school prevented Finkelstein from earning tenure in 2021. Following the arduous tenure process, professors are supposed to enjoy lifetime job security and robust safeguards of academic freedom. The bar for dismissal from a tenured academic position is by design meant to be extremely high, requiring justifiable cause. In late May, however, Muhlenberg told Finkelstein that she was fired. The reason? She had shared, on her personal Instagram account, in a temporary story slide, a post written not by herself but by Palestinian poet Remi Kanazi calling for the shunning of Zionist ideology and its supporters.”
MEDIA
The Return of Ta-Nehisi Coates A decade after “The Case for Reparations,” he is ready to take on Israel, Palestine, and the American media. (NY Mag 9/23/24)
“This time, he lays forth the case that the Israeli occupation is a moral crime, one that has been all but covered up by the West. He writes, “I don’t think I ever, in my life, felt the glare of racism burn stranger and more intense than in Israel.” Coates traveled to the region on a ten-day trip in the summer of 2023. “It was so emotional,” he told me. “I would dream about being back there for weeks.” He had known, of course, in an abstract sense, that Palestinians lived under occupation. But he had been told, by journalists he trusted and respected, that Israel was a democracy — “the only democracy in the Middle East.” He had also been told that the conflict was “complicated,” its history tortuous and contested, and, as he writes, “that a body of knowledge akin to computational mathematics was needed to comprehend it.” He was astonished by the plain truth of what he saw: the walls, checkpoints, and guns that everywhere hemmed in the lives of Palestinians; the clear tiers of citizenship between the first-class Jews and the second-class Palestinians; and the undisguised contempt with which the Israeli state treated the subjugated other. For Coates, the parallels with the Jim Crow South were obvious and immediate: Here, he writes, was a “world where separate and unequal was alive and well, where rule by the ballot for some and the bullet for others was policy.” And this world was made possible by his own country: “The pushing of Palestinians out of their homes had the specific imprimatur of the United States of America. Which means that it had my imprimatur…How could he have been so wrong before? The fault lay partly with the profession he loved. In journalism, he had found his voice, his platform, his purpose in life. And yet, as he sees it, it was journalistic institutions that had not only failed to tell the truth about Israel and Palestine but had worked to conceal it. As a result, a fog had settled over the region, over its history and present, obscuring what anyone at closer range could apprehend easily with their own two eyes. The Message is an attempt to use the journalist’s tools to dispel this veil.” See also Author Jhumpa Lahiri declines NYC’s Noguchi Museum award after keffiyeh ban (Al Jazeera 9/26/24)
‘It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive’ Wins News & Doc Emmy Despite Calls For Its Disqualification (Variety 9/25/24)
““It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive,” the AJ+ news story from Palestinian journalist/activist/filmmaker Bisan Owda that sparked controversy after earning a News and Documentary Emmy nomination earlier this year, has now won that Emmy. The report won the outstanding hard news feature story—short form category on Wednesday during the news portion of the two-day 45th Annual News & Documentary Emmys, held by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. After the project’s nomination, there were calls by the U.S.-based nonprofit Creative Community For Peace for the nomination to be rescinded, with a letter signed by the Hollywood notables including of Debra Messing, Sherry Lansing, Haim Saban and others accusing Owda of having ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a United States-designated terrorist group…In accepting the award, senior executive producer John Lawrence said, “This award is testament to one woman, only with an iPhone, who survived almost a year of bombardment. Over 100 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza, including several of our Al Jazeera colleagues. Our bureau in the occupied West Bank was shut down at gunpoint just last week. We thank you, our journalistic community, for this recognition.. and we urge you in joining us in saying that journalist is not a crime.”’ See also Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda and AJ+ win Emmy for Gaza war documentary (Al Jazeera 9/26/24)
Meta’s Oversight Board Rules ‘From the River to the Sea’ Isn’t Hate Speech (Human Rights Watch)
“Earlier this month, Meta’s Oversight Board found that three Facebook posts containing the phrase “From the River to the Sea” did not violate Meta’s content rules and should remain online. The majority of the Oversight Board members concluded that the phrase, widely used at protests to show solidarity with Palestinians, is not inherently a violation of Meta’s policies on Hate Speech, Violence and Incitement, or Dangerous Organizations and Individuals (DOI).”
PERSPECTIVES//LONG READS
Congress must restore humanitarian funding to stop famine in Gaza (Hassan El-Tayyab//The Hill 9/24/24)
“The people of Gaza aren’t starving. They are being starved. Over 2 million Palestinian civilians are facing a man-made humanitarian catastrophe, with famine and disease spreading due to a lack of aid access. At the same time, the Biden administration and Congress are withholding all U.S. funding for the largest aid operation in Gaza: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)…UNRWA is the “backbone” of all aid delivery operations in Gaza, ensuring that millions of people receive the help they desperately need. Continuing to block U.S. funding for UNRWA’s vital work is a cruel and unwarranted mistake that will only needlessly exacerbate the already catastrophic humanitarian suffering in Gaza.”
As a Former Hostage of the Palestinian Resistance, I Refuse to Support Genocide (Catherine Hodes//Truthout 9/18/24)
“My heart breaks for today’s hostages. I know what my parents went through while I was being held captive. What the families of today’s hostages are enduring is indescribably searing. Will they find comfort in the deaths of tens of thousands of people in the names of their loved ones? My own father wanted to fly to Jordan and rescue us. Our captivity took a great toll. Never though, did he articulate wanting revenge or retaliation. The only words I recall were expressions of sorrow about the intractability of global politics, and the rising death toll in Palestine. The agonizing experience of being a hostage causes me to resonate deeply with the closing off of the Gaza Strip, the families trapped there, and the Palestinians held hostage to Israeli policy and in Israeli prisons.”
Speaking the Unspeakable: (Anahid Nersessian//LRB 10/17/24 Issue)
“The Palestinian American poet Fady Joudah asks what it would mean—aesthetically, morally, politically—to write a good poem about genocide.”
‘Not All Jews Longed for a Jewish Supremacist State in the Land of Israel’ (Haaretz 9/27/24)
“The book returns to the history of Israel’s War of Independence and the Palestinian Nakba, but in a way this has never been done before: from the point of view of the Israelis and the Palestinians who fought here. In addition to examining personal correspondence, the book offers a systematic survey of Arab and Zionist propaganda disseminated during the war, and puts forward a narrative that in many cases contradicts the official version on which generations of Israelis were educated. [Shay] Hazkani shows, for example, that some of the Jewish volunteers from abroad (in the Mahal unit) who fought in the War of Independence found themselves bitterly disabused of the ideals they had brought with them to Israel, that some soldiers abhorred the exaggerated use of violence against the Arabs, and that immigrants from Morocco were furious at the racist treatment they endured, leading some of them to want to return to their homeland…”I think that the attempt to separate the Zionist story from the story of Palestinian history is untenable…”The Zionist story is interwoven with the rise of Palestinian nationalism. You discover that similar ideas appear in both movements; for example, the glorification of force and militarism as part of the need to struggle against the idea of a flawed masculinity that exists in both.”’