Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology.
https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2023/10/omni-gaza-anthologies-10-october-23-2023.html
(#1: 3-3-08; #2 Nov. 16, 2012; #3 Nov. 17, 2013; #4 May 31, 2014; #5 July 28, 2014; #6 August 30, 2014; #7 April 8, 2015; #8 May 13, 2021; #9, October 15, 2023).
CONTENTS GAZA #10
Rabbi Arthur Waskow. “Solidarity with Israel / Palestine.”
AFSC and other Quaker organizations call for end to the violence. To end violence in Palestine and Israel we must address root causes.
Abel Tomlinson. “Palestine Peace Protests: Stop the War, Stop the Genocide.”
Raz Segal. “A textbook case of genocide.” Jewish Currents
Chris Hedges. “Israel’s Culture of Deceit.”
Chris Hedges and Norman Finkelstein. The Chris Hedges Report with Professor Norman Finkelstein on Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza, the world’s largest concentration camp.
Mondoweiss. ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 12: Calls For Gaza Ceasefire Mount.”
Counterpunch. The Palestinian Cause
Counterpunch. Israel’s Genocidal War
Counterpunch. Che and Gaza
Counterpunch. The Border Machine
Consortium News. Decency Becomes Indecent
Consortium News. Backing the Slaughter & Silencing the Critics
Consortium News. Corporate TV Skeptical of Israeli Hospital Bombing Story
Consortium News. Atrocity Propaganda
Consortium News. Israel Ready to Arrest Journalists for Reporting Facts
Consortium News. Israel’s Official Ethnic Cleansing Program.
Consortium News. Hezbollah Defeated Israel in 2006 — Can It Again?
Counterpunch: Feeling the Pain: Our backs are against a wall..
Counterpunch: Roaming Charges: Gaza without mercy.
Counterpunch: This is Genocide: All out to end the war on Gaza.
Counterpunch: Operation Al-Aqsa::
Counterpunch: The Savagery of War: The ruin of Gaza. Counterpunch: Manufacturing Consent: The failures of the Press.
SOURCES OF THE ANTHOLOGY
American Friends Service Committee
Chris Hedges
Counterpunch
Consortium News
Jewish Currents
Mondoweiss
Popular Resistance
The Shalom Center
TEXTS
Tikkun Statement: Solidarity with Israel / Palestine
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| Rabbi Arthur Waskow via uark.onmicrosoft.com The Shalom CenterWe are outraged by, mourn deeply, and unequivocally condemn the horrific actions of Hamas. According to Israeli sources, more than 1,200 people were killed and 2,900 injured, most of whom were civilians, and over 100 individuals (including children, women, and the elderly) were taken as hostages into Gaza.We call for the immediate release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian political prisoners.Tikkun magazine and Beyt Tikkun: A Synagogue without Walls partnered with others to write a joint statement that we hope can help us rise above divisiveness and division and call us to our highest selves.What follows is our joint statement. We invite everyone who agrees with our statement to add your name. You can read the statement below and add your name by clicking here.Solidarity with Israel/PalestineThis statement is written and signed by Palestinians, Jews, and others who are committed to holding complex truths and striving to overcome polarization. We feel the pain of our people, identify with their pain, and need to work together to uplift our shared humanity.The unfolding horror in Israel and Gaza is an escalation of decades of state-sanctioned violence by Israel against Palestinians. We condemn the horrific actions of Hamas against Israeli civilians. We likewise condemn Israel’s unbridled bombing and cutting off access to all basic needs, including food, water, electricity, and medical care. Attacks on Palestinian and Israeli civilians are repugnant.Israeli violence against Palestinians has been intentionally hidden, slow, and steady. Contrary to what the media is reporting, this attack was not unprovoked. The Israeli and American governments have worked together to suppress and deny the inhumane acts against Palestinians that have led to this moment. There are Palestinians and Jews who have been raising red flags and warning about this inevitable outcome for decades, only to be dismissed and ignored.The world’s failure to challenge Israel’s ongoing occupation, apartheid, and unbridled violence by settlers and soldiers in the West Bank provides the context for what is happening now. The recent Israeli government’s escalation of violence, encroachment of Al Aqsa Mosque, and its 16-year siege of Gaza has led to the current explosion.We repeat: the brutality of Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians is unjustified.As we watch the violent attacks and rallying of xenophobia on both sides, we are brokenhearted. Although it feels like a time to stand with “our people,” we know this is a time to come together. This is a time of great suffering for all; a time of painful emotions. It is only by recognizing our shared fears and our shared tears that we will find our way through this nightmare. It is a struggle we need to undertake jointly.When we fall back into our separate and distinct identities we risk becoming part of the problem, not the solution. Both peoples suffer from ongoing trauma. We are all on high alert. The fear is palpable. And it is easy for us to objectify the ‘other.’We seek a third path that neither perpetuates a xenophobic response nor sustains an unjust status quo. This moment calls us to slow down, sit with the pain and complexity, and grapple with our discomfort. It is a moment for digging deep, seeing across differences, and remembering our deep yearning for peace and justice. It is only through compassion and empathy that we will find a different way.We recognize and uplift the humanity of all peoples in Israel/Palestine.We call for an immediate ceasefire from Hamas and Israel.We demand that basic needs be provided to Gazans.We demand that the United States provide only humanitarian support to Israel and Gaza.We support the creation of a movement that recognizes and affirms the humanity, dignity, and desire of both peoples to live in peace through reconciliation and justice. Add your name to the statementIf you were joyful to see The Shalom Center’s providing ideas and resources to create a more just and loving Earth and Humanity, or saddened but had your determination to act for change strengthened by a Shalom Center report of danger, please help us keep doing this work by contributing. We are about to be 40 years old and we are working to transform ourselves for the next 40; if you can quadruple your last gift, please do! Click here: theshalomcenter.org/donateCopyright © 2023 The Shalom Center, All rights reserved.You are receiving this email because you previously agreed to receive communications from The Shalom Center. To end violence in Palestine and Israel we must address root causesAmericans Friends Service CommitteeOCT 9, 2023To end violence in Palestine and Israel we must address root causes | American Friends Service Committee (afsc.org) We are heartbroken by the escalating violence in Palestine and Israel. We send our sympathies and solidarity to all who have lost loved ones. We mourn with you and hold all experiencing violence – and everyone waiting to hear if their loved ones are safe – in the Light. More than 900 Israelis and 700 Palestinians have been killed over three days. Bombing of Gaza continues, and Israeli troops are being moved into position for a potential ground invasion. More than a hundred Israelis have been taken hostage. The borders of Gaza have been hermetically sealed and Israel is blocking the entry of fuel, electricity, water, food, and goods into Gaza, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.If attacks on Gaza continue and the borders remain sealed, a deepening humanitarian crisis is inevitable and thousands more will be killed.U.S. and European governments have expressed support for Israeli military action. The U.S. is sending Israel weapons for the attacks on Gaza. The Israeli escalation is being justified by explicitly racist rhetoric. When announcing the siege on Gaza, the Israeli Defense Minister referred to Palestinians as “animals.” Israeli military action is not what is needed now; it will only inflict more suffering. Instead, we need leadership that demands an immediate end to all violence and seeks long-term solutions to end the injustice and inequality that led to these devastating events. Addressing this violence at its roots requires a clear look at the situation as it has unfolded over time. AFSC began doing relief work in Gaza in 1949, and even then we spoke about the need for justice for Palestinians. Our staff have been present in Gaza throughout all the Israeli attacks over the last decades, and AFSC has long advocated for an end of the Gaza blockade. We have witnessed the destruction, death, and suffering wrought by Israel’s Apartheid policies and ongoing use of military violence – all with U.S. support.Through this experience it has become clear to us that security cannot be created by systematic oppression. Palestinians suffer from daily violence and collective punishment, while much of the world does nothing. One need not dig deeply into the history of the 75 years of occupation to find the evidence to prove that point. Look at the conditions this year:The people in Gaza are in the sixteenth year of a crippling blockade, with little access to electricity, medical care, jobs, education, or other essentials of a decent life. Even before the Palestinian attacks and Israeli military response on October 7, during 2023 more than 250 Palestinians had been killed by the Israeli military. More than 1,100 had been forced from their homes. More than 800 attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers have resulted in injuries and property loss. All this persists under the watch of a far-right Israeli government who has functioned with total impunity.This is apartheid. And it must end for lasting peace to flourish in the region. We all deserve to live in peace, freedom, and safety. We call on the U.S. and other members of the international community to focus immediately on diplomacy to end this current crisis, to call for the honoring of UN resolutions and international humanitarian laws, to halt the flow of weapons which will further violence, and to change long-term policies that ignore the Apartheid realities and Israeli abuses of Palestinian rights. All of this is a central part of calling for peace.As a Quaker organization, we believe peace is more than the mere absence of war. There is no true peace without justice and history shows us that people who are oppressed will continue to find ways to resist their oppression. The human costs of continuing along the current path are far too great. The only path to lasting peace for Palestine and Israel is by uprooting occupation and apartheid. Palestine Peace Protests: Stop the War, Stop the GenocideFayetteville Arkansas Abel TomlinsonMon, Oct 16, 10:14 AM (7 days ago)to bcc: meDear Friends, We are holding two upcoming Palestine Peace Protests in Fayetteville. The first one is this Sunday October 22nd at 11 A.M. and the second one is Saturday November 4th. We will meet for street protest in front of the Washington County Courthouse both days, and on November 4th we will proceed for a march on a route yet to be determined. (Facebook Events Here & Here) We are calling to Stop the War on Palestinians, and a Stop to the Israeli Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians. We are standing up to say: Enough is Enough! Dr. Raz Segal, a professor of genocide studies at Stockton University, describes here in the journal Jewish Currents how the Israeli attacks on Gaza are a Textbook Case of Genocide:https://jewishcurrents.org/a-textbook-case-of-genocide The U.S.-supported Israeli carpet bombings of Gaza, a densely packed city of 2 million trapped civilians, is a genocidal war crime. The Israeli collective punishment of Gaza by cutting off water, food & electricity is also a genocidal war crime. We must condemn killing of civilians no matter who does it, whether Hamas or Israel, but if we sincerely wish for Peace, we must be honest about the Root Cause of the decades-long conflict. The Root Cause of the war is 75 years of Israeli ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, starting with the 1948 Nakba. At least 750,000 native Palestinians were driven from their homes during a Zionist campaign of violence, and the ethnic cleansing never ceased. In a 1948 letter to the New York Times, Albert Einstein, Hannah Arendt and other Jewish leaders warned Americans of danger by condemning the ethnic cleansing actions of Irgun & the “Freedom Party”, which became Likud, the ruling party of Netanyahu in Israel currently: “Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the “Freedom Party”, a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties. It was formed out of the membership and following of the former Irgun Zvai Leumi, a terrorist, right-wing, chauvinist organization in Palestine. “ Einstein’s warnings were obviously not heeded. Consequently, the United States also became very responsible in sponsoring Israeli ethnic cleansing policy by giving $260 billion in foreign aid to Israel since the 1948 Nakba, primarily military aid. The U.S. also gives massive political support by vetoing at least 53 U.N. resolutions (as of 2021) that condemn the illegal Israeli military occupation, illegal settlements, massacres of nonviolent protestors, bombings of Gaza & war crimes. Please join us in calling for peace.Thank you,–Abel TomlinsonArkansas Antiwar Alliance, FounderOMNI Peace Action Committee, ChairAbelTomlinson.comFacebook | Twitter(479)283-5762 | AM (1 hour ago) | |||
.The Chris Hedges Report with Professor Norman Finkelstein on Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza, the world’s largest concentration camp. October 18, 2023
On October 7 Hamas fighters broke through the security barrier separating Gaza from Israel. They attacked army outposts, villages, an outdoor concert venue and Kibutzim. Some 1,300 Israelis, many of them civilians, were killed. Some 150 Israelis, in cluding women, children and the elderly, were taken as hostages and transported back to Gaza. Israel says 1,500 Hamas militants, most young men who most likely had never been out Gaza, were killed. Israel has ordered some 1.1 million Palestinians in northern Gaza to evacuate. The north includes Gaza City, the most densely populated part of the strip, with 750,000 residents. It also includes Gaza’s main hospital and the Jabalia and al-Shati refugee camps. Gaza is one of the most heavily populated spots on the planet with 2.3 million people. Its borders are sealed by Egypt and Israel. There is no sanctuary with a tiny land mass 25 miles long and only about 5 files wide. Israel has cut off food, fuel, water and electricity, provoking an appalling humanitarian crisis. Joining me to discuss the crisis in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories is the Middle East scholar Norman Finkelstein. Norman has written numerous books on the Middle East including “Gaza: an Inquest into its Martyrdom.”
| A guest post byNorman FinkelsteinBuy Finkelstein’s new book “I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get To It!” on sublationmedia.com |
Gfbvt7 fgv© 2023 Chris Hedges
San Francisco, CA 94104
Raz Segal. “A textbook case of genocide.” Jewish Currents (October 13, 2023). Editor. mronline.org (10-19-23).
Israel has been explicit about what it’s carrying out in Gaza. Why isn’t the world listening?
Originally published: Jewish Currents on October 13, 2023 by Raz Segal (more by Jewish Currents) | (Posted Oct 18, 2023)
History, Movements, Strategy, WarGaza, Israel, Middle East, PalestineNewswire
ON FRIDAY, Israel ordered the besieged population in the northern half of the Gaza Strip to evacuate to the south, warning that it would soon intensify its attack on the Strip’s upper half. The order has left more than a million people, half of whom are children, frantically attempting to flee amid continuing airstrikes, in a walled enclave where no destination is safe. As Palestinian journalist Ruwaida Kamal Amer wrote today from Gaza, “refugees from the north are already arriving in Khan Younis, where the missiles never stop and we’re running out of food, water, and power.” The UN has warned that the flight of people from the northern part of Gaza to the south will create “devastating humanitarian consequences” and will “transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation.” Over the last week, Israel’s violence against Gaza has killed more than 1,800 Palestinians, injured thousands, and displaced more than 400,000 within the strip. And yet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised today that what we have seen is “only the beginning.”
Israel’s campaign to displace Gazans—and potentially expel them altogether into Egypt—is yet another chapter in the Nakba, in which an estimated 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes during the 1948 war that led to the creation of the State of Israel. But the assault on Gaza can also be understood in other terms: as a textbook case of genocide unfolding in front of our eyes. I say this as a scholar of genocide, who has spent many years writing about Israeli mass violence against Palestinians. I have written about settler colonialism and Jewish supremacy in Israel, the distortion of the Holocaust to boost the Israeli arms industry, the weaponization of antisemitism accusations to justify Israeli violence against Palestinians, and the racist regime of Israeli apartheid. Now, following Hamas’s attack on Saturday and the mass murder of more than 1,000 Israeli civilians, the worst of the worst is happening.
Under international law, the crime of genocide is defined by “the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such,” as noted in the December 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. In its murderous attack on Gaza, Israel has loudly proclaimed this intent. Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant declared it in no uncertain terms on October 9th: “We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals, and we will act accordingly.” Leaders in the West reinforced this racist rhetoric by describing Hamas’s mass murder of Israeli civilians—a war crime under international law that rightly provoked horror and shock in Israel and around the world—as “an act of sheer evil,” in the words of U.S. President Joe Biden, or as a move that reflected an “ancient evil,” in the terminology of President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. This dehumanizing language is clearly calculated to justify the wide scale destruction of Palestinian lives; the assertion of “evil,” in its absolutism, elides distinctions between Hamas militants and Gazan civilians, and occludes the broader context of colonization and occupation.
The UN Genocide Convention lists five acts that fall under its definition. Israel is currently perpetrating three of these in Gaza: “1. Killing members of the group. 2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group. 3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” The Israeli Air Force, by its own account, has so far dropped more than 6,000 bombs on Gaza, which is one of the most densely populated areas in the world—almost as many bombs as the U.S. dropped on all of Afghanistan during record-breaking years of its war there. Human Rights Watch has confirmed that the weapons used included phosphorous bombs, which set fire to bodies and buildings, creating flames that aren’t extinguished on contact with water. This demonstrates clearly what Gallant means by “act accordingly”: not targeting individual Hamas militants, as Israel claims, but unleashing deadly violence against Palestinians in Gaza “as such,” in the language of the UN Genocide Convention. Israel has also intensified its 16-year siege of Gaza—the longest in modern history, in clear violation of international humanitarian law—to a “complete siege,” in Gallant’s words. This turn of phrase that explicitly indexes a plan to bring the siege to its final destination of systematic destruction of Palestinians and Palestinian society in Gaza, by killing them, starving them, cutting off their water supplies, and bombing their hospitals.
It’s not only Israel’s leaders who are using such language. An interviewee on the pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 called for Israel to “turn Gaza to Dresden.” Channel 12, Israel’s most-watched news station, published a report about left-leaning Israelis calling to “dance on what used to be Gaza.” Meanwhile, genocidal verbs—calls to “erase” and “flatten” Gaza—have become omnipresent on Israeli social media. In Tel Aviv, a banner reading “Zero Gazans” was seen hanging from a bridge.
Indeed, Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza is quite explicit, open, and unashamed. Perpetrators of genocide usually do not express their intentions so clearly, though there are exceptions. In the early 20th century, for example, German colonial occupiers perpetrated a genocide in response to an uprising by the Indigenous Herero and Nama populations in southwest Africa. In 1904, General Lothar von Trotha, the German military commander, issued an “extermination order,” justified by the rationale of a “race war.” By 1908, the German authorities had murdered 10,000 Nama, and had achieved their stated goal of “destroying the Herero,” killing 65,000 Herero, 80% of the population. Gallant’s orders on October 9th were no less explicit. Israel’s goal is to destroy the Palestinians of Gaza. And those of us watching around the world are derelict in our responsibility to prevent them from doing so.
Correction: An earlier version of this piece said that Israel dropped more bombs on Gaza this week than the U.S. dropped on Afghanistan in any single year of its war there. In fact, the U.S. dropped more than 7,000 bombs on Afghanistan in both 2018 and 2019; at the time of publication, Israel had dropped an estimated 6,000 bombs on Gaza in less than a week.
Raz Segal is an associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University and the endowed professor in the study of modern genocide.
Monthly Review does not necessarily adhere to all of the views conveyed in articles republished at MR Online. Our goal is to share a variety of left perspectives that we think our readers will find interesting or useful. —Eds.
‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 12: Calls For Gaza Ceasefire Mount
By Yumna Patel, Mondoweiss. Popular Resistance.org (10-19-23). Calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza are mounting, in the wake of a devastating Israeli hospital bombing on the night of Tuesday, October 17, which Gaza health officials have described as a “massacre.” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire on Wednesday morning, October 18, as he condemned the “collective punishment” of Palestinians. Along with calls for a ceasefire, Guterres called for the immediate entrance of emergency humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been prevented by Israel for more than a week, despite numerous warnings from UN and human rights… -more-
The following 4 entries are from CounterPunch (10-18-23).
Ramzy Baroud. “The Palestinian cause belongs to the world.
Eric Draitser. “The necessity of solidarity with Palestine.”
“idan Ratchford. “Remembering Che’s visit to Gaza.”
Todd Miller. “Biden never stopped building the wall.
The following 3 entries are from Consortium News (10-18-23).
| PATRICK LAWRENCE: Decency Becomes Indecent At this point, Washington’s defense of Israel becomes as baldly obscene as the apartheid state’s long record of lawless aggression toward the Palestinian population. Read here… Backing the Slaughter & Silencing the Critics Western countries crack down on public support for Palestinians as the atrocities mount in Gaza. The mask is off on the underlying brutality of the West’s disregard for civilian life and civil liberties, writes Elizabeth Vos. Read here… Corporate TV Skeptical of Israeli Hospital Bombing Story It’s highly unusual to see this degree of skepticism in the western press right off the bat when it goes against the information interests of Israel specifically or the U.S. power alliance more generally, writes Caitlin Johnstone. Read here… |
Join the national march in solidarity with Palestine! NOV. 4
Now is the time to stand with the besieged people of Palestine! Gaza is being bombed by the hour. Its people are denied food, water and electricity by Israel. Tens of thousands more people are likely to die. We must ACT! People are in the streets everyday in their local cities and towns. Now we must UNITE! Join the tens of thousands people, from every corner of the United States, who are converging for a truly massive National March on Washington D.C. on Saturday, November 4.
Today, the Israeli military deliberately bombed a hospital where thousands of people had taken refuge. The death toll is staggering and the Biden administration has announced that it is preparing 2,000 troops to support Israel after having already deployed an aircraft carrier battle group and war planes.
Israel, with the full backing of the U.S. government, is carrying out an unprecedented massacre in Gaza. Thousands of Palestinians are being killed with bombs, bullets and missiles paid for by U.S. tax dollars. This is the latest bloody chapter in the colonial project of Israel, founded with the objective of dispossessing Palestinians from their land.
Join us in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, November 4 at 1pm to demand: End the Siege of Gaza! End all U.S. aid to Israel! Free Palestine!
Initial co-sponsoring organizations:
Palestinian Youth Movement
ANSWER Coalition
American Muslim Association
The People’s Forum
National Students for Justice in Palestine
Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Party for Socialism and Liberation
U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR)
Maryland2Palestine
Endorse the march here
Buses and transportation centers are being organized in cities and towns across the country. Check back here for updated information about transportation options.
Please make an urgently needed donation to support solidarity work with Palestine in this pivotal moment
Israeli Progressives Speak Out on War
Rabbi Arthur Waskow via uark.onmicrosoft.com
The Shalom Center
If you are a leader in any form of Jewish spiritual or other organizational life, please preserve this statement. We will be back to you for a possible support statement in the next couple of days.
Israeli Progressives Speak Out on War
We emphasize: there is no contradiction between staunchly opposing the Israeli subjugation and occupation of Palestinians and unequivocally condemning brutal acts of violence against innocent civilians.
We, Israel-based academics, thought leaders and progressive activists committed to peace, equality, justice, and human rights, are deeply pained and shocked by the recent events in our region.
We are also deeply concerned by the inadequate response from certain American and European progressives regarding the targeting of Israeli civilians by Hamas, a response which reflects a disturbing trend in the global left’s political culture.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched an unprecedented attack that included mass murder of innocent civilians in their homes, indiscriminate violence towards women, the elderly, and children, and mass kidnappings of Israeli citizens. Entire families were wiped out in this carnage, whole communities were reduced to ashes, bodies were maimed, infants were massacred. It is impossible to overstate the damage caused by these events, both on a personal and a collective level. The traumatizing events of that Saturday in October will leave a lasting mark on our hearts and memories.
As expected, in response to Hamas’s actions, the State of Israel launched a massive military operation in Gaza. We still cannot estimate the death toll of these attacks, but it is likely to be higher than anything we have witnessed heretofore. This cycle of aggression severely undermines our long-standing struggle against oppression and violence and in pursuit of full rights and equality for all residents of Israel-Palestine. At this moment, more than ever, we need support and solidarity from the global left, in the form of an unequivocal call against indiscriminate violence towards civilians on both sides.
Many of our peers worldwide have expressed strong opposition to Hamas’s attack and have offered unambiguous support for its victims. Prominent voices in the Arab world, too, have made it clear that there is no justification for sadistic murder of innocent people. However, to our dismay, some elements within the global left, individuals who were, until now, our political partners, have reacted with indifference to these horrific events and sometimes even justified Hamas’s actions. Some have refused to condemn the violence, claiming that outsiders have no right to judge the actions of the oppressed. Others have downplayed the suffering and trauma, arguing that Israeli society brought this tragedy upon itself. Yet others have shielded themselves from the moral shock through historical comparisons and rationalization. And there are even those – no small number – for whom the darkest day in our society’s history was a cause for celebration.
This array of responses surprised us. We never imagined that individuals on the left, advocates of equality, freedom, justice, and welfare, would reveal such extreme moral insensitivity and political recklessness. Let us be clear: Hamas is a theocratic and repressive organization that vehemently opposes the attempt to promote peace and equality in the Middle East. Its core commitments are fundamentally inconsistent with progressive principles, and thus the inclination of certain leftists to react affirmatively to its actions is utterly absurd. Moreover, there is no justification for shooting civilians in their homes; no rationalization for the murder of children in front of their parents; no reasoning for the persecution and execution of partygoers. Legitimizing or excusing these actions amounts to a betrayal of the fundamental principles of left-wing politics.
We emphasize: there is no contradiction between staunchly opposing the Israeli subjugation and occupation of Palestinians and unequivocally condemning brutal acts of violence against innocent civilians. In fact, every consistent leftist must hold both positions simultaneously.
The seventh of October is a dark day in the history of Israel-Palestine and the lives of the peoples of thisregion. Those who refuse to condemn Hamas’s actions do immense damage to the prospects of peace becoming a viable, relevant political option. They weaken the left’s ability to present a positive social and political horizon, turning it into an extreme, narrow, and alienating political force. We call on our peers on the left to return to a politics based on humanistic and universal principles, to take a clear stance against human rights abuse of any form, and to assist us in the struggle to break the cycle of violence and destruction.
Prof. Aviad Kleinberg, President of the Ruppin Academic Center ,קליינברג אביעד’ פרופ
Avirama Golan, author and journalist ,גולן אבירמה
Ibtisam Mara’ana, Former MK, Labor Party ,מראענה אבתיסאם
Adam Raz, Historian, Human rights activist ,רז אדם
Prof. Eva Illouz, Directrice d’études EHESS Paris, Membre of Institute for Israeli Thought ,אילוז אווה’ פרופ
Dr. Ofek Birnholtz, Bar Ilan University ,בירנהולץ אופק ר”ד
Ortal Ben Dayan, Social Activist ,דיין בן אורטל
Ori Ben Dov, Social Activist ,דב בן אורי
Uri Weltmann, National Field Organizer – Standing Together ,וולטמן אורי
Ori Kol, Social Entrepreneur ,קול אורי
Dr. Orit Sônia Waisman, David Yellin Academic College of Education, Jerusalem ,ויסמן סוניה אורית ר”ד
Eilon Tohar, Social Activist ,טוהר אילון
Iris Leal, Author ,לעאל איריס
Alon-Lee Green, National Co-Director of Standing Together ,גרין לי -אלון
Dr. Eli Cook, Head of the General History Department, Haifa University ,קוק אלי ר”ד
Dr. Almog Kasher, Bar Ilan University ,כשר אלמוג ר”ד
Prof. Orna Ben-Naftali, the College of Management Law Faculty and the Van Leer ,נפתלי -בן ארנה’ פרופ
Jerusalem Institute
Josh Drill, Social Activist ,דריל וש’ג
Ghadir Hani, peace activist, Standing Together ,האני גדיר
Prof. Gila Stopler, Faculty of Law, College of Law and Business ,סטופלר גילה’ פרופ
Prof. Galia Sabar, Tel Aviv University. Former President of Ruppin College ,צבר גליה פרופ׳
Dr. Dov Khenin, Former MK, Hadash, Tel Aviv University ,חנין דב ר”ד
David Grossman, author ,גרוסמן דויד
Dorit Hadar Persky, M.A teacher for special education, David Yellin Academic College of ,פרסקי הדר דורית Education, Jerusalem
Prof. Danny Gutwein, Haifa University ,גוטוויין דני’ פרופ
Prof. Dani Filc, MD PhD, Standing Together ,פילק דני פרופ׳
Dr. Hagar Gal, David Yellin Academic College of Education, Jerusalem ,גל הדר ר”ד
Vered Livne, former Director General of The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and ,ליבנה ורד leadership member of Standing Together
Taleb el-Sana, Former MK, Arab Democratic Party, Head of High Committee for Arab Citizens ,סאנע-א טלב of the Negev
Yoav Hareven, leadership member of Standing Together ,הראבן יואב
Prof. Yoav Goldberg, Bar-Ilan University ,גולדברג יואב’ פרופ
Prof. Jonathan Rubin, Bar Ilan University ,רובין יונתן’ פרופ
Yossi Sucary, Author ,סוכרי יוסי
Dr. Yofi Tirosh, Tel Aviv University ,תירוש יופי ר”ד
Prof. Yael Hashiloni-Dolev, Ben-Gurion University, Sociology and Anthropology ,דולב -השילוני יעל’ פרופ Department
Dr. Yael Sternhell, Tel Aviv University, שטרנהל יעל ר”ד
Dr. Yiftah Goldman, David Yellin Academic College of Education, Jerusalem ,גולדמן יפתח ד״ר
Dr. Carmel Shalev, Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University ,שלו כרמל ר”ד
Dr. Lisa Kainan, David Yellin Academic College of Education, Jerusalem ,קינן ליסה ר”ד
Prof. Meir Yaish, Haifa University, יעיש מאיר’ פרופ
Mossi Raz, former MK, Meretz ,רז מוסי
Dr. Meital Pinto, Zefat Academic College, Ono Academic College ,פינטו מיטל ר”ד
Meital Peleg Mizrachi, Postdoctoral fellow at Yale University, environmental justice ,מזרחי פלג מיטל researcher
Mickey Gitzin, New Israel Fund, Executive Director in Israel ,גיצין מיקי
Dr. Miri Lavi Neeman, Arava Institute for Environmental Studies ,נאמן לביא מירי ר”ד
Nadav Bigelman, Social Activist, member of Standing Together ,ביגלמן נדב
Prof. Noam Zohar, Bar Ilan Univesity ,זהר נעם’ פרופ
Niv Meyerson, Social and environmental justice activist ,מאירסון ניב
Sally Abed, Member of national leadership, Standing Together ,עבד סאלי
Dr. Adi Makmal, Engineering Faculty, Bar-Ilan Uni. Israel ,מכמל עדי ר”ד
Odeh Bisharat, Writer ,באשארת עודה
Prof. Eran Dorfman, Literature Department, Tel Aviv University ,דורפמן עירן’ פרופ
Prof. Amit Schejter, department of communication studies, Ben-Gurion University, chairman ,שכטר עמית’ פרופ of ACRI
Dr. Anat Herbst-Debby, The Gender Studies program, Bar-Ilan University ,דבי-הרבסט ענת ר”ד
Dr. Ofri Ilany, Van Leer Institute, historian and journalist ,אילני עפרי ר”ד
Eran Nissan, Mehazkim, CEO ,ניסן ערן
Tzlil Rubinshtein, Social Activist ,רובינשטיין צליל
Ran Heilbrunn, Writer ,היילברון רן
Dr. Ronit Donyets Kedar, College of Law and Business ,קידר-דוניץ רונית ר”ד
Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law ,קדרי-הלפרין רות’ פרופ
Dr. Raphael Zagury-Orly, Institut Catholique de Paris ,אורלי- זגורי רפאל ר”ד
Dr. Shlomit Aharoni Lir, Bar Ilan University ,ליר אהרוני שלומית ר”ד
Prof. Sharon Armon-Lotem, Bar-Ilan University ,לוטם- ערמון שרון’ פרופ
Tom Yagil, Social and Environmental Justice Activist ,יגיל תום
Dr. Tamar Ascher Shai, David Yellin Academic College of Education, Jerusalem ,שי אשר תמר ר”ד.
The following 4 articles are from Consortium News.
| “Atrocity Propaganda.” Consortium News (10-17-23). Consortium News info@consortiumnews.com via salsalabs.org to meIsrael and its supporters in the West are helping to provide psychological cover for an ongoing massacre of Palestinian civilians, writes Elizabeth Vos. Read here… “Israel Ready to Arrest Journalists for Reporting Facts. “ Consortium News (10-17-23). info@consortiumnews.com via salsalabs.org Israel’s communications minister has acknowledged that his proposal is aimed at shutting down Al Jazeera in Israel and Gaza. A Monday vote on the regulations was postponed by the attorney general. Read here… |
“Israel’s Official Ethnic Cleansing Program.” Consortium News (10-17-23).
It’s been playing out in slow motion for more than 100 years, writes Jonathan Cook. Read here…
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“Hezbollah Defeated Israel in 2006 — Can It Again?” Consortium News (10-17-23).
The welter of analyses by pro-Israel think tanks across the West on the coming conflict between the Shia resistance movement and the IDF has missed a crucial factor, writes John Wight. Read here…
The following six articles appeared in CounterPunch (10-15-23).
| Becky Grant. “Feeling the Pain: Our backs are against a wall.” |
| Jeffrey St. Clair. “Roaming Charges: Gaza without mercy.” |
| Rebecca Maria Goldschmidt. “This is Genocide: All out to end the war on Gaza.” |
| Daniel Falcone. “Operation Al-Aqsa: Middle East scholars weigh in on Gaza and Israel.” |
| Vijay Prashad. “The Savagery of War: The ruin of Gaza.” |
| Paul Street. “Manufacturing Consent: The failures of the Press.” |