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“Holocaust Survivor Tells Student Anti-Genocide Protesters: ‘Just Keep Doing It’
April 28, 2024“There is a question of historical responsibility towards injustice, genocide, and fascism,” said Stephen Kapos. “If you are indifferent, if you do not take a stand, you acquire a degree of guilt.”
Presidential candidate Jill Stein (jewish) arrested on campus:
https://twitter.com/DrJillStein/status/1784411081340809348Jewish holocaust researcher: “Yes it is genocide”
In most cases of genocide, from Bosnia to Namibia, from Rwanda to Armenia, the perpetrators of the murder said they were acting in self-defence. The fact that what is happening in Gaza does not resemble the Holocaust, writes Holocaust scholar Amos Goldberg, does not mean that it is not genocide
https://thepalestineproject.medium.com/yes-it-is-genocide-634a07ea27d4
IDF soldier changed his mind of the war after witnessing the brutality Israel commit in Gaza:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa-VDAjL8vMGaza Campus Protestors: Today’s “Have You No Sense of Decency?”
by Michael Hudsonon Gaza, McCarthyism today and past.
—
Hudson last week wrote a statement that Jill Stein was about to press for a Congressional Committee on US secret intelligence services.
Today from JACK we know that Jill Stein was arrested for participating in the campus protests.Stein is as well running in the Presidential race.
Hudson has a long text so allow me to quote just the initial paragraphs to get a gist of his take:
“(…)
The recent Congressional hearings leading to a bloodbath of university presidents brings back memories from my teen-age years in the 1950s when everyone’s eyes were glued to the TV broadcast of the McCarthy hearings. And the student revolts incited by vicious college presidents trying to stifle academic freedom when it opposes foreign unjust wars awakens memories of the 1960s protests against the Vietnam War and the campus clampdowns confronting police violence. I was the junior member of the “Columbia three” alongside Seymour Melman and my mentor Terence McCarthy (both of whom taught at Columbia’s Seeley Mudd School of Industrial Engineering; my job was mainly to handle publicity and publication). At the end of that decade, students occupied my office and all others at the New School’s graduate faculty in New York City – very peacefully, without disturbing any of my books and papers.Only the epithets have changed. The invective “Communist” has been replaced by “anti-Semite,” and the renewal of police violence on campus has not yet led to a Kent State-style rifle barrage against protesters. But the common denominators are all here once again. A concerted effort has been organized to condemn and even to punish today’s nationwide student uprisings against the genocide occurring in Gaza and the West Bank. Just as the House Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC) aimed to end the careers of progressive actors, directors, professors and State Department officials unsympathetic to Chiang Kai-Shek or sympathetic to the Soviet Union from 1947 to 1975, today’s version aims at ending what remains of academic freedom in the United States.
(…)”Sigh,
Blinken hopes Hamas makes ‘right decision’ on ‘extraordinarily generous’ truce, hostage dealUS secretary of state says Israel-Saudi normalization deal close to ‘completion,’ says he hasn’t seen plans to keep civilians safe in case of Rafah incursion
Obvious what is going to happen, Israel allegedly offer “generous” truce, Hamas will reject it and then US/Israel will justify the Rafah invasion and blame the deaths on Hamas/Palestinians.
Blinken do not even care for the civilians in Rafah, he do not even pretend!JACOBIN with a piece highly critical of HAMAS, blaming them for what is happening.
“The Palestinian Resistance Isn’t a Monolith
As Palestinians reckon with the genocide being inflicted on them and their prospects for national liberation, it does them a disservice to flatten their political diversity and complex ongoing debates.”https://jacobin.com/2024/04/gaza-left-hamas-occupation-war-solidarity
or
https://archive.is/JdaYHThe author Bashir Abu-Manneh is teaching at KENT Univers. (incidentally the frm. Univ. of Richard Sakwa.) He blames Hamas as responsible for this mess, too.
I remember that this was a topic heavily discussed among scholars and activists: “What tactics is appropriate?”
I remember well the conversation where Rashid Khalidi criticized Hamas heavily for what they brought upon the people.
Now all of this was long before the ICJ case and the current global outrage.
And before Hamas stating they did not intend to kill civilians only abduct hostages to pressure the Israeli government for the 5000 in prisons.
But I haven´t followed that as closely as others here.I am not sure. Since the peaceful examples the author brings up didn´t exactly work out in the long run.
On the other hand, may be the Intifada had more potential?
I am not up to date on this question regarding the various experts, except Finkelstein who argues that all other non-violent means failed.from the piece
“(…)
The Financial Times recently reported on public opinion in Gaza — a sobering read. While Palestinians in Gaza clearly blame Israel for executing a human catastrophe in Gaza, there is growing anger and resentment directed at Hamas for failing to expect the scale of Israel’s retaliation for the October 7 attacks and to protect Palestinians during the war.One interviewee, Nassim, openly says, that Hamas “should have predicted Israel’s response and thought of what would happen to the 2.3mn Gazans who have nowhere safe to go” and “should have restricted themselves to military targets.”
Another interviewee, Samia, is even more damning. “The role of the resistance is to protect us civilians, not to sacrifice us,” she said. “I don’t want to die and I didn’t want my children to witness what they’ve seen and to live in a tent suffering from hunger, cold and poverty.”
Such criticism tracks with what many Palestinians from Gaza have been posting on social media in recent months. It has also been represented in the critical reporting of veteran anti-occupation journalist Amira Hass.
In a recent article in Haaretz, Hass captures the popular disgruntlement and criticism of Hamas’s operation as well as what is seen as Hamas’s hugely costly mode of armed resistance against a vastly superior Israeli military. Palestinians in Gaza openly complain about their lack of security and protection from Israel’s expected retribution and about Hamas’s lack “of clear strategic political planning.”
What most troubles one interviewee, Basel, is that his criticism of Hamas and its approach to resistance is being tarred as treason. As Hass explains, “He’s angry that the Palestinians outside Gaza and their supporters expect Gazans to shut up and not criticize Hamas, because the criticism ostensibly helps the enemy. He rejects the assumption that doubting the decisions and actions of this armed group — and to do so publicly — is an act of treason.”
(…)”*on the author: Dr Bashir Abu-Manneh is Reader in Postcolonial Literature, founder of the Centre for the Global Study of Empire, and author of The Palestinian Novel: From 1948 to the Present (2016) and Fiction of the New Statesman, 1913-1939 (2011). He has also edited a collection of essays on Edward Said – as literary critic and postcolonial theorist – entitled After Said: Postcolonial Literary Studies in the Twenty-First Century (2019).
I think it is odd that nore more state depy. people have quit their job in protest to ongoing White House support for Israel.
Attorneys inside and outside the administration urge Biden to cut off arms to Israel
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/29/lawyers-israel-arm-sales-biden-00154958___
In other news:Ben-Gvir calls on soldiers to ‘kill’ not arrest Palestinians who surrender in Gaza
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240429-ben-gvir-calls-on-soldiers-to-kill-not-arrest-palestinians-who-surrender-in-gaza/Could you imagine if a russian minister said the same? Kill all ukrainians, even those who surrender.
___
In other news:ICJ turn down Nicaragua’s complaint on Germany aiding Israel with arms:
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) rejected a request by Nicaragua to order Germany to halt military and other aid to Israel and renew funding to UNRWA.
The International Court of Justice says that legal conditions for making such an order weren’t met and ruled against the request in a 15-1 vote.
Presiding Judge Salam said the court was “deeply concerned about the catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip“.
The ICJ reminded all parties that they are under obligation to “respect and ensure respect” to Article 1 of the Geneva Convention.https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/4/30/icj-verdict-live
If Israel commit war crimes with the weapons Germany and other western states provide, why should this not be considered a crime!?
ruling against Germany would have caused a pretty big earthquake
Of course, the Hamas-must-release-hostages-claim was always a trick:
Israel will invade Rafah with or without hostage deal – Netanyahu
The prime minister directly contradicted his own foreign minister, who promised to suspend the operation if Hamas released its captives
https://swentr.site/news/596814-israel-invade-rafah-hostagers/Regarding US/Israel efforts to block any ICC claim against Israel. Something likely happend back in 2010:
Deferring Justice: Clinton emails show how State Dept. undermined U.N. action on Israeli war crimes
U.S. government boasted it “deferred” the Goldstone Report through “political work,” preventing justice for Gazans
Publicly released Clinton emails reveal that the UNHRC, under heavy U.S. pressure, postponed consideration of the Goldstone Report from October 2 until March 2010. While the UNHRC ultimately endorsed the report’s findings on October 16, it took nearly six months for the body to urge the U.N. General Assembly and Security Council to refer the Gaza massacre to the ICC pursuant to 13(b) of the Rome Statute, which the U.S. then blocked.
One could only imagine the lobbying campaign going on against the ICC, not that I in my wildest dreams believe ICC would even contemplate charging Israel with anything. I assume though that ICC will go after Palestinians/Hamas.
Colombia about to cut ties with Israel:
President Gustavo Petro, a vocal critic of the brutal military onslaught, announced the decision, addressing a May Day rally in the capital Bogota on Wednesday.
“And we here in front of you, the government of change, the president of the republic informs that tomorrow diplomatic relations” with the Israeli regime “will be cut,” he said.
“[We cut diplomatic ties] because of them having…a genocidal president,” he added.
“It cannot be, they can’t return, the times of genocide, of the extermination of an entire people before our eyes, before our passivity. If Palestine dies, humanity dies and we will not let it die as we will not let humanity die.”
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/05/01/724762/Colombia-Israel-war-Gaza-genocide
“Microsoft and Google have been working closely with the Israeli military’s Computer Services Directorate for years, in shadow of flashier military intelligence units
Despite U.S. reporting focusing on the actions of Israel’s Unit 8200, Microsoft and Google have supported the Israeli military’s Lotem technology unit for years.”https://jackpoulson.substack.com/p/microsoft-and-google-have-been-working
Absolutely senseless these people:
Israel blackmailing ICC and US – Axios
The Jewish state has reportedly said it will punish Palestine if the court pursues Israeli leaders
According to Israeli and US officials who spoke to Axios reporter Barak Ravid, the Israeli government told the Biden administration that, if arrest warrants are issued, it will consider the Palestinian Authority responsible and will retaliate with strong action against it.
One possible measure could be to freeze the transfer of tax revenues that Israel collects for the Palestinian Authority, Axios has claimed. Without these funds, the Palestinian Authority would go bankrupt, it added.
https://swentr.site/news/596864-israel-blackmailing-icc-us/
It is not the first time either:
2009: Spy Cables: Abbas and Israel ally against 2009 UN probe
Analysis: Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas colluded with Israel to prevent war crimes charges, according to new leaks.
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2015/2/23/spy-cables-abbas-and-israel-ally-against-2009-un-probe
2015: Abbas blocked ICC application: Why?
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/abbas-blocked-icc-application-why
For all talk about Palestinians hide behind civilian infrastructure etc, meanwhile in Israel:
Why is it that Israel’s military headquarters are located in the middle of civilian areas in Tel Aviv?
According to Israel own standards and actions in Gaza this will make everyone there “human shields” and legitimate targets…
More info, map: https://twitter.com/ricwe123/status/1779512225335529894
Another photo: https://imgur.com/a/ZDaxs3BTime and time again Israel actually use the tactics they accuse palestinians of using.
Not sure if ICC being sincere or just trying to portray themselves as being “tough” against US/Israel pressure:
ICC prosecutor slams ‘attempts to intimidate’ court over possible arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials
“The office seeks to engage constructively with all stakeholders whenever such dialogue is consistent with its mandate under the Rome Statute to act independently and impartially,” ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan says in a statement.“That independence and impartiality are undermined, however, when individuals threaten to retaliate… should the office, in fulfillment of its mandate, make decisions about investigations or cases falling within its jurisdiction,” he adds, demanding that “all attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence its officials cease immediately.”
The statement follows a report from the Axios news site earlier this morning that a group of Republican and Democratic senators held a virtual meeting with top ICC officials this week, in an attempt to dissuade the court from ordering arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
AG
NGOs call on German government to stop arms exports to Israel
The groups, including peace movement Pax Christi, Oxfam Germany, and Amnesty International, sent an open letter on Thursday to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and asked the government to comply with its obligations under international law, and use its influence on the Israeli government.
Is stuff like this even reported by german media?
Israel/US/Arab leaders plan to occupy Gaza after the war(?)
Israel comes up with post-war solution for Gaza – NYT
A power-sharing deal could be agreed in exchange for a normalization of ties with Saudi Arabia, Israeli officials told the paper
Three Israeli officials, and five people who have discussed the proposal with the Israeli government, told the NYT that the Jewish state would offer to share oversight of Gaza with the US and three Arab countries – Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
According to the sources, Israel would do so in exchange for a normalization of ties with Saudi Arabia.
Under the plan, local leaders in Gaza, who would be tasked with rebuilding the territory, reforming its education system and maintaining order, would to be appointed by Israeli and the Arab nations in cooperation with Washington.Max Blumenthal has created a short video for The Grayzone, covering how “the most moral army in the world” carries on, and how the good citizens of Israel respond to the plight of their victims:
https://youtu.be/4vKuB1su43c
https://rumble.com/v443j0i-what-is-wrong-with-israelis.html
https://odysee.com/@TheGrayzone:c/what-is-wrong-with-israelis:fJACK
hardly any reports yesterday. Nothing any more today. It is disgusting to witness this time and again. With the february UN report about Abu Ghraib style torture of UNRWA employees it was the same – NOTHING reported. Plenty of news items with Israelis / Jews as victims of course. It´s so obvious that they are trying hard to FIND news among the incoming wires from the agencies which can spin on the Anti-UN / Palestine ideology. Just to not report on the atrocities. Its shameful to see this. Really. So most people have no clue what´s going on.
With the exception of honourable leftwing JUNGE WELT. But they are the smallest paper in Germany by far.
The Duran on the ICC – joke? tragedy? farce?
19 min.
https://theduran.com/icc-intl-criminal-court-is-finished/AG
Thanks for the reply, very sad, it is the same all over europe unfortunately, westerners do not know, they do not see the streams of videos, photos, testimonies coming out from Gaza. It is interesting that if 1 ukrainian is killed by Russia in Ukraine it is reported as the first news segment by the media, but if at the same time 50 palestinians been killed by the israelis it is not even reported!
And now EU, or rather Germany, have blocked entry for a palestininan doctor! How low could you get?
UK-Palestinian Surgeon & Rector Who Described Gaza ‘Nightmare’ Blocked From EU Entry
Professor Ghassan Abu-Sitta, a London plastic and reconstructive surgeon who spent 43 days in Gaza helping to treat those wounded in Palestine-Israel war, said he has been denied entry to France despite being scheduled to speak to the senate there later on Saturday.
Abu-Sitta arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport on Saturday morning after a flight from London, and was informed by French authorities that Germany had placed a Schengen-wide ban on his entry to EuropeWhere have humanity gone? Europeans fall into the same dehumanization mentality that their forefathers had in WW2.
While Iran tirelessly urge arab, muslim nations to cut ties and impose sanctions on Israel…
Iran Urges Muslim States to Boycott Israel
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2024/05/05/3079886/iran-urges-muslim-states-to-boycott-israel
Saudi arabia (and other arab leaders?) are instead obsessed with reaching a normalizaiton deal with Israel – right during the acts of genocide being commited against their “brothers”, “sisters”. They do not even demand any more that a palestinian state is to be established before any deal with Israel!
The US and Saudi Arabia are reportedly getting closer to a major deal that would “reshape the Middle East” and add to the region’s security.
Riyadh, however, made it plain that it will not sign off on the deal unless there is calm in Gaza and a path to an independent Palestinian state, according to Miller.
JACK
This is e.g. German daily JUNGE WELT which I mentioned above:
short interview with film director Dayan who was attacked for his comments at German film festival “Berlinale”
“German Zionists indulge in philo-Semitic fetish”
From the exploitation of Jewish identities to the hunt. A conversation with Dror Dayan”short summary/comment of the interview
“German travesty
The wave of slander, harassment and repression against critical Jews as an alarm signal for an extremely dangerous development”https://archive.is/hxvRg#selection-7997.0-7997.586
last paragraph:
“”Germany wants to become a military power again, at any price,” explains Dror Dayan, explaining the escalating agitation. And he sheds light on the material basis under the ideological veil of alleged “fighting against anti-Semitism” that is increasingly targeting progressive Jews: from the nuclear weapons program in Dimona secretly financed by Adenauer from 1961 onwards to the import of the “Arrow 3” missile defense system for the proxy war against Russia in the Ukraine – Israel acts as a “bulwark” of German imperialism in the Middle East. “It’s about NATO, not about Auschwitz.””
A longer German text by the biggest alternative German site NACHDENKSEITEN, about Abu Sitta:
“Salman Abu Sitta – “An evil terrorist”?”
Abu Sitta is the devil because he doesn´t condemn HAMAS.
p.s. which is why I count myself among the most radically opinioned Germans as I would argue in favour of HAMAS. But that is verboten in the FRG. Even among the most pronounced critics along ICJ line NOBODY will do that.
So if you defend HAMAS you end up very lonely.
Of course on the psychological level, “intellectuals” fear that if you start to argue over this point you will reveal truth which forces them to admit you are right on some level. And that would cause the ENTIRE imperialistic, hypocratic structure to crumble.
It appears they almost demand a moral revenue for chastising themselves over Holocaust studies for decades, realizing that German scholarship and society somehow missed out on a few pretty important events and developments since 1945. They assume admitting that HAMAS had agency and legitimacy to an extent (only grown-ups can seriously argue over this, which you find none in Germany today) and actually the legal right as far as military units are concerned (according to the UN by, 1974 was it?) it´s impossible to carry on with a decent Holocaust scholarship or whatever. The simplicity of this mindset is horribly moronic – being unable to do both at the same time.
It´s either black or white. And armed resistance is only ok if it´s against genuine Nazis defined by German DIN norm.
And here is the conjunction between German racism and arrogance towards Russians and Arabs. Apparently too much clichéd talk about great fucking German culture has gotten to their heads.
This I just saw, not yet read, but share it right away as a good student should 😉
THE INTERCEPT roundtable with
Intercept´s Murtaza Hussain (not the most radical thinker) Judith Butler (who might turn into one later in her career may be, hopfully) and Jeremy Scahill (same as Hussain)
“Judith Butler Will Not Co-Sign Israel’s Alibi for Genocide
The famed scholar on why reducing Hamas to a terrorist label sanctions Israel’s war on Palestinians.”https://theintercept.com/2024/05/01/judith-butler-israel-hamas-freedom-speech/
…speaking of which: Ken Klippenstein has resigned from THE INTERCEPT
and started something on Substack with THIS piece:“Why I’m Resigning From The Intercept
…and starting something new
Ken Klippenstein
Apr 30, 2024”“(…)
I’m going after the journalistic priesthood, like Judith Miller’s editor for her bogus Iraq WMD stories, whose punishment was being made editor-in-chief of ProPublica (salary: $480,000) and chair of the Pulitzer Prize Board. And any public figure confused about what young people are so mad about or how people could be dissatisfied with an economy where most Americans can’t afford to own a home.
My decision to go independent was a long time coming, but the final, precipitating event was the corporatization of The Intercept over the past few months.
In my time at The Intercept, I’ve watched the newsroom increasingly become dominated by management and bureaucrats whose numbers continue to swell as the number of people who actually produce news dwindles. While the Intercept now has one poor copy editor for the entire website, it employs two staff attorneys, as well as a legal fellow, a chief strategy officer, a chief digital officer, a business coordinator, a senior director of development and an associate director of development, a product manager, a senior director of operations, a chief of staff, and a chief operating officer. And for the first time in The Intercept’s history, as of Monday, the new editor-in-chief now answers to the CEO.
The company’s org chart, pictured below, provides a sense of how top-heavy it has become with business hires (basically the entire left half).
(…)”the CHART, INTERCEPT structure:
UN accuses Israel of denying Gaza aid access as famine takes hold
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A top U.N. official on Sunday accused Israel of continuing to deny the United Nations humanitarian access in the Gaza Strip, where the U.N. food chief warned a “full-blown famine” has taken hold in the north of the enclave of 2.3 million people.While not a formal famine declaration, World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain said – in an NBC News interview broadcast on Sunday – that based on the “horror” on the ground: “There is famine, full-blown famine, in the north, and it’s moving its way south.”
Watch the photo of the truck queue:
https://www.lapost.com/un-accuses-israel-of-denying-gaza-aid-access-as-famine-takes-hold
Such a blatant example of Collective punishment, a war crime under international law:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_punishmentWho are these people fooling?
Queen of Jordan Calls on World to Use ‘Leverage’ to End Israel’s Assault on Gaza
Is not Jordan part of this “world”? What have they done themselves these past 6 months? Nothing!
Just days after 7th october event, Jordan banned pro-palestinian protests:
Jordan bans pro-Palestinian protests in Jordan Valley and border areas amid Israeli airstrikes against Gaza
Amnesty:Jordan: Stop cracking down on pro-Gaza protests and release those charged for exercising their freedoms of assembly and expression
The people in charge cannot in their wildest fantasy understand why people protest against Israel, they must come up with the more absurd reasons after the other, if it is not blamed on antisemitism it is social media that show the unfiltrerd reality of what Israel is doing that is the problem.
Absolute psychopaths.Blinken and Mitt Romney blames TikTok and social media for disrupting Israel’s narrative of war in Gaza
Secretary of state said social media allows history context to ‘get lost’
“Why has Hamas disappeared in terms of public perception?” he continued. “An offer is on the table for a ceasefire and yet the world is screaming about Israel.”
https://www.tiktok.com/@yourfavoriteguy/video/7365742757987503402
JACOBIN:
The Colombian Left Has Every Reason to Condemn Israel
By Luca DeCola
05.05.2024This week, Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president, severed diplomatic ties with Israel over Gaza. It’s a long time coming: Israeli mercenaries aided in the wholesale slaughter of Colombia’s insurgent leftist party, Patriotic Union, in the ’80s.
US resort to extortion against ICC, look how they openly threat ICC:
“Republican Senators Threaten ICC: ‘Target Israel and We Will Target You’”
The letter concludes: “The United States will not tolerate politicized attacks by the ICC on our allies. Target Israel and we will target you. If you move forward with the measures indicated in this report, we will move to end all American support for the ICC, sanction your employees and your associates, and bar you and your family from the United States. You have been warned.”Link to letter: https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000018f-4e0e-d759-a9ff-ff4ee9420000
Now the Israelis have kicked out Al Jazeera, the Rafah invasion can begin in earnest. Expect to see very little slaughter on Western TV pro-Israel propaganda channels (all of our media basically).
Socialist worker tries its best –
Fat Jon
Exactly, the genocide won’t be televised.
And although many crimes by Israel have been recorded it is terrible that a whole lot of other crimes have not been possible to be reported because Israel have struck the electricity hubs etc resulting that people cannot charge their mobilphones/computers and therefore cannot photo, video record, type down the testimonies of the human rights abuses throughout Gaza.
As of yet, the phony “Reporters without borders”, have not put out any condemnation of Israel for the banning of Al Jazeera.
https://rsf.org/enThere are people that are humilitated and cannot do anything about it to stop, then there is people that apparently want to be humiliated. Al Sisi’s Egypt.
The way Israel play the egyptian leader is absurd to watch, the israelis must laugh their ass off daily when it comes to getting the arab leader to implicitly but also sometimes openly support in their war.How Egypt’s crackdown on Gaza protests shows the fragility of Sisi’s regime
Analysis: Even after a decade of unrivalled power, Sisi’s regime in Egypt is too fragile to allow any meaningful show of political free expression.
On 1 May, six Egyptians daring to raise a flag in support of Palestine were detained in Alexandria. On 23 April, 16 Egyptians were arrested for participating in a feminist solidarity act outside the UN Women’s offices in Cairo. Weeks earlier, meanwhile, 10 activists were arrested following peaceful pro-Palestine demonstrations outside the Cairo Journalists Syndicate.
“The escalation of the crisis in Gaza, and Egypt’s role as mediator, has allowed the regime to boost its image and to divert attention from the internal political and human rights crisis,” Boserup said.
Egypt’s position towards Israel and Palestine is ambiguous at best. For the past decade, Egypt has worked closely with Israel on security cooperation.
Today, the regime publicly claims to be a staunch defender of its brothers and sisters in Palestine, but it maintains relations with Israel and is chiefly concerned about the potential influx of Palestinian refugees into the Sinai Peninsula.
The IMF, World Bank, and the EU have all come to Egypt’s economic rescue in the past few months armed with multi-billion-dollar bailout packages. Before the agreements were inked, there was hope that the organisations would pressure Egypt to improve human rights conditions in exchange for much-needed financial aid.
“There was some hope that outside aid would be conditioned on political reform, but that has completely evaporated now,” Mandour said.
https://www.newarab.com/analysis/egypts-crackdown-gaza-protests-shows-regimes-fragility
–
Apparently the egyptians laughed at Iran when they attacked Israel, meanwhile the egyptians themselves do not even dare to take any diplomatic action against Israel:Iran’s attack on Israel met with online ridicule from Egyptians
Some mockery has come from pro-government accounts, at a time when Cairo and Tehran have been working towards improving relations
Jack, I had reason to look at “reporters without borders” yesterday on account of them staging a protest against Xi Jinping’s visit to Paris. I wanted to see how consistent they were, for example, in regards to Julian Assange and Gaza.
Over a month ago they reported and condemned Israel’s legislation targeting AlJazeera: Al Jazeera to be banned soon in Israel in unprecedented censorship after months of persecution (2 Apr 2024). They also published a piece on the murdered journalists in Gaza: More than 100 journalists killed in six months in Gaza – where is the international community? (5 Apr 2024).I don’t know much about “reporters without borders” or their impartiality but those two pieces linked above couldn’t be considered as pro-Israeli. They also condemn Assange’s persecution by USA/UK, for what that’s worth. Perhaps others here have more information on their work.
ET
That is true they have put out comments on this, I should have looked into this a bit deeper, although I think generally this organization is very muted on western/pro-western-nations media crackdown.
Those are somewhat old(?) stats but in 2005 funding partly came from CIA fronts, Neocons- and anti-communist organisations:
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Reporters_Without_Borders#Funding_SourcesThere has been an ongoing protest over the last few days by students at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). TCD administration even closed off access to “The Book of Kells” even to those with pre-booked tickets. The students had set up encampments on campus and were demanding TCD divest all investment in Israeli companies and end all association and collaboration with Israeli universities and research, amongst other things. Trinity College Dublin have made some announcements today intending to divest from three Israeli companies on a UN blacklist and its intention to set up a taskforce to explore engagement with institutions in Israel Trinity College Dublin to divest from investments in Israeli companies that feature on UN ‘blacklist’.
They have also stated:
“In view of the disproportionate response we have seen at some institutions overseas, Trinity is committed to addressing the issue of the encampment as an internal process,” the university said in a statement issued on Monday evening. “We wish for a return to normal services for our students, staff, and the public as soon as possible.”
“We fully understand the driving force behind the encampment on our campus and we are in solidarity with the students in our horror at what is happening in Gaza,” the TCD statement went on. “We abhor and condemn all violence and war, including the atrocities of October 7th and the continuing ferocious and disproportionate onslaught in Gaza. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the dehumanisation of its people is obscene.”
thx ET
It is remarkable, one must say. On the other hand I would assume – outside lobotomized Germany – many universities in Europe share the criticism but keep a low profile. I mean you must be blind (or German) to not realize.
Jonathan Cook:
Why Media Have Failed Gaza
May 6, 2024
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/05/06/why-media-have-failed-gaza/on double standard
“(…)
Only two years ago the BBC dedicated its main news headlines to Kyiv’s citizens mass-producing molotov cocktails with which to greet Russian soldiers closing in on their city.BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen felt emboldened to post — apparently approvingly — a diagram showing weak points where the improvised explosives would do most damage to Russian tanks, and the soldiers inside.
Two years later, in its coverage of Israel’s assault on Gaza, the same BBC has performed a 180-degree turn.
It is quite impossible to imagine Bowen or any other British journalist posting instructions on how Palestinians might burn alive Israeli soldiers in their tanks – even though those soldiers, unlike Russia’s, have been occupying and stealing Palestinian lands for decades, not two years.Israeli soldiers, unlike Russian soldiers, are now actively enforcing a genocidal policy of starvation.
But the double standards of establishment media like the BBC aren’t directed only towards the people of Gaza. They are directed at us, the public, too.
(…)”Boy the leaders of Saudi arabia really love Israel.
Saudi arrests critics of Israel as normalisation talks continue
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240502-saudi-citizens-increasingly-face-arrests-for-criticising-israel-on-social-media/And now the saudis along with other corrupted, western/israeli backed arab regimes will target… Yemen, apparently the genocide in Yemen past decade was not enough.
Exclusive: Yemen Braces For Impending Massive US-Led Air and Ground Campaign
Senior military officials in Sana’a have informed MintPress News of ongoing military preparations by the US, UK, and Saudi-led Coalition over the past two weeks. According to these sources, there are plans to initiate a significant aerial assault on the Yemeni mainland, focusing particularly on coastal regions in the west, as well as areas in the south near the Saudi border. This assault is expected to be accompanied by ground offensives carried out by factions aligned with the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.Ridiculous to watch what is unfolding in Rafah, west, that hyped up this “generous offer” to Hamas for weeks, when Hamas accepted it Israel started to pound Rafah instead – and the west are nowhere to be seen. Videos are now streaming out Rafah like a reprise from past 6 months of onslaught: hospitals are attacked, patients are forced out, videos of slaughtered children.
This is what the enablers in the west and arab world triggered. If they only had the courage to stand up to Israel 40000 lives would have been saved.And just today Biden blamed the victims with the most absurd israeli hasbara lies:
https://twitter.com/SxarletRed/status/1787884148096442684The courageous jewish antiwar activist Medea Benjamin from http://codepink.org
Medea Benjamin, Gaza activist, gets extensively patted down in public #palestine #gaza #shorts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0tlI3azRvUVideo of IDF soldiers using the debunked propaganda and seems totally unconcerned that 35000 people have been killed:
https://twitter.com/medeabenjamin/status/1787886573318447468
