Daily Sabah – December 25, 2023
Israel kills 100 Palestinians in one of Gaza's deadliest nights
At a funeral in Gaza on Monday a line of Palestinians touched white shrouds containing the bodies of at least 70 people who Palestinian health officials said were killed by an Israeli airstrike targeting Maghazi in the center of the besieged strip.
It followed one of the enclave's deadliest nights in the 11-week-old battle between Israel and Hamas. One man hugged a dead child and others were hysterical.
"The walls and the curtains fell on us," said one man. "I reached down to my four-year-old child but all I found were rocks."
Strikes that began hours before midnight persisted into Monday. Palestinian media said Israel stepped up air and ground shelling in central Gaza.
Health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra said many of those killed at Maghazi were women and children. Eight others were killed as Israeli planes and tanks carried out dozens of airstrikes on houses and roads in nearby al-Bureij and al-Nusseirat, health officials said.
Medics said an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza killed 23, bringing total Palestinian fatalities overnight to more than 100.
Pope Francis said in his Christmas message on Monday that children dying in wars, including in Gaza, are the "little Jesuses of today" and that Israeli strikes were reaping an "appalling harvest" of innocent civilians.
Some of Gaza's small Christian community took a break from the conflict and suffering to celebrate Christmas.
Several residents made pleas on social media for people to afford them shelter as they have become homeless after leaving their homes in Bureij.
"I have 60 people in the house, people who arrived at my house believing that central Gaza area was safe. Now we are searching for a place to get to," said Odeh, a resident of the refugee camps.
The Israeli army said it was reviewing the report of a Maghazi incident and was committed to minimising harm to civilians. Hamas denies the Israeli charge that it operates in densely populated areas or uses civilians as human shields.
The Palestinian Red Crescent published footage of wounded residents being transported to hospitals. It said Israeli warplanes were bombing main roads, hindering the passage of ambulances and emergency vehicles.
https://www.dailysabah.com/world/mid-east/israel-kills-100-palestinians-in-one-of-gazas-deadliest-nights
Anadolu Agency – December 25, 2023
Israel uses foreign mercenaries in attacks on Gaza
Recent reports and revelations by lawmakers and the South African government sparked controversy about Israel's use of thousands of mercenaries as it carries out one of the most ruthless attacks against Gaza.
Israel has a history of using mercenaries from various countries, including the U.S., France, Spain, and Ukraine, in its wars since 1948, but the Israeli government has opted to remain silent this time.
On Dec. 7, Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, claimed that the number of Israeli soldiers killed by resistance forces was significantly higher than what the Israeli military claimed.
Based on this discrepancy, he suggested that Israel might be using mercenaries in Gaza.
The issue extends beyond the suspicions of the Al-Qassam Brigade. There are calls in the French parliament for the prosecution of dual French citizens fighting alongside the Israeli army in Gaza.
South Africa also took a bold step by threatening legal action against its citizens fighting alongside the Israeli army in Gaza, confirming the presence of mercenaries to support Tel Aviv in its fight against the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
The interview conducted by Spain's El Mundo newspaper with a Spanish mercenary in the Israeli army provides compelling evidence that Israel employs a small army of mercenaries for a weekly payment of €3,900 (approximately $4,300).
French mercenaries
The revelation by the French radio network Europe1 about 4,185 French Israeli dual citizens enlisting in the Israeli army for the Gaza conflict has stirred controversy in France and beyond.
The report includes testimony from Ethan (22), a French Jewish mercenary and current sergeant in the Israeli army who enlisted two years ago and is currently serving on the front lines in the Gaza Strip.
It prompted action in the French parliament, with MP Thomas Portes calling for the prosecution and condemnation of dual citizen mercenaries involved in war crimes. Portes urged the Justice Minister to ensure their trial on French soil.
The Association France Palestine Solidarity (AFPS) also chimed in, calling the presence of French soldiers in the Israeli army "disgraceful."
South Africa's bold step
The U.S., France, Spain, and Ukraine tolerate their citizens serving in the Israeli army, often portraying them as "heroes" rather than "war criminals" in local media, whereas South Africa takes a different stance.
When South Africa's Ministry of Foreign Affairs learned that citizens are considering or have already joined the Israeli army, it immediately threatened legal action and potential citizenship revocation for dual citizens.
South Africa, one of five countries filing a case with the International Criminal Court against Israel for war crimes in Gaza, saw its President, Cyril Ramaphosa, describe the events in Gaza as "genocide."
The Foreign Ministry expressed deep concern in a statement issued on Dec. 18 over reports of South African citizens and permanent residents considering or joining the Israeli army.
Such a move would violate international law, pave the way for further crimes, and could lead to prosecution of these individuals, the ministry said in a statement, warning its citizens to stay away from such steps.
Israel remains silent
Despite numerous reports that Israel is using mercenaries in Gaza, the Tel Aviv administration remains silent on the matter and refuses to reveal the number of such mercenaries.
The Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reported in 2014 that there were 6,000 mercenaries in the Israeli army, with at least 2,000 of them from the U.S.
A report from the Israeli Knesset Research and Information Center stated that between 2002 and 2012, the annual average number of mercenaries, also known as "lone soldiers," was 5,500.
Israel's silence on the matter of mercenaries is noteworthy, but the statement made by French mercenary Ethan with the approval of his unit's commander stands out.
This also indicates that Israel does not object to foreign soldiers making statements to the foreign media if it serves the purpose of recruiting more mercenaries.
The presence of mercenaries in the Israeli army contributes to lower reported death tolls and allows reserve soldiers to resume civilian roles, thereby supporting the economy.
The expenses for mercenaries are covered by generous aid from the U.S. and donations from the Jewish diaspora.
https://www.dailysabah.com/world/mid-east/israel-uses-foreign-mercenaries-in-attacks-on-gaza
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH – December 23, 2024
Meta (Facebook and Instagram) is Systemically Censoring Palestine Content
Human Rights Watchﾠ– (New York) – Meta’s content moderation policies and systems have increasingly silenced voices in support of Palestine on Instagram and Facebook in the wake of the hostilities between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 51-page report, “Meta’s Broken Promises: Systemic Censorship of Palestine Content on Instagram and Facebook,” documents a pattern of undue removal and suppression of protected speech including peaceful expression in support of Palestine and public debate about Palestinian human rights. Human Rights Watch found that the problem stems from flawed Meta policies and their inconsistent and erroneous implementation, overreliance on automated tools to moderate content, and undue government influence over content removals.
“Meta’s censorship of content in support of Palestine adds insult to injury at a time of unspeakable atrocities and repression already stifling Palestinians’ expression,” said Deborah Brown, acting associate technology and human rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Social media is an essential platform for people to bear witness and speak out against abuses while Meta’s censorship is furthering the erasure of Palestinians’ suffering.”
Human Rights Watch reviewed 1,050 cases of online censorship from over 60 countries. Though they are not necessarily a representative analysis of censorship, the cases are consistent with years of reporting and advocacy by Palestinian, regional, and international human rights organizations detailing Meta’s censorship of content supporting Palestinians.
After the Hamas-led attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials, Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed around 20,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Unlawful Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid have contributed to an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe for Gaza’s 2.2 million population, nearly half of whom are children.
Human Rights Watch identified six key patterns of censorship, each recurring in at least 100 instances: content removals, suspension or deletion of accounts, inability to engage with content, inability to follow or tag accounts, restrictions on the use of features such as Instagram/Facebook Live, and “shadow banning,” a term denoting a significant decrease in the visibility of an individual’s posts, stories, or account without notification. In over 300 cases, users were unable to appeal content or account removal because the appeal mechanism malfunctioned, leaving them with no effective access to a remedy.
In hundreds of the cases documented, Meta invoked its ﾓDangerous Organizations and Individualsﾔ (DOI) policy, which fully incorporates the United States designated lists of “terrorist organizations.” Meta has cited these lists and applied them sweepingly to restrict legitimate speech around hostilities between Israel and Palestinian armed groups.
Meta also misapplied its policies on violent and graphic content, violence and incitement, hate speech, and nudity and sexual activity. It has inconsistently applied its ﾓnewsworthy allowanceﾔ policy, removing dozens of pieces of content documenting Palestinian injury and death that has news value, Human Rights Watch said.
Meta is aware that its enforcement of these policies is flawed. In a 2021 report, Human Rights Watch documented Facebook’s censorship of the discussion of rights issues pertaining to Israel and Palestine and warned that Meta was “silencing many people arbitrarily and without explanation.”
An independent investigation conducted by Business for Social Responsibility and commissioned by Meta found that the company’s content moderation in 2021 “appear[s] to have had an adverse human rights impact on the rights of Palestinian users,” adversely affecting “the ability of Palestinians to share information and insights about their experiences as they occurred.”
In 2022, in response to the investigation’s recommendations as well as guidance by Metaﾒs Oversight Board, Meta made a commitment to make a series of changes to its policies and their enforcement in content moderation. Almost two years later, though, Meta has not carried out its commitments, and the company has failed to meet its human rights responsibilities, Human Rights Watch found. Meta’s broken promises have replicated and amplified past patterns of abuse.
Human Rights Watch shared its findings with Meta and solicited Meta’s perspective. In response, Meta cited its human rights responsibility and core human rights principles as guiding its “immediate crisis response measures” since October 7.
To meet its human rights due diligence responsibilities, Meta should align its content moderation policies and practices with international human rights standards, ensuring that decisions to take content down are transparent, consistent, and not overly broad or biased.
Meta should permit protected expression, including about human rights abuses and political movements, on its platforms, Human Rights Watch said. It should begin by overhauling its “dangerous organizations and individuals” policy to make it consistent with international human rights standards. Meta should audit its “newsworthy allowance” policy to ensure that it does not remove content that is in the public interest and should ensure its equitable and non-discriminatory application. It should also conduct due diligence on the human rights impact of temporary changes to its recommendation algorithms it introduced in response to the recent hostilities.
“Instead of tired apologies and empty promises, Meta should demonstrate that it is serious about addressing Palestine-related censorship once and for all by taking concrete steps toward transparency and remediation,” Brown said.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/20/meta-systemic-censorship-palestine-content
Israel Bombardment on Palestinian Al-Aqsa TV Chanel
Journalists and media outlets are a common target during the constant Israeli bombing of Gaza.
An Israeli attack on the headquarters of the Palestinian television channel Al-Aqsa TV in Gaza City resulted in the killing of 13 members of its media personnel and the total destruction of the building and equipment of the channel.
The director of Al-Aqsa TV, Muhammed al-Saidi, was killed a day earlier in the Israeli air attack on the Palestinian radio station when he and several members of his family were killed in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip.
The israeli regime bombed their broadcasting channels to dust because they are afraid of Gaza’s voices to be broadcasted: higlights some Palestinian media on X.
Al-Aqsa TV headquarters has been targeted more than once during the previous Israeli aggressions on Gaza Strip, but this time was totally destruyed.
Journalists and media outlets are a common target during the constant Israeli bombing of Gaza. Lebanese Al-Manar and MTV radio stations were targeted in an Israeli attack in the Khardali area of southern Lebanon.
An artillery shell landed near Al-Manar’s crew members, including Al-Manar’s prominent war correspondent Ali Shoeib and cameraman Khodor Markiz.
The two journalists survived, but cameraman Markiz suffered eye injuries as a result of Israeli artillery bombardment.
Twenty-four hours ago, the Palestine Today station and its transmission vehicle in the Gaza Strip were attacked by the Zionist occupying forces.
Informed Comment – December 23, 2023
Israelis have killed the same Percentage of Gazans
in 11 Weeks as Allies did Italians in all of WW II
By Juan Cole
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The UN reports figures from the Gaza Ministry of Health as of Friday: “between 7 October and 7:00 on 22 December, at least 20,057 Palestinians were killed in Gaza. About 70 per cent of those killed are said to be women and children. As of then, 53,320 Palestinians have been injured.”
If Gaza’s population before the outbreak of hostilities on October 7 was 2.2 million, then Israel has killed 0.9% of the population, nearly a full 1 percent. Almost all of them have been innocent noncombatants, since 70% are estimated to have been women and children, and most of the men killed have been civilians – the elderly, workers, shopkeepers, and professionals, including physicians and journalists.
The Israeli campaign has now entered into WW II territory. The belligerents in the Second World War may have polished off between 65 million and 75 million people, a good 55 million of them noncombatants. But these numbers are worldwide, and they represent a small percentage of the world’s population during the war.
Italy is a good comparison for Gaza, since about 1.1% of its pre-war population was killed in WW II. That took from 1940 to 1945 (Mussolini’s Italy entered the war in 1940 and he fell in 1943 but Allied dithering allowed the Nazi Germans to take over Italy until 1945).
So Israel is killing Palestinians in Gaza at many, many times the rate that the warring countries killed Italians in Italy during WW II, since at 11 weeks we have nearly reached the 1% dead threshold that took nearly 5 years to achieve in Italy.
Vittorio Daniele and Renato Ghezzi wrote in Investigaciones de Historia Econmicaﾠthat, moreover, those who survived the trauma of the war were severely damaged. They write,
- Research, conducted in 13 European countries on a large sample of adults (>50 years old), showed how the experience of World War II (WWII) during childhood increased the probability of suffering from diabetes and depression, and was associated with less education and life satisfaction in adulthood (Kesternich et al., 2014).
- War most often brings hunger to the population. The United Nations now estimates that half of Palestinians in Gaza are starving.
That happened to the Dutch during the Nazi blockade. Daniele and Ghezzi note, “Studies conducted on cohorts of Dutch men, born during the German blockade of food supplies to the Netherlands (the ‘Hunger Winter’, 1944–1945), found that prenatal exposure to severe malnutrition deficiencies, particularly in the first gestation period, was associated with a higher risk of personality disorders, coronary heart disease and metabolic disorders in later life (Neugebauer et al., 1999, Roseboom et al., 2001) and with persistent epigenetic changes (Heijmans et al., 2008).
So all the pregnant women who survive the bombardments can expect to give birth to children more likely to have attacks and to experience personality disorders; and even the way their DNA processes proteins will be affected. There are tens of thousands of pregnant women in Gaza.
Some of the same health and behavioral problems have been found for children below 10. The loss of education was also enormous, and affected their lifetime earnings.
Steven Harvey wrote in 1985 about the Allied strategic bombing of Italy in the journal History. He argued that Italy had the least-developed air force among the belligerents and had few means to defend itself from allied bombing. There were food shortages and rationing had to be imposed. “One of the reasons for the food shortages was a 25 per cent decline in agricultural production by 1943, caused by labour shortages and reduced supplies of fertilizer (also partly due to labour shortage…).”
The Italian government never organized proper air raid warnings. Harvey wrote, “When the RAF first bombed Turin the first casualties had started arriving in hospital before the air raid alarm was given. Nearly two and a half years later, during the first American daylight raid on Naples, the bombs fell on busy streets crowded with afternoon shoppers, because even though the American formation had been in sight of the coast for several minutes, the alarm had still not been sounded.”
He gives a for-instance: “Numerous [American] attacks on Naples killed about 3000 people between 1 January [1943] and the armistice.” The population dispersed, many taking refuge in the countryside, which hurt industrial and food production. But Italy is a big place and was relatively lightly bombed. It differs radically from tiny Gaza, which has seen 2,000-pound bombs repeatedly dropped on densely populated urban areas (the US never did that to Mosul, contrary to what some observers have alleged).
Unlike in Gaza, most of the people killed in Italy during the war were killed by ground operations, not from the air. Still, Harvey argues that the air campaign contributed significantly to the collapse of the Mussolini government.
The massive war machines of the 1940s that ground up and destroyed so many lives took five years to kill the proportion of the population in Italy that the Israelis have killed in only about 11 weeks in Gaza.
https://www.juancole.com/2023/12/israelis-percentage-italians.html
Countercurrent – December 25, 2023
Jesus of Palestine. Jesus of the Gaza Strip
By Richard Eskow
Every now and then an image perfectly captures the moment, in all its light or darkness.I was struck by the creche that was set up in Bethlehem’s Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church after that city’s Christians canceled this year’s Christmas celebrations. You’ve probably seen it: it shows the Nativity scene, as all such displays do, but the newborn infant Jesus is lying in the ruins of a concrete building.
“God is under the rubble in Gaza,” says the pastor who created the creche, Rev. Munther Isaac. “This is where we find God right now.”
I’m not a Christian, if Christianity means embracing the theology of a threefold God and the idea of Jesus as the sole source of personal salvation. But I love the teachings of Jesus as they’ve been conveyed. And I’ve been deeply moved by the meaning of the Christmas story, even if I can’t accept it literally. It says that God, the most powerful entity that ever was or ever could be, chose to enter this world in the most helpless form we humans can imagine: a newborn infant. And not just any infant, either. A Jewish infant. A homeless infant. A refugee infant.
A Palestinian infant.
Rev. Isaac, who last name once meant “he who laughs,” has touched the world. That’s not due to any artistic skill. On the contrary. Not to be unkind, but the creche is not an aesthetic triumph. His execution and framework are awkward. But his heart is pure, and it shows.
Look at it again.
The animals in the manger are at the bottom of the ruins and the Three Wise Men are in the upper right. But what’s most striking is the sight of Joseph and Mary in the upper left corner, separated from their child by the rubble and unable to reach him. I imagine them not knowing if he’s dead or alive. Perhaps they wrote his name on one leg to identify him if the worst happens, like so many other Palestinian parents.
The childlike simplicity of the creche stays with me: the toy figures, the candles, and the doll itself, so unlike any real child — but so like a toy a real child might have.
According to the story, Jesus was born in a manger because the Romans forced everyone to return to the city of their birth to be counted in the census. Historians say that’s not true; people (only men, actually) were counted where they lived. But it’s true that the occupiers demanded that they be carefully counted.
That particular colonial practice hasn’t changed. As Israeli architect and author Eyal Weizman writes in his book, Hollow Land: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation:
An important aspect of Israel’s overall domination … is manifested in its control of the population registration. Every Palestinian birth in Gaza, death in the West Bank, marriage in Jerusalem, or change of address in Galilee must be entered into Israel’s Interior Ministry database in order to exist. No one can travel, work, open a bank account, or even emigrate without it.
We know how the Christmas story ends. This child becomes a leader, a prophet, the epitome of marginalized humanity: despised, hunted, convicted, and sentenced to death.
Nothing in this story—nothing—teaches us to side with the oppressor against the oppressed.
Joe Biden is Catholic. So was one of my grandmothers. (The other was Jewish.) Like many a Catholic grandmother, mine terrified me with the prospect of damnation at a very young age. But people carry their own kind of hellfire. The Catholic faith and litany is also rich with beauty and profundity. My life has been enriched by its art, music, and literature. A Catholic monsignor helped me recover from drugs and alcohol. I know the dark side of the Church’s history, but I know its other side, too.
I can’t help but wonder how the president reconciles his faith with his support for today’s occupiers. Pope Francis, the Holy Father, said of the conflict: “we’ve gone beyond war. This is terrorism.” He used the word “terrorism” again after Israeli snipers shot and killed two women sheltering in a Gaza church – “in cold blood” and “without warning,” according to Church officials there.
I believe the president is a sincere Catholic. That’s why I don’t understand how he can reconcile his actions with his faith. I don’t know why he isn’t moved by the image of the infant in the rubble, even after 8,000 children – perhaps many more – have died. I don’t know why he sides against the homeless, the refugees, the laboriously counted and still unseen people suffering under occupation.
I’m grateful to Rev. Isaac, “he who smiles,” for creating this work. I hope he and his neighbors can smile again someday soon. I’m haunted by his portrayal of two parents unable to reach their child under the ruins. Of the mother — the divine mother — who for Christian and Muslims is a uniquely sacred figure for all of humanity. Of the mother, afraid. Of the mother who is every mother living under oppression.
By most Christian accounts, Mary was a teenaged girl—probably no older than 14—when an angel appeared and revealed her destiny. That’s a heavy weight to place on a young girl’s shoulders. But it’s no heavier than the weight a mother or father carries when they hold their dead child in their arms.
As for the president, perhaps at some point he learned the Litany of Loreto, one of the prayers of praise for the mother, Mary. It includes these words:
Mother of hope.
Mirror of justice.
Mystical rose.
Gate of heaven.
Morning star.
Solace of migrants.
Comfort of the afflicted.
Queen of Martyrs.
Queen of peace.
And it concludes:
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world
Richard (RJ) Eskow is a freelance writer. Much of his work can be found on eskow.substack.com. His weekly program, The Zero Hour, can be found on cable television, radio, Spotify, and podcast media. He is a senior advisor with Social Security Works.
https://countercurrents.org/2023/12/jesus-of-palestine-jesus-of-the-gaza-strip/
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