Gaza violence
Hind Khoudary
The bloody scenes I'll never forget from Gaza's Return March
A year ago, Israeli forces gunned down 64 demonstrators during Gaza's Great Return March. Palestinian journalist Hind Khoudary was there to see it all — the bloody stretchers, the wounded, and the dead. By Hind Khoudary GAZA CITY — F16s are flying on low velocity over the Gaza sky as I get flashbacks to May 14 of last year. I don't know if I will ever be able forget all the scenes I witnessed on that ugly day. The images I witnessed are carved into my brain and heart until today, perhaps forever. [tmwinpost] It was very early in the morning, everyone was predicting a backlash from…
Read More... Published May 15, 2019 | 27 Comments
No, escalations do not begin with rockets on Israel
Israel might have the power to tell itself and the rest of the world a story of victimhood. In reality, it has been abusing two million besieged Gazans for over a decade. As the number of casualties on both sides of the Gaza border continues to climb, Israeli politicians are busy having their age-old argument: should we destroy Gaza? Erase it? Or should we send it back to the Stone Age? I propose we draw a different lesson from the horrific violence that, as of this time, has already taken the life of 16 Palestinians and four Israelis: we Israelis need to learn Arabic.…
Read More... Published May 5, 2019 | 24 Comments
Israel's next elections will be about who is more violent to Palestinians
The resignation of Defense Minister Liberman could very well trigger elections as early as next March. Many will be going the polls with one question in mind: how much force should we use against Palestinians? Israel appears to be going to early elections. Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Wednesday announced that he is resigning from his post, and that his party, Yisrael Beytenu, will leave the ruling coalition over what he called Netanyahu's "surrender to terrorism." The surprise resignation came just a day after Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire, ending the most violent flare-up the Gaza border has seen since the 2014 war.…
Read More... Published November 14, 2018 | 34 Comments
The casual racism of war-time Israel
Trauma and racism are an inescapable part of Israeli society, especially on days when the drums of war are beating. The bike ride along the outdoor platform of Tel Aviv's central bus station takes about a minute north to south. [tmwinpost] The area, long neglected by the city, has become home to junkies, sex workers, the homeless, asylum seekers, and Palestinian day laborers. It's also a hub for Israeli soldiers on their way to or from base. Old, half-shredded posters of Eritrean pop singers and fundamentalist Jewish religious figures warning of the End Times line the drab concrete wall that…
Read More... Published November 13, 2018 | 3 Comments
Israel and Palestinian militants exchanged rocket and missile fire on Monday night, following a botched Israeli commando incursion into the Strip a day earlier. By Tuesday evening, the two sides had announced an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, but not before at least seven people, all of them Palestinian, were killed, and many others wounded in both Israel and Gaza. By Mohammed Zaanoun and Oren Ziv / Activestills.org
Eric Yellin
There's a way out of our shared hell with Gaza
Life in Gaza is unbearable. Without resolving the crisis there, the lives of Israelis living in the south will continue to be a living hell. By Eric Yellin A few days ago, on Wednesday night, I was on my way to a film screening in Sderot, a city near the fence with Gaza. A minute after setting foot outside, the rocket-warning sirens went off. I parked my car and together with my partner, quickly got out and hid behind a mound of dirt. As we ran for shelter, we heard explosions and saw rocket trails in the sky, as well as…
Read More... Published August 9, 2018 | 7 Comments
Emily Hilton
British Jews are speaking out on Israel. Will the progressive community have our back?
We expected attacks on anti-occupation voices by Britain's Jewish communal leaders. Now our progressive Jewish institutions are turning their backs on us when we need them most. By Emily Hilton In May of this year, a group of U.K.-based Jewish anti-occupation activists held a demonstration in London's Parliament Square, where we recited the kaddish, the Jewish mourner's prayer, for the Palestinians who have been killed by the IDF during the Great Return March. The views on Israel and Zionism amongst the participants were diverse, but one thing unified all of us: we care about what being done in the name of Judaism, and…
Read More... Published July 6, 2018 | 2 Comments
Benjamin Netanyahu is a fake supporter of democracy
Israel's prime minister wants Iranian protesters to know they have his full support in their struggle against their government. The same can't be said about millions of people under his own government's rule. Benjamin Netanyahu likes to present himself as a fervent supporter of democracy and pro-democracy protests. In fact he is a very selective advocate of democratic struggles, throwing his weight behind protests that align with his agenda even as he rejects those who protest ideas or institutions that undermine it. [tmwinpost] This week, for example, he expressed his admiration for anti-regime protestors in Iran who have been demonstrating…
Read More... Published June 29, 2018 | 1 Comment
Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man
Israel's High Court just made an ICC investigation more likely
The court's rejection of a lawsuit challenging the shooting of protesters in Gaza is a reminder that the Israeli legal system simply isn't set up to investigate the policy makers and policies that result in alleged war crimes. Israel's High Court of Justice may have just inadvertently increased the possibility that senior Israeli officials might themselves show up on the docket of the International Criminal Court one day. [tmwinpost] Last Thursday night, the court rejected a legal challenge that sought to strike down the Israeli army's policy of shooting unarmed protesters in the Gaza Strip. Six Israeli and Palestinian human…
Read More... Published May 28, 2018 | 1 Comment
Rob Abrams
The British Jewish community won't silence our solidarity with Gaza
Young British Jews are facing a torrent of hatred from their own community for expressing solidarity with Gaza. And yet, more British Jews are struggling to see the values they hold reflected in the Israeli government. By Rob Abrams A group of mostly young British Jews took a large step forward in shifting the British Jewish community's debate on Israel and the occupation this past week. Around 50 British Jews, shocked by the scale of death in Gaza, after Israeli snipers shot dead 60 Palestinians in a single day, gathered in Parliament Square in central London to name the dead…
Read More... Published May 25, 2018 | 6 Comments
Gaza's protest leaders still believe in nonviolent struggle
Despite the bloodletting in Gaza over the past months, the leaders of the Great Return March believe that nonviolent resistance is still the best way to end the siege. Rami Younis spoke to Hasan al-Kurd, one of the leaders of the march about the successes, mistakes, and future of the movement. While everyone this past week focused on Israeli police officers breaking the leg of Jafar Farah, a prominent Palestinian political activist from Haifa, I could not help but think of someone else's leg — that of Hasan al-Kurd's brother-in-law, in Gaza. [tmwinpost] Two months ago, during the first Friday protest of the Great…
WATCH: Israel's Eurovision winner gets anti-occupation makeover
A new video parodying Netta Barzilai's 'Toy,' which won this year's Eurovision contest, criticizes Israelis for celebrating in Tel Aviv as Palestinians just an hour away are being killed by IDF snipers. Last week three major events occurred in Israel and Palestine. Israel gunned down 60 demonstrators in Gaza as the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem was inaugurated, while tens of thousands of Israelis packed into Tel Aviv's Rabin Square to celebrate singer Netta Barzilai's victory at the Eurovision Song Contest. Barzilai had just returned from Lisbon, where she won the annual song competition with her song "Toy," a pop take down of macho culture, replete…