Gaza Strip

Palestine

Egypt fears Israel pushing Palestinians to Sinai

Since the “humanitarian pause” ended, Israel has focused its air-strikes on Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis—now swelled with hundreds of thousands displaced from the north of the Strip. Along with the strikes, Israeli planes are dropping leaflets on the city, warning the populace to flee further south to Rafah on the Egyptian border—despite having earlier declared the southern Strip a “safe zone.” Most of the Strip’s 2.3 million population has already fled to the south, and Egyptian officials believe that Israel is preparing to next drive them across the border into the Sinai desert. The aim of the Khan Younis strikes is to “disrupt the mass of the population from the south and push it towards Egypt,” one Cairo official told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has categorically rejected a forced resettlement, and the idea is generating anger among Egyptians. (Photo via The New Arab)

Watching the Shadows

Anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism: parsing the difference II

In a disturbing coincidence in Missoula, Mont., a Palestine solidarity march to protest the bombardment of Gaza ran into a separate but simultaneous anti-Israel march by neo-Nazis. Since the Gaza bombardment began, open neo-Nazi marches have also been reported from Madison, Wisc., Dallas, Tex., and elsewhere around the country. Yet, in addition to displaying enthusiasm for Hamas, their banners also read “REFUGEES NOT WELCOME”—and we may assume it was a similar ultra-right xenophobe who shot three Palestinian youths in Burlington, Vt. This makes it all the more maddening that elements of the “left” share with the Nazis an unseemly enthusiasm for Hamas—providing much fodder for the pro-Israel and “anti-woke” right. In Episode 201 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to explore the dilemma. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Hayden Blackford/Daily Montanan)

Palestine

UN experts call for Gaza war crimes investigation

UN experts called for prompt, transparent and independent investigations into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the Gaza Strip, since Israel’s new military offensive began last month. “Independent investigators must be given the necessary resources, support and access required to conduct prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into crimes allegedly committed by all parties to the conflict,” the experts said, calling on Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the de facto authorities in Gaza to cooperate fully with investigations. (Photo: Maan News Agency)

Watching the Shadows

Anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism: parsing the difference

Amid Israel’s massive aerial bombardment of Gaza, accusations of anti-Semitism at demonstrations for Palestine are mounting. But some instances were later revealed to have been distorted or exaggerated. The increasingly accepted official “working definition of anti-Semitism” dangerously muddies the water by explicitly conflating anti-Zionism and Jew-hatred. Media questioning of the claims of the Israeli military has even been compared to Holocaust denial. Yet actual, unambiguous Jew-hatred is meanwhile much in evidence, in America and Europe alike. This raises the imperative on activists to genuinely grapple with the distinction, rather than merely dismissing anti-Semitism as Zionist propaganda—which is, ironically, itself an anti-Semitic response. In Episode 201 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinbergexplores the dilemma. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Image: frgdr.com)

Palestine

ICC receives Palestine referral from Rome Statute parties

The International Criminal Court (ICC) released a statement saying it received a referral from Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros, Djibouti and South Africa regarding the Situation in the State of Palestine. ICC prosecutor Karim AA Khan KC affirmed that an investigation is currently ongoing with its own dedicated team. The five countries made the ICC referral in accordance with their powers under the Rome Statute. All five of the referring countries are party to the Rome Statute, as is the State of Palestine; Israel is not. (Photo: OSeveno/WikiMedia)

Palestine

Gaza & Yarmouk: forbidden symmetry

As Israel crosses the genocidal threshold in Gaza, a regional summit in Riyadh protests, issuing an urgent call for a ceasefire. Yet the regional powers at that summit are guilty of equivalent crimes—Saudi Arabia in Yemen, and Iran and the Basar Assad regime in Syria. Assad’s propaganda chief Bouthaina Shaaban especially decried Israel’s targeting of hospitals in Gaza. Yet just last month, the Assad regime bombed hospitals in Syria’s rebel-held north. Indeed, the Assad regime also savagely bombed and besieged Palestinians for months, at Yarmouk refugee camp outside Damascus. In Episode 200 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg notes with chagrin that key organizers of this month’s National March on Washington for Palestine included pseudo-left “tankie” formations that actively support the genocidal Assad regime. They also now abet Russia’s genocidal campaign in Ukraine, in which hospitals have been repeatedly targeted. This moral contradiction undercuts our effectiveness in advancing the demand for a Gaza ceasefire. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Palestinians await aid distribution at Yarmouk, 2014. Credit: UNWRA)

Palestine

Podcast: whither ‘From the River to the Sea’?

In both the United States and United Kingdom, progressive politicians have been censured for use of the slogan “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea.” Much media reportage has simply accepted portrayals of the slogan as inherently anti-Semitic and a call for genocide. Nor, given the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7 and the wave of anti-Semitic attacks around the world since then, should such concerns be merely dismissed. Indeed, the slogan does inherently challenge the precepts of Zionism and the moribund dogma of a two-state solution. In Episode 199 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg urges that it is incumbent upon activists to articulate a vision of a single secular state with equal rights for all in historic Palestine. While this may seem utopian, clarity on this question will make us more tactically effective in advancing the urgent immediate demand: a ceasefire in Gaza. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Image: Mitchell’s New General Atlas, 1864, via NYPL)

Palestine

Jewish-Arab solidarity meetings held in Haifa

Since the Gaza bombardment began, three joint Jewish-Arab gatherings for coexistence and mutual solidarity have been held in Haifa, hosted by the Israeli city’s Ahmadiyya Mahmud Mosque. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community convened the meetings, bringing together representatives from various faiths, including Jewish rabbis, Christian pastors, Muslim and Druze imams, and even a Buddhist monk. The meetings have drawn up to 600 attendees. The Ahmadiyya amir of the Holy Lands, Muhammad Sharif Odeh, urged Jewish guests not to justify collective retaliation: “It is haram [unlawful] to kill civilians and innocent people—this is not the right way, there are other solutions, without weapons. Muslims and Jews have lived together for more than 1,300 years, and Jews were given their rights under the Muslim rule… Muslims and Jews should know that not speaking up in the face of oppression destroys the human feelings in our hearts, and stops us from feeling empathy towards the pain and suffering of each other.” (Photo: Al Hakam. Banner reads: “We are allies, not adversaries”)

Palestine

Israeli official broaches nuclear strike on Gaza

A member of the Israeli cabinet broached a nuclear strike on the Gaza Strip, making outraged headlines in the Arab world. Jerusalem Affairs & Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu of the ultra-nationalist Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party said in a radio interview that there are “no non-combatants in Gaza,” and using a nuclear weapon on the Palestinian enclave is “one of the possibilities.” The comment was immediately repudiated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who issued a statement saying that Eliyahu has been suspended from cabinet meetings “until further notice.” Nonetheless, this comes as the death toll in nearly a month of Gaza bombardment approaches 10,000, with increasingly genocidal rhetoric voiced by Israeli officials up to and including Netanyahu. And despite a supposed relaxation of international tensions after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s highly anticipated speech was less bellicose than expected, the nuclear-powered (and presumably nuclear-armed) submarine USS Florida has arrived in the Middle East. The Ohio-class submarine is now operating under the command of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which polices the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and Arabian Sea—a clear signal to Iran and its regional allies. (Photo: Maan News Agency)

The Caucasus

Anti-Semitic riots, attacks in Russian Caucasus

An angry mob in Russia’s Caucasus republic of Dagestan stormed the airport of regional capital Makhachkala, seking to confront passengers arriving on a flight from Israel. Some held signs reading “Child killers have no place in Dagestan” and “We are against Jewish refugees.” The National Guard only showed up hours after rioters had overrun all areas of the airport, including the runway. Clashes then ensued, with several arrested. There was a similar scene in the Dagestani city of Khasavyurt, after reports on social media claimed that “refugees from Israel” were being accommodated at a local hotel. Another such rally was reported from Cherkessk, capital of Karachay-Cherkessia republic. And in Nalchik, capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, an under-construction Jewish cultural center was set ablaze, with “Death to the Yahudi” written in Russian on one wall. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection)

Palestine

Expel Palestinians from Gaza: Israeli intelligence ministry

The Israeli Ministry of Intelligence is recommending the forcible and permanent transfer of the Gaza Strip’s 2.2 million Palestinian residents to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, according to an official document revealed in full by progressive Israeli website Local Call, and acknowledged by the ministry as authentic. The document, which has been translated into English, recommends that Israel act to “evacuate the civilian population to Sinai” during the course of the conflict; establish tent cities and later more permanent settlements in the northern Sinai that will absorb the expelled population; and then create “a sterile zone of several kilometers…within Egypt, and [prevent] the return of the population to activities/residences near the border with Israel.” (Photo of bombed Jabalia refugee camp via Maan News Agency)

Palestine

Gaza: support ‘All for all’

As Israel now openly approaches a genocidal threshold in Gaza, it is clear that the hostages held by Hamas have been sacrificed to the end of collective vengeance on the Palestinian people. In Episode 198 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg echoes urgent demands for a ceasefire, and also notes the “all-for-all” solution now being advanced by the families of the hostages—all Israelis held by Hamas for all Palestinians held by Israel, many of whom have been detained for years without charge. First put forth by Mustafa Barghouti of the secular-left Palestinian National Initiative, this proposal holds hope for a step back from the brink, recognizing the humanity of both “sides.” Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Jewish Voice for Peace)