I've only read a few Palestinian prisoners stories and I have to stop each time. I'm usually one who can sit and read for hours. It's devastating but necessary reading - we MUST get these stories to as many eyes as possible.
We need to bring more attention to the university-specific #bds demands that the students of the #studentspring are making: companies invested, dollar amounts, research relationships, etc. So far, the divestment aspect seems to be lost, when it's actually the most important part.
[...]
If Israel escalates by attacking Iran and striking at the country’s infrastructure, then Iran’s counter will be to take a page out of Russia’s book and commence the one line of attack which Israel, the US and their allies cannot withstand any better than Ukraine – that’s Electric War.
For the seven months which have elapsed since Hamas began its operation against Israel on October 7, and Israel commenced its genocide against the Palestinians, there has been no targeting by Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, or the Syrian and Iraqi groups of Israel’s highly vulnerable maritime gas platforms, gas pipelines, coal and oil-fired electricity generating plants, the coal and oil storages nearby, solar and wind power units, or the electricity grids keeping the country alight.
The Arab inhibitions and calculations are understandable. Iran’s will disappear if Israel triggers a new round of attacks.
[...]
"Iran received messages from mediators to let the regime do a symbolic strike to save face, asked Iran not to retaliate,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed to The Cradle
"Iran has received messages from mediators to let the regime do a symbolic strike to save face and asked Iran not to retaliate,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed to The Cradle.
He added that Tehran “outright rejected” the proposal, delivered by mediators, and reiterated warnings that any Israeli attack on Iranian soil would be met with a decisive and immediate response.
The reply was delivered directly to the Swiss envoy in Tehran by officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and not the foreign ministry. According to The Cradle’s source, the decision for the IRGC to reply directly was meant “to send a strong warning to the US.”
“Iran successfully embarrassed all of the integrated radar network and anti-missile systems of the US and the [Israeli] regime. The US even activated its parked satellites over the region to do maximum protection and failed miserably,” the Iranian military official added.
The revelations come as US defense officials have told western media that they expect a “limited response” from Israel against Iran, which will reportedly focus on targets outside of Iranian territory.
Nevertheless, US officials stressed that Tel Aviv had not briefed the Pentagon on a “final decision” as discussions within Israel’s fractured war cabinet continued.
“The US does not intend to take part in the military response,” they confirmed. However, they expect Israel to inform Washington about response plans in advance.
[...]
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani told state TV on Monday night that Tehran’s response to any Israeli retaliation would come in “a matter of seconds, as Iran will not wait for another 12 days to respond.”
#Israel / "too old to emigrate but envied those who could" (Sami Michael, RIP)
Famed Israeli Author Sami Michael Dies at 97
[...] Born and raised in #Iraq, Mr. Michael was a political activist and member of the Communist party; when a warrant for his arrest was issued in 1948, he fled to neighboring Iran. Unable to return to Iraq, he immigrated to Israel in 1949. After working as an engineer and as a journalist for the Haifa-based Arabic newspaper Al Itihad, he became an acclaimed novelist who has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature. He [was] a human rights activist and the president of ACRI – the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
Excerpts from a speech he gave back in 2012:
[...] The dominant culture in Israel has always directed its eyes towards the West. But this West, as always, weighs the existence of Israel as well as other countries in terms of economic profit and strategic value. The European settlers in Algiers, Zimbabwe and South Africa lasted longer than Zionist settlement in Israel. The hold that white men had over South Africa developed into an impressive power, but when the order of priorities changed in the world, it seems that the wall of Western support was a passing illusion, treacherous and deceptive. The State of Israel is in fact the product of traditional Jewish intercession. When the fathers of Zionism in Europe garnered sympathy for the establishment of a Jewish state they made use of the argument that the entity to be created would spread a wave of advanced European culture into the Middle East. This approach took root in Israeli consciousness, and until today Europe is the spiritual Mecca for a large section of the Israeli intelligentsia, especially for those writers considered as the shapers of public opinion. In my view, this is one of the deep internal conflicts in the Zionist idea. Zionist ideology emerged against the background of European anti-Semitism, yet the fathers of Zionism volunteered to serve as the agents of that very culture which nurtured a hatred of the Jews. It thus transpires that those upholding this approach regard the generations of anti-Semitism, the expulsion from Spain, the atrocities of Nazi Germany as if they had occurred on another planet, in some imaginary era.
#Israel / "too old to emigrate but envied those who could": (Sami Michael, RIP)
Famed Israeli Author Sami Michael Dies at 97
[...] Born and raised in #Iraq, Mr. Michael was a political activist and member of the Communist party; when a warrant for his arrest was issued in 1948, he fled to neighboring Iran. Unable to return to Iraq, he immigrated to Israel in 1949. After working as an engineer and as a journalist for the Haifa-based Arabic newspaper Al Itihad, he became an acclaimed novelist who has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature. He is still a human rights activist and [was] the president of ACRI – the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
From his speech back in 2012: ‘Israel – Most racist state in the industrialized world’
[...] The dominant culture in Israel has always directed its eyes towards the West. But this West, as always, weighs the existence of Israel as well as other countries in terms of economic profit and strategic value. The European settlers in Algiers, Zimbabwe and South Africa lasted longer than Zionist settlement in Israel. The hold that white men had over South Africa developed into an impressive power, but when the order of priorities changed in the world, it seems that the wall of Western support was a passing illusion, treacherous and deceptive. The State of Israel is in fact the product of traditional Jewish intercession. When the fathers of Zionism in Europe garnered sympathy for the establishment of a Jewish state they made use of the argument that the entity to be created would spread a wave of advanced European culture into the Middle East. This approach took root in Israeli consciousness, and until today Europe is the spiritual Mecca for a large section of the Israeli intelligentsia, especially for those writers considered as the shapers of public opinion. In my view, this is one of the deep internal conflicts in the Zionist idea. Zionist ideology emerged against the background of European anti-Semitism, yet the fathers of Zionism volunteered to serve as the agents of that very culture which nurtured a hatred of the Jews. It thus transpires that those upholding this approach regard the generations of anti-Semitism, the expulsion from Spain, the atrocities of Nazi Germany as if they had occurred on another planet, in some imaginary era.
As Israel kills dozens of academics, destroys every university and subjects Gaza's civilian population to horrible suffering, many in the Israeli academia are unable to bring themselves to speak up when it's their country that's being accused of such crimes.
All things considered, Ariel Porat, Tel Aviv University's president, does his best. But it does come across as the absolute minimum, as he stops short of calling Israel's leaders to stop and univocally condemn the indiscriminate killing and engineered starvation.
[...] In recent weeks, the humanitarian crisis has begun to be addressed, albeit quietly and with caution. A few weeks ago, a strong statement was issued, signed by nearly a thousand academics and members of several faculties in the country, including the IDF Chief of Staff, calling on the Israeli government to act forcefully to prevent a humanitarian crisis. Many refrained from signing the statement, not because they disagree with the call, but out of fear that it would be perceived as a moral judgment: after all, the State of Israel is going through its most difficult times, and it is essential to achieve the goals of the war as determined by its leaders.
[...] This is a grave mistake. It is highly doubtful whether a humanitarian crisis will advance the goals of the war, and in fact, it may hinder our ability to achieve these goals, both in terms of operational effectiveness and in terms of losing international legitimacy and support, even from our friends. But above all, it is a grave mistake because there is no goal, however noble, that justifies all means. And it is clear that Hamas's clear responsibility for the horrific disaster that has befallen us, which affects not only us but also our children, does not absolve us, in and of itself, of responsibility for the situation that has been created.
As Israel kills dozens of academics, destroys every university and subject a civilian population to horrible suffering, many in the Israeli academia are unable to bring themselves to speak up when it's their country that's being accused of such crimes.
All things considered, Ariel Porat, Tel Aviv University's president, does his best. But it does come across as the absolute minimum, as he stops short of calling Israel's leaders to stop and univocally condemn the indiscriminate killing and engineered starvation.
[...] In recent weeks, the humanitarian crisis has begun to be addressed, albeit quietly and with caution. A few weeks ago, a strong statement was issued, signed by nearly a thousand academics and members of several faculties in the country, including the IDF Chief of Staff, calling on the Israeli government to act forcefully to prevent a humanitarian crisis. Many refrained from signing the statement, not because they disagree with the call, but out of fear that it would be perceived as a moral judgment: after all, the State of Israel is going through its most difficult times, and it is essential to achieve the goals of the war as determined by its leaders.
[...] This is a grave mistake. It is highly doubtful whether a humanitarian crisis will advance the goals of the war, and in fact, it may hinder our ability to achieve these goals, both in terms of operational effectiveness and in terms of losing international legitimacy and support, even from our friends. But above all, it is a grave mistake because there is no goal, however noble, that justifies all means. And it is clear that Hamas's clear responsibility for the horrific disaster that has befallen us, which affects not only us but also our children, does not absolve us, in and of itself, of responsibility for the situation that has been created.
Any of the Palestinian memoirs/biographies are great in so many ways. You can come in with little idea of the Middle East and get a human story as well as where that falls in the history/context of something people call complicated, but isn't.
#Palestine / If Biden Wants Israeli-Palestinian Peace, He Must Break With the Past (Prof Avi Shlaim, December 22, 2020)
Shlaim argued back in 2020 that only by breaking from past failed policies of coddling Israel can #Biden capitalize on new regional dynamics to make meaningful progress toward a two-state solution.
Shlaim suggested that the traditional U.S. approach of unconditional support for Israel, while posing as an "honest broker" in peace negotiations, has been incoherent and self-defeating. The Oslo peace too was a charade that allowed Israel to continue expanding settlements while paying lip service to a two-state solution that became increasingly untenable.
[cont'd] Right-Wing students protest Hebrew University's minimal disciplinary action against Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian
... and I quote:
"The military operation that Israel is currently conducting with the aim of defeating the murderous terrorist organization Hamas does not come close to the definition of genocide according to international law. In contrast, the horrific massacre that Hamas carried out on October 7th against Jews simply for being Jewish falls entirely under that definition."
Reminder: "committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group" ... Hopefully these are not law school students, or math...
#Palestine and the UN / Imseis, Ardi. The United Nations and the Question of Palestine: Rule by Law and the Structure of International Legal Subalternity. Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New york, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2024.
Imseis criticizes the two-state solution, stating that it was not aligned with core principles of international law when originally envisioned and has contributed to Palestine's contingent status in the international legal order. Despite the Palestinian Liberation Organization's recognition of Israel in 1988 and acceptance of the partition plan of 1947, the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territory remains in place, raising questions about the validity of this historical compromise.
[...] Put simply, partition could never be legal without the freely expressed consent of the governed, and in #Palestine the vast majority of the population outright refused partition as an abomination of international law and their right to self-determination vis a vis the European settlers in their midst. Examination of the #UN record, in the form of the public and private meetings and report of the UN Special Committee on Palestine (#UNSCOP) as well as the General Assembly debates that followed, demonstrates that partition was not based on these international legal considerations. Rather, it was driven by powerful European states and their settler-colonial affiliates. The UN record reveals that the declared goal of these states was to rectify Europe’s centuries-old Jewish question in the wake of the #Holocaust and to do so at the expense of the innocent third-party Palestinians.
#interview Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir on "Face the Nation," October 1973
Israel's leaders' megalomania and hubris were always so evident, it's embarrassing to think Netanyahu and his Ultranationalist coalition are somehow different from what came before them.
[~18:15] There's no problem of a solution. If you're talking about refugees, they should have been out of the camps 20 years ago. We almost took out of the camps many refugees in the Gaza Strip since the 6-day war, but there is room for the refugees in Jordan and there is no doubt that if they want a peaceful solution, Jordan is the natural place for Palestinians if they want to live there.
[~18:50] There are 20 independent Arab countries, but if the Palestinians want to come to more of self-expression, there's no doubt that between Israel and Jordan there would be one Arab state - Jordan. And that part across the border of Israel, that's an Arab state, that's Jordan. They call it Palestine, Jordan, Palestine, doesn't make a bit of difference.
#interview Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir on "Face the Nation," October 1973
Israel's leaders' megalomania and hubris were always so evident, it's embarrassing to think Netanyahu and his Ultranationalist coalition are perceived an anomaly.
[~18:15] There's no problem of a solution. If you're talking about refugees, they should have been out of the camps 20 years ago. We almost took out of the camps many refugees in the Gaza Strip since the 6-day war, but there is room for the refugees in Jordan and there is no doubt that if they want a peaceful solution, Jordan is the natural place for Palestinians if they want to live there.
[~18:50] There are 20 independent Arab countries, but if the Palestinians want to come to more of self-expression, there's no doubt that between Israel and Jordan there would be one Arab state - Jordan. And that part across the border of Israel, that's an Arab state, that's Jordan. They call it Palestine, Jordan, Palestine, doesn't make a bit of difference.
@lizstl13
Welcome Elizabeth!
The UN created Israel. The international community supports Israel’s right to exist.
There is no debate with organisations that do not.
There is no lack of information either.
"A vicious campaign by Israeli academia, police, and media to silence the professor shows Palestinians they have no safe place in Zionist institutions."