"A new book brings much-needed clarity to the debate on #antisemitism, and how the fight against it is tied to our collective liberation... [The authors] expertly weave together the struggle against anti-Blackness, Islamophobia and transphobia into the project of collectively working for liberation."
Review of Safety Through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism, by Shane Burley and Ben Lorber
Just finished A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ABED SALAMA: ANATOMY OF A JERUSALEM TRAGEDY, by Nathan Thrall
This is both a snapshot of the contemporary state of #palestine and an approachable #history of the area wrapped in heartbreaking personal stories, all rotating around a single catastrophe that could only happen in a city built on #racists#apartheid infrastructure
Biblical Gilgal: A Common Place Name or a Cult Site near Jericho?
“Gilgal was a national cult centre of the Kingdom of Israel, and in several references its name appears alongside that of Bethel (1 Sam 7:16; 2 Kgs 2:1–2; Hos 4:15; 12:12; Amos 4:4; 5:4–5). Bethel, located in the highlands, was the seat of a national temple (see Amos 7:13) and the place where the golden calf, the animal sacred to the Storm God, represented the God of Israel in his temple.”
The #ICC can issue for signatories countries an arrest warrant on #Netanyahu because it has jurisdiction over international crimes committed in #Palestine since 2012
BUT
If #Israel doesn't recognise the #ICC, its territory isn't included in the jurisdiction, and the crimes of Hamas where carried out there, then how can the #ICC issue a legally binding arrest warrant on Hamas leaders?
“Britain in Palestine 1917-1948 investigates the contradictory promises and actions which defined British Mandatory rule in Palestine and laid the groundwork for the Nakba (the catastrophe) and the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. The roots of the contemporary social, political, economic, and environmental landscape of Palestine and Israel can be traced back to this period, making it essential viewing for understanding Britain’s legacy in the region and the situation on the ground today.”
#Video length: eighteen minutes and thrity seconds.
“Britain in Palestine 1917-1948 investigates the contradictory promises and actions which defined British Mandatory rule in Palestine and laid the groundwork for the Nakba (the catastrophe) and the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. The roots of the contemporary social, political, economic, and environmental landscape of Palestine and Israel can be traced back to this period, making it essential viewing for understanding Britain’s legacy in the region and the situation on the ground today.”
#Video length: eighteen minutes and thrity seconds.
“Britain in Palestine 1917-1948 investigates the contradictory promises and actions which defined British Mandatory rule in Palestine and laid the groundwork for the Nakba (the catastrophe) and the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. The roots of the contemporary social, political, economic, and environmental landscape of Palestine and Israel can be traced back to this period, making it essential viewing for understanding Britain’s legacy in the region and the situation on the ground today.”
#Video length: eighteen minutes and thrity seconds.
Activestills Photography as Protest in Palestine/Israel by Vered Maimon & Shiraz Grinbaum, 2016
This book is a joint contemplation about the body of
work produced by the Activestills photography collective
from its inception in 2005 up to 2016.
It includes the perspectives of activists, journalists,
historians and theoreticians of photography, and the
collective’s members themselves.
“The extent to which the worship of Baal and Asherah affected Israel’s understanding of Yahweh is seen in the inscriptions found at Kuntillet Ajrud. Jezebel was not fully responsible for the ongoing worship of Canaanite deities in Israel and Judah but her reign gave legitimacy to the long held tendency.”
Dolan, M. (2024) “Jezebel: A Hebrew Disaster”, Buried History: The Journal of the Australian Institute of Archaeology, 40, pp. 39–48. https://doi.org/10.62614/7d25h288
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.”
#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.
Israeli Damage to Archives, Libraries, and Museums in Gaza, October 2023–January 2024 (A Preliminary Report from Librarians and Archivists with Palestine).
"The destruction of cultural heritage in Gaza impoverishes the collective identity of the Palestinian people, irrevocably denies them their history, and violates their sovereignty. In this report, we offer a partial list of archives, libraries, and museums in Gaza that have been destroyed, damaged, or looted by Israeli armed forces
since October 7, 2023."
"We compile and offer this information with the understanding that the erasure
of Palestinian culture and history has long been an Israeli tactic of war and occupation, a means to further limit the self-determination of the Palestinian people."
#UK / Benny Morris Prevented from speaking at LSE Law School
[…] Morris’ rhetoric is particularly dangerous at a time of rising anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, Islamophobic, racist and xenophobic violence. The danger of such speech is part of the reason the ICJ is investigating the words of military and political leaders, but also media and public figures, as inciting genocide.
#Israel/oPt: UN experts appalled by reported human rights violations against Palestinian women and girls
GENEVA (19 February 2024) – UN experts* today expressed alarm over credible allegations of egregious human rights violations to which Palestinian women and girls continue to be subjected in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Palestinian women and girls have reportedly been arbitrarily executed in Gaza, often together with family members, including their children, according to information received. “We are shocked by reports of the deliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing of Palestinian women and children in places where they sought refuge, or while fleeing. Some of them were reportedly holding white pieces of cloth when they were killed by the Israeli army or affiliated forces,” the experts said.
The experts expressed serious concern about the arbitrary detention of hundreds of Palestinian women and girls, including human rights defenders, journalists and humanitarian workers, in Gaza and the West Bank since 7 October. Many have reportedly been subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, denied menstruation pads, food and medicine, and severely beaten. On at least one occasion, Palestinian women detained in Gaza were allegedly kept in a cage in the rain and cold, without food.
“We are particularly distressed by reports that Palestinian women and girls in detention have also been subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers. At least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped while others were reportedly threatened with rape and sexual violence,” the experts said. They also noted that photos of female detainees in degrading circumstances were also reportedly taken by the Israeli army and uploaded online.
"It is about the Land according to the redefined Judaism that emerged in the centuries following the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE. This Judaism replaced the temple cult with Torah study - a study that pertained in part to that very temple cult, that became a portable homeland, and that reconfigured the Land."
Israel requests to convene the Security Council, in the face of "a flagrant violation" of "sovereignty, of international law" "a concrete threat to the peace and security of the entire region." (mbin.grits.dev)
Media coverage of UN report on 7 October challenged for ‘inaccurate’ portrayal of sexual violence (www.middleeasteye.net)
Grim fears for Israeli women who remain as hostages as Oct. 7 sexual brutalities by Hamas uncovered (nationalpost.com)