"#Forensic Architecture has documented the mass displacement of Palestinian civilians being carried out by the Israeli #military [… which] has repeatedly abused the humanitarian measures of evacuation orders, ‘safe routes’, and ‘safe zones’, and failed to comply with the laws governing their application within a wartime context. These patterns of systematic violence and destruction have forced Palestinian civilians from one unsafe area to the next." https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/humanitarian-violence-in-gaza@israel
The #IDF ground invasion in #KhanYounis has pushed Nasser and al-Amal hospitals out of service, in addition to al-Khair, the only hospital in the area inside a supposed ‘safe zone’.
I watched the video of the Active Duty Serviceman, Aaron Bushnell, who self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy. The man was blurred/censored in the video I saw as soon as he lit himself on fire but you can see the flames obviously and the audio is clear.
I will not share the video here. You can find it yourself if you wish. But I will share his final words. Very few people in history have done this (most often buddhists, I wonder if he was buddhist) extreme act of self-sacrifice for a cause. Bushnell is the second I know of to attempt this about the current #IsraelGaza war. The first, I believe, to perish. Here are his words from the video:
"I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force and I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it's not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”
— He places his camera/tripod on the ground pointing towards the embassy fence, puts on his uniform cap, douses himself in fuel, takes a deep breath, says "Free Palestine”, and lights himself on fire. —
He screams Free Palestine a couple more times.
RIP sir.
I won't describe how the rest unfolds, his act should stand alone.
The US vetoing the Arab-backed resolution is disgusting, but I think this point from their (USA's) counter resolution speaks to, in coded language, the fact they believe Israel is on the verge of or planning full on ethnic cleansing and that is likely a real "red line". If Israel pursues this, and the USA withdraws from their decades-long unequivocal support for Israeli policy, then the entire dynamic in Middle East geopolitics could completely change, and not to Israel's benefit.
"In another criticism directed at Israel, the U.S. draft condemns calls by government ministers for the resettlement of Gaza and rejects an attempt at demographic or territorial change in Gaza that would violate international law.”
Thanks to @msquebanh for the idea and example. Here is the rough outline of #gaza (perimeter 110km and area 636sqkm) superimposed on #VancouverIsland, facing the City of #Vancouver#yvr. It runs from Lantzville (North #Nanaimo) to Chemainus. Imagine the people of Vancouver ‘facing' that horror, that deseruction, that genocide, within sight across the Salish Sea.
#Israel on trial?
This is not what the #ICJ organises. Its role is to establish the law.
A halt of invasion?
In 2022, the ICJ issued a condemnation on the #Russia invasion, to no consequence.
Kate Ferguson: “Will it be enough to stem the tide of atrocity crimes? No, of course not.” https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/dr-kate-ferguson@israel
I know Mastodon is designed to keep everything nice and to shield us from the horrors of the world, and that it is good for us to only look at cat pictures all day and cheer each other up, but honestly: sometimes i also think that that is just a lot of crap and everyone who turns away and continues with their nice privileged life as if all is ok is complicit #Gaza
@pvonhellermannn
The text pointed below may help. Sarah Aziza, through a stirring mix of personal reflection and philosophical reckoning, disabuses the Western witness of its self-gratifying power, instead – amid Israel’s openly broadcast yet unimpeded march towards genocide in Gaza – unmasking the impotence, deceit and hollowness that witnessing currently entails. More than a collective indictment or last-gasp scream of defiance into the void, Aziza’s own testimony guides the reader towards a form of witness no longer elevated in angelic, uncompromised distance, but instead manifest in the embodied, intimate, ego-displacing position of “sacrifice, mourning and resisting.” https://jewishcurrents.org/the-work-of-the-witness
Haaretz Editorial: "The freedom from arbitrary arrest marks a line between real, freedom-seeking democracies and 'pseudo democracies.' The police under Ben Gvir’s shadow cannot be relied to give freedom of expression the importance it warrants"
"Haaretz is widely considered Israel's leading liberal news source, but it has published and promoted some of the most harmful propaganda in support of Israel’s genocide in Gaza."
“Israeli long-range missiles and exploding drones known as loitering munitions have made up for Azerbaijan’s small air force, even at times striking deep within #Armenia itself. Meanwhile, #Israel Barak-8 surface-to-air #missiles have protected #Azerbaijan’s airspace in shooting down missiles and #drones,” said Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks #arms sales.
"With Egypt reportedly preparing for an influx of refugees and UNRWA on the brink of collapse, Israel’s second Nakba fantasies could soon become reality."
"With Egypt reportedly preparing for an influx of refugees and UNRWA on the brink of collapse, Israel’s second Nakba fantasies could soon become reality."
"This includes analysis of the political forces that have brought Israel to the brink of annihilating the last remnants of Gazan habitability, while also touching upon the ways in which our own moral and political entanglements remain complicit in unfolding events" https://vashtimedia.com/2024/02/23/formats/editorial/rafah-reader-gaza-israel/@palestine