Last week the state of Israel shot at unarmed Palestinians in Gaza. 18 were killed, 1,400 were injured, most by live ammunition. Many of them were teenagers. Widely circulated videos evidence this.
30 March was the bloodiest day in Gaza since Israel’s 2014 invasion.
Palestinians had held a peaceful march called “The Great March of Return” to call for the right to return to their homelands. The majority of Palestinians in Gaza are descendants of those driven from their homes by Israel in the 1948 war.
As protestors neared the heavily fortified border Israel opened fire on the crowd.
Live gunfire on unarmed civilians constitutes a violation of the international legal obligation to distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Israel was in flagrant breach of these rights, deliberately stationing 100 snipers at the border with license to kill.
No action was taken by international governments, and not even a condemnation from our own government here in New Zealand.
The people of Gaza are in an urgent state of desperation which is impossible to comprehend.
I visited Gaza as part of the Kia Ora Gaza convoy a few years ago.The reason Kiwis, and many others from around the world, were bringing basic provisions to Gaza was because of Israel’s blockade.
The blockade has been in place for over 10 years now. Its original aim was to apply pressure or sanctions to weaken the economy of Gaza and decrease support for the elected government; Hamas. This is also a violation of international law as it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s civilians.
We visited hospitals, schools, universities, parliamentary grounds, bridges, all of which have been struck by Israeli F-16s on multiple occasions over the years. The siege does not allow construction materials into Gaza so it’s virtually impossible to rebuild.
Shufa hospital, the largest in Gaza, was bombed in 2008 and had just been rebuilt when we were there. The most basic of medicines were not available due to the blockade and people had
to suffer through surgery without anaesthetic. Even basic penicillin was hard to come by. It’s hard to imagine how that hospital is coping right now with all of these hundreds of bullet wounds.
Overcrowding was a serious problem. Some of the homes we visited contained up to 25 people living in two basic rooms. Black outs, caused by Israel’s bombardment of the power plant and the plants’ inability to access the pieces it needs to operate at capacity due to the blockade, meant those two basic rooms after dark were often pitch black.
Half the population in Gaza face food insecurity.
Half live below the poverty line.
90% of Gaza’s water is undrinkable.
Half of Gaza’s working age population are unemployed.
Export of Palestinian goods, the import of raw materials, and access to Gaza’s natural resources have been severely restricted, devastating Gazan businesses and the ability of the region to be self-sufficient, thereby rendering it dependent on international aid.
Youth in Gaza love to study and they dream big but their universities have been bombed with regularity for years, and further, it’s hard to study in the evenings without electricity.
The UN recently warned that Gaza was deteriorating at such a fast pace it would be uninhabitable by 2020.
The mental health of the people is at absolute breaking point.
We have to do all we can to challenge Israel on its blockade and continued and belligerent flouting of international law. We need to push our government to take a stand. We need to support the international boycott and divestment campaign to impact Israel economically as we did with apartheid South Africa.
The people of Gaza are prisoners in a giant cage made by Israel. And Israel is shooting at them.
Excellent article Tali.
It still disgusts me how little we hear about these events from the NZ MSM, yet a blind lama and a coffee date are a highlight.
It is very sad no one internationally seems to care about this situation, so on it goes…
It is timely, considering the latest massacre perpetrated on the Palestinian People , to consider the “N” word as a description of Zionist Israel. By this I mean the word “Nazi”.
First of all we need to look at the similarities between Nazi Germany and Zionist Israel today.
Paraphanalia : Both countries have had an obsession with Nationalistic symbols- the Nazis with their flag and swastika symbolism, and Zionist Israel with their exuberant displaying of multiple National flags.
The Holocaust :In one of the strangest ironies of History Zionist Israel has been both the victims of a holocaust by Nazi Germany[As well as the Gypsies ], and the perpetrators of one on the Palestinian People.
Ethnic Cleansing:The Nazis had no recent rivals in their attempts to liquidate those races they encountered that prevented the “Lebsbraun” living space for the German master race. However Zionist Israel could be reasonably said to have taken a leaf from the Nazi blueprint in their present plan to expunge the Palestinian People from the Jewish Motherland -“Greater Israel”, by total subjugation, illegal settlements,prison wall boundaries,compulsory identification , brutal checkpoints,[worst than those in Apartheid South Africa], confiscation of land, theft of water,and a disproportionate military reaction to perceived threats to Zionist control. It is salutary to remember the actions of the Gestapo to the opposition forces in countries they invaded.ie 100 dead for each dead Nazi. The Zionist Israelis also practice the same philosophy: In the latest substantial attack on Gaza there were 2200 dead Gazans to 7 dead Israelis [314 to 1.] Even better than the German Nazis !]
Militarization: Zionist Israel maintains an aggressive foreign policy ,like Nazi Germany, with frequent attacks /invasions of other countries, like they have done with Lebanon, Iran[the stuxnet cyber attack] and Syria.[Not to mention multiple Arab countries.]
Secret Police: Mossad and the Gestapo. Need I say more?
An Ideology of Racism: The Nazi ideology of the Aryan Master Race and the Zionist Israel”Chosen People” elected by God.
Totalitarianism:Democracy only for the chosen. A country for the Aryan master Race and a country for the Jewish People.[Dr.Ofer Cassiff, an Israeli Hebrew University of Jerusalem Professor compared recent Israeli legislation both proposed and passed, to those of the Third Reich in Nazi Germany [Yocheved Laufer June 23 2017.].
And now to the term “Nazi”. Putin has been compared to Hitler, the Nazi leader of the Third Reich by : Hillary Clinton,Zbigniew Brzezinski, Thomas Friedman [a Jew] of the New York Times, Timothy Ash of the Guardian, Forbes magazine, Time Magazine, Prince Charles, German Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, Senator John McCain [U.S. senate], Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Boris Johnson.[among others].
In this context, it can hardly be considered controversial to use the ” Nazi’ epithet for Zionist Israel .Zionist Israel richly deserves, by its vile actions against the Palestinian People , to be henceforth described as the ” Nazi Zionist Israeli State” !!!
thanks Pete you’re a man worth listening to.
Historian Pete: “Putin has been compared to Hitler….”
Yeah, I heard the idiot Johnson going full Godwin on Putin recently. I scarcely need to say how deeply offensive this is to Putin, and Russian citizens generally, given the terrible destruction wrought by the Nazis in that part of the world during WW2. And – possibly an uncomfortable fact for the other allies, including old Blighty – given that the Red Army thrashed the Nazis and won the war in Europe almost singlehandedly. The other allies were largely a sideshow.
With regard to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, Palestinians have been illegally deprived of their land. It was not Palestinians, after all, who were responsible for the Holocaust: why should they be made to pay for the crimes of Nazi Germany and its allies and collaborators?
Israel and its citizens act like the illegal occupiers they are. Were it the case that they thought their claim legitimate, they’d not do the things they’ve done, before and since 1948.
I’d compare Boris Johnson to Goebbels, but he possesses neither the eloquence nor the wit.
Hmmm, d’esterre, you called Godwin on boris johnson, but overlooked Pete’s godwinning comparing israel to nazi germany? Do you not think this would also be highly offensive to the Israeli people?
By the way, dont mistake this post as complicity for Isrseli agression against Palestinians. Israel has committed its own crimes against a defenceless people. But comparing Israel to Nazi Gefmany, congratulating the idiot who wrote it, and then complaining when someone else does it, doesnt speak well to your credibility.
Mjolnir: I am an idiot who calls truth to power.If you had more of a cerebral bent you would notice I don’t call Israelis Nazis. I call Zionist Israelis Nazis. There is a huge difference that has escaped your limited intellectual faculties . And if I have deeply offended any Zionist Nazi Israelis I am extremely happy!!!
Tali, did you see any footage of the march or are you relying only on Hamas reports? At least 14 of those killed were known terrorists and the protesters had fireboms and firearms. This was no “peaceful” protest and those shot were not “unarmed”. Why such blatant lies?
Here I am relying on your report, and I’m asking – what gave Israel any right at all to fire across an international border and kill ANYONE – regardless of their freedom fighter tendencies?
Just like any protest or demonstration – some are there to foment a spot of trouble; many are there for legitimate purposes. It’s the same the world over. Usually the local police deal with the pest element. It’s seldom to never that some other country interferes. Why does Israel interfere so often?
And how did Israel know who was there? Spying? How do YOU know ‘at least 14 of those killed were known terrorists’? What are your sources? Reliable. Unbiased. No covert agenda. Impeccable…
At least you didn’t wave the good old ‘anti-semitic’ or ‘racist’ banners. The quality of the interaction has improved thereby.
@ HEATHER.
Why do you ask?
Can you not see with your own eyes?
Where are you, to have such insight?
Do you know people there?
Did you ask them?
Who are they?
Where is the footage you speak of?
Why do you assert blatant lies?
What is your name?
Where do you live?
What do you do?
How much do you earn?
How do you know that at least 14 of those killed were known terrorists?
How many were killed in return?
Where is your proof?
Where does your proof come from?
Who declares that what you alledge is correct?
Why were they armed?
What were they afraid of ?
Who were they afraid of?
Why were they afraid?
Why is there no peace in Palestine?
Who is the aggressor?
And why?
I’m asking?
Where is my answer?
Do you have an answer?
What’s your answer?
When are we getting an answer?
Hey! Who has the answers?
That’s 30 questions. Get to work. You have a lot of explaining to do.
The latest death toll figure from the Good Friday massacre is 21. Over 1400 were wounded. Israel used drones to drop tear gas by the way. A website I often go to for information re Israel is 972mag They publish reports from Israelis who oppose their repressive regime. https://972mag.com/videos-show-israeli-soldiers-sniping-unarmed-protesters-in-gaza/134282/
How many IDF soldiers were shot or wounded or even received a tiny scratch? None. It was a peaceful protest by one side.
A week later, more shooting. There have been demos by Israelis in support of the Gazans by the way.
Heather have you been to Palestine???? Have you spent a day in Hebron? Gaza? or even Jerusalem just to be nice to you??? Palestinian are the Indigenous people of Palestine now called Israel. They are the descendant of the Canaanites or Phoenician and your comment has been mimicked out of the Zionazi book of lies and the world population is catching on and isn’t buying the standard propaganda that people like you spew
“Known terrorists”???
Evidence please, Heather. If youre going to troll on behalf of the Zionists, can you at least put some decent effort into it?
The onky terrorists I saw wore IDF uniforms.
Meet the new Arderne, Just like the old Key.
Great article. Trouble is there is a gigantic elephant in the room. Every time someone calls Israel to account for their inhumanity they are branded as anti-semites and promptly shut down. It is appalling.
Saturday 07 April,,8am RNZ News tells us what the Israeli REGIME has to say about the latest shootings. No other viewpoints given. This is not journalism
Historian Pete , Got a TON of homework to do, before you can call yourself
( genuine) “historian.”
Ask yourself how come people now get imprisoned in many countries, for merely questioning the famous H -event.
Go figure. People have been waking up in the thousands to Truth, simply because of examining FACTS.. vs the 70 yr deluge of ” popular” films.
(hint : who owns all the media & film industries?
Got a LOT of homework to do mate. Their multi million $$$ lobby groups are in EVERY country, even here. TOO much power wouldn’t you say?
Cassie:I wouldn’t argue that there isn’t a vaste Zionist organised propaganda movement that controls the U.S film industry, and arguably controls the news media, and even the U.S.Government. And I am well aware of, and are opposed to any laws such as are in France where Holocaust denial is a crime. I am a fierce proponent of freedom of speech.Having said that I was born the year after the end of the Second World War.At that time there were many people from the military and aid organisations that had directly witnessed and had been there when the Nazi Concentration Camps were liberated. Plus thousands of inhabitants of the camps. I visited Belsen [a concentration camp in Germany] in 1973.What I heard from myriad interviews, saw on filmstrips,read in books, and personally saw, convinced me that a great crime had been committed.It was not ancient history to me that I had to research! You are welcome to your own opinion!!!
Cassie: once again, you are – to coin a particularly apt phrase, given the topic of this blog – speaking in parables.
We haven’t a clue what you’re talking about; do us all a favour and say what you really mean. Then somebody can respond.
The Palestinian still have keys to their houses that they were forcibly removed from during the ethnic cleansing of over 750,000 during the Nakba (Catastrophe) of 1947,48 with many massacre perpetrated by the IDF whom were actually members of the “Haganah” a Jewish terrorist organisation that received training by British Military captain Orde Wingate whom was a Zionist and racist toward the Palestinian population.
Notorious massacres of Palestinians between 1937 & 1948
According to hundreds of Palestinian, Arab, Israeli, and Western sources, both written and oral, Zionist forces committed dozens of massacres against Palestinians during what was called the 1948 “war”. Some of these are well-known and have been published while others are not. Below are some of the details of the most notorious massacres committed at the hands of Haganah and its armed wing, the Palmach, as well as the Stern Gang, the Irgun and other Zionist paramilitaries:
The Revisionist Zionist paramilitaries, the Irgun Zvai Leumi is known as “Irgun” and Lochamei Herut Yisrael is known as “Lehi” or “Stern Gang”.
The Jerusalem Massacre — 1/10/1937
The Haifa Massacre — 6/7/1938
The Jerusalem Massacre — 13/7/1938
The Jerusalem Massacre — 15/7/1938
The Haifa Massacre — 25/7/1938
The Haifa Massacre — 26/7/1938
The Jerusalem Massacre — 26/8/1938
The Haifa Massacre — 27/3/1939
The Balad Al-Shaykh Massacre — 12/6/1939
The Haifa Massacre — 19/6/1939
The Haifa Massacre — 20/6/1948
The Al Abbasiyah Massacre — 13/12/1947
The Al-Khasas Massacre — 18/12/1947
The Jerusalem Massacre — 29/12/1947
The Jerusalem Massacre — 30/12/1947
The Balad Al-Shaykh Massacre — 31/12/1947
Al-Sheikh Break Massacre — 31/12/1947
The Jaffa Massacre — 4/1/1948
The Al-Saraya Massacre — 4/1/1948
The Semiramis Massacre — 5/1/1948
The Jerusalem Massacre — 7/1/1948
The Al-Saraya Al-Arabeya Massacre — 8/1/1948
The Ramla Massacre — 15/1/1948
The Yazur Massacre — 22/1/1948
The Haifa Massacre — 28/12/1948
The Tabra Tulkarem Massacre — 10/2/1948
The Sa’sa’ Massacre — 14/2/1948
The Jerusalem Massacre — 20/2/1948
The Haifa Masacre — 20/2/1948
The Al-Husayniyya Massacre — 13/3/1948
The Abu Kabir Massacre — 31/3/1948
The Cairo Train Massacre, Haifa — 31/3/1948
Ramla Massacre — 1/3/1948
The Deir Yassin Massacre — 9/4/1948
The Qalunya Massacre — 14/4/1948
The Nasir al-Din Massacre — 13/4/1948
The Tiberias Massacre — 19/4/1948
The Haifa Massacre — 22/4/1948
The Ayn al-Zaytoun Massacre — 4/5/1948
The Safed Massacre — 13/5/1948
The Abu Shusha Massacre — 14/5/1948
The Beit Daras Massacre — 21/5/1948
The Al-Tantura Massacre — 22/5/1948
Writers such as Herodotus , Aristotle , Polemon of Athens, Pausanias, Agatharchides referred to Palestine repeatedly in their writings. None referred to Israel, it is thought the Greek word Palestine derives from a now extinct language of the iron age, in particular in the eight to seven centuries BCE, a Canaanite dialect that was written in a version of the west Semitic alphabet so distinctive it has been termed the Neo-Palestine script. Before the ancient Israelites arrived in the area, the people of the area were Canaanites, and the modern-day Palestinians are descendants of those Canaanites. So in terms of ancestry they have a far more robust claim to the whole of the area, including Jerusalem, than the Israelis do.
All such states like the EU member ones, the UK, the US, even the Arab Gulf states, and also NZ Inc, they all ‘cherish’ the economic importance of nations, and that they can trade with them, and have potential to MAKE MONEY.
That is partly behind the silence within NZ Inc and also many other governments and nations’ media, Israel is ranked comparatively highly given its ECONOMIC and strategic importance:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_rankings_of_Israel
So the ‘trade’ goes on, ties are generally ‘friendly’, and criticism is hollow verbal diarrhea nothing else, that includes Jacinda’s government that includes in itself an Israel friendly Deputy PM and his party.
Human rights and so mean shit all, in view of these ‘realities’.
Where is the Western outrage as in the Skripal poisoning?
“…not even a condemnation from our own government here in New Zealand.”
We’ve noticed. Yet that same government can roundly condemn an incident in Salisbury, even though nobody died. And there is, thus far, zip substantive evidence to suggest that there was even an attack.
Although the authorities in Salisbury did allow Skripal’s animals to die of thirst and starvation. As far as we can tell, that seems to be the only crime committed in relation to the Skripal case. And this from people who claim to be animal-lovers. Huh…
Wouldn’t it be something, to see our government issue a statement condemning Israel’s crimes! And – say – doing what Helen Clark did over the Mossad agents and the passports, all those years ago. Courage, Prime Minister, courage.
The AngloZionists have entrenched further since Helen Clark. john key was their ruthless stooge.
Comments are closed.