In Occupied Palestine – 27 July 2024

In Occupied Palestine

Zionism in practice

Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Land

08:00, 27 July until 08:00, 28 July 2024

[Source of statistics: Palestinian Monitoring Group]

Gaza Strip

Attacks: There are no safe places for the militarily-dominated population in Gaza, who find themselves subjected to airstrikes and other missile attacks on buildings, homes and many essentialfacilities, as well as constant gunfire and invasions by Israeli forces. The Israeli Navy continues to fire missiles, targeting facilities and buildings along the entire Gaza shoreline.

Victims: 66 more people killed in Gaza now brings the total number of deaths, since 7 October, to at least 39,324. With another 241 wounded, that figure has risen to more than 0. The daily average of men, women and children killed in Gaza is at least 309 and, of those injured, the daily average is over 90,830.

Zionist attempts to silence criticism

running in top gear after ICJ ruling

By Kellie Tranter | 22 July 2024

Friday’s findings of the International Court of Justice on Israel’s conduct must be at the forefront of our legislator’s minds when they are pushed by the Israel lobby to enact the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

The attempt by Zionist lobbyists to silence criticism of Israel is running in top gear to try to counter the swell of public opinion against Israel flowing from the exposure in real time of the barbarity of its actions in Gaza.

The attempted suppression is widespread in the United States where pressure has been put on Congress and many universities to adopt and implement the definition, and the lobby has been equally diligent in its efforts in England and Europe.

It is also openly trying to achieve a similar outcome through similar processes in Australia, as witness the Israeli lobby’s push to have universities formally adopt their desired definition of antisemitism and the AHRC complaint filed against Mary Kostakidis, the real objective of those efforts being to have the Australian government give that definition legislative force and give the lobby a more solid footing for their attempts to muzzle actual critics and ‘chill’ potential critics from expressing rational, factually based criticisms of the actions of the State of Israel and the actors behind them.

In the US, the Zionist lobby has had some success in having its wider definition implemented, probably substantially due to the ignorance of legislators, wrote Elliott Colla. There the Lobby is not only co-opting politicians and pushing hard on universities: Why anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism, it is also targeting writers. “Defenders of PEN America, the US literary and free speech organization that has been facing ongoing outcry for their relative silence on Gaza, have used the specter of antisemitism to avoid engaging with the actual critiques at hand” wrote Daniel José Older in LitHub on 11 June, 2024.

He described being “..outraged by these claims of antisemitism, but not because I’m Jewish—that just makes it personal. I’m outraged because in their desperation to distract from the ongoing genocide in Palestine they don’t even bother trying to make sense.” and went on to say: Judaism had, of course, been around for thousands of years before the European colonial ideology Zionism came along, and Judaism will hopefully be around for thousands of years after it’s gone. Millions of Jews are not Zionists, and the vast majority of Zionists are Christian Evangelicals.

Not only are Judaism and Zionism not at all synonymous, the conflation of the two serves the strategic purpose of providing cover for Israel’s documented war crimes. In a time when actual antisemitism is on the rise from fascist right-wing elements across the globe, it’s deeply cynical and harmful to casually invoke this term to evade accountability and to muddle an uncomfortable conversation.

The Lobby’s power in the British Parliament recently came in for scathing criticism by former UK Minister Sir Alan Duncan, who called on Israel to end its occupation of Palestine, criticised the British government’s rejection of the International Criminal Court (ICC) legal processes and the United Nations generally and condemned the rise of politicians undermining institutions they are part of, emphasising the need to distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israel and antisemitism: “Unjustified accusations of antisemitism to silence legitimate comments on Israel are damaging to the Jewish community…… There’s a real lack of understanding about the history and the facts, and it’s very difficult to teach people when so many have been on paid trips to Israel, funded by the Conservative Friends of Israel.”

Also addressing the state of affairs in the UK, journalist Jonathan Cook recently said,

. . . Those who make (Zionists) feel uncomfortable by highlighting the reality of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians – and their blindness to it – are accused of being “offensive”

That supposed offensiveness is now conflated with antisemitism, as the treatment of Ken Loach, the respected film-maker of this parish, attests. Disgust at Israel’s racism towards Palestinians is malevolently confused with racism towards Jews. The truth is inverted.

This confusion has also become the basis for a new definition of antisemitism – one aggressively advanced by Israel and its apologists – designed to mislead casual onlookers. The more we, as anti-racists and opponents of colonialism, try to focus attention and opprobrium on Israel’s crimes, the more we are accused of covertly attacking Jews. . . .

Here the battle over Zionism – defining it, understanding it, confronting it, refusing to be silenced by it – is in full flood. The Labour party, under Jeremy Corbyn, was politically eviscerated by a redefined antisemitism. Now the party’s ranks are being purged by his successor, Sir Keir Starmer, on the same phoney grounds.

Professors are being threatened and losing their jobs, as happened to David Miller at Bristol university, with the goal of intensifying pressure on the academy to keep silent about Israel and its lobbyists. Exhibitions are taken down, speakers cancelled.

And all the while, the current western obsession with redefining antisemitism – the latest cover story for apartheid Israel – moves us ever further from sensitivity to real racism, whether it be genuine prejudice against Jews or rampant Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism.

Welsh writer Adam Johannes has also helpfully addressed the misrepresentative weaponisation by the Zionist lobby of the Palestinian, and now worldwide, call.

The improbability of any judicial body in Australia finding that Mary Kostakidis’ journalistic republications of various news items, statements of involved parties and viewpoints about the State of Israel’s actions has now been highlighted by the ICJ’s published findings on the illegality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands and its apartheid practices, particularly when that is read in conjunction with the ICJ’s earlier finding that there is a plausible case of genocide against it.

Israel’s contemptuous refusal to follow the orders of the World Court on its illegal settlements, on the expropriation of Palestinian land, on its breaches of the Palestinians’ human rights and on the invasion of Rafah and other matters relating to its conduct in Gaza, and its contumelious refutation of the validity and applicability of the findings concerning its illegal occupation, speak volumes about its attitude towards the concepts of human dignity and equality in any ‘rules-based international order’ .

Calling out such inhumane and nihilistic behaviour by public exposure and criticism should be an obligation of good citizenship and responsible nationhood, not the subject of state repression through an engineered abuse of legal provisions intended to protect real people from real harm.

Shielding from public criticism an anti-democratic apartheid State that illegally occupies the territories of others, persistently abuses human rights and plausibly is committing genocide is not a proper function of our anti-discrimination laws.

West Bank

Israeli settler armed terrorism and agricultural sabotage: Jerusalem – 17:00, armed Israelis from the Adam Occupation settlement, firing live ammunition, invaded an area on the eastern side of Hizma, cutting off the branches from olive trees and forcing residents to leave.

Israeli Occupation Army assault and surveillance in refugee camp: Jerusalem – dawn, Israeli Occupation forces, firing live ammunition, stormed the Qalandiya refugee camp and seized surveillance-camera recordings from homes.

Israeli Army attack – 1 villager wounded: Ramallah – 17:30-20:00, Israeli forces, firing live ammunition, stormed Burqa village, wounding a resident: Ahmed Abdullah Maatan.

Israeli Army attack: Nablus – 12:10–14:30, the Israeli Army stormed the town of Qusra, firing live ammunition as well as rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters.

Israeli military air strike on refugee camp – 2 killed including youngster – 26 injured: Nablus – 14:30–05:25, Israeli Occupation forces carried out a drone-launched airstrike on a home in the Balata refugee camp, killing two people: 17-year-old Louay Muhammad Mustafa Masha and one other person, Ali Bassam Hashash. Another 26 residents were wounded by the missile strike.

Home invasions – surveillance and population–control: Tulkarem – 12:20, Israeli Occupation forces,raiding the towns of Baqa al-Sharqiya and Allar, seized surveillance–camera recordings from a number of homes and shops.

Home invasions – surveillance and population–control: Salfit – 04:50–07:10, Israeli forces raided al-Zawiya, searching a number of homes and seizing surveillance–camera recordings.

Home invasions and violence by Occupation settlers: Bethlehem – 12:10, Israeli settlers raided the Jabal Abu Khalil area in the village of Artas, invading homes and assaulting residents.

Israeli Army – destruction in refugee camp: Nablus – 20:00, Israeli Occupation forces demolished a livestock shelter, in the Balata refugee camp.

Occupation settler violence: Ramallah – 19:45, Israeli Occupation settlers beat–up and hospitalised one person, Muhammad Abu Arja, in al-Taybeh.

Occupation settler raid: Ramallah – evening, Israeli settlers invaded Burqa village.

Occupation settler robbery and pastoral sabotage: Tubas – afternoon, Israeli Occupation settlers stole 45–head of cattle, in the village of Khirbet Yarza.

Occupation settler stoning: Jericho – 19:10, Israeli settlers stoned passing vehicles, on the Dead Sea Road.

Occupation settler stoning: Bethlehem – 22:45, Israeli Occupation settlers stoned passing vehicles, near the western entrance to Tuqu.

Raid – stun grenades fired: Jerusalem – 22:15–00:10, Israeli Occupation forces, firing stun grenades, raided al-Ram.

Raid – rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades fired – 2 children wounded: Ramallah – 11:10, Israeli forces, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, wounded two children during a raid on al-Mazra’a al-Gharbiya.

Raid – stun grenades fired – 1 taken prisoner: Ramallah – 14:00, the Israeli Army, firing stun grenades, raided the town of Kobar, taking prisoner one person.

Raid – 2 children abducted: Ramallah – 22:35–00:50, Israeli troops, invading Turmusaya, raided a shop and abducted two children.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Ramallah – 23:45–00:50, the Israeli military raided the village of Kafr Malek, taking prisoner one person.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Ramallah – 23:50–01:10, Israeli soldiers raided the village of al-Mugheir, taking prisoner one person.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Ramallah – 01:40–07:30, Israeli Occupation forces raided Beit Liqiya, taking prisoner one person.

Raids: Jenin – 12:55–17:30, Israeli forces raided and patrolled Araba as well as the village of Fahma.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Jenin – 04:15–05:20, the Israeli Army raided al-Yamoun, taking prisoner one person.

Raids: Tulkarem – 17:35, Israeli troops raided and patrolled Anabta as well as the village of Ramin.

Raid: Qalqiliya – 16:30-17:55, the Israeli military raided and patrolled Jayus.

Raid: Qalqiliya – 20:25–01:50, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of Hajjah.

Raid: Nablus – 09:10, Israeli Occupation forces raided the village of Salem and invaded a company’s offices as well as a supermarket.

Raids: Nablus – 12:10-14:30, Israeli forces raided Qabalan and the villages of Deir Sharaf, Beit Wazan, Qusin, Jureish and Yatma.

Raids: Nablus – 12:50, the Israeli Army raided the villages of al-Sawiya and al-Laban al-Sharqiya.

Raid: Nablus – 13:10, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the village of Kafr Qallil.

Raids: Nablus – 13:45, the Israeli military raided and patrolled Asira al-Shimaliya as well as the village of Talluza.

Raids: Nablus – 15:10-18:00, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the villages of Burin and Madama.

Raid: Nablus – 22:25–06:05, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the village of Osirin.

Raid: Salfit – 18:25-20:20, Israeli forces raided and patrolled Salfit.

Raid: Jericho – 08:00-09:00, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled al-Auja.

Raid – stun grenades: Bethlehem – 19:25–22:40, Israeli troops, firing stun grenades, raided the village of Husan.

Raid: Hebron – 08:00-13:25, the Israeli military raided and patrolled Hebron.

Raid – rubber–coated bullets and stun grenades fired: Hebron – 14:00, Israeli soldiers, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, raided and patrolled the town of Sa’ir.

Raid: Hebron – midnight-02:00, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled Bani Naim.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Hebron – dawn, Israeli forces raided the town of Surif, taking prisoner one person.