Resisting Separation

Ever since the Gaza ceasefire, brokered by Egypt and the UN, came into effect on 7 August, the mainstream news media have ignored the fact that Israel continues to attack the enclave. The air-strikes have ceased, for now, but Israeli drones over Gaza never stop menacing the population and, at sea off Gaza, Palestinian fishing vessels continue to be attacked. For ten days and nights since 8 August, the Israeli Navy carried out 23 attacks, pursuing and opening fire on the boats. On 16 August, the Israeli Navy hijacked two fishing craft and detained four crew members. In ten assaults over the period, Israeli Army positions also continued to fire on Gaza communities and agriculture.

Over 350 Palestinians were wounded during the Israeli air-strikes and 46 were killed, including 16 children. People are still dying from the injuries that Israel inflicted. No Israelis were killed. Our news media reported the air-strike victims with delicacy, selecting photographs of smoke-filled skies or people in Gaza, walking amid damaged buildings. Images of children killed by Israeli missiles, the funerals and uncovered faces of the deceased were left out of sight. In spite of the dreadful toll Israel has taken, Palestinian forbearance and adherence to the ceasefire persists, for now, with no missiles being launched from Gaza towards Israel.

On 19 August, Israel shut down seven Palestinian NGOs but the organisations remain defiant, saying they will never abandon their work for children living under Occupation, community healthcare, prisoner support and other human rights. News of the daily toll being taken in the Palestinian West Bank is almost completely ignored by our news media and a letter, signed by more than 500 journalists, has described mainstream news coverage of Israel and Palestine as “journalistic malpractice.” The evidence presented by human rights supporters in the field is largely ignored, as is the plight of the victims they serve. There follows below some examples of the global organisations opposed to Zionist apartheid that support and defend the victims of Israel’s founding ideology:

Zionism rejected

IMET 2000 – The International Medical Trust

The International Medical Education Trust (IMET) 2000 informs us that it “works in areas of extreme deprivation, refugee camps and war zones to provide specialised training for psychiatrists, physicians, surgeons, nurses and allied professionals in primary trauma care, notably war wounds and burns, rehabilitation, and the mental health of children and adolescents.” The Trust has a branch, IMET 2000-Palestine, which is particularly focused on mental and physical trauma in children resulting from conflict, severe economic deprivation, torture and abuse. Ambulance drivers and paramedics are often first on the scene in an extreme emergency and provide the only medical skills immediately available. IMET2000 therefore seeks to improve healthcare education, clinical research and specialist training to encourage a multi-disciplinary approach centred on family practice clinics rather than hospitals.

B‘Tselem

B‘Tselem, the ‘Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories’, last year published an examination of Israel, entitled “A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid.”

My Jewish Learning

The online newsletter, My Jewish Learning, describes the reluctance of “the majority of Jews worldwide” to subscribe to the Zionist programme as “the strongest challenge to Zionism.” It notes that they reject the ideology’s assertion that the way to combat anti-Jewish prejudice is to establish themselves as the majority population in a given territory. Most believe in working with their neighbours for the principles of civil emanci­pation and true assimila­tion.

International Jewish Collective for Justice in Palestine (IJCP)

The International Jewish Collective for Justice in Palestine (IJCP) represents 17 Jewish groups in 14 countries, aligned with local, national and international networks and organisations opposed to Zionism and all forms of racism, working for Palestinian rights and justice. They condemn in the strongest possible terms the Israeli Government’s “appalling branding of the six Palestinian human rights organisations as terrorist groups.” They appeal to “all who value justice and equality to join us in voicing our outrage.” In New Zealand, the participating group in the Collective is Sh’ma Koleinu – Alternative Jewish Voices (NZ). Also included in the group are: Independent Jewish Voices Canada, Jewish Voice for Peace, Jews for Justice for Palestine (JFJFP), Jewish Voice for Just Peace – Ireland, Boycott from Within (Israeli citizens for BDS), Jews say No! – USA, Jews against the Occupation – Australia, Jewish Voice for Labour – UK, Independent Australian Jewish Voices – Australia, Tzedek Collective Sydney – Australia.

Not in any of our names!

Imagine living, night and day in Gaza, under the eye of alien drone operators whose uninvited presence has the power to inflict death, carnage and never-ending surveillance. Even during times of so-called ceasefire, the drones never sleep and thus are able to severely limit any rest the defenceless population is entitled to. This endless presence enables Israel to inflict mental, as well as physical, harm. Imagine further, the hopelessness of a Palestinian farmer whose crops have just been ruined by the deliberate spread of Israeli settler sewage.

Mainstream news media presentation of the Zionist war on Palestine, in both Gaza and the West Bank, benefits Israel by hiding true reality. This complicity is in harmony with the propaganda message that criticism of Israel or Zionism amounts to ‘anti-Semitism’. It is only natural that Jewish people would express their revulsion over Israel’s claim that its human rights abuses, and violations of international law, are committed to serve world Jewry. The claim is insulting – anti-Zionists, of all races, religions and cultures, are united in supporting equality and justice, for all who live between the river and the sea.