Escalations ... a poem by Anne Selden Annab

 

        

 

 

 

 

            Escalations         

American Churches don't 

get obituaries.

They dwindle

and die decommissioned-

stones intact, doors

and windows

floors, walls and roofs

failing slowly.

Was it location

or belief?

Was it laziness

Was it aging populations

Was it an evolving lack of trust

in mainstream news and worship

as [online] the world watches

Palestinian children

& families

tormented

maimed, wounded and killed

by [American armed] Zionist violence.

 

poem copyright ©2024 Anne Selden Annab

‘If I would speak, I would start crying’: Our reporters grapple with loss in Gaza war

The correspondent's father inspects the rubble that was once their family home, destroyed during an Israeli military offensive, in Deir al-Balah central Gaza Strip, Sept. 2, 2024

• By Ghada Abdulfattah Contributor
• Dina Kraft Contributor

  Sept. 04, 2024, 2:40 p.m. ET | Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip; and Jerusalem

The impact of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip is deeply personal for those living it on the ground, including the Monitor’s correspondents, for whom the intersection of their real lives and news events of just the last few days is a devastating reminder.

Friday Ghada Abdulfattah returned to her neighborhood in the Gaza town of Deir al-Balah after an Israeli military operation left her family home no more than a teetering pile of rubble.

Just weeks ago the house and compound were home to dozens of people in a sprawling, interconnected family. They are all now homeless, rejoining the ranks of the estimated 85% of Gaza residents who have been displaced since Oct. 7.... READ MORE  https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2024/0903/gaza-home-destroyed-israel-hersh-funeral

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

Omar Badder on America's mainstream media coverage of #Israel VS #Palestine "As you reflect on why only one of these stories is dominating the headlines, there are 5 more things to keep in mind..."

Omar Baddar عمر بدّار

@OmarBaddar

 

Sep 1, 2024

2 things have happened in Gaza in the last 24 hours: 

 

1) Israel killed 47 Palestinians 

 

2) 6 Israeli hostages were found dead 

 

As you reflect on why only one of these stories is dominating the headlines, there are 5 more things to keep in mind :

1) The families of the hostages & the Israeli defense minister have accused Netanyahu of condemning their hostages to death by his refusal to strike a deal that brings them home safely.

 

2) Of the thousands of Palestinian hostages that Israel kidnapped & held w/out charge or trial since October, many have been brutally raped, and at least dozens (possibly far more) have been tortured to death in Israeli dungeons.

 

3) In the opening weeks of the genocide, Israel was killing 136 Palestinian children PER DAY. In a brief truce in November, Hamas released more than 100 Israeli hostages, but Netanyahu abruptly cut off these negotiations & prioritized the Gaza genocide over the hostages' lives.

 

4) Beyond valuing Israeli lives more than Palestinian ones, our government doesn't value AMERICAN lives equally: When Hamas kills an Israeli-American, we condemn & promise severe consequences. But when the Israeli gov murders Palestinian-Americans, there's no accountability.

 

 5) The entire concept of this war on Gaza (& our government's insistence on arming & funding it) is an exercise in monstrous moral depravity: We think one side gets to kill 16,000 children from the other side in pursuit of their "safety." 

 

That thinking is despicable, but the reality is even worse: Israel isn't fighting for "safety" (they can get that by ending their brutal occupation & letting Palestinians have rights), they are fighting for the right to dominate Palestinians & hold them captive without rights. 

 

Our government thinks Israel is justified in killing an infinite number of Palestinian children in pursuit of their total domination of Palestinian life. 

 

This is what the so-called "conflict" is all about.

 

Palestinian journalist Hind Al-Khoudary on her nomination for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.

Palestinian journalist Hind Al-Khoudary on her nomination for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.

"My grandfather kept the key to his house in Yaffa in 1948. He thought they would return in a few days. His name was Hasan. The house was destroyed. Others built a new one in its place. Hasan died in Gaza in 1986. The key has rusted but still exists somewhere, longing for the old wooden door." Mosab Abu Toha ... From Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear

Mosab Abu Toha

@MosabAbuToha

 

I cannot believe I left our house on October 13, 2023 and never grabbed the only photo of my grandfather I had. I cannot believe I never took the photo of my father when was a very young man. 

 

You can see my father’s photo behind the Gaza wooden piece. He is on the left putting oranges in boxes. 

 

Our house was bombed on Oct. 28. The only dear thing I took was my own copy of my poetry book. It was stupid of me, I admit, to take something I could replace, though nothing can be really replaced.

"Gaza has taught me that a lot of people who claim to be human rights activists are only active when it applies to people of a specific background or ethnicity." Mohamad Safa

Mohamad Safa

@mhdksafa

 

Gaza has taught me that a lot of people who claim to be human rights activists are only active when it applies to people of a specific background or ethnicity. 

 

Don’t stop talking about Gaza.

 HUMAN RIGHTS FOR EVERYONE EVERYWHERE

Israel is committing genocide and Western media is helping hide the bodies

In Gaza, the distinctive blue flak jackets and helmets of journalists, symbols of the pursuit of truth under dangerous conditions, have now also come to represent Israeli violence and silencing, writes Fatima el Issawi. [GETTY]

Since the start of Israel's onslaught on Gaza, Western media has continuously been complicit in the erasure of Palestinian suffering, says Fatima el Issawi.

For over the last nearly 11 months, mainstream Western media has framed the ongoing onslaught in Gaza as a ‘classic’ conflict between two parties. The Gaza mass killing, is largely bloodless on televised screens. On social media platforms, another story is unfolding; a torrent of horrific accounts of Israel’s war crimes inflicted on civilians surpassing any surreal imaginary of violence, captured by the victims themselves as well as their perpetrators, the latter proudly celebrating their impunity.

Navigating between my social media feeds and my TV screen, it is hard to believe I am following the same story. Gazans’ encounters with their “bare life” are beyond any hallucinations that our imagination can create, including our own living experiences of trauma.

I was born and raised in a conflict zone in South Lebanon where life was punctuated by Israeli attacks and several invasions. However, Western media remains largely indifferent to the victims. The absence of their shredded bodies from mainstream coverage is more perverse than simple apathy due to lack of geographical and cultural proximity, as we teach our students in journalism courses. Indeed, the media is serving to whitewash Israel’s war crimes and therefore partakes in the erasure of those who it violently targets. Victims are denied the basic right to be acknowledged as suffering subjects.

The implicit message is: it is OK to kill them since some of them are potential terrorists, and their children will likely follow suit.

The unsaid

Passive voices and soft wording that steers clear of terms like “massacre”, “crimes” or “killing”, are just a some of the countless examples of erasure used in mainstream Western reporting.... READ MORE  https://www.newarab.com/opinion/western-media-helping-hide-bodies-amid-israels-genocide

  [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

Ending Discrimination #fightracism #StandUp4HumanRights #NoToHate #UNGA #UnitedNations #HumanRights #HumanBeings #Compassion #GoldenRuleThinking #Kindness

As hate speech, discrimination & xenophobia are on the rise, each of us can #StandUp4HumanRights, and help #FightRacism & hatred.

#NoToHate

Racism and discrimination are the rejection of all that we stand for. 

We must reject and #FightRacism.

Societies around the world are increasingly recognizing the role structural #racism plays in driving social, economic, & political inequalities, but much more needs to be done.

#GoldenRuleThinking

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."   https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

Nelson Mandela grandson Zwelivelile comes out in support of South Africa coal embargo on Israel

Chief Zwelivelile Mandela, grandson of former South African president & anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela

As Israel intensifies its bombing of Palestinian people, eminent South Africans led by the likes of Chief Zwelivelile Mandela — the indefatigable grandson of former South African president and anti-apartheid icon, Nelson Mandela — are intensifying solidarity activities in support of the people of Gaza calling for a more serious boycott of Israel.

"The Palestinian people and their struggle were always close to Madiba's heart. He considered it the greatest moral issue of our time," Zwelivelile tells The New Arab.

"I have no doubt that the ongoing genocide would pain him very much — the daily sight of mangled and maimed bodies, the cries of orphans, and the lament of parents burying their innocent babies and young children. These are matters that would weigh heavily on his heart," says Zwelivelile.

"I do not doubt that he would call out the cold-hearted apartheid Israel killing machine, its war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing."

Zwelivelile said his grandfather would condemn the complicity of the West for supplying bombs of mass destruction, stating that Mandela would pressure Netanyahu to withdraw from occupied Palestinian land, release all Palestinian political prisoners, accept the right to return for all Palestinians in the diaspora, and most importantly, recognize Palestinians' right to self-determination.

"We all know that ending the occupation and an immediate comprehensive ceasefire is the only path to finding a lasting solution," added Zwelivelile, imploring that the world should boycott all countries and corporations that are complicit in the genocide in Gaza and all the occupied Palestinian territories.... READ MORE   https://www.newarab.com/features/mandela-would-be-mourning-gaza-furious-israel-grandson

  [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]