Friday, September 5, 2025

Please don’t succumb to hopelessness over Palestine... "As the war gets livestreamed to our phones, it is easy to be overwhelmed and feel helpless. But even small acts of activism add up" Arwa Mahdawi in The Guardian

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/02/please-dont-succumb-to-hopelessness-over-palestine-your-voice-can-still-make-a-difference

It is hard to stay hopeful in today’s “monstrous times”, but for the sake of the people bearing the brunt of modern monstrosities, it is imperative that we do.

Your voice can still make a difference

Arwa Mahdawi

Tue 2 Sep 2025

‘It is hard to stay hopeful in monstrous times’ … A pro-Palestinian demonstration in Warsaw, Poland. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

I don’t know if Frankenstein star Christoph Waltz is normally a man of few words but he didn’t have much to say at a recent Venice film festival press conference. Waltz uttered only six words, with “CGI is for losers” constituting four of them. The remaining two were “I don’t”, in response to a question about how he stays hopeful in today’s “monstrous times”.

Waltz is certainly not alone in despairing of a world which seems to elevate liars, cheats, and adjudicated sexual predators. It’s hard to feel hope when a genocide has been livestreamed to our phones for almost two years and there is no justice in sight; just a systematic slaughter of the journalists who serve as messengers. No peace prospects on the horizon; just well-paid consultants putting together ethnic cleansing prospectuses so a “Gaza Riviera” can be built. (Oh, sorry, we’re supposed to say “voluntary relocation”, aren’t we?)

As a British Palestinian, I urge you to keep (or start!) speaking up for Gaza and Palestinians. The situation in Gaza and the West Bank gets worse daily. But please do not succumb to hopelessness or assume that you are powerless to change things. While it may seem like nothing will shame politicians into meaningfully upholding international human rights law, your voice does make a difference. Writing to your MP; protesting; donating; supporting the Freedom Flotilla Coalition; advocating online; boycotting companies such as Airbnb which profit from illegal settlements. These sorts of things do make a difference.

Plenty of people are keen to tell you otherwise. There is a certain form of hopelessness that has been repackaged as sensible centrist thinking. Don’t bother with your silly little acts of activism or your social media posts, these people will tell you, they won’t achieve anything.

Look, for example, at the contemptuous reaction in many quarters to Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey’s decision to boycott King Charles’s state banquet for Trump in protest over Gaza. Per a sneering piece in the Telegraph, this boycott “betrays a serious lack of seriousness”. Davey would be far more serious, apparently, if he just joined other politicians in doing nothing, except perhaps issuing an occasional statement expressing “serious concern” about Israel bombing another hospital or executing another aid worker.

Of course, Davey’s boycott won’t shame Trump into acting. But it might cause someone to think more deeply about the perverseness of holding an extravagant state banquet while a US-enabled Israel, which has a history of weaponising food and controlling the calorie intake of a captive Gaza population, has orchestrated a human-made famine. It may pressure other politicians into some sort of action.... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/02/please-dont-succumb-to-hopelessness-over-palestine-your-voice-can-still-make-a-difference

"Human rights don’t change with the seasons, political winds, or trends. They are timeless. In an increasingly polarised world, they help to unite us. No matter where we live or what we believe, we all want safety and peace for ourselves & those we love." Volker Türk #United Nations #GoldenRuleThinking

Volker Türk

@volker_turk

Human rights don’t change with the seasons, political winds, or trends. They are timeless.

In an increasingly polarised world, they help to unite us. No matter where we live or what we believe, we all want safety and peace for ourselves & those we love.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights |

@UNHumanRights

Chief

#StandUp4HumanRights

https://www.ohchr.org/en/topic/terrorism-and-violent-extremism

Terrorism and violent extremism

OHCHR and terrorism and violent extremism

Special Rapporteur on terrorism

Terrorism involves the intimidation or coercion of populations or governments through the threat or perpetration of violence. This may result in death, serious injury or the taking of hostages. These acts must be prevented, and the financing, movement and activity of terrorist networks stopped, in order to prevent future violations of human rights.

The victims of terrorism must also have access to an effective remedy and reparations. Victims of terrorism and extremism can play a crucial role in building stronger, more resilient societies.

Terrorism and violent extremism violate the human rights and fundamental freedoms of groups and individuals. However, States define terrorism in different, sometimes ambiguous ways, so domestic legislation does not always protect the human rights of citizens.

The Voice of Hind Rajab gets record 23-minute ovation at Venice premiere

Al Jazeera’s Caley Callahan reports: The Voice of Hind Rajab, recounting the final plea of a six-year-old Gaza girl who was brutally killed by the Israeli forces in Gaza City last year, received a more than 23-minute standing ovation at its premiere at the iconic Venice Film Festival. At Wednesday’s premiere, the emotional docu-drama focuses on recordings from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, which tried for hours to reassure six-year-old Rajab as she lay trapped in a car where her aunt, uncle and three cousins were killed by Israeli fire in early 2024.

The United States has imposed sanctions against three Palestinian human rights groups that asked the international criminal court to investigate Israel over allegations of genocide in Gaza, according to a notice posted to the US treasury department’s website on Thursday.

Palestinians move toward central Gaza as intensified Israeli attacks force them to flee, in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

The three groups – the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Ramallah-based Al-Haq – were listed under what the treasury department said were international criminal court-related designations.

The groups asked the ICC in November 2023 to investigate Israeli air strikes on densely populated civilian areas of Gaza, the siege of the territory and displacement of the population.

A year later, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence chief, Yoav Gallant, as well as a Hamas leader, Ibrahim al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Donald Trump’s administration has imposed sanctions against ICC judges as well as its chief prosecutor over the Israeli arrest warrants and a past decision to open a case into alleged war crimes by US troops in Afghanistan.

The ICC, which was established in 2002, has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in its 125 member countries. Some nations, including the US, China, Russia and Israel, do not recognise its authority.

The US sanctions against the Palestinian groups come days after the world’s biggest academic association of genocide scholars passed a resolution saying the legal criteria had been met to establish Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Israel called... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/04/us-sanctions-palestinian-human-rights

Washington imposes sanctions on 3 Palestinian human rights groups this week, last week the United States announced it would not grant visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and 80 other Palestinian Authority officials to attend the United Nations General Assembly next month , where France and several other countries plan to recognise the State of Palestine.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250905-washington-imposes-sanctions-on-3-palestinian-human-rights-groups/

Washington on Thursday imposed sanctions on three Palestinian human rights organisations, according to the US Treasury Department’s website.

The United States listed the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights (Al Mezan), both based in Gaza, along with Al-Haq–Law in the Service of Mankind, which is based in Ramallah.

The Treasury Department said the sanctions were linked to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

According to the official wording published on the department’s website, “The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is issuing International Criminal Court-related General License 10, “Authorizing the Wind Down of Transactions Involving Certain Persons Blocked on September 4, 2025.”

Naming the three Palestinian organisations, the department’s website said, “Additionally, OFAC has updated its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.”

On 29 August, the United States announced it would not grant visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and 80 other Palestinian Authority officials to attend the United Nations General Assembly next month, where France and several other countries plan to recognise the State of Palestine.

READ: US support to Israel limits EU leverage to halt war in Gaza: EU foreign policy chief

.... The Israeli army launched a brutal military offensive on Gaza since late 2023, killing more than 63,700 Palestinians. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave... https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250903-us-support-to-israel-limits-eu-leverage-to-halt-war-in-gaza-eu-foreign-policy-chief/

"In Gaza, journalists are not just relaying the tragedies of displacement, loss, and starvation. They are experiencing it firsthand in all of its extremities, too. But when journalists are also targets, who reports on them? More than 270 Palestinian media personnel have been killed in 21 months. Who defended them? This was the duty of international journalists: to stand by their peers, to serve as their armour, to amplify their voices." Text Mariam Barghouti | Photography Ahmed Younes & Ali Jadall

The eyes of truth

From Gaza comes the clearest record of our time, witnessed and told by journalists who risk their lives to preserve it. Their truth must guide us all. When they speak, we must listen; it is our utmost duty now. September 4th, 2025

https://www.dazed.me/feature/the-eyes-of-truth-gaza-journalists

Text Mariam Barghouti | Photography Ahmed Younes & Ali Jadallah

[CLICK THE LINK TO SEE THE TELLING PHOTOS]

At the time of writing, at least eight journalists have been killed by Israel, adding to the over 270 Palestinian media personnel killed in Gaza during the last 21 months. Among them is photojournalist Mariam Riyad Abu Dagga, who was photographed and interviewed for this feature. She was murdered by Israel in a targeted attack on Nasser Hospital, alongside four other journalists: Ahmed Abu Aziz, Hussam al-Masri, Mohammad Salama, and Moaz Abu Taha. She was 33 years old and is survived by her son, Ghaith.

International journalists choose calm scenes—they don’t want the scenes of blood, the screaming. But as local journalists, we live the moment in the field. It’s not just the event, it’s us in the event.” – Mariam Riyad Abu Dagga

On 10 August, shortly after my peer Anas Al-Sharif was savagely killed along with an entire Al Jazeera crew that included Mohammed Qraiqea, Mohamed Nofal, and Ibrahim Thaher as well as freelancers Moamen Aliwa and Mohammed al-Khalidi, Hind Khoudary took to X, addressing media outlets worldwide.

“I will not speak to foreign media about the killing of Palestinian journalists,” wrote the award-winning Palestinian journalist. “I will not sit on your global channels to be part of a segment you’ll forget by tomorrow.” Capturing their hypocrisy and hollow coverage in a matter of words, she added: “To you, we are just a headline—a tragedy to consume, not colleagues to defend.”

In Gaza, journalists are not just relaying the tragedies of displacement, loss, and starvation. They are experiencing it firsthand in all of its extremities, too. But when journalists are also targets, who reports on them? More than 270 Palestinian media personnel have been killed in 21 months. Who defended them? This was the duty of international journalists: to stand by their peers, to serve as their armour, to amplify their voices.

Instead, western coverage of Palestinians is marred by a repeated pattern of contradiction, claiming to uphold objective, non-partisan reporting while framing Israel’s atrocity crimes as “self-defence”. Between what is said and what is actually happening are the Palestinian journalists on the ground, who continue to personify the essence of journalism by holding power accountable and preserving memory against systemic erasure.

Displaced, not defeated Nour Swirki

Journalists are journalists, not superheroes Shrouq Al Aila, Hind Khoudary

The sister, the daughter, the mother, the missing Hind, Nour, Shrouq, and Mariam

Murder as a passing note Mariam Riyad Abu Dagga

Absent media, present youth Renad Attallah

It doesn’t end ... Say their names, cite their work, defend their lives.

"The media’s initial reporting and subsequent failure to hold Israel truly accountable highlights a disturbing trend in which Western outlets choose Israeli propaganda over the truth, often downplaying and normalising blatant violations of international law. As such, the media allows the continued dehumanisation of Palestinians and the normalisation of Israel’s atrocities, even genocide. The Nasser hospital bombing is not an aberration, it is part of a larger pattern of Israeli aggression against Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, homes, and schools. " Assal Rad

Western media will always give Israel the benefit of propaganda

For nearly two years, Western media has normalised Israeli war crimes and dehumanised Palestinians amid Gaza’s ongoing genocide, argues Assal Rad.

Assal Rad

04 Sep, 2025

Israel attacked Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, located in the southern Gaza Strip, on August 25, 2025. Numerous casualties were reported, including journalists and healthcare workers. [GETTY]

Language is not neutral; it shapes the way we perceive global events with profound implications for public opinion. In the context of the Gaza genocide, the discourse deployed by Western media is far from objective. It often contributes to the dehumanisation of Palestinians while reinforcing pro-Israel narratives. This bias is not just about what is reported, and what is not, but also about how the story is told.

Israel’s recent bombing of Nasser hospital provides a striking illustration of how media coverage can normalise war crimes.

For nearly two years, we have witnessed a clear pattern of mainstream media coverage on Gaza. Israeli actions are often described using terms like “self-defence” or “targeting Hamas,” framing them as justified, and Israeli officials are treated as legitimate sources for the facts regarding all events

On the other hand, Palestinian sources like journalists, witnesses, and doctors are often doubted and the historical context of their systematic oppression under Israeli occupation is often absent from the reporting. This linguistic imbalance shapes how the issue of Palestinian liberation is understood, positioning Israel as the victim and Palestinians as aggressors, regardless of the power disparity between the two.

Israel as the victim

For decades, Western media has perpetuated this skewed narrative and consistently minimised Palestinian suffering while amplifying Israeli victimhood. A January 2024 report from The Intercept offered evidence of the systematic bias in major Western outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times.

The quantitative analysis revealed that emotive words like “slaughter” or “massacre” were almost exclusively used to describe Israeli civilian deaths, while adopting more neutral terms for Palestinian deaths. This imbalance is not an accident; it is a deliberate effort by the media to distort the reality of the conflict and shape public perception to diminish the scale of Israel’s violence against Palestinians.

The mainstream media’s coverage in the aftermath of Israel’s most recent horrific attack on Nasser hospital provides another egregious example of this calculated bias. The attack, which killed at least 20 people including journalists and rescue workers, was part of a broader pattern of Israeli assaults on Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure.

Despite the overwhelming evidence, Western media outlets initially prioritised official Israeli statements that tried to soften public outrage by calling the bombing a mistake, running headlines that framed the incident as a “tragic mishap.” This form of reporting, which downplays Israeli actions and legitimises its violence, is not new. However, what made the hospital bombing particularly notable was the release of footage showing that it was hit in a double-tap attack, clearly targeting rescue workers—in broad daylight—who were responding to the initial strike.

No accountability

As footage of Israel’s direct strike on rescue workers spread across social media, fuelling public outcry, it was evident that this was not an isolated event but a deliberate targeting of journalists and medical personnel. Instead of condemning the attack as an obvious war crime, Western media echoed Israeli claims.

When Israel later stated that the hospital was targeted due to a “Hamas camera” being present—a claim so outlandish it is almost laughable—the media unquestionably reported this absurdity as justification for the attack. By accepting and reporting Israel’s explanation, the media helped reinforce the narrative that bombing hospitals was somehow acceptable in the context of “targeting Hamas” or a so-called Hamas camera. This failure to challenge Israeli claims is emblematic of how Western media regularly parrots official accounts, even when they defy basic morality and logic.

It was not until after the initial wave of coverage—which sought to absolve Israel of yet another war crime—that some outlets began to report the truth. An investigation by the New York Times contradicted Israel’s account and rationale for the attack. Later coverage from the BBC and CNN revealed that Israel had attacked Nasser hospital more than the two initial strikes originally reported.

Though the later reports refuted Israel’s explanation, they still did not employ the language of war crimes and the damage had already been done. Indeed after flooding the airwaves in the wake of the attacks with Israel’s ridiculous explanations, Israeli talking points had already become entrenched in the public discourse.

Even Reuters, which had its own reporter killed in the attack, failed to acknowledge the deliberate nature of the Israeli strikes. Instead, their headlines repeated Israeli statements asserting that journalists were not the intended targets. This was despite the overwhelming evidence that Israel has consistently targeted and killed their Palestinian colleagues in Gaza, resulting in a staggering number of casualties among the press.

Propaganda over truth

The media’s initial reporting and subsequent failure to hold Israel truly accountable highlights a disturbing trend in which Western outlets choose Israeli propaganda over the truth, often downplaying and normalising blatant violations of international law. As such, the media allows the continued dehumanisation of Palestinians and the normalisation of Israel’s atrocities, even genocide.

The Nasser hospital bombing is not an aberration, it is part of a larger pattern of Israeli aggression against Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, homes, and schools. These attacks are plainly war crimes under international law. Yet, Western media’s refusal to hold Israel accountable or even to call their actions by their appropriate name is symptomatic of a deeper problem of how Israel’s oppression of Palestinians has been understood in the Western world.

Rather than immediately challenging Israel’s account of the Nasser hospital bombing and contextualising it within the larger story of the Gaza genocide, legacy media repeated Israeli talking points, helping to normalise the attack as a regrettable but inevitable part of “war.” This ongoing bias in Western media coverage of Gaza is not only about misreporting. It is also about complicity.

When the media acts as stenographers for genocidal states instead of defenders of truth, they become enablers of that very violence. By normalising war crimes, Western media is culpable for them.

Assal Rad is a scholar of Modern Middle Eastern history and Nonresident Fellow at Arab Center DC. She received her PhD at the University of California, Irvine.

Follow Assal on Twitter/X: @assalrad

https://www.newarab.com/opinion/western-media-still-values-israeli-lies-over-palestinian-lives

Thursday, September 4, 2025

The Hill: In Gaza, Israel has turned food aid into a death trap

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5480646-aid-turned-death-trap-gaza/

by Hani Almadhoun, opinion contributor - 09/02/25 11:30 AM ET

Title: Israel Palestinians Gaza Image ID: 25244561195538 Article: A Palestinian boy sits on the ground as he waits near a food distribution kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) — A Palestinian boy sits on the ground as he waits near a food distribution kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

My cousin Sameeh Mohamad Hilmi Almadhoun was just 18 when an Israeli soldier allegedly killed him at an aid site in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. He was a young man searching for food, a simple act that became his death sentence.

The truth is far more devastating than a simple headline: Israel has turned aid in Gaza into a lure for death.

Sameeh had already lost nearly everything. An Israeli strike in northern Gaza killed his parents and three siblings, some of whom had special needs. Driven by hunger, he left the north in search of a meal — without his surviving family knowing he had even gone.

He walked more than six miles to reach one of the four aid sites run by Gaza Humanitarian Foundation near Khan Younis and chose to wait overnight so he could be first in line in the morning.

That decision became his death sentence. Sameeh was one of more than 1,400 Palestinians killed at aid sites across Gaza.
We discovered his death the way too many Palestinian families do: through a grainy photo of an unidentified body circulating on Telegram. My sister, Chef Samah — who runs a soup kitchen on the Gaza pier, now a makeshift camp for displaced Palestinians — recognized him and quickly reached out to our mother.
That recognition was a form of grief too heavy to bear. Sameeh’s grandmother, who suffers from chronic chest pain, has already buried 10 of her children and grandchildren, all killed by the Israeli military in northern Gaza during this ongoing nightmare... **READ MORE** https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5480646-aid-turned-death-trap-gaza/

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