Sunday, February 1, 2026

Jewish Voice for Peace: "We strive to build a world where every human and every plant can thrive without fear of being killed or uprooted... "

Jewish Voice for Peace

On Tu Bishvat, the Jewish new year for trees, we stand with Palestinians against the Israeli government’s systematic destruction of their land.

As anti-Zionist Jews, we mark this holiday by resisting Israeli apartheid and colonialism on Palestinian land on the lands we live on.

We strive to build a world where every human and every plant can thrive without fear of being killed or uprooted.

A free Palestine means nurturing a lush, thriving land, filled with trees, from the river to the sea. https://x.com/jvplive/status/2018051801501581755

We’re proud anti-Zionists at JVP. But what is Zionism and why are we opposed to it?

For 75 years, Zionism has been used to justify massacres of Palestinians by the Israeli military, the destruction of ancient villages and olive groves, and a military occupation that separates families from each other with checkpoints and walls.

The Israeli government, and the US Jewish institutions that defend Zionism and the state of Israel, want us to think Zionism was inevitable, and that to be Jewish is to be Zionist.

As anti-Zionists, we know our history of oppression, but we reject Zionism as the answer. We know our safety is — and always has been — in solidarity and a shared future... READ MORE https://x.com/jvplive/status/2006087318084673996/photo/1

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]

“The underreported silent war: record levels of violence in the occupied West Bank since October 2023. More than 1,000 Palestinians — almost a quarter of them children — have been killed. Attacks by Israeli settlers continue unabated, with Palestinian communities being constantly intimidated, uprooted and their livelihoods ruined. Impunity reigns....

UNRWA

@UNRWA

“The underreported silent war: record levels of violence in the occupied West Bank since October 2023. More than 1,000 Palestinians — almost a quarter of them children — have been killed.

Attacks by Israeli settlers continue unabated, with Palestinian communities being constantly intimidated, uprooted and their livelihoods ruined.

Impunity reigns.

Tens of thousands of people remain displaced a year after the launch of Israel's operation "Iron Wall" - the largest displacement since 1967.

Their homes are now gradually demolished to prevent their return.

UNRWA remains key in the emergency aid operation, despite immense challenges.

While global attention has been focused on Gaza, the flagrant disregard for international humanitarian law in the West Bank has been normalised. It has to stop before it is too late.” —

@UNLazzarini

https://x.com/UNRWA/status/2017872757699072174/photo/1

Palestinian girls wearing the traditional Palestinian dress in front of the Church of All Nations (Gethsemane) in Jerusalem ✝️

Palestinian girls wearing the traditional Palestinian dress in front of the Church of All Nations (Gethsemane) in Jerusalem

Milad ܝܠܕܐ

@PalCatholic

https://x.com/PalCatholic/status/2017653682578321592/photo/1

"The war on journalists in Gaza continues Despite a supposed ‘ceasefire’, international journalists are still not freely allowed in Gaza and Palestinian journalists continue to be killed by Israel. Western journalists should be in uproar about this assault on press freedom. Instead the likes of CBS are simply parroting Israel’s talking points." Arwa Mahdawi

The war on journalists in Gaza continues

Despite a supposed ‘ceasefire’, international journalists are still not freely allowed in Gaza and Palestinian journalists continue to be killed by Israel. Western journalists should be in uproar about this assault on press freedom. Instead the likes of CBS are simply parroting Israel’s talking points.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/31/save-act-voting-arwa-mahdawi

CPJ calls on Israel to lift ban on foreign journalists and stop targeting broadcasters

New York, January 26, 2026—As Israel’s Supreme Court considers petitions on Monday challenging the ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza, the Israeli government has simultaneously doubled down on restrictions against foreign media operating inside Israel. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Israeli authorities to immediately allow foreign journalists to freely enter and report from Gaza safely, and to end all restrictions on foreign media broadcasters operating in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.

On January 26, the Israeli government approved a 90-day extension to the ban on Qatar-based Al Jazeera and Beirut-based Al Mayadeen, under a 2024 law allowing the communications minister and prime minister to shut down offices, block websites, seize equipment, or shut down foreign broadcasters deemed a “security threat.” In December 2025, the Knesset extended this so-called “Al Jazeera Law” for two more years.

The recent decision, promoted by Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, consolidates powers that can silence independent reporting and intimidate foreign media, expanding the Israeli police’s authority to impose media bans, censorship, and surveillance... READ MORE https://cpj.org/2026/01/cpj-calls-on-israel-to-lift-ban-on-foreign-journalists-and-stop-targeting-broadcasters/

'I'm afraid to go out and film': Journalists in Gaza fear they are being targeted by Israel

Saša Petricic

| CBC News | Posted: January 27, 2026 6:53 PM | Last Updated: January 27

They are the latest in a long list of Palestinian reporters killed in the Gaza war

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls the territory "the deadliest place for journalists in recent history," deadlier than "any other conflict, anywhere else in the world," said the group’s Jodie Ginsberg.

Besieged local reporters are still the only media with eyes on Gaza war

https://www.cbc.ca/lite/story/9.7062255

Bari Weiss’s CBS News Won’t Even Condemn Israel for Killing a CBS Contributor

Instead, the network’s new top anchor Tony Dokoupil peddles Israel’s talking points about it killing a Palestinian journalist. A CBS source calls it a ‘disgrace.’

https://zeteo.com/p/bari-weisss-cbs-news-israel-journalists-killed

Saturday, January 31, 2026

‘We are reliving the Nakba’: A Palestinian community says it’s being erased as Israeli settler violence intensifies

CNN

By Zeena Saifi, Jeremy Diamond, Cyril Theophilos

Ras Ein al-Auja, West Bank — PUBLISHED Jan 28, 2026

Suleiman Ghawanmeh is tired of talking. For over 10 years, he talked himself hoarse until he realized his words could not save his community from being driven out. After his final appeal for help came to nothing, he, too, left.

“I am angry with the world… nobody listens to us… it’s as if we are not human beings,” he told CNN.

His village of Ras Ein al-Auja in the occupied West Bank has now been erased – emptied of its Palestinian residents after a years-long campaign of relentless settler harassment that has intensified over the past two years.

The ongoing violence against what was once the largest shepherding community in the West Bank increased markedly this month, forcing families to abandon their homes, according to Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.

Armed and masked settlers, many of them teenagers, descended on the Ras Ein al-Auja daily, residents and activists say, terrorizing the nearly 120 extended families – more than 800 people in total – who lived there. By the end of January, that harassment forced them all to leave.

Ghawanmeh, 44, and his family were the last to go on Sunday.

“We didn’t get displaced because a shepherd or a settler attacked us. No. The issue is bigger than that. The shepherd is a tool – a means of the occupation,” he said.

Ras Ein al-Auja is the 46th shepherding community in the West Bank to be forcibly displaced since October 7th 2023, according to B’Tselem, which calls this a form of “ethnic cleansing.”... READ MORE https://www.cnn.com/world/middleeast/palestinians-west-bank-erasure-israel

"We are not alone in facing unacceptable challenges that defy the most basic obligations of an occupying power under international law. The registration process for international NGOs has become a de facto blockade in itself, with the vast majority of the existing aid system now on the brink of shutdown. Restrictions on so-called dual-use items have turned basic shelter and construction materials, among other essential supplies, into contraband, leaving families exposed to the elements and rendering reconstruction impossible as harsh winter weather persists. This brings us to the uncomfortable truth: These restrictions are not merely bureaucratic impediments. They appear to be part of ongoing efforts to systematically dismantle the means for Palestinians to survive. Every restriction, every obstacle, every denial of basic materials adds another layer of evidence..."

Why attacking UNRWA is attacking Gaza’s survival

The UN agency is able to provide much-needed services to the entire Strip at scale, but it is prevented from doing so.

Palestinian children gather in the yard of the UNRWA Deir el-Balah Joint School, west of Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip on December 6, 2025 [AFP]

By Sam Rose

Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza.

The January 14 announcement of the new Palestinian technical committee to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction comes at a critical moment. While states are discussing the governance and reconstruction of Gaza, on the ground, the basic survival of 2.1 million people hangs by a thread. This moment demands immediate action to lift the ongoing and suffocating restrictions that are systematically dismantling the very means for Palestinians to survive.

Famine conditions in Gaza have moderately stabilised, but the humanitarian catastrophe continues to deepen. Families remain displaced without adequate shelter; children still go to bed hungry; and basic healthcare is out of reach for hundreds of thousands.

Winter rains have turned displacement camps into seas of mud, exacerbating suffering and significantly increasing the risk of disease outbreaks. Daily Israeli air attacks and bombardments continue, with more than 480 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire agreement was announced in October. This month alone, seven UNRWA school compounds in eastern Gaza have been demolished by Israeli forces.

UNRWA remains Gaza’s largest and most comprehensive service provider, effectively acting as the public sector for more than half the population. Our 11,000 staff continue to operate despite immense risks, as they have done each day since October 7, 2023.

They are providing healthcare to almost 100,000 people each week and education to 70,000 children in damaged school premises across Gaza. Our schools also shelter tens of thousands of displaced families.

UNRWA teams essentially function like a local municipality; we distribute water and collect solid waste from entire communities, covering the needs of more than half the population.

When we speak of “service delivery”, these are not abstract programmes. We are talking about the clinics where children are vaccinated, the classrooms where traumatised boys and girls find some collective care, and the distribution points where families are provided with basic sustenance.

Yet our ability to respond remains severely impeded by systematic barriers. What should we understand from the entire and complete assault on the most basic services needed for any community to survive?

Our goods are prevented from entering Gaza. We are unable to communicate with Israeli authorities – the occupying power that controls all of Gaza’s land, air and sea crossings – due to the “no contact” law passed by the Israeli parliament in October 2024.

Our international staff – myself included – are barred from entering Gaza to support the work of our teams on the ground.

Nowhere is the inhumanity of these restrictions more evident than in the denial of children’s basic rights. About 700,000 Palestinian children in Gaza are being systematically denied their right to education. Before the war, UNRWA was educating 300,000 of these children, accounting for two-thirds of all primary schooling.

UNRWA alone has the capacity, expertise and reach to resume this work at scale across Gaza, yet we are prevented from doing so by the same restrictions that target our broader operations.

We have launched a “Back to Learning” campaign to bring some hope and normality to children who have known only war, displacement and loss for more than two years. But instead of supporting this effort, the restrictions we face mean that most children remain in the rubble-strewn streets. This is a continuous and deliberate attack on their future.

We are not alone in facing unacceptable challenges that defy the most basic obligations of an occupying power under international law. The registration process for international NGOs has become a de facto blockade in itself, with the vast majority of the existing aid system now on the brink of shutdown.

Restrictions on so-called dual-use items have turned basic shelter and construction materials, among other essential supplies, into contraband, leaving families exposed to the elements and rendering reconstruction impossible as harsh winter weather persists.

This brings us to the uncomfortable truth: These restrictions are not merely bureaucratic impediments. They appear to be part of ongoing efforts to systematically dismantle the means for Palestinians to survive. Every restriction, every obstacle, every denial of basic materials adds another layer of evidence to South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). So too do the attacks on the one United Nations agency – UNRWA – that is able to provide basic education and healthcare at scale, but is prevented from doing so.

UNRWA has a proven ability to provide continuous education, healthcare, social welfare, sanitation, humanitarian assistance and other support. It enjoys the trust and confidence of the Gaza population, whose world has been erased since October 2023.

Preserving UNRWA until there is a lasting peace is a pragmatic solution for anyone serious about Gaza’s future. It is essential for the wellbeing and recovery of more than two million people who have suffered beyond imagination.

Make no mistake – this is about far more than the future of a single UN agency. This is about defending the international rules-based order. When states pressure humanitarian responders, restrict humanitarian access and ignore ICJ rulings, they are targeting Palestinians while also attacking the very foundations of international law.

This has transcended the Palestine context and become a test case for the viability of humanitarian action and international law worldwide.

The time for half-measures and diplomatic ambiguity is over. The survival of Gaza is intrinsically linked to UNRWA’s continued operation. Defending this is about defending humanity, international law, and the possibility that even in the darkest circumstances, the world will continue to support compassion over cruelty.

The overwhelming majority of states voted in December 2025 to renew UNRWA’s mandate in the UN General Assembly. But that decision is impeded by the perpetrator of what the ICJ has found to be an illegal occupation and what the UN Commission of Inquiry has concluded is a genocide. The choice must now be clear: We can either stand by as Gaza’s lifeline is systematically cut, or we can act collectively to protect what remains and rebuild what has been destroyed.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2026/1/31/why-attacking-unrwa-is-attacking-gazas-survival

Israel’s strike on Gaza City killed a mother, three children and one of their relatives on Saturday morning, while Nasser hospital in Khan Younis said a strike in a tent camp caused a fire, killing seven, including a father, his three children and three grandchildren.

Gaza’s health ministry has recorded more than 500 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the start of the ceasefire on 10 October.

The strikes came a day before a border crossing is expected to open in Gaza’s southernmost city, a reminder that the death toll is still rising even as a ceasefire agreement inches forward.

All of the territory’s border crossings have been closed since the start of the war, and Palestinians see the Rafah crossing with Egypt as a lifeline for the tens of thousands in need of treatment outside the territory because most of its medical infrastructure has been destroyed by Israeli bombardment.

Israel wants to ensure that more Palestinians leave Gaza than enter it, according to Reuters, which said Israel is aiming to allow only 150 Palestinians into Gaza through Rafah each day.

Palestinians inspect damage to a tent hit by an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on 31 January. Photograph: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP

Most of Gaza has been levelled and basic infrastructure remains inoperable as a result of Israeli bombing over the past two years, which has also killed more than 70,000 Palestinians. Last year, a UN commission of inquiry found that Israel had committed a genocide in Gaza.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/31/israeli-strikes-gaza-kill-at-least-12-reports

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