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Category: Human rights/civil liberties

Gaza’s carnage through the eyes of Palestinian photojournalists

Gaza’s carnage through the eyes of Palestinian photojournalists

Rolling Stone reports: On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing roughly 1,200 people and taking over 200 hostages. Israel began its siege on Gaza that same day. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently asked photojournalists to share images, taken in Gaza during the war, that they want the world to never forget. Each image is accompanied by a personal text from the photographer, explaining the context and their emotions as they took these photographs….

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Israeli inquiry findings on aid worker killings lack credibility, World Central Kitchen says

Israeli inquiry findings on aid worker killings lack credibility, World Central Kitchen says

The Guardian reports: World Central Kitchen has rejected as lacking credibility the findings of an Israeli investigation led by a former general into a coordinated series of Israeli drone strikes on the charity’s vehicles in Gaza this week that killed seven aid workers. As the Israel Defense Forces blamed a series of “grave errors” by officers for the deadly attack that killed three Britons, three other foreign nationals and a Palestinian colleague while delivering food, WCK renewed its calls for…

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Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemns Israeli attacks on worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque

Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemns Israeli attacks on worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque

Days after Israel killed 7 aid workers in Gaza…on one of the holiest nights of Ramadan for Muslims…Israeli forces used drones to tear gas worshipers inside Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied E Jerusalem.Imagine the outrage if Jewish worshipers were similarly attacked in a synagogue. https://t.co/ljK0CYDw6A — Rula Jebreal (@rulajebreal) April 6, 2024 Arab News reports: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation strongly condemned Israeli forces for preventing thousands of people from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday. It also denounced a “blatant attack…

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Blinken warns: Israel risks becoming indistinguishable from Hamas if it doesn’t protect Gaza civilians

Blinken warns: Israel risks becoming indistinguishable from Hamas if it doesn’t protect Gaza civilians

The Times of Israel reports: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warns that Israel risks becoming indistinguishable from Hamas if it continues to fail to protect civilians amid the Gaza war. “What happened after October 7 could have ended immediately if Hamas had stopped hiding behind civilians, released the hostages and put down its weapons, but Israel is not Hamas. Israel is a democracy; Hamas, a terrorist organization. Democracies place the highest value on human life, every human life. As…

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Norman Finkelstein on Gaza: The U.S. could have stopped Israel on day one

Norman Finkelstein on Gaza: The U.S. could have stopped Israel on day one

  Renowned scholar and activist Norman Finkelstein discusses Israel’s war on Gaza with Marc Lamont Hill. As Israel’s war on Gaza continues, killing more than 33,000 people, numerous scholars and politicians have voiced concern and condemned Israel’s policies and actions. Among those critics is Norman Finkelstein, a staunch advocate for Palestinian freedom and one of the foremost historians on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, himself a son of Holocaust survivors. This week on UpFront, Norman Finkelstein shares his insights on Israel’s war…

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A blinking red light for Israel in American politics

A blinking red light for Israel in American politics

Politico reports: In notably blunt terms Thursday, top U.S. officials made a series of warnings to the Israeli government that they were nearly out of patience with its conduct of the war in Gaza. President Joe Biden and his top deputies said they would consider changing their policy towards Israel unless more consideration was given towards the humanitarian crisis its military was producing. A top Biden ally in the Senate argued that aid could be conditioned should Israel follow through…

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Chef José Andrés: Israel is engaged in ‘a war against humanity itself’

Chef José Andrés: Israel is engaged in ‘a war against humanity itself’

  World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés is speaking out after seven aid workers were killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza: “Humanitarians and civilians should never be paying the consequences of war. This is a basic principle of humanity.” video showing the Israeli army shooting a Palestinian civilian several times after he managed to get an aid package thrown from the air . The Israeli army continued shooting him after he was injured while he was trying to crawl…

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MSF dismisses Israeli claim of ‘regrettable incident’ in strike against aid workers in Gaza

MSF dismisses Israeli claim of ‘regrettable incident’ in strike against aid workers in Gaza

Reuters reports: The Doctors Without Borders medical charity (MSF) said on Thursday it rejected Israel’s position that an airstrike which killed seven aid workers was a “regrettable incident”, saying many humanitarian personnel have been attacked previously. Seven workers from World Central Kitchen, which provides food relief in crisis and conflict zones, were killed when their convoy was hit on Monday night shortly after they oversaw the unloading of 100 tons of food brought to the Palestinian enclave by sea. “We…

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Former supreme court judges say UK arming Israel breaches international law

Former supreme court judges say UK arming Israel breaches international law

The Guardian reports: A fourth former supreme court justice has put his name to a letter warning Rishi Sunak that the UK is breaching international law by continuing to arm Israel, as the number of legal experts signing the letter rose to more than 750. Lord Carnwath joins Lady Hale, who was president of the UK’s highest court, and lords Sumption and Wilson, in urging ministers to act to prevent the “plausible risk” of genocide in Gaza. Another new signatory…

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In Gaza, Israel unleashed a rogue army in which ‘every commander makes his own rules’

In Gaza, Israel unleashed a rogue army in which ‘every commander makes his own rules’

The Times of Israel reports: [O]n Tuesday evening, the Haaretz daily spoke to unnamed military sources who revealed that the cause of the strike [killing seven World Central Kitchen staffers] was undisciplined, rogue commanders, not a lack of coordination between the IDF and the WCK. A source in the intelligence branch told Haaretz that the IDF’s Southern Command “knows exactly what the cause of the attack was: in Gaza, everyone does as they please.” Army regulations require final approvals from…

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José Andrés: Let people eat

José Andrés: Let people eat

José Andrés, the founder of World Central Kitchen, writes: In the worst conditions you can imagine — after hurricanes, earthquakes, bombs and gunfire — the best of humanity shows up. Not once or twice but always. The seven people killed on a World Central Kitchen mission in Gaza on Monday were the best of humanity. They are not faceless or nameless. They are not generic aid workers or collateral damage in war. Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, John Chapman, Jacob Flickinger,…

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‘Not a normal war’: Doctors say children have been targeted by Israeli snipers in Gaza

‘Not a normal war’: Doctors say children have been targeted by Israeli snipers in Gaza

The Guardian reports: Dr Fozia Alvi was making her rounds of the intensive care unit on her final day at the battered European public hospital in southern Gaza when she stopped next to two young arrivals with facial injuries and breathing tubes in their windpipes. “I asked the nurse, what’s the history? She said that they were brought in a couple of hours ago. They had sniper shots to the brain. They were seven or eight years old,” she said….

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Palestinian American doctor explains why he walked out of Biden meeting

Palestinian American doctor explains why he walked out of Biden meeting

  President Biden held a meeting at the White House with Arab and Muslim leaders and activists Tuesday amid ongoing criticism for his stance on the Israel-Hamas war. Dr. Thaer Ahmad, a Palestinian American emergency physician from Chicago who traveled to Gaza earlier this year, said he walked out of the event after delivering a note to Mr. Biden from an 8-year-old. “Face the Nation” moderator and CBS News chief foreign correspondent Margaret Brennan spoke with Dr. Ahmad about his…

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Israel’s habit of targeting and killing humanitarian workers

Israel’s habit of targeting and killing humanitarian workers

  The Times of Israel reports: Speaking to Channel 12, a senior Israeli official echoed the fears that the incident could be a turning point in the war. Channel 12 reported that Israeli officials fear the WCK deaths and disruptions to aid deliveries will exacerbate famine concerns. Other aid agencies may also stop their operations, which would leave Israel forced to choose between taking over food distribution — effectively making it a military governor of Gaza — or ending the…

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Israel is now ‘a step away from international ostracism,’ says former president following attack on WCK

Israel is now ‘a step away from international ostracism,’ says former president following attack on WCK

The Daily Beast reports: On Tuesday, former Israeli president Reuven Rivlin told IDF Radio that Israel is now “a step away from international ostracism,” according to Haaretz. “We are losing the tremendous morality that all Israeli governments for generations have enjoyed, by the conduct and behavior of the IDF and by the behavior of the State of Israel in everything related to the wars we have waged for 76 years,” Rivlin said. According to the World Central Kitchen, its staff…

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Sen. Bernie Sanders to Netanyahu: ‘stop murdering innocent people’

Sen. Bernie Sanders to Netanyahu: ‘stop murdering innocent people’

  The Times of Israel reports: A virtual meeting on Monday between US and Israeli officials to discuss a potential IDF ground operation in Rafah was reportedly marked by tensions and accusations as Washington expressed deep skepticism over Israeli plans to operate in the southernmost Gaza city. The two-hour video call between US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the American side and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi…

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