Investigating Gaza War Crimes

Dees Illustration

Stephen Lendman

On August 11, Human Rights Council (HRC) President Baudelaire Ndong Ella announced the formation of an "independent, international commission of inquiry" into war crimes committed during Israel's Operation Protective Edge. 

International human rights law expert Professor William Schabas was appointed to chair a three-person panel. His special focus is genocide. 

Other members include international law, criminal law, human rights and extradition law expert, Amal Alamuddin, and former UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Doudou Diene. 

"A Hideous Atrocity": Noam Chomsky on Israel’s Assault on Gaza & U.S. Support for the Occupation

Noam Chomsky

Democracy Now

Hideous. Sadistic. Vicious. Murderous. That is how Noam Chomsky describes Israel’s 29-day offensive in Gaza that killed nearly 1,900 people and left almost 10,000 people injured. Chomsky has written extensively about the Israel/Palestine conflict for decades. After Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009, Chomsky co-authored the book "Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel’s War Against the Palestinians" with Israeli scholar Ilan Pappé. His other books on the Israel/Palestine conflict include "Peace in the Middle East?: Reflections on Justice and Nationhood" and "The Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians." Chomsky is a world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author, Institute Professor Emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he has taught for more than 50 years.  Read more

Part 1:  "A Hideous Atrocity": Noam Chomsky on Israel’s Assault on Gaza & U.S. Support for the Occupation



Part 2:  Noam Chomsky: Israel’s Actions in Palestine are "Much Worse Than Apartheid" in South Africa



You can visit our Gaza article archive here.

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Dennis Kucinich on the Responsibility to Speak Out About Gaza

AP/Lefteris Pitarakis

This week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: The former congressman says, “You can’t just stay silent when you see a massacre of people going on.” Also: Washington, D.C., will decide whether to legalize marijuana.

Listen to the show (Dennis Kucinich interview begins at 15:45):

(Trouble listening? Right-click to download the podcast here.)

Guests, in order of appearance: Michael Cindrich, Dennis Kucinich.

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IDF Hamas Human Shield Manual a Sloppy Forgery - The Evidence

The Israeli Defense Force just got caught red handed manufacturing fake evidence to prop up their Gaza narrative

On August 4, 2014 the IDF released what they claimed to be scans of a captured Hamas combat manual which explains the benefits of human shields (Captured Hamas Combat Manual Explains Benefits of Human Shields). This juicy story got quite a few people excited, and within 2 days their blog post had over 81,000 likes on Facebook. It turns out though, that the documents that they uploaded were forgeries, and sloppy forgeries at that. The work was so shoddy that you don't even have to be an expert to see the mistake. Read More

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Obama Wines and Dines African Dictators as Ebola Spreads - Geneva Business Insider

This month on the Geneva Business Insider, James Corbett and David L. Smith discuss: the latest on the ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the decision to send infected patients to Germany and the US for treatment; the conflict in Gaza and what it has done to the population of the world's largest open-air prison; and the latest moves on the Eastern European chessboard as Putin bristles at Poland's "Ukraine invasion" fears.




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SPECIAL FEATURE: David Rovics' Palestine

SPECIAL FEATURE: David Rovics' Palestine Set on Soundcloud All David's songs about Palestine in one place for free download or streaming, starting with "Gaza," just written in July, 2014.


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A Jewish American Woman Who Lived In Palestine Speaks Out Against The Israeli Occupation

A Jewish American woman (Anna Baltzer) who spent time in Palestine to observe and document human rights violations and to help with the overall situation there explains and shares photographs of her experiences while living in Palestine.  


"Anna Baltzer is such an amazing person and the perspective she brings to the cause is beyond words. Check out her page and give her a like to show some support!" ~ Tone S.

Listen to more David Rovics music below (featured in Anna Baltzer's video):


Listen to more David Rovics music here.  SPECIAL FEATURE: Palestine Set on Soundcloud All David's songs about Palestine in one place for free download or streaming, starting with "Gaza," just written in July, 2014.

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What Led Israel to Stop the Assault — and What Comes Next?

Democracy Now

After a nearly month-long assault that left at least 1,865 Palestinians dead, Israel has pulled its ground forces from the Gaza Strip under the 72-hour ceasefire that went into effect earlier today. Israeli and Palestinian factions have agreed to attend talks in Cairo on a longer-term agreement. Gaza officials say the vast majority of Palestinian victims were civilians in the Israeli offensive that began on July 8. Israel says 64 of its soldiers and three civilians have been killed. Palestinians are returning to homes and neighborhoods that have seen a massive amount of destruction. Nearly a quarter of Gaza’s 1.8 million residents were displaced during the fighting which destroyed more than 3,000 homes. The ceasefire was reached after international outrage over Palestinian civilian deaths peaked, with even Israel’s chief backer, the United States, criticizing recent Israeli shelling of United Nations shelters that killed scores of displaced Palestinians. 

To discuss the lead-up to the ceasefire and what to expect from the talks in Cairo, Democracy Now is joined by author and scholar Norman Finkelstein.

His most recent books, Old Wine, Broken Bottle: Ari Shavit’s Promised Land and Knowing Too Much: Why the American Jewish Romance with Israel Is Coming to an End.

Australian journalist forced to resign following criticism of Israel

Mike Carlton, Journalist

Former Sydney Morning Herald columnist Mike Carlton says he resigned from the paper because he was “sick of being stuffed around” over his angry response to critics of one of his articles.

Carlton’s column, which was published more than a week ago, was critical of Israel‘s actions in the conflict with Gaza.

He resigned last night after being told by Fairfax’s director of news and business media, Sean Aylmer, that he would be suspended because of inappropriate comments he made to critics of the column.

Carlton told 702 ABC Sydney the comments were “probably foolish” and said he was prepared to apologise after discussing the issue with editor-in-chief Darren Goodsir.

Top 5 Ways the U.S. Is Israel’s Accomplice in War Crimes in Gaza

By Juan Cole

Shutterstock

This post originally ran on Juan Cole’s Web page.

The U.S. State Department became a little testy with Israel on Sunday over the 6th school shelling by the Israeli military, which killed 10, saying

“The United States is appalled by today’s disgraceful shelling outside an UNRWA school in Rafah sheltering some 3,000 displaced persons, in which ten more Palestinian civilians were tragically killed,” reads the statement from State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki. “We once again stress that Israel do more to meet its own standards and avoid civilian casualties.”

As for the standard Israeli military pretext for such war crimes, that Hamas was hiding out in the school or firing from the school, no reporter on the ground has seen any evidence of any such activity by Hamas in schools where there are people.  Then the Israeli military obfuscates things by saying that Hamas was “in the area.”  Since Gaza is so small, I suppose they are in the area of almost everything.  But the State Department didn’t let Tel Aviv off the hook this time:  “The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians.”

The Holy Land Is Crying Out

Free the Holy Land Five!

This is a track from David Rovics album, Meanwhile In Afghanistan, which can be downloaded for free or by donation here: davidrovics.com/meanwhile-in-afga…tan/new-album.php

The Holy Land Five are still in U.S. prison for feeding helpless Palestinians. David Rovics sings about them: I love this song, David Rovics! "The Holy Land is crying out, leaving little room for doubt; from ruined homes, the kids ask you--what in the world will you do?" ~Cynthia McKinney

You can visit our Gaza article archive here.  

Poll:  Does the United States' support of Israel make Americans less safe?

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Gaza attack: 'We were striking a legitimate target' - video

Israel spokesman Mark Regev says an airstrike on a school in Gaza, which killed ten people, was targeted by Hamas terrorists and his government is investigating why civilians died.



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Nicaragua: ‘Netanyahu Appears To Be Possessed By The Devil’, Bolivia: ‘Israel A Terrorist State’

The Pontiac Tribune

Last night more than 100 Palestinians were killed during an Israeli military offensive on Gaza. This brings the death toll on the Palestinian side to a shocking 1,600+ since July 8th, the majority of which have been innocent civilians caught in the middle of war zone.

A Leading Voice of U.S. Jewry: End the Occupation

Henry Siegman, former executive director of the American Jewish Congress, tells Democracy Now!, "I think that sending rockets that are going to kill civilians is a crime. But for Palestinians to try, in any way they can, to end this state of affair—and to expect of them to end their struggle and just focus on less than 2 percent to build a country is absurd. That is part of—that’s propaganda, but it’s not a discussion of either politics or morality."

Amy Goodman/Nermeen Shaikh

Democracy Now!

July 30, 2014

Henry Siegman, former director of the American Jewish Congress

Democracy Now!, Creative Commons License 3.0

Given his background, what American Jewish leader Henry Siegman has to say about Israel’s founding in 1948 through the current assault on Gaza may surprise you. From 1978 to 1994, Siegman served as executive director of the American Jewish Congress, long described as one of the nation’s "big three" Jewish organizations along with the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League. Born in Germany three years before the Nazis came to power in 1933, Siegman’s family eventually moved to the United States. His father was a leader of the European Zionist movement that pushed for the creation of a Jewish state. In New York, Siegman studied the religion and was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi by Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, later becoming head of the Synagogue Council of America. After his time at the American Jewish Congress, Siegman became a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He now serves as president of the U.S./Middle East Project. In the first of our two-part interview, Siegman discusses the assault on Gaza, the myths surrounding Israel’s founding in 1948, and his own background as a German-Jewish refugee who fled Nazi occupation to later become a leading American Jewish voice and now vocal critic of Israel’s policies in the Occupied Territories.

IDF's Gaza assault is to control Palestinian gas, avert Israeli energy crisis

Israel's defence minister has confirmed that military plans to 'uproot Hamas' are about dominating Gaza's gas reserves

A Palestinian boy plays in the rubble of a house destroyed in an Israeli air strike on Beit Hanoun, Gaza. Photograph: Khalil Hamra/AP

From theguardian:  

Yesterday, (July 8, 2014) Israeli defence minister and former Israeli Defence Force (IDF) chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon announced that Operation Protective Edge marks the beginning of a protracted assault on Hamas. The operation "won't end in just a few days," he said, adding that "we are preparing to expand the operation by all means standing at our disposal so as to continue striking Hamas."

This morning, he said:

"We continue with strikes that draw a very heavy price from Hamas. We are destroying weapons, terror infrastructures, command and control systems, Hamas institutions, regime buildings, the houses of terrorists, and killing terrorists of various ranks of command… The campaign against Hamas will expand in the coming days, and the price the organization will pay will be very heavy."

But in 2007, a year before Operation Cast Lead, Ya'alon's concerns focused on the 1.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas discovered in 2000 off the Gaza coast, valued at $4 billion. Ya'alon dismissed the notion that "Gaza gas can be a key driver of an economically more viable Palestinian state" as "misguided." The problem, he said, is that:

"Proceeds of a Palestinian gas sale to Israel would likely not trickle down to help an impoverished Palestinian public. Rather, based on Israel's past experience, the proceeds will likely serve to fund further terror attacks against Israel…

A gas transaction with the Palestinian Authority [PA] will, by definition, involve Hamas. Hamas will either benefit from the royalties or it will sabotage the project and launch attacks against Fatah, the gas installations, Israel – or all three… It is clear that without an overall military operation to uproot Hamas control of Gaza, no drilling work can take place without the consent of the radical Islamic movement."

Operation Cast Lead did not succeed in uprooting Hamas, but the conflict did take the lives of 1,387 Palestinians (773 of whom were civilians) and 9 Israelis (3 of whom were civilians).

Since the discovery of oil and gas in the Occupied Territories, resource competition has increasingly been at the heart of the conflict, motivated largely by Israel's increasing domestic energy woes.

Mark Turner, founder of the Research Journalism Initiative, reported that the siege of Gaza and ensuing military pressure was designed to "eliminate" Hamas as "a viable political entity in Gaza" to generate a "political climate" conducive to a gas deal. This involved rehabilitating the defeated Fatah as the dominant political player in the West Bank, and "leveraging political tensions between the two parties, arming forces loyal to Abbas and the selective resumption of financial aid."

Ya'alon's comments in 2007 illustrate that the Israeli cabinet is not just concerned about Hamas – but concerned that if Palestinians develop their own gas resources, the resulting economic transformation could in turn fundamentally increase Palestinian clout.  

Read more

You can visit our Gaza article archive here.  

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Iron Dome Fake - A Massive Hoax - Missiles Blowing Up in the Air

Israeli expert says Iron Dome defence is a hoax

Iron Dome firing an interceptor missle

An Israeli scientist and award-winning security expert has called the Iron Dome missile defence system "the biggest hoax the world has seen", Addustour news website has reported.

According to Dr Motty Scheffer, "Today, there is no missile which can intercept other missiles or rocket-propelled grenades, and the Iron Dome is a light audio system which blocks Israeli public opinion and, of course, itself. In fact, all the explosions that we have seen in the atmosphere are self-destruction. The Iron Dome did not launch any rocket that could intercept at least one missile fired from Gaza."

Sheffer added that the concept of open areas is a myth created to amplify the Iron Dome's ability as a missile interceptor. He made an indirect accusation against the dome's operating staff of misleading the public: "The missiles which were intercepted by the Iron Dome and did not reach the ground are hypothetical missiles produced and destroyed in the Dome's computer control room; as of this moment, nobody has seen an intercepted missile fall to the ground."

The scientist made his comments after the challenge raised by Hamas's military wing, the Izzaddin Al-Qassam Brigades on Saturday, which fired J80 missiles at Tel Aviv and defied the Iron Dome and its experts to intercept them. The J80s have been fitted with a jamming system to get through Israel's missile defences.

He claimed that the parts that we are shown on the ground belong to the Iron Dome itself. "The Iron Dome is a plot created by interest groups who are afraid of peace, including the security industry and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu." (Source)

Related Article:  The evidence that shows Iron Dome is not working

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Who Broke The Ceasfire? The Truth About Ceasefire Violations Between Israel and Gaza

A Palestinian woman reacts upon seeing her destroyed home after it was hit by Israeli shelling in Gaza. Photograph: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters

As reported by theguardian on Friday:

The humanitarian truce in Gaza has collapsed after two hours with fierce fighting in the south of the enclave, reports of a missing Israeli soldier and a formal Israeli announcement that it would resume its military operation.

Israeli tank fire on the southern town of Rafah was reported to have killed at least 40 Palestinians on Friday, turning what was intended to be the first day of calm into one of the deadliest days in Gaza so far. Hamas launched rockets towards Israel, while fierce small-arms fire and artillery shelling erupted at Beit Hanoun and Gaza’s northern end.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) later said it feared one of its soldiers may have been abducted in an early morning attack by Palestinian militants at a tunnel near Gaza. Israel Radio named him as Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, 23, from Kfar Saba. A senior Hamas member, Musa Abu Marzouk, said the soldier was an officer taken prisoner near Rafah before the ceasefire came into effect.

Palestinian fishermen who had ventured tentatively out into the Mediterranean earlier in the morning rushed to get back to port, while air raid sirens could be heard along the neighbouring Israeli coast.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Israel’s military coordinator in the Palestinian territories told the UN envoy, Robert Serry, that as far as Israel was concerned the ceasefire – announced on Thursday night after lengthy behind-the-scenes negotiations – was over. Israel claimed that the truce was first broken by an ambush by Palestinian militants on Israeli forces near Rafah.

The following article by John Glaser, originally published at Antiwar on February 6, 2014, provides significant insight and information about recent ceasefire violations between Israel and Gaza.

Facebook Censors Author Naomi Wolf On Gaza

Counter Current

Jews, Muslims and citizens of the world in general have been following author Naomi Wolf and her comments about the War on Gaza. Since she walked out of her synagogue recently, when they refused to denounce the killing of civilians in Gaza, as a result of recent IDF operations, she has gained a lot of support from fellow dissidents who want to hear what she has to say.

Today, Naomi revealed that Facebook sent her a warning, suggesting her account could be removed, and explaining that they had censored images she posted from her sources in Gaza.

“We received a warning from [Facebook],” she explains. “Probably due to the graphic nature of the images that were posted by contributors and citizen journalists, of wounded and dying in Gaza.”

Facebook, for their part, did not tell her which specific terms of service her post had violated. She continued, reflecting, “I think of how many horrific Holocaust images I have sat through….”

This act of censorship, she explains, “seems a journalistic/editorial double standard to me. I wrote in a piece in 1995 about abortion, Our Bodies, Our Souls that made the case that ‘the argument that the truth is in poor taste is the very definition of hypocrisy.’”

What do you think? Have you been following Naomi Wolf? Does it seem like her posts violate Facebook terms of service to you?

You can visit our Gaza article archive here.    Poll:  Does the United States' support of Israel make Americans less safe?

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Jon Stewart on Israel, Hamas cease-fire - "We cannot be Israel's rehab sponsor and its drug dealer "

On Thursday night’s Daily Show, host Jon Stewart continued to try and make heads or tails of America’s actions in Israel. Despite the fact that Secretary of State John Kerry has repeatedly tried to broker a peace deal between Israel and Hamas, Stewart finds the nation’s actions a little confusing.

Moments after a 72-hour ceasefire was announced between the two countries, Israel asked the United States for more weapons, which the United State was ready to provide.

“Maybe they’re just running out of sh*t to blow up…maybe it’s the opportunity for peace that as we heard earlier, the administration has been working tirelessly towards,” Stewart said.

“Guys! We cannot be Israel’s rehab sponsor…and its drug dealer…It’s not gonna work, just say no!” Stewart bemoaned.


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Two Jewish Voices Fiercely Debate Gaza Siege | Max Blumenthal vs. ZOA’s Morton Klein

Abby Martin Features a debate on Israel-Palestine you won’t hear on the corporate media.

On this episode of Breaking the Set, Abby Martin remarks on the latest news regarding the conflict in Gaza, highlighting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for 16,000 additional reserve troops as well as the announcement of a 72-hour ceasefire. Abby then features an exclusive debate on the issue between Journalist and Author Max Blumenthal and President of the Zionist Organization of America, Morton Klein asking both guests their opinions on everything from what the appropriate Israeli response should be to Hamas rocket attacks to why the US refuses to allow the UN to investigate Israel for war crimes.

You can visit our Gaza article archive here.  

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