Palestine Tet – 31 – Fighting Amalek in Gaza: What Israelis Say and Western Media Ignore

A few (horrific) examples:

Former Deputy Commander IDF Gaza Division Amir Avivi, 29 October: “We are not taking any chances … When our soldiers are manoeuvring we are doing this with massive artillery, with 50 aeroplanes overhead destroying anything that moves”

Former Likud MK and former Knesset Deputy Speaker Moshe Feiglin, 27 October (?): “Do not leave a stone upon a stone in Gaza. Gaza needs to turn into Dresden … Complete incineration. No more hope … Annihilate Gaza now! Now!”¹¹

Former Israeli Ambassador to Italy and Israel Hayom columnist Dror Eydar, 26 October: “For us, there is one purpose: to destroy Gaza, to destroy this absolute evil”

Former Likud MK Moshe Feiglin, 26 October (?): “There is one and only one solution, which is to completely destroy Gaza before invading it. And when I talk about destruction, I mean destruction like it was in Dresden and Hiroshima, without a nuclear weapon”

Advisor to Defence Minister Gallant, former Head of the National Security Council and former IDF operations chief Giora Eiland, 25 October: “We can’t, simply can’t, give in with anything related to the entry of fuel into Gaza. Yes, the Palestinians will present [to the world] babies who died in incubators as a result of a power outage due to the lack of fuel, but still, a necessary condition for creating distress for Hamas is a lack of fuel in the entire Strip. As we have already said—[it’s] an existential war, and we are facing a situation of either us or them”

Read the article: Palestine Tet – 31 – Fighting Amalek in Gaza: What Israelis Say and Western Media Ignore

Protesting Israel’s War on Gaza. Colorado State Legislature. Saturday, November 18, 2023

Letters for Palestinian Childhoods.

“We have launched a new initiative called 'Letters for Palestinian Childhoods'.

• The idea is to draw on our knowledge of childhood to counter the dehumanising narratives about Palestinians, showing solidarity by attending to the names, stories, experiences, dreams, and struggles of Palestinian children and the conditions which are so violently shaping their lives. 

• We have some letters already collected and some wonderful artists have already contributed original images.

• Letters and images will be shared with children in Palestine on social media and through personal contacts (Arabic translations are forthcoming), and can be used in our ongoing efforts to raise awareness including via the media and for efforts to call on our governments to do everything they can to ensure a ceasefire and an end to the Western-backed Israeli occupation and apartheid. 

• We are inviting submissions of letters and images for Letters for Palestinian Childhoods.Please send text and/or image submissions to me (r.rosen@ucl.ac.uk) if you would like to contribute.”

  
  Open the link in the first line above to sign the statement.

  Here is an example of one of the letters:

  To the unknown boy in a Gaza hospital

  One of the first images I saw coming out of the Gaza bombings was of you.  I saw parts of the clip twice but could not watch the entire video.  I assume you are about 8-9 years old. You were wounded and trembling. A man was holding you. I am not sure if that was your father, a doctor, or somebody else.  I did not pay attention to the details.  It did not seem to matter at the time.  It was the look in your eyes which got my attention.  You looked terrified, in shock, confused. This was the kind of pain one cannot put in words, the kind of pain which asks the silent questions that no one can answer. You could not speak, just trembled uncontrollably and looking at no one and nowhere.  I do not know what happened to you. I hope you are ok. 

  Your image keeps coming back in my head.  Fifty years ago, when I was your age, I had to experience a tiny little fraction of what you are going through now.  I still vividly remember the Turkish planes flying over our house dropping their bombs.  Our ordeal only lasted for a few hours. We were lucky.  We managed to escape the bombing and go to a safer place. All my family members were ok in the end.  That day is still in my head, as if it happened today.  My experience pales in comparison to what you are going through now. I cannot even begin to imagine what it feels like to be constantly bombarded, not to know if you will be alive tomorrow, if you and your family will make it for another day.

  Nobody will ever be able to explain to you why you had to go through this. They will try but you will never really feel content with any answer. It will always seem insufficient.  They might commemorate what you are going through now in the distant future, they might even apologize.  But it will always be insufficient, too little, too late. 

  And you will always be asking: How could they do this to us? How could they? 

  I do not have a way to check on you. I do not even know your name but I hope you and your family are ok. 

  In solidarity,

  Spyros

  Spyros Spyrou, European University Cyprus

Please watch.

You will be inspired by this 11 minute speech to the U.N.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

“State of Palestine UN Representative, Nada Abu Tarbush, gives an eviscerating address to the State of Israel at the 5th Meeting the High Contracting Parties (CCW), Geneva. 17 Nov 2023.”

Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel Flash Update #44. Nov 19, 2023

On 19 November, 31 out of the 36 premature babies, along with 16 staff and family members, were evacuated from Shifa Hospital, in Gaza city, to the neonatal intensive care unit of a maternity hospital, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. The remaining five babies had died in previous days due to the cut off of electricity and fuel. Another 259 patients who were unable to evacuate remain in Shifa, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza.

Over the past 24 hours, at least six Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza, according to media reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has preliminarily documented the death of 48 journalists since 7 October, including 43 Palestinian, 4 Israelis and 1 Lebanese, making it the deadliest month for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.

In the West Bank, on 19 November, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man with a disability during an operation that involved armed clashes in Jenin Refugee Camp. This brings the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 7 October to 200, including 52 children. Of these fatalities, 70 were recorded in refugee camps, the majority during operations carried out by Israeli forces, most of which involved armed clashes with Palestinians.

Read the full report: Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel Flash Update #44

The eviction of premature babies at risk from Shifa hospital to the southern Gaza Strip. Photo by UNICEF/El Baba, 19 November 2023