OMNI

GAZA ANTHOLOGIES # 13

CEASEFIRE

December 16, 2023

   Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology.

(#1: 3-3-08; #2 Nov. 16, 2012; #3 Nov. 17, 2013; #4 May 31, 2014; #5 July 28, 2014; #6 August 30, 2014; #7 April 8, 2015; #8 May 13, 2021; #9, October 15, 2023; #10, October 23, 2023; #11, Nov. 4 and Nov. 7, 2023; #12 , Nov. 16, 2023).
http://omnicenter.org/donate/

CONTENTS FOR GAZA #13, CEASEFIRE (18)

Support Refugees
UNRWA USA National Committee
ATTN: Nahed Elrayes, Emergency Fund for Palestine Refugees
PO Box 18697
Washington, DC 20036

·       Stephen F. Eisenman.  “When Anti-Zionism Becomes Anti-Semitism.”

·       Ari Paul.  “NYT amplifies outrage over imaginary calls for genocide.”

·       Liz Theoharis.  “Urgent Call for Peace in the Middle East.”

·       Peter Lazenby.  “’Hell on Earth’ Returns to Gaza as Israel Extends Bombing to the South.”

·       Jessica Corbett.  “UN Members Support Gaza Cease Fire.”

·       Norman Finkelstein.  Method and Madness: The Hidden Story of Israel’s Assaults on Gaza.  

·       CEASE FIRE!  Jessica Corbett.  “UN Members support Gaza cease-fire in overwhelming 153-10 vote.“

·       Abel Tomlinson.  “Israel Has Always Targeted Civilians, Debunking a Key Lie.”  

·       Joe Lauria.  “What US Got Most Crucially Wrong in UN Veto.”

·       William Astore.  “The Obliteration of Gaza:  AIPAC and the MICC as Mechagodzilla.” 

·       OMNI Statement on Israel Gaza US.

·       Julie Hollar.  US Israeli Information Control.  Sunday News Shows Biased.

·       SONALI KOLHATKAR.  US Mainstream Media Bias.

·       Press Release, Drs. Without Borders.  Israel Bombing Hospitals.

·       Appeal to Senator Warren to Call for Ceasefire.

·       Code Pink.  Israeli War Crimes.

·       Anne Boyer.  Letter of Resignation from the NYT.

·       Jonathan Cook.  Jonathan Cook.  “The War Machine Wants You to Condemn Hamas.”

·       Further reading: two anthologies by Jamie Stern-Weiner, 2018 and 2023.

·       Local Statement vs. hate speech and antisemitism.

TEXTS GAZA #13 , CEASEFIRE(18)

The Distinction Between Anti-Zionism  and Anti-Semitism

Stephen F. Eisenman.  “When Anti, Anti-Zionism Becomes Anti-Semitism.“    Counterpunch (November 17, 2023). 
My friends in academia tell me they are experiencing the most repressive environment of their lives. The campuses of Harvard, Yale, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Northwestern (where I taught for almost 25 years), and others have been riven by conflict over the Mideast war. Faculty deemed too sympathetic to Palestine have been tarred by trustees, senior administrators, other faculty, and some students as naive at best and anti-Semitic at worst. A few professors have lost their jobs or been subjected to student petitions demanding their ouster. University presidents have been hounded by pro-Israeli, often Jewish trustees, to loudly and publicly condemn criticism of Zionism or Israel, and take additional measures to quash protest. 

Pro-Palestinian student organizations have also come under fire, either for insufficient zeal in condemning Hamas brutality on October 7, attributing the attack to a long history of Israeli provocations, or demanding a ceasefire before the Israeli government is ready. A few groups, including Jewish Voices for Peace, and Students for Justice in Palestine have even been banned from campuses. Students from these groups have been pilloried by trustees and administrators, doxed, hounded, and in a few cases assaulted. Some Jewish students too have been attacked or subjected to verbal abuse for their vocal support of Israel. The hurt and anger on many campuses right now must feel overwhelming. 

To be called anti-Semitic is powerful and professionally annihilating. That’s especially true for university professors whose stock in trade is reason. Anti-Semitism arises from libel, trades in stereotypes, and occludes independent thought. It is, as the German Social Democrat August Bebel purportedly said, “the socialism of fools,” meaning that it attributes the suffering of the working class to a small and secretive cabal of wealthy and powerful Jews. For that reason, anti-Semitism is especially reviled by a professoriate that is often liberal or left in its politics and strives to achieve a historical understanding of economic and political oppression. Finally, anti-Semitism was central to the formation of the German Nazi regime; it was the only consistent faith of Adolf Hitler, the greatest criminal the world has ever known. 

In an unusual intervention, President Isaac Herzog of Israel, recently sent a letter to American college presidents alluding to the Holocaust. By calling upon them to “publicly and unequivocally” reject “calls for the elimination of a whole country, Israel,” Herzog suggests that current criticism of Israel, which sometimes includes expressions of anti-Zionism, is both anti-Semitic and eliminationist, that is, potentially genocidal. This goes far beyond even the overly capacious definitions of anti-Semitism propounded by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (HRA), and the influential Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The latter has written: “While anti-Zionism is indeed antisemitism, anti-Zionism is much more socially acceptable than classic antisemitism.” Both clauses are lies, plus the comma in the middle. At its most expansive, anti-Zionism is a rejection of the idea and reality of an exclusively Jewish state on the land of historic Palestine. More commonly, it signifies rejection of the radical expansionism of the current Israeli regime, and its policy of secluding Palestinians behind walls and checkpoints, a system that is plausibly called apartheid. Without skipping a beat, the ADL repeats the demonstrable untruth that anti-Zionism (as anti-Semitism) is widely endorsed. In fact, the mainstream media and elected politicians generally endorse or accept Israeli expansionism, and the HRA and ADL definition of anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism. And they repeat the ADL canard that we are experiencing a wave of anti-Semitism unequaled in U.S. history. Not only is this historically blinkered, it overlooks the genuine danger posed by far-right extremists and gun-rights advocates who have perpetrated or enabled actual murderous violence against Jews and others, such as at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, and in Highland Park, Illinois. 

Alleged Anti-Semitism on Campuses

Ari Paul.  “NYT amplifies outrage over imaginary calls for genocide.” 

University presidents are under fire from politicians and the media over what is being framed as their waffling over allowing antisemitic speech on their campuses.

CEASE FIRE

War on Terror Became War of Terror.
Rev Dr. Liz Theoharis.  “Urgent Call for Peace in the Middle East.“  Yes Magazine, Nov 9 2023.

...Eight days after 9/11, as the leaders of both parties were already pounding a frenzied drumbeat of war, a diverse group of concerned Americans released a warning about the long-term consequences of a military response. Among them were veteran civil rights activists, faith leaders, and public intellectuals, including Rosa Parks, Harry Belafonte, and Palestinian-American Edward Said. Rare public opponents of the drive to war at the time, they wrote with level-headed clarity: “We foresee that a military response would not end the terror. Rather, it would spark a cycle of escalating violence, the loss of innocent lives, and new acts of terrorism. … Our best chance for preventing such devastating acts of terror is to act decisively and cooperatively as part of a community of nations within the framework of international law … and work for justice at home and abroad.”

Twenty-three years and more than two wars later, this statement reads as a tragic footnote ..... (Dr. Theoharis deeply impactful statement at the link)

https://www.yesmagazine.org/opinion/2023/11/09/gaza-war-peace-palestine?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=YESDaily_20231115&utm_content=YESDaily_20231115+CID_8e8931781f7db8858d05f075aa33d827&utm_source=CM&utm_term=Read%20the%20full%20story%20here

Peter Lazenby.  “‘Hell on Earth’ returns to Gaza as Israel extends bombing to the south.”  Mronline.org ( 12-5-23).  Originally published: Morning Star Online  on December 1, 2023.  Human Rights, Inequality, Movements, WarBritain, Europe, Gaza, Israel, Middle East, PalestineNewswire“HELL on Earth”

“HELL on Earth” returned to Gaza today in the words of a UN official, as Israel resumed its murderous bombing campaign with dozens of air strikes on the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

Over 100 solidarity actions will take place for Palestine across Britain on Saturday as peace campaigners demand an end to the killing.

After almost a week’s truce which saw Hamas release 78 hostages seized in its October 7 raid on Israel, and Israel free 240 Palestinian prisoners of the thousands in its jails, Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) unleashed another wave of bombing which had killed at least 109 people today when the Morning Star went to press, bringing the total death toll from its war above 15,000.

Israel’s former defence minister Benny Gantz said it had spent the week’s truce planning an extension of its onslaught to south Gaza, with the first phase of the war having targeted the north.

“We must change the reality in the south as well as in the north,” he declared, with Israeli aircraft dropping leaflets warning people to flee further south, to Rafah on the Egyptian border. “You have to evacuate immediately. Khan Younis is a dangerous fighting zone. You have been warned,” the leaflets read.

Following previous warnings that Palestinians should flee northern Gaza for southern cities like Khan Younis, the new demand raises fears that Israel intends to drive the whole population of Gaza out.

The Stop the War Coalition’s Lindsey German told the Morning Star that Gaza faced the “hideous prospect [of] winter cold, disease and food shortages and now renewed bombardment by Israel.

The West Bank is also seeing increasing violence with many young Palestinians being shot and arrested every day. . . . MORE  https://mronline.org/2023/12/04/hell-on-earth-returns-to-ga za-as-israel-extends-bombing-to-the-south/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hell-on-earth-returns-to-gaza-as-israel-extends-bombing-to-the-south&mc_cid=9621209827&mc_eid=ab2f7bf95e

Jessica Corbett.   “UN Members support Gaza cease-fire in overwhelming 153-10 vote.”  Defend Democracy Press, Dec. 14, 2023.  Editor.  mronline.org (12-15-23).

Humanity has prevailed,” said Egyptian Ambassador Osama Abdel Khalek. “The Israeli aggression on Gaza must end. This bloodshed must stop.”
Originally published: Defend Democracy Press  on December 12, 2023 by Jessica Corbett (more by Defend Democracy Press)  |  (Posted Dec 14, 2023)

Empire, Inequality, State Repression, WarAmericas, Gaza, Israel, Middle East, Palestine, United StatesNewswire

The United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution demanding “an immediate humanitarian cease-fire” in Israel’s two-month war on Gaza after the U.S. last week used its permanent member status to veto a similar Security Council measure.

The resolution also demands “that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, notably with regard to the protection of civilians,” as well as “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access.”

Norman Finkelstein.  Method and Madness: THE HIDDEN STORY OF ISRAEL'S ASSAULTS ON GAZA .   2023. 

Donald Macintyre.   Book Review: “The Case against Israel.”  The Independent (January 2, 2015). 

Fierce polemic against Israel’s actions in Gaza calls for non-violent resistance.

The best known of Israel’s American Jewish critics apart from Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein is hardly a stereotype. The son of holocaust survivors, he was banned from entering Israel after a visit to Lebanon in which he expressed solidarity with Hezbollah; and frozen out of US universities after a savage academic conflict with Israel supporter Alan Dershowitz. Yet more recently he has angered some “pro-Palestinians” by his adherence to a two-state solution, and his criticism of some elements in the Boycott Diversity and Sanctions (BDS) campaign for equivocating over the continued existence of Israel.

That said, there is nothing ambivalent about Method and Madness, an undiluted, undoubtedly powerful prosecution case against Israel over the death and destruction visited on Gaza by its military assaults since 2008. So far from seeing these onslaughts as retaliation against Hamas violence, he contends that they deliberately pre-empted peace feelers from the Islamic faction and sought to re-establish Israel’s regional deterrence after what Finkelstein sees as its clear defeat in the 2006 Lebanon war. While insisting that Palestinians have the legal and moral right to combat the occupation by force, he calls for mass non-violent resistance as the best means of defeating it. . . . MORE  https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/gaza-israel-hezbollah-hamas-civilian-deaths-b2437709.html

“Brilliant . . . he spares nobody . . . ”   —The Economist. 
“Method and Madness is simply outstanding.”  Mouin Rabbani 
“One of the most perceptive critics of Israel’s increasingly barbarous occupation.” —TeleSUR 
“An undiluted, undoubtedly powerful prosecution case against Israel over the death and destruction visited on Gaza.”  —The Independent 
“Deploys the weapons of white-hot anger, scathing irony, sanity, common sense, international law, rational logic, clear analysis and the truth.”  —New Left Project 

Abel Tomlinson.  “Israel Has Always Targeted Civilians, Debunking a Key Lie.”   December 3, 2023.

Israel Has Always Targeted Civilians, Debunking a Key Lie – Abel Tomlinson (wordpress.com)

We are told many lies from the Israeli government and by US politicians that parrot what the Israel Lobby tells them.  One of the most prevalent lies is that Israel does not deliberately target civilians, and is therefore not guilty of genocide.  We have heard this statement from many officials, including the Israeli administration, the Biden administration, Robert Kennedy Jr., and recently Elon Musk.  They are all demonstrably incorrect, and knowingly misleading the public for various reasons, most importantly to justify the ongoing mass killing.

In terms of genocide, numerous reputable scholars have called it genocide.  Jewish Israeli genocide scholar Raz Segal calls it a “Textbook Case of Genocide.”  Top U.N. official Craig Mokhiber resigned with a powerful letter also calling it a “Textbok Case of Genocide.”  It is slightly plausible how one may dispute Israel’s intentions when bombing, but Israel’s genocidal targeting of civilians by cutting food and water cannot be disputed.

It is easy to further answer this question of targeting civilians if we look at history.  Israel has a long well-documented history of targeting civilians, with periodic massacres for the past 75 years, from the first days of its inception up to today.  Einstein and other Jewish leaders wrote about the initial massacres here in 1948.  Jewish Israeli historian Ilan Pappe wrote a book, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, about the massacres and forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians. Many more books also cover this subject, including Palestinian-American historian Rashid Khalidi’s book The 100 Years’ War on Palestine.  Israel was literally founded in large part by targeting civilians.  

These massacres continued up to today. One of the most indisputable mass targeting of civilians by the Israeli government was the sniper massacre during the Great March of Return in 2018.  Israeli snipers shot thousands of unarmed Palestinian protesters as they protested near the walls of their Gaza prison, which they have not been allowed to leave since the 2007 blockade began.  Snipers shot medics, journalists, children and disabled people, all clear cut war crimes.  An excellent free documentary on this, Gaza Fights for Freedom, can be viewed here. 

In terms of the carpet bombings and targeting of civilians: I have witnessed numerous Israeli carpet bombings of civilians in Gaza over the past 20 years of my political life. The current one is only the worst, not the first.  Israeli talking points insist that we believe that they are trying to kill only Hamas members, and “accidentally” kill dozens or hundreds or thousands of civilians in the process; it is “unintentional collateral damage.”  However, a great deal of evidence proves otherwise.

Previous Israeli carpet bombings were shown to have targeted civilians as detailed in scholar Norman Finkelstein’s book Gaza: An Inquest into its martyrdom. The targeting of civilians was also detailed in the Goldstone Report, which was endorsed by the United Nations Human Rights Council and the European Parliament.  The Goldstone Report found, “Numerous instances of Israeli lethal attacks on civilians and civilian objects were intentional, including with the aim of spreading terror, that Israeli forces used Palestinian civilians as human shields and that such tactics had no justifiable military objective. Israeli forces engaged in the deliberate killing, torture and other inhuman treatment of civilians and deliberately caused extensive destruction of property, outside any military necessity, carried out wantonly and unlawfully.”

In terms of the current carpet bombings, a powerful new report was just published from the independent Israeli journal 972 Magazine, which was subsequently corroborated by The Guardian.  This report, based on Israeli military and intelligence sources, details how the Israeli military is using a new artificial intelligence system called “The Gospel” to generate far greater numbers of targets, and how this includes targeting of civilians, “Nothing happens by accident,” said another source. “When a 3-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it’s because someone in the army decided it wasn’t a big deal for her to be killed — that it was a price worth paying in order to hit [another] target. We are not Hamas. These are not random rockets. Everything is intentional. We know exactly how much collateral damage there is in every home.”

Just as most, if not all, American wars are based on lies and pro-war propaganda, so is Israel’s 75 year war on Palestine.  We must learn to question, reject and debunk Israel’s lies not only about targeting civilians and genocide, but also about the occupation, apartheid, and systematic ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. 

This is of particular importance for Americans, since it is our government that is far and away the #1 sponsor of Israel.  This unconditional support includes over $260 billion in foreign military aid, and massive political support by vetoing over 53 UN resolutions that condemned Israel’s many violations of international law.  Everything Israel does is co-signed by the United States.  If there is hope for peace, the American keystone of unqualified support must be removed so this bridge of injustice may fall.  American support for genocide and apartheid must end, so a new paradigm or new constitution may be birthed that provides equal rights for all.   

Joe Lauria.  “What US Got Most Crucially Wrong in UN Veto.”

Consortium News (December 10, 2023). 

The U.S. has again vetoed a Security Council resolution urging an immediate end to the killing in Gaza, in essence backing the ongoing genocide, writes Joe Lauria.

The United States has once again voted for genocide before all the world. 

There is no government in the world that has more power to put an end to probably the worst crime of the century than the United States. 

And yet on Friday at the U.N. Security Council Washington vetoed a resolution that would have demanded an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel’s unmitigated slaughter. The U.S. blocked the measure because it unequivocally wants the killing to continue. 

It can talk all it wants about its rejection of the resolution because it did not condemn Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7.  But the crux of the U.S. justification for a vote that has brought it worldwide condemnation is a willfully ignorant statement about the cause of this war. 

In the U.S. explanation of its veto, the U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood said: 

“Perhaps most unrealistically, this resolution retains a call for an unconditional ceasefire. I explained in my remarks this morning why this is not only unrealistic but dangerous: it would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on October 7. …

As long as Hamas clings to its ideology of destruction, any ceasefire is at best temporary and is certainly not peace. And any ceasefire that leaves Hamas in control of Gaza would deny Palestinian civilians the chance to build something better for themselves.”

This formulation reveals the U.S. government’s twisted thinking. The occupation of the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza are not the causes of this and previous wars, but instead Hamas’ “ideology of destruction.” Which stems from what? Just some evil DNA?

Thus for the U.S. the solution is not ending the occupation but maintaining the slaughter supposedly to destroy Hamas, even though Israel has killed relatively few of its fighters and none of its top commanders and is instead waging a war of annihilation against the Gazan people.  

World Not Buying It

This is clear in every capital of the world, including Washington. The worldwide reaction to the U.S. veto shows an understanding that the United States, that great champion of human rights, unequivocally supports genocide. 

The veto was a slap in the face of U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who took the rare move of invoking Article 99 of the U.N. Charter to call for the Security Council to act.

He wrote to the Council that “amid constant bombardment by the Israeli Defense Forces and without shelter or essentials to survive, I expect public order to completely break down soon due to the desperate conditions, rendering even limited humanitarian assistance impossible.”   

In response, the United Arab Emirates drew up a resolution that expressed “grave concern” over the “catastrophic situation” in Gaza. The resolution demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,  immediate and unconditional release of hostages and humanitarian access. 

Thirteen countries, including U.S.- ally France, voted in favor, Britain abstained, and the U.S., the one country that can end the bloodshed, vetoed.   

Anger at the U.S. spread quickly. 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the U.S. veto made it “complicit” in war crimes. “The president has described the American position as aggressive and immoral, a flagrant violation of all humanitarian principles and values, and holds the United States responsible for the bloodshed of Palestinian children, women and elderly people in the Gaza Strip,” Abbas’ office said in a statement.

Avril Benoit, executive director of Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) USA said:

“By vetoing this resolution, the US stands alone in casting its vote against humanity. The US veto stands in sharp contrast to the values it professes to uphold. By continuing to provide diplomatic cover for the ongoing atrocities in Gaza, the US is signaling that international humanitarian law can be applied selectively — and that the lives of some people matter less than the lives of others …. The US veto makes it complicit in the carnage in Gaza.”

Human Rights Watch said in a statement: “By continuing to provide Israel with weapons [and] diplomatic cover as it commits atrocities, including collectively punishing the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza, the US risks complicity in war crimes.”

It takes a special kind of arrogance to ignore such criticism. 

William Astore.  “The Obliteration of Gaza:  AIPAC and the MICC as Mechagodzilla.”  December 6, 2023

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission.

We are witnessing the obliteration of Gaza. The death toll has already surpassed 16,000 as Israel continues to pummel targets with American-made bombs and missiles. Even CNN is worried (from my email update this AM):

Top UN officials are warning of an “apocalyptic” situation in Gaza with “no place safe to go” for civilians as the deepening humanitarian crisis sparks international concern. Israel is expanding ground operations to the entire territory to “eliminate” Hamas and has told Palestinians to flee large swaths of southern Gaza, where many had previously sought refuge. But the war-torn region is in the midst of a near-total internet blackout as the last major telecommunications operator said services are completely cut off. This means many Palestinians are unable to communicate with one another or call for help while evacuating, and emergency workers can’t coordinate their responses.

Caitlin Johnstone has a telling article in which she states an important truth: Israel couldn’t be doing this without generous U.S. support. Israel is dropping the bombs, firing the missiles, and shooting the artillery rounds and bullets, but the U.S. is largely serving as the merchant of death for all this, though “merchant” is the wrong word. The U.S. is giving all this deadly weaponry to Israel as “aid,” even as there’s much rhetorical gnashing of teeth in Washington about Israel’s “indiscriminate” bombing and wanton killing of Palestinian innocents, including thousands of children. I say “rhetorical” because as Johnstone notes, the U.S. government could curtail Israeli military action by turning off the spigot of arms flowing from U.S. arsenals and warehouses to Israel.

But that’s not going to happen. AIPAC has a hammerlock on Congress; those few members of Congress who’ve called for a ceasefire in Gaza are already being targeted by the powerful pro-Israel lobby, with AIPAC promising to spend upwards of $100 million to unseat those politicians who aren’t consumed by bloodlust against Gaza. The power of AIPAC is reinforced here by the MICC, the military-industrial-congressional complex that Ike warned us about in 1961, which stands to profit immensely from more war in the Middle East as well as Ukraine. The combination of AIPAC with the MICC is akin to Mechagodzilla, an almost unstoppable monster of immense power.

Godzilla in its various incarnations would be hard-pressed to duplicate the scenes of devastation we’re seeing in Gaza. Israel is practicing its own version of the infamous statement from America’s war against Vietnam: “It became necessary to destroy the town to save it.”

The Israeli version: We had to destroy Gaza to save it from Hamas.

It made no sense in Vietnam, and it makes no sense today in Gaza. But this is not about making sense: it’s about power and vengeance and profit.

William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He taught history for fifteen years at military and civilian schools. He writes at Bracing Views.   Forwarded to me by Sonny San Juan

Omni Statement on War in Israel / Gaza

OMNI unequivocally stands with our Jewish and Muslim community members and neighbors, and vows to be a space of refuge for all. We stand against bias in our community and condemn those who wish to stereotype others and perpetuate hate/violence.  

OMNI unequivocally stands against Hamas and all those who enrich and support them. The slaughter of human beings is never a move towards justice and Hamas is a danger to both the Israeli and Palestinian people. We understand that people are not their government.

OMNI unequivocally stands with the Palestinian people and all oppressed people around the globe. There is no justification for the bombardment of innocent people's homes nor the breaking of international law. There is no justification for dehumanizing people. 

OMNI unequivocally stands against illegal Israeli settlements in the West bank, state sanctioned violence, and the creation of enforced borders. We believe that no human should control another, that governments cannot own the earth, and that state violence doesn’t create safety. 

OMNI unequivocally stands in support of peace and against war and violence. We agree with MLK that, “True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OMNI calls for the release of all Hostages held by Hamas, the release of all nonviolent political prisoners held by the Israeli state, an immediate ceasefire, and a return of gas, water, internet, electricity, medical care, and international aid to Gazan civilians.

OMNI calls on you as Omni members to have respectful conversations with your friends and family and to call your representatives both local and national, to demand a ceasefire. 

To find your representatives information go to: https://www.commoncause.org/find-your-representative/

For a script and automated phone call download the app “5 calls”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this statement or any related issues please feel free to reach out to an Omni board member at: omni@omnicenter.org

For more information about this conflict: 

https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2023/11/07/wire-statue-of-liberty/?sourceid=1001761&emci=56d16956-f37c-ee11-b004-00224832eb73&emdi=07c667ac-9b7d-ee11-b004-00224832e1ba&ceid=657567

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/03/podcasts/the-daily/israel-palestine-1948.html (Transcript attached)

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/22/world/middleeast/peace-activists-israel-palestinian.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4kw.Kg8e.B9sc5-XVIN7D&smid=url-share

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/18/israel-gaza-hamas-palestinians

https://www.un.org/unispal/document/israeli-crimes-against-humanity-in-gaza-letter-from-palestine/

US Mainstream Media Bias

Sunday's Gaza Guests Linked to Military Industry, Pro-Israel Funding 

JULIE HOLLAR, Nov. 21, 2023, FAIR, https://fair.org/home/sundays-gaza-guests-linked-to-military-industry-pro-israel-funding/ 

As the Israel/Gaza crisis continues unabated, eliciting massive protests around the world, US media offer a strikingly narrow debate. On the Sunday political news shows, which are both agenda-setting and reflect what corporate media view as the most important perspectives on the most important stories, the guests invited to speak on Gaza skew strongly toward US politicians—especially those with strong financial influence by the military industrial complex and pro-Israel advocates. The resulting conversations leave little room for dissent from a pro-war stance. 

FAIR looked at four weeks of Sunday shows covering the current conflagration in Gaza, October 15 through November 5, during which time the topic occupied a significant portion of political talk show coverage. 

We identified 57 guest appearances across ABC's This Week, CBS's Face the Nation, CNN's State of the Union, NBC's Meet the Press and Fox News Sunday, with 41 unique guests. (Some guests appeared more than once). 

Of the 57 appearances, 48 were from the US. While representatives of the Israeli government or military appeared five times—and on every outlet except NBC—only once did a Palestinian guest appear: senior Fatah member Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, on CBS (11/5/23). 

Twenty-eight guests had partisan affiliations: 10 Democrats (making 18 appearances), 19 Republicans (making 25 appearances) and one Independent (Sen. Bernie Sanders, appearing once). The abundance of Republicans may have been related to the concurrent drama over the speaker of the House, which several guests were also asked about. 

Three guests represented international humanitarian organizations: Philippe Lazzarini, UN Relief and Works Agency commissioner-general (CBS, 10/22/23); Robert Mardini, director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross (CBS, 10/29/23); and Cindy McCain, director of the World Food Program (and widow of former Republican Sen. John McCain—ABC, 10/22/23). NBC, CNN and Fox featured no such organizations during the four weeks studied. 

No scholars, activists or international law or human rights experts appeared, nor did any civil society leaders from either Israel or Palestine. 

Under the influence 

Eleven of the 34 US guests, accounting for 13 appearances, had significant ties to the military industrial complex. These include five former senior military officials, five current or former board members or advisors to a military industry company, and four members of Congress who count one or more "defense industries" as top-20 contributing industries to their 2024 campaigns, according to the OpenSecrets database. (Some guests had multiple ties) 

At least 19 more US guests have taken money from military industry political action committees (PACs) during their political careers; of the 23 elected officials for whom data was available, only Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D–Wash.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) and Rep. Jason Crow (D–Colo.) showed no military industry PAC funding during their political careers. (These three politicians generally reject corporate PAC money.) 

Eighteen of the US guests, who were featured 23 times with repeat appearances, had significant direct ties to pro-Israel funding. ("Significant" we defined as "pro-Israel" being a top-20 contributing industry to their 2024 campaigns, according to OpenSecrets; or, for GOP presidential candidates, receiving prominent financial support from pro-Israel donors; see Ha'aretz, 8/16/23.) 

The pro-Israel lobby includes influential groups like J Street, Democratic Majority for Israel and the Republican Jewish Coalition, but has been overwhelmingly dominated by the hard-line American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), particularly since its 2021 decision to launch its own PAC and super PAC. AIPAC's current stated priority is "building and sustaining congress”. 

SONALI KOLHATKAR.“We Must Be Relentless in Humanizing Palestinians.”  Yes Magazine.  November 2, 2023.

The fragile ceasefire could end at any moment. Most of the world sees that the bombing campaign is not a real solution to peace in the Middle East, but some parts of the Israeli government cling to violence as the only way. The humanity of both sides is lost in the firefight.

"… A decade ago, analyst Norman Solomon pointed out ... how Time Magazine defined “collateral damage” as “a term meaning dead or wounded civilians who should have picked a safer neighborhood.” That descriptor can easily be applied today to Gaza, a minuscule and densely populated strip of land subjected to this savage bombing campaign ...."

In spite of media bias, human stories trickle out. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in 2014 marked the 50th year of Israeli occupation by publishing short stories about dozens of Palestinian men, women, and children. Arab-centric and independent media outlets such Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye routinely showcase such stories, in sharp contrast to mainstream U.S. media outlets. Find some of these stories at this link…  MORE   We Must Be Relentless in Humanizing Palestinians 

Date: Tue, Nov 21, 2023 at 9:43 PM
Subject: After killing children, Israel goes after doctors/reporters
To: Sadanand, Nanjundiah (Physics and Engineering Physics) <sadanand@ccsu.edu>

“After killing thousands of children, women and men, Israel is murdering  the beleaguered  medical providers and reporters of Gaza and Lebanon .”

BRUSSELS/JERUSALEM – Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is horrified by the killing of two MSF doctors, Dr Mahmoud Abu Nujaila and Dr Ahmad Al Sahar, and a third doctor, Dr Ziad Al-Tatari, following a strike earlier today on Al-Awda hospital, Gaza, Palestine. Our thoughts are with their families and all colleagues mourning their death. Al-Awda is one of the last remaining functional hospitals in northern Gaza.
Dr Abu Nujaila and Dr Al Sahar were in the hospital when it was hit on the third and fourth floors. Other medical staff, including MSF staff, were also severely injured. MSF has regularly shared information about Al-Awda as a functioning hospital and the presence of our staff there to the warring parties. GPS coordinates were also shared with Israeli authorities yesterday.  
We condemn this strike in the strongest terms, and call yet again for the respect and protection of medical facilities, staff and patients.    MORE https://www.msf.org/msf-doctors-killed-strike-al-awda-hospital-northern-gaza-palestine    

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel--deliberately-kills-al-mayadeen-s-crew-in-south-leba 

The Urgency of This Moment Demands a Ceasefire 

Forwarded to me by Sonny San Juan.

APPEAL TO SENATOR WARREN

NOVEMBER 21, 2023, https://prospect.org/world/2023-11-21-elizabeth-warren-gaza-ceasefire-now/ 

 In the last two weeks, Sen. Elizabeth Warren has referred to the unconscionable violence imposed on the Palestinian people by Israel as “horrible.” She stated that Israel “has an obligation to protect civilians” and that they are required to do so under international law. She has repeatedly said that Israel needs to “stop the bombing,” and echoed Secretary Blinken’s comments that Israel “take all possible precautions to avoid harm to civilians.” 

In response to her and other U.S. officials’ calls for a humanitarian pause, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected any change in strategy and vowed to continue the onslaught with “all of its power.”  While there is scattered reporting about negotiations to release some hostages in exchange for a temporary pause, in the past few days, Israel has signaled that it intends to intensify its deadly campaign, targeting the south and articulating its intention to maintain a long-term military presence in Gaza. 

The message from Israel is clear: Calls for a humanitarian pause and words of concern will change nothing. If Sen. Warren does not aggressively call for a ceasefire and condition future support for Israel on that, she will continue to be complicit in the deaths of thousands of Palestinians and violations of international law. We both worked for Sen. Warren on her campaigns and in her official office; we are disappointed in her lack of leadership in this critical moment but remain hopeful that she will listen to the chorus of experts, activists, and impacted communities urging her to do the right thing.  

No reasonable person would oppose a humanitarian pause to provide civilians food, water, medicine, and other necessities, nor would they stand in the way of opportunities for civilians to seek safety. But when both Israel and Hamas have violated and continue to violate international law, a humanitarian pause is like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. A humanitarian pause, unlike a ceasefire, does not include any commitments or concrete steps toward de-escalation. Getting aid into Gaza means nothing if the very same hospitals, schools, and refugee camps that receive it are reduced to a pile of rubble the next day. A brief pause for civilians to seek safety is meaningless if Palestinians have no way to learn about the pause, nowhere to go, and nothing left to come back to.  . . . MORE. , https://prospect.org/world/2023-11-21-elizabeth-warren-gaza-ceasefire-now/  Warren must aggressively call for a ceasefire and refuse to offer support for Israel until a ceasefire is pursued. Failure to do so would demonstrate a disappointing inconsistency with her past statements, a lack of moral clarity, and a stunning hypocrisy about the importance of action over words. 

Code Pink.  “Murdered Civilians Are War Crimes, Call to ICC.” Nov. 21, 2023 

Israel’s unrelenting attacks on Gaza has made the situation more dire than ever. As I write to you, at least 13,300 Palestinians have been murdered by Israel in Gaza, including 5,500 children. This means 1 out of every 200 Gazans have been killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). In addition to that horrific number, more than 30,000 have been injured, 75% of them women and children. Perhaps the most haunting statistic is the 6,000+ Palestinians that are missing under the rubble, among them 1,770 children, dying slowly, alone and scared. The tragic reality is that these numbers are likely already outdated, as they increase by the hour. But these are not just numbers, 13,300 universes have been wiped off this earth without a second thought. Gazans are some of the most resilient and beautiful souls on this earth, they have endured so much, and they deserve to be remembered that way, not as a statistic. 

Tell the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel's war crimes!     

https://www.codepink.org/iccgaza1      MORE

Internet and telecommunications in Gaza continue to be cut off by Israel, making it harder to hear news from Gazans on the ground. This is also making it harder for people to connect with their family and friends in Gaza, sending people across the globe in a panic with the uncertain status of their loved ones. I myself have not been able to reach my friend in Gaza since last Monday.  

Right now, Israel is targeting the Indonesian hospital, located in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.  The area surrounding the hospital was also struck by Israel multiple times, as well as the second floor of the hospital itself, killing at least 14 people altogether. According to a medical worker at the Indonesian hospital, Marwan Abdallah, Israeli tanks are operating less than 656 feet from the hospital, and Israeli snipers are set up on the rooftops of nearby buildings. Despite the targeting of the Indonesian hospital, and intimidation by Israeli tanks and snipers, medical professionals in the hospital refuse to abandon their patients. They should be regarded as nothing less than superheroes.  

Israel justifies the targeting of the Indonesian hospital by claiming Hamas tunnels are underneath the building. They used the same claim to justify the bombardment and raid on al-Shifa hospital. Israel’s targeting of hospitals-an unprecedented inhumane tactic-has left 21 out of Gaza’s 35 hospitals out of service. Although the Israeli propaganda justifying these attacks is built on unfounded evidence, even if their claims were true, that does not justify the targeting of hospitals-a violation of international law.  

Demand the ICC charge and try Israel for perpetrating genocide!  

Gaza is not the only area in Palestine under attack. Since October 7, villages in the West Bank have been under curfew and lockdown. This means no one is allowed to enter or exit these villages, and they cannot leave their homes for any reason after a certain hour. This has had a devastating effect on the Palestinian economy, with business sales being cut to 50% and only 80% of salaries being paid out. Since October 7, at least 215 Palestinians have been murdered by Israel in the West Bank, including 50 children, and 2,750 more have been injured. Additionally, over 5,000 Palestinians in the West Bank have been detained, and Palestinian boys and men are in danger of imprisonment for simply leaving their homes.  

The Israeli attack on Palestine is not slowing down, which means our action is more urgent than ever. There is truly no time to waste-especially for those of us that live in the US. Our government is working to send $14.3 billion in “aid” to Israel on top of the $3.8 billion our government already provides the apartheid state-made possible by our tax dollars. A majority of our elected officials also fail to call for an unconditional ceasefire.  

Join us in this global effort to bring Israeli officials before the ICC and hold them accountable for the blood on their hands! 

Finally, I ask you to never stop fighting for Palestinian liberation. They are counting on us to forget the people of Gaza, to stop posting, to stop speaking out against the genocide-but we refuse! We will never stop fighting for our brothers and sisters in Palestine. We will never stop fighting for the inevitable truth. Liberation will come soon enough. In the meantime, we need to keep the momentum going until Palestine is free, from the river to the sea! 

Towards Peace, Nour and the entire CODEPINK team 

Dan Sheehan.  “Read Anne Boyer’s extraordinary New York Times resignation letter.”  November 16, 2023.

It’s been a hell of a 24 hours for writers demonstrating moral courage.

Last night at the National Book Awards, over a dozen NBA finalists took to the stage to use their moment in the spotlight to oppose the ongoing bombardment of Gaza and to call for a ceasefire.

Then, earlier this morning, the news broke that Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, essayist, and poetry editor of the New York Times Magazine, Anne Boyer, has resigned from her post, writing in her resignation letter that “the Israeli state’s U.S.-backed war against the people of Gaza is not a war for anyone” and that she “won’t write about poetry amid the ‘reasonable’ tones of those who aim to acclimatize us to this unreasonable suffering.”

Here is Boyer’s extraordinary resignation letter—in which she takes direct aim at the language used by her (now former) employer in its coverage of the war on Gaza—in full:

I have resigned as poetry editor of the New York Times Magazine.

The Israeli state’s U.S-backed war against the people of Gaza is not a war for anyone. There is no safety in it or from it, not for Israel, not for the United States or Europe, and especially not for the many Jewish people slandered by those who claim falsely to fight in their names. Its only profit is the deadly profit of oil interests and weapon manufacturers.

The world, the future, our hearts—everything grows smaller and harder from this war. It is not only a war of missiles and land invasions. It is an ongoing war against the people of Palestine, people who have resisted throughout decades of occupation, forced dislocation, deprivation, surveillance, siege, imprisonment, and torture.

Because our status quo is self-expression, sometimes the most effective mode of protest for artists is to refuse.

I can’t write about poetry amidst the ‘reasonable’ tones of those who aim to acclimatize us to this unreasonable suffering. No more ghoulish euphemisms. No more verbally sanitized hellscapes. No more warmongering lies.

If this resignation leaves a hole in the news the size of poetry, then that is the true shape of the present.  —Anne Boyer 

Let’s hope that Boyer’s courage inspires other writers of her stature to use their platforms to speak out against this unconscionable war. 
ANNE BOYERGAZAPALESTINE

Jonathan Cook.  “The War Machine Wants You to Condemn Hamas.”  Consortium News (11-18-23).

The act of condemnation has been cynically weaponised, writes Jonathan Cook. The aim is not to show solidarity with Israelis. It’s to fan the flames of hatred to rationalise crimes against Palestinians. Read here...

FURTHER READING, Two Anthologies edited by Jamie Stern-Weiner.

Deluge:  GAZA AND ISRAEL FROM CRISIS TO CATACLYSM.  Edited by JAMIE STERN-WEINER; Foreword by AVI SHLAIM.    2023. 

“The crucial context and record of the unfolding crimes against Gaza. It's unlikely to be surpassed any time soon.” —Norman G. Finkelstein, author of Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom

“Broad and engaging . . . encouraging us to eschew glib analyses . . . a real contribution to those working for justice in Israel-Palestine.”— Jacobin on Stern-Weiner’s Moment of Truth

“A monumental and exceptionally rich book.” —Andreas Van Agt, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, on Stern-Weiner's Moment of Truth

Contributors: Musa Abuhashhash, Ahmed Alnaouq, Nathan J. Brown, Yaniv Cogan, Clare Daly MEP, Talal Hangari, Khaled Hroub, R. J., Colter Louwerse, Mitchell Plitnick, Mouin Rabbani, Sara Roy, and Avi Shlaim.

In September 2023, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan boasted that the Middle East “is quieter today than it has been in two decades.” One week later, unprecedented violence in Gaza and Israel shattered the status quo and shocked the world.

Hamas’s Operation Al-Aqsa Deluge punctured delusions of stability as hundreds of militants burst forth from the Gaza prison camp. In the ensuing carnage and firefights, 1,200 Israelis were killed and hundreds more taken hostage.

Israel’s retaliation turned the besieged enclave into a howling wasteland. Nearly 20,000 people were killed in two months, including more than 7,000 children, and over 60 percent of homes were damaged or destroyed. Israel targeted the wounded and infirm, newborns and near-dead, as Gaza’s healthcare system—hospitals, clinics, ambulances, medical personnel—came under a systematic attack unprecedented in the annals of modern warfare.

The Hamas massacre and the Israeli extermination campaign which followed together mark a historic turning point in the Israel-Palestine conflict. The reverberations have also shaken politics far beyond, not least in Europe and the United States, where gigantic, round-the-clock protests for Palestinian rights pitted politicians against the public and exposed a growing statist authoritarianism.

In this groundbreaking book—the first published about the 2023 Gaza war—leading Palestinian, Israeli, and international authorities put these momentous developments in context and provide an initial taking-stock.

Why did Hamas attack? What is Israel trying to achieve? Did this catastrophe have to happen? And is there a way forward? The book’s expert contributors address these and other questions, which have never been more urgent.

320 pages • Paperback ISBN 978-1-68219-619-9 • E-book ISBN 978-1-68219-620-5

Moment of Truth: TACKLING ISRAEL-PALESTINE’S TOUGHEST QUESTIONS.  2018.

Edited by JAMIE STERN-WEINER.  2018. 

“A monumental and exceptionally rich book.” —Andreas Van Agt, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands

“An extremely rich collection.” —Mouin Rabbani, Senior Fellow, Institute for Palestine Studies

“Incisive and stimulating.” —Sara Roy, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University

“An informed and important contribution.” —Charles D. Smith, Professor Emeritus of Middle East History, University of Arizona

More than a century on from the Balfour Declaration, more than 50 years since the fateful war of 1967, and a full decade into the inhuman siege of Gaza—painfully, absurdly, almost unbelievably—the Israel-Palestine conflict rolls on. Amidst a growing sense that the Palestinians’ long struggle for self-determination has reached a crossroads, if not an impasse, this volume takes stock, draw lessons from experience, and weigh paths forward.

Moment of Truth seeks to clarify what it would take to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict, to assess the prospects of doing so, and to illuminate what is possible in Palestine. It assembles an unprecedented wealth of expertise—encompassing political leaders, preeminent scholars, and dedicated activists from Israel, Palestine, and abroad—in direct critical exchange on the issues at the heart of the world’s most intractable conflict. Has Israel’s settlement enterprise made a Palestinian state impossible? Can the Palestinian leadership end the occupation? Is Israel’s rule in the Palestinian territories a form of apartheid? Could the US government force Israel to withdraw? In a series of compelling, enlightening, and at times no-holds-barred debates, leading authorities tackle these and other challenges, exposing myths, challenging preconceptions, and establishing between them a more sober and informed basis for political action.

Contributors: Musa Abuhashhash, As’ad Abukhalil, Mkhaimar Abusada, Gilbert Achcar, Ghaith al-Omari, Ghassan Andoni, Usama Antar, Nur Arafeh, Shaul Arieli, Arie Arnon, Tareq Baconi, Sam Bahour, Sari Bashi, Shlomo Ben-Ami, Suhad Bishara, Nathan J. Brown, Diana Buttu, John Dugard, Michael Dumper, Hagai El-Ad, Richard A. Falk, Norman G. Finkelstein, Neve Gordon, Ran Greenstein, Yoaz Hendel, Jamil Hilal, Khaled Hroub, Amal Jamal, Jan de Jong, Leila Khaled, Raja Khalidi, Rami G. Khouri, Lior Lehrs, Gideon Levy, Alon Liel, John J. Mearsheimer, Jessica Montell, Rami Nasrallah, Wendy Pearlman, Nicola Perugini, William B. Quandt, Mazin B. Qumsiyeh, Glen Rangwala, Glenn E. Robinson, Nadim Rouhana, Sara Roy, Bashir Saade, Robbie Sabel, Dahlia Scheindlin, Daniel Seidemann, Michael Sfard, Muhammad Shehada, Raja Shehadeh, Sammy Smooha, Mark Tessler, Nathan Thrall, Ahmed Yousef, Ido Zelkovitz.

518 pages • Paperback ISBN 978-1-682191-14-9 • E-book 978-1-682191-15-6

Tackling Israel–Palestine’s Toughest Questions

CONTENTS GAZA #12

OMNI's War and Warming Newsletter: OMNI GAZA ANTHOLOGIES # 12, November 16, 2023 (jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com)

Part I:  Gaza March AND RALLY in Fayetteville including Abel Tomlinson’s Palestine Peace Rally Speech

Part II: Gaza Anthology #12, p. 10
Guttenplan.  Gaza in the Long Run
Musa Al-Gharbi. The Truth War

UNRWA

Sara Roy. Unsilencing Gaza
Chris Hedges. “Israel’s Final Solution for the Palestinians.”
Scott Ritter.  "Israel is LOSING this war and Netanyahu is done"
Theia Chatelle.  “The Government Encourages the Settlers to Attack. . . .”

Spencer Ackerman. “Biden’s Middle East Policy Collapsed”
Fareed Zakaria.  Israel to Vet Reports from Gaza.
Iman Abid. “Resist Genocide with Your Whole Heart and Body.”
CADTM.  cadtm-newsletter-en@cadtm.org
Code Pink.  “Take action for Palestine!”
Ron Jacobs..  “Bernie and a Cease Fire.”
Ajamu Baraka.   “The demand must be for decolonization and Palestinian self-determination.”
Chodhury InterviewsKhaled Barakat: Gaza demands end of genocide.
Natalia Marques.  Editor.  mronline.org.   International actions demand an end to the Israeli genocide in Gaza and an end to all aid to Israel.

END GAZA ANTHOLOGY #13