Tag Archives: War Crimes

Israel’s Killing of Journalists in Gaza ‘Unparalleled,’ Says Watchdog

The Committee to Protect Journalists—which recorded 68 media professionals killed since October 7—said it is particularly concerned by Israel’s “apparent pattern of targeting journalists and their families.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 12-22-2023 by Common Dreams

*Palestinian journalists Muhammad Sobh and Saeed Al-Taweel were killed during their work by Israeli airstrikes on October 10, 2023 in Gaza City, Gaza Photo: Ahmed Shameya/X*

Journalists are being slain during Israel’s current assault on Gaza at a rate unseen in modern history—with more killed in the last 10 weeks alone than have been killed in any country in any whole year since records began, the Committee to Protect Journalists revealed on Thursday.

CPJ said that at least 68 media professionals—61 Palestinians, four Israelis, and three Lebanese—have been killed since the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel and the Israeli military’s retaliatory obliteration of the Gaza Strip.

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Rights Monitor Demands Probe of Israel’s ‘Guantánamo-Like’ Prison

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Detainees at Israel’s Sde Teman camp were “blindfolded and bound, with both their hands and feet handcuffed, and if they tried to ask for anything, were met with abuse and threats,” said Euro-Med Monitor.

By Julia Conley. Published 12-19-2023 by Common Dreams

*Sde Teman camp. Photo: Palestine Captives/X*

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor on Monday demanded an independent investigation into Israel’s alleged “torture and murder of Palestinian civilians” who have been captured and detained by the Israel Defense Forces—particularly those who have been held in the Sde Teman army camp, located between the Israeli city of Beersheba and Gaza.

Sde Teman has been turned into “a new Guantánamo-like prison,” the monitor said, comparing it to the U.S. prison where inmates accused by the U.S. of being terrorists have been held indefinitely, many without being charged, and subjected to torture for more than two decades.

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UN Members Support Gaza Cease-Fire in Overwhelming 153-10 Vote

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“Humanity has prevailed,” said Egyptian Ambassador Osama Abdel Khalek. “The Israeli aggression on Gaza must end. This bloodshed must stop.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 12-12-2023 by Common Dreams

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.”

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‘Horrifying Precedent’: Penn President Resigns Amid Right-Wing Campus Speech Uproar

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“She was coerced into resigning for defending her students’ right to political free speech,” said one critic.

By Julia Conley. Published 12-10-2023 by Common Dreams

*Liz Magill, president of University of Pennsylvania, testifies before the House Education and Workforce Committee on December 5, 2023 in Washington, DC. Screenshot: CBS News*

Professors at the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday were joined by rights advocates in condemning the attacks that forced university president Liz Magill to resign days after she testified before the U.S. Congress.

Magill had angered lawmakers from both parties by refusing to say students should be punished for hypothetically “calling for the genocide of Jews.”

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UN Chief Invokes Article 99 to Spur Security Council Action on Gaza

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“Facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, I urge the council to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe and appeal for a humanitarian cease-fire to be declared.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 12-6-2023 by Common Dreams

António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations during opening session of the High Level Segment at the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council. 27 February 2023. UN Photo / Jean Marc Ferré

With over 16,000 Palestinians dead just two months into Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday demanded immediate action by the U.N. Security Council.

For the first time since becoming secretary-general nearly seven years ago, Guterres invoked Article 99, a rarely used section of the U.N. Charter empowering him to bring to the attention of the council “any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”

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Biden Request Would Create ‘Free-Flowing’ Arms Pipeline to Israel

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The request would remove most conditions on Israel’s use of a U.S. weapons stash, including a requirement that it only use surplus or obsolete weapons and a cap on how much the U.S. can spend resupplying the stash.

By Olivia Rosane Published 11-26-2023 by Common Dreams.

*155-mm artillery shells,. Photo: US Department of Defense*

President Joe Biden has requested that Congress to lift most of the restrictions on Israel’s access to a U.S. stockpile of weapons in the country, The Intercept reported Saturday.

The request came in the administration’s supplemental budget request to the U.S. Senate, sent October 20. It concerns the War Reserve Stockpile Allies-Israel (WRSA-I) that the U.S. has stored in Israel since the 1980s for its own use in a potential conflict in the region. The U.S. allows Israel to access the stockpile under certain conditions, but Biden’s request would remove most of these conditions, including a requirement that Israel only use surplus or obsolete weapons and a cap on how much the U.S. can spend resupplying the stash.

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University of Florida Pro-Palestine Group Sues DeSantis Over Deactivation

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“This attack on free speech is dangerous,” said the head of Florida’s ACLU. “Today it is pro-Palestinian students, tomorrow it could be any other group the governor dislikes.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 11-16-2023 by Common Dreams

*DeSantis administration alleges Students for Justice in Palestine is aligned with terrorists; leaders of the group decry a “disgraceful” assault on free speech. Screenshot: ABC Action News*

The University of Florida chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine on Thursday sued state education officials and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis over their move to deactivate the group for its support of Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation, apartheid, and other crimes.

The lawsuit—which was filed by the ACLU of Florida and Palestine Legal—seeks a preliminary injunction to block State University of Florida System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues’ deactivation order, issued last month after Students for Justice in Palestine’s (SJP) national body declared support for Palestinian “resistance” to Israel’s war on Gaza.

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Press Freedom Group Slams Tom Cotton for Boosting ‘Malicious Disinformation’ About Gaza Journalists

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The U.S. senator and top Israeli officials have “put journalists’ lives at risk” by seizing on a baseless report, the Freedom of the Press Foundation said.

By Jake Johnson. Published 11-11-2023 by Common Dreams

*Senator Tom Cotton. Photo: Michael Vadon/flickr/CC*

A U.S.-based press freedom group slammed Republican Sen. Tom Cotton and top Israeli officials on Friday for uncritically boosting a report that falsely suggested Gaza-based photojournalists who were on the scene during Hamas’ deadly attack on southern Israel last month were in some way complicit in the assault.

The report, published on November 8 by the Israeli media watchdog HonestReporting, stated that “judging from the pictures of lynching, kidnapping, and storming of an Israeli kibbutz, it seems like the border has been breached not only physically, but also journalistically.”

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Global Cease-Fire Call Grows as Israel Wages ‘War Against Hospitals’ in Gaza

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“Children in Gaza are hanging by a thread,” said a UNICEF director, calling for attacks on healthcare facilities to stop immediately and the urgent delivery of supplies to hospitals.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 11-10-2023 by Common Dreams

As Israeli forces waged what al-Shifa’s director described as a “war against hospitals” in Gaza on Friday, United Nations officials, human rights groups, and doctors demanded the protection of medical facilities and renewed calls for a cease-fire.

“Half of the Gaza Strip’s 36 hospitals and two-thirds of its primary healthcare centers are not functioning at all,” World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the U.N. Security Council. “Those that are functioning are operating way beyond their capacities. The health system is on its knees, and yet somehow is continuing to deliver some lifesaving care.”

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Students Demanding Protection for Pro-Palestinian Activism Arrested at House Hearing on Campus Speech

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“Palestinian students deserve to speak on the genocide of their families,” said one protester as they were led out of the room by police.

By Julia Conley. Published 11-8-2023 by Common Dreams

A pro-Palestinian rights protester holds a sign saying that “Pro-Palestine is not equal to Antisemitism” at a hearing held by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on November 8, 2023. (Photo: @codepink/Twitter)

The limits of the Republican-led U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s views on freedom of speech were on full display Wednesday shortly after a hearing on “Free Speech on College Campuses” began, when several pro-Palestinian rights demonstrators were removed from the hearing room and arrested for speaking out.

The committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), invited representatives of conservative and pro-Zionist groups including Young Americans for Freedom and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to speak about what Jordan called “hostility towards certain points of view, in particular conservative points of view” amid growing outrage over Israel’s U.S.-backed assault on Gaza and the West Bank.

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Occupy World Writes

The Movement Continues – Globally

Tag Archives: War Crimes