Category Archives: racism

Pro-Palestine supporters urged to ditch Garnier over its support for Israeli army

‘It’s time to ditch Garnier’. That’s the message from Palestinian human rights organisation, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, as it emerged that Garnier has, over the last few days, provided ‘care packages’ of face creams, deodorants, soaps and other cosmetics to female members of the Israeli army.

The company says it has provided the ‘girly’ packages to the women ‘so they can still pamper themselves, even in times of war!’

Sarah Colborne, Director of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: ‘It’s beyond words that, while the Israeli army is raining death and destruction on Palestinian children, men and women in Gaza with its bombs and shells, Garnier is providing face creams and facial soaps to that army’s female soldiers.

via Pro-Palestine supporters urged to ditch Garnier over its support for Israeli army.

Interview with Sociologist Eva Illouz about Gaza and Israeli Society – SPIEGEL ONLINE

Illouz: The only response is to create a vast camp of people who defend democracy. The right-left divide is no longer important. There is something more urgent right now: the defense of democracy. The voice of the extreme right is much louder and clearer than it was before. That’s what’s new: a racist right that is not ashamed of itself, that persecutes dissenters and even people who dare express compassion for the other side. The real danger to Israel and its sustainability comes from within. The fascist and racist elements are no less a security threat than the outside enemies.

via Interview with Sociologist Eva Illouz about Gaza and Israeli Society – SPIEGEL ONLINE.

Never ask me about peace again – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

My father’s brother, Ismail al-Ghoul, 60, was not a member of Hamas. His wife, Khadra, 62, was not a militant of Hamas. Their sons, Wael, 35, and Mohammed, 32, were not combatants for Hamas. Their daughters, Hanadi, 28, and Asmaa, 22, were not operatives for Hamas, nor were my cousin Wael’s children, Ismail, 11, Malak, 5, and baby Mustafa, only 24 days old, members of Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine or Fatah. Yet, they all died in the Israeli shelling that targeted their home at 6:20 a.m. on Sunday morning.

Their house was located in the Yibna neighborhood of the Rafah refugee camp. It was one story with a roof made of thin asbestos that did not require two F-16 missiles to destroy. Would someone please inform Israel that refugee camp houses can be destroyed, and their occupants killed, with only a small bomb, and that it needn’t spend billions to blow them into oblivion?

If it is Hamas that you hate, let me tell you that the people you are killing have nothing to do with Hamas. They are women, children, men and senior citizens whose only concern was for the war to end, so they can return to their lives and daily routines. But let me assure you that you have now created thousands — no, millions — of Hamas loyalists, for we all become Hamas if Hamas, to you, is women, children and innocent families. If Hamas, in your eyes, is ordinary civilians and families, then I am Hamas, they are Hamas and we are all Hamas.

Throughout the war, we thought that the worst had passed, that this was the pivotal moment when matters would improve, that they would stop there. Yet, that real moment of pain, of extreme fear, was always followed by something even worse.

via Never ask me about peace again – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

Israeli forces storm al-Aqsa Mosque, clash with worshippers | Maan News Agency

Clashes broke out in the squares of al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem Monday morning between worshipers and Israeli officers who stormed the compound to evacuate worshipers and escort right-wing Jews commemorating the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple.

Eyewitnesses told Ma’an that special Israeli forces stormed the compound from the Moroccan gate firing stun grenades and rubber-coated bullets at worshipers, the majority of whom were elderly people.

Young worshipers, who entered the compound Sunday evening and stayed over, took shelter inside the al-Aqsa mosque and shut down all its doors except the Funeral gate. They found themselves clashing face-to-face with Israeli officers who tried to raid the mosque. Witnesses said the Israeli officers fired rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades inside the mosque and as a result, a fire broke out on a carpet before guards managed to put it out.

Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers and police officers stationed on the main gates of the compound denied Palestinians entry.

via Israeli forces storm al-Aqsa Mosque, clash with worshippers | Maan News Agency.

Middle East – Video: In Rafah ‘they’re exterminating entire families’ – France 24

Over the weekend, Rafah came under heavy Israeli fire. Dozens of residents died as Israel shelled the area – many of the victims were under the same roof, according to Abu Dobaa.

“They are exterminating entire families. There are many families in which every single member was killed. Do you understand what that means? It’s insane. People do not realise what is happening here,” he told FRANCE 24.

FRANCE 24’s special correspondents in Gaza went to a hospital where bodies were piling up. As they interviewed injured Palestinians, other wounded kept arriving. Some of them, very young, obviously had nothing to do with the conflict.

Nine-year old survivor

Saja Mustafa Zorob is recovering in a hospital bed. The nine-year-old girl does not know yet that she is the only one in her family who survived an Israeli air strike.

“I have no idea what happened. We were sleeping at my aunts’ house with everyone, my two uncles, my grandma and my mummy. All of a sudden I woke up and I was in an ambulance,” the little girl says.

Bodies in the Gaza strip have to be buried in a haste. Abu Dobaa’s brother and nephew are laid to rest in a row of freshly dug open graves.

Minutes after the burial, people who attended the funeral rush off to avoid being hit by another Israeli air strike. In Gaza, even graveyards are no longer safe.

via Middle East – Video: In Rafah ‘they’re exterminating entire families’ – France 24.

70 bodies found in Rafah as death toll hits 1,830 | Maan News Agency

The death toll on the 27th day of Israel’s offensive on Gaza hit at least 120 on Sunday as health officials reported that over 70 bodies had been recovered in Rafah, a day after the city came under fierce, prolonged bombardment by Israeli forces.

Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra told Ma’an that the bodies of 70 Palestinians had been recovered from the city in southern Gaza, while 55 other Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks across the Strip Sunday.

The continuing attacks brought the total death toll in the assault to 1,830 with nearly 10,000 injured.

via 70 bodies found in Rafah as death toll hits 1,830 | Maan News Agency.

61 Palestinians killed since midnight in the 26th day of the Israeli offensive in Gaza

At least 61 Palestinians were killed overnight in the Gaza Strip in different Israeli attacks, many of them children and elderly. 35 of them were killed in Rafah, which has been suffering ongoing attacks since yesterday at noon.

Medical sources reported this morning about the killing of three Palestinians in Israeli airstrikes that targeted their home in the Maghazi refugee camp, central Gaza Strip. They have been identified as Amr Tarek Hassan Kandil, Wael Nihad and Mohammad Tayseer Hassan Kandil. The medical source informed that the martyrs were directly hit by the rocket on their house.

This morning at dawn local sources reported the killing of 23 people in several Israeli attacks against residential buildings in the west of Rafah. There were also more than 40 people injured.

via 61 Palestinians killed since midnight in the 26th day of the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

90 Palestinians injured by live fire in Hebron clashes | Maan News Agency

More than 90 Palestinians were injured by live fire during clashes with Israeli forces in Hebron on Friday, medics said.

Wilid Zaloum, director of Hebron Governmental Hospital, told Ma’an more 90 Palestinians arrived at the hospital with bullet wounds after being shot by Israeli forces.

Three of the Palestinians were critically injured, Zaloum told Ma’an. Many others were in moderate condition after being shot in the lower extremities.

via 90 Palestinians injured by live fire in Hebron clashes | Maan News Agency.

Over 100 Faith Leaders Arrested in Protest Against Record Deportations : Immigration Impact

Nuns, pastors, rabbis and other faith leaders were arrested outside the White House on Thursday in a massive act of civil disobedience to press the Obama administration to end the 1,100 deportations that occur every day. “Too many families have been separated. Too many tears have been shed because of our unjust laws,” Reverend John McCullough, CEO and president of Church World Service, said before a crowd of 500 supporters congregated in Lafayette Park.

via Over 100 Faith Leaders Arrested in Protest Against Record Deportations : Immigration Impact.

JUST STOP! RETURN SOLDIER! HONOR CEASE FIRE EVERYONE! Israeli army threatens to call up 80,000 reservists, re-occupy Rafah | Maan News Agency

The Israeli response to the capture of a soldier in Rafah will be “crushing,” Israeli media quoted the army as saying on Friday.

Israeli news website Walla said on Friday that the Israeli army threatened to call up to 80,000 reservists and to “re-occupy” Rafah.

Earlier on Friday, Hamas captured an Israeli soldier in an attack on a post east of Rafah inside the Gaza Strip.

Hamas said that Israeli forces had used the announcement of the ceasefire earlier in the evening to expand operations into the area, and the group carried out the attack before a planned ceasefire came into effect at 8 a.m.

Israel, however, said that the attack began after the ceasefire began at 9:30 a.m.

Israel has killed more than 1,500 Palestinians in its assault on Gaza over the last 25 days.

The Gaza Strip was directly occupied by Israel for nearly 40 years beginning in 1967, but in 2005 Israeli forces pulled out and a year later imposed an economic blockade after Hamas was elected in democratic elections.

Israel maintains effective control over Gaza’s airspace, borders, and sea, meaning that under international law it is still considered to be occupied.

via Israeli army threatens to call up 80,000 reservists, re-occupy Rafah | Maan News Agency.