#a refugee camp is not a military target

[hathorik]

Israel has murdered another Palestinian journalist. Abdullah Olwan lost his life in an Israeli attack on Jabalia Refugee Camp. This brings the number of killed journalists up to 96.

[scottishcommune]

Below the cut is a template email to send to Edinburgh Pride regarding sponsorship from Aegon, who have investments linked to the genocide in Palestine. Please feel free to use this text or edit it and make it your own and send it to contact@prideedinburgh.co.uk

Dear Edinburgh Pride,

As a queer person living in Edinburgh, I was deeply saddened to learn that the march partner for Edinburgh Pride 2024 is Aegon.

In December 2023 the ‘Don’t Buy Into Occupation Coalition’ published a report that showed Aegon have US$564million invested via shares and bonds in companies operating in illegal settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territories. Source: https://dontbuyintooccupation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2023_DBIO-III-Report_11-December-2023.pdf

We are watching a live-streamed genocide every day - over 36,000 people in Palestine have been murdered by Israeli forces, including at least 15,000 children. The brutality of these atrocities are unthinkable, with evidence of torture and targeting of hospitals, ambulances and refugee camps.

We all have a responsibility to do what we can to end this genocide. As queer people, we are part of a rich history of resisting oppression and dehumanisation - of both ourselves and those we stand in solidarity with. Pride started as a protest against homophobia, transphobia and police violence. It is an important moment to come together as a community to celebrate queer joy and resilience.

But how can we celebrate using profits stained with the blood of our siblings in Palestine?

Aegon has $564million invested in companies that have been listed by the UN as “raising human rights concerns” for their operations in illegal settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territories, In 1948, 750,000 Palestinian people were displaced from their homes and lands and since then, Israeli settlements have been used to spread this process of colonisation.

In addition to this figure, Aegon also has major investments in Eaton Corp Plc., who supply parts for helicopters and fighter jets to the Israeli military and have recently been the target of major protests at their factory in Dorset. They also invest in Amazon, who support the Israeli military with surveillance technology used against Palestians.

Israel has long used ‘pinkwashing’ as a tactic to justify the brutal repression of Palestinians, using queer people to legitimise this horrific violence. We refuse to allow this to be done in our name.

The tide is turning on companies like Aegon that profit from investments in the companies complicit in genocide. Recently, both Hay and Edinburgh Book Festival have dropped Baillie Gifford as a sponsor after over 800 authors called on them to divest from companies involved in Israel and the fossil fuel industry.

I ask that Edinburgh Pride:

Calls on Aegon to commit to divest from companies involved in supplying technology to Israel and operating in illegal settlements.

Drop Aegon as a sponsor until they are able to show evidence of divestment.

Publicly call for a ceasefire and a free Palestine.

There is no pride in genocide.

I look forward to hearing your response.

XX

Sources:

Investments in companies operating in illegal settlements https://dontbuyintooccupation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2023_DBIO-III-Report_11-December-2023.pdf

Investments in Eaton https://extranet.secure.aegon.co.uk/static/sxhub/pdf/client-pen-distribution.pdf

Investments in Amazon https://www.aegon.co.uk/content/dam/auk/assets/publication/fund-factsheet/standard_bkj9zs0.pdf

Israel’s pinkwashing: https://bdsmovement.net/pinkwashing

War on Gaza statistics: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/10/9/israel-hamas-war-in-maps-and-charts-live-tracker

Edinburgh book festival ends Baillie Gifford sponsorship: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm553zrr3e4o

[wearenotjustnumbers2]

Source: Defence for children international - Palestine.

Israeli occupation forces unleashed a military attack dog on a four-year-old Palestinian boy in the northern occupied West Bank this week.

The incident occurred during an arrest operation in Balata refugee camp near Nablus on February 4. The dog was unleashed into the Hashash family apartment, attacking 4-year-old Ibrahim Hashash after knocking him from his mother’s arms.

The dog tore his clothes and bit him repeatedly, causing profuse bleeding for about three minutes until Israeli forces intervened.

Ibrahim has been taken to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, where he’s expected to receive plastic surgery to repair his injuries.

“Israeli forces routinely show complete disregard, and often contempt, for Palestinian children’s lives and safety. In a hyper-militarized environment where systemic impunity is the norm, kids like Ibrahim will increasingly be targets,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP.

Israeli forces systematically use military dogs to attack Palestinian civilians, including children, during military incursions into Palestinian cities and towns.

I just want to add, what could a child seriously do to the heavily armed soldiers in the West bank?? They're just doing this to fulfill sick and twisted fantasies and horrors.

[96z]

What has happened in Gaza since the truce ended a mere 16 hours ago — do keep in mind that some of these source links include videos of what is described.

• Israel’s military said it had 'resumed combat' in Gaza where air strikes were reported as the seven-day truce came to an end on Friday morning local time. [ source ]

• The Israeli warplanes started bombing Gaza as soon as the temporary ceasefire expired. [ source ]

• A little Palestinian girl got injured by an Israeli bombardment in the northern part of Gaza City. [ source ]

• Residents try to evacuate the bodies from the rubble of a destroyed home by Israeli air strikes that began bombing Gaza Strip by the end of the temporary ceasefire. [ source ]

• A number of Palestinians were injured and killed by Israeli air strikes all over Gaza. [ source ]

• An ambulance evacuated children who were injured by an air strike that targeted a home in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. [ source ]

• More than 30 Palestinians were killed by Israeli air strikes since the end of the temporary ceasefire this morning. [ source ]

• The Israeli warplanes bomb a home in Rafah, southern Gaza. [ source ]

• A little girl lost her father by Israeli air strike in the middle area of Gaza. [ source ]

• A wife bids farewell to her husband who was killed by Israeli bombardment in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. [ source ]

• A mother bids farewell to her 5 month old baby who was killed in an air strike in Gaza. [ source ]

• A mother bids farewell to her son who has was killed by an air strike in Gaza. [ source ]

• Palestinians inspect the rubble of the Qanan family home which was bombed by Israeli warplanes in Khan Younis city. A number of deaths and injuries were reported. [ source ]

• Israeli warplanes bomb a home west of Khan Younis. [ source ]

• A faulty Israeli bomb was dropped by the Israeli warplanes on a home in Yebna refugee camp in Rafah city. [ source ]

• An Israeli bombardment targeted an UNRWA school in Jabalia refugee camp, north of Gaza. [ source ]

• Heavy Israeli air strikes in Khan Younis city, southern Gaza. [ source ]

• Israeli warplanes destroy the home of the Hessi family in Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza. [ source ]

• Palestinians rescue a girl from the rubble of her home that was bombed by Israeli warplanes. [ source ]

• Civil defense crews rescue a number of residents and evacuate bodies of martyrs from the rubble of a home in Shejaeya neighborhood, east of Gaza. [ source ]

• Over 100 Palestinians were killed since the end of the temporary ceasefire in Gaza, today. [ source ]

• Medics are dealing with 'large numbers' of wounded Palestinians seeking treatment in overcrowded hospitals following the resumption of Israeli air strikes on Gaza, says Gaza's health ministry. [ source ]

• A little child tries to calm down his baby brother after they were injured by an air strike in Gaza. [ source ]

• A series of heavy Israeli air strikes bombed several sites in southern Gaza Strip. [ source ]

• Palestinian children bid farewell to their father who was killed by Israeli bombardment in Khan Younis. [ source ]

• A fire broke out following the bombing of Jabalia refugee camp with white phosphorus. [ source ]

• Israel preventing aid trucks from entering Gaza via Rafah border crossing, PRCS says [ source ]

• A child was injured by the Israeli occupation bombing of Abu Nada family home in Al-Jeneina neighborhood, east of Rafah. [ source ]

• The ministry of health says in a statement that 178 Palestinians have been killed and 589 injured since morning. [ source ]

• The Gaza Strip has been under “relentless Israeli bombardment”. [ source ]

• The Palestinian Red Crescent Society says Israeli forces have informed 'all organisations and entities' operating at the Rafah crossing that the entry of aid trucks to Gaza is 'prohibited, starting from today' and until further notice. [ source ]

• The Israeli warplanes carried out a series of heavy air strikes on Gaza city. [ source ]

This list is not exhaustive. There are bodies under the rubble, missing from the death count, there are stories of atrocities gone unreported. Let that sink in, that this is not even the full extent of what has occurred since the truce agreement expired. The children of Gaza have gone back to living in fear, constantly hearing the sounds of warplanes over their heads. The people of Gaza have gone back to expecting to die.

It is far from time to lose steam. This is not over just because the bombing stopped for a week. The genocide continues and has been ramped up. Do not stop talking about Palestine. Do not stop bearing witness to what is happening. Do not stop demanding that it ends.

[holyfigtree]

Iran targets military sites. “Israel” targets residential buildings, hospitals and refugee camps.

[starlightshadowsworld]

Notice how we have yet to hear of any Hamas deaths.

We've yet to see a body that has been identified as one of them.

Because you and I both know that would be all over the news... And yet, nothing.

19 days (as of today, 26.10.2023)

Over 6000 bombs dropped since 7th October.

7000 Palestinians killed by Israel.

And not one has been identified as a member of Hamas.

You expect to me believe a country with one of the funded military in the world.

Who has one of the most sophisticated surveillance systems in the world.

Simply can't find them?

We have yet to see one of them killed.

What we are seeing are the bodies of civilians, of men, women and children.

We are seeing doctors plead for fuel because premature babies in incubators desperately need it to stay alive.

Of elderly who refuse to leave their homes because they remember the last time they did and haven't been able to return.

We're seeing parents identifying their children and children identifying their parents.

If this was simply all about getting rid of Hamas, why are they not trapped under the rubble?

Why is it that the areas targeted are refugee camps, hospitals, schools, mosques, churches.

All places that are reported to be sheltering civilians.

We hear numbers of deaths, of how they've killed X many people (and a lot of lies about that.)

How this bomb needs to drop because that's who the IDF are fighting, it isn't about civilians.

But it's the civilians who are being killed.

Because it isn't about getting rid of Hamas.

It's about erasing the Palestinians off the earth.

They are targeting areas sheltering civilians.

They are targeting areas outside of Gaza like the West Bank.

Places where Hamas does not operate.

Because it isn't about them, it never was.

They poked a bear with a stick for 75 years and the second it bit back, it was the perfect excuse to kill it.

And market themselves as the victim to the rest of the world.

This is not a war.

It's an ethnic cleansing.

It's a genocide.

[omgellendean]

In this report, evidence and documentation collected by DCIP indicate that Israeli forces are deliberately targeting Palestinian children with the intent to unleash cruel and degrading treatment up until the moment of the child’s death. Israeli authorities, which have the ability to hold Israeli soldiers and military officials accountable, are unwilling to take action to stop the killing of Palestinian children.

This report is based on evidence collected by DCIP’s field researchers documenting 141 Palestinian child fatalities in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between October 7, 2023, and July 31, 2024.

Full report here

20 percent of the Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 2000 have been killed after October 7, 2023 at a rate of one child every two days.

Israeli forces deliberately target and shoot unarmed children with live ammunition and trained snipers. Israeli forces and settlers shot and killed 116 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between October 7, 2023 and July 31, 2024.

Israeli forces have killed 25 Palestinian children in aerial attacks in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between October 7, 2023 and July 31, 2024. Some children were directly targeted while others were collateral damage as Israeli forces deployed aerial attacks in densely populated civilian areas.

Israeli forces and authorities systematically deny Palestinian children their right to medical care when preventing ambulances, paramedics, or bystanders from providing medical care to a child shot with live ammunition or struck in an Israeli airstrike. In 43 percent of cases in this report, Israeli forces deliberately prevented injured Palestinian children from receiving medical care by detaining and firing live ammunition toward ambulances, paramedics, and civilians attempting to provide aid.

Israeli authorities and forces systematically, deliberately, and specifically embolden Israeli settler violence towards Palestinian children. Israeli forces present during armed Israeli settler attacks fail to prevent the aggression, fail to help the Palestinian victims, and often collaborate with the settlers in inflicting lethal harm. In two cases, Israeli forces and settlers fired toward Palestinian children simultaneously, and DCIP was unable to determine which perpetrator fired the fatal bullet.

Israeli forces killed at least 49 Palestinian children during the intensified large-scale and deadly incursions into Palestinian refugee camps in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between October 7, 2023 and July 31, 2024. 

The fatal shootings of child protesters in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and the use of expanding bullets during the crackdowns constitute war crimes prosecutable at the ICC. In October 2023, Israeli forces shot and killed four Palestinian children with expanding bullets designed to increase in size upon impact, inflicting fatal internal injuries.

Israeli authorities’ practice of confiscating and withholding Palestinian bodies is a violation of international humanitarian law and international criminal law, which include absolute prohibitions on cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. Israeli authorities have confiscated 18 Palestinian children’s bodies in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between October 7, 2023 and July 31, 2024.

Israeli authorities work to ensure Israeli forces continue enjoying impunity and face no consequence for the extrajudicial killing of Palestinian children. There are no known accounts of accountability during this reporting period.

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 Distressing scenes from a multitude of decomposing corpses of Palestinians discovered in a shallow, mass grave in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, found underneath a sand barrier built by the Israeli occupation army prior to their withdrawal from the area.]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🚀🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

DAY 192: ISRAELI OCCUPATION FORCES INTENSIFY ASSAULT ON CIVILIAN HOMES AND INFRASTRUCTURE IN GAZA

On the 192nd day of "Israel's" ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed a total of 7 new massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of no less than 68 Palestinians, mostly women and children, while another 94 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

According to Gaza's Ministry of Health, thousands of civilians remain missing under the rubble and debris of shattered buildings and flattened homes, with local ambulance and civil defense crews unable to reach them while under continuous occupation bombing and artillery fire.

In a slight bit of positive news, local members of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) have managed to reopen, albeit only partially, the Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, after the Israeli occupation army withdrew from the Khan Yunis Governate in the previous week.

At the same time, occupation authorities released today two PRCS crew members who were kidnapped over 50 days ago while attempting to pass through an Israeli military checkpoint in the Khan Yunis Governate while evacuating patients from Al-Amal Hospital as it was under siege by the IOF. Six PRCS personnel remain missing at this time, believed to be detained by Zionist forces, however, they're fates remain unknown.

Meanwhile, occupation forces renewed intensive airstrikes on the central Gaza Strip over the weekend, pummeling civilian homes, and opening artillery and gunfire on displaced Palestinian families.

In just one example, nearly 20 Palestinian civilians were wounded by artillery shells and live bullets fired by the IOF while attempting to cross from the south of Gaza, where the occupation's authorities originally sent civilians at the start of the special genocide operation, back to their leveled homes in the northern Gaza Strip by crossing the Wadi Gaza Bridge.

As result of the social media rumors, claiming the IOF was allowing families to return north, hundreds of Palestinians began the journey. However, upon arriving near a military checkpoint on Al-Rashid Street prior to reaching the Wadi Gaza Bridge, the Israeli occupation forces opened artillery and machine gun fire, wounding nearly 20 civilians, including at least one child who later died of her injuries.

Similarly, an Israeli gunboat also opened fire on the displaced Palestinians trying to reach their homes in northern Gaza, resulting in the wounding two civilians.

In the meantime, a young Palestinian child named Malek Haniyeh died of their wounds resulting from an Israeli occupation airstrike which targeted the child's family vehicle on the first day of Eid al-Fitr in the Al-Shati Refugee Camp, also known as the Beach Camp. Which is located near the shores of Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip. The child's father was also killed in the strike, along with several other members of the child's family.

In another horrific atrocity, a group of civilians who were also making their way up Al-Rashid Street to return to their homes were targeted in an Israeli airstrike, killing 5 Palestinians, including at least one woman.

The crimes of the Israeli occupation continued on Sunday when Zionist warplanes bombed a residential home east of the Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp, located in the central Gaza Strip, while occupation artillery detatchments shelled several neighborhoods to the west of Gaza City, while also concentrating artillery fire on the northern areas of the Nuseirat Camp.

In yet another criminal massacre; last night, IOF fighter jets bombarded a residential home belonging to the Al-Arabi family, north of the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip, resulting in the martyrdom of 5 Palestinian civilians and wounding dozens of others.

Simultaneously, Israeli aircraft bombed the Hassan Al-Banna Mosque in the same area of the Nuseirat Camp, completely leveling the structure.

Occupation artillery additionally shelled a residential tower in the same neighborhood of the Nuseirat Camp, while Israeli artillery detatchments also fired at least one shell which hit the minaret of the Al-Qassam Mosque.

The horrific behavior of the IOF also revealed itself when a Zionist sniper tragically shot and killed a young Palestinian boy near the entrance of a displacement center housing civilians.

Zionist air forces also heavily bombarded the New Camp area of the Nuseirat Camp, resulting in a number of civilian casualties.

Elsewhere, local civil defense personnel working to recover the decomposing corpses of martyred civilians still trapped under the rubble of their homes, or littered across streets and sidewalks, discovered a mass grave containing a large number of civilians underneath a sand wall built by the IOF in the Beit Lahia Housing Projects, in northern Gaza Strip.

Local civil defense personnel also said they'd recovered the decomposing bodies of at least 10 Palestinians from previous occupation assaults on various areas of the Khan Yunis Governate.

The civil defense crews additionally made an appeal on Sunday asking the international community to provide body bags for the continued recovery of decomposing corpses from various parts of the Gaza Strip.

In one of the latest Zionist crimes, IOF warplanes went on to bomb a group of civilians gathered in the north of the Nuseirat Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, killing two Palestinian civilians and wounding at least three others.

Israeli occupation forces also destroyed an uninhabited residence in the al-Manar neighborhood, to the southeast of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, wounding five civilians nearby.

As a result of "Israel's" ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the death toll among the population of Gaza has risen in excess of 33'797 Palestinians killed, including upwards of 9'500 women and 14'500 children, while another 76'465 others have been wounded since the start of the current round of Zionist aggression, beginning with the events of October 7th, 2023.

April 15th, 2024

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@WorkerSolidarityNews

[allthegeopolitics]

The Israeli military's assault against four refugee camps and almost every town in the north of the occupied West Bank, using battlefield weapons, commando-style helicopter landings, drones and bulldozers, cannot be classed as a response to the war on Gaza. This is far bigger than a "counter-terrorism" operation claimed by Israel. War in the West Bank was planned before Hamas's attack on 7 October last year, a senior Fatah member with close links to security circles told me.  It was postponed by the Gaza war, but also refined and honed by it.  When Israel saw just how much Palestinian blood the US and Europe were prepared to tolerate in Gaza - how much destruction, how many millions would be continually displaced, and for how long - Israel felt emboldened to visit the same hell on its real target: the occupied West Bank.

Crush the West Bank, and the Palestinian people can say goodbye to their state forever. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @vague-humanoid

[wilwheaton]

On Tuesday, the Israeli military conducted an airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza, killing at least 50 people. On Wednesday, there were reports of a second strike on the same camp, allegedly injuring and killing dozens. “Hamas is creating these casualties, not Israel,” Graham said. Palestinian health officials estimate Israeli airstrikes have killed 8,525 Palestinians in Gaza, 40 percent of whom were children.

Lindsey Graham: “No Limit” on Palestinians It Is Acceptable for Israel to Kill

Israel has every right to defend itself and protect its people. When Israel targets refugee camps and is willing to murder civilians without a second thought, that makes Israel no different from Hamas. The answer to unimaginable murder is not more unimaginable murder.

We must call for and enforce an immediate ceasefire, to protect innocent lives.

[reasonandempathy]

As part of its ongoing genocide, which started on 7 October 2023, the Israeli army is using new disturbing techniques to intimidate, lure, and target Palestinian civilians in the central Gaza Strip’s Nuseirat refugee camp.

Testimonies from camp residents, which were provided to the Euro-Med Monitor team, confirm that the sound of women screaming and babies crying was heard late at night on both Sunday and Monday. When some of the residents went out to investigate and tried to help, they were shot at by Israeli quadcopter drones. The sounds they had heard were in fact recordings played by the Israeli drones, with the intent of forcing the camp’s residents out into the streets, where they could be easily targeted by snipers and other weaponry.

According to the testimonies, this tactic also involved broadcasting gunshots, armed conflicts, explosions, military vehicle movements, and occasionally songs in Hebrew and Arabic in order to psychologically intimidate civilians who live amid total darkness at night and total disconnection from the external world.

Secondary Reporting from Yahoo

REPORTS have emerged of Israeli drones playing recordings of women and children crying to lure Palestinians to locations where they can be targeted before opening fire.

Residents of Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp – situated in the north – said they were woken up on Monday night to sounds of babies crying and women calling out for help.

When they went to help, they reported Israeli drones opening fire on them. According to witnesses at the scene, up to ten people were injured by the drone fire overnight.

One resident told the Middle East Eye that they heard a woman screaming for help, saying, “Help me, my son was martyred”.

[najia-cooks]

[ID: A plate of light brown bumpy flatbread with blackened spots, surrounded by za'tar and green olives. End ID]

خبز طابون / Khobz taboon (Palestinian flatbread)

Khobz taboon ("taboon bread") is a soft, chewy Palestinian flatbread. It may be eaten with olive oil and za'tar, but it is best known as the base of مسخن (musakhkhan), where it is topped with spiced aromatics and perhaps chicken.

Khobz taboon gets its name from the vessel it is traditionally cooked in—an outdoor, shallow conical oven with an opening at the top and a clay or metal cover to trap heat. Taboons may also have an opening at the side through which the fire can be stoked, especially in the east of Palestine. These ovens were historically made from a mixture of local clay and hay, but have more recently also been constructed from clay treated to be sturdier, or from metal.

A taboon is used by packing flammable material, such as hay, fabric, animal dung, wood, and charcoal, around the outside of the oven and letting it burn overnight; the fire transfers thermal energy to the clay, and to the river stones, sand, glass, or flint stones (صوان, "ṣawwān") that form the base of the oven. The ash is then brushed away, and the flattened dough is placed on the stones or stuck to the walls of the oven to cook. The clay and stones will continue to release thermal energy and cook things throughout the day. The clay and ash give a distinctive flavor to anything cooked inside the taboon, making this method a source of nostalgia for many people who have transitioned to cooking in indoor ovens.

Khobz taboon was traditionally made with whole wheat flour. Most people today use a blend of around two parts white flour to one part whole wheat, or else all white flour; they may even add milk or milk powder to ensure a very soft dough. This recipe uses a blend of flours to combine the nutty flavor of whole wheat dough with the pliancy of white dough. It also begins with an optional pre-ferment to mimic the traditional Palestinian method of including a piece of dough from the previous day's bread into each new batch (like a pâte fermentée) giving a rich and slightly sour flavor to the final bread. It calls for the use of rocks to imitate the bottom of a taboon; the rocks give the khobz its distinctive dimpled texture, and ensure that no interior pocket forms in the bread.

In the years following 2007, the siege Israel had imposed on Gaza caused a shortage of cooking gas that led to a resurgence in the use of taboons. The ovens were used to bake bread and to grill sweet potatoes during the time of their winter harvest. Meanwhile, in the West Bank, Israeli military forces repeatedly destroyed taboon ovens and assaulted villagers who tried to defend them, as Israeli settlers from nearby villages complained about the smoke that the ovens produced. Some of these ovens had been used to bake bread for entire families of 40 or more people. Palestinians continue to build, use, and defend these ovens, despite the fact that Israeli law de facto forbids Palestinians in the West Bank to build anything.

Today, Israel is deliberately targeting and destroying bakeries in refugee camps that had been supplying bread to tens of thousands of people in Gaza, continuing a long campaign of starvation of the Palestinian people.

Support Palestinian resistance by calling Elbit System's (Israel's primary weapons manufacturer) landlord; and donating to Palestine Action's bail fund.

Equipment:

A large, shallow mixing bowl, like a Moroccan qus'a

A large (12"), shallow clay cooking vessel, such as the bottom of a Moroccan tajine (one that is rated for very high temperatures), or a large baking tray

Assorted smooth river rocks of varying sizes, from 1 to 3" in diameter.

Make sure that your rocks have been thoroughly cleaned, and that they do not contain any fissures, cracks, or veins that could contain water (this water, once heated in the oven, could cause the rocks to crack open). Instead of river rocks, I used lava rocks designed for use in a clay tanoor. You just need something to provide thermal mass and give a bumpy texture.

Ingredients:

Makes 3 large breads.

For the pre-ferment:

140g whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp active dry yeast

140g water

You may also use a pâte fermentée that you already have (just adjust the ratio of white to whole wheat flour added later accordingly), or a sourdough starter. The hydration of the starter doesn't matter, since you will be adding water by eye later.

For the bread:

330g bread flour or all-purpose flour

30g whole wheat flour

5g salt

Water

If you skipped the pâte fermentée step, add 170g (rather than 30g) of wheat flour at this stage, as well as 1/2 Tbsp of active dry yeast. I have not tested the recipe this way.

Instructions:

For the pâte fermentée:

1. Mix flour and yeast in a small mixing bowl. Add water and stir to combine. Cover and leave out at room temperature for a day, or in the refrigerator for up to three days. At the end of the rising time, it should be about one and a half times its original size.

For the bread:

This recipe makes a high hydration dough that will need techniques such as slapping and folding to knead effectively.

1. Mix flours and salt in a very large, shallow mixing bowl. Add your pâte fermentée and mix to combine.

2. Add water until the flour comes together into a soft, sticky dough and continue keading. Have a bowl of water on your workstation. Every time the dough starts to stick to your hands or the sides of the bowl, wet your hands and rinse down the side of the bowl with some water. This will gradually add water to the dough.

3. You will notice the dough growing smoother and laxer. At this point, start kneading by repeatedly folding the edges of the dough in towards the center. Do this by occasionally wetting your hands, then running a hand along the side of the bowl and under the edge of the dough to unstick it from the bowl; then fold. You will get stuck less often if you try to touch the dough as lightly and briefly as possible. Every few folds, dimple the surface of the dough all over with your fingertips. You will have been kneading for about 10 minutes at this point.

The dough should become more smooth and less bumpy—you will notice it holding its shape and becoming more stretchy as gluten forms. It should form into a ball when you fold the corners in and hold its shape for a minute, but then gradually expand to take the shape of the bowl. I added about 2 1/2 cups of water total (in dry conditions) during steps 2 and 3.

4. At this point, the dough is wet enough that the slap and fold method is the best way to knead. Wet your hands and again unstick the dough from the sides of the bowl. Hook your hands under the dough and quickly pull it all up into the air; fold the hanging bottom part of the dough under, and plop the dough back down, folding it on top of the part you plopped down earlier. Give the bowl a quarter turn and repeat. Do this continually for another few minutes.

5. When the dough is very smooth and lax, smear some olive oil on the sides of the bowl and under the dough, and pat some oil on top.

6. Cover the bowl and bulk ferment the dough at room temperature for 8 hours, or for 16-24 hours in the fridge. At the end of the rising time, you should see bubbles beginning to form on the surface of the dough.

To shape and bake:

1. Place a layer of rocks at the bottom of a clay cooking vessel or baking sheet. Put the sheet in the top third of the oven and preheat your oven to 550 °F (290 °C), or as hot as it will go.

2. Meanwhile, fold the edges of the risen dough over into the middle a few more times with damp hands. Pinch off a large piece of dough (about the size of two fists), and fold the sides over into the middle to make a neat packet.

3. Drop the packet of dough onto a heavily floured surface, and flip to flour both sides. Pat the dough flat, then throw it back and forth between your hands, catching the edge each time as you spin it through the air, like a pizza crust, to stretch it into a circle about 1/4" (1/2cm) thick with a diameter of about 10" (25cm).

You may also stretch and pat the dough out on a flat surface.

4. Remove the tray from the oven. Flip the dough circle over the back of your hand to transfer it and lay it down over the hot rocks. Re-stretch it into a circle, if necessary.

5. Place the tray back in the oven and cook for 5-7 minutes, until the top of the bread has golden brown spots. Repeat with each piece of dough, leaving the rocks in the oven for a few minutes between each one to allow them to come back up to temperature.

6. (Optional): Hold each flatbread directly over a gas flame for a minute or two to blacken a few spots and mimic the flavor that a wood-fired oven would give to your khobz.

You may also use a method similar to the dhungar technique to smoke your bread. Place each piece of bread one at a time into a large vessel with a closely fitting lid, alongside a small bowl. Light a piece of wood on fire and drop it into the bowl; then cover the vessel with the lid as you allow the wood to smoke for a minute or two.

[elbiotipo]

The US does support Israel for ideological reasons, and there is an evangelical and zionist movement that supports it for ideological and religious reasons this is true, but there are also very clear material interests involved. Israel is an eager and hungry buyer for the US military-industrial complex. The incredibly expensive gold-plated F-35 fighter jets are bought by Israel to bomb defenseless refugee camps and targets all over the Middle East. And those are only the most expensive and notable example. All sorts of weapons, from "crowd control" (read: police brutality) to munitions for all of Israel's extremely expensive military systems are bought from the US and ocassionally other militaries (though the US is by FAR the largest seller) in multi-billion dollar contracts.

There is BIG, BIG money in supporting Israel, big fat contracts, incredibly delicate and complex supply chains with lots of people involved. And of course, these military-industrial corporations get practical testing of their weapons when they're openly used by Israel, which the US can use to refine its own military. There are also a lot of other material benefits the US gets by supporting Israel, from intelligence in the wider Middle East to using it as a base to implement US interests in the region from the economic to the political and access to a high-tech economy completely aligned with their interests (all of course, supported by the US and the Israel apartheid system)

When we see the US bending over backwards to support Israel, it's not that they're controlled by it like dumb anti-semitic conspiracies, in fact, it's Israel which is dependent on the US: Israel is a VERY useful asset to the US, in a very real way a gigantic military base for the US and a way to support with money and "experience" its military-industrial complex which it uses to implement Usamerican interests around the world. Israel even does it too like a tiny United States, selling weapons and training militaries and police around the world.

All Usamerican presidents have in one way or other supported Israel, even if Biden's administration is exceptionally callous and fanatical on its blind support for it. But Biden, Trump or whoever, the material interests I've mentioned are still standing. It will take a lot of effort to dismantle them, but it needs to be done, for the freedom of Palestinians and in that way too, the freedom of the rest of the world, because what is done in Israel is what is later used by the US military and its allies to enforce the current imperial system. Always keep in mind this, behind the suffering we see today there is a lot of racist supremacist ideology and human cruetly, but also and more importantly, geopolitical reasons and hard cash. This is not done because of sheer evil, even if the results are indeed evil by any measure of the word. It's done because of the cold logic of empire, and we must understand it to bring it down.

[mariacallous]

Sudan’s rival generals have ignored warnings of mass starvation. In more than a year of brutal war, the two military factions have weaponized humanitarian aid.

Sudan’s de facto leader, military chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has blocked aid into at least half of the country under the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) headed by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemeti. Meanwhile, the RSF is obstructing trucks into places held by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Local volunteers running soup kitchens have been targeted and killed by the RSF, particularly in Khartoum, Sudanese aid workers told FP.

The conflict has created the world’s largest hunger and internal displacement crises. The fighting has pushed 25 million people, more than half the nation’s population, into acute hunger and forced about 11 million people to flee their homes, including 2.3 million who fled abroad. More than two million Sudanese could die by the end of this year, aid agencies warn.

In areas where there is food available, extortion and attacks on traders at checkpoints have raised prices. Women have recounted having sex with SAF soldiers in exchange for food. Reports of torture, rape, the use of children under 15 in the fighting, and ethnic-based massacres by the RSF and armed militias have surged over the past year.

“People are dying of hunger in the capital,” said Mathilde Vu, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s advocacy advisor in Sudan. “We are looking at the risk of starvation being used as a weapon of war. … This needs to be monitored. The policymakers already have a tool for that. The U.N. Security Council resolution about conflict and hunger, and what they need to put in place is a monitoring of that.”

Both sides in Sudan’s nearly 17-month civil war have committed “harrowing” abuses that may amount to war crimes, a U.N.-mandated mission reported on Friday, calling for a countrywide arms embargo. Sudan’s military government rejected a proposal by U.N. experts to deploy a peacekeeping force to protect civilians.

Compounding the situation, the humanitarian response is critically underfunded. A $2.7 billion U.N. appeal has been just 32 percent funded. Much of that funding has come from the United States. However, aid agencies say local volunteers on the ground need to be better supported since a cease-fire is highly unlikely in the immediate future.

Famine was declared in Zamzam camp housing about 500,000 displaced people near the besieged city of El Fasher, the state capital of North Darfur—areas where the RSF is blocking aid trucks. There’s a realistic chance of famine in 16 other areas, Vu said, but precise figures are hard to confirm. Last month, the SAF agreed to open the Adré border crossing from landlocked Chad into Sudan, for a period of three months. But international aid agencies told FP that the SAF has made things difficult through lengthy authorizations ensuring only a trickle of shipments gets in.

U.S. envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello visited Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey this week in the latest attempt by the Biden administration to expand humanitarian access in Sudan, following failed peace talks in Geneva. The conflict risks turning into a forever war, in which various external actors seize the opportunity to extend their influence. Turkey, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Russia have been accused of arming warring parties.

While such negotiations are essential, U.S. attention and pressure should also focus on other regional powers with a vested interest in the conflict such as Eritrea and Ethiopia. Foreign mercenaries from Chad, Mali, Niger, the Central African Republic, and Libya are believed to be fighting in Sudan.

Pressuring regional powers could engage local armed militias allied to the warring parties in ultimately ensuring access to places like El Fasher. “It will create more of a buffer than two guys signing an agreement in Jeddah” and then breaking it, Vu said. “You cannot bypass the regional powers. … They really are the ones who have the leverage. It’s very important that Western powers engage them so that they have a constructive role in this crisis rather than a harmful one,” she added. Even if Burhan and Hemeti signed a peace deal, many of the local armed groups involved would likely not abide by it.

Both generals have held meetings with several African leaders, while the African Union has been largely absent in peace negotiations. More recently, Burhan held meetings with Eritrea’s president, Isaias Afwerki, and Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, at the China-Africa summit.

[girlactionfigure]

THURSDAY HERO: Johan Weidner 

Johan “Jean” Weidner was a Dutch businessman who created an extensive underground rescue network and saved the lives of 800 Jews and 112 downed Allied aviators.

Born in Brussels in 1912 to Dutch parents, Jean grew up in Switzerland in a devout Seventh-Day Adventist home. His father, a minister who taught Greek and Latin at a church seminary, wanted Jean to become a clergyman but instead he decided to go into business. He moved to Paris in 1935 and started an import-export textile firm.

When the Germans occupied Paris in 1940 Jean dropped everything and fled to Lyon in unoccupied France. He had to abandon his company, so he started a new one in Lyon.

In 1941, as the situation for Jews and other enemies of the Nazi war machine grew more dire, Jean took action. He created an underground network secretly run out of his textile factory. To facilitate escape to Switzerland, Jean opened a second branch of his business in Annecy, near the Swiss border. The route was dotted with safe houses and locals sympathetic to the Resistance who sheltered the refugees and helped them cross the border.

Known as Dutch-Paris, the network Jean created became one of the most effective resistance groups during war. Also called “the Swiss Way,” the network’s mission was to rescue people targeted by the Nazis by hiding them until they could help them escape to a neutral country.

Jean was leader of 330 men, women and teenagers working clandestinely in occupied countries of Western Europe as well as in Switzerland.

Dutch-Paris was constantly in need of funds to support their extensive activities, and Jean made a deal with the Dutch ambassador to Switzerland. The Dutch government-in-exile in London would fund the rescue operations if Jean 1) expanded the escape route to reach all the way to Spain and 2) used the route to convey intelligence on microfilm between Dutch resistance groups. Jean agreed to the terms and the expanded network began operating in November 1943.

In January of 1944 they began rescuing downed Allied aviators, an especially dangerous operation because it attracted the attention of German military intelligence officers. In only a month they saved over 112 pilots before tragedy struck. In February 1944, a young Dutch woman working as a courier was arrested by the French police and turned over to the Gestapo. They tortured her physically and psychologically, and threatened her family. She cracked under pressure and gave up names of her colleagues colleagues in the Dutch-Paris network.

Germans started arresting members of Dutch-Paris, including Jean’s sister Gabrielle. Over the next few months, many of the rescuers were sent to concentration camps, where at least forty of them were murdered. Gabrielle survived until liberation by the Russians, but she was so malnourished that she died days later.

Jean was able to escape capture long enough to rebuild networks and continue his rescue operations. In Toulouse he was arrested by the French police, but he escaped before they were able to transfer him to the Germans.

France was liberated in November 1944 and Jean was invited to London by Queen Wilhemina to inform her about the Dutch-Paris route, and the situation for Dutch civilians in areas occupied by the Germans. He was made a Captian in the Dutch Armed Forces but after the war he was let go by the Dutch government for not being a professional policeman. Jean returned to his textile business, and in 1955 emigrated to the United States where he and his wife operated a chain of health food stores for several decades.

He received multiple awards for his wartime heroism including the US Medal of Freedom, the Croix de Guerre and the Legion d’honneur. He was honored as Righteous Among the Nations by Israeli Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem, and a grove of trees was planted in his name. In 1993, at the opening of the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, he was one of seven people chosen to light candles honoring rescuers.

Jean Weidner died in 1994 in Southern California. Abraham Foxman, then National Director of the ADL said, “John Weidner lived his entire life giving back… Until his death, he lived a life of selflessness and service, working tirelessly to make the world a better place.”

For creating an underground escape route for victims of the Nazis, and saving hundreds of lives, we honor Jean Weidner as this week’s Thursday Hero.

[readingsquotes]

In a press release, Jewish Voice for Peace noted that the stock price of arms manufacturing companies Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have “skyrocketed” in the past year of warfare. “As Gaza is bombed, Wall Street booms,” Emma Seligman, writer and director of the film “Bottoms,” said in a statement to Teen Vogue from the protest. “Right now, the Israeli military is dropping bombs on homes, schools, refugee camps, and hospitals in North Gaza. Meanwhile, the members of Congress who vote to send these weapons to Israel invest in these companies and get richer every day.”

Today has been a day of carnage. Footage of the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on a hospital in central Gaza spread across social media, showing burning tents housing sleeping families in refuge, as well as one man burning alive, as reported by the Washington Post, which puts the reported death toll from the attack currently at 70. The majority of those injured were women and children. Meanwhile, the Guardian reported, another Israeli strike killed at least 18 in the town of Aitou in northern Lebanon.

...

“ACT UP’s first action took place on Wall Street to protest the lack of funding for AIDS care and medications. Today, a growing anti-war movement returns to this street to demand healthcare not warfare,” artist and ACT UP activist Gregg Bordowitz, who was at the 1989 protest and joined the JVP action today, said in a statement. “For those of us still alive today the continuity of struggle and commitment remain clear.”