Palestine will not be silenced

The Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was deliberately targeted by an Israeli sniper and assassinated on May 11. She was murdered in the morning daylight while wearing a vest that was clearly marked PRESS on the front and on her back.

To the apartheid regime occupying Palestine, her camera was more dangerous than a gun.

For 25 years Abu Akleh told the world about Palestine. “I chose journalism to be close to people,” said Shireen Abu Akleh. “It might not be easy to change the reality, but at least I could bring their voice to the world.” 

The Al Jazeera broadcaster reported how racist Israeli settlers shout in Hebrew “Mavet le-Aravim.” (“Death to the Arabs.”) She showed the demolition of Palestinian homes and the shooting of Palestinian children.

For telling the truth, Shireen Abu Akleh was beloved throughout the Arab world and beyond. And for being a truth teller she was murdered.

More than 50 other Palestinian journalists have been killed. The Israeli military spokesperson Ran Kochav justified these killings by saying “They’re armed with cameras, if you’ll permit me to say so.” 

The capitalist media covers-up these murders. The first headlines about Abu Akleh’s death in The New York Times referred to her as simply being slain, not assassinated.

The actress Susan Sarandon tweeted the truth: “Shireen Abu Akleh was EXECUTED with a shot to the head.” 

Shireen Abu Akleh held U.S. citizenship. Where was the congressional resolution condemning her assassination after the U.S. has delivered over $140 billion into the Zionist state?

In contrast, the governments of South Africa and Namibia denounced this foul murder. So did the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists.

Africans remember how Israel supported the original apartheid regime in South Africa and even supplied those neo-Nazis with nuclear weapons. 

Attacking her funeral

The Zionist state couldn’t even let Palestinians bury Shireen Abu Akleh in peace. The whole world saw on May 13 how Israeli police in riot gear attacked the pallbearers with horses and batons in Al-Quds (Jerusalem), the capital of Palestine.

At one point the casket almost dropped to the ground. One of the carriers managed to hold it with one hand while warding off police clubs with the other.

Palestinians belong to different faiths. Shireen Abu Akleh was a Christian.

Some Israeli soldiers asked Palestinians in the funeral procession whether they were Muslim or Christian. If they answered “Muslim” they would be kicked out. 

Tear gas and stun grenades were used against mourners. Cops beat and kicked the mourners while seizing Palestinian flags.

That’s how every colonial regime acts. In 1948, Law No. 53 was passed in Puerto Rico that made it illegal to display or even own a Puerto Rican flag. “La Ley de la Mordaza” was repealed in 1957.

Israeli police claim Palestinians carrying their own flag is “nationalist incitement.” Real “incitement” is the Israeli Brigadier-General (Reserve) Zvika Fogel confirming that army snipers are ordered to shoot at Palestinian children.

Fogel told Ron Nesiel on the Israeli public radio network Kan in 2018 that “it is not the whim of one or the other sniper who identifies the small body of a child now and decides he’ll shoot. Someone marks the target for him very well and tells him exactly why one has to shoot and what the threat is from that individual.”

Someone in the Israeli military establishment also marked the target of Shireen Abu Akleh and ordered the sniper to shoot her in the head.

The truth will not be silenced

It’s not just in the U.S. client state of Israel that truth tellers are assassinated. Between 2000 and 2016, $10 billion in U.S. aid was sent to Colombia.

The upshot was that tens of thousands of people were killed. Among them were 53 Colombian journalists slain between 1992 and 2022.

Within the United States itself ― all of it stolen from Indigenous peoples ― journalists have been attacked and killed.

Los Angeles Times columnist and KMEX-TV news director Ruben Salazar was killed on Aug. 29, 1970, during the National Chicano Moratorium anti-war march in East Los Angeles. Cops had attacked the peaceful protest of over 20,000 people.

Salazar was killed by a tear gas canister fired by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy.

Many people believe that Salazar was deliberately targeted for exposing the racism and brutality of the police and sheriff departments. In the days before his death, Ruben Salazar felt that he was being followed by police.

The wealthy and powerful wanted to silence the radio journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal forever. The former Black Panther Party member was framed for killing a Philadelphia police officer and was sentenced to death.

Although the death sentence was eventually overturned, Mumia Abu-Jamal has been in prison since 1981.

Ramsey Orta, a member of Copwatch in New York City, videoed the killing of Eric Garner by police officer Daniel Pantaleo on July 17, 2014. Garner was choked to death while repeatedly saying “I can’t breathe.”

For revealing the truth about Eric Garner’s cruel death to the world, Ramsey Orta was railroaded to jail and spent four years in prison.

The U.S. Government is now trying to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange for exposing Pentagon war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. Assange is in ill health and could be sentenced to many years in jail.

Hands off Julian Assange and all the truth tellers.

Hundreds protested on short notice outside the headquarters of the New York Times on May 13, 2022. They came to protest the coverage by the capitalist media about the murder of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh by an Israeli sniper.

The Times’ coverage was typical. Its headlines disguise the fact that the Palestinian journalist was assassinated.

The emergency memorial and protest was called by Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition. It called for “justice for honorable journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.”

During the rush-hour rally on Manhattan’s Eighth Avenue, news was received that Zionist cops attacked the pallbearers of Abu Akleh’s casket and tore Palestinian flags from it. Their viciousness underlined the desperation of the apartheid regime occupying Palestine.

Lamis Deek of Al-Awda described how Shireen Abu Akleh helped give a voice to the Palestinian people. Deek denounced the corporate media for covering-up Zionist war crimes. Deek, a human rights attorney, hailed Palestinian resistance groups.

Protesters marched from the Times building to the Zionist regime’s U.N. mission on Second Avenue. Forty-Second street was filled with Palestinian flags as protesters took to the streets.

People on the sidewalk greeted the marchers while many cars honked in approval. 

Long live the memory of Shireen Abu Akleh! Palestine will win!

On Wednesday, May 11, senior Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, 51 years old, was killed by Israeli security forces while she was covering a raid in the Jenin refugee camp in occupied West Bank. She was shot in the face despite wearing a press vest which identified her as a journalist. Another Palestinian journalist and Akleh’s colleague Ali al-Samoudi was also wounded in the shooting. He was shot in the back and was admitted to a hospital where he was reported to be out of danger.

In response to the grave human rights violations and violation to the freedom of press over twenty progressive news outlets, including TeleSUR TV and Pan African TV, signed the following statement condemning the assassination of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh:

We, a group of progressive news publications from around the world, condemn the brutal assassination of our colleague Shireen Abu Akleh at the hands of the Israeli Occupation Forces.

Shireen, a skilled and sensitive journalist at Al Jazeera, was covering a violent raid on the Jenin refugee camp by Israeli forces when she, and other journalists, were shot at by Israeli snipers despite being clearly identified as a journalist. Shireen, who was wearing a helmet and a bullet-proof vest, was killed by a shot to the face. Her colleague Ali al-Samoudi was also shot and injured but is recovering.

Statements released by Israeli officials and mainstream media attempting to shift responsibility for her death away from Israeli forces are irresponsible. Further, her death is not an anomaly nor accidental. Over the last several years, Palestinian journalists have been repeatedly targeted by the Israeli state, suffering judicial harassment and violence at the hands of Israeli forces. We also remember Yaser Murtaja, a Palestinian videographer and photo journalist, who was killed when covering the Great March of Return in the Gaza Strip on April 7, 2018.

We stand with the people of Palestine who continue to resist the violent Israeli apartheid regime and the brave journalists who put their lives on the line to tell their stories.

Palestine Chronicle
Ajans Près Popilè Ayisyèn (Haiti)
Agencia Latinoamericana de Información – ALAI
Al-Mayadeen (Lebanon)
ARG Medios (Argentina)
Barricada TV (Argentina)
Brasil de Fato (Brazil)
Breakthrough News (United States)
Capire
Cartago TV (Argentina)
Colombia Informa (Colombia)
Dialogos do Sul (Brazil)
El Ciudadano (Chile)
The Insight Newspaper (Ghana)
Jornalistas Livres (Brazil)
Kawsachun News (Bolivia)
Liberation News (United States)
Madaar
Nativa (Bolivia)
NewsClick (India)
New Frame (South Africa)
Pan African Television (Ghana)
Peoples Dispatch
Pressenza International Press Agency
Radyo Rezistans (Haití)
Reporteros de Investigación (Honduras)
Resumen Latinoamericano (Argentina, Cuba and United States)
Struggle-La Lucha (United States)
TeleSUR TV

(Español) Israel debe poner fin a sus ataques asesinos contra periodistas y personas palestinas

Nosotros y nosotras, un grupo de medios de comunicación progresistas de todo el mundo, condenamos el brutal asesinato de nuestra colega Shireen Abu Akleh a manos de las Fuerzas de Ocupación israelíes.

Shireen, una reconocida y sensible periodista de Al Jazeera, estaba cubriendo una violenta redada de las fuerzas israelíes en el campamento de refugiados de Jenin, cuando ella y otros periodistas, fueron baleados por francotiradores israelíes a pesar de estar claramente identificados como periodistas. Shireen, que llevaba casco y chaleco antibalas, murió de un disparo en la cara. Su colega Ali al-Samoudi también recibió un disparo y resultó herido, pero se encuentra en recuperación.

De manera irresponsable, funcionarios israelíes y medios de comunicación hegemónicos han intentado exculpar a las fuerzas israelíes por la muerte de Shireen. Sin embargo, su muerte no es una excepción ni un accidente. A lo largo de los últimos años, los y las periodistas palestinos han sido reiteradamente objetivos del Estado israelí, sufriendo acoso judicial y violencia a manos de las fuerzas del país. Recordamos también a Yaser Murtaja, videógrafo y fotoperiodista palestino, asesinado cuando cubría la Gran Marcha del Retorno en la Franja de Gaza el 7 de abril de 2018.

Nos solidarizamos con el pueblo Palestino que sigue resistiendo al violento régimen de apartheid israelí y con los y las valientes periodistas que se juegan la vida para contar sus historias.

Source: Peoples Dispatch

The chant “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea!” was heard by thousands of people in New York City on April 29. Manhattan’s Herald Square was filled with protestors who were outraged at Israel’s attacks on worshippers at the Al-Aqsa mosque during the holy month of Ramadan.

At least 150 worshippers were injured by Israeli cops on April 15 with rubber bullets and other weapons. Israeli troops and settlers have murdered dozens of Palestinians on the occupied West Bank this year.

The Al-Aqsa mosque is located in Jerusalem, which in Arabic is called Quds. The Iranian Revolution established Al-Quds Day on the last Friday of Ramadan to rally people worldwide to defend the capital of Palestine.

This year Al-Quds Day fell on April 29. That day people rallied in Detroit, Johannesburg, Lagos, Paris, Tehran and more than 50 other cities.

In New York City, Marya Abbas of the Muslim Congress and Nerdeen Kiswani of Within Our Lifetime co-chaired a rally that featured many speakers. 

They included Dr. Raza Moosvi of the Muslim Congress and Kawthar Abdullah of the Yemeni Alliance, who described the suffering the U.S.-armed Saudi military has inflicted on Yemen. A young boy, Taqi Abbas Abidi, gave a beautiful and melodious recitation from the Quran. 

It was pointed out that the U.S. government has given over $140 billion to the apartheid regime occupying Palestine. A rabbi denounced the racism of Zionism.

Lamis Deek of Al-Awda NY, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, spoke of the upcoming Rising to Return conference planned for May 6-8 at the Peoples Forum in New York City. 

Bill Dores of Struggle-La Lucha newspaper and the Socialist Unity Party / Partido de Socialismo Unido pointed out that Washington funds and arms the Zionist occupation regime in Palestine at the expense of working-class communities here. He called on workers and oppressed people in the U.S. to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine. 

Among the organizations sponsoring the event was MuslimCongress.org; Al-Awda NY, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition; Jafria Association of North America; Within Our Lifetime-United For Palestine; United National Antiwar Coalition; Muslims for Progress; Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network; BDSapp.org;  Muslims United for Justice; Muslim Girl; Yemeni Alliance Committee NY; Socialist Unity Party; Workers World Party; International Action Center; and CAIR NJ.

Free Palestine!

Anyone who has ever been critical of Israeli actions toward the Palestinian people knows what to expect next—an avalanche of pit-bull attacks and smears that their criticisms of Israel are motivated by racism and anti-Semitism. The latest example is the response to actress Emma Watson’s pro-Palestinian Instagram post, which led (predictably) to Israeli officials and supporters accusing her of anti-Semitism. Among many others, former Israeli UN Representative Danny Danon—in a tone-deaf post—wrote, “10 points from Gryffindor for being an antisemite.”

The purpose of such false accusations is of course to deflect attention away from what is happening on the ground—the real (war) crimes that Israel is perpetrating against the Palestinian people—to the supposed motivations of the critics. Unable to defend its criminal actions, all that Israel’s increasingly desperate defenders have left is smear and innuendo, as the attacks on Emma Watson make clear.

But the accusations may also have some other unintended consequences—they make real anti-Semitism (the right-wing fascist variety that really does hate Jews as Jews) more respectable and legitimate—and thus even more deadly. In that sense, the Zionist defenders of Israel are among the most dangerous purveyors of contemporary anti-Semitism—the hatred of Jews as a collective.

There are two steps to how these unintended consequences are blundered into.

First, there is the claim that Israel and Jewishness are the same thing—that Israel is not the state of all its citizens but is the state of the Jewish people alone. The nation-state law, passed in 2018—which gives Jews alone the right of self-determination in Israel, recognizing Hebrew as the sole official national language, and establishing “Jewish settlement as a national value”—makes the link between the Israeli state and Jewishness formal and official. Similarly, the widely adopted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism cites one example as “the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity” and has a similar thrust—Israel equals Jews.

The second step is the increasing visibility of Israeli violence toward Palestinians. Although Israeli propaganda had succeeded for decades in deflecting mainstream attention away from Israel’s crimes, the cloak of invisibility created by its public relations efforts—its hasbara—is disintegrating before the force of reality, its own increasingly cruel and vicious actions, as well as the work of the growing number of pro-Palestinian activists around the world who are using the power of social media to bypass the normal media gatekeepers. While anyone with a passing knowledge of the situation has long known about the brutal matrix of violence and control—from the river to the sea—exerted by Israel over the Palestinian population, that understanding is now increasingly visible and mainstream. (As evidence of this, Emma Watson’s post quickly drew over 1 million likes.)

The problem for all of us, not just Israel, is when these two things are put together—the equation of Israel with Jews and the visibility of Israeli atrocities—then Jews as a whole become tarred with the crimes of the Israeli state. As the Israeli journalist Gideon Levy wrote in 2015, “Some of the hatred toward Jews elsewhere in the world—emphatically, only some and not all of it—is fed by the policies of the state of Israel and especially by its continuing occupation and abuse, decade after decade, of the Palestinian people.”

In this process, the danger is that actually existing anti-Semitism is being made more respectable as there seems to be some rational basis for it—Israeli atrocities. At a time when the real and dangerous anti-Semitism of the fascist right is on the rise—remember the white supremacist Charlottesville thugs were chanting “Jews will not replace us”—the last thing that is needed is to give it any sheen of respectability, as, albeit unwittingly, do those who insist on the indissoluble link between the brutal violence of the Zionist project and Jewishness.

Such a link is of course nonsense. Jews of all political stripes have long been on the front lines of the fight against the racist Zionist enterprise, insisting that it has no part in their own Jewish values based on a belief in universal—not particular—human rights. It is why groups such as Rabbis for Human Rights act as human shields against the attacks on Palestinians by settlers and the Israel Defense Forces. The fight against Israeli policies and Zionist violence is driven by the concerns of social justice and solidarity, not racism toward Jews.

Emma Watson is part of an exponentially fast-growing choir of decent like-minded men and women of good faith all over the world, united in their belief that all people, irrespective of their ethnicity or their religion or their nationality, must have inalienable human rights, including the right to life and liberty and self-determination, from every river to every sea everywhere. That includes the long-suffering people of Palestine. The attempted weaponization of anti-Semitism against this movement not only weakens the term as a description of real fascist racism, but in fact serves to legitimate it. If criticizing cruel Israeli policies toward the Palestinians is anti-Semitic, then what is so wrong with anti-Semitism, so this misguided line of thinking goes. As Robert Fisk once noted, “if this continued campaign of abuse against decent people, trying to shut them up by falsely accusing them of anti-Semitism, continues, the word ‘anti-Semitism’ will begin to become respectable. And that is a great danger.”

The solution to this is clear: break the erroneous link between Israel and all Jews (between Israel and Judaism) and concentrate on the reality that the Zionist enterprise is an old-fashioned settler-colonial project—driven in large part by the geopolitical interests of its principal sponsor, the United States. Once we eliminate the obfuscation and confusion that result from the lazy (but calculated) accusation of anti-Semitism, the building of an unstoppable international movement of justice for the Palestinians can continue. Let’s get to it!

This article was produced by Globetrotter.

Sut Jhally is professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and founder and executive director of the Media Education Foundation.

Roger Waters is a musician

Since the beginning of the year, Israeli war criminal and “Minister of Defense” Benny Gantz has repeatedly designated Palestinian and international organizations working to defend Palestinian rights and organize for Palestinian liberation as “terrorist.” Today, 22 October, Gantz designated six Palestinian organizations, all known for their defense of Palestinian human rights: Al-Haq, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Defence for Children International Palestine, Bisan Center for Research and Development, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees.

This follows Gantz and the Israeli regime’s designation of Samidoun as a “terrorist” organization on 21 February 2021. In late August 2021, without issuing a press release, Gantz also designated EuroPal Forum, the International Legal Coalition for Palestine and the Popular Conference of Palestinians Abroad. It is clear that the Israeli regime has fully adopted as standard practice and policy the “terrorist” designation of organizations that effectively challenge its control and expose its crimes on the local, regional and international levels.

All of these designations are meant primarily as an attack on Palestinian organizing, research, agriculture, and the Palestinian prisoners’ movement. We express our full solidarity with all of the organizations designated in this manner and once again affirm that we will not be silenced or deterred by Israeli smear campaigns or attempted collective terror against Palestinians, Arabs and internationals struggling for justice. This repression must inspire us to organize more and build greater mutual defense and solidarity against all attempts to use the “terrorist” label to criminalize Palestinian resistance, action and organizing.

Once again, the Israeli designations appear to essentially be copied-and-pasted from right-wing propaganda organizations like NGO Monitor that aim to shield Israel from international accountability by smearing and attacking Palestinian human rights defenders. Their shoddy reporting, baseless claims and factual inaccuracies are part and parcel of their attempt to defend Israeli colonialism, military occupation, apartheid, siege and mass arbitrary detention of Palestine and the Palestinian people. These types of propaganda organizations have done so by attempting to prevent Palestinian non-governmental organizations from receiving grants; for example, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees has faced such attacks from these organizations in Australia, the Netherlands, and elsewhere.

Such “terrorist” designations can be used as a justification for arresting members, closing down organizations and centers or labeling the organizations “illegal” inside the occupied West Bank. In our experience with this designation since February of this year, these designations are used as ammunition by Zionist “lawfare” groups in various countries in an attempt to create a climate of fear to undermine collective solidarity, cut off funding or access to banking, and silence advocates for justice, rights and liberation in Palestine at international venues.

Through these designations, Israel has made clear that its definition of “terrorism” is any action that resists its colonialism throughout occupied Palestine. In many cases, such as with today’s designations of Addameer and DCI Palestine, as well as the existing designation of Samidoun, it is clear that this is an attempt to cut off Palestinian political prisoners — including imprisoned children — from growing legal, political and moral support and to attack the Palestinian prisoners’ movement. In the case of organizations like Al-Haq, it is clear that Israel wants to use the “terror” designation to provide itself with impunity from international prosecution, while the designations of organizations like Bisan, UPWC and UAWC aim to undermine and target Palestinian self-organization, research, and food sovereignty.

When Ben & Jerry’s ice cream brand announced that it would simply no longer sell ice cream in the future to illegal colonial settlements following an extensive campaign by social justice and Palestinian rights organizations, Israeli president Isaac Herzog labeled even this attempt of a company to come in line with international law — and all boycotts of Israel — as “terrorist.”

While this example is rhetorical, it indicates just how meaningless the term “terrorist” is in the hands of the Israeli regime. It means precisely any organization, activist, or freedom fighter that challenges Zionist colonialism through any method or means of resistance at all. The flurry of “terrorist” designations for organizations working to expose Israel’s crimes and organize Palestinians underlines this reality.

It further highlights exactly why all such designations should be considered propaganda stunts and tossed out by courts, governments, financial institutions and any other party called upon to repress Palestinian organizing on the basis of these bogus labels.  Such designations have no international effect and do not require anyone to stop supporting these organizations. Instead, these designations must mobilize us to build greater popular support for Palestinian rights organizations designated by the Israeli occupation.

Further, such designations should also inspire international advocates for Palestine and organizations concerned with justice and human rights to adopt the boycott and international isolation of Israel, which has once again — as it has for over 73 years — shown itself to be dedicated to the expulsion and suppression of the Palestinian people with complete disregard for any principles of law or justice.

As we noted in February, these designations are also an attempt to divert attention from the serious problem facing hundreds of Zionist officials – including Gantz himself – who are afraid from the next steps of the investigations by the International Criminal Court (ICC) after its last announcement on 5 February 2021 affirming that it has the authority to investigate war crimes in the Palestinian occupied territories.

These designations are not attacks on individual organizations but against Palestinian human rights defenders and those around the world who stand up for Palestinian liberation — and, fundamentally, the Palestinian people as a whole, especially the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons. They attempt to repress growing support for the legitimate resistance of the Palestinian people and confrontation of imperialism and Zionism.

Source: Samidoun

We express our firm commitment to mutual defense and collective solidarity with all similarly targeted organizations working for a liberated Palestine. The primary way that we can confront these designations is by intensifying our organizing, action, mobilization and resistance to bring down the structures of colonialism, implement the right to return for Palestinian refugees, and support the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners and of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

We invite all who want to get involved in building this collective solidarity to get involved with our work at Samidoun. Click here to donate to support our work. To find out about becoming a member or building a chapter in your area, email us today at samidoun@samidoun.net

After humiliating the Zionist regime by liberating themselves from the high-security Gilboa prison, four members of the Freedom Brigade were seized by occupation forces. For five days, they saw Palestine as free people – and they continue to show the world that the only path to liberation is resistance. Meanwhile, Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails continue to struggle to resist colonial incarceration and repression.

In the early hours of Saturday, 11 September, occupation forces seized Mohammed Ardah and Zakaria Zubaidi, over five days after they liberated themselves from Gilboa Prison. Earlier that day, they seized Mahmoud Ardah and Yaqoub Qadri. Two liberated prisoners remain free, insisting on their freedom despite an ongoing manhunt by all levels of the Israeli occupation forces. Given the record of the Israeli occupation, we have every reason to believe that the four seized members of the Freedom Brigade will be subjected to severe torture and abuse in an attempt to garner information on the whereabouts of their liberated brothers.

The four are currently being held in the Jalameh interrogation center and are being denied access to their lawyers. Palestinian lawyer Khaled Mahajneh told Quds News that “the occupation intelligence is hiding all information about the prisoners who were arrested, and the court has imposed until now an order to prevent the four prisoners from meeting with their defense lawyers…We have not been able to obtain information about the prisoners’ conditions, nor about their health, physical or psychological state.” All of the Palestinian resistance organizations have issued stern warnings to the Israeli occupation against harming the four heroes of the Freedom Tunnel, while human rights organizations emphasized that the occupation holds full responsibility for their lives.

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails announced escalating steps of struggle to begin on Friday, 17 September, with groups of the prisoners’ movement leadership entering into hunger strikes, and prisoners collectively refusing to participate in roll call and counting and closing their sections. Over 400 Palestinians held in Gilboa prison have been transferred to other prisons, they have been denied access to the canteen or prison store and denied family and legal visits, all while being subjected to violent searches and attacks including military dogs. In response to these attacks, Palestinian prisoners resisted, burning cells in several prisons.

All of the Palestinian political organizations in the prisons formed an emergency committee to follow up on these steps of struggle, especially following a series of attacks on the prisoners, to end the restrictions on them and stop the ongoing violent invasions of Palestinian prisoners’ cells.

Organizers throughout Palestine and internationally are responding to the call for action from the prisoners, organizing actions and protests in Baqa’a al-Gharbiyeh, Nazareth, Ramallah, Jenin and elsewhere, as well as international solidarity actions in Paris, Frankfurt, Gothenburg, Derry, New York, Vancouver and elsewhere. Youth groups and Palestinian leaders and former prisoners such as Khader Adnan have called for general strikes in support of the prisoners.

The families of the liberated prisoners are also facing ongoing attacks, interrogation and collective punishment. Raddad and Shaddad al-Ardah, the brothers of Mahmoud al-Ardah, Ahmad and Bassam al-Ardah, the brothers of Mohammed al-Ardah, and their relative Nidal al-Ardah, had their detention and interrogation extended by the Israeli Salem military court for another 15 days on 11 September.

**

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network emphasizes and amplifies the call of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement to stand with the Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian people today to demand justice and liberation for Palestine, from the river to the sea.

The  liberated detainees of Gilboa prison represent the irrepressible hope of and commitment to liberation that no amount of militarized repression and Zionist colonization has suppressed, for over 73 years. The actions of this “Freedom Brigade” are not only a symbol of hope for Palestinians but also for everyone in the world who seeks justice and freedom. The rearrest of four liberated prisoners has done nothing to dim the light of liberation that they represent for humanity or to lessen the blow they have dealt to the mirage of Israeli invincibility and security control. They reflect the unbreakable Palestinian will to live, struggle and thrive in the most seemingly impossible circumstances.

Western imperialist governments are part and parcel of the ongoing attacks against Palestinian prisoners and the colonization of Palestine. From the U.S.’ over $3.8 billion annually in weaponry provided to the Israeli regime to the ongoing economic, political and diplomatic support provided by the European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom and others, all of these states are directly involved in the ongoing crimes perpetuated against the Palestinian people. Everywhere in the world, we can and must act now to stand with the heroes of the Freedom tunnel and all Palestinian prisoners struggling for justice, and for the liberation of Palestine!

Join us in action:

1. Demonstrations, rallies and street actions – including actions to boycott Israel!

Have a protest or action to free Palestinian prisoners, support the Palestinian struggle for liberation, stand with the Palestinian resistance and boycott Israel and its complicit corporations. Join the many protests taking place around the world — confront, isolate and besiege the Israeli embassy or consulate in your city or country of residence. Make it clear that the people are with Palestine and the liberated prisoners! Send us your events at samidoun@samidoun.net.

• 11 September, Frankfurt: Palestine Stand: Free all Palestinian prisoners!
• 11 September, Gothenburg: End the Occupation – Freedom for All Palestinian Prisoners!
• 11 September, Derry, Ireland: Stand with Palestinian Prisoners
• 12 September, NYC: Globalize The Intifada From Attica To Gilboa!
• 17 September, Vancouver: #BoycottPuma and Support Palestinian Prisoners

2. Creative Actions

Creative actions are a wonderful way to spread the word and highlight the struggle of the Palestinian prisoners. The banner hung by Samidoun España in Madrid at the University metro station highlighted the struggle of Palestinian students, while the campaign to symbolically rename streets after Georges Abdallah internationally commemorated his birthday and amplified the demand for his liberation.

These actions only require one, two or a few people. You can even simply poster and sticker around your neighbourhood. Contact us via email at samidoun@samidoun.net or via WhatsApp at +32466904397 if you are looking for image ideas or resources!

3. Demand Your Government Sanction Israel!

The racist, settler colonial state of Israel and its war crimes against the Palestinian people are enabled and backed extensively by the over $3.8 billion each year given to Israel by the United States — targeted directly to support the Israeli occupation military killing children, women, men and elders throughout occupied Palestine. From Canada to Australia to the European Union, Western governments and imperialist powers provide ongoing diplomatic, political and economic support to Israel as well as selling billions of dollars of weaponry to the settler-colonial state. Meanwhile, they also purchase billions of dollars in weaponry from the Israeli state. Governments in league with imperialist powers, such as in the Philippines, Brazil, India and elsewhere, also buy weapons and “security” services — all “battle-tested” on the Palestinian population. Call your representatives, MPs, political officials and demand your government sanction Israel now, cut off all aid, expel its ambassadors, and stop buying and selling weapons!

Please note: Samidoun has speakers that can participate in your events (in-person and virtual) in Arabic, English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish and other languages. Contact us via email at samidoun@samidoun.net or via WhatsApp at +32466904397 to inquire about a Samidoun speaker!

Submit Your Action

Please contact us via email at samidoun@samidoun.net or via WhatsApp at +32466904397 or over social media to send us your events and actions!

Download these signs for your action:

• Poster/Sign – End Administrative Detention (with Palestinian Flag)
• Zionism is Racism
• Support Palestinian Resistance
• Poster/Sign: Stop G4S – Boycott Zionism
• Poster/Sign: Free Hunger Strikers and All Prisoners
• Poster/Sign – Free All Palestinian Prisoners

Source: Samidoun

Six Palestinians jailed by the Israeli occupation liberated themselves through a tunnel dug beneath Gilboa prison in the early morning hours of Monday, 6 September. The six liberated prisoners – Mahmoud Abdullah Ardah, Mohammed Qasim Ardah, Ayham Fouad Kamamji, Yaqoub Mahmoud Qadri, Zakaria al-Zubaidi and Munadil Yaqoub Infaat – have remained free despite the desperate attempts of Israeli occupation jailers to pursue them. However, occupation guards have been forcibly transferring, attacking and invading prisoners’ cells throughout Palestine while dragging the freed men’s family members to interrogation. There is an uprising inside the prisons that requires the support of all people around the world who stand with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian struggle for freedom and liberation – join us in taking action!

In Megiddo prison, Ramon prison, and the Negev desert prison, Palestinian political prisoners burned their rooms in resistance to the prison administration’s attempt to transfer the prisoners affiliated with Islamic Jihad. The Handala Center for Prisoners and Former Prisoners in occupied Palestine reported that 7 rooms in Megiddo prison, 4 rooms in the Negev prison and 4 rooms in sections 4 and 5 of Ramon prison have been burned, and that the prisoners’ movement leadership has affirmed that any section that is invaded to transfer detainees will be met with fire.

Palestinians throughout occupied Palestine are rallying in support of the six self-liberated prisoners, whose “Freedom Tunnel,” dug through lengthy months of perseverance with only kitchen utensils for tools, has become a symbol of hope for freedom as well as an example that the technological and military might of the Israeli colonial power has been unable to suppress Palestinian resistance. The tunnel, stretching for tens of meters below Gilboa prison, represents the unquenchable thirst for liberation of imprisoned Palestinians, and the hope of an undying love of freedom. In Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus, al-Khalil, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Tulkarem, Gaza City, Jabalya camp and elsewhere, organizers are taking to the streets to stand with the liberated prisoners and those resisting behind the walls.

The uprising inside prisons was launched after an attack on the Palestinians detained in the Negev desert prison. Occupation special units stormed Section 6 with weaponry and police dogs, including military forces from a nearby base, prompting the prisoners to burn 7 rooms and resist the invasion. As all of this continues, there are six administrative detainees, jailed without charge or trial, who are continuing their hunger strikes for freedom: Kayed al-Fasfous (for 56 days), Miqdad Qawasmeh (49 days), Alaa al-Araj (31 days), Hisham Abu Hawash (23 days), Raik Sadeq Bisharat (18 days) and Shadi Abu Aker (15 days).

Palestinian political parties and resistance organizations have emphasized the urgent need for action to defend the prisoners and demand their liberation. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine urged Palestinians and their allies everywhere to respond to the call of the prisoners with actions, demonstrations and protests of support.

There are currently 4,650 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including 520 jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, 40 women prisoners and 200 child prisoners. Political imprisonment affects all sectors of Palestinian society, and nearly 40% of Palestinian men in the West Bank and Jerusalem have spent time in Israeli detention.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network emphasizes and amplifies the call of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement to stand with the Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian people today to demand justice and liberation for Palestine, from the river to the sea. The six liberated detainees of Gilboa prison represent the irrepressible hope of and commitment to liberation that no amount of militarized repression and Zionist colonization has suppressed, for over 73 years. The actions of this “Freedom Brigade” are not only a symbol of hope for Palestinians but also for everyone in the world who seeks justice and freedom. Inside the prison walls, Palestinian prisoners continue to defend themselves against ongoing invasions and attacks.

Western imperialist governments are not innocent in the ongoing attacks against Palestinian prisoners and the colonization of Palestine. From the U.S.’ over $3.8 billion annually in weaponry provided to the Israeli regime to the ongoing economic, political and diplomatic support provided by the European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom and others, all of these states are directly involved in the ongoing crimes perpetuated against the Palestinian people. Everywhere in the world, we can and must act now to stand with the Palestinian prisoners and their uprising, and for the liberation of Palestine!

Join us in action:

1. Demonstrations, rallies and street actions – including actions to boycott Israel!

Have a protest or action to free Palestinian prisoners, support the Palestinian struggle for liberation, stand with the Palestinian resistance and boycott Israel and its complicit corporations. Join the many protests taking place around the world — confront, isolate and besiege the Israeli embassy or consulate in your city or country of residence. Make it clear that the people are with Palestine and the liberated prisoners! Send us your events at samidoun@samidoun.net.

2. Creative Actions

Creative actions are a wonderful way to spread the word and highlight the struggle of the Palestinian prisoners. The banner hung by Samidoun España in Madrid at the University metro station highlighted the struggle of Palestinian students, while the campaign to symbolically rename streets after Georges Abdallah internationally commemorated his birthday and amplified the demand for his liberation.

These actions only require one, two or a few people. You can even simply poster and sticker around your neighbourhood. Contact us via email at samidoun@samidoun.net or via WhatsApp at +32466904397 if you are looking for image ideas or resources! 

3. Demand Your Government Sanction Israel!

The racist, settler colonial state of Israel and its war crimes against the Palestinian people are enabled and backed extensively by the over $3.8 billion each year given to Israel by the United States — targeted directly to support the Israeli occupation military killing children, women, men and elders throughout occupied Palestine. From Canada to Australia to the European Union, Western governments and imperialist powers provide ongoing diplomatic, political and economic support to Israel as well as selling billions of dollars of weaponry to the settler-colonial state. Meanwhile, they also purchase billions of dollars in weaponry from the Israeli state. Governments in league with imperialist powers, such as in the Philippines, Brazil, India and elsewhere, also buy weapons and “security” services — all “battle-tested” on the Palestinian population. Call your representatives, MPs, political officials and demand your government sanction Israel now, cut off all aid, expel its ambassadors, and stop buying and selling weapons!

Please note: Samidoun has speakers that can participate in your events (in-person and virtual) in Arabic, English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish and other languages. Contact us via email at samidoun@samidoun.net or via WhatsApp at +32466904397 to inquire about a Samidoun speaker! 

Submit Your Action

Please contact us via email at samidoun@samidoun.net or via WhatsApp at +32466904397 or over social media to send us your events and actions!

Download these signs for your action:

• Poster/Sign – End Administrative Detention (with Palestinian Flag)
• Zionism is Racism
• Support Palestinian Resistance
• Poster/Sign: Stop G4S – Boycott Zionism
• Poster/Sign: Free Hunger Strikers and All Prisoners
• Poster/Sign – Free All Palestinian Prisoners

While the U.S. corporate media has falsely accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons, it’s been largely silent about Israel’s nuke arsenal. This cover-up has continued despite widespread acknowledgement elsewhere of the Zionist state’s H-bomb stash. 

Back in 1986, London’s Sunday Times published the front page story “Revealed: Israel’s Nuclear Secrets.” The article estimated that Israel had between 100 and 200 nuclear weapons.

It was based on information from the former Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu. In retaliation, Vanunu was kidnapped from Britain by Israeli agents and sentenced to 18 years in prison after a secret trial.

The U.S. State Department — which claims to defend human rights — said nothing about the abduction of this courageous whistleblower, who spent 11 years in solitary confinement for telling the truth.

The media even ignored U.S. organizations like the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, which estimates that Israel has 90 nuclear weapons. Or the Federation of American Scientists, which quotes “U.S. Intelligence Community” estimates that the apartheid state occupying Palestine had between 75 and 130 nukes. 

So it was surprising that the New York Times on Aug. 11 ran an essay by Peter Beinart discussing Israel’s nuclear arsenal. 

Beinart is no radical. As editor of the Atlantic magazine he supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq. More recently he’s become critical of U.S. foreign policy and was detained briefly in Israel.

It’s a sign of how much more isolated Israel and its U.S. backers have become that Beinart wrote the piece and the New York Times published it.

A much bigger question is why the military-industrial-complex has tolerated Israel’s nuclear arsenal that’s over a third the size of either the British or French inventory. 

Nuclear bonding over colonial wars

Doesn’t the Pentagon demand a monopoly of violence? That was the theme of its 1992 “Defense Planning Guidance,” parts of which were leaked to the New York Times and Washington Post. 

Written after the Soviet Union’s overthrow, it sought to prevent the rise of any other military power, even among its supposed capitalist allies.

U.S. capitalists wouldn’t let Germany — the strongest European economic power — start building nuclear weapons. The German working class, which includes millions of immigrants, would rise up to stop it.

British scientists played an important role in the Manhattan Project which built the atom bombs that incinerated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The British mission was led by the Nobel Prize winning physicist James Chadwick, who discovered the neutron.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed to this sharing of information with the understanding that Britain would get atom bombs too. The Pentagon double-crossed Britain, which had to develop its own nuclear program. It wasn’t until 1952 that Britain became the third nuclear power, after the United States and the Soviet Union.

Wall Street didn’t want France to have nukes, either. France detonated its first bomb in 1960 in southern Algeria, then a French colony.

The French nuclear program was carried out in collaboration with Israel, which played somewhat the same role that British scientists did in the U.S. Manhattan Project.

France was then the Zionist State’s closest ally. In its 1967 blitzkrieg invasion of Egypt, Jordan and Syria, Israeli pilots flew French Mirage jets, not U.S. Phantoms, which were then bombing Vietnam and Laos.

Israel joined the British and French colonial slave masters invading Egypt in 1956. They did so after Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, which had been built in the 1860s by French colonialists with slave labor. Taking over the canal was one of great victories against colonialism.

The Zionist state supported France’s war of extermination against the Algerian people who were fighting for independence. At least a million Algerians were killed with 40,000 tortured to death.

One of the torturers was Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s fascist National Front, now renamed the National Rally. This war criminal is just as anti-Jewish as he is anti-Arab and anti-Muslim.

Targeting the Soviet Union

France’s explosion of its atomic bomb in the Sahara was a war crime against all Africans. Hundreds of Africans must have died from the fallout.

The French capitalists’ dirty war against Algeria was the political reason for Israel getting help to build the bomb. But France was defeated by the Algerian people. Afterwards French banksters had less use for the Zionist state.

The U.S. government wasn’t initially in favor of Israel making nukes. President John F. Kennedy sent inspectors to Israel’s Dimona reactor. But the Zionist regime was able to continue with its nuclear program.

It was President Richard Nixon who started the big cash pipeline to Israel. At least $140 billion has been spent to prop up apartheid rule over Palestine. Every cent of it was stolen from poor and working people.

Nixon did this even though he can be heard on tape repeatedly attacking Black and Jewish people. This included a conversation with the late Rev. Billy Graham, who also made bigoted remarks against Jews. The evangelist’s son Rev. Franklin Graham is a leading hate monger against Muslims. 

Big Oil doesn’t allow Israel to have dozens of atom bombs so it can bomb Rockefeller’s oil wells in the Arab/Persian Gulf. Israel’s nukes were to be launched at the Soviet Union.

This is something that’s often overlooked in discussing the Zionist state. Israel’s nukes can be used against Iran and are a threat to many other countries.

The most sinister example is the Zionists helping its fellow apartheid regime in South Africa to develop nuclear weapons. This was revealed in the 1979 “Vela Incident,” which was the explosion of a nuclear bomb in the southern Indian Ocean.

At the time, South Africa was fighting a war with newly independent Angola and its Cuban allies. Sections of the South African apartheid military wanted to drop a nuclear bomb on Luanda, Angola’s capital.

For the Pentagon brass, the first phase of Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon was a proxy war against the Warsaw Pact. The Pact was the response of the Soviet Union and the European socialist countries to NATO.

By having Israel shoot down more than 80 Syrian planes using U.S. technology, the Pentagon was saying that they could do the same over East Germany.

Supreme cynicism

Israel’s nukes were viewed as a replacement for the U.S. Jupiter nuclear missiles in Turkey that were removed in 1963 by President Kennedy following the Cuban missile crisis. However, there are also 50 nuclear weapons currently stored in Turkey at the U.S. Air Force base in Incirlik. 

The Pentagon’s green light for Israel’s nukes came as the Soviet Union was able to match the United Stated in developing multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles. Several of these MIRV nuclear weapons are fitted on a single missile and can be aimed at different targets.

MIRV missiles greatly sped up the arm race. The Pentagon hoped it would be the knockout threat that would force the Soviet Union to surrender. They were astounded that the socialist state could make them as well.

To military planners in U.S. think tanks, Israel’s nukes could be used to launch a “limited” nuclear war against the Soviets. Such an attack would kill millions of people, including many Jewish Soviet citizens, and devastate the Soviet Union.

Yet it would be suicidal for the Soviets to respond with an all-out attack on Israel’s master, the United States. Instead the Soviet military would be forced to attack Israel.

It’s hard to equal this cynicism. Six million people were killed by Hitler during the Jewish and Roma holocaust. A few decades later more than six million Arab and Jewish people in occupied Palestine could be killed in a nuclear exchange.

This scenario isn’t far-fetched. The whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg revealed Pentagon plans in 1961 to launch a nuclear first strike. It would kill 600 million people in the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China and other socialist countries.

This writer helped organize a 1969 demonstration in Milwaukee against the visit of then Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir who grew up there. She denied that the Palestinian people even existed.

The protest was called by Youth Against War and Fascism at the newly opened Performing Arts Center. It’s now named after the late Zionist fundraiser Ben Marcus who refused to hire Black waitresses at his local Big Boy restaurant chain.

Communist leader and union organizer Al Stergar called upon Meir “to come home to Milwaukee and leave Arab people in peace.” Israel’s current prime minister was born in San Francisco. Stergar called Israel a deathtrap for Arab and Jewish people.

All of occupied Palestine is still a deathtrap. Israel’s nukes must be destroyed. Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea!

Elizabeth, New Jersey – Sunday, July 25 at 6am, about 100 pro-Palestine community activists in the New York metropolitan area picketed Israeli shipping giant ZIM in an attempt to block their cargo ship, Zim Qingdao, from unloading its cargo in the Port of New York/New Jersey at the Maher Terminal in Elizabeth, NJ. Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd (ZIM) is Israel’s largest cargo shipping company, often dealing in Israeli manufactured military technology, armaments and logistics equipment.

The event was organized byBlock the Boat NY/NJ, the local affiliate of an international  coalition of labor and human rights organizations fighting for  justice in Palestine, led by the Arab Resource and Organizing Center in Oakland, CA.

“We are sending a message that profiteering from Israeli apartheid and the ongoing violence against the Palestinian people will not be welcome in New York, New Jersey, or anywhere on the East Coast,” said Nerdeen Kiswani, Chair of Within Our Lifetime-United for Palestine. “Our communities are taking a stand against the ethnic cleansing, evictions, and bombings that Palestinians face every day.”

Chanting “STAND UP, SHUT IT DOWN , TURN THAT BOAT RIGHT BACK AROUND”, “INJURY TO ONE, INJURY TO ALL! TEAR DOWN ISRAEL’S APARTHEID WALL!” “Move Boat, Get Out the Way”, and “WHEN PEOPLE ARE OCCUPIED, RESISTANCE IS JUSTIFIED!” picketers held colorful signs and banners as the dockworkers drove past them to begin their shift. A few honked in solidarity and many popped out their cameras to take video of the lively and spirited picket line.

The Zim Qingdao had docked shortly before the picketers arrived. In an attempt to avoid the protest, Zim had tried to hide their approach by removing the ship from the Maher Terminal’s shipping schedule. Although police blocked demonstrators from gaining access to the employee entrance, Zim was well aware of our presence. Zim refused to comment when asked by a reporter from the local National Public Radio station, which covered the event.

Actions like this one  against ZIM are a response to a call from labor unions in Palestine urging workers and communities worldwide to refuse dealings with Israeli companies. The international #BlocktheBoat has received over 150 endorsements from labor unions, faith, and community organizations worldwide, including the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the largest federation of trade unions in South Africa, representing 1.8 million people. Recent escalations of Israeli violence against Palestinians in Gaza, Jerusalem, and the West Bank have prompted thousands of demonstrations in cities across the world.

This mobilization follows months of successful actions on the North American West Coast which prevented the unloading of ZIM-operated vessels in Oakland, Seattle, and Prince Rupert. Over 8,000 people worldwide have signed up to answer the call to action at port cities around the world, as part of the BDS movement.

In Oakland, the ZIM-operated Volans’ was forced to disembark with its cargo in tow after being blocked from unloading for several weeks by a community picket. The same Volans ship eventually landed in Prince Rupert, BC. After a public call to action, First Nation, Arab, and allied community members organized a picket to successfully block the ship from unloading for 5 days. In Seattle, Falastiniyat, a Palestinian feminist collective organized community pickets at Seattle’s port, successfully blocking ZIM San Diego ship from being unloaded for 4 days before a police crackdown forced the unloading of the vessel. Meanwhile solidarity actions were held in Los Angeles, Vancouver, New York/New Jersey, Houston, Detroit, Italy, and South Africa.

The San Francisco-based Arab Resource and Organizing Center first called on communities to block ZIM-operated ships in the U.S. in 2014, with the first successful #BlockTheBoat action. Organizers have claimed the disruption of ZIM’s operations as a major victory for the international Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions (BDS) movement, which works to put pressure on businesses profiting from Israeli apartheid.

The BDS movement has gained national prominence as a flashpoint in US politics as right-wing legislatures attempt to criminalize the boycott movement. Several BDS campaigns globally, including #BlockTheBoat, have seen numerous successes over the past year, driven by plummeting public support for Israel in the wake of human rights abuses and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

“Across the US, workers and social justice movements are standing to show their support for the Palestinian struggle for freedom, and that there will be a high price for all companies who do business that profits the apartheid state of Israel,” saidLara Kiswani, Executive Director of AROC

Block the Boat NY/NJ Coalition member organizations and endorsers include AROC: Arab Resource & Organizing Center, New York 4 Palestine, Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, Within Our Lifetime: United for Palestine, Labor for Palestine, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, American Muslims for Palestine – New Jersey, the ANSWERCoalition , Peoples Organization for Progress, Northern New Jersey Jewish Voice for Peace, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, Jewish Voice for Peace-NYC, NYC Democratic Socialists of America, the NJ Green Party, CUNY4 Palestine, and Central NJ JVP.

Source: Fighting Words