JUNE 19th 2024- Australian activist Robert Martin shares a video he made in 2015 (8 years ago) urging the United Nations to list Israel as an abuser of children. He describes visiting Palestine after Operation Protective Edge in 2014, which massacred 547 Palestinian children, 535 of them killed as a direct result of Israeli attacks. Nearly 68% of the children killed by Israeli forces were 12 years old or younger.
Martin describes how under apartheid, Israeli police abduct Palestinian children on bogus charges of stone throwing as a way to terrorize the Palestinian populace. Children are blindfolded, driven around for hours, and illegally taken into Israel where they are often physically and sexually abused, then locked up without charge and deprived from seeing lawyers or their parents.
In June of 2024, Israel was finally put on the on the UN blacklist of countries that harm children.
Dehumanization: Those who are perceived as "different" are treated with no form of compassion or personal dignity. Dominant groups will refer to affected groups as "animals," "inhuman," or "vermin."
Organization: Genocide is always planned. The perpetrators are trained and armed, often by the state or state actors. They begin to build up armies and stock weapons.
Persecution: Victims are singled out because of their ethnicity or religion, and death lists are drawn up. People are sometimes segregated into ghettos, deported or starved, and property is often expropriated. Massacres begin.
"Our Boys" begins tonight on HBO - it's a 10-part series all about the kidnapping and murder of 3 Israeli teens, the brutal revenge killing of a random Palestinian teen, all leading up to the 2014 Gaza war. I will be watching it and am sure I'll have many thoughts.
Palestinian citizens of Israel are intensifying their fight for equality. The right-wing has spent the last decade doing everything in its power to stop them.
Debate #6: Can You Convince President Elizabeth Warren that Israeli Officials Should/Should Not Be Brought to the ICC?
Nov 24, 2014. Elizabeth Warren meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
Let’s imagine we are in 2021 and Elizabeth Warren is the President of the United States of America. Nice, right?
Well....let’s not forget that the Israel-Palestine conflict is still alive and well.
The word on the street is that there might be a possibility to bring Israeli official to the ICC. In the summer of 2014, Operation Protective Edge was an initiative led by the Islamic Defense Force (IDF) where it engaged in war in Gaza. It is argued that within this operation, Israeli soldiers committed war crimes that could be brought to the ICC. However, the involvement of the ICC brings up another issue of whether the ICC has jurisdiction and whether this could be a viable forum and tool in order to achieve peace in Israel-Palestine. The nuances of international criminal law and international humanitarian law are important to understand whether the attacks from the IDF can be considered war crimes or not.
We also need to acknowledge the importance and leverage of Hamas and potential war crimes they have executed especially the use of human shields, and more. Also, the possibility of the ICC could mean that investigation and potential prosecution of Israeli soldiers would not only start there. The Office of the Prosecutor could focus on Hamas’ own war crimes like targeting of Israeli civilians first. This poses a conundrum for Palestinians and there are divisions of whether the ICC should be used.
Therefore, the question arises as to whether Hamas and President Abbas are willing to allow for investigation, even if it could mean prosecution of Hamas. On the other hand, the ICC may not be able to reach culpability of a particular side but if it can bring clarity to the conflict narrative driving the Israeli-Palestine conflict and accountability of factions perpetuating violence against civilians, this could be a step towards peace.
Additional Sources
1) Video summarizing the history of the Israel-Palestine Conflict
2) AJ+ Video on Why Palestine’s ICC Bid Matters?
3) Article on Israeli’s opinions on Netanyahu
4) Video of Elizabeth Warren’s opinion on Israel-Palestine from 2014
5) News interview during Operation Protective Edge
6) Operation Protective Edge and Gazans
7) Opinion: What can Palestinians expect from the ICC?
Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.
In September 2014, Islamic Jihad admitted that 121 of its members were killed in Operation Protective Edge.
Hamas and other terrorist groups never announced total casualties of their members, as far as I can tell.
Now, Islamic Jihad says 135 of its members were killed during that war.
Maybe a few of them succumbed to injuries afterwards, but 14 seems a bit high for that.
Which means that here are an additional dozen or so more people who were reported as "innocent civilians" by NGOs like Amnesty and the UN who were, in fact, terrorists.
One member of Palestinian Selam family is is killed and 8 others get wounded after an Israeli airstrike
One member of Palestinian Selam family is is killed and 8 others get wounded after an Israeli airstrike, hit their hose and destroyed it within the 'Operation Protective Edge'
