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First-Ever DNC Panel on Palestinian Rights: We Need to “Restore the Soul of the Democratic Party”

Details: Written by Peter Miller Peter Miller; Published: 26 September 2024 26 September 2024

This year, the Democratic National Convention held its first-ever panel on Palestinian human rights. The panel came after persistent grassroots organizing against U.S. support for Israel’s assault on Gaza. We play excerpts, including from the Arab American Institute’s James Zogby, a former executive member of the Democratic National Committee; Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric intensive care surgeon who recently worked in Gaza; and Layla Elabed, co-chair of the Uncommitted National Movement.

DR. TANYA HAJ-HASSAN:

I received a young boy into the emergency department during one of the mass casualties who had half of his face and neck blown off. Luckily, the organs that are vital for breathing and blood supply to the brain were preserved. They were visible, but preserved. And he was talking to us. He couldn’t see himself, so he didn’t know what he looked like at that point in time, and he kept asking for his sister. His sister was in the bed next to him. The majority of her body was burned beyond recognition. He didn’t recognize that the girl in the bed next to him was his sister. His entire family, parents and the rest of his siblings, were killed in the same attack.

That boy survived. And the next day, I went to see him. A very young plastic surgeon, one of the few remaining plastic surgeons in Gaza, because the others have either been killed or have fled, understandably, had removed part of his chest and created a graft to cover those vital organs of the neck. He was lying in his bed and mumbling, because it was so difficult to talk. And he kept saying — I got really close to him, and he said, “I wish I had died, too.” And I said, “What?” And he said, “I think my entire family has gone to heaven” — or, it’s not “my entire family.” His exact words were something to the effect of, “Everybody I love is now in heaven. I don’t want to be here anymore.” That is one of so many stories.

Calls grow for US investigation into Israeli killing of Turkish American activist

Details: Written by Ruth Michaelson | The Guardian Ruth Michaelson | The Guardian; Published: 26 September 2024 26 September 2024

[As we know from Israel's killing of Rachel Corrie, Israel does not do investigations, they only do coverups]

Family joins US lawmakers in demanding that government look into death of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi in West Bank

The family of a Turkish American woman shot by the Israeli military while attending a protest in the West Bank have been joined by a growing chorus of US lawmakers demanding that their government launch its own investigation into the killing.

Autopsies conducted in the West Bank town of Nablus and Turkey found that Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi was shot in the head. Shortly after the incident, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that it was “highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire which was not aimed at her”.

The White House has called for Israel to investigate Eygi’s death but friends and family has expressed skepticism that such an inquiry will lead to any accountability.

“We are not putting our faith or trust in a military that deliberately shot and killed an individual to investigate themselves of their own crime,” said Juliette Majid, who graduated alongside Eygi from the university of Washington in Seattle.

“What I want is justice and accountability, which to me looks like a US-led criminal investigation … I want the US to hold [the Israeli military] accountable. At the end of the day, we shouldn’t be in this situation, Ayşenur should be coming home alive,” she said.

Eygi’s family’s call for a US-led inquiry has been echoed by senator Patty Murray and congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Washington state who wrote to Joe Biden and the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, demanding that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) launch an investigation.

“We fear that if this pattern of impunity does not end with Ms Eygi, it will only continue to escalate,” they said, pointing to the killing of activist Rachel Corrie – also from Washington state – in 2003 at a protest in Gaza, and calling on the US government to better protect American citizens overseas

Every accusation a confession: Israel and the double lie of ‘human shields’

Details: Written by Craig Mokhiber | Mondoweiss Craig Mokhiber | Mondoweiss; Published: 22 September 2024 22 September 2024

Multiple human rights reports show that Palestinian armed groups do not use human shields, but Israel does. Israel’s false claims about Palestinian human shields are just attempts to justify its own targeting of civilians.

Among the most frequently deployed weapons in Israel’s hasbara arsenal is the so-called “human shields” ruse.

For decades now, Israel has systematically used this propaganda device as a trick to justify war crimes, to shift the blame for its crimes to others, to overcome the principle of distinction in humanitarian law, to dehumanize Palestinian victims, and to arm its Western proxies and complicit media companies with ammunition to protect Israeli impunity.

But a chain of international investigations reveals two clear conclusions about these charges: First, Palestinian armed groups generally do not use human shields. And, secondly, Israel does.

Israeli Rights Group Leader Tells UN It's Clear Netanyahu 'Does Not Want' a Hostage Deal

Details: Written by Jake Johnson | Common Dreams Jake Johnson | Common Dreams; Published: 05 September 2024 05 September 2024

Yuli Novak, the CEO of B'Tselem, said in an address to the U.N. body that the Netanyahu government is "cynically exploiting our collective trauma" in the wake of the October 7 Hamas-led attack to "violently advance its project of cementing Israel's control" over Palestinian land.

"To do that, it is waging war on the entire Palestinian people, committing war crimes almost daily," said Novak. "In Gaza, this has taken the form of expulsion, starvation, killing, and destruction on an unprecedented scale."

Israeli military treating West Bank as 'second combat front' after Gaza

Details: Written by MEE staff | Middle East Eye MEE staff | Middle East Eye; Published: 03 September 2024 03 September 2024

Major escalation in Israeli operations in territory last week was 'just the beginning', according to Israeli security officials

The Israeli military is currently treating the occupied West Bank as “the second most critical front” after its war on Gaza, according to a report in Israel Hayom on Tuesday.

Citing Israeli security officials, the report said that recent events had triggered a major policy shift in the West Bank, an area that was previously designated as a “secondary arena” requiring “stable maintenance”.

"The Jenin operation is just the beginning," security officials said, citing a recent escalation in the West Bank city.

Israel has significantly stepped up its offensive in the West Bank since Wednesday, resulting in the killing of at least 30 Palestinians across Jenin, Tulkarm, Tubas and Hebron.

The operation included drone and sniper attacks, as well as the use of military bulldozers to destroy critical infrastructure and cut off communications and resources.

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