"An examination of the more than two hundred #Gaza-related photographs that have appeared on the front pages of the British papers since 7 October 2023 reveals a systematic asymmetry in their treatment of Israelis and Palestinians."
"With international reporters locked out, #PalestinianJournalists have made huge sacrifices to keep the world informed of the unprecedented killing and destruction in #Gaza.
"More #MediaWorkers have been killed by #Israel since October 7 than in any other conflict in modern history. [..]
"Three quarters of Brits want the UK Government to impose a ban on all arms sales to Israel, new polling commissioned by Byline Times suggests, with broader support for the country’s actions in Gaza continuing to decline."
"President Joe Biden on Thursday called for an 'immediate cease-fire' in Gaza, telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that future U.S. support for the country’s military offensive will depend on whether Israel takes concrete steps to protect civilians and humanitarian workers in the Palestinian enclave."
Noting that Biden called for "an immediate ceasefire" today, Josh Marshall says that what happens next is "really all on the current government in Israel and the man who orchestrates every one of its strategies, Benjamin Netanyahu."
The announcement came hours after #POTUS had a tense phone call w/PM #Netanyahu during which Biden threatened to condition future support for Israel depending on how it addresses his concerns about #CivilianCasualties & the #HumanitarianCrisis in Gaza.
@Nonilex Airdrops. They're a joke according to almost any relief agency in the region except US-funded ones. The only other US attempt was the insertion of the NED funded World Kitchen (also funded by the CIA's best friend Jeff Bezos), and you can see what happened to them when they actually tried to feed #Palestinians#Israel is INTENTIONALLY STARVING.
"Israel is wielding starvation as a weapon of war, imposing a famine on the more than two million Palestinians trapped in Gaza, one million of whom are children. Twenty-seven children have already starved to death since Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared, on October 9th, 'There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed…We are fighting human animals.'”
"I’m deeply troubled that the Biden administration continues to approve the transfer of thousands more bombs to Israel.
Not only does this further our moral complicity in the bloodbath in Gaza, but it gives away whatever bargaining leverage the Biden administration might have to stop Benjamin Netanyahu from further death and destruction in Gaza."
Lucian K. Truscott thinks there's strong reason to conclude that a U.S. "flying ginsu" missle was used when the IDF killed 7 World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza. He writes,
"The U.S. State Department approved the transfer of more than two thousand bombs to Israel on the day the aid workers were killed in Gaza."
"The U.S. should instigate its own investigation of how this top-secret U.S. weapon evidently came to be in the Israeli arsenal for use in its war in Gaza and why there are no U.S. controls on its use by Israel’s military."
Sec of State #Blinken reiterated the msg in Brussels on Thurs. & Sen #ChrisCoons, a close #Biden ally & a staunch supporter of #Israel, said the #UnitedStates is “at that point” where #conditions must be placed on #MilitaryAid to Israel.
The changing dynamic comes as Israel plans to invade the southern #Gaza city of #Rafah, where up to 1.5M #Palestinians are sheltering in decrepit conditions after fleeing there under Israeli orders. #US ofcls have warned Israel against a major campaign in Rafah.
#Biden added that the #UnitedStates expected to see #Israel not just “announcing” changes, but “executing” & “implementing” them.
The WH summary of the Biden - #Netanyahu call added that #POTUS had told the Israeli prime minister that the #humanitarian situation in #Gaza was “unacceptable” & had called for an “immediate #ceasefire.”
Israel's Past 'Weaponization' of Gaza Food Supplies Looms Over #WorldCentralKitchen Deaths
by Karl Vick, April 3, 2024
"Starvation may well be replacing bombs as the gravest danger in Gaza. But the killing on Monday of seven aid workers demonstrates that the two lethalities can combine to devastating effect. The Israeli government called the deaths of seven staffers for World Central Kitchen “a tragedy.” But as the food aid group—which had rushed into Israel to feed people there after Oct. 7—announced that safety concerns were forcing it to pull out of Gaza, advocates saw additional evidence that Israel is “weaponizing” access to food in an enclave where 1.1 million face danger of famine. "
It is almost as if the #world is telling us a morbid joke: we will kill you if you resist and kill you if you hide, and if you refuse, and if you concede, and we will devour your land and gulp your oceans and kill you with hunger and thirst.
The massacres will be televised, broadcast in broad daylight. Our judges will legalize them.
"The government of Israel, as led by Benjamin Netanyahu and empowered by his right-wing coalition in the Knesset, has become an evil empire. And their chief enablers are in the United States.
This is a hard truth that must be said. And please don’t label me antisemitic for saying it. That would be a lie."
"The U.S. is supplying the materiel Israel is using to bomb Gaza back to the Stone Age and then airdropping aid supplies to the Palestinian survivors as a twisted kind of 'We’re sorry for your suffering' card. To riff on an old saw, we are throwing people off a bridge into a rushing river and then running downstream to throw lifelines to the few who survive the plunge."
"This is cruel and immoral. But it’s nothing compared to the scorched earth policy of the Netanyahu administration. Riddle me this: How many Hamas leaders have been captured or killed amid the 31,000 Palestinian civilians murdered by the Israeli Defense Forces? And is Israel any more secure today than it was six months ago?"
José Andrés is suspending operations of World Central Kitchen in Gaza after Israel killed 7 workers trying to deliver food to starving Palestinians. He says,
“The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing. It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon. No more innocent lives lost. Peace starts with our shared humanity. It needs to start now.”
"There is no reason for the United States to be engaged with any government that can do this."
Then he excerpts a BBC report about the IDF of 7 food-charity workers of chef Andrés' World Central Kitchen on Monday, something the IDF is trying to dismiss as, "It just happened."
Again, we owe it to these 7 #WCK volunteers to watch The #Gatekeepers, a documentary by an Israeli filmmaker who managed to interview 6 former directors of #ShinBet.
"I’ve been an advocate for Palestinian rights for many years but as a Jewish American, born in the year of Israeli independence, my connection to Israel is a lifetime long. That connection has become more and more attenuated over the years.
Now it’s gone. I’ve seen enough. I’m done. Israel is a country dedicated to the violent deaths of its neighbors. It has lost all claims to moral superiority, all claims to just defending itself."
"Seven workers from the World Central Kitchen killed despite having notified the IDF where and when they’d be traveling, despite having logos on their vehicles.
I’m done.
It’s time for all U.S. aid to Israel to stop immediately."