Our Wednesday News Analysis | Opinion | How Many Dead Children in Gaza Is Mohammed Deif Worth?

Palestinians evacuate a body from the site of the strike in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday. Credit: Jehad Alshrafi / AP

"One hundred (100) dead is certainly permitted.

What about 1,000?
I assume that most Israelis would nod in agreement.
10,000? 50,000?
Just say, how many is Israel allowed to kill until it's considered a crime in its own eyes?
Where does the massacre stop?
The answer is predetermined:
"As many as necessary." In other words, there's no limit."

The trumpets of victory sounded immediately. The dust did not yet settle over the mangled tents of the displaced in Mawasi before the studios began playing "Total Victory." Nir Dvori declared with a glowing face, as if he personally had ordered the assassination, that Mohammed Deif "was mortal" (there is also this kind of Israeli journalism); Almog Boker promised that "it's looking good"; the ad talked about "the sweet moments in life"; and Moriah Asraf Wolberg broke the sanctity of her Shabbat (saving a life is paramount) to say, "We all hope that Deif is dead." All of us? Almost all of us.

In the time between the writing of these lines and their publication, Israel will celebrate like never before. You don't have to be a purist to struggle to understand the meaning of this joy. It primarily indicates the depths of the sickness. A killing has yet to arrive in the endless chain of Israel's assassinations that brings with it a significant achievement to the country other than the joy of the masses and their desire for revenge satisfied – and again, it celebrates victory.

Did the Palestinians who assassinated Rehavam Zeevi achieve anything? Israel will pay the price for this assassination, just as it has paid directly and indirectly, immediately or eventually, for every previous assassination.

If the gates of hell from Lebanon open now – we will know the price. If Hamas uses its remaining strength to enact any revenge – we will see the price. If Deif is replaced by someone more extreme, like after the assassinations of Sheikh Yassin and Abbas Musawai – we will know the price.

And, most of all, if the cease-fire and hostages deal becomes deadlocked – we will know the price. No scenarios are more predictable than these, but Israel nonetheless celebrates its victory.

However, above all hangs the question: How many barbaric killings is Israel allowed to commit to eliminating a commander or two, however mortal and wicked they may be? This question is not asked in Israel. If anyone were to dare raise it, he'd get the automatic response, "as many as necessary."...

Read more: Opinion | How Many Dead Children in Gaza Is Mohammed Deif Worth?

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STIFLED VOICES: ISRAEL'S ARAB CITIZENS BATTLE REPRESSION TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST WAR ON GAZA

Source: Middle East Monitor
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240712-stifled-voices-israels-arab-citizens-battle-repression-to-speak-out-against-war-on-gaza/

By Anadolu Agency
Published July 12, 2024

Pro-Palestinian protesters prepare to march in London, United Kingdom, to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to Israel’s occupation on 3rd February 2024 [Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images]

Shehadeh reiterated that Israeli society has been “dealing with us as enemies, not as citizens.”

He said the Netanyahu government had declared war on four fronts – Gaza, the West Bank, the northern front with Lebanon, and the “interior front.”

“Which means that the Prime Minister declared war on us. In his mind, in his mentality, he deals with us as enemies. He declared war on us.”

Sami Abu Shehadeh, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, finds his inability to openly condemn and speak out against the Israeli atrocities on his friends and family in the Gaza Strip extremely frustrating.

“Imagine this horrible situation. There is a genocide going on against your people and, at the same time, we are not allowed to raise our voices against the killing of our people,” says Shehadeh, a Jaffa-based politician.

Arab citizens make up 21 percent, or 2.1 million, of Israel’s population, and identify themselves as Palestinians or Arab by nationality, but Israeli by citizenship.

Since last October, when Israel launched its deadly war on Gaza, it has simultaneously conducted a violent crackdown on its Arab citizens, targeting them for any sort of protest against the war or for advocating for Palestinians.

A simple post on social media or protests against the war have led to harsh and severe consequences, with students being expelled from universities and professionals losing their jobs.

Many have been detained, arrested and even slapped with terrorism charges by the Israeli state, while instances of verbal and physical abuse have been frequent, along with boycotts of Palestinian-run businesses...

Read more: Stifled voices: Israel's Arab citizens battle repression to speak out against war on Gaza

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ISRAEL IS FALLING APART, AND AMERICAN LEADERS ARE IN DENIAL

Source: Mondoweiss
https://mondoweiss.net/2024/07/israel-is-falling-apart-and-american-leaders-are-in-denial/

By Philip Weiss
Published July 15, 2024

Israel’s inability to solve the Palestinian issue except by apartheid and massacres has fostered a fascistic and racist political culture in the country. But this truth must be kept from Americans.

“ISRAELI SOLDIERS SET FIRE TO AQSA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY IN GAZA CITY AND TOOK PICTURES OF THEMSELVES IN FRONT OF THE FLAMES,” JOURNALIST YOUNIS TIRAWI REPORTED ON X ON MAY 23. TIRAWI SHOWED EVIDENCE THAT PHOTO WAS SHARED ON SOCIAL MEDIA BY ISRAELI SOLDIER TAIR GLISKO. 424TH BATTALION, GIVATI BRIGADE, WHO LATER MADE HIS ACCOUNT PRIVATE.

Telling the truth is politically impossible because of the Israel lobby. The Democratic Party is incapable of alienating forces that bring down nearly $20 million on the head of Jamaal Bowman in a few weeks and smear him as an antisemite for telling the truth as Columbia deans were suspended for texting about pro-Israel donors.

So, while Israel is in a freefall to which its only answer is unending massacres and famine that the world sees and hates, the U.S. crisis is simple. Our leaders must deny this reality to keep the lobby happy.

Several left-wing voices have said lately that Israel is falling apart. The society is torn over the war, brutal racists dominate the government, and the country’s only answer to the fundamental question – half the population is Palestinian – is apartheid and rolling massacres.

Israeli political culture smacks of fascism. The latest slaughters of civilians in Gaza gain immediate approval by centrist politicians while right-wing ministers issue calls for execution of Palestinian prisoners. The whole society denounces the release of an innocent doctor abducted by Israeli forces in Gaza and embarks on (what Gideon Levy calls) “a hysterical campaign of panic, incrimination, hatred, dehumanization, lust for vengeance, thirst for blood.”

There is a sense that Israel has no way out. No wonder there are reports that hundreds of thousands of Israelis have fled the country since last October.

How does the United States deal with these realities? The answer for the last 20 years of anti-Palestinian hatred has been denial. The answer to this political cycle is also utter denial.

The U.S. establishment insists that Israel is a healthy democracy and it is capable of moving towards a two-state solution in which Palestinians live side by side with Israelis.

No expert on the situation believes as much; but these fictions sustain our political class, like Paul Begala saying on CNN last week that Biden has shown great leadership in Gaza. If our pundits had to confront the truth– Israel is a Jewish supremacist state that is only interested in more land with fewer Palestinians on it, and it kills young Palestinians without any hesitation– the U.S. would have to take action along with the rest of the world, to isolate Israel.

This is the lesson of the Jamaal Bowman defeat; the congressman saw the occupation up close in 2021 on a J Street trip to Israel and Palestine and according to excellent reporting by Calder McHugh in Politico, he could not lie about Israel’s dead end and war crimes.

Read more: Israel is falling apart, and American leaders are in denial