Gaza

Gaza Death Toll Passes 30,000 as IDF Massacres Crowd of Starving Civilians

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Original article by JAKE JOHNSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Injured Palestinians receive medical treatment in al-Shifa Hospital after Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid trucks at al-Rashid Street in Gaza City, Gaza on February 29, 2024. (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“Israel deliberately targeting civilians after starving them is a gross violation of international humanitarian laws and our humanity,” said Oxfam. “The risk of genocide is real.”

Israeli forces on Thursday opened fire on a crowd of desperate and starving Gazans waiting for food aid in the enclave’s north, which Israel’s military has cut off from humanitarian assistance almost entirely for months.

The attack reportedly killed more than 100 Palestinians and wounded over 700, further straining Gaza City hospitals that are barely functioning after Israel’s monthlong bombing campaign and blockade, which has restricted the flow of fuel, medicine, and other necessities.

The massacre helped push the death toll from Israel’s nearly five-month war on Gaza above 30,000, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

“We are devastated by the 30,000 killed—and this is not just a number,” Melanie Ward, CEO of Medical Aid for Palestinians, said in a statement. “Every single life taken was a person with dreams and hopes for the future, left loved ones behind with no time to mourn their death. One in every 23 people has been killed or injured in Gaza. Everyone has been tragically affected in so many ways, including our own dear staff; their lives will never be the same again.”

One eyewitness who was wounded by Israeli fire in Gaza City on Thursday told The Associated Press that he and others went to Gaza City’s al-Rashid Street after hearing there would be a food delivery. The man, identified as Kamel Abu Nahel, told the outlet that “we’ve been eating animal feed for two months.”

“He said Israeli troops opened fire on the crowd, causing it to scatter, with some people hiding under cars,” AP reported. “After the shooting stopped, they went back to the trucks, and the soldiers opened fire again. He was shot in the leg and fell over, and then a truck ran over his leg as it sped off, he said.”

Medics who arrived on the scene described terrible carnage, with hundreds of people lying on the ground dead or wounded. Donkey carts were used to carry some of the wounded off to hospitals, as there weren’t enough ambulances available.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told Reuters in response to reports of the Gaza City massacre that “there is no knowledge of Israeli shelling in the area.” One unnamed Israeli source told the news agency that IDF soldiers shot at “several people” in the crowd who allegedly “posed a threat.”

The IDF also claimed in a statement that “dozens were killed and injured from pushing, trampling, and being run over by the trucks.”

B’tselem, an Israeli human rights group, said in response that “whether they were shot or trampled to death, intentionally opening fire at civilians is a severe violation of international law and constitutes a war crime. This is especially grave given a crowd of thousands begging for aid.

The humanitarian group Oxfam International said it was “appalled” by Israeli attacks on people waiting for aid, which has become almost impossible to deliver across much of the Gaza Strip amid relentless Israeli bombing and targeting of aid workers.

“Israel deliberately targeting civilians after starving them is a gross violation of international humanitarian laws and our humanity,” Oxfam added. “The risk of genocide is real.”

Malnutrition and infectious diseases are spreading rapidly across Gaza as Israel continues to impede aid shipments, blatantly violating the International Court of Justice’s binding interim order. Save the Children said last week that families across Gaza have been forced to “forage for scraps of food left by rats and eating leaves out of desperation to survive.”

“All 1.1 million children in Gaza are now facing death by starvation and disease as aid delivery is impossible to carry out safely,” said the humanitarian group.

Volker Türk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, said in a speech Thursday that “there appear to be no bounds to—no words to capture—the horrors that are unfolding before our eyes in Gaza.”

“Since early October, over 100,000 people have been killed or wounded. Let me repeat that: about one in every 20 children, women, and men, are now dead or wounded,” said Türk. “At least 17,000 children are orphaned or separated from their families, while many more will carry the scars of physical and emotional trauma life-long.”

“This is carnage,” he added.

Original article by JAKE JOHNSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Continue ReadingGaza Death Toll Passes 30,000 as IDF Massacres Crowd of Starving Civilians

Morning Star: It’s Rishi Sunak & Co not ‘the mob’ that are the real threat to our democracy

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/editorial-sunak-threat-democracy

…

We have been told that all marchers are Islamists or “extremists” and present Home Secretary James Cleverley has demanded that the organisers call them off since they have “made their point.”

However, the government has not yet got that point. It continues to thwart efforts to secure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

And the propaganda overlooks the fact that the repeated huge demonstrations have been almost entirely peaceful. Such few arrests as there have been have been mainly about the police stopping the display of what they regard as unacceptable slogans or images.

It is clear that the Establishment is rattled by the intensity of opposition to its pro-Israel policy and by the fact that the cosy Commons consensus is rejected by the country outside, which overwhelmingly wants a ceasefire.

And masses repeatedly mobilised on the streets always rattle the state, more or less regardless of the issue. These protests are still more menacing to the elite because they challenge the prerogatives of imperialism.

It is no surprise therefore that state prosecutor Starmer’s Labour has hardly raised a peep of protest.

But the solidarity protests are the voice of democracy. The bipartisan move against them is a threat to all our freedoms. The left must stand against the hysteria and assert our democratic right to hold politicians to account.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/editorial-sunak-threat-democracy

Well said Morning Star

Continue ReadingMorning Star: It’s Rishi Sunak & Co not ‘the mob’ that are the real threat to our democracy

Rishi Sunak, Complicity to genocide is a war crime

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UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claims “There is a growing consensus that mob rule is replacing democratic rule. And we’ve got to collectively, all of us, change that urgently." Sunak is recognised as a war criminal due to his complicity in genocide. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing ...
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claims “There is a growing consensus that mob rule is replacing democratic rule. And we’ve got to collectively, all of us, change that urgently.” Sunak is recognised as a war criminal due to his complicity in genocide.
Continue ReadingRishi Sunak, Complicity to genocide is a war crime

‘Utterly shameful’: Suspended Labour politician slams Starmer’s Gaza stance

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Original article by Ruby Lott-Lavigna republished from OpenDemocracy published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence.

Four London councillors have been disciplined by their local party after calling for a ceasefire

A Labour politician suspended for backing a ceasefire in Gaza has labelled the party leadership’s stance on the conflict as “utterly shameful”.

Martin Abrams was one of four councillors in Lambeth, south London, suspended by the local Labour group on Monday night after voting for a motion put forward by the local Green Party.

It called for “an immediate ceasefire and the end to human rights atrocities in the Israel/Palestine conflict”.

Speaking to openDemocracy, Abrams hit out at Keir Starmer and the Labour leadership for its position on the conflict, which has seen over 50 Labour councillors resign since 7 October.

“It is truly a moment of great shame for the Labour Party for us to be in this place,” Abrams said. “I will continue speaking out for what I believe is right because there is a complete absence of that happening from Keir Starmer and the Labour Party leadership.”

Abrams said Starmer’s leadership on Gaza has been “utterly shameful”, adding: “It has been from the very beginning.”

He referenced an interview on LBC radio in which Starmer, the UK’s former top prosecutor, appeared to sanction collective punishment of the Palestinian people by Israel – which is illegal under international law. Starmer has since denied this is what he meant.

Last week, chaos ensued in Parliament as Labour refused to back an SNP-tabled motion on a ceasefire. Although Labour has now supported a ceasefire, the party has been criticised for doing so through its own parliamentary motion, which was less critical of Israel than the SNP’s original text.

Abrams, who is Jewish, said Lambeth Labour’s decision to suspend him had been “disproportionate” considering it was a vote on “calling an end to the slaughter of children”. But he said he would not resign from his position as a councillor and would continue “standing up for the oppressed people”.

End the bloodshed

Abrams told openDemocracy that the crisis had taken a toll on councillors hoping to represent their ward.

“Many of us are very emotionally impacted by this because we’re solid members of our local communities. Some of us are Jewish, some of us are Muslim,” he said. “The vast majority of us are humanitarians and want to see an end to the bloodshed and the fighting.”

Lambeth Labour, which decided to suspend the four members following a disciplinary hearing on Monday, had said the motion risked “exacerbating the impacts of the deeply worrying rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic hate crime across London witnessed in recent weeks.”

Sonia Winifred, another Labour councillor who voted for the motion, resigned as a councillor after being suspended. Winifred is a veteran Windrush campaigner, and said on Twitter the decision had left her with “no choice” but to resign.

Grassroots group Momentum said: ​​“This is an outrageous attack on a Jewish Labour councillor for having the temerity to stand up for the people of Gaza. Martin is a principled socialist and internationalist – and it is shocking that he has been forced out for standing up for a position endorsed by the majority of voters. This anti-democratic decision should be immediately reversed.”

Lambeth Labour has been contacted for comment.

Original article by Ruby Lott-Lavigna republished from OpenDemocracy published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence.

Zionist Keir Starmer supports Israel's Gaza genocide.
Zionist Keir Starmer supports Israel’s Gaza genocide.

Continue Reading‘Utterly shameful’: Suspended Labour politician slams Starmer’s Gaza stance

Protest isn’t harassment, says group suing UK government over law change

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 Original article by Anita Mureithi republished from OpenDemocracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. 

Protesters gather in Parliament Square, London, to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, 21 February 2024
 | Alberto Pezzali/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Human rights group Liberty says spotlight on MPs’ safety has seen Tories ‘vilify’ Palestine marchers

Ahuman rights campaign group suing the government for forcing through anti-protest laws says people who go on Palestine marches are being “vilified” to “stoke division”.

Liberty is today challenging the home secretary, James Cleverly, in the High Court over a decision by his predecessor Suella Braverman to introduce new legislation targeting protesters that had already been rejected by Parliament.

The case comes in a week where protest rights are in the spotlight. Pro-Palestine marches are being labelled a threat to MPs and the Home Affairs Select Committee has called on the government to force organisers to give more notice.

Speaking to openDemocracy ahead of the hearing, Liberty director Akiko Hart said: “We’re seeing both our fundamental rights of protest being undermined, but also specific protests like the pro-Palestinian marches being vilified.”

Hart took aim at the “incredibly irresponsible rhetoric from senior politicians where protest is equated to intimidation and harassment”.

MPs’ safety fears were raised last week following chaos in the House of Commons over a symbolic vote on a ceasefire in Gaza. Though some MPs have reported an increase in abuse and threats, campaigners warn that peaceful protests are now being associated with terrorism in order to undermine them.

“There were legitimate concerns around MPs’ safety – obviously, two MPs have been murdered in the last ten years,” she said. “We need to take that very, very seriously. I would also say that it’s MPs who are racialised who are most at risk from harassment, and that’s what the evidence shows us.

“But to conflate harassment with protest, which is what’s happening this week, is really dangerous and irresponsible. There are laws in place to deal with harassment and abuse. That isn’t the same as legitimate protest.”

In its recommendations, the Home Affairs Select Committee said more notice was needed ahead of Palestine marches because the size and frequency of the protests is a burden on police resources. But according to the coalition organising the national Palestine marches, the measures would further limit the right to peaceful protest. Hart also said the current notice period of six days is enough for police to prepare for marches.

“Extending that will just restrict people’s ability to be able to make their voices heard. With this, as with any other issue, the point about protest is that it is not about whether or not you agree – it’s about our right to protest,” she explained.

Liberty was given the green light to sue Braverman in October after she used secondary legislation – which doesn’t get the same level of parliamentary scrutiny – to allow police to restrict or shut down any protest that could cause “more than minor disruption to the life of the community”.

“It shouldn’t be the case that you would have to take the home secretary to court with all the time and effort and energy and expertise that that involves,” said Hart. “The reason we are doing so is because of the then home secretary’s egregious act of circumventing Parliament.”

The government previously tried to insert the new powers into the Public Order Act 2023 in January last year, but was blocked by the Lords.

The point about protest is that it is not about whether or not you agree – it’s about our right to protest

Liberty believes a win “would be a powerful check against any future minister or government that intends to do the same thing”.

Hart told openDemocracy that there have already been clear examples of the impact of anti-protest laws that have come through the Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts (‘Policing’) Act and the Public Order Act, which both give police more powers to restrict protests.

“There were anti-monarchy protesters who were arrested on the basis that the luggage straps that they were carrying were seen to be tools for locking-on, which was a new offence created under the Public Order Act, but they were carrying them to secure their placards.

“We’re also seeing it in sentencing. Last summer, the Court of Appeal upheld the sentences of the two protesters who scaled the Dartford crossing. And those sentences were two years and seven months, and three years – the harshest sentences ever handed down in modern times around protests around civil disobedience,” she said.

The trial against the home secretary is expected to run for two days at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. Hart told openDemocracy that while she and Liberty’s team of lawyers are feeling optimistic, “there’s a level of underlying exhaustion at how this government is conducting itself and responding to the protests that are happening”.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The right to peaceful protest is fundamental; the right to disrupt the hard-working public is not.

“We have taken action to give police the powers they need to tackle criminal tactics used by protesters such as locking on and slow marching, as well as interfering with key national infrastructure.

“We work closely with the police to make sure they have the tools they need to tackle disorder and minimise disruption.”

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 Original article by Anita Mureithi republished from OpenDemocracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. 

Continue ReadingProtest isn’t harassment, says group suing UK government over law change