At least be real with yourself that by refusing to pick a position you are licking the boot of a nuclear-armed ethnostate that is backed by the most powerful empire the world has ever seen. Image: Caitlin Johnstone
COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone
You have already taken a side on Israel-Palestine. Whether you know it or not. Whether you admit it or not.
You have either consciously chosen to side with the people who are being continually massacred by Israel, or you have consciously chosen to side with Israel, or you have sided with Israel by being “neutral”, or you have sided with Israel by being indifferent.
As Desmond Tutu said:
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”
The powerful oppressors are more than happy for you to be “neutral”. The ones who are already in control want as little scrutiny as possible. From their position the fewer people who are looking them and evaluating whether their actions are right or wrong, the better.
Your neutrality just means they get to keep doing what they want to do.
It’s perfectly okay not to have an opinion about everything. It’s fine not to take a position on every political issue that comes across your screen. Most people have way too many opinions, and most of them are about silly and unworthy things.
The onslaught that is happening in Gaza is not one such instance, though. Taking a stand against genocide is what having opinions on things is for.
Opposing mass-scale human butchery and ethnic cleansing is the fundamental, bare-minimum position that all other political positions should follow from. If you can’t take a stand against that, what are you even doing here? How have you been spending your brief time on this planet? How have you managed to make it to this point in life without maturing to the barest minimum standard possible?
You might think Israel-Palestine is too complicated for you to take a stand on. It isn’t. It’s very simple. Many of the small specific details are complex, but the overall reality they form is simple: an apartheid state has spent five months butchering and starving the population it has marginalized in a way that advances that state’s longstanding political agendas of ethnically cleansing that population from the land.
You might think you’re too cool or too evolved or too smart to take a side on Israel-Palestine. You are not. You have already taken a side, whether you admit it or not.
You might think Israel-Palestine has too many gray areas and uncertainties for you to legitimately take a side. It does not. The endless stream of footage of skeletal bodies and children ripped apart by military explosives over the last five months makes it very clear that this issue has a right side and a wrong side, and you are already standing on one of them.
By all means refuse to take sides on other issues; not taking a side is entirely legitimate when it comes to most issues people are wasting their breath bickering about. But not this one. When it comes to Gaza, reality demands a position from you.
That doesn’t mean you have to side with the Palestinians if you don’t want to. You are a sovereign human being; it’s up to you. But don’t kid yourself about being neutral.
At least be real with yourself that by refusing to pick a position you are licking the boot of a nuclear-armed ethnostate that is backed by the most powerful empire the world has ever seen. If you can’t be real about anything else, at least be real about that.
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa's Neil Scott . . . “What Israel is doing in Gaza is genocide. What Israel is doing in Palestine is apartheid, what Israel is doing in Palestine is occupation – each of those three, plus way more, are crimes against humanity." Image: David Robie/APR
New Zealand news media came under fire at today’s Palestine solidarity rally in Auckland calling for an immediate ceasefire in the war in Gaza with speakers condemning what they said was pro-Israeli “bias” and “propaganda”.
About 500 protesters waved Palestinian flags and many placards declaring “If you’re not heartbroken and furious, you’re not paying attention – stop the genocide”, “Killing kids is not self-defence” and “Western ‘civility, democracy, humanity, morality’ – bitch, where?”.
They gave Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s government a grilling for the “weak” response to Israel atrocities.
Many speakers were angry over the massacre of starving Palestinians when Israeli military forces opened fire on a crowd seeking aid in the central Gaza City area on Thursday with latest Gaza Health Ministry reports indicating that at least 115 Gazans had been killed with 760 wounded.
The UN Human Rights office called for a swift and independent probe into the food aid shootings, saying “at least 14 “similar attacks had occurred since mid-January.
The Biden administration has announced a plan with Jordan to airdrop aid into Gaza but former USAID director Dave Harden has criticised the move as “ineffectual” for the huge humanitarian need of Gaza.
Airdrops ‘symbol of failure’
“Airdrops are a symbol of massive failure,” he told Al Jazeera.
The bodies of three more Palestinians killed in the food aid slaughter were recovered.
Responses to the Gaza food aid massacre . . . “If you’re not heartbroken and furious, you’re not paying attention.” Image: David Robie/APR
The New Zealand news media were condemned for relying on “flawed” Western coverage and journalists embedded with the Israeli military.
“The New Zealand media ‘scalps’ information to create public perceptions rather than informing the public of the facts so that we can come to the conclusion that what Israel is doing in Gaza is genocide,” Neil Scott, secretary of the Palestine Solidarity Network (PSNA), told the crowd.
PSNA’s Neil Scott addressing the Palestine solidarity crowd today. Video: APR
“What Israel is doing in Palestine is apartheid, what Israel is doing in Palestine is occupation – each of those three, plus way more, are crimes against humanity.
“And what is the New Zealand media doing and saying about this?”
“Nothing,” shouted many in the crowd.
“Nada,” continued Scott.
‘Puppies are cute’
“Puppies? Puppies are cute. We’ll get those on TV.
“Genocide. Apartheid. Occupation. Crimes against humanity. Don’t give us news.”
Television New Zealand’s 1News headquarters in Auckland . . . target of a protest yesterday and condemnation today over its Gaza war coverage. Image: APR
Scott led a deputation of protesters to the headquarters of Television New Zealand yesterday, citing many examples of misinformation of lack of fair and “truthful” coverage.
But management declined to speak to the protesters and the 1News team failed to cover the protest over TVNZ’s coverage of the war on Gaza.
Criticisms have been mounting worldwide against Western news media coverage, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States, the staunchest supporters of Israel and the source of most of NZ’s global news services, including the Middle East.
CNN ‘climate of hostility’
Yesterday, the investigative website Intercept reported how CNN media staff, including the celebrated international news anchor Christiane Amanpour, had confronted network executives over what they claimed as stories about the war on Gaza being changed and a “climate of hostility” towards Arab journalists.
According to a leaked internal recording, Amanpour told management that the CNN policy was causing “real distress” over “changing copy” and ”double standards”.
Meanwhile, one of some 50 protests across New Zealand today – in Christchurch – was disrupted by a group of counter-demonstrators supporting Israel who performed a haka at the Bridge of Remembrance.
The group from the Freedoms and Rights Coalition – linked to the Destiny Church – waved Israeli flags and chanted “go back to Israel”. The pro-Palestinian supporters yelled “shame on them” and carried on with their regular weekly march to Cathedral Square.
The only good thing about what’s happening in Gaza is that it’s waking Westerners up to the fact that everything they’ve been told about their society, their media and their world is a lie. Image: Caitlin Johnstone
COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone
In what many are now calling the Flour Massacre, at least 112 Gazans were killed and hundreds more injured after Israeli forces opened fire on civilians who were waiting for food from much-needed aid trucks near Gaza City on Thursday.
Initial investigations by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor found that the crowd was fired upon by both IDF automatic rifles and by Israeli tanks, and that dozens of gunshot victims were hospitalised after the incident.
Israel’s version of events has of course changed over the course of the day as narrative managers figure out how best to frame publicly available information in a way that doesn’t harm Israel’s PR interests.
Currently we’re at Israel admitting that IDF troops did indeed fire upon the crowd after previously denying this, but claiming that this isn’t what caused most of the the casualties, saying it was actually the Palestinians trampling each other in a human “stampede” which caused them harm. Essentially the current argument is “Yes we shot them, but that’s not why they died.”
The IDF claims Israeli troops only began firing on the Palestinians because the soldiers “felt threatened” by them, which goes to show that there is no atrocity Israel could possibly commit where it wouldn’t frame itself as the victim.
Israel’s Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir took the opportunity to praise the IDF for heroically fighting off the dangerous Palestinians and to argue that the incident proves it’s too dangerous to keep allowing aid trucks into Gaza.
Some phrases the mass media is using right now to describe civilians being massacred by the IDF while waiting for food:
– “food aid deaths”
– “food aid-related deaths”
– “chaotic incident”
– “reported killed in crowd near Gaza aid convoy, Hamas-run health ministry says” pic.twitter.com/ROUkpoeA9s
As terrible as the Israeli spin machine has been on this atrocity, the Western imperial media have been even worse. The verbal gymnastics they’ve been performing in their headlines to avoid saying Israel massacred starving people who were waiting for food would be genuinely impressive if it wasn’t so ghoulish.
“At least 100 killed and 700 injured in chaotic incident” says CNN, like it’s describing a frat party that got out of control.
“Carnage at Gaza food aid site amid Israeli gunfire” reads another CNN headline, as though the carnage and the Israeli gunfire are two unrelated phenomena which just unluckily occurred at around the same time.
CNN also repeatedly refers to the killings as “food aid deaths”, as though it’s the food aid that killed them and not the military of a very specific and very nameable state power.
(It’s probably worth noting at this point that CNN staff have been anonymously reporting through other outlets that there’s been a uniquely aggressive top-down push within the network to slant reporting heavily in favor of Israeli information interests, driven largely by the new CEO Mark Thompson.)
So that’s what happens when the imperial media report on an Israeli massacre, in case you were curious and haven’t been paying attention since October 7 or the decades which preceded it.
The propaganda services of the Western press operate in a way that is typically indistinguishable from the spinmeistering of officials in Western governments, framing the Western empire and its allies in a positive light and their enemies in a negative one.
This happens because the Western mass media do not exist to report the news and give you information about what’s been going on in the world, but to manufacture consent for the political status quo and the globe-dominating power structure it supports.
The only difference between our propaganda and the propaganda of a ruthless dictatorship is that the people who live under a dictatorship know they are being fed propaganda, whereas Westerners are trained to believe they are ingesting impartial factual reporting.
The demolition of Gaza is alerting more and more Westerners to the fact that this is happening, though, because the more blatant the atrocities the more ham-fisted the propaganda machine needs to be about running cover for them. It’s even opening eyes within the propaganda machine itself, which is why we’re seeing things like CNN staff blowing the whistle on their own CEO and New York Times staff telling The Intercept that their bosses committed extremely egregious journalistic malpractice in producing atrocity propaganda alleging mass rapes by Hamas on October 7.
The only good thing about what’s happening in Gaza is that it’s waking Westerners up to the fact that everything they’ve been told about their society, their media and their world is a lie. Cracks are appearing in the illusion, and those of us who care about truth, peace and justice need to help draw attention to them.
From there, real change becomes a genuine possibility.
A Palestinian response to Israel's genocidal war on Gaza . . . now more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children. Image: APR
COMMENTARY: By John Minto
The New Zealand government is shortly to announce whether it will designate Hamas a “terrorist” group in response to the October 7 attack on Israel in which Hamas was involved.
The US and most of the Western world calls Hamas “terrorists” but so far New Zealand has only designated the armed wing of Hamas as a terrorist group.
More importantly, the United Nations — along with most of the rest of the world — has not taken this step and neither should New Zealand.
It is for Palestinians to decide which groups they support in their struggle for self-determination but it’s important here to respond to the incessant, hysterical lies told about Hamas by Israel and the pro-Israel lobby around the world.
There are probably more lies spoken about Hamas than any other organisation in the world.
One of these is the lie that the Hamas Charter calls for the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews worldwide. (For example, this was claimed in an opinion piece in The Post newspaper recently by Israeli diplomat and former ambassador to the United Kingdom Daniel Taub — in response to which the newspaper declined to print any letters).
A Palestinian response to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza . . . now more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children. Image: APR
The truth is that in the latest Hamas charter from 2017, the organisation says
“Hamas reiterates that its conflict is with the Zionist project and not with the Jews based on their religion.”
“Hamas is not fighting against the Jews because they are Jews, but against the Zionists who are occupying Palestine.”
“Hamas rejects the persecution of people or the undermining of their rights on nationalist, religious or sectarian ground.”
It is clear to everyone that war crimes were committed in the October 7 attack on Israel.
Killing civilians and taking civilian hostages are war crimes under the Fourth Geneva Convention and should be condemned.
These crimes should be investigated by the International Criminal Court as were crimes in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Those investigations resulted in arrest warrants issued against Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
The same process should be followed for the October 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s genocidal response. For example, arrest warrants should be issued by the ICC against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and at least half his cabinet for war crimes and crimes against humanity — including the crimes of genocide and apartheid.
As things stand there were eight Palestinian resistance groups involved in the October 7 attack on Israel and we simply do not know yet which groups and leaders were responsible for war crimes.
Palestinian resistance groups have the right under international law to take up arms to fight against their colonial occupiers just as the African National Congress (ANC) had the right to take up arms to fight for freedom in apartheid South Africa.
Aotearoa New Zealand must respect this right and not pander to the deep-seated racism and cheap political sloganeering of the pro-Israel lobby.
A knee-jerk reaction from New Zealand to designate Hamas a terrorist group would be a further step backwards from an independent foreign policy.
John Minto is national chair of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA).
Hamas’s surprise attack on October 7 came after Israeli settlers had stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and after a record number of Palestinians had been killed by Israel at that point in 2023.
The besieged Gaza Strip . . . Hamas’s surprise attack on October 7 came after Israeli settlers had stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and after a record number of Palestinians had been killed by Israel at that point in 2023. Image: Al Jazeera
People in Gaza are being burned alive, are suffocating to death under collapsed buildings, are having operations and amputations without anesthesia, are starving to death, are watching their loved ones die in front of them, are experiencing suffering of a degree that very few of us here in the west can even imagine. Image: CJ
COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone
A man set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington today. He said he did it in protest of the genocide in Gaza.
Independent journalist Talia Jane reports that she was able to obtain footage of the incident, which the unnamed man — later named as apparently recorded himself.
Jane reports that the man said he is “an active duty member of the US Air Force” and that he “will no longer be complicit in genocide.” After igniting he repeatedly yelled “Free Palestine.”
According to Jane, a police officer showed up pointing a gun at the man’s burning body; I guess that’s just what American cops do when they aren’t sure what to do. Someone who was actually trying to save the man reportedly yelled “I don’t need guns, I need fire extinguishers!”
This just might be the most American thing I have ever heard of. It’s more American than the fake bald eagle cries they put in Hollywood movies. It’s more American than monster trucks and mass shootings. You simply cannot fit more America into a single incident than a man dying a horrifying death in protest of war crimes while a first responder screams at cops to stop pointing their guns at him and go get fire extinguishers.
If you were to pick a single moment in history to sum up the essence and expression of the US empire, that would be it.
UPDATE: I got footage of the self-immolation at the Israeli embassy in DC.
The individual, wearing fatigues, introduces himself as “an active duty member of the U.S. Air Force and I will no longer be complicit in genocide.”
The New York Times reports that the man “was taken to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries and remains in critical condition.”
“I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest,” the man reportedly recorded himself saying before the incident. “But compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonisers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”
The nameless protester is correct. People in Gaza are being burned alive, are suffocating to death under collapsed buildings, are having operations and amputations without anesthesia, are starving to death, are watching their loved ones die in front of them, are experiencing suffering of a degree that very few of us here in the West can even imagine. And our ruling class is absolutely attempting to normalise this for us.
I just watched a video of a little girl vomit animal-feed. And then die. If you don't care about that I have nothing further to say to you. #Gaza
This isn’t even the first self-immolation we’ve seen in protest of Israel’s US-backed atrocities after October 7; back in December an unnamed protester with a Palestinian flag self-immolated outside the Israeli consulate building in Atlanta.
And as I reflect on this I can’t help thinking, how many Israel supporters have self-immolated in protest of October 7? How many Israel supporters have self-immolated in protest of the super serious antisemitism crisis they claim is making Jews feel unsafe in their communities? Surely their claims are just as serious and sincere as those of Palestine supporters, no?
Of course not. This has not happened and the very idea is laughable. Israel apologists insist that it is they and their favorite ethnostate who are the real victims in all this, rather than the population of Gaza who has seen tens of thousands of Palestinians annihilated while Israeli soldiers openly celebrate their mass displacement and death.
But you don’t see them self-immolating; you see them cheerleading for ethnic cleansing and genocide. They wouldn’t do anything to cause themselves pain or inconvenience to promote their pet agenda. They wouldn’t even miss brunch for it.
It’s a horrific thing, burning alive. I suspect that pretty much everyone who’s ever self-immolated has had serious regrets about it within the first few seconds. There’s simply nothing one can do to prepare oneself for the experience of that kind of pain, or for how long it can take them to lose consciousness after it’s started.
At that point the only comfort they could possibly offer themselves is that it can’t go on forever.
But the fact that anyone would ever take such a measure at all shows how profoundly urgent they recognise this issue to be, and how much more sincere they are about it than those on the other side.
Young women Bisan Owda, Hind Khudary, Plestia Alaqad — and Motaz Azaiza, a young man also from Gaza — are among a new generation of journalists speaking to the world in Arabic and English through social media.
The New Arab
Rising female Palestinian voices — Bisan Owda, Hind Khudary and and Plestia Alaqad — have emerged from Gaza, wielding storytelling to illuminate realities often unseen and unheard in the course of Israel’s genocidal war on their homeland, in which Israel has deliberately targeted journalists.
While their journeys began separately, remarkable similarities bind their paths, painting a portrait of resilience, courage, and unwavering commitment to telling the story of the atrocities in Gaza, drowned out by Western media pro-Israel bias.
Owda, Khoudary and Alaqad gained international recognition for their firsthand accounts of life during the conflicts in Gaza.
Bisan, Hind, Plestia, Motaz Azaiza, a young man also from Gaza, are among a new generation of journalists speaking to the world in Arabic and English through social media.
Plestia evacuated from Gaza in November and Motaz Azaiza left in January, but Owda and Khoudary remain in Gaza at the time of writing.
Who is Bisan Owda? Owda is a 24-year old Palestinian filmmaker. Through her poignant social media videos starting with the chilling “I’m still alive,” she offers glimpses into the daily anxieties and struggles under siege.
Armed with her camera and unwavering spirit, Owda’s raw and unfiltered portrayals of life under siege in Gaza garnered international attention.
Major news outlets, including BBC News, Al Jazeera, and ABC News, shared her work, propelling her into the spotlight as a chronicler of a complex and often misunderstood narrative.
Bisan Owda, known as “Hakawatia”–[The Storyteller] for her captivating historical narratives, now paints a grimmer picture on social media — the stark reality of life under Israeli bombardment in Gaza.
Gone are the tales of cultural heritage, replaced by harrowing messages: “Peace be upon you. I’m Bisan from Gaza, Palestine. Thank God I’m still alive.”
The 24-year-old’s life, like countless others, has been upended by the month-long conflict.
At the start of the war, Israeli airstrikes targeted her office and equipment, forcing her and her family to seek refuge in the crowded Al-Shifa Medical Complex.
Undeterred, Bisan uses her phone to document the war’s toll — destroyed buildings, displaced families, and the tragic loss of almost 30,000 lives.
Amid the scenes of devastation, flickers of hope emerge in her reporting despite everything. Children diligently cleaning the bombed-out hospital and an elderly woman’s unwavering resilience offer solace.
But the ever-present threat of Israeli attacks looms large.
The children of Gaza, its stones, its sea, its buildings, its residents, and every grain of soil in it — these are the subjects of her stories.
Despite the nightmares, the constant fear, and the ever-present danger, Bisan persists. She moves between the rubble and the fallen, capturing the human cost of the conflict in audio and video.
Bisan on Instagram . . . “Peace be upon you . . . Thank God I’m still alive.” Image: Instagram
Who is Hind Khoudary?
Hind Khoudary, a 29-year-old Palestinian journalist from the Gaza Strip, has also earned widespread recognition for her work documenting life under siege and war in Gaza.
Her career path winds through various publications, including The New Arab, the Middle East Eye, Anadolu Agency, and +972 Magazine. Previously, she contributed to RT. Her online presence on platforms like Twitter and Instagram has garnered attention, with her posts cited by The New York Times, NPR, and Utusan Malaysia.
Khoudary’s human rights advocacy led her to work with Amnesty International in 2019. During the Great March of Return protests in 2018, she documented the events and reported on human rights concerns.
She was briefly detained and interrogated by Hamas, the ruling authority in Gaza, for her work.
Khoudary continues to shine a light on the lives and experiences of Palestinians living in Gaza, highlighting the ongoing impact of Israel’s genocidal war.
Who is Plestia Alaqad? Plestia Alaqad is 22 years old. Using platforms like Instagram, she shares personal narratives that resonate deeply, humanising the cost of conflict for global audiences.
Since before the current war, Owda, leveraging her platform, has become a powerful advocate for human rights, gender equality, and youth empowerment. Partnering with organszations like UNFPA and UN Women, she has tackled social issues and inspired others to find their voices.
Graduating in 2022 with a degree in Communication and Media Studies, Alaqad worked freelance and served as editor-in-chief of her university newspaper, gaining valuable experience.
She previously trained media professionals and participated in eco-journalism workshops. Her dedication garnered recognition from international media outlets like SBS News and Outlook India.
Alaqad fled the Gaza Strip via Egypt. She is now in Australia.
Alaqad, who garnered a following of 3.9 million on Instagram documenting the plight of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, announced her departure in November after 46 days of sharing videos and photos from the besieged territory.
“The decision is far from easy,” she said in a video message.
“Leaving my family, home, and people is difficult, but my presence has become a threat.”
Alaqad’s flight came amid a surge in violence against journalists. Since the war began in October, more than 119 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza — amounting to more than one journalist a day, according to the International Federation of Journalists — in addition to three Lebanese journalists in South Lebanon by Israeli fire.
Gaza media sources put the number killed higher, at 126.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate accuses Israeli forces of deliberately targeting media personnel.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned the attacks, calling it the deadliest period for journalists in the organisation’s 30-year history of monitoring conflicts.
Who is Doaa Albaz? Doaa Albaz, a photojournalist working for Anadolu agency, continues to take pictures documenting the war as well.
Born in Gaza in 1989, she has been covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for several years, She studied journalism at the Islamic University of Gaza and began working as a photojournalist in 2010. She has covered a wide range of stories in Gaza, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the humanitarian crisis, and the daily lives of Palestinians.
In 2016, she was awarded the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award. She was also a finalist for the 2017 Rory Peck Award for Freelance Photojournalism.
Republished from The New Arab. If there are more young voices from Gaza you think should be profiled? Email: editorial-english@newarab.com
A Pacific cohort at the Palestinian solidarity rally and march at Auckland's Te Komititanga Square today . . . they also gave an eulogy and sang a waiata for the loss of beloved Green MP and Pacific community advocate Fa’anānā Efeso Collins who died suddenly this week. Image: David Robie/Asia Pacific Report
While telling today’s Palestine solidarity rally in Auckland about the “good news” of creative humanitarian aid plans to help Palestinians amid the War on Gaza, New Zealand Kia Ora Gaza advocate and organiser Roger Fowler also condemned Israel’s genocidal conduct. He was interviewed by Anadolu News Agency after a Freedom Flotilla Coalition planning meeting in Istanbul with his views this week republished here.
By Faruk Hanedar in Istanbul
“Women, children, and families have no food. They are trying to drink water from puddles. People are eating grass.”
— Kia Ora Gaza advocate Roger Fowler
New Zealand activist Roger Fowler has condemned the Israeli regime’s actions in the Gaza Strip, saying “this is definitely genocide”.
“The Israeli regime has not hidden its intention to destroy or displace the Palestinian people, especially those in Gaza, from the beginning,” he said.
“They are committing a terrible act — killing tens of thousands of people, injuring more, and destroying a large part of this beautiful country.”
The death toll from the Israeli War on Gaza topped 29,000 this week – mostly women and children – and there were reports of deaths from starvation.
Fowler demanded action to halt the attacks and expressed hope about the potential effect of the international Freedom Flotilla — a grassroots organisation working to end the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza.
He noted large-scale protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza and emphasised efforts to pressure governments, including through weekly protests in New Zealand to unequivocally condemn Israel’s actions as unacceptable.
A Palestinian mother and family hug the dead body of their child who died in an Israeli attack in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on 18 February 2024. Image: Kia Ora Gaza
Long-standing mistreatment
He stressed that the “tragedy” had extended beyond recent months, highlighting the long-standing mistreatment endured by Palestinians — particularly those in Gaza — for the last 75 years.
Fowler pointed out the dire situation that Gazans faced — confined to a small territory with restricted access to essential resources including food, medicine, construction materials and necessities.
He noted his three previous trips to Gaza with land convoys, where he demonstrated solidarity and observed the dire circumstances faced by the population.
“Boycott is a very effective action,” said Fowler, underlining the significance of boycotts, isolation and sanctions, while stressing the necessity of enhancing and globalising initiatives to end the blockade.
“I believe that boycotting has a great impact on pressuring not only major companies to withdraw from Israel and end their support, but also on making the Israeli government and our own governments understand that they need to stop what they are doing.”
Fowler also criticised the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) “genocide decision” for being ineffective due to the arrogance of those governing Israel.
South Africa brought a genocide case against Israel to the ICJ in December and asked for emergency measures to end Palestinian bloodshed in Gaza, where nearly 30,000 people have been killed since October 7.
Anadolu journalist Faruk Hanedar talks with Kia Ora Gaza organiser Roger Fowler (left) after the recent Freedom Flotilla Coalition planning meeting in Istanbul. Image: Kia Ora Gaza/Anadolu
World Court fell short
The World Court ordered Israel last month to take “all measures within its power” to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza but fell short of ordering a ceasefire.
It also ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective” measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip.
Fowler said all nations must persistently advocate and exert pressure for adherence to decisions by the UN court.
Fowler acknowledged efforts by UN personnel but he has concerns about their limited resources in Gaza, citing the only avenue for change is for people to pressure authorities to stop the genocide and ensure Israel is held accountable.
“It’s definitely tragic and heartbreaking. Women, children, and families have no food. They are trying to drink water from puddles. People are eating grass. This is a very desperate situation. No one is talking about the children. Thousands of people are under the rubble, including small babies and children,” he said.
Roger Fowler is a Mangere East community advocate, political activist for social justice in many issues, and an organiser of Kia Ora Gaza. This article was first published by Anadolu Agency and is republished with permission.
“Gaza is starving to death” . . . a banner in today’s Palestine solidarity rally in Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau. Image: David Robie/Asia Pacific Report“Blood on your hands” . . . a protest banner condemning Israel and the US during a demonstration outside the US consulate in Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau today. Image: David Robie/Asia Pacific Report
GREEN-LEFT EXCLUSIVE: Leila Khaled talks to Peter Boyle
Leila Khaled is an iconic Palestinian revolutionary activist. A famous mural of her (pictured above) adorns an Israeli apartheid wall isolating the West Bank in Palestine. She is a member of the national committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and a representative on the Palestine National Council. She lives in exile in Jordan today and gave this exclusive interview to Green Left on February 18.
By Leila Khaled and Peter Boyle
As the Israeli military commences its assault on Rafah, Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime is not even pretending to abide by the interim orders of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). What is your assessment of the ICJ case and the responses of the various world powers to its interim orders and the continuing genocide in Gaza?
Leila Khaled: South Africa, which is trying to prove in the ICJ that Israel is committing genocide, is now following up the case (as are other countries like Nicaragua) because Israel is not abiding by any rules of the court.
And there is a lot of pressure on Israel now. On February 26, the ICJ will have its second meeting [on the genocide issue] and now there is a lot of pressure on the court to meet because Israel is declaring they are going to attack Rafah.
There are 1.5 million people in Rafah now because they drove people from the north and from the city of Gaza to the south. They went there but now [Israel] won’t allow them to go back to their homes, even if they were not bombarded . . .
Israel is acting like it is above international law.
Israel is now already attacking Rafah. They are not on the ground yet but they are bombarding it by planes.
Until now the United States administration is not putting enough pressure on Israel. It is the only government that can put the pressure that is needed to stop the genocide in Rafah.
Israel says that they will open a safe road [out from Rafah].
Where to? There is no safe place in the whole Gaza strip.
Palestinian revolutionary Leila Khaled speaks out. Video: Green Left
The Israeli military is still in Khan Younis, a city beside Rafah, and when people went out of the hospital there were snipers who killed four doctors and they arrested the other medical workers.
So people could not leave Khan Younis to come to Rafah. Rafah is also a very small district to have so many people there.
Now it is time for people who demonstrated to support the Palestinians — and against the atrocities that Israel is committing — to pressure their governments which, like in Australia, are supporting Israel.
The attitude of the Australian government is that Israel has a right to defend itself. But Israel is not defending itself, it is attacking for four months!
Most of the casualties are women and children when they bombard and destroy their homes.
People have nowhere to go today unless the Rafah border is opened. But it is not opened yet [even] to receive humanitarian aid like medicines and food, even though the ICJ ordered Israel to let aid in to all parts of the Gaza Strip, especially in the north . . .
The Egyptians have the sovereignty over the Gaza Crossing but Israel does not allow anybody to go out or in. So it is a siege . . .
Governments are supposed to abide by rules but Israel is not following the ICJ’s [interim] orders. So they should take action. For example, they can cut diplomatic relations to pressure Israel to stop its genocide.
They can boycott Israeli products. This would put pressure on Israel.
But until now the governments that follow the US government are not taking those steps. They just hear their people shouting in the streets.
The Zionist regime has told many lies about October 7 to justify its latest genocidal attack on Gaza. What is the PFLP’s understanding of the reason for and what really happened in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood?
Leila Khaled: The freedom fighters did not attack ordinary people [on October 7] , they attacked the military settlements. But when the borders were open some other people took civilians.
Neither Israel nor the Western media could prove that there were massacres.
The civilian hostages [who were released in one of the deals negotiated] said they were dealt with very kindly . . .
So why are they speaking like this about massacres? Just to say that the freedom fighters are terrorists.
In international law, people who are under occupation have the right to defend themselves with all means, including armed struggle. And this was armed struggle.
We have the right to defend ourselves from occupation and the siege of Gaza.
So they made lies because they did not have any evidence. Even when [US President Joe] Biden showed some pictures, CNN said that he did not have evidence that this was what happened on October 7.
People around the world have been demonstrating because they know about the siege of Gaza that has been going on for 17 years. Israel has carried out a lot of attacks on the people of Gaza. Four times they attacked Gaza and caused many casualties, in the first attack killing about 2000 children. The second time they killed more than 2000 children. And then there was a third and fourth attack on Gaza.
What is the real reason that the US and its closest allies — including, shamefully, Australia — support the Zionist state?
Leila Khaled: Because this was their original project in 1948 for establishing a colonial settler state, Israel, occupying the land of Palestine. Because it protects their common interests.
This is why even yesterday Biden declared he would send $15 billion to support Israel.
Those countries that share the interests of the US administration support its policy which has ended up with this war against the Palestinian people, not against Hamas . . .
Hamas is part of the Palestinian resistance and are also freedom fighters.
What is your assessment of the so-called two-state “solution” that was begun with the Oslo Accords? Has it failed? If so, what would be the alternative and how can it be won?
Leila Khaled: This illusion of the two-state solution has been set for 40 years but they didn’t implement it. So that we don’t have any freedom in our occupied country.
The Oslo Accord stated Israel will withdraw and allow a Palestinian state. But Israel did not abide by the agreements that were signed . . .
In 1949 the UN declared that there would be two states, one a Jewish state and an Arabic state — not a Palestinian state.
But Israel also turned its back on all the UN resolutions that have been taken over the years.
For us, to solve the problem it has to be recognised, first, that Israel does not have the right to occupy Palestine and, second, the right of return for the Palestinians. This is the key to solving the conflict…
The UN hasn’t implemented its resolutions up until now.
Israel has denied our right of return even though it was a condition in the 1948 UN resolution. Israel would be accepted as part of the international community and have a state in Palestine on condition that the Palestinians had the right of return.
Because of the balance of forces at the time, Israel was accepted as a nation while the Palestinians remained refugees.
I am one of those refugees as a result of the crime that happened in 1948.
Now we are calling for a democratic state, with the return of the Palestinian refugees. Then, we can altogether live in Palestine and decide what kind of state we need.
Without this, the struggle will continue from generation to generation.
The Palestinians who are fighting today are the fourth generation.
There are also refugee camps in the West Bank, like Jenin, and we have seen them attacked and houses demolished on a daily basis.
Israel has arrested about 6000 people in the West Bank on top of the 7000 people who were detained before . . . So we are calling for the release of these political prisoners in exchange for the hostages held by Hamas, who are all Israeli military.
There were no Israelis in Palestine before 1948. There were Jews who were Palestinians but we don’t discriminate on the basis of religion. The Zionist movement brought people to Palestine after World War II to establish an Israeli state, which was guaranteed by the British colonial government of that time.
We had our identity as Palestinians, including the Jews who were living with us. We didn’t drive out the Jews from Palestine. Its history, Palestine is Palestine.
Now the balance of forces is coming a little bit more in our favour. It is a step forward that people around the world have declared their support for free Palestine. “Free Palestine” has become a slogan of the peoples of the world, including in Australia . . .
But the Australian government, which is still under the British crown, is supporting Israel along with the other colonial powers.
The latest Zionist genocidal war on Gaza has cost so many Palestinian lives but the there has also been a historic global mass solidarity for Palestine and opposition to this war — on a scale not seen since the Vietnam War. A whole new generation of activists has stepped forward in this movement. What is your message to this new generation of solidarity activists? What lessons can you share from your own experience of a life in struggle?
Leila Khaled: I would say we are thankful for all those who have declared this attitude to the Palestinians and what is happening in Palestine. The peoples of the world now understand the core issues of this struggle — and we, the Palestinians, will not forget this — that in this war, Israel is doing genocide.
I saw on the TV, and from the video that comrades sent from Australia, the huge demonstrations in Melbourne and Sydney which showed that people began to realise the reasons behind what is going on.
They are demanding that the Israeli army cease fire and withdraw from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
This is what I am telling the world’s people, especially the new generation: Keep on fighting for just causes.
The Palestinian cause is a human cause. Now we are defending humanity, not only in the Gaza Strip . .
We are trying to build a new history in the region against the imperialists, especially American imperialism, because they are the ones who launch wars and they are supporting Israel with all means and new arms . . . But they don’t give anything for the children of Palestine.
Leila Khaled will be a featured international speaker at the Ecosocialism 2024 conference in Perth from June 28-30. Ecosocialism 2024 brings together ecosocialist activists from around the Indo-Pacific region. Republished from Green-Left with permission.
"Culture shocking, overwhelming" . . . speaking at COP26 on the climate crisis-threatened future of Tuvalu. Image: PINA /Wansolwara News
By Monika Singh of Wansolwara
The fourth smallest country in the world with a population of just over 11,000 people — Tuvalu — fears being “wiped off its place on the map”.
A report by ABC Pacific states that the low-lying island nation is widely considered one of the first places to be significantly impacted by rising sea levels, caused by climate change.
According to the locals the spring tides this year in Tuvalu have been the worst so far with more flooding expected with the king tides that usually occur during late February to early March.
Tuvalu residents are fighting for their home in the face of worsening tides and climate change. Image: Wahasi/ Wansolwara News
In 2021, Tuvalu’s Foreign Minister, Simon Kofe, addressed the world in a COP26 speech while standing knee-deep in the sea to show how vulnerable Tuvalu and other low-lying islands in the Pacific are to climate change.
A 27-year-old climate activist from Tuvalu said he loved his home and his culture and did not want to lose them.
Kato Ewekia spoke to Nedia Daily and said seeing the beaches that he used to play rugby on with his friends had disappeared gave him a wake-up call.
“I was worried about my children because I wanted my children to grow up, teach them Tuvaluan music, teach them rugby, teach them fishing. But my island is about to disappear and get wiped off it’s place on the map.”
First youth Tuvaluan delegate
Ewekia was also at COP26 and made history as the first youth Tuvaluan delegate to participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Despite only speaking limited English, he took to the global stage to tell the world about his home.
“Since I was the first Tuvaluan activist, people didn’t really know where Tuvalu is, what Tuvalu is,” he said.
“It was culture shocking, overwhelming. But the other youth gave me the confidence to just speak with my heart, and get my message out there.”
Ewekia has been the national leader of the Saving Tuvalu Global Campaign, an environmental organisation that aims to amplify the voices and demands of the people of Tuvalu since 2020.
“Going out there, it’s not easy. We really, really love our home and we want how our elders taught us how to be Tuvaluan, we want our children to experience it — not when it disappears and future generations will be talking about it (Tuvalu) like it’s a story.”
He shared that in the four years that he has been advocating for Tuvalu on the public stage, there have been many moments of frustration that are specifically directed towards world leaders who aren’t paying attention.
“My message to the world is I’ve been sharing this same message over and over again,” he said.
“If Tuvalu was your home and it [was] about to disappear, and you wanted your children to grow up in your home in Tuvalu — what would you have done? If you were in our shoes, what would you have done to save Tuvalu?”
Asia Pacific Report collaborates with The University of the South Pacific’s journalism programme newspaper Wansolwara.
King tide, Funafuti, Tuvalu in February 2024. Image: Wahasi/Wansolwara News
PNG's Prime Minister James Marape has pledged to Parliament that he will "restore police leadership to stabilise Enga" . . . as the PNG Post-Courier calls for a state of emergency in the province. Image: PNG Post-Courier
EDITORIAL: The PNG Post-Courier
Some people are literally making a killing in Enga.
Yes, they really are.
Hired gunmen are getting rich by the day and picking up women and girls as payments as well, leaving deaths and destruction in their wake in what is apparently becoming a booming industry.
The news is disturbing, to say the least, for a province that has got so much going at the moment.
As the illegal industry takes root by the day, we do not see this deadly business which is already stretching the limits of tolerance and the resources of the law and justice sector, ending soon.
Police Commissioner David Manning promised more manpower will be deployed into the province to assist those on the ground to curb the tribal fighting.
At the same time, he is asking for help from the provincial leaders to get down to their communities to stop the fighting and killing.
Grabbed world attention
The recent massacre in Wapenamanda has grabbed world attention again and this time the Australian government, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese describing the event as “very disturbing”, promising more technical aid to PNG to address this madness.
Tribal fighting has always been a curse in Enga for years. What started as bow and arrow affairs in the past have now gone high-tech with the deployment of drones, Google maps and high-powered guns, resulting in the high number of deaths
Genocide is the word to describe what is happening.
Powerful tribes are eliminating the weak, and leaving the disciplinary forces helplessly watching by the roadsides as the massacre continues to go.
There is no concern for the lives killed, the injuries or the plight of the hundreds of mothers and children caught up in this mayhem.
In the words of Provincial Police Commander, Superintendent George Kakas, businessmen, educated elites and well-to-do people fund these activities, hire gunmen and purchase firearms and ammunitions.
We would like to add politicians to the list because we suspect that they procured the weapons and left them with their supporters during the elections and these guns are now coming out.
How could they sleep peacefully?
How could these people find the peace to sleep peacefully in the night when their money, the technology, the guns and bullets they supplied are killing in big numbers and the murderers are uploading images of the dead bodies online for the world to see?
Prime Minister James Marape recently promised new legislation to curb domestic terrorism and we wait to see whether this law will ever get passed by Parliament.
This law is needed now to make the facilitators and the killers account for their actions.
In the interim, the government must declare a State of Emergency in Enga to deploy the full force of the law into the fighting zones to deal with the perpetrators.
They are known to the police, the leaders and even the Prime Minister.
What is stopping the police from arresting these culprits? Are they above the law? Are they protected species, vested with the power to end lives of other people in this manner?
Entire tribes wiped out
What are we waiting for?
To see entire tribes wiped out from the face of Enga before we move in to collect the bodies, take the women and children to care centres and keep watching from the roadsides.
Enough is enough. Declare the SOE in Enga. Enact the domestic terrorism legislation. Arrest those that facilitate and kill.
So much is going for Enga today and if nothing is done to end this ugly disease, Enga is doomed.
This PNG Post-Courier editorial was originally published under the title “Genocide in Enga” on 21 February 2014. Republished with permission.
