Palestinian activist and lawyer, Huwaida Arraf will be speaking at Marxism 2018 over the easter weekend (29 March - 1 April) in Melbourne. Huwaida is a co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement and is the former chair of the Free Gaza Movement, which lead 5 sea voyages to Gaza to confront Israel’s illegal blockade.
New, longer video shows Israeli soldiers beating arrested Palestinian
Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.661787#
After Israeli soldiers were captured on video last week beating a Palestinian man after he was arrested in a protest in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jalazone, another video of the same incident was released on Wednesday, revealing the events that transpired before the incident.
The 10-minute-long video, taken by a Palestinian journalist and released by the International Solidarity Movement, shows the soldiers swearing at several journalists and the beginning of the confrontation between them and the Palestinian man.
The Palestinian is not seen trying to grab their weapons, contrary to soldiers’ claims, though he can be seen touching their weapons or drawing near it.
An IDF investigation found that thought the arrest was justified, the soldiers made a disproportionate use of force. Two soldiers seen beating the man were given suspended sentences of 28 days in military jail. Another soldier, who was filmed cursing at the man, was sentenced to 30 days on base without leave.
The company commander from the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, which was involved in the incident, was reprimanded by Kfir Brigade Commander Col. Asher Ben Lulu.
Ben Lulu stated that the incident took place after a violent protest in which stones and firebombs were thrown at the soldiers. During the protest, the company commander was injured in the face by a stone. Ben Lulu claimed that the Palestinian man provoked the soldiers, did not respond to their calls to stop and attempted to grab one of the soldiers’ weapons.
ISM honors Kayla Mueller | International Solidarity Movement
▻http://palsolidarity.org/2015/02/ism-honors-kayla-mueller
On 4 August 2013 Kayla, 26, originally from Prescott, Arizona, was working with Syrian refugees when she was kidnapped after leaving a Spanish Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo. Since that time she has been held in captivity by Da’esh (ISIS). This information was not previously released publicly out of concerns for her safety. On February 6th, Da’esh announced that she had been killed by Jordanian airstrikes in Raqqa, northern Syria. The validity of their announcement has not been confirmed.
Our hearts are with Kayla, her family, friends, and all those who have lost liberty, lives and loved ones in the global struggle for freedom and human rights.
With the ISM, Kayla worked with Palestinians nonviolently resisting the confiscation and demolitions of their homes and lands. In the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Occupied East Jerusalem, she stayed with the Al Kurd family to try and prevent the takeover of their home by Israeli settlers.
Max Blumenthal sur Twitter : “Could Haaretz not have concocted a trashier headline?”
▻https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/565253488910036996
The Untold Story of the Shejaiya Massacre in Gaza: A Former Israel Soldier Speaks Out | Democracy Now!
▻http://www.democracynow.org/2014/9/12/the_untold_story_of_the_shejaiya
On July 20, at least 90 Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers were killed in the Gaza City neighborhood of Shejaiya. Days later, former Israeli soldier Eran Efrati was arrested by Israel after he posted details about the massacre based on interviews he conducted with Israeli soldiers who were there. Today he speaks out about what he learned and talks about the killing of 23-year-old Salem Khaleel Shamaly. Activists with the International Solidarity Movement posted a video on YouTube showing the fatal shooting of an unarmed Palestinian civilian during the massacre. Family members later stumbled onto the video and identified the man as Shamaly. In the video, Shamaly is seen lying on the ground, apparently wounded by an unseen sniper. As Shamaly tries to get to his feet, two more shots ring out, and he stops moving. Efrati interviewed three of the Israeli soldiers who witnessed the killing of Salem Khaleel Shamaly. His sources within the Israeli Defense Forces reportedly informed him soldiers were deliberately targeting civilians as “punishment” and “retribution” for the deaths of fellow soldiers in their units. Efrati is a former Israeli combat soldier turned anti-occupation activist and investigative researcher.
Eran Efrati , former Israeli combat soldier turned anti-occupation activist and investigative researcher. He recently interviewed several Israeli soldiers who participated in the Shejaiya massacre in Gaza. Later this month, Efrati will testify at the Russell Tribunal on Palestine in Brussels.
Part 2: Former Israeli Soldier Eran Efrati Speaks Out About Documenting IDF Abuse in Gaza, West Bank
▻http://www.democracynow.org./blog/2014/9/12/part_2_former_israeli_soldier_eran
ERAN EFRATI: I’m a seventh-generation Jerusalemite, and very proud of it. My grandpa grew up in the old city of Jerusalem with other Palestinians. He knew Arabic before he knew Hebrew. He actually referred to himself as a Jewish Palestinian. He had Palestinian friends, and he fought with them against the colonial forces of Britain at the time. Of course, in some point, he became the colonial forces himself, because he had to choose if he’s more Arab or more Jewish. Of course, you can be American Jewish in Israel, or you can be European Jewish, but you cannot be Arab Jewish in Israel. Arab Jews in Israel, much like people of color here, like blacks in here in the United States, in Ferguson, is under the same kind of racism, systematic racism, as Palestinians. We are all really Palestinians. Here in the U.S., in Israel and in Palestine, we are under the same oppression.
(...)
ERAN EFRATI: Exactly. They’re doing it every day. The violence in Palestine is every day. The structural violence in Israel toward Palestinians, like here in the U.S., is more than just structural; it’s happening in a big masses. We’re hearing sometimes about massacres, like what happened in Gaza. But we don’t hear about the everyday situation of the occupation, the everyday beating, the everyday arrests. They administer the arrests of people without them knowing what they’re charged of, sometimes for months, sometimes for years, never going to a trial. That, of course, will not help them, because if they would go to a trial, it will be a military court with a military judge and a military lawyer. So, of course, they don’t have any chance, from the beginning with. Beating like this is happening every day in Israel, not only to Palestinians, also sometimes to Israeli activists, like the last summer showed us. The only difference was that this story came out to the news because he was an American citizen.
Graphic Video Allegedly Shows Wounded Civilian Killed by Israeli Sniper
▻http://www.newsweek.com/graphic-video-allegedly-shows-wounded-civilian-killed-israeli-sniper-26012
The video, which couldn’t be independently verified, was released by the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), along with pictures of destroyed ambulances.
“We all just watched a man murdered in front of us,” said Joe Catron, an American ISM activist in Gaza who confirmed his account to Newsweek.
“He was trying to reach his family in Shuja’iya. He had not heard from them and was worried about them. They shot him and then continued to fire as he was on the ground,” Catron added.
Israelis use lethal chemical weapons: 17 miscarriages, animals killed
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/israelis-use-lethal-chemical-weapons-17-miscarriages-animals-kill
There were 17 miscarriages in December 2012 as a result of unidentified Israeli gas fired, in separate instances, at Palestinians in the village of Urif in the West Bank, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) said Tuesday.
Villagers reported the gas’s effect on animals along with people.
Eight sheep had died after exposure. New born puppies were also said to have been killed and one cow experienced a miscarriage, dying shortly thereafter, according to the report.
Two American activists, including ISM founder, arrested in Bahrain - Bikya Masr
►http://bikyamasr.com/56752/two-american-activists-including-ism-founder-arrested-in-bahrain
DUBAI: Two American activists were arrested in Bahrain on Saturday during pro-reform protests against the monarchy.
According to witnesses on the ground in Manama, Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian-American and co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) – a nonviolence civil disobedience group in Palestine – was seen taken by police from a march in the capital.
Night of Israeli violence: Al Aqsa Mosque barricade, house demolition, gang beating, arrests | International Solidarity Movement
►http://palsolidarity.org/2011/08/19911
This comes following a daytime attack by a gang of 15 masked settlers of a 10 year old Palestinian boy near Ramallah, outside the settlement of Ramat Migron. The boy is in the hospital being treated for deep wounds.
Thirteen homes and three school buildings destroyed by Israeli forces | International Solidarity Movement
►http://palsolidarity.org/2011/01/16427
More than 13 homes and three school buildings were bulldozed this morning by occupation forces in the small Bedouin village of Dkaika near Yatta south of Hebron. One eye witness – an English teacher at the school – said “the Israeli army arrived at the village at around 7:30am with over fifty military vehicles and at least six bulldozers before forcibly removing the children from the school and destroying three classrooms.” He went on, “the children, some of whom are as young as seven years old, were crying and shouting at the soldiers to stop.”