Israel’s efforts to control and destroy the lives of Palestinians is visible in the thousands of big and small incidents that happen every day. Below are summaries of just a handful of shocking (but unsurprising) stories from the past few days that you may not have heard about.
In the first 26 days of 2023, Israeli forces killed 29 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank (plus another child in Gaza died from wounds inflicted by Israeli forces last year). In response, Palestinian resistance fighters in Gaza fired two rockets into Israel. Today, Israel fired dozens of missiles into the besieged Gaza Strip, causing major damage
After the Israeli military killed nine Palestinians in Jenin on Thursday, they attacked a group of Palestinians protesting the killings, and killed yet another Palestinian, Yousef Mheisin, age 22. The death toll for Palestinians in 2023 is now 30.
Just weeks after Kenneth Roth lost (and then regained) a post at Harvard over his criticism of Israel, another highly qualified Jewish American is squeezed out of her nomination for a top human rights position in the State Department for the same reason.
Nayef al-Oweidat, age 13, suffered serious wounds during an Israeli bombing on his neighborhood. He is one of over 200 Palestinians (40+ of them minors) that who died from Israeli attacks in 2022.
The Palestinian death toll in 2023 has risen to 28 after the latest Israeli attack on the city of Jenin. After shooting Palestinians, Israeli soldiers (as usual) blocked ambulances from tending to the injured, as well as firing tear gas at the pediatric ward of a nearby hospital.
Mohammad Ali, age 16, was fatally shot as he ran away from Israeli soldiers; Aref Lahlouh, age 20, was fatally shot after he allegedly tried to stab an Israeli soldier – the soldier was uninjured, but Lahlouh was shot and denied medical attention. These are the 18th and 19th Palestinian deaths at the hands of Israel in the first 25 days of 2023.
For a generation or more leading American Jewish organizations, including the religious orders, have done everything they can to build Jewish identity around Zionism. They say directly: “To be Jewish is to support ‘the Jewish state.'” And in turn, Israeli leaders state that they are the leaders of the Jewish people internationally…
Tarek Ma’ali, 42, was the father of three. He was gunned down by an Israeli whose settlement – built on Palestinian land – is not even recognized by Israel. He is the 18th Palestinian killed by Israel this year.
Roth remains concerned, stating: “Criticizing Israel is not limited to me, and most scholars have no comparable capacity to mobilize public attention” He also seeks clarification about who was behind the dean’s original decision (some names have already been floated)