New study: Israel committing genocide; Netanyahu says Israel not enslaved to US – Day 222

New study: Israel committing genocide; Netanyahu says Israel not enslaved to US – Day 222

New study concludes Israel is committing genocide in Gaza; Netanyahu says Israel not enslaved to US; Israeli military kills Gazans trying to access internet services; more Israeli forces amass near Rafah; Palestinians killed in West Bank; Israel demolishes village for 225th time; Israelis beat Palestinian truck driver – they thought he was delivering aid; Jewish staffer for Biden administration resigns on Nakba Day; campus protest update.

By IAK staff, from reports


Israel committing genocide in Gaza, new study concludes:

A ground-breaking study by a coalition of prestigious academic institutions has concluded that Israel’s actions in Gaza since 7 October, 2023, constitute genocide against the Palestinian people.

The study, conducted by the University Network for Human Rights, the International Human Rights Clinic at Boston University School of Law, the International Human Rights Clinic at Cornell Law School, the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, and the Lowenstein Human Rights Project at Yale Law School, presents a thorough legal analysis of Israel’s conduct in the context of the Genocide Convention of 1948.

The study, “Genocide in Gaza: Analysis of International Law and its Application to Israel’s Military Actions since October 7, 2023,” is available here.

People mourn next to the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes at Abu Yossef Al-Najar hospital, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip
People mourn next to the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes at Abu Yossef Al-Najar hospital, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip (photo)

Netanyahu says Israel not enslaved to US

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly said that Israel is not “enslaved to the United States,” claiming he has pushed back against American pressure in the past, and would do so again, Israel’s Walla news site reported yesterday quoting three informed sources.

According to the sources, Netanyahu’s comments came the day after US President Joe Biden warned against an invasion of Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah where 1.5 million Palestinians have been sheltering, the vast majority after being displaced numerous times from other areas of the enclave.

According to Walla, Netanyahu likened his confrontation with Biden over Rafah to the decision of the first Israeli Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, to announce the establishment of Israel in 1948, despite the opposition of then US Secretary of State, George Marshall.

NOTE: Netanyahu’s statement is at odds with the context of the US-Israel relationship: the US provides billions of dollars in military aid to Israel every year, and more to benefit Israel (and tens of billions of additional aid in recent months) with virtually no strings attached – contrary to the majority of Americans’ wishes. In recent weeks, the Biden administration has made a single demand on Netanyahu: to not invade Rafah without a plan for keeping its enormous civilian/refugee population safe.
Netanyahu, centre, chairs a cabinet meeting at the Kirya, which houses the Israeli Ministry of Defense, in Tel Aviv
Netanyahu, center, chairs a cabinet meeting at the Kirya, which houses the Israeli Ministry of Defense, in Tel Aviv (photo)

Gaza: Israel again kills civilians trying to access internet services:

Euro-Med Monitor reports: In order to hide the truth, impede press coverage of its crimes, and prevent locals from transmitting information to one another, the Israeli army periodically targets civilians across the Strip who are trying to access communications and Internet services.

The Israeli army continues to repeatedly target and kill Palestinian civilians, including journalists, as they attempt to access communications and Internet services to reach their families or employers. Using aerial bombardment, snipers, or drones, Israel directly targets these individuals—who pose no threat or danger to its army—in various areas of the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli drone fired a missile at a group of Palestinian civilians in the heart of Gaza City on Wednesday afternoon. The civilians had gathered at an “Internet distribution point” on Al-Jalaa Street at the Ayoun Hospital intersection. The missile killed at least four people, including a child, whose body parts were recovered. Fifteen others were injured, some with moderate to severe wounds.

Dozens of people had gathered to attempt to contact their family members when an Israeli drone launched a surprise missile attack. The attack directly targeted the tent being used as an Internet distribution point, causing the massive and deadly explosion.

Instead of accessing the Internet via electronic SIMcards, Palestinian civilians have recently been turning to these random distribution points and physically high places to try to access communication networks due to the systematic and widespread destruction of civilian objects by Israeli forces in the Strip. With the destruction of mobile phone network transmission stations, Palestinians are struggling to communicate.

Since the Israeli military invasion began on 7 October 2023, Israel has shut off communications and the Internet in the Gaza Strip no fewer than 13 times with its direct targeting of civilian telecommunications infrastructure and electrical generators. Israel has also prevented the necessary fuel supply from reaching these generators.
Since the Israeli military invasion began on 7 October 2023, Israel has shut off communications and the Internet in the Gaza Strip no fewer than 13 times with its direct targeting of civilian telecommunications infrastructure and electrical generators. Israel has also prevented the necessary fuel supply from reaching these generators. (photo)

Israel sends additional brigade to Rafah

The Israeli army announced it is sending an additional brigade to Rafah, southern Gaza, as the government is expected to approve a widening of operations in the city that once housed over a million displaced Palestinians.

At least 600,000 Palestinians have already fled the southern city to other areas in the south and centre of the Gaza Strip since Israel intensified its military operations last week.

NOTE: The Biden administration has been clear in its disapproval of Israel’s plan to invade Rafah, but has funded it anyway, in spite of worldwide calls for an end to arms transfers and an end to the war, and despite the International Court of Justice’s ruling that Israel is plausibly committing genocide. Netanyahu has ignored almost all Biden administration demands thus far.

OCHA update on the situation in Gaza – excerpts

  • On 14 and 15 May, the Israeli military issued two new evacuation orders for all or part of 19 neighborhoods in northern Gaza, bringing to five the number of orders issued since 6 May in Rafah and northern Gaza.
  • As of 15 May, according to the UN, nearly 600,000 people have been displaced from Rafah, including about 150,000 people in the past 48 hours. Another about 100,000 people have been displaced in northern Gaza, the UN estimates.
  • To date, 285 square kilometres, or approximately 78 per cent of the Gaza Strip, have been placed under evacuation orders by the Israeli military; this encompasses all areas north of Wadi Gaza, whose residents were instructed to evacuate in late October, as well as specific areas south of Wadi Gaza designated for evacuation by the Israeli military since 1 December.
  • As families continue to be displaced, many for the fifth time since the onset of hostilities, Israeli-designated “humanitarian zones” for the displaced remain unsafe, according to Save the Children (SCI); medical personnel at the SCI Emergency Health Unit in Al Mawasi have been treating children wounded in airstrikes taking place in such zones.


 


West Bank: Three young Palestinians killed during Israeli military attack

WAFA reports: Three Palestinians in their 20s were killed and others were injured after midnight on Wednesday during an Israeli military offensive against the city of Tulkarem and its northern towns, according to WAFA correspondent.

Three Palestinians were  fatally shot by the occupation forces during a military raid into the city. According to sources, Israeli forces stormed the city and proceeded to intensively and randomly open live fire toward residents and throughout the streets of the city.


Israeli Army Kills A Palestinian In Jerusalem

IMEMC reports: On Thursday dawn, Israeli soldiers killed a young Palestinian man near the Sahera Gate in the Old City of the occupied capital, Jerusalem, in the West Bank, after he allegedly attempted to stab them.

The Palestinian has been identified as Nour Nizar Shehabi, 17, from the Suwwana neighborhood in Jerusalem, the Wadhi Hilweh Information Center In Silwan (Silwanic) said.

After killing him, the soldiers stormed and ransacked his family’s home and abducted his parents.


Israel Demolishes Al-Araqeeb Village For The 225th Time

IMEMC reports: On Wednesday, the Israeli occupation authorities demolished the Al-Arakib Bedouin village, in the Negev, for the 225th time since it was first demolished on July 27, 2010.

Media sources said the Israeli police and soldiers invaded the village before demolishing all residential sheds and barns, building using wood, tin, and plastic.

It is worth mentioning that the Israeli authorities demolished the village last on April 16, 2024, and this demolition marks the third time since the beginning of this year.

The Bedouin village was also demolished eleven times in the year 2023, 15 times in 2022, and 14 times in 2021.

RECOMMENDED READING: Israeli harassment of Palestinian Bedouin village won’t let up
Al-Araqib is one of 35 Bedouin villages considered “unrecognized” by the Israeli government.
Al-Araqib is one of 35 Bedouin villages considered “unrecognized” by the Israeli government. (photo)

OCHA weekly update on the West Bank – excerpts

During the reporting period of May 7-13:

    • Israeli settlers perpetrated 23 attacks against Palestinians that led to injury and/or damage to property, and at least 13 that did not result in property damage, including intimidation of herders and entry into Al Aqsa Mosque compound where tensions have remained high.
    • Overall, since 7 October, 848 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians resulted in Palestinian casualties (87 incidents), damage to Palestinian-owned property (669 incidents), or both casualties and damage to property (92 incidents).
    • Israeli authorities demolished 18 Palestinian-owned houses due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits in Area C of the West Bank.
    • As a result, at least 82 Palestinians, including 50 children, were displaced. These include 28 who were displaced in one incident in Duma village on 9 May, when five homes and five livelihood structures were demolished.
    • In total, 17 agricultural and other structures were demolished for lacking building permits in Area C during the reporting period, affecting 89 people.
    • Since 7 October, over 1,950 Palestinians have been displaced as a result of home demolitions carried out or ordered by Israeli authorities.

Right-wing activists beat Palestinian truck driver – they thought he was delivering aid

Ha’aretz reports: Right-wing activists stopped two trucks in the Giv’at Assaf settlement in the West Bank and emptied their contents Wednesday night because they thought the trucks were carrying aid to the Gaza Strip.

A defense official said that they were ordinary Palestinian commercial trucks and that after the activists removed the goods, they burned tires and threw a stone that hit one of the drivers in the head.


UNRWA headquarters faces ‘another arson attempt’ by Israelis

Israeli arsonists once again attacked the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem last night, according to the agency’s chief Philippe Lazzarini.

“Another arson attempt by Israeli children and young people on @UNRWA in #Jerusalem last night. This has got to stop,” he said in a post.

On May 9, Lazzarini announced the agency would temporarily close its headquarters after several arson attacks in recent weeks and growing threats of violence against UN staff.


Ha’aretz reports: Five Israeli soldiers were killed on Wednesday by IDF tank fire in the northern Gaza Strip.

An initial investigation into the deaths of five IDF soldiers reveals that two IDF tanks, located dozens of meters away, identified a weapon and fired shells at an IDF force nearby.

The IDF is probing why the shells were fired and if the soldiers were mistaken for armed militants.


South Africa seeks halt to Israel’s Rafah offensive at World Court:

South Africa will ask the top UN court to order a halt to the Rafah offensive as part of its case in The Hague accusing Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip.

The hearings at the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, come after South Africa last week asked for additional emergency measures to protect Rafah, a southern Gaza city where more than 1.5 million Palestinians had been sheltering.

On Thursday, South Africa will present its latest intervention-seeking emergency measures starting at 3pm (13:00 GMT). Israel, which has denounced South Africa’s claim that it is violating the 1949 Genocide Convention as baseless, will respond on Friday.


Jewish staffer resigns from Biden administration over Gaza – on Nakba Day:

Associated Press reports: An Interior Department staffer on Wednesday became the first Jewish political appointee to publicly resign in protest of U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

Lily Greenberg Call is resigning from the Interior Department to protest President Biden's support for Israel's military campaign in Gaza.
Lily Greenberg Call is resigning from the Interior Department to protest President Biden’s support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. (photo)

Lily Greenberg Call, a special assistant to the chief of staff in the Interior Department, accused President Joe Biden of using Jews to justify U.S. policy in the conflict.

Call had worked for the presidential campaigns of both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and was a longtime activist and advocate for Israel in Washington and elsewhere before joining the government.

“I can no longer in good conscience continue to represent this administration,” she wrote in her resignation letter.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Call pointed to comments by Biden, including at a White House Hanukkah event where he said “Were there no Israel, there wouldn’t be a Jew in the world who was safe” and at an event at Washington’s Holocaust Memorial last week in which he said the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks that triggered the war were driven by an “ancient desire to wipe out the Jewish people.”

“He is making Jews the face of the American war machine. And that is so deeply wrong,” she said, noting that ancestors of hers were killed by “state-sponsored violence.”

The Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7 killed about 1,200 people in Israel. Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians.

“I think the president has to know that there are people in his administration who think this is disastrous,” Call said of the war overall and U.S. support for it. “Not just for Palestinians, for Israelis, for Jews, for Americans, for his election prospects.”


‘I know the Nakba never ended’: Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib:

Palestinian-American member of Congress Rashida Tlaib virtually addressed a Nakba remembrance ceremony on Wednesday, saying “I know the Nakba never ended.”

“The Israeli government is using starvation as a weapon of war. Israeli forces have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians – over 13,000 children. Nearly 100,000 Palestinians have been injured and 1.7 million displaced,” Tlaib told the Israeli-Palestinian NGO Combatants For Peace.

“Palestinians are human beings, and we also have dreams of truly being free,” she continued. “We are mothers, daughters, and granddaughters. We are justice seekers … my prayer on this Nakba Remembrance Day is that the Palestinian people will one day live in a free Palestine.”


Amnesty Statement on Nakba Day: Mass forced displacement in Gaza highlights urgent need for Israel to uphold Palestinians’ right to return:

The current forced displacement of almost 2 million Palestinians and mass destruction of civilian property and infrastructure in the occupied Gaza Strip puts a spotlight on Israel’s appalling record of displacing Palestinians and its ongoing refusal to respect their right to return for the last 76 years, said Amnesty International marking Nakba Day.

The day commemorates the displacement of more than 800,000 Palestinians following the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

“Generations of Palestinians across the occupied territories are deeply scarred by the trauma of being uprooted and dispossessed multiple times and with no prospect of return to their homes.

It is utterly harrowing to see the chilling scenes of 1948 Nakba (catastrophe), as it is known to Palestinians, repeat themselves as droves of Palestinians in Gaza are forced to flee their homes on foot in search of safety over and over, and Israeli army and state backed settlers expel Palestinians in the West Bank from their homes,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International.

(Read the full statement here.)

Palestinians wait to evacuate on May 7, after Israeli forces launch a ground and air operation in the eastern part of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip
Palestinians wait to evacuate on May 7, after Israeli forces launch a ground and air operation in the eastern part of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip (photo)

Campus Protest Update:

Sonoma State President Placed on Leave After School Agrees to Academic Boycott of Israel:

CBS News reports: Sonoma State University President Mike Lee was placed on leave Wednesday following an email where he announced he and campus protesters had reached an agreement on divestment from Israel.

The email, posted by the student group, shows the other key agreement points.

    • Establishing an Advisory Council of Students for Justice in Palestine
    • Disclosure of investments and divestment, seeking ethical alternatives
    • Academic boycott of academic and research institutions that are sponsored by, or represent, the Israeli state
    • Recognize Palestinian identity and introduce historic curriculum
    • Calling for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza

There was immediate backlash against the email and Lee’s decision. CSU Chancellor Mildred Garcia announced Lee was placed on administrate leave on Wednesday.

“Mike” Lee, Ph.D., Sonoma State University president, on leave
“Mike” Lee, Ph.D., Sonoma State University president, on leave (photo)

“For now, because of this insubordination and consequences it has brought upon the system, President Lee has been placed on administrative leave,” Garcia said.

Garcia said Lee’s message was sent without approval, and in an updated message to the campus, Lee said he was alone in his decision to send the email.

“I want to be clear: The message was drafted and sent without the approval of, or consultation with, the Chancellor or other system leaders. The points outlined in the message were mine alone, and do not represent the views of my colleagues or the CSU,” Lee said on Wednesday.

“In my message, I stated: “We understand that many people feel anxious and fearful, particularly when standing for what they believe. We ask that everyone do their part to support one another, to ensure that Sonoma State is a safe and inclusive place for all.” I stand by that statement. I realize now that my message has caused more fear, anxiety, and uncertainty. This was not my intent,” Lee said.

Chancellor Garcia said she and the Board continue to look into the matter, and there will likely be further updates.

NOTE: Pro-Israel organizations consistently work to silence Palestine advocacy on campus – a free speech violation. One strategy they use is to pressure universities to officially adopt the IHRA “definition” of antisemitism, which defines legitimate criticism of Israel as antisemitic. Other strategies include blocking prestigious appointments of and events with supporters of Palestinian rights, threatening to withhold major donations, and more. Typically, any move that defies the standard pro-Israel position is followed by an apology like the one Lee issued – an apology that recognizes only the sentiments of pro-Israel students and ignoring the actual issues of free speech and divestment from Israel.

Police take back building from protesters at University of California, Irvine:

On Wednesday 200 to 300 protesters took over the lecture hall at a time when no classes were in session, UC Irvine spokesperson Tom Vasich said.

Police responded in riot gear and formed a barricade while an officer on a loudspeaker warned the crowd that they had formed an unlawful assembly and risked arrest if they remained, the Orange County Register reported.

Students chanted slogans, banged drums and hoisted banners, with rows of police standing nearby, Reuters witnessed. One banner hung from the building declared the site “Alex Odeh Hall,” in honor of a Palestinian activist who was killed in a 1985 office bombing in the nearby city of Santa Ana.

Four adjacent research buildings with potentially hundreds of people inside were locked down, and those inside were instructed to shelter in place, Vasich said, though the university later altered that instruction and instead advised them to leave.

Shortly before nightfall, police moved in on the lecture hall, then engaged in a tense standoff with protesters at the encampment.

Helmeted police wielding batons formed a line against protesters. Police gradually moved forward, pushing the students back every few minutes, until the officers rushed the crowd and made more arrests.

NOTE: Pro-Palestine demonstrations on college campuses have overall been peaceful and non-confrontational, and have notably included a significant number of Jewish students. When there has been violence, it has come from pro-Israel counter-protesters and police.
RECOMMENDED READING: 
Law enforcement officers deployed to the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) take position, after protesters against the war in Gaza surrounded the physical sciences lecture hall, as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas continues, in Irvine, California, U.S. May 15, 2024.
Law enforcement officers deployed to the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) take position, after protesters against the war in Gaza surrounded the physical sciences lecture hall, as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas continues, in Irvine, California, U.S. May 15, 2024. (photo)


More News:

Al Jazeera: Palestinian life under Israeli occupation – an illustrated guide.
Al Jazeera: More than half a million Palestinians flee as Israel escalates Gaza attacks.
Middle East Monitor: Lapid: Israel’s ministers are arguing while our soldiers are being killed in Gaza.
IMEMC Reports.

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – May 15: at least 35,742* (35,233 in Gaza* – 4,959 women (20%), 7,797 children (32%) identified – and at least 509 in the West Bank (117 children). This does not include an estimated 7,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 42,510 Palestinian deaths. (Information on Gaza statistics here.)

At least 42 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 14 from West Bank).

At least 31 Palestinian children and several adults have died due to malnutrition**.

About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.

About 1.1 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are facing Catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

Palestinian injuries from October 7 – May 15: at least 84,245 (including at least 79,205 in Gaza and 5,040 in the West Bank).

It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – May 15: ~1,433 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 278 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 16 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.

Times of Israel reports: The IDF also listed 41 soldiers killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents – nearly 16%.

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.

*Previously, IAK did not include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile was being disputed. However, given that much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, Israel had previously bombed the hospital and has attacked many others, Israel is prohibiting outside experts from investigating the scene, and since the UN and other agencies are including the deaths from the attack in their cumulative totals, if Americans knew is now also doing so.

**Euro-Med Monitor reports that Gaza’s elderly are dying at an alarmingly high rate. The majority die at home and are buried either close to their residences or in makeshift graves dispersed across the Strip. There are currently more than 140 such cemeteries. Additionally, according to Euromed, thousands have died from starvation, malnourishment, and inadequate medical care; these are considered indirect victims as they were not registered in hospitals. 

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

Hover over each bar for exact numbers.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org

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