Facts & latest news on Gaza Great March of Return (periodically updated)

Since March 30, 2018 Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip–including families, women, and children–have gathered along the Israeli border to highlight their dispossession in 1948 and protest the growing humanitarian catastrophe. From that time through December 16th, 2019, Israeli forces have killed 364 Gazans and injured over 35,000, including women, children, disabled individuals, medics, and journalists. Many have been shot in the back, nearly all were unarmed and posed no risk to the heavily armed Israeli soldiers. During the same period, Gazan resistance forces killed 9 Israelis.

Man who toppled Jewish gravestones says he wasn’t motivated by antisemitism

Ha’aretz reports that a man who knocked over 120 headstones at a Jewish cemetery near St. Louis last year wasn’t motivated by antisemitism. He “acted alone, was angry over a personal matter and was under the influence of drugs when he committed the offense.” This follows the discovery that the rash of bomb threats against U.S. Jewish institutions were hoaxes by an Israeli teen unmotivated by antisemitism. Reports of an alleged “rise” in antisemitism are sometimes used to pass anti-Palestinian legislation…

Landmark bill restricting criticism of Israel sneaks through South Carolina Senate

South Carolina is poised to be the first state to pass legislation to adopt an Israel-centric definition for “anti-Semitism.” This will then apply to the state’s campuses, potentially limiting discussion of Israel-Palestine to one-sided information that fosters U.S. policies that provide Israel $10 million per day. The bill has been heralded in Israel as a “a landmark bill” that will lead change across the U.S. and the world, while South Carolina lawmakers appear to have let it through in the belief that it isn’t significant legislation.

Israeli Lawmaker: Palestinian Teen Tamimi ‘Should Have Gotten a Bullet, at Least in the Knee’

Deputy Knesset Speaker Bezalel Smotrich tweeted that Palestinian teen Ahed Tamimi “should have gotten a bullet at least in the kneecap,” drawing an angry response from feminist Jewish MK Michel Rozin. Tamimi is serving 8 months for slapping a soldier, after soldiers had shot her cousin in the face.

Amira Hass: As if Israel Did Nothing Shameful Before the Advent of Smartphones

Amira Hass writes in Ha’aretz that Israeli soldiers who kill unarmed Palestinians didn’t pop up for the 1st time three weeks ago. Nor did the army’s excuses start only then. Gross violation of human rights (and Israeli denial) are as old as the state itself – even older. The actions excuses continue unabated in spite of smartphones and security cameras.

Another Day, Another Mossad Assassination

Richard Silverstein reports on the assassination of Gazan engineer Fadi al Batsh in Malaysia and notes it resembles that of of Mohammed al Zoary last year. He asks why Israel kills academics and then protests academic boycott. His answer: An Israeli professor “would never see the equivalence between him or herself and a dead Palestinian professor.”

Multiple sources report “devastating injuries” from “exploding bullets” among Gaza protesters

Doctors Without Borders teams in Gaza report “devastating injuries of an unusual severity” and likely “serious, long-term physical disabilities” for most victims. According to Gaza Health Ministry, Israel’s new bullets are “the deadliest” ever; they explode inside the victim’s body, “frequently resulting in death.”