A respected journalist, apparently misinformed about history and current events in Israel, has unfortunately shared with her readers several inaccuracies about Israel and the people of Palestine. Her misunderstandings are not uncommon. If Americans Knew offers corrections.
An investigative report by an Israeli newspaper reveals that hundreds of Gazans, including families of suspected political agitators, and young men not suspected of anything, were jailed in Israeli detention centers in 1971 for almost a year.
In the midst of an Israeli killing spree in which Israeli soldiers shot dead four unarmed Palestinians, including two minors, the House of Representatives voted to give Israel billions of dollars. Only 3 members opposed the funding…
Human Rights Watch investigated several Israeli attacks that resulted in particularly high numbers of civilian casualties – with no evident military target – and determined that the incidents may have been war crimes. Other Israeli attacks during the conflict were also likely unlawful.
“We reject Israel’s apartheid system of laws and legal procedures,” the United Church of Christ (UCC) stated at its general synod, in a resolution approved by 83 percent of members despite an appeal by the American Jewish Committee. (The term ‘apartheid’ for the Israeli system has been used by numerous experts, including South African apartheid leader Bishop Desmond Tutu, a South African report on Israel, and scholars on the region.)
The Olympics opening ceremony featured a moving commemoration for Israeli athletes who tragically and needlessly died half a century ago (when the Israeli prime minister refused a prisoner exchange), but failed to highlight a tragedy going on now that the world could stop: the desperate plight of Palestinian athletes who have been shot, maimed, & sometimes killed by Israeli forces… The ceremony also ignored the hundreds of men, women, and children killed by Israeli forces in the lead up to the tragic 1972 event, and the hundreds more killed by Israeli forces the following day…
While the words “apartheid” and “sin” caused fear and trembling among some delegates, and were ultimately stricken, the UCC statement in support of justice for Palestinians was met with 83% approval (14% opposed, 3% abstained).
After his arrest by Israeli forces on Sunday for a traffic violation, Abdo Yousef al-Khatib was heard screaming in his prison cell. The Israel Prison Service claims he died of a heart attack.
The village of Nabi Saleh, home to ordinary Palestinian families, has peacefully resisted Israel’s ongoing confiscation of their land for years. On Friday, the community was shattered by the senseless death of yet another of their own at the hands of Israeli forces.
Jewish author Michael Lesher – who blogs for the Times of Israel, among other outlets – muses on many Jewish leaders’ responses to the recent attack on Gaza: “trust in God and believe in Jewish infallibility.” Lesher suggests that instead, they should “devote their efforts toward restraining the Israeli war machine,” and consider the consequences of “[building a] future on a foundation of stolen property and murdered children.”