Documenting Israeli army racism and torture thread 2

[Desertrose2023]

First thread almost full so starting another one to continue this discussion

https://skwawkbox.org/2023/12/22/us-trying-to-persuade-switzerland-to-waive-geneva-conventions-for-israel-in-gaza/

Interesting article I cam across about US trying to persuade Switzerland to waive Geneva Conventions for Israel in Gaza

@Desertrose2023 how are you today? Is it night time where you are? X

Israel has killed 76 members of an extended family in Gaza, Associated Press reported rescue officials as saying on Saturday.

Friday’s strike on a building in Gaza City was among the deadliest of the Israel-Gaza war, Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesperson for Gaza’s civil defence department said.

Bassal provided a partial list of the names of those killed, according to AP – 16 heads of households from the Mughrabi family – and said the dead included women and children.

Among them was Issam al-Mughrabi, a veteran employee of the UN Development Programme, his wife and their five children.

“The loss of Issam and his family has deeply affected us all. The UN and civilians in Gaza are not a target,” said Achim Steiner, the head of the agency. “This war must end.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/dec/23/israel-gaza-hamas-war-latest-updates-un-security-council-resolution-us-live

@ssd it's really a lot for anyone to take in and sometimes we need to give ourselves a break for our own mental health. I've had to keep off Instagram for a while as the footage that were and still are coming out have been too much for me to bear and I felt like I was traumatised by it all. So I do feel guilty for being able to have this luxury when they don't but we have to do what's best for us as well.

Shocking. It seems the US are the only ones who can hold Israel to account and are refusing to do so. And there's no one who can hold the US to account.

@braticus really shocking! "waive" the Geneva convention FFS, what's the point in even having it if they want to bypass it. There is no justice if they do this.

Articles like that really aren't helping -they are fake news.

Switzerland cannot waive the Geneva Conventions - they are called the Geneva Conventions because that's where they were negotiated by many nations but there is no single state that can decide they don't apply. The Netherlands can't waive the Hague Conventions either.

If Israel doesn't want to be held to account under the Geneva Convention, it has to withdraw as a states party to them but even then customary international law applies which makes a lot of what Israel is doing against international legal norms.

This doesn't surprise me at all. Israel, the US and the UK will never have to answer for the crimes being committed by Israel, in Gaza, and supported by the US and the UK.

Donald Trump issued an executive order to sanction ICC prosecutors when they tried to investigate the US for war crimes in Afghanistan. I believe those sanctions have now been lifted but it does suggest that some countries believe they are above international law and think nothing of using intimidation tactics against anyone who tries to hold them accountable.

Apparently these are the values of "western civilisation".

www.hrw.org/news/2020/12/14/us-sanctions-international-criminal-court

https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/israeli-forces-executed-palestinian-men-families-gaza-war-crimes-probe-un-human-rights-office-2479113-2023-12-22

The United Nations Human Rights Office has called for an immediate investigation following reports that Israeli forces “summarily executed” at least 11 unarmed Palestinian men in front of their families in Gaza City. If confirmed, the actions of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) could amount to war crimes, it said.

According to the UN agency, the incident allegedly occurred when IDF troops took control of the Al Awda building in the Al Remal neighbourhood, where multiple families had sought refuge.

In a statement, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) alleged that the soldiers separated men from women and children before shooting the men.

Bloody terrible. I wish there were a way to ensure the perpetrators are always prosecuted.

I've just gone onto Instagram and the first video that popped up was on Shaun Kings page of a young man. His head was flattened vertically.

Absolutely shocking and horrric. I don't want to post it on here but if you want to it's on Shaun Kings page.

For those who still believe that the IDF is not carpet bombing Gaza.

https://twitter.com/IsHQ_QaTil/status/1739008908596031867/photo/1

Shaun’s instagram has been suspended apparently. Meta is literally doing everything it can to censor what’s happening in Gaza. I really hope his lawyers get involved and they are able to restore his account soon. It’s been so vital to showing people what’s happening, particularly those in the US where public opinion really matters.

Is anyone following Greg Stoker? He’s a former US army veteran. He makes videos dissecting the IDF propaganda videos from a military perspective and calling bullshit. Worth checking him out

https://www.instagram.com/greg.j.stoker?igsh=MXFmNGxtd29vaWU2bg==

Yes, Greg Stoker posts an interestjng take on things & is very much worth following. Dr.Ghassan.as is another accurate one to follow. A reconstructive surgeon who was in Gaza for 40 days working in Al Shifa. One of the first to report the usage of White Phosphorus due to his experience of it in other wars. He's worked during several other conflicts but this is the first one he's ever had to do pricedures without anaesthetics.
Shaun King is a very divisive figure who jumps on any latest bandwagon. He has no accurate knowledge of Palestine other than the fact people do follow him & he's well known. Posting shocking pictures is one of the ways he's raising his profile. So raising Palestine's profile amongst a certain sector of people may be useful. You would be better off following motazazaiza & wizardbizan.1. Local Palestinian journalists who need to be followed to maintain their safety.

Hi @Cantonet
I do follow Motaz, Bisan , Dr Ghassan and several others on the ground in Gaza. Also Prince Kouta (a Palestinian Canadian doctor) currently stuck in North Gaza which has been virtually cut off from all communications and journalists. The situation there is said to be X10 more dire than what’s happening in the south if you can even contemplate that.
I know Shaun King has been described as divisive figure but regardless of what his personal motivations may be, I can’t deny he has done a phenomenal job of raising awareness about what’s happening - particularly amongst the US audience where let’s face it opinions matter. He’s done that also by sharing the profiles/content of the citizen journalists Gaza and increasing their followers so I can’t deny him credit for that.

His page has now been suspended

@Desertrose2023 I've just seen. They're doing all they can to censor what's happening aren't they. I really hope he gets it back. Are you on his broadcast channel - that appears to be working but I'm not entirely sure

me too, hopefully someone sues meta. They’ve already been called out by human rights watch for this censorship.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/20/meta-systemic-censorship-palestine-content

I'm not surprised.

I imagine the vast majority of people know a war is going on. Thousands are being killed. Its tragic and the vast majority of people want a ceasefire on both sides, hostage release and negotiations to move forward.

We don't however need the picture of a man with a flattened head. People die in wars in the most horrendous ways. Sharing pictures of the graphic bodies doesn't make it stop. It increases hate and makes it more likely that a lone wolf or terrorist attack will take place spreading more death and more hatred.

Peaceful calls for a ceasefire and negotiations are what is needed. People like SK serve their own aims, his own publicly. He could call for peace without sharing images of a man with a flattened head. It feels like mawkish sharing. Children sitting at home viewing his content. You can call for peace without the images, surely the number of deaths show what is happening. It feels like some actually enjoy looking at the sick images.

The censorship is real and it's everywhere. All we can do is keep using our voices.

Unfortunately by not allowing international journalists independent access to Gaza Israel has left people no choice but to go to social media to understand what’s happening. That’s created a void which has been filled by Shaun King and others. People have a lot of negative things to say about Shaun King but what’s been shown on his platform (and others) is a fraction of the situation/deaths on the ground. the reality is much much worse.

I respect your opinion and do understand where you’re coming from, we’ve had discussions before around consent and if it’s appropriate or not for people to be filmed injured and dying. However I don’t agree with what you’re saying re people don’t need to see the gruesome details to understand a war is going on. people should see the reality of war in all its gory details so they can understand how horrific it is and put pressure on their governments to end it sooner. It’s very easy to turn a blind eye to suffering when it seems like a distant thing in a faraway place that doesn’t impact you. This isn’t malicious to most people it’s just human nature that it’s harder to care when it’s faceless people/numbers and you’re sitting cosy in your living room in the UK or the US. But when you see the faces and you learn the names and you see the mums and dads and the gore of people under the rubble it becomes real and you start to empathize. It forces a level of urgency that wouldn’t otherwise exist. Do you think we’d have seen this level of international pressure/protest/boycott without the SM footage? No way. And despite all that we still don’t have a ceasefire. Perhaps if people had direct access to such images earlier on we would not have had so many world wars / or they would have been ended sooner due to greater public pressure/ outrage.

For those who still believe that the IDF is not carpet bombing Gaza.

That's an image of some of the tunnels being blown up.

You don't need pictures of flattened heads. Pictures of faces with died and date brings it home. Goulish picture sharing is wrong. The oh look at this picture of child without arm, flattened head man, person maybe run over etc only draws in the ghoulish most mawkish

I don’t see why anyone should sanitise the reality of this war. That only benefits Israel. And I wasn’t seeing any Palestinian faces on mainstream news. Only numbers. It was only when the stories went viral on social media that they were reported internationally. Take the story of Reem and her grandfather, where he was filmed hugging and kissing her dead body, and the story got picked up by CNN.

the issue of Meta inappropriately censoring content on Palestine is much bigger than Shaun King. They have been called out by Human Rights Watch. The censorship is convenient for Israel and the US to continue their war crimes without the added scrutiny.