Tag Archives: Israel
Israel’s attack on Syria could spawn an even larger conflict
On Sunday May 5th, Israel carried out an airstrike against targets in the suburbs of Damascus, including the Scientific Studies and Research Centre, which is responsible for Syria’s biological, chemical weapons. Other targets included bases for Syria’s elite Republican Guard and storehouses of long-range missiles.
Kenyatta and the (in)effectiveness of the ICC
The International Criminal Court was established in 1998 to prosecute war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, and crimes of aggression, under the Rome Statute. Based in the Hague, Netherlands, the ICC has till date worked on eight cases, all of which originated in African nations.
Today, 122 nations are party to the ICC, including half of the African and all of the South American nations. However, three major world powers, without whose presence the ICC cannot significantly influence global change in terms of international criminal law, the United States, China, and Russia, are not state parties.
Overview of Arafat Jaradat’s death, autopsy findings, and growing protests
By Sami Kishawi (courtesy of Sixteen Minutes to Palestine)
Arafat Jaradat, 30, died in Israel’s Megiddo Prison on Saturday, February 24, 2013 after being interrogated and beaten by Israel’s internal security service Shin Bet. An autopsy reveals that Arafat died from injuries sustained during torture, inlcuding broken ribs and severe bruising.
Jaradat had been arrested on February 18 for allegedly throwing a stone at an armed Israeli soldier near the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement near Al-Khalil in the West Bank. He had been transferred to Megiddo Prison shortly after the arrest where he faced hours of interrogation and beatings.According to a statement released by the Shin Bet, Jaradat had been examined by physicians “numerous times” to deem him healthy enough to continue with the interrogation. The Shin Bet also noted that Jaradat suffered from health problems sustained after being hit by a rubber bullet and tear gas canister fired by Israeli soldiers, yet the the procedure continued.
Guilty until proven innocent: Palestinian prisoner hunger strikes
Israel has, once again, asserted its position as the beacon of democracy in the Middle East, promoting a policy of “guilty until proven innocent” with its Palestinian prisoners. And, once again, the United States media’s coverage of the occupying state’s policy has been anything but fair.
Many Palestinian prisoners – men, women, and children – have been thrown in Israeli prisons indefinitely and without charge, separated from their families and their homes in the occupied areas. Many are held in solitary confinement, where conditions are unjustifiably unsanitary and unbearable. To further humiliate Palestinians, many discharged prisoners are arrested again within a short time of their release. Many Palestinians have even resorted to hunger strikes in Israeli jails to protest the unjust and inhumane conditions under which they are detained.
Israel’s Ethiopian Jews: A community not “Jewish” enough
By Dima Ansari
In January, the state of Israel admitted that it had been administering birth control injections to Ethiopian Jewish immigrant women without their consent or their knowledge. “The government had previously denied the practice but the Israeli Health Ministry’s director-general has now ordered gynecologists to stop administering the drugs,” reported The Independent.
The women were injected with the contraceptive, Depo Provera, every three months and were misleadingly told that the injections were “inoculations.” Some women who rejected these injections were forced or coerced into taking the drug anyway. The drug was administered while these women were still in transit camps in Ethiopia.
Piers Morgan fails to challenge Ed Koch’s bigotry
On the night of Friday, February 1st, 2013—while watching CNN—I witnessed two men of some prominence disgrace themselves on national television, and the worst part about the whole affair was that neither of them appeared to realize what he was doing.
Stateless Palestinians: Facing deportation with no place to go
Home is where the heart is. Home is comfort and security. Imagine having the place you call home not recognized as an actual house, in an actual city and state.
The possibility of this happening sounds far-fetched, but for Palestinians, this is a reality.
Most Palestinians have faced this unfairness for generations because in 1948 they were classified by the U.N. as stateless. A stateless person is stuck in perpetual limbo and is denied the most basic right; having any rights at all. A ‘stateless refugee,’ as they are known, with no rights is left without access to education, property ownership, or employment, and stateless communities are exposed to political manipulation, exploitation and poverty.
Chuck Hagel: Going against the grain
Charles Timothy “Chuck” Hagel is an ex-Senator, has spent most of his life in public service, politics, and consulting. He is a Vietnam War veteran, and earned two Purple Hearts through his service.
Why we should be critical of U.S.-Israel relations
By Aymen Abdel Halim, Chief Editor
The letter to the editor below was submitted to and published by the Columbia Chronicle in Chicago in their print edition on Monday, December 10, 2012.
Summary of new UN investigation of latest Israeli assault on Gaza
By Sami Kishawi (courtesy of Sixteen Minutes to Palestine)
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (UN OCHA oPt) just published a 35-page initial rapid assessment of Israel’s latest invasion of Gaza which officially spanned eight days starting on November 14, 2012. The investigation more formally known as the Multi-Agency Initial Rapid Assessment of Gaza was conducted just days after a ceasefire brought relative calm to the territory.
