“We’ve been enjoying unprecedented quiet, Hamas hasn’t fired one bullet,” Israeli defense minister Moshe Ya’alon said during a joint US-Israeli military exercise this week. Israel’s military chief of intelligence recently reinforced this idea when he told a closed Knesset meeting, “Hamas is doing everything it can to stop an escalation against Israel in Gaza.” Yet, the Israeli government is threatening another devastating assault on Gaza’s beleaguered population.
Help support “Killing Gaza,” a new documentary feature by Dan Cohen and Max Blumenthal that aims to create an unflinching and uncompromising portrayal of the daily Israeli violence wrought upon Gaza and the complicity of Western governments.
The New York Times published an aesthetically engaging interactive titled “Roots of the Recent Violence Between Israelis and Palestinians” that attempts to explain the situation since October 1st. Rife with cliches and pro-Israel talking points, the piece fails to use the word “occupation” and tacitly lends support to Israel’s policy of land grabs and ghettoizing Palestinians behind walls.
Israeli investigators threatened to rape Palestinian hunger striker Mohammed al-Qiq, his wife and children, according to his lawyer, Ashraf Abu Sneineh. Last November the detained journalist said ‘I have nothing to confess to and I don’t want to continue this investigation in this manner.’ So they threatened to rape him, his wife and his kids.” He then launched a hunger strike; 84 days later he is on the verge of death.
Days after her Super Bowl halftime appearance, which referenced the Black Panthers and the Black Lives Matters movement, Israeli media confirmed rumors that Beyoncé Knowles will perform two dates in Israel this August. In light of her decision to perform in Israel, Dan Cohen has compiled a review of Israeli policy towards people of African descent.
Hakim Zughbor and Falastin Tanani have been unable to find work in a Gaza economy devastated by siege but are not letting that prevent them from beginning their lives together. Hakim and Falastin have started a crowdfunding campaign to raise enough money for their wedding, an unusual step in the Gaza Strip, where tradition and conservatism rule. But in a place where electricity comes on two hours per day and salt water comes out of the sink, Gaza’s residents have turned to unorthodox ways of accomplishing their goals.
Culpability for the murder of baby Ali Dawabshe and his parents lies not only with the settlers who threw the firebomb, but with the Israeli government which promotes, subsidizes and protects their presence in the West Bank.
No one has condemned Asher Schechter or Moshe Arens for comparing Israel to ISIS in the wake of Duma firebombing. But Rania Khalek, Max Blumenthal and author Dan Cohen were all accused of an ugly and false attack when they made the comparison last year.
On Friday, October 16th, Israeli soldiers again opened fire across the Gaza border on Palestinian youth demonstrators. Amid the chaos, some protesters came across a leaking freshwater pipe and were able to quench their thirst. Even though they quickly realized a tear gas canister fired by Israeli soldiers was floating in the water, some were undeterred by the presence of noxious chemicals and drank the water anyway. Dan Cohen says that while this video is not the most shocking piece of footage he captured that day, it might be the most instructive.
On Thursday, Hamas official Ismail Radwan called for a third intifada: “Our people in the West Bank, Gaza and inside [Israel], tomorrow is the day of rage, the day of confrontation, and the day of renewing the intifada.” Hamas is attempting to ride popular sentiment and ignite a fire which the Palestinian Authority, Israel’s biggest asset in sustaining the occupation, cannot control.