We stand firmly against injustice in all its forms. Nothing can justify the current war crimes committed by Israel in occupied Palestine. Equally, nothing can excuse the continued support offered by other nations to this apartheid regime. If you believe in human rights, dignity, and justice, then we urge you to boycott this rogue state. Silence is complicity, do what’s right.
When the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC) announced he was seeking arrest warrantsagainst Israeli and Hamas leaders, he issued a cryptic warning: “I insist that all attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence the officials of this court must cease immediately.”
Karim Khan did not provide specific details of attempts to interfere in the ICC’s work, but he noted a clause in the court’s foundational treaty that made any such interference a criminal offence. If the conduct continued, he added, “my office will not hesitate to act”.
FILE PHOTO: An Elbit Systems Ltd. Hermes 900 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is seen at the company’s drone factory in Rehovot, Israel, June 28, 2018. REUTERS/Orel Cohen
Voice of Palestine, 3/05/24
In the besieged region of Gaza by Israeli occupation, where every day brings new challenges and hardships, there exists a silent but pervasive threat—one that hovers overhead, relentless and unnerving. This threat comes not from the ground, but from the sky in the form of Israeli drones, whose incessant presence has become a haunting reality for the people of Gaza.
For six long months, these drones, often referred to as “Zennana” by Gazans, have dominated the airspace, their unmistakable buzzing sound a constant reminder of the surveillance and potential danger lurking above. While the physical impact of drone strikes is well-documented, the psychological toll of their continuous presence, particularly on children, remains largely unexplored and under-addressed.
Imagine being a child in Gaza, where the sky, instead of offering a sense of freedom and wonder, serves as a constant source of anxiety and fear. From the moment they wake up to the moment they try to sleep, the ominous hum of the Israeli drones fills their ears, a stark reminder of the conflict that surrounds them. This unrelenting exposure to stress and trauma can have profound effects on their mental health and well-being, shaping their perceptions of the world and their place in it.
Studies have shown that exposure to chronic stress and trauma during childhood can have long-lasting effects, leading to increased rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The constant presence of drones not only disrupts daily life but also erodes the sense of safety and security that every child deserves.
Moreover, the psychological impact extends beyond individual experiences to the collective psyche of the community. The pervasive sense of surveillance and vulnerability instills a pervasive feeling of powerlessness and helplessness, amplifying the trauma of living under illegal Israeli occupation and 16 year long siege.
Yet, amidst this despair, there remains a glimmer of hope—a recognition of the resilience and strength of the people of Gaza. Despite the challenges they face, they continue to find ways to cope and support one another, drawing on their sense of community and solidarity to navigate the tumultuous waters of war on Gaza.
As the world bears witness to the ongoing Israeli genocide and suffering in Gaza, it is crucial not to overlook the invisible wounds that linger long after the American bombs have stopped falling. Addressing the psychological toll of drone warfare requires more than just ceasefire agreements; it demands a concerted effort to prioritize the mental health and well-being of the most vulnerable, especially the children who bear the brunt of israeli genocide lasting scars.
In the face of adversity, let us stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza, acknowledging their pain and resilience, and working towards a future where the skies above are no longer filled with the ominous buzz of Israeli drones, but with the promise of peace and freedom for Palestinians.
NEW YORK (AP) — Student editors at the Columbia Law Review say they were pressured by the journal’s board of directors to halt publication of an academic article written by a Palestinian human rights lawyer that accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and upholding an apartheid regime.
When the editors refused the request and published the piece Monday morning, the board — made up of faculty and alumni from Columbia University’s law school — shut down the law review’s website entirely. It remained offline Tuesday evening, a static homepage informing visitors the domain “is under maintenance.”
The episode at one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious legal journals marks the latest flashpoint in an ongoing debate about academic speech that has deeply divided students, staff and college administrators since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
Several editors at the Columbia Law Review described the board’s intervention as an unprecedented breach of editorial independence at the periodical, which is run by students at Columbia Law School. The board of directors oversees the nonprofit’s finances but has historically played no role in selecting pieces.
In a letter sent to student editors Tuesday and shared with The Associated Press, the board of directors said it was concerned that the article, titled “Nakba as a Legal Concept,” had not gone through the “usual processes of review or selection for articles at the Law Review, and in particular that a number of student editors had been unaware of its existence.”
“In order to preserve the status quo and provide student editors some window of opportunity to review the piece, as well as provide time for the Law Review to determine how to proceed, we temporarily suspended the website,” the letter continued.
Those involved in soliciting and editing the piece said they had followed a rigorous review process, even as they acknowledged taking steps to forestall expected blowback by limiting the number of students aware of the article.
In the piece, Rabea Eghbariah, a Harvard doctoral candidate, accuses Israel of a litany of “crimes against humanity,” arguing for a new legal framework to “encapsulate the ongoing structure of subjugation in Palestine and derive a legal formulation of the Palestinian condition.”
Eghbariah said in a text message that the suspension of the law journal’s website should be seen as “a microcosm of a broader authoritarian repression taking place across U.S. campuses.”
Editors said they voted overwhelmingly in December to commission a piece on Palestinian legal issues, then formed a smaller committee — open to all of the publication’s editorial leadership — that ultimately accepted Eghbariah’s article. He had submitted an earlier version of the article to the Harvard Law Review, which the publication later elected not to publish amid internal backlash, according to a report in The Intercept.
Anticipating similar controversy and worried about a leak of the draft, the committee of editors working on the article did not upload it to a server that is visible to the broader membership of the law journal and to some administrators. The piece was not shared until Sunday with the full staff of the Columbia Law Review — something that editorial staffers said was not uncommon.
“We’ve never circulated a particular article in advance,” said Sohum Pal, an articles editor at the publication. “So the idea that this is all over a process concern is a total lie. It’s very transparently content based.”
In their letter to students, the board of directors said student editors who didn’t work on the piece should have been given an opportunity to read it and raise concerns.
“Whatever your views of this piece, it will clearly be controversial and potentially have an impact on all associated with the Review,” they wrote.
Those involved in the publishing of the article said they heard from a small group of students over the weekend who expressed concerns about threats to their careers and safety if it were to be published.
Some alluded to trucks that circled Columbia and other campuses following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, labeling students as antisemites for their past or current affiliation with groups seen as hostile to Israel.
The letter from the board also suggested that a statement be appended to the piece stating the article had not been subject to a standard review process or made available for all student editors to read ahead of time.
Erika Lopez, an editor who worked on the piece, said many students were adamantly opposed to the idea, calling it “completely false to imply that we didn’t follow the standard process.”
She said student editors had spoken regularly since they began receiving pushback from the board on Sunday and remained firmly in support of the piece.
When they learned the website had been shuttered Monday morning, they quickly uploaded Eghbariah’s article to a publicly accessible website. It has since spread widely across social media.
“It’s really ironic that this piece probably got more attention than anything we normally published,” Lopez added, “even after they nuked the website.”
Malaysia told the ICJ that Israel “must withdraw immediately from the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.
“Second, Israel must offer assurances and guarantees of non-repetition and third, Israel is under obligation to offer full reparations – annulment or repeal of all offending legislative and regulatory measures it has adopted for the [occupied Palestinian Territories],” he said. “Israel must also offer compensation for all the material and moral damage caused by the breach of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination,” he added. Malaysia’s representative also said: As I speak, Gaza is facing devastation … The West Bank is also at risk.
Safeguarding Palestine from destruction is crucial, especially in light of Israel’s non-compliance with the provisional measures of this court.
The Palestinian people have long suffered dehumanisation, demonisation, brutal collective punishment. They have endured and are still enduring the denial of their right to self-determination due to the policies and practices of Israel in the OPT. It is incumbent of each of us to do our part in ending their decades-long suffering.
With the firm belief in this court’s rule, as the custodian of the international law, we remain confident that justice and peace will prevail for the Palestinian people.
Israel’s transfer of settlers to the OPT constitutes a war crime. Israel’s policies and practices which aim to change the demographic composition of the OPT, along with the creation of enclaves and demolition of the Palestinian homes, limitation of their freedom of movement, including the blockade and siege of the Gaza Strip, constitute violations of international humanitarian law and the international human rights law.
Quarterly campaign finance reports reveal the Democratic representatives Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri – progressive “Squad” members – will face formidable challenges in their 2024 congressional primaries, partly due to the influence of pro-Israel lobbying groups.
Ilhan Omar, of Minnesota, and Summer Lee, of Pennsylvania, meanwhile, have far outspent their primary challengers, and the Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American member whose outspoken criticism of Israel has brought the ire of her political opponents, does not yet face a challenger.
The powerful pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) is expected to lavish $100m on efforts to defeat progressive candidates it views as insufficiently supportive of Israel in 2024 – and the latest campaign finance reports in closely watched races pitting high-profile progressives against moderate challengers offer a preview of where the group may prioritize spending.
Bowman, the New York congressman and progressive, faces a particularly fierce campaign by George Latimer, a Westchester county politician who has so far raised $3.6m – nearly $1m more than Bowman. More than $950,000 in contributions to the Latimer campaign came through earmarked donations to Aipac.
Meanwhile the Missouri congresswoman Cori Bush and her primary challenger, the St Louis county prosecutor, Wesley Bell, have raised comparable hauls, with Bell reporting about $100,000 more than Bush, who has raised $1.6m. Although Aipac does not appear on Bell’s most recent campaign filings, he raised more than $650,000 in earmarked contributions through the group Democracy Engine Inc Pac – a donation platform that allows unpopular Pacs to obscure their donations andlists Aipac as a client on its LinkedIn page.
Asked about Aipac’s support for Latimer and its affiliation with Democracy Engine, a spokesperson for the group, Marshall Wittmann, told the Guardian: “We strongly support George Latimer who is a strong advocate for the US-Israel relationship in clear contrast to his opponent who is aligned with the anti-Israel extremist fringe.” (He did not directly address the question about Democracy Engine.)
In addition to the spending unleashed by Aipac so far in support of campaigns to challenge incumbent progressives, it is almost certain that Aipac’s political action committee and Super Pac will weigh in. United Democracy Project, the Super Pac launched by Aipac in 2022, spent nearly $33m in the 2022 election cycle and has so far spent more than $17m with $32m to spare as of 16 April, according to data from the non-partisan transparency group OpenSecrets.
Pro-Israel groups – which include Aipac Pac, United Democracy Project and Democratic Majority for Israel – notched some notable wins during the last election cycle, ousting the progressive congressman Andy Levin of Michigan in his incumbent-versus-incumbent primary and blocking candidates such as Donna Edwards of Maryland and Nina Turner of Ohio from advancing to general elections.
This time around, there have already been some surprises in the primary campaigns. Aipac poured more than $4.5m into the March primary in California’s 45th congressional district to prop up their preferred candidate, Joanna Weiss, but she ultimately lost to a progressive, Dave Min.
And although Summer Lee squeaked by in her 2022 primary against the moderate Democratic challenger Steve Irwin, her current primary opponent Bhavini Patel has struggled to come up with cash, raising a paltry $600,000 compared with Lee’s approximately $2.3m. Meanwhile, Lee has also faced opposition spending by the Moderate Pac, a Super Pac funded primarily by the GOP mega-donor and Pennsylvania resident Jeffrey Yass.
Omar and Tlaib, meanwhile, so far face little opposition spending. Omar’s primary opponent Don Samuels, who she beat narrowly in her 2022 primary, has raised a little more than $750,000, while Omar’s campaign has already generated nearly $5m in cash with four months to go before her August primary.
Only Tlaib – whose criticism of Israel provoked the Republican-controlled legislature to censure her last year – has raised more, with $6.5m on hand according to her latest reporting. Tlaib easily fought back a 2022 primary challenge and faces no opposition in her 2024 race so far, and she has already formed joint fundraising committees with both Bowman and Bush to help boost their financial standing.
Usamah Andrabi, a spokesperson for Justice Democrats, said the impressive fundraising haul from lawmakers like Lee and Tlaib underscored how progressives’ criticism of the Israeli government over the war in Gaza is resonating with Democratic voters.
“These are likely going to be some of the most expensive Democratic congressional primaries we have ever seen. And it is only that way because these candidates – be it George Latimer or Wesley Bell or Bhavini Patel – cannot stand on their own,” Andrabi said.
“They have to stand on $5m of money from Republican Maga [‘Make America Great Again’] donors that Aipac is funneling to them. That is the only way that they get a leg up against deeply popular progressives who are speaking of core values.”
