Despite the police ban on public gatherings, several hundred anti-war activists took to the streets in Tel-Aviv on Saturday to say ‘no’ to the continuation of Israel’s bloody military operation in Gaza.

BDS Italy denounces anti-Semitism as racist and reactionary ideology and condemns the use of Palestinian suffering as a pretext and tool for spreading this vile ideology. In particular, we condemn the fascist call to boycott Jewish-owned businesses, a call which includes an appalling „blacklist“.

BDS Italy notes that the campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel is a strategy of nonviolent struggle, formulated by Palestinian civil society drawing inspiration from the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa, to put pressure on a State responsible for violations of international law and human rights humans. It has nothing to do with the odious and despicable maneuvers of fascists new and old.

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Israel, Tel Aviv: Linke Dissidenten demonstrieren trotz Verbot des Militärs auf dem Rabin Platz gegen Gaza-Krieg, Besatzung und Faschismus. Dabei laufen wieder einmal zionistische Regimetreue als Gegendemonstranten auf.

Nineteen-year-old student and activist Barnaby Raine has been organizing a “Jewish Bloc against Zionism” in London. And his speech at today’s Day of Rage demonstration in London is a knock out.

The United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch all say that Israel has committed war crimes by targeting civilians.

Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinians is also a war crime.

Over 150 international legal experts – including two Former UN Special Rapporteurs on human rights situation in Palestine – have also signed a declaration stating:

During their rally in central Tehran on Saturday, the protesters chanted slogans against Israel and the United States while condemning Israel‘s crimes in Gaza and denouncing “arrogant powers’ financial and media support” for the Tel Aviv regime.

Der Präsident von Ecuador, Rafael Correa, hat seinen für die zweite Jahreshälfte geplanten offiziellen Besuch in Israel abgesagt. Die Reise, die ebenfalls in die Westbank und den Gaza-Streifen gehen sollte, sei wegen der aktuellen Ereignisse gestrichen worden, sagte der Präsident am vergangenen Mittwoch bei einer Pressekonferenz.

UPDATED: Pedro Almodovar and other Spanish industry representatives join them in urging the European Union to condemn the bombing of Palestinian civilians.

MADRID – Dozens of Spanish film stars, directors, musicians and writers, led by Oscar winners Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Pedro Almodovar, have denounced Israel‘s incursion into Gaza.

Actress Penelope Cruz and her husband Javier Bardem have roused the fury of Hollywood producers, with pledges made to snub the Spanish couple.

Oscar-winner Bardem and Cruz signed an open letter speaking against „the genocide perpetrated by the Israeli occupation army“.

2. (C) Ambassador Rice urged the Secretary-General to make clear in his cover letter when he transmits the summary to the Security Council that those recommendations exceeded the scope of the terms of reference and no further action is needed. The Secretary-General said his staff was working with an Israeli delegation on the text of the cover letter. Ambassador Rice asked the Secretary-General to be back in touch with her before the letter and summary are released to the Council.

Wikileaks released documents on Friday that revealed that Ban wrote a letter to the UN Security Council asking its members not to take recommendations by the UN Board of Inquiry about Israeli bombings in Gaza into account.

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#CreepingFascism

Israeli soldiers are routinely investigated on suspicion of “fraternizing with minorities,” generally a euphemism for Arabs, even though no such offense exists. This, according to the transcript of a Military Police interview, a copy of which was obtained by Haaretz, as well as statements by former officers from the Military Advocate General Corps.

A lot of folks have seen this, according to Youtube. It’s the first truly great speech I’ve seen from a western politician decrying Israeli impunity. David Norris is an Irish senator. Note that he says that he had a home in Israel or Palestine; he had a longtime relationship with Ezra Nawi, the great Israeli activist. Some highlights:

(28. Juli) Five years ago Palestinian student Amer Shurrab lost his two brothers in Israel’s Operation Cast Lead. Last week, Shurrab learned four of his cousins in Gaza had been killed in Israel’s latest offensive. In January 2009, Amer’s father and brothers were fleeing their village when the vehicle they were driving in came under Israeli fire. Twenty-eight-year-old Kassab died in a hail of bullets trying to flee the vehicle. Amer’s other brother, 18-year-old Ibrahim, survived the initial attack, but Israeli troops refused to allow an ambulance to reach him until 20 hours later. By then, it was too late. Ibrahim had bled to death in front of his father. A graduate student at Monterey Institute of International Studies in California, Amer Shurrab has been recounting the story of his brothers and other Palestinians at college campuses and community gatherings across the United States. „Israel is deliberately targeting civilians from the day one of this attack,“ he says. „They have been bombing houses, wiping entire families to try to scare people into submission.“

On the 9th of August 2014 over 100,000 people of all nationalities, races, religions, and ideologies marched side by side and arm in arm to protest against the situation in Gaza. They marched from Portland Place, not far from the BBC headquarters, down Regent Street then past the American embassy at Grosvenor Square and on to Hyde Park where there was a rally, complete with speeches.

150,000 take to London‘s streets on 9 August 2014 to protest against four weeks of Israeli barbarism that killed 2000 Palestinians, including over 430 children. And we were there to say to the people of Gaza facing such horrific crimes against humanity: You are not alone.

From London to Paris, and Tehran to Cape Town, demonstators take to the streets to demand an end to Israeli offensive.

The slain Palestinian, Nader Mohammad Edrees, 40, was shot by a live round to the heart.

In the UK specifically, there has been an undeniable sea-change in the way that self-declared ‚friends‘ of Israel have drawn a red line – adding their voices of criticism to more vociferous condemnation heard at numerous, large-scale demonstrations. (…)

Israel already stood charged with systematic violations of international law, apartheid, and institutionalised discrimination, even before the barbaric attack on the Gaza Strip. Now with the evidence of new war crimes there for all to see, Israel‘s isolation will only increase, and, despite the predictable backlash, Palestine solidarity campaigning will take a significant step forward.

I will continue to call for the President to seek congressional authorization before any combat operations. For too long, Congress has abdicated its Constitutional role in matters of war and peace. The President should come to Congress for authorization of any further military action in Iraq.

The video appears to show that Edrees posed no risk at all to occupying Israeli forces. Also note the brave older man near the end of the video waving a green cardboard rocket on his arm, in apparent support for Hamas’s actions in Gaza, right in front of soldiers’ guns.

Edrees was buried today in Hebron.

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„I thought when I got home and met my daughters Siri and Torbjørn, my son-in-law and my grandkids Jenny and Torje, that it is such a mild country we live in.

It so good, with a kind of humanity in all relationships, because we actually built this country on respect for diversity, respect for the individual, respect for human dignity.

And imagine being back in 1945. And I beg to be understood when I say that I am not comparing the German Nazi regime with Israel. I do not.

But I compare occupation with occupation.“

Hold on a second. Fighting has raged for over a month. Where is the evidence? I have seen unclear accounts of fighting at tunnel mouths, certainly altered by Israeli censorship and confused by the fog of war, but I have not seen any reports that Hamas fighters emerged from the tunnels and attacked Israeli civilians.