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Daily Archives: 26. August 2025
How Israelis turned atrocity denial into an art
(August 22, 2025)
Meanwhile, the reprehensible refusal by the vast majority of the Israeli media to show what is actually happening in Gaza means that when images do manage to slip through, the public response is often little more than a collective shrug of dismissal. Yet almost every time, that shrug is accompanied by “they deserved it,” as denial and justification intertwine in what may seem like a paradox but actually reflects two sides of the same coin.
Gaza: At least four more journalists killed by Israeli army, RSF repeats call for emergency UN Security Council Meeting
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) fiercely condemns the killing of four Palestinian journalists by Israeli army strikes in Gaza on Monday, 25 August. The slain news professionals are Hossam al-Masri, a freelance photographer for the Reuters news agency; Mariam Abu Daqqa, freelance journalist for The Independent and the Associated Press (AP); Moaz Abu Taha, correspondent for the American broadcasting network NBC; and Mohamad Salama, press photographer for Al Jazeera. This comes after the murder of Khaled al-Madhoun on Saturday, 23 August, totalling five journalists killed in two days. According to RSF information, all were deliberately targeted. RSF is once again calling for an emergency UN Security Council Meeting to end this massacre of journalists.
Update on 25 August: A fifth journalist, Ahmed Abu Aziz, working for several local Palestinian media outlets and Tunisian radio station Diwan FM, died from his injuries after being hit by the strikes on the hospital a few hours after this article was published.
Adalah: Police’s Failure to Investigate Attempted Lynch of MK Odeh
Upon MK Odeh’s arrival, dozens of rioters attacked his car and shouted racist slogans such as “Death to Arabs.” When MK Odeh spoke at the protest, he was attacked again, together with the other demonstrators, as various objects were thrown at them. Following his speech, MK Odeh managed to reach his car, while rioters armed with stones and sticks tried to attack him. At one point, the rioters hurled a large stone that shattered the vehicle’s rear windshield. After these events, the police arrested only three people: one of whom was a demonstrator who had been attacked by the rioters; he was released shortly thereafter at the police station. The court later released the two other individuals who were arrested and detained.
Following these events, right-wing activists uploaded dozens of posts and videos on social media platforms praising, sympathizing and encouraging these assaults; some even explicitly called for repeating such acts in the future.
Israeli protesters burn tires and block traffic as pressure grows for Netanyahu hostage deal
Aerial footage from Tuesday (26 August) shows widespread disruption on the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv as demonstrators call on the government to agree to a ceasefire deal which would see all hostages returned home.
Protesters can also be seen walking across the highways with placards with hostages faces on and banners reading “bring them home”, whilst black smoke from the burning tires billowed in the air.
Israeli protesters are hosting a “day of disruption” to call for an end of fighting, with numerous events planned across the country.
‚Day of Disruption‘ protests block roads, demanding Gaza war end
Protesters burned tires and blocked traffic in Israel on Tuesday (August 26), as they demanded the return of hostages held in Gaza. The protests are part of a nationwide „Day of Disruption“ as Israelis, in support of families of hostages held in Gaza, call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach an agreement with Hamas to end the war and release the remaining captives.
Open Letter co-signed by 206 former EU and Member State Ambassadors and Senior Staff: Calling for immediate implementation of EU measures against Israel’s unlawful actions in Gaza & the West Bank
We, a group now comprising 206 former EU and Member State ambassadors and senior officials, are writing in furtherance of the nine proposed EU actions that we compiled in our open letter of 28 July, in response to the Israeli government’s unlawful actions in Gaza and the West Bank, following Hamas’ heinous attacks on 7 October 2023. We note with dismay that, in the ensuing four weeks since our letter, no ceasefire has been agreed in Gaza, no Israeli hostages
have been released, and, alarmingly, the Israeli government has begun implementing plans to empty Gaza City and its environs of one million Palestinians, by forcing them into concentration areas in the south, in preparation for possible large-scale deportations to third countries with the risk of fomenting a migration crisis. If this was not bad enough the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed on 22 August that a man-made famine now exists in these same areas of Gaza, with half a million people there facing starvation, destitution and death. Malnutrition now threatens the lives of 132,000 children under five through June 2026 and by the end of September 2025 it is estimated
that 640,000 people (a third of the population) will face catastrophic levels of food insecurity. Tragically, already over 200 Gazan citizens, including over 60 children, have succumbed to malnutrition-related deaths. Furthermore:
● Estimates suggest that just since our letter of 28 July more than 2,600 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, many of them women and children, with over 12,000 injured;
………………………..
Israel‘s attack on Gaza hospital was ‚completely unacceptable‘, EU says
An unprecedented number of former EU and national ambassadors, as well as former senior EU officials, have signed a fresh letter urging the EU to take tougher action against Israel over the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The joint letter has been signed by 206 former European ambassadors and officials.
That compares to a previous letter sent in July, which had 58 signatures.
Gaza: US Forces Can Be Liable for Assisting Israeli War Crimes
“The direct US participation in military operations with Israeli forces means that as a matter of international law, the United States has been and currently is a party to the armed conflict in Gaza,” said Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch. “US military and intelligence personnel and contractors assisting Israeli forces who commit war crimes may at some point find themselves facing criminal prosecution for atrocities in Gaza.”
Under international humanitarian law, the ongoing hostilities between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza is a non-international armed conflict. International law does not set out specific criteria for determining when a country assisting another country in a non-international armed conflict itself becomes a party to that conflict, though direct participation in combat operations is a clear example.
Turkey says Israel should be suspended from UN General Assembly
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday urged Islamic nations to work toward suspending Israel from participating in United Nations General Assembly meetings and activities.
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“Therefore, we must join our efforts in sustaining and expanding the momentum for Palestine’s recognition, while also launching an initiative within the UN for Palestine’s full membership – and considering the suspension of Israel from the work of the General Assembly,” Fidan added.
Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General – on Israeli strike on Nasser Hospital in Gaza
The Secretary-General strongly condemns the killing of Palestinians today in Israeli strikes that hit Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Those killed included medical personnel and journalists.
These latest horrific killings highlight the extreme risks that medical personnel and journalists face as they carry out their vital work amid this brutal conflict.
The Secretary-General recalls that civilians, including medical personnel and journalists, must be respected and protected at all times. He calls for a prompt, and impartial investigation into these killings.
#Gaza: more journalists killed today. Silencing the last remaining voices reporting about children dying silently and #famine with The world’s indifference & inaction is shocking. Like Hannah Arendt said: “The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.“ This cannot be our future new norm.
Compassion must prevail.
Let us undo this manmade famine by:
– opening the gates without restrictions
– protecting journalists & humanitarian + health workers
Time for political will.
Not tomorrow, now
Israel is systematically killing witnesses to genocide: Journalist
“Israel is trying to systematically murder the witnesses to its genocidal actions, to the burning of children alive in tents, to the forced starvation of people and massive bombing of whole cities, razing them to the ground,” he told Al Jazeera from Zadar in Croatia.
Scahill said the “double tap” strike used by Israel to kill the journalists at Nasser Hospital was pioneered by the US during the infamous “war on terror” – when an initial drone strike would be followed by another attack to kill those trying to help the victims.
He said Western news organisations also contributed to “systematically dehumanising” Palestinians from the start of the war, and “serving as conveyor belts for the lies of an Israeli regime intent on wiping Palestinians off the map”.
Ahmed Abu Aziz: MEE‘s Gaza correspondent who reported through pain and loss
Nevertheless, Abu Aziz woke up every morning, left his tent and delivered story after story.
“I work every day just to avoid staying at home, because that would destroy me. I’d rather be martyred on the field,” he wrote.
“Although I‘m wounded, I can’t stop working. For my colleagues and for their memory.”