Traffic jams built up on the main highway out of Beirut to southern Lebanon as people queued up to return home.
Archiv: Empathie / empathy
In photos: Displaced Lebanese celebrate as they return to their homes
A view of Beirut‘s southern suburbs and its surroundings, with smoke rising from Israeli strikes that occurred before the ceasefire
Is it possible that after 42,000 people killed, you cannot empathize with the Palestinians?
(October 30, 2024)
In her address to the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese expressed frustration, saying, „I always experience a sense of shock and delusion when I come to this room because many of you recite the same script you had last year.“ She acknowledged the condemnation of Hamas‘s attack, the solidarity shown to Israeli victims, and calls for the release of hostages but questioned the lack of empathy toward Palestinians, stating, „Is it possible that after 42,000 people killed, you cannot empathize with the Palestinians?“ Albanese criticized those who had ignored the crisis in Gaza, saying, „Empathy has evaporated from this room, and empathy is the glue that makes us stand united as humanity.“
Francesca Albanese: „Gaza is now a wasteland of rubble, garbage and human remains.“
(October 31, 2024)
Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, presented her latest report to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 30 October 2024.
Biden suggests Trump supporters are ‘garbage’ after comic’s insult of Puerto Rico
“Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage. Well, let me tell you something, I don’t, I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know, the Puerto Rico where I’m fr — in my home state of Delaware. They’re good, decent honorable people,” he said.
The president then added: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
Atomic Bomb Survivors Win Nobel Peace Prize, Say Gaza Today Is Like Japan 80 Years Ago
(October 11, 2024)
AMY GOODMAN: After the Nobel Peace Prize was announced, the co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, Toshiyuki Mimaki, spoke to reporters in Tokyo.
TOSHIYUKI MIMAKI: [translated] What? Nihon Hidankyo? How did Nihon Hidankyo? It can’t be real. It can’t be real. … We will appeal to the world, as we always have done, for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the achievement of an everlasting peace. … Why Nihon Hidankyo? I thought for sure it would be the people working so hard in Gaza, as we’ve seen.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Toshiyuki Mimaki, the co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, which won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize today. He wept as he spoke. He went on to say, quote, “In Gaza, bleeding children are being held [by their parents]. It’s like in Japan 80 years ago.”
Nicaragua breaks diplomatic relations with Israel
Nicaragua is breaking off diplomatic relations with Israel, the Central American nation said on Friday, calling the Israeli government „fascist“ and „genocidal.“
Turkish president condemns Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, calls for global action
Erdogan criticized the international community for enabling Israel‘s actions, saying that as Tel Aviv continues to receive „weapons and ammunition support from its backers,“ it becomes „increasingly reckless, defying all humanity, humanitarian values, and international law.“
He stressed that Israel‘s „politics of madness,“ already seen in Gaza and Ramallah, must not be allowed to spread to Lebanon and other countries in the region.
„No person of conscience can accept, justify, or deem such a massacre legitimate,“ he said.
Elias Khoury on Writing
“Literature speaks in many ways. It speaks to the present, of course, and to the future, if it is good literature. But literature is also a way for the writer to make a dialogue with the dead. This is the power of literature. It is not like religion: religion gives you the feeling that you are eternal. Here, there is no eternity at all, but it opens the possibility of dialoguing with the dead.”
Lebanon mourns the loss of leading novelist Elias Khoury
“Never in my life have I felt that life gives you more than you deserve more than at that moment, where literature transforms into reality,” Khoury said in an interview at the time.
Khoury’s well-known love for Palestine meant even more to Itani when he was falsely accused of collaborating with Israel in Lebanon in 2017.
At the time, Khoury wrote a fierce piece defending Itani, and expressed his disgust towards those pursuing him.
When Itani went to thank Khoury, the latter told him, “Are you serious? I raised you!”
B‘Tselem at the UNSC: For the Israeli government, the occupation and the settlements matter more than human life
On Sunday, we woke up to the news that six Israeli hostages were executed by Hamas, just before soldiers reached them in a tunnel in Gaza. Another six, added to tens of thousands of people in this land who should not have died over the past year. During this week, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets. They feel angry, desperate and betrayed by their government. They have understood, perhaps for the first time, that the Israeli government does not want to return the hostages in a deal, but to continue the war indefinitely. They see that the occupation and the settlements matter more than human life – and not only of Palestinians, said B‘Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak, who addressed the UN Security Council last night (Wednesday) . B’Tselem – the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories was invited by the Slovenian President of the Security Council to provide an expert review of the state of human rights in Israel/Palestine following the war.
America‘s new generation of student protesters is giving hope to Palestinians
We raise our hats out of respect for them, as these protests in the universities and streets of the western world and the Global South keep the flame of hope burning in the souls of our people who long for freedom and justice.
These protests indicate profound, radical changes that separate an ageing American generation that blindly supports Israel and a new generation that promotes justice in Palestine and demands an end to the Israeli occupation and to the war on Gaza.
They represent the future of America and its bright face, the emergence of which we have long awaited.
We have put up the most glorious fight. We did not allow the movement to end with a false deal from Columbia.
Keep all eyes on your comrades, mobilize to Columbia. If you are free, come to protect the encampment.
„Zone of Interest“ Wins Best Int‘l Feature | Academy Awards 2024
#oscars #academyawards
#oscars #academyawards
‘The Zone of Interest’ Director Makes Gaza Statement in Oscars Speech
“Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation, which has led to conflict for so many innocent people — whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza — all the victims of this dehumanization… how do we resist?” Glazer asked.
Glazer, who is Jewish, then dedicated the film’s win to Alexandria, a 90-year-old woman he met,while working on the film and who inspired one of the key characters in The Zone of Interest. She had worked for the Polish resistance at the age of 12, leaving apples for prisoners as she cycled through Auschwitz.
War on Gaza: Millions show solidarity with Palestinians in demonstrations across globe
Millions of demonstrators have gathered in over 120 cities around the world in response to a call out of London for a second International Day of Solidarity with Gaza.
The protests are aimed at halting Israel‘s attempts at „genocide“ and „ethnic cleansing“, Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB) said in a statement.
Protests were held on Saturday in Istanbul, Washington, Sydney, Dublin, Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Brasilia, Cape Town, Rabat and Baghdad, among others
European MPs Call for EU to Oppose Removal of Hadash MK Ofer Cassif
On Monday morning, the Knesset House Committee is slated to hear arguments in an unusual debate that will determine the political future of Communist lawmaker Ofer Cassif, from the Hadash-Ta’al parliamentary faction.
If the hearing goes badly for Cassif, he could soon face an unprecedented vote in the Knesset plenum to expel him from the legislative body, the result of his far-right MKs anger over his public support for a South African petition to the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
Four years ago, lawmakers attempted to gather the required signatures to bring similar charges against Hadash leader MK Ayman Odeh, but the effort never made it to the committee stage.
‘Why I support ICJ Gaza genocide case against my country, Israel’
(11.01.2024)
Israeli politician Ofer Cassif announced his support for the Gaza genocide lawsuit against Israel at the ICJ, and is now facing an attempt to get him kicked out of parliament. He explains why he did it.
Israeli students chase their history teacher & yell at him „cancer“ & „son of a whore“ b/c he dared to humanize Gazan & Palestinian civilians Meir Baruchin was fired from his job & jailed in solitary confinement last November for this, but was just reinstated by a labour court
Israeli teacher posted on social media, expressing sympathy with Gazans. School fired him and made a police complaint. He was jailed for a few days & media depicted him as Hamas supporter. After charges were dropped, court ordered to take him back to work. This was his welcome:
This is unbearable. Al Jazeera‘s Wael al-Dahdouh mourns his son Hamza, also a journalist, who was killed in an Israeli strike on a car he was in. Wael‘s wife and two other children were killed in a previous Israeli strike. He has been through so much.
Public Figures Sign onto Letter Opposing Dehumanization of Gazans, Palestinians, Muslims, Israelis and Jews
The signatories include authors David Grossman and Iris Leal; MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash), philosophers Slavoj Žižek, Eva Illouz, Axel Honneth and Kohei Saito; former Members of Knesset Dov Khenin (Hadash) and Mossi Raz (Meretz); human rights activists Ruchama Marton, Att. Michael Sfard, Ziv Stahl, Avi Dabush, B’tselem Director Yuli Novak and Breaking the Silence Director Avner Gvaryahu; singer Achinoam Nini, actor and director Itay Tiran, and actors Esti Zakheim, Ala Dakka, Yossi Zabari and Menashe Noy; filmmakers Ari Folman, Avi Mograbi, Nadav Lapid, Avigail Sperber and the Heiman brothers; lawyer Daniel Hacklai; choreographer Ohad Naharin, director and choreographer Avshalom Pollak; scholar and journalist Tomer Persico, and many others.
Keep raising your voice for peace and stand with Humanity
Frankfurt – Germany, reciting the poem of poet, academic, and storyteller, the Palestinian martyr Professor Refaat Al-Areer @itranslate123 in several languages during a protest that called for #StopGazaGenocide #NotATarget #NotANumber
If I must die,
you must live
to tell my story
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze —
and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself —
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up
above
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love
If I must die
let it bring hope
let it be a tale.
Starvation, mass displacement, rampant disease. That is Gaza right now. During the Vietnam War, R‘ Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote: „Our own integrity as human beings is decaying in the agony & merciless killing done in our name.“ If we turn away, we risk losing our own humanity.
Two months ago today, Rushdi al-Surraj was killed by an Israeli airstrike. He was a journalist, a husband, and a father. He left behind heartbreaking glimpses of what it means to be a family, amidst the horrors in Gaza. Every life lost is a world ended, an unfathomable tragedy.
Donald Trump Gets Some of the Best News of His Year
Young voters who have shifted away from Biden are not necessarily voting for Trump, who is also staunchly pro-Israel and opposes student loan relief. A November New York Times/Siena College poll found that 34 percent of young voters plan to back Robert F. Kennedy Jr, an independent. That poll surveyed 3,662 registered voters across six battleground states from October 22 to November 3.
How Much Is Biden’s Support of Israel Hurting Him With Young Voters?
As recently as this summer, a poll with Donald J. Trump leading among young voters would have been eye-popping.
Now, it’s increasingly familiar — and our new New York Times/Siena College national survey released Tuesday morning is no exception.
For the first time, Mr. Trump leads President Biden among young voters in a Times/Siena national survey, 49 percent to 43 percent. It’s enough to give him a narrow 46-44 lead among registered voters overall.
Dear President Biden: The humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip
(12.12.2023)
Dear President Biden,
The war in the Gaza Strip has been underway for more than nine weeks, ever since Hamas carried out its horrific and criminal attack on Israeli civilians, which included killing more than 1,200 people and kidnapping some 250 to Gaza – among them Israeli civilians, foreign nationals and children. Immediately after the attack, and in a speech you later gave in Israel, you made it clear that Israel has the right to defend itself, while emphasizing it must do so only in accordance with the provisions of international law, and particularly the rules of war.
We, Israeli human rights organizations and civil society groups, must at this stage state with a heavy heart that our government has chosen to ignore your advice and similar statements by US officials. This letter does not address the grave suspicions of Israeli violations of international humanitarian law during the war, but centers on the extreme humanitarian crisis developing in Gaza and the urgent need to change Israel’s policy on this issue.
Israeli Human Rights Organizations to President Biden: Stop the Humanitarian Catastrophe
(13.12.2023)
Among the signatories: Academia for Equality, Akevot – Institute for Israeli Palestinian Conflict Research, B’Tselem, Bimkom, Breaking the Silence, Combatants for Peace, Gisha, HaMoked – Center for the Defense of the Individual, Jordan Valley Activists, Looking the Occupation in the Eye, Machsom Watch, Parents Against Child Detentions, Psychoative, Rabbis for Human Rights, Social Workers for Peace and Welfare, Yesh Din and Zazim -Community Action.
Those saying “there are no innocents in Gaza” are enabling, consciously or not, criminal plans of ethnic cleansing by way of forcible-transfer, as well as extensive killing of innocent civilians. Words that policy makers speak become policy. As Israelis, we must not stay silent.
Sechs Kriege alt
Es folgt die Darstellung des bedrückenden Lebens eines 2007 geborenen palästinensischen Babys.
A Majority of Voters Support Calls for a Cease-Fire in Gaza
(November 21, 2023)
More Democratic voters are expressing dissatisfaction with Biden’s handling of the larger Israeli-Palestinian conflict, young people are becoming more sympathetic to the Palestinians and older voters are giving more thought to people on both sides.
My speech read: “Let’s stand against anti-Jewish bigotry here. Let’s stand against anti-Muslim bigotry here. Let’s stand against hate here.” But the chanting crowd threw me off — and I misspoke. We need to stand WITH Muslims, and Jews, and everyone who is under threat.
Van Jones Booed at March for Israel—Speech in Full
„I also pray that Hamas ends its reign of terror,“ he said. „I have to say, I‘m a peace guy, I‘m a peace guy, I pray for peace. No more rockets from Gaza, and no more bombs falling down on the people of Gaza. God protect the children. God protect the children. Let‘s end all the horror and all the heartbreak in the hold land. Let‘s end all of it.
„But, I‘ll be honest in closing. When I think about what‘s happening over there, I don‘t feel powerful to do something about what‘s happening over there,“ Jones continued, as the audience began to chant: „No ceasefire.“
„What I do feel powerful is to maybe do something about what‘s happening here. Let‘s take a stand here against anti-Jewish bigotry. Let‘s take a stand against Muslims,“ he said, appearing to lose his train of thought mid-sentence as the crowd chants.
Yossi (missed surname) on @ReshetBet. Sister killed by Hamas. Niece & nephew– 3 years & 10 months– kidnapped to Gaza. He hasn‘t heard from Netanyahu hostage czar. „The state collapsed.“ –But you‘re interviewed by world media, right? „They ask how I feel about Gazan children.“
LIVE AT GRAND CENTRAL: RABBIS GETTING ARRESTED DEMANDING A CEASEFIRE AND AN END TO THE GENOCIDE IN GAZA. cc @jvplive @jvpliveNY @JvpAction
HAPPENING NOW AT NYC‘S GRAND CENTRAL STATION: HUNDREDS OF JEWS AND ALLIES ARE GETTING ARRESTED IN THE LARGEST MASS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE NYC HAS SEEN IN TWO DECADES.
NO GENOCIDE IN OUR NAMES!
CEASEFIRE NOW TO SAVE LIVES!
NEVER AGAIN FOR ANYONE!