I #BOYCOTT #ISRAEL [August 12 2014 - 2mins]

Like for Syria YouTube channel

Published on Aug 12, 2014

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Visit http://www.bdsmovement.net for list of companies

Producer: http://twitter.com/farisxi

- 620,000 YouTube views, as of August 25, 2014.

Images - #Israel airstrikes destroy commercial district of #Rafah #Gaza - August 22 2014

Via Twitter, Mahmoud Zaqout, reports that tens of shops have been completely destroyed.  Saberpal's photographs depict the aftermath of Israel's shelling of the commercial district of Rafah, Gaza, on August 22, 2014.

With Mr. Zaqout's permission I downloaded, cropped and posted Saberpal's extraordinary photographs.
                                                       
                                                          - Diane V. McLoughlin, August 23, 2014

Images:  Israeli airstrikes target commercial district of Rafah, Gaza Strip August 22, 2014. Photographer: Saberpal (Facebook) via @maymoud_zaqout

Play GAZONTO score big in #GazaUnderAttack [August 20 2014 - 4mins]

GAZONTO from Albino Squirrel Channel on Vimeo August 20, 2014

Response to Fatalist Gerald Caplan on Peace in #Israel - #Palestine - 21082014

by Diane McLoughlin, August 21, 2014

The best aspect of Gerry Caplan's analysis of the Israel-Palestine conflict is his frank acknowledgement of the oppression and ethnic cleansing that Israel continues to perpetrate against the suffering Palestinian people. It is vitally important to share here that Israel's latest assault on Gaza is an act of genocide - not self-defense!

The worst aspect of Gerry Caplan's analysis is his sorrowful shrug that the situation in Israel-Palestine is intractable and that nothing can be done about it. While it may be a tough nut to crack, wherever there is oppression and injustice we should not back away from our moral and ethical duty to denounce it while encouraging healing and repair of relations between parties. It is a gentle irony that Mr. Caplan himself does not shy away from the ethical duty to speak, and it seems obvious that he cares.

So there is what-is on the one hand, while what-should-be stands separate and apart on the other. There is in an immense space in-between that is open to creative and determined and intelligent and dedicated and good people who set themselves to the challenge of changing the parameters of conflict. Such effort is not futile in the furtherance of justice, peace and global stability, even though you will almost certainly not know how your efforts assisted in tipping the scales.

Some of the ways to apply nonviolent pressure to help bring about peaceful change:

Boycott

As with South African Apartheid, ways to encourage Israeli political direction to change include boycotting Israeli goods, divesting from one's investment portfolios of Israeli companies, and to demand ones' own countries sever political ties with Israel - Boycott, Divest, Sanctions - BDS for short.

Examples:

- BDSmovement.net - lots of resources at this website.

- The 'Long live Palestine boycott Israel' buycott app' was begun in April. Once Israel launched its latest military assault on Gaza beginning in July, the numbers of new buycott users exploded. [over 390,000 users and counting.]

  The buycott campaign organizers explain that the boycott,

'will continue until Israel complies with the precepts of international law by

    1. Ending its occupation of Palestine and dismantling the Wall.

    2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel          to full equality.

   3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to               return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.'

Cut military and intelligence ties

Let it be known to your government that you believe it would be the right thing to do to cut all military cooperative ties with Israel - no more donations of bullets, bombs, software or intelligence.

Ban public and private donations that further injustice

Render it illegal for private individuals to donate funds to Israeli institutions that further the aims of stealing Palestinian land.

Ban private business from profiting from oppression

Render it illegal for any company to collude with Israel to extract Palestinian-owned natural resources. In the mix is the recent discovery  that Gaza owns a vast wealth of natural gas off-shore.

Ban citizens from enlisting in foreign militaries which enforce oppression

Render it illegal for citizens to serve in Israel's military.

Ban politicians from accepting gifts including trips

Render it illegal, if it isn't already, for politicians to accept Israel-funded trips. By all means, politicians ought to travel to Israel to witness what's going on. But only if the investigation includes fact-finding in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza, meeting with Palestinian authorities, as well.

Conclusion

Mr. Caplan's argument is an important one, in that he may have helped to finally open political debate in Canada on Israel that for too long has been censored and suppressed.

Reponse to, 'No matter what leaders do, there won't be peace in the Middle East'; Gerald Caplan, African scholar, former NDP national director and regular panelist on CBC’s Power and Politics; The Globe and Mail; August 15, 2014.

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Latest statistics - #Israel assault on #Gaza - August 15 2014

Latest Statistics for Operation Protective Edge - Israel's assault on Gaza
August 15 2014; by Diane V. McLoughlin

Gaza: 459 children killed; 1,962 total fatalities; 226 have been identified as being from armed groups; 9,986 injured including 3,009 children;16,700 homes destroyed or severely damaged; 335,000 people in shelters or doubled-up in homes; 25 schools entirely destroyed or severely damaged [ochaopt.org - Occupied Palestinian Territory Gaza Emergency Situation Report, as of August 12 2014 pdf].

Report: United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA): 'Humanitarian relief personnel, objects used for relief operations – including UNRWA schools in Gaza used as shelters – are protected under international law. 

'Whilst data on damage to UNRWA installations is according to preliminary information and subject to change based on further verification, particularly in those areas pending unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance, UNRWA estimates that at least 103 installations have been damaged since 8 July 2014, the majority being UNRWA schools. There is also recorded damage to health centers, sanitation and social services facilities, and the UNRWA compound in Gaza City. Some of UNRWA installations were damaged on multiple occasions.' [Gaza Situation Report No. 37 August 15 2014; UNRWA] .

Hospitals; ambulances; rescue workers:

Excerpt of first-person accounts of an incident by ambulance emergency rescue workers:

Background: Mohammad Al-Abadlah, 32, a paramedic who worked for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), was killed on 25 July in Qarara by Israeli army gunfire when he was attempting to rescue an injured man stranded in an area controlled by the Israeli military. Hassan Al-Attal, 40, a colleague of Mohammad Al-Abadlah who was with him at the time and witnessed the shooting, told Amnesty International:

“On 25 July, my colleague Mohammad Al-Abadlah and I were tasked with reaching an injured man in Qarara...At one point while driving in the ambulance we were blocked by live electric wires on the road. We informed the Red Cross that the road was blocked and we could not cross. They asked us to try to cross somehow, but we told them we couldn’t. They then called the Israelis and told them about the wires blocking the road and how we were unable to cross. They got back to us saying the army says to get out of the car and cross on foot with our flashlights. So, Mohammad said to me ‘Let’s go, they agreed that we can go walking and collect the case from them directly’.

“We got out, we crossed about 10-12 metres and suddenly we were being fired at directly. My colleague screamed and said ‘I’ve been shot’. The shooting continued everywhere, so I could not pull him away or else I too would have got shot and fallen beside him – so I ran and sat in the ambulance. I called the station and told them we had been fired at and Mohammad was injured. The head of the centre came with two ambulances to try and save our colleague. When the colleagues got out to try and take Mohammed, they too were fired at. The head of the centre asked the Red Cross to ask for shooting to stop while we evacuated Mohammad. We brought him but sadly he died...'. 

Corroborating testimony, by Mohammad Ghazi Al-Hessy, head of the PRCS’s centre in Khan Younis, who received the call to rescue Mohammad and attended to it with his other colleagues, includes this: 

“When we received this call from the Red Cross. They said it was Israel that had requested the evacuation of the injured person...'.

 [Evidence of medical workers and facilities being targeted by Israeli forces in Gaza; Amnesty International report, August 7 2014];

Farms and food production facilities: 'The recent fighting has resulted in substantial direct damage to Gaza's 17,000 hectares of croplands as well as much of its agricultural infrastructure, including greenhouses, irrigation systems, animal farms, fodder stocks and fishing boats.' [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; August 14 2014];

Water, electricity and sewage infrastructure - targeted. [Under fire in Gaza and not a drop to drink; Kristen Chick; Christian Science Monitor; July 24 2014.]

Israel: Three civilians, 67 soldiers killed; one gas station hit;  damage to a few homes.  

Diane V McLoughlin speaking at #Gaza protest - #Ottawa - Aug 09 2014 [3mins]

Youtube:  Diane V. McLoughlin

Ottawa, Canada August 09, 2014 

 Sharing a few words at the protest in Ottawa, against Israel's latest genocidal assault on Gaza, 'Operation Protective Edge' - editor, Diane V. McLoughlin, of mcloughlinpost.com

#Genocide of #Gaza - Letter by Spanish director Javier Bardem - July 25 2014

Reposted by Diane V. McLoughlin, July 29, 2014

Translation of the Open Letter by Spanish director, Javier Bardem, dated July 25, 2014, condemning the massacres in Gaza, which he rightly defines as a genocide. His letter was subsequently signed by 100 Spanish celebrities. As of today, there are over 42,000 Facebook shares.

Javier Bardem:

As horror is occurring in Gaza there is NO room 

for equidistance nor neutrality. It is a war of occupation 

and extermination against a people without means, 

confined to a minimum of land, without water and 

where hospitals, ambulances and children are 

targets and alleged terrorists. Hard to understand 

and impossible to justify. 

And the international community’s stance is 

embarrassing, allowing such genocide to happen.

I do not understand this barbarism, the Jewish people’s 

horrible history makes it even more cruelly 

incomprehensible. Only geopolitical alliances, 

that hypocrite mask of business making

- for instance arms trade - explain the shameful 

position of the USA, the European Union and Spain.

I know that the same people as always will 

delegitimize my personal right of opinion, 

because of that I would like to make the 

following clear to you:

Yes, my son was born in a Jewish hospital 

because I have dear people around me who are 

Jewish, and because being Jewish is not the same 

as supporting this massacre, just as being 

Hebrew is not the same as being a Zionist, 

and being a Palestinian does not mean being an 

Hamas terrorist. That would be as absurd as 

saying that being German links you to Nazism.

Yes, I work in the U.S., where I have friends 

and acquaintances who reject such interventions 

and aggressive policies. “One cannot invoke 

self defence while at the same time killing children”, 

one of them said to me on the phone just yesterday. 

And there are others with whom I discuss openly 

about our clashing points of view.

Yes, I am a European and I feel ashamed of a 

community that says it represents me with its silence and 

non-existent shame.

Yes, I live in Spain, paying my taxes, and I do not 

want my money to finance policies that support this 

barbarism and arms trade with other countries 

that are enriching themselves killing innocent children.

Yes, I am outraged, ashamed and hurt because 

of all the injustice and killing of human beings. 

Those children are our children. It is horror itself. 

I hope there will be compassion within the hearts 

of those who are killing and that the murderous 

poison that only creates more hatred and violence 

will disappear. That those Israelis and Palestinians 

who only dream of peace and coexistence 

some day will be able to share their solution.

I encourage you to read the following links:

http://www.msf.es/noticia/2014/gaza-israel-debe-dejar-bombardear-civiles-atrapados

http://iniciativadebate.org/2014/07/21/santiago-auseron-juan-perro-radio-futura-el-horror-que-se-disfraza-de-creencia/

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