Journalist, executive director at
@972mag
and co-director at
@mekomit
, Union of Journalists in Israel board member. Tweeting from Israel-Palestine since 2013
Any situation in which one national group controls another, denies the latter basic rights, takes its resources, and blocks any democratic or legal means to strive for equality and justice, will always generate resistance
As I sit at home in Tel Aviv, fearing for my family and friends, I know that this has also been the reality for Palestinians, especially in Gaza, for decades. One of fear, and being defenseless, and a brutal enemy who has no problem killing civilians, entire families even
After weeks of Hasbara telling us not to listen to the "Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza" in terms of casualty rates - Israel now recognizes the the official Palestinian number of 14-15K killed in Gaza, plus thousands of bodies trapped under the rubble, is likely correct
🧵Last night a right wing mob attacked the house of Israeli journalist
@freyisrael1
, calling him a “traitor” for his messages against killing of civilians of both sides and against the war. Frey was besieged in his home with his family for hours, with people trying to break in
סרטון שהגיע מההתרחשות בשעות אלה מחוץ לבית של ישראל פריי, אחרי שמכונת הרעל הסיתה נגדו, אחרי שפרסמו את כתובתו, זיקוקים באמצע הלילה לכיוון הבניין, סכנת נפשות, ותושבי האזור חושבים שאלה יריות כי מלחמה עכשיו. והמשטרה שעה ארוכה לא מצליחה להשתלט! מה זה הטירוף הזה???
@freyisrael1
Now: at least 20k people marching in Tel Aviv against the government. Many are chanting against apartheid, alongside pro-LGBTQ and anti-fascist messaging
“To stand on German soil as the son of Holocaust survivors and call for a ceasefire – and to then be labelled as antisemitic is not only outrageous, it is also literally putting Jewish lives in danger,”
@yuval_abraham
told the Guardian
An incredible young woman who survived the massacre in Be’eri: “Listen carefully: how am I supposed to get up in the morning, knowing that 4.5 km away from Kibbutz Be’eri, in Gaza, there are people for whom this (the war) is not over? Those talking of revenge - shame on you”
אמש בביקור במלון דוד בים המלח, צעירה בת 19 מקיבוץ בארי (שמה שמור עימדי), ביקשה לזעוק את הזעקה שלה: "מה שקרה לנו לא היה חדש, פשוט גרוע יותר. מפקירים אותנו שנים".
There is no military solution for Gaza or the occupation generally. There never was. The only solution has to be an end of apartheid, and promoting a future based on justice and equality for all of us, Palestinian and Israeli. Not in spite of the horror but exactly because of it
Israel authorizes a draft of 25,000 reserve soldiers, says it is preparing for prolonged fighting in and around Gaza. This could spell hundreds of deaths, mostly of Palestinians.
We as Israelis must refuse and resist this atrocity. The intl. community must hold Israel to account
BREAKING: Investigation based on Israeli military sources shows how Israel is knowingly killing dozens of civilians in Gaza to hit one Hamas target. In one case: hundreds of civilians for one target.
Reporting by
@yuval_abraham
for
@972mag
and
@mekomit
Netanyahu: “The Jewish people have an exclusive and unchallengeable right over the entire land of Israel”.
If anyone had any doubts about the nature of the apartheid nature of the Israeli regime, here is the proof.
What will EU and US leaders, and the ICC, do about it?
🧵 Over the past 24 hours, many have been commenting on why I and other Israelis are outraged by the pogrom settlers committed in Huwara, and don’t mention as much about the killing of the two Israeli settlers, the brothers, earlier that day. Here are a few thoughts on that:
One of the essential problems of media coverage about Israel-Palestine is that a march of thousands of settlers on private Palestinian land, backed by armed soldiers, are not considered "violent", whereas a Palestinian standing on their land to defend it with a stone - is
Now. Israeli army HQ in Tel Aviv. Hundreds at a spontaneous protest following the killing of 3 hostages in Gaza by Israeli soldiers. Demanding an immediate deal to release all hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners
Tel Aviv: 150 teens at
#ClimateStrike
. There are hundreds more in protests throughout Israel-Palestine, but nothing like protests we're seeing around the world. Awareness to
#ClimateEmergency
in Israel is minimal
Israeli social media is now seeing calls for actual, literal genocide. Netanyahu has promised an attack on Gaza in a scale "our enemies have never seen before". We should expect so much more bloodshed in the days and weeks to come
Why we need BDS: soldiers detained an 80 y/o Palestinian, who died after they left him in a construction site at night. Israel’s main TV news station ignored the story until it became clear the man was American and the US is demanding answers.
No foreign pressure - nobody cares
🧵This is a terrible day. After waking up from air sirens to a barrage of hundreds of rockets fired on Israeli cities, we have been learning about the massive, unprecedented invasion from Gaza into Israeli towns and cities, and getting reports of many civilians killed, kidnapped
Once again, the anti apartheid bloc at the Tel Aviv protest against the government. Following recent events, the main protest organizers said they “support the IDF”. In this bloc, they’re chanting against police and army crimes against Palestinians
Now: several dozen Israelis in Tel Aviv protesting for an immediate ceasefire and release of hostages. Slogans include: “In Gaza and Sderot children want to live”.
The protest is mixed with a second group which is calling on the immediate resignation of Netanyahu for his failure
In a eulogy for her brother Hayim, an anti-occupation activist murdered in Kibbutz Holit, Noi Katsman called on her country “not to use our deaths and our pain to cause the death and pain of other people or other families... the only way [forward] is freedom and equal rights"
This is just one aspect of an increasing attack against Israelis critical of the bombing of Gaza. People are facing being fired, potentially removed as students from universities, and physically threatened
Breaking: Israeli police are trying to shut down an Arab-Jewish conference against the war, against all targeting of civilians, for the release of hostages and for peace and equality. Police told the owner of the venue they would shut down his business if the event takes place
In 2018, thousands of Palestinians took to popular resistance near the fence. Israel massacred hundreds. One of the leftist organizers of the protests, Ahmed Abu Artema, wrote the following for
@972mag
at the time. Today his family was killed in their home
NOW: masses, probably hundreds of thousands, at mass rallies throughout Israel against the government’s attacks on the judiciary.
The anti-apartheid bloc here in Tel Aviv has grown from previous weeks. Even mainstream demonstrators started talking about Huwara and the occupation
Israel has been leading this escalation for weeks: new limitations on Palestinians celebrating Iftar in Jerusalem from the start of Ramadan, brutal force against protestors in Sheikh Jarrah, attacks inside of Al-Aqsa mosque, and now - killing 9 in Gaza, including 3 children
After demolishing an elementary school, the Israeli army also demolished the tents set up for children to study in.
Today a new bill was presented to Knesset, that would forbid photography of soldiers in action. They are trying to prevent people like Basel from documenting this
The cruelty of Israeli apartheid grows each day. Occupation forces destroyed a small elementary school in Masafer Yatta 2 weeks ago, but residents rebuilt, placing tents for the little kids to study in.
Today, soldiers came and destroyed the tents, as the children watched.
Jerusalem: 10 police officers break in to the house of an Israeli activist, arresting him for this years old sign he has hanging out the window, reading “there is no sanctity in an occupied city” (sounds better in Hebrew).
Another step in the repression of critical voices
עשרה שוטרי משטרת בן גביר פרצו לדירה של אחי הקטן ג'ק ועצרו אותו בגלל השלט הזה שיש לו במרפסת כבר שנים.
כל זה לאחר שהמון פאשיסטי ימני ניסה לפרוץ לשם בעצמו, הגיע משטרה ופרצה אליו הביתה ועצרה אותו. על מה? למה? ולמה צריך עשרה שוטרים לזה?
לפני כמה ימים צייצתי על מדרון חלקלק. הנה הוא
Israeli mainstream media is incredibly excited about citizens taking up arms and preparing Molotov cocktails to fight off soldiers from an occupying army in Ukraine.
One could almost forget the same media denounces the same actions as "terrorism" when they take place here
Israelis have no idea how horrible things are in Gaza right now.
2.3M people in a desperate situation, seeking refuge in constantly shrinking "safe zones" that aren't really safe.
We need a ceasefire now, and we need the international community to get it
Attackers shot fireworks at his house, and when he got into his car, accompanied by police, they chased him with cars through Tel Aviv, and into a city hospital. He had to be smuggled out of the parking lot by friends in the middle of the night.
It needs to be made clear that Israeli army and police are active collaborators in settler attacks on Palestinians. They’re not simply “standing by” - they’re facilitating, defending the attackers and shooting any Palestinian attempting self defense
Like clock-work.
~200 Israeli settlers descend upon Umm Safa, Ramallah, to attack Palestinians and set their homes ablaze.
Moments later, Israeli Occupation Forces arrive, shoot bullets and tear gas at Palestinians who came out defending their village.
Twenty years ago, the ICJ published its advisory opinion that the wall Israel was building in the West Bank was illegal according to international law. The Israeli Supreme Court decided to override that opinion. The lead justice who wrote the ruling: Aharon Barak
5. Lastly, there are no "two sides" here. There is no equality under apartheid. There is a regional power with one of the strongest and most sophisticated armies in the world, which enjoys international support, trampling millions of people under a racist military regime
The protest in Tel Aviv tonight, with 30K attendees, was under the slogan “a home for all of us”, countering the campaign message from Ben Gvir: “we (Jews) own this house”.
This was a show of Jewish-Arab resistance to the new government but also all Jewish supremacism
Now: Israeli settlers take over a Palestinian children’s playground in Susya, south Hebron hills. The settlers demand the playground be demolished. Israeli soldiers are there to protect the settlers who are invading the playground
מתנחלי סוסיא מאוד כועסים על גן השעשועים החדש שנבנה בסוסיא הפלסטינית. נורא מפריע להם שלילדי סוסיא יהיה איפה לשחק. אז הם פתחו את בוקר שבת בפריצה לגן. החיילים בגזרה שם כדי לעזור. תמונות מעכשיו
One Israeli general after another, including the "new hope" of the Zionist left, Yair Golan, are seeing these images and saying: "let them starve".
These crimes have to end, those responsible held accountable. The war has to stop. We need the international community to intervene
People are hungry and just desperate for food
@UNRWA
convoy in
#Gaza
City this week.
40% of the population at risk of famine.
More regular supplies needed - require safe and sustainable
#humanitarain
access everywhere including to the North of Gaza
Israeli sources confirm to NYT what
@yuval_abraham
was recently reporting, and Palestinians saying for weeks: “Targets that would have not been considered.. to justify the risk to civilians.. are being hit now. Those include both private residences and public structures”
A fountain in Donald Trump Square (yes, there is such a thing) in the Israeli town of Petah Tikva has been painted blood-red with graffiti nearby stating "annexation will cost us in blood".
Image: the Israeli police
For the past 48 hours, Israeli politicians and journalists are going insane with Ayman Odeh's call on Palestinian police officers to refuse to serve the occupation.
This call is in no way extreme. The occupation is extreme, and refusing to serve it is basic decency and solidarity
Tonight marked a shift in the Israeli “pro democracy” protests. On the main stage in Tel Aviv - a call to refuse service in the occupying army. In Jerusalem - Iyad al-Halak’s sister gave a speech. In Haifa - Yossi Zabari was talking about the occupation.
This is unprecedented
2. There is an entire system in place designed to handle such killings. An army and Shin Bet and a whole state built to protect Jews. Palestinians, on the other hand, have no one to protect them. The army is either silent in the face of settler violence or joins it, backs it up
3. There is a difference between individual actions from an oppressed group and state sponsored violence. Individual people who kill people from the oppressive group is not the same as an organized, proactive initiative of the strong side, backed by the state itself
@MarvelousRhodia
I didn't decide to be born here, or to only have this one citizenship, this one home in the world. I did decide to refuse the draft and to spend two years in prison for it. Am I still a "soldier"?
Four young Israelis are currently in the process of being jailed for their refusal to serve in the apartheid army. Two of them are imprisoned here, at military prison 10, where supporters have come to lift their spirits and to also resist occupation
🧵Now: Jewish journalists and activists from Israel, U.S. and the U.K. stand outside the Federal Chancellery in Berlin in solidarity with Palestinian and other anti-apartheid activists in Germany who are being silenced by their government, which accuses them of “antisemitism”
Even now, the army continues talking about the "hunt for the terrorist" but not about the hunt for whoever killed the Palestinian medic yesterday, or against whoever set fire to the homes of families. That is why we need to scream out especially against Jewish terrorists
Exposed: an internal Israeli ministry's document charts down plans to expel ALL Gazans to Egypt. In the document, officials refer to the option of the PA taking control of Gaza as the worst possible option, as it will allow a Palestinian state
What’s happening in Israel today: a set of regulations formalizing apartheid are up for a renewed vote. These rules offer Jews in the West Bank a superior position over Palestinians, allowing settlers Israeli social security, access to civilian rather than military courts etc.
Israeli army officers decide for Palestinian universities which fields of academic studies are "required" and who will be allowed to teach them.
And people ask why we call this apartheid, or reject boycotting Israeli unis. in the name of "academic freedom"
The notion of Israel allowing
@RepRashida
to visit her family in the OPT as a “humanitarian” gesture is worse than the ban. We won’t respect you as an independent political leader, as a US congresswoman, but you’re welcome to beg for mercy like all Palestinians - is the message
BREAKING: An explosive investigation by
@yuval_abraham
exposes some of the AI machines the Israeli army uses, which have killed thousands of innocent civilians.
The operators of the AIs "Lavender" and "Where's Daddy?" speak to
@mekomit
and
@972mag
here:
The absolute dread of people who are seeing militants in their streets and homes is unimaginable. Attacks on civilians are war crimes, and my heart goes to the victims and their families, and to all those living in the Western Negev.
Now in Tel Aviv: a massive refuser banner outside the army’s central command: “we won’t kill and we won’t be killed in the service of settlements”. The anti-occupation bloc passes under it on its way to the mainstream “pro democracy” protest
So Morocco will approve of Israel’s annexation of West Bank and apartheid policies against Palestinians throughout the land, and Israel will recognize the annexation of Western Sahara. The peace of the brave occupiers
🧵 צריך להגיד משהו על קמפיין החוצות, הרדיו והטלוויזיה האינטנסיבי "אין ימין שמאל". במבט ראשון, זה נראה כמו קמפיין "צו פיוס" קלאסי, של כולנו עם אחד. רק שאם מקשיבים לסרטון, רואים שיותר משהוא מושקע בעידוד סולידריות, הבנה ודיאלוג - הוא מושקע בהסתה נגד כל מי שמעז לחשוב אחרת
Palestinian human rights organizations were first outlawed by Israel, then had their offices raided, and now have there directors interrogated by the Shin Bet.
Can EU countries and the US do anything but “voice their concerns” about this? Maybe it’s time for action?
It’s like that
@elivalley
cartoon coming to life: a “pro democracy” protestor in Tel Aviv, escaping water canons, is yelling "my son is in Huwara now! He's a combat soldier, and look what they're doing to me!"
A general strike. Universities shutting down as of tomorrow. The opposition boycotting Knesset hearings. Hundreds of thousands blocking the main roads. This is what history looks like.
Now all we need is to continue for full equality to all between the river and the sea
This is crazy, and requires immediate international intervention: Israel just declared some of the most important Palestinian civil society organizations as terrorist groups. These include: Al Haq, Addameer, DCI-P, Bisan, UAWC and the Women’s Committee
Now: Tens of thousands in Tel Aviv protesting against the planned legal reforms in Israel. Several hundreds at an anti-apartheid bloc are chanting “democracy for everyone - from the river to the sea”
This picture was taken by in 2013, when police officers beat and urinated on Palestinian demonstrators in the Naqab. At the time, the Justice Ministry’s unit investigating police crimes said it “could not find the offenders” and closed the case
The pogroms, like the air force bombings in Gaza that wipe out entire families, are not a bug - they are a feature of the regime that we have created here.
Ben Gvir issues a statement to calm down protesters who think the new militia he's setting up will be used against them. In it he promises that it'll just serve against Palestinians
שיהיה ברור, לעכשיו ולמען הזיכרון ההיסטורי: היה הסכם הפסקת אש. בתוקף. לא ירו עלינו. אנחנו בחרנו בהתקפה הזאת על הרצועה הנצורה על שני מליון תושביה החיים במצוקה אדירה, ב-12 הרוגים כולל ילדים קטנים, בכל מה שיבוא עכשיו.
רוצים לסרב למען דמוקרטיה, צדק ושוויון? זה הזמן!
The Israeli Supreme Court just rejected a petition against the Israeli police's decision to prevent Palestinian citizens from demonstrating with calls for a ceasefire.
Yes: The "bastion of democracy" signs off on silencing protests
🧵So much death and cruelty. New horrific testimonies are released from the massacre Hamas committed against unarmed civilians, including children. This is unjustified - and does not justify Israel’s brutal war crimes and collective punishment against civilians including children
The Israeli army killed a 12 year old boy yesterday. Who was in his car. And did nothing wrong. To anyone. Nor did his family. And it is absolutely clear that no one will pay a price for it. As is always the case.
This is not at all surprising, as anyone who has been following in previous rounds knows that MOH figures usually prove to be precise in examinations by UN, US, Israel and human rights organizations
Breaking: Israeli government falls. New elections called for autumn. Tensions between the right and Palestinians in government were too strong for the coalition to survive
Israel under the "government of change" with Lapid, Labor and Meretz:
* Outlawing 6 leading Palestinian NGOs
* Starting ethnic cleansing in Masafer Yatta
* Killing dozens of Palestinians in the last year
* A peak in house demolitions and admin. detention
* And now a war on Gaza
@Yossi_eli
@aviadho
מה צריך לקרות? שישלחו אנשים כאלה לכלא. עם עונשים משמעותיים. כל עוד שזה לא קורה, ושבמקביל שרי הממשלה מעודדים ירי בכל מצב, מקרים כאלה יימשכו
Israeli media outlets are reporting about events in Iran and calling them "protests". When the same images are coming from the West Bank or Gaza Strip – they're dubbed "confrontations" or "disturbances to public order"
Resistance within: at least four different protests against the attack on Gaza and the siege are planned for tomorrow (Saturday) in Yaffa, Tel Aviv and Haifa - by Palestinian and Jewish Israelis
Soldiers blowing up the court of justice in Gaza "dedicate" the explosion to the memory of those killed in 7.10.
There is likely zero military significance to this destruction. More likely this is one of the "power targets" we've been learning about here:
העיתונאי ישראל פריי נמלט לדירת מסתור לאחר שמאות ביריוני ימין התנפלו על ביתו וניסו לפגוע בו. הוא מבקש באמצעותי להעביר אליכם מסר, קצת ארוך, אבל בבקשה הקשיבו ושתפו גם אם אתם לא מסכימים (גם לי יש הסתייגויות) כדי שנראה לכולם שלא נפסיק להיאבק עד שגם אנשים כמו פריי יוכלו להביע דעתם…
The streets of Tel Aviv will see two protests tonight: one will include testimonies of Palestinian children from Israeli detention facilities. The other, Ethiopian Israelis protesting police brutality and murder of thier young. Two different yet related issues, one struggle
When Yonatan Ziegen, the son of Vivian Silver, was asked by a journalist what his mother—who is thought to have been kidnapped—would think about what Israel is doing in Gaza now, he replied: “She would be mortified. Because you can’t cure dead babies with more dead babies."
The ultimate responsibility for everything that happens here, including the killing of the brothers, is on the state that perpetuates this injustice and oppression, and on all of us as its citizens
מתברר שהצבא כן יודע לפעול נגד ישראלים בחווארה! הם רק צריכים להיות שמאלנים, לא אלימים ובסולידריות עם פלסטינים - ומיד הצבא יודע איך להסתדר עם מעצרים ורימוני הלם.
תמונות של
@OrenZiv_
עכשיו מתהלוכת הסולידריות בחווארה. #כשמפגינים_על_דמוקרטיה
Israel's Defense Minister, Yoav Galant, should be tried at the ICC for his war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza.
This evening he was fired - but for the wrong reasons. Netanyahu fired him for trying to slow down Israel's transition into a fully authoritarian state toward Jews
It just won't stop. We're looking at about 1,000 Israelis killed, and over 650 Palestinians killed in Gaza. Many on both sides are children. 100 abducted, with the Israeli government so far refusing to negotiate on their release, and Hamas warning it will start murdering them