Global

Even the international condemnation of the Israeli devastation of Gaza often feels tepid.

During the last 6 months of Israel's aggression on Gaza, there were almost daily war crimes and horror stories committed by the IOF. That is too hard to keep track of or choose which one to address. Last March, Palestinians and their supporters were horrified and crushed after watching a video footage aired by Al Jazeera last month in which four unarmed Palestinians were seen walking along a dirt road in Khan Younis. The men were tracked and then killed in a serious drone attack, just like in a video game. 

This is reminiscent of what happened 10 years ago when four boys from the Bakr family were blown out to pieces by the IOF while playing soccer with their father on Gaza's beach. The four killed cousins were – 11-year-old Mohammad Ramiz Bakr, 9-year-old Ismail Mahmoud Bakr, and Ahed Atef Bakr and Zakariya Ahed Bakr, both aged 10 – Israeli forces shelled the area and the fishing boats belonging to the family during the 2024 war on Gaza, according to (MEM)

When the Washington Post revealed Friday afternoon that “the Biden administration in recent days quietly authorized the transfer of billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to Israel,” a lot of people cared. Readers of the story posted more than 10,000 comments on its webpage. A leading progressive site for breaking news, Common Dreams, quickly followed up with coverage under a headline that began with the word “obscene.” Responses on social media were swift and strong; a tweet about the Post scoop from our team at RootsAction received more than 600,000 views.

Israel’s plan to expand into an Eretz or “Greater” state incorporating large chunks of its neighbors’ land starts with eliminating the pre-1948 inhabitants of a place once known as Palestine. That nearly all of those who think of themselves as Palestinians must be killed or otherwise removed is perhaps reduced to an aphorism, like “Israel has a right to defend itself,” to absolve the Israeli state and its rampaging army of any guilt in the process. Indeed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ability to avoid any serious consequences for his behavior is remarkable, and it generates further atrocities that might have been unimaginable when the fighting in Gaza started back in October.