Issue #8 - Decolonise Jerusalem
Palestinians are resisting Israel's racist pogroms.
Israeli violence in Jerusalem has taken centre stage this weekend. So here’s a quick run-down of what’s been happening as well as some things you can do to support the Palestinians and stay informed.
Following on from recent violence in Jerusalem, during which Israeli mobs rampaged around beating up Palestinians and chanting “Death to the Arabs,” pressure is ramping up on the Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrar. Israel wants to expel the Palestinian families from there and repopulate the neighbourhood with Jewish settlers. I wrote these two tweets summing up the situation:
Quds News Network @QudsNen
Watch | Mariam al-Ghawi, a #Palestinian citizen of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied Jerusalem, tried last night to enter her house, which has been taken over by colonial settler organizations. She engaged in a wrangle with the settler occupiers but to no avail. #savesheikhjarrah https://t.co/WLIMnimrk1The most horrifying videos continue to be circulated. This one shows elected Israeli politicians wishing that a non-violent Palestinian activists was murdered:
You should also watch this video from 2017 by my colleague David Sheen , which shows the “Death to the Arabs” mobs that regularly harass Palestinians in Jerusalem, especially during the settlers’ annual “Jerusalem Day” pogrom:
But as always, the Palestinian people show precisely zero sign of giving up or going away. Here’s one of the many videos of popular Palestinian resistance in Jerusalem. They are chanting “With spirit, blood we will sacrifice for you, Oh Aqsa.” The Al Aqsa Mosque has been attacked by Israeli forces, prompting international condemnations, but no concrete action.
This is what Mumhammed el-Kurd, a Palestinian activist and writer from Jerusalem, who is on the ground in the Sheikh Jarrar says people in the West should do:
Israeli colonialism in Jerusalem is nothing new. It’s been happening for decades, since Zionist militias first illegally invaded and occupied Jerusalem in 1948.
If you’re in London, two different demonstrations have been called for later today (Tuesday 11th): one at 1pm by Palestine Action and another at 6pm by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign:
The former will involve direct action against Elbit’s London headquarters and the latter will involve a protest outside Downing Street.
Finally, read my colleague Maureen Murphy’s article about what needs to be done to truly hold Israel to account, and not just allow our politicians to get away with empty statements relating their “concerns” about the so-called “conflict”.
How Labour handed control to the Israel lobby
Last week I had my latest investigative piece about the Labour Party for EI published. It takes a took at the composition of the party’s new “Anti-Semitism Advisory Board,” which will have a powerful influence over what is and what isn’t considered to be anti-Jewish racism from now on.
I found that no less than eight out of its nine members have known ties to the pro-Israel lobby. Five of those eight are direct representatives of Israel lobby groups.
When it comes to smearing Palestine solidarity activism, Labour is a fully rigged party. There’s been talk since Keir Starmer’s shattering Hartlepool by-election defeat last week that the party may move its headquarters outside of London.
The way things are going in Labour, he could be moving to Tel Aviv — or even Jerusalem!
Whistleblowing, Dissent, Accountability festival
I had agreed at the last minute to speak on a panel at the Whistleblowing, Dissent, Accountability festival on Saturday. But I soon realised I had to pull out due to a double-booking. Luckily, the organisers kindly arranged to do my contribution pre-recorded. Dr Deepa Govindarajan Driver (an academic and union activist) and I had a great conversation about reporting on Palestine, our new EI film about the smear campaign against Corbyn (see below) and how to be dissident journalist.
You can watch the half-hour talk online here.
Documentary on Jeremy Corbyn a hit
If you haven’t watched our new short documentary, “How they brought down Jeremy Corbyn,” you’re missing out!
It’s now had almost 25,000 views on YouTube, which is pretty staggering for us. We’ve had an EI YouTube channel since I can remember, but it’s only quite recently that we’ve begun posting to it frequently. So it has a still quite moderate number of subscribers — which means that 25,000 views is a pretty staggering number for us. Thanks for all the support and reposts.
Do check it out if you haven’t watched it yet. And I also wrote a handy list of supporting articles in the show notes.
My recommended links
Mohamed Elmaazi reports on the latest police repression against Palestine Action, the direct-action-focused solidarity groups formed last year to target Israeli arms firm Elbit. British police are threatening to expand their powers and essentially ban Palestine Action — or at least begin treating them as a “terrorist” group, despite the fact that Palestine Action’s tactics have been totally non-violent.
My colleague Tamara Nassar reports on two recent Israeli army killings of Palestinians in the West Bank. Said Odeh from the village of Odala near Nablus was shot dead by Israeli troops as the 16-year-old boy walked home. He had not been involved in any protests or confrontations with the Israelis when he was shot. Fahima al-Hroub, 60, was also killed at the Gush Etzion junction near Bethlehem. She was allegedly in possession of a kitchen knife, but video of the incident clearly shows she posed no threat to the soldiers.
My colleague Michael F. Brown reports on how most of the Democratic Party’s progressive “squad” — including AOC — managed to remain completely silent about how even Human Rights Watch has now declared Israel to be guilty of the crime of apartheid.
Tweet of the Week
The “woke CIA” video has been driving a lot of people crazy online. Personally I really hated it so, so much. It was like some sort of satirical joke come to life. Identity politics is increasingly being a weaponised by liberal elements of the capitalist-imperialist establishment.
Whitewashing (and pinkwashing and blackwashing) cannot distract from the material facts of the CIA’s violent role in subversion of elected governments and democratic movements the world over — both in history and right now.
MintPress News’ Alan Macleod found a whole series of these videos and tweeted about them. Check out his thread above if you’re a glutton for punishment.
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