Palestine

By GIADA ZAMPANO and SALVATORE CAVALLI
Updated 11:18 AM EDT, June 1, 2025

"CATANIA, Italy (AP) — Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and other 11 activists set sail on Sunday afternoon for Gaza on a ship aimed at “breaking Israel’s siege” of the devastated territory, organizers said.

The sailing boat Madleen – operated by activist group Freedom Flotilla Coalition — departed from the Sicilian port of Catania, in southern Italy.

It will try to reach the shores of the Gaza Strip in an effort to bring in some aid and raise “international awareness” over the ongoing humanitarian crisis, the activists said at a press conference on Sunday, ahead of departure. "

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/30999942

Lorenzo Tondo in Jerusalem and agencies Sun 1 Jun 2025 06.04 EDT

"Thousands of people headed toward the distribution site hours before dawn. As they approached the site, Israeli forces ordered them to disperse and come back later, witnesses said. When the crowds reached the Flag Roundabout, about 1km away, at about 3am, Israeli forces opened fire, the witnesses said."

Mohammed Abu Teaima, 33, said he saw Israeli forces open fire and kill his cousin and another woman as they were heading to the hub. He said his cousin was shot in his chest and died at the scene. Many others were wounded, including his brother-in-law, he said."

A Palestinian father who had lost nine of his 10 children in an Israeli airstrike has died from wounds sustained in the same attack, local health officials have said.

Hamdi al-Najjar, 40, a doctor at Nasser hospital, was critically injured when Israeli forces bombed the family house in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on 23 May, killing nine of his children. He had just returned home after accompanying his wife Alaa, a paediatrician at the Nasser medical complex, to work when the building was struck. He had initially survived alongside his son Adam, 11, who is still in hospital.

PSG soccer fans unfurl banner urging end to 'genocide in Gaza' at Champions League final [in Munich] | The Times of Israel (2025-06-01)

https://www.timesofisrael.com/psg-soccer-fans-unfurl-banner-urging-end-to-genocide-in-gaza-at-champions-league-final/
------

>> Paris Saint-Germain (#PSG) supporters displayed a banner saying “Stop genocide in Gaza” during the soccer Champions League final on Saturday.

>> ... Some PSG fans also held Palestinian scarves and flags during the game.

>> PSG could also face a fine. #UEFA bans the use of gestures, words, objects or any other means to transmit a provocative message that is judged not fit for a sports event...

#Germany #StopGenocide
@[email protected] @[email protected] @israel

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/30568189

June 1st, we’ll attempt to, again, sail towards Gaza and to try to break the siege and open up a humanitarian corridor by delivering aid like food and medical supplies,” says Thunberg. A similar mission to sail to occupied Gaza in May was aborted after a flotilla dubbed the “Conscience” suffered two drone attacks while in international waters.

“Keep your eyes on deck, continue flooding the streets, organize, boycott, and do everything in your power to stand for Palestine,” Thunberg ends her message, readying to set sail for Gaza from Catania, Sicily, on Sunday with aid supplies and several high-profile activists alongside her.

May 31, 2025, 5:00 AM EDT
By Hala Gorani and Shira Pinson

"TEL AVIV — Barely noticeable only a few months ago, opposition is growing about fresh Israeli operations in Gaza even among the country’s military reservists, some of whom have publicly called out the government for what they say is an immoral and politically motivated decision to continue the war."

Jeremy Scahill and Jawa Ahmad May 31, 2025

"The thirteen point document, obtained by Drop Site, represents Hamas’s official response..."

"Among the terms Hamas wants included in any deal are a guarantee that as long as Palestinian resistance forces hold their fire, negotiations for a complete end to the genocide will continue beyond a 60-day initial truce and that this would be guaranteed by the US., Egypt and Qatar. “The United States and President Trump are committed to working diligently to ensure the continuation of negotiations until a final agreement is reached,” the document says."

Israeli military operations killed at least 20 captives in Gaza: Haaretz investigation (Anadolu Agency, 2025-05-30)

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israeli-military-operations-killed-at-least-20-captives-in-gaza-haaretz-investigation/3584825
------

>> Israeli military operations endangered the lives of at least 54 Israeli captives in Gaza, 20 of whom were killed, according to a Haaretz investigation published Friday.

>> The report said that during 601 days of conflict, starting Oct. 7, 2023, the Israeli army's actions, including airstrikes, led to captives' deaths either directly or "executed by their captors due to military activity close to their whereabouts."

>> ... while hundreds of strikes were avoided due to hostage proximity concerns, the army does authorize strikes within a "safe distance" of several hundred meters.

>> ... "Where there is no information [about captives], the attack proceeds."

>> The investigation contradicts official army claims of taking maximum precautions to protect the hostages.

@[email protected] @[email protected] @israel

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, has cautioned against blaming only Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the destruction in Gaza.

“The problem will not be resolved by scapegoating him, ignoring the rest,” Albanese posted on social media.

She emphasised that Israel’s broader policies—ranging from occupation and annexation to apartheid and what she called acts of genocide—must be confronted and dismantled.

Albanese’s comments highlight growing criticism of efforts to reduce the crisis to one individual’s actions, without addressing the systemic violence driving the assault on Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sharply criticised Hamas’s reaction to the latest ceasefire proposal, aligning with US envoy Steve Witkoff’s stance.

MIT class president calls out university's ties with Israeli military (Anadolu Agency, 2025-05-30)

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/mit-class-president-calls-out-universitys-ties-with-israeli-military/3583961
------

>> 'We are watching Israel try to wipe Palestine off the face of the earth, and it is a shame that #MIT is a part of it,' says Megha Vemuri

>> "This is a world that we will be entering with an immeasurable responsibility. We will carry with us the stamp of the MIT name, the same name that is directly complicit in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people," Vemuri said.

>> A group of graduates shouted "Free, Free Palestine!" and unfurled a Palestinian flag at the ceremony.

#MeghaVemuri
@[email protected] @[email protected]

"Both sides." "Hopes and prayers." "I am a victim, too."

This guy sucks.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/30862067

Germany has been one of the worst Western countries for whitewashing Israel’s genocide in Palestine. Now it wants to do it with AI.

Becker was consulted by the Tagesspiegel because of his affiliation with the Decoding Antisemitism project at the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the Technical University Berlin, which he led from 2019 until 2025. With the help of a large language computing model, the project aims to create “an [AI] algorithm that will automatically recognize antisemitic statements in web comments . . . so that antisemitic posts can be removed more efficiently and accurately” by online platforms.

The dataset is divided into labels of differing forms of supposed antisemitisms such as “analogies with Nazism,” fascism, apartheid, or colonialism; calling Israel a racist or terrorist state; accusing it of genocide; referencing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS); giving Israel the sole blame for the plight of the Palestinians; applying double standards; and denying Israel’s right to exist.

On the topic of Palestine and Israel, the glossary seems to operate within a logic that sees emotional responses to a live-streamed genocide not as a human reaction but as an indicator of antisemitic beliefs.

In an interview with Israeli news outlet Mako, Becker suggests that social media providers are opening their doors and hearing concerns like his. This strongly suggests hopes to commercialize and implement its findings with online platforms. Five years after its inception, it appears that its conceptual framework and glossary have been overtaken by reality.

One of the two drivers who was beaten, Ahmad Kar'in, told Haaretz that the attack happened while he was driving his regular route and reached Malha Mall, near the stadium.

"Dozens of young Beitar Jerusalem fans showed up," he recounted. "I recognized them by their dress and the scarves. They recognized that I was an Arab after speaking with me. They started shouting out of nowhere, 'death to Arabs', and cursed and attacked me. More and more kept joining them."

"There was no one there to help me besides this driver," he said. "The police only came after 20 minutes, perhaps even half an hour. They pulled me out from there and took me to Magen David Adom, which evacuated me to a hospital."

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/5091655

Is the U.S. genuinely aiming to save Gaza’s population from starvation? Or is the true purpose of Israeli-U.S. aid in Gaza to empower Israel to prolong its war while pacifying Palestinians with minimal food supplies amid mounting international pressure? After Rafah was completely destroyed — homes flattened and entire families erased from the civil registry — Israel took full control of the city. On May 27, it distributed what it called “aid,” with U.S. assistance. During the so-called aid distribution, Palestinians who had walked long distances searching for basic food supplies were killed by the Israeli military. Has bread now become something we must pay for with blood?

For Gaza’s people, reaching the Israeli-U.S. aid point in Rafah was no easy task. The journey was long, dangerous and shadowed by constant airstrike threats. There is no safety in Gaza. But hunger — a weapon Israel has deliberately used against civilians — has forced many families to take the risk, especially after several children in the Strip have starved to death.

The suffering was not just hunger or distance — it was the complete collapse of life in Gaza. No transportation, no services, no infrastructure. All this hardship for a small bag of basic food! But what happened next was even more devastating. On May 27, after these families finally arrived, the Israeli army opened fire on civilians scrambling for food. Three were killed, 46 wounded. The military’s excuse? “There was chaos.”

But how can anyone expect order from a starving population, terrified of returning home empty-handed to hungry children?

Full Article

May 29, 2025
By Catherine Russell

Ms. Russell is the executive director of UNICEF.

"Before hostilities resumed, the United Nations operated a vast and effective aid delivery system inside Gaza. During the recent cease-fire, we were delivering assistance like essential vaccines and medicine, lifesaving nutrition services and access to clean water through more than 400 distribution points, including in sites close to shelters for displaced families. UNICEF and our partners went even further, delivering aid door-to-door, reaching malnourished children and pregnant women directly in their places of refuge."

https://archive.ph/1H3Oc

May 29, 2025 at 9:38 am

"Israeli Knesset Member Yulia Malinovsky held up the keys and the lock of the main door of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) headquarters in East Jerusalem during a parliamentary session yesterday bragging that she had locked the building and even the government could not access it as a result.

Malinovsky, who initiated the legislation to ban the UN agency from Israel and from working with Israeli government bodies, showed the lock to Knesset members, after raiding the UN agency’s office in East Jerusalem earlier this week."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/30900650

May 30, 2025 at 2:23 pm

"“Ben & Jerry’s believes in human rights and advocates for peace, and we join with those around the world who denounce the genocide in Gaza,” the board said in a statement viewed by Reuters. “We stand with all who raise their voices against genocide in Gaza – from petition-signers to street marchers to those risking arrest.”"

"German Officials Might Be Criminally Liable": Five Questions to Kai Ambos (Verfassungsblog, 2025-05-30)

https://verfassungsblog.de/german-officials-might-be-criminally-liable/
———

>> Under the Arms Trade Treaty (#ATT), #Germany is prohibited from exporting weapons if there is an “overriding risk” that they could be used to commit international crimes…

>> … What matters is not whether the respective weapons are eventually used in war crimes or serious violations of international humanitarian law (IHL), but whether such an “overriding risk” existed at the time the export was approved…

>> In the case of the Occupied Palestinian Territory … such indicators have been present for years – and in the current Gaza war, they have intensified to the point that an “overriding risk” must clearly be assumed.

>> A failure to conduct or inadequately conduct the said risk assessment constitutes a violation of international law …

#InternationalHumanitarianLaw
@[email protected] @[email protected] @israel

Additional picture (credit ytirawi)

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/30852519

from The Forward [Jewish publication from USA] Jay Michaelson May 28, 2025

"The gulf between Israel’s government and the rest of the world — including its allies, the #Trump administration, the Israeli public, and the American Jewish community — is widening into a chasm. And yet some in Jewish leadership are hiding their heads in the sand.

Critics of the Netanyahu-Smotrich regime are no longer just campus protesters, or hostile-to-Israel regimes, or antisemites like the murderer of two young Jews at an AJC event in Washington DC last week. They include former prime minister Ehud Olmert..."