By Robert Inlakesh

Although Israel can today sustain its existence due to US and European support that props it up, the damning accusations that are based on meticulously researched reports will forever follow it around.

On December 19, Human Rights Watch released a 179-page report that accused Israel of committing acts of Genocide in Gaza. While the report’s conclusions alone may not present a significant challenge to the Israeli government, it does when viewed in conjunction with the litany of other stances adopted about the nature of Israel as a state.

Towards the end of December 2023, South Africa instituted proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing the Israeli government of committing Genocide against the people of Gaza. 

While Western governments allied with Israel jumped to deny the case’s validity, as corporate media pundits scoffed at the use of the phrase, the case was made in such an irrefutable way that the ICJ’s judges would unanimously rule that Israel was plausibly committing genocide. 

Fighting Israel’s War – Why The Palestinian Authority Is Attacking Jenin

Fast-forward to December of 2024. The death toll in the Gaza Strip is officially recorded to be at least 45,000 – with over 10,000 others reported missing – although the higher estimates that have been provided for the true toll of the slaughter put it all the way up to 300,000. 

Regardless of the figure, what is indisputable is the sheer level of death and destruction that has taken place.

Undeniable is that what Israel has done to Gaza is a unique crime in human history. 

There has never been anything quite like this and it is a standalone atrocity that will be placed alongside the worst events in recorded memory. For most of the global public, this much is evident and has been witnessed, due to our easy access to it on a near minute-to-minute basis, on social media.

However, what the world’s most trusted NGOs, international bodies, and legal organs conclude is what will truly indent the atrocities in Gaza onto the pages of history.

‘This is Genocide’ – Amnesty Says There is ‘Sufficient Evidence’ to Accuse Israel

At the beginning of this December, Amnesty International released its own report accusing Israel of committing Genocide against the people of Gaza. 

While the 293-page report was scrupulous with its definitions and how it applied them legally, it chose to take the approach of not only pointing to how the convergence of Israeli policies had created “the cumulative impact of Israel’s damage to and destruction of critical infrastructure and other objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population in Gaza, the mass repeated forced displacement of Palestinians in unsafe and inhumane conditions, and the denial and obstruction of the delivery of essential services and life-saving supplies into and within Gaza.”

Key to Amnesty International’s report, entitled “You feel like you are subhuman: Israel’s Genocide against Palestinians in Gaza”, is its focus on the question of intent. 

This segment of the report spans from page 202 to 282, looking at everything from patterns of conduct to public statements and even directly addresses the Israeli public relations narrative that seeks to explain its actions.

The newly released Human Rights Watch report comes at the issue from a slightly different angle and pursues the issue of water deprivation to the civilian population. 

One-Way War – Understanding Israel’s Invasion of Syria

The report is entitled “Extermination and Acts of Genocide: Israel Deliberately Depriving Palestinians in Gaza of Water”, hitting on an often overlooked aspect of Israel’s ongoing Genocide and certainly one aspect that solidifies the case against Tel Aviv. 

Although Israel’s top rights group has not yet released its own extensive report that explicitly uses the term Genocide, it has released two reports that worked to greatly expose Israeli conduct during this period. 

They are entitled “Manufacturing Famine: Israel is Committing the War Crime of Starvation in the Gaza Strip” and “Welcome To Hell: The Israeli prison system as a network of torture camps”. 

B’Tselem has, however, explicitly accused Israel of operating an Apartheid regime of Jewish Supremacy from the river to the sea, while Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have both released their own lengthy reports concluding that Israel is guilty of committing Apartheid.

Israel’s Obstruction of Water in Gaza Amounts to ‘Genocide’ – Human Rights Watch

Israel is currently on trial for Genocide in Gaza at the ICJ, has been found to be illegally occupying the territories it seized by force in June of 1967 and its Prime Minister has an active arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC). 

To be accused of Genocide and Apartheid by UN officials, bodies and human rights groups is a huge blow to Israeli legitimacy. On top of this, the Israeli military is currently choosing to remain inside both Syrian and Lebanese lands, in contravention of international law.

Just about every single crime that is conceivable, committed in just about every way and to all protected categories, has been committed during this Genocide against Gaza. 

Although Israel can today sustain its existence due to US and European support that props it up, the damning accusations that are based on meticulously researched reports will forever follow it around.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.

The post Genocide and Apartheid Reports – Israel’s Legitimacy is Gone appeared first on Palestine Chronicle.

By Yves Engler

NGO Monitor seeks to demonize groups opposed to apartheid and genocide and cut off government funding for any groups or individuals who dare challenge its pro-Israel narrative.

Ironically, this extremely anti-Palestinian organization receives government subsidies through the tax system to help pay for its anti-free speech bullying. This should end.

Recently a formal complaint was submitted to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) regarding donations to NGO Monitor. While it doesn’t have charitable status in Canada, NGO Monitor grants tax receipts to donors through the Foundation for Public Policy Development and Canada Charity Partners. It has received over $900 000 in Canadian tax receipted donations since 2020.

Founded in Jerusalem in 2002, NGO Monitor attacks organizations opposing genocide and apartheid. After its inception founder Gerald Steinberg wrote that the organization was responding to NGOs that “Make War on Israel” and groups that exploit human rights as a “weapon against Israel”.

NGO Monitor publishes articles and reports on non-governmental organizations and other groups defending Palestinians. They also feed sympathetic politicians and media information to undercut groups challenging Israeli crimes. 

In Israel, NGO Monitor maligns the small peace movement and demonizes Palestinian civil society.

One of their most common tactics is to claim that Palestinian and other NGOs are tied to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which Israel, Canada and European Union countries list as a terrorist organization. 

NGO Monitor claimed that the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network was tied to the PFLP. Their efforts contributed to the Vancouver-based grassroots group’s listing as a terrorist organization for alleged ties to the PFLP.

Soon after they helped get Samidoun listed as a terror organization, NGO Monitor became more aggressive in seeking to have the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) “banned from operating in Canada” due to its “many links to the PFLP terror group.” 

The claim against PYM is made in a recent NGO Monitor report headlined ‘The NGO Network Driving Antisemitism in Canada’. 

The report lists “111 groups” and devotes significant attention to criticizing Independent Jewish Voices, which it claims is at the center of the network “partnering with 76 out of the 111 groups.”

NGO Monitor is close to the Israeli regime. Steinberg was previously part of the steering team of the Prime Minister’s Office and an advisor to the Foreign Ministry and the National Security Council. 

While its finances are opaque, NGO Monitor has received some money from the Israeli parastatal Jewish Agency. Its board has many former Israeli officials (former chief military prosecutor in the West Bank Maurice Hirsch and former director general of the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs Yosef Kuperwasse). 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs helps it organize international lobby meetings, which sometimes include Israeli diplomats.

In 2017 Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon explained, “We work closely together with them (NGO Monitor). There is a level of coordination and we share information.”

NGO Monitor should be investigated as part of Canada’s foreign interference inquiry. Foreign interference is problematic largely based on the nefariousness of its aims as well as its form. Is there any more odious aim than interfering to promote an apartheid state’s holocaust?

NGO Monitor clearly has close ties to a foreign government and promotes its interests. It does so by seeking to intimidate Canadian civil society from opposing genocide. Incredibly, its donors get tax credits from the Canadian government to do so.

By what standards are NGO Monitor’s actions in the public interest, let alone worthy of charitable status?

At a bare minimum Canadian taxpayers shouldn’t be subsidizing an organization aligned with a genocidal state intimidating civil society.

 – Yves Engler is the author of Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid and a number of other books. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle. Visit his website: yvesengler.com.

The post Silencing Pro-Palestinian Voices – Why Is Canada Subsidizing NGO Monitor’s Anti-Free Speech Agenda? appeared first on Palestine Chronicle.

By Noor Alyacoubi – Gaza

Abdel Jawwad and Ihsan had imagined Elias bringing peace into their lives, his cries symbolizing not fear, but new beginnings.

Abdel Jawwad was overwhelmed with excitement as he counted down the days to the arrival of his first child, a little boy whom he and his wife had already named Elias. 

Despite the suffocating reality of the Israeli genocide in Gaza – a reality that extinguished even the faintest glimmers of joy – Abdel Jawwad dared to dream of a brighter future. 

From the depths of his heart, he hoped for an end to the war, a miracle that would allow his son to be born into a world free from fear and terror. Yet, in Gaza, dreams often crumble under the harsh weight of reality.

One week before his wife’s due date, those dreams were shattered. 

In early October, the Israeli military launched a sudden, intense, and wide-scale attack on the Jabaliya Camp. The northern Gaza Strip became a death trap as bombs rained down on residential neighborhoods. 

‘This Isn’t Real. It’s Just a Nightmare’ – Gaza, My Haven, My Loss

As the Israeli forces invaded the northern zones, targeting everything and everyone, Abdel Jawwad, along with his pregnant wife, Ihsan, his younger brother, and his sister’s in-laws fled their home in the Al-Salateen neighborhood, west of the Jabaliya Camp. Soon after, the entire northern area was besieged.

They left behind everything they owned – their house, memories, and preparations for Elias were now at the mercy of warplanes. 

“We thought it would be a quick, urgent military attack on Jabaliya that would end in a couple of days,” Abdel Jawwad said ironically. “I only grabbed two small black bags with a few clothes for myself, my wife, and our unborn baby.”

Before the Jabaliya attack, Abdel Jawwad and Ihsan had poured their love and hope into preparing for Elias’s arrival. Ihsan’s family had gifted them baby clothes and essentials worth over $500 and a baby crib costing nearly $300. 

“They just wanted to make Ihsan happy and lift her spirits amidst the grief-stricken reality,” Abdel Jawwad lamented. “But here we are, displaced and lost.”

‘Our Future is Stolen by the War’ – Two Gaza Students Speak to the Palestine Chronicle

Abdel Jawwad and Ihsan had imagined Elias bringing peace into their lives, his cries symbolizing not fear, but new beginnings. However, they were displaced with nothing but two baby outfits in case he was born during their displacement.

Days passed, and Ihsan missed her due date. 

The stress of displacement, the loss of her brother in an Israeli missile strike, and the uncertainty about their home weighed heavily on her mental and physical health. Throughout her nine-month pregnancy, Ihsan had also suffered from a lack of essential nutrition due to the ongoing blockade.

Doctors discovered that Ihsan’s health was deteriorating, and her blood pressure issues necessitated an emergency C-section. On October 15, Elias was born.

Elias’s arrival brought bittersweet joy. “Our happiness was incomplete,” Abdel Jawwad described. “I worried for my wife, who was suffering from complications after the surgery, and I couldn’t stop thinking about whether our house was still standing or had been destroyed.”

Due to the lack of essential nutrition – such as eggs, meat, poultry, fruits, and vegetables – needed for Ihsan’s recovery, her wound didn’t heal properly. Severe infections set in, causing her excruciating abdominal pain for over a month. The pain added to Abdel Jawwad’s financial and emotional burdens.

‘This is Too Humiliating’ – Famine Overwhelms Gaza Once Again

With transportation in Gaza crippled by the fuel shortage, Abdel Jawwad had to hire a private nurse to visit their home three times a week to treat Ihsan’s wound. 

Despite these efforts, her condition worsened. Finally, Abdel Jawwad arranged for Ihsan to be taken to Al-Hilal Hospital, which is three kilometers away. 

Hiring a private taxi for multiple trips further strained their meager finances. 

Ihsan’s suffering persisted for two months before her wound finally healed.

At the same time, the couple faced challenges in providing clothes for baby Elias. 

The skyrocketing prices in Gaza made it impossible for Abdel Jawwad to buy new clothing. 

“Some friends and family members gave us a few outfits for Elias,” he said. 

“We’re managing with what we’ve been given. None of the new clothes we bought for him before we fled have been used.”

‘Full Belly before Death’ – This is How We Are Surviving in Northern Gaza

A Life Sewn with Struggles

Abdel Jawwad, 30, got married on September 3, 2023, just one month before Israel unleashed its war on Gaza. His engagement and marriage were hastily arranged in two months. 

“I wanted to make my father happy before his cancer treatment abroad,” Abdel Jawwad explained in a broken tone.

“Happiness barely entered our home before it was engulfed in darkness again.”

From a young age, Abdel Jawwad had carried the weight of his family’s struggles. 

A bright and distinguished student, he was forced to abandon his education after the 12th grade to support his parents and six siblings. “I knew that if I graduated, I’d feel heartbroken watching my friends go to university while I couldn’t,” he said. “I wanted to protect myself from that pain, knowing my family couldn’t afford it.”

At 17, Abdel Jawwad traded his dreams for the harsh reality of labor. He worked in smitheries, carpentries, and fabric shops, earning what he could to keep his family afloat. Every dollar he saved went toward his dream of marriage.

After almost 10 years of hard work and with the help of friends and family, he managed to secure a modest apartment near his parents’ home and furnish it. His wedding was a rare moment of joy in his life. 

“I was so happy to start my life with my wife,” he said. “I hoped for days that would make up for the years of struggle.”

But the joy was short-lived. 

Humanitarian Aid or Political Conspiracy – What Do Gazans Think of the American Pier

When Israel’s aggression began on October 7, 2023, Abdel Jawwad and his family were forced to evacuate their northern Gaza home to Beit Lahia. His father, mother, and two younger brothers moved southward to await medical permits for his father’s treatment abroad.

Tragically, his father received the permit and left Gaza, but his mother and brothers were trapped in the south by Israeli-imposed checkpoints that split the Strip in two.

Meanwhile, Abdel Jawwad remained in the north, juggling the responsibility of caring for his wife, younger brother, and sister’s family while also worrying about his mother and siblings in the south. 

“In light of skyrocketing prices and my unemployment, I can barely manage,” he said. Former employers occasionally offered financial help, but it wasn’t enough. “I feel the weight of it all – the skyrocketing costs, the lack of work, and the constant uncertainty. But I have to keep going. There’s no other choice.”

Abdel Jawwad dreams of the day he will reunite with his parents and younger brother, whom he last saw in October 2023. He holds onto the hope of returning to his family home, though he remains uncertain if that day will ever come.

Above all, he wishes for a peaceful and quiet life for Elias – a life untouched by war and terror, where his son can grow up free from fear. For Abdel Jawwad, this vision of a better future for Elias is the light that guides him through the darkness.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

– Noor Alyacoubi is a Gaza-based writer. She studied English language and literature at al-Azhar university in Gaza City. She is part of the Gaza-based writers’ collective We Are Not Numbers. She contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.

The post ‘I Have to Keep Going’ – Raising a Baby during the Gaza Genocide appeared first on Palestine Chronicle.

By Ramzy Baroud  

While the international community is yet to translate its verbal solidarity with Palestinians into any meaningful action, the least we could do is to give Palestinians their full rights to express their views.

Social media censorship is a global phenomenon, but the war on pro-Palestinian views on social media represents a different kind of censorship, with consequences that can only be described as dire.

Long before the current devastating war on Gaza, and the escalation of Israeli violence and repression in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian and pro-Palestinian voices have been censored.

Some date the censorship to an agreement in 2016 that, according to the Israeli government, sought to “force social networks to remove content that Israel considers to be incitement.”

This was translated, almost immediately, to the shutting down of thousands of accounts and the barring of many social media influencers, with the hope of slowing down the vastly growing pro-Palestinian tendencies in all Meta-linked platforms.

The war on Gaza, however, has escalated the censorship. In a report submitted to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Human Rights Watch noted that the documented restrictions on freedom of speech “undermine the fundamental human rights to freedom of expression and assembly.”

The censorship became so sophisticated, and increasingly involved a direct Israeli role. An investigation by The Intercept last October demonstrated that Jordan Cutler, a former senior Israeli official now working as Meta’s Israel policy chief, advocated for the censorship of Instagram accounts belonging to Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

To ensure that ‘offenders’ to Israeli sensibilities were eliminated in large numbers, Meta began censoring specific words, thus deeming entire contents offensive, racist and antisemitic.

But Meta was not the only social media network involved in this practice. On November 17, 2023, the X platform (previously known as Twitter) declared that users who write terms like “decolonization”, “from the river to the sea,” or similar expressions would be suspended.

One year later, the social media platform Twitch followed suit by revising its ‘Hateful Content Policy’ to include “Zionist” as a potential slur.

Not only do these decisions, and many others, directly impair the freedom of speech and press, but they also confuse rational conversations with anti-Jewish sentiments.

The word ‘genocide’, for example, is not a swear word, but a common term, embraced by numerous countries around the world, accusing Israel of carrying out acts of genocide, meaning the “systematic destruction of a group of people because of their ethnicity, nationality, religion, or race.”.

Under pressure from many countries, and after presenting a powerful case at the Hague, South Africa managed to compel the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention.

In other words, this is not a matter for Mark Zuckerberg or any other social media company to decide, based on direct consultations with those carrying out the mass killings in Gaza.

The same applies to Zionism, an ideologically situated political movement, that traces its history to 19th-century Europe, thus, neither to a specific race nor a religious text.

While many are, rightly, outraged by the fact that this kind of widespread, and growing, censorship directly challenges the main tenants of democracy, the actual harm for Palestinians is much bigger.

According to a November 2024 report by the Sada Social Center for Digital Rights, the surge in digital violations targeting Palestinian content could not come at a worse time.

According to the organization, “Meta platforms accounted for the largest share of violations at 57%, followed by TikTok at 23%.” YouTube and X follow at 13 and 7% respectively.

This censorship, according to Sada, includes the shutting down of WhatsApp accounts, another Meta-owned platform that is also tightly controlled.

Unlike most of us, Palestinians in Gaza use these platforms to communicate with one another, to know who is dead and who is alive, and to raise awareness of certain massacres, often taking place in isolation, especially in the northern Gaza Strip.

Regarding northern Gaza, Sada Social spoke of a ‘digital blackout’, which has compounded the horror of that region – famine, mass killing, destruction of all hospitals, etc.

In the specific case of social media censorship in Gaza, lives are literally being lost as a result of politically motivated decisions.

Human Rights Watch was one of many rights groups that have routinely spoken about the ‘systematic censorship’ by Meta, especially on Facebook and Instagram. A December 2023 HRW report identified the following six recurring patterns of censorship: removal of content, suspension of pro-Palestinian accounts, the reduction of visibility, known as ‘shadow-banning’, the restrictions on engagement, and the deliberate misuse of policies on hate speech and graphic content.

HRW said that Meta’s “overreliance on automated tools to moderate content, and undue government influence over content removals” exacerbates the issue, silencing crucial narratives at a time when Palestinian communities face severe repression and atrocities.

The danger of this kind of censorship is multilayered. It is a direct threat to one of the most basic freedoms guaranteed under the law in any democratic society. In the case of Gaza, the censorship takes a dark, deadly turn as it could make the difference between people dying under the rubble of their homes or receiving assistance.

Additionally, censorship of this magnitude often creates precedents and often leads to other forms of censorship, which, in fact, are already taking place against other vulnerable communities, whether on a national stage or globally.

While the international community is yet to translate its verbal solidarity with Palestinians into any meaningful action, the least we could do is to give Palestinians their full rights to express their views, share their pain, and raise awareness of their collective plight. The world owes them that much, and no social media company should be permitted to hinder such a simple and reasonable demand.

– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak out”. Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net

The post When Censorship Kills – Social Media and the War on the Palestinian Narrative appeared first on Palestine Chronicle.

By Ramzy Baroud  

Palestinians will certainly resist, as they always do. The nature of the resistance will prove critical in the success or failure of the Israeli scheme.

Israel is getting ready to annex the occupied Palestinian West Bank. The annexation will be a major step backward on the road to Palestinian freedom and will likely serve as a catalyst for a new Palestinian uprising.

Though annexation has been on the Israeli agenda for years, this time around a ‘great opportunity’ – in the words of extremist Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – has presented itself and, from an Israeli point of view, cannot be missed.

“I hope we’ll have a great opportunity with the new US administration to create full normalization (of the Israeli occupation),” the minister was quoted as saying by Israeli media.

This is not the first time that Smotrich, among other Israeli extremists, has made the connection between Trump’s advent to the White House and the illegal expansion of Israel’s borders.

Two reasons make Israel’s far-right optimistic about Trump’s arrival: One, the Israeli experience during Trump’s first term in office, where the US president allowed Israel to claim sovereignty over illegal settlements, the Syrian Golan Heights, and occupied East Jerusalem; and, two, Trump’s more recent statement in the run-up to the elections.

Israel is “so tiny” on the map, Trump said while addressing the pro-Israeli group ‘Stop Antisemitism’ at an event last August, wondering: “Is there any way of getting more?” The statement, absurd by any definition, caused joy among Israeli politicians, who understood it to be a green right for further annexations.

Israel’s aims for colonial expansion also received a boost in recent days. Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s rule in Syria, Israel immediately began invading large swathes of the country, reaching as far as the Quneitra governorate, less than 20 kilometers away from the capital, Damascus.

What is taking place in Syria serves as a model of what to expect in the West Bank in coming months.

Israel had occupied nearly 70 percent of the Syrian Golan Heights in 1967. It cemented its illegal occupation of the Arab region by formally annexing it in 1981 through the so-called Golan Heights Law.

That illegal move came shortly after another illegal annexation, that of occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem the previous year.

Although the West Bank was not formally annexed, the boundaries of East Jerusalem expanded well beyond its historic borders, thus swallowing large parts of the West Bank.

The West Bank, like East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, are all recognized as illegally occupied territories under international law. Israel has no legal basis to maintain its occupation, let alone annexation of any Palestinian or Arab region. It is allowed to do so, however, due to US-western support and international silence.

But why is Israel keen on annexing the West Bank now?

Aside from the ‘great opportunity’ linked to Trump’s return to power, Israel feels that its ability to sustain a genocidal war on Gaza without any international intervention to bring the extermination to an end, would make the annexation of the West Bank a far less consequential matter on the international agenda.

Even though the International Court of Justice (ICJ) had issued a decisive ruling on the illegality of the Israeli occupation on July 19, followed by the issuing of arrest warrants of top Israeli leaders by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on November 21, no action was taken to hold Israel accountable. The annexation of the West Bank is unlikely to change that, especially as Israel conducts its wars and illegal actions through direct US support.

Indeed, the Democratic administration of Joe Biden has financed and supported all Israeli wars, including the current genocide. Trump is expected to be equally generous, or at least, not at all critical.

All of this in mind, the annexation of the West Bank in the coming weeks or months is a real possibility.

In fact, Smotrich had already informed “workers of the Defense Ministry body in charge of Israeli and Palestinian civil affairs in the West Bank” about his plans to “shut down the department as part of an envisioned Israeli annexation of the area,” Times of Israel reported on December 6.

While such annexation will not change the legal status of the West Bank, it will have dire consequences for the millions of Palestinians living there, as annexation is likely to be followed by a violent campaign of ethnic cleansing, if not from the whole of the West Bank, certainly from large parts of it.

Annexation will also render the Palestinian Authority legally irrelevant – as it was created following the Oslo Accords to administer parts of the West Bank in anticipation of a future sovereignty, which never actualized. Will the PA agree to remain functional as part of the Israeli military administration of a newly annexed West Bank?

Palestinians will certainly resist, as they always do. The nature of the resistance will prove critical in the success or failure of the Israeli scheme. A popular Intifada, for example, will overstretch the Israeli military, which will likely use an unprecedented degree of violence to suppress Palestinians but will unlikely succeed.

Annexing the West Bank at a time that Palestine, in fact, the whole region is in turmoil, is a recipe for perpetual war, which, from the viewpoint of Smotrich and his ilk is the actual ‘great opportunity’, as it will secure their political survival for years to come.

– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak out”. Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net

The post ‘Great Opportunity’ for Permanent War: What if Israel Annexed the West Bank? appeared first on Palestine Chronicle.

By Jeremy Salt

Murdoch’s television arm, Sky News Australia, is covering the issue of anti-semitism the same way, making no attempt to distinguish between real anti-semitism and hostility to Israel over the genocide.

Benjamin Netanyahu was quick off the mark in exploiting the arson attack on the Adass Synagogue in the inner Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea in the early morning of December 6. His own attack focused on the federal Australian government.

“Unfortunately it is impossible to separate this reprehensible act from the extreme anti-Israel position of the Labor government in Australia,” he said.

This included “ the scandalous decision to support the UN resolution calling on Israel ‘to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory as quickly as possible’ and preventing a former Israeli government minister from entering Australia. Anti semitism is anti semitism.”

The resolution calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state was passed by the General Assembly on December 3, Australia voting with a 157-8 majority, alongside seven abstentions.

The UN position was strengthened by the formal ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories seized in 1967 is unlawful and should be ended “as rapidly as possible.”

In his infuriated response, Netanyahu said that “awarding anti-semitism and terrorism with a state in the heart of the ancient Jewish homeland and cradle of civilization will invite more terrorism and more anti-semitic riots at campuses and city centers including in Australia.” Referring to the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, he said “it is a shame that the current Australian government wants to award (reward) these savages with a state.”

The pointed references to the “Labor” government of Australia and the “current” government are designed to exploit the current embattled state of the Albanese government and the strong likelihood that it will be defeated in next year’s federal election by the opposition Liberal party, led by Peter Dutton, an unquestioning supporter of everything Israel says and does, including the genocide in Gaza.

The Murdochian media rejects all international criticism of Israel and Netanyahu, including the finding of “plausible” genocide by the ICJ and the warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the arrest and prosecution of Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

It has backed the Israeli lobby’s exploitation of anti-semitism to the hilt, and its deliberate melding of anti-semitism with anti-zionism, as these recent headlines on the internet front page of the Australian, Murdoch’s media flagship in Australia, on December 7 indicate:

‘PM must declare synagogue attack a terror event’; ‘Netanyahu points finger at Labor over synagogue firebombing’; ‘A letter to the PM: enough is enough on anti-semitism’; ‘Albanese is facing the consequences of his failure to protect Jews’; ‘It’s time to examine your conscience, Prime Minister.’

Murdoch’s television arm, Sky News Australia, is covering the issue of anti-semitism the same way, making no attempt to distinguish between real anti-semitism and hostility to Israel over the genocide which – along with the Australian – it has been reporting totally from the perspective of a government headed by a prime minister wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The ‘former minister’ mentioned by Netanyahu is Ayelet Shaked, who was scheduled to talk at a conference organized by the Israel lobby group, the Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) until refused a visa on the grounds that she would “vilify Australians” and “incite discord.”

Although the decision can be challenged on the grounds of the right to free speech, there is no doubt that is what Shaked would do.

Although she is now formally out of politics, her background is consistently extreme right-wing. “We need all two million to leave,” she said after October 7. “That is the solution for Gaza.”

In 2014, she shared a Facebook post on remarks by the journalist Uri Elitzur that all Palestinians are enemy combatants, including the mothers who should follow their sons to hell – “nothing would be more just. They should go as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.”

In the aftermath of his outburst over the arson attack on the synagogue, no one in the Australian media knew or had the courage to point out that the genocide in Gaza orchestrated by the man outraged by the firebombing of one synagogue has included the total destruction of or damage to up to 1000 mosques, including 73 in the first 51 days of the Israeli onslaught.

The better-known mosques targeted by Israel include the Great Mosque of Gaza (the Great Omari), dating back to the 7th century and built on the site of a Byzantine church; the Khalid bin Walid mosque, commemorating a famous military commander in early Islam; the Bani Saleh mosque in Khan Yunus; and the 12th century Sayyid al Hashimi mosque. The destruction includes ancient libraries and fittings.

Churches bombed include the Byzantine church of Jabalya, 1700 years old, and in the process of being restored until the Israeli attack, and the Church of St Porphyrius.

The Victorian police have described the attack on the Adass Israel as a terrorist event and are looking for three suspects. If they are neo-Nazis any synagogue would do; if carried out in the name of the genocide, nothing could be more damaging to the Palestinians and their struggle.

One curious aspect of this attack is that Adass Israel is a small, reclusive religious community that was only drawn to unwanted public attention in recent years by the prosecution of one of its teachers, Malka Leifer, over the molestation of three female students.

It keeps out of politics and is “as far removed from the Gaza conflict as any Jewish group in Australia can be,” one of its members, Nomi Kaltmann, wrote in the online news outlet Crikey.com.

Ultra-orthodox and non-political, Adass Israel believes, like Neturei Karta, that the Jewish people should not create a country until the coming of the Messiah. Accordingly, it is anti-zionist and does not recognize the state of Israel.

There are other bigger and better-known synagogues that closely identify with Zionism and the state of Israel so if the genocide was the motive for the attack, why would the small synagogue of an anti-zionist and anti-Israel community be chosen?

Clearly the Victoria Police have to keep a very open mind in the search for those responsible.

– Jeremy Salt taught at the University of Melbourne, at Bosporus University in Istanbul and Bilkent University in Ankara for many years, specializing in the modern history of the Middle East. Among his recent publications is his 2008 book, The Unmaking of the Middle East. A History of Western Disorder in Arab Lands (University of California Press) and The Last Ottoman Wars. The Human Cost 1877-1923 (University of Utah Press, 2019). He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.

The post When Outrage Serves Politics: Netanyahu, the Media, and Australia’s Synagogue Attack appeared first on Palestine Chronicle.

By Robert Inlakesh

Although the PA was intended to be the precursor organization to a Palestinian government of the incoming State of Palestine, it has instead been turned into a corrupted proxy force that works for Israeli interests and the economic endeavors of its top officials. 

The Palestinian Authority’s security forces are conducting an operation to murder and arrest resistance fighters in the Jenin refugee camp, using armored vehicles, raiding homes, arresting combatants, and shooting people dead in the streets. This campaign has been launched amidst fears that Israel will soon annex the West Bank.

As Israel continues to approve further confiscation of West Bank lands, illegal settlement expansion, encourages Israeli settler terrorism,m and paves the way to annexing the territory formally, the Palestinian Authority (PA) launches an armed crackdown on Palestinian anti-occupation fighters.

During the first days of its crackdown on the Jenin camp – besieging it and raiding the area with armored vehicles – PA security forces murdered Palestinian teenager Rebhi Shalabi and senior Jenin Brigades Commander Yazi Jaayseh.

Replicating how Israeli forces usually assault the embattled refugee camp, the PA justified its actions by claiming that its human rights violations and field executions were geared to “maintain public security and order, establish the rule of law, and prevent sedition and chaos in the Jenin camp”.

The Palestinian Authority security forces fire grenades at civilian women in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, as the PA continues its crackdown on resistance groups in the region. pic.twitter.com/39fPR5UCaa

— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 17, 2024

In reaction to the Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF)’s actions, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) stated that “the targeting of resistance groups by the authorities in Jenin aligns entirely with the aggression and criminality of the (Israeli) occupation”. Hamas also released a public statement asserting that it “is a full-scale crime that requires public mobilization to break the siege and support the resistance fighters”.

According to the United Nations humanitarian office, the PASF seized part of a hospital in Jenin, using it as a base and opening fire on Palestinians from inside the medical facility. The PA’s forces also placed eight men and teenagers under their detention, even pulling one of them out of the hospital while he was still on a stretcher.

While its recent crackdown on resistance fighters belonging to the Jenin Brigades has witnessed an uptick in its oppressive measures against its own people, for the purpose of serving Israel’s security wishes, the PA is no newcomer to torture and field executions. Regular violence has erupted over the past few years throughout the northern West Bank, between anti-occupation resistance groups and the PA’s pro-Israeli security forces.

Fighting Israel’s War

In a recent article published by the Washington Post, the assault on the Jenin refugee camp was described as marking “an unusual step for the Palestinian Authority”, leading to many inquiries about why such raids would be carried out.

The truth is that there is nothing unusual about this crackdown and it was extremely predictable, the only thing that is unprecedented is its scale. The mission of the Palestinian Authority security forces is to manage two different major files in the West Bank, the top priority being Israeli security and the secondary issue is domestic policing in the major Palestinian cities.

According to the Oslo Accords, signed between 1993-5, the Palestinian Authority has security control in Area A of the occupied West Bank. However, this is not actually how things work on the ground, as Israeli forces frequently coordinate their invasions of Area A and work alongside the PASF to ensure that they withdraw from the area in order to allow Israel’s army to assault any area they choose.

While the PA’s security apparatus under the former Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, had played a role during the Second Intifada – 2000 to 2005 – in bolstering armed anti-occupation groups in the West Bank, it was forced to undergo a restructuring with the aid of the United States, UK, Israel and Jordan.

Under PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who was elected in 2005 and has since presented any democratic national elections, the PASF have provided Security Coordination with Israel’s occupation army.

Renewed Clashes in Jenin – PA Operation Sparks Protests, Strikes

The Palestinian Authority has announced the suspension of Security Coordination countless times, but refused to actually follow up with its announcements. It notably tortured well-known Palestinian Authority critic, Nizar Banat, to death, in June of 2021. In September of that same year, the Jenin Brigades would officially announce themselves as a resistance group.

Despite limiting their activities to the Jenin area and not launching armed assaults against Israeli forces – beyond local checkpoints and occasional symbolic gunfire towards illegal settlements – the Jenin Brigades would develop a strategy of simply defending their local areas from Israeli raids. 

In 2002, Israel murdered around 500 Palestinians and crushed the armed resistance groups in the northern West Bank, during their “Operation Defensive Shield”. In 2021, this was the first year since that time that such resistance groups would re-emerge and begin to confront Israeli occupation forces, triggering a revolutionary current that would end up spreading to areas like Tulkarem, Tubas and Nablus.

On March 31, 2022, following a string of lone-wolf attacks against Israeli soldiers and settlers that emanated from the West Bank, the Israeli military launched “Operation Break The Wave”, which resulted in the murder of hundreds of Palestinians throughout the territory, including countless civilians.

Suddenly, Israeli occupation forces began using drones and helicopters to carry out airstrikes in the territory, planting indiscriminate boobytrap bombs and increasing their raids, arbitrary detentions and field executions.

In early January, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken presented a plan to the Palestinian Authority that was designed to build a specially designated PASF unit to launch a crackdown against the newly emerging resistance groups. US security coordinator Michael Fenzel was behind the plot, which was dubbed the “Fenzel Plan”.

‘No One Can Disarm Resistance in Jenin’ – Commander Lashes out at PA

Following up on this issue, PA officials, along with their Israeli, Jordanian, Egyptian, and American counterparts, met in Aqaba, Jordan, to discuss the developments in February of 2023. They met once again in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh, in March of the same year.

While the PA denied the rumors leaked through the Arabic press, that it was implementing the US’s Fenzel Plan and was seeking to train a Palestinian force in Jordan that would be specifically designed to violently repress their own people, they did begin to crack down on resistance groups.

Following the initiation of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, launched in October of 2023, the Palestinian Authority has arrested dozens of fighters, killed countless others, shot dead civilian protesters and has been accused of torturing its critics.

It has also deployed bomb squads to the streets of the northern West Bank, to diffuse homemade explosive devices planted in the ground that are intended to target Israeli forces when they launch offensive raids. PA forces remove the explosives and the Israeli military later enters those areas through routes that have been cleared by those Palestinian Authority forces.

Jenin under Siege – Renewed Clashes between Resistance Fighters, PA Forces

While the first iterations of groups like the Jenin Brigades were actually led by former and even current members of the PASF, many of whom were part of the loosely Fatah Party-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Israel began to assassinate and arrest these resistance fighters.

The Israeli intentions behind their specific targeting of the PA-affiliated fighters were done with the purpose of severing the ties between the PASF and resistance groups, making it easier to sow discord between the two sides.

At this point in time, the PA is seeking to gain two things from its pro-Israeli crackdown against its own people: The first is to prove its position and workability to the incoming US Trump administration, which had previously viewed it as useless and floated the idea of disbanding it altogether. The second is to strengthen their position in any possible upcoming Saudi-Israeli normalization deal.

The Palestinian Authority is deeply unpopular in the West Bank, with the vast majority of the population polled repeatedly expressing their desire for PA President Abbas to step down and even favoring the current authority’s collapse.

This is largely down to its widespread image as being deeply corrupted, as well as its well-documented human rights abuses, refusal to hold any democratic national process and its collaboration with Israel that aids in its illegal takeover of more land.

Although the PA was intended to be the precursor organization to a Palestinian government of the incoming State of Palestine, it has instead been turned into a corrupted proxy force that works for Israeli interests and the economic endeavors of its top officials. 

(The Palestine Chronicle)

– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.

The post Fighting Israel’s War – Why The Palestinian Authority Is Attacking Jenin appeared first on Palestine Chronicle.

By Robert Inlakesh

This case has been widely highlighted as one of the consequences of the intense Islamophobia whipped up, largely in order to justify the US’ ‘War on Terror’.

The Holy Land Foundation’s Mufid Abdulqader has been released to a halfway house after spending nearly two decades in a US federal prison. 

His case has been highlighted by human rights groups as an example of wrongful imprisonment, linked to a disproportionate and politicized targeting of Muslim charities.

The 64-year-old Mufid Abdulqader was born in 1960, in the town of Silwad which is located in the Ramallah District of the West Bank. At that time, the territory was under the control of Jordan, until the Israeli military illegally occupied it in June of 1967. 

Abdulqader holds both Jordanian and American citizenship. He pursued his higher education in the United States, earning his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Oklahoma. 

One-Way War – Understanding Israel’s Invasion of Syria

He then worked as a department head in the Dallas Municipality in the state of Texas, in addition to being a visiting lecturer at a range of American universities. 

However, Abdulqader is most well known for being one of what was dubbed the Holy Land Five, alongside Mohammad el-Mezain, Ghassan el-Aashi, Shukri Abu Baker, and Abdulrahman Odeh, who were all imprisoned over allegations that they had participated in indirectly aiding a terrorist organization; namely Hamas. 

The Holy Land Foundation was the largest Muslim charity in the United States. Along with providing aid and relief in the US, they also ran significant programs in the Palestinian-occupied territories. Their largest efforts were focused in Ramallah, West Bank.

Although Albdulqader was recorded as having been one of the top fundraisers for the Holy Land Foundation, he never actually worked as an employee there. Yet, he was still sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

Who is Palestinian Authority President Successor Rawhi Fattouh – Profile

In a post-9/11 world, the Bush administration was under pressure to act against Muslim groups operating inside the United States. 

Muslims and Islamic civil society organizations were disproportionately targeted across the country, leading to rights violations in a climate where the majority of Americans were willing to sacrifice their own constitutional liberties at the altar of combating perceived Islamic fundamentalism. 

Israel quickly sought to weaponize the tense environment to target Palestinians. Then Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, had allegedly presented a document to the US Bush administration that provided “proof” of the Holy Land Foundation’s links to funding Hamas. 

As we would see in later years to come, these kinds of documents would also be presented to the US government about the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and various human rights groups based in the West Bank, which were shown to be baseless and lacking any evidence.

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Human Rights Watch condemned the “dubious claims” and stated that they “echo those that the Israeli government has made against Palestinian human rights groups and advocates for decades”. 

The leading international rights group also pointed out that faulty translations and a lack of evidence were used to unjustly target the Holy Land Five and shut it down: 

“The defendants in the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) case were never accused of directly funding terrorist organizations or terrorist attacks, nor were the Palestinian charities they funded accused of doing so. Nonetheless, they were prosecuted under US ‘material support’ legislation on the notion that the social programs they financed help win the ‘hearts and minds’ of Palestinian people for Hamas.”

An Israeli human rights advocate, Miko Peled, wrote a book on the topic entitled ‘Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five’, in which he detailed what amounted to kangaroo court convictions that appeared to have come down to political motivations. 

In 2008, some 29 different counts were dropped against Mufid Abdulqader, leaving only three conspiracy counts left.

This case has been widely highlighted as one of the consequences of the intense Islamophobia whipped up, largely in order to justify the US’ ‘War on Terror’, where Muslim individuals and organizations became punching bags and targets for political points scoring in the United States.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.

The post Who is Mufid Abdulqader of The Holy Land Foundation – Profile appeared first on Palestine Chronicle.

By Jamal Kanj

Despite his rhetoric against Israel, Assad was predictable and well contained by Israel than what the change might bring.

The rapid collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime has taken both intelligentsia and analysts by surprise. It was a repeat of the unexpected speedy fall of the Afghan government during the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Both events share notable similarities: in Afghanistan, the government unraveled when its primary sponsor – the United States – decided to withdraw. Similarly, in Syria, Assad’s regime crumbled when his allies abandoned him.

However, contrary to Netanyahu’s narcissistic assertions that his attacks on Iran and the Resistance in Lebanon were a major driver in Assad’s downfall, Assad’s demise was largely due to his failure to confront Israeli belligerence in Syria and his abandonment of the Resistance in Gaza and Lebanon. Since October 8, Assad has behaved more like other impotent Arab dictators as mere observers of the genocide in Gaza and the war in Lebanon.

In fact, when the Lebanese Resistance chose to support besieged Gaza by occupying the Israeli army on the Lebanese front. Assad made it clear that he would not partake in the United Resistance Front battle. Even after the loss of leaders in the Lebanese Resistance, and earlier when Israel targeted the Iranian diplomatic mission in Damascus, he refused to retaliate against Israeli assaults.

Furthermore, to gain favor from certain Arab Gulf rulers, and according to reliable sources in Damascus, unlike during the summer 2006 war on Lebanon, the public was prohibited from openly expressing support or displaying pictures of Sayyed Nasrallah and flags of the Lebanese Resistance.

Assad miscalculated by assuming he could distance himself from the Lebanese Resistance, while believing they could not afford to lose him. His approach parallels the Democratic establishment in the US during the last presidential election, when they dismissed the anti-genocide voters, assuming they would have no alternative in Donald Trump as a president. In other words, Assad believed that, when compared to the alternative, he was indispensable. Eventually, his vain conduct turned him into a drag, not an asset, to the camp opposing Israeli intransigence.

The rift between Assad and his allies widened because of his determined intent to reclaim his seat in the Arab dictatorship club, AKA Arab League. Notably, his first reconciliation was with the United Arab Emirates leader, the Godfather of the Arab normalization with Israel. Assad’s strategy hinged on self-preservation—warming up to Gulf dictators while dangling the “scary” alternative to blackmail his allies.

In 2012, I wrote on the civil protest against the regime’s corruption, and how that evolved into an open war, fueled by foreign interference on both sides. Foreign fighters financed by the Arab Gulf States turned Syria into a fight of competing foreign interests, including Russia, Turkey, the US, Iran, and even Israel. The foreign intervention ultimately extended his regime, denying the Syrian people the opportunity to voice their grievances and pursue a peaceful political transition.

Following his victory, instead of addressing the legitimate demands of opposition groups who resisted being drawn into the military conflict, Assad squandered funds from foreign sponsors to strengthen his special security units whose only task is to protect him, at the expense of weakening the Syrian national army. He misinterpreted his bloody victory as vindication of his brutal policies to silence dissent.

While cloaking himself in lofty slogans and preaching Arab nationalism and resistance, Assad’s arrogance was reinforced by the so-called intellectuals eager to rationalize his cruelty in the face of foreign intervention.

More recently, the same pundits shamelessly defended Assad for not confronting Israeli aggression in Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza, attributing his impotence to Syria’s recovery from a decade-long war. Yet, Yemen, which emerged from an even more devastating war and, despite being under international siege, stood up to Israeli and Western might in defending Gaza.

In the end, Assad’s downfall became inevitable as his allies grew unwilling to support him as the fear of alternatives no longer outweighed his failures. When soldiers in his army refused to sacrifice their lives for a system riddled with corruption, his security forces crumbled as fast. A week before Damascus fell to the rebels, Assad secretly spirited his family and loads of money out of Syria.

Few days later, he fled for his life leaving behind those who had defended his regime to face their fate alone. For him, it was always about Bashar al-Assad’s survival, not Syria.

Despite his rhetoric against Israel, Assad was predictable and well contained by Israel than what the change might bring. That’s why following his fall, Israel terminated the 1974 agreement with Syria on separation of forces and occupied additional Syrian land. This could be part of Netanyahu’s attempt to create new facts on the ground to be used to exert concessions from the new government.

At the same time, Israel is seeding for the future conflict as Netanyahu expands his endless wars, targeting hundreds of locations inside Syria. In the absence of a Syrian air defense system, Israel seized a cynical opportunity to attack almost 500 sites destroying scientific institutions and research centers—mirroring the chaos created by Israel’s backers during the US occupation of Iraq. Israel’s only constant objective appears to be the dismantling of nations, leaving subsequent governments preoccupied with bedlam and turmoil. This pattern is evident in its actions in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iraq, and aligns with its broader strategy for Iran.

Meanwhile, the newly formed Syrian government faces a formidable challenge: navigating Western conditions to lift the illegal crippling sanctions on Syria. The US administration is likely to use this opportunity to extract political favors for Israel, a move that could most likely compromise the legitimacy of the new leaders and undermine Syria’s sovereignty.

Unfortunately, early signs from the new leadership are concerning. Their reluctance to condemn Israeli flagrant attacks raises real doubts about their ability to free Syria from outside influence and uphold Syria’s historical commitment to the Arab cause.

As for those celebrating Assad’s departure, it is vital to remember the lessons of Iraq, Egypt, and Libya to avoid repeating the same mistakes. Syria’s future depends on building a stable and just society while avoiding the pitfalls of replacing one dictatorship with another.

The new government must represent all Syrians, regardless of religion or ethnicity, ensuring justice and equality for all, while upholding Syria’s historic role at the forefront of resistance against Israel and its local agents.

– Jamal Kanj is the author of “Children of Catastrophe,” Journey from a Palestinian Refugee Camp to America, and other books. He writes frequently on Arab world issues for various national and international commentaries. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle

The post Hopes and Pitfalls – Why Assad was Toppled, and What’s Next? appeared first on Palestine Chronicle.

By Iqbal Jassat

“In his passing, Refaat fulfilled his lifelong goal of raising awareness about Palestine. He became a story himself, a symbol of freedom and an icon cherished not only by his friends and those who knew him, but also by countless supporters of the Palestinian cause worldwide” – Asem Alnabih

– Iqbal Jassat is an Executive Member of the South Africa-based Media Review Network. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle. Visit: www.mediareviewnet.com

The post ‘If I Must Die’ – Brutal Slaying of Refaat Alareer Will Not Silence His Message appeared first on Palestine Chronicle.