SPECIAL REPORTS PALESTINE

FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA - FREE PALESTINE
with special thanks to citizen-reporter 'Biba' (Algeria)
June wk2 part2 -- June wk2 -- June wk1 part3 --  June wk1 part2 -- June wk1 -- May wk5 part2  --   Click here for an overview by week in 2024

June 11 - 5, 2024 <<Live: Hamas praise for UN ceasefire resolution a 'hopeful sign', Blinken says... and <<Barclays branches targeted by pro-Palestine activists... and <<Death toll in Israeli attacks on Gaza rises to 37,124... and <<3 more journalists killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza... and <<Putin, Netanyahu and the instrumentalization of World War II... and <<Gaza hostage rescue latest: Top EU diplomat's tweet sparks outrage in Israel; How much was US involved in Gaza raid?... and <<Israeli universities brace for growing threat of boycotts... and <<War in Gaza: The European Union's diplomatic failure... and <<'Young people rallying for Gaza is not revolutionary, it is moral'... and more news but most with a 'give way or go away' yell!

June 9 - 4, 2024 <<Israel war cabinet minister likely to announce departure Saturday... and <<Autonomous weapons: Palantir, Airbus engineers seek to calm 'killer robot" fears... and <<WHO: We have documented 464 attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza... and <<Israel transfers Gazan prisoners from detention center where army is accused of torture... and "If the enemy, like netanyahus' warcriminals, is not killing us it makes us stronger" Anonymus escaped prisoner... and <<Macron tells Netanyahu Palestinian Authority should govern Gaza... and <<French parliament once again in uproar over Palestinian flag... and more news but most with a 'give way or go away' yell!

June 7 - 4, 2024 <<Live: Israel pounds Gaza from ground, air and sea as war enters its ninth month... and <<Live: 'Positive signs' from Hamas on Gaza truce, Egyptian state-linked media report... and <<At least 36,654 Palestinians killed since Oct.7... and <<UK urged to admit 11 Gaza children hurt in the war for urgent treatment... and <<Middle East Youth Initiative to hold conference in Beirut and <<Israeli attacks on refugee camps in Gaza kill 15 and more news but most with a 'give way or go away' yell! Click here to go throughout May and earler, 2024

June 6, 2024 Abu Bakr Bashir "I was a journalist in Gaza. The place I call home is gone now".

Related news: June 11, 2024 CPJ - Committee to Protect Journalists "Journalist casualties in the Israel-Gaza war" https://cpj.org/2024/06/journalist-casualties-in-the-israel-gaza-conflict/ and "Attacks, arrests, threats, censorship: The high risks of reporting the Israel-Gaza war" https://cpj.org/2024/06/attacks-arrests-threats-censorship-the-high-risks-of-reporting-the-israel-hamas-war/

May 23, 2024 In commemoration of Roshdi Sarraj and tribute to Shrouq Al Aila

When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali.

France 24 - June 11, 2024
<<Live: Hamas praise for UN ceasefire resolution a 'hopeful sign', Blinken says
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that Hamas's statement of support for a UN resolution backing a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza was a 'hopeful sign', while word coming from the Palestinian militant group's leadership in Gaza is what counts. Follow our liveblog for all the latest developments.
Summary:
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold talks with key Israeli opposition figures on Tuesday, a day after arriving in the country to push for a ceasefire in the war in Gaza. He is set to meet with Benny Gantz, a centrist and former army chief who quit Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government on Sunday, and opposition leader Yair Lapid. The US said Israel has accepted the three-phase plan. Hamas welcomed it in a statement shortly after the council's vote and said it was willing to continue working with mediators. Jordan is hosting a summit Tuesday on the urgent humanitarian response for Palestinians enduring more than eight months of devastating war in Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of looming famine.>>
Read more and video here:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240610-%F0%9F%94%B4-live-hamas-israel-gaza-ceasefire

France 24 - June 11, 2024
<<Live: Mahmoud Abbas 'welcomes' UN Security Council vote on Gaza ceasefire resolution
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas early on Tuesday <welcomed> the United Nations Security Council vote adopting a US-drafted resolution supporting a ceasefire plan in Gaza. <The Palestinian president considers the adoption of this resolution a step in the right direction to end the war of genocide against our people in the Gaza Strip,> Abbas's office said in a statement.
Summary:
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold talks with key Israeli opposition figures on Tuesday, a day after arriving in the country to push for a ceasefire in the war in Gaza. He is set to meet with Benny Gantz, a centrist and former army chief who quit Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government on Sunday, and opposition leader Yair Lapid. The US said Israel has accepted the three-phase plan. Hamas welcomed it in a statement shortly after the council's vote and said it was willing to continue working with mediators. Jordan hosts a summit Tuesday on the urgent humanitarian response for Palestinians enduring more than eight months of devastating war in Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of looming famine.>>
Read more and video here:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240610-%F0%9F%94%B4-live-hamas-israel-gaza-ceasefire

Sky News - June 10, 2024
<<UN Security Council votes in favour of Israel-Hamas ceasefire resolution
Hamas says it welcomes the adoption of the US-drafted resolution, which outlines a three-phase ceasefire plan. Just one member of the security council - Russia - did not vote for the motion. The UN Security Council has approved its first resolution endorsing a ceasefire plan aimed at ending the war between Israel and Hamas. The US-drafted resolution lays out a three-phase ceasefire plan, which American President Joe Biden described as an Israeli initiative - though how effective it will be remains in question. Reacting to the resolution, Hamas said it was ready to cooperate with mediators over implementing the principles of the plan. Ahead of the vote, Benjamin Netanyahu said Mr Biden presented only parts of the proposal, with the Israeli prime minister insisting any talk of a permanent ceasefire before dismantling Hamas's military capabilities is a non-starter. The three-phase ceasefire plan calls for the release of more hostages and a temporary pause in hostilities that will last as long as it takes to negotiate the second phase, which aims to bring the release of all hostages, a <full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza> and <a permanent end to hostilities>, according to an American-drafted resolution put before the UN Security Council.
The third phase calls for reconstruction in Gaza.
It's the first resolution adopted by the council supporting a specific ceasefire plan, weeks after the body voted in favour of an immediate ceasefire in March. Of the 15 nations on the council, 14 supported the motion on Monday, while Russia abstained. <We're waiting on Hamas to agree to the ceasefire deal it claims to want,> US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council before Monday's vote.
<With every passing day, needless suffering continues.>
Ms Thomas-Greenfield said Egypt and Qatar has assured Washington they are working to ensure Hamas engages with ceasefire discussions, while the US will ensure Israel <lives up to its obligations as well>.>>
Source:
https://news.sky.com/story/un-security-council-votes-in-favour-of-israel-hamas-ceasefire-resolution-13150973


Palestine Action-X
Sky News - June 10, 2024 - by James Sillars - Business reporter
<<Barclays branches targeted by pro-Palestine activists
Barclays denies investment in Israeli firms with links to the arms trade as at least 20 of its branches are vandalised in attacks overnight that also involved climate activists. Pro-Palestinian activists say they have attacked 20 Barclays bank branches across England and Scotland as part of a campaign aimed at damaging Israel's war machine. The Palestine Action group, which has previously focused its campaign on Israel-based defence contractor Elbit's UK operations, said its members were responsible for the vandalism. Images posted on X showed windows smashed and widespread use of graffiti on several bank branch entrances. The locations targeted included branches in London, Birmingham, Bristol and Edinburgh. The campaigners also included members of the environment-focused protest group Shut the System. Palestine Action accused Barclays of having financial interests in both Israel's weapons trade and fossil fuels.>>
Source:
https://news.sky.com/story/pro-palestine-activists-target-uk-barclays-branches-13150773


Death toll in Israeli attacks on Gaza
Jinha - Womens News Agency - June 10, 2024
<<Death toll in Israeli attacks on Gaza rises to 37,124
The death toll in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023 has risen to 37,124.
News Center- At least 37,124 Palestinians have been killed, 84,712 others injured in the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, the Gaza's health ministry said in a statement on Monday.
At least 40 Palestinians were killed, 218 others injured in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, the ministry added, stressing that there are many dead bodies under rubble and the civil defense crews cannot reach them due to ongoing Israeli attacks.
'The destruction in Gaza is indescribable'
<The destruction in Gaza is indescribable,> the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said Monday on social platform X. <More than half of all buildings have been destroyed, according to UNOSAT. Clearing the rubble will take years. Healing from the psychological trauma of this war will take even longer. This suffering must come to an end.> In the post, the UNRWA called for an immediate ceasefire.>>
Source:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/death-toll-in-israeli-attacks-on-gaza-rises-to-37-124-35200?page=1


3 more journalists killed
Jinha - Womens News Agency - June 10, 2024
<<3 more journalists killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza
Three more Palestinian journalists were killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, the government media office in the Gaza Strip said in a statement on Sunday.
News Center- Three Palestinian journalists were killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, the government media office in the Gaza Strip said in a statement on Sunday. The media office also shared the names of journalists: Abdullah Ahmed Al-Jamal, editor and journalist at Palestine Now Agency; journalist Ahlam Ezzat Al-Ajla, press correspondent at Family Happiness magazine and journalist Dina Abdullah Al-Batniji, journalist at Al-Thuraya Media Foundation. According to the media office, the number of journalists killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 150 since October 7, 2023.>>
Source:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/3-more-journalists-killed-in-israeli-attacks-on-gaza-35197

France 24 - June 10, 2024 - by NEWS WIRES
<<US calls for UN Security Council vote on Gaza ceasefire deal
The United States announced Sunday it has requested a UN Security Council vote on its draft resolution backing a plan for an <immediate ceasefire with the release of hostages> between Israel and Hamas. Diplomatic sources said the vote is planned for Monday, but has not yet been confirmed by South Korea, which holds the Security Council presidency for the month of June. <Today, the United States called for the Security Council to move towards a vote... supporting the proposal on the table,> said Nate Evans, spokesman for the US delegation, without specifying a vote date.
<Council members should not let this opportunity pass by and must speak with one voice in support of this deal,> Evans said. The United States, a staunch ally of Israel, has been widely criticized for having blocked several UN draft resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. US President Joe Biden on May 31 launched a new push for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, separate from the United Nations. Under the proposal, Israel would withdraw from Gaza population centers and Hamas would free hostages. The ceasefire would last an initial six weeks, with it extended as negotiators seek a permanent end to hostilities. The United States is placing primary responsibility for accepting the proposal on Hamas, specifically calling on the Palestinian militant group to accept the document in the latest version of the draft text. That version, which was distributed to member states on Sunday and was seen by AFP, "welcomes" the new ceasefire proposal while stating, unlike in previous versions, that Israel has already accepted.
The draft resolution <calls upon Hamas to also accept it, and urges both parties to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition.>
In response to requests from several member states, the latest text clearly lays out the proposal.
This includes a first phase with an <immediate, full, and complete ceasefire,> release of hostages taken by Hamas, and <exchange of Palestinian prisoners> plus <withdrawal of Israeli forces from the populated areas in Gaza.> This also includes the <safe and effective distribution of humanitarian assistance at scale throughout the Gaza Strip to all Palestinian civilians who need it.>
Member state disagreements
According to diplomatic sources, several Security Council members indicated their reservations on two previous versions of the text, in particular Algeria which is the Arab representative on the UN Security Council, and Russia which wields a veto. Since the unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7 against Israel and Israel's subsequent counterattack, the Security Council has struggled to speak with one voice. Following two resolutions mainly focused on humanitarian aid, the Security Council finally at the end of March successfully demanded an <immediate ceasefire> for the duration of Ramadan, which was achieved with the United States abstaining from the vote. Following the International Court of Justice's decision at the end of May ordering Israel to stop its offensive in Rafah, Algeria circulated a draft resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire and, more specifically, a halt to the Rafah offensive. The United States, however, said such a text was not helpful, stating that it instead favored negotiations on the ground to achieve a ceasefire. The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,084 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
(AFP)>>
Source:
https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240610-us-calls-for-security-council-vote-on-gaza-ceasefire-deal

Le Monde - June 9, 2024 - Column by Jean-Pierre Filiu | Historian and professor at Sciences Po Paris
<<Putin, Netanyahu and the instrumentalization of World War II
The Russian president and Israeli prime minister are manipulating the history of WWII in order to equate their enemies in both Ukraine and Palestine with the Nazis.
he longer the Israeli offensive on Gaza goes on and the worse it gets, the more bluntly the similarities between Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin become apparent. First of all - in Gaza even more than in Ukraine - there are the systematic strikes on civilian infrastructure to drive the local population to despair. Then there's the disregard for fundamental standards of humanitarian law, which has led the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for both the Russian president and the Israeli prime minister. Yet this doesn't seem to trouble Joe Biden, whose unconditional support for Israel is based on an explicitly <Zionist> commitment of over half a century. The Russian and Israeli leaders' biased references to World War II and their aggressive rewriting of such history should, however, worry Western democracies on this 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
'Historian in chief'
The invocation of the Great Patriotic War, in which 26 million Soviets perished between 1941 and 1945, including 16 million civilians, has become the bedrock of the Kremlin's ultranationalist, anti-Western propaganda. As Nicolas Werth masterfully demonstrates in his 2022 book Poutine, historien en chef (<Putin, historian in chief>), <Stalin redeemed Lenin's wrongdoing. By restoring the values of patriotism scorned and rejected by the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, he restored Russia's imperial grandeur and led to victory in 1945.> Laws heavily penalizing reminders of the collaboration between the USSR and Nazi Germany, from 1939 to 1941, were widely adopted after Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and then after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The aim is to stigmatize the Ukrainian resistance as a bunch of <Nazis> engaged in a veritable <genocide> against the Russian-speaking majority of the Donbas. As for Netanyahu, he has never had a word to say about the 1933 agreement between the Nazi regime and the Zionist organization, which became the only Jewish movement authorized in Germany at the time. This agreement enabled 53,000 German Jews to emigrate to Palestine. In contrast, he is relentless about equating Palestinian nationalists with Nazis. Back in 1993, when Israel signed the Oslo Accords with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Netanyahu, then leader of the opposition, drew a dubious parallel with the 1938 Munich Agreement, which annexed part of Czechoslovakia for the benefit of Nazi Germany: <The Arab regimes have embarked on a campaign to persuade the West that the Arab inhabitants of the West Bank, like the Sudeten Germans, are a separate people who deserve the right to self-determination.> He added that <the Arabs have taken their inspiration directly from the Nazis, as they too often do, to fight Israel.> >>
Read more here:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/06/09/putin-netanyahu-and-the-instrumentalization-of-the-second-world-war_6674336_4.html

France 24 - June 9, 2024
<<Benny Gantz: a former Israeli general with big political ambitions
Benny Gantz, who quit Israel's war cabinet Sunday, is a centrist politician with dreams of toppling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
The former army chief and defence minister had little political experience when he launched the centre-right National Union Party in 2019 with the explicit goal of ousting Netanyahu from power. Five years later, the silver-haired Gantz is looking to ride a wave of mounting public outrage over Netanyahu's failure to return hostages held in the Gaza Strip more than eight months after the war with Hamas broke out. The war began with the Palestinian militants' October 7 attack on southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Militants also abducted 251 hostages during their attack, 116 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 41 the army says are dead. Days later, Gantz, who turned 65 on Sunday, joined a war cabinet chaired by Netanyahu and became a minister without portfolio in his rival's administration, labelled the <Unity Government>. <Israel above all,> Gantz, one of the main opposition leaders at the time, said on social media. But in a televised address on Sunday, Gantz announced: <(Benjamin) Netanyahu is preventing us from progressing to a real victory. That is why we are leaving the emergency government today with a heavy heart.> His departure is not expected to bring down the government, a coalition including religious and ultra-nationalist parties. But it is the first major political blow to Netanyahu during the war, reflecting rising domestic pressure over its conduct. Israel's retaliatory military offensive targeting Hamas in Gaza has killed at least 37,084 people, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
'Only the strong survive'
Gantz triggered the ire of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party in March when he made an official visit to Washington. He continued his political manoeuvring in the following weeks, calling for early legislative elections and issuing an ultimatum to Netanyahu: agree to a plan for post-war Gaza by June 8, or Gantz would quit the government. Last month, his party said it had submitted a bill to dissolve parliament and hold an early election - in which it would have little chance of success against Netanyahu's coalition. Since his entry into politics, Gantz has fought several electoral battles against Netanyahu, without ever truly defeating him. Early on, he tried to play up his defence background, releasing campaign videos in 2019 titled <only the strong survive> that highlighted military operations in Gaza. He formed a power sharing alliance with Netanyahu in May 2020 as part of an effort to address the Covid-19 pandemic, but Netanyahu did not honour the deal. That led to fresh polls in 2021, after which Gantz joined a coalition led by Yair Lapid. <I hope to succeed in achieving unity, bringing as many people together as possible, freeing us from the political burden of Netanyahu,> Gantz told AFP in 2022. But his efforts failed and Netanyahu managed to form a coalition with the support of far-right parties.
Analysts said Gantz was unlikely to succeed in ousting Netanyahu even now. <Gantz has gone down a lot in polls recently, because he's perceived as too soft, too hesitant, too complacent towards Netanyahu,> political scientist Ilan Greilsammer told AFP.
Hawkish image
The son of Romanian and Hungarian immigrants who survived the Holocaust, Gantz has tried to cultivate a hawkish political image. He has called for Israeli military control over most of the West Bank, which has been occupied by the Israeli army since 1967, as well as the annexation of the Jordan Valley. He joined the army aged 18, rising to the rank of general in 2001 and head of the army in 2011, when he led two wars against Hamas. <He did not leave an indelible mark on the army but maintained an image of stability and honesty,> according to Amos Harel, a defence reporter at Israeli daily Haaretz. Even as he sought to strike Palestinian groups responsible for anti-Israeli attacks, he simultaneously engaged in discussions to address <security and economic issues> with the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative authority in the West Bank. In August 2022, as defence minister, he launched a three-day air and artillery operation against Islamic Jihad militants in the Gaza Strip. In total, 49 Palestinians were killed, including fighters. <It is a military success... We will not hesitate in the future to carry out other such operations,> he said at the time.
(AFP)>>
Source:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240609-israel-war-cabinet-minister-benny-gantz-quits-netanyahu-government

Sky News - June 9, 2024
<<Gaza hostage rescue latest: Top EU diplomat's tweet sparks outrage in Israel; How much was US involved in Gaza raid?
Nuseirat refugee camp has been described as the <epicentre> of Gaza's trauma after reports 274 people were killed there and 698 wounded. Israel says it carried out a mission under <heavy fire> to rescue four hostages.
.....
Israel extends Al Jazeera ban by 45 days, saying broadcaster poses 'security threat'
Israel has extended its controversial ban on Al Jazeera by 45 days after the cabinet agreed its broadcasts posed a threat to security.
The network's satellite and cable broadcasts and access to its websites will remain blocked, Israel's communications ministry said. Israeli authorities raided a Jerusalem hotel room used by Al Jazeera as its office on 5 May and said they were shutting the operation down for the duration of the Gaza war. A Tel Aviv court last week upheld an initial 35-day ban on Al Jazeera operations in Israel, imposed by the government on national security grounds, which ended on yesterday.
.....
Turkey says Israel's Nuseirat refugee camp raid was 'barbaric'
Istanbul has condemned Israel's raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp, saying it was <barbaric>.
Israel carried out the raid yesterday to rescue four hostages. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry has said 274 Palestinians were killed during the operation. Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said there were fewer than 100 casualties. It is not clear how many were militants, although eyewitnesses reported seeing the bodies of women and children. Turkey's foreign ministry said today: <Israel has added a new one to the list of war crimes it has committed in Gaza.>
White House declines to say if Biden will meet with Netanyahu next month
The US national security adviser has declined to say if Joe Biden will meet with Benjamin Netanyahu next month.
In an interview with CBS's Face the Nation, Jake Sullivan said he <didn't have anything to announce> on whether the two leaders would meet.
He added: <[Netanyahu] is coming to address the Congress. The president talks to him all the time.> We reported last month that the Israeli prime minister was invited to address Congress, despite growing criticism about Israel's strategy in Gaza. Mr Sullivan added that he hopes a ceasefire and hostage deal will be in place by the time Mr Netanyahu comes to Washington. For context: While Mr Biden has fully supported Israel during its war on Hamas, reports have regularly claimed the US president is angry with Mr Netanyahu about the deaths of civilians. At the start of June, Mr Biden urged Hamas and Israel to agree to a comprehensive new ceasefire deal, saying at the time: <Everyone who wants peace now must raise their voices and work to make it real. It's time for this war to end.> While Mr Netanyahu's office confirmed he authorised negotiators to present the deal, sources close to the Israeli prime minister told Sky News they do not <wholly recognise or agree with> the proposal outlined by Mr Biden.>>
Source, read more and videos here:
https://news.sky.com/story/israel-hamas-gaza-latest-ceasefire-biden-announcement-sky-news-live-blog-12978800


Ignacio Rosaslanda wearing a press badge
CPJ - June 7, 2024 - by
<<German police launch criminal probe of video journalist after beating him during pro-Palestinian protest
Berlin, June 7, 2024- German authorities must swiftly and transparently investigate the recent police attack on video journalist Ignacio Rosaslanda, ensure the responsible police officers are held to account, and drop all criminal investigations against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. Police beat and detained Ignacio Rosaslanda, a video journalist for daily newspaper Berliner Zeitung, as he reported on police's eviction of more than 150 pro-Palestinian protesters occupying a building at the Humboldt University in Berlin on May 23, according to news reports, a recording of the incident published by the outlet, and Rosaslanda, who spoke with CPJ. Police summoned Rosaslanda on Thursday, questioned him for three hours, and told the journalist he was being investigated for resisting police action, causing bodily harm to police, and trespassing. Rosaslanda told CPJ he denies the charges. If charged and convicted, Rosaslanda faces up to three years imprisonment, according to the criminal code. <German authorities must investigate the officers responsible for attacking video journalist Ignacio Rosaslanda while he was covering a pro-Palestinian encampment at the Humboldt University in Berlin,> said Attila Mong, CPJ's Europe representative. <Journalists must be allowed to cover events of public interest without police interference or fear that they will be charged for simply doing their jobs.>
Rosaslanda, who was wearing press insignia and carrying a camera, was filming as police broke through barricades in the building to clear out protesters, according to the reports and the journalist. An officer assigned him a corner to film from, which he did until another officer grabbed him from behind and pushed him to the ground. In the recording, a helmeted officer repeatedly beat the journalist, hitting Rosaslanda twice in the head, as he repeatedly said, <I am press.> The journalist was handcuffed and detained with the protestors for around three or four hours before he was released. Rosaslanda was treated in an emergency room for multiple abrasions and hematomas over his left ear and on his face, chest, and left arm.
Rosaslanda told CPJ he filed a criminal complaint against police for the attack and denial of treatment while detained but had not received any further updates as of Friday. A police spokesperson told Berliner Zeitung on May 30, that they had started investigating two officers on suspicion of assault, one in connection with an injured Berliner Zeitung journalist. A spokesperson for Berlin police told CPJ via email that they could not provide further details about the investigation due to privacy and data protection regulations.>>
Source:
https://cpj.org/2024/06/german-police-launch-criminal-probe-of-video-journalist-after-beating-him-during-pro-palestinian-protest/

Le Monde - June 7, 2024 - by Samuel Forey (Jerusalem, correspondent)
<<Israeli universities brace for growing threat of boycotts
FEATURE - Western higher education institutions are beginning to suspend relations with their counterparts in Israel, on the grounds that they contribute to the system of occupation and colonization of Palestine. On May 17, in response to the ongoing massacres of civilians in the Gaza Strip, the board of directors of the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities pledged in a press release to <reviewing and, where appropriate, suspending collaboration agreements with Israeli universities and research centres that have not expressed a firm commitment to peace and compliance with international humanitarian law.> The Spanish body brings together 50 public and 26 private universities. In Jerusalem, Tamir Sheafer, rector of Hebrew University, is worried: <The boycott threats had been looming since October 7, 2023. But for the past two weeks, it's been a tsunami. From the letters or information we receive, I can't count the number of academic relations that have been suspended or even broken off.> >>
Source:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/06/07/israeli-universities-brace-for-growing-threat-of-boycotts_6674077_4.html


The EU failure
Le Monde - June 5, 2024 - By By Philippe Jacqué (Brussels, Belgium, correpondent) and Philippe Ricard
<<War in Gaza: The European Union's diplomatic failure
NEWS ANALYSIS - Divided between a pro-Israel camp and another committed to respect for international law, the 27 EU members have been weak in their response to Israel's bombardment of Gaza since the October 7 attacks. The decision was intended to be primarily symbolic. But above all, it has underlined the deep divisions within the European Union on the burning Israeli-Palestinian issue. Almost eight months of war in Gaza have wiped out a large part of this territory and caused more than 35,000 deaths, the vast majority among civilians. Following this, on Tuesday, May 28, Spain and Ireland, together with Norway (outside the EU), recognized the State of Palestine. Slovenia joined them on Tuesday, June 4. <We hope that our recognition and our reasons contribute to other Western countries following this path, because the more we are, the more strength we will have to impose a ceasefire, to achieve the release of the hostages held by Hamas, to relaunch the political process that can lead to a peace agreement,> said Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez when announcing the decision in Madrid, on May 22. In the preceding weeks, the head of Spain's Socialist government had attempted to rally other countries to his initiative. To no avail. Still sensitive in handling Israel 80 years after the Holocaust, Germany is not interested in such recognition, nor is the United States or the United Kingdom. <France does not consider that the conditions have yet been met for this decision to have a real impact on the process,> said French minister of foreign affairs Stephane Séjourné. Such has been the mood of the European Union and its member states ever since the Hamas attack of October 7, in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and another 252 taken hostage. Shocked by the massacre, the 27 member states initially insisted in unison on Israel's right to defend itself, even if this meant tensions in the Middle East. But disagreements soon emerged. At the European Council meeting on October 27, 2023, when the bombardment of Gaza had already claimed more than 7,000 lives, the EU 27 were torn over whether to call for a ceasefire. After tense debates, they settled for calling for <humanitarian pauses.> Berlin in particular refused to talk about a ceasefire, so as not to limit Israel's right to retaliate.>>
Read more here:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/06/05/war-in-gaza-the-eu-s-diplomatic-failure_6673792_4.html

Le Monde - June 5, 2024
<<'Young people rallying for Gaza is not revolutionary, it is moral'
Political scientist Olivier Roy argues in an op-ed that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not being imported into France. Solidarity with Palestine, especially among the student elite, embodies a moral stance that has replaced politics. Is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict being imported into France? Do the divides in French society reflect the geostrategic divides in the Middle East? Both the ideological far right and the La France Insoumise [radical left] share the same vision: Solidarity with Palestine primarily affects young people of immigrant descent, supported by progressive activists accustomed to all anti-imperialist struggles. With the far right deploring it and heralding the civil war to come and La France Insoumise building up electoral capital at little cost. In the academic world, this confluence of crises from the Middle East to France is supported, among others, by two leading Islamic scholars in France, François Burgat on the left and Gilles Kepel on the right. The Gaza question is at the heart of the French fractures, reflecting the great divisions on our planet, since September 11, 2001, between the post-colonial West and the world of the South. A closer look reveals a very different picture. There is certainly a noisy rallying of young people in favor of Gaza. But it is above all among students, and particularly those from elite institutions (Sciences Po, Ecole Normale Superieure). This observation is not specifically French: It can be found throughout the West, starting with the US, where Columbia University is Sciences Po's counterpart. What's more, there are no pro-Palestinian protests in the suburbs. It should be remembered that there has never been a French-style Intifada: All the suburban riots since 1984 have been linked to the death of a young person in an encounter with the police, along the lines of the Black American uprisings, and not as an echo of the Palestinian revolts. No, Palestine doesn't bring the masses to the streets, even if disapproval of the Israeli government's policies is growing.
So what is the nature of this rallying? It remains enclosed in safe spaces, in other words, in places of self-segregation, that of campuses, as were the protests in the <squares> after 2011, from Tahrir Square, in Cairo, to the Nuit Debout [in 2016, after a protest over proposed labor reforms in France] or Occupy Wall Street [in 2011, condemning the abuses of financial capitalism in the US]. It's peaceful, even polite. I was a student in the Latin Quarter in May 1968, and I can affirm that my generation was far more violent (we resisted police assaults) and far more offensive (we went into factories, we pretended to join guerrillas all over the world, from Bolivia to Dhofar [Oman]). I'm not justifying the violence of the past; I'm simply saying that the current movement needs to be qualified with caution.>>
Read more here:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2024/06/05/young-people-rallying-for-gaza-is-not-revolutionary-it-is-moral_6673855_23.html

 Women's Liberation Front 2019/cryfreedom.net 2024