The executive director of an Israeli media watchdog organization says it was simply “raising questions” by publicly wondering whether Palestinian photojournalists who documented the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel — and sent some of the first images of its aftermath to a watching world — had been tipped off in advance that it would happen.
The report by the group HonestReporting, however, had serious ramifications at a time of war.
It led two Israeli politicians to suggest the journalists be killed. Several of the world’s biggest news organizations — CNN, The New York Times, The Associated Press and Reuters — issued statements Thursday denying they knew about the attack ahead of time.
HonestReporting, which describes itself as an organization devoted to fighting media disinformation about Israel and Zionism, did not specifically make those accusations against the companies. It did, however, suggest that freelance photographers whose work from that day was used by the outlets might have known.
Friday marked another bloody day in Gaza after Israel targeted hospital facilities and a school where people are seeking refuge in the besieged enclave.
In the early hours of Friday, Israeli forces shelled the courtyard of Al-Shifah Hospital, the largest medical complex in Gaza.
The attack, which hit the outpatient clinic and maternity ward, left several people killed and wounded, according to health officials.
Israeli tanks then encircled three other hospitals, trapping thousands of patients and displaced people inside.
In the afternoon, Israeli snipers opened fire at a fifth hospital in the city, killing at least one person and wounding others, including children.
Additionally, Israeli fire hit a school and displaced people fleeing on the so-called “safe corridor”, killing scores more.
CNN: Biden administration privately warned by American diplomats of growing fury against US in Arab world
There’s a new talking point that Hamas are worse than the Nazis because the SS men who spent all day killing Jews supposedly felt bad about it.
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Gerald Rosberg, senior executive vice president of the University and chair of the Special Committee on Campus Safety, wrote to the organizations via email that the suspension is the result of “repeatedly violated University policies related to holding campus events.”
Rosberg cited Thursday’s walkout—which drew hundreds of affiliates and included a “die-in” on Low Plaza—as an “unauthorized event” that “proceeded despite warnings and included threatening rhetoric and intimidation.”
For decades, Daniella Weiss has been one of the leaders of Israel’s settlement movement. Weiss became involved in settlement politics in the wake of the 1967 war. In the early seventies, her family moved to the settlements in the West Bank and she later served for a decade as mayor of Kedumim, a community in the north. She has also been arrested numerous times, including for assaulting a police officer and interfering with an investigation into the destruction of Palestinian property. More recently, she has been affiliated with the Nachala settlement organization, which helps younger settlers establish illegal outposts in the West Bank, an initiative that’s controversial even among the settler community. (Weiss is a neighbor and an ally of Bezalel Smotrich, the extremist minister of finance, who has said that the Palestinian people do not exist and that Palestinian communities need to be erased; he also lives in Kedumim.)
Weiss and I recently spoke by phone. Since the Hamas massacre of October 7th, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government—in addition to invading Gaza—has, with its allies in the settler movement, become increasingly aggressive in the West Bank. Sixteen Palestinian communities have been removed from their land, and a hundred and seventy-five Palestinians have been killed. I wanted to talk to Weiss to understand the extremism of the settler movement, and her ultimate intentions for the West Bank. During our conversation, edited for length and clarity, we also discussed how her religious attitudes shape her view of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, why human rights should not be considered universal, and why she should not be expected to mourn for dead Palestinian children.
From the Guardian liveblog:
Here is Agence France-Presse’s report on the thousands of Palestinians trapped inside Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital amid deadly Israeli strikes:
Thousands of displaced Palestinians looked to Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, as a safe haven, but with Israeli strikes intensifying and the fighting reaching the gates of the compound, there seems nowhere for them to escape.
Ahmed al-Shawa, who sought refuge in the hospital, said he was afraid he would be “cut down by shrapnel,” if he stepped outside.
“The situation is very, very dangerous,” the 18-year-old from Gaza City said as the sound of explosions echoed in the background.
Crowds of people have crammed into the corridors of Al-Shifa to escape the fighting in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, adding to the overwhelming number of war casualties at the hospital.
The facility was hit repeatedly overnight in a new round of strikes that knocked out the power for several hours, its director said.
The outage had resulted in the death of two premature babies, the NGO Physicians for Human Rights Israel said, citing doctors inside the hospital.
Many of the displaced were afraid to leave the hospital, with medics including from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) saying they saw people being shot at as they attempted to flee the hospital.
“We are being killed here, please do something,” a nurse from MSF pleaded from inside the hospital’s basement, where he and his family were sheltering.
“The shelling is so close, my kids are crying and screaming in fear,” MSF cited the nurse as saying in a text message.
The Israeli military said “there is no shooting at the hospital” but acknowledged troops were engaged in clashes with Hamas militants around the complex.
