Stopping the Evil of Zionism – What We Can Do

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Prominent American-Muslim Websites Initiate Online Blackout
Internet Protest to Call Attention to Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza

(7/18/2014) — Today, five of the largest American-Muslim websites are simultaneously participating in an online blackout to raise awareness about the ongoing Israeli incursion in Gaza that has claimed more than 200 Palestinian lives–most of them civilian according to the United Nations–and one Israeli life. The websites have shut down for 24 hours, and redirected viewers to a message prompting them to take action around the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

SEE: Four Out of Every Five Palestinians Killed in Gaza Have Been Civilians, UN Reports

The first-of-its-kind online protest organized by American-Muslims aims to mobilize community members to advocate for Palestinian human rights. The daily estimated audience of the websites is more than 80,000.

What: Onlineblackout to raise awareness about the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza
When: July 18, 2014
Participating Organizations(in alphabetical order):
HalalTube.com  | IdealMuslimah.com | MuslimMatters.org | QuranWeekly.com  | VirtualMosque.com

The group of websites is calling for an immediate ceasefire to prevent the further loss of innocent lives, and advocating for a just, comprehensive resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It condemns the violence that has led to trauma on both sides. Visitors to the sites are being urged to contact their local representatives in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in order to express their concerns over the growing humanitarian crisis.

EID MUBARAK!

One of our readers, Amira Yousef, was blessed with the opportunity to spend the 27th night of Ramadan at Masjid Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem. There were an estimated 500,000 people present for taraweeh prayer. She wanted everyone to witness how beautiful it was for so many people to come together in this very dear place to our ummah. Enjoy!

May Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He) bless this Eid for you and your loved ones. Please remember to keep those who are suffering from occupation, war and poverty in your du`a’.

Entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem

The Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem.

Masjid al-Aqsa, Jerusalem.

Men prayed in and around Masjid Al-Aqsa while women prayed in and around the Dome of the Rock.

Women praying outside the Dome of the Rock.

Listening to the sound of wailing, she watched as medical workers lay out the bodies of the dead. The corpses, wrapped in white, were loaded onto the back of a pick-up truck.

“I will never forget this time,” Loewenstein recalls.  “I stayed in the camp for two days, picking through the ruins and debris of people’s former lives—watching children and families look for their belongings—anything they could salvage from the wreckage.”

Loewenstein was in Jenin.

She had spent much of the previous two years working as an editor and freelance journalist at the Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza. During that time, she traveled frequently to the Rafah refugee camp to visit friends. It was in that way that she came to know Rafah so well and later started the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project in December of 2002.

But Loewenstein’s decision to take on the plight of the Palestinian people was not an easy one. She has since been shunned by her community and accused of being a “terrorist sympathizer” and “self-hating Jew”—a term she considers as ludicrous as calling her a “self-hating human” for opposing human rights abuse.

Despite this opposition, Loewenstein continues her struggle to expose an injustice she wasn’t always aware of herself.

“I never really knew much about the plight of the Palestinians until I was much older,” says Loewenstein. “I didn’t begin to question all the information I’d gotten on Israel and on Arabs until I got to college (at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem).”

Loewenstein grew up in a secular Jewish family, but was instilled early on with a concern for Israel. She still remembers the day when her favorite dress was sent to her cousin overseas. She was only six, but gave up the dress because her family in Israel needed it.

Although her parents were not “avid Zionists”, their loyalty to Israel was strong. But even stronger than their loyalty to either Israel or Judaism was her family’s loyalty to peace.

“One year at Christmas/Hanukah time we refused to celebrate either holiday,” remembers Loewenstein. “Instead we made a ‘Peace Tree’ and celebrated our hope for peace.”

Her mother’s concern for peace was complemented by her struggle for civil rights. Because it has devastated her mother so much, Loewenstein never forgets the day that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

It was this early awareness of civil rights that Loewenstein carried into adulthood and would bring with her to Jerusalem. In 1981, she traveled to Israel for a semester-long study abroad program. During her stay she was exposed to a world she never knew existed.

One day during a tour of Gaza Strip instead of listening to the tour guide, Loewenstein sat at the back of the bus and looked out the window. She discovered “thousands of people living in tents and shacks.” Loewenstein was appalled.

“It was the first time I had ever seen this kind of poverty and the first time I understood the meaning of ‘occupation’ in a concrete way,” says Loewenstein. “I saw a woman with about three children carrying a jug of water on her head and a soldier watching her and the others around her with his gun slung over his shoulder.”

It was at that moment that she first realized “something was terribly wrong.”  But nothing she saw that day would prepare her for what she experienced in April of 2002.

Loewenstein was among the first internationals—and only a handful of Americans—to enter the destroyed Jenin refugee camp the day after the Israeli incursion.

“When I got into the camp area I could not believe my eyes. It had been devastated. Thirteen thousand people had lost their homes,” describes Loewenstein. “The camp was destroyed beyond recognition—flattened into a heap of rubble and dust. The smell of death was everywhere.”

What was most traumatic for her was the discovery that many of the dead were unarmed civilians. “Not all the dead were fighters,” says Loewenstein. “Some were old men, women and children.”

The horrors that Loewenstein experienced in Jenin made her struggle all the more urgent—a struggle she fights, not as a Jewish woman, but as a human being.

Sometimes Allah allows us to witness events in our life that are intended to truly shake us, wake us up and inspire us. They act as signs from Allah (subhanahu wa ta`la – Exalted is He). I truly feel what has happened with the Irvine 11 is one of those events. Wa Allahu a`lam (and Allah knows best).

Tomorrow will be the closing statements in the Irvine 11 trial. It is up to each and every one of us to stand with Truth. The following suggestions have been made about how we can respond. Please post on your facebook, twitter, and spread the word widely. See below:

1. Fasting: It’s Monday and it’s sunnah to fast! Imagine if everyone in solidarity fasts!
2. Give charity and make du`a’ (supplication): Imagine if everyone in solidarity gives $10 charity to Palestine!
3. Pray 4 rak`at (units of prayer) in the morning: “Son of Adam  pray 4 rak’at for me in the begining of the day, I will suffice you till the end of it”
4. Be in du`a’ and thikr (remembrance) during the hearings: May Allah open the heart of the Jury/Judge to see the truth and May Allah make us steadfast.
5. The `Ibadat of Kifaya (extra forms of worship): Praying 4 rak`at in the beging of the day, the athkar of the morning, the thikr before leaving the house, etc.

If you cannot be present physically, be sure to be present and connected spiritually. The trial on Monday starts at 9:00am PST so wherever you are, please take time out around 9:00 am to pray and make du`a’ for the case, while knowing that your du`a’ could have a greater effect than the lawyer’s arguments!

Oh Allah, You have said, “O you who believe! if you help (the cause of) Allah, He will help you and make firm your feet” (47:7). Oh Allah, so help the Irvine 11 today and make their feet firm. Whoever You aid, none can overpower. Whoever You overpower, none can aid. You are the Living who does not die. We ask You. We seek Your help and we put our full trust in You. Ameen ya Rabb al `alameen (the Lord of the Worlds).

For more information about the case, please read VirtualMosque.com’s previous article about the Irvine 11.

On May 31, Israel attacked – in international waters – the Freedom Flotilla, a six ship fleet carrying aid to the besieged Gaza Strip. The Flotilla was carrying 10,000 tons of aid and about 700 peaceful activists from all over the world. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) raided the biggest ship, the Mavi Marmara, killing at least 9 people and injuring scores of other civilians, and seized the rest of the ships, bringing them in to an Israeli port. They then proceeded to arrest and/or deport the activists. This wasn’t the end of the assault—the Rachel Corrie, an Irish ship named after the activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer as she protested over house demolitions in Gaza in 2003, also attempted to sail to Gaza with aid days later, and was also intercepted by Israel. On June 7, the Israeli Navy killed four Palestinians off the Gaza coast.

Updates from the Flotilla Raid

Since the beginning of the raid, depending on where you get the news from, the facts have been unclear. Israel made a number of claims relating to the actions and intentions of those on board the ship. Israel first claimed that the ship was carrying “terrorists.” It then went on to release audio tapes which allegedly showed, during a radio exchange with the Gaza flotilla, some of the passengers telling the Israeli Navy to “go back to Aushwitz.” Finally, Israel stated that its raid of the Flotilla was within its legal rights as it was at war with Hamas and acting in self-defense.

However, emerging evidence refutes every single Israeli claim. As for the “terrorist” claim, Democracy Now reported that the IDF quickly retracted its statement because there was no evidence for that accusation. But the biggest scandal was the audio tapes, which the IDF admitted it had doctored. In a statement on June 5^th, the IDF issued a “clarification” regarding the audio recordings of the transmission between the Israeli Navy and the Flotilla, stating that they had been edited down and the source of the statements were unclear.

As for Israel’s claim that it was acting in self-defense, interviews with the passengers on board showed that this was clearly not the case. According to eye-witness accounts, the IDF shot an unarmed passenger first. The Guardian reported, on June 4^th, that according to an autopsy nine men were shot a total of 30 times and five were killed by gunshot wounds to the head. When the goods on board the ship were inspected, no weapons were found. The activists on the ships defended themselves with, as an Israeli spokesperson admitted, “sharp objects” and sticks. Israel’s argument that it intercepted the ships because they were attempting to break its ‘legal’ blockade has been proven by many lawyers as well as human rights organizations and UN bodies to be false because its blockade of Gaza is illegal.

The blockade, as of June 7, has been ongoing for 1090 days. The UN Human Rights Council issued a report showing that Israel’s restrictions of both imports to and exports from Gaza were inconsistent, which left the civilian population with inadequate nutrition. The Israeli human rights organization Gisha reported that examples of items that were barred include cumin, cardamom, ginger, dried fruit, fresh meat, fishing rods, and fabric for clothing among other items. No reconstruction material, such as wood, plaster or cement was allowed in, meaning all those whose homes were destroyed in the 2009 war are effectively homeless. In March 2009 (the most recent time statistics are currently available) 65 percent of the population was living below the poverty line, with 37 percent living in extreme poverty. As the occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel is mandated to provide adequate food and medical supplies and a failure to do so may be considered a war crime.

Worldwide Condemnation

This attack by the Israelis has sparked worldwide condemnation. South Africa, Turkey, and Ecuador recalled their ambassadors to Israel. Brazil, Egypt, and Spain summoned Israel’s ambassador while Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Austria, and Greece summoned the heads of the
Israeli diplomatic missions in their capitals. At the UN, China, Russia, Venezuela, Argentina, India, and Cuba strongly condemned the action. Syria, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and other Arab countries denounced the Israeli carnage. Despite this widespread condemnation, the US simply “deeply regret[ed]” the loss of life.

What can people do?

Unfortunately, the exact number of people killed is still unknown as Israel has yet to release a complete list. Many of the video recordings by the passengers were confiscated. VirtualMosque.com has published a list of action items, which everyone should pledge to take up.

Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, Muslims should make a concerted effort to contact media outlets to cover these events fairly. Robert Fisk was asked during a talk in the UK, “Do you think there is a Zionist media lobby in the UK?” and his response was, “There doesn’t need to be.” He went on to explain the number of letters and emails that journalists would receive any time they published anything that was perceived to be even slightly anti-Israel. The case isn’t so different in the US and Muslims need to act as a bloc to change media perception.

Finally, du`a’ (prayer) is key. As the issue slowly fades away from the mainstream media, we have a duty, at the very least, to pray for them.

As I stand helplessly watching the carnage in Palestine, I too find myself unsure of where to go. I look for a place inside my mind, a place where I can make sense of the senseless and imagine that it isn’t really happening. I drift between sadness, anger, depression, and back, but in the end I return to one relentless question:

Why?

Why is this happening to us? Why are we suffering all over the world? Why are we so helpless to stop it? Why are we so politically powerless in the very country we are citizen to? Why do we scream at the top of our voices, writing letters and calling representatives in the White House, only to have them continue the mantra: “Israel has a right to defend itself?” Why are we at this point? Why?

We have to ask why.

We have to stop and really examine where we are as an ummah (nation) and what we have become. There was once a time when Muslims were revered in the world, a time when we were loved by our friends and feared by our enemies. Today we have become the most targeted, vilified, and hated group in the world. In a recent Gallup poll, more than half of Americans said their opinion of Islam is “not too favorable” or “not favorable at all”, and 43 percent admit harboring at least “a little” prejudice against Muslims—more than double the percentage reported towards Christians, Jews or Buddhists.

But we are not just hated. In many places, we are being tortured, killed, and stripped of our belongings. Where we are not physically targeted, we are stripped of our rights, falsely accused, and even falsely imprisoned. In fact, the widespread hatred of Muslims has become so deep that anti-Muslim rhetoric has become the accepted bigotry of choice.

This situation that we as an ummah find ourselves in was described in detail more than 1400 years ago. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said to his companions (radi Allahu `anhum): “The people will soon summon one another to attack you as people, when eating, invite others to share their food.” Someone asked, “Will that be because of our small numbers at that time?” He replied, “No. You will be numerous at that time: but you will be froth and scum like that carried down by a torrent (of water), and Allah will take the fear of you from the hearts of your enemy and cast al-wahn into your hearts.” Someone asked, “O Messenger of Allah, what is al-wahn?” He replied, “Love of this dunya and hatred of death.” [An authentic hadith recorded by Abu Dawud and Ahmad]

Just as the Prophet ﷺ predicted, the people have indeed summoned one another to attack us just as someone invites others to share their food. In this hadith, the Prophet ﷺ also describes us as becoming like the froth on the water. If you watch waves flowing in the ocean, you’ll see that the thin layer of froth on the top is completely weightless and with little substance; the slightest breeze can destroy it. It  does not even have enough power to determine its own course. Instead, it goes wherever the water carries it.

This is our condition, as the Prophet ﷺ described it, but we must return to the question of why. The Prophet ﷺ gives a clear answer for this question. He explains that the hearts will be filled with wahn. When asked about  this word’s meaning, the Prophet ﷺ responded with  a few words that hold a truth deep in meaning. He said it was “love of this dunya (world) and hatred of death.” The Prophet ﷺ here is describing a people who have become so completely engrossed in this life that it has made them selfish, materialistic, short-sighted, and heedless of their meeting with Allah. He is describing a people who have become so worldly that they have lost their moral character.

It is within the realm of this moral character that the condition of any people will change—either from good to bad or from bad to good. Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He) tells us,  “Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” (Qur’an, 13:11) It is, therefore, because of their character that the condition of a people can change from a world superpower to the froth on the ocean. And it is only by changing the hearts and character that what was once only froth on the ocean can once again become strong.

Hence, we as Muslims should never lose hope. The help is promised by Allah (swt), but the job is ours. Allah (swt) reminds us of this in the Qur’an when He says:  “So do not weaken and do not grieve, and you will be superior if you are [true] believers.” (3:139)

It is only by our sincere faith and our striving that Allah (swt) will ever change our condition. So for the sake of those bleeding in Palestine today, we, as an ummah, need to wake up and return to Allah.

Anna Baltzer is a Jewish-American Columbia graduate, former Fulbright scholar, the granddaughter of Holocaust refugees, and an award-winning lecturer, author, and activist for Palestinian rights.

As a volunteer with the International Women’s Peace Service in the West Bank, Baltzer documented human rights abuses and supported Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation. Baltzer has appeared on television more than 100 times (including most recently The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) and has lectured at more than 400 universities, schools, churches, mosques, and synagogues around the world with her acclaimed presentation, “Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos,” and her full-color book: Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories. For information about Baltzer’s book, DVD, speaking tours, and eyewitness reports, visit her website.

Baltzer recently did an interview for this blog where she answered questions about her work and how she became such a dedicated activist for the Palestinian cause.

Q: On your webpage, you say that you grew up with a positive view of Israel as a “peace-seeking democracy.”  Then you go on to say that you heard stories from Palestinians that escaped the war of 1948… Most people have a hard time accepting narratives that don’t agree with their worldview… How do you think you were able to be swayed? Was it difficult to accept?

A: It wasn’t easy, and it didn’t happen quickly. My first reaction to the Palestinians’ stories was disbelief and anger. I began doing research because I wanted to prove them wrong, but I immediately realized I was the one with missing information. I didn’t know who or what to believe until I went to Palestine and saw it with my own eyes.

I immediately became critical of the occupation, but my attachment to Zionism made it difficult for me to confront Zionism itself. I wanted to believe that Israel just needed to reform itself as a democratic Jewish state. I wanted to believe that the injustices were a perversion of Zionism, rather than a natural consequence of it.

For at least two years I struggled with how to reconcile Israel with my fundamental belief in equality and human rights (the beliefs themselves, by the way, were a fundamental part of my upbringing; we just had a blind spot when it came to Israel). Eventually, after a long period of struggling with reality, I recognized that the problem was not simply occupation, but rather the creation and maintenance of an ethno-nationalist Jewish entity at the expense of the indigenous population. I realized occupation was just one step in a much longer process, and I couldn’t simply oppose one and not the other.

Q: What was the defining moment, the exact incident, that made you change your opinion on the situation in Israel/Palestine?

A: Everyone asks this question, but the truth is that there was no one incident. It was a long process, and every experience pushed me along the way towards overcoming my prejudices. No one event alone would have been enough, and that’s why I understand when others need time to digest these realities. I never expect audience members to transform immediately after watching my talk, for example. That is extremely rare.

The one experience that started me on my journey was a friendship with a young man named Mahmoud and his family, Palestinian refugees from `Akka living in southern Lebanon. I was traveling alone, and they took me into their home. The kindness, tolerance, and love they showed to me prompted me to want to figure things out for myself. My book is dedicated to them.

Q: What fact(s) regarding the situation in Israel and Palestine do you think are commonly overlooked amongst Zionist supporters in America and elsewhere?

A: Israel is not the peace-seeking democratic state that most Zionists believe it to be. Many don’t realize that Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza live under a system of segregation, constant military attacks, house demolitions, land confiscation, imprisonment without trial, and torture. They don’t realize that Palestinian citizens of Israel do not have equal rights, but live as second or third-class citizens. Most people don’t realize that the vast majority of Palestinians living in historic Palestine and the rest of the world are refugees from Israel’s creation in 1948 and its expansion in 1967. These 7.2 Palestinians are denied the basic human right to return to their homes and lands simply on the basis of their religion and ethnicity. I, on the other hand, could move to their land next month if I wanted to, simply because I’m Jewish.

Most importantly, most Americans don’t realize that these are not simply crimes committed by Israel, but are indirectly committed by us and anyone who pays U.S. taxes. As Americans, we bear a particular responsibility to stop supporting Israel’s transgressions and to stop profiting off of their oppression of Palestinians. That is what the movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions is about—taking the profit out of occupation and discontinuing any support on an individual and institutional (and hopefully one day, the governmental) level to Israel’s crimes.

Q: You say that the media is responsible for much of the misinformation about the situation in Israel and Palestine.  How do you feel is the most effective way to counter the media’s staunchly pro-Zionist influence?

A: I believe it’s time for us to stop complaining and start organizing! Biases in the media do not come out of nowhere; they are largely (though not entirely, by any means) the result of active monitoring by media watch-dog groups that inundate media who stray from the extreme Zionist party line with hundreds of complaints. (Some media won’t see such complaints—those continuing the status quo with classic US coverage.)

Why can’t those desiring more accurate information in the media about the denial of Palestinian human rights be as dedicated as those other groups? Why aren’t media being inundated by people like us who want to see the whole story that is reported to the rest of the world every day? We need to be the change that we seek. We need to write media—not here and there, a couple of us, but consistently, hundreds of us, a collective voice demanding fair coverage. I list some ideas for doing this on my website here.

Q: You recently appeared on “The Daily Show” with Dr. Mustafa Barghouti.  On the televised version, nearly all of your responses were edited out.  Why do you think that is?

A: There is lot of speculation about this. During the interview Stewart directed most questions to Dr. Barghouti, and that bias was even more striking by what they cut out of the television version. I should mention we were told ahead of time that we had just seven minutes, so if the interview went over, then things would be cut and available online. So what is interesting is not that they cut stuff out, but what stuff they cut.

I’d like to believe that the cuts were for the right reason—that as a Palestinian, Dr. Barghouti is naturally a better spokesperson for the Palestinian struggle than I could ever be. In fact, when we both began speaking at one point, I deferred to him for this reason. But I’m not sure that was the reasoning on the part of the Daily Show.

Some have speculated that it was some mixture of sexism and ageism—that the words of an older, accomplished male were considered more credible than those of a radical young woman. The fact of the matter is that Dr. Barghouti is more accomplished than I am, so there’s the big-shot factor too, which likely played some role.

Most would say that I was cut because of my messaging: Dr. Barghouti spoke of peace and co-existence, while I actually criticized Israel’s violence, the U.S. media, and U.S. foreign policy, and went further to bring attention to the Palestinian call for Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions against Israel. That is clearly a much more radical message, perhaps one harder to stomach for potential critics or sponsors.

I wonder also if there was something easier about hearing about Palestinian suffering from a Palestinian rather than from a Jew. It’s easy for people to dismiss a Palestinian saying these things but hearing the same things from a Jew may be, for certain people, more uncomfortable and confusing, forcing them to re-examine their categories and stereotypes.

Although I was disappointed that some of my major points were cut, I am relieved that it wasn’t Dr. Barghouti instead who was cut out. As a Jew, I am constantly invited to tell Palestinian stories, while Palestinians themselves are silenced. Palestinians themselves are the experts on their own plight and liberation struggle, and their voices are the ones that count the most. Had they instead cut the Palestinian voice in favor of the Jewish one, it would have been much more problematic.

I’m also happy with the response that the online uncut version received. It became the highest rated interview in Daily Show history, with more than 200,000 views and counting. People can watch Part 1 and Part 2 of the full version, and then the cut version to compare.

Q: One unique aspect to your approach is a constant smile with a calm and mellow delivery.  Is that part of your personality, or is that something you trained yourself to do?

A: It’s not something I do on purpose–and when I see myself doing it on video I’m always surprised–but the instinct has probably served to my advantage. If audience members find me likeable, they are more likely to relate to me and what I’ve seen. Rather than talking at people, my tone invites them on the journey with me, and rather than telling them what to believe matter-of-factly, I gently and clearly show people what’s happening and let them come to their own conclusions. If audience members decide for themselves, they will own those beliefs, and that will make them stronger thinkers and activists.

Q: As a Jewish American, you have a unique opportunity to reach people that would automatically dismiss Arabs/Muslims as biased parties. Do you feel that your Jewish background has helped you be a more effective ambassador for the Palestinian people?

A: First, I want to clarify that I do not claim to be an ambassador for the Palestinian people. As a non-Palestinian, I cannot speak for Palestinians, but only for myself as a Jewish supporter of their struggle.

As such, I am indeed invited around the world to tell Palestinians’ stories, precisely because I am Jewish. I have been able to reach hundreds of thousands of people (now millions with The Daily Show), but what is so striking is that Palestinians themselves are rarely invited to tell their own stories! Or if they are invited, audiences are less likely to show up to listen to them. Palestinian voices are dismissed as biased or irrelevant, when the truth is that they are the experts on their own experience and their struggle.

Too often, non-Jews fear taking the next step until given the okay from Jews, reassuring them that it is not anti-Semitic to speak out against injustice in Palestine. I have chosen to fill that role at the request of Palestinians and in the interest of accelerating the movement, but I consistently challenge audiences to ask themselves if they would have come to such a presentation if it were a Palestinian giving it. Until Palestinian voices are given the attention, preference, and reverence they deserve, the struggle will continue. Privileging of my voice over those of Palestinians perpetuates the false and racist notion that what’s important is what Jews think about Palestine, not what is right.

Q: Has the scorn of the Zionist/Jewish people you encounter made it difficult for you to keep a positive attitude, since you grew up as a member of this community?

A: I have always felt optimistic about the inevitability of change on this issue, and criticism never sways that; in fact, the more I’m criticized, the clearer it is that we are being effective at threatening the status quo. Sadly, I have lost Jewish friends who disagree with what I do, but for every friendship lost I’ve gained a hundred more. There are thousands of Jews and others working on this issue, and it is through my activism that I have found a Jewish-American community that I can relate to. In fact, it is through my activism that I have found what it means for me to be Jewish.

Reem Salahi is a lawyer specializing in national security and civil rights. In February 2009, Reem traveled with the National Lawyers Guild delegation to assess the legal implications of Israel’s onslaught on Gaza. Reem would like to dedicate this article to all the Palestinians she met and interviewed while in Gaza and to all the Palestinians that continue to tragically live under Israeli occupation, siege and constant bombardment. With the Obama administration’s recent push for a renewal of peace talks and the consequent sidelining of the Goldstone Report, the Obama administration is denying the Palestinians what they want most: justice and accountability. This author is only one of innumerable voices seeking to shed light on the realities of the Palestinians as an occupied, besieged and terrorized people who desire not an empty peace, doused in meaningless rhetoric, but a viable and equitable solution which will not forsake the humanity of one people for the alleged security of another.

I. Introduction

In Israel’s 22-day offensive termed “Operation Cast Lead,” approximately 1,417 Palestinians were killed, 926 of which were civilians, and 5,303 Palestinians were injured, including 1,606 children and 828 women. In comparison, Israeli deaths totaled thirteen – three civilians and ten soldiers (four of whom were killed by friendly fire). Despite Israel’s attempts to deny foreign media sources from entering Gaza, and its own heightened media campaign, disturbing images of brutally killed Palestinians and ravaged Palestinian infrastructure trickled out and led many in the international community to question Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law. The outcry and demand for accountability included not only international lawyers, but also prominent United Nations figures, including United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967, Richard Falk, and Director of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza, John Ging. These allegations have been granted further credibility by Israeli soldier testimonials admitting to the willful killing of Palestinian women and children and the unnecessary destruction of Palestinian civilian infrastructure.

On February 2, 2009, I crossed into Gaza through Rafah along with six other lawyers and one law student on the National Lawyers Guild delegation. Our objective was to examine first-hand the legal implications of Israel’s recent military operations in the Gaza Strip between December 27, 2008 and January 18, 2009. Specifically, the delegation sought to interview witnesses, medical workers, and other relevant persons in order to determine: 1) whether Israel targeted Palestinian civilians and civilian infrastructure; 2) whether Israel used weapons illegally; and 3) whether Israel deliberately or arbitrarily blocked needed medical assistance. Each of these three areas implicates international humanitarian laws that if violated, could amount to war crimes.

In all three areas, we found that Israel breached international humanitarian law and that it did, in fact, commit war crimes. Despite Israel’s claims of self-defense, it failed to abide by the international legal principles of distinction and proportionality in its military offensive. In addition, it breached multiple articles defining the laws of war in the conventions that comprise the cornerstone of international humanitarian law: the Geneva Conventions of 1949 along with the two additional protocols of 1977. While Israel is a party and thus bound by the four Geneva Conventions, it has not ratified either of the additional protocols. Yet there is international consensus that Additional Protocol I and provisions of Additional Protocol II state principles of customary international law and are thus binding on all states, including Israel.

In its offensive, Israel attacked civilians and murdered innocent men, women, and children in close proximity with documented claims of at least seven incidences where Israeli soldiers were seen firing at Palestinian civilians carrying white flags. Civilian infrastructure, including the American International School in Gaza and United Nations facilities, were targeted and demolished or heavily damaged. In addition, Israel used white phosphorus extensively and illegally throughout Gaza, causing tremendous damage to Palestinian infrastructure and resulting in serious and even deadly injuries to the Palestinian people. Aside from white phosphorus, both doctors and weapons experts have made strong claims that Israel used experimental weapons, such as the new Israeli-produced Spike missiles, which have concentrated blasts and release large numbers of sharp-edged cube-shaped shrapnel up to twenty meters away, as well as DIME (Dense Inert Metal Explosive). Due to the relative newness of DIME munitions and the lack of information on its potential longterm carcinogenic effects, DIME may violate Protocol I of the Convention on Conventional Weapons, which would make its use illegal not only against civilians, but also against combatants.

Additionally, Israel unnecessarily blocked paramedics’ access to the injured for hours and days at a time and denied medical assistance to wounded Palestinians, many of whom died from blood loss or treatable injuries. Israel also targeted medical personnel, killing approximately sixteen medical workers and injuring twenty-five, all while performing their medical duties. Finally, Israel hit thirty-four medical facilities, including eight hospitals and twenty-six primary care clinics.

In this article, I will examine international humanitarian law as it relates to civilians and civilian infrastructure. I will show how Israel breached those laws in its military offensive and how such grave breaches of international humanitarian law constitute war crimes, and – if criminal intent is shown – require criminal prosecution. Where appropriate, I will include first-hand Palestinian testimonials and observations from my visit to Gaza, which exemplify specific instances of Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law. Part II of the article examines the laws of distinction and proportionality and Part III discusses how Israel breached those laws by targeting Palestinian civilians and civilian infrastructure, specifically Israel’s illegal targeting of the American International School in Gaza and various UN facilities. Part IV discusses how Israel breached both the Fourth Geneva Convention and the principle of distinction by using Palestinians as human shields. Part V rejects Israel’s justification of self-defense and explains how Israel acted aggressively and outside of the law in its military offensive in Gaza. Lastly, Part VI concludes by examining U.S. complicity in its arms supplies and military funding to Israel and calls for both the U.S. and the international community to hold Israel accountable.

Read the full report at the Rutgers Law Journal.

By Anna Baltzer

I can hardly find the words to express my gratitude for the outpouring of support over the past couple days. The Daily Show has been inundated with positive responses to the show on Palestine, so much that they’ve asked people to please stop calling the office and tying up the phone lines! So, at the request of the studio, I’m primarily writing to encourage you to continue contacting The Daily Show, but please use this form rather than the phone number (make sure to choose The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as your topic).

The response has been overwhelming, with viral discussion around the world. The interview is now the 64th most watched in 11 years of The Daily Show, and that’s after just 48 hours. 143,000 and counting. Also, it’s now ranked #2 (!) of all Daily Show guest interviews (rating is determined by how many people give the video a thumbs up). It doesn’t seem like so many people use the “thumbs up” function (I didn’t know about it), but we’re only 11 thumb-ups behind the 1st place, so if you thought it deserved one and you feel like giving it a thumbs up, then the interview will be displayed at the top whenever anyone clicks on “highest rated” in the future, which will help spread the word even when the interview isn’t displayed so prominently.

The book is now #1 in Amazon sales for human rights books, and was #921 in Amazon sales overall last night, so hopefully the word is getting out in all different ways. Thank you to all those who have given so much time—to this and the zillions of other things—to bring the issue of Palestine to light in the US media and beyond.

A Message from Anna Baltzer:

Dear friends,

Last night Dr. Barghouti and I were on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart talking about Palestine.

The show was overwhelmed with angry emails and phone calls prior to the appearance, and up until the last minute it seemed like they might cancel. During the taping, the show had it’s only heckler in 11 years. The entire staff were very nervous and may come to regret the monumental decision (and not make it again) as they will surely be inundated now that the show has aired. That is why it is CRUCIAL that the show receive letters of support from anyone who appreciated the interview.

PLEASE take a moment to give a quick thank you to the Daily Show. I’m sure they will likely be affected by numbers rather than length, so it’s OK to make it short, but spread the word to others! Be sure to put “Thank you” in the subject, and maybe Dr. Barghouti & my names. Fill out the form here. (Make sure to choose The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as your topic).

Many of you who watched the show on TV noticed that everything of real substance that I said was edited out. The major issues cut out were (1) the US role in aiding Israel, (2) the lack of adequate coverage in mainstream US media, and (3) the Palestinian-led movement for Boycott / Divestment / Sanctions (BDS) to nonviolently pressure Israel to comply with international law.

Regardless of the cuts, this was a huge step for the movement (and Dr. Barghouti’s left-in parts were excellent, in my opinion). If you agree, do make your letters positive, even if you decide to mention the disappointing discrepancy between the full interview and what was aired…

I believe the interview wouldn’t have happened 3 years ago. Times are changing.

Anna (view her website here)

Update: The Daily Show has just contacted us to ask us to take down their phone number. They say they’ve received over 200 phone calls today and really appreciate all the positive feedback. Unfortunately they need to keep the phone lines open as they prepare for tonight’s shoot. They recommend that people who still want to contact them write to:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 604 W 52nd St New York, NY 10019

The person who contacted me really did want to thank everyone for your support of the show. Please do honor their request and do keep letting the show know how much we appreciated this important broadcast!