Thread by @huwaidaarraf

#GazaUnderAttack
For anyone justifying Israel's murderous actions with "Israel has a right to defend itself":

1. Israel is not engaged in self-defense. Israel has imposed a punishing and deadly closure on Gaza for 15 years. This is collective punishment, illegal.

2. The Gaza closure, sometimes called "blockade" or "siege" is equivalent to an act of war. However, because Israel is the occupying power in Gaza and, therefore, legally responsible for the health and well-being of the population, we don't use the war paradigm.

3. Instead, this is classified as collective punishment & persecution of the people of Gaza. The first is a war crime, the second is a crime against humanity.

4. Israel's massive bombardment of Gaza where 2 million people are imprisoned in a small strip of land, its targeting of civilian infrastructure & its use of heavy artillery in densely populated civilian areas, is illegal. Its not self-defense bc Israel is the original aggressor.

5. When you say that Israel has a right to defend itself, you're saying that Israel has a right to use brute and indiscriminate and disproportionate force to maintain its colonial regime and brutal apartheid practices.

6. Oh, and FYI, Palestinians have a right to resist their occupation & colonial domination using all available means, including armed struggle. It's a right enshrined in numerous US Resolutions. (This, however, does not permit targeting or indiscriminate attacks on civilians).