While many of those attending were civilians, they were sent — against their will — by #Hamas to locations such as this one adjacent to a Hamas military facility, to act as human shields.
"Some of us distracted the Israelis with stones and Molotov cocktails."
Women and children are, understandably, automatically presumed to be innocent by Western observers. But in the course of the demonstrations, women and children frequently participated in the violence.
And see here one youth saying he wanted to "Rip a Jew's head off."
(Note that the @BBC documentary incorrectly rendered "Yahud" as "Israeli" when it actually means "Jew.")
Media reports have a tendency of citing claims rather than stating facts. So, for instance, it's common for journalists to say that Israel "claims" Palestinians were shooting at them.
Well, here's a Palestinian backing up the "claim."
Likewise, media reports referring in brief to "protests in Gaza" and mentioning those killed or wounded tend to neglect to include reference to the improvised explosive device (IED) threat faced by Israel.
Finally, when media coverage refers to the large number of wounded, it's easy to assume that the Israeli military shot wildly.
In reality, there was a dangerous blurring of lines between civilians and combatants, and so Israeli troops shot to halt dangerous activity.
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On this day in 1941, during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, Jews were violently attacked in Baghdad, Iraq.
Shavuot is supposed to be a happy time, with families gathering and eating cheesecakes. But in Iraq in 1941, it was anything but as a massacre befell the Jewish community.
As someone with a Jewish Baghdadi grandfather who fortunately escaped Iraq a few years earlier, I am compelled to tell the story that decimated the community he left behind.
This murderous attack marked the beginning of the end of the oldest Jewish community outside of the Land of Israel. 78 years on, many details of this bloody massacre remain unknown.
Nor did it document the wave of Palestinian attacks on Jews for viral TikTok videos that presaged the current violence.
To post this kind of one-sided nonsense while it is a well-documented fact that both Arab and Jewish extremists formed groups of this type is irresponsible, and is not going to help any kind of effort to calm the streets.
Israeli Arabs from a village near Meron have been offering food and drink to all who need, non-stop, for hours.
In Tel Aviv, hundreds of secular Jews have turned up to give blood to their ultra-orthodox brethren.
In Jerusalem, a blood donation station downtown has been turning people away - there's already enough.
In Givat Shmuel, a religious Jew is distributing food for free to families with loved ones who haven't yet made it home, and have been too busy to cook for Shabbat.
A funeral is taking place right now for a Canadian Jew, Shraga Gestetner of Montreal, who has no family in Israel. Hundreds have come to pay their respects.
If only we could harness this togetherness and take it with us always.
1.9m Palestinians are Israeli citizens, have the same rights to Covid vaccines as Jewish Israelis.
5m Palestinians are ruled by the PA and are dependent on the Palestinian health care system. Per the Oslo Accords, Israel is not responsible for their doses.
Is Israel preventing Palestinians ruled by the PA from gaining access to the vaccine?
No. Israel has shared thousands of vaccine doses with the Palestinian Authority, and is looking to vaccinate Palestinians working in Israel.
No. It briefly considered holding Gaza-bound doses in return for progress regarding the plight of 2 mentally ill Israeli civilians held captive by Hamas, but decided against. Not a single dose sent to Gaza has been turned away.
On this day in 1941, during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, Jews were violently attacked in Baghdad, Iraq.
Shavuot is supposed to be a happy time, with families gathering and eating cheesecakes. But in Iraq in 1941, it was anything but as a massacre befell the Jewish community.
As someone with a Jewish Baghdadi grandfather who fortunately escaped Iraq a few years earlier, I am compelled to tell the story that decimated the community he left behind.
The #Farhud pogrom of June 1-2 left over 180 dead and 1,000 injured Jews, saw hundreds of homes destroyed and property looted.
ON THIS DAY in 1950, the first flight taking Jews from in Iraq to Israel in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah departed from Baghdad.
At precisely 2:00pm on Friday, 19th May, 1950, a Skymaster jet carrying 86 Jewish refugees immigrants, accompanied by an Iraqi police officer, took off for Nicosia in Cyprus. This was the first flight of Operation Ezra and Nehemiah.
The operation was named after the Jewish leaders who took their people back to Jerusalem from exile in Babylonia, beginning in 597 BCE.