Settler Violence has always been an integral part of the occupation, but has seen a drastic spike in recent months. We’re at the Knesset (parliament) today to demand it be dealt with.
Follow us here for a peek into the proceedings >>>
@peacenowisrael@YeshDin Kahanist MK Ben Gvir, a settler himself goes off. @mossi_raz: No need to bring in data, settler violence is in this very room.
@peacenowisrael@YeshDin@mossi_raz MK @IbtisamMaraana: There is no Jewish terrorism or Islamic terrorism or Palestinian terrorism. There is simply terrorism, and it must be stopped before it is too late.
@peacenowisrael@YeshDin@mossi_raz@IbtisamMaraana@shachar_keren: We have gathered today to hear testimonies from Israelis and Palestinians who have experienced violence first-hand, listen to long-time activists, hear data from civil society orgs, a discharged soldier, and of course MKs who deal with this issue every day.
@peacenowisrael@YeshDin@mossi_raz@IbtisamMaraana@shachar_keren MK @mossi_raz: I want to share in the grief of the family of Eli Kay who was murdered yesterday. I want to say that violence should always be condemned, especially when it is against civilians, though those who condemned yesterday's violence did not mention settler violence.
@peacenowisrael@YeshDin@mossi_raz@IbtisamMaraana@shachar_keren MK @mossi_raz: This is not a phenomenon of soldiers standing by, but the whole army standing by. The police stand by. The press stands by - in fact, this issue goes almost unreported. Violence is everywhere, in every society, and we regret to see this institutional cooperation.
When we say military pressure kills hostages, we’re not just basing that on a hunch. We’re relaying what the IDF itself has shown us, both in its words and in its actions, since October 7, 2023. The army knows these two goals contradict each other.
Let’s look at a few examples🧵
"It's a very thin line - both being aggressive and offense-minded and also protecting the lives of the hostages." Lt. Col. Oz Meshulam, who commands IDF infantry battalion 931, said last month. "I try not to let the fighter get involved in this at all." ynet.co.il/news/article/b…
"The fighter is a vicious animal that goes on an aggressive attack, and therefore we as commanders choose where to operate, carefully and according to precise intel," Meshulam added, concluding that "In the end, we are here on two missions that sometimes conflict."
Over 45,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct 7. That’s 15,000 more than the IDF estimate for total Hamas members who were alive before then. A rate of death outpacing the wars in Myanmar, Ukraine and Iraq. And Hamas still stands.
The IDF has placed pace above accuracy🧵
The @nytimes and @washingtonpost recently dropped 2 huge investigations interviewing over 100 soldiers. One details how the IDF let go of its few remaining brakes, permitting a massive increase in civilian deaths. The other analyzes the IDF’s disastrous overreliance on tech.
After the Oct 7 attack, Israel dropped many, many bombs on Gaza. More than it had ever dropped before. That same day, the IDF loosened its rules to allow up to 20 civilian deaths for each junior militant, and over 100 for a senior militant. Its target bank was depleted in days.
On Christmas Eve, the IDF's "Gazafication" of the West Bank was on full display, as 8 Palestinians, including two innocent women, were killed by drone strikes in Tulkarm, and bulldozers destroyed infrastructure in the Nur Shams refugee camp.
This is not an isolated incident 🧵
The IDF returned to routine airstrikes in the West Bank, a practice which was reserved mainly for Gaza for decades until this govt came to power in early 2023. And more firepower means more “collateral damage.” Last night, 9 Palestinians were injured, including a 10-year-old boy.
Bulldozers have reportedly destroyed part of the camp's water network, multiple houses and shops, and some of the walls of the al-Salam mosque, where Hamas militants had barricaded. One source told Haaretz that the forces’ activity focused mainly on "peeling" the roads apart.
"The forces in the field call it 'the line of dead bodies'" a commander in Division 252 told @yanivkub of @haaretzcom. The line he’s describing is invisible, constantly shifting, and for any Gazans north of the Netzarim corridor, it’s the very border separating life from death.🧵
In a chilling collection of testimonies, soldiers detail the everyday realities of an IDF “kill zone,” north of the IDF corridor which bisected Gaza. Unarmed civilians posthumously labeled as terrorists by the hundreds, all while restrictions on shooting are near nonexistent. haaretz.com/israel-news/20…
One soldier describes an occasion where a teenager who crossed into the kill zone was shot dozens of times, and how his battalion commander justified killing him:
“The commander said: ‘Anyone crossing the line is a terrorist, no exceptions, no civilians. Everyone's a terrorist'"
What can we learn from IDF spokesperson responses? Let’s take, for example, a recent report by @haaretzcom, which detailed a rapid rise in the amount of IDF airstrikes on IDF-declared safe zones. Each line of the response is a masterclass of whitewashing - let’s break them down🧵
A quick recap:
In less than a month, the IDF bombed the al-Mawasi Humanitarian Zone in northern Gaza at least 8 times. The IDF has bombed safe zones before, but this is a rapid and brutal acceleration. For comparison, from late May to Sept 10, al-Mawasi was bombed 5 times.
“Hamas is systematically exploiting the humanitarian zones.”
This is almost exactly what they said in July, after a massive airstrike in al-Mawasi killed over 90 people. So once again: Hamas risking Gazans doesn’t mean we’re free to realize that risk.
Hamas and Fatah recently agreed to jointly manage Gaza after the war ends. Today, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would fully control the strip after the war, “Just like in Judea and Samaria.”
As always, Israel does the same thing, expecting different results 🧵
A reminder: In 2012, we were told that the blockade of Gaza was part of the "separation policy" aimed at "putting pressure on the Hamas govt and assisting the PA." This was a lie. The policy did separate Palestinians, but it worked to thwart any and every move by the PA.
In 2019, Netanyahu admitted: "Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state should support strengthening Hamas [...] Our strategy is to separate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria." 972mag.com/israeli-right-…