The Israeli military is taking foreign press on "tours" of sites where Israelis were killed. Israeli media reported that only international outlets have been allowed on these govt-sponsored tours, no local media has even been allowed to approach. /1
At the same time, no foreign press are being allowed into Gaza. And so, audiences in the West are being fed constant images of their favorite reporters cowering on the ground to take cover from rockets being fired from Gaza. /2
It's why we're seeing countless reports like this one, where journalists are regurgitating lines & talking points fed to them by the Israeli army about decapitated Israeli babies. Claims that are going unchecked, and unverified /3
By taking only foreign press into these sites & feeding them info, Israel is again taking control of the narrative on the international stage. Western journalists are more than happy to play along, failing to do basic due diligence in conveying these stories to their audiences /4
And by not allowing local, Hebrew-speaking media into certain areas, Israel is shielding itself from the criticisms and growing frustrations of a population that could easily eventually turn on the govt for failing to protect them /5
It's a win-win situation for Israel. It gets to put out to the world the images that it wants (dead Israelis), while limiting what it doesn't want the world to see or hear (real life Gazans as human beings), and preventing its own people from the truth of its colossal failure/END
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A quick thread on the crackdown on pro-Palestine protests at NYU 🧵
10 years ago a small group of students with NYU SJP held a 'die in' outside the Stern business school in commemoration of the Nakba. I was one of those students. We were such a small group, no more than 20 /1
We were so few at the time, I remember having to beg some of my friends who weren't in SJP to come participate. Now, 10 years later, in that exact same spot, hundreds of students & staff are participating in one of the largest pro-Palestine protests in NYU's history /2
As I write this, the NYPD is arresting & forcibly removing protesters, some of whom are my old professors. Seeing how universities like NYU & Columbia have responded to protest & free expression by enacting police violence against their own, is disappointing and horrifying /3
A 🧵: This is what Manger Square looks like in Bethlehem in the West Bank this year. In place of the city's usual Christmas tree & traditional Nativity display, the city's Christians have canceled Christmas in mourning & solidarity with Gaza. Explanation from the artist below 👇
From Tariq Salsa:
"This idea portrays the suffering of the Holy Family, the first Palestinian refugee family that also suffered from oppression, rejection, and displacement, and was exposed to the first historical “Nakba” when they fled to Egypt after the birth of Jesus Christ /1
In this work, all historical Christmas figures were costumed to depict the human scene with feelings & messages that would not be able to express the massive destruction & systematic genocide against the Palestinian people by colonialism & all its allies throughout the ages /2
We have received the worrying news that our dear friend Anas Abu Srour has been abducted by Israeli forces in the West Bank. He was taken while on his way home from Ramallah to Bethlehem. Anas is the Executive Director of the Aida Youth Center in the Aida Refugee Camp. /1
Anas’ wife Maysan lost contact with him around noon. For 12 grueling hours, Anas’ family & colleagues had no idea as to his whereabouts or the circumstances of his arrest. They suspect he was abducted at a checkpoint on the way home. /2
Finally, at around midnight, the Palestinian Authority Liaison Office informed us that Israeli forces had arrested him, but that the Israelis refused to provide any information about his arrest or his current whereabouts. /3
🧵 on Israeli colonial violence: Yesterday a group of armed Israeli settlers launched an attack on a Palestinian village in Salfit. Among the people who went to defend the village from the invading settlers, was Methqal Rayyan,27. He was shot and killed by one of the settlers /1
Palestinians who witnessed the attack say they saw the settler who killed Meqdad, and that when Israeli troops arrived, they attacked Palestinians, not the settlers. Israeli police say they’ve opened an “inquiry”, but as far as we know have not named or arrested the settler /2
Compare this to the car ramming in Jerusalem 2 days ago, when a Palestinian crashed his car into a bus stop and killed 3 people. The Palestinian driver shot on the scene, & was swiftly identified by Israeli officials & media. His family was arrested, his home was sealed off /3
🧵 Situations like this prove just how much the Israeli army lies on a daily basis when it kills Palestinians. The “he tried to stab us” or he “threw a rock/Molotov at us” is almost a reflex. If that story sticks (I.e. there’s no video evidence to counter that narrative) /1
then the army will roll with it. If video evidence comes out countering their narrative, they’ll switch gears to the other most common excuse of the soldiers felt a “clear and present danger to their lives”, therefore justifying their use of lethal force. /2
One of the more recent cases in which the army clearly lied about the circumstances in which it killed a Palestinian was revealed by @tombateman w/ the case of Raed Na’san, who the army claimed was shot after throwing a Molotov cocktail. Video proves he was unarmed when shot👇🏽 /3
Me and my Palestinian colleagues are currently being detained by the Israeli military for filming in the Masafer Yatta area.they demanded to see our footage and take our phones. We refused. So they won’t let us go. Have already threatened us w/ arrest and being “uncooperative”
We were finally released after around 1.5 hours, and only after a group of Israeli activists came and confronted the soldiers, filmed them, and accused them (in Hebrew) of wrongfully detaining us. They said all the same things we had been saying, but bc our crew is Palestinian /2
We weren’t given our rights as journalists, and were prevented from filming anything up until the Israeli activists came. In the end, the soldiers left without ever giving us an answer from their “boss” if we had broken the law. We hadn’t, and we knew that, but it didn’t matter/2