Nimer Sultany Profile picture
Jun 15, 2024 20 tweets 6 min read Read on X
A thread on Israeli journalists and "direct & public incitement to commit genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza:

In January the @CIJ_ICJ ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent & punish incitement to commit genocide. The Court "reaffirmed" this in March and May.
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In South Africa's 29 May public dossier that was submitted to the UN Security Council, Annex III includes 7 pages on incitement to genocide by 5 prominent journalists and pundits.
The importance of these examples lies in the fact that they repeatedly and publicly, over 8 months, continued to incite to genocide, and genocidal acts, including as we shall see more recent examples.
Their incitement promoted the view that all Palestinian civilians in Gaza are killable, that it is permissible to target innocent civilians because they do not exist in Gaza, that all of Gaza should be wiped out. Image
One of those mentioned by South Africa is Shimon Riklin of Channel 14.
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Recently, after the massacre in Al-Nusseirat, Riklin retweeted a long post by journalist Schlesinger that denies the existence of "uninvolved" (i.e. innocents) in Gaza (see below) and commented that destroying the entire Gaza is a religious duty. Image
Yehuda Schlesinger, "a reporter for Israel Hayom, one of the most widely distributed newspapers in Israel", repeatedly tweeted that there "are no innocents in Gaza" and "no ordinary civilians".
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Recently, 11 June, he repeated his claim that "there are no uninvolved in Gaza" - a euphemism for "all Palestinians in Gaza are killable and deserve to be killed". Image
In fact, on 9 June, he wrote a quasi-manifesto seeking to show how broad and systematic is the lack of innocence and lack of civilian status in Gaza: voters, those who cheered, doctors, UNRWA workers, all 2.3 million. All not innocent.

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As mentioned above, another prominent journalist Shimon Riklin concluded from this mini-manifesto that all of Gaza should be destroyed.
Another prominent journalist that South Africa includes in its submission, is Zvi Yehezkeli, who until recently worked for Channel 13. Image
Another example is Almog Boker of Channel 13, known for repeated calls to destroy all of Gaza and rejecting the distinction between Hamas and the civilian population.
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On 9 June, Boker jumped on the rumor that a hostage was held in the house of "Al-Jazeera journalist", which Al-Jazeera denied, to repeat the mantra that the family of anyone "involved" and even their "silent" neighbours are killable. Image
Important to note that while Channel 14 and Israel Hayom are pro-Netanyahu outlets, Channel 13 is not, but is considered a relatively more liberal channel. Thus, the incitement to genocide extends beyond the Ben-Gvir and Netanyahu crowds.
As Israel's prominent TV “expert” on Arab and Palestinian affairs for over 2 decades, where he promoted racism against Arabs & Muslims, Yehezkeli’s statements carry a special weight and impact.
As one Haaretz journalist wrote on 28 December, Yehezkeli represents "the spirit of the time and place". Image
The legal importance of these examples is threefold:

1. they show Israel's lack of punishment and prevention of incitement to genocide. Quite the contrary, these prominent journalists continue to be provided with platforms to spew hatred, over 8 months.
Note that legally that a conviction of "direct & public incitement" does not require proving that the result was achieved. The content of the message is sufficient. Unless, incitement is considered as a form of "complicity in genocide", which is a separate violation.
2. They serve as another indication of Israel's violation of the ICJ provisional measures in Jan, March, and May 2024, solidifying Israel's status as a rogue state.
3. They also provide a further indication of Israel's violation of Israel's duty to prevent genocide. This duty imposes a "positive obligation" on states, meaning that they are required to act to ensure that violations of the Genocide Convention do not occur.

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More from @NimerSultany

Aug 15
1. The most annoying thing about the Ezra Klein interview with Philippe Sands is his use of Lemkin to maintain that 7 October was a genocide. It is had to reconcile this with Lemkin's actual book. A brief 🧵 Image
2. The glaring omission from this statement by Sands are the words "occupation" and "coordinated plan"; and thus the recognition of the gross power asymmetry between Israelis and Palestinians. To begin with, here is Lemkin's definition: Image
3. Lemkin continues: genocide has 2 phases...
(Who has confiscated the lands and displaced the residents? Who has de-nationalised? Who has imposed their national pattern? who is the occupier?) Image
Read 13 tweets
Aug 14
1. When journalists say 'Israel says' they are not actually quoting what Israeli leaders say repeatedly, rather they are simply repeating talking points that conceal what Israel actually says and does. Examples since March 2025🧵
2. Talking point: "This will all end if Hamas releases the hostages."

Netanyahu, March 2025: "voluntary migration. This is the plan. We are not hiding it." gov.il/en/pages/pm-ne…Image
3. Talking point: "Israel did not say that it is using starvation as a method of warfare."

a) Israel, 2 March 2025: "PM Netanyahu has decided that, as of this morning, the entry of all goods and supplies to the Gaza Strip will be halted." gov.il/en/pages/spoke…Image
Read 9 tweets
Aug 7
1. “Children shot in the chest while reaching for food. People crushed or suffocated in stampedes. Entire crowds gunned down at distribution points. In @MSF nearly 54 years of operations, rarely have we seen such levels of systematic violence against unarmed civilians.” Image
2. A new report by @MSF "This is not aid. This is orchestrated killing" msf.org.uk/article/msf-ga…
@MSF 3. "We’re being slaughtered. I’ve been injured maybe 10 times. I saw it with my own eyes, about 20 corpses around me. All of them shot in the head, in the stomach." - Mohammed Riad Tabasi, a patient who was treated at the @MSF Al-Mawasi clinic msf.org/ghf-run-food-d…
Read 9 tweets
Aug 6
1. Sophistry alert: More than 20 paragraphs in this article by Guglielmo Verdirame in @ejiltalk and yet there is not even a beginning of an argument why it would be "unlawful" for the UK government to recognise Palestine! ejiltalk.org/the-british-st…
2. This sophistry is effectively an opposition to Palestinian self-determination. While Verdirame et al reject any recognition of Palestine, citing the "facts", they fully know it's Israel that is creating these facts: annexation and denial of self-determination.
3. Verdirame's partisan views are clear in this October 2023 speech in the Lords which adopted and defended a pro-Israeli view of "proportionality" in "self-defence" - the highly permissive nature of this view has legitimated the genocidal destruction we've witnessed. Image
Read 6 tweets
Aug 6
1. Is that the new cowardly mantra now in British media? "We will suspend moral or political judgment, despite scholarly consensus and overwhelming evidence, unless and until a court rules on it"?
2. Of course the msm media is not only hiding behind the "court has not ruled yet" to avoid the question of genocide, they are also avoiding judgment on war crimes and crimes against humanity like apartheid.
3. Of course courts have ruled (@CIJ_ICJ twice in 2004 and 2024 on Israel's grosss and decades long violations of basic norms in international law) and you do not see these, suddenly, court-centric journalists referring to them
Read 7 tweets
Aug 2
1. The defects of Liberal Zionism are evident in this interview with David Grossman, one of the first liberal zionists to acknowledge that Israel is committing genocide: 🧵 Image
2. Denial and delaying criticism: "I have done everything I could to avoid having to call Israel a genocidal state" (echoes Omer Bartov in NYT article).

So you have been part of the problem when others were screaming into the void. Image
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3. Despite denial (in the face of mounting evidence of mass atrocities) no acknowledgement of the moral failure: "I am still a moral person, I am speaking up"

(after 18,500 children killed, after 90% of Gaza was destroyed and when population is crammed into 12% of territory) Image
Read 9 tweets

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