By far the most underreported story of this war is Israel’s torture of Palestinian prisoners Here are a few of the reports on torture in Israel's detention facility "Sde Teiman" that have come out
"Former Palestinian prisoners described routine beatings, often carried out on entire cells or sections, usually with batons and sometimes with dogs."
washingtonpost.com/world/2024/07/…

We accept as a given the fact that Netanyahu happily boasts that Biden is an “Irish American Zionist.” It has long become normal for Christian Americans to identify as Zionists and for Israeli leaders to embrace them. But Zionism as an a American ethos is really problematic /1 When a non-Jews identifies as a Zionist, the first concern is that there is an underlying antisemitism, even an unconscious one- in the sense that Jews cannot be accepted as normal among nations and therefore must be assembled into their own state. /2

The war or attrition between Israel and Hezbollah is extremely dangerous, not just b/c of risk of major escalation and leaving tens of thousands displaced, but b/c it is allowing Hezbollah a testing ground for its arsenal, as I write in this piece /1 nytimes.com/2024/06/12/opi… Israel is marking tactical gains by taking out Hezbollah officials. But the tit-for-tat attacks have allowed Hezbollah to study Israel’s defense and surveillance systems for a prolonged period. It is clearly looking for, and finding Israels weak spots.
/2

Hamas has not provided a formal answer, and already Israel is making moves on Rafah. The decision is part of Israel's effort to make it appear as if it wants a deal and is doing everything to get one, while Hamas is rejecting. But this is misleading 🧵 Hamas did indicate it will agree to Egyptian proposal and move ahead with first stage, relying on guarantees that Israel will end war later on. There were several reports to this effect /2

https://x.com/JackyHugi/status/1787167736658887062

A lot of what is happening on college campuses, to me, is a direct culmination of a generation worth's effort to conflate antisemitism and criticism of Israel, an extension of the Zionist effort a generation before that to equate Judaism and Israeli nationalism. /1 Much like Zionism and the creation of Israel had a tectonic impact on world Jewry, the moment we are in is going to huge consequences for Jewish people everywhere. /2

For ⁦@ForeignPolicy⁩ I wrote about how focus on Netanyahu is a convenient distraction from the fact that the war in Gaza is not Netanyahu’s war, it is Israel’s war.
foreignpolicy.com/2024/04/02/net… “The thousands of Israelis turning out to march in the streets are not protesting the war. They are not protesting Israel’s killing of unprecedented numbers of Palestinians in Gaza or its restrictions on humanitarian aid that have led to mass starvation.” /2

Israel is arguably in the most unstable and precarious situation it has ever been in, certainly in a generation. Not just security wise but internally. The public does not trust the government. Yet it is waging the most decisive war maybe since it’s founding. /1 Israel’s vulnerability is the product of the deepening rightward shift over the last 20 years that combines military and economic might with the ability to act with total impunity. The failure to provide stability is stark, and yet no one is able to challenge the zeitgeist. /2

2023 broke a bunch of records as far as Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, even well before the October 7 attack. 🧵 2023 saw the highest number of housing units in settlements approved, in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to @PeaceNowIL
peacenow.org.il/en/a-record-nu…

Exactly one year ago today, Netanyahu came back to power by forming the most far-right government in Israeli history, openly committed to a Jewish supremacist state between the river and the sea /1 Since the govt took power and announced its plan for authoritarian legislation that would remove checks on power, Israelis engaged in mass protests every week, ultimately managing to largely stem the judicial overhaul. But then October 7 happened /2

Israel has been saying for days, even weeks, that its control of northern Gaza is near complete. Yet every morning, we learn of soldiers killed there. This doesn’t sound like control. If this is what it looks like now, it does not bode well. As Israeli journalist Nahum Barnea writes today: "The objectives that the political leadership dictated to the military were unattainable. That was obvious to everyone from day one." Israelis, especially reservists and their families, will wonder what they fought for /2

Israel has been saying its control of northern Gaza is almost complete. Israel's defense minister yesterday said Hamas's military force, al-Qassam Brigades, was on verge of collapse. Then this morning, we find out 10 soldiers were killed in a two-explosion ambush in Shuja’iyya /1 This is the highest daily toll on IDF soldiers since the ground invasion began, two months into the war, as Israel tries to build a victory narrative around Hamas militants' surrender, while also insisting it will take much more time. /2

A few thoughts on where things are after second day of pause and successful hostage release between Israel and Hamas. 🧵 1. Hamas is still in tact, able to coordinate the hostage release while enacting delays.

Netanyahu told Biden he condemns settler violence and that it "is a small extreme minority that does not come from the settlement movement. We condemn them and will deal with them with all the severity of the law." Anyone who follows this issue knows that is highly unlikely /1 It's true that the Israelis who take part in worst cases of settler violence (assaulting or shooting Palestinians) are small in number, but they definitely come from the settlements themselves, and they are represented by senior far-right minister in govt who embolden them /2

What Amir and many other Israelis have gone through is unthinkable. What Hamss did is a war crime. But saying it was a suicidal mission is a dangerous misreading of Hamas, a political group with a strategy that Israel likely won’t be able to destroy militarily /1

https://twitter.com/amirtibon/status/1721764710125637856

We cannot ignore the fact that the Palestinians, the occupation and the siege of Gaza were sidelined and almost a non issue in Israel for a long time, and that Israel has been moving apace with West Bank annexation unfettered. The Oct 7 attack put it back on the global stage. /2

Something almost no one is reporting: On Oct 10, Israel’s COGAT evoked all work permits issued to Gaza residents, and later noted that “they will not be reinstated.” This instantaneously turned Gaza residents who had been lawfully present in Israel into “illegal aliens.” /1 Israeli army and police have since detained Palestinians from Gaza and placed them in Israeli detention facilities against their will, without legal authority and without legal grounds. Some were detained violently in Israel, others at checkpoints en route to the West Bank./2

NOW: Netanyahu sets out three principles in opening speech as PM presiding over his 6th government:
1. Iran
2. Develop the country/ build high speed train
3. Continue "peace" deals with Arab countries to end "Arab-Israeli conflict." Netanyahu incites against Knesset members heckling him now, says they are not respecting democracy and “rebelling.”

It’s hard to overstate just how dangerous the new Israeli government will be, first and foremost for Palestinians, but also for Israelis and the region. 🧵 Coalition deal calls for the legalization of all settler outposts and the reinstatement of settler outposts already evacuated- like Homesh. This means increasing settler and military violence against Palestinians with the full backing of the state. /1

This pretty much captures the belligerence of today in Jerusalem.
Photo by Ohad Zwigenberg Here’s a video, they pepper-sprayed an elderly woman. There been scenes like this all over Jerusalem today. The Israeli govt is facilitating nationalists to run amok, instigating violence on an already oppressed population just for the sake of it. Remember that when rockets start

https://twitter.com/haim_goldberg/status/1530889228355346440

The most memorable line in Bennett's UNGA speech imho is when he said "Israelis don't wake up in the morning and think about the conflict." It's true, they don't, because they have the luxury not to. Palestinians don't have that luxury. But it also skews the reality /1 The reality is that Palestinians and the "conflict" preoccupy Israeli leaders and the country's budget on a daily basis. 18-20 year old Israelis dedicate the years after high school to serving in the military, many of them to sustain occupation. /2

For ⁦@CJR⁩ I wrote about ⁦@jdforward⁩ and how, over the last year, it has positioned itself more as an authority on opinions about, rather than a driver of reporting on, anti-Semitism. About how it lost America’s Jewish left. cjr.org/special_report… Jodi Rudoren initially agreed to be interviewed for the piece but days later backtracked, saying no one at the paper would speak to me. I was stonewalled because I had criticized the paper. She responded to facts and allegations only on condition I state as much.

I made a list of books Jared Kushner didn’t read:
The Question of Palestine, Edward Said
This Side of Peace, Hanan Ashrawi
Justice for Some, @4noura
Hollow Land, @weizman_eyal
The Wall & The Gate, @sfardm
The Way to the Spring,@BenEhrenreich /1 The Ethnic cleaning of Palestine, Ilan Pappe
Palestine: Peace not Apartheid, Jimmy Carter
Israel:a history, Anita Shapira
Israels Permit Regime: @YaelBerda
Everything by Hilllel Cohen
Everything by Neve Gordon