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Weaponising underwear: Genocide with a semi-pornographic twist
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/4/12/weaponising-underwear-genocide-with-a-semi-pornographic-twist
Let’s pretend for a moment that in the course of waging war against the state of Israel, Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip had taken to posing for social media posts with lingerie belonging to Israeli women who had been forced to flee their homes or were killed in the war.
Imagine the moral outrage that would swiftly ensue, inevitably entailing racist and self-righteous allegations of Arab perverseness, the barbaric sexism of Islam and the violent tendencies of sexually repressed Muslims.
The Fox Newses of the world would have a field day.
As it turns out, a version of this hypothetical spectacle is true – except that it stars Israeli soldiers and Palestinian women’s lingerie. A recent Reuters article titled “Israeli soldiers play with Gaza women’s underwear in online posts” describes how combatants from the world’s self-appointed “most moral army” have been “posting photos and videos of themselves toying with lingerie found in Palestinian homes, creating a dissonant visual record of the war in Gaza”.
British Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sitta ‘forcibly prevented’ from entering Germany
Prominent British Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sitta, who volunteered in Gaza hospitals during the first weeks of Israel’s assault on the enclave, said he was denied entry into Germany where he was due to take part in a conference.
Abu Sitta said he arrived at Berlin airport before being stopped at passport control where he was held for several hours and then told he had to return to the UK.
Police at the airport said he was refused entry due to “the safety of the people at the conference and public order,” Abu Sitta told the Associated Press news agency. In a post on X, Abu Sitta he was “forcibly prevented” from entering the country.
Berlin police said they later pulled the plug on the event, attended by up to 250 people, on its first day, after a livestream was shown of a person who is banned from political activity in Germany.
The gathering, entitled the Palestine Congress, was to discuss a range of topics including German arms shipments to Israel and solidarity with what organisers called the Palestinian struggle.
Germany has traditionally held a staunchly pro-Israel position, and during the assault on Gaza emerged as one of Israel’s fiercest supporters. German authorities have also repeatedly clamped down on displays of support for Palestinians.
Settler attack on al-Mughayir ‘the largest and most violent one’ yet, official says
We earlier reported that there has been several incidents of violent settler attacks against Palestinians and their belongings in the occupied West Bank, with one incident resulting in the killing of a man in the town of al-Mughayir, northeast of Ramallah.
The head of the al-Mughayir village council, Amin Abu Alia, has spoken to Al Jazeera about the details of the attack. “This is not the first attack on the village. Our village is constantly exposed to similar attacks from settlers, but this is the largest and most violent one,” Abu Alia said.
According to him, more than 1,500 Israeli settlers gathered near the entrance of the town. About 500 of them, some armed, then proceeded to raid the town for about three hours.
The attack led to the killing of Jihad Abu Alia, who was shot “directly” in the head with live ammunition.
Here are some of the things Amin Abu Alia said unfolded during the three-hour settler attack:
- Settlers attacked 20 homes, and set fire to seven of them “either completely, or partially”.
- A total of 20 vehicles, some belonging to local businesses, were also set on fire.
- At least 35 residents were wounded, and 25 of them sustained injuries from live bullets.
- Medics, including Palestine Red Crescent ambulances, were prevented from reaching the area by Israeli forces, who also blocked cars carrying wounded residents from leaving the village.
- The attack was carried out under the protection of Israeli army soldiers.
