Main events on September 23rd
- Israeli attacks continued across Gaza, with at least 36 Palestinians killed.
- World leaders have attended the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting, where Israel’s war on Gaza has taken centre stage.
- President Trump held a meeting with Arab leaders on the sidelines of the UNGA, saying it is of the utmost importance to negotiate the release of captives held in Gaza.
- As Israel continues its military assault on Gaza City, the OHCHR has warned that its actions are “inflicting terror on the Palestinian population of Gaza City and forcing tens of thousands to flee”.
- Israel has issued another threat against the Gaza Sumud Flotilla, saying it will “take the necessary measures to prevent its entry into the combat zone and to stop any violation of a lawful naval blockade”.
- Israeli authorities have indefinitely closed the King Hussein Bridge, also known as the Allenby Bridge, blocking the only gateway between the occupied West Bank and Jordan.
Israel’s Ground Invasion Of Gaza City Continues
How Activists Forced Ohio to Divest Millions from Israel
Carley Riggins, a Community organizer with the Akron Palestine Solidarity Collective and the Ohio Divest Coalition, joins the show to discuss the “No New Bonds” campaign, a statewide push to force Ohio to stop funneling hundreds of millions into Israel bonds that bankroll occupation, settlement expansion, and the genocide in Gaza. Ohio had more money invested in Israeli bonds than any other state in the country before October 2023. That all changed with the 2024 launch of the campaign, which has won over $11 million in divestments across five counties and counting.
A Floating Hospital Just Joined the Gaza Flotilla — And Israel Is Losing Its Mind
Israel is panicking at the sight of a floating hospital because nothing exposes the fragility of their siege quite like a ship full of bandages.
Israel wants us to believe that a fishing boat loaded with flour is the equivalent of an aircraft carrier, that a Libyan hospital ship is somehow a battleship in disguise, and that medics with bandages are Hamas commandos in scrubs.
Only in Tel Aviv’s fever dreams can drones circling over solidarity yachts be described as “self-defence.” And yet that’s where we are: the Sumud Flotilla sails into the drone filled yellow zone, and the skies above it hum with surveillance craft, some Israeli, some apparently American, all treating bread and bandages like weapons of mass destruction.
If you want to understand the paranoia behind Israel’s blockade of Gaza, look no further than this absurd spectacle. A nuclear-armed state and its patron superpower panicking at the prospect of a single boat breaking their carefully stage-managed siege.
A question that has come up a few times in comments on my previous flotilla videos has been to what end does it matter if one ship breaks the siege of Gaza? It’s just one boat, what difference does that make? So let’s start with a picture, because pictures matter. Picture the scene: a fleet of small boats — fishing vessels, solidarity yachts, and even a hospital ship flying the Libyan flag now — making their way across the Mediterranean. They carry sacks of flour, medical supplies, activists, trade unionists, clergy, musicians, students.
In any sane world, this is not the stuff of geopolitics. In any sane world, the sight of fishing boats crossing open water would interest only local harbour masters and curious onlookers. Yet here, over these boats, drones circle. Their shadows crawl across the decks. The buzzing is audible in the stillness of the sea. Activists look up and say, yes, those are drones.
Carsie Blanton, the American musician aboard one ship, told social media that she believes they are American drones. Others insist they are Israeli. Does it matter? The flotilla’s spokespeople confirm that at least three were circling at once. It doesn’t really matter whose insignia sits on the wings, because the meaning is the same: the baby milk, the bandages, and the civilians are being treated as threats requiring unmanned military surveillance.
