The Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine group is suing the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League institution, to stop it from sending documents related to pro-Palestine activity to the US Congress. The lawsuit says it challenges a “new form of McCarthyism, in which accusations of anti-Semitism are substituted for insinuations of Communist leanings which were the tool of oppression in the 1950s”.

The lawsuit also states that the US university is “privileging, protecting, and endorsing” pro-Israel speech over that of those who are pro-Palestinian. It says that anti-Semitism has previously been used “in egregious ontological error, to chill, punish, and end virtually all moral, political, legal, and other criticism of the nation-state Israel”.

Columbia University sued for suspending pro-Palestine student groups

Hebrew University of Jerusalem has suspended Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian for denouncing Israel’s genocide in Gaza. In a statement, the university said Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s suspension from teaching was a means to “preserve a safe climate on campus”.

“At the beginning of the war, the lecturer signed a petition calling Israel’s actions in Gaza genocide, and an occupying entity since 1948,” the university stated as the reason for her removal.

Shalhoub-Kevorkian is a Palestinian citizen of Israel. She is also a professor of law at Hebrew University and an expert on trauma, state crimes and criminology, surveillance and genocide studies.

Since late last year, large-scale protests have erupted in Berlin’s “Arab Street”, in the German capital’s borough of Neukoelln, and they have allegedly been followed by police crackdowns described by pro-Palestinian demonstrators as shocking and violent.

Locals Francesca Leone, 31, and 27-year-old Lea have been joining the thousands across Germany taking to the streets regularly since October 7 to call for Palestinian rights and urge Germany to reconsider its unflinching support of Israel.

Lea, who arrived in Germany in 2015 seeking refuge from Syria, said she was arrested at a demonstration recently. She asked Al Jazeera to withhold her real name out of fears her employer might take action against her. Plus, she said, there have been raids on the homes of pro-Palestinian supporters.

“[Neukoelln] was always a political space for me, a place where a lot of people with a very unstable resident status could live,” she said. “It was a shock for me to witness such a level of police violence.”

_{German police gather at a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Berlin's Neukoelln district}

She said the recent tensions have changed her “perception as a refugee”, as she alleged a high-level of racial profiling during arrests at the protests. “Germany was one of the few countries that welcomed us after fleeing a conflict zone but now they are terrorising and criminalising me and many others,” she said.

Leone, a Palestinian born in Germany, said the war has affected her life in ways she had not anticipated. “My personal life has changed completely,” she said. “I was patient at the beginning and waited for people in my friendship and wider circles to show their support. But then it became clear that there were going to be limits to their solidarity.”

She described the support of some left-wing Germans as conditional. “[They were] saying to me that they wouldn’t go to a demo unless there were conditions in place, such as not walking next to someone chanting ‘From the river to the sea‘ or someone wearing the keffiyeh. Even as they know that I’m Palestinian and that my family had fled from there, it wasn’t enough just to say I stand with Palestine. So I have had to say goodbye to a lot of people.”

....

Home to the largest Palestinian diaspora in Europe with a reported 30,000 people, Germany has been one of Israel’s staunchest allies in recent months. Speaking to people from the Arab-German community along Sonnenallee, there is an atmosphere of fear that thickens the air. Requests for interviews are often declined.

One young man serving at a shop decorated by Palestinian flags and keffiyeh told Al Jazeera that he has been told by his manager not to give media interviews since the German authorities may be keeping a close eye on the shop.

....

Rashid* is an Egyptian who has lived in Berlin for more than a decade and works in a restaurant near to Sonnenallee. He said it has been difficult to reach work lately. “The scenes have been terrible, with police arresting and attacking people. I was very scared that the police would also just stop me and accuse me of links to Hamas,” he told Al Jazeera.

....

“The belief in Germany is that anything that threatens the existence of Israel is to be fought, and this is why they push away the Palestinian experience.” Since early October, German authorities have been increasingly accused of trying to silence pro-Palestinian protesters, including those who merely post their support for Gaza in social media messages, prompting backlash.

In the arts sector, an anti-discrimination clause had required applicants for cultural funding in Berlin to abide by an official definition of anti-Semitism. But after critics argued this could restrict legitimate criticism of Israel and 6,000 cultural workers signed an open letter in opposition, the clause was removed in January.

Meanwhile, Oyoun, a prominent cultural centre in Neukoelln, lost state funding after hosting events aimed at raising awareness about the plight of Palestinians.

People of Middle Eastern origin in Neukoelln say they are preparing for a long road ahead.

“It’s a fight that will not end just when the genocide is over, it’s also a fight for our rights at refugees and as immigrants in a country that has a very rich history of fascism,” said Lea. “It’s a big, long process where we need to provide communities and spaces for ourselves, to grief and empower ourselves in order to face this very intense violence and racism.”

“Things may have calmed down on the streets but you still see the fear in people’s eyes when you speak to them,” said Rashid. “People along the street don’t speak that much but you know what they have in their minds and their hearts. This is the time where people from different backgrounds should come together and stand united with the Palestinian people.”

The boy, 13-year-old Rami Hamdan al-Halhuli, was shot with live ammunition by Israeli security forces in the Shu’fat refugee camp.

The Palestine Red Crescent said that it attempted to administer treatment to the child on the scene but that he quickly succumbed to his wounds. The governorate of Jerusalem officially announced his death.



Two Palestinians killed near Jerusalem: Red Crescent

More Palestinian aid seekers killed waiting for food

The Israelis say Rami El Halhuli had endangered their lives by shooting fireworks towards them.

But eyewitness accounts have corroborated two videos that we’ve seen. One is of the boy shooting the firework up in the air, not in the vicinity of the Israeli soldiers. And the other is of him shot, lying on the ground, and his mother is seen devastated.

The mosque there has said they are going to declare a day of mourning tomorrow and a strike where all businesses will be closed in order for people to mourn his death.

Ben Gvir salutes Israeli soldiers after killing of Palestinian boy

Dozens of activists have rallied outside the Aerospace and Defense Summit in the US city of Seattle in Washington to protest Boeing’s military contracts with Israel. They carried signs that said, “Boeing arms genocide” and “Boeing sold 1,000 smart bombs to Israel during the genocide”.

According to Bloomberg News, following Hamas’s attacks on October 7, Boeing accelerated the delivery of 1,800 kits that convert unguided bombs into precision munitions, as part of a 2021 commercial deal with the Israeli military worth around $735m.

And in December, Amnesty International investigation into two Israeli air raids that killed 43 people in Gaza found codes printed on metal fragments recovered from the rubble linking the bombs to Boeing.

A World Food Programme (WFP) convoy carrying food for 25,000 people used an Israeli military road that runs alongside the Gaza border fence to reach the enclave’s north, according to officials. Jamie McGoldrick, the UN aid coordinator for Palestine, told the Reuters news agency that the WFP convoy made the journey in the early hours of Tuesday.

Shaza Moghraby, a spokeswoman for the WFP, said it was the agency’s first delivery to the north since February 20 and “proves that moving food by road is possible”.

𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 | WFP delivered enough food for 25,000 people to Gaza City early Tuesday in first successful convoy to the north since 20 February.

With people in northern #Gaza on the brink of famine, we need deliveries every day + we need entry points directly into the north. pic.twitter.com/RGxymQXlR9

— WFP Media (@WFP_Media) March 12, 2024

Eight US senators have sent a letter to President Joe Biden calling on him to offer Israel an ultimatum: expand aid to Gaza or lose US military assistance. The letter, released on Tuesday, is the latest effort by US legislators to question Washington’s support for Israel amid its war in Gaza.

The senators – who include Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren – called on Biden to comply with Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, which bars aid to countries that restrict access to humanitarian assistance. “According to public reporting and your own statements, the Netanyahu government is in violation of this law,” the eight senators said in the letter.

“Given this reality, we urge you to make it clear to the Netanyahu government that failure to immediately and dramatically expand humanitarian access and facilitate safe aid deliveries throughout Gaza will lead to serious consequences, as specified under existing US law.”

Advocacy group Palestine Australia Relief and Action has expressed its concern after the Australian government retracted a series of visitor visas issued to people fleeing Gaza, SBS News reports. According to the news outlet, the group identified several cases where women and children were issued Australian visas, underwent security checks, managed to get out of Gaza through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, and boarded flights to Australia in recent days.

“But during their transit period between flights, they received notification that their once-approved visas had been cancelled. SBS News has seen a number of these visa cancellation notices,” it reports. “The delegate considered you never intended a genuine stay temporarily in Australia and therefore the visa was granted based on circumstances which never existed,” the notices read.

SBS says these are the same types of visitor visa arrangements that were in place for Ukrainians when they were able to come to Australia.

EU to announce $8bn in aid to Egypt

Israel sabotaging ceasefire negotiations: Palestinian refugee rights group

Canada commits $1m to support Palestinian victims of sexual violence

We believe Israeli women. And we stand with them in their fight for justice.

Today, I sat down with the First Lady of Israel, Michal Herzog, to discuss the sexual violence committed by Hamas on October 7th and our support of survivors.

— Mélanie Joly (@melaniejoly) March 11, 2024

Palestinian journalists have shared footage documenting people bringing in victims of an Israeli bombing in central Rafah to the Kuwaiti Hospital.

The journalists say an UNRWA aid distribution centre was shelled in Rafah City. The footage, which has been verified by Al Jazeera, shows people being evacuated in vehicles bearing the UNRWA logo.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4c2i9xNf9y/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=dd4df0e8-537a-48e2-a2a8-4cd572bc834b

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has confirmed that one of its aid warehouses in southern Gaza has been “hit”, with “scores” of people wounded. “We can confirm that an UNRWA warehouse/distribution centre in Rafah has been hit,” UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma told AFP, adding there were “scores injured”.

At least five people were killed in the “bombing of the warehouse”, according to the Health Ministry.

On the third day of Ramadan, people across Gaza have woken up to more intense artillery shelling and overnight raids, including in the central part of the Strip. Homes were targeted and multiple casualties have been reported. The number has not been confirmed yet, as there are still many people under the rubble.

The Wafa news agency is reporting dozens of casualties after Israeli forces launched attacks across the Gaza Strip. In central Deir el-Balah, the death toll from an attack on Tuesday evening went up to 10, while in Gaza City, two people were killed and four children wounded in an attack in the Daraj neighbourhood.

Wafa said a “number of people were martyred” in the bombing of a house on Salah al-Din Street, while a third assault on a house on al-Sahaba Street left many wounded and missing.

The agency said there were attacks on southern Khan Younis, too.

Israel’s military has confirmed it carried out a drone strike near the southern Lebanese town of Tyre today that killed two people, including Hamas member Hadi Mustafa. In a statement on Telegram, Israel’s military described Mustafa as a “significant” Hamas operative who directed “terrorist cells” and advanced attacks against “Israeli and Jewish targets… around the world”.

The statement added that Israel’s military and security forces “will continue to operate against” Hamas wherever its members are. The Israeli military, in a separate post on its official X page, posted aerial footage appearing to show the drone strike that hit Mustafa’s car.

_{Israeli attack on car in Lebanon’s southern city of Tyre}

Hamas says its member target of Israeli drone attack near Tyre

Anger mounting in eastern Lebanon as Israel strikes deeper across border

Ben-Gvir needs to be brought to the ICC asap

Israel’s attorney general warns Ben-Gvir against ‘illegal interference’

The 15-year-old accused of carrying out a stabbing attack at a Jerusalem checkpoint has died after being shot by Israeli forces, according to Israeli police. The suspected attacker allegedly stabbed a military police soldier and a security guard at the checkpoint, before being fired on by a military official.

The stabbing attack took place at a checkpoint several kilometres southwest of the city centre, quite close to Bethlehem, on the road travelling into Jerusalem. An Israeli police spokesperson said the alleged attacker was “neutralised”.

A 19-year-old and a 25-year-old were brought to a hospital here in Jerusalem for treatment for minor to moderate stab injuries, according to Israeli medical services. This is the second stabbing incident at the same checkpoint since the start of the war on Gaza. The last was in November when five people were wounded.

The Wall Street Journal has published a report based on interviews with former detainees from Gaza held by Israel who recounted instances of physical assault and abuse. Some were forced to kneel for up to 20 hours a day, sometimes with their hands tied above their heads, according to the report.

Baha Abu Rukba, 24, was released near a Gaza crossing after being held for nearly three weeks. He was in pain and struggling to walk after being hit repeatedly with rifle butts and kicked in the groin.

The report confirms the findings of Israeli and Palestinian organisations, including Physicians for Human Rights and Addameer, as well as reports by Al Jazeera and other media outlets detailing the systematic abuse of Palestinians in Israeli prisons and the disappearance of Gaza workers stranded in Israel and the West Bank as crossings closed after the October 7 attacks.

Decision to prepare Israeli prisons for more Palestinians a ‘dangerous escalation’