#Israeli Independence Day April

[suetravelblog]

May 15 Nakba Day Amman Jordan

Nakba Day 2023 – Radio Pakistan Yesterday was the 75th anniversary of The Nakba “catastrophe,” when Palestinians experienced the “dispossession and loss of their homeland”. Amman has a large Palestinian population, and throughout the day, lamented messages echoed from mosques in the city. They were especially noticeable after dusk. I didn’t understand exactly what was being said, but the words…

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 Palestinians say their farewells at a funeral for civilian families murdered in cold blood by the Zionist occupation army in the Al-Bureij Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip on Friday. 📸 Photos taken following Israeli occupation bombing on Friday across various sectors of the Gaza Strip. ]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES RECOGNIZE PALESTINIAN STATE, OCCUPATION FINDS NEW WAYS TO PUNISH PALESTINIANS ON DAY 210 OF GENOCIDE

On the 210th day of "Israel's" ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed a total of 3 new massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of no less than 26 Palestinians, mostly women and children, while another 51 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

It should be noted that as a result of the constant Israeli bombardment of Gaza's healthcare system, infrastructure, residential and commercial buildings, local paramedic and civil defense crews are unable to reach countless hundreds, even thousands of victims who remain trapped under the rubble, or who's bodies remain strewn across the streets of Gaza.

This leaves the official death toll vastly undercounted as Gaza's healthcare officials are unable to accurately tally those killed and maimed in this genocide, which must be kept in mind when considering the scale of the mass murder.

In the latest news, a statement issued on Friday by the Palestinian Prisoners' Affairs Commission, along with the Palestinian Prisoners Society, announced the deaths of two Palestinian prisoners from the Gaza Strip in Israeli prisons.

One of the two prisoners included Dr. Adnan Ahmad al-Bursh (50yo), who was the Chief of the orthopedic department at Al-Shifa medical complex in the Al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, while the second prisoner who died was Ismail Abdul Bari Khader (33yo).

Dr. Al-Bursh was kidnapped and detained by the Israeli occupation army back last December while visiting with a group of doctors at the Al-Awda Hospital, located in the Jabalia Refugee Camp, in the north of the Gaza Strip.

The doctor had been previously wounded in an Israeli bombardment at the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya about 5 months ago, and died while being held at the Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank on April 19th.

The second prisoner, Bari Khader, died under "mysterious circumstances" following his detainment by Zionist forces. His body was transferred along with the bodies of dozens of detainees from Gaza and released through the Karm Abu Salem crossing in Gaza's southeastern tip.

According to the statement from the Prisoner's Commission, both Al-Bursh and Khader died as a result of torture and neglect at the hands of the Israeli occupation, going so far as to declare Al-Bursh's death a "deliberate assassination" as part of the occupation's targeting of Gaza's doctor's and healthcare system more broadly.

At the same time, the Palestinian National Campaign to Retrieve the Bodies of the Martyrs said the Israeli occupation continues to withhold the bodies of some 500 Palestinians who've died in Zionist jails, including at least 58 detainees since the beginning of 2024 alone.

“Withholding the bodies in the cemeteries and the occupation’s refrigerators constitutes an affront to the human dignity of a person, during his life and after his death, and a collective punishment,” the Campaign said in a statement.

In other news, the Caribbean Island nation of Trinidad and Tobago announced today the recognition of a Palestinian state, officially joining the island nations of Jamaica and Barbados, who previously recognized the State of Palestine.

The decision was made by Trinidad and Tobago's government following a cabinet meeting on Thursday, and came based on the recommendation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The government said it has decided that such recognition would help to achieve a lasting peace in the region and strengthen the international consensus on Palestinian independence and sovereignty.

In additional news, Turkiye has suspended all trade operations with the Israeli occupation, unless and until the occupation allows the free flow of aid into the Gaza Strip.

The announcement was made by Turkiye's Trade Ministry late on Thursday, with the Ministry stating that in the second phase of restrictive measures, it has suspended all trade with Israeli entity due to its ""aggression against Palestine in violation of international law and human rights."

In the first phase, the Trade Ministry restricted the trade of 54 product catagories for export to the Israeli occupation on April 9th.

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation's slaughter in Gaza continued for yet another day, with Israeli bombing and shelling targeting all sectors of the Gaza Strip, killing and maiming dozens of Palestinians.

On Thursday, a Palestinian citizen working as a truck driver to distribute humanitarian aid, by the name of Ahmed Yassin, was fired upon by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) with live bullets near the Al-Kuwaiti roundabout, in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City.

Yassin was shot and killed by IOF soldiers during an attack on the roundabout area, while several others were wounded in the assault, all of whom were transported to Al-Ahli Arab Hospital.

In another attack, occupation air forces bombed a civilian residence in the Hassan al-Banna area of Gaza City, wounding at least six civilians.

On Thursday evening, intense airstrikes targeted a gathering of civilians in the Al-Bureij Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of 5 Palestinians, including a child, while a number of wounded were also reported, with casualties taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

In a simultaneous strike, Zionist warplanes bombarded civilians on Al-Nafaq Street in Gaza City, slaughtering three more Palestinians and wounding many others. The casualties were transported to Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in the city.

In another atrocity, occupation fighter jets bombed the Al-Salam neighborhood, east of Rafah City, in Gaza's south, murdering two Palestinian civilians.

The Zionist entity's war crimes continued when IOF warplanes bombarded a residential home belonging to the Shaheen family, in the Al-Zahur neighborhood of Rafah, resulting in the martyredom of six family members, including a mother and her five children, and wounding several others.

Yet another airstrike by IOF aircraft hit a residential home belonging to the Sheikh Al-Eid family, in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, west of Rafah City, resulting in at least 10 casualties, while 9 more civilians were wounded in an occupation bombing on the Al-Bureij Refugee Camp.

The massacres continued when occupation warplanes bombed near the Rafah crossing, killing two civilians, while Israeli jets repeatedly bombarded the Al-Salam neighborhood, east of Rafah.

In another murder, an Israeli occupation drone opened gunfire on a civilian in the Al-Salam neighborhood, killing a young Palestinian man named Imad Sabah.

The slaughter went on with a bombing that targeted the Mufti's land, north of the Nuseirat Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, wounding several people, while occupation fighter jets destroyed three residential buildings in the vicinity of the power plant in central Gaza.

As a result of "Israel's" ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the death toll among the local population has risen further still, now exceeding 34'622, including over 14'690 children and 9'680 women, while another 77'867 others have been wounded since the start of the current round of Zionist aggression, beginning with the events of October 7th, 2023.

May 3rd, 2024.

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@WorkerSolidarityNews

[penflicks]

Israeli army waiting for green light to go into Rafah

Bernard Smith

Bernard Smith Reporting from occupied East Jerusalem

The military has said it’s ready to go in whenever the cabinet sets a date.It says it would first evacuate all the more than a million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah.

About 150,000 have already left, it said, adding that when they will get the order, the rest will be evacuated – but that will take several weeks.

The suggestion in the last days from the military is that there is not going to be a major all-out invasion of Rafah in one go, but it will be more gradual perhaps in response to the enormous pressure from the US and other countries.

From the April 25th updates page on Al Jazeera

[good-old-gossip]

The Palestinian civil defence said on Sunday that it found hundreds of bodies of Palestinians buried in mass graves by Israeli forces in the courtyard of Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

At least 200 bodies had been retrieved from two mass graves in the medical compound as of Sunday noon local time. As the search continued, rescuers estimated there to be at least 400 bodies.

The Gaza government media office said some of bodies found had been decapitated, and had their skin and organs removed. According to Al Jazeera, the bodies of children, elderly women and young men were among those found.

Rescue teams said some bodies had their hands bound behind their backs, suggesting they were executed and buried on the spot. Middle East Eye could not independently verify the reported conditions of the bodies.

As news of the mass graves spread, many people arrived at the hospital in the hope of finding members of their family who had gone missing.

The mass graves were discovered weeks after Israeli troops ended a three-month invasion of Khan Younis, during which ground forces repeatedly attacked Nasser hospital.

The hospital, Gaza's second-largest and the "backbone" of the health system in southern Gaza, was put out of service after deadly Israeli raids in February, when 10,000 people had been sheltering at the medical complex.

The army stormed the hospital twice following a weeks-long siege in January, during which 200 people were detained according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and hundreds of patients and displaced people sheltering in the building were forcibly removed. Medical staff reported being stripped naked, beaten and humiliated by Israeli forces, with many staff and patients targeted by sniper fire. In March, the BBC released verified footage showing detained and kneeling people inside the complex following the raid.

It also verified footage documenting 21 instances of fire targeting staff and patients during the siege. Health officials said there was no power and not enough staff in the hospital to treat around 200 patients who remained there after the siege.

According to Palestinian health ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra, the hospital's generators failed, cutting the water supply, while sewage flooded emergency rooms, making it impossible for the remaining staff to treat intensive care patients.

He added that a lack of oxygen supplies, also a result of no power, caused the deaths of at least seven patients. Israel said the hospital was housing Hamas fighters, a claim it has regularly made when attacking hospitals in Gaza despite not having produced any credible evidence of a military presence inside them. This is not the first mass grave that has been unearthed at a medical facility in the Strip.

The discovery follows another earlier this month at al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, formerly Gaza's largest hospital, which was left in ruins after a two-week assault by Israeli forces in late March. Several bodies were found on Monday in the hospital's courtyard, including at least one person wearing underwear who appeared to have been "executed recently", according to an Al Jazeera Arabic reporter at the scene. After Israeli forces withdrew from the hospital on 1 April, having destroyed most of the medical complex, teams from several government ministries were deployed to al-Shifa to remove and identify bodies.

The searches were initiated after survivors said they witnessed the summary execution of Palestinians by Israeli forces during the raid. Israeli military officials said that its forces had killed 200 people and arrested 900 during the 15-day assault on the hospital. Gaza's civil defence said that around 300 people had been killed.

The army said it conducted its raid without harming civilians and medical personnel. Medical organisations and eyewitnesses strongly rejected that claim. Ahmad al-Maqadmeh, a Palestinian plastic surgeon, and his mother, Yusra al-Maqadmeh, a general practitioner, were among those killed.

[nando161mando]

'"Nothing illustrates systematic violence being inflicted on women and their children better than the story of an infant who was saved from her mother’s womb after she was killed in an Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip, and died days later in an incubator on 26 April,” the experts said.

They were dismayed at continued reports of sexual assault and violence against women and girls, including against those detained by Israeli occupation forces. The experts said the Government of Israel has continuously failed to conduct an independent, impartial and effective investigation into the reported crimes.'

[tieflingkisser]

Israel and US deliberately gutting international law in Gaza

Over the past six months in Gaza, Israel has killed civilians on an industrial scale, turned hospitals into strategic military targets and food into a weapon of war. Blatantly violating basic principles of the laws of war, Israel has deployed the language of international humanitarian law as a form of “humanitarian camouflage,” in the words of independent UN expert Francesca Albanese, in the furtherance of its genocidal campaign. In her new report titled “Anatomy of a Genocide,” Albanese says that one of her “key findings is that Israel’s executive and military leadership and soldiers have intentionally distorted jus in bello principles, subverting their protective functions, in an attempt to legitimize genocidal violence against the Palestinian people.” Jus in bello refers to the conditions under which states may legitimately resort to war. It regulates the conduct of parties engaged in an armed conflict. International humanitarian law, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, “is synonymous with jus in bello; it seeks to minimize suffering in armed conflicts, notably by protecting and assisting all victims of armed conflict to the greatest extent possible.” With its genocidal conduct in Gaza, as per analyst Trita Parsi, “Israel is engaged in a deliberate and systematic effort to destroy existing laws and norms around warfare.” He added, “Israel is seeking to either destroy these norms or create a new normal in which it – much like the US – will be untouchable above these laws and norms.” This effort was exemplified by Israel’s actions on just one day, 1 April, in Gaza and beyond. Israel’s forces withdrew from the vicinity of Gaza’s largest and most important hospital after perpetrating what may be one of the worst massacres in Palestinian history; an Israeli attack destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing 12, including two Iranian generals; and Israeli personnel killed seven aid workers, including nationals of some of Israel’s closest allies, in central Gaza while they were undertaking an aid mission coordinated with the military. “Israel is crossing every possible red line, still with full impunity,” Albanese said the following day. “Sanctions now. Indictments now,” she added. In the absence of such accountability measures for past and ongoing rights violations, and enabled by decades of impunity, Israel’s total war on Palestinians in Gaza is also a war on the principles of international law, the impact of which will surely be profound.

[keep reading]

[girlactionfigure]

The Forward Brings Back the Massacre That Never Happened

Like the proverbial old soldiers, anti-Jewish lies never die. But they don’t fade away, either. No matter how often they are proven false, they come back to incite hatred and motivate murder. Blood libels against Jews can be found before the Common Era and as recently as 1912. The pogrom-inspiring Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a forged document purporting to be the minutes of a meeting between Jews who conspired to promote war and revolution throughout the world, created around the turn of the twentieth century and thoroughly debunked in the 1920s, is still a best-seller in Muslim countries – and dozens of versions are available in the US as well.

Today the focus of antisemitism has moved to Israel, although the old forms of Jew-hatred still bubble up regularly in Europe and North America. So there are contemporary blood libels like the media accounts of the alleged shooting of 12-year old Mohammad Durah, an exercise in what Richard Landes has called “lethal journalism.”

One of the most pernicious and persistent lethal narratives has been the myth of the Jenin Massacre. In April 2002, the IDF entered the Jenin refugee camp in pursuit of terrorists that had committed numerous attacks inside Israel, including the Passover Seder Massacre in Netanya, in which 30 Israelis were murdered. After a 10-day house-to-house battle, 23 IDF soldiers lost their lives as well as (according to later investigation by the UN) 52 Palestinians, most of whom were fighters from various Palestinian factions. Even the notoriously anti-Israel organizations Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International admitted that there had been no massacre (although they did accuse the IDF of various war crimes).

The media, academics and politicians exploded in a frenzy of exaggeration and condemnation. James Petras, a sociologist associated with (my alma mater!) Binghamton University compared the battle to the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto. Reporter Phil Reeves of the UK Independent wrote a series of articles in which he accused Israel of a “monstrous war crime,” with “hundreds of corpses entombed beneath the dust.” Saeb Erekat of the Palestinian Authority told CNN that “the number [massacred] will not be less than 500,” and his remarks were echoed throughout the media.

One of the most influential vectors of the massacre myth was a “documentary” by Arab-Israeli actor/director Mohammad Bakri called “Jenin, Jenin.” Bakri went to Jenin several weeks after the battle and interviewed Palestinians, who regaled him with accounts of atrocities committed by the IDF. He did not interview anyone connected with the IDF, nor did he attempt to validate the Palestinian testimony, because, he said, he wanted to present the Palestinian viewpoint.

The film was well done and persuasive, but most of its content was simply not true or massively exaggerated. Dr. David Zangen, an IDF doctor who was present during the battle, wrote a response called “Seven Lies About Jenin,” in which he refuted several of the more prominent atrocity stories. One of them involves a hospital wing that was supposedly destroyed by Israeli bombing. Zangen points out that the wing never existed, and that IDF soldiers carefully protected the hospital and its water, electricity and oxygen supplies. He also notes that,

In pictures shot at the site in the center of Jenin, the damage appears much larger than it was in actual fact, and the martyrs’ pictures and jihad slogans – which had been present at the time of the IDF military operation – had disappeared from the walls of houses. The film systematically and repeatedly uses manipulative pictures of tanks taken in other locations, artificially placing them next to pictures of Palestinian children.

Joshua Mitnick of the Newark Star-Ledger interviewed Bakri and described the technique he used to create a “documentary” of events that did not occur:

The film also attempts to visualize allegations of summary killings based on rumors that spread among residents of the camp. Bakri spliced together video footage shot during the offensive in which an Israeli tank [actually an armored personnel carrier – vr] appears to trample a group of Palestinian prisoners. Bakri said there was no proof that incident ever took place, but that he was trying to demonstrate what an Israeli tank symbolized to Palestinians. [!]

Given all of this, it is remarkable that a supposedly serious publication like the Jewish Daily Forward would publish an article that gave credence to the film. But that is exactly what it did, when it published Mira Fox’s paean to Bakri’s “guerrilla journalism.” Perhaps the article’s placement in the “Culture” category is supposed to absolve it from the responsibility to note that the film is a viciously manipulative piece of propaganda and full of lies, but it is still shocking when she writes that

Israel claimed they killed around 50 Palestinians, the majority of whom were responsible for bus bombings and terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of Israelis, while Palestinians alleged a death toll near 500 composed largely of civilians.

And then fails to mention that even the hostile UN and NGOs admitted that the Israeli numbers were correct! Or when she repeats the unsubstantiated Palestinian atrocity stories that appeared in the film. She writes,

Yet, today when social media has given everyone a platform to tell their personal stories, the stories in Jenin, Jenin feel almost commonplace. Now everyone has a camera in their pocket, and can capture the violence as it unfolds, unlike Bakri’s film which was limited to shots panning over rubble afterward.

Did she miss the deceptive editing, the spliced footage of tanks, that gave the film so much of its force?

Probably not. It’s clear where her sympathies lie:

While the Palestinian fight may be trendy online, the real-world changes have not been so abrupt. Palestinians still live under occupation, and Israel’s military might still greatly outstrips Palestinian insurgents. Part of the reason videos of Palestinians running down the street, throwing stones at tanks or being forcibly evicted from their homes, are so common online is because they’re so common in life.

I have no idea who Mira Fox is, but I do know that the Editor in Chief of the Forward is Jodi Rudoren, an experienced journalist who served as New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief for several years, and who is certainly aware of the facts about the massacre that never happened. Allowing this hit job on Israel and the IDF to be published was no less than editorial malpractice.

Will the Forward publish a correction? I’ll wait.

[beardedmrbean]

The EU has warned Mark Zuckerberg over the spread of "disinformation" on Meta's social media platforms after Hamas' attack on Israel.

It told Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, it "has 24 hours" to take action and comply with European law.

Social media firms have seen a surge in misinformation about the conflict, including doctored images and mislabelled videos.

On Tuesday the EU warned X, formerly known as Twitter, about such content.

The bloc's industry chief, Thierry Breton, told Meta it must prove it has taken "timely, diligent and objective action".

In a letter, he said the firm had 24 hours to tell him about the "proportionate and effective" measures it had taken to counter the spread of disinformation on its platforms.

The European Commission meanwhile reminded all social media companies that they are legally required to prevent the spread of harmful content related to Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is a proscribed terrorist group in the EU.

"Content circulating online that can be associated to Hamas qualifies as terrorist content, is illegal, and needs to be removed under both the Digital Services Act and Terrorist Content Online Regulation," a Commission spokesperson said.

Musk warning

On Tuesday, Mr Breton wrote in a letter to Mr Musk that "violent and terrorist content" had not been taken down from X, despite warnings.

Mr Musk said his company had taken action, including by removing newly-created Hamas-affiliated accounts.

He asked the EU to list the alleged violations.

Mr Breton did not give details on the disinformation he was referring to in his letter to Mr Musk.

However, he said that instances of "fake and manipulated images and facts" were widely reported on the social media platform.

"I therefore invite you to urgently ensure that your systems are effective, and report on the crisis measures taken to my team," he wrote in his letter which he shared on social media.

The interventions come days after the Hamas launched an attack on Israel, killing hundreds of residents and taking dozens of hostages.

In response, Israeli forces have launched waves of missile strikes on Gaza which have killed more than 900 people.

In his response on X, Mr Musk said: "Our policy is that everything is open and transparent, an approach that I know the EU supports.

"Please list the violations you allude to on X, so that the public can see them."

Mr Breton said that Mr Musk was "well aware of your users' - and authorities' - reports on fake content and glorification of violence", adding that it was up to him to "demonstrate that you walk the talk".

The EU Digital Services Act (DSA) is designed to protect users of big tech platforms.

It became law last November but firms were given time to make sure their systems complied.

On 25 April, the commission named the very large online platforms - those with over 45 million EU users - that would be subject to the toughest rules, among them X. The law came into effect four months later in August.

Under the tougher rules, larger firms have to assess potential risks they may cause, report that assessment and put in place measures to deal with the problem.

Failure to comply with the DSA can result in EU fines of as much as 6% of a company's global turnover, or potentially suspension of the service.

Mr Musk dissolved Twitter's Trust and Safety Council shortly after acquiring the company in 2022. Formed in 2016, the volunteer council contained about 100 independent groups who advised on issues such as self-harm, child abuse and hate speech.

[catdotjpeg]

[Image ID: A graphic with text reading: “April 9th 1948. Never forget Deir Yassin. 75 years of Nakba, 75 years of genocide, 75 years of resistance.” In the bottom right corner is a quote reading “Without what was done at Deir Yassin, there would not have been a state of israel.” It is attributed to “zionist war criminal Menachim Begin.” In the center of the graphic is a photo of a Palestinian woman holding a scrapbook. End ID.] 

Today we honor the martyrs of the Deir Yassin Massacre which took place 75 years ago on April 9th 1948. While many historical accounts place the number of martyrs at over one hundred, the International Red Cross placed the number of martyrs at two hundred and the PLO estimated that as many as two hundred and fifty Palestinians were killed during the massacre.

On that day, the zionist “Irgun” and “Lehi” terrorist militias raided the village of Deir Yassin outside of Al-Quds under the command of future israeli prime minister menachim begin with a pre-mediated plan to carry out mass murder. They proceeded to kill as many Palestinians as possible, including elderly Palestinians, pregnant women and children.

It was Deir Yassin and dozens of other massacres like it in 1948 and in the years that followed that accelerated the Nakba and the ethnic cleansing of roughly 1 million Palestinians from their homes and lands.

Reflecting on how terrorism was used by zionist forces to ethnically cleanse Palestine in the spring of 1948 during the Nakba, begin later wrote in 1983, "Without what was done at Deir Yassin there would not have been a state of Israel."

Just over one month after the Deir Yassin Massacre, the zionity entity declared its “independence.”

75 years later, Deir Yassin remains a rallying cry to defend the right of Palestinians to resist ethnic cleansing and genocide and carry on the struggle for liberation and return within our lifetime.

75 years of Nakba

75 years of genocide

75 years of resistance

-- “Never Forget Deir Yassin!” from Within Our Lifetime, 9 Apr 2023.

[cosmicanger]

‘Palestine is not an environment story’

Nafeez Ahmed

INSURGE intelligence

How I was censored by The Guardian for writing about Israel’s war for Gaza’s gas

After writing for The Guardian for over a year, my contract was unilaterally terminated because I wrote a piece on Gaza that was beyond the pale. In doing so, The Guardian breached the very editorial freedom the paper was obligated to protect under my contract. I’m speaking out because I believe it is in the public interest to know how a Pulitizer Prize-winning newspaper which styles itself as the world’s leading liberal voice, casually engaged in an act of censorship to shut down coverage of issues that undermined Israel’s publicised rationale for going to war.

Gaza’s gas

I joined the Guardian as an environment blogger in April 2013. Prior to this, I had been an author, academic and freelance journalist for over a decade, writing for The Independent, Independent on Sunday, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Scotsman, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, Quartz, Prospect, New Statesman, Le Monde diplomatique, among others.

On 9th July 2014, I posted an article via my Earth Insight blog at The Guardian’s environment website, exposing the role of Palestinian resources, specifically Gaza’s off-shore natural gas reserves, in partly motivating Israel’s invasion of Gaza aka ‘Operation Protective Edge.’ Among the sources I referred to was a policy paper written by incumbent Israeli defence minister Moshe Ya’alon one year before Operation Cast Lead, underscoring that the Palestinians could never be allowed to develop their own energy resources as any revenues would go to supporting Palestinian terrorism.

The article now has 68,000 social media shares, and is by far the single most popular article on the Gaza conflict to date. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, Israel has seen control of Gaza’s gas as a major strategic priority over the last decade for three main reasons.

Firstly, Israel faces a near-term gas crisis — largely due to the long lead time needed to bring Israel’s considerable domestic gas resources into production; secondly, Netanyahu’s administration cannot stomach any scenario in which a Hamas-run Palestinian administration accesses and develops their own resources; thirdly, Israel wants to use Palestinian gas as a strategic bridge to cement deals with Arab dictatorships whose domestic populations oppose signing deals with Israel.

Either way, the biggest obstacle to Israel accessing Gaza’s gas is the Hamas-run administration in the strip, which rejects all previous agreements that Israel had pursued to develop the gas with the British Gas Group and the Palestinian Authority.

Censorship in the land of the free

Since 2006, The Guardian has loudly trumpeted its aim to be the world’s leading liberal voice. For years, the paper has sponsored the annual Index on Censorship’s prestigious Freedom of Expression Award. The paper won the Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on the National Security Agency (NSA). Generally, the newspaper goes out of its way to dress itself up as standing at the forefront of fighting censorship, particularly in the media landscape. This is why its approach to my Gaza gas story is so disturbing.

The day after posting it, I received a phone call from James Randerson, assistant national news editor. He sounded riled and rushed. Without beating around the bush, James told me point blank that my Guardian blog was to be immediately discontinued. Not because my article was incorrect, factually flawed, or outrageously defamatory. Not because I’d somehow breached journalistic ethics, or violated my contract. No. The Gaza gas piece, he said, was “not an environment story,” and therefore was an “inappropriate post” for the Guardian’s environment website:

“You’re writing too many non-environment stories, so I’m afraid we just don’t have any other option. This article doesn’t belong on the environment site. It should really be on Cif [i.e. the Guardian’s online opinion section known as ‘Comment Is Free’].”

I was shocked, and more than a little baffled. As you can read on my Guardian profile, my remit was to cover “the geopolitics of environmental, energy and economic crises.” That was what I was commissioned to do — indeed, when I had applied in late 2012 to blog for The Guardian, an earlier piece I’d written on the link between Israeli military operations and Gaza’s gas in Le Monde diplomatique was part of my portfolio.

So I suggested to James that termination was somewhat of an overreaction. Perhaps we could simply have a meeting to discuss the editorial issues and work out together what my remit should be. “I’d be happy to cooperate as much as possible,” I said. I didn’t want to lose my contract. James refused point blank, instead telling me that my “interests are increasingly about issues that we don’t think are a good fit for what we want to see published on the environment site.”

In the end, my polite protestations got nowhere. Within the hour, I received an email from a rights manager at The Guardian informing me that they had terminated my contract.

Under that contract, however, I had editorial control over what I wrote on my blog — obviously within the remit that I had been commissioned for. From May to April, environment bloggers underwent training and supervision to ensure that we would eventually be up to speed to post on the site independently based on our own editorial judgement. The terms and conditions we signed up to under our contract state:

“You shall regularly maintain Your Blog and shall determine its content. You shall launch Your own posts which shall not be sub-edited by GNM. GNM occasionally might raise topics of interest with You suitable for Your Blog but You shall be under no obligation to include or cover such topics.”

The terms also point out that termination of the contract with immediate effect could only occur “if the other party commits a material breach of any of its obligations under this Agreement which is not capable of remedy”; or if “the other party has committed a material breach of any of its obligations under this Agreement which is capable of remedy but which has not been remedied within a period of thirty (30) days following receipt of written notice to do so.”

The problem is that I had committed no breach of any of my contractual obligations. On the contrary, The Guardian had breached its contractual obligation to me regarding my freedom to determine the contents of my blog, simply because it didn’t like what I wrote. This is censorship.

As the Index on Censorship points out, the “absence of direct state-sponsored, highly visible censorship, which prevails in many countries around the world, may contribute to the commonly held view that there is no censorship in this country and that it is not a problem.” However, “contemporary UK censorship, which sits within a liberal democracy” can come “in many different forms, both direct and indirect, some more subtle, some more overt.”

Invisible barriers

Ironically, a few days later, I was contacted by the editor of The Ecologist — one of the world’s premier environment magazines — who wanted to re-print my Gaza gas story. After publishing an updated version of my Guardian piece, The Ecologist also published my in-depth follow up in response to objections printed in The National Interest (ironically authored by a contractor working for a US oil company invested in offshore gas reserves overlapping the Gaza Marine). Obviously, having been expelled by The Guardian, I could not respond via my blog as I would normally have done

That follow-up drew on a range of public record sources including leading business and financial publications, as well as official British Foreign Office (FCO) documents obtained under Freedom of Information. The latter confirmed that despite massive domestic gas discoveries in Israel’s own territorial waters, the inability to kick-start production due to a host of bureaucratic, technological, logistical and regulatory issues — not to mention real uncertainties in quantities of commercially exploitable resources — meant that Israel could face gas supply challenges as early as next year. Israel’s own gas fields would probably not be brought into production until around 2018-2020. Israeli officials, according to the FCO, saw the 1.4 trillion cubic meters of gas in Gaza’s Marine (along with other potential “additional resources” as yet to be discovered according to the US Energy Information Administration) as a cheap “stop-gap” that might sustain both Israel’s domestic energy needs and its export ambitions until the Tamar and Leviathan fields could actually start producing.

By broaching such issues in The Guardian, though, it seems I had crossed some sort of invisible barrier — that this topic was simply off-limits.

Energy is part of the environment, wait, no it isn’t, not in Palestine anyway

To illustrate the sheer absurdity of The Guardian’s pretense that a story about Gaza’s gas resources is “not a legitimate environment story,” consider the fact that just weeks earlier, Adam Vaughan, the editor of the Guardian’s environment website, had personally assented to my posting the following story: ‘Iraq blowback: Isis rise manufactured by insatiable oil addiction — West’s co-optation of Gulf states’ jihadists created the neocon’s best friend: an Islamist Frankenstein.’

Proposed headlines for stories that environment bloggers work on are posted on a shared Google spreadsheet so that editors can keep track of what we’re doing and planning to publish. Adam had seen my proposed headline and requested to see the draft on the 16th June: “… would you mind sending this one by me on preview, please, before publishing? Just conscious it’s very sensitive subject,” he wrote in an email.

I sent him the full article with a summary of what it was about. Later in the day, I pinged him again to find out what he thought, and he replied: “thanks, sorry, yes — I think it’s fine.”

So an article about ISIS and oil addiction is “fine,” but a piece about Israel, Gaza and conflict over gas resources is not. Really? Are offshore gas resources not part of the environment? Apparently, for The Guardian, not in Palestine, where Gaza’s environment has been bombed to smithereens by the IDF.

The Blair factor

Meanwhile, the Israel-Gaza gas saga continues. Just over a week ago, Ha’aretz carried some insightful updates on the strategic value of the whole thing. Quoting Ariel Ezrahi, energy adviser to Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair (the Quartet representing the US, UN, EU and Russia), Ha’aretz noted that there was a reason why Jordan — which had recently signed an agreement with Israel to purchase gas from its Leviathan field — had simultaneously announced that it intended to purchase gas from Gaza. As Israel attempts to reposition itself as a major gas exporter to regional regimes like Egypt and Turkey, the biggest challenge is that “it’s very hard for them to sign a gas contract with Israel despite their desperate need,” due to how unpopular such a move would be with their domestic populations.

“If I were Israel’s prime minister,” Blair’s energy adviser said, “I’d think how I could help the neighboring countries extricate themselves from the jam, and if Israel closes the Palestinian gas market, that’s not a smart thing.” So Israel has to find a way to open the Palestinian gas market and integrate it into the emerging complex of Israeli export deals: “… it would be wise for Israel to at least consider the contribution of the Palestinian dimension to these deals,” said Ezrahi. “I think it’s a mistake for Israel to rush into regional agreements without at least considering the Palestinian dimension and how it can contribute to Israeli interests.”

Israel, backed by its allies in the west, wants to use the Palestinians “as an asset as they strive to join the regional power grid, and as a bridge to the Arab world,” by selling Palestinian “gas to various markets,” or promoting a deal with the corporations developing Israel’s “Tamar and Leviathan [fields] that will allow for the sale of cheap gas to the [Palestinian] Authority.”

But there is a further challenge when considering the Palestinian dimension, namely Hamas: “I can’t meet with people linked to Hamas,” said Blair’s energy adviser. “It’s a very firm ban dictated by the Quartet. [emphasis added] The Americans don’t enter Gaza either.” So it is not just Israel that has ruled out any gas deal with the Palestinians involving Hamas. So have the US, EU, UN and Russia.

But Israel has no mechanism to eliminate Hamas from the Gaza strip — except, as far as Moshe Ya’alon is concerned, military action to change facts on the ground.

Over the 70 odd articles I’d written for The Guardian, not a single piece falls outside the subject matter I had been commissioned to write on: the geopolitics of interconnected environment, energy and economic crises. The conclusion is unavoidable: The Guardian had simply decided that resource conflicts over the Occupied Territories should not receive coverage. It should be noted that before my post, the paper had never before acknowledged a link between IDF military action and Gaza’s gas. Now that I’m gone, I doubt it will ever be covered again.

Well, at least Ya’alon, and his boss Netanyahu, will be happy.

Not to mention Tony Blair.

Liberal gatekeeping

When I began speaking in confidence to a number of other journalists inside and outside The Guardian about what had happened to me, they all consistently told me that my experience — although particularly outrageous — was not entirely unprecedented.

A senior editor of a national British publication who has written frequently for The Guardian’s opinion section, told me that he was aware that all coverage of the Israel-Palestine issue was “tightly controlled” by Jonathan Freedland, the Guardian’s executive editor for opinion.

Another journalist told me that a Guardian editor commissioned a story from him discussing the suppression of criticism of Israel in public discourse and media, but that Freedland rejected the story without even reviewing a draft.

Several other journalists I spoke to inside and outside The Guardian went so far as to describe Freedland as the newspaper’s unofficial ‘gatekeeper’ on the Middle east conflict, and that he invariably leaned toward a pro-Israel slant.

These anecdotes have been publicly corroborated by Jonathan Cook, a former Middle East staff reporter, foreign editor and columnist for The Guardian, who is currently based in Nazareth where he has won several awards for his reporting. A profile of Cook at the progressive Jewish news site Mondoweiss points out that a key turning point in Cook’s career occurred in 2001 when he had just returned from Israel, having conducted an investigation into the murder of 13 non-violent Arab protestors by Israeli police during the second intifada the year before.

The police, Cook found, had executed a “shoot-to-kill policy” against unarmed victims — as was eventually confirmed by a government inquiry. But The Guardian suppressed his investigation, and chose not to run it at all. Cook says that while the paper does contain some exemplary reporting and insights, and even goes out of its way to condemn the occupation, there are certain lines that simply cannot be crossed, such as questioning Israel’s capacity to define itself as simultaneously an exclusively Jewish and democratic state, or critiquing aspects of its security doctrine.

Cook’s scathing criticism of his former paper in a 2011 Counterpunch article is highly revealing, and relevant, for understanding what happened to me:

“The Guardian, like other mainstream media, is heavily invested — both financially and ideologically — in supporting the current global order. It was once able to exclude and now, in the internet age, must vilify those elements of the left whose ideas risk questioning a system of corporate power and control of which the Guardian is a key institution.

The paper’s role, like that of its rightwing cousins, is to limit the imaginative horizons of readers. While there is just enough leftwing debate to make readers believe their paper is pluralistic, the kind of radical perspectives needed to question the very foundations on which the system of Western dominance rests is either unavailable or is ridiculed.”

Last month, Cook highlighted ongoing subtle but powerful insensitivities of language employed by The Guardian coverage’s of the Gaza crisis which, in effect, served to “disappear” the Palestinians. He specifically identified Freedland as a major player in this phenomenon. “The Guardian’s pride” in having helped create Israel is “still palpable at the paper (as I know from my years there),” especially among certain senior editors there “who influence much of the conflict’s coverage — yes, that is a reference to Jonathan Freedland, among others.”

UPDATE 4th Dec 2014 (10.13AM): Jonathan Freedland has offered a response this morning via TwitLonger, as follows:

“Your piece for Medium implies I was involved in the end of your arrangement with the Guardian. I don’t wish to be rude, but I had literally not heard of you or your work till seeing that Medium piece, via Twitter, a few hours ago. (The Guardian environment website, where you wrote, is edited separately from the Guardian’s Comment is Free site, which I now oversee.) I had no idea you wrote for the Guardian, no idea that arrangement had been terminated and not the slightest knowledge of your piece on Gaza’s gas until a few hours ago. What’s more, I was abroad — on vacation — on the days in July you describe. To put it starkly, my involvement in your case was precisely zero. I hope that as a matter of your own journalistic integrity, you’ll want to alter the Medium piece to reflect these facts. Perhaps you’ll also share this on Twitter as widely as you shared the Medium piece yesterday.”

However, Freedland’s reading of this piece is incorrect. I am not implying that Freedland was “involved” in the end of my Guardian tenure. I have no clue about that, and to be sure, I did not make any such claim above.

My simple point is that my experience of egregious Guardian censorship over the Gaza gas story — which Freedland does not address beyond denying his involvement — has a long and little-known context, suggesting that rather than my experience being a mere bizarre and accidental aberration, it is part of an entrenched, wider culture across the paper of which Freedland himself has allegedly played a key role in fostering.

It is not my fault that the range of journalists I spoke to all described Freedland as the Guardian’s resident unofficial “gatekeeper” on Israel-Palestine coverage. Notably, Freedland fails to address their allegations that he has previously quashed stories which are critical of Israel on ideological grounds rather than reasons of ‘journalistic integrity.’

END

===

This is perhaps not entirely surprising. A book commissioned by The Guardian, Disenchantment: The Guardian and Israel, by Daphna Baram, documents clearly the connection between the newspaper and Zionism, noting for instance that Guardian editor CP Scott had been central to the negotiations with the British government resulting in the Balfour Declaration and the very conception of the state of Israel. Her conclusion is that despite becoming increasingly critical of the occupation after 1967, The Guardian remains staunchly pro-Zionist, its staff devoting “inordinate time and effort” to ensure “fairness to Israel.”

Toward a media revolution

The Guardian, quite rightly, has a reputation for breaking some of the most important news stories of the decade — among them, of course, playing a lead role in releasing Edward Snowden’s revelations about mass surveillance and related violations of civil liberties. Yet hidden in the cracks of this coverage is the fact that while disclosing critical facts, The Guardian has been unable to raise the most fundamental and probing questions about the purpose and direction of mass surveillance, why it has accelerated, what motivates it, and who benefits from it.

Questions must therefore be asked as to why a newspaper that sees itself as the global media’s bastion of liberalism, has engaged in such grievous censorship by shutting down coverage of environmental geopolitics — a phenomenon which is increasingly at the heart not just of conflict over the Occupied Territories, but of the chaos of world affairs in the 21st century.

If this is the state of The Guardian, undoubtedly one of the better newspapers, then clearly we have a serious problem with the media. Ultimately, mainstream media remains under the undue influence of powerful special interests, whether financial, corporate or ideological.

Given the scale of the converging crises we face in terms of climate change, energy volatility, financial crisis, rampant inequality, proliferating species extinctions, insane ocean acidification, food crisis, foreign policy militarism, and the rise of the police-state — and given the bankruptcy of much of the media in illuminating the real causes of these crises and their potential solutions, we need new reliable and accountable sources of news and information.

We need new media, and we need it now.

As print newspapers go increasingly into decline, the opportunity for new people-powered models of independent digital media is rising exponentially. That’s why I’ve launched a crowdfunder to help support my journalism, and to move toward creating a new investigative journalism collective that operates in the public interest, precisely because it is funded not by corporations or ideologues, but by people. If we can create new journalism platforms that are dependent for their survival on citizens themselves, then it is in the interests of citizens that those platforms will function. Until then, fearless, adversarial investigative journalism will always be in danger of being shut down or compromised.

I believe that together, we can create a new people-powered model of journalism that will make the old, hierarchical media conglomerates dominated by special interests and parochial paternalistic visions of the world obsolete. So, if you like, pop along to my Patreon.com crowdfunder for INSURGE INTELLIGENCE, a truly independent people-powered investigative journalism collective that will remain dedicated to breaking the big stories that matter, no matter what. Pledge as little or as much as you like, and join the coming media revolution☺

Dr Nafeez Ahmed is an investigative journalist, bestselling author and international security scholar. Formerly of The Guardian, he writes the ‘System Shift’ column for VICE’s Motherboard, and is the winner of a 2015 Project Censored Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism for his Guardian work. He is the author of A User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save It (2010), and the scifi thriller novel ZERO POINT, among other books.

[eurovision-facts]

Eurovision Fact #261:

Despite winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1979, Israel did not return for the 1980 competition. This was the result of the date of the contest conflicting with Israeli Memorial Day, otherwise known as Yom HaZikaron. This holiday celebrates “... those who died in the War of Independence and other wars in Israel.”

The official Eurovision website incorrectly calls this holiday “Holocaust Memorial Day,” which is actually Yom HaShoah.

In 1980, Yom HaZikaron began on April 19, and ended the 20th. On the other hand, Yom HaShoah took place on April 13th to 14. Eurovision that year was April 19th.

[Sources]

Yom HaZikaron, Wikipedia.com.

Jerusalem 1979, Eurovision.tv.

The Hague 1980, Eurovision.tv.

Participants of The Hague 1980, Eurovision.tv.

Yom HaZikaron 1980 / יוֹם הַזִּכָּרוֹן 5740, hebcal.com.

‘Yom HaShoah 2022: when is Holocaust Remembrance Day and how is it observed in Israel and elsewhere?’ Edinburghnews.scotsman.com.

Yom HaShoah, Wikipedia.com.

Yom HaShoah 1980 / יוֹם הַשּׁוֹאָה 5740, hebcal.com.

[theivorybilledwoodpecker]

Israeli forces press Gaza offensive from north and south

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-forces-step-up-attacks-jabalia-camp-rafah-gaza-2024-05-13/

CAIRO, May 13 (Reuters) - Israeli forces pushed deep into the ruins of Gaza's northern edge on Monday to recapture an area from Hamas fighters, while in the south tanks and troops pushed across a highway into Rafah, leaving Palestinian civilians scrambling to find safety.Some of the most intense fighting for weeks is raging in both the north and south. Israeli operations in Rafah, which borders Egypt, have closed a main crossing point for aid, which humanitarian groups say is worsening an already dire situation. Hundreds of thousands of people are being forced to flee again after around half of Gaza's population took sanctuary there after Israel ordered evacuations from northern Gaza in October. Gaza's health authority appealed for international pressure to reopen access via the southern border to allow in aid, medical supplies and fuel to power generators and ambulances. "The wounded and sick suffer a slow death because there is no treatment and supplies and they cannot travel," it said. A foreign U.N. staff member was killed on Monday when a vehicle travelling to a hospital in Rafah was struck - the first international U.N. casualty in the Gaza war, a U.N. spokesperson said. In northern Gaza's Jabalia, a sprawling refugee camp built for displaced Palestinians 75 years ago, Israeli forces pushed into an area where they claimed to have dismantled Hamas months ago. Residents fled along rubble-strewn streets carrying bags of belongings. Tank shells landed in the centre of the camp and health officials said they had recovered 20 bodies from overnight airstrikes. "We don't know where to go. We have been displaced from one place to the next... We are running in the streets. I saw it with my own eyes. I saw the tank and the bulldozer. It is on that street," said one woman, who did not give her name. The Palestinian death toll in the war has now surpassed 35,000, with 57 killed in the past 24 hours, according to Gaza health officials, whose figures do not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israeli troops are seeking to wipe out Hamas, which has said it is committed to Israel's destruction. The militant group burst into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 and taking more than 250 hostages, by Israeli tallies. Hamas' armed wing said because of Israeli bombardments it had lost contact with militants guarding four Israeli hostages, including U.S.-Israeli citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who appeared in a video released by Hamas in late April. Attending a Memorial Day ceremony to mark Israel's fallen soldiers in Jerusalem on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war against Hamas was a struggle to secure Israel's "existence, liberty, security and prosperity". "Our war of independence is not over yet," he said.In Rafah, Israel stepped up aerial and ground bombardments on the eastern areas of the city, killing people in an airstrike on a house in the Brazil neighbourhood. Residents said Israeli air and ground bombardments were intensifying and tanks had cut off the main north-south Salahuddin road dividing east of the city from the central area. "The tanks cut the Salahuddin road east of the city, the forces are now in the southeast side, building up near the built-up area. The situation is dreadful and the sounds of explosions never stopped," said Bassam, 57, from the Shaboura neighbourhood in Rafah. "People continue to leave Rafah ... no place looks safe now and people do not want to escape at the last minute," he told Reuters via a chat app.

[brookston]

Holidays 4.25

Holidays

Anti-Nuclear Day

ANZAC Day (Australia, New Zealand)

Carnation Day (Portugal)

Dandelion Day

Day of the Circassian Flag

DNA Day

Duck Appreciation Society Day

East Meets West Day (a.k.a. Elbe Day)

Flag Day (Faroe Islands, Eswatini, f.k.a. Swaziland)

Freedom Day (Portugal)

Free Love Day

Get On Board Day

Hairstylist Appreciation Day

Hayek Day

Hostile Aggressive Parenting Awareness Day

Hubble Telescope Day

Hug A Plumber Day

International Amigurumi Day

International Delegate’s Day

International Financial Independence Awareness Day

Liberation Day (Italy, Portugal, South Georgia)

License Plate Day

Mahavir Jayanti (Parts of India)

Malaria Awareness Day

Military Foundation Day (North Korea)

National Airhorn Day

National Amigurumi Day

National Christian College Day

National Crayola Day

National Darts Day

National Financial Awareness Day

National Lingerie Day

National Mani-Pedi Day

National Plumber’s Day

National Quote Day

National Telephone Day

Parental Alienation Awareness Day

Perfect Date Day (Not Too Hot, Not Too Cold; in film “Miss Congeniality”)

People’s Army Foundation Day (North Korea)

Plastic Grocery Bag Day

Poetry Day (Ireland)

Portugal Day (Portugal)

Radunitsa (Ancestors Veneration Day; Belarus)

Red Hat Society Day

Revolution Day (Timor-Leste)

Secotorial Government Holiday (Jordan)

Sinai Liberation Day (Egypt)

Tag des Baumes (Arbor Day; Germany)

20-Something Service Day

Whip-Poor-Will Day (Pennsylvania)

World DNA Day

World Malaria Day (UN)

World Penguin Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Crotilla Day

National Zucchini Bread Day

4th & Last Thursday in April

Dining Out For Life [Last Thursday]

Gathering of Nations (Native American Pow Wow) [begins 4th Thursday thru Saturday]

International Girls in ICT Day (4th Thursday]

Love Your Thighs Day [4th Thursday]

Pay It Forward Day [Last Thursday]

Poem in Your Pocket Day [Last Thursday]

Sumardagurinn Fyrsti (1st Day of Summer; Iceland) [Thursday after 4.18]

Support Teen Literature Day [Thursday of Library Week]

Take Action for Libraries Day [Thursday of Library Week]

Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day [4th Thursday]

Teach Your Children to Save Day [4th Thursday]

Thank You Thursday [6 Days Before 1st Wednesday in May]

Throwback Thursday [Every Thursday]

Weekly Holidays beginning April 25 (4th Week)

Gathering of Nations Pow Wow [thru 4.27]

National Write Your Book in a Weekend Weekends [thru 4.28] (also in Feb, Sep & Nov)

Independence & Related Days

Copan (Declared; 2011) [unrecognized]

Novaland (Declared; 2014) [unrecognized]

Principality of Martin Presidia (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Yom HaAtzma’ut [יוֹם הָעַצְמָאוּת] (Israeli Independence Day observed) [5 Iyar]

Festivals Beginning April 25, 2024

Atlanta Film Festival (Atlanta, Georgia) [thru 5.5]

Bern Geranium Market [Bärner Graniummärit] (Bern, Switzerland)

Beaufort Wine & Food (Beaufort, North Carolina) [thru 4.28]

Buenos Aires International Book Fair (Buenos Aires, Argentina) [thru 5.13]

Busch Gardens Food & Wine Festival (Williamsburg, Virginia) [thru 6.13]

Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo (Calgary, Canada) [thru 4.28]

Gathering of Nations (Albuquerque, New Mexico) [thru 4.27]

Gauge County Maple Festival (Chardon, Ohio) [thru 4.28]

Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival (Marshfield, Missouri) [thru 4.27]

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (New Orleans, Louisiana) [thru 5.5]

San Francisco International Film Festival (San Francisco, California) [thru 4.28]

Shepherd Maple Syrup Festival (Shepherd, Michigan) [thru 4.28]

Vidalia Onion Festival (Vidalie, Oregon) [thru 4.28]

Washington State Apple Blossom Festival (Wenatchee, Washington) [thru 5.5]

World Dog Show (Zagreb, Croatia) [thru 4.28]

Feast Days

Adonia (Greek women's festival)

Anianus of Alexandria (Christian; Saint)

Aristides (Positivist; Saint)

Blessing of the Wheat (Ancient Hungary)

Canadanaigua (festival of lights, ritual of harvest and thanksgiving; Native American)

Cy Twombly (Artology)

Festival of Robigalia (Ancient Rome)

Giovanni Battista Piamarta (Christian; Saint)

Heribald (Christian; Saint)

Ivo (Christian; Saint)

Karel Appel (Artology)

Kebius of Cornwall (Christian; Saint)

Major Rogation (Western Christianity)

Mark the Evangelist (Christian; Saint)

Maughold of Isle of Man (Christian; Saint)

Mr. Hooper (Muppetism)

Mr. T Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Phaebadius, Bishop of Agen (Christian; Saint)

Philo and Agathopodes (Christian; Saint)

Quarks (Muppetism)

The Robigalia (Ancient Roman Grain & Corn Festival)

Walpurgisnacht, Day III (Pagan)

World Penguin Day (Pastafarian)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lucky Day (Philippines) [21 of 71]

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [24 of 57]

Premieres

Abusement Park (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1947)

Baby Mama (Film; 2009)

Big Chief Ugh-Amugh-Ugh (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1938)

Big River (Broadway Musical; 1985)

The Big Short, by Michael Lewis (Book; 2010)

Drooler’s Delight (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1949)

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (Film; 2008)

Homage to Catalonia, by George Orwell (Memoir; 1938)

Infest, by Papa Roach (Album; 2000)

Let’s Eat (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1932)

Let’s Stick Together (Disney Cartoon; 1952)

Manhattan (Film; 1979)

Nuts and Volts (WB LT Cartoon; 1964)

The Old Curiosity Shop, by Charles Dickens (Novel; 1840)

The Other Woman (Film; 2014)

Piére li Houyeû (Peter the Miner), by Eugène Ysaÿe (Opera; 1931)

Polar Playmates (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1946)

Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe (Novel; 1719)

Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion (Film; 1997)

The Sky is Falling (Mighty Mouse Cartoon; 1947)

The Stupidstitious Cat (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1947)

That’s My Pup (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1953)

Turandot, by Giacomo Puccini (Opera; 1926)

Valse Trust, by Jean Sibelius (Orchestral Work; 1904)

We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, by Bruce Springsteen (Album; 2006)

Westward Whoa (WB LT Cartoon; 1936)

Where the Buffalo Roam (Film; 1980)

Today’s Name Days

Erwin, Markus (Austria)

Marko (Bulgaria)

Franka, Marko, Maroje (Croatia)

Marek (Czech Republic)

Markus (Denmark)

Marek, Margo, Margus, Mark, Marko, Markus (Estonia)

Markku, Marko, Markus (Finland)

Marc (France)

Erwin, Markus (Germany)

Markela, Markos, Nike, Niki (Greece)

Márk (Hungary)

Franco, Marco (Italy)

Barbala, Līksma, Liksme, Marks, Markus (Latvia)

Gražvyda, Gražvydė, Morkus, Tolmantas, Žadmantė (Lithuania)

Mark, Markus (Norway)

Jarosław, Marek, Wasyl (Poland)

Marcu, Vasile (Romania)

Marek (Slovakia)

Marcos (Spain)

Markus (Sweden)

Mark, Marko (Ukraine)

Marc, Marcel, Marcella, Marcia, Marcila, Marco, Marcos, Marcus, Marcy, Maricela, Mario, Marisol, Mark, Markus, Marsha (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 116 of 2024; 250 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 17 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Saille (Willow) [Day 12 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Wu-Chen), Day 17 (Ji-Wei)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 17 Nisan 5784

Islamic: 16 Shawwal 1445

J Cal: 26 Cyan; Fryday [25 of 30]

Julian: 12 April 2024

Moon: 97%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 4 Caesar (5th Month) [Cimon]

Runic Half Month: Lagu (Flowing Water) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 38 of 92)

Week: 4th Week of April

Zodiac: Taurus (Day 6 of 31)

Calendar Changes

Lagu (Flowing Water) [Half-Month 9 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 5.12)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 4.25

Holidays

Anti-Nuclear Day

ANZAC Day (Australia, New Zealand)

Carnation Day (Portugal)

Dandelion Day

Day of the Circassian Flag

DNA Day

Duck Appreciation Society Day

East Meets West Day (a.k.a. Elbe Day)

Flag Day (Faroe Islands, Eswatini, f.k.a. Swaziland)

Freedom Day (Portugal)

Free Love Day

Get On Board Day

Hairstylist Appreciation Day

Hayek Day

Hostile Aggressive Parenting Awareness Day

Hubble Telescope Day

Hug A Plumber Day

International Amigurumi Day

International Delegate’s Day

International Financial Independence Awareness Day

Liberation Day (Italy, Portugal, South Georgia)

License Plate Day

Mahavir Jayanti (Parts of India)

Malaria Awareness Day

Military Foundation Day (North Korea)

National Airhorn Day

National Amigurumi Day

National Christian College Day

National Crayola Day

National Darts Day

National Financial Awareness Day

National Lingerie Day

National Mani-Pedi Day

National Plumber’s Day

National Quote Day

National Telephone Day

Parental Alienation Awareness Day

Perfect Date Day (Not Too Hot, Not Too Cold; in film “Miss Congeniality”)

People’s Army Foundation Day (North Korea)

Plastic Grocery Bag Day

Poetry Day (Ireland)

Portugal Day (Portugal)

Radunitsa (Ancestors Veneration Day; Belarus)

Red Hat Society Day

Revolution Day (Timor-Leste)

Secotorial Government Holiday (Jordan)

Sinai Liberation Day (Egypt)

Tag des Baumes (Arbor Day; Germany)

20-Something Service Day

Whip-Poor-Will Day (Pennsylvania)

World DNA Day

World Malaria Day (UN)

World Penguin Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Crotilla Day

National Zucchini Bread Day

4th & Last Thursday in April

Dining Out For Life [Last Thursday]

Gathering of Nations (Native American Pow Wow) [begins 4th Thursday thru Saturday]

International Girls in ICT Day (4th Thursday]

Love Your Thighs Day [4th Thursday]

Pay It Forward Day [Last Thursday]

Poem in Your Pocket Day [Last Thursday]

Sumardagurinn Fyrsti (1st Day of Summer; Iceland) [Thursday after 4.18]

Support Teen Literature Day [Thursday of Library Week]

Take Action for Libraries Day [Thursday of Library Week]

Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day [4th Thursday]

Teach Your Children to Save Day [4th Thursday]

Thank You Thursday [6 Days Before 1st Wednesday in May]

Throwback Thursday [Every Thursday]

Weekly Holidays beginning April 25 (4th Week)

Gathering of Nations Pow Wow [thru 4.27]

National Write Your Book in a Weekend Weekends [thru 4.28] (also in Feb, Sep & Nov)

Independence & Related Days

Copan (Declared; 2011) [unrecognized]

Novaland (Declared; 2014) [unrecognized]

Principality of Martin Presidia (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Yom HaAtzma’ut [יוֹם הָעַצְמָאוּת] (Israeli Independence Day observed) [5 Iyar]

Festivals Beginning April 25, 2024

Atlanta Film Festival (Atlanta, Georgia) [thru 5.5]

Bern Geranium Market [Bärner Graniummärit] (Bern, Switzerland)

Beaufort Wine & Food (Beaufort, North Carolina) [thru 4.28]

Buenos Aires International Book Fair (Buenos Aires, Argentina) [thru 5.13]

Busch Gardens Food & Wine Festival (Williamsburg, Virginia) [thru 6.13]

Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo (Calgary, Canada) [thru 4.28]

Gathering of Nations (Albuquerque, New Mexico) [thru 4.27]

Gauge County Maple Festival (Chardon, Ohio) [thru 4.28]

Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival (Marshfield, Missouri) [thru 4.27]

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (New Orleans, Louisiana) [thru 5.5]

San Francisco International Film Festival (San Francisco, California) [thru 4.28]

Shepherd Maple Syrup Festival (Shepherd, Michigan) [thru 4.28]

Vidalia Onion Festival (Vidalie, Oregon) [thru 4.28]

Washington State Apple Blossom Festival (Wenatchee, Washington) [thru 5.5]

World Dog Show (Zagreb, Croatia) [thru 4.28]

Feast Days

Adonia (Greek women's festival)

Anianus of Alexandria (Christian; Saint)

Aristides (Positivist; Saint)

Blessing of the Wheat (Ancient Hungary)

Canadanaigua (festival of lights, ritual of harvest and thanksgiving; Native American)

Cy Twombly (Artology)

Festival of Robigalia (Ancient Rome)

Giovanni Battista Piamarta (Christian; Saint)

Heribald (Christian; Saint)

Ivo (Christian; Saint)

Karel Appel (Artology)

Kebius of Cornwall (Christian; Saint)

Major Rogation (Western Christianity)

Mark the Evangelist (Christian; Saint)

Maughold of Isle of Man (Christian; Saint)

Mr. Hooper (Muppetism)

Mr. T Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Phaebadius, Bishop of Agen (Christian; Saint)

Philo and Agathopodes (Christian; Saint)

Quarks (Muppetism)

The Robigalia (Ancient Roman Grain & Corn Festival)

Walpurgisnacht, Day III (Pagan)

World Penguin Day (Pastafarian)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lucky Day (Philippines) [21 of 71]

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [24 of 57]

Premieres

Abusement Park (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1947)

Baby Mama (Film; 2009)

Big Chief Ugh-Amugh-Ugh (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1938)

Big River (Broadway Musical; 1985)

The Big Short, by Michael Lewis (Book; 2010)

Drooler’s Delight (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1949)

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (Film; 2008)

Homage to Catalonia, by George Orwell (Memoir; 1938)

Infest, by Papa Roach (Album; 2000)

Let’s Eat (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1932)

Let’s Stick Together (Disney Cartoon; 1952)

Manhattan (Film; 1979)

Nuts and Volts (WB LT Cartoon; 1964)

The Old Curiosity Shop, by Charles Dickens (Novel; 1840)

The Other Woman (Film; 2014)

Piére li Houyeû (Peter the Miner), by Eugène Ysaÿe (Opera; 1931)

Polar Playmates (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1946)

Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe (Novel; 1719)

Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion (Film; 1997)

The Sky is Falling (Mighty Mouse Cartoon; 1947)

The Stupidstitious Cat (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1947)

That’s My Pup (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1953)

Turandot, by Giacomo Puccini (Opera; 1926)

Valse Trust, by Jean Sibelius (Orchestral Work; 1904)

We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, by Bruce Springsteen (Album; 2006)

Westward Whoa (WB LT Cartoon; 1936)

Where the Buffalo Roam (Film; 1980)

Today’s Name Days

Erwin, Markus (Austria)

Marko (Bulgaria)

Franka, Marko, Maroje (Croatia)

Marek (Czech Republic)

Markus (Denmark)

Marek, Margo, Margus, Mark, Marko, Markus (Estonia)

Markku, Marko, Markus (Finland)

Marc (France)

Erwin, Markus (Germany)

Markela, Markos, Nike, Niki (Greece)

Márk (Hungary)

Franco, Marco (Italy)

Barbala, Līksma, Liksme, Marks, Markus (Latvia)

Gražvyda, Gražvydė, Morkus, Tolmantas, Žadmantė (Lithuania)

Mark, Markus (Norway)

Jarosław, Marek, Wasyl (Poland)

Marcu, Vasile (Romania)

Marek (Slovakia)

Marcos (Spain)

Markus (Sweden)

Mark, Marko (Ukraine)

Marc, Marcel, Marcella, Marcia, Marcila, Marco, Marcos, Marcus, Marcy, Maricela, Mario, Marisol, Mark, Markus, Marsha (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 116 of 2024; 250 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 17 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Saille (Willow) [Day 12 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Wu-Chen), Day 17 (Ji-Wei)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 17 Nisan 5784

Islamic: 16 Shawwal 1445

J Cal: 26 Cyan; Fryday [25 of 30]

Julian: 12 April 2024

Moon: 97%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 4 Caesar (5th Month) [Cimon]

Runic Half Month: Lagu (Flowing Water) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 38 of 92)

Week: 4th Week of April

Zodiac: Taurus (Day 6 of 31)

Calendar Changes

Lagu (Flowing Water) [Half-Month 9 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 5.12)

[tieflingkisser]

Independent review panel releases final report on UNRWA

An independent panel released its much-awaited report on Monday about the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), providing 50 recommendations and noting that Israeli authorities have yet to provide proof of their claims that UN staff are involved with terrorist organisations.

“Israel made public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organisations. However, Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this,” according to the 54-page final report, Independent review of mechanisms and procedures to ensure adherence by UNRWA to the humanitarian principle of neutrality. The UN Secretary-General, who received the final report at the weekend, had appointed the independent review group days after Israel announced the allegations against UNRWA, which employees 30,000 people and serves 5.9 million Palestine refugees in the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and war-torn Gaza. The much-awaited final report found that UNRWA, established by the General Assembly in 1949, has extensive tools in place to ensure it remains unbiased in its work and routinely provides Israel with employee lists and “the Israeli Government has not informed UNRWA of any concerns relating to any UNRWA staff based on these staff lists since 2011.”

UNRWA has ‘most elaborate’ rules within UN system

“The set of rules and the mechanisms and procedures in place [at UNRWA] are the most elaborate within the UN system, precisely because it is such a difficult issue to work in such a complex and sensitive environment,” Catherine Colonna, former French foreign minister and head of the review group, told journalists at UN Headquarters following the report’s launch. “What needs to be improved will be improved. I’m confident that implementing these measures will help UNRWA deliver on its mandate.” Strongly encouraging "the international community to work side by side with the agency so it can perform its mission and overcome the challenges when they are there", she said “this is the purpose of the review.” In its nine-week-long review of existing mechanisms, the group conducted more than 200 interviews, met with Israeli and Palestinian authorities and directly contacted 47 countries and organisations, presenting a set of 50 recommendations on issues ranging from education to fresh vetting processes for recruiting staff.

Report steers new UN action plan

The report’s recommendations include creating a centralised “neutrality investigations unit”, rolling out an updated Code of Ethics and associated training to all staff, and identifying and implementing additional ways to screen UNRWA applicants at an early stage of the recruitment process. The report also suggested exploring the possibility of third-party monitoring for sensitive projects and establishing a framework with interested donors to ensure transparency. In a statement on Monday, the UN Secretary-General’s Spokesperson said the UN chief accepts the recommendations contained in Ms. Colonna’s report. He has agreed with Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini that UNRWA, with the Secretary-General’s support, will establish an action plan to implement the recommendations contained in the final report.”

Claims financially hobbled UNRWA

According to the review group’s final report, Israel’s claims against UNRWA triggered the suspension of funding amounting to around $450 million. The direct impact of Israel’s allegations swiftly hobbled UNRWA’s ability to continue its work. Operating solely on voluntary donations, UNRWA saw major donors, including the United States, cancelling or suspending funds for the agency. In April, Washington banned funding for UNRWA until at least 2025, but other donors have pledged additional funding or restored their donations. The new report recommended increasing the frequency and strengthening the transparency of UNRWA’s communication with donors on its financial situation and on neutrality allegations and breaches. The review group suggested regular updates and “integrity briefings” for donors interested in supporting UNRWA on integrity and related issues.

[keep reading]

[40sandfabulousaf]

大家好! Sun's out, legs out, for this workout devout! After an independent review found that Israel had not provided proof to support its allegations that thousands of UNRWA staff are linked to terror groups, the EU is calling for countries which cut funding to UNRWA, such as the US and UK, to resume funding. The US is refusing until it sees 'real progress', although what this means is anyone's guess. Meanwhile, Gaza remains at high risk of famine, especially in the North. Singapore is once again lending a helping hand. For the first time, our country is deploying Red Cross civilian volunteers to assist with ongoing relief operations. This latest tranche of support is valued at US$600million, no small feat for a nation the size of a full stop!

Time for another popular Southeast Asian dish, available mainly in Singapore and Malaysia - bak kut teh (literally translated as pork bone tea, essentially pork rib soup). The Malaysian version is known here as the 'Klang version' although whether it originated from the Klang Valley, I'm not sure. Their broth is more herbal, brewed with Chinese herbs. Ours is a clear soup flavoured with spices, lots of garlic and white pepper. When done well, the meat is so tender, it falls off the bone, as mine did. There were also fu pi (tofu skin) and pork balls in my bowl. The dish is usually eaten with rice or dough fritters so as to absorb the flavourful broth. This was my lunch on a cold rainy day this week and it was mega satisfying! To me, ge you qian qiu (each has its merits), I can't pick a favourite between the Klang version and ours.

This week, I watched a news report about how millions in the UK are in paid employment but struggle to make ends meet. 1 woman was in constant tears, whining about penny pinching and applying superglue to shoes instead of buying new ones. The camera panned to her making butter and cheese toasts for herself and a family member. I wondered why she's crying so much. Would she like to trade places with a Palestinian in Gaza? She has a home, lives in relative safety and enjoys grilled butter and cheese toasts. Palestinians live in crowded tents without clean water and many have just 1 meal a day.

If I don't sound sympathetic, that's because I'm not and won't apologise for it. Lots of people all over the world watch their spending now that prices of just about everything is much higher. Instead of being grateful for a full belly, a roof over her head, clean water and not fearing for her life everyday, it seems like she's taking the opportunity to throw a pity party for herself. To those residing in the UK who think they should not have to go to a community shop instead of a supermarket, get real, yes you have to. Or you could spend a week in Gaza fearing for your life, not having any community shops to buy cheap groceries from and maybe you'll wonder why your country continues to arm Israel.

Given Netanyahu's comments about protests at US' universities against this genocidal war in Gaza and the US' response, I'm beginning to wonder if the US refers to the United States of Israel or United States of America. Maybe it's time to refer to USA as USI instead. After all, it's Israel calling the shots in a country proclaiming to be the most powerful in the world. Powerful meh (colloquial speak for powerful, really)? If it were really powerful, it would be the USI telling Israel the terms rather than the other way around. 下次见!