Still, we call bullshit on that "historic," "landslide," "resounding" win by the Bad Orange Guy at Iowa's GOP caucus. In truth - SAD! - in an abysmally low turnout, he won an underwhelming 56,260 votes from just half of 14% of Iowa's Republicans who, in a surreal touch, stuffed their hand-ripped, unvetted, "downright Rockwellian" ballots into grocery bags and popcorn buckets. Behold, stately American democracy at work.
-- Abby Zimet, "" (COMMON DREAMS).
+ Only 14% of registered Republicans (99% of whom are white) turned out to vote in the Iowa caucuses. Trump captured 51% of them or a little more than 7% of the state’s Republicans. Yet, some, like Glenn Greenwald are interpreting this as a massive rebuke of the NatSec/deep police state…
+ Yet, only 11% of the 100,000 Iowa GOP voters even cited “foreign policy” as their top issue, while 40% want a harsh crackdown on immigrants and presumably support Trump’s vow to bomb Mexico. Iowa isn’t a border state, though even some of its voters (& GG) may not realize this.
-- Jeffrey St. Clair, "Roaming Charges: It’s in the Bag" (COUNTERPUNCH).
Hey --
Late Monday.
Let's thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:
And what did we come up with?
Abby Zimet gets a truest.
Jeffrey St. Clair gets another truest.
Doo-Doo can sink back into the sewer.
Ava and C.I. on so-called 'censorship' of candidates.
Ava and C.I. note how -- as Ava put it, Gaza is not a referendum on feminism and people need to stop trying to make it that and focus on the women in Gaza who are suffering.
Dona said "short pieces!"
See above.
Glad that Jacquie Luqman and Sean Blackmon are back (their show was previously on RT).
Paul Rudnick
Jacquie Luqman
John Cusak.
Repost of THE COMMON ILLS.
Repost of UK SOCIALIST WORKER
What we listened to.
Mike and the gang wrote this and we thank them for it.
Peace.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Oh, Ron DeSantis had another temper tantrum and dropped his bid for the GOP's presidential nomination. We're so happy for his loss.
Christiaan Hetzner (FORBES) reports:
Ron DeSantis ended his campaign for the White House on Sunday, and it may very well be his well-publicized feud with Disney that fatally wounded him in the crucial run-up to Iowa.
The Florida governor first rose to nationwide prominence with his state's push to limit discussion of sex education and gender identity in schools.
Doo-Doo DeSantis always bit off more than he could chew. From April 2, 2023, Isaiah's latest THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Ron's Disney World Tantrum."
Back to Hetzner:
But it was his clumsy attempt to strip Disneyworld of its special status under state law as punishment for Disney employees speaking out against the bill that cost him vital donor support in the latter half of last year.
"DeSantis made a fatal error. His whole anti-Disney, anti-corporate stance is so foolish," said Kathy Wylde, CEO of a trade organization that represents Wall Street executives, in comments to Politico. "He's totally alienated the business community."
Even as Bob Iger branded DeSantis "anti-business" -- a difficult stance to take when vying for support among free-market Republicans -- the Disney CEO still attempted to build a face-saving off-ramp for the governor, only to be rejected.
It was an anti-business stance. Rational people grasped that -- meaning, Jonathan Turley kept egging Doo-Doo on and supporting Doo-Doo's war on DISNEY. That's the sweetheart of the Federalist Society for you -- possibly the only one more insane than Doo-Doo.
Poor dumb Doo-Doo.
Last week, as Mike noted, Doo-Doo was pretending Iowa was a win for him only to have a FOX "NEWS" host point out to Doo-Doo's face, "But you didn't win a single county [in Iowa]." Mike noted repeatedly last week that the campaign was over and Doo-Doo needed to drop out -- even offering: "Bury his campaign already. Look, if it's an issue of pall bearers, dig the hole, I'll help carry the coffin."
It's finally over and, Doo-Doo, we're thrilled to see you go.
See also:
Gloria La Riva is probably never going to win the US presidency. But we've covered her in the past and would cover her again because she is a real candidate. It's not a vanity run and she is raising real issues. Jill Stein couldn't even call out Barack Obama in 2012 for sending US troops back into Iraq secretly while campaigning on the false claim that he had pulled all US troops out of Iraq. But when Mitt Romney looked like he might be scoring points on Barack, Jill comes alive to rush forward and defend Barack from Mitt.
If you want to be covered by the news media, you need to make some news. Yacking is not making news. Candidates are expected to make speeches, after all.
Currently, the Israeli government is slaughtering Palestinians in Gaza. Asked why, the leaders screech "Hamas!" The children being killed are not Hamas, but the leaders screech it and they also pretend that an October 7th attack on Israel was the first time that violence ever took place, that October 7th was the originating action as opposed to nearly 80 years of incidents since the Israeli state was established on Palestinian land. As last week drew to a close, War Criminal and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confessed reality to the world. Emma Graham-Harrison and Toby Helm (GUARDIAN reported,"Defiant Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on opposition to Palestinian statehood, deepening the divide with Israel’s closest international allies, as cracks in his wartime 'unity' government became increasingly evident."
As two American feminists, we have spoken out since this wave of terror aimed at Gaza started following October 7th. We've called for a cease-fire, we've noted that civilians are being targeted, that the use by the Israeli government of White Phosphorus broke international law, that targeting hospitals broke international law, that collective punishment is a violation of international law, and much more.
Saturday, Caroline Faraj and Abeer Salman (CNN) reported:
The Jordanian military has accused Israeli forces of deliberately targeting its field hospital in Gaza on Wednesday, saying Israeli tanks fired on the hospital where personnel were sheltering.
The Israel Defense Forces have denied the claim, saying they did not strike the Jordanian field hospital and that the hospital remains "unharmed, fully functioning and continues to provide medical care to those in need."
The Jordanian Armed Forces said in a statement Friday: "This action was not a result of a clash with resistance factions, asserting that the deliberate targeting of the Jordanian Field Hospital is consistent with Israel's approach to targeting hospitals in Gaza."
The armed forces said the attack involved heavy firepower, including direct fire from tanks and vehicles, and that one tank blocked the entrance to the hospital
It said one Jordanian officer and one person from Gaza who was receiving treatment were injured in the attack, which also caused "substantial material damage" to the facility. The injured Jordanian officer will be evacuated to Jordan, the statement said.
The Jordanian Army provided video they say shows damage to the hospital following attacks in the area Wednesday. The video shows what appear to be shell or bullet holes in the walls of the hospital, as well as damage to the roof.
Remember when the Israeli government used to lie that they weren't attacking hospitals? Now days, they're too exhausted to lie.
Let us take a moment here to reveal something: No feminist is running the Israeli government or the Palestinian side or, for that matter, the White House.
We didn't think we had to explain that. Apparently, however, we do.
In America -- and maybe a writer for a foreign outlet doesn't grasp this -- feminists have been under attack. Why? Because we demand evidence. The questionable claims, for example, that on October 7th, rape was carried out (the Israeli government is also now saying that pedophilia was carried out that day by Hamas as well), require evidence. There is no woman saying she was raped. There is no video evidence despite all the cell phone captures that took place on October 7th. A witness has finally come forward and might be believable if they weren't already on record back in October saying that they didn't see any rape.
Feminists in the US are aware that claims are made to promote war. There was never any desire, for example, to liberate the Afghanistan women. Lies said otherwise, but actions exposed reality. Lies are used to promote war. That's why anyone -- feminist or not -- should always be hesitant to claims made by a government to justify their war on a people.
So the unproved claims that mass rape took place on October 7th were not embraced by US feminists. We collectively required proof. There was an exception to that on the part of Jewish US women -- many of whom are not feminists. They are women but they are not feminists.
No, children, Miss David Schwimmer is not a feminist.
But we got attacked, feminist in the US, for not defending the rapes of women who may or may not exist. We were slammed for wanting proof of some form.
And that was expected. It wasn't fair but it was expected. That's how war mongers play. But then a foreign outlet decided to slam US feminists for not rebuking the unproven rape claims.
Excuse us?
Now maybe because you're not in the US, you don't know what you're talking about. If so, learn to write about what you know and shut up when it comes to US feminism.
You're not helping anyone. Maybe your helping yourself get clicks by spreading lies -- especially lies that a male dominated society loves to hear.
But you're not being honest and you're not shining the light where it belongs: The suffering of females in Gaza.
The report specifically analyzed the war's impact on women. According to the data:
Earlier Friday, the UN International Children's Emergency Fund said there had been nearly 20,000 births in Gaza during the current war -- with many of the mothers suffering or dying in childbirth due to a lack of resources, and newborns facing dismal conditions.
Women are among those suffering in Gaza. And these issues need to be addressed, these are feminists issues.
But it's way past time for angry people in other countries to attack women. That's all the attacks on US feminism are and we're sick of it.
Amy Schumer is not a feminist, she's a fat celebrity whose fame faded some time ago. Julianna Margulies is not a feminist. Her behavior long ago made that clear as she attacked and terrorized Archie Panjabi on the set of THE GOOD WIFE. Karma has rewarded her and she's no longer a lead actress or, for that matter, a celebrated actress. She's a forgotten person. Miss Dave Schwimmer is also not a feminist. Rape apologist and transphobe Mayim Bialik is not a feminist -- and like Julianna, her career appears more or less over. The pursuit of self is not feminism. The advancement of only themselves is not feminism.
We are feminists. That's why we've written this article. Look around at the other websites and let us know who else has noted the United Nations Women report?
Having bored us with repeats throughout the fall -- some of which they imported from HULU, DISNEY+, PARAMOUNT+ and elsewhere, the networks are supposedly finally returning with programming meant to enjoy. Really? Have they looked at the mystery meat that they're serving up?
1) STUPID PET TRICKS
Sarah Silverman tries to pretend she has a heart by recycling this tired and old bit from David Letterman's 1980s talk show.
2) DATELINE WEEKEND MYSTERY
NBC really has nothing to offer and dips further into the toilet with yet another DATELINE show.
3) BAD ROMANCE: A SPECIAL EDITION OF 20/20
Believe it or not, once upon a time 20/20 was an actual news magazine like 60 MINUTES. Now days, it's JERRY SPRINGER.
4) ANYTHING ON THE CW
The only thing worse than NBC is THE CW which will continue to airing repeats. In fact, their big upcoming move? Turning Sunday nights over to THE CW SUNDAY NIGHT MOVIE. If that's not bad enough, the last 30 minutes of their schedule will air THE CONNERS. New episodes of the sitcom? No. Reruns. That's what a garbage dump THE CW has become.
5) JUDGE STEVE HARVEY
ABC keeps trying with Steve Harvey in prime time. It never works, but they keep trying. This go round, Steve Harvey pretends he's JUDGE JUDY. Didn't we all suffer enough with LITTLE BIG SHOTS?
6) WE ARE FAMILY
Steve, take comfort in the fact that you're not Anthony Anderson. In this 'game show,' Anthony and his overrated mother (who has not captured America's heart and refuses to go away) try to entertain you. Only on FOX, right?
7) 20/20
How do you make a piece of garbage worse? Airing two hours of it in a row on Friday nights. Is anyone at ABC NEWS proud of this embarrassment?
8) WWE FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN
A show so bad, even THE CW dropped it. If you wondering how low FOX can sink, grasp that as bad as it currently is, things can and will get much worse.
9) I AM
Another program that THE CW swipes from Canada while pretending they're making their own programs. They're not. They are a channel of reairs.
10) THE WALL
This NBC 'game show' has been on for years and its ratings are so bad that they don't even try to pretend by including them in their WIKIPEDIA entry.
If you eat a candy snack, what do you go with? Here's are list ranked from top to bottom.
1) M&Ms
2) Skittles
3) Three Musketeers
4) Ike & Mike
5) Junior Mints
6) Snickers
7) Butterfinger
8) Hershey chocolate bar
9) Reece's Peanut Butter Cups
10) Milky Way
Today the Disney Princesses welcomed Casey DeSantis's return, declaring, "We knew she'd be back. She'll be greeting people on Main Street and working the snack bar at the castle" pic.twitter.com/yL5Bl7m4j7
— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) January 22, 2024
2 months post-kidney transplant & it feels like forever & just yesterday. We’ve figured out I’m still anemic like I was during dialysis & that makes the tiredness & insomnia worse but I’ll be treated for that soon. I’ve come a long way & I have a long way to go. pic.twitter.com/nt4koMaVrK
— Luqman Nation Media (@luqmannation1) January 21, 2024
If you don’t speak out against this US sponsored mass murder spree - don’t EVER express an opinion about human rights - race gender equality - any thing -
— John Cusack (@johncusack) January 22, 2024
If you can’t say stop murdering children -
Take a vow of f**king silence - and go to hell.
This is mass insanity https://t.co/9AelyF8lJ0
Repost of C.I.'s snapshot to up Gaza coverage here:
Most of the casualties were women and children, the ministry said, and thousands more bodies were likely to remain uncounted under rubble across Gaza.
Speaking at a global summit in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, denounced Israel’s three-month assault.
“Israel’s military operations have spread mass destruction and killed civilians on a scale unprecedented during my time as secretary general,” Guterres said at the opening of the G77+China, a coalition of 135 developing countries.
“This is heartbreaking and utterly unacceptable. The Middle East is a tinderbox. We must do all we can to prevent conflict from igniting across the region.”
This morning, Clea Caulcutt (POLITICO) reports:
Only a trickle of patients and their relatives, a couple of dozens every day, are let through at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, where they are screened by Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian authorities. Only men who have suffered severe and life-changing injuries are allowed out.
Yazan is one of the few Palestinians who have been able to evacuate after suffering injuries in Israel’s bombing campaign launched after Hamas’ attacks against Israel on October 7. After weeks lying on a stretcher in overcrowded hospitals, Yazan left Gaza via Rafah alongside his aunt and his 4-year-old cousin who was suffering from severe diarrhea after sheltering for days in an overcrowded school.
Reiterating urgent international calls for a ceasefire, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that there have been nearly 20,000 births since the start of widespread Israeli bombardment in response to Hamas-led attacks in Israel that left some 1,200 dead and approximately 250 taken hostage.
Chronic aid access problems have meant that Caesarean sections have been performed without anaesthetic while other women have been unable to deliver their stillborn babies because medical staff are overwhelmed, the UN agency said.
“Mothers face unimaginable challenges in accessing adequate medical care, nutrition and protection before, during and after giving birth,” said UNICEF Communications Specialist Tess Ingram.
“Becoming a mother should be a time for celebration. In Gaza, it's another child delivered into hell.”
Echoing deep concerns about the deteriorating humanitarian situation, UN World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed alarm that hepatitis A infections had been confirmed in Gaza.
“The inhumane living conditions – barely any clean water, clean toilets and possibility to keep the surroundings clean – will enable hepatitis A to spread further and highlight how explosively dangerous the environment is for the spread of disease,” Tedros tweeted on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.
The latest WHO data indicates that on average 500 people are sharing one toilet, and over 2,000 people have to use a single shower, increasing the risk of disease spread.
In addition to a sharp rise in upper respiratory infections, diarrhoea cases among children under age five recorded during the last three months of 2023 were 26 times higher than reports from the same period in 2022, the UN health agency noted.
Pediatric doctors told NBC News yesterday that they were concerned about the spread of the Hepatitis C virus and other diseases among young children in southern Gaza.
“We are seeing many cases of Hepatitis C,” Dr. Bessam Hamouda said as he treated patients in the children’s ward of Rafah's El Najar Hospital.
“It spreads in the packed and the difficult conditions the Palestinian people are in, displaced, tents and the big number of children and the pollution around them. This is a virus which contaminates children in particular,” he added.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.
Israeli forces are pushing further into southern Gaza, with airstrikes and ground troops attacking areas that Israel had previously told Palestinians to flee to as safe zones. Over the past few days, Israel has bombed areas close to Nasser Hospital, the largest remaining semi-functioning health facility in Gaza, located in the southern city of Khan Younis. Gaza only has 16 partially functioning health facilities remaining. Before Israel’s assault, Gaza had 36 hospitals. The hospitals that are still working are operating far beyond their capacity, have been turned into makeshift refugee camps to house the displaced — and makeshift morgues — with health officials describing the situation as catastrophic. The Health Ministry estimates that over 60,000 people have been wounded in Gaza, with hundreds more casualties every day. The casualty count at this point is nearing 25,000, more than 10,000 of them children.
For more, we’re joined by Dr. James Smith, an emergency medical doctor who just returned from Gaza earlier this month, where he worked alongside Palestinian healthcare workers to treat patients at Al-Aqsa Hospital located in Deir al-Balah in the middle of the Gaza Strip. Dr. James was in Gaza with the organization Medical Aid for Palestinians. He’s joining us now from London.
Dr. James, welcome to Democracy Now! Describe what you saw, what you confronted, the work you were doing, what’s happening at Al-Aqsa Hospital.
DR. JAMES SMITH: Hi, Amy.
So, yes, as you say, I was working with a team. There were 10 of us. Myself, I was with the organization Medical Aid for Palestinians. We were accompanied by colleagues from the International Rescue Committee. And very importantly, we were — it’s important to really reiterate that we were working with our Palestinian colleagues, so doctors, nurses, other healthcare professionals, at Al — sorry, at Al-Aqsa Hospital. Al-Aqsa is a hospital based in the middle area of Gaza, so south of Gaza City and north of Khan Younis.
Myself, I was working in the emergency room. So, we would position ourselves in the ER every morning and, really, at that point, wait to see what the day would bring. Every single day, without exception, there were multiple mass casualty incidents at the hospital. So that’s several patients presenting at a time with traumatic injuries of varying severity. Those patients would require stabilization and then often transfer through to the operating room for surgical intervention. Some patients would require palliative care, if we were able to provide some form of palliative care, and in addition to many, many trauma patients. And by “many,” I mean several hundred over the time that we were working at Al-Aqsa. We were also treating patients presenting with complex medical problems, so people that had suffered heart attacks, for example, had suffered from strokes, and people whose hypertension or diabetes management had been negatively impacted, usually through a lack of access to their usual medication or because they hadn’t been able to see their usual doctor for several months. And then, furthermore, we were also seeing an even greater number of people with, effectively, primary healthcare-level problems.
So, the entirety of the primary healthcare or community care system in Gaza has completely collapsed. In fact, the entire healthcare system, the Ministry of Health has already announced several months ago, has completely collapsed. But that meant that anyone presenting with so-called, well, more minor complaints — coughs, colds, diarrheal illnesses — they were all also presenting to the emergency room to be seen by the doctors and nurses there.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about treating children, Dr. James?
DR. JAMES SMITH: Sure. So, as you’ve mentioned, a significant proportion of the people that have been killed since the start of this escalation are children. We certainly saw every mass casualty incident in the emergency room. There were several children also present. I remember very vividly some of the most traumatic injuries inflicted upon people were inflicted upon children. And they would include open chest wounds, open abdominal wounds, traumatic amputations, severe full-thickness burns to a substantial proportion of the body area — really some of the most horrific traumatic injuries that I have ever seen.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re actually showing images for our TV audience of Al-Aqsa Hospital and of the children and the adults who have been wounded there. You know, it’s really important to point out, if you’re talking about a hospital in normal times that has repeatedly been attacked, it would — and that’s severely compromised in its functioning, but we’re talking about this constant bombardment, where you have people coming in who have been severely wounded. You have people taking refuge there. And is it both like a refugee camp and a morgue?
DR. JAMES SMITH: So, there were several thousand people that had sought supposed sanctuary within the hospital compound itself. And we’ve seen this in several other hospitals across the Gaza Strip. There were reports, for example, of thousands of people sheltering in the Al-Shifa compound before that was surrounded and raided by the Israeli occupation forces. The same was the case at Al-Aqsa. So there were people staying in makeshift tents in and around the hospital buildings. Just up the main street adjacent to the hospital, sort of another IDP camp, internally displaced persons camp, had sort of formed very organically on open land. As the Israeli ground forces moved closer to the hospital and as the bombardment, the artillery and air bombardment, intensified, many of those — many thousands of those displaced people have displaced further south towards Rafah. And that also includes patients who were in the hospital at the time that we were working there. Many of them have also fled, along with many of the staff, as well.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to a clip, and it’s really important to play these clips. Right now Gaza has experienced the longest communications blackout of this Israeli attack for the last three months. I think it’s something like seven days. So it’s really hard to get information inside this intense Israeli bombardment in the vicinity of Nasser Hospital, the main hospital in Khan Younis, the largest remaining semi-functioning health facility in Gaza, and tanks and armored vehicles are on the main road leading to the area. On Wednesday, Democracy Now! reached Dr. Ahmed Moghrabi, who works in Nasser Hospital. He described the situation on the ground and the difficulty in getting out any messages. This is what he had to say.
DR. AHMED MOGHRABI: Thank you, sister, for asking about us. Thank you for letting me speak out here. We don’t have internet at all. I managed to get a very weak signal. I can’t upload any of these videos. Here, 90% of people who are already evacuated at the hospital, they evacuated from the hospital. Ninety percent of medical personnel evacuated from the hospital.
And this is my little daughter, actually. She got head trauma Saturday. You know, hundreds of these evacuating people at the corridor, somebody pushed her, and she fell on her head. Now I’m taking care about my — this little girl. She needs medicine. She’s not well. So I stay at the hospital now, but I want to evacuate. The situation is catastrophic, sister. Really, I’m very tired. I’m very tired.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Dr. Ahmed Moghrabi, and the image we’ve been showing as he spoke was Dr. Moghrabi holding his own wounded daughter. I’m wondering, Dr. James, if you can talk about the significance, the medical significance, of a complete — almost complete telecommunications blackout, in terms of ambulances being reached, people being able to communicate to get help.
DR. JAMES SMITH: Absolutely. I mean, this is a catastrophic development. As you’ve mentioned, Amy, this, I think, is the seventh time that the Israelis have suspended access to telecommunications across almost the entirety of the Gaza Strip. This is now day six or seven of a complete sort of telecommunications blackout. It makes it almost impossible to do anything.
So, in the first instance, people can’t reach their families, their loved ones. They can’t communicate with colleagues. They can’t reassure family that they’re OK, or indeed relatives and friends can’t inform family members and so on when somebody has been killed or injured. There have been occasions where the emergency number has not been in use. So, as you say, it’s been difficult to call ambulances or mobilize ambulances to places where there has been an air or artillery strike. It makes it very difficult for health and humanitarian workers to do their essential work —
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Smith, we —
DR. JAMES SMITH: — so they can’t coordinate with each other.
AMY GOODMAN: We only have 10 seconds. What message do you have for the world, just having come out of Gaza? Ten seconds.
DR. JAMES SMITH: The violence needs to end immediately.
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. James Smith, emergency medical doctor, just back from Gaza, where he worked to treat patients at Al-Aqsa Hospital.
That does it for our show. Democracy Now! has job openings. Check democracynow.org.
A Palestinian-American teenager was shot and killed Friday by Israeli troops in the West Bank, Palestinian officials told Reuters.
The 17-year-old boy was shot during clashes with Israeli forces, the victim's uncle told Reuters.
A State Department spokesperson would only confirm to CBS News that a U.S. citizen had died in the West Bank, adding that "we are working to understand the circumstances of the incident and have asked the government of Israel for further information."
According to Wafa, the Palestinian National Authority's official news agency, the boy was shot in the head. Wafa identified him as Tawfiq Ajjaq.
Celebrated UK-based Palestinian writer and director Ahmed Masoud lost his brother in Gaza after he was hit by an Israeli air strike.
“I knew I was going to write a post like this, I knew I wouldn’t find the words,” Masoud, who grew up in Gaza and later moved to the United Kingdom, wrote on X.
He showed earlier this month how his brother Khalid’s home was almost entirely destroyed after being targeted by an Israeli air strike as drones buzzed in the background. Then, his brother was shot by an Israeli sniper in the leg.
“A few days ago he went missing. A drone bombed, he lost his leg and bled for three days. My brother and friend is gone.”
ALJAZEERA notes that professors have been murdered:
Israel has killed 94 university professors, hundreds of teachers and thousands of students during its war in Gaza, a rights group has said.
The Israeli military has targeted academics and intellectuals “in deliberate and specific air raids” on their homes without prior warning, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said in a statement on Saturday.
These figures appear to have been targeted with “no justification or clear reason”, the monitor said.
“The targeted academics studied and taught across a variety of academic disciplines, and many of their ideas served as cornerstones of academic research in the Gaza Strip’s universities,” the Geneva, Switzerland-based group said.
In related news, Miriam Berger and Hazem Balousha (WASHINGTON POST) report:
The Israeli military says it is reviewing the decision to destroy the main building of Gaza’s Israa University in what appears to have been a planned explosion.
In a widely viewed video geolocated by The Washington Post, a camera apparently attached to a drone shows the sprawling building outside of Gaza City implode, demolishing the educational complex and engulfing the area in smoke.
The university shared news of the explosion of building, which housed its graduate and undergraduate studies, Wednesday.
Israa University Vice President Alaa Matar told The Washington Post that he could not confirm the date of the blast: Israeli forces, he said, had been occupying the campus for about 70 days, and Palestinians could not safely access the area. Matar spoke by phone from the southern city of Rafah, where more than half of Palestinians in Gaza have fled.
Satellite imagery of the area, assessed by The Post, showed the building intact on Jan. 13 and destroyed the next day. Most cellular and other communications had been unusable in the Gaza Strip for more than a week, from Jan. 12 until Friday evening.
The Israel Defense Forces' detonation of more than 300 mines planted at Israa University in Gaza on Wednesday provided the latest evidence that Israel's objective in its bombardment of the enclave is not self-defense, rights advocates said.
"This is not self-defense," said Chris Hazzard, an Irish member of the United Kingdom's Parliament. "This is not counter-insurgency. This is ethnic-cleansing."
The International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) called the destruction of Israa University Israel's latest attempt to carry out a "cultural genocide" along with the slaughter of at least 24,620 people in just over three months—people who Israeli officials have claimed are legitimate military targets despite the fact that roughly half of those killed have been children.
The wiping out of cultural landmarks was included in South Africa's International Court of Justice case accusing Israel of genocidal acts in Gaza last week, with the complaint noting that "Israel has damaged and destroyed numerous centers of Palestinian learning and culture," including libraries, one of the world's oldest Christian monasteries, and the Great Omari Mosque, where an ancient collection of manuscripts was kept before the building was destroyed in an airstrike last month.
"The crime of targeting and destroying archaeological sites should spur the world and UNESCO into action to preserve this great civilizational and cultural heritage," Gaza's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said after the mosque was bombed.
Phillippe Lazzarini is the Commissioner General for UNRWA - the UN agency with specific responsibility for Palestinian refugees. He's just returned from his fourth visit to Gaza since the start of the war.
"There are today more than half a million children in the primary and secondary school system. How will they go back if you cannot bring people back to their homes which have been completely destroyed," Mr Lazzarini tells me.
"And I'm afraid that we're running the risk here of losing a generation of children."
Images of Israeli troops cheering as educational institutions were blown up went viral on social media, including one showing the complete demolition of a distinctive blue UN school in northern Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that he “will not compromise on full Israeli control” over Gaza and that “this is contrary to a Palestinian state,” rejecting U.S. President Joe Biden’s suggestion that creative solutions could bridge wide gaps between the leaders' views on Palestinian statehood.
In a sign of the pressures Netanyahu’s government faces at home, thousands of Israelis protested in Tel Aviv calling for new elections, and others demonstrated outside the prime minister’s house, joining families of the more than 100 remaining hostages held by Hamas and other militants. They fear that Israel's military activity further endangers hostages' lives.
