On Tuesday, October 17, over 1100 Israelis joined an open letter to the international community organized by “Israelis against Apartheid,” asking other countries and the UN “to intervene immediately to stop the indiscriminate bombing of 2.3 million people living in the Gaza strip”, “to prevent the imminent and disastrous ground military invasion into Gaza,” and “to agree to a prisoner and hostage exchange immediately”.
The group was first formed in 2021 with another 1500-strong petition, calling upon the international community to intervene against the 2021 Israeli attack on Gaza. Last week, on October 12, members of the group shared a similar urgent call for intervention with 400 foreign embassies and diplomats in Israel and with the UN. One of the group’s organizers stressed that “as we watch now hundreds killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Gaza hospital, we implore the international community to stop its cooperation and support for any further killing and displacement of civilians”.
The group’s spokesperson further said that “the Israeli government is using the tremendous loss of Israeli civilian lives to implement a genocidal campaign on the men, women and children of Gaza, ignoring calls of Israelis, including those who just lost their loved ones, to stop.”
“We mourn the indescribable loss of life, and call for massive pressure upon the Israeli government to agree to a prisoner and hostage exchange immediately, and for a safe humanitarian corridor to be created for medical teams and supplies, electricity and fuel. Please help us stop this catastrophe, which is costing the lives of thousands and destroying the vision of a just and safe future for the region.”
13 October, 2023 | International Solidarity Movement
Occupation forces have issued a 24-hour deadline for 1.1 million civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate to the southern parts of the besieged enclave. The demand for a harrowing evacuation of terrified civilians includes an order to clear out all UN workers from the area. This is obvious preparation for a disastrous and brutal ground invasion.
Over 1,500 civilians have been killed, including hundreds of children and more than 6,000 people have been injured. A ground invasion will greatly exacerbate the loss of civilian life and the suffering and misery of the people of Gaza.
Contact your representatives NOW and demand that they put an end to the Israeli government’s blatant violations of international humanitarian law and end the oncoming ground invasion. Light up their phones and email inboxes. Circulate this alert widely!
Script:
Hello, my name is _______.
I am calling because I am horrified at the violence being inflicted on the civilians of Gaza. A ground invasion will greatly exacerbate the loss of civilian life. Urge restraint NOW!
-NO GROUND INVASION must be allowed to occur.
White House
President: Joseph Biden
Online: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switch Board: 202-456-1414
TTY/TTD: 202-456-6213
Vice-President
Vice President: Kamala Harris
Online: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switch Board: 202-456-1414
TTY/TTD: 202-456-6213
U.S. House of Representatives
Phone: 202-224-3121
U.S. Senate:
* Telephone: 202-224-3121
* Website: http://www.senate.gov/
Find your representative’s contact information in the house of Congress by ZIP code
If you are based in the UK, find your local MPs contact information here: https://members.parliament.uk/members/Commons
In these days, as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing “mighty vengeance” following Saturday’s offensive by the Palestinian resistance, European governments are releasing statements essentially greenlighting Israel’s bombing campaign, which has already killed more than 400 Palestinians in Gaza and that might soon be followed by a ferocious ground invasion. For its part, the United States government has pledged a swift additional package of military aid to Israel. Once again deciding to directly participate in the crimes of the Israeli government.
Colonial violence is rising in the West Bank, as Israeli soldiers and settlers seek reprisals against Palestinian communities. The Israeli government now feels it has additional clearance from the West to escalate its project of ethnic cleansing.
The International Solidarity Movement maintains its presence on the ground in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to stand in solidarity with Palestinians, provide protective presence and report on human rights abuses.
Given the dire situation, more volunteers are needed. We are calling for all those who stand in solidarity with Palestine to join ISM’s efforts on the ground in the West Bank.
The ISM also calls on everyone in solidarity with Palestine to act immediately to stop Israeli massacres by organising demonstrations, and pickets and direct actions, organising boycott campaigns in line with the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli apartheid. We also call for people to contact their representatives, and lobby them to condemn the colonial policies of the Israeli state.
Palestinians have been living under Israeli occupation, settler colonialism and racist military dictatorship for decades. In particular, for 16 years Palestinians in Gaza have been subjected to an inhuman military blockade, under which the Israeli government calculatedly deprives two million Palestinians of the most basic necessities, such as access to essential goods, medical treatment, electricity and water. Recurrent bombing campaigns by the Israeli military killed more than 6400 Palestinians between 2008 and 2022, and deliberately targeted critical civilian infrastructures such as schools, hospitals and water plants.
Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem face killings, torture, beatings, night raids, settler pogroms, tear-gas, house and school demolitions, collective punishments, ethnic cleansing, expulsions, land seizure, arbitrary arrests, humiliations at check-points, and systematic racial discrimination on a daily basis.
No Palestinian is a stranger to the war that Israel has been waging on them for decades, a war that has only escalated under the current Israeli government, the most far-right the country has ever seen.
On Saturday Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel was at war. What this really means is that for the first time in decades, Palestinians are not the only ones facing the consequences of Israel’s colonial apartheid state.
The International Solidarity Movement joins Palestinians and Palestine solidarity activists and organisations all around the world in restating that the root cause of the current violence is Israeli occupation and settler colonialism. Until the oppression of Palestinians comes to an end, Israel is responsible for the death and misery of Palestinians and Israelis. Governments and companies that directly support Israeli apartheid and military occupation, and the international community that fails to react to constrain Israeli terror, also share responsibility for the continuing violence.
ISM activists will maintain their presence on the ground in the West Bank and continue their efforts outside of Palestine to stand in solidarity with Palestinians against Israeli oppression, until freedom, justice and equality is achieved. We invite you to contact your local ISM support group and join us in Palestine.
As the olive harvest season approaches (starting in October until mid/late November), the International Solidarity Movement is calling all activists and supporters to join us on the ground in Palestine.
While this is a period when Palestinian families get together in the field and celebrate harvesting, it is also a time of increased violence and harassment by illegal Israeli settlers and Israeli soldiers. Palestinian olive trees are often close to settlements or inside Israeli “military areas”.
There will be therefore a strong need for volunteers to join the harvesters and form a protective presence. International volunteers are being called for by Palestinian communities, so there will be a strong welcome too.
Here is a quote from of volunteers who have been in Palestine with ISM during summer 2023:
“While here, we’ve been proud to be part of the International Solidarity Movement, and to uphold the 20 years history of internationals following Palestinian leadership and supporting the struggle using non-violence. ISM in the past had up to 100 volunteers on the ground, spread across many different areas. During Covid, numbers dropped off entirely, and since then have remained low. Having a larger group of us here over the summer has enabled us not only to provide protective presence and support in Masafer Yatta, but also to reconnect with and establish contacts, and work on building structural capacity both in the ISM presence within Palestine, and the international support groups.”
This journal contains some more early summer 2023 updates from ISM voluteers.
You can find more info on joining us here. For the olive harvest, we encourage you to plan your trip to attend training at the start of October, or start of November. However, whether you are ready to book flights, or if you are in the earlier stages of considering travelling in the next weeks or months, please email at ISMtraining[at]riseup.net.
Apartheid Israel must be charged for state terrorism for the killing of 2 year old Muhammad Tamimi.
Mvezo Komkhulu (The Great Place), Monday 5th June 2023: The passing of 2 year old Palestinian infant Muhammad Tamimi as a result of being shot in the head four days ago by Israeli soldiers is another act of brutality that has come to represent the daily atrocities perpetrated by Apartheid Israel against innocent Palestinians.
Those responsible must be charged with his murder and Netanyahu, his regime and those who act in consort with them have the blood of this innocent child on their hands.
Muhammad Tamimi was brutally shot outside his home in Nabi Saleh and has become the latest victim of Apartheid Israel’s state terrorism.
We are appalled by this level of inhumanity and the ongoing crimes against humanity and call for immediate charges to be brought by the International Criminal Court against Netanyahu.
Apartheid Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands and its continued expansion of illegal settlements in violation of international law is the cause of these acts of brutality, ethnic cleansing and systematic genocide.
We call for justice for 2 year old Muhammad Tamimi and all Palestinian children being butchered by Apartheid Israel. His death brings the number of children brutally killed by Apartheid Israel in 2023 alone to almost 40 children and the number of Palestinians killed by Apartheid Israel to nearly 200 this year.
It is inconceivable that the UN Convention on the Rights of Children carries zero weight for the perpetrators of these heinous crimes against humanity.
We will not rest until the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice.
We convey our heartfelt condolences to the Tamimi family and the Palestinian people on the occasion of the martyrdom of Muhammad Tamimi. We demand justice for him, for all Palestinian children murdered by Apartheid Israel and condemn in the strongest terms these crimes against humanity.
ENDS
Nkosi Zwelivelile
Royal House of Mandela
Mvezo Komkhulu
P.O. Box 126
Viedgesville 5102
Eastern Cape Province
South Africa
