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THE ABSURD TIMES
Illustration: One child dies every minute in Gaza due to Israeli attacks. By Latuff
Note: There is so much information skewed and hidden in our media that our commentary will come in the next issue that takes up Ukraine. The distortion and obfuscation on Gaza is so overwhelming there is only enough room to reproduce some of the truths here.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2014
MSNBC’s Sole Palestinian Voice Rula Jebreal Takes on Pro-Israeli Gov’t Bias at Network & in US Media
A week after public outrage helped force NBC’s reversal of a decision to pull veteran reporter Ayman Mohyeldin out of Gaza, the sole Palestinian contributor to sister network MSNBC has publicly criticized its coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict. "We are disgustingly biased when it comes to this issue," Rula Jebreal said Monday on MSNBC’s Ronan Farrow Daily, citing a disproportionate amount of Palestinian voices and a preponderance of Israeli government officials and supporters. Jebreal joins us to discuss her decision to speak out against MSNBC and her broader criticism of the corporate media’s Israel-Palestine coverage. An author and political analyst who worked for many years as a broadcast journalist in Italy, Jebreal also shares her personal story as a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship who is married to a Jewish man and has a Jewish sister.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: We turn now to the controversies around media coverage of the crisis here in the U.S. Over the weekend, NBC reversed its decision to remove veteran correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin from Gaza. Mohyeldin was removed shortly after he reported on witnessing Israel’s killing of four boys on a Gaza beach. His reports gave voice to Palestinian victims and placed the siege in the wider context of Israeli occupation, drawing criticism from supporters of Israel’s offensive. NBC’s decision to remove one of its top reporters sparked a massive backlash on social media, with the hashtag #LetAymanReport becoming a trending topic on Twitter. Days later, NBC backed down, and Ayman Mohyeldin resumed his reporting on Sunday. In a Twitter post, Mohyeldin acknowledged the social media campaign that demanded his return, saying, quote, "Thanks for all the support. Proud of NBC’s continued commitment to cover the #Palestinian side of the story."
AMY GOODMAN: On Monday, one of MSNBC’s frequent contributors, Rula Jebreal, took to the network’s airwaves to criticize the initial decision to remove Ayman and the broader exclusion of Palestinian voices. Jebreal was speaking on MSNBC’s Ronan Farrow Daily.
RULA JEBREAL: We’re ridiculous. We are disgustingly biased when it comes to this issue. Look at how many airtime Netanyahu and his folks have on air on a daily basis, Andrea Mitchell and others. I never see one Palestinian being interviewed on these same issues, not even for—
RONAN FARROW: Well, I’ll push back on that a little. We have had Palestinian voices on our show.
RULA JEBREAL: Maybe for 30 seconds, and then you have 25 minutes for Bibi Netanyahu and half an hour for Naftali Bennett and many others. Listen, the Ayman Mohyeldin story, let’s talk about this. We are home, and we can discuss this. Ayman Mohyeldin is covering the Palestinian side, and we get upset. It’s too pro-Palestinian. We don’t like it. We push him back. And thanks for social media, that brought him in. Let’s talk about these issues, and came home.
RONAN FARROW: Point taken, but doesn’t it reveal equally our thinking that we now have Ayman Mohyeldin on air? And I think there’s been very fair and balanced coverage of this.
RULA JEBREAL: Just thanks to social media and thanks for the pushback from the public opinion. And I’m not saying that everybody is like this, but it’s one-tenth is given to the Palestinian voice and 99 percent of the Israeli voice, and that’s why the public opinion is pro-Israeli, which is the opposite in the rest of the world.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Shortly after the interview, Jebreal tweeted, quote, "My forthcoming TV appearances have been cancelled! Is there a link between my expose and the cancellation?" On Tuesday night, she appeared on MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined now by Rula Jebreal to talk about what happened. Rula Jebreal is an author and political analyst who frequently appears on MSNBC. She worked for many years as a broadcast journalist in Italy, where she also covered the Middle East. She is the author of Miral, which was made into a film by Julian Schnabel.
Welcome to Democracy Now!
RULA JEBREAL: Thank you for having me.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. Can you talk about what happened and the decision you made to speak out on your own network?
RULA JEBREAL: Well, I decided to speak on my own network because we are liberal Democrats, and part of the debate of any media in the liberal Democratic landscape is to discuss our own flaws as well as others, not only Bridgegate, but also Mediagate, I would say, a media scandal regarding the biased covering of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. And I looked at studies, and the studies that were made by many scholars, respected American scholars—Juan Cole and others—who are referring to the covering of the media, how much airtime is given to the Israeli officials and how much airtime is given to the Palestinian officials. And it’s a U.S. landscape that is so biased. So, for example, in 2012 you had, on CNN alone, 45 Israeli officials interviewed versus 11 Palestinians. And when it comes to this conflict today in 2014, you have 17 Israeli politicians, official interviewed versus one Palestinian. So we are going backwards regarding this issue. And that forms and shape the public opinion in America, that then transfer and become political support, unconditional, to Israel, to a policy that is very destructive both to the Israelis and to American stands in the world and their credibility.
AMY GOODMAN: Were you the only Palestinian consultant or contributor onMSNBC?
RULA JEBREAL: Absolutely, yes.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: So what happened after, after your appearance on Ronan Farrow where you said what you said, criticizing their coverage?
RULA JEBREAL: I just received emails of cancellation. And I asked question about whether these cancellation are related to what I said earlier. I never had any—tried to call the producers, and nobody answered the phone. Then I tweeted what I tweeted, and immediately there was a social media uproar. I understood—listen, I worked in Egypt. I was kicked out of the country because I interviewed Omar Suleiman, the head of secret Service. I asked him about torturing. I interviewed Silvio Berlusconi in Italy. I’m accustomed with this. When I pushed Silvio Berlusconi on corruption and scandals, my TV show was shut down. I’m accustomed to this. I did not, with all honesty, expect this from us, liberal media, and us who are advocating, telling—going out, saying, "We tell the truth, and we cover this in an unbiased way," I did not expect that.
AMY GOODMAN: The AlterNet writer Max Blumenthal spoke to an anonymousNBC producer who, he said, described, quote, "a top-down intimidation campaign aimed at presenting an Israeli-centric view of the attack on the Gaza Strip," unquote. In his piece for AlterNet, Blumenthal wrote, quote, "The NBC producer told me thatMSNBC President Phil Griffin and NBC executives are micromanaging coverage of the crisis, closely monitoring contributors’ social media accounts and engaging in a [quote] 'witch hunt' against anyone who strays from the official line," Blumenthal wrote. The producer told Blumenthal, quote, "Loyalties are now being openly questioned." Did you have any experience of that, Rula? How long were you a contributor at MSNBC?
RULA JEBREAL: I have to say, I’ve been there for two years, and—I’ve been there for two years. And I have to say, I was talking about the American landscape, not only MSNBC, which has been actually a little bit better than others. But I never experienced anything like this. I mean, I understood doing what I did in Egypt would lead me to be kicked out of the country. I understood in Italy, where Berlusconi controlled most of the media. I was shocked, because most of my friends in the Middle East would tell me, "You know, you will have an issue in America." And I always thought, "No way. We are truth tellers. We are fact checkers. We are people that actually cover both sides. This is what America stands for." And I hope thatMSNBC and other networks will actually revise their policies and will have more voices. It doesn’t have to be me. It’s not about me. We have a media scandal that we need to expose. We are responsible of these failing policies in Gaza and in Israel.
AMY GOODMAN: Had you tried to raise this before in the two years that you were a contributor?
RULA JEBREAL: Oh, privately, I raised it with so many, many, many, many people in the inside. I’ve been pitching myself to talk about these issues on many shows, and I’ve been privately meeting with producers and others. And I told them. I said, "Listen, you have an issue there. Our credibility here at stake. We can’t talk about Bridgegate for six months, and then, when it comes to this, we decide we duck our heads, and we decide to be exactly like the other networks. We can be different. We can be much more bolder, and we can be aggressive. And then maybe the rates are this way because of this." I think most of them were agreeing privately with me, but then, when it comes to what goes on air, I don’t think they did have any power.
AMY GOODMAN: Now, you did go on Chris Hayes last night.
RULA JEBREAL: Absolutely. Chris Hayes contacted me late in the afternoon, and so his producers—
AMY GOODMAN: And he’s on MSNBC.
RULA JEBREAL: And he’s on MSNBC. Of course, we disagreed, but, you know, in the media, we can agree to disagree. We have Joe Scarborough criticizing over and over, and he’s fine, and he’s OK. But one thing is to criticize certain things, but is this a hot issue that nobody can touch? Is this what America’s becoming about?
AMY GOODMAN: So did you lose your job as a contributor?
RULA JEBREAL: I have no idea. I still don’t know. My contract is up, and we’re negotiating still.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And following your appearance on the show, you said one of the things that you hoped your comments would precipitate would be a national debate on the question of Israel-Palestine and how it’s covered. What kind of shape do you think that debate would take? And if it were up to you, what kinds of issues should be raised more frequently in the mainstream media on this particular issue?
RULA JEBREAL: I think what we need to ask: Are we really guaranteeing—by supporting unconditionally this Israeli government, right-wing government, are we really helping Israel being more secure in the long term, and ultimately, American interest and stand in the world? Is that what’s happening? And look, this policy with Gaza has been failing for the last eight years. We had six bombardments in the last eight years, and this did not topple Hamas and did not limit, weaken Hamas. Actually, it empowered more and more Hamas. And moderates like myself—and, for me, Hamas is the ultimate liability for the Palestinian people—but this did not empower moderates. Moderates have been telling Israel over and over, "We want a peace deal. We will agree on most conditions that you want." And as Gideon Levy said in this venue, in this same venue, the problem with our policy, that we want to keep the status quo. That means military occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Gaza under siege.
And we want—and what we are doing in the media, we are portraying actually a false image where what’s happening in Israel—and if you ask anybody, whether in New York, in D.C., in other places, "What do you think is happening?" they will tell you, "Well, Israel was minding its own business. The Palestinians started shooting missiles out of the blue." This is not the reality. This is not what’s going on. And the context of this is what’s leading the public opinion to support unconditionally Israel. And politicians will do what’s popular, not what’s right. We need to do what’s right. We, in the media, have a mission. Whether it’s MSNBC, Democracy Now!, CNN, we have a mission. We are truth tellers, and we can shape public opinion to protect public interest.
AMY GOODMAN: Rula, you have a fascinating story yourself, which you wrote about in your book Miral, which was made into a film. Can you talk about where you were born and your own life story?
RULA JEBREAL: Look, I was born in Haifa. I am an Arab Israeli. I’m a holder for an Israeli citizen—I have. My family lived all their lives in East Jerusalem. I was raised in an orphanage. My family is both Muslims and Christians. I am married to a Jewish man. And I really believe in two-state solutions. A year ago, I discovered that I have a Jewish sister, because my mother, that died when I was five years old, actually had a relationship, and I discovered a year ago that she had—I have a Jewish sister, that is tweeting today, in these days, killing Arabs is a value. This is the reality that I live in.
And I have to be truth—because of what I’ve seen in the Middle East, and because of what I witness, whether it’s in refugee camps, under military occupation, under siege, I’ve seen how pain, grief, and when you keep 60 percent of the population that go almost hungry to bed, and 90 percent without clean water, the only thing that can rise is extremism. And the solution to this is not to bombard them altogether in one place. The solution to this is actually lifting the siege, empowering them financially and let them, themself, you know, create a moderate leadership that eventually can take over. We didn’t manage to topple Hamas, and this is fact. We are failing in our strategy in how to contain extremists. Hamas was dead politically. We will manage, with this war, actually, to revive Hamas and its power and its grip on the Palestinian coast.
AMY GOODMAN: How did you end up going from Haifa, growing up in an orphanage, to becoming a broadcaster in Italy?
RULA JEBREAL: Simply when I was 17-and-a-half, I won a scholarship from the Italian government. I went to Italy. I studied there. I attended college. I became the first anchorwoman on the Italian television—first foreign anchorwoman, black anchorwoman, on the Italian television. I was attacked by the right, especially during the Iraqi War, because I challenged their views on the Iraqi War. When I visited Iraq, it was clear to me that there was no way that a military solution will be met with cheering. And it was clear to me that the country would be divided immediately and the Shiites will take over. So I wrote about this. I was challenged by the right-wing government in Italy on these views. I was even called the N-word on air by one of the ministers of Silvio Berlusconi, who actually was pushed to resign three days after because of the uproar of the media, because of that. Then I worked for so many years in Italy. I was a reporter. I read the news. And then I decided to go to my own world. I went to Egypt. I worked there for three months. I was on-air journalist. I broadcast a TV show—until I started asking the wrong question and tough question to the establishment. After that, I was off air, kicked out of the country. And I hope to find a platform somewhere.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And you’ve worked—you just talked about your work in Italy. How would you say the reporting in Europe on Israel-Palestine compares to what you’ve seen since you’ve come to the U.S.?
RULA JEBREAL: Oh, day and night, day and night, day and night—and simply because of the images that reporters bring from the ground and are allowed to show on air. Here, you know, we have a problem with what we show. The tipping point for me is when people like Rihanna and Selena Gomez are not even—celebrities—allowed to sympathize with the people that are dying—not with Hamas. When they wrote their Twitter and saying, you know, "We pray for peace in Gaza, and we sympathize with the victims," and everybody backlashed on them. And even John Kerry was scared when his microphone was open on Fox, and then he had to actually walk back that line. That shows you something: Everybody is scared when it comes to these issues. It’s time that we in the media have the courage. We expose so many wrongdoing from our own government here and their wrongdoing abroad. It’s time to—it’s time, really, to do a service, not a disservice, to our audience and to our interests in the world—and also to the Israeli, many Israeli people that—and Jewish people, as you showed in your network—that are today calling on Israel to stop their policies.
AMY GOODMAN: Rula, we want to thank you for being with us. Rula Jebreal, author, political analyst, frequently appears on MSNBC. She worked for many years as a broadcast journalist in Italy, where she also covered the Middle East, is the author of Miral, which was also made into a film. This is Democracy Now! When we come back, a debate on the U.S. media coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict. Stay with us.
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2014
A Debate on Gaza: Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada vs. J.J. Goldberg of The Jewish Daily Forward
We host a debate on U.S. media’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict and the roots of the crisis with two guests: Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the website Electronic Intifada and author of the new book, "The Battle for Justice in Palestine"; and J.J. Goldberg, editor-at-large and columnist at the newspaper, The Jewish Daily Forward. Abunimah and Goldberg discuss news headlines that ignore the massive Palestinian toll, whether the ceasefire should address the Gaza blockade, and the history of the conflict.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: We turn now to a debate on the U.S. media’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict. Two days after Israel launched its offensive on the Gaza Strip,The New York Times drew widespread attention on social media when it ran a story with the headline, quote, "Missile at Beachside Gaza Cafe Finds Patrons Poised for World Cup." One of our next guests, Ali Abunimah, tweeted in response to the Times, quote, "Israeli missile stops by Gaza cafe for a drink and dialogue with its Palestinian friends." The Times later changed their headine to, quote, "Israeli Missile Kills 8 Palestinians at a Beachside Gaza Cafe."
AMY GOODMAN: To discuss this headline and much more, Ali Abunimah joins us from Chicago. He’s the co-founder of the website The Electronic Intifada and author of the new book, The Battle for Justice in Palestine. And here in our New York studio, we’re joined by J.J. Goldberg. He’s the editor-at-large and columnist at the newspaper The Jewish Daily Forward.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Ali, let’s start with that headline, the original headline in The New York Times that we just read, "Missile at Beachside Gaza Cafe Finds Patrons Poised for World Cup." Can you take it from there? Explain what happened in that situation?
ALI ABUNIMAH: Well, it’s very simple. The New York Times headlines makes it sound like the Israeli missile stopped by the cafe for a friendly chat. But what the missile actually did was blew to pieces a number of people who had gone to the beach to try to escape from the horror of Israel’s pogrom in the rest of Gaza and to watch a World Cup match, like billions of people around the world, and they died there. That’s what happened. But that’s not what you would get from the New York Times headline.
And I think that the media are failing to convey the enormity of what’s happening to people in Gaza. This morning, I heard from my friend Refaat Alareer. He’s the editor of the wonderful book of short stories by Gaza writers called Gaza Writes Back. He’s outside Gaza now, studying, separated from his family, which is even worse than being in Gaza, for people whose families are there. This morning, he lost his best friend in Israel’s pogrom in Shejaiya, his best friend Usama, who happens to also be his wife’s brother. And his family, his wife’s family have lost eight people in the last five days. This catastrophe, this mass destruction in Gaza, the randomness of the slaughter and the killing is not being conveyed. We have to hide from it in this country because if we reveal the full truth about the horrifying pogrom that Israel is carrying out, a lot of people won’t be able to handle it.
AMY GOODMAN: J.J. Goldberg, can you first respond to that headline, which theTimes then changed to reflect that eight people had been killed, but—and then talk about the larger coverage as you see it?
J.J. GOLDBERG: Well, in general, I find headlines in newspapers to be awful. Having started as a headline writer, you’re trying to be cute and get people to read the article. And the headline writer probably assumed that when they said "missile," the readers would understand that it was going to kill somebody. But you don’t act cute when you’re talking about people dying. So, Ali was right to call attention to it.
I haven’t heard any mention of the fact that Israel is being bombarded. Now, Israelis are not dying because Israel has a good missile defense system. Gaza does not. I don’t think Israel is going to apologize for having a good missile defense system. Israel made it clear: When the rockets stop coming from Gaza, we will stop bombing Gaza. And Israel accepted an Egyptian ceasefire. Hamas, as you briefly mentioned, did not, and does not. So if it’s really so awful that your people are being killed, accept the ceasefire, and then talk about the conditions of the ceasefire, the things you want to come up.
Ali said that there’s—you’re not allowed to mention the deaths. I’ve been watching a lot of television, reading in a lot of newspapers. The deaths, the suffering of the people in Gaza is pretty much all that’s covered here in the last few weeks, partly because of the way news works in America: If it bleeds, it leads. We’ve been inured by local news to bang-bang and shoot-shoot. So, the fact that people are dying in Gaza, which is awful—it’s awful—but that’s the whole story here, how many people are dying. And then there’s some—the fact that there’s a politics behind it, that there is a war going on in which one side wants to destroy the other side and the other side doesn’t want to be destroyed, that’s hardly covered at all.
ALI ABUNIMAH: Can I—
AMY GOODMAN: Ali Abunimah?
ALI ABUNIMAH: Yeah, I mean, J.J. has offered us all of the propagandistic talking points that don’t stand up to scrutiny, and that’s one of the points of the media coverage. The only side that is being destroyed now is Palestine. We’re witnessing the destruction of Palestine—in Gaza, in the West Bank, in the Naqab, in the Negev, where Bedouins are being ethnically cleansed. The destruction of Palestine has been going on for almost 70 years. And J.J. Goldberg has the chutzpah to say that people in Gaza—
J.J. GOLDBERG: The word’s "chutzpah."
ALI ABUNIMAH: —who are fighting for their survival and their existence, are trying to destroy Israel. This is the kind of Orwellian propaganda that is coming from the Israeli government and its apologists in the media here.
Let’s talk about the false claims that J.J. Goldberg made about the ceasefire and Hamas. You know, you can only make those claims, J.J., if you ignore the fact that after the November 2012 ceasefire not one rocket came out of Gaza for three months. Who did violate the ceasefire, J.J.? It was Israel. It bombed Gaza dozens of times. It killed and injured dozens of people. It fired on farmers and fishermen. EvenThe New York Times had to admit Israel’s frequent ceasefire violations. J.J., the answer, if you want to stop rockets, is time-tested and easy: Israel can stop attacking and killing people in Gaza; it can lift the siege.
Also, let’s talk about—you know, it’s not just having Palestinians bleed on television that’s the point of coverage. Where are the Palestinian voices? Yesterday, The Electronic Intifada published a statement by 91 civil society leaders in Gaza, people from the Red Crescent, from the universities, from the media, Supreme Court judges—91 members of civil society—and they said, "We do not want a ceasefire without justice, because going back to the status quo is a living death." The choice we’re being given is between being blown to bits or dying slowly without the world listening.
You know, when there’s a ceasefire, J.J. Goldberg isn’t agitating in The Nation — excuse me, in The Forward, for an end to the siege. What we have is this liberal Zionist navel gazing about how to preserve Israel as a so-called Jewish and democratic state. Enough Palestinian babies have been blown to pieces for this insanity. Enough of lecturing Palestinians that their resistance is illegitimate or futile.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, J.J. Goldberg, let’s—
ALI ABUNIMAH: Palestine is being destroyed, J.J.
J.J. GOLDBERG: Let’s let him go. He’s having a good time.
ALI ABUNIMAH: We’re witnessing the destruction of Palestine, and you have the chutzpah to claim that Israel is in danger.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, what about this point that Ali raises of the siege, that what Mahmoud Abbas has also said it supports Hamas in is not accepting a ceasefire until the siege is lifted, as well?
J.J. GOLDBERG: Right. Mahmoud Abbas came around to that after finding, during his meetings in Qatar, which were apparently very tense, that he wasn’t going to get Khaled Meshaal to accept the Egyptian version of the ceasefire, which is first stop the killing and then talk. And since—
ALI ABUNIMAH: Why can’t Israel stop the killing now, J.J.? Why does Israel have to slaughter 60 or 70 people a day? Why don’t you tell Israel to cease the bombing and the killing now? Why are you telling Palestinians to stop—
J.J. GOLDBERG: You don’t know what I write. You obviously haven’t read a thing that—
ALI ABUNIMAH: —defending themselves?
J.J. GOLDBERG: Should I stay here or leave?
AMY GOODMAN: Well, J.J. Goldberg, why don’t you explain—
ALI ABUNIMAH: Palestinians have a right to self-defense, J.J.
J.J. GOLDBERG: Should I stay here?
AMY GOODMAN: You should stay here and explain what is it that you write, what is it that you say in The Forward.
J.J. GOLDBERG: I have been writing for years that Israel is doing a great disservice to itself and to the Palestinians by resisting a two—
ALI ABUNIMAH: It’s a pogrom, not a disservice. Use the correct words, J.J.
J.J. GOLDBERG: Well—
ALI ABUNIMAH: It’s a pogrom.
AMY GOODMAN: Ali, let J.J. speak.
J.J. GOLDBERG: It’s not a pogrom, and it’s not "chutzpah." And the word is "chutzpah."
AMY GOODMAN: Keep going. You—
ALI ABUNIMAH: And it’s "Hamas," not "Hamas."
AMY GOODMAN: Go ahead, J.J. Explain this issue of the siege. Has The Forward, have you supported a lifting of the siege?
J.J. GOLDBERG: Yes, yes. The siege is extremely counterproductive. It’s cruel, and it’s not working in bringing down the Hamas government.
AMY GOODMAN: And explain what the siege is.
J.J. GOLDBERG: The siege is a closure of the—it’s essentially a collective punishment of the people in Gaza because they are ruled by Hamas, and Hamas is dedicated to the unmaking of the Israeli state. As Rula said before, Hamas is not working for coexistence between Israel and Palestine. Hamas came into power in Gaza by murdering leaders of Fatah, taking over in a coup d’état and turning Gaza into an armed state in order to attack Israel. That’s what’s been going on. Israel responded with an extremely counterproductive collective punishment.
Now, it’s been mentioned that Gaza doesn’t have—Israel bombed its only electrical power plant, which supplied 30 percent of its electricity. The other 70 percent was supplied by Israel. The Israeli power supply to Gaza was shut down by Hamas rockets a week ago, and the Israeli electrical workers are afraid to go out and fix the cables because of Hamas rockets. I don’t know where else to go here.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: J.J. Goldberg, could I ask you also to respond to the point that Ali Abunimah raised about who violated the ceasefire? In one of your recent pieces, you wrote that "[t]he last seven years have been the most tranquil in Israel’s history." That is, prior to what happened on July 8th. "Terror attacks are a fraction of the level during the nightmare intifada years—just six deaths in all of 2013."
J.J. GOLDBERG: Right, I wrote that.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: So could you address specifically, yeah, the ceasefire, who violated it?
J.J. GOLDBERG: The ceasefire, who—well, first of all, it’s important to know that Hamas did observe the ceasefire from November 2012, after the Pillar of Defense, I think they called it, until this outbreak. There were rockets being fired by other groups operating out of Gaza. Hamas was trying to enforce the ceasefire. It did a decent job of it, but it wasn’t perfect. And when there were rockets, Israel went and bombed the rocket squads. And sometimes when Israel bombs the rocket squads, it hits civilians.
ALI ABUNIMAH: Hospitals, mosques, schools, children, everything. It hits everything.
AMY GOODMAN: Ali Abunimah, this issue of having a ceasefire and then negotiating the end of the siege?
ALI ABUNIMAH: Well, I mean, if J.J. Goldberg says that the siege is cruel and it’s collective punishment—all of which is true: It’s a violation of international humanitarian law; it’s in fact a war crime to deprive people under occupation of their basic needs—then why not tell Israel, lift the siege and then talk? Why is the onus always on the occupied, the dispossessed, the refugees, to prove their good behavior to the ghetto masters?
AMY GOODMAN: Well, let’s just put that point—
ALI ABUNIMAH: It seems to me that—
AMY GOODMAN: Let’s just put that point to J.J. Goldberg.
J.J. GOLDBERG: No, he’s not done. Keep going. You’re having a good time.
AMY GOODMAN: No, no. No, no, no. J.J., why don’t you respond—
ALI ABUNIMAH: J.J. just—I haven’t finished my point.
J.J. GOLDBERG: No, he’s—
AMY GOODMAN: Ali, you can make a second point after, but let’s just address that one point.
J.J. GOLDBERG: Well, first of all, he is right that depriving the occupied people of their basic needs is a war crime. They haven’t been deprived of their basic needs. They’ve been kept poor. But they haven’t been starved.
ALI ABUNIMAH: Have you been to Gaza, J.J.?
J.J. GOLDBERG: No, I would be shot if I went to Gaza.
ALI ABUNIMAH: That’s untrue. There are many international people in Gaza now who are not being shot. They’re actually bearing witness, and they’re under the bombing with Palestinians. So stop inciting against Palestinians by these false claims that, you know, Palestinians are such wild monsters that if they see a Jew, they shoot them automatically. This is libel. This is libelous, J.J., and it’s a libel that contributes to the bloodshed because it further dehumanizes Palestinians.
AMY GOODMAN: Let me go to another headline, as we talk about media criticism. This was The Washington Post headline on Sunday’s front page. It was in large letters. It said, "2 Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza clash." And then the sub-headline says in smaller text, "Death toll tops 330 as Hamas militants step up attacks." So, again, the large headline says two Israeli soldiers die, and then the smaller headline, it says 330 people die as Hamas sets up attacks, indicating perhaps it was Hamas who had killed them, let alone even if you thought it was 330 Palestinians, you—it was in the sub-headline. The next day, The Baltimore Sun ran this headline with a story by a McClatchy reporter: "Sharp rise in Gaza deaths: 13 Israeli soldiers, 70 others killed; Kerry to seek end to fighting." "13 Israeli soldiers, 70 others killed," your thoughts on that, J.J. Goldberg?
J.J. GOLDBERG: I would have to see the Post headlines from day to day. If all of their headlines were about Israeli soldiers being killed, then I would say that’s outrageous. But if—what I’ve seen is a lot of coverage, and headline writers need to break up the monotony. Now, there’s a certain monotony to massacre, when it happens day after day.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: J.J. Goldberg, I want to turn to another point that you made in your most recent piece, which is that the momentum turned against Israel only on Sunday following what happened in Shejaiya, that international support for Israel diminished. Could you say a little about how you think that was reflected in media coverage, what the media coverage was like before, when there was more support for Israel’s military assault on Gaza, and what happened after Sunday, in the media coverage?
J.J. GOLDBERG: The media coverage has been fairly straight. It’s been reporting from Gaza on what’s going on.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Before and after.
J.J. GOLDBERG: Before and after. And when there’s a lot more people killed, it looks a lot worse. It is a lot worse. And so, the demonstrations and the rallies against Israel in Europe and America have increased. You begin to see European leaders beginning to distance themselves. I think I wrote the wind shifted, and I’ve written in a couple of tweets and so on that Israel jumped the shark. It went—it went overboard. It went a step beyond what it had been doing. The ground campaign essentially was a declaration of war on the Palestinian people.
AMY GOODMAN: Ali Abunimah, J.J. Goldberg said there’s a monotony to massacre.
ALI ABUNIMAH: I’m still trying to get my head around that phrase, frankly, Amy, just the callousness of it, the inability to absorb the enormity of the catastrophe. Someone calculated that if Gaza were the United States, in terms of population, we’re talking about, you know, 80-90,000 dead in the space of a few days. There isn’t a single family in Gaza that hasn’t lost people. We’re talking about entire families wiped out. At the beginning, J.J. Goldberg was whining that there isn’t enough coverage of Israel being bombarded, as if there’s any comparison whatsoever, not just to what Israel is doing to Gaza now, but to what Israel has been doing to Gaza for eight years, what Israel has been doing to Gaza since 1967, what Palestinians have been going through for decades—being forced off their land, being killed. I mean, we’re not paying attention even to the West Bank. All eyes are on Gaza, but people are being killed in the West Bank. Land is being taken in the West Bank. The destruction of Palestine continues, so that people like J.J. can sit in New York and pontificate about how American Jews in North America need a spare country so that they can feel safe.
AMY GOODMAN: J.J. Goldberg, you have the last 15 seconds.
ALI ABUNIMAH: The destruction of Palestine has to end.
AMY GOODMAN: Ali, let J.J. Goldberg—last 15 seconds.
J.J. GOLDBERG: I hardly know what to say. The—
ALI ABUNIMAH: Call it a disservice, J.J., why don’t you?
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’re going to have to leave it there.
J.J. GOLDBERG: We’re going to have to leave it there.
AMY GOODMAN: J.J. Goldberg, editor-at-large of The Jewish Forward, The Jewish Daily Forward. His most recent article, "As Gaza Toll Rises, So Will Pressure on Israel." And Ali Abunimah, the co-founder of the website The Electronic Intifada, author of the new book, The Battle for Justice in Palestine.
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2014
"Growing Humanitarian Crisis": Palestinian Toll Tops 650 as Israel Attacks Gaza’s Sole Power Plant
Israel continues to bombard the Gaza Strip amidst talks over a ceasefire. Israeli military attacks today include the bombing of Gaza’s sole power plant and the heavy shelling of Khan Younis, killing six people and leaving at least 20 wounded. The Palestinian death toll is near 650, including more than 160 children. Some 4,000 have been wounded. According to Gaza officials, 475 houses have been totally destroyed, and more than 2,600 homes have been partially damaged. Israel has also struck 46 schools, 56 mosques and seven hospitals. Two more Israeli soldiers have been killed, bringing the Israeli military death toll inside Gaza to 29. A farm worker from Thailand also died inside Israel after being hit by rocket fire from Gaza. On the diplomatic front, Secretary of State John Kerry is in Israel today for talks with Israel and then the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has endorsed a Hamas call to condition a ceasefire on ending the seven-year blockade of the Gaza Strip. Speaking today at the U.N. Human Rights Council, Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said there is a "strong possibility" Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza. Pillay cited Israel’s deadly attack on residential homes in the Shejaiya neighborhood and the shelling of the al-Aqsa Hospital. On Tuesday, U.S. and European airlines halted flights to Tel Aviv after a rocket strike landed about a mile from the airport. We go to Gaza City to speak with Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Tel Aviv for talks with Israeli and Palestinian Authority leaders over a possible ceasefire as the death toll continues to rise in Gaza. About 650 Palestinians have now died in the 16-day Israeli offensive. The death toll includes over 160 children. A seven-year-old died this morning when an Israeli shell hit a cart pulled by a donkey. According to Gaza officials, 475 houses have been totally destroyed, and over 2,600 homes have been partially damaged. Israel has also struck 46 schools, 56 mosques and seven hospitals.
AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, two more Israeli soldiers have been killed, bringing the Israeli death toll inside Gaza to 29. A farm worker from Thailand also died inside Israel after being hit by rocket fire from Gaza. On Tuesday, U.S. and European airlines halted flights to Tel Aviv after a rocket strike landed about a mile from the airport.
On the diplomatic front, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has backed calls by Hamas for an end to the economic blockade of the Gaza Strip as a condition for a ceasefire.
We go now directly to Gaza City, where we’re joined by Democracy Now!correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous.
Sharif, tell us where you have just come from.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Amy, I was just at the Gaza power plant, which was hit last night by the Israeli military at least three times with artillery shells. This is Gaza’s only power plant. It provides about 30 percent of the electricity to the Gaza Strip. And it was severely damaged last night, and it’s not working right now, and they’re looking to repair it. This comes as already Gaza is suffering a very severe electricity problem with the vast majority of Gaza’s residents only receiving about four hours a day of electricity. So this is adding to the growing humanitarian crisis that Gaza is facing.
The Israeli military has declared 44 percent of the Gaza Strip as a military zone and warning people in those areas, so essentially pushing in from the border three kilometers. And this is a piece of territory that is, at its widest, nine kilometers wide and, at its narrowest, five kilometers. So, nearly half of the Gaza Strip now has been declared a military buffer zone, and this has caused massive displacement. We’re seeing over 100,000 people being displaced, not just in U.N. schools, but in unfinished buildings, in other people’s homes, in churches. A church, the other day, where some residents—some evacuees were, the graveyard was bombed by the Israeli military. This caused a woman inside to go into labor, and she gave birth inside the church. The Shifa Hospital has become a makeshift refugee camp. There’s many, many residents from Shejaiya, the neighborhood in eastern Gaza City that was razed by the Israeli military on Sunday in one of the bloodiest days of the conflict. I spoke to many people there. They’ve come essentially with nothing. And one of them actually showed me a text message that she received that night from an unknown number—it wasn’t even a number; it was letters—where it received from, and it was a text message in Arabic that said, "You’ve never seen anything like this." And it was presumably a warning to residents from the Israeli military to Shejaiya residents.
And, you know, when we talk about these numbers of children dying and of the number of Palestinians dead and wounded, it’s much easier to understand them by telling their stories. And today in Shifa Hospital, I was just standing there, and a father, a 30-year-old father, came with his 60-year-old mother up to me asking for help. They said that his wife had just given birth to co-joined twins. They’re joined at the stomach. They share a heart and a liver. And they desperately needed to get out of Gaza to go to Israel or any other country to do surgery to split them and to separate them, and that one of the children would be sacrificed for the other. He told me this story, and he said, "Let’s go see the children. I want to show them to you." And we walked into the neonatal ward, met the doctor, and the doctor looked at me and said to me in English, so the man wouldn’t understand, that we’re too late, that they had just died. And then he had to inform the father, who broke down in tears. So these are the kinds of stories that you hear. He’s been trying to get the children out, his newborn twins out, for the past few days, but everything’s been closed. And, you know, this is the kind of drama that you see every day under this brutal military assault.
And also, just on another note, this morning the Israeli military hacked into or took over Hamas’s radio station, Al-Aqsa. And so, while we were driving, we heard these warnings, that were a little bizarre, of the Israeli military saying, "Oh, terrorists, you hear the sound of the plane overhead? You are the target." And then, "Oh, terrorists, best place to feel safe for you is in your grave." And this is part of the psychological warfare that is going on, as well.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Sharif, very quickly, before we conclude, could you say what you think the prospects are for a ceasefire being reached, given what Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said, backing Hamas—the Hamas position on lifting the economic blockade of the Gaza Strip as a condition?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Well, I think it’s a very important development. Many Palestinians here were very pleased at the news. And it unites a single Palestinian front in its demands. And, you know, this is, I think, a key thing. Again, like I said yesterday, whenever you talk about what Gazans are asking for, they’re asking for a lifting of this siege, a lifting of this brutal blockade that affects every single aspect of life. When you talk about water, you talk about electricity, you talk about jobs, you talk about the right to work and the right to travel, all of those things existed before the war. The war has exacerbated these effects very severely. So, you know, this is something that all Gazans are calling for, and I think Abbas’s joining with Hamas is an important development in that.
AMY GOODMAN: Sharif, we want to thank you for being with us. Sharif Abdel Kouddous, stay safe, broadcasting from Gaza City, Democracy Now! correspondent. His pieces are appearing in The Nation magazine. We will link to it at democracynow.org.
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2014
Not In Our Name: Jewish Activists Arrested in Sit-in at Friends of Israel Defense Forces NYC Office
Protests in response to Israel’s assault on Gaza have drawn hundreds — and in some cases thousands — around the world. On Tuesday, members of Jewish Voice for Peace and Jews Say No! occupied the New York City office of the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, a nonprofit group that raises money in the United States to send to the Israeli military. For about an hour, activists read the names of the more than 600 Palestinians killed and demanded the organization stop its fundraising for the military attacking Gaza. Nine were arrested when they refused to leave the premises. We get a video report from the protest.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Protests in response to Israel’s assault on Gaza have drawn hundreds—and in some cases thousands—around the world. Here in New York City on Tuesday, members of Jewish Voice for Peace and Jews Say No! occupied the office of the Friends of the IDF. The nonprofit group raises money in the United States to send to the Israeli military.
AMY GOODMAN: For about an hour, activists read the names of the more than 600 Palestinians killed and demanded the group stop fundraising for the Israeli military. Nine people were arrested when they refused to leave the premises. Others protested outside the office. Democracy Now! was there and brings you some of their voices.
PROTESTER: Find out why Jews are protesting Israel’s war on Gaza. Take a leaflet.
REBECCA VILKOMERSON: My name’s Rebecca Vilkomerson. I’m the executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace. And we’re here today in Golda Meir Plaza at the office of the Friends of the IDF, the Israeli Defense Force, and we’re planning to do an action, the groups Jews Say No! and Jewish Voice for Peace, Jewish activists who are protesting against the war on Gaza, against this incredibly terrible assault on civilians, and protesting the fact that this organization right here is actually raising money for the Israeli Defense Forces, helping them, supporting the assault that they’re making on Gazan women, children and families. So we feel like it’s really important, especially as Jews, to make the statement that this is not in our name and that the Jewish community is not behind this assault in the United States and that they need to stop doing this immediately.
PROTESTERS: No more money for Israel’s crimes! Not another nickel, not another dime!
DOROTHY ZELLNER: My name is Dorothy Zellner. I’m a former civil rights worker. I worked with SNCC for five years in the black liberation movement in the United States. Most of us have been to Israel and the West Bank and Gaza, if not once, many times, and we have seen for ourselves what the conditions are there. And it is totally unbearable to know that this country dares to even say they represent us and they speak for us. There is a sit-in going on right now up in the offices of the Friends of the IDF.
FRIEND OF THE IDF 1: No, no, no. Wait, wait.
FRIEND OF THE IDF 2: Sorry, no one can come in.
PROTESTER: We’re a group of American Jews. We’re here—
FRIEND OF THE IDF 2: I can’t have you stay here. You’re not here with an appointment. I ask that you wait outside.
PROTESTER: We are here peacefully.
FRIEND OF THE IDF 2: I know you are.
ALANA KRIVO-KAUFMAN: We are here to demand, as American Jews, that Friends of the IDF stop funding Israel’s massacre of Palestinians living in Gaza. Over the past two weeks, 621 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed. We are here nonviolently to do a civil disobedience. We mourn all who are lost, and we are reading the names of those who the Friends of the IDF have helped funded the IDF to kill.
BRANDON DAVIS: Thursday, July 10th, the following people were killed: Asmaa Mahmoud al-Hajj, age 22.
PROTESTERS: Asmaa Mahmoud al-Hajj, age 22.
BRANDON DAVIS: Was killed in a bombing in Khan Younis that killed eight members of the same family and wounded 16 other people. Mahmoud Lutfi al-Hajj, age 58.
PROTESTERS: Mahmoud Lutfi al-Hajj, age 58.
BRANDON DAVIS: Khader al-Bashiliki, age 45.
FRIEND OF THE IDF 2: We’re calling the police right now. Excuse me. Excuse me. The police are on their way. You have to wait outside.
FRIEND OF THE IDF 1: This is private property.
PROTESTER: We are here—we are here nonviolently.
FRIEND OF THE IDF 2: No, no cameras!
MAIA ETTINGER: My name is Maia Ettinger. I was raised by two Holocaust survivors: my mother and my grandmother. And in their name, I’m here today to oppose the dehumanization of Palestinians, to oppose collective punishment. These were the things that they suffered and that they taught me to fight on behalf of everyone, not just on behalf of Jews.
BRANDON DAVIS: Suha Hamad, age 25.
PROTESTERS: Suha Hamad, age 25.
PROTESTER: On Wednesday, July 9th, these many Gazans were killed. Abdel Hadi Jumaa al-Sufi, age 24.
PROTESTERS: Abdel Hadi Jumaa al-Sufi, age 24.
PROTESTER: He was killed in a bombing near the Rafah crossing.
POLICE OFFICER: Hey, you’re going to wind up—if you dont leave, you’re going to wind up getting charged with criminal trespass. So, I would advise you, if you don’t want to get arrested, to leave now.
REBECCA VILKOMERSON: We’re here doing civil disobedience peacefully.
POLICE OFFICER: OK, good. Do whatever you want to do.
PROTESTERS: Hatem Abu Salem, age 28.
PRISCILLA READ: Priscilla Read. I’m here appalled by the crimes against humanity being committed by Israel that profess to the world that it’s capable of hitting targets in a very precise way. If this is precision bombing, the world has never seen anything like it. We are repeating the names of the people who’ve been killed in Gaza. The proportion of very young children is appalling.
BRANDON DAVIS: Nagham Mahmoud al-Zouaydi, age two.
PROTESTERS: Nagham Mahmoud al-Zouaydi, age two.
BRANDON DAVIS: Was killed in Beit Lahia. Basem Mohammed Mahmoud Madhi, age 22.
PROTESTERS: Basem Mohammed Mahmoud Madhi, age 22.
REBECCA VILKOMERSON: Looks like they’re preparing to arrest us. They have a bullhorn. When the police come in, we’re going to tell them that we’re here peacefully doing civil disobedience and that we’re here peacefully. We’re mourning all lives that are lost, but we’re holding the Friends of the IDF accountable for helping to support theIDF to kill all these people in Gaza—whose names we’ve been reciting for almost an hour, and we’re still not through the list—and tell them that we’re here peacefully. We will not resist arrest, but that we’re not leaving.
INSPECTOR ED WINSKI: Good afternoon, folks. I’m Inspector Winski from the NYPD You are trespassing on private property. I’m going to give you an opportunity to leave. And if you choose to leave, you can leave now; if not, you’re going to be arrested. So anyone that wants to leave can leave now.
PROTESTERS: [singing] We are a peaceful Jewish people. We are singing for Gazan lives.
AMY GOODMAN: Nine members of the Jewish Voice for Peace and Jews Say No! organizations were arrested Tuesday occupying the offices of the Friends of the IDFin New York. Special thanks to Democracy Now! producers Hany Massoud and Sam Alcoff and to our fellows, Anna Özbek and Daniel Begun, for that report. This isDemocracy Now! We’ll be back in a minute.
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