Posts
THE ABSURD TIMES
Illustration: What a sweetheart. Just one more strange thing in a ridiculous world. One thing that was noticeable: The Wagner Group that did so much fighting up until this man decided to march toward Moscow rather than Ukraine was mispronounced for several days early on. Obviously, to anyone with any cultural education (and that means a smaller group each day) knows it should be pronounced with the "w" as a "V". It took our media anywhere from three to four days to catch on to that. That is fairly rapid, however. It took about two months for this guy's plane to crash on a flight from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Putin doesn't like putsches. ISRAEL AT IT AGAIN HUMAN SUBJECTS by Honest Charlie Right now, Israel is carrying out systematic and relentless torture and destruction in the West Bank. They block the roads so ambulances are trapped and the wounded are trapped with them. These vicious vipers are not the poor, helpless, victims of any holocaust: rather, they are carrying out one against Palestinians, unarmed ones, and women and children. There will probably be an intifada as a reaction. Meanwhile, below is an interview on how that country is using the Palestinians as laboratory specimens. I could go on with more detail, but the last edition was on this subject as well and it was eschewed, more or less, but I do have to put this out there so as not to be associated with it. Oh, yes, I understand we give one billion dollars a day in aid to them. Does anybody know where that is documented? Perhaps it is only each quarter? At any rate, I've spent some time as a research administrator. It is a function in Universities that is essential as there are several arcane and demanding routine matters that true researchers, bright and creative faculty members, find quite irrelevant to anything and simply an imposition on the search for scientific results. The problem is that the awards, the "grants" are awarded if the "proposal" is deemed worthy by some sort of committee of "peers" and is subject to administrative conditions that have been negotiated between the university and a designated agency. These include the amount of "indirect costs" (overhead for facilities and the like) and adherence to certain regulations in the Federal Requisition Requirements (I'm not sure I remember that last word correctly as the specific issues in the registry always referred to as FAR Clauses). Most researchers are completely unaware of these requirements and they are equally unaware that the grant is awarded to the University, not to the researcher. People in the local office are often viewed as interlopers and barriers to research while they are supposed to be both relieving the faculty member from the tedious requirements, especially in book-keeping and legal compliance. Unfortunately, since most people in those offices who have contact with the faculty are little more than bookkeepers, such irritation is often justified. I started out in that sort of office as an editor and managed to change faculty attitudes toward me, at least, not by complaining about some arithmetical error on their part, but by requesting permission to change the limit on a particular integral or perhaps to correct a minor error in the level of one of the "noble elements". The researchers were amazed that someone in such an administration office even knew what an integral was (goes back to Newton or Leibnitz, depending on your affiliation). From that position, I graduated to being in charge of "Sponsored Projects" (meaning grants) and ultimately Director of Research. Some of the issues (and there were many) to deal with were Animal Research Protocols and Human Subjects Protocols. The animal research essentially demanded that the lowest possible life form be used in the experiments. Equally important, I noticed, was to not run afoul of PETA (an agency for which I have great respect and am glad to be relieved of such responsibility). So, for example, one of the most brilliant researchers (like it or not) filling out the "method of euthanasia" on an animal use protocol form wrote "break neck". Granted, he was using mice that flourished until used, the terminology would easily cause public relations problems with PETA in the lead. The head of the review board, a noted faculty member, also raised concern. Eventually, it became "cervical dislocation". Now who could argue with that? Human subjects was an entirely different and more rigid area when it came to medicine, and the "community representatives" did not have a clue. When it came to surveys, the issues were protective of anonymity, although I often raised questions about the methods of statistical analysis, causing myself more trouble that it was worth. The whole point here is that this following interview was conducted a few weeks ago, but I have examined the issues in the meantime. The result is that the man makes his case correctly and that we, citizens of this country, should be appalled at our own ignorance of what is being done with our approval. The holocaust was over in 1945 or thereabouts. It is now 2023, going on 2024. Allowing this sort of behavior is tantamount to collusion. I'm sure this will irritate many, but it needed to be said. Anyway, Here is the interview: * * * * We speak with journalist and author Antony Loewenstein about his new book, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World. Loewenstein explains that Israel's military-industrial complex has used the Occupied Palestinian Territories for decades as a testing ground for weaponry and surveillance technology that it then exports around the world for profit. "You find in over 130 countries across the globe in the last decades, Israel has sold … a range of tools of occupation and repression that have initially been tested in Palestine on Palestinians," Loewenstein says. TranscriptThis is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World. That's the title of a new book by the Australian journalist Antony Loewenstein, who examines how Israel's military-industrial complex has used the Occupied Palestinian Territories for decades, he says, as a testing ground for weaponry and surveillance technology that they then export around the world. Antony Loewenstein is the author of a number of books, including Disaster Capitalism and My Israel Question. He was based in East Jerusalem between 2016 and 2020. His most recent article for The Sydney Morning Herald is "Being Jewish and critical of Israel can make you an outcast. I should know." Antony is joining us from Sydney, Australia. We welcome you to Democracy Now!, Antony. Your book has just come out. What do you mean by the term "the Palestine laboratory"? ANTONY LOEWENSTEIN: Thanks so much for having me on, Amy. What I mean by that is that the occupation of Palestine by Israel is now the longest occupation in modern times, 56 years and counting. There's obviously been an occupation of sorts since 1948, but particularly since 1967. And during those years, what Israel has done, very successfully, from its perspective, is find various tools and technologies to maintain and control Palestinians. And what they've done during that time, what Israel has done, is increasingly export those tools and technologies, but also those methods, those so-called counterinsurgency methods. So, what I look at in the book, both being on the ground in Palestine for many years and also through declassified documents and various interviews across the world, is that you find in over 130 countries across the globe in the last decades, Israel has sold forms of anything from spyware, so-called smart walls, facial recognition tools — a range of tools of occupation and repression, that have initially been tested in Palestine on Palestinians. So, in other words, what I'm saying is that the occupation of Palestine is not staying there. It's not a conflict that remains geographically based just in Palestine. It's become so-called global Palestine. AMY GOODMAN: How would you describe politicide, a term you use? ANTONY LOEWENSTEIN: "Politicide," I think, was a term that was coined by Baruch Kimmerling, who is now the late amazing academic. And he was talking really about the concept of a desire within many in the Israeli elite to find ways to destroy Palestinians, not necessarily just through killing them, but also through extinguishing their political identity, their political self-determination. And when looking from the outside, one could argue that in some ways Palestinian resistance lives on. Your last segment talked about that very strongly. Palestinians mostly have not left Palestine. They remain there. But certainly, from the current Israeli government, and, I would argue, for decades, there has been a sense that there's a way to crush Palestinian aspirations, their views, their political reality, their future, their horizon. And by doing so, Israel has increasingly marketed that to a global audience, including in its whole identity as an ethnonationalist state. It's arguably the most successful ethnonationalist state in the world, a Jewish supremacist state. And growing numbers of nations around the world, from India and others, look to Israel with admiration and inspiration. AMY GOODMAN: We just covered Modi and the lavish reception he got by the president of the United States, Biden, with a state dinner last night, the joint session of Congress. Talk about — a little more about how India looks to Israel. ANTONY LOEWENSTEIN: Look, what India is doing under Modi, of course, is not solely because of Israel. But traditionally, Israel and India were not particularly good friends. But in the last 10 years or so, since Modi took power in 2014, there's been a real ideological alignment. But the relationship is really twofold. One, it's a defense relationship. So India buys huge amounts of technology, defense equipment, spyware. I interview a number of people in my book, individuals in India, lawyers, others, who are spied on by Israeli spyware, particularly Pegasus by NSO Group. But also, there's an ideological alignment, a belief that many Indian officials in the Hindu fundamentalist government there are openly talking about admiration for what Israel is doing in the West Bank, and wanting to do something similar in Kashmir. And what I mean by that is, they say that — two reasons. One, because Israel gets away with it. No one's stopping it. There's a complete state of impunity that Israel has globally, really. But secondly, this idea of bringing in, according India's view, huge numbers of Hindus to Muslim-majority Kashmir to settle that territory, to build so-called settlements akin to what Israel is doing in the West Bank. And I think there's a really disturbing ideological alignment. I would actually make the comparison between Israel and India today to Israel and apartheid South Africa back in the day — nations that were very, very close ideologically and got inspiration from each other, in the belief, in Israel's case, of course, being a Jewish supremacist state, in India's case, being increasingly a Hindu fundamentalist state. And that, to me, is something that should concern people, including the U.S. president. AMY GOODMAN: So, Antony, you talk about a Jewish supremacist state. I'm wondering if you could talk about your own background, something that you take on in this last piece you wrote, "Being Jewish and critical of Israel can make you an outcast. I should know." And talk about your family, your grandparents, your great-grandparents, those who died in Auschwitz, those who didn't survive the Holocaust. ANTONY LOEWENSTEIN: Most of my family, sadly, Amy, like most Jews who lived in Europe, perished in the Holocaust, including Auschwitz. And the ones who got out and escaped Europe, particularly in 1939, just before the war started, escaped to wherever they were given a visa: Australia, Canada, the U.S., elsewhere. And the ones who came to Australia, when I was growing up — I was born in the mid-'70s in Melbourne — Israel was not the center of their lives, but Israel was seen as a safe haven. For those who don't know, as a Jew, I can go to Israel tomorrow, and within a few months, I can almost certainly be a Jewish citizen, if I can prove that I'm Jewish. And I think, for many Jews, including my family, there was a real reluctance, and, in fact, a hostility, to any kind of Palestinian reality, Palestinian story, even to meet Palestinians. I mean, as a young Jew, I never met Palestinians. And I think there is a change going on, but, certainly, when I started writing about this issue around 20 years ago — I wrote a book in 2006 called My Israel Question, where there were attempts by the Israel lobby in Australia to censor the book. There was attempts to pulp the book. There was condemnations of me in Parliament. I mean, it was ridiculous. The book became a best-seller, thanks to all that ridiculous controversy. But over that time, my parents, both of whom lost most of their Jewish friends, because it was the sins of the son — I was being critical of Israel. I was trying to humanize Palestinians. Now, I'm not the only Jew, of course, who was saying this. And I'm really encouraged in the last years, in Australia, the U.S. and other Western countries, a growing, almost like a Jewish insurgency against particularly an older generation of Jews who doesn't want to humanize Palestinians and somehow believes that Jewish identity should be tied to Jewish supremacy. And so, for me, personally, I don't claim to be a victim. That story that you referenced at the beginning sort of gives a bit of a pallid history of my life, but also explains that one does pay a price for it. One does pay a price as a Jewish person. I'm a secular anti-Zionist Jew today. But I feel often that there is a real moral collapse in much of the Jewish diaspora in the last decade. It is changing, but not nearly fast enough. AMY GOODMAN: Antony, we were talking about the horrific shipwreck last week of migrants, maybe up to 700 dead. Can you talk about Israeli technology used by the European Union to surveil and target asylum seekers? ANTONY LOEWENSTEIN: This really shocked me, you know, years ago, when I started doing some work on this issue. The short version is that the European Union in the last years after 2015, when they were, in their view, overwhelmed by particularly Muslim refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere, didn't want to ever repeat that. And they put in place almost a fortress-type Europe, which has occurred in the last years, which is a range of tools and technologies to keep people out — mostly Muslim and Brown and Black bodies, of course. And part of that arsenal is using Israeli drones. They're unarmed, but they are flying over the Mediterranean 24/7, and they're used mostly by Frontex, which is the EU's sort of border security arm. And they're the eyes in the sky, essentially. So, they are sending back all these images 24/7 to Warsaw, which is where Frontex is based. And the EU has made a decision — of course, they don't admit this, but this is the reality — of letting people drown. This is the new policy. There are very, very few rescue boats. The EU barely rescues anyone. There are some NGOs that are trying to do so, and I deeply admire what they're doing. So, the Israeli drone becomes a key arsenal in part of this infrastructure of essentially allowing people to drown. And to me, it really goes to the heart of why Israeli drones are used by the EU, because they were battle-tested in Palestine over Gaza in a number of years in the last 15 years. And you see this almost Israeli border-industrial complex exported across the U.S.-Mexico border, for example. There are massive amounts of Israeli surveillance towers, made by Elbit, which is Israel's leading defense company, dotted across the border. It's a key part of the U.S. arsenal across its border with Mexico. And why was that company chosen by the U.S.? Because, of course, it was tested first in Palestine. So, to me, the real concern in the 21st century is, as the climate crisis worsens, as resource wars are worsening, as refugee numbers have never been higher since World War II, many Western nations are, sadly, making a choice to not welcome people in — as we saw with the recent awful shipwreck disaster in the Mediterranean — but, in fact, to build higher walls and more surveillance. And Israeli surveillance and technology and repression is part of that arsenal that many nations are now buying, because it's been used, in their view, successfully on Palestinians in Palestine. AMY GOODMAN: And do you have evidence of the United States in particularly controversial situations working with Israel to perhaps have, for example, in Guatemala, Israel work there so that the United States won't get — won't be held responsible? ANTONY LOEWENSTEIN: Absolutely. One of the things I document in the book really clearly is that over the last 50 years a lot of nations that the U.S. was close to, Israel almost became an American wingman, often supporting, arming, training nations the U.S. even couldn't do officially because of some issue maybe in Congress. And that did include nations like Guatemala, including at a point where they were committing genocide against their Indigenous populations. And one of the reasons that many of those nations — Guatemala, Honduras, Chile under Pinochet, a range of other nations in Latin and South America, or, of course, it went far further, including in Africa and Asia — was that these nations were really attracted by the idea of learning the so-called skills that Israel was gaining through its occupation after 1967. How is it managing the Palestinian population? How is it repressing them, essentially? And a huge amount of evidence, through declassified documents and interviews, much of which is in the book, virtually goes to the heart of showing that the U.S. and Israel became almost like invaluable partners during that period, to the point where today — look, America remains the world's biggest arms dealer. Forty percent of the world's arms is sold by the U.S. Israel is now 10th. And just last week, in fact, Israel released its 2022 arms figures: $12.5 billion U.S., the biggest amount ever. And 25% of that was going to Arab autocracies, after the so-called Abraham Accords, the Trump deal from a few years ago. So we're talking about Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and others. So, what are they selling? They're selling repressive technology, spyware, intelligence gathering, a range of other tools, to prop up U.S.- and Israeli-backed dictatorships in the Middle East. So, this is what the Israeli arms industry is about. Like, this, to me, is not just a moral failing, but a really dark stain on the Jewish legacy 75 years after the Holocaust. Like, this is what we've become — "we" meaning the Jewish population of the world. The legacy seems to be backing and supporting and arming the worst regimes in the world. AMY GOODMAN: Let me ask you about something you mentioned earlier, and that's NSO's Pegasus. Explain further how it's used and how it is used to infect the phones, for example, of journalists, some, for example, who are in jail, like in Morocco, as you talk about the Abraham Accords, Omar Radi, who we interviewed before he was imprisoned, and has been now for several years. ANTONY LOEWENSTEIN: Pegasus got a lot of attention in the last years, as viewers will know, as probably the most known or infamous Israeli spyware. Essentially, it's a tool that allows any government or military intelligence or police department to spy on someone's phone, iPhone or Android, and get all the information from that phone. And it's popped up in dozens and dozens of countries around the world. And I spend a lot of time in the book interviewing some of the victims of that surveillance, in Togo, for example, in Mexico, in India. And Mexico, interestingly enough, is the biggest user of Pegasus by far. There is an absolute addiction in Mexico, both under right-wing governments and the current nominally left-wing government. Governments don't want to give this tool up. And it's not just Pegasus. Of course, there are many other Israeli companies doing the same thing. But one of the things that I explore in the book is that so much of the media in the last years around Pegasus missed the key point. It was almost framed as a rogue Israeli company doing terrible things around the world, when, in fact, companies like Pegasus actually are only private in name. They are basically arms of the state. Netanyahu and the Mossad, who have been going to various countries in the last 10 years — I document this in the book, and this has also been shown by Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper — often go to nations, like Saudi Arabia, Rwanda and others, and they hold Pegasus and other tools as a diplomatic carrot: "If you support us in the U.N. or elsewhere, we will sell you the most powerful spyware in the world." And it works, because it's been sold in UAE, in Saudi, in Rwanda and many other repressive states. So, unless there is a complete ban or massive regulation, which currently does not exist at all, these technologies will continue. And even if NSO Group disappears tomorrow — and it's currently in financial crisis — many other companies do exactly the same thing, and which is why Israel is now one of the leading spyware exporters in the world. AMY GOODMAN: Well, Antony Loewenstein, I want to thank you so much for being with us, author of the new book, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World. If you want to see our interview with the now-imprisoned Moroccan journalist Omar Radi, as well as our other work talking to the University of Toronto lab and others about Pegasus, you can go to democracynow.org. The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.
|
Thursday, August 31, 2023
Human Subjects
Subscribed
Wednesday, March 01, 2023
Fwd: The Huwara Pogrom: This is Zionism
|
Thursday, August 11, 2022
Lawn Mowing
THE ABSURD TIMES
I llustration: This is from the great Latuff and is posted here about the Israeli attacks of
the weekend and the interview concerns those. Before simply passing it by, please note that this illustration was done in 2019 during the previous administration. Mark
Twain is quoted as saying "History doesn't repeat itself – it rhymes."
What Happened?
By
Leith the Lucid
This is an interview about the obnoxious behavior of Israel. It is really not a religious issue so much as it is greed and disgust. It does fit in with the great replacement theory somewhat. See, the idea here is to replace the pure white citizens (people who in Stalin's terms become "useful idiots") with low socialist sorts (you know, social security, medicare, safety net programs in general) who are black or brown and even yellow skinned and vote Democratic or are non-MAGA in general. The last version of this term I have heard is MOTHERS AGAINST GREGG ABBOT. At any rate, it is time to get this out and over with. I'm tired.
The death toll from three days of an Israeli military bombardment on Gaza has reached at least 44 Palestinians, including 15 children. At least 350 Palestinians were wounded. Bombing has since stopped after Israel and the Islamic Jihad militant group agreed on Sunday to a ceasefire brokered by Egypt, and border crossings reopened on Monday to allow bare necessities in. We go to Gaza to speak with the journalist and activist Issam Adwan, who says Israel's military operation is meant to bolster the current Israeli government ahead of November elections. "They are using the Palestinian blood to promote a campaign for certain individuals," says Adwan.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: In Gaza, at least 44 Palestinians, including 15 children, have been killed in three days of an Israeli military bombardment before a ceasefire began Sunday. At least 350 Palestinians were wounded. Palestinians accused the Israeli government of launching the attack in an effort to build political support ahead of November's elections. Palestinian children who survived the Israeli assault described horrifying scenes. This is a 9-year-old girl named Leen Matar who was pulled from the rubble.
LEEN MATAR: [translated] I was at my grandfather's house when suddenly the rubble started to fall on us. And we started screaming, and the neighbors came to rescue us. … We don't want to keep going through this. Every year there are strikes, killings of children and injuries. I am happy that I am alive, because I always had a dream to fulfill, which is to become a doctor and help people in such times, to help them because I have been through many problems like this.
AMY GOODMAN: Israel defended the bombardment of Gaza, saying it was a preemptive operation targeting militants with the group Islamic Jihad. Two senior Islamic Jihad commanders were killed in the attack. During the bombardment, Israel also cut off fuel to Gaza, leading to blackouts across the region.
For more, we go to Gaza now to speak with Issam Adwan, Palestinian journalist, activist, researcher and new father.
Issam, welcome back to Democracy Now! This ceasefire has been declared between Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Israel. Can you talk about what has happened over the weekend?
ISSAM ADWAN: Thank you for hosting me.
The scene is, as usually, terrifying for me as a new father of a 2-month infant, as [inaudible] on the other part that we are expecting everything from the Israeli side even during the times of the ceasefire, because several instances before indicated the violation of the times of the ceasefire. The situation is horrifying. We have witnessed 44 Palestinians dying, including 15 children and six women, which represents half of the casualties from the Palestinian side. There are no words to describe the war crimes that have been committed, even with the claims of the Israeli authority that they are targeting PIJ's senior members, military senior members. This included, of course, targeting of residential buildings, killing children and women, of course.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about what started this?
ISSAM ADWAN: So, what started it, just to correct you a little bit in your introduction, that you mentioned that Israel cut fuel supplies to Gaza during the bombardment launched on Gaza, of the operation, of course, but it happened four days before the escalation started, when the Israeli administration decided to close both borders, at Kerem Shalom crossing and Erez crossing, which they are the main crossings of the goods that enters into Gaza, as well as the medical equipment and fuel, as well. So, when they decided to do that, it came along with the provocative action to detain Bassam al-Saadi, a senior member of the PIJ in the West Bank, of course, with no response by the political parties here in Gaza. They have added more violence with the targeting of Tayseer al-Jabari, a senior member of the PIJ in Gaza. Just to give you a sense of understanding about Tayseer al-Jabari, he had been more of a political person rather than being a military.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the two Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders who were killed and Israel's assertion that this was a preemptive attack on a possible attack against Israel?
ISSAM ADWAN: I don't know how to describe this properly, but what preemptive attacks, when included that the international laws, especially the international humanitarian laws, which prohibit targeting buildings and areas which contains hundreds of civilians? We are talking about Gaza, that is about 365 square kilometers, where 2 millions of people are put with an intentional policy to suffocate every norms of their existence. So, how you can possibly target senior members of the PIJ? And as I stated before, they were more of political persons rather than being military, so, significantly, saying that they were not of a great threat to the Israeli administration.
But following what has been happening inside — I mean, the dispute happening inside the Israeli administration ahead of the pre-elections coming in the future, that they are using the Palestinian blood to promote a campaign for certain individuals, especially with the decreasing of the public support provided to Lapid and Gantz, in particular, during the run of the current government.
AMY GOODMAN: Talk about the Israeli elections coming up in November and how you feel they weigh in here.
ISSAM ADWAN: It's actually the same. No matter who runs the Israeli government, it's always the same, with the same policy to suffocate the Gaza Strip. We're talking about 15 years of blockade. This blockade killed every existence of people living in Gaza. And there were several individuals running the Israeli government of different opinions and different views and different policies to deal with Gaza, but all the policies were met on a one goal that the Palestinians in Gaza do not deserve to live a normal life. This extent leads us to think that this change inside the Israeli government is just a minor change, just an appearance change of who's leading the government, but the policy remains the same thing, either being the right wing or left wing of Israelis.
AMY GOODMAN: Now talk about the situation in Gaza. What does it mean to have the blackout? And the number of casualties, what's the latest figure? We heard 44, more than a third of them children, over 300 people injured. What's happening in the hospitals? And how do you get these figures?
ISSAM ADWAN: Yes. With the — as I mentioned, as I highlighted before, that the Israeli administration decided — implemented the closure of the Gaza Strip four days ahead of the operation start in Gaza, including a shortage — including blocking the entrance of fuel, which is a — which is Gaza mainly depends to run eight hours a day in the normal cases. With the shortage of the fuel, of course, it influenced — it hugely influenced the capacity of the hospitals to treat those injuries and also to put those dead people in the proper places. This is an indicator of the harsh policies that the Israeli administration has been dealing with Gaza.
And I don't know how to describe this in a human-side level, because even to me personally, I have experienced even — because the media mainly focusing on Gaza whenever there are hundreds of people dying, hundreds of houses bombed, but there are other times during these 15 years of blockade people are dying because of the poverty. People are dying because of the lack of hope, of the lack of job opportunities. And that is what the media is neglecting to cover on the situation of Gaza.
AMY GOODMAN: Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad agreed to a Cairo-mediated truce after three days of intense rocket attacks by Israeli forces.
TAREK SELMI: [translated] Now, for sure, we have reached a deal, and there is an Egyptian commitment to release the prisoners Khalil Awawdeh and Bassam al-Saadi as soon as possible from the Israeli jails. We announced a ceasefire by 11:30, and we welcome the Egyptian efforts that were made to end this battle.
AMY GOODMAN: That's an Islamic Jihad spokesperson. Issam Adwan, can you talk about Egypt's involvement here and where you think this is going at this point?
ISSAM ADWAN: Yeah. As I said before, the ceasefire is never a safe solution for the people of Gaza, because it moves no tangible improvements on the situation in Gaza of day by day and from a war to war, especially the wars of 2008, '12, '14 and 2021 and this current one. The infrastructure of Gaza is hugely damaged. The medical expertise and equipment are barely found.
So, the solution and the ceasefire that happened between the IJ and the Israeli side, there were three conditions, three conditions revealed from the Egyptian mediation, who has been positively in the process, that first to release Sheikh Bassam al-Saadi, who was detained by the Israeli government in the previous days ahead of the escalation, and releasing the Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawdeh, who has been in a hunger strike for more than a hundred days, with an intentional medical negligence to transfer him to medical care systems. Those demands, they are indications of how much the situation is worsening day by day. And that's why the situation is not improving.
And people do not feel safety, because Israel can determine a new round of escalation throughout assassinating a valuable target, as they claim, despite the fact that even the Israeli media outlets, they do not recognize this as a big of achievement, the killing — and I mean by that the killing of Mansour and Tayseer al-Jabari. As I said before, they were more of a political target rather than being a military. So there is no significant achievement recognized, but the Israeli government keeps bragging about it.
AMY GOODMAN: Israel is saying that a number of the Palestinians killed were killed by the backfiring of Palestinian Islamic Jihad's own missiles. Your response, Issam Adwan?
ISSAM ADWAN: I believe the Israeli side used a video, an anonymous video, that shows nothing, in the middle of the darkness, that during the bombardment of Jabalia refugee camp. So there were no, I would say, clear indications that this is by the PIJ's misfired rocket. We have seen huge bombardment launched on Gaza during the times between 9 p.m. to 12 p.m. During these times, more than 12 targets were hit on Jabalia camp. So there were no clear identification of whether this.
But let's take into consideration the exclusive power. The Israeli side has always undermined the potential, the rocket's potential, of the Palestinian resistance, and now they are recognizing that this missile — this rocket could kill seven individuals, seven Palestinians. I don't think this makes any sense, because Israel exaggerates whenever the exaggeration in its benefits, and they undermine the potential of the Palestinians whenever they see it fit.
AMY GOODMAN: You tweeted, "The ceasefire is never a time to celebrate for Gazans, but rather a moment to mourn the deaths of innocent civilians killed by the Israeli warplane — To barely survive wondering 'am I going to be next?'" Can we end where we started? You're a new father. You have a 2-month-old little girl named Sara. Can you talk about what you see the future as in Gaza?
ISSAM ADWAN: It's really terrifying during thinking about it all the years, even before Sara came to my life, that I have a huge sense of guilt that I brought her into life. It's really pessimist to talk about it, but inside of me it eats me alive that I brought a child into a situation that never rested. I was born in 1993, lived my entire life under the occupation, and for the past 15 years I have been denied the majority of my rights, including the right to have a proper education outside or mitigation in cases of illness. So, imagining the situation applies to my daughter Sara is terrifying me the most, because being a journalist and being exposed to — being exposed, hugely exposed, to cases of slaughtering children and women, it keeps echoing in my mind, it keeps echoing in my heart, and it eats me from inside, that is it going to be next, and if it's not me, it could be my Sara.
AMY GOODMAN: Issam Adwan, we want to thank you for being with us, Palestinian journalist, activist and researcher, joining us from Gaza.
