Sunday, February 9, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

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Foreign Correspondent: “Israel makes journalistic scrutiny impossible”

The situation in Gaza

Published 6 January 2024
– By Editorial Staff
The IDF restricts and censors journalists' coverage of the Gaza war.

More than 50 journalists have lost their lives so far as a result of Israel’s war against Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups in the occupied Gaza Strip.

At the same time, journalists testify that the Israeli military is actively preventing them from reporting on the horrors of the war, denying them access to the area, deciding who they can talk to and censoring their material.

Proletären magazine interviewed Magda Gad of the Swedish newspaper Expressen, one of the few Swedish journalists to report from Gaza, and she highlighted the severe restrictions on the press and media.

Journalists are not only persecuted, but also become victims of the war and its aftermath – including those who have paid with their lives.

– Palestinian journalists I have met … are under constant stress. They are afraid to do their jobs and afraid to leave their homes, she says.

The situation for journalists in Israel and Palestine is extremely problematic. Many foreign journalists are denied access to Gaza, while those who are allowed in are severely restricted in their reporting by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

IDF censorship

Restrictions include limited time, strict rules on photography, and controlled communication with people. The IDF also censors the material it collects.

– The IDF reviews and censors the material if they wish. When journalists have asked if they can interview Palestinians they see from a distance, the answer has been no, says Gad.

– Despite international journalists joining forces to protest, nothing has changed. I have not seen this kind of restriction and censorship in any other war I have covered, she continues.

In Israel, too, journalists face daily obstacles to their work. They are not allowed to work freely in southern Israel, either on the border with Gaza or in the places attacked by Hamas on October 7. The IDF organizes special press trips and carefully controls who journalists are allowed to meet, while they (the IDF) themselves spread unverifiable information.

– The IDF has organized press trips to kibbutzim and to the area of the music festival, where journalists are loaded onto buses. IDF spokesmen say the goal is for the journalists to tell them that Hamas is worse than ISIS and to help build support for Israel through their reporting.

Frustration

A similar situation exists in the occupied West Bank. It is also difficult for foreign journalists to work there because of closed roads and checkpoints. Magda Gad describes several attacks by Israeli soldiers and difficulties accessing Palestinian areas.

– It doesn’t help to say you’re a journalist when you come to a closed road. I have been scolded by Israeli soldiers at roadblocks in the West Bank for trying to enter Palestinian areas. They’ve said things like there are only terrorists on that side who rape women and slaughter children, that Palestinians in the West Bank are worse than ISIS, they’ve suspected me of wanting to interview Palestinians.

– It should be added that once I was on the ground in Palestinian cities and towns, I was not prevented from working by any Palestinian or Palestinian group, but was able to work freely.

Unprecedented

She compares the situation in Israel and Palestine to other war zones where she has not experienced similar controls and restrictions. She highlights the frustration of journalists on the ground about the dehumanization of Palestinians and how Israeli war crimes do not receive the same attention as others.

Regarding information from the Israeli military as a source, Magda Gad warns against considering it impartial or truthful.

– Absolutely no information from any military should be taken as objective and true information. The military that is at war has no interest in disseminating objective and true information; they are not journalists, they are belligerents whose job it is to disseminate information that will help them in their war.

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Trump: US to take over Gaza – and deport all Palestinians

Donald Trump's USA

Published 6 February 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Trump and Netanyahu during yesterday's press conference.

In a stunning announcement on Tuesday, President Donald Trump declared that the US will “take over” the entire Gaza Strip, “level the site” and then rebuild it.

The US President also believes that the two million Palestinians currently living in the area must leave Gaza permanently.

– They instead can occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety, and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony in other areas or countries, he said at a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

– The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site. Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings and create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area, the President continued.

Gaza, according to Trump, will be transformed into the “Riviera of the Middle East”. However, it is not mainly Palestinians in Gaza who will benefit from this prosperity instead, “people from all over the world will live there”.

“Can’t live in Gaza”

Trump wants the entire Palestinian population to be permanently relocated to other countries such as neighboring Jordan and Egypt.

– We should go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts, and there are many of them that want to do this, and build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza.

Forcing the entire Palestinian population to leave their homes forever has, according to the President, great advantages because in such a scenario they’re “going to have peace” and will not be shot at and killed.

– The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is they have no alternative.

“Everyone loves the idea”

He also believes that a US “long-term ownership” of Gaza will “bring great stability” to the region and that this is a very popular idea back home in the US.

– Everybody I have spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land.

Asked if the displaced Palestinians will have the right to return in the future, the President says this is not an issue.

It would be my hope that we could do something really nice, really good, where they wouldn’t want to return. Why would they want to return? That place has been hell.

“Fresh ideas”

Speaking briefly after Trump, Netanyahu praised the US president for his “fresh ideas”.

– I believe, Mr. President, that your willingness to puncture conventional thinking, thinking that has failed time and time and time again, your willingness to think outside the box with fresh ideas will help us achieve all these goals.

Jordan and Egypt have so far resisted taking in millions of displaced Palestinians but Trump said he still had “a feeling” that the countries’ leaders “will open their hearts and will give us the kind of land that we need to get this done. And people can live in harmony and peace”.

MEP at the Holocaust ceremony in Brussels: “Let us pray for the victims in Gaza”

The situation in Gaza

Published 31 January 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Grzegorz Braun has recently attracted attention for several controversial actions.

The European Parliament’s annual minute’s silence for the victims of the Holocaust on Wednesday was interrupted by Polish MEP Grzegorz Braun, who instead focused on Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

Let us pray for the victims of the Jewish genocide in Gaza, Braun declared and then repeated his call once more.

 

Thank you very much, thank you very much, for your prayers for the victims of the Jewish genocide in Gaza, Braun repeated once more before the minute of silence ended.

According to Braun, he did not interfere with the purpose of the ceremony, but rather wanted to draw attention to how some victims of war crimes and genocide are valued more than others.

I shared the observation that all victims are apparently equal, but some are more equal than others”, he explained afterwards.

Dragged out of the room

The move was not appreciated by the President, Roberta Metsola, who shortly afterwards ordered Braun to be dragged from the room. Braun’s outburst has been described by critics as “hateful rhetoric”, with Dutch Christian Democrat Bert-Jan Ruissen, among others, calling for Braun to be punished and subjected to the “highest possible sanctions” that the EU body can impose.

Braun is a member of the national conservative party Korona, the “Crown”, and is running for president in Poland later this year. He has come under fire for strong statements against the Jewish lobby and for demolishing a sign for an official press conference on COVID passports when they were launched in Poland.

Perhaps Braun’s most high-profile action in the past was when he used a fire extinguisher to put out a Jewish candlestick (menorah) placed in the Polish Parliament for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

– The people participating in the Satanic cult should be ashamed, he declared in connection with this event.

Following the incident, Mr. Braun was suspended for six months and legal proceedings were initiated. However, Braun later followed up the high-profile action by condemning Jewish racism against European nations in the Polish Parliament.

Trump wants to empty Gaza

The situation in Gaza

Published 28 January 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Donald Trump on Gaza: “I’d like Egypt to take people, and I’d like Jordan to take people".

US President Donald Trump has proposed evacuating the Palestinian population of Gaza to neighboring Jordan and Egypt to “clean out the area. Trump discussed his proposal with Jordan’s King Abdullah II yesterday and says he plans to hold talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi soon.

Donald Trump says that after 15 months of conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Gaza Strip has been turned into a “demolition site” and that Palestinians could be better off in new homes in neighboring countries.

Trump says his proposal could be either a temporary or permanent solution, AP reports.

– I’d like Egypt to take people, and I’d like Jordan to take people. You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, we just clean out that whole thing, Donald Trump said during a press conference aboard Air Force One.

The proposal has been strongly criticized by both Palestinian authorities and the proposed host countries. Palestinians see it as a threat to their right to return to their homes and fear that such a move would be permanent.

Jordan and Egypt have previously rejected similar proposals, citing the risk of destabilization and security concerns.

Ethnic cleansing

The international community outside the Western bloc has repeatedly called for solutions that respect the rights of Palestinians, with accusations repeatedly made against Israel of deliberately carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Gaza. The International Criminal Court in The Hague has also called for the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be charged with crimes against humanity.

Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have condemned Trump’s statements, saying the proposal is a violation of Palestinian rights. Rather, they believe the focus should be on ending the occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state, according to Al-Jazeera.

Donald Trump has also decided to resume deliveries of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. Deliveries that were previously stopped by former President Joe Biden. The decision has sparked further criticism and concerns about an escalation of violence in the region.

How the international community will react to Trump’s proposal, and what consequences it may have for the situation in Gaza and the surrounding countries, remains to be seen.

In the meantime, the humanitarian crisis in the region continues, with millions of people in need of assistance and protection.

Following the ceasefire: Gazans search for the dead

The situation in Gaza

Published 24 January 2025
– By Editorial Staff
The Palestinian Civil Defense says it has already found hundreds of bodies.

Since the ceasefire took effect in Gaza, rescue workers and civilians have started to dig out bodies from the rubble of Israeli bombings.

In the first few days of the ceasefire, at least 200 dead have been found, and the Palestinian Civil Defense estimates that another 10,000 missing people are still buried under the rubble.

Rescuers and family members are working feverishly to find and identify the dead.

– In every street there are dead. In every neighborhood there are people under the buildings, said Abdullah Al-Majdalawi, a 24-year-old civil defense worker in Gaza City.

Civil Defense estimates that it will take at least 100 days to recover all the bodies, but the lack of bulldozers and other essential equipment could prolong the process further.

Many of the recovered bodies are in poor condition, making identification difficult, reports British state broadcaster BBC.

The UN has previously estimated that around 60% of all buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed during the 15 months of fighting. The images now being broadcast around the world show widespread devastation, particularly in northern Gaza.

Palestinian civil defense under pressure

Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defense, says that 48% of civil defense personnel have either been killed, injured or detained during the conflict.

In addition, 85% of the agency’s vehicles and 17 out of 21 facilities are reported to have been damaged or destroyed, further hampering rescue efforts.

According to Palestinian health authorities, more than 47,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the conflict, most of them women and children. Another 111 000 have been injured. However, these figures have not been independently verified.

The ceasefire, which came into force on January 19, has given the more than two million inhabitants of Gaza a much-needed break from the fighting.

At the same time, humanitarian aid has been able to increase significantly, with over 630 trucks crossing the border on the first day – the largest delivery since the beginning of the war.

Although the ceasefire has brought a halt to the bombing, Gaza is facing a huge humanitarian crisis.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) reports that more than two million Gazans are now homeless, without income and completely dependent on food aid for their survival.