As a former humanitarian worker who spent time in Gaza (as well as the West Bank, Israel and Iraq for the bulk of my time) and hearing the news about the World Central Kitchen workers... it's been a rough week, to say the least.
Of course, the killing of humanitarian aid workers by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is nothing new. To date, 196 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza since October 7th, and the UN and several other international agencies have said this has been the deadliest war to date for humanitarian aid workers since such records were kept.
https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-04-02-24/h_56a5326b5a20d73f2c230f452c37c5b1#:~:text=The%20ongoing%20war%20between%20Israel%20and%20Hamas%20has,in%20any%20other%20conflict%20since%20at%20least%201997.
It has also so far been the deadliest war for children, according to the UN and other international sources, since such records were kept. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/7/is-israels-gaza-war-the-deadliest-conflict-for-children-in-modern-times
And I do get that in large part, people who haven't lived there, day in and day out, just really do not understand.
Seven international humanitarian aid workers from the World Central Kitchen were killed by the IDF, in targeted drone strikes to their clearly-marked vehicles, leaving their clearly-marked aid warehouse. Seeing the photos of the wreckage, with the holes from the missiles going right through the car-roof-sized agency logos, is simply nauseating.
The official story is that the military leaders forgot to communicate the aid workers' movements to the soldiers in charge of the drones. In response, many international aid agencies have paused operations in Gaza, and people are starving, and without water, electricity, healthcare, fuel, or shelter.
(And yes, while everyone knows that what Hamas did was utterly appalling-- 1,200 Israelis killed and 129 civilian and military hostages still being held-- Israelis are not starving, without water, electricity, healthcare, fuel, or shelter. This is an important humanitarian distinction). Meanwhile, 3,500 Palestinians are being held hostage by Israeli leaders as 'Administrative Detainees,' (held without charges or due process), according to Israeli human rights organization Ha'Moked: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/28/world/middleeast/palestinians-detained-in-israel.html#:~:text=More%20than%203%2C500%20Palestinian%20detainees%20are%20being%20held,the%20war%2C%20but%20Israel%20has%20increased%20its%20use.
The WCF workers' deaths caught the attention of the world, but it's been so many more, and this is a pattern that has gone on for years. Decades, actually.
Most people who visit short-term simply do not see or understand the daily realities of the Occupation.
I still believe these folks *can* learn, by reading the reports and testimonies from *both* the Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations who have been working there for years and decades: Rabbis for Human Rights, B'Tselem, Gush Shalom, Ha'Moked, the Israeli Committee Against Housing Demolitions, Breaking the Silence- Israel, the Women in Black, and so on.
... if they want to, and choose to follow through...
I am deeply disappointed in friends who would never give credence to anything reported on Fox News, or anything our own Authoritarian MAGA movement leader says in the United States, and who consider themselves progressive on every other issue imaginable... and yet they fall for right-wing extremist propaganda that even most Israelis wouldn't accept. Even the Ha'aretz newspaper (the most widely-read English/ Hebrew Israeli news source) states in its daily update, Israel at War:
"The war comes after ten months of the most significant domestic [Israeli] political and social crisis in decades, due to legislation promoted by the Netanyahu government aimed at dramatically weakening Israel's judiciary and potentially rescuing Netanyahu from the three corruption trials he faces – and amid an escalation of violence between West Bank Palestinians and Israeli settlers, the latter empowered by Israel's most right-wing government ever."
(Hmm...Sound like anybody we know here in these United States?)
Why any decent person would admire Netanyahu or believe anything he says or does is beyond me. Again, his own people know better--and that's why they've been out in the streets by the tens of thousands protesting his government since last summer. That's why the families of the hostages are among the most vocal for his removal from office.
And yet people in the United States fall for him, and everything he stands for,
hook,
line,
and
sinker.
Along with all the pro-war propaganda from the weapons lobby.
Working for nonviolent resolutions to conflict just doesn't sell as many megabucks, megaton bombs.
And they ignore not only the Israeli human rights and peacemaking organizations, but also U.S. Jewish peacemaking organizations, like Peace Now and A Jewish Voice for Peace.
Ugh. Will they ever learn?
