Brett Wilkins - Antiwar.com Blog

‘Cashing in on Genocide’: Israeli Firm Pitches Beachfront Real Estate in Leveled Gaza

Palestine defenders this week condemned a proposal by an Israeli real estate developer specializing in the construction of illegal settlements to build beachfront homes for Jewish colonists over the bombed-out ruins of Gaza.

“A house on the beach is not a dream,” reads an advertisement published by Harey Zahav – an Israeli company notorious for building settlements in the illegally occupied West Bank – that drew international attention following last week’s Practical Preparation for Gaza Settlement Conference in Tel Aviv.

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Groups Demand US ‘Make Long-Overdue Amends’ for Airstrikes in Somalia

Two dozen Somali and international human rights groups on Monday asked the Pentagon to “take immediate steps to address the requests of families whose loved ones were killed or injured by U.S. airstrikes in Somalia” – people who often say they’re being ignored by American officials.

In a letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the groups cite recent Intercept reporting that “illustrates how in multiple cases of civilian harm in Somalia confirmed by the U.S. government, civilian victims, survivors, and their families have yet to receive answers, acknowledgment, and amends despite their sustained efforts to reach authorities over several years.”

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Witnesses Say IDF Troops ‘Executed’ Women and Children in Gaza School

Eyewitness testimony reported Wednesday by Al Jazeera accused Israeli troops of massacring forcibly displaced women and children sheltering at a school in northern Gaza, an allegation that prompted a leading U.S. Muslim advocacy group to demand a response from President Joe Biden.

The reported massacre took place at the Shadia Abu Ghazala School in the al-Faluja area west of the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. Video footage aired by the Qatar-based news network showed numerous covered bodies piled in one of the school’s classrooms.

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University of Florida Pro-Palestine Group Sues DeSantis Over Deactivation

The University of Florida chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine on Thursday sued state education officials and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis over their move to deactivate the group for its support of Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation, apartheid, and other crimes.

The lawsuit – which was filed by the ACLU of Florida and Palestine Legal – seeks a preliminary injunction to block State University of Florida System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues’ deactivation order, issued last month after Students for Justice in Palestine’s (SJP) national body declared support for Palestinian “resistance” to Israel’s war on Gaza.

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Over 50 Bodies Pulled From Rubble of Gaza School Bombed Amid Israeli Assault

Palestinian civil defense officials said Friday that more than 50 bodies were recovered from the rubble of a school in northern Gaza where civilians were sheltering when it was destroyed during overnight Israeli bombardment.

Palestine’s WAFA News Agency reported civil defense and ambulance rescue teams removed the blasted and crushed remains of victims of Thursday night’s missile and artillery strikes on the al-Buraq School in the al-Nasr neighborhood of Gaza City. The outlet said that most of those killed were women, children, and elders.

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US Corporate Media Outlets Allow IDF to Vet ‘All Materials’ From Embedded Reporters in Gaza

U.S. corporate media outlets have granted Israeli military commanders pre-publication review rights for “all materials and footage” recorded by their correspondents embedded with the Israel Defense Forces during the invasion of Gaza, a precondition condemned by press freedom advocates.

“Journalists embedded with the IDF in Gaza operate under the observation of Israeli commanders in the field, and are not permitted to move unaccompanied within the Gaza Strip,” Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN‘s “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” explained in a segment on Sunday.

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