Israel’s forgotten terror
Past US presidents had condemned and tried to reign in Israeli terror. Time is overdue for the current administration to follow their examples.
The International Criminal Court’s (ICJ) January finding of a “plausible genocide” in Gaza, and subsequent ruling that Israel is responsible for an apartheid system in the West Bank and East Jerusalem would not have surprised former Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Carter, or indeed Reagan, who famously denounced Israel’s 1982 levelling of West Beirut to Prime Minister Menachem Begin as a “holocaust”.
Israel is the only US ally that has been exercising such oppression and terror for a lifetime. For many years, consecutive American administrations, both Democratic and Republican, condemned Israel’s recurring practice of terror. Today, however, the Biden-Harris administration has been supporting these practices to the extreme.
Harry S Truman recognised Israel in May 1948, yet once re-elected in November, wrote of his “disgust” over how “the Jews are approaching the refugee problem”. Then his successor, Dwight Eisenhower, joined Winston Churchill, who’d returned as the UK’s prime minister, to censure Israel in the UN Security Council in November 1953.
Paratroopers under Colonel Ariel Sharon, a future Israeli prime minister, had “shot every man, woman and child they could find,” in the Jordanian-controlled West Bank village of Qibya, according to Time magazine, leaving 69 dead. Prime Minister Ben-Gurion cried “anti-Semitism.”
Eisenhower had Israel censured twice more: In March 1955, after a self-described Israeli “terror unit” bombed US consulate libraries in Cairo and Alexandria, seeking to blame Egypt, followed by an attack on Egyptian-controlled Gaza that killed 38; and in March 1956 over a so-called “retaliation” against Syria that killed 56 soldiers and civilians.
“Upward of 2,700 Arab infiltrators, and perhaps as many as 5,000, were killed by the [Israeli military], police, and civilians along Israel’s borders between 1949 and 1956,” writes Israeli historian Benny Morris, “the vast majority of those killed were unarmed.” They were shepherds, farmers, Bedouins, and refugees.
Eisenhower was unpersuaded by Israeli ambassador Abba Eban’s claims of self-defence, and Israel would keep inflicting vastly asymmetric episodes of terror for decades.
In October 1956, after killing some 49 civilians in the village of Kafir Qasim near Tel Aviv, Israel invaded Egypt and immediately began massacring refugees in Khan Younis and Rafah. Eisenhower responded by declaring that the US would “apply sanctions” on Israel. When Israel still refused to withdraw from Gaza and Sharm El Sheikh, the US president threatened to block its access to US financial markets. The Israeli retreat followed.
In November 1966, Lyndon Johnson once again put “the Palestine Question” on the UN agenda to condemn Israel, this time after a massive attack on Jordan involving more than 3,000 soldiers. “The Israelis have done a great deal of damage to our interests and to their own,” concluded his National Security Adviser W W Rostow, adding that “they’ve wrecked a good system of tacit cooperation.”
All-out war followed in 1967, after which Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. The martial law imposed on the Arab population in Israel since the founding of the state was lifted in 1966, but Jimmy Carter described the conditions imposed on Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory after the beginning of illegal Israeli settlement there as “apartheid”.
With nothing resolved by 1982, Prime Minister Begin, a former Irgun terrorist against British authorities, vowed to “destroy” the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). He oversaw then-Defence Minister Ariel Sharon’s killing of some 18,000 Palestinians and Lebanese, overwhelmingly civilians, in Beirut. Belatedly, Reagan stopped the slaughter with a phone call, given Israel’s dependence. It was then that he described the Israeli onslaught as a “holocaust”.
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Past US presidents had condemned and tried to reign in Israeli terror. Time is overdue for the current administration to follow their examples.
The International Criminal Court’s (ICJ) January finding of a “plausible genocide” in Gaza, and subsequent ruling that Israel is responsible for an apartheid system in the West Bank and East Jerusalem would not have surprised former Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Carter, or indeed Reagan, who famously denounced Israel’s 1982 levelling of West Beirut to Prime Minister Menachem Begin as a “holocaust”.
Israel is the only US ally that has been exercising such oppression and terror for a lifetime. For many years, consecutive American administrations, both Democratic and Republican, condemned Israel’s recurring practice of terror. Today, however, the Biden-Harris administration has been supporting these practices to the extreme.
Harry S Truman recognised Israel in May 1948, yet once re-elected in November, wrote of his “disgust” over how “the Jews are approaching the refugee problem”. Then his successor, Dwight Eisenhower, joined Winston Churchill, who’d returned as the UK’s prime minister, to censure Israel in the UN Security Council in November 1953.
Paratroopers under Colonel Ariel Sharon, a future Israeli prime minister, had “shot every man, woman and child they could find,” in the Jordanian-controlled West Bank village of Qibya, according to Time magazine, leaving 69 dead. Prime Minister Ben-Gurion cried “anti-Semitism.”
Eisenhower had Israel censured twice more: In March 1955, after a self-described Israeli “terror unit” bombed US consulate libraries in Cairo and Alexandria, seeking to blame Egypt, followed by an attack on Egyptian-controlled Gaza that killed 38; and in March 1956 over a so-called “retaliation” against Syria that killed 56 soldiers and civilians.
“Upward of 2,700 Arab infiltrators, and perhaps as many as 5,000, were killed by the [Israeli military], police, and civilians along Israel’s borders between 1949 and 1956,” writes Israeli historian Benny Morris, “the vast majority of those killed were unarmed.” They were shepherds, farmers, Bedouins, and refugees.
Eisenhower was unpersuaded by Israeli ambassador Abba Eban’s claims of self-defence, and Israel would keep inflicting vastly asymmetric episodes of terror for decades.
In October 1956, after killing some 49 civilians in the village of Kafir Qasim near Tel Aviv, Israel invaded Egypt and immediately began massacring refugees in Khan Younis and Rafah. Eisenhower responded by declaring that the US would “apply sanctions” on Israel. When Israel still refused to withdraw from Gaza and Sharm El Sheikh, the US president threatened to block its access to US financial markets. The Israeli retreat followed.
In November 1966, Lyndon Johnson once again put “the Palestine Question” on the UN agenda to condemn Israel, this time after a massive attack on Jordan involving more than 3,000 soldiers. “The Israelis have done a great deal of damage to our interests and to their own,” concluded his National Security Adviser W W Rostow, adding that “they’ve wrecked a good system of tacit cooperation.”
All-out war followed in 1967, after which Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. The martial law imposed on the Arab population in Israel since the founding of the state was lifted in 1966, but Jimmy Carter described the conditions imposed on Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory after the beginning of illegal Israeli settlement there as “apartheid”.
With nothing resolved by 1982, Prime Minister Begin, a former Irgun terrorist against British authorities, vowed to “destroy” the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). He oversaw then-Defence Minister Ariel Sharon’s killing of some 18,000 Palestinians and Lebanese, overwhelmingly civilians, in Beirut. Belatedly, Reagan stopped the slaughter with a phone call, given Israel’s dependence. It was then that he described the Israeli onslaught as a “holocaust”.
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Despite using a word with such weight, however, the White House did not demand the UN censure Israel. The US had not attempted to sanction Israel even over its illegal settlements which spawned from the 1967 war. Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren explained why in his 2007 book, Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present. In the mid-1970s, he wrote, Israel’s supporters began to achieve “the financial and political clout necessary to sway congressional opinion” – meaning that they had acquired enough power to impede US official opposition to Israel at the UN or elsewhere. Ever since, Israel has taken US backing for granted, no matter the record of wildly disproportionate atrocities.
In 1991, Israeli Prime Minister Itzhak Shamir, who had approved the murder of UN negotiator Folke Bernadotte, tried to explain why terrorism was “acceptable” for Jews, but not Arabs: Palestinians are “fighting for land that is not theirs. This is the land of the people of Israel.”
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel was distinct. It was the only time that Palestinian resistance groups were able to react to decades of Israeli terror on a similar scale. In response to the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu simply doubled down on Israel’s recurring massacre-making, now backed by starvation and disease. The US administration took no meaningful action to stop “plausible genocide.”
At this time, Israel has also become the only entity in the world that Washington allows to kill US citizens with impunity. The ever-growing list from the West Bank includes Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, Mohammad Khdour, and Shireen Abu Akleh – each killed with a shot to the head. No sanctions or renditions followed their deaths. The White House simply suggested the sniper-killings were “not acceptable” and asked Israel to “investigate” itself. The issue was swiftly dismissed.
As Gaza’s torment enters its second year, Israel’s killing has reached unprecedented levels in the West Bank, and Lebanon once again becomes a target of Israel’s self-described retaliation. More is needed from Israel’s patron than mutterings to perhaps halt some arms shipments. Washington should not only stop upholding Israeli brutality, which includes apartheid but, like the UK, it can support the pending International Criminal Court indictments which are to, finally, include an Israeli prime minister.
Past US presidents had tried to reign in Israeli behaviour of the sort that statesman Abba Eban came to describe, during Israel’s previous bombing of Beirut, as “wantonly inflicting every possible measure of death and anguish on civilian populations.” Time is overdue for Washington’s decisionmakers to follow those presidents’ examples, and to rescind diplomatic protection as well as weapons exports for Israel.
2/2
In 1991, Israeli Prime Minister Itzhak Shamir, who had approved the murder of UN negotiator Folke Bernadotte, tried to explain why terrorism was “acceptable” for Jews, but not Arabs: Palestinians are “fighting for land that is not theirs. This is the land of the people of Israel.”
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel was distinct. It was the only time that Palestinian resistance groups were able to react to decades of Israeli terror on a similar scale. In response to the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu simply doubled down on Israel’s recurring massacre-making, now backed by starvation and disease. The US administration took no meaningful action to stop “plausible genocide.”
At this time, Israel has also become the only entity in the world that Washington allows to kill US citizens with impunity. The ever-growing list from the West Bank includes Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, Mohammad Khdour, and Shireen Abu Akleh – each killed with a shot to the head. No sanctions or renditions followed their deaths. The White House simply suggested the sniper-killings were “not acceptable” and asked Israel to “investigate” itself. The issue was swiftly dismissed.
As Gaza’s torment enters its second year, Israel’s killing has reached unprecedented levels in the West Bank, and Lebanon once again becomes a target of Israel’s self-described retaliation. More is needed from Israel’s patron than mutterings to perhaps halt some arms shipments. Washington should not only stop upholding Israeli brutality, which includes apartheid but, like the UK, it can support the pending International Criminal Court indictments which are to, finally, include an Israeli prime minister.
Past US presidents had tried to reign in Israeli behaviour of the sort that statesman Abba Eban came to describe, during Israel’s previous bombing of Beirut, as “wantonly inflicting every possible measure of death and anguish on civilian populations.” Time is overdue for Washington’s decisionmakers to follow those presidents’ examples, and to rescind diplomatic protection as well as weapons exports for Israel.
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Protestor Breck from London explains why he took to the streets to support Palestine. 🇵🇸 #GhostPrincess
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Palestine supporters staged a demonstration outside the UK Government building in Edinburgh to protest against PM Keir Starmer's visit to the city. #GhostPrincess
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Activists staged a vigil in Leeds, UK in solidarity with Palestine and Lebanon, lighting candles to honor the innocent lives claimed by the Israeli occupation. #GhostPrincess
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Thousands of protestors rallied in Stockholm, Sweden to show their undying support for Palestine, condemning 12 months of the Israeli genocide in Gaza. #GhostPrincess
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Tokyo stands with Palestine #GhostPrincess
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Climate activist Greta Thunberg went to Milano, Italy to support students in their fight for Palestine. 🇵🇸 #GhostPrincess
Despite war horrors, hope remains for Gaza’s universities by Hassan El-Nabih Palestinian educator and writer
As a Palestinian educator, I remain optimistic. It is the least I can do to support my students through this genocidal war.
It has been a year now of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. Israeli aircraft, tanks and warships have been indiscriminately bombarding the whole Strip. All aspects of life have been tremendously impacted. Tens of thousands of civilian buildings have been destroyed, including houses, schools, universities, mosques, churches, hospitals, bakeries, and United Nations shelters.
Brutal Israeli attacks, along with the illegal inhumane blockade, have spared no Palestinian. The official death toll stands at nearly 42,000, with about 100,000 injured and 10,000 missing. The majority of the casualties are women and children.
Although I have never been affiliated with any militant or political group, my own house was destroyed by an Israeli warplane on October 23, 2023. Since then, I have been living with my large family in deplorable conditions at a UN school shelter.
Besides the trauma of homelessness and displacement, we were devastated by the loss of my beloved mother. She fell ill and could not receive the medical care she needed because the Israeli military has largely decimated Gaza’s healthcare system. Her condition deteriorated, and she passed away on December 1, 2023.
In addition, I have suffered a profound professional loss: my university, the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) has been destroyed. It is one out of 18 institutions of higher education in Gaza, which served about 87,000 students before Israel reduced them to ruins.
I joined IUG’s English Department in 1997 after I returned from the United States, where I had finished an MA in Linguistics at California State University, Fresno. Then I obtained a PhD in language development from Boston College and returned to IUG, where I continued to teach and do research, publishing many articles in local and international journals and participating in numerous conferences, symposia and workshops. I have also supervised and served as an examiner of several MA theses in applied linguistics.
IUG has 11 faculties, serving about 17,000 students, 63 percent of them women. Throughout the years, it has offered an excellent academic environment, making use of various technologies such as computer labs, e-learning Moodle and videoconferencing and other high-quality facilities, such as libraries, gardens, gyms and playgrounds. It has awarded students with physical, visual and hearing disabilities scholarships and assisted them through a professional special needs office.
The English Department is the largest at the IUG, serving about 1,500 students in six different programmes: BA in English, BA in English with a minor in translation, BA in English with a minor in media and journalism, BEd in teaching English, MA in linguistics and MA in translation.
I have always had a great passion for teaching and maintained good relationships with my students; for me, teaching is a mission. I consider IUG my second home. Seeing it in ruins has broken my heart.
In October 2023, Israeli fighter jets attacked IUG, destroying several buildings. Then in November, Israeli ground troops with bulldozers and tanks invaded western Gaza City, razing more buildings and setting others on fire. When they withdrew from the area two weeks later, I went to see what was left of IUG. I was overwhelmed with grief, unable to believe my eyes: everything was gone!
Over the past 12 months, I have not been able to teach a single class. Even during the COVID pandemic, when the university was shut down, I was still able to give lectures online. My YouTube channel still has recordings of three online courses I have taught: Semantics and Lexicology, English Grammar 2, and Psycho-Sociolinguistics.
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As a Palestinian educator, I remain optimistic. It is the least I can do to support my students through this genocidal war.
It has been a year now of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. Israeli aircraft, tanks and warships have been indiscriminately bombarding the whole Strip. All aspects of life have been tremendously impacted. Tens of thousands of civilian buildings have been destroyed, including houses, schools, universities, mosques, churches, hospitals, bakeries, and United Nations shelters.
Brutal Israeli attacks, along with the illegal inhumane blockade, have spared no Palestinian. The official death toll stands at nearly 42,000, with about 100,000 injured and 10,000 missing. The majority of the casualties are women and children.
Although I have never been affiliated with any militant or political group, my own house was destroyed by an Israeli warplane on October 23, 2023. Since then, I have been living with my large family in deplorable conditions at a UN school shelter.
Besides the trauma of homelessness and displacement, we were devastated by the loss of my beloved mother. She fell ill and could not receive the medical care she needed because the Israeli military has largely decimated Gaza’s healthcare system. Her condition deteriorated, and she passed away on December 1, 2023.
In addition, I have suffered a profound professional loss: my university, the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) has been destroyed. It is one out of 18 institutions of higher education in Gaza, which served about 87,000 students before Israel reduced them to ruins.
I joined IUG’s English Department in 1997 after I returned from the United States, where I had finished an MA in Linguistics at California State University, Fresno. Then I obtained a PhD in language development from Boston College and returned to IUG, where I continued to teach and do research, publishing many articles in local and international journals and participating in numerous conferences, symposia and workshops. I have also supervised and served as an examiner of several MA theses in applied linguistics.
IUG has 11 faculties, serving about 17,000 students, 63 percent of them women. Throughout the years, it has offered an excellent academic environment, making use of various technologies such as computer labs, e-learning Moodle and videoconferencing and other high-quality facilities, such as libraries, gardens, gyms and playgrounds. It has awarded students with physical, visual and hearing disabilities scholarships and assisted them through a professional special needs office.
The English Department is the largest at the IUG, serving about 1,500 students in six different programmes: BA in English, BA in English with a minor in translation, BA in English with a minor in media and journalism, BEd in teaching English, MA in linguistics and MA in translation.
I have always had a great passion for teaching and maintained good relationships with my students; for me, teaching is a mission. I consider IUG my second home. Seeing it in ruins has broken my heart.
In October 2023, Israeli fighter jets attacked IUG, destroying several buildings. Then in November, Israeli ground troops with bulldozers and tanks invaded western Gaza City, razing more buildings and setting others on fire. When they withdrew from the area two weeks later, I went to see what was left of IUG. I was overwhelmed with grief, unable to believe my eyes: everything was gone!
Over the past 12 months, I have not been able to teach a single class. Even during the COVID pandemic, when the university was shut down, I was still able to give lectures online. My YouTube channel still has recordings of three online courses I have taught: Semantics and Lexicology, English Grammar 2, and Psycho-Sociolinguistics.
1/3
Since the start of this war, Israel has restlessly targeted Gaza’s infrastructure, including telecommunication, which has made it impossible for instructors to teach online. Just to check my email and WhatsApp messages, I have to walk or bike a long distance to purchase an internet ticket and use a very low-speed connection.
Despite the grave circumstances over the past year, I have tried to stay in touch with my students. We communicate through phone calls, text messaging or WhatsApp and sometimes in person. We exchange greetings, inquire about health, and talk about IUG and the English Department, unable to hide our sorrow and indignation. However, I remain optimistic and determined not to give up.
Optimism is a source of resilience, which we Palestinian educators need to nurture in order to support our students and help them cope with stressful conditions.
Even in the darkest of times, there is hope. That is why I use the present tense in this article when I talk about my university. IUG is, not was.
I see several reasons to be optimistic.
First, it is not the first time Gaza’s universities have been targeted by the Israeli army. Before the present war, Israel launched four other aggressive assaults on the Gaza Strip in 2008-9, 2012, 2014 and 2021. In each of these wars, Gaza’s universities were severely damaged and prevented from functioning to their full potential. However, thanks to collective efforts, university buildings were restored and the educational process successfully resumed.
Even though Israel’s attacks on Gaza continue, emergency measures have been taken. The Palestinian Ministry of Education and several Palestinian academic institutions have circulated petitions against Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s universities, appealing to international organisations and academic institutions to intervene swiftly and take effective measures to ensure Palestinian students’ right to education.
Second, many journalists and human rights activists have reported on Israel’s targeting of Palestinian universities. These and other Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights have been condemned worldwide. This has strengthened international solidarity with the Palestinian people and will undoubtedly help us with the future reconstruction process.
Third, several leading Palestinian universities in the West Bank have expressed their readiness to support higher education in the Gaza Strip. Last March, Birzeit University launched its “Rebuilding Hope” initiative, which aims to provide resources to support Gaza’s institutional infrastructure and assist researchers and students in accessing the knowledge necessary to complete their academic journeys.
The Palestinian Ministry of Education and several local and international universities have adopted the initiative, and fortunately, a few thousand students from Gaza’s universities, including IUG, have already started online learning.
Fourth, IUG has also encouraged students to apply for Erasmus+ exchange scholarships which provide the opportunity to study for a semester in Europe. Some of my students asked me to write letters of recommendation for them; I did so with great pleasure.
I have shared all this promising information with students and acquaintances in Gaza. I have also referred English major students to my online courses uploaded onto YouTube.
Recently, one of my students sent me this WhatsApp message:
Dear Professor, I have decided to continue your Grammar 2 course on my own. [We started in September 2023 but couldn’t finish it because of the war.] These days I am watching your YouTube recordings, and I am doing quite well. I am interested in more practice; I need the extra grammar exercises file you previously uploaded onto the Moodle, which is inaccessible now. Unfortunately, I lost my laptop with all my files in an Israeli attack on my family’s house. Could you please send me the file?
2/3
Despite the grave circumstances over the past year, I have tried to stay in touch with my students. We communicate through phone calls, text messaging or WhatsApp and sometimes in person. We exchange greetings, inquire about health, and talk about IUG and the English Department, unable to hide our sorrow and indignation. However, I remain optimistic and determined not to give up.
Optimism is a source of resilience, which we Palestinian educators need to nurture in order to support our students and help them cope with stressful conditions.
Even in the darkest of times, there is hope. That is why I use the present tense in this article when I talk about my university. IUG is, not was.
I see several reasons to be optimistic.
First, it is not the first time Gaza’s universities have been targeted by the Israeli army. Before the present war, Israel launched four other aggressive assaults on the Gaza Strip in 2008-9, 2012, 2014 and 2021. In each of these wars, Gaza’s universities were severely damaged and prevented from functioning to their full potential. However, thanks to collective efforts, university buildings were restored and the educational process successfully resumed.
Even though Israel’s attacks on Gaza continue, emergency measures have been taken. The Palestinian Ministry of Education and several Palestinian academic institutions have circulated petitions against Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s universities, appealing to international organisations and academic institutions to intervene swiftly and take effective measures to ensure Palestinian students’ right to education.
Second, many journalists and human rights activists have reported on Israel’s targeting of Palestinian universities. These and other Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights have been condemned worldwide. This has strengthened international solidarity with the Palestinian people and will undoubtedly help us with the future reconstruction process.
Third, several leading Palestinian universities in the West Bank have expressed their readiness to support higher education in the Gaza Strip. Last March, Birzeit University launched its “Rebuilding Hope” initiative, which aims to provide resources to support Gaza’s institutional infrastructure and assist researchers and students in accessing the knowledge necessary to complete their academic journeys.
The Palestinian Ministry of Education and several local and international universities have adopted the initiative, and fortunately, a few thousand students from Gaza’s universities, including IUG, have already started online learning.
Fourth, IUG has also encouraged students to apply for Erasmus+ exchange scholarships which provide the opportunity to study for a semester in Europe. Some of my students asked me to write letters of recommendation for them; I did so with great pleasure.
I have shared all this promising information with students and acquaintances in Gaza. I have also referred English major students to my online courses uploaded onto YouTube.
Recently, one of my students sent me this WhatsApp message:
Dear Professor, I have decided to continue your Grammar 2 course on my own. [We started in September 2023 but couldn’t finish it because of the war.] These days I am watching your YouTube recordings, and I am doing quite well. I am interested in more practice; I need the extra grammar exercises file you previously uploaded onto the Moodle, which is inaccessible now. Unfortunately, I lost my laptop with all my files in an Israeli attack on my family’s house. Could you please send me the file?
2/3
What a remarkably resilient girl! I thanked her and praised her strong motivation and true affection for learning. I sent her the file and told her not to hesitate to ask me for help.
Similarly, I recently called one of my MA students, whose thesis I am supervising. I encouraged her to finalise her thesis for the viva voce. She happily welcomed the idea. By taking reasonable precautions, I feel we can organise this academic event somewhere in Gaza, even in a tent at a school shelter.
The past year has been full of immense pain and suffering for the people in Gaza, but we must not lose hope. It will all pass! Israeli oppression will end! Gaza’s universities will be reconstructed! And Palestinian higher education will be revived!
3/3
Similarly, I recently called one of my MA students, whose thesis I am supervising. I encouraged her to finalise her thesis for the viva voce. She happily welcomed the idea. By taking reasonable precautions, I feel we can organise this academic event somewhere in Gaza, even in a tent at a school shelter.
The past year has been full of immense pain and suffering for the people in Gaza, but we must not lose hope. It will all pass! Israeli oppression will end! Gaza’s universities will be reconstructed! And Palestinian higher education will be revived!
3/3
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Nicaragua joins the list of countries to break off diplomatic ties with Israel
Nicaragua has ended diplomatic relations with Israel, accusing the Israeli government of being “fascist” and “genocidal” because of its attacks on Palestinian territory.
Nicaragua joins several countries to cut ties or take diplomatic action against Israel since it launched its war on Gaza in October 2023.
Bahrain – Withdrew its ambassador in November, saying the move “confirmed Bahrain’s historic position in support of the Palestinian cause”.
Belize – Cut diplomatic ties in November while reiterating its call for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.
Bolivia – Cut diplomatic ties in November, citing “crimes against humanity committed against the Palestinian people”.
Brazil – President Lula permanently withdrew his country’s ambassador in May after months of tensions over the war.
Chad – Announced in November, it was withdrawing its charge d’affaires for “consultations”, with the decision taken in “indignation” at the conflict.
Chile – Withdrew its ambassador in November after accusing Israel of “unacceptable” human rights violations.
Colombia – President Gustavo Petro cut diplomatic ties in May, calling the Netanyahu administration “genocidal”.
Honduras – Withdrew its ambassador for “consultations” in November in light of the “serious humanitarian situation” unfolding in Gaza.
Jordan – Announced it was recalling its ambassador in November, accusing Israel of creating an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”.
South Africa – Announced in November, it was withdrawing three diplomats from Israel for “consultation” in response to the conflict.
Turkey – Recalled its ambassador in November “in view of the unfolding humanitarian tragedy in Gaza”.
#GhostPrincess
Nicaragua has ended diplomatic relations with Israel, accusing the Israeli government of being “fascist” and “genocidal” because of its attacks on Palestinian territory.
Nicaragua joins several countries to cut ties or take diplomatic action against Israel since it launched its war on Gaza in October 2023.
Bahrain – Withdrew its ambassador in November, saying the move “confirmed Bahrain’s historic position in support of the Palestinian cause”.
Belize – Cut diplomatic ties in November while reiterating its call for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.
Bolivia – Cut diplomatic ties in November, citing “crimes against humanity committed against the Palestinian people”.
Brazil – President Lula permanently withdrew his country’s ambassador in May after months of tensions over the war.
Chad – Announced in November, it was withdrawing its charge d’affaires for “consultations”, with the decision taken in “indignation” at the conflict.
Chile – Withdrew its ambassador in November after accusing Israel of “unacceptable” human rights violations.
Colombia – President Gustavo Petro cut diplomatic ties in May, calling the Netanyahu administration “genocidal”.
Honduras – Withdrew its ambassador for “consultations” in November in light of the “serious humanitarian situation” unfolding in Gaza.
Jordan – Announced it was recalling its ambassador in November, accusing Israel of creating an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”.
South Africa – Announced in November, it was withdrawing three diplomats from Israel for “consultation” in response to the conflict.
Turkey – Recalled its ambassador in November “in view of the unfolding humanitarian tragedy in Gaza”.
#GhostPrincess
❤1
Two photos side by side, one showing the main building of IUG before the war with students, trees and a fountain, and the other showing the saming building destroyed, the garden in front of it razed
Al-Quds building of the Islamic University of Gaza before and after the war [Courtesy of Bilal El-Nabih, IUG website]
Al-Quds building of the Islamic University of Gaza before and after the war [Courtesy of Bilal El-Nabih, IUG website]
A medical student’s fight to continue her education in Gaza Genocide.
Iman Ayad, a 22-year-old medical student from Gaza, faces immense challenges as she has had to study in a tent since Israel’s genocide on the Palestinian enclave began.
Using a friend’s laptop for online classes, she remains committed to her education, motivated by her desire to help the people of Gaza.
Despite the hardships, Iman refuses to give up, knowing her studies will enable her to make a difference in her community. #GhostPrincess
Iman Ayad, a 22-year-old medical student from Gaza, faces immense challenges as she has had to study in a tent since Israel’s genocide on the Palestinian enclave began.
Using a friend’s laptop for online classes, she remains committed to her education, motivated by her desire to help the people of Gaza.
Despite the hardships, Iman refuses to give up, knowing her studies will enable her to make a difference in her community. #GhostPrincess