Public Comment

Palestinians are traumatized over the death of Palestinian American Al Jazeera reporter, Shireen Abu Akleh, after she was fatally shot in the head by an Israeli sniper while covering an Israeli military raid on a Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. At the time of her death, she was wearing a helmet and a vest marked “PRESS.” Ali al-Samudi, another Palestinian journalist, was wounded alongside Abu Akleh. 

Abu Akleh had worked at Al Jazeera for a quarter of a century and was one of the best-known television reporters in Palestine and the Arab world. Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, together with the International Federation of Journalists, are bringing a case before the International Court of Justice in response to the murder of Palestinian journalists. 

Israel has targeted media offices repeatedly to downplay its crimes. They bombed several media offices last May in Gaza, entirely destroying several bureaus. Even mourners carrying Abu Akleh’s coffin were brutally attacked. Israel has used increasing force, to quell resistance to its colonial occupation. It is especially egregious that the occupation is sustained by US weapons and our tax dollars— something that is essential for the Israelis to blur, to occlude, to hide with mendacity. 

There is little hope the fragile Bennett coalition government will move to a peaceful settlement with the Palestinians. Bennett is a settler himself. He lives in a settlement. He’s a committed supporter of the eternal, permanent occupation of all of what’s left of Palestine. He is unwilling under any circumstances to negotiate with the Palestinians. He’s made that very clear. So, he heads a coalition which includes some parties that are interested in a negotiated settlement, but his party and several of the other parties in the coalition are as committed to continuing the permanent occupation of Palestine, the continued establishment of Israeli settlements, and the continued expropriation of Palestinian land. 

Jenin has become a symbol of resistance. While we are heaping praise and lauding Ukrainians for resisting Russian occupation, the United States, has been aiding the aggressor, Israel, with annual donations of $billions. More and more Americans have expressed outrage over the blatant use of our tax dollars following Palestinian reporters’ assassinations and the publication of Human Rights Watch designating Israel as an apartheid state. 

There are stark similarities between courageous Ukrainians resisting Russian oppression and Palestinians resisting the Israeli inhumane occupation which they have endured since June 1967. 

Israel is a tinder box. It is on the verge of exploding into more spasms of violence. It is time the US stops being a passive observer and takes remedial action. It must demand Israel end its crippling occupation, lift the siege of Gaza and end all military and economic aid to Israel. The theft of the Golan Heights must be returned to its rightful owner, the Syrian government. Finally, to add insult to injury, Israel just announced an illegal settlement plan for over 9,000 housing units in Jerusalem. Jewish Holocaust victims must be weeping in their graves. Jagjit Singh