Gaza records first polio case in 25 years

Polio epidemic begins; new flyers about Gaza to distribute; just 11 percent of Gaza for Gazans; Israeli settlers carry out pogrom in Palestinian town of Jit; Gaza Freedom Flotilla drawing near – will it break Israel’s blockade?; Israeli leaders mull how to dodge ICC arrest warrants; German courts grapple with the meaning of “from the river to the sea”; awaiting UC-Irvine’s fall policy on Palestine protest; Dems want ceasefire and arms embargo, but will Kamala listen?; senior UK diplomat resigns over Gaza; Australia’s classical music scene scuffle over Gaza; “Blue Vote Red Line” movement continues to gather signatures; more.

By IAK staff, from reports.

Gaza records first polio case as UN calls for truce to tackle virus

Al Jazeera reports: The Health Ministry in Gaza has said that it detected the first polio case in the besieged enclave, hours after United Nations officials called for a pause in the fighting to enable a vaccination campaign for children against the virus.

In a statement on Friday, the Health Ministry blamed the “difficult” conditions in Gaza – including the spread of sewage water in the streets, shortages of medical supplies and lack of personal hygiene products due to the Israeli blockade – for the emergence of the virus in the territory.

Hours earlier, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had called for humanitarian pauses in the war in Gaza to conduct a polio vaccine campaign.

“It is impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign with war raging all over,” he told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.

Guterres appealed for assurances of humanitarian pauses to be provided immediately from the warring parties as he warned that preventing and containing the spread of polio in Gaza would take a massive coordinated and urgent effort.

“Let’s be clear: The ultimate vaccine for polio is peace and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” Guterres said. “But in any case, a polio pause is a must.”

(Read the full article here.)

Details of the proposed vaccination campaign are here.

New fact sheets about Gaza to be distributed in Chicago and around the country

If Americans knew has produced two new flyers printed front and back with facts about Gaza for educating Americans.

These will be available in Chicago at the demonstrations at the Democratic National Convention for everyone to distribute widely. To obtain these, email tech@ifamericansknew.org. Below is one of the flyers:

Latest evacuation order leaves just 11 percent of Gaza for Gazans; food kitchens in crisis

OCHA reports: The Israeli military issued an order on 16 August that affects six blocs in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, including two within the Israeli-designated zone in Al Mawasi in western Khan Younis.

This is one of the largest evacuation orders affecting the zone to date, and it shrinks the size of the so-called “humanitarian area” to about 41 square kilometers, or 11 per cent of the total area of the Gaza Strip.

Initial mapping indicates that this order affects 122 internally displaced persons sites, makeshift shelters, and collective centers that are collectively hosting over 170,000 people.

There is an urgent need for increased hot meal capacity in Gaza due to recurrent waves of displacement, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported on 12 August. Many community kitchens in central and southern Gaza struggle due to unstable supplies of humanitarian cargo and the lack of food and fuel.

The situation has worsened since 22 July following the issuance of multiple evacuation orders in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, which forced the relocation of four kitchens and the closure of 19 food delivery points.

Moreover, in Deir al Balah, about 1,400 metric tons of food stocks in one of the warehouses became inaccessible and only one WFP warehouse with about 3,000 metric tons of commodities is currently accessible but is insufficient to meet the August cycle requirements.

In July, 70 community kitchens in Gaza supported by WFP provided around 11.5 million hot meals to more than 200,000 people, the majority in central Gaza.

Of the total food cargo entering through Kerem Shalom Crossing in July, only eight per cent was humanitarian aid and the rest were commercial trucks. There was reportedly a slight improvement in food availability and diversity in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, but a deterioration in other governorates, and persistent challenges to market functionality including high food prices, lack of liquidity and the emergence of “thieves markets.”

Israeli settlers rampage across Palestinian town in latest West Bank pogrom

The Cradle reports: More than 70 armed Jewish settlers invaded the Palestinian town of Jit in the occupied West Bank on 15 August, firing bullets and tear gas at residents and setting several homes and cars and other property on fire, CNN reported.

Settlers killed 23-year-old Rashid Sedda during the pogrom. The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health confirmed the 23-year-old Palestinian died due to a gunshot wound to the chest.

“We have attacks but nothing to this level,” the head of Jit’s village council, Nasser Sedda, told CNN. “We haven’t seen anything like this before, and without a prior warning. They caught the people off guard – women, children, and elders were there.”

“Dozens of Israeli civilians, some of them masked, entered the town of Jit and set fire to vehicles and structures in the area, hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

Haaretz reported that the only person arrested after the settler raid on the village of Jit was suspected of interfering with a policeman and was released. No arrests have yet been made for those involved in the pogrom.

BREAKING | Over 100 Israeli settlers storm the village of Jit near the occupied West Bank city of Qalqilya and burn Palestinian homes and cars. Injuries reported.

A critical bullet injury to the chest of a young man as a result of settlers shooting him, said the Red Crescent. pic.twitter.com/1Jm2lSljuV

— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) August 15, 2024

New film from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition:

And as this IAK video reported eight years ago, Israeli blockades of Gaza began years before Hamas came to power:

Gaza Freedom Flotilla: Activists prepare to defy Israel naval blockade of Gaza

Reuters reports: Peace activists from several countries are setting out on a converted trawler to defy an Israeli blockade and deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“The purpose of this mission is to send a message that civil society is not OK with what’s happening in Gaza,” said Fellipe Lopes, the Portuguese media coordinator of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition on board the ship, “Handala” during a stopover in Malta.

It will be a trip fraught with danger. Another coalition ship on a similar mission to Gaza in 2010 was stopped and boarded by Israeli troops, and nine activists died. Other ships were similarly stopped and boarded, without loss of life.

“We expect to encounter resistance throughout our mission,” said Australian activist, Michael Coleman.

“Ours is not an illegal activity in any shape or form. The International Court of Justice has asked them to grant unfettered access to aid into Gaza and I implore them to let us and other aids through immediately,” he said.

The “Handala” was visited in Malta by 78-year-old retired US Army Colonel and diplomat, Ann Wright, who was on board another coalition ship boarded by Israeli troops in 2010, in the incident in which nine activists died.

“These people are very brave, because we don’t know what’s going to happen. If the Israelis stop them, we know it’ll be brutal,” Wright said.

The brightly colored “Handala” carries activists from Italy, France, Norway, Australia, the Netherlands, Syria and a number of Palestinians. It has made several port calls around Scandinavia and the Mediterranean to raise awareness about the situation in Gaza.

Its hull carries slogans reading: “Free Palestine”, “Gaza you are not alone” and “Stop the Genocide”, while its humanitarian aid cargo consists mostly of medicines.

The trip along the Eastern Mediterranean to Gaza will take a week but organizers said they might stop over in another harbor on the way.

NOTE: The flotilla movement was begun by activists Greta Berlin, Paul Larudee and associates.

Israeli leaders strategize about how to dodge ICC arrest warrants

Andalou Agency reports: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with other officials Thursday to discuss efforts by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants against them.

“The Attorney General reiterated her position regarding the establishment of a State Commission of Inquiry to examine the humanitarian situation in Gaza even though, according to the view of the Attorney General herself, there is no certainty that establishing this commission would lead to the cancellation of the request to issue the warrants,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

‘From the river to the sea’: six words that are testing freedom of speech in Germany

The Guardian reports: Is it legal to say the words “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” in Germany? The answer appears to be yes: you can shout them from the rooftops in German, English, Arabic or Hebrew, so long as a court accepts that you are not doing so to indicate support for Hamas or its murderous assault of 7 October.

This distinction came to bear on the activist Ava Moayeri last week, when she was convicted of “condoning a crime” for leading a chant of the slogan at a Berlin rally on 11 October. If the speaker of the phrase is understood to mean, for instance, that they support the peaceful liberation of Palestinians, then the utterance would be protected.

But the presiding judge, Birgit Balzer, didn’t think that was possible in this case, citing the date of the protest in her decision. Moayeri is expected to challenge the verdict in a higher court.

The slogan has come to symbolize a rift running through German society amid Israel’s war in Gaza. For some people, the expression is implicitly genocidal, especially because of its long history of use by Hamas and other terrorist organizations. The judge reportedly said that it was clear to her that it “denied the right of the state of Israel to exist”, while Germany’s interior minister, Nancy Faeser, has declared it to be a Hamas slogan.

(Read the full article here.)

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Student protesters at UC Irvine were suspended with no chance to defend themselves. Will courts return them to campus?

The Intercept reports: Amid the brutal police crackdowns at more than 100 campus protests against the war in Gaza the spring, one university in California stood out for its especially harsh treatment of student protesters. The school effectively eliminated any due process for the students by suspending them without making specific allegations of misconduct or allowing the students to respond to vague charges.

Last month, student protesters at University of California, Irvine sued the school regents and chancellor for suspending them without any notice or a chance to present evidence in their defense. On Tuesday, plaintiffs in the suit filed a motion to ask the Superior Court of California to step in.

The five students are asking the court to force the school to halt the suspensions and allow students to resume their studies, register for fall classes, go back to campus jobs, and regain access to campus housing.

More than 3,000 people were arrested during brutal police crackdowns on campus protests this year, according to a protest tracker developed by The Appeal. UCI is still an outlier — it’s one of the only schools in the country that issued interim suspensions banning students from campus before they had a chance to respond. The university’s approach was, a representative for the students said, unprecedented.

(Read the full article here.)

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‘Not Another Bomb’ to Israel Demand Grows Ahead of Democratic Convention

Common Dreams reports: Leading up to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week, calls for the U.S. government to stop arming Israel’s devastating assault on the Gaza Strip—widely denounced around the world as genocide—continued to mount on Friday.

“We join the millions of people who’ve taken action the last 10 months, taxpayers who don’t want to pay for genocide and are demanding an immediate arms embargo on Israel,” U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) executive director Ahmad Abuznaid said in a statement Friday.

“We know that politicians won’t change their unjust policies until it’s in their own self-interest to do so,” he continued. “We must double down on our demands ahead of the DNC, where we’ll be marching in the streets for the liberation of all.”

Pro-Palestine protests in Chicago are set to start Sunday, a day before the DNC officially begins. They will continue throughout the week, according to a schedule shared Friday by the Chicago Sun-Times. The March on the DNC is planned for Monday afternoon.

(Read the full article here.)

NOTE: If Americans Knew has created fact sheets about Gaza that will be distributed at the protests shown above. IAK will also have a digital billboard truck in Chicago during the convention and large posters about Gaza will be plastered around the city.

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New Poll Suggests Gaza Ceasefire and Arms Embargo Would Help Dems with Swing State Voters

A new poll, just released Wednesday by YouGov and the Institute for Mideast Understanding (IMEU) showed that in three key battleground states, “About a quarter of those surveyed across these states say the violence in Gaza will sway how they vote,” and that “60% or more disapprove of more weapons to Israel.”

Even more stunning, the number of Democratic and Independent voters who would be less likely to vote for Harris if she vowed to stop arming Israel is minuscule. In Pennsylvania, only 7% said they would be less likely to vote for Harris if she pledged to stop sending weapons to Israel; in both Arizona and Georgia, that figure was just 5%.

The gaps are huge. In those same states, the numbers saying they would be more likely to vote for Harris if she pledged to stop arming Israel were 34% in Pennsylvania, 39% in Georgia, and 35% in Arizona. The rest said it wouldn’t affect their vote.

“This polling clearly shows that if the Democrats want Vice President Harris to be the strongest nominee possible going into November, then they should be demanding that President Biden stop the flow of weapons to Israel and secure a permanent ceasefire immediately,” IMEU Policy Project Executive Director Margaret DeReus said in a statement. “Not only are these policies popular, but they actually move voters from the ‘undecided’ or ‘not voting’ column and into the Democrats’ column in the states Democrats will need to win.”

It is clear that the idea that forcing Israel into a ceasefire by withholding weapons would be beneficial to Harris, and all the more so if Israel then stops its genocide, and Iran and the rest of the Axis of Resistance stand down, as has been promised, and is the overwhelmingly likely result.

Harris leads Trump in Pennsylvania by 2.1%, Arizona by 0.7%, and Georgia by 0.1%, according to the data-driven news site FiveThirtyEight’s polling averages as of Aug. 14.

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Senior diplomat resigns over UK’s complicity in ‘war crimes’ in Gaza

Middle East Monitor reports: A senior British diplomat has resigned from the Foreign Office over the UK’s continued arms sales to Israel, which he said have “no justification”.

Mark Smith, the head of Africa Programmes and Expertise Department and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, submitted a resignation letter entitled “FCDO complicity in War Crimes” reports revealed yesterday.

“It is with sadness that I resign after a long career in the diplomatic service,” he wrote, “however I can no longer carry out my duties in the knowledge that this Department may be complicit in War Crimes. ”

“Each day we witness clear and unquestionable examples of War Crimes and breaches of International Humanitarian Law in Gaza perpetrated by the State of Israel,” he continued.

He went on to highlight how “senior members of the Israeli government and militar have expressed open genocidal intent, Isralei soldiers take videos, deliberately burning destroying, and looting civilian property and openly admit to the rape and torture of prisoners.”

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Melbourne orchestra leaders voted out for removing pianist over Gaza tribute

Middle East Eye reports: Musicians at the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) have passed a vote of no confidence in its board after it cancelled a show by a pianist who had dedicated a performance to Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

In a letter to the management, the musicians said, “We believe it is the duty of senior management to lead and manage in accordance with the MSO’s values and behaviors, however, it has become apparent that these values no longer appear to be aligned with those of the orchestra and staff.”

On Sunday, British-Australian pianist Jayson Gillham premiered a five-minute piece called Witness, which he performed after a brief comment on Israel’s killing of journalists in Gaza, which he referred to as a war crime.

Following the concert, MSO announced that it had cancelled Gillham’s upcoming performance, which was to take place on Thursday, due to “a series of introductory remarks” he made.

It said that it had sought “independent security advice” following Sunday’s concert, and in light of the advice, “had no option but to cancel” Gillham’s next show.

AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW ADDS: After a litany of protest from its staff, some subscribers and members of the public, the MSO had by Thursday relented and released a statement admitting its cancellation of Gillham had been “an error”, and that it was working to program a new concert with him shortly.

The backdown has in turn upset some Jewish stakeholders.

“The MSO got it right the first time,” said the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Peter Wertheim.

Jayson Gillham has been involved in the Palestinian issue in the past.

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“Blue Vote Red Line” movement continues to gather signatures

The “Blue Vote Red Line” movement seeks to collect 1 million voters to pledge a vote for the Democratic ticket if, and only if, it commits to 1) enforce an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as ordered by the World Court and UN Security Council Resolution 2735 or 2) end all military aid to Israel.

Their goal is to “force the Democratic Party to listen to its voters and not just its donors. The pledge can be viewed and signed here.

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MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – AUGUST 16:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – August 16: at least 40,706* (40,074 in Gaza* – 11,445 women (30%), 16,251 children as of July 22. [The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.]

This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified – and at least 632 in the West Bank (~145 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 46,848 Palestinian deaths.

Lancet: “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death9 to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.

Ralph Nader earlier estimated 200,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.

• At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 18 from West Bank).
• At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
• About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are currently displaced.
• Almost 500,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

Palestinian injuries from October 7 – August 16: at least 97,957 (including at least 92,537 in Gaza and 5,420 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how man Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – August 16: ~1,454 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 290*** military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 25 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel) and~10,000 injured.

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.

*Previously, IAK did not include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile was being disputed. However, given that much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, Israel had previously bombed the hospital and has attacked many others, Israel is prohibiting outside experts from investigating the scene, and since the UN and other agencies are including the deaths from the attack in their cumulative totals, if Americans knew is now also doing so.

**Euro-Med Monitor reports that Gaza’s elderly are dying at an alarmingly high rate. The majority die at home and are buried either close to their residences or in makeshift graves dispersed across the Strip. There are currently more than 140 such cemeteries. Additionally, according to Euromed, thousands have died from starvation, malnourishment, and inadequate medical care; these are considered indirect victims as they were not registered in hospitals. 

***Approximately ten of the deaths listed above were Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah in fighting at the Israel-Lebanon border. The figure does not include the reportedly 41 Israeli soldiers – nearly 16% of the total Israeli military deaths – killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents. 

† For most of the conflict, women and children accounted for about 70% of deaths in Gaza, with children making up a little over 40% of those killed, according to official statistics.

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

• Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
• Understanding what motivates ultra-orthodox Jewish attacks on West Bank Palestinians
• Palestinians’ harrowing stories of rape by Israeli soldiers (including female soldiers)
• A Palestinian journalist visited Ismail Haniyeh’s home in Gaza to report on his death. Israel assassinated him too.
• I reported a piece for the New York Times on antisemitism. I found a major error, but the Times didn’t care.
• How Israel plans to whitewash its war crimes in Gaza
• Why the West Bank is on the verge of economic collapse
• Netanyahu’s plan to involve US in regional war on its behalf
• Western media continue to withhold the truth about Israel and Gaza – 4 stories
• “Well What SHOULD Israel Have Done After October 7?”
• Welcome to Hell
• More dead children. More BBC ‘news’ channelling Israeli propaganda as its own
• U.S. media downplays and ignores ICJ ruling declaring Israeli occupation illegal
• Israeli soldiers tell story of savage cruelty in Gaza – one given blessing by the West
• Searching for Gaza’s missing children
• What Would You Do With An Extra $320 Million?
• Assassination of Haniyeh an intentional, dangerous escalation – Parsi, Macgregor
• When Israel Burned Refugees Alive, Establishment Media Called It a ‘Tragic Accident’
• Israel has turbocharged West Bank housing demolitions under the cover of war
• Western media ignores Israeli confirmation of Hannibal Directive on 7 Oct
• US Should Arrest Benjamin Netanyahu When He’s in Washington
• Airwars investigation: Israeli airstrikes uniquely lethal (video)
• Hesen Jabr paid the price of conscience
• Gaza genocide denial
• Why the news media’s job is to groom us
• ‘Disappeared, buried, detained’: The horrors of Gaza’s missing children