In northern Gaza, “they live from one hour to the next, fearing death at every second”

Over five dozen US lawmakers called on US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken Monday to push Israel into allowing international journalists to have “unimpeded” access to Gaza.

“We write to you with deep concern regarding the ongoing restrictions on media access to Gaza, which have persisted since the outbreak of hostilities one year ago,” the group of 64 lawmakers led by Representative James McGovern wrote in a letter to the president and his top diplomat.

“We urge the administration to take immediate action to advocate for unrestricted, independent media access to Gaza. A free press is essential to ensuring that the world can bear witness to the realities on the ground and hold all parties accountable,” they added.

(See the names of the signatories here.)

US expects thorough investigation from Israel into Palestinian woman’s killing during olive harvest

The US on Monday urged Israel to conduct a thorough investigation into the alleged killing of a Palestinian woman by the Israeli military during an olive harvest in the occupied West Bank last week.

State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel described the reports as “incredibly concerning” and noted that the Israeli military has launched an initial probe and suspended the commander involved.

“Our expectation is that Israel investigates this thoroughly, swiftly, transparently, and that it seeks accountability in this instance,” Patel added.

NOTE: Israel’s self-investigations consistently whitewash its crimes and fail to appropriately punish the perpetrators.

Israeli sources, including the government itself, have a long track record of lying (for example, this and this and this.)

Israel’s Documented Use of Human Shields in Gaza Sparks Calls for US Probe

Common Dreams reports:

The Israel Defense Forces’ use of Palestinians—who are often handcuffed and forced to wear IDF uniforms—as human shields prompted the leading U.S. Muslim advocacy group on Monday to call on the Biden administration to investigate what experts say is a war crime by the No. 1 recipient of American military aid.

International law prohibits the use of combatants or civilians as human shields. However, numerous reports have emerged during Israel’s yearlong assault on Gaza of IDF troops forcing captured Palestinians, including children, to protect Israeli forces in life-threatening situations.

“The State Department and the Department of Justice must investigate these credible charges of widespread and systematic human rights abuses by military forces that receive weapons paid for by American taxpayers and used against a civilian population,” Nihad Awad, the national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement.

“These abuses, and the obvious and open ethnic cleansing of Gaza, violate our nation’s laws,” Awad added. “The Biden administration’s complicity with this genocide stains our national reputation and will haunt our diplomats for generations to come when they are told to ‘remember Gaza’ whenever they bring up the subject of human rights.”

International media outlets including Al Jazeera, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Britain’s The Guardian, and The New York Times have reported how Israel uses abducted Palestinian militants and civilians to proceed ahead of IDF troops in underground tunnels and buildings in order to protect their captors during life-threatening missions.

Defense for Children International-Palestine revealed that Palestinian children have also been used as human shields.

Israel denies it uses Palestinian civilians as human shields, despite video evidence of IDF troops doing so in both Gaza and the illegally occupied West Bank.

NOTE: From the beginning of Israel’s invasion (and long before), Israel has accused Hamas of using Gazan civilians as “human shields,” in spite of the logical and moral problems it raises.

+972 Magazine conducted in-depth investigations that prove Israel prefers to kill Gazan fighters when they are at home, rather than on the battlefield or elsewhere – creating situations where civilians are likely to be killed. (An excellent commentary on the topic is here.)

Meanwhile, Israel has been extensively documented using Palestinians as human shields.

RECOMMENDED READING: Every accusation a confession: Israel and the double lie of ‘human shields’

The Israeli-American Businessman Pitching a $200 Million Plan to Deploy Mercenaries to Gaza

Drop Site News reports:

The Israeli government is actively considering a plan to deploy operatives from private U.S. logistics and security companies in the Gaza Strip under the auspices of delivering humanitarian aid, according to Israeli media reports.

Israel’s security cabinet convened Sunday evening to discuss the proposal and is expected to approve a “pilot” program and begin conducting test runs in the next two months, according to Israeli media reports. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “agreed to examine” the plan last week, according to Haaretz.

The media reports portray the plan as the brainchild of Israeli-American businessman Mordechai “Moti” Kahana, the CEO of Global Delivery Company (GDC), who describes his for-profit business as “Uber for War Zones.” Kahana, a passionate supporter of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, has spent the past year aggressively trying to find a role for his company in Israel’s war on Gaza.

Among Kahana’s goals is to create a “gated community” in Gaza where Palestinians would be subjected to biometric screenings in order to receive humanitarian aid. For months, there has been discussion in Israel of creating “humanitarian bubbles” in northern Gaza where aid could be distributed after Israeli forces declare Hamas fighters have been eliminated from the areas…

(Read the full investigation here.)

Meta’s Israel Policy Chief Tried to Suppress Pro-Palestinian Instagram Posts

The Intercept reports:

A former senior Israeli government official now working as Meta’s Israel policy chief personally pushed for the censorship of Instagram accounts belonging to Students for Justice in Palestine — a group that has played a leading role in organizing campus protests against Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.

Internal policy discussions reviewed by The Intercept show Jordana Cutler, Meta’s Israel & the Jewish Diaspora policy chief, used the company’s content escalation channels to flag for review at least four SJP posts, as well as other content expressing stances contrary to Israel’s foreign policy.

When flagging SJP posts, Cutler repeatedly invoked Meta’s Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy, which bars users from freely discussing a secret list of thousands of blacklisted entities. The Dangerous Organizations policy restricts “glorification” of those on the blacklist, but is supposed to allow for “social and political discourse” and “commentary.”

It’s unclear if Cutler’s attempts to use Meta’s internal censorship system were successful; the company declined to say what ultimately happened to posts that Cutler flagged. It’s not Cutler’s decision whether flagged content is ultimately censored; another team is responsible for moderation decisions.

But experts who spoke to The Intercept expressed alarm over a senior employee tasked with representing the interests of any government advocating for restricting user content that runs contrary to those interests.

“It screams bias,” said Marwa Fatafta a policy adviser with the digital rights organization Access Now, which consults with Meta on content moderation issues. “It doesn’t really require that much intelligence to conclude what this person is up to.”

Cutler has stated explicitly that she acts as a liaison between Meta and the Israeli government, whose perspectives she represents inside the company.

ALSO FROM THE INTERCEPT: Pegasus Spyware Maker Said to Flout Federal Court as It Lobbies to Get Off U.S. Blacklist

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