Alaa Abdel-Fattah: A symbol of Egypt's police state



In-depth
Dima Wannous
30 May, 2022

In-depth: In an exclusive interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Mona Seif, the sister of high-profile Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah who started a hunger strike on 2 April, says UK authorities need to act now.

On 2 April, Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah began a hunger strike, protesting the inhumane conditions he has faced inside Cairo's notorious Tora high-security prison.

His family haven't stopped demanding justice for him since his initial six-year stint in jail from 2013 to 2019. This was followed by a second arrest in 2019, just months after his release. International human rights organisations have also tirelessly tried to highlight his case.

Alaa, a high-profile blogger and activist who mobilised protests against Hosni Mubarak's regime in the January Revolution of 2011, was arrested in 2013 for organising a protest without a permit.

However, the six years he spent behind bars, denied even the most basic rights supposedly afforded by international law, wasn't the end of the story. Shortly after his release, Alaa shared a Facebook post that resulted in his re-arrest and he was thrown back into Tora prison.

"His family haven't stopped demanding justice for him since his initial six-year stint in jail from 2013 to 2019. This was followed by a second arrest in 2019, just months after his release"

UK citizenship: A gamechanger?

Alaa's hunger strike has lasted seven weeks so far, and there are genuine fears over his fragile physical condition after the torture and deprivation he has suffered during the last nine years.

However, Alaa is no longer simply an Egyptian prisoner: after obtaining British citizenship in December 2021, there is a new question - can British nationality save him from this hell?

Moreover, will the British government clearly demand his release as it would for any other British citizen, especially one jailed for having the 'audacity' to express an opinion?

To answer these questions and share more information about Alaa's condition, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, The New Arab's Arabic-language sister publication, interviewed Mona Seif, his sister and fellow activist, who is in London to raise awareness and press for action on his case.

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The New Arab: What are the latest developments in Alaa's case?

Mona Seif: Alaa has completed more than 50 days of his hunger strike. Two days ago my mother and his aunt and uncle visited him in the new prison he was transferred to recently (the Wadi El-Natrun prison) which was a response to pressure on Egypt's government by the British embassy in Egypt and interventions by the UK government and MPs.

This very late step comes after two and a half years of him suffering [Tora] prison's horrendous conditions which are completely illegal: the guards were abusive, he was denied sunlight, exercise and books and was kept in isolation. His transferral to Wadi El-Natrun may be a slight improvement. We don't know whether they will allow him books now, for example.

However, the biggest achievement is that he has slept on a mattress for the first time in years. However, Alaa is continuing his hunger strike having made two clear demands: the assignment of an independent investigative judge to examine all the complaints we have submitted since his imprisonment in September 2019, and the torture and assaults he has suffered, in addition to his demand, as a British citizen, for a British consular visit to discuss legal proceedings.

TNA: Has anything changed since he obtained British nationality?

MS: Despite the number of governmental communications undertaken by the British side, nothing has changed. The consulate has been trying to get permission to visit since December with no results. This has pushed me to come to London to meet British officials, while my sister Sanaa has headed to Washington where Alaa's book was recently published.

We are trying to generate more interest [in his case]. All these efforts have contributed to improving the situation even if by a little, and have resulted in Alaa being moved from a maximum-security prison to El-Natrun Prison. However, we still don't know whether he will get some of his rights.

"Alaa's hunger strike has lasted seven weeks so far, and there are genuine fears over his fragile physical condition after the torture and deprivation he has suffered during the last nine years"

TNA: You announced in a family statement that his hunger strike is different this time. Why?

MS: That's right, it's completely different. In the past, Alaa has gone on hunger strikes to improve conditions. Alaa has been living in a maximum-security prison in conditions which don't adhere to any law, like the other prisoners. Furthermore, the level of violence he has suffered and we have also suffered as a family, for which there’s been no intervention from the government, has aggravated the sense of injustice and exhaustion.

When Alaa was sentenced in December (five years for 'spreading false information'), he already had British nationality: he was being sentenced as a British citizen. We have previous experience in this. When my sister Sanaa was in prison and she was issued a British passport, the government immediately allowed a consular visit. Alaa has been waiting for this visit since December, to no avail.

Besides this, Alaa has suffered multiple abuses in the prison. There is a national security officer known as 'Ahmad Fekry' whose real name is Walid Al-Dahshan, who enjoys torturing him and the other prisoners. This reaches the extent of his attending the rare visits of Alaa's only son, Khaled, which forced Alaa to cancel these visits, because it was painful to see his 10-year old son whilst the person responsible for his torture was in the room.

These factors pushed Alaa to a hunger strike to try to end the situation he's in. He wants to end all this absurdity, either through total collapse, or through forcing the authorities to end the injustice inflicted on him for years and hand him over to the British. Alaa wants to sever his relationship with prison by whatever means necessary.

TNA: Have you got detailed information on his condition today seven weeks into the hunger strike?

MS: Physically, Alaa has become gaunt and weak, however his mind is still razor-sharp. He should've had a medical check after moving to the new prison and we should have more details soon. What worries us is that his physical deterioration could be sudden and drastic after fifty days of his hunger strike.

We also lack details on his general health after he's spent two years without sunlight or any form of exercise, which will definitely have affected his health. However, positively, Alaa's mental state has improved since he began hunger striking.

As a family, our relationship with prison is long and bitter. But last September, Alaa talked about death and suicide for the first time ever. Even when my dad was in prison, then on his death bed, Alaa never took such an extreme position, and this frightens us. By hunger striking, Alaa feels like he is resisting, guiding us and dictating the terms of his own battle without surrendering to mental and physical torture.

"The situation in Egypt is horrific - there is no effort or political will in Sisi's regime to find solutions to the prisoner issue, so individual efforts are the only way"

TNA: Was the strike a collective decision?

MS: Usually, these decisions are taken collectively in our family. This time was different. We knew Alaa was considering striking. But we imagined we would discuss it, despite the complications with visiting – since Covid-19, the monthly visits have been restricted to one person and for no more than 20 minutes.

Additionally, there is now a glass barrier between us and him so we have to talk over a telephone. But despite that, we were previously discussing these issues. This time, Alaa took the decision alone, and just informed us after he had started the strike.

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I remember visiting him on the 5th of April and he told me he had started his strike on the first day of Ramadan, which was the 2nd of April. I didn’t ask him to go back on his decision because our role is to support each other's battles, even if we disagree about timing or tactics. However, I did ask him to be patient because I believed the British ambassador's efforts might yield something.

Alaa was more farsighted. He was certain of his decision, having been patient for months while the entirety of the [Egyptian] state was waging war on his body and his mind. And he was right - the soft diplomacy between England and Egypt hasn't succeeded even in getting one book to him.

The British government has the right, according to Egyptian and international law and international agreements which Egypt has signed, to visit a British citizen in prison. The Egyptian side hasn't refused their request, but it is delaying.

Alaa's determination to hunger strike and that we publicise that he has obtained nationality, and all the official procedures we are now undertaking, all this has pushed the case to a new level, and pushed people to help and show their solidarity. All I want is to get Alaa out before his health deteriorates beyond recovery.

TNA: Can you speak about the British government's efforts? What about Foreign Minister Liz Truss, have you managed to get through to her?

MS: The British side is not doing nearly enough. This said, I want to be fair to the consular team in Cairo who have tried their hardest. However, they have limited powers and can't do more without the political will of the British foreign secretary to increase pressure and demand Alaa's immediate release.

The problem is, we are talking about close allies: Britain is Egypt's biggest investor; they have very strong relations. Only two days ago the Egyptian Minister for International Cooperation, Rania Al Mashat, was in Britain to discuss the global climate summit this November. These are two states with shared interests in trade and politics. But I have hope, and my visit to London is part of that.

I hope to see enough of an outcry on this that relevant parties will engage with the urgency of the situation. My last attempt to contact Foreign Minister Liz Truss was via sending a letter signed by 10 British MPs and 17 members of the House of Lords, demanding that she act urgently.

"The British side is not doing nearly enough. This said, I want to be fair to the consular team in Cairo who have tried their hardest. However, they have limited powers and can't do more without the political will of the British foreign secretary"

TNA: Could Alaa's case be used to rescue other prisoners in Egyptian prisons?

MS: The situation in Egypt is horrific - there is no effort or political will in Sisi's regime to find solutions to the prisoner issue, so individual efforts are the only way.

However, Alaa is my brother, so defending human rights is no longer a choice for me - I find myself compelled to work constantly to defend prisoners' rights and to contact their families. My identity is now as a member of the families of prisoners. Alaa and the rest of the prisoners are a mirror, reflecting the appalling state of the law, and of humanity, in Egypt.

Alaa has an active family, a network of supportive human rights groups, a second nationality and a second government to assist him, but none of this has protected him from violations, and didn't even protect his family from being beaten outside Tora prison.

Me and my mum were beaten outside the prison and my sister Sanaa was jailed for over a year simply because we were trying to check on Alaa. So none of this secured him with even minimal rights. So what do prisoners without that support go through?

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Analysis

Horriya Marzouk

As a family, we have dealt with many prisons, but this was the first time Alaa was tortured. This is an indicator of how they will be treating others who don't have a voice. The independent journalist Mohamed 'Oxygen' was convicted in the same case as Alaa, and since his arrest (2018) he hasn't been allowed one family visit, and has tried to kill himself. And this is not the first suicide attempt in prison. There's also an increasing death rate due to deliberate negligence including medical neglect.

Since Alaa has been in prison, he's seen two prisoners die. The first was Ahmed Sabir, who was in his forties. We filed a report on Alaa's behalf after he told us how Ahmed had suddenly collapsed with exhaustion one day, so the prisoners knocked on the cell door but no one responded. After five hours of continuous knocking, Ahmed died. This is the terrifying state of the general conditions.

"Alaa and the rest of the prisoners are a mirror, reflecting the appalling state of the law, and of humanity, in Egypt"

TNA: Are you being harassed by the public out of fear around your case?

MS: The opposite – people's responses have surprised me. Sisi's regime has decided that my family are its enemy because we express ourselves. Our friends were harassed just for knowing us. However, I have been surprised that despite the fear which prevails in Egypt, we have received huge solidarity.

In the streets, shops, and on public transport, people introduce themselves and express their sympathy - even if they won’t do this publicly. If it wasn't for this support, we wouldn't be able to bear this level of violence.

This is an edited and abridged translation from our Arabic edition. To read the original article click here.

Translated by Rose Chacko.

Going backwards: Israel and the US leading the world to lawlessness

30th May 2022   USA and Canada, Israel

By Lawrence Davidson

Going backwards 

Several years ago I went to a small conference in Washington, D.C., and sat in on a lecture on “a new era of statecraft”. The presenter, who worked for the US government – though was not putting forth any official views – was supported by several friendly companions in the audience. His argument was that states were now shaking off international rules and organisational – he named the UN – regulations so as to “reassert their lawful sovereignty”. This “shaking off” was presented as progressive because it would let a state more freely pursue the interests of its citizens. Again, the presenter claimed this was all worth supporting.

I was shocked and angered by this presentation. During the Q & A I told them they either knew no history or were consciously trying to mislead us, for what they were describing was a move backwards in terms of regulating state behaviour, to a time prior to World War II. They were trying to resurrect an ugly and very dangerous period in history. I think they would have ejected me from the room if they could have gotten away with it.

As misleading as this presentation was, it framed a seminal issue: we are in fact regressing in terms of post-World War II values and obedience to international laws. One can rightly ask, going backwards from where, to what, and why?

Going backwards from where?

The “from where” was the progressive period inaugurated  just after World War II. This period was a reaction to the horrors of Nazism, fascism and war. As a consequence of these horrors, imperialism and colonialism lost their lustre and some of the Western political leadership started to move in the direction of decolonisation.

Roughly at the same time (1945-50), treaties and “universal declarations” were drawn up, outlawing the behaviours of the Nazis. By treaty, genocide was outlawed and eventually made a crime against humanity. The Fourth Geneva Convention was created to “deal with humanitarian protections for civilians in a war zone.” The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which according to Eleanor Roosevelt represented “a great event in the life of mankind”, guaranteed, rather optimistically, the right of every individual to “live their lives freely, equally and in dignity”. Finally, the International Court of Justice, a body of the UN, was established at the Hague in the Netherlands followed by the founding of the International Criminal Court, a complementary organisation set up by international treaty.

If these new standards had prevailed in practice,the result would have been restraints on sovereignty – rules covering what things a nation’s rulers could or could not do within or without their borders. They would also act as a guide to a better world – a set of new standards of civilised behaviour. For instance, an impulse towards racial equality began at this point and lasted at least into the early 1970s: the US Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 and apartheid was declared a crime against humanity in 1973 by the UN General Assembly. However, maintaining this progress was not to be as easy as Eleanor Roosevelt and so many others thought.

Why are we going backwards?

There are two sources of erosion that work on these new progressive standards. The first one was the pull of sovereignty. The horrors of Nazism and fascism demonstrated the inherent dangers of sovereign national behaviour, yet the claim of supreme authority for state government turned out to be a habit very difficult to break. Thus, you have a constant tendency to overlook or forget the rules set down by international law or treaty because they restrict sovereign action. And, if you are a “great power”, or a smaller state that has a great power patron, you are all but immune from the dictates of international law. So, it has been only the small-time dictator of an unprotected state, usually African or Balkan, that gets held accountable for breaking rules.

“The Israel lobby… is powerful enough to impose its will on the US State Department in those areas reflecting the lobby’s interest. And what is that interest? It was the protection and promotion of the colonialist power of Israel, a state that breaks international law and violates international treaties on a regular basis.”

The second source that continues to erode the progressive measures of the postwar period is an invasive and parasitic force. This is the postwar growth of lobbies, or interest groups powerful enough to force their own will on democratic governments when it comes to formulating the national policy they wish to influence. 

It turned out that my conference state-power stalwarts had something to do with this interest group phenomenon. The presenter and his audience cadre were Zioists, which made them associated with one of the most powerful lobbies in the United States. The Israel lobby (hereafter the lobby) is powerful enough to impose its will on the US State Department in those areas reflecting the lobby’s interest. And what is that interest? It was the protection and promotion of the colonialist power of Israel, a state that breaks international law and violates international treaties on a regular basis. 

Going backwards to where?

The behaviour of states like Israel, which has a patron in the United States government, essentially mimics state behaviour before World War II. Among these behaviours are colonial expansion, cross-border aggression, persecution of captive peoples, targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure – the list goes on and on. These are behaviours that ultimately lead to state-based racism, ethnic cleansing and genocide. Thus, we have a pretty good picture of “where to” takes us: it takes us back to a lawless international scene.

Since the conference presenter and his entourage were such supporters of Israel, we will first take a look at a recent Israeli action that reflects its colonial, racist behaviour, then at the aftermath of the action.

The action of note was the recent murder of Shireen Abu Aqleh, the AJazeera reporter shot in the head by an Israeli military assassin while she was reporting on an Israeli raid into the occupied Palestinian city of Jenin. Later her funeral procession was literally attacked by Israeli police. This behaviour on the part of the Israeli state was not only a colonialist one, but was also fascist in nature. Again, mimicking pre-World War II behaviour.

In the aftermath of the murder, was there any move to hold Israeli personnel accountable? There was certainly no significant reaction in Washington. The power of the lobby is such that it can cause the US government to ensure that Israel escapes accountability for its crimes. Over the past one hundred years, this lobby has cultivated friendships of and financially supported US politicians to the point where they are able to secure their long-term support. They also heavily spent to defeat those who will not support Israel. Over time this has resulted in the seeding of the US government with elected and appointed pro-Israeli personnel. 

Thus, what was Washington’s reaction to Israel’s display of fascism?

With many civil society organisations agreeing that Shireen Abu Aqleh’s’s murder deserves an independent, objective investigation, and with both logic and past history demonstrating that Israel cannot investigate itself, the spokesman for the State Department, Ned Price, declared, “The Israelis have the wherewithal and the capabilities to conduct a thorough, comprehensive investigation.” Whether they literally do or do not have such “capabilities”, history has demonstrated they never use them when it comes to their accountability for criminal behaviour towards Palestinians – who are their colonial subjects.

There is another incident worth mentioning, and this one originated in Washington, D.C. In February 2022 the human rights group Amnesty International released a report that described Israel as an apartheid state. The report proved to be so factual and complete in its coverage as to be definitive.

Nonetheless, the State Departments rejected the report.The government spokesman, again Ned Price, objected to the use of the term “apartheid” when describing Israel. Then, still within the context of discussing the apartheid label, Price reminded us all that  Israel was “the world’s only Jewish state”, and it is important that “the Jewish people not be denied their right of self-determination”. I don’t know if Price understood that he was interjecting “Jewish self-determination” into a discussion of a report that definitively demonstrated that Israel was maintaining and growing the “Zionist Jewish state” through apartheid practices. In other words when it comes to Israel, self-determination = apartheid. This all occurs at the 67-minute mark of the press conference cited above and recorded in its entirety by PBS.

There is something frustrating, and also offensive, about the State Department’s dancing around the obvious. The implication is that it is acceptable for a state, be it of Jews or any other group, to be racist in practice if that is where their “right” of self-determination takes them. This was the position taken by Adolf Hitler and is now in stark contradiction to international law. But who obeys the law? 

Conclusion

Israel is just the most obvious example of the erosion of international law and such agreements as the Fourth Geneva Convention. In the proxy and civil wars that go on more or less constantly, international law, the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are simply ignored. It is not just minor powers that are guilty: the rules aren’t observed by the Russians in Ukraine, as they weren’t observed by the United States in Vietnam. 

That being said, Israel has certainly led the way backwards, and ironically so. For much of post-World War II’s rules were put in place in response to crimes committed against the Jews. For example, genocide was made a crime against humanity, and here the motivation comes from the Nazis’ attempt to eradicate the Jews, among others. When Hitler began this project, there were no rules regulating sovereign behaviour, be it in domestic or foreign affairs. Sovereignty reigned supreme. The League of Nations had floundered, and its Mandate System established after World War I really masked colonial expansion. From the point of “legal” state action, the Nazis had a clear field for slaughter as long as they restricted their efforts to Germany.

It is back into that environment that Israel, numbly and dumbly protected by its patron in Washington, is taking us all. The irony gets greater. In the early 1970s apartheid was declared a crime against humanity. The Zionists ignored the declaration and proceeded to create an apartheid society for themselves and their colonial subjects, the Palestinians.

This returns to a time of unfettered violence and the suppression of others’ human rights is folly. The only ones crying out in the darkness are civil society organisations, and they are being pointedly ignored by governments. Yet there is nothing for it but to keep up the protests, the boycotts, the investigations and the writing of essays that relatively few will read.

Palestinians in Beirut mark 1972 attack on Israel airport

Kozo Okamoto (C), the only surviving member of a three-man Japanese Red Army commando that killed 26 people at Israel's Lod airport on May 30, 1972, gestures at a ceremony organised by Palestinian militants in Beirut - JOSEPH EID
Agence France-Presse


May 30, 2022 — Beirut (AFP)

Palestinian militants in Beirut on Monday marked the 50th anniversary of a deadly attack carried out by members of the Japanese Red Army at Israel's Lod airport.

Kozo Okamoto, the only surviving member of the three-man commando that killed 26 people on May 30, 1972 at the airport near Tel Aviv, made a rare appearance at the ceremony.

The short event was held at a cemetery on the edge of Shatila Palestinian refugee camp where Okamoto, now 74, laid a wreath on a grave honouring his fellow JRA members and flashed a V-sign.

The attack was planned by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which has commemorated it every year for a half a century.

"He came to defend the freedom of people who had their lands stolen. He believes in their rights, he believes in justice and human freedom," a PFLP official who gave his name as Abu Yusef told AFP.

An official with the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah also attended the ceremony in honour of Okamoto, who is still wanted in Japan for terrorism.

"This valiant hero suffered in the enemy's prisons... but today his heart beats with Palestine," Hezbollah's Abdallah Hamoud said.

The Lod attack killed one Canadian, eight Israelis and 17 US citizens from Puerto Rico who had flown in on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

The bloodbath at what was later named Ben Gurion airport set off a review of global security standards in the aviation industry.

Okamoto, who was captured during the attack, was sentenced to life in prison in Israel but released in a huge prisoner exchange deal known as the Jibril Agreement in 1985.

He was jailed again in Lebanon in 1997 but narrowly avoided extradition to Japan and in 2000 became the first -- and to this day the only -- person to obtain political asylum in Lebanon.

Okamoto has since lived under the protection of the PFLP in Beirut.

SEEhttps://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/05/armed-struggle-is-not-terrorism-empress.html

Ben Gurion University President Says PA Flags Can’t Be Banned From Campus

by JNS.org

Demonstrators hold Palestinian flags and placards that read “Free Palestine” during a Jan. 19, 2022 demonstration outside the Embassy of Israel in London.

 Photo: Hesther Ng / SOPA Images/Sipa USA

JNS.org – The president of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev told a Knesset committee on Sunday that if they wished to ban the display of Palestinian Authority flags on campus, then they should pass a law to outlaw the practice.

Appearing before the Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee, professor Daniel Chamovitz said that the government could not expect universities to ban pro-Palestinian rallies. The flying of PA flags, while troubling, he said, was not illegal.

“The Palestinian flag threatens many of Jews. I understand and feel this pain—but that doesn’t mean there’s violence on campus,” said Chamovitz.

Last Monday, hundreds of Bedouin students flew PA flags during a demonstration on campus to mark “Nakba Day,” the Palestinian day of mourning over Israel’s establishment in 1948.

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The demonstration sparked widespread criticism, including from from Beersheva Mayor Reuven Danilovich, who called on Chamovitz to take action against students who participated, according to Ynet. Israeli Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman called for the university’s funding to be cut over the incident, according to the report.

Chamovitz told the Knesset committee on Sunday that this year, the university had been presented with requests from two student groups, on the left and the right, to hold demonstrations on campus.

“As a lesson from last year, and in order to prevent violence and injuries, we established a dialogue and reached understandings with the two groups, and the demonstrations ended an hour later without any displays of violence,” he said.

The issue of PA flags had not been discussed during this dialogue with the student groups, said Chamovitz.

“Once [the flags] were raised, we understood that this was lawful and that no action could be taken to remove them. We acted according to law and following an opinion from the Justice Ministry. If you think that the law recognizing the Palestinian flag should be changed—please do so. It’s not in our hands, although I and many others were troubled by this,” he added.

According to the committee’s legal adviser, Nira Lamay Rachlevsky, the mere act of flying a PA flag could not constitute an offense in and of itself, “since this is an authority with which the State of Israel has a diplomatic agreement.”

However, she said, when there was “real concern” that the flag indicated “identification or sympathy” with a terrorist organization, or when there was a high likelihood that flying it would lead to a “severe disruption” of public order, police must act.

“To the best of our knowledge, case law does not address specifically the case of raising the flag while chanting ‘With blood and fire we will redeem Palestine,’” she said.

New polling shows Americans' views warming towards Palestinians

A poll by the Pew Research Center shows that Americans are expressing more positive views towards both the Palestinian people and the Palestinian government, with young Americans and Democrats viewing Palestinians more favourably than Israelis.

Pro-Palestinian protesters rally in Washington to commemorate the 74th anniversary of the Nakba, on 15 May 2022 (MEE/Umar Farooq)

By MEE staff in Washington
Published date: 30 May 2022 

The survey is the latest sign that US public perception of the Israeli-Palestinian issue is changing.

The poll, released on Thursday, showed that since 2019, the number of Americans with favourable views towards the Palestinian people increased by eight percent, while there was a nine percent increase in positive views towards their government.

While overall more Americans continue to view Israel more favourably than Palestine, a closer look at different age groups shows a considerable amount of support for Palestinians.

Among the respondents under 30 years of age, 61 percent had positive views of the Palestinian people while 56 percent shared similar views of Israelis. In comparison, 78 percent of respondents over 65 years of age had favourable views of Israelis.

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Similarly, albeit by a slim margin, more young adults, 35 percent, had positive views of the Palestinian government than they had of the Israeli government, which stood at 34 percent.

Pew also noted that it did not define what the term "Palestinian government" was referring to. The Israeli-occupied West Bank is currently governed by the Palestinian Authority, while Gaza is governed by the Hamas movement.

The polling is the latest and most substantial sign of how the country's views towards Palestinians and Israelis have changed in the past several years.

For decades, Israel has had huge swathes of support both within the halls of US Congress and across the country, and since its creation following the Second World War, it has been the closest US ally in the Middle East.

But in recent years, a growing number of Americans have shared views critical of the country. A poll released last month by the University of Maryland found that fewer than one percent of respondents viewed Israel as one of the US's top two allies.

Last year, following Israel's May offensive on Gaza that killed more than 260 Palestinians, Human Rights Watch released a report declaring Israel was guilty of apartheid. A poll by the Jewish Electorate Institute found that a quarter of American Jewish voters viewed Israel as an apartheid state.

Democrats growing critical of Israel

According to the Pew poll, the difference in views is not isolated to just generational lines. The survey found that 64 percent of Democrats said they view Palestinians positively, while 60 percent said they view Israelis favourably.

Meanwhile, 78 percent of Republicans viewed Israelis positively, compared to only 37 percent of Republicans that shared similar views towards Palestinians.

In recent years, several Democratic lawmakers have voiced criticism of Israel, breaking a longstanding political consensus in Washington of bipartisan support for Israel.

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While this shift has fallen short of converting into actual policy, a significant number of lawmakers have issued critical statements, sent letters of concern to the Biden administration, and also introduced legislation aimed at limiting US aid to Israel.

Israel continues to receive $3.8bn in annual military aid from Washington, and this year also received an extra $1bn in funding for its Iron Dome missile defence system.

The Pew survey consists of responses from 10,441 US adults and was conducted between 7-13 March, several months before the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

Abu Akleh was shot and killed by Israeli forces while covering an Israeli raid on the Palestinian village of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

It is unclear whether the killing of Abu Akleh would have any effect on Americans' perception of the Israeli government. However, her death was met with international outrage, including calls for an independent investigation into what happened.

Outrage as White House u-turns on re-opening of US Consulate for Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem

Despite pledging to reopen the US consulate to Palestinians in Jerusalem, US President Joe Biden and his administration have decided to pursue 'alternative steps' towards improving relations with Palestinians


The re-opening of the US consulate is considered an important step by Palestinians towards improving relations with the White House [source: Getty]

The US Consulate in Jerusalem will remain closed for the foreseeable future, reports suggested, after the Biden administration decided to pursue "alternative steps" toward re-establishing US ties with Palestinians.

Instead of re-opening the consulate - closed by former US President Donald Trump in 2019 - the White House announced that Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr would be elevated to the role of special envoy to the Palestinians, The Times of Israel reported on Sunday.

Amr will remain in Washington but make regular trips to the region, kicking the prospect of a fully-functioning consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem yet further down the road.

 

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An unnamed US diplomat told the Hebrew-language website that the Palestinian Affairs Unit (PAU), which is currently operating as part of the US Embassy to Israel, "was already de facto reporting directly to Washington, but the move was never formalised or announced".

The public announcement about the restructuring US-Palestinian relations comes just before President Joe Biden plans to visit Israel and the occupied West Bank late in June.

Last May, Biden vowed to reopen the consulate, an intention that was echoed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken the following September.

However, Israel has opposed the idea at every turn. Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his successor Naftali Bennett argued a mission serving Palestinians was an "infringement of Israel's sovereignty".

The consulate was in East Jerusalem, an area of the city occupied illegally by Israel.

Palestinians view the re-opening of a Jerusalem consulate as an important step towards improving ties with the US, which broke down after Trump recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The Palestinian Information Centre said on Facebook that Biden's White House had "abandoned" pledges to open the consulate. One user posted underneath: "Who really runs America?"

Israel illegally annexed East Jerusalem in 1980 in a move widely rejected by the international community.

The United Nations recognises East Jerusalem as occupied Palestinian land, and Palestinians understand this area as being the future capital of their independent state.

'Go and be with Shireen': Israeli far-right threaten BBC reporters during 'Flag March'

BBC reporters were 'assaulted' while covering the far-right 'Flag March' in Jerusalem 

The BBC team were spat at, according to one correspondent [source: Getty]

BBC reporters were assaulted during an extremist Israeli 'Flag March' in Jerusalem on Sunday, a journalist for the broadcaster said on social media.

Tom Bateman, a Middle East correspondent for the British broadcasting giant, said the BBC team had their equipment broken during an attack by Israelis participating in the far-right march.

He added that one individual spat at them, and said: "Go and be with Shireen."

Shireen Abu Akleh was a veteran Al Jazeera reporter killed by Israeli forces when they stormed the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

Her death sparked global outrage over the crisis of impunity emboldening Israeli forces to undermine fundamental rights such as a free press.

 
On Sunday, when thousands of Israelis surged through the streets of Jerusalem and chanted "Death to Arabs", several other attacks on journalists were reported.

Israeli marchers were seen assaulting a France 24 reporter on camera.

The journalist, who was standing in front of men wearing Israeli flags, was seen clutching her forehead while reporting after being hit on the head with a bottle.

Iyad Harb, the police correspondent for the Kan public broadcaster’s Arabic station, was taken to hospital after he was assaulted by masked men in Sheikh Jarrah, according to the Times of Israel.

Harb said the men who beat him were speaking Hebrew and police officers did not assist him despite his appeals for help, reported the Hebrew website.

At least 40 Palestinians were injured on Sunday by Israeli forces and settlers using rubber bullets, truncheons and pepper spray, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Videos shared on social media show Israelis harassing and assaulting local Palestinians, including the elderly.

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Israeli youth at Jerusalem flag march reveal vision of a far-right future

Teens from across Israel flooded Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday to sing racist songs, fly Lehava banners and praise Itmar Ben-Gvir as their choice for prime minister

Demonstrators gesture as they gather with Israeli flags during the 'flag march' outside the Old City's Damascus Gate on 29 May (AFP)

By Lubna Masarwa in Jerusalem
Published date: 30 May 2022

At Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday was a glimpse of Israel’s future.

Tens of thousands of Israelis crammed into the historic walls and gates, the majority adolescents, with a smattering of families.

This gathering, the ultranationalist “flag march” commemorating Israel’s 1967 capture of East Jerusalem, was one of the sparks that last year ignited a war in Gaza, and civil strife between Jews and Palestinians across Israel.

But as Israeli youth sang “Muhammad is dead” and “we are not afraid”, there was no evidence of lessons learnt from last year’s deadly unravelling.

If anything, Israel’s far-right youth felt emboldened - and growing more so. Israeli police estimated 70,000 people participated in the march, which a police spokesperson told Middle East Eye was far larger than previous years.

'If we face any resistance by the Arabs in the Old City we will break them'

- Israeli youth

At the Jaffa Gate, it was clear that an event that once was predominantly attended by Israeli settlers had now become mainstream: teens had been bussed in by their schools from various corners of the country.

Elon and Eran*, both 16, were brought to Jerusalem from the coastal city of Ashkelon by their school.

“We came here today to show that Jerusalem belongs to us and not to others. We are not afraid, we are here to emphasise that Jerusalem belongs to us and will remain to us,” Elon told MEE.

Surrounded by Israeli flags, symbols of the far-right Lehava group and T-shirts emblazoned with aggressive slogans, Elon and Eran acknowledged that they could understand the Palestinian cause - but Jerusalem and the land between the Jordan river and Mediterranean Sea “belong to us”.

“We will keep fighting to keep it in our hands. At the end of the day, we will be here forever,” said Eran.

'We need someone like Ben-Gvir'

Recent weeks have seen a succession of Palestinians shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, including Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, and attacks inside Israel by Palestinians of various backgrounds.

A shocking Israeli assault on Abu Akleh’s funeral in Jerusalem - seemingly over the presence of Palestinian flags - only worsened anger and resentment ahead of Sunday’s march.

Several youths in the Old City cited the recent Palestinian attacks as reasons for their own drift rightward. Though Israel’s government is headed by a hawkish right-winger - Naftali Bennett - it is weak and unwieldy, and blamed for the worsening security situation.

Yet on Jerusalem’s stone streets, it is not former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is making political gain of Bennet’s woes, but rather Itamar Ben-Gvir, a former follower of Jewish supremacist Meir Kahane, and the face of Israel’s burgeoning and openly racist far-right.

“The state is in a bad situation, with the economy and the latest attacks on Israelis. We need someone like Ben-Gvir,” said Eran.

'Even though some describe him as extremist, Ben-Gvir is very charming and cute'

- Moira, 17

“Ben-Gvir says loudly what he believes in, he doesn't fear anyone or what they think about him, and this is the only thing that can create change.”

Shira, a 16-year-old from southern Israel’s Beer Sheba, and Moria, a 17-year-old from Yavne near Tel Aviv, cry out in unison when asked who their next prime minister should be: “Ben-Gvir.”

They describe him as strong, honest and fearless. He is seen as the only man who can impose Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem’s Palestinians.

Ben-Gvir, who marched in Jerusalem on Sunday surrounded by adoring supporters, entered Israel’s parliament in 2020 at the initiative of Netanyahu in an unsuccessful attempt to keep him in power. Now opinion polls show Ben-Gvir’s party gaining more seats than Bennett’s in any future election, which seems more likely to be called with every new political crisis that emerges.

There’s a good chance you’ll find Ben-Gvir at any flashpoint event, goading Palestinians with racist language and openly carrying firearms. But for Shira and Moira, that kind of behaviour is just part of his charm.

“Even though some describe him as extremist, he is very charming and cute,” said Moira.

'God is watching over us'

There are 300,000 Palestinians currently living in Jerusalem, but if many of the Israeli youth that attended the flag march had their way, those Jerusalemites would be expelled from their homes.

Moira believes the solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict lies in the removal of Palestinians.

“We should help the Palestinians to immigrate from here, they have 30 other countries, and we only have one,” she said. “Maybe we can allow those who accept our sovereignty to stay.”

Shira disagrees: “We have to expel all of them.”

Israeli far-right MP Itamar Ben-Gvir is escorted by bodyguards, as he visits Damascus Gate to Jerusalem's Old City as part of the Jerusalem Day events 29 May (Reuters)

This kind of open hostility to Palestinian Jerusalemites and citizens of Israel has always been a part of Israeli public life - but it has not manifested in aggressive marches under heavy police protection until recently.

Riyad al-Hallaq owns a coffee shop on al-Wad Street, the main route from the Damascus Gate to al-Aqsa Mosque through the Old City.

“In previous years the march was much smaller and it passed by our shops peacefully without our shops getting attacked,” he told MEE.

On Sunday, Palestinian businesses and homes were trashed, spat on and graffitied, and Palestinians assaulted by Israeli marchers.

“This is a very significant event for us, especially this year,” said Moira.

“It was important for us to come and to show the Arabs that we are not afraid and that Jerusalem belongs to us.”

Outside the Jaffa Gate, a group of teenage girls sang and danced, draped with Israeli flags. They’d come all the way from a string of towns along Israel’s boundary with the Gaza Strip.

“You should understand that we are strong and God is watching over us,” one said. “If we face any resistance by the Arabs in the Old City we will break them.”

*Some names have been changed

Palestine PM says Israeli flag march ‘crossed all red lines’

Mohammed Shtayyeh describes attacks by far-rights Israelis against Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem as ‘aggression’.

Tens of thousands of flag-waving ultranationalist Israelis raided the Muslim quarter of the Old City on Sunday during the so-called 'flag march' 

[Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu]

Published On 30 May 2022

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh has described attacks by far-right Israelis in occupied East Jerusalem as “aggression which crossed all red lines”.

Tens of thousands of flag-waving, ultranationalist Israelis raided the Muslim quarter of the Old City on Sunday during the so-called “flag march”. The provocative march that took place in and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is meant to celebrate the occupation and subsequent annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967 – a move that has not been recognised by the international community.

Some chanted racist slogans including “Death to Arabs” and attacked Palestinian residents while backed by armed Israeli forces.

Some Jewish groups also stormed the Al-Aqsa compound raising fears among Palestinians that it was an attempt to change the status quo at Islam’s third holiest site. Jewish prayers are prohibited at the 35-acre (14-hectare) compound known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary. Jews call it the Temple Mount.

“Israel yesterday has crossed all red lines and international treaties with its repeated aggression against Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem. It attempts to impose a reality that doesn’t align with the historical status quo of Al-Aqsa mosque,” Shtayyeh said on Monday.

Dozens of Palestinians were arrested across occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank a day earlier, where protests to decry the march erupted, while more than 165 suffered injuries ranging from heavy tear gas inhalation to beatings and wounds from live rounds, as well as rubber-coated steel bullets.



Following the march, large groups of Israelis stormed through Palestinian neighbourhoods, assaulting residents as well as their property.

Nida Ibrahim, reporting from the West Bank city of Ramallah, said the Shattyeh has been issuing statements “since yesterday”.

“He had strong statements today saying that Israel needed more than 3,000 Israeli army and police officers to secure the city,” Ibrahim said.

“He said there’s a difference between occupying the city militarily and being the occupying power – and actually having sovereignty [over it].”

Settler attacks

Some 70,000 Israelis were reported to have joined the annual march, which is seen as a bid by Israel to impose control over the occupied part of the city.

According to Ibrahim, Palestinians “on the street” said that these statements are not enough and expect more from their leadership.

“The Palestinian Authority has been saying it’s committed to a peaceful resolution … on the streets, Palestinians have been saying Israel cementing its occupation,” she said.

Israel has been advancing its illegal settlement project on occupied Palestinian lands. Settlements are fortified, Jewish-only housing complexes built on Palestinian land in violation of international law. At least 600,000 settlers live in settlements across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank city of Hebron, Israeli settlers resumed their march on Monday.

“We know settlers in Hebron in the south of the occupied West Bank have marched through the old part of the city,” Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim said.

Settlers “continued marching with their flags, with their racist slogans” towards the Ibrahimi mosque, she said, adding that settlers “invaded the squares of the mosque” while under the protection of the Israeli army.

According to her, Palestinian journalists who were attempting to document what was happening were prevented from doing so.



Wafa news agency reported that settlers also marched with Israeli flags at a military checkpoint near Nablus and Jenin in the northern West Bank while a secondary school in the Palestinian village of Urif also came under attack, it said.

The Palestinian news agency quoted the principal as saying that the settlers arrived with the army’s protection. They threw rocks at the school which resulted in some damage, while soldiers fired tear gas canisters causing “many suffocation cases”, it added.

Settler attacks on Palestinians and their property have been rife across the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The situation in Hebron’s old city is particularly volatile, as some 700 Israeli settlers live among a Palestinian population of nearly 40,000.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

  

Israelis lament 'racism problem' as Jerusalem march turns ugly


By Hadas Gold and Abeer Salman, CNN

Israelis dance and hold Israeli flags as they take part at the annual Flag March by Damascus Gate on May 29 in Jerusalem.


Jerusalem (CNN)A march on Sunday to commemorate the establishment of Israeli control over East Jerusalem in 1967 was marred by incidents of violence and hate that left some Israelis disturbed.

Israeli police estimated that more than 70,000 people took to the streets of the flashpoint city for a Jerusalem Day flag march, which has become a magnet for far-right Jewish extremists. CNN journalists on the ground witnessed some of those marching hurled insults, punches and objects at Palestinians, journalists and police.

At one point, groups were chanting "death to Arabs," and "Arabs are sons of b*tches." One marcher was filmed chanting "Shireen is dead, Palestine is dead," in reference to Shireen Abu Akleh, the Al Jazeera reporter who was killed while covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank earlier this month.

It was a chaotic Sunday in the narrow streets of the Old City as clashes broke out between the marchers and Palestinians as well as Israeli police and Palestinians. CNN's team on the ground witnessed several violent encounters where marchers attacked Palestinians and journalists -- including CNN staff -- with pepper spray, as well as sticks and bottles thrown at reporters gathered to cover the march. Police were seen tackling an older Palestinian man who had placed himself between reporters and the marchers to wave a Palestinian flag.

Several Israeli politicians condemned the actions of the participants, while commentators noted that the march has become overrun by right-wing extremists and Jewish settlers -- and is largely avoided by secular Israelis and ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett condemned in a statement what he said was "a minority that has come to set the area ablaze," while Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said the extremist groups La Familia and Lehava, whose flags were raised during the procession, "do not deserve to carry the Israeli flag."
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Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev defended approving the route of the march through the Muslim quarter of the Old City, writing on Twitter: "If we succumb to the threats of terrorism not to wave Israeli flags in our capital, we will not know one day of silence, and we will find ourselves folding in the future as well." But he also condemned what he said was "ugly racist behavior that cannot be tolerated."

'They were shooting directly at the journalists': New evidence suggests Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in targeted attack by Israeli forces

Israel considers both eastern and western sectors of Jerusalem as its "undivided capital." Most of the international community considers the eastern sector as being occupied. East Jerusalem has a sizable population of Palestinians, who want that part of the city to be the capital of a future state.

Issawi Frej, Minister of Regional Cooperation and the second ever Muslim minister in an Israeli government, said on Facebook that he boycotted government meetings on Sunday "in light of what is happening in Jerusalem and in the entirety of the decision-making process regarding today, where I tried to change the course of the Flag March and work to calm the situation in vain."

Michal Rozin, a member of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, tweeted a video of a young Jewish man waving an Israeli flag like a weapon toward a group of young Palestinians.

"If anyone has not yet understood why the flag parade has become a show of bullying and violence, this video from Nablus Gate might be able to sharpen it," she wrote, referring to one of the gates of the Old City. "My flag is not a weapon."

Yaakov Katz, editor-in-chief of the English newspaper Jerusalem Post, wrote in a column that "there is a sad conclusion we cannot ignore: Israel has a racism problem, and it rears its ugly head on Jerusalem Day."

Yedioth Ahronoth Columnist Nahum Barnea wrote that the day has been taken over by settlers and religious Zionists who turn it into a day that is "Not love for Jerusalem; but hatred for Arabs."