by
Damien F. Mackey
“Using disproportionate force after being attacked is immoral”.
Pope Francis
We read in March 2025:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-20/netanyahu-protest-home-after-gaza-strikes-corruption/105073994
Thousands march on Netanyahu's home to demand
he quit over continued war in Gaza
By Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran and Haidarr Jones in Jerusalem
Thousands of Israelis have marched on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in central Jerusalem, to vent their anger over fighting in Gaza and demand he quit.
It came as Mr Netanyahu announced plans to sack the head of Israel’s domestic spy agency Shin Bet.
What’s next?
Hours after the march, Israel announced it had sent ground forces back into Gaza.
abc.net.au/news/netanyahu-protest-home-after-gaza-strikes-corruption/105073994
….
Thousands of Israelis have marched through the streets of central Jerusalem to set up camp outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private residence, venting their anger at his decision to return to fighting in Gaza.
Protesters gathered on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Wednesday morning local time, before walking to the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, and onwards to Mr Netanyahu's home in the leafy suburb of Rehavia.
Armed with banners, drums, loudhailers and air horns, the march shut down major roads and caused traffic mayhem as it snaked its way through the city under the gaze of a heavy police presence.
Mr Netanyahu's private residence, a short walk from the Israeli Prime Minister's official residence, is on Azza Road — anglicised as Gaza Road — a somewhat fitting location given the criticism of his handling of the war in the strip.
"The situation in the country is very terrible," protester Ori Biran told the ABC.
"Our government is corrupted, and we think we should come here in protest … we don't want violence and we don't want corruption in the country.
"We believe that every action from the beginning of the war is caused by [Benjamin Netanyahu] and that's his fault, and we believe that he needs to be replaced."
Ori Biran says he was motivated to protest over alleged corruption
within the Israeli government. (ABC News: Haidarr Jones)
The protest was organised prior to Mr Netanyahu's decision to launch fresh strikes on Gaza in the early hours of Tuesday morning, and came as a result of his decision to try to sack the head of Israeli's domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet.
The list of grievances against the prime minister and his government was lengthy.
World leaders react to Israeli strikes on Gaza
….
While the US has stated it supports Israel's next steps, European and Middle Eastern governments are warning the renewed strikes risk undermining regional stability.
The renewed fighting in Gaza was front of mind for many, particularly given the threat it posed to the Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in the strip — 59 in total, 24 believed to still be alive.
Protesters chanted that the Prime Minister had the blood of hostages on his hands.
Mr Netanyahu stands accused of being beholden to loud right-wing voices within his coalition, who have been agitating for a return to war in Gaza.
Among them, the controversial politician Itamar Ben Gvir — who quit the government and his post as National Security Minister in protest over the initial ceasefire deal in January, and was welcomed back into the fold hours after Israeli strikes resumed this week.
….
Protesters told the ABC they were unhappy with government corruption and a return to fighting in Gaza. (ABC News: Haidarr Jones)
….
Hours after the march, Israel announced it had sent ground forces back into Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces said they had taken control of half of the Netzarim corridor — a stretch of land running from Israel to the Mediterranean, which had cut the north of Gaza off from the rest of the strip a the height of the fighting.
Israel had withdrawn its forces from the area weeks after the ceasefire came into force.
….
Israeli academics call for immediate action
“We will not forgive ourselves”.
An Urgent Call to the Heads of Academia in Israel
By Cedric Cohen-Skalli
(4) An Urgent Call to the Heads of Academia in Israel
To the Association of University Heads in Israel, the Board of Academic Public Colleges,
and Academics for Israeli Democracy,
We, members of the academic and administrative staff in institutions of higher education in Israel, call on you to act immediately to mobilize the full weight of Israeli academia to stop the Israeli war in Gaza.
Cedric Cohen-Skalli
University of Haifa, Department Member
Israeli higher education institutions play a central role in the struggle against the judicial overhaul. It is precisely against this backdrop that their silence in the face of the killing, starvation, and destruction in Gaza, and in the face of the complete elimination of the educational system there, its people, and its structures, is so striking.
Since Israel violated the ceasefire on March 18, almost 3,000 people have been killed in Gaza. The vast majority of them were civilians. Since the start of the war, at least 53,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including at least 15,000 children and at least 41 Israeli hostages. At the same time, many international bodies are warning of acute starvation – the result of intentional and openly declared Israeli government policy – as well as of the rendering of Gaza into an area unfit for human habitation. Israel continues to bomb hospitals, schools, and other institutions. Among the war’s declared goals, as defined in the orders for the current military operation “Gideon’s Chariots,” is the “concentration and displacement of population.” This is a horrifying litany of war crimes and even crimes against humanity, all of our own doing.
As academics, we recognize our own role in these crimes. It is human societies, not governments alone, that commit crimes against humanity. Some do so by means of direct violence.
Others do so by sanctioning the crimes and justifying them, before and after the fact, and by keeping quiet and silencing voices in the halls of learning. It is this bond of silence that allows clearly evident crimes to continue unabated without penetrating the barriers of recognition.
We cannot claim that we did not know. We have been silent for too long. For the sake of the lives of innocents and the safety of all the people of this land, Palestinians and Jews; for the sake of the return of the hostages; if we do not call to halt the war immediately, history will not forgive us. We will not forgive ourselves. It is our duty to act to stop the slaughter; it is our duty to save lives. It is our duty to save what can still be saved of this land’s future. The institutions of higher education in Israel must raise their voices, address their students and the public at large, look at reality directly and call things what they are – unspeakable actions being done in our name, with our own hands, that will ultimately result in destroying higher education in Israel and the entire society from within.
….
There follows a list of almost 1200 Israeli academics for the “Black Flag” Action Group:
….
Signed,
1 Abed El-Qadir Kanaaneh, Tel Aviv University
2 Abeer Baker, Haifa University
3 Abigail Jacobson, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
4 Adam Shinar, Reichman University
5 Adam Weiler Gur Arye, Tel-Hai Academic College
6 Adi Alajem, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
7 Adi Artom, Tel Aviv University
8 Adi Inbal, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
9 Adi Maoz, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
10 Adi Shorek, Tel Aviv University
11 Adi Weinberg, Tel Aviv University
12 Adia Mirovitz, The Multidisciplinary Center, Jerusalem
13 Adiv Gal, Other
14 Adriana Kemp, Tel Aviv University
15 Adva Berkovitch Romano, Tel Aviv University
16 Agnes Klochendler, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
17 Alex Furman, Technion
18 Alexandra Kalev, Tel Aviv University
19 Alik Pelman, Technion
20 Aliza Shenhar, Haifa University
…
Etc., etc., etc.
Hamas, Netanyahu, must step down
Netanyahu and Hamas must step down.
Hamas is a Frankenstein of Netanyahu’s own making:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-years-netanyahu-propped-up-hamas-now-its-blown-up-in-our-faces/
For years, Netanyahu propped up Hamas. Now it’s blown up in our faces
The premier’s policy of treating the terror group as a partner, at the expense of Abbas and Palestinian statehood, has resulted in wounds that will take Israel years to heal from.
By Tal Schneider
Follow
8 October 2023, 3:58 pm
….
Bolstered by this policy, Hamas grew stronger and stronger until Saturday, Israel’s “Pearl Harbor,” the bloodiest day in its history — when terrorists crossed the border, slaughtered hundreds of Israelis and kidnapped an unknown number under the cover of thousands of rockets fired at towns throughout the country’s south and center.
….
One thing is clear: The concept of indirectly strengthening Hamas — while tolerating sporadic attacks and minor military operations every few years — went up in smoke Saturday.
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‘Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold’.
Matthew 24:12
Our fearfully corrupt world, hearts hardened by debauchery, love towards innocent children having grown cold owing to mass abortions and infanticide, is generally incapable of the sort of appropriate humane reaction that was on display for all to see in the person of Riyad Mansour, a Palestinian United Nations envoy:
https://abc7news.com/post/palestinian-ambassador-riyad-mansour-breaks-down-tears-describing-deaths-children-gaza/16590201/
SAN FRANCISCO -- Riyad Mansour faced Israel's ambassador at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Wednesday and demanded he account for Israel's conduct during the war in Gaza.
"Is it civilized to block
aid and to starve a people?" Mansour asked Danny Danon. "If this is civilized, what is barbarism?"
He spoke of the recent example of a six-year-old girl escaping the flames of a school-turned-shelter, where 36 people were killed including her mother and five siblings.
And he decried the Israeli bombing of a doctor's house that killed nine of her 10 children.
His voice quivering, he recalled "the images of mothers embracing their motionless bodies, caressing their hair, talking to them, apologizing to them."
"Unbearable! How could anybody?" he asked, breaking into tears and putting his hand on his forehead.
After a long pause he excused himself and said, his voice still shaking, "I have grandchildren. I know what they mean to their families. ... Flames and hunger are devouring Palestinian children. This is why we are so outraged."
UN envoy breaks down in tears over death of children in Gaza
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=758B51aU-z8
In the past, peacefully-minded Palestinians would generally, perhaps, have been too frightened to protest against the atrocities of Hamas.
But now, with the people starving, and dying, en masse, they have become far more emboldened, with protests frequently erupting against the Hamas terrorists.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g71lk09npo
Hundreds join Gaza's largest anti-Hamas protest since war began
27 March 2025
Rushdi Aboualouf
Gaza correspondent
Alex Boyd
BBC News
Hundreds of people took to the streets of Beit Lahia, with many chanting anti-Hamas slogans.
Hundreds of people have taken part in the largest anti-Hamas protest in Gaza since the war with Israel began, taking to the streets to demand the group step down from power.
Masked Hamas militants, some armed with guns and others carrying batons, intervened and forcibly dispersed the protesters, assaulting several of them.
Videos shared widely on social media by activists typically critical of Hamas showed young men marching in the streets of Beit Lahia, northern Gaza on Tuesday, chanting "out, out, out, Hamas out".
Hamas said it condemned those who it accused of pushing "suspicious political agendas" and shifting the blame from Israel.
Pro-Hamas supporters downplayed the significance of the protests and accused the participants of being traitors.
The protests in northern Gaza came a day after Islamic Jihad gunmen launched rockets at Israel, prompting an Israeli decision to evacuate large parts of Beit Lahia, which sparked public anger in the area.
Israel has resumed its military campaign in Gaza following nearly two months of ceasefire, blaming Hamas for rejecting a new US proposal to extend the truce.
Hamas, in turn, has accused Israel of abandoning the original deal agreed in January.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and thousands displaced since Israeli military operations resumed with air strikes on 18 March.
One of the protesters, Beit Lahia resident Mohammed Diab, had his home destroyed in the war and lost his brother in an Israeli airstrike a year ago.
"We refuse to die for anyone, for any party's agenda or the interests of foreign states," he said.
"Hamas must step down and listen to the voice of the grieving, the voice that rises from beneath the rubble - it is the most truthful voice."
Footage from the town also showed protesters shouting "down with Hamas rule, down with the Muslim Brotherhood rule".
Hamas has been the sole ruler in Gaza since 2007, after winning Palestinian elections a year prior and then violently ousting rivals.
Open criticism of Hamas has grown in Gaza since war began, both on the streets and online ….
Pope Leo XIV calls for ceasefire
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2025/05/28/pope-leo-calls-ceasefire-gaza/83902349007/
Pope Leo calls for ceasefire in Gaza, laments 'cries'
of parents of dead children
Leo's social media post follows similar messages from
his predecessor Pope Francis.
National Security & World Affairs Reporter
Cybele Mayes-Osterman
• It was not the first time Leo has spoken out on international conflicts. In his first Sunday message, he urged "no more war."
• Leo's May 18 inauguration kicked off speculation about whether he would promote social justice, as Francis had.
• Pope Francis repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Gaza, including in an Easter Sunday message a day before he died.
Pope Leo called for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages in a May 28 general audience, following in the steps of his predecessor Pope Francis, who was both praised and criticized for using his position to advocate for ending the war in Gaza.
"In the Gaza Strip, the intense cries are reaching Heaven more and more from mothers and fathers who hold tightly to the bodies of their dead children," Leo said in St. Peter's Square, in Vatican City.
"To those responsible, I renew my appeal: stop the fighting. Liberate all the hostages. Completely respect humanitarian law."
….
Leo assumed the papacy earlier this month after he was chosen in a closely followed papal conclave following Francis' death on April 21.
It was not the first time Leo has spoken out on international conflicts. In his first Sunday message, he urged "no more war," a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages as well as an "authentic and lasting peace" in Ukraine.
On May 21, he addressed the crisis in Gaza during a weekly Sunday audience, advocating "an end the hostilities," and asking Israel to allow humanitarian aid into the war-torn and impoverished enclave.
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