operation pillar of defense

Soldiers and relatives mourn at the grave of Israeli Sergeant Banaya Rubel during his funeral on July 20, 2014 in Holon, Israel. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

I was IDF property for three years — today I’m traumatized

Every time I hear about another Druze who refuses to go to the army, I think about how he won’t have to suffer. He will avoid the trauma of becoming the human property of the IDF. By Fayez Abu Hayeh “Soldier, straighten up!” It was 2 a.m., I was lying on the ground, my backpack under me. The commander…

By +972 Magazine February 19, 2017

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon. (Photo by Kobi Gideon / GPO)

Retired Israeli general suggests Syria attack timed for election effect

As elections approach, Israeli politicians are misleading the public about war crimes probes, and according to one general-turned-politician, about war itself. (This analysis originally contained a previous section called, ‘Is the ICC running against Netanyahu in Israeli elections?’ It has been published as a separate article here.) “War is merely the continuation of politics by…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man January 19, 2015

Palestinians retrieve belongings from their destroyed home in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, August 12, 2014. According to OCHA, 16,800 homes in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or severely damaged, leaving 370,000 displaced. (photo: Activestills)

Netanyahu’s zero-sum war in Gaza

As evidence of Israeli war crimes mounts in Gaza, Netanyahu’s latest escalation will only add to his country’s increasing international pariah status. Just over 24 hours after reports emerged that Israel and the Palestinians – with American urging – had reached a deal to gradually end the Gaza blockade, Israel began targeting the very people…

By Samer Badawi August 20, 2014

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, West Bank, on July 23, 2014, before the two sat down for a discussion about a cease-fire in fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip (photo: U.S. State Department)

The time is ripe for a UN resolution on Gaza

With a ceasefire now in effect between Israel and Hamas, diplomacy can begin to take root. By Lolita Brayman A 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Hamas seems to be shakily holding, with a lull in rocket attacks and the deployment of the Israeli military to positions outside of Gaza. The IDF spokesperson officially announced…

By +972 Magazine August 6, 2014

A Palestinian child plays among the ruins of buildings destroyed by Israeli air strikes in the 2008-2009 war known as Operation Cast Lead, July 4, 2012. (Photo by RyanRodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

What ‘no country in the world’ should tolerate

Israel says that ‘no country in the world’ would agree to live under the threat of Gaza’s rockets, but ignores its own culpability in its 100-eyes-for-an eye spiral of violence. Text and photos by: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org One of the common talking points used to defend Israel’s pummeling of Gaza is that “no country in the…

By Activestills July 13, 2014

What's left of the Muzannar family home. It was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike "targeting" their neighbors, the Al-Dalu family, on November 18, 2012. Six women and five children were killed, including 17-year-old Abdullah Muzannar and his grandmother. In the foreground is part of the rubble from the Al-Dalu home. (Photo by Lara Aburamadan)

What Israel’s ‘precision bombing’ of Gaza looks like

The kind of violence visited upon the people of Gaza is designed to strafe armies, not refugee camps or city blocks. In the aftermath of Israel’s last major assault on Gaza — nine days of round-the-clock bombing and shelling which began on November 14, 2012 — I visited the scene of one of its most…

By Samer Badawi July 11, 2014

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli Air Force Pilots' Course Graduation Ceremony. (photo: Haim Zach / GPO)

How Netanyahu provoked this war with Gaza

His antagonism to all Palestinians – to Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority no less than to Hamas – started and steadily fueled the chain reaction that led to the current misery. On Monday of last week, June 30, Reuters ran a story that began: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas on Monday of involvement, for the…

By Larry Derfner July 9, 2014

Is Israel trying to force a third intifada?

Israeli incursions in the West Bank are the largest since the Second Intifada, while airstrikes over Gaza continue for a fifth consecutive night. “The ‘party’ tonight is lasting longer than usual,” says my friend from Gaza. He recently married, and he and his wife moved to the top floor of an apartment building with panoramic…

By Samer Badawi June 20, 2014

Construction workers in the Gaza Strip (Photo by Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

‘Israel wants us to be dependent on aid’: Gaza’s economy under siege

The Israeli and Egyptian blockade on Gaza has led to ever-rising unemployment, construction skidding to a halt and water is becoming scarcer than ever. By Avi Blecherman Last week the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics published its most recent unemployment data in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The unemployment rate in Gaza jumped…

By +972 Magazine June 4, 2014

Children walk by the ruins of the Ministry of Interior's Civil Department building, completely destroyed that morning, in the Tal el Hawa neighbourhood, Gaza city, November 17, 2012. The death toll in the Gaza Strip rose to 41 on Saturday, with hundreds more injured on the fourth day of a massive Israeli military attack on the Gaza Strip. Dozens of civilian and governmental facilities have been also destroyed. (Photo by: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

A year after ‘Pillar of Defense,’ the nightmare continues

A year after 165 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed, political leaders have yet to conduct independent, impartial investigations into allegations of human rights violations. If neither side demonstrates the political will to protect all civilians, the cycle of violations will become a recurring nightmare. By Yonatan Gher On 21 November 2012, 13-year-old Mahmoud Abu Khousa…

By +972 Magazine November 16, 2013

An Israeli settler shouts at an African refugee during an anti-refugee demonstration in south Tel Aviv, December 31, 2012. (photo: Activestills)

A year in review: Anti-African racism and asylum seekers in Israel

While most Israelis were focused on the latest war on Gaza or the last election, verbal incitement, physical attacks, incarceration without trial and forced deportation of Africans continued unabated. A timeline of Israel’s war on African asylum-seekers between November 2012 and May 2013. By David Sheen Last Thursday, May 23, 2013, marked exactly one year to…

By +972 Magazine May 29, 2013

Ruins of a Palestinian home in the Az-Zaitoun neighborhood of Gaza city, destroyed during an Israeli airstrike, November 23, 2012. (Photo by: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

Resource: Over half of Palestinians killed in ‘Pillar of Defense’ were civilians

Human rights organization B’Tselem published a report reviewing harm to civilians in Operation Pillar of Defense. The report provides statistics on the numbers of Palestinians and Israelis killed over the course of the operation, which lasted from November 14 to 21, 2012. The report challenges the common perception in the Israeli public and media that…

By +972 Resources May 11, 2013

A Palestinian youth holds a mock rocket as thousands of Palestinians celebrate Hamas' 25th anniversary in the West Bank city of Hebron, December 14, 2012.
This is the first time since 2007 that the Palestinian Authority has allowed Hamas to celebrate its anniversary in the West Bank. (photo by: Oren Ziv/ Activestills.org)

Key Hamas leader accepts 1967 borders, embraces pragmatism

An interview with a key Hamas figure in al-Monitor published Friday explores a pragmatic potential and a shift in tactics for the movement. ‘Pragmatic’ is certainly the word interviewer Shlomi Eldar, one of Israel’s top television reporters covering Palestinian affairs, wants readers to remember. His subject is Dr. Ghazi Hamad, currently Deputy Foreign Minister of…

By Dahlia Scheindlin April 6, 2013