The items below are from a variety of media sources, some of which are written from a pointedly pro-Israel perspective. They are included because within the content is some information that is relevant in any attempt to dig deeper than the official American and Israeli narrative.
Clamping down on free speech, criminalizing support of Palestinian rights
- Consortium News article:
“At least 57 members of Jewish Voices for Peace were arrested while showing their solidarity with Palestinians in New York City. Pro-Palestinian rallies in France and Germany have been outlawed. And the British home secretary likewise warned about criminalizing flying the Palestinian flag.”
- THE Hill article:
“BBC apologizes for saying pro-Palestine demonstrators were ‘backing’ Hamas”
- Yahoo News article:
‘BBC Takes Six Reporters Off Air Amid Investigation Into Anti-Israeli Tweets’
- AlJazeera article:
‘Twitter under fire for censoring Palestinian public figures’
Open letters and public statements from Congressional staffers, scholars, lawyers:
- 411 Congressional staffers anonymously sign letter calling for ceasefire:
“Today, we write to implore our bosses, Members of the United States Congress, to join calls for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Millions of lives hang in the balance, including the 2.3 million civilians — half of whom are children — in Gaza, civilians in Israel, and Jews and Muslims around the world. This is especially urgent with antisemitism, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian sentiment on the rise nationwide, which instigated the brutal murder of a six-year-old Palestinian-American child, Wadea Al-Fayoume.”
- 178 legal scholars write open letter demanding that the U.S. stop supporting the attacks on Gaza and warn of humanitarian catastrophe:“We fear that this humanitarian crisis is poised to get significantly worse as the Israeli government prepares an expected ground invasion of northern Gaza, killing and forcibly relocating even more Palestinian people. Israeli officials have ordered that there be ‘no electricity, no food, no fuel’ in Gaza because Israel is ‘fighting human animals’ and is ‘acting accordingly.’ The Israeli President, meanwhile, stated, ‘It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible,’ insisting ‘this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved, it’s absolutely not true,’ and that Gazans ‘could have risen up, they could have fought against, that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d’etat. Although Israeli officials claim that civilians in Gaza can avoid further harm if they ‘leave immediately,’ the International Committee of the Red Cross warns that ‘the instructions issued by the Israeli authorities for the population of Gaza City to immediately leave their homes, coupled with the complete siege explicitly denying them food, water, and electricity, are not compatible with international humanitarian law.’”
- Almost 800 lawyers, scholars, and academics put out public statement to warn of the crime of genocide in Gaza:
“As scholars and practitioners of international law, conflict studies and genocide studies, we are compelled to sound the alarm about the possibility of the crime of genocide being perpetrated by Israeli forces against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. We do not do so lightly, recognising the weight of this crime, but the gravity of the current situation demands it.”
International investigation needed to sort out responsibility for Israeli civilian deaths
- Mondweiss article:
‘A growing number of reports indicate Israeli forces responsible for Israeli civilian and military deaths following October 7 attack’
- GRAYZONE article:
“Israel’s military received orders to shell Israeli homes and even their own bases as they were overwhelmed by Hamas militants on October 7. How many Israeli citizens said to have been ‘burned alive’ were actually killed by friendly fire?”
- Mondoweiss article:
Using the Hannibal Directive?
According to Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld, the Israeli commander of the Gaza Division, “Many of the soldiers, most of them not combat personnel, were killed or wounded outside. The division was compelled to request an aerial strike against the base itself in order to repulse the terrorists.”
- Electronic Intifada article:
“Israel’s Haaretznewspaper on 20 October published an interview – only in its Hebrew edition – with a man called Tuval who lived in Kibbutz Be’eri, but who was away on 7 October. Tuval’s partner was however killed in the events. Haaretz reports: ‘According to him [Tuval], only on Monday night and only after the commanders in the field made difficult decisions – including shelling houses with all their occupants inside in order to eliminate the terrorists along with the hostages – did the IDF [Israeli army] complete the takeover of the kibbutz. The price was terrible: at least 112 Be’eri people were killed. Others were kidnapped. Yesterday, 11 days after the massacre, the bodies of a mother and her son were discovered in one of the destroyed houses. It is believed that more bodies are still lying in the rubble.’”
Some observers see something strange in Hamas attacks
- Efret Fenigson substack article:
An Israeli woman, Efret Fenigson, who served in the IDF years ago, points out that “something is very wrong here.” She says in her podcast —“I served in the IDF 25 years ago, in the intelligence forces. There’s no way Israel did not know of what’s coming. A cat moving alongside the fence is triggering all forces. So this?? What happened to the ‘strongest army in the world’? How come border crossings were wide open?? Something is VERY WRONG HERE, something is very strange, this chain of events is very unusual and not typical for the Israeli defense system.”
- Fenigson noted in an update that —
“…about 3 years ago, the IDF started a process of taking back weapons from people living in the Gaza envelope villages, under the excuse that these weapons are being stolen. A certain allowance of permitted weapons for each village was granted, which created even more anxiety and distrust amongst the citizens, who wish to protect themselves.” Further, Efret states that in the past year, more guns were taken from these communities, also on the pretext that they were stolen.
- Times of Israel article:
Israel was warned by Egypt 3 days before the attack.
- The Guardian article:
While Netanyahu denies having advanced warning, The Guardian reports, ‘Egypt warned Israel of Hamas attack days earlier, senior US politician says’The article states, “An Egyptian official told the Associated Press that Egypt, which often serves as a mediator between Israel and Hamas, had spoken repeatedly with the Israelis about ‘something big’. The unnamed official claimed Israeli officials were focused on the West Bank and had played down the threat from Gaza. ‘We have warned them an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big. But they underestimated such warnings,’ said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.”
- Times of Israel article:‘Surveillance soldiers warned of Hamas activity on Gaza border for months before Oct. 7’
“Survivors of massacre on IDF base say they passed information up the chain of command on digging, mapping, training near the fence long before mass onslaught, but were ignored.”
Al-Ahli hospital bombing
- Mint Press News article:
“The Israeli military dropped ‘roof knocking’ rockets with no warheads on the hospital in the days leading up to the Oct. 17 strike, the familiar warning given by Israel to evacuate buildings, according to al-Ahli hospital officials. Hospital officials also said they had received calls from Israel saying ‘we warned you to evacuate twice.’ Israel has demanded that all hospitals in northern Gaza be evacuated.”
- CNN article:
Gaza officials say IDF had warned al-Ahli hospital 4 days ago that it should be evacuated
- UN News article:
“During a virtual press conference held later on Tuesday, senior officials underlined WHO’s condemnation over the strike on the hospital. There have been over 115 attacks on healthcare across the Occupied Palestinian Territory since the start of the conflict on 7 October, sparked by Hamas’s bloody incursion into southern Israel. Of this number, 51 occurred in the Gaza Strip, with 15 healthcare workers killed and 27 injured, said Hyo-Jeong Kim, Lead of WHO’s Attacks on Health Care Initiative. The remaining incidents took place in the West Bank.”
- Mint Press News article:
“Following the strike on the hospital, Hananya Naftali, a ‘digital aide’ to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, posted on X, formerly Twitter: ‘Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza.’ The post was quickly deleted.
Atrocity stories used to justify bombing and ground invasion of Gaza
- Al Jazeera article:
“The beheaded babies tale originated with a report on Israel’s i24News site by reporter Nicole Zedeck, from her interview with Israeli reserve soldier David Ben Zion. Max Blumenthal and Alexander Rubinstein reported on October 11 that Ben Zion is a notorious radical leader in Israel’s West Bank settler movement. Among other things, he called on rampaging armed settlers earlier this year to wipe out the Palestinian village of Harawa, which settlers attacked and burned several times.”
- Mint Press News article:“The claims of ‘beheaded babies’ made headlines on various news outlets, including CNN. The source of this claim was the Israeli channel i24 News, but it later emerged that the source was David Ben Zion, an extremist settler known for inciting race riots against Palestinians. A Haaretz investigation previously found that i24 News functions as a proxy for the Netanyahu family, with directives coming straight from the Israeli Prime Minister’s office at times. Subsequently, the Israeli military distanced itself from these claims, CNN retracted the story, and the White House acknowledged a lack of evidence.”
- The Intercept article:
“The Israel Defense Forces could not confirm a horrific claim that Hamas beheaded babies during a weekend assault, a spokesperson for the military told The Intercept on Tuesday. The claim went viral, becoming a headline-grabbing aspect of a massacre that left more than 1,000 Israelis dead.”
Released elderly hostage says the hostages were treated well
- i24 news article:
Released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz, 85 years old, said, “They told us, ‘We believe in the Quran, and [that they] will do us no harm. They will give us the same conditions they have,’ she said, adding ‘They were with gentle us. Our needs were met. They were prepared for us.’” She continued, “There was a paramedic and a doctor also came every couple of days. We lay there on mattresses and they took great care of the sanitary side, so that we didn’t get sick. They were very afraid of diseases spreading. They made sure we had everything, they were very friendly.”
