Monday, November 18, 2024
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Joint Statement by Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups on the Situation in Palestine

By
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We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.


Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum. For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison. Israeli officials promise to “open the gates of hell,” and the massacres in Gaza have already commenced. Palestinians in Gaza have no shelters for refuge and nowhere to escape. In the coming days, Palestinians will be forced to bear the full brunt of Israel’s violence.


The apartheid regime is the only one to blame. Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years. From systematized land seizures to routine airstrikes, arbitrary detentions to military checkpoints, and enforced family separations to targeted killings, Palestinians have been forced to live in a state of death, both slow and sudden.


Today, the Palestinian ordeal enters into uncharted territory. The coming days will require a firm stand against colonial retaliation. We call on the Harvard community to take action to stop the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians.



This statement was co-authored by a coalition of Palestine solidarity groups at Harvard. For student safety, the names of all original signing organizations have been concealed at this time.



https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1HfMvVpey18ArAnVHtp8UlqT_8V5zaR9sFE5ohC4Ls7U/mobilebasic



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Joint Statement by Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups on the Situation in Palestine


We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.


Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum. For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison. Israeli officials promise to “open the gates of hell,” and the massacres in Gaza have already commenced. Palestinians in Gaza have no shelters for refuge and nowhere to escape. In the coming days, Palestinians will be forced to bear the full brunt of Israel’s violence.


The apartheid regime is the only one to blame. Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years. From systematized land seizures to routine airstrikes, arbitrary detentions to military checkpoints, and enforced family separations to targeted killings, Palestinians have been forced to live in a state of death, both slow and sudden.


Today, the Palestinian ordeal enters into uncharted territory. The coming days will require a firm stand against colonial retaliation. We call on the Harvard community to take action to stop the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians.



African American Resistance Organization

Amnesty International at Harvard

Bengali Association of Students at Harvard College

Harvard Act on a Dream

Harvard Arab Medical and Dental Student Associationp

Harvard Chan Muslim Student Association

Harvard Chan Students for Health Equity and Justice in Palestine

Harvard College Pakistan Student Association

Harvard Divinity School Muslim Association

Harvard Middle Eastern and North African Law Student Association

Harvard Graduate School of Education Islamic Society

Harvard Graduate Students for Palestine

Harvard Islamic Society

Harvard Law School Justice for Palestine

Harvard Divinity School Students for Justice in Palestine

Harvard Jews for Liberation

Harvard Kennedy School Bangladesh Caucus

Harvard Kennedy School Muslim Caucus

Harvard Kennedy School Muslim Women’s Caucus

Harvard Kennedy School Palestine Caucus

Harvard Muslim Law School Association

Harvard Pakistan Forum

Harvard Prison Divest Coalition

Harvard South Asian Law Students Association

Harvard South Asians for Forward-Thinking Advocacy and Research

Harvard TPS Coalition

Harvard Undergraduate Arab Women’s Collective

Harvard Undergraduate Ghungroo

Harvard Undergraduate Muslim Women’s Medical Alliance

Harvard Undergraduate Nepali Students Association

Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee

Middle East and North African Graduate School of Design Student Society

Neighbor Program Cambridge

Sikhs and Companions of Harvard Undergraduates


Society of Arab Students



https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1HfMvVpey18ArAnVHtp8UlqT_8V5zaR9sFE5ohC4Ls7U/mobilebasic





Senator Cotton Urges Mayorkas to Deport Foreign Nationals Who Support Hamas

By DAVID ZIMMERMANN
October 17, 2023 9:57 AM
Senator Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) urged Department of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to deport any foreign national who has expressed support for Hamas since the militant group attacked Israel ten days ago.

I write to urge you to immediately deport any foreign national—including and especially any alien on a student visa—that has expressed support for Hamas and its murderous attacks on Israel,” Cotton wrote to Mayorkas in a letter dated Monday. “These fifth columnists have no place in the United States.”

The term “fifth column” refers to a group of people that attempts to undermine a nation’s solidarity from within by supporting its enemies.

The Republican lawmaker cited the Immigration and Nationality Act as grounds for the immediate deportation of non-citizens from the country.

“Federal law is clear that any alien who ‘endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization’ is inadmissible and must be deported,” he said.

The request comes after many student groups on campuses across the country issued statements blaming Israel for Hamas terrorism.

On the same day the terrorist group attacked the Jewish nation, 34 student-led organizations at Harvard University signed a pro-Palestinian statement, blaming Israel for the atrocities. Other colleges such as George Washington University, the University of Virginia, and the University of California, Berkeley soon followed suit. At least nine of Harvard’s student groups have since retracted their signatures, and the statement has since then been deleted.

Many other students on college campuses have signed similar statements and organized anti-Israel protests in response to the Middle Eastern conflict. At Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., for example, students mourned the deaths of Palestinian civilians in Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hamas, despite the latter’s initial attack a few days prior.

“The appalling explosion of anti-Semitism in the United States over the past few weeks should disturb anyone who shares American values,” Cotton concluded. “While American citizens may have a First Amendment right to speak disgusting vitriol if they so choose, no foreign national has a right to advocate for terrorism in the United States.”
*


https://www.nationalreview.com/news/senator-cotton-urges-mayorkas-to-deport-foreign-nationals-who-support-hamas

Witness to Terror: Unearthing the Horrors of October 7th

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The personal belongings of festival-goers are seen at the site of an attack on the Nova Festival by Hamas gunmen from Gaza, near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, October 12, 2023. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

As a secondary witness to the atrocities that transpired on October 7th, I recount the horrors of the massacres.

We are now on the 11th day of conflict in Gaza, under Hamas control, a continuation of the brutal events that unfolded in Israeli communities along the Gaza border.

ZAKA, the emergency response and rescue team, broadcasted the first live accounts of Israeli civilians on an international platform in English, French, and Spanish.

Over 60 reporters from major global media networks were invited to hear from eyewitnesses directly. They narrated their experiences unfiltered, detailing how Hamas terrorists executed these massacres. The acts of violence included torturing children and infants, and sexually assaulting women before they were either shot execution-style or burned alive. It was also revealed that maps and detailed plans were discovered at some of the sites.

The testimonials I heard were described as “worse than the Holocaust”. Matt Frei from Channel 4 News stated: “It was the most difficult thing I have ever heard in my entire journalistic career”.

I take pride in having contributed to bringing this tragic historical event to light for hundreds of millions of viewers and readers worldwide. I bore witness to the horror that descended upon my people. However, it wasn’t just them who suffered. This atrocity affected individuals from 43 different nationalities, including Muslim-Palestinian Arabs.

A global campaign is already underway to deny and downplay these crimes against humanity. Some attribute these acts to the war in Gaza, where Hamas intentionally uses its civilian population as human shields. This constitutes a double war crime and epitomizes evil.

The day I became a secondary witness to the October 7th Hamas massacres will forever be etched in my memory.

#HamasisISIS

 

By

Noam Bedein

International Authorities Coordinator at the #BringThemHomeNOW headquarters

The real (and awful) reason Biden is coming to Israel

By
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Caroline Glick’s show IN FOCUS tackles the following issues in the wake of war with Hamas: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken returns to Israel while Israeli Defense Forces are amassed at the Gaza border; U.S. President Joe Biden handicaps Israel’s security; and the world continues to turn a blind eye to the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas and the corruption associated with the terror organization that rules the Gaza Strip.

Journalist and author Caroline Glick breaks down the news and explains the real reason that Biden is in Israel.

Video Testimony of Yossi Landau (Zaka) October 17 th , 2023

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Video Testimony of Yossi Landau (Zaka) October 17th, 2023
Yossi Landau (Zaka): [00:00:01] My name is Yossi Landau. I’m 55 years old. I live with
in Ashdod, father of ten children, grandfather of 22, having a business, international
freight forwarding business. 33 years joining Zaka. Sorry, but I think I’m. I’m in a dream
right now. A very bad dream. I’m not eating. I’m not sleeping. And not only me, it’s my
entire team that I was with them for the last ten days. 11 days? Something like that. And
I’m always with them. I know them since they came into the to the organization, followed
them. Right now, I don’t know them. They’re all different. This all happened last
Saturday, October 7th, 6:30 in the morning while we were having Saturday holiday,
enjoying with the children, got up to the sirens and missile attack on Ashdod where I
live. Just got my radio and then my wife and my kids know that this happens. I’m outside
and not in the house. They go into the shelter. I don’t know even where the shelter is in
my house. Because there always, when it is, we’re going out with the volunteers. We
are out for the civilians to help them and to be there for them. Same thing happens this
Saturday, and all of a sudden we start to get some, some information that the missiles
was basically a cover up for the invasion, a major invasion for settlements and for for
towns and for cities in Israel. No clue what happened. Nobody cares.

Yossi Landau (Zaka): [00:02:46] Nobody knows nothing. But I decided it’s time for me
to be not at home. I got my vest, I got my helmet. Went into my car. Just called up
another volunteer. Whoever is available Saturday. We’re all religious people, not
everybody we can get in touch, and drove out to the south. Arrived in Sderot. There was
still gunshots still. There was a war. It’s a war zone. The police, soldiers screaming, and
you just go down because it’s right in back of you. There’s terrorists and you see people
struggling to life to live. They wounded. First thing that first you go to help them as a as
an EMT volunteer. You just go to help them wherever you can save. And thank God we
saved a couple of people. With gunshot wounds. And then all of a sudden, you see a
gun in front of your face, a rifle. And you have no choice but to take him down. And
thank God we took him down. Then we went further on the streets. We saw people in
cars, people outside. Just pedestrians. People in the houses. Dead for no reason. Not
only Israelis. I arrived to a spot. It was in a car, four, I think it was Chinese workers that
came to work. They were all dead. We know we have to treat everybody the same
dignity, the same respect doesn’t make it doesn’t make a difference. Gender or religion,
we treat everybody.

Yossi Landau (Zaka): [00:05:27] But now we saw. We used to regular, used to a
couple of bodies. The most the most that we, we treated in in Zaka was 45 bodies in
one incident. And we thought this is the the highest level we reached. I was all over the
world. If it was terror attacks. I’m a survivor of the 9/11 attack. I was there, I was
trapped, and I saved people. I was there afterwards, bringing up my friends and people.
I was in India. I was in natural disasters. I was a first responder in Miami Surfside when I
was almost blown up by fire. I saw the death in front of my face numerous times, but it
won’t stop me to go further what I’m doing. And keep up. We went, we fought and we
took. We had no place where to take the bodies in Sderot. So sorry to say, but I just
broke into a truck that was parked over there had no choice. And we filled up that truck
with bodies. We’ve taken the bodies, we put them in the bags and just putting in in the
truck. That’s to respect them. They shouldn’t be in the street. Then when more of our
volunteers came along and we start to settle to make groups, I send out a group to
Ofakim because we knew that, in Ofakim, there’s also an invasion and there’s attacks.

Yossi Landau (Zaka): [00:07:49] There’s civilians that are killed. So we had a group
going over there. I would say I’ll follow them afterwards. Then we went out to the road.
The road it’s called Kvish Shloshim ve Aarba. It’s the 34 mark 34. It’s a piece of road
that should take normal, I would say between 15, 20 minutes. It took us for our
volunteers and while we were under fire and we have cover up, took us 11 hours, 11
hours to clean up and not finally clean up. But whatever we could do and that’s not
included, burnt cars that we saw on the side that people were burned while they were
alive. They got a missile, they got a grenade, and they were burned that we said, okay,
we’ll keep that for the last because we have to take first the the people that were shot.
And I can say 70% of those victims were shot in the back, not in the front. They were all
shot in the back, not once, not twice, or from the side they came in. They even had time
to pull them out of the car. They searched the pockets to find money to see if they have
money. We found, we saw wallets out just lying in the side, and I don’t think that the
victims did it. And there was no one in that by the victims before we came. So I said to
my volunteers and I said to myself, okay, it’s only…..

Yossi Landau (Zaka): [00:10:11] It’s only, you know, shotguns, all the wounds. We’re
used to it. We saw that. Let’s go further. Well, we came to a shelter where people went
into that shelter was on the Tsomet, I think it’s the fasim was a shelter. We just go into
that shelter and we saw 20 people. 20 people. They were hugged. They were hugging
themselves, trying to defend themself. They were all burnt to death. Just two grenades.
Hand grenades. That did it, the job. Well, we have to separate them. I don’t know if you
know. And you should never know what it means to separate a burnt body. It’s very
difficult. And it’s very hard to do that. Because when. And we saw even though before
we got to the kibbutzim, to the area, to this. Those bodies that we we picked up, they
were talking to us. Know you’re going to see you’re going to think that. Yes, Yossi.
You’re crazy. You got crazy. You know, I was I was always crazy. I’m a crazy person.
Yes. Maybe something now happened more. I’ll take care of it. But I’m telling you that
those bodies told the stories. They were talking to us and telling us this is what
happened to us. And that’s before that we saw the torching that before we saw the we
saw the bodies, how it looked in the kibbutzim. And I’ll get to that. But those bodies that
we have to take apart from that shelter, were just talking to us.

Yossi Landau (Zaka): [00:12:41] We only tried to defend themselves. We only we
didn’t try to harm anybody. We came over here to to enjoy ourselves, to sing. And this is
what happened. They were all youngsters. Then we go further. We see a van,
Volkswagen, six bodies in that. They were not Jews. They were Palestinians. They were
shot. It was, I don’t know, with Israeli plates. They were all shot and we put them into
the bags, the same thing like we did to the civilians, to the Jews, because we respect.
That’s our mission to respect every human being. They weren’t involved in any terror
attack and we’re going to respect them. Then they call us in. Okay. So we said, okay,
we saw everything. There’s nothing else. What to see? They call us in to kibbutz Be’eri.
We were warned before. We were told before. Listen. What what you guys are going to
see now? Just tell me if you’re ready or not. If not, we can’t take. I took my team. 50
people in my team, 50 Zaka members. That I know them by heart. I know them. The
size of their shoe, I know them. I took them for a talk. I explained them exactly what we
going into, and I didn’t ask them to get permission from the wife and the kids because I
knew that if they’re going to ask the family, they will not get any permission.

Yossi Landau (Zaka): [00:14:40] But I asked their own permission and I told them,
before we go in, let’s sing a song because I know we’ll need it. We got a song, a hope
song. It’s a future song. It’s a song that we know that there’s. There’s going to be light in
the end of the tunnel. Took them all together. Hugging them. Let’s go in. We went in the
first house we saw. Was a couple, father and mother, sitting there on their knees on the
floor. They were on their. Now they were head down, hands tied to the back. On the
other side of the dining room was in the living dining room, was seven year old boy and
a girl, I would say about six years old, sitting just against the parents, hands tied to the
back. Same position. The bodies were tortured, while now, start to use imagination.
Who was tortured before? Who saw if this was, this was the purpose. If this was the
children looking at the parents being tortured. The parents seeing. And when I say
tortured. I will say missing body pieces. An eye just taken out an eye. One eye. Fingers
being. Fingers being. All this happened, and by the end they all had a bullet and still not
finished. In the middle, there’s a table. Those terrorists were sitting and eating there.
The Saturday meal that was prepared for this family. And. For this family, they just took
it.

Yossi Landau (Zaka): [00:17:29] They were hungry and they took it. And they ate this
meal while torturing these children and their parents. Three of my… I broke I, I blanked
out and it took me a split second to blank out. And then I got to myself and I said, if this
is going to happen to me, then we’re done with the job. My volunteers would never be
able to do it. Now you can say again, Yossi is a crazy guy. I took them and we started
dancing. We started. We didn’t dance. We just sat down next to the bodies in the blood.
We had. We were sitting in the blood singing. We had this white suit that I told them
when we got out, we’re going to take this white cover suit and we’ll change it. But for
now, we sitting next to the bodies in the blood and we’re going to sing this, this song
that they was supposed to sing for the holiday for Saturday. And we going to we’re
going to make like they sitting with us by the meal. Because like 3 to 5 minutes. And
then one of my volunteers said, Yossi enough. We have to go further. Just got up. We
took them. We handled them. We we put them in the bags and we said, now we’re
going further. I told him, let’s go change because we’re full of blood. About he says, no,
yes, we’re going to change. But I need a bag.

Yossi Landau (Zaka): [00:19:27] I want to take this home. We go on further. We go into
the next house. It was an old lady. She was dead. We took her. We said, I’m sorry that
we can’t deal with handle like we usually do to take the blood and everything. We go
further. Then we see the woman. She was about, I would say 30. Age of 30. She was
lying on the floor. A puddle of blood. Big puddle of blood. Face down. We have to turn
her over in order to put it into the body bag. She was a pregnant woman. Her stomach
was butchered though. The baby that was connected to the cord was stabbed. She was
shot in the back. Now we going to the same imagination we’re using. Let’s talk to the
body. Let’s talk. Let’s see what happens. Did she see? See that? What was done to her
baby. Or she didn’t. Maybe she didn’t have that suffering, you know. But. We have a
debate between us. If they use two body bags for the baby and for the mother. That was
our debate. While sitting with our children and having fun. We debated between us. If to
use two body bags. We decide we will use only one body bag, because we don’t want to
disconnect this baby from the mother.

[00:22:31] I’ll have a break, please.

[00:22:36] I want to give. I want to give a message. It’s a message to the world.

Yossi Landau (Zaka): [00:22:42] And we should know that we have no enemies in the
Arab world. We have in our organization, not only in our organization and every private
life. I have a lot of friends, customers and co-workers. Arabs, Palestinians, Christians,
everything. Those people, I won’t call them people because we can’t call them people.
We can’t call them animals. We can’t call them. This is something that they don’t belong
to our world. It’s I would see I never met the ISIS, but from the videos that were, that we
saw. From the ISIS and as we know that the Arab world condemned the ISIS, this is the
same thing has to happen over here. They don’t belong to the world. They’re not good
for the world. We want to live. We can have a good, a nice living without them.
Whatever they did, whatever they did, they didn’t do it only to my brothers and sisters.
They did it for the world. This is to show that the world is dangerous while they’re living.
Israel has to go through everything. Everything. It’s not only Israel, it’s the world. And we
see that. And we thank the world. We thank the world that.. For the support that we we
see the support in the world. Although we see some small groups, I saw all over, that
are protesting on behalf of the they, they make it like for the, for the Palestinians but for
the Palestinians is it’s not good that they’re controlling them.

Yossi Landau (Zaka): [00:25:07] They’re only controlling the Palestinians. We have
nothing against the Palestinians. We want to live our life. And none of us came to attack
the children. I want to give for my team, my team that was with me for the last week. It
was we thought we were finished. It was only yesterday and I can say it was only
yesterday. It’s ten days after the attack in Kfar Aza. We thought there is no more bodies
and we went in to take. Unfortunately, it’s very hard for us to do, but we do it because
we’re human beings, to collect the terrorists. We collected with the same with the same
honor with the same honor that we collect the civilians. And all of a sudden we see a
body. I would say he was maybe 14 or 15, a youngster. He was not in the house, but he
was outside like. It looks like, an d as I said before, the bodies were telling the stories.
He was running, he was on the run and they most probably got mad on him and they
killed him. They chopped off his head. We found him without his head. We put him in a
bag. We don’t know who this is. It’s for sure not a terrorist because we know the clothing
that he was wearing, but. And he was without a head. The evil. The horror is. So it’s
crying. It’s crying. And I don’t know why this has to happen.

Yossi Landau (Zaka): [00:27:12] We go home.

Yossi Landau (Zaka): [00:27:14] We can’t talk to the wife. We can’t talk to the children.
We can’t tell them anything. The smell. When I came home, I woke up my wife in the
middle of the night and asking her. Are you sure you put everything in the fridge? Don’t
you have any meat outside that couple of days already? And she knew. She knew what
I’m going through. We have the smell. That’s what we smelling. That’s what we eating.
And that was just started for a nice, beautiful holiday. With no warning before. With no.
With nothing. With nothing doing to them before. I ask you, I beg you. Please have a
prayer. Pray for us that we should be able to raise our children with no damages. With
no, who should be normal father normal grandfather. That’s all what we need. Thank
you.

Matt Frei (Channel Four): [00:28:31] And my name is Matt Frei from channel four news
in the UK. Thank you very much for your testimony. It was the hardest thing I think I’ve
ever heard in my journalistic career. And I cannot imagine what you’re going through.
Yossi, let me ask you, how do you. I mean, how do you carry on living after seeing what
you’ve seen? How do you deal with that? And are you also, do you worry that maybe
the stories that the things you’ve seen, right, what you’re telling us can be used in order
to visit violence on innocent civilians on the other side of this?

Yossi Landau (Zaka): [00:29:16] We are in a mission now. And we were taught that
when everybody, everyone, every volunteer goes into this organization and start testing
him. And I was tested not once and not twice, while I was feeding my own family that
were in terror attacks and all other disasters. Could be a car accident when you come to
yourself. And it could be a very unnatural death when you come to. And sometimes it’s
your own family member, you have to know to split your job and your thoughts and your
feelings. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t work. Unfortunately, after 33 years of
doing this, I’m used to this already. I thought so, I thought so as of now, I know the
mission is still not over. It’s still not finished. We’re in the middle of the mission. When I
will finish the mission, I’m sure. I’m sure I’ll get some help and I’ll need some help. When
I came home. I wasn’t home Saturday. I came home Friday, back in the afternoon. That
was the first time I came home. My wife and kids, they looked at me. They didn’t
recognize me. I was, I lost, I would say about five kilograms from my weight. And I
looked different. When people are telling me, you know. I went to the synagogue on
Saturday meeting some friends.

Yossi Landau (Zaka): [00:31:21] They were afraid to talk to me, and I saw that they all
looked in the back. Something is wrong with this guy. But as I promised, for my
volunteers when we had the first incident that I promised them, we will not leave the job
without knowing that everyone, every civilian, everyone that was killed, will get the full
respect. It’s not only for them, it’s for the families. And that’s our promise that keeps
keeps us going. And another thing that keeps us going is the support of the world. We
feel we have the support. The world feels it. And they know exactly. We don’t have any
images. We might have images, but it’s against our rules, against our religion. It’s it’s not
an honor. We know it’s not an honor. I know when I, if I would see one of my volunteers
taking a picture of a, of a victim and I would, I would take him out of the force. Why?
You never know what can happen in tomorrow looking on that images or one of his kids.
I remember once, it was a couple years ago when it was terrorist attacks, and I was
crawling up on a wall, taken off body parts, and a photographer journalist, he made
some pictures of me. And my kids were small then, and they didn’t know exactly what
I’m doing, what I’m doing in Zaka. But he wanted to do me a favor. He sent me home
some pictures that he he followed me. And I wasn’t home. And they opened up the
envelope and they looked at it and I came home. They didn’t want to talk to me. I didn’t
know why. They said, we have a crazy father. So this can happen. Therefore there’s no
images. We will not make any pictures. And if yes, we’ll give it for these sources.
Sometimes we have to make pictures. Yes, we’ll make pictures. But in general, and
second of all, in these kind of. We don’t have to prove any war crime that happened
over here. It’s when somebody’s being shot in the back or when we went in and we saw
two piles of children, minors. I wouldn’t say they were babies. I would say they’re
minors. I would say they were age of 10 to 15. They took them in to one place. They
weren’t even shot. Their hands tied but burned. They were all burned. Isn’t that a war
crime?

‘Horror Stories’: Journalist Stands By Coverage of Hamas Massacring Babies, Reveals Another Heartbreaking Claim

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The TV reporter who broke the now-viral story about Israeli babies murdered — some purportedly beheaded — at the hands of Hamas terrorists is standing by her coverage and revealing other acts of unimaginable carnage.

Nicole Zedeck, a reporter with i24News who has been on the ground in Israel since the war began last Saturday, told CBN Digital a man responsible for clearing victims’ bodies recounted yet another dreadful story.

“We’re hearing more horror stories,” she said. “He said he found a pregnant woman who was shot in the head, her stomach sliced open, the baby still attached [to] the umbilical cord.”

Zedeck continued, “And the baby was stabbed with a knife.”

This story was shared after the journalist delivered a now-viral report detailing the alleged slaughter of 40 babies and young kids in Kfar Azza, a kibbutz near the Gaza border.

Zedeck said during her initial report soldiers told her some of the babies were decapitated, sending shockwaves through the international community. Despite some doubts over these claims, the reporter is standing by her work and detailing the harrowing situations she’s witnessed over the past week.

“As difficult as it is for [journalists] to see the aftermath of these scenes, there are families, and citizens, and residents, and soldiers that witnessed it firsthand — and witnessed it as it was happening,” she told CBN Digital. “I never thought I would be in this position, where I’m reporting mere feet away from death, but I think it needs to be done and people need to see the images.”

She arrived in Kfar Azza just hours after Hamas’ terror ended, as workers were still clearing bodies and assessing all that unfolded.

“As you’re walking through these communities, you see destruction everywhere,” Zedeck said. “[I] saw a stroller that was stained with blood, a crib overturned on its side taken outside of the door.”

Considering all Zedeck has seen and what soldiers have conveyed, she expressed alarm people are “doubting” some of these claims. When it comes to the babies who were killed, she noted Israel has released some of the disturbing images to corroborate the broader carnage.

As for questions surrounding the decapitation detail, Zedeck offered a candid and important reminder: the method of death isn’t important; the fact these babies were slaughtered is the true horror.

“If later it comes out that these soldiers, what they witnessed — [that] they misspoke, and it turns out the baby’s head wasn’t cut off, it was shot off — this is a dismembered child we’re talking about,” she said. “So the life is lost, and that’s what people need to focus on.”

Watch the report about the pregnant woman’s death (caution: graphic images and scenes):

As for the Israel Defense Forces soldiers who conveyed the horrific scenes they reportedly encountered, including the decapitations, she said they were “very emotional and in shock” as they conveyed their stories to her.

Zedeck said she’s been stunned by all she’s heard and seen.

“These are never words that I thought would come out of my mouth, they’re never words I thought I would hear,” she said. “Because these are acts I didn’t know were humanly capable — that someone was humanly capable of committing.”

Watch Zedeck share her experience.

***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for Faithwire’s daily newsletter and download the CBN News app, developed by our parent company, to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***

Qatar caught between Hamas and West

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Qatar is trying to walk a tightrope between western public opinion and support for Hamas.

Qatar has so far avoided any major Israeli and international pressure and recriminations against it in social network campaigns, following the horrific massacre that took place during the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel.

The small but very wealthy Gulf country, controlled by the Al Thani family, is one of the biggest contributors to Hamas, alongside Iran, and has not renounced ties with the organization.

To a great extent, despite the global shock and despite the radical change in world public opinion towards Hamas, Qatar is trying to continue walking the tightrope it has been able to balance on over recent years.

On the one hand, to be the country that talks to everyone, that finances terrorism to the same extent that it manages relations with Israel and the West. A tool for mediating with the most extreme elements in the Arab world while also transferring money to those extreme elements. Qatar transfers an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars a year to Hamas.

This policy is funded by Qatar’s vast wealth from gas production and and the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) – gold in today’s energy market, after Russia has almost completely shut off the natural gas taps to Europe.

Qatar is the world’s largest LNG exporter, and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) currently manages about half a trillion dollars.

Germany bows before the Emir of Qatar

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and before him Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economic Affairs Robert Habeck both visited Qatar after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war to beg for gas.

Habeck, head of the Greens party, which is sensitive to human rights issues, has even been photographed bowing his head respectfully to the Qatari leadership. The visit was successful and a 15-year gas supply agreement was signed.

Hamas also bows its head before Qatar’s leaders, where they are hosted and operate unimpeded in Doha and in recent days have been interviewed by the world’s media, and in particular “Al Jazeera,” which is financed by Qatar and become a main tool and is proud of the “successful operation.”

An example of Qatari success in playing the double game was seen on Thursday when the Emir met the German Chancellor on a state visit to Germany. The Germans rolled out the red carpet during an official reception at the President’s residence and again during a meeting with Scholz, even though he had pledged to “stand by Israel’s side.”

The German media drew attention to Qatar’s poisonous alliance with Hamas. “Terror supporter comes to lunch,” wrote “Der Spiegel” on Thursday. “I saw him come to visit Hamas in the Gaza Strip in 2012. How can you receive him with such royal dignity,” TV news anchor Christian Sievers aggressively asked German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

The Europeans don’t recognize the Qatar-Hamas connection

Germany exemplifies the way in which Qatar uses money to wash clean the fact that they support Hamas with huge amounts. It must be stressed that Qatar helps the Gaza Strip with the knowledge of Israel and the assistance has been welcomed by many Israeli governments.

But these days, when international pressure could lead to a humanitarian prisoner deal, due to the large number of women, children, babies and elderly among those abducted to the Gaza Strip, Qatar’s name is only mentioned by a handful of experts, and the European public – the one shocked to the core by the actions – is largely unaware of the Qatari-Hamas connection.

The reason for Qatar’s excellent image in Germany is, among other things, the fact that the emirate has invested more than €25 billion in the country. Qatar invested wisely, targeting the most respected companies and organizations in the country: its national airline Qatar Airways was for years the sponsor of soccer club Bayern Munich. The cooperation was stopped in preparation for the World Cup in Qatar late last year, and due to the enormous criticism of the conditions and deaths of foreign workers building the stadiums and infrastructure for the World Cup.

Other collaborations continue. Qatar Investment Authority acquired 11% of carmaker Volkswagen, 6% of Deutsche Bank, 5% of Porsche automobile company – all core corporations in German industry, thus mixing politics and commerce. Qatar Investment Authority has also invested in shipping giant Hapag Lloyd and energy company RWE. It also finances the Munich Security Conference.

“Connections with the Taliban, Iran, Israel and US”

Dr. Moran Zaga, a researcher into the Gulf states at the University of Haifa’s Mitvim Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies says, “Since the 1990s, Qatar has developed an ambitious foreign policy which aims to create a sphere of influence and a capacity that is actually greater than its natural size and its fundamental shortcomings as a very small country, which depends on the Strait of Hormuz for its economic activity.”

It has woven an extensive network of contacts with Arab and Western, Islamist and democratic countries and non-state organizations.

“The result is that Qatar maintains relations with the Taliban, Iran and Hamas, alongside relations with Israel, the US and Germany. This policy allows it to generate political capital, economic capital and security stability.”

In response to the mild criticism leveled at the authorities in Germany over the past day for hosting the Emir of Qatar precisely at this time, the German Foreign Ministry made sure to clarify that the country may be used as a mediator with Hamas, and therefore it is important to maintain ties with it.

But the wording used shows that Germany is far from exerting real pressure. “We expect all the main players in the region to use their connections, which are better than Germany’s, to bring calm,” it said.

“Qatar does not need international pressure in order to act as a mediator in this event,” says Dr. Zaga, “since it always strives for this and even began to engage in this from the first or second day of the war.

“The critical question is whether it has a strong enough influence on Hamas to the point that it will cause the organization to lose its bargaining chips.”

Some sources have pointed to the sensitivity of the renegade country to international criticism as a “soft underbelly” that may cause it to act in this direction.

At the beginning of the year, European police arrested several members of the European Parliament, among others from Greece and Italy, on suspicion of accepting bribes of millions of euros from Qatar in exchange for their public statements regarding the “adequate working conditions” in the country before the World Cup, and working to suppress European criticism.

“The impact of the pressure on Hamas is limited”

From the popint of view of these sources, this illustrates that Qatar is concerned about its international image, especially when hundreds of billions are invested in Europe (in addition to investments in Germany, Qatar owns the Harrods chain in the UK, for example, and the Paris Saint-Germain football club in France).

Dr. Zaga believes that the leverage of Qatar’s pressure on Hamas is limited.

“Therefore, Qatar may lose twice from this situation. On the one hand, it damages its image as a country that hosts terrorists and supports an organization whose brutality the whole enlightened world now understands. At the same time, it cannot leverage its connections and funding in order to create a significant achievement due to the independence of the Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip.”

According to her, “It is possible that Qatar will be able to obtain a partial achievement in a deal for ‘humanitarian’ exchanges of Israeli citizens for the female Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

“But if Qatar does not succeed in influencing Hamas, it may find itself at a crossroads, in which it must choose between stopping funding Hamas and hosting its political arm, and becoming a blacklisted country in the international arena.”

“Qatar has not yet faced the dilemma of continuing to support terrorism in the face of international pressure,” says Dr. Zaga.

According to her, “History shows that pressure from the international community has influenced Qatar’s policy in the past, such as on the issue of foreign workers in its territory. Therefore, only a sufficiently significant and widespread pressure on the issue of terrorist financing and the expulsion of the political leadership of Hamas from its territory can affect it.”

“Israel is not in a rush to point an accusing finger

Regarding the question of how Israel should treat the Qatari channel, after years of cooperation and even relying on the money coming from Qatar for the restoration of the Gaza Strip after Operation “Protective Edge”, Zaga says: “Israel is now focusing on leveraging Qatar’s capabilities to free the hostages and therefore is not in a hurry to point an accusing finger at it.”

“Pointing an accusing finger at Qatar would have a disadvantage and an advantage. The disadvantage would be the loss of an important channel for any achievements, even partial ones, especially on the subject of the release of those who have been kidnapped. The advantage would be in leveraging the war from a one-off event into an ideological regional struggle between the moderates and the extremists, between the good and the bad. Countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Jordan and Egypt, and Israel now have the ability to produce this equation.”

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on October 15, 2023.

Israeli forensic teams describe signs of torture, abuse

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Military forensic teams in Israel have examined bodies of victims of last week’s Hamas attack on communities around the Gaza Strip and found multiple signs of torture, rape and other atrocities, officers said on Saturday.

Around 1,300 bodies have been brought to an army base in Ramla in central Israel where forensic checks to determine the identity of the dead and the circumstances of their death are carried out by specialist teams.

Around 90% of the military dead have been identified and teams are half way through identifying civilians, said Rabbi Israel Weiss, former army chief rabbi, one of the officials overseeing the identification of the dead. He said many bodies showed signs of torture as well as rape.

“We’ve seen dismembered bodies with their arms and feet chopped off, people that were beheaded, a child that was beheaded,” a reserve warrant officer identified only by her first name of Avigayil told reporters.

She said multiple cases of rape were found by forensic examination of the bodies, which have been stored in refrigerated containers.

“We do the identification with all the means that we have,” said a military dentist, identified as Captain Maayan. “We see them in severe stages of abuse. We see gunshots and we see signs that are purely torture.”

The military personnel overseeing the identification process didn’t present any forensic evidence in the form of pictures or medical records.

Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip, has denied accusations of abuse.

Hundreds of Hamas gunmen, some on motorcycles, broke through barriers around Gaza in the early hours of Oct. 7 and tore through nearby communities, attacking a large outdoor dance party as well homes and military bases and abducting more than 120 Israelis and foreigners.

The assault caused profound shock in Israel due to both the unprecedented number of dead from a single day as well as the graphic footage that has emerged from the towns and kibbutzes that were overrun.

In response, Israeli jets and artillery have bombarded the Gaza Strip for days, killing more than 2,200 Palestinians and destroying thousands of buildings ahead of an expected ground invasion.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has compared Hamas to Islamic State, which gained worldwide notoriety for its campaign of public beheadings in countries like Syria and Iraq.

Reporting by Peter Hirschberg; Editing by Daniel Wallis

Flash Report from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum headquarters

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Initial medical report on the condition of the hostages and missing persons: Immediate danger to life and unbearable suffering for some of the hostages and missing persons.
This emerges from an initial medical report detailing the physical condition of a significant number of the hostages and missing persons.

The report, presented today to International Red Cross representatives in Israel who visited the Families Headquarters, reveals the horrific situation: Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis patients, people with special needs, infants, and the elderly are enduring extreme conditions as time runs critically short.

Examples of critical cases:

– A 9-month-old baby being fed only baby formula in need of proper nutrition and vital baby products.
– Children ages 5, 13, and 16, with autism, requiring special assistance.
– A 23-year-old woman with untreated gunshot and wounded people with amputated limbs.
– A 27-year-old woman with Crohn’s disease requiring biological treatment and medical nutritional therapy, at risk of worsening.
– A man with a severe autoimmune disease requiring hospital biological treatment, at risk of worsening and death.
– A 60-year-old man with multiple sclerosis, who has difficulty walking.
– An 85-year-old woman with heart failure, kidney disease, asthma, and cardiac arrhythmias at risk of developing blood clots, fluid retention, and death.
– An elderly woman with Parkinson’s, dementia, who suffers from being underweight, at risk of worsening and death.

*Summary (the full medical report compiled by Prof. Hagai Levin is attached for your review):*

The report submitted to the Red Cross by the medical team headed by Prof. Hagai Levin describes the condition of the hostages and missing persons suffering unbearable and life-threatening torture due to lack of access to medical care. According to the report, they are undergoing indescribable suffering and need urgent treatment with life-saving medications and care for injuries. Based on initial information: Many wounded (after amputations; severe injuries from rape), medical conditions such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, and cancer; and patients with special needs such as autism, dementia, and infants.

A detailed file with information on over 150 hostages and missing persons was sent on 14.10.2023 to the contact person of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and then an additional update was sent.

The full medical report is attached for your review.

UNRWA urges for the protection of civilians across the Gaza Strip: Not one wordo f regret for the OCT. 7 MASS MURDER OF JEWS

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With a very heavy heart, I am called to share with you the Official Statement by UNRWA Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, on today’s tragic developments in the Gaza Strip:

“As Gaza remains under heavy bombardment with Israel tightening its grip over the overpopulated Strip, it is left to the UN and humanitarians to protect civilians.

“The call from the Israeli Forces to move more than 1 million civilians living in northern Gaza within 24 hours is horrendous. This will only lead to unprecedented levels of misery and further push people in Gaza into abyss.

“Since 7 October, over 423,000 people have already been displaced. Of them, more than 270,000 have taken refuge in UNRWA shelters, where basic food, medicine and support is provided to retain dignity and a glimmer of hope.

“The scale and speed of the unfolding humanitarian crisis is bone-chilling. Gaza is fast becoming a hell hole and is on the brink of collapse.

“There is no exception, all parties must uphold the laws of war; humanitarian assistance must be provided at all times to civilians.

“In Gaza, more than 2 million people are caught up in this conflict. UNRWA is struggling to fulfil its mandate.

“I urge all parties and those with influence over them to put an end to this tragedy and provide immediate and unconditional humanitarian access and protection to the civilian, among them far too many women and children.

“The time for humanity to prevail is now”.

, Thank you for always supporting UNRWA and Palestine Refugees.

We are honoured to have you by our side.

UNRWA Spokesperson / Director of External Relations & Communications

German Chancellor to Abbas: Your Silence is Shameful

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