Middle East Press On: Gaza Genocide, Arab Refugee Camps, Intifada: New Age Islam's Selection, 3 June 2025
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
3 June 2025
Now Is the Time to Recognize Palestine
Latin America Escalates Pressure On Israel Over Gaza Genocide
Türkiye's Offshore Gas Strategy in Black Sea: Role of Osman Gazi
Post-Revolution: A Critical Threshold for Turkmen in Syria
How Closing Arab Refugee Camps Would Undercut the Global Intifada
Israel Seeks Ceasefire That Ensures Release of Its Prisoners but Retains Gaza Genocide
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation a Smokescreen for Control
No Western Eyes Needed: Gaza Is Already Seen Through Palestinian Lenses
Never Again Is Never Again for Anyone: Britain’s Role in The Genocide in Gaza
Bearing Witness in Gaza: Floodgate Exclusive Interview with Dr. Mimi Syed
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Now Is The Time To Recognize Palestine
Faisal J. Abbas
June 02, 2025
Israel’s blocking of an Arab delegation, preventing it from entering the West Bank at the weekend, is yet another reminder of the ugly, immoral nature of its ongoing occupation of Palestinian lands.
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the UAE planned to take part in a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Sunday. But the Israeli government stepped in late on Friday and announced that it would not allow the delegation to cross from Jordan to the West Bank. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said this move showed the Tel Aviv government’s “extremism and rejection of peace.”
Of course, there is no shortage of reminders of the ugliness of the occupation, especially given the unfolding genocide in Gaza.
Since Israel unilaterally broke the ceasefire in the Strip in March, hospitals have again been in its sights. After Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia was evacuated on Israeli orders last Thursday, there were no functioning health facilities in the north of Gaza. And let us not forget that, last month, Israeli troops fired “warning shots” in the vicinity of a European diplomatic delegation visiting the West Bank.
More and more, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition of right-wing lunatics are increasing Israel’s isolation and making it impossible for even its closest allies in the West to tolerate its actions.
It is telling that a former Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, last week said that Israel was committing war crimes in Gaza. “The government of Israel is currently waging a war without purpose, without goals or clear planning and with no chances of success,” he wrote in an opinion piece for Haaretz.
Last week, we even saw Germany begin to criticize Israel, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemning its “violations” of international law. “To harm the civilian population to such an extent, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism,” he said.
Merz’s intervention followed a very powerful speech from British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who told Parliament that the rhetoric coming from the likes of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich “is extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous.”
Indeed, when National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Smotrich speak of Israeli forces “cleansing” Gaza, “destroying what’s left” and Palestinians “being relocated to third countries,” then “extremist” is the least they can be called. Personally, I believe they are war criminals.
It is also very telling that Israel’s ambassador to the UK was able to phenomenally identify exactly how many Hamas “terrorists” have been killed during the war on Gaza that ignited following the horrific events of Oct. 7. But she could not recall, or even acknowledge, the number of children killed (the answer is more than 15,000, according to UNICEF) — despite being asked the same question 17 times during an interview with Piers Morgan.
A reminder here that Morgan was unfairly accused, at the beginning of the war, of being biased toward Israel despite him giving both sides an equal platform. His latest interview with the Israeli ambassador was a masterclass in how to conduct professional interviews and ask serious questions.
However, the battle for Palestinian justice will not be won by column inches or on podcasts. The two-state solution summit is coming up on June 17-20, jointly hosted by Saudi Arabia and France at the UN headquarters in New York, and nations worldwide will find themselves facing the ultimate moral test. Needless to say, now is the time to recognize Palestine and support a two-state solution. To sceptics, I say two things: better late than never, and, no, implementing it will not be easy, but this is a start.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2603130
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Latin America Escalates Pressure On Israel Over Gaza Genocide
June 2, 2025
by Eman Abusidu
As the war in Gaza continues to exact a devastating toll on Palestinian civilians, voices from Latin America have become some of the most prominent and unwavering in condemning what many now describe as a genocide. From diplomatic ruptures and public condemnations to calls for economic embargoes and legal accountability, Latin American countries—led by progressive governments and driven by a powerful sense of moral and historical responsibility—have taken bold positions against Israeli actions in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Brazil, under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Lula, known for his long-standing support for Palestinian self-determination, has accused Israel of genocide and likened its actions to the Holocaust—statements that led to his being declared “persona non grata” by the Israeli government.
On the economic front, the pressure is growing from within. On May 25, the National Federation of Oil Workers (FNP) and the United Federation of Oil Workers (FUP) sent an open letter to President Lula, demanding an immediate halt to Brazilian crude oil exports to Israel. The unions argued that Brazil, having exported approximately 2.7 million barrels of crude oil to Israel in 2024 alone, was indirectly fueling the Israeli war machine and complicit in crimes against humanity.
Further intensifying Brazil’s position, the government condemned, “in the strongest terms,” the Israeli announcement on 29 May of 22 new settlements in the West Bank. Citing a July 2024 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which deemed Israel’s continued presence in the occupied territories unlawful, Brazil reaffirmed its support for a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders, including Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
A separate civil society campaign has also gained momentum. More than 200 Brazilian public figures—including politicians, jurists, academics, and artists—signed a letter urging the government to cut diplomatic and commercial relations with Israel, impose a bilateral military and energy embargo, and revoke the existing free trade agreement. The letter calls on Brazil to “set an example” of international law compliance, especially as it assumes leadership roles in UN legal initiatives around Palestinian statehood.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric has similarly taken decisive steps in confronting Israeli policies. During his annual address to the National Congress, Boric labeled Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide and ethnic cleansing.” He reaffirmed Chile’s moral obligation to stand with the victims of such atrocities: “We must not forget or stop feeling that pain, because it is human, just as we are human.”
Backing his words with policy, Boric recalled Chile’s ambassador to Israel, withdrew the country’s military attachés, and suspended Israel’s participation in the upcoming FIDAE air show, a major defence and aerospace exhibition.
This growing alignment between state and civil society is evident in the actions of Nelson Hadad, a prominent lawyer and former ambassador, who submitted a petition at La Moneda Palace urging the Chilean government to sever all diplomatic, commercial, and military ties with Israel. The letter, supported by over a thousand citizens, argued that condemnation alone is insufficient. “It is not possible to maintain ties with a state that flagrantly violates the UN Charter and international humanitarian law,” Hadad stated, emphasising the massive civilian toll in Gaza—over 54,000 Palestinians dead, mostly women and children.
In Colombia, President Gustavo Petro has been one of the most outspoken leaders on the issue. He has repeatedly called Israel’s actions “genocide,” drawing parallels between Gaza and Auschwitz, a move that has sparked both domestic debate and international attention. Colombia recalled its ambassador to Israel and has signaled a broader reevaluation of its relationship with the state.
Petro’s stance aligns with a broader pivot in Colombia’s foreign policy—one that challenges traditional allegiances and aims to position the country as a voice for justice and human rights in global affairs.
While Mexico has condemned the violence and called for humanitarian access, its response has been more restrained. The government has not employed language such as “genocide” and has avoided taking actions that might compromise its delicate diplomatic positioning between the Global South and its close economic ties to the United States.
What unites these responses is a deeper historical and ideological commitment to anti-colonialism, sovereignty, and human rights. Latin America’s solidarity with Palestine is not new; it is rooted in shared histories of oppression and resistance. Across the region, public opinion strongly supports the Palestinian cause, with mass mobilisations and pro-Palestinian demonstrations taking place from Buenos Aires to Bogotá.
Moreover, the region’s governments are increasingly aligning their foreign policies with the growing body of international law—including the ICJ’s rulings—demanding accountability from Israel.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250602-latin-america-escalates-pressure-on-israel-over-gaza-genocide/
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Türkiye's Offshore Gas Strategy in Black Sea: Role of Osman Gazi
By Gökçe Nur Ataman
JUN 03, 2025Türkiye’s energy diplomacy is centred around three primary goals: ensuring supply security, increasing localization in energy production and fostering predictable markets. In classical terms, supply security means having sufficient energy to meet national needs, which can be achieved through both imports and domestic production or even through export capabilities. In this context, Türkiye’s gas diplomacy strengthens its energy relations with Russia and Europe, expanding beyond hydrocarbons into broader areas of cooperation. European countries, for their part, are transitioning toward non-Russian hydrocarbons in the short and medium term and toward green energy in the long run. Türkiye has the potential to contribute to both objectives, provided it continues to develop strong policies that support technological innovation and energy transition.
Today, Türkiye is no longer merely a natural gas importer; it has emerged as both a producer and an exporter. One of the most critical milestones in Türkiye’s journey toward energy independence is the Sakarya Gas Field, where production has rapidly increased. Since the inclusion of Black Sea gas into the national grid on April 20, 2023, uninterrupted efforts have been underway to boost output. These efforts are clearly reflected in production data.
On April 21, 2023, daily output stood at 4 million cubic meters. By April 29, 2024, this figure had increased to 4.5 million cubic meters. Two months later, on June 30, 2024, production reached 5.5 million cubic meters per day and by Aug. 17, 2024, it hit 6 million cubic meters. By the end of 2024, daily production had risen to 7 million cubic meters; today, it has reached approximately 9.5 million cubic meters.
Osman Gazi platform
Türkiye has begun producing energy using significantly more advanced technologies. A pivotal component of this technological leap is Osman Gazi, the first floating natural gas production platform of Türkiye. The platform is expected to enhance Türkiye’s offshore energy capabilities significantly by creating an experiential field for maritime energy production and increasing domestic engineering capacity in this domain.
Osman Gazi departed from the Bosporus on May 29, 2025, en route to the Sakarya Gas Field in the Black Sea. The platform is considered one of the most advanced and concrete steps in Türkiye’s efforts to secure energy independence. Measuring 298.5 meters in length, 56 meters in width, and 29.5 meters in depth, the platform has a personnel capacity of 140 and can process up to 10 million cubic meters of natural gas daily. It will extract gas from 12 subsea wells, process it on board and transmit the cleaned gas directly to the Filyos onshore facility. This approach will significantly reduce the load on onshore gas processing plants, speed up production timelines and enhance overall efficiency. The project holds strategic value in terms of increased production capacity and reducing dependence on imported energy resources.
Currently, the Sakarya field produces approximately 9.5 million cubic meters per day. With Osman Gazi operational, daily production is expected to rise to 20 million cubic meters, enough to meet the natural gas demand of roughly 8 million households. The platform will operate in the Black Sea for 20 years, contributing significantly to Türkiye’s long-term energy security. Increased domestic production is also expected to reduce foreign currency expenditures on energy imports, helping narrow the current account deficit. The platform is scheduled to arrive at the Port of Filyos on June 1, 2025. Following integration work, it is planned to begin offshore gas production by mid-2026. This process represents a technical achievement and a paradigmatic shift in Türkiye’s energy policy framework.
Direct domestic gas utilization
Globally, numerous floating natural gas production facilities exist, serving as important tools for countries aiming to develop offshore energy resources. Among the most notable is the Prelude FLNG, operated by Shell off the coast of Australia. At 488 meters in length, it is the world’s largest floating LNG production facility, capable of producing approximately 5.3 million tons of LNG annually. Similarly, the Coral Sul FLNG platform off the coast of Mozambique, operated by Italian energy firm Eni, has an annual production capacity of 3.4 million tons of LNG. Norway’s Aasta Hansteen Spar platform, operated by Equinor, is a 198-meter-tall (649.61-foot-tall) floating natural gas unit. In West Africa, the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim FPSO platform, operated by BP off the coasts of Senegal and Mauritania, can process around 500 million standard cubic feet of gas daily. Meanwhile, the Ichthys FPSO, operated by Japanese company Inpex off the coast of Australia, produces about 8.9 million tons of LNG per year.
However, it is crucial to note that while these facilities reflect cutting-edge floating technologies, they primarily serve the liquefaction and export of natural gas in LNG form. In contrast, Türkiye’s Osman Gazi platform is designed to extract and process natural gas offshore and deliver it directly to shore without liquefaction. This key functional distinction underscores the unique role of Osman Gazi in Türkiye’s domestic energy agenda. Unlike global FLNGs that support international trade, Osman Gazi is a direct channel for domestic gas utilization, enhancing Türkiye’s energy sovereignty. Nevertheless, highlighting global examples remains relevant, as it illustrates Türkiye’s integration into a global technological trend in offshore gas production while carving its own path with a national strategy focused on self-sufficiency rather than LNG export. This distinction not only prevents misconceptions but also showcases Türkiye’s commitment to building indigenous capacity in energy technology.
Looking ahead, Türkiye is poised to play a critical role in the global energy landscape over the next 5 to 10 years. The world’s energy needs will continue to grow. Although constructing European energy corridors remains challenging, it is not impossible. In every scenario, Türkiye’s geostrategic location ensures that it will remain central to future energy plans. Thanks to its investments in infrastructure and technology, Türkiye is now on the verge of becoming an energy hub within the next 10 to 15 years.
Ongoing regional conflicts, such as the war in Gaza-Israel or the Russia-Ukraine war, will not last forever. When these conflicts end, the energy infrastructure that Türkiye has developed will propel the country to an entirely new dimension in the global energy landscape, a transformation akin to a quantum leap. This may currently seem utopian, but the same was once said when it was first proposed that Türkiye could serve as a corridor for gas from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, or even Iran to reach European markets. Today, this has become a reality. The European Union must base its relations with Türkiye on a mutually agreed framework. Türkiye’s geostrategic position aligns with its objective to become a determining actor in the natural gas market.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/turkiyes-offshore-gas-strategy-in-black-sea-role-of-osman-gazi
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Post-Revolution: A Critical Threshold For Turkmen In Syria
BY CEMIL DOĞAÇ İPEK
JUN 03, 2025In the Middle East, power, resources and wealth distribution often trigger internal conflicts within and between countries, emerging from or still embroiled in violent confrontations. However, research on governance and public policy regarding actors within countries during and after conflicts in the Middle East is currently insufficient. The narrative surrounding the ongoing Syrian conflict is a striking example of this phenomenon.
In the aftermath of the Syrian Revolution, all actors directly or indirectly involved in the crisis are currently reassessing their positions and renewing their strategies. At this point, the future position of the Syrian Turkmens (who are an important part of the Turkic world, including the Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Zazas, Kurmanjis and others) and the reorganization of the Turkmens structure after the revolution are among the critical issues on the agenda for both internal security and order in Syria and the national security of the Türkiye. In particular, the new administration's failure to grant Turkmens sufficient representation in the Cabinet (only Turkmen commander Fehim Ertuğrul Isa has been appointed as deputy defense minister and commander of the Northern Army) poses a serious problem for both the Turkmen presence in Syria and Türkiye's national security. The struggle in Syria has entered a new phase; therefore, the Syrian Turkmens urgently need a new and transformative vision.
Why are civil politics failing?
The Syrian Turkmen Assembly, established in 2013 with the support of the Republic of Türkiye, has long been run by a group of people who have been living in Türkiye and are therefore far removed from the realities on the ground in Syria. The fact that this structure is managed by Syrians living in Türkiye as a diaspora council poses a serious problem. As a result, the Syrian Turkmen Assembly has failed to gain any base or influence in Syria or within the Turkmen community. Ultimately, it has become almost dysfunctional.
Civil political bodies such as the Syrian interim government, which claims to politically represent the Syrian revolution, the Syrian Opposition Coalition and the Syrian Turkmen Assembly, established as the political umbrella organization of the Turkmens, have unfortunately failed to exert a convincing influence on Syrian society. The fundamental reason for this is that “in Middle Eastern countries where armed conflicts continue, the people prefer to follow military figures in the region.”
This situation was clearly seen at the Syrian Turkmen Assembly Congress held in Çobanbey in November 2019. At the congress, while the civil political representatives of the aforementioned institutions sat in the protocol area allocated to them, there was no significant interest from the public or delegates toward them. On the other hand, delegates representing the Syrian Turkmen were competing with each other to chat and take selfies with Turkmen commanders from the Syrian National Army (Fehim Ertuğrul Isa, Seyf Ebubekir Polat, Doğan Süleyman, etc.).
Despite the full support of Türkiye, the Syrian Turkmen Assembly has failed to inspire hope among the Syrian Turkmen and the Syrian people. The fact that the Assembly consists of political parties that are not represented in Syria and the Syrian people's distrust of civil politics due to their past bad experiences have led to the failure of the Assembly. While the people's attitude toward civil politics is clear, insisting on supporting the existing civil political institutions is not in line with reality.
What needs to be done?
The current situation and conditions in Syria are clear. To fulfill the requirements of these conditions and ensure that the legitimate demands of the Turkmens are heard loud and clear around the world, it is imperative that national leaders emerge who are free from all external pressure and control and that a national structure be established.
The first issue to be resolved is the replacement of the worn-out Syrian Turkmen Assembly, which no longer has any representative power on the ground, with a national front led by a charismatic military leader. This leader will give hope and direction to the Syrian Turkmens. The Syrian Turkmen Front must be established in Syria and continue its activities from there. In this sense, it is vital to establish a Syrian Turkmen Front in which Turkmen elements from all fields can participate and struggle. Otherwise, the Turkmens will face the risk of assimilation and disappearance from regional politics in the coming period.
The Syrian Turkmens also face a serious elite problem. It is imperative to train personnel who can urgently represent the Syrian Turkmens in international negotiations and platforms. At this point, establishing a “Syrian Turkmen Academy” and training individuals with potential from the Turkmen community can be planned. In the coming years, this academy could also be considered a “Middle East Turkmen Academy,” thereby enabling the training of elite cadres not only for Syrian Turkmen but also for Turkmen in Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and other countries. At the academy, accelerated courses should be offered using the most modern education and teaching methods by qualified academics.
Another important issue related to this topic is the “internationalization” of the presence of Turkmens in Syria. The existence of Turkmens in Syria, whose cultural rights are not recognized and who have been subjected to human rights violations and massacres for a long time, should be brought to the attention of the world public. To bring this situation to the attention of the international public by all means, the relevant mechanisms of human rights conventions and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) active in this field and interested in this issue should be contacted. At this point, the Turkmens should also take initiatives within the institutional structure of the EU through organizations concerned with minorities. Furthermore, the crimes against humanity committed by the Assad regime against the Turkmen in the region should be reported and presented to the international community.
We also see clear shortcomings in determining political, military and legal goals for the Turkmen. At present, no one knows what the political, military and legal goals of the Turkmens in Syria are (including the Turkmens themselves). It would be very useful to work quickly on this issue and share the identified goals with the Turkmen community. Special importance should be given to the issue of legal status. It is vital that the Turkmens gain status in the new constitution within the territorial integrity of Syria.
If we look at this issue from an international law perspective, the 1921 Ankara, 1923 Lausanne, and 1939 Türkiye-France agreements do not grant any status to the Turkmens in Syria. (This situation is also related to the fact that the concept of minority at that time was based on religion, and that the majority of Syrian Turkmens lived within the borders of a Muslim country.) Therefore, the Syrian Turkmens currently do not have legal status as a separate entity within Syria. For this reason, the Syrian Turkmens must secure legal status in the coming period.
Legal status will grant objectivity to the Turkmens. Unfortunately, the current situation of the Turkmens in Syria is one of subjectivity. As long as this subjectivity persists, it is unlikely that anyone outside Türkiye will show interest in or take the Turkmens into consideration. Regardless of the circumstances, the primary objective of the Turkmens should be to obtain a legal status document. Legal status serves as a deed of ownership for the Turkmens, providing a guarantee for their future – even if it may gather dust over time.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/post-revolution-a-critical-threshold-for-turkmen-in-syria
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How Closing Arab Refugee Camps Would Undercut The Global Intifada
By DANIEL FREEDMAN
JUNE 2, 2025
Following a second attack in as many weeks on Jews in the US by terrorists yelling “Free Palestine,” there’s a bold path President Trump could take to both outflank the anti-Israel movement just as (they think) they’re gaining momentum and actually speed up peace in the region: That is by striking deals with individual Arab countries to close Palestinian refugee camps and give refugees citizenship. It would be the perfect US response to the recent cold-blooded murder of a young engaged Israeli couple in Washington, DC, on May 22 and Sunday’s attack injuring eight in Colorado, both of which are reflections of the far left’s efforts to “globalize the intifada.” This instead would shrink the intifada by removing a big propaganda and recruiting tool – the refugee camps. It may even win the president a peace prize.
The refugee problem began in 1948, when the modern State of Israel was declared and neighboring Arab countries (along with those further afield) attacked her. An estimated 600,000-750,000 Arab residents fled – whether to avoid war or at the urging of Arab countries that told them to get out of the way and promised a quick win.
For the last 77 years, those original refugees and their descendants have largely been kept in camps run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and treated as second-class citizens by Arab countries. Take Lebanon, for example, as UNRWA itself states on its website: “The very high rates of poverty among Palestine refugees are a result of decades of structural discrimination related to employment opportunities and denial of the right to own property in Lebanon.”
Jewish refugees fleeing Arab lands
Contrast those Arab refugees with the rarely mentioned, but larger number, of close to one million Jews who fled Arab and Muslim lands at the same time. They left after the Arab League’s Political Committee drafted a 1947 law, ahead of Israel’s formation, that stripped Jews of citizenship and rights, and Arab leaders warned their safety could not be guaranteed. Many of those Jewish communities had existed for thousands of years: Aleppo’s Jews date to King David, and Iraqi and Iranian Jews to the Babylonian exile 2,500 years ago.
You don’t hear much about these refugees because, instead of being kept in camps, Israel integrated them (large populations also went to the US, Canada and France) – and because Jews displaced by Arabs don’t fit the anti-Israel narrative.
These two sets of refugees should have been treated as a population swap. That’s how the unfortunate consequences of conflicts are usually handled. After the Greco-Turkish War ended in 1922, for example, one million Christians from the Ottoman Empire resettled in Greece and 500,000 Muslims went to Turkey. In 1947 millions of people changed countries following the partition of India and Pakistan. In 1974, after Turkey invaded Cyprus, 140,000 Greeks left the north and 60,000 Turks went south.
President Trump should keep this history in mind and go Arab country by Arab country – as he did with the Abraham Accords – striking deals that incentivize refugee integration. So far, he has focused on individual accords and, regarding refugees, mainly on Gaza – reportedly offering Libya the unfreezing of billions of dollars if it takes up to one million refugees. Solving the broader refugee problem would pave the way for more countries to make peace with Israel and would expand the accords more rapidly.
Naturalizing refugees is a central pillar of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and it has already been done in the region. Jordan’s 1954 Nationality Law granted citizenship to “any person who, not being Jewish, possessed Palestinian nationality before 15 May 1948 and was a regular resident in Jordan” during a specified period.
Alongside finalizing cases in Jordan, a good initial focus could be Syria and Lebanon, with 586,000 and nearly 500,000 refugees respectively, according to UNRWA. Both countries are in dire financial straits, and Saudi Arabia and Qatar – recently very friendly hosts to President Trump – are their main patrons. He also just met Syria’s new leader and lifted sanctions on the country, so it’s a good time to ask for something in return.
A crucial step toward naturalization is to scrap UNRWA. The UN already has a refugee agency – the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) – that works in 136 countries and serves more than 130 million people. Palestinian refugees don’t need separate treatment, especially because UNRWA perpetuates their predicament.
UNRWA maintains status quo for Palestinians
While UNHCR helps refugees build new lives, UNRWA works to keep them in camps. UNHCR doesn’t automatically confer refugee status on descendants. UNRWA, in contrast, automatically labels each new male generation as refugees and even re-claims those who have left, advertising on its website that “refugees can continue registering newborns as they move abroad.” UNRWA even counts as refugees those naturalized in Jordan in 1954 and their male descendants.
It gets worse. UNRWA-run schools have been shown to indoctrinate pupils with anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric, and its staff include Hamas members – including some who took part in the October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel.
If UNRWA is dissolved, its budget of more than US $1 billion a year could be used to help countries naturalize the refugees. The US isn’t funding UNRWA at the moment because of its flaws (though it has contributed about US $6 billion since 1950). Washington could say it will redirect that money from other UN contributions, forcing states to cover the shortfall or end their own UNRWA donations.
Besides UNRWA savings, and the money the Qataris and Saudis already pour into Syria and Lebanon, additional funds could come from the World Bank, which has resources for integrating refugees. The US State Department and USAID also spend billions on refugees. Alongside compensating countries for taking refugees, funds could compensate the descendants of both communities for property lost or stolen.
Deal-making is an exercise in realism. It moves parties from rhetoric to practical wins. For those in the camps, citizenship and freedom from second-class status are big wins. For Libya, Lebanon and Syria, it offers funds to rebuild. For Saudi Arabia and Qatar, supporting the plan generates deep US goodwill and peace with Israel. For Israel, it removes a propaganda and terrorist-inspiring tool. And for the US, besides fostering peace and saving money, it might win President Trump a peace prize.
Daniel Freedman is the managing partner of NavT1 and co-author of The Black Banners.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-856305
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Israel seeks ceasefire that ensures release of its prisoners but retains Gaza genocide
June 2, 2025
by Motasem A Dalloul
As part of efforts to end the unprecedented livestream genocide carried out by the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza, the Tump administration has recruited Palestinian-American businessman, Bishara Bahbah, to advance the ceasefire proposal presented by the president’s special Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
The proposal originally stipulated a framework for the release of almost half of the Israeli prisoners in Gaza in return for a temporary ceasefire that would last for 60 days and the flow of humanitarian aid to the starving people in the besieged Gaza Strip.
It is worth noting that Israel broke the previous ceasefire agreement on 2 March when it stopped the entry of goods, tents, mobile homes and heavy equipment to be used for reopening streets and removing rubble. It also resumed its brutal attacks on the civilian population on 18 March. Additionally, it also announced a plan to reoccupy 75 per cent of Gaza and create three concentration camps for the enclave’s residents.
In this context, Israel’s minister of finance said that Israel is planning to reoccupy Gaza and rebuild the settlements that the late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dismantled in 2005. As for the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, he described the current ceasefire talks as a waste of time of the Israeli occupation army who must be allowed to “finish the job.”
Following the release of Israeli soldier Eden Alexander, who holds US citizenship, as a goodwill gesture for Trump, Bahbah—acting as a mediator alongside Qatar and Egypt—continued ceasefire discussions with Hamas based on Witkoff’s proposal.
After extensive negotiations, Hamas agreed in principle but insisted on critical amendments: an end to the genocide, unrestricted humanitarian access and the release of Palestinian prisoners facing torture and ill-treatment in Israeli jails.
Upon Bahbah’s announcement of Hamas’s acceptance of the amended draft, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who faces arrest warrants from the ICC for alleged war crimes in Gaza—dispatched his Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer to Washington. Dermer, Israel’s chief negotiator, met with Witkoff and revised the draft, removing all the guarantees for ending the war to align with Netanyahu’s position.
After Dermer’s return, the US presented the revised proposal to Israel as if it were newly crafted. Israel promptly accepted it, issuing an ultimatum to Hamas: accept the deal or face escalated aggression.
However, Hamas found the new proposal to differ substantially from the earlier version. It was rife with vague language and devoid of assurances. Aware of Israel’s intent to continue the genocide and forcibly displace Gaza’s population, Hamas did not outright reject the plan but demanded clarification and removal of ambiguities.
Hamas requested that Trump guarantees Israel’s adherence to the 60-day ceasefire and proposed that Israeli prisoners be released in three stages—at the beginning, midpoint, and end of the ceasefire. It also called for an automatic extension of the truce if a permanent agreement remained pending.
Additionally, Hamas demanded that humanitarian aid flow freely; hospitals be rebuilt; water and sanitation networks be repaired; rubble cleared; internal movement restrictions lifted; and that a technocratic committee be established to govern Gaza during the transitional phase.
Despite some minor issues, Hamas’s primary concern was the stark difference between the original and revised proposals. Bahbah, as chairman of Americans for Trump, maintains close ties to the former president and would not have announced a deal without Trump’s full endorsement—likely not even Witkoff’s.
Trump voiced optimism on Friday, expressing hope for an imminent ceasefire and stating that both sides “want to get out of this mess.” Witkoff, however, rejected Hamas’s amendments as “totally unacceptable,” providing cover for Israeli leaders who had told him they would not accept any guarantees or halt the genocide.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated on Wednesday that Israel had approved the proposal before it was resubmitted to Hamas—an indication that the US sought to mislead Hamas, not achieve a genuine agreement.
Axios quoted a source saying that Hamas wanted the proposal to specify that if no permanent ceasefire is agreed within 60 days, the temporary ceasefire would be extended indefinitely.
Netanyahu, dismissing Hamas’s legitimate concerns, accused the group of “rejectionism” and repeated platitudes about returning hostages and defeating Hamas—rhetoric that has been widely criticised as disingenuous.
Netanyahu ignores that Hamas has repeatedly offered to release all Israeli prisoners in exchange for a permanent end to the genocide. Israel’s approach can be summarised as follows:
Halt the genocide for 60 days.
Secure the release of all Israeli prisoners.
Resume massacres and ethnic cleansing.
Israel’s position is not only unreasonable but also morally indefensible. That world leaders continue to supply it with weapons and political support—while demanding the release of 58 Israeli prisoners but ignoring the 14,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, many buried in secret cemeteries—is a scandal of global proportions.
Their tepid condemnations and hollow calls for humanitarian relief fall far short of action. They refuse to even name the atrocity: genocide. Instead, they portray nuclear-armed Israel as existentially threatened by a besieged resistance using rudimentary weapons to fight an illegal occupation.
Hamas’s demand—to end the genocide—is not unique to the movement. It is the demand of every Palestinian and every person of conscience across the world.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250602-israel-seeks-ceasefire-that-ensures-release-of-its-prisoners-but-retains-gaza-genocide/
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Gaza Humanitarian Foundation A Smokescreen For Control
Ramzy Baroud
June 02, 2025
Just one day before the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began officially operating inside the Gaza Strip, its executive director, Jake Wood, resigned. The text of his resignation statement confirmed what many already suspected: the organization is not a humanitarian endeavor but the latest scam by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to control the Gaza Strip after 600 days of war and genocide.
“It is clear that it is not possible to implement this plan while also strictly adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence,” Wood said in the statement.
This raises the question: why had that realization become “clear” to Wood, even though the aid operation was not yet in effect? The rest of the statement offers some explanation, as it suggests that the American contractor may not have known the extent of the Israeli ploy until later. But he knew that a disaster was unfolding — the kind that would surely require investigation and, possibly, accountability.
In fact, a probe by Swiss authorities had already begun. The US news network, CBS, looked into the matter and reported last Thursday that the foundation originally applied for registration in Geneva on Jan. 31 and was officially registered on Feb. 12. However, Swiss authorities quickly began noticing violations, including that the Swiss branch of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is “currently not fulfilling various legal obligations.”
In its original application, the foundation stated that it “pursues exclusively charitable philanthropic objectives for the benefit of people in need.” Strangely, the entity that promised to provide “material, psychological or health” services to famine-stricken Gazans, found it necessary to employ 300 “heavily armed” American contractors, with “as much ammunition as they can carry,” CBS reported.
The promise of “psychological” support was the most ironic, as desperate Gazans were last week corralled into cages in extremely high temperatures, only to be given tiny amounts of food that, according to Ramy Abdu, head of the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, were stolen from a US-based charitable organization known as Rahma Worldwide.
Amid several days of chaos and violence in Gaza, where at least 49 Palestinians were killed and more than 300 wounded as they sought aid and comfort, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed that opposition leaders argue that the funds for the operation are coming directly from Israel. Prominent politician and Knesset member Avigdor Lieberman claimed that the money, estimated by the Washington Post to be $100 million, “is coming from the Mossad and the Defense Ministry.”
But why would Israel go to all this trouble when it could, at no financial cost, simply allow the massive shipments of aid that are reportedly rotting on the Egyptian side of the border to enter Gaza and stave off the threat of famine?
In Netanyahu's mind, the aid mechanism is part of the war. In a video message, he last month described the new aid distribution points, to be manned jointly by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and the Israeli army, as “parallel to the enormous pressure” Israel is putting on the Palestinians — as exemplified by Israel's “massive (military) entrance (into Gaza)” — with the aim of “taking control of all of Gaza.”
In Netanyahu’s own words, all this — the military-arranged aid and ongoing genocide — is “the war and victory plan.”
Of course, Palestinian and international aid groups operating in Gaza, including UN-linked apparatuses, were fully aware that the secretive Israeli-US scheme was predicated on bad intentions. This is why they wanted nothing to do with it.
In Israel’s thinking, any aid mechanism that would sustain the status quo that existed prior to Oct. 7, 2023, would be equivalent to an admission of defeat. This is why Israel labored to associate the UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, with Hamas. This included the launching of a virulent campaign against UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other top officials and rapporteurs. In July last year, the Israeli Knesset went as far as to designate UNRWA a “terrorist organization.”
Still, it may seem to be a contradiction that the likes of extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich would agree to such an “aid” scheme just days after declaring that Israel’s intention is to “entirely destroy” Gaza. However, there is no contradiction. Having failed to conquer Gaza through military force, Israel is trying to use this scheme to capitalize on the famine it has deliberately engineered over the course of months.
Luring people to “distribution points,” the Israeli army is trying to concentrate the population of Gaza in areas that can be easily controlled through leveraging food, with the ultimate aim of pushing Palestinians out, in the words of Smotrich, “in great numbers to third countries.”
The latest scheme is likely to fail, of course, like many other such stratagems in the last 600 days. However, the inhumane and degrading treatment of Palestinians further illustrates Israel’s rejection of the growing international push to end the genocide.
For Israel to stop scheming, the international community must translate its strong words into strong action and hold not just Israel but also its citizens involved in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and other ploys accountable for being part of the ongoing war crimes in Gaza.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2603117
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No Western Eyes Needed: Gaza is Already Seen through Palestinian Lenses
June 2, 2025
Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner General, is the latest person to use the distraction of calling for “international media” to be allowed into Gaza “to independently report on the ongoing atrocities including this morning’s heinous crime.”
Western journalists have been demanding this for months. But, the truth is there is not a single Western journalist who could report effectively from inside Gaza in this genocide. We do not have the skills, the contacts, the knowledge of the ground, and the society.
The relentless work of Palestinian journalists’ teams day by day has given the world the reality of this genocide. Living and working from tents or hospitals, hungry, thirsty, exhausted, suffering deepest grief at family and colleagues’ deaths, 233 of our media colleagues have been killed. Without their courage and their work, there would not be any substance to any UN or Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, or NGO report, or, more crucially, any of the authoritative ICJ hearings from the South African legal teams.
I have been a reporter in wars in Vietnam and Cambodia, Angola and Mozambique, South Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia, and an editor in charge of journalists reporting from Bosnia and Chechnya. It was frightening work, dependent on the knowledge and access of local journalists, and luck. Colleagues died. They died in unlucky helicopter accidents, in reckless risk-taking, one of an asthma attack. In many countries, journalists are killed, disappeared, or imprisoned by governments.
But never, ever, before have there been targeted assassinations of journalists on such a scale as Israel has been doing with impunity for 19 months and continues. Knowing they could be a target every day, these journalists increasingly wrote moving farewell notes about “their duty to witness.”
The shocking record of most of the Western mainstream media on Gaza rests on the false narrative that “people can’t know what is going on” because foreign media are banned from reporting there. Even the use of some reporting from Palestinian journalists inside Gaza is blurred by the overwhelming lack of context, focus on October 7 and Israeli deaths and hostages, the normalization of inhuman cruelty and dehumanization of Palestinians by Israeli Cabinet Ministers, military leaders, torturers, young soldiers laughingly rejoicing at Palestinian deaths under bombing, Palestinian homes which they have vandalized, men they have publicly humiliated.
Mr. Lazzarini referred to “competing narratives and disinformation campaigns in full gear.” Israeli disinformation campaigns and false narratives are certainly in full gear. They are exposed by the facts on the ground revealed by Palestinian journalists.
No one can forget the egregious example of the 23 March 2025 assassinations of eight Palestinian medics, six Civil Defense first responders, and one UN staff member—still in their uniforms and gloves heading for a rescue mission. They were executed one by one and buried in a mass grave with their crushed ambulances after a pre-dawn attack by Israeli soldiers on their convoy. A 6-minute video, later found on the mobile phone of the dead 23-year-old paramedic Rifat Radwan, revealed as completely false the account given by the Israeli military.
Sir Geoffrey Nice KC, a senior British barrister with a long history of work in the International Criminal Court, where he led the prosecution of Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, described these March events as “terribly serious war crimes.”
He compared it to the iconic American Vietnam war crime at My Lai on 16 March 1968, a mass murder in two villages of at least 347 women, children and elderly men, which included rape and mutilation of children as young as 12. Sir Geoffrey went on to call for an international investigation, saying he hoped to see “Western powers using their power to pour condemnation on Israel.”
Very slowly in the weeks since, there has been a modest change of tone among Western politicians and some of the Western press. But it falls far short of Western leaders’ action needed to act to stop the genocide, and the normalization of today’s horror. The stakes are too high for this normalization to go on with false narratives of anti-Semitism and terrorism allowed to hold sway in efforts of government control.
The keys to ending the genocide are known and it is time to stop seeing them as impossible: ending weapon supplies, especially from the US, demand that Israel agree to a permanent ceasefire, open the borders, as Mr. Lazzarini is urging, to UN-administered supplies of food, fuel, medical equipment, drugs and doctors, and allow the gravely ill to leave Gaza with their families for treatment.
In addition, the freeing of all 57 Israeli hostages, alive and dead, and the nearly 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israel’s crowded prisons and military bases of torture, like Sde Teiman in the Naqab (Negev) desert, are key demands.
Thirty-seven years ago, in 1988, Noam Chomsky wrote Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, exploring the state propaganda model of communication and control. The book still says it all.
And, there is a sea change in the influence of mainstream media, especially among the young. Many media platforms give a very different, credible version of events.
The old US titles, Counterpunch and Consortium News, have been doing this for decades. Today, the young know many new sources, such as Declassified in the UK, Dropsite, Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim, Mondoweiss, the Palestine Chronicle, Middle East Eye, and from Paris, Orient XXI, which breaks language barriers and appears in many languages. The old media dominance is broken.
Actions are stronger than words. Mr. Lazzarini, Cindy H. McCain, head of the World Food Program, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs, Catherine Russell, head of UNICEF, and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres all speak eloquently for Gaza. They speak for civil society across the world, in the name of International Law, for moral leaders like Pope Leo XIV in the name of humanity.
They should go publicly together to Tel Aviv and confront the Israeli Prime Minister, his Cabinet, military leaders, and settler leaders. However, the Israeli government tries to evade the confrontation, the group could spark courage among Western governments who have been complicit in watching the UN disrespected, history twisted, and this genocide brazenly showed to the world.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/no-western-eyes-needed-gaza-is-already-seen-through-palestinian-lenses/
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Never Again is Never Again for Anyone: Britain’s Role in the Genocide in Gaza
June 2, 2025
Ever since October 7, 2023, Britain is being perceived and described abroad as the epicentre of opposition to the terrifying Israeli genocide. This may be understandable and superficially correct.
London has certainly furnished the largest protest marches in the West, some with more than a million participants. The number of action groups, political organisations, online and in-person meetings and local protest marches is indeed astounding and without precedent. It seems that the UK population got the message and is now relaying it efficiently and with great commitment.
After 77 weeks of genocide, the protest is not slowing down – the march on Saturday, May 17, was one of the largest and passed without a single violent incident – a popular festival of sharing the pain, but also the solidarity with Gaza and its hounded, starving millions. The Joint decalkaration by the UK, Canada and France does not change this situation – no international sanctions of any kind were ever applied to Israel, and Britain continues to supply the genocidal IDF.
In the case of South African Apartheid, the UN General Assembly suspended the regime from the UNGA in 1974; this marked the beginning of the long campaign that has brought an end to the Apartheid state. It seems that Israel is the only nation immune from international law, safe in the knowledge that the West has its back.
But unfortunately, the truth is much more complex, and less promising. Anyone partaking in the protest will tell you that the main participants in these marches have been Palestinians, UK Muslims, and elderly left-wing Jews, all of whom appear each time, without fail.
The UK population of around 70 million seems to be very efficiently controlled by the state and its machineries of ideological influence – dubbed the ‘weapons of mass distraction’, led by PM Keir Starmer, famously declaring himself a Zionist and a supporter of the IDF genocidal mission in Gaza, echoing the Octpber 2023 Israeli Hasbara memes in Parliament: “The brutal attack in Israel just over two weeks ago was the darkest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust.”
Ever since Labour came to power, the number and nature of arrests of protestors, especially of Jewish and Palestinian activists against the Israeli crimes, have rocketed. Members of both groups are some 50 times more likely to be arrested than the general Brit, arguably proving their racist targeting, while Jews supporting Israeli crimes are most unlikely to be arrested, even when they choose to ignore the law.
Some thousands of British Jews are known to have served in the IDF operation, like Jews in the US and France, but to date, the state has not prosecuted a single one of them for participating in what the ICJ has termed ‘plausible genocide’. This is an active disregard of Britain’s duty under international law, as defined by the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
In fact, UK Government lawyers have declared that “No evidence has been seen that a genocide is occurring in Gaza or that women and children were targeted by the IDF”, in clear defiance of ICC and ICJ rulings, and of thousands of video clips and mountains of online evidence. Contravening its duty to stop ita support for genocide, the Labour government has not only continued Tory policies of arming and supporting Israel, but has greatly increased such support: “UK Labour approved more weapons to Israel in three months than Tories did in four years”, despite claiming to have cut it by 8 per cent.
The fact that the legal authorities in the UK share their information routinely with Israel and its appendages in Britain – arguably in breach of the law – makes it clear that the support for Israel’s ongoing and unprecedented war crimes is far from being a passing phase or an exception. Britain could hardly be accused of inconsistency – it has been supporting the Zionist project of taking over Palestine and ridding it of its indigenous population for the last 108 years, longer than any other state.
Indeed, without such committed support for the Zionist settler-colonial project ever since the 1917 Balfour Declaration, Israel would not have been there today to commit the current genocide. After such a long time, we are justified in posing a simple question to the UK government – what British interests are being served by flouting international and British law through offering such illegal and immoral support for the most heinous crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing?
There is no doubt that the UK Zionist lobby is responsible for much of the pressure applied on current and past UK administrations, ensuring their continued support of Israel, come what may. This is also the case elsewhere in the West, where the narrative of the West against the Rest is skewing the political decisions of the richest portion of humanity, which is responsible for the horrifying historical crimes of colonial occupation, industrial slavery, exploitation and aggression, imperialism and two world wars – to quote just the main crimes.
It is a shameful historical fact that Britain is the political entity that has supported Zionism, armed and financed its crimes since its inception. Maybe it is also why the number of arrests of Palestine activists and protesters seems to be the highest in Europe, many charged under Terrorism legislation.
The worst part of rationalising this continued injustice and lawlessness is often described in the West as supporting Jewish people and fighting antisemitism, a total misapprehension.
On the one hand, Jewish opposition to the genocide can be seen everywhere, and on the other, this argument, in assuming all Jewish people are active supporters of Israel’s crimes, is clearly antisemitic. Although many Jewish people continue to shamefully do so, Israeli policies and actions should be understood as the most un-Jewish!
Indeed, nothing in Jewish history, experience, tradition and culture during two millennia of diasporic existence in Europe and the Arab and Islamic world can be identified as supporting oppression, settler-colonialism, stealing the land of Palestine, ethnic cleansing, and now genocide.
Genocide committed by Jews in the name of Judaism is a terrifying offence against Judaism itself, let alone the rest of humanity, and cannot be condoned by anyone who cares about Jewish history and heritage, morality, law, or simple human decency.
By supporting the criminal actions of Israel, Britain and the rest of the West are also supporting the continuation and likely increase of the scourge of real antisemitism. To claim that the crimes committed by Israel in the name of and in the interest of Jews elsewhere is an antisemitic blood-libel, unimaginable even a few decades ago. My whole family was destroyed by Nazi genocidaires in Poland during WW2.
Should we allow their terrifying and cruel destruction to be used in justifying genocide committed by Israeli Jews? This is unthinkable and unforgivable. Never again, for anyone, is the message that my parents, who survived Auschwitz, bestowed on me. What possible interest of the citizens of Britain is served by supporting such a crime?
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/never-again-is-never-again-for-anyone-britains-role-in-the-genocide-in-gaza/
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Bearing Witness in Gaza: Floodgate Exclusive Interview with Dr. Mimi Syed
June 2, 2025
In the latest episode of the FloodGate podcast, Palestine Chronicle managing editor Romana Rubeo and Palestinian-American Physician Dr. Omar Akhter spoke with Dr. Mimi Syed, an American board-certified emergency physician who twice traveled to Gaza in 2024—first in August and then again in December—to work at Al-Aqsa and Nasser hospitals.
Her testimony is raw and unsparing. Drawing from her experiences on the ground, Dr. Syed speaks about the total collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system, the deliberate dehumanization of Palestinians, and the brutal toll of war and siege on children and families.
Her voice, both clinical and profoundly human, offers an urgent account of genocide in motion. But above all, she refuses to be silent. Through her words, we are reminded of the power of bearing witness.
Here are five major takeaways from the interview:
Healthcare under Siege
Gaza’s health system was already under immense strain after years of blockade and repeated assaults.
What Dr. Syed witnessed in 2024, however, was a deliberate policy of dismantlement—one that leaves doctors with no tools, patients with no hope, and hospitals as little more than holding spaces for the dying.
Even Gaza’s best-equipped facilities are now shells of their former selves, starved of supplies and isolated from any sustainable support.
“Nasser hospital has something like a CT scan, the only CT scan that’s functioning in that southern area. They are still lacking things like gauze, clean water, medication, not even enough pain medication or sedation,” she said.
Beyond Injuries
War is often reduced to casualty numbers, but Dr. Syed makes clear that the deeper devastation lies in what those numbers obscure: hunger, disease, grief, and the permanent scarring of a generation.
For Gaza’s children, injury doesn’t end with survival. In most cases, it begins there.
She recounted the story of Mira, a child who was saved—but not healed.
“The little girl Mira, who, yes, we saved her life, but what about the ongoing care? Repeated infection? Her mother sustaining an injury that is debilitating for the rest of her life?” she said.
Targeting of Medical and Media Personnel
Dr. Syed described a reality in Gaza where being a healthcare provider or journalist doesn’t grant protection—it increases your risk of being killed.
She commented on the tragic Rafah paramedic massacre, where 15 aid workers, including eight members of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, five civil defense, and one UN agency employee, were killed by Israel last March.
“Each paramedic was shot, I think it was something like 20 times each. That can’t be crossfire, that’s not a mistake,” Dr. Syed said.
Even more appalling is the sham process that follows such crimes. As she noted, the very perpetrators are tasked with conducting the investigations.
“It’s unheard of to commit a crime and then to investigate your own crime, sounds comical,” she noted.
Free Speech under Threat
Bearing witness to atrocity comes with a heavy price—not only in Gaza but in the United States as well. Dr. Syed explained how physicians like herself are threatened, blacklisted, or punished simply for telling the truth.
However, Dr. Syed said she refuses to comply.
“I will use every energy, every ounce of energy in my body to speak out against this,” she said, adding: “Shooting children in the head is wrong; starvation is wrong”.
Collective Action and Humanization
At the heart of this interview lies a call to resist the dehumanization of Palestinians.
For Dr. Syed, this begins with reclaiming their stories, naming the violence for what it is, and standing visibly in solidarity—even when it feels small.
That solidarity, according to Dr. Syed, has a multiplying effect. But it also has a purpose: to restore the humanity that colonial violence has sought to erase.
“When you dehumanize an entire population like that, you can justify shooting a small child in the head. That’s a true rhetoric. I’ve heard people say that.”
Dr. Syed reminded that it is not enough to treat wounds; we must also treat the world’s indifference to Palestinian suffering.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/bearing-witness-in-gaza-floodgate-exclusive-interview-with-dr-mimi-syed/
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