October 7 Narrative Disputed
Reports from Israeli sources, and newly revealed eyewitness testimony, strongly dispute the mainstream narrative surrounding the events of October 7. In this article from The Gray Zone, Yasmin Porat describes how she witnessed Israeli tanks lob tank shells into a house that contained Hamas fighters and their civilian hostages.
Besides shelling Israeli homes with tanks, it appears that many of those killed around that day were fired upon by Israeli Apache helicopters, with machine gun fire as well as hellfire missiles. This happened along the road that leads in and out of Gaza, where Israeli pilots were ordered to shoot at everything, including cars and people on foot. The people on the road were unidentified, and probably consisted on Israelis and Palestinians alike.
It’s hard to say if we will ever get a definitive number on who killed who that day, but it is pretty clear that Hamas killed many less civilians than originally reported. These reports have grave implications for the Israeli government, as it alleges that Israel fired upon its own civilians on purpose. It also diminishes the narrative that the Palestinian fighters that day were nothing but terrorists. And it does promote the idea that they are what they say they are, freedom fighters.
New York Times: Israel Kills at Historic Pace
The New York Times reports that Israel has been killing Gazans at an historic pace compared to historic bombing campaigns. Here is a quote from the article, describing the way war experts describe the onslaught: “People are being killed in Gaza more quickly, they say, than in even the deadliest moments of U.S.-led attacks in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, which were themselves widely criticized by human rights groups.”
An expert quoted in the article that to find a comparable event, one would have to go back to World War II or Vietnam for an example of that much tonnage being dropped on such a small area.
Current estimates of civilian deaths in Gaza have reached 15,000, with many more undoubtedly still under the rubble. An Israeli minister estimated over the weekend that around 1,000 Hamas fighters have been killed. At this rate, Israel is killing 15 civilians for every one Hamas fighter.
In comparison, less than 11,000 civilians have been killed in over 18 months of fighting in Ukraine. Estimates of soldiers killed in action range in this conflict from 500,000 to 1,000,000 or more. That would mean 1 civilian killed for approx. every 68 soldiers.
It is interesting that despite such large disparities in the conduct of war, Putin is seen a butcher while concentrating on military targets, while Israel is seen as the victim, only defending itself as it intentionally bombs civilians.
Palestinian Students Shot in Vermont
Mondoweiss and other outlets are reporting that 3 young Palestinian students were shot in Burlington, Vermont.
From Mondoweiss: “Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian mission to the UK, identified the victims as Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Ahmed, and Kinnan Abdalhamid, who are undergraduate students at Brown University, Trinity College, and Haverford College, respectively.”
Burlington Police have arrested 48 year-old Jason Eaton for the shooting, and possible hate crime.
