BOMBING OF GAZA CHILDREN GIVES ME 'ORGASM': ISRAELIS CELEBRATE SLAUGHTER ON FACEBOOK
Patrick Strickland
Right-wing nationalists attack a central Tel Aviv protest against Israel’s bombing of Gaza on Saturday, 12 July.
(Oren Ziv / ActiveStills)
Israel’s latest assault on the besieged Gaza Strip has been accompanied by yet another sharp increase in incitement against Palestinians and solidarity activists on social media outlets, such as Facebook and Twitter.
Facebook groups have been set up to call for the collective punishment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Others host incitement against Palestinian students at Israeli universities, including posting pictures of and personal information about individual students.
The radical and violent anti-Palestinian climate in Israel is not divorced from reality.
After more than a week of Israeli government threats to do so, commandos launched the first ground incursion into the northern Gaza Strip early Sunday morning, reported Ma’an News Agency.
At the time of writing, there have been no Israeli deaths as a result of rockets fired by armed Palestinian groups in Gaza, though much of the mainstream media have focused on the impact of rocket fire on Israel rather than the staggering death toll in the Gaza Strip.
As Israel’s latest military offensive enters its sixth day, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reports that 170 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,000 injured.
Thousands displaced
“Four thousand people and rising are fleeing this heavy bombardment in the north; they are in eight different UNRWA schools,” said Chris Gunness, spokesperson for UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees.
“We call on all parties to respect obligations under international humanitarian law, and to respect the sanctity of civilian life and the inviolability of United Nations buildings,” he told The Electronic Intifada by telephone.
Gunness explained that during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead (December 2008-January 2009), more than 50,000 Palestinians took shelter in UNRWA installations across the Gaza Strip as Israel’s bombs destroyed buildings and homes. “They believed in the sanctity and safety of UN properties,” he said of those Palestinians who took shelter in UNRWA’s facilities.
“As a result of military operations, the main office of UNRWA was directly struck and the main warehouse was burned to the ground after [Israeli military forces] fired white phosphorous” during Cast Lead, Gunness said.
Approximately 1,400 Palestinians were killed by Israel’s military during the three-week long military assault.
“Gaza, Gaza a graveyard!”
Meanwhile, Israelis are taking to social media to call for a yet higher body count in Gaza.
A Facebook page for the group LEAVA — “Preventing Assimilation in the Holy Land” — is dedicated to preventing romantic relationships between Palestinian men and Jewish women and has more than 37,000 followers. The page regularly posts pictures of its “activists” patrolling parts of Jerusalem and other cities.
On 11 June, a picture was posted on LEAVA’s page of a young man standing next to an Israeli flag at a protest and wearing a shirt with the group’s emblem. Written above the photo is the following: “Citizens of Ashdod are also standing with LEAVA. Waiting for Gaza to be turned into a big blaze!” It received more than 2,300 “likes” in just two days:
A post published later that the same day gives what it said were words for a protest chant: “Gaza, Gaza a graveyard! Very soon!” It received more than six hundred “likes.”
With more than 5,300 Facebook followers, a Jerusalem-based house moving company, though ostensibly non-political, posted the following “status” in poorly-written Hebrew on 7 July, the first day of Israel’s latest attack on Gaza:
One of our advantages: we don’t observe Ramadan!!! We look after our clients and we don’t abandon them […] we keep our word and go to every delivery. If you already closed a deal for a delivery with a company that employs our cousins [commonly used in Hebrew to refer to Arabs], it’s time to cancel and move to us. 0525530344. Why provide for those who kidnap our children? Have a good and peaceful day!
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