Blog 12 – Of Shocks and Worse Shocks and Worst Shocks Still
01.12.2023
The genocide continued, even during the so-called “humanitarian pause” in Gaza. The Israeli military, armed and paid by the USA as they are, continue to kill and inflict injury upon Palestinians. They continue the state of siege, meaning starving families to death, and leaving them without shelter or medical care. The USA pretends there is nothing they can do. They cannot airlift food and water into Gaza, and begin to reconstruct peoples’ homes. They can only continue to finance the killing and to arm the Israeli state. No wonder whole demonstrations in the USA chant “Genocide Joe” against Biden. And now they will have to add “Infanticide Joe” to the names he will leave for posterity. The Israeli army used US arms to kill, to shoot dead, two children on Wednesday: Basil Suleiman Abu al-Wafa, aged 15 was shot dead. How can an army of adult males, armed to the teeth by Joe Biden’s superpower State, feel so threatened by a very slightly built 15-year old, that they shoot him dead? How can it be? And if there is anyone in the world that muster any reason, then what do they say to the Israeli army killing, shooting in cold blood, little Adam Samer al-Ghoul, 8 years old? That was in the West Bank. Drawing attention to the 6,000 children killed in Gaza by their two additional deaths. reminding us that each of the over 6,000 have names and had addresses before the Israeli army blew them up with Joe Biden’s armaments. And how many children died of hunger and thirst, perhaps trapped alive under the rubble? Dozens? Hundreds? Each with a suffering that surpasses human imagination? Does it not give the American “bailleurs des fonds” cause for pause? Not for a moment? Or are they such colonial racists they do not feel anything in their hearts for these children?
Then, there were those poignant video clips of the Gaza zoo-keepers the first time they could go and check, during the “pause” in bombing, on all the animals at the Gaza Zoo. The Gaza Zoo was a place where children, traumatized by the past five bombardments during the time of the siege – in 2008-9, 2012, 2014, 2021 and 2022 – would go for distraction. The visits helped heal the post-traumatic shock of previous IDF bombardments.
This time the animals in the Zoo were well-nigh totally slaughtered. When the “pause” in the bombing came, and the zookeepers could go back and look, they could only mourn all the dead animals – dead, most of them, like the people under the rubble for lack of help from the USA or anyone else with the means, from thirst or starvation. A few animals were already dead from a direct aerial strike. In all 90% are dead. The 10% alive, are only just alive. They have been given water, but there is not much food to give the dying lion in the Gaza Zoo. Nor to feed to the pony. When the people of Gaza are still living at starvation level? And how does the Zookeeper begin to calm the wolf that is running around in a frenzy still, ever since it went off its head from the noise. And think of the effect on the minds of the little children who have lived through first the bombing, then the starvation and thirst. Let alone the stench of sewage and, worse still, of death.
The brave zoo-workers, who had ventured out during the air strikes to try to take some food to the animals, were shot at by Israeli troops. With USA guns, remember. One zoo worker was injured.
I got this news while I was preparing to write this blog, which was going to be on an even more disturbing subject. I had only just learnt about it. Or maybe I once knew, and it was so awful, I just forgot it. So, that I could live more easily without “knowing” it anymore.
Here is the fact: the Israeli State goes to such extremes of cruelty that it imprisons Palestinian people even after they are dead.
Yes, the Israeli Authorities imprison the corpses of Palestinians. The Israeli State’s civil servants refuse to return dozens of dead bodies to the families of Palestinians. Not dozens. Sorry. It is worse. Hundreds. They use their USA funds for this, too.
Some corpses, they keep in a cemetery called the “Cemetery of Numbers”. Named for the absence of names.
While others are kept in the morgue. At American expense, too.
About 150 human bodies are imprisoned under the ground. And 250 are imprisoned in mortuaries.
Some bodies have been kept for years.
Can a “state” be that mean? To deprive families of their loved ones, not just by imprisoning them when they are alive, but by keeping their dead bodies imprisoned? And no-one can stop them doing this?
Remember how I said there are five of us that work on this blog. Well, one friend knew I was researching this question – which she knew about, from when she was in Palestine. She had not been able to bury her memory of this. Everyone in Palestine knows about it. So, she was researching for me.
And she came across something of such concern I was not sure whether to include it in the blog. But, I must do so. An investigation is certainly called for.
What is it that I fear even to mention that is allegedly happening now?
What is it we learnt that is worse still to contemplate than killing children, bombing a Zoo, a hospital, or a school, worse still than impounding human bodies for spite? We will quote the original article as a whole. It has been re-published (28 November) by the UN Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs. So, it is not some internet rumour like the rumour the Israeli press spread about supposed decapitated babies .
The article has been taken up by the mainstream media. It was in Yahoo and on Euronews, too.
It is worth reading as a whole. Links and sources are listed at the end.
“Int’l committee must investigate Israel’s holding of dead bodies in Gaza
“26 Nov 2023, Israel-Palestinian Territory
“Geneva - The Israeli army has been holding the bodies of dozens of Palestinians killed during its genocide in the Gaza Strip beginning on 7 October, and Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has called for the creation of an independent international investigation committee into organ theft suspicions.
“Euro-Med Monitor has documented the Israeli army’s confiscation of dozens of dead bodies from Al-Shifa Medical Complex and the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, and others from the vicinity of the so-called “safe corridor” (Salah al-Din Road) designated for displaced people heading to the central and southern parts of the Strip.
“According to Euro-Med Monitor, the Israeli army also dug up and confiscated the bodies from a mass grave that was established more than 10 days ago in one of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex’s courtyards.
“While dozens of corpses were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which in turn transported them to the southern Gaza Strip to complete the burial process, the Israeli army is still holding the bodies of dozens of dead people.
“Concerns about organ theft from the corpses were brought up by Euro-Med Monitor, which cited reports from medical professionals in Gaza who quickly examined a few bodies after their release. These medical professionals found evidence of organ theft, including missing cochleas and corneas as well as other vital organs like livers, kidneys, and hearts.
“Doctors at several Gazan hospitals told the Euro-Med Monitor team that organ theft cannot be proven or disproven solely by forensic medical examination, since multiple bodies underwent surgical procedures prior to death. They stated that it was impossible for them to conduct a full analytical examination of the recovered corpses given the intense air and artillery attacks and influx of wounded civilians, but they detected several signs of possible organ theft by the Israeli military.
“Israel has a long history of holding onto the bodies of dead Palestinians, Euro-Med Monitor said, as it holds the remains of at least 145 Palestinians in its morgues and approximately 255 in its “Numbers Cemetery”, which is near the Jordanian border and off-limits to the public, in addition to 75 missing people who have not been identified by Israel.
“According to the Geneva-based rights organisation, Israel stores the bodies of dead Palestinians in what it refers to as ‘enemy combatant graves’, which are covert mass graves situated in particular locations such as closed military zones, where interments and burials are secretly conducted. The remains or bodies of the dead are marked only with metal plates.
“According to an earlier report by Euro-Med Monitor, Israeli authorities has kept the dead bodies of Palestinians in subfreezing temperatures – sometimes below 40 degrees Celsius – in order to ensure that they remain undisturbed and to possibly hide the theft of organs.
“According to the human rights group, Israel has recently made it lawful to hold dead Palestinians’ bodies and steal their organs. One such decision is the 2019 Israeli Supreme Court ruling that permits the military ruler to temporarily bury the bodies in what is known as the “Numbers Cemetery”. By the end of 2021, the Israeli Knesset (or Parliament) had passed laws allowing the army and police to hold onto the bodies of dead Palestinians.
“There have been reports in recent years of the unlawful use of Palestinian corpses held by Israel, including the theft of organs and their use in Israeli university medical school labs.
“Israeli doctor Meira Weiss disclosed in her book Over Their Dead Bodies that organs taken from dead Palestinians were utilised in medical research at Israeli universities’ medical faculties and were transplanted into Jewish-Israeli patients’ bodies. Even more concerning are admissions made by Yehuda Hess, the former director of Israel’s Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine, about the theft of human tissues, organs, and skin from dead Palestinians over a period of time without their relatives’ knowledge or approval.
“Israel is thought to be the biggest hub for the illegal global trade in human organs, according to a 2008 investigation by the American CNN network, which also revealed that Israel participated in the theft of organs from dead Palestinians for illegal use.
“Euro-Med Monitor confirmed that Israel is the only country that systematically holds the dead bodies of those it kills, and is classified as one of the world’s biggest hubs for the illegal trade of human organs under the pretext of ‘security deterrence’ and in total violation of international charters and agreements.
“Like any other country, Israel must abide by the rules of international law, which stipulate the necessity of respecting and protecting the bodies of the dead during armed conflicts. The Fourth Geneva Convention stresses that, ‘Each party to the conflict must take all possible measures to prevent the dead from being despoiled. Mutilation of dead bodies is prohibited.’
“Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor also confirmed that refusing to hand over the bodies of the dead so their grieving families can bury them with dignity and in accordance with their religious beliefs may amount to collective punishment, which is strictly prohibited in Article 50 of the Hague Regulations and Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.”
So, we now see war crimes against the dead. Collective punishment against the dead.
Not only against the living.
Again, who is financing this Israeli criminality? These abominations? This wanton cruelty? This sadism? Who?
As Gerard Manley Hopkins put it: “No worst. There is none.” He does not use the word “worse” but “worst”.
Only we, the people, of the world, by knowing, by understanding, and by acting, can put a stop to it. We each need to do our bit. We are up against two enemies: the Israeli State and its enabler, the USA state. So, let us build up our strength, politically, and count on the bravery we have in us when we organize collectively. The Palestinian people have shown us, by their dignity and strength in the face of 75 years of this oppression, just what courage is.
Lindsey Collen
for LALIT
Link: https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/5982/Int%E2%80%99l-committee-must-investigate-Israel%E2%80%99s-holding-of-dead-bodies-in-Gaza%E2%80%8B
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor describes itself as a Geneva-based independent organization with regional offices across the MENA region and Europe
On 28 Nov 2023 the online publication “ReliefWeb”, which re-published the article, is an organization that is “Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 – a service provided by UN OCHA”. OCHA stands for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Here is the link: https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/intl-committee-must-investigate-israels-holding-dead-bodies-gaza-enar
Euronews Link: https://www.euronews.com/2023/11/27/israel-stealing-organs-from-bodies-in-gaza-alleges-human-right-group
Yahoo: https://news.yahoo.com/israel-stealing-organs-bodies-gaza-141830309.html
