The Electronic Intifada Podcast 13 March 2024
Walaa, whose family remains in Gaza, is the project manager for We Are Not Numbers, which was founded in 2015 to mentor and support writers in Gaza to tell their stories to the world.
Many talented writers have come to The Electronic Intifada through this project.
Jump to Walaa Sabah’s segment here.
We were also joined again by Huda Ammori of Palestine Action. Through direct action, the group has forced four companies to cut ties with Israeli arms company Elbit in the last three months.
In one recent action at Cambridge University, members of the group slashed a portrait of Lord Arthur Balfour, the British imperialist whose infamous Balfour Declaration publicly affirmed London’s support for the Zionist colonial theft of Palestine from its Indigenous people.
“Amidst a genocide, every avenue must be taken in order to isolate, damage and disrupt Israel’s war machine,” Huda writes in a recent article.
Jump to Huda Ammori’s segment here.
Jon Elmer provided his latest analysis of the military situation in Gaza, and featured a video package showing how fighters in Gaza have used drones against the Israeli military.
Jump to Jon Elmer’s segment here.
Ali Abunimah and Asa Winstanley talked about the latest revelations of Israeli “friendly fire” killing Israeli citizens on 7 October, and we discussed the latest news on the US plan for a Gaza port and a maritime corridor.
Jump to the group discussion here.
And I gave a brief news update from Palestine, highlighting recent analysis by Maureen Clare Murphy on the US’ role in enforcing Israel’s starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.
Jump to the news segment here.
These are just some of the many topics we cover on The Electronic Intifada livestream. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
With Ali Abunimah, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Jon Elmer, Tamara Nassar and Asa Winstanley
Comments
Western apathy
Permalink Frank Sterle Jr. replied on
Tens of thousands of Palestinian non-combatants, especially children, were/are being prevented from accessing safety/sanctuary, not to mention deprived of food. Yet, Western politicians, especially U.S. Republicans, have gone into their ‘Christian’ mode by withholding help for literally starving Palestinian children.
Last week the UN stated that a quarter of Gazans are facing famine. Palestinian supporters and human rights activists around the world are quite understandably frustrated and even angry about so many nations’ political inertia and apparent apathy towards the Palestinian non-combatants’ worst nightmare.
However, I find that much of the mainstream news-media I consume daily, even the otherwise progressive outlets, are largely replacing daily Gazan deaths and suffering with relatively trivial domestic news, especially as leading stories. Sadly, that's what most of those news outlets’ subscribers or regular patrons likely want [not that it necessarily morally justifies it].
Without doubt, growing Western indifference towards the mass starvation and slaughter of helpless Palestinian civilians will only further inflame long-held Middle Eastern anger towards us. Some countries’ actual provision, mostly by the U.S., of highly effective weapons used in Israel’s onslaught will likely turn that anger into lasting hatred that's always seeking eye-for-an-eye redress.
Meanwhile, with each news report of the daily Palestinian death toll from unrelenting Israeli bombardment, I feel a slightly greater desensitization and resignation. I’ve noticed this disturbing effect with basically all major protracted conflicts internationally, including present Ukraine, ever since I began regularly consuming news products in 1988.
It has long seemed to me as a news consumer that the value of a life abroad is typically perceived according to the abundance of protracted conditions under which it suffers, especially during wartime.
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