(Forced) disappearances from Gaza [Content Warning: discussion of and links to articles on human rights abuses. Reader discretion is advised]

Note: CONTENT WARNING - some of this content is about upsetting, disturbing or triggering events & attitudes. Seek competent help - including professional - if you need it. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that linked articles may contains names and/or images of deceased people. READER CAUTION IS RECOMMENDED! For anyone distressed by anything in this post, or for any other reason considering seeking support, resources are available in Australia here, here, and here. In other nations, you will have to do an Internet search using terms such as “mental health support - <your nation>” (which, for instance, may lead to this, this, and this, in the USA, or this, this, and this, in France [biased towards English-language - my apologies]), or perhaps try https://www.befrienders.org/. 

Note: in my “from the news” posts, quotes are shown italicised and blue, my comments are in a different shade of blue, and “good” items are (when I remember) shown in green. I have loosely grouped the posts where such seemed reasonable, but that is subjective (i.e., my opinion - others are free to disagree), and challenging, as some posts belong in multiple “groups”.

 

The first article below provides more information on the subject of (forced) disappearances from Gaza - an abhorrent practice I first became aware of in relation to the military dictatorships in South America (mentioned in the article). 

The description of the impacts is consistent with others; the personal testimony in the embedded video is consistent with other evidence from the war in Gaza; this is something future Israelis are going to have to live with and regret. 

The one caution I would make is that the ICC is a court more than a police force, although it does have capacity to perform investigations (including self-initiated), but it also has limited resources. Despite that, it HAS taken what many consider (contrary to the final paragraph of this article) serious action, including requesting warrants against key Israelis - including Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Whether those actions are adequate is, of course, open to debate - especially in light of the last article listed below.

The article that began this post is at: 

• “The New Desaparecidos: Israel and the Enforced Disappearance of Palestinians from Gaza”   https://www.juancole.com/2024/07/desaparecidos-disappearance-palestinians.html     
  

For more on the ICC in this conflict, see: 

• “Statement of ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC: Applications for arrest warrants in the situation in the State of Palestine”   https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-prosecutor-karim-aa-khan-kc-applications-arrest-warrants-situation-state      and   “ICC seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leaders and Israel’s Netanyahu”   https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/05/1149966     
  

• “Israel/Gaza: Threats against the ICC promote a culture of impunity, say UN experts”   https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/05/israelgaza-threats-against-icc-promote-culture-impunity-say-un-experts   “GENEVA (10 May 2024) – UN experts* today expressed utter dismay over statements made by United States and Israeli officials threatening to retaliate against the International Criminal Court (ICC), its officials and members of their families.”     
  

• a Reuters exclusive reports:   “Exclusive: ICC prosecutor opted for warrants over visit to Gaza”   https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/icc-prosecutor-opted-warrants-over-visit-gaza-2024-07-05/   The article reports plans had been underway for months to enable on-site gathering of evidence, including offering Israeli leaders an opportunity to present their position - who the USA and UK were trying to protect from prosecution.  The ICC’s official position is that they had enough evidence to proceed with warrants, but the article reports this has damaged work to build a better relationship between (non-member) USA and the court      
  

No-one has come out of this well ... 

 

 

Assumptions / basis 

In writing this, I have assumed / started from the following: 

• this blog states quite clearly that it is about political and human rights matters, including lived experience of problems, and thus I will assume readers are reasonable people who have noted the content warning in the post header;

Possible flaws 

Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:

• there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan  Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”; 
  
• I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
  

 

If they are of any use of interest, the activism information links from my former news posts are available in this post. 

 

If you appreciated this post, please consider promoting it - there are some links below. 

Note that, as with my main blog [see here], I am cutting back on aspects of my posts.

Remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing, and all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering”.

Copyright © Kayleen White 2016-2024     NO AI   I do not consent to any machine learning aka Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, machine learning, chatbot, or other automated analysis, generative process, or replication program to reproduce, mimic, remix, summarise, or otherwise  replicate any part of this post or other posts on this blog via any means. Typo’s may be inserrted deliberately to demonstrate this is not an AI product.     Otherwise, fair and reasonable use is accepted under Creative Commons 4.0 on an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike basis   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/