Israel

חשיפה: המלחמה המלוכלכת של ישראל נגד בית הדין בהאג - שיחה מקומית
title : Exposure: Israel's dirty war against the Hague Tribunal - local conversation

He warned that attempts to "threaten or influence" the tribunal must stop. Karim Khan, Prosecutor
General of the Hague Criminal Court, during a visit to Kyiv in February 2023 (Photo: ICC-CPI)
When Hekarim Khan, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC), announced that
he was seeking arrest warrants against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav
Galant, and three Hamas leaders, he added a vague warning: "I insist that all attempts to stop or
intimidate , or unfairly influence the officials of this court, to cease immediately."

According to the sources, the four organizations that were put under particularly close
surveillance, both by the Shin Bet and by AMAN, were al-Haq, al-Mizan, al-Damir, and the
Palestinian Center for Human Rights - the main Palestinian organizations that passed information to
the ICC At that time.
The sources said that one of the purposes of gathering the information was to allow Israel to "open
retroactive investigations" of cases of violence against Palestinians that reach the prosecutor's
desk in The Hague, thus making sure that Israel complies with the principle of complementarity: a
principle in international law, which states that the Hague Tribunal shall not have the legal
authority to intervene in the affairs of a country investigating the itself independently and
thoroughly.
"If materials are transferred to the tribunal, it would have been necessary to understand exactly
what the materials were transferred, to make sure that the IDF investigated them independently in a
sufficient manner, so that it would be possible to claim completeness, and to correct
retrospectively, if necessary," said one of the sources. In order to do this, Palestinians who
requested Giving evidence to the tribunal was monitored, and documents that Palestinian human
rights organizations sent to the tribunal, which included testimonies from victims, were also
monitored.
"One of the things that was marked as relevant and interesting is to see who (in the human rights
organizations) is busy collecting evidence, and to see who the specific people, the Palestinian
victims, are who convince them to turn to the ICC," said an intelligence source.
Lawyers in the four Palestinian organizations expressed special concern about the violation of the
privacy of the victims. In the reports that one of the organizations submitted to the ICC, for
example, the names of the victims were indicated only by initials, out of fear - which the
investigation shows was justified - that Israel would look for these documents.
"People are afraid to file a complaint or mention their name, because they are afraid of
persecution, of losing entry permits from the army," explained Hamdi Kora, a veteran jurist at the
Palestinian Center for Human Rights. "A person from Gaza, who has a cancer patient in the family,
is afraid that they will take away his permit and prevent his treatment. Such things happen."
At the same time as the intensive intelligence work, the investigation shows, Prime Minister
Netanyahu ordered the formation of a team of expert lawyers from the Ministry of Justice, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the military prosecutor's office. These jurists, led by Tal Becker,
former director of the international law department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, traveled to
The Hague to meet with the people of the court and to present the Israeli positions to them. This
connection remains secret, because official Israel refuses to recognize the tribunal's authority to
investigate it, as also emerged from the harsh Israeli reactions to the decision to seek arrest
warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.
"The condition (of the Israeli Ministry of Justice) was that it would not be public," said an
international source familiar with these contacts. "In the meetings, the Israelis constantly
emphasized that they are not part of the ICC and do not recognize its authority."
Israeli officers are afraid to accept positions in the West Bank for fear of being tried in The
Hague. Soldiers in Misfar Yata, 2017 (Photo: Ahmed Al-Baz / ActiveStills)
Unlike the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which deals with the legality of the actions of
states, the International Criminal Court deals with people who are suspected of having committed
war crimes. Both tribunals sit in The Hague, but they are not formally connected to each other. As
you know, the ICJ has been discussing in recent months the complaint filed by South Africa that
Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. As part of this procedure, the ICJ issued last Friday, a few
days after Khan requested the issuance of arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Galant, an order
ordering Israel to stop its military operations in Rafah, which could result in the complete or
partial destruction of the Palestinian people.
One of the most prominent cases that the ICC deals with these days is the arrest warrant it issued
against the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, in 2023 on suspicion of his responsibility for the
forced transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia, one of 54 leaders and personalities against
whom the court has issued arrest warrants to date. According to reports, Netanyahu has complained
in recent weeks to countries friendly to Israel that he may have a fate similar to that of Putin.
The Criminal Court was established by virtue of the Rome Convention, and today 124 countries that
have signed the Convention are members of it. Israel, like the USA, is not a signatory to the
treaty. After Palestine was accepted as a member of the UN General Assembly, it signed the treaty,
and was recognized in 2015 as a member state of the Court.
"It was seen as a red line that was crossed," an Israeli intelligence source explained the decision
to act against the ICC after the Authority joined it. "This is perhaps the most aggressive thing
the Authority has ever done to Israel in the international arena. To be recognized as a country in
the UN is nice, but the ICC is a tool with teeth."
Netanyahu expressed fear that his fate would be like Putin's. Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin
in Jerusalem, in March 2011 (Photo: Avi Ohion, PM)
Immediately after being admitted to the court, the Palestinian Authority requested that he
investigate crimes allegedly committed in the territories that Israel occupied in 1967. Bensuda,
the prosecutor at the time, conducted a preliminary investigation of the claims, and in December
2019, after finding that there was a "reasonable basis" to think that Israel, and also Hamas, had
committed crimes, she asked the judges of the court to decide whether it had the authority to
discuss these suspicions. In February 2021, the court ruled that it had such authority, and
immediately after, Bensuda announced that it was opening an official investigation. In June 2021,
Khan, a British lawyer with extensive experience at the court, replaced Bensouda.
"Everyone, the entire military and political system, was looking for ways to damage the PA's case,"
said an Israeli source. "Everyone got involved in it - the Ministry of Justice, the International
Law Department, the army, the Shin Bet, the Israel Defense Forces, they saw the ICC as something
very important, as a war that needed to be waged, and to protect Israel from it."
One of the sources said that in one of the departments that dealt with the issue there was a large
blackboard with the names of about 60 people who were under surveillance, half of them Palestinians
and half of them international, including UN officials and members of the Hague Tribunal.
"The conversations were usually about the progress of the prosecution," said a source familiar
with the information collected on Bensouda, "the submission of documents, testimonies or a
conversation about an event that happened. 'Did you see how Israel massacred Palestinians in the
last demonstration?'. Things like that. And because it Bensuda, it was interesting, and it comes to
us."
Another source said that "Benseuda was very, very one-sided. She was really a personal friend of
the Palestinian guys. Prosecutors-general don't usually behave like that. They stay very distant."
The army felt that Nesuda was "pro-Palestinian". Fatou Bensouda with Palestinian Foreign Minister
Riyad al-Maliki (Photo: ICC-CPI)
During Bensouda's time, one of the sources said, low and professional ranks in the ICC were also
monitored. "Those who write the report on a solid cliff... are followed. We are checking what
materials he collects," said the source.
The criminal court staff suspected that they were under surveillance, and therefore activated
special security measures in the Israeli case, and also in the case concerning suspicions of war
crimes committed by the Americans in Afghanistan. "At management meetings, when they talked about
Israel-Palestine, they did not enter the room with phones and constantly scanned the room for
eavesdropping devices," said a source familiar with the court's proceedings. "They didn't take
anything for granted, because they knew that the Israelis are very good at intelligence."
According to the "Guardian" investigation into Yossi Cohen's conduct, he used what was defined as
"despicable methods" to put pressure on Bensouda, either to "recruit" her to do what Israel asks or
to threaten her. The institution, according to the investigation, also tried to obtain problematic
material about her husband. The investigation cites sources familiar with the reports of Cohen's
meetings with Bensouda, according to which in one of the meetings he told her: "You need to help us
and let us take care of you. You don't want to get into things that could complicate your security
and that of your family."
According to sources, the Shin Bet led an active effort to undermine the ICC. This effort focused,
at least in part, on obtaining information on Palestinian diplomats and human rights activists, who
maintained close contact with the prosecutor's office.
One of the goals of the Shin Bet, one of the sources said, was to find information, "that would
make the organizations illegitimate." Two of the four organizations that were placed under
particularly close surveillance, Al-Haq and Demir, were among the six organizations that Benny
Gantz, then the Minister of Defense , declared them "terrorist organizations" in October 2021,
outlawed them, after which the army raided their offices and confiscated their equipment and
computers. Gantz himself appeared in the reports that the organizations sent to the prosecutor, and
some jurists believe that the ICC may issue an arrest warrant against him in the future.
Allegedly he sent threatening messages to the plaintiff Bensuda. Yossi Cohen, former head of the
Mossad (Photo: Yonatan Zindel / Flash90)
According to sources, the information obtained from these surveillances was transferred, among
other things, to the Ministry of Justice and the military prosecutor's office. The purpose of
transferring the information was twofold: to help the jurists who come into contact with the staff
of the Hague Tribunal to deal with the claims, and to make sure that Israel investigates the cases
that the Palestinians transferred to The Hague itself, according to the principle of
"complementarity".
"The people who dealt with the issue at the Ministry of Justice had a great thirst for intelligence
information," claimed a source. "They wanted intelligence information, and they got it from both
the Shin Bet and AMAN. They (the lawyers) were the people who build the case for the secret
emissaries who go to the ICC, provide them with information and talk to them."
Sources familiar with what is going on at the court in The Hague confirmed that Israeli jurists,
led by Becker, met with the staff of the court between 2017-2019. Roy Sheindroff, who served as
deputy attorney general and took part in the talks, confirmed the existence of informal meetings to
The Jerusalem Post in 2022.
At this stage, as mentioned, Bensouda was still engaged in a preliminary investigation, and
according to an Israeli source, the goal was "to feed her with information that would undermine her
basic assumptions regarding her right to judge here and deal with this issue."
In order to do this, another intelligence source said, the intelligence is required to obtain "the
most recent version of (the Palestinians') appeal to the ICC, and then Israel knows how to prepare
in advance." Another source said that "when Al-Haq gathers information about how many Palestinians
have been killed in the territories in the past year and passes it on to Bensouda, Israel's
interest and policy was to pass information against me, and try to challenge this information."
The decision to open an official investigation was delayed. Pato Bensouda (Photo: ICC-CPI)
Not everyone in Israel supported the management of the secret relationship with the court, which
was ultimately approved by Netanyahu. "You have a dilemma," said an Israeli jurist regarding the
meetings. "If you cooperate , you legitimize a procedure that you don't think is legitimate in the
first place, because Israel is unjustly labeled by the international legal system."
There were those in Israel who saw Bensouda's decision to open an investigation in 2021 as a
failure, and proof that there was no need to have secret contact with the tribunal. Others thought
that the fact that six years have passed and the Authority is asking to open an investigation, and
that Bensouda has turned to another judicial branch of the court to rule on whether it has the
authority to hear claims against Israel, is a result of Israeli activity.
Scheindroff, who as head of the international procedures cluster at the Ministry of Justice
coordinated the legal activity before the court, saw the talks as a partial success. "There are
also people who can be convinced, and I at least think that to a significant extent, the State of
Israel was able to convince, at least the previous prosecutor (Bensouda), that there would be
enough doubt about the question of authority for her to turn to the judges of the court," he said
at a public event two years ago.
International sources familiar with the court case said similar things. "These meetings were only
productive," said one of the sources, "the reality on the ground can be more nuanced than the way
[Palestinian human rights organizations] present it."
Although Bensouda believed that the British military had committed war crimes in Afghanistan, in
2020 she decided to abandon an investigation into the matter because she was convinced that Britain
had taken "real action" to investigate them. In Israel they held on to this precedent, and hoped
that it would also apply to the Palestinian case.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff investigation mechanism is supposed to investigate such events. One of
the cars of the "World Central Kitchen" that was damaged near Deir al-Balah, in April 2024 (Photo:
Atiya Muhammad / Flash 90)
For this reason, the connection of the intelligence personnel with the civil and military justice
system was close. According to Israeli sources, the Joint Chiefs of Staff investigation mechanism,
the military body entrusted with independent investigation of unusual events that happened in the
army, requested and received information obtained through monitoring Palestinian victims and human
rights organizations that were in contact with the court.
As mentioned, one of the goals was to understand which cases the tribunal is expected to
investigate, to make sure that Israel investigates them as well. It is not known whether
investigations were opened retrospectively thanks to intelligence information. These days, it was
announced, the General Staff mechanism is examining events that happened in the current war in
Gaza, such as the bomb that caused many deaths in the refugee camp in Jabaliya in October 2023, the
case in which 112 Palestinians were killed around an aid convoy in March 2024, and the fatal
shooting of seven workers of the "World Kitchen Organization" In April of this year, yesterday
(Monday) it was reported that this mechanism would investigate the bombing that killed about 45
Palestinians in the camp of displaced persons in Rafah.
According to Israeli sources, UN institutions and personnel, including an inspection committee
established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021 regarding the occupied territories, were defined
as targets. "They were looking for materials that Palestinians send to the committee," said an
intelligence source, "because the reports of such committees are often used by the ICC."
Palestinian human rights organizations were, as mentioned, on Israel's radar, which wanted to know
what materials they were transferring to The Hague. Israeli sources said that, among other things,
they monitored Shawan Jabarin, the CEO of al-Haq, the oldest of the four organizations that were
marked, and said that they were able to receive documents that the organization sent to the
criminal court.
Jabarin said he had indications that he was under surveillance and that the organization's internal
transmission system had been hacked. According to him, "You can't live your life as if you're
running away and think about every sentence you say. There's only one thing you want to try to
protect, and those are the victims."
Our commitment is to the victims. Sakhar Francis, Shaawan Jabarin and Obay Aboudi, directors of
Palestinian organizations that Israel has declared as terrorist organizations (Photo: Oren Ziv)
Sources confirmed that surveillance was carried out on the employees of Al-Haq and other
organizations. "We were told that these organizations want to harm Israel legally in the
international arena. So they are being followed," said one of the sources.
Issam Younes, the CEO of the Gazan Al-Mizan organization, said that the decision to turn to the
International Court of Justice came after years in which the organization forwarded hundreds of
complaints to the military prosecutor's office, but the vast majority of them were closed. Less
than a percent of the Palestinian complaints that reach the military prosecutor's office against
soldiers end in conviction, according to the organization's data In a series of investigations
published by the Israeli "Yesh Din" under the title "Licence to kill", it was shown how time after
time the army conducts amateurish investigations and does not file charges in many cases where
soldiers kill unarmed Palestinians in the territories.
"Victims cannot get justice through the Israeli system," Younes said. "In other places, victims
claim that the system is unfair, and therefore it should be boycotted. In the Israeli case, the
actual system boycotts the victims. So where will they go? The only window for us was the ICC."
Al-Haq said that the organization, together with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and
Al-Mizan, sent seven applications to the Criminal Court since 2015, in which claims were made
against torture practices by the Shin Bet, the West Bank settlement project, house demolitions as
punishment, and the names of those involved in the wars in Gaza were mentioned. Gantz was, as
mentioned, one of them.
According to sources, the recommendation based on which Gantz decided to declare six civilian
organizations as "terrorist organizations" came from the Shin Bet. One of the sources, who is
familiar with the activities of the Shin Bet, claimed that the organization followed the employees
of the organizations, and according to him, the information gathered was used by Gantz in the
announcement.
However, according to sources, the intelligence officials who actively followed two of these
organizations, al-Haq and al-Damir, believed that there was no justified reason to declare them as
terrorist organizations. "We had no information indicating what Gantz claimed," said an
intelligence source. "We thought it was problematic to start spreading accusations that cannot be
proven. Gantz just announced it suddenly. All at once. It was not a well thought out step."
Appears himself in the Palestinian complaints to the Hague. Benny Gantz at a press conference,
December 2023 (Photo: Noam Rivkin Fenton / Flash 90)
A "Local Conversation" investigation revealed at the time that the Shin Bet document presented to
the international community as a justification for outlawing the organizations contained no
concrete evidence. Following the investigation, most of the countries donating to these
organizations announced that they do not accept Israel's claims regarding the involvement of these
organizations in terrorism, and in the "Guardian" It was reported at the time that the CIA was not
convinced by the information provided by Israel that these were terrorist organizations.
"They say I use the law as a weapon of war," Jabarin said. "If you don't want me to use the law,
what do you want me to use, bombs? It doesn't make sense." According to him, Gantz's decision came
a few days before they planned to reveal the fact that they had discovered that "Pegasus" spyware
had been installed on the telephones of the organization's employees.
"Pegasus" spies were also found on the phones of Omar Avdala and Amar Hijazi, who are responsible
for the ICC case at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Palestinian Authority, and were also
under surveillance by Israeli intelligence, AMN and Shin Bet at the same time, according to
sources. "They are both super impressive doctors who deal with the subject from morning to night.
That's why there was intelligence to gather from them," said a source. Hijazi is not surprised that
he was followed. "I don't care if Israel sees the evidence we submitted to the court . I invite
them: come, open your eyes, see what we submitted," he said.
When Khan replaced Bensouda in June 2021, many in the Israeli justice system hoped that this was
the opening of a new page, as he was seen as more cautious than his predecessor, and it was
estimated that he would choose not to prioritize the explosive investigation he inherited from
Bensouda.
"The new prosecutor has changed the course of the ship," Scheindroff told The Jerusalem Post in
2022, "it seems that the Israeli-Palestinian issue has become less urgent for the international
community."
is high on the list of priorities of Israeli intelligence surveillance. Karim Khan (Photo: ICC-CPI)
In Israeli intelligence, Khan's personal judgment became the main target of research. The goal was
to "understand what Khan was thinking," according to one source. At first, the new prosecutor's
team was not enthusiastic about advancing the Palestinian case, but according to a senior Israeli
official, "October 7 changed this reality."
The intelligence community followed Khan's visit to Israel, in December 2023, shortly after the
start of the war, when he met families of Israeli abductees and representatives of the Palestinian
Authority, in order to understand "what materials the Palestinians are transferring to him."
Recently it was published in "Maariv" that at the meeting Khan cried upon hearing the testimonies
of the Israeli victims.
An Israeli source said that during his visit to Israel, it was discovered that PA officials
complained to Khan that he only met with Israelis and asked him to meet Palestinians as well. "Khan
is the most boring man to gather intelligence on in the world, because he is as straight as a
ruler," complained one of the sources. "Actually, it's one person, who has tremendous power in his
hands right now, and he's keeping his cards very, very close to his chest."
In the end, "this boring man", who when he was elected to the position of prosecutor was told that
he was Israel's "favorite", he took the unprecedented step and asked for arrest warrants to be
issued against Netanyahu and Gallant.
"I particularly emphasized that starvation as a means of war and withholding humanitarian aid are
crimes under the Rome Convention," Khan explained his step. "I couldn't be more clear. As I also
emphasized in my public statements, those who do not follow the law, should not complain when my
office takes action. That day has come." An Israeli operation of almost a decade to prevent it -
failed.
There was no response from the Shin Bet and the Ministry of Justice.
Harry Davis and Bethan McKernan contributed to this article
We are shocked and shocked, worried and scared by the events of the last period.
In days like this there are those who demand the press to "choose a side". The side we chose is
clear: we stand by everyone who lost their loved ones in this war; alongside all those who had to
flee for their lives and leave behind a home; Along with all those who fear for their lives and the
lives of their family and loved ones, in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
These days, we feel and feel that our voice, the voice of Palestinians and Israelis against the
occupation and for a just peace, security and freedom for all, is more important than ever. The
important stories that are not covered in the mainstream media are countless, but our resources are
limited. With your help, we can bring stories like the one you just read to a growing public, and
offer the much-needed analysis, context, and coverage, especially in this difficult and dramatic
time. The best way to ensure our stability and independence is the support of the community of
readers through membership in a local conversation.
It's time to be a member of a local conversation
I live in Jerusalem, study linguistics and documentary cinema, translate from Western and dream of
justice and equality for all the inhabitants of the country, between the river and the sea.
and writes in "local conversation"
Aziz Abu Sara and Mouz Yanon (Photo: Uri Levy)
Maoz Yanon and Aziz Abu Sara have been leading since October 7 an extensive personal and public
campaign against revenge and in favor of reconciliation. Yanon is now organizing the "Great Peace
Conference" together with dozens of organizations. The idea is to build a coalition and
infrastructure for a peace process that comes from the people themselves, they say. interview
A local conversation is an online magazine of news from the field, commentary and culture, operated
by a collective of writers, photographers. Launch: April 2014

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על מכונות כביסה, יועצי משכנתאות וסערות רשת - שיחה מקומית
title : About washing machines, mortgage advisors and network storms - a local conversation

Did the mortgage advisors also contribute to the jump in the monthly repayment? Signing a mortgage
(photo illustration: Yossi Zamir / Flash90)
A few months ago my washing machine was making strange noises. I ignored it as much as possible,
but at one point she seemed to start moving around the bathroom threatening the cat. There was no
choice but to look for a technician.
I turned to the "Rank" website. I chose a washing machine technician who received a high rating and
is located in my city. He asked me to send him a video of the machine in blackmail, declared the
machine dead, and refused to accept payment. Totally justified the high rating. But I didn't come
here to recommend a washing machine technician, but to tell about something else I discovered on
the site.
"Madrag" periodically publishes surveys conducted among professionals registered in it. In the
field of washing machines, for example, questions such as "what is the most common fault" are
asked, and a pie graph is published with the results. Among the professionals listed in the ranking
are also mortgage consultants. These were recently asked: "Is it possible to buy an apartment
without equity?"
For the information of the Bank of Israel: 89% of the mortgage consultants registered on the
website answered this question "yes".
Screenshot from the "Madrag" website
Later we will also ask what are the options available to buyers who wish to take out a mortgage
without equity. One of the registered mortgage consultants said: "There are a variety of options to
take out a mortgage without equity. Among the common options is to use an existing property of a
family member." Another mortgage consultant also said that the "cost-effective and classic"
solution is to encumber an existing property. Other solutions that were offered were guarantors,
bridging loans, loans from non-banking sources and the pledge of pensions, but the pledge of the
property came up again and again as the most convenient and profitable option.
However, the Bank of Israel does not allow taking out a loan against a property for the purpose of
completing the equity capital needed to purchase a property. The bank allows such a loan to be
taken "for any purpose", but one of the advisers at "Midarg" explained that despite this
restriction, the banks do consider loans secured by property as loans for the purchase of a house,
"and therefore the interest rate is attractive".
In the list of mortgage advisors who responded to the survey on the Mederg website, I looked for
the name of a certain mortgage advisor, Dima Postoboi, whose name made headlines recently after he
raised the monthly rent on the apartment (which he purchased as an investment apartment "on paper",
according to him and his wife) by NIS 1,950 (approx. -40%), and the tenants did not accept the
increase in understanding. He wasn't there.
I wondered to myself, would Postboy also explain to potential customers that it is possible to buy
an apartment without equity? Does he also advise his clients to mortgage the parents' property? Is
it possible that in addition to the conduct of the Bank of Israel, which I wrote about here in
detail last week, he or his colleagues in the profession also contributed something to the fact
that his monthly repayment on the mortgage jumped, according to him, by NIS 1,500?
Many felt, and rightly so, that the story we were exposed to had two sides. Postboy is not only a
landlord, but also a family man and tenant trying to survive financially, like the rest of us. But
he has publicly presented himself as a mortgage consultant, and if he wants to really explain his
side to us in full, it seems that his response post should tell a much bigger story than what we
were exposed to in the Torah web storm.
And back to the main point, that is - to the Bank of Israel. Last February, following the war, the
supervisor of banks approved an increase in the amount of the loan that can be taken by pledging a
property up to 70% of the property's value (before the war, the amount was up to 50%). As a result,
the demand for these loans climbed, and in February the total amount of loans that are not
mortgages but include a property lien amounted to NIS 645 million. Since then, these loans have
remained at the level of NIS 600 million per month, compared to NIS 500-400 million in the
corresponding months a year earlier.
This provision was supposed to expire at the end of June. The series of warnings published by the
Central Bank in recent months about the increase in risk in housing credit could have perhaps
raised the expectation that it would not be renewed, but a draft published by the Bank of Israel
for public comments puts it back on the table.
Even before the war, the scope of loans based on the pledge of the parents' property was settled
with interesting results that came up when checking the credit index of the "Captain Credito"
application in March 2023. The test revealed that the credit rating of 25-40 year olds is higher
than that of 40-55 year olds. The figure is surprising, because it is the age groups in which a
mortgage is usually taken out, and it indicates, according to the CEO of Captain Credito, the great
reliance of the younger generation on the older generation.
We are shocked and shocked, worried and scared by the events of the last period.
In days like this there are those who demand the press to "choose a side". The side we chose is
clear: we stand by everyone who lost their loved ones in this war; alongside all those who had to
flee for their lives and leave behind a home; Along with all those who fear for their lives and the
lives of their family and loved ones, in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
These days, we feel and feel that our voice, the voice of Palestinians and Israelis against the
occupation and for a just peace, security and freedom for all, is more important than ever. The
important stories that are not covered in the mainstream media are countless, but our resources are
limited. With your help, we can bring stories like the one you just read to a growing public, and
offer the much-needed analysis, context, and coverage, especially in this difficult and dramatic
time. The best way to ensure our stability and independence is the support of the community of
readers through membership in a local conversation.
It's time to be a member of a local conversation
This is the general channel of "local conversation", the place of our guests' articles, of group
initiatives on the site, live blogging at special events, system announcements and more.
We will be happy to receive proposals for articles and articles, photos and videos. You can read
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The articles and articles published on the channel represent their authors only, and not the
opinions of the members of "Shesha Local" or the opinions of the editors.
Aziz Abu Sara and Mouz Yanon (Photo: Uri Levy)
Maoz Yanon and Aziz Abu Sara have been leading since October 7 an extensive personal and public
campaign against revenge and in favor of reconciliation. Yanon is now organizing the "Great Peace
Conference" together with dozens of organizations. The idea is to build a coalition and
infrastructure for a peace process that comes from the people themselves, they say. interview
A local conversation is an online magazine of news from the field, commentary and culture, operated
by a collective of writers, photographers. Launch: April 2014

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מי חוסם את לימודי ההומניסטיקה במערכת החינוך בישראל? - שיחה מקומית
title : Who is blocking humanistic studies in the education system in Israel? - Local call

"The humanities subjects bring the students together with the world of the human spirit." The
Hebrew University Library (Photo: Olivier Fitosi / Flash90)
This month, a report by a team of experts was published on the subject of "promoting humanistic
studies" in the education system. The term "humanistic" refers to the humanities subjects, chief
among them the compulsory subjects: literature, the Bible and history.
In my understanding, in view of the report, the education system has the necessary conditions for
success. The report even mentions unique projects for the teaching of the humanities, based on
dialogic and collaborative research teaching, which succeed under the existing conditions in
enthusing female and male students to study the fields of humanities.
These ways of teaching are blocked from entering the regular classrooms, because of the excessive
academic emphasis given in the Ministry of Education to the teaching of "disciplinary knowledge".
As I will demonstrate, the matriculation exams reflect the disciplinary approach, in that they
consider the works of the spirit in themselves, more than the experience of the students in the
face of the reading of the works of the spirit.
In this context, a review that was published as an appendix to the experts' report presents an
important fact in an international comparison. In Israel, the scope of external mandatory exams in
the humanities is the largest among the countries surveyed. However, here is also the largest
decrease in the number of graduates of the education system studying for a bachelor's degree in the
humanities.
It is worth mentioning that during the term of office of Minister Yifat Shasha Biton, the "Renewal
of Learning" program was promoted in social sciences and humanities studies. It was a program in
the right direction, in line with the recommendations of the new report, but Minister Yoav Kish
dismissed the reform with a rude foot.
The team of experts was convened at the initiative of the National Academy of Sciences, and was
headed by Prof. Ron Margolin. The members of the team were Dr. Tali Friedman as the academic
coordinator, and professors Avner Ben Amos, Aviva Halamish and Shay Furgal. The team began its work
at the end of 2021, and held several work sessions, the summaries of which were also published.
On page 18 of the report, the team presents its position regarding the importance of humanistic
studies. I recommend that this page be displayed in every school in Israel. The gist of it:
"The humanities subjects bring the students together with the world of the human spirit in general
and with the culture of their people", and therefore they "stimulate their curiosity", "improve
their creativity", and teach them to "observe with a critical eye the world of adults", "to stand
up for the nature of emotions" the human ones", and "deal with emotional and social dilemmas".
And what's more: "The reading and discussion of the texts studied in the humanities subjects are
like an anchor in the stormy sea of ​​life, which helps to deal better with the world outside the
school", "the humanities subjects emphasize the development of interpretive ability", and
"contribute to the cultivation of a person's sensitivity and attention to various human
manifestations".
"These studies provide the ability to listen to conflicting arguments, formulate different
arguments and identify manipulations of all kinds." This is "a necessary condition for living
together in a democratic society, which is based on humanistic values, including the value of human
life, the protection of one's dignity, one's body and one's property, mutual aid and consideration
of minority groups in society."
The team was convened due to the concern that "over the years, the position of the humanities in
the education system and the higher education system has weakened." This determination is based on
a continuous decrease in the number of male and female students who choose to study the humanities
subjects at an increased level, i.e. in the scope of 5 study units.
However, the status of the subjects literature, Bible and history is quite senior. These are
compulsory subjects, in which it is not possible to receive a matriculation certificate without a
passing grade. The grade currently consists of an internal test (of the school), alternative
assessment methods (such as a research paper), and an exam National external matriculation, fully
controlled by the Ministry of Education.
Accordingly, each of the three subjects will be taught in the scope of 2 study units in the upper
division, equivalent to two hours of study per week. This means that there are about 180 hours of
teaching and learning for each of the three subjects in the upper division, and a similar scope in
the middle division as well.
In light of this, it seems that the bottleneck is not the number of hours, but the way in which
they are used. In this context, several unique programs are mentioned in the report, which succeed
in encouraging and accompanying students in humanities studies at an increased level. As an
example, I previously reviewed here the "Derech Rukh" program, which is a regional learning
framework (outside of school) for increased matriculation in the humanities.
Also mentioned are the programs of the Spirit Study Center at the National Library, the Young
Spirit project, and the Idea program. The unique programs are successful, it is mentioned in the
report, because they allow teachers autonomy in choosing the subjects of study and teaching
methods, because they are based on inquiry learning, and because they use social learning methods,
such as conversation, dialogue, discussion, and the participation of students in the teaching and
learning process.
In recognition of this success, the team of experts even recommends "the assimilation of the
principles used in unique frameworks to the entire system".
Why are the teaching methods of the unique successes not integrated into the entire system? In the
report it is mentioned that when they discussed with the men and women of the Ministry of Education
the transition to subject-based teaching, or the change in the format of the matriculation exam,
"the fear of the weakening of disciplinary knowledge" arose.
Indeed, a perusal of the matriculation exams demonstrates the emphasis the ministry places on
disciplinary knowledge. For example, in the matriculation exam in literature, most of the questions
refer to works studied at a level of knowledge and understanding. For example in the question:
"Give two of the characteristics of medieval poetry from the poem." To answer this question, the
examinees must memorize the list of characteristics of medieval poetry, and then present suitable
examples from the poem.
Unique programs that succeed in encouraging and accompanying students in humanities studies at an
increased level. A learning circle in the "Spirit Path". (Photograph courtesy of Lior Carmel,
Derech Haruch)
Understanding the works is at the center of many other questions. For example: What is the conflict
presented in the play? What are the essential questions that the hero faces in the novella? What is
the contribution of the last line to the meaning of the poem? and the like.
Only in a few questions is there an exit from the world of "knowledge" of the profession, and its
transfer into the world of the students. For example in the question: "Even though the tragedies
of Sophocles and Shakespeare were written in the distant past, the topics they deal with are also
relevant today. Explain and demonstrate this according to the tragedy you studied."
The questions where the students are required to express their position are even rarer. For
example the question: "Choose a central character in the book you read that evoked empathy in you,
and explain what about her personality, behavior and events made you feel empathy towards her and
evoked in you a desire to understand her."
It is important to mention that all matriculation exams are personal and competitive, and sharing
knowledge in a social dialogue is considered an offense, which leads to the disqualification of the
test. The exams are also conducted in writing, so there is no expression of conversational skills
such as listening and speaking. In short, everything that is important does not exist.
Through this style of the external test, the Ministry of Education signals to teachers what is
important in its eyes, thus influencing the teaching style in the classrooms. It seems that the
team of experts also pointed to the matriculation exams as one of the barriers, when they wrote:
"There is a certain irony in that precisely in the interpretive humanities professions, in which
there is no single position, all the information of the assessment is summed up in a number and
nothing else."
As an appendix to the experts' report, an international comparative review was published on methods
of evaluation of the humanities, written by Yaniv Carmel. This review reinforces the position that
the external mandatory examination style is a barrier to humanities studies in Israel.
In the review, it was found that there is no necessary connection between the obligation of the
external examination and the interest shown by graduates in humanities studies. For example, in
Ireland and Finland, where there is no obligation to take an exam in the humanities in order to
receive a matriculation certificate, there has been a significant increase over the years in the
number of bachelor's degree graduates in the humanities.
On the other hand, Israel, "where the obligation of the external exams in the humanities as part of
the final exams is wider than all the countries examined, is the country that showed the most
significant decrease in the number of graduates for a bachelor's degree" in the humanities.
In the annex report, the instructive example of the state of Vermont in the USA appears. In this
country, it was decided to change the assessment from an assessment of knowledge in the fields of
knowledge, to an assessment of skills and abilities. For this purpose, 18 performance capabilities
were determined, each of which has 3 to 4 core skills.
Among other things, skills such as: learning together with others in a cooperative and respectful
spirit are mentioned; explain the self-perspective; respect the diversity of ideas; understand
different points of view; Communicate in ways that encourage the exchange of ideas.
And most importantly: the schools have the freedom and authority to decide how to distribute the
study content, in order to develop the necessary skills. That is, the team of teachers in each
school chooses the content for teaching and the methods of teaching, so that they support the
development of the mentioned skills, and not in the name of academic "disciplinary knowledge", as
is customary in Israel.
Bottom line: there are teaching hours and the ways to meaningful teaching are known. However, the
Ministry of Education in Israel, through the matriculation exam, is the barrier to the advancement
of humanistic studies. Long way to Vermont.
We are shocked and shocked, worried and scared by the events of the last period.
In days like this there are those who demand the press to "choose a side". The side we chose is
clear: we stand by everyone who lost their loved ones in this war; alongside all those who had to
flee for their lives and leave behind a home; Along with all those who fear for their lives and the
lives of their family and loved ones, in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
These days, we feel and feel that our voice, the voice of Palestinians and Israelis against the
occupation and for a just peace, security and freedom for all, is more important than ever. The
important stories that are not covered in the mainstream media are countless, but our resources are
limited. With your help, we can bring stories like the one you just read to a growing public, and
offer the much-needed analysis, context, and coverage, especially in this difficult and dramatic
time. The best way to ensure our stability and independence is the support of the community of
readers through membership in a local conversation.
It's time to be a member of a local conversation
The education review blog by Dr. Gil Gertel: lecturer, consultant and independent researcher.
Books I published: "The Invention of Education - Reading the Books of Jan Amos Comenius" (NIV
2022); "Home or school - state education versus parental education" (the didactic team, 2015); "The
way of nature - the natural pedagogy and the educational trip" (Sefrit Poalim, 2010); "Ein
Mashtotim - the beginning of the trips in the youth movements 1912 - 1942" (Matan, 2016).
From compulsory kindergarten until high school graduation, I didn't understand what they wanted
from me. I was diagnosed as "untapped potential", and since then I have been filled with revenge,
for the terrible boredom I was condemned to in my youth. At the age of 24, I completed
matriculation in three months, and since then I have not only been studying, but also enjoying it.
The main message, from the mouth of Comenius, the grandfather of education: "Let us be like the sun
in the sky, which illuminates and warms and animates the whole earth, so that everything that can
live, flourish and prosper, can realize it."
Thanks to you and to you for every reference, response and sharing.
Aziz Abu Sara and Mouz Yanon (Photo: Uri Levy)
Maoz Yanon and Aziz Abu Sara have been leading since October 7 an extensive personal and public
campaign against revenge and in favor of reconciliation. Yanon is now organizing the "Great Peace
Conference" together with dozens of organizations. The idea is to build a coalition and
infrastructure for a peace process that comes from the people themselves, they say. interview
A local conversation is an online magazine of news from the field, commentary and culture, operated
by a collective of writers, photographers. Launch: April 2014

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הקלף של חמאס כבר אינו החטופים, אלא המשך הלחימה - שיחה מקומית
title : Hamas' trump card is no longer the abductees, but the continuation of the fighting - a local conversation

It does not seem that the American pressure to agree to Biden's outline is making an impression on
Hamas either. Soldiers near the border with Gaza, before the invasion of Rafah, on May 8, 2024
(Photo: Jamal Awad / Flash90)
From the moment when the deal for the release of kidnapped Israeli citizens in exchange for the
release of Palestinian prisoners and a day-long cease-fire broke down, at the end of November 2023,
Hamas turned the cessation of war and the total Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip into an
unequivocal condition for the release of additional abductees, civilians or soldiers. This strict
condition is seen in Israel as an admission that Hamas understands its difficult situation, and the
abductees are the only card it has left to pressure Israel to stop its attack on Gaza and allow it
to survive.
Six and a half months later, Hamas still insists on this clear link between the release of the
abductees and the end of the war, but it is highly doubtful whether he himself believes that the
abductees are still a decisive card on the way to achieving this goal. The lives of the abductees
were not important enough to Israel for it to agree to a deal that included ending the war. It was
satisfied with two military operations, which resulted in the release of six abductees alive, but
even IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari admitted after the operation in Nusirat that "we will not be able
to return all the abductees in rescue operations".
Even after Israel handed over a document to mediators in recent weeks, which states that it is
ready to declare "the establishment of a sustainable calm (cease of military operations and
permanent hostilities)" at the beginning of the second phase of a deal for the release of the
abductees, as revealed on Channel 12, the chance that such a deal will be approved by the
government in its current composition It is close to zero. Immediately after President Joe Biden
presented what he described as an Israeli proposal in his speech at the White House on May 31 (and
its main points were indeed the same as the document published on Channel 12), Ministers Itamar Ben
Gabir and Bezalel Smotrich sent a clear message that if a deal is accepted that includes the end of
the war and withdrawal Israeli from the Gaza Strip, the government will fall apart.
"Seniors" in Israel (actually there is one senior in Israel) confirmed that the outline presented
by Biden was acceptable to her, but the words "ceasing the war" or even "ceasing military
operations and regular hostilities" never came out of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's mouth. In
a meeting last week with the members of the "Forum Gevora", which includes bereaved families with a
clear right-wing tendency, he made it clear that he is not ready "for us to commit to ending the
war without achieving our goals - the elimination of Hamas." Since Netanyahu also knows that Hamas
will not agree to eliminate itself, this means that he refuses the deal.
The government was not convinced that the lives of the abductees were more important than the
expected "total victory". A protest on Gaza Street against the government, June 17, 2024 (Photo:
Oren Ziv)
True, the adamant demand that came out from the families of the abductees for a "deal now" helped
to legitimize the calls for an end to the war - and they went beyond the limited circle of the
radical, Arab and Jewish left, into the mainstream of the demonstrations in Kaplan, in front of the
Kirya and in other places in Israel. And yet, although it is difficult to keep dry eyes in the face
of the speeches of Einav Tsengauker and others about the obligation to return their loved ones
alive, even at the cost of ending the war, they did not convince the Netanyahu-Ben Gabir government
that the lives of the abductees are more important than the hoped-for "absolute victory". vice
versa. The very demand for a deal with Hamas in exchange for the release of the abductees was
presented by right-wing speakers such as Smotrich as endangering national security.
But the fact that the abductee card is losing its strength, that the number of living abductees is
dwindling, and that, to the horror of it, one can imagine a situation in which none of them will
remain alive if the war continues for a long time - as predicted by Yaakov Amidror, the former head
of the MLA and close to Netanyahu - does not make Hamas give up his requirements.
It does not seem that the American pressure to agree to Biden's outline is making an impression on
Hamas either. They continue to demand clear guarantees from the Americans that Israel will uphold
the agreement and not renew the war as soon as it sees fit. The statements made by the US
Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, in Qatar, according to which "Israel accepted the agreement,
Hamas did not" - which Blinken himself knows are false, since, as we showed earlier, there is no
chance that the Israeli government will approve the Biden outline - indicate more that the US is
under pressure than Hamas under pressure
There is no doubt that Hamas wants a permanent ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal, the return of
the displaced and the beginning of the reconstruction of the Strip. The beatings he suffered and
the indescribable suffering of the residents of Gaza demand it. The voices coming from Gaza against
the behavior of Hamas are also probably pushing him to end the war. But it is possible that Hamas
believes today that their strong card to achieve this goal is not the abductees, but the
continuation of the fighting in Gaza. They may believe that the continuation of the war threatens
Israel more than it threatens Hamas.
In recent days, the army has been trying to market to the public - for the umpteenth time since the
ground invasion began in early November - the version that with the elimination of the last of the
Hamas battalions in Rafah, "the military arm of Hamas has been defeated." Amidst the clouds of
propaganda from both sides, it is difficult to know what the true situation of Hamas is, but it is
clear that it still functions as a military force. Just last week, 16 soldiers were killed in four
different incidents in the Gaza Strip - three in Rafah and one in Gaza.
Hamas released a seven-minute video this week about the incident in which two soldiers were killed
by an IED that hit a tank near Nabulsi Square, in the south of Gaza City, near the sea, an area
that has been under full Israeli control for many months. From the video - documenting the laying
of the mines, the moment of the explosion, the Israeli forces being called to the scene, the firing
of Hamas mortars at them, and the evacuation of the injured by helicopter - Hamas looks like a
guerrilla organization that is becoming more and more sophisticated towards a Gaza version of
Hezbollah, and not like an organization in collapse. The continuation of the war may only make it
more sophisticated, as indeed happened to Hezbollah against the Israeli army in Lebanon.
It is difficult not to link the failure of the army to eliminate Hamas's military capability and
the deepening rift between the army and the government. While the army is talking about the end of
the operation in Rafah in the coming weeks and a return to the model of raids in the Gaza Strip
(like about a month ago in Jabalia or Zeyton), Netanyahu emphasizes that he wants a continuous war.
At the cabinet meeting this week, Netanyahu said that Israel is "a country with an army and not an
army with a country", and his close associate Yaakov Bardogo wrote that the "new concept" of Chief
of Staff Herzi Halevi is "to keep Hamas rule in Gaza".
It is very likely that Hamas believes that this rift is the result of its continued military
operations against the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, and therefore it would be happy to deepen
it. Hamas spokespeople repeatedly talk about the "disintegration" within Israeli society as one of
the great successes of the October 7 attack, and such a rupture can be considered a clear
manifestation of this "disintegration".
Precisely because of the enormous and indiscriminate force that Israel used in Gaza, it seems that
it has lost its deterrent power against Hamas. It can no longer threaten mass killing, because it
has already killed about 40 thousand people; It cannot threaten to destroy the infrastructure,
because most of the Gaza Strip is already destroyed and more than a million people have been
displaced from their homes; It can no longer threaten to collapse the governing institutions in
Gaza, because they no longer function; It can no longer threaten to conquer Rafah, because it has
already conquered most of it.
Israel can still threaten a more terrible starvation than the current one, but Hamas probably
understands that the American and international pressure, and the proceedings in the two
international courts in The Hague, dilute this threat. The threat of mass deportation, which hung
in the air in the first weeks of the war, has already dissipated, and it seems that Israel has come
to terms with the fact that even if several tens of thousands leave, more than two million
Palestinians will still remain in the Strip.
A growing rift between the army and the government. Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense
Minister, Yoav Galant, and Chief of Staff, Hertzi Halevi, in Kirya in Tel Aviv, on October 24, 2023
(Photo: Kobi Gideon/Leam)
The continuation of the fighting is of course devastating for the Palestinians who are still trying
to survive in Gaza, struggling with hunger, daily death, insecurity in its deepest sense. But
assuming that the messages sent by Yahya Sinwar and published in the "Wall Street Journal" are
real, Sinwar looks further afield, towards wars of liberation such as in Vietnam or Algeria. The
tens of thousands killed in Gaza, he wrote, are "necessary victims", whose deaths "will inject life
into the veins of the Palestinian nation and bring it honor and glory." "The Israelis are exactly
where we want them to be," he wrote. That is, in the war of attrition in Gaza.
But it is likely that in the eyes of Hamas, the main threat that the continuation of the war in
Gaza poses to Israel is its potential to intensify the conflict with Hezbollah into a real war. If
we remember that on October 6 Hamas was a small military organization, besieged in a strip of land
that Israel controls from all directions, looking at an Arab world that is gradually reconciling
with Israel despite the continued occupation, then the prospect of a regional war "for the
Palestinian cause" is a huge leap forward.
This prospect, without a doubt, seems much more real in recent weeks. And in light of the damage
that Hezbollah has managed to inflict in the last eight and a half months, the results of a
large-scale war in Lebanon, including even an Israeli attempt to occupy parts of southern Lebanon,
could be devastating to Israel.
"The Israeli public should know that, according to all estimates, an all-out war with Hezbollah
(which Iran and its affiliates will probably join)," writes Reserve Major Yitzhak Barik in Haaretz,
"means between 5,000 and 10,000 Israelis killed at least; about 4,000 missiles, Rockets and UAVs
per day; Tel Aviv and Haifa are completely destroyed; Power plants, water desalination plants and
national infrastructures; total destruction of the country; the collapse of the economy; And the
escape of everyone who can afford it from the killing ravine called Israel." Barik appointed
himself to the role of a prophet of rage, but if Hamas calls him, and there is no particular reason
not to, they must feel that by continuing the war in Gaza, they are on the right path.
Many Israelis are afraid of the path that the continuation of the war in Gaza leads to. According
to a recent survey by the "Accord" institute, 65% of Israelis prefer to reach an agreement to end
the war in Gaza and return the soldiers, compared to 35% who prefer the continuation of the
military presence there and the renewal of the settlements there.
But these data currently have no political impact. The right-wing government still enjoys a
majority in the Knesset, and is determined to continue the war, if for political reasons - that is,
the fear of losing power in new elections that will almost certainly take place if a ceasefire is
declared; Or for ideological reasons - the belief that this is a one-time opportunity to implement
the famous "decision plan", and finally remove the threat to a Palestinian state.
The army may be more reserved, and ready to end the war under certain conditions, but it is also
difficult for it to get out of the trap it has set for itself: the blind belief that Israeli
"deterrence" is achieved solely by the use of force, and if the other side has not been
sufficiently deterred, even more force must be used.
"The IDF has forgotten its true mission: to protect the citizens of the country. It seems that this
mission is simply not of interest to the IDF," quoted Yossi Melman in Haaretz as saying a former
senior official in the defense establishment. The State of Israel, the source added, is in an
"uncontrollable spiral." Israel, "New York Times" commentator Thomas Friedman, who is considered
close to President Biden, wrote yesterday, "is in existential danger."
The coalition in Israel is faltering. The rabbinic law that fell, the conscription law that is
currently also not expected to pass, the intensifying demonstrations and the increasing police
repression are all signs of instability. Hamas and Hezbollah undoubtedly succeeded in exhausting
Israel, and bringing the public closer to reconciliation with the end of the war. But until the
American administration does not get out of the position of dividing scores between the sides and
decides to use its power to force a ceasefire, it is difficult to see the end of the war.
Meanwhile, Israel continues to walk with its head against the wall.
We are shocked and shocked, worried and scared by the events of the last period.
In days like this there are those who demand the press to "choose a side". The side we chose is
clear: we stand by everyone who lost their loved ones in this war; alongside all those who had to
flee for their lives and leave behind a home; Along with all those who fear for their lives and the
lives of their family and loved ones, in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
These days, we feel and feel that our voice, the voice of Palestinians and Israelis against the
occupation and for a just peace, security and freedom for all, is more important than ever. The
important stories that are not covered in the mainstream media are countless, but our resources are
limited. With your help, we can bring stories like the one you just read to a growing public, and
offer the much-needed analysis, context, and coverage, especially in this difficult and dramatic
time. The best way to ensure our stability and independence is the support of the community of
readers through membership in a local conversation.
It's time to be a member of a local conversation
Miron Rapoport is a journalist, translator and political activist. He even managed to work at
"Davar" just before it closed and then at "Hadhot", "Ovda", "Yediot Ahronoth", "Haaretz", and in
the last decade he edited the program "Making Order" and at the same time also wrote for
international press. He won the Naples award for journalism for an investigation into the theft of
olive trees during the construction of the separation fence, and was also fired from "Yediot
Ahronoth" after giving a headline that did not flatter Ariel Sharon, then the prime minister.
Rapoport is also one of the founders of the "A Land for All" movement, which calls for the
establishment of two independent states, Israel and Palestine, with open borders, freedom of
movement and common institutions.
"Throughout my career I have tried to be true to myself and my values, and also to the public, to
its right to know and its duty to know things that are not always convenient for it. Journalism has
always been and will always be a public mission for me." Today, Miron is an editor and writer at
"Tasha Local"
Aziz Abu Sara and Mouz Yanon (Photo: Uri Levy)
Maoz Yanon and Aziz Abu Sara have been leading since October 7 an extensive personal and public
campaign against revenge and in favor of reconciliation. Yanon is now organizing the "Great Peace
Conference" together with dozens of organizations. The idea is to build a coalition and
infrastructure for a peace process that comes from the people themselves, they say. interview
A local conversation is an online magazine of news from the field, commentary and culture, operated
by a collective of writers, photographers. Launch: April 2014

---

חמאס מתרברב בניצחון, כל הדרך לתהום  - שיחה מקומית
title : Hamas brags about victory, all the way to the abyss - local conversation

He destroyed with his own hands many of the resources at his disposal. Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar,
April 30, 2022 (Photo: Atiya Muhammad / Flash90)
From the very first moment of the war, the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah claim victory - each in
his own arena. The statement of a senior Hamas official, Musa Abu Marzouk, in early May, according
to which "victory is just around the corner" echoes this view, and it is understood that they will
continue to claim victory even after the end of the war. Despite the fact that the Gaza Strip has
sunk into a war from which there is no way out, and that the cost is extremely heavy - tens of
thousands of dead and wounded, enormous destruction, over a million people who have left their
homes - the necessary discussion on the question of whether there is even a possibility of victory
in this war has been postponed to an unknown future.
In an article published on the Deraj website, the Lebanese writer Tarek Ismail goes against the
leaders of Hamas who declare victory in isolation from the realistic ability to achieve it and
regardless of the situation on the ground. Ismail clarifies that this is not a new phenomenon in
the Arab world and its struggle against Israel; In fact, the announcement of the victory of the
"resistance" in an attempt to impose the narrative on the facts on the ground, has been a familiar
thing for many years. Jamal Abdel Nasser declared at the end of the Sinai War in 1956 that Egypt
had defeated England, France and Israel, although in practice it was the USA and the Soviet Union
that forced these three countries to stop the war, and not Egypt's steadfast resistance to the
attack.
Nasser is also the one who, despite the overwhelming loss that Israel inflicted on the Arab armies
in 1967, and due to the idea of ​​perpetual victory and the denial of failure, described the Arab
defeat as "naksha", which means a retreat, or a deterioration in the situation. This definition
reinforces the perception of the failure in '67 as a temporary obstacle and not as a fundamental
change in reality, even if Israel actually conquered Sinai, the Golan, the Gaza Strip and the West
Bank in that war. Even when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and expelled Arafat and his men from
Beirut, they fled to Tunisia while declaring victory, similar to all those "winners through
resistance" before and after them.
Ismail estimates that the announcement of the victory known in advance, or the denial of defeat,
will occur both in the current war and in the future. That is why he criticizes the Arab media that
gives a platform to these detached victory declarations and wants to confront those resistance
people with the facts and reality. Ismail even speculates that Hamas is waiting for the end of the
war even more than the residents of Gaza, who are the ones who are really suffering. While for the
residents this is an opportunity to stop the death and destruction, for Hamas the end of the war is
just an opportunity to declare another victory.
However, Hamas leaders know that the end of the war, or a ceasefire, will come as a result of the
erosion of the movement's military power, which has been severely weakened so far, despite its
denials. The main card she has left is the abductees. Thus, Hamas is building on pressure to be
exerted on Israel to stop the fighting, mainly from the US, where the current administration is
influenced by public opinion and the demonstrations on campuses in the run-up to the presidential
elections.

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"האסונות שלנו נחגגים בארכיאולוגיה. אנחנו ממש קבלני חורבן" - שיחה מקומית
title : "Our disasters are celebrated in archaeology. We are literally contractors of destruction" - a local conversation

"We are supposed to be proud and build a new future, and our antiquities bring us down all the
time." Prof. Raphael (Rafi) Greenberg (Photo: Oren Ziv)
The field of expertise of Prof. Rafi Greenberg, an archaeologist from Tel Aviv University, is the
Middle Bronze Age, 3000 to 2000 BC, which means he has a 5,000-year view of the history of this
country. But what he discovered in the excavation he conducted over the past three years together
with the independent archaeologist Gideon Soleimani in Kfar Keds, a Palestinian village that was
captured in 1948 and destroyed by Israel, is different from what he has seen so far in the
excavations he conducted throughout the country. "We found destruction that we had never seen," he
says, referring to the complete destruction of the village carried out by bulldozers in 1966 as
part of a national operation to destroy the remains of Palestinian villages, "even after we cleared
the vegetation, we did not recognize the contours of the houses."
This destruction of the recent past ("Such complete destruction, from Metula to Be'er Sheva, has
never happened in this place, not in the first house, not in the second house," says Soleimani, his
colleague in the excavation) occupies a central part in the book "Archaeology, Nation and Race:
Dealing with the Past "Veda Colonization of the Future in Israel and Greece" (Ko Adom Publishing)
which Greenberg is currently publishing together with Prof. Yanis Hamilakis, a Greek archaeologist
who teaches at Brown University in the USA .
The differences between archeology in Greece and archeology in Israel (and in the territories it
conquered in 1967) are no less great than the differences between the Parthenon and the Western
Wall or its side, if we take major archaeological monuments in both countries. Still, Greenberg and
Hamilakis find some significant similarities, which help them better understand the role of
archeology in the history of their nations.
Several points of connection between Greek archeology and Zionist-Israeli archeology emerge in the
book, which is presented as a kind of conversation between the two archaeologists. One is the
importance of the foreign, western perspective on the development of archeology in both places.
Archeology in Greece was actually founded by foreigners, Hamilakis explains, first and foremost
Germans, but also British, French and Americans, and to this day the archaeological schools they
founded in the 19th century have a central place in the study of archeology in Greece.
These first archaeologists perceived the ancient history of Greece as belonging to them, to the
West, and sought to "skip" the thousands of years that separated the present they found and the
glorious Hellenic past. The human and material culture they found in Greece seemed inferior to
them, says Hamilakis, and they wanted to "purify" it and return it to its ancient exclusion.
The archeology of independent Greece, Hamilakis argues, largely adopted this external point of
view, and to this day it is engaged in "leaping" into the distant past, while erasing what
interferes with this continuity. Archeology, he claims, played a central part in fixing what he
calls a "crypto-colonial" situation, a covert colonialism, in which Greece lives to this day: on
the one hand, pride in its Hellenic past, and on the other hand, a sense of dependence and
marginality compared to Europe and the West.
In an interview at his office at Tel Aviv University, Greenberg says that he read Hamilkis's book,
"The nation and its ruins", and found surprising points of similarity between Greek archeology and
Zionist-Israeli archeology, and when he met Hamilkis he suggested that he write a book together.
Even in our archeology, says Greenberg, there is a predominance of "founding fathers" who came from
the West, primarily British, and saw biblical history as "their" founding story, of Western
culture, and treated with disdain and even hostility towards the inhabitants of the land who
interfere with seeing the greatness of the past.
Israeli archeology inherited this approach, says Greenberg, and even if its role was more marginal
in building the nation compared to what was in Greece, it had a real contribution in trying to
"leap" over a history of two thousand years into a glorious past, in a disdainful attitude towards
the country's inhabitants and their material culture , and in an attempt to "purify", destroy and
erase this culture. The complete destruction of Keds and hundreds of other villages, and even the
current destruction of Gaza, are part of this concept.
This similarity, says Greenberg, is perhaps an expression of the fact that Israel is also in a
"crypto-colonial" situation, covert colonialism. Just as Greece was and remains a "buffer country"
in the eyes of the West and in its own eyes, so too is Israel a "buffer country", in the eyes of
the West and in the eyes of its residents. And archeology, he says together with Hamilakis, can
play a role in freeing us from this situation by building a local story that belongs to all the
inhabitants of the country and is not subject to the story that the West wants to tell about us,
Greeks and Israelis.
The interview is presented in required abbreviations.
What drew you to the comparison with Greece? This is not obvious.
"It all started with the book by Yannis (Hamilkis), The Nation and its Ruins. I read it when I
started walking around Silvan and returned to a rather intense engagement with the meaning of
archeology nowadays. All kinds of things he described about Greece jumped out at me: the leap from
the recent past to the distant past, the desire to connect, And especially the figure of an
archaeologist named (Manolis) Andronikos, a larger-than-life archaeologist.
"Andronikos became very famous as the one who found the tomb attributed to Philip, the father of
Alexander the Great. It became a national site. He made a whole show out of it, commissioned
television. It is so similar to what Din did, when he arrived at the president's house with Bar
Kochba's letters. In the biography of Yedin is described as saying: 'I have a greeting from
President Bar Kochba to President Ben Zvi'. This Greek archaeologist used the same dramatic
mechanism.
"This parallel really impressed me. In Greece they re-identified sites, to give them their ancient
names. There they produced classical geography, here we produce biblical geography. They had to get
rid of the entire Ottoman layer there. Here it is Arabic, there it is It was also necessary to
purify the language itself. Ata Turk forced everyone to adopt new surnames. Ben Gurion had whole
shelves of Ata Turk books."
"Greece and the Bible are the foundations of Western culture." The Parthenon on the Acropolis in
Athens (Wikimedia)
I studied classical studies, and of course I learned about Thebes, the place where Aeschylus' plays
took place. When we visited Greece, I saw a sign that said "Thebey", I went in with excitement and
found a place that reminded me of the center of Hadera in the 60's.
"This is exactly the experience of Byron or of all the people who come to Greece. It is very
reminiscent of Mark Twain who tells about people who come to the Holy Land and find feelings and
stench.
"We have ground the story of nationalism and archeology to a fine point. We tried to go beyond
that, to try to understand the basics. What is the equal side between Greece and Israel and how is
it related to European colonialism.
"Greece and the Bible are the foundations of Western culture. The symbol of the European Union is
the Parthenon. On the other hand, the morality, culture and superiority of the Europeans is based
on the fact that they received the Bible."
The West comes and imagines something for itself.
"Yes, it is ours, it is us. We are the people of Israel, we are Greece. These things are said
explicitly. The other side of the equation is that whoever is there is not good enough, there is
something despicable about him. The Turks certainly, but also all the others. They have
degenerated. Zionism embraces this whiteness."
Hamilkis shows that classical archeology in Greece was shaped by Germans and some French, and they
have an influence to this day. To what extent did pre-Zionist archaeology, mainly British, have an
influence on Zionist and later Israeli archaeology?
"Flinders Petrie, who excavated in 1890, is presented as the father of scientific archaeology.
Charles Warren is presented as the father of the archeology of Jerusalem. There is enormous
admiration for this initial work.
"The researchers who came to Israel were Protestants. Protestants have no mediation. You read the
Bible, and you can understand it. If you want to find a place, you go to it, you don't ask the
priest what tradition says where Jesus went.
"They came here and created a completely new geography, a historical geography, where underneath
every Arab village hides some ancient place. The village is a semi-transparent screen through which
you can see the Bible, but it also hides. Here in Israel, these people are admired."
You quote a book of Deuteronomy written by a historical geographer at the beginning of the 20th
century who says that "those who seek to restore the true Jerusalem must wait for the night, when
the city hides its decay."
"This book by George Adam Adams was printed here in the 1980s. They reissued all these books. They
are considered the founding fathers of archeology here. The archaeologists of the state generation
accepted it as ready made and continued. You can understand why we have arrived for the
purification of the land or for an attempt to create a land clean of all the later layers."
When does this purge show up here?
"When the (British) mandate comes. Jerusalem is cleaned of all the 'excess filth' that the Turks
put on. There was a clock tower near the Jaffa Gate - they destroyed it. There were all kinds of
buildings attached to the Jaffa Gate, they destroyed them. We cleared dozens, if not hundreds, of
buildings that surrounded the The old city, they created the old city as something that stands on
its own.
"They (the British) passed antiquities laws, which said that only what was before 1700 is
antiquities. There is a debate whether this statement is utilitarian or ideological. In my eyes,
utilitarianism and ideology meet.
"Yannis describes how in the Parthenon buildings from the 12th century are being destroyed, to this
day. Under the Parthenon, where there is a museum today, there was a slum that the Americans and
the Rockefeller Foundation cleared in the 1930s. For us, Silvan is perhaps the most prominent case.
Houses are being demolished on the grounds that it is a valley The king. The permanent problem here
is that there are no real antiquities here. Apart from a few Arab and Crusader buildings, there is
nothing to see."
"Houses are being demolished on the grounds that it is the King's Valley." Visitors to the
archaeological site of the City of David in Silvan managed by the Elad association (Photo: Hadas
Proosh / Flash 90)
Why this difference compared to Greece?
"Also because it wasn't that monumental in the first place, and also because the settlement here is
terribly intense compared to other places. People keep coming back to the same places, recycling
the stones."
More than Greece?
"I don't know Greece well enough, but I know that when the Germans went to Olympia, they were very
disappointed. Everything was dismantled. The Kaiser was very angry. There were no monuments here,
and those that were, were completely destroyed. Maybe except for Herod."
Were the first Zionists disappointed that they did not find monuments here?
"I don't know what they felt. Perhaps in the whole school of Ben Zvi, who claimed that the peasants
are actually the descendants of the Jews, there is an attempt to say that the continuity here is
not through the stones, but through the human being."
You use the term crypto-colonialism a lot, covert colonialism. Explain the concept to me and what
it is used for?
"It's a concept that Yannis brought. He adopted it from an anthropologist named Michael Herzfeld, a
great expert on modern Greece. The thing that caught Herzfeld is how you have a nation that is so
proud of its past and its primacy, and at the same time is dependent. It has the pride of an
independent state, and at the same time It is clear to everyone that someone else is pulling the
strings. In Greece it is even more emphasized, because it was the Bavarians who founded the first
Greek state, and to this day Greece is considered some kind of infantile nation that cannot manage
its affairs properly, it needs to be monitored.
"Greece was a buffer country between the communist East and the non-communist West, and previously
served as a buffer against Islam and the Turks. Yannis says that Greece is a buffer country even
now, against waves of immigration from Asia and Africa.
"Herzfeld created an archetype from this that he calls crypto-colonialism. How do you identify a
country as crypto-colonial? On the one hand, a highly developed national ideology, a sense of
independence, a deep historical sense, and on the other hand it is held by the West to protect its
interests in the face of some threat.
"When I heard that, I said, voila, this is exactly us. Do you remember a time when we would change
to American flags on Independence Day? After October 7, Bibi stood like a stuffed animal and all
the leaders of the West came to him - Macron, Maloney, Biden. I asked myself, why? Because Israel
is also this buffer, it stands against Islamic terrorism, against Iran. This is a war that the
powers are waging on our soil."
Others will tell you that it is simply colonialism, or settler colonialism.
"The crypto is that we think we are independent. The Greeks live to this day with the feeling that
they are not good enough. This is where the whole arrangement with the European Union came from,
which put them in a terrible economic hole. We received so much money - reparations, aid from
America, and still feel that everyone owes us. Why? There is the Holocaust, but there is also an
image that we are doing America's work, and all of its investment here is for its benefit."
Greetings from President Bar Kochba to President Ben Zvi. Yigal Yedin visits the pyramids in Egypt,
June 15, 1979 (Government Photo Archive)
What is strong in the book is that what is "ours", the Bible, is also not so much ours. It comes
from the West. Like the idea of ​​the Lass in Greece.
"Things are a little more blurred here. In archeology it is also more blurred, because we less need
archeology to build our identity.
"Yannis describes antiquity in Greece as a type of religion or as something sacred. The Parthenon
is a temple and it is also sacred. It is tall, no building in Athens that competes with the
Parthenon should be built. As if modern Greece could not exist without classical Greece.
"Here, the school curriculum does not include archaeology. In Greece, it is mandatory. I worked at
the Antiquities Authority at the Israel Museum, and you don't see there the caravans of
schoolchildren that you see in museums in all kinds of places in the world. Tourists visit the book
hall. Israel presents as if the scrolls are the rock of our existence, but if Take someone on the
street, does he know what the scrolls are?
"I think it has to do with Judaism, with Judaism's ability to exist without monuments. Most people
who see the waves of stones here, are not too impressed. So they try to do it in Masada, but you
don't say: Wow, what a palace I saw in Masada."
But if Masada is our Parthenon, it is a Parthenon of failure, of suicide.
"One of the things you catch here is the destruction. If you want to see something impressive in
archeology in Israel, it's the destruction near the Temple Mount, the huge stones that fell on the
street. Our disasters are celebrated in archeology. This creates dissonance. We are supposed to be
proud and build a new future, and our antiquities are taken down us all the time.
"The Zionists, until '48, were not particularly interested in archaeology, partly because of this
(the Jewish background, Marr), and also because of socialism, in order to build a new world you
have to destroy the previous world. As in Israel Sen's poem: 'Dynamite straightens the humps of the
mountains, and yesterday is destroyed while singing'.
"We are destroying our entire environment, we are truly destruction contractors par excellence,
this is the thing that most characterizes our presence here. But also death, the place that death
occupies with us, the sanctification of God, the willingness to sacrifice people. It is very
strong.
"The sanctification of the land, the sanctification of the monuments, the sanctification of the
antiquities - all this is foreign to Judaism. It is adopted. It is a common line for evangelicals
and settlers."
As an archaeologist, you say we are characterized by sowing destruction?
"It goes back to the nation and its ruins. There are ruins, but they are ours, and there is
everything unimportant, which we destroy. With the Arabs who lived here for thousands of years, and
with everyone who came before them, the past enters the present. You take a wall of an old terrace
and build a new terrace. You take An old structure is dismantled and a new structure is built.
There is a circular movement of the materials, which makes the archaeologists' work very complex,
and therefore the Israeli archaeologists are quite good at deciphering these processes.
"Imagine there is a city, destroy it, build a new city and destroy it, like a layer cake. But it
doesn't work like that. Most sites in Israel are sites of constant change. Once every few hundred
years there is a destruction that resets the clock, but the normal situation is not that.
"I do archeology of ancient times, and I deny that wars and destruction are the bread and butter of
this country's constitution. Even in times when there were empires and kings here, this was not the
case. When the Egyptians occupied this place in the Late Bronze Age, they did not destroy all the
cities.
"People say: 'The Romans came and destroyed, the Byzantines destroyed, the Arabs destroyed, the
Crusaders destroyed, they all destroyed.'
"The ability to destroy, to mow, to raze, is something of the 20th and 21st centuries, it belongs
to late modernity, to late capitalism. I encountered it in Ramat Beit Shemesh. They shaved the tops
of the hills there and poured them into the wadi in order to have a topography more convenient for
construction. This can only be done with today's machines, no previous civilization was able to do
such a thing."
Israel stands out in this matter?
"I think Israel stands out because of the density, and also because there is a meeting here of
modernity and the national and colonial ideology, which consider those who are here as something
unnecessary. Also the landscape. All these things together gave Israel extensive permission to
destroy everything: the Hula Valley , Dead Sea, Gush Dan, we walk around the city and don't
recognize it anymore, almost nothing remains of the city we grew up in."
You said that what you saw in the excavation in Keds was a destruction that you did not see as
researchers of this land.
"It's destruction, how to say, without need. Almost all the demolitions and rebuilding that people
did in their villages always had a justification. I build a new house and dismantle the old one.
Here it's destruction only for the purpose of destruction.
"I worked in Jerusalem during the destruction of the First Temple. There is a part of Jerusalem
that burned, there are whole parts that did not. Apparently people continued to live there or
returned there after things calmed down. In Keds all the stones remained there. No one coveted
them. They just wanted to destroy.
"Destruction towards those who once lived there, which is meant to tell them that they have nowhere
to return to, and also towards those who have not yet been born, that there is not even anything to
see here. The ability to destroy is greater than it was in the past, and therefore the dimensions
are more impressive. Do it with the father of The Di-9, along with the Di-4, also belong to the
Caterpillar company."
unnecessary destruction. The excavation site in Keds (courtesy of the Keds Project)
Do you see a connecting line between Keds and Gaza?
"I see a line that connects lightly, thinking that it is nothing, that it is not worthy of mention
at all, neither this village nor Gaza. People are ready to demonstrate here for all kinds of worthy
things, but no one thinks that the incredible destruction we have wrought there (in Gaza) is
something worthy To dwell on it. I stretch it back to the 19th century, because there they came and
said: there are wretched houses, people who live wretched lives."
In the book, you talk about decolonial archaeology, about changing the self-definition of
archaeology. What is meant by?
"Because we defined ourselves all these years according to Western standards, along the way we not
only sacrificed the partnership with the indigenous people, we also constantly create this buffer
and look outside. There is a lack of cultural independence in this.
"If we really want to be here - and I won't now define whether here is East or West, but this is
not Europe and it is not America - this 'here' includes everything, from the earliest prehistory to
Kedah to the present day.
"The past is not the past, the past is what we take and now put on the table. What you see around
here in the room, all these boxes, are pottery that I brought from a site that I excavated, but
from the moment I brought them here, I made them part of our story .
"Decolonialism, in my eyes, is to get rid of the need to want some kind of ideological structure,
economic structure, political structure, and try to build something that can be shared here by
those who live here."
Do you see such a possibility? Can you imagine archeology of Israelis and Palestinians together?
"When I look at who lives here, we are not white, the country is not white. You have to work both
from below and from above. I did it in Jerusalem. I worked there with youth, some of whom were
national religious and some secular, some immigrants from Russia , whose Judaism is not an
important part of their existence, and immigrants from Ethiopia who had significant African pride.
I told them: you are all very different from each other, but you are all here now, so let's talk
about What was here. Do not say Hezekiah and the kings of Judah, who lived here and made wine, the
story does not have to be local.
"Here at the university, the curriculum is very biased towards biblical and Jewish periods. A
Palestinian student who comes to the university here, what will he learn? Changing the curriculum
means giving up power. That's what we're talking about. Yannis says: I have to convince the
classical archaeologist to give up the period classical, to give up the power and strength that
this classic gives him. I once tried to take a faculty member to teach about the later periods, the
Muslims. It was right, but someone had to give up, and it didn't happen."
And when you talk to Palestinian archaeologists, do you find this continuity that you talked about
before?
"The intellectual position of the Palestinian archaeologists I meet or read is that we (the
Palestinians) are the inheritors of everything. Everything is important to us. We are interested in
both the Romans and the Kingdom of Israel, and the Byzantines and the Mamluks, and so on."
Is this a position that you as an archaeologist think we should adopt?
"Yes, I think I can learn and even be inspired by this approach, because it shows me how you can be
a local archaeologist, without it requiring you to throw everything away.
"But there is a power that cannot be given up. The blood circulation of this place is through the
myths and through the Bible. It's as if you were to tell the West, stop being interested in us. But
those who claim to be local, want to be born here, You have to want this thing."
And do you think you have Palestinian partners for this?
"I don't have Jewish partners. I'm sure there are Palestinians, but I don't have Jews."
We are shocked and shocked, worried and scared by the events of the last period.
In days like these there are those who demand the press to "choose a side". The side we chose is
clear: we stand by everyone who lost their loved ones in this war; alongside all those who had to
flee for their lives and leave behind a home; Alongside all those who fear for their lives and the
lives of their family and loved ones, in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
These days, we feel and feel that our voice, the voice of Palestinians and Israelis against the
occupation and for a just peace, security and freedom for all, is more important than ever. The
important stories that are not covered in the mainstream media are countless, but our resources are
limited. With your help, we can bring stories like the one you just read to a growing public, and
offer the much-needed analysis, context, and coverage, especially in this difficult and dramatic
time. The best way to ensure our stability and independence is the support of the community of
readers through membership in a local conversation.
It's time to be a member of a local conversation
Miron Rapoport is a journalist, translator and political activist. He even managed to work at
"Davar" just before it closed and then at "Hadhot", "Ovda", "Yediot Ahronoth", "Haaretz", and in
the last decade he edited the program "Making Order" and at the same time also wrote for
international press. He won the Naples award for journalism for an investigation into the theft of
olive trees during the construction of the separation fence, and was also fired from "Yediot
Ahronoth" after giving a headline that did not flatter Ariel Sharon, then the prime minister.
Rapoport is also one of the founders of the "A Land for All" movement, which calls for the
establishment of two independent states, Israel and Palestine, with open borders, freedom of
movement and common institutions.
"Throughout my career I have tried to be true to myself and my values, and also to the public, to
its right to know and its duty to know things that are not always convenient for it. Journalism has
always been and will always be a public mission for me." Today, Miron is an editor and writer at
"Tasha Local"
Aziz Abu Sara and Mouz Yanon (Photo: Uri Levy)
Maoz Yanon and Aziz Abu Sara have been leading since October 7 an extensive personal and public
campaign against revenge and in favor of reconciliation. Yanon is now organizing the "Great Peace
Conference" together with dozens of organizations. The idea is to build a coalition and
infrastructure for a peace process that comes from the people themselves, they say. interview
A local conversation is an online magazine of news from the field, commentary and culture, operated
by a collective of writers, photographers. Launch: April 2014

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"מחריד יותר מגואנטנמו": עדויות מביקור בשדה תימן - שיחה מקומית
title : "More horrifying than Guantanamo": evidence from a visit to the Yemen field - local conversation

Dirt, lice and pigeon droppings. Arrested at the Sde Yemen facility
"The situation there is more horrifying than anything we have heard about Abu Ghraib and
Guantanamo" - this is how attorney Khaled Mahajana describes the "Sdeh Yemen" detention center,
after visiting it last Wednesday. Since the beginning of the war, they have been held at the
military base in the Negev, which has been converted into a facility Detention, more than 4,000
Palestinians from Gaza arrested after October 7, some released, most still detained.
Mahajana managed, after a long struggle, to obtain permission to visit the journalist Muhammad
Arab, a reporter for the "Al-Arabi" network, who was arrested about 100 days ago in Al-Shifa
hospital in Gaza. This is the first visit of a lawyer to the detention camp. Mahajana returned from
it shocked by the unbearably harsh conditions in which the detainees are kept.
"I was contacted by Al-Arabi channel and asked me to find out what happened to their reporter. They
said he disappeared 100 days ago while covering the events at Al-Shifa Hospital," says attorney
Mahajana. ) of the army, and after several correspondences during which they asked me for an
official power of attorney, a photo and an identity card of the detainee, I was informed that he
was in the Yemen field and that I could visit him. At first I did not believe it, but I completed
the procedures, and the visit did take place last week.
"On the day of the visit, they called in the morning to confirm that I was coming, and then I was
informed that I had to leave my car at the main entrance, far from the camp, where a military jeep
was waiting for me, something I had not seen in any previous visit to any prison. They asked me
about my professional license and whether I Other things. Then we drove about ten minutes inside
the huge camp, which was full of trailers, and then I came to an area with a large warehouse, or a
kind of barn, in which there was a trailer. There, all the soldiers were masked in a way that I had
never seen before.
"They brought the detainee and there was a kind of barrier between me and him. They repeated many
times that the visit is 45 minutes, and any action that might harm the security of the state, the
security of the camp or the security of the soldiers will lead to the immediate termination of the
visit. Until now I don't understand what they meant, I asked them If the visit is recorded and they
said that the cameras record it without sound."
When the arrested journalist was brought in, the first question he asked Mahajana was: "Where am
I?". Like him, most of the detainees do not even know the place of their detention, in the
detention facility that was nicknamed the "death camp".
"I have been visiting political and security detainees and prisoners in Israeli prisons for years,
even after October 7, and I know that the conditions of detention have become much more difficult
and that the prisoners are abused on a daily basis in all prisons. But what I saw in the Yemen
field during a 45-minute visit is unlike anything I have ever seen And I heard before."
About the meeting with the arrested journalist, Mahajana says: "They brought him hand and foot
tied, blindfolded, and dragged him in a humiliating manner. For five minutes he rubbed his eyes and
did not believe that he could see the light. At first he doubted the fact that I was a lawyer, and
told me This explicitly: 'What proves to me that you are a lawyer and not a spy? Because I have
been here for 100 days and I know that lawyers are not coming, so what will make me believe you?'
And I reassured him about his family being in Deir al-Balah, at his brother's house, and that all
his family members are fine and that I talked to them and they are waiting for any information
about him - he believed me.
"He looked like a different person in his face, his hair, the color of his skin, his health, and he
was full of dirt, lice, and pigeon droppings. He said that all prisoners were in this condition,
and that he was only allowed to change pants for the first time because of the visit. His pants,
which were originally gray in color, turned brown from the dirt.
"He began to tell me about the conditions of detention and what he had seen with his own eyes in
the last few days. He said that the detainees' eyes are covered 24 hours a day, and their hands are
tied behind their backs at all hours of the day. They sleep in a bent position on the floor without
a cover, mattress or any other bedding, and use shoes The iron handcuffs are only removed from the
detainee's hands, once a week, for one minute, and those who go beyond the minute limit are
severely punished. They were allowed to shave after many weeks of detention The facility includes a
little brick and a piece of cucumber or tomato per day.
"The prisoners are prevented from talking to each other, even though more than 100 people are
imprisoned inside a 'warehouse', some of them elderly and minors. They are not allowed to pray or
even read the Koran.
"The investigations include severe violence. Muhammad was interrogated twice since his arrest, the
first time 40 days after the arrest, by soldiers from the army's special units. Muhammad was
informed by phone of one of the investigators that the court extended his detention indefinitely
after the first interrogation, on suspicion of belonging The organization was not given his
identity."
"After all this I need psychological therapy." Advocate Khaled Mahajana (courtesy of the
photographer)
Mahajana also heard about cases of rape of detainees by the guards. According to him, six prisoners
were raped and sexually assaulted in front of the other prisoners only because they violated orders
inside the prison, and Arab testified that he knows several prisoners who were killed due to the
violent interrogations just in the last month, injured detainees whose limbs were amputated or who
had bullets removed from their bodies without anesthesia and were treated not by doctors, but by by
nursing students, while police dogs surround the prisoners at all times.
"When he talked about rape cases, I said to him, 'Mohammed, you are a journalist, are you sure
about this?' And he said that he saw it with his own eyes and is waiting for the moment of his
release to tell the whole world about what he saw, and what he tells me is only a small part of
what happens there."
"Six prisoners were stripped of their clothes and sexually assaulted with a stick in front of all
the prisoners, my biggest wish has become not to reach this situation," the prisoner told his
lawyer. It should be noted that yesterday a video of a prisoner from Gaza, who was recently
released from Yemen, was circulated, in which he says that cases of rape took place in front of
him, and that he saw with his own eyes cases where soldiers allow dogs to sexually attack
prisoners.
"The prisoners began to refuse to shower," says Mahajana, "because they have no watches, and any
delay of more than the allowed minute exposes the prisoner to severe punishments, including being
left for hours in the heat or rain, so they began to avoid showers. Because food is very scarce,
all the prisoners They suffer from severe constipation. Every 100 prisoners are given one roll of
paper every day."
The defense teams and human rights organizations have almost no tools to deal with these serious
violations of the prisoners' rights, Mahajana says. "The lawyers and human rights teams are
completely helpless in the face of everything related to the prisoners in the Yemen field, as the
prosecutor's office tried to embellish the picture and said that they were going to close this
detention center after the harsh reviews, but nothing happened; even the courts are saturated with
hatred, racism and revenge against the residents Gaza.
"What law in the world allows prisoners to be shackled for 100 days under such conditions? The war
against prisoners is no less cruel and difficult than the genocide that is taking place in Gaza.
Most of them are not accused of belonging to any organization or military activity, they are
ordinary citizens, not Noh'ba fighters and not even Hamas members or Any other organization.
"Mohammed Arab and the rest of the prisoners in the detention center are calling on the
international community and the international courts to act to save them. It is unthinkable that
the whole world is talking about the Israeli abductees and no one is talking about the Palestinian
prisoners. Members of the human rights community and international organizations are prevented from
visiting them, to prevent them from reporting the torture , the abuse and revenge that the
prisoners are subjected to."
In recent weeks, international media have published several testimonies of released prisoners and
of doctors who worked at the detention facility, such as that of Dr. Yoel Donhin, who told the "New
York Times" that it is not clear to him "why the soldiers arrested most of the people he treated:
the possibility that they participated in the fighting It is highly improbable. One of them was
paralyzed in the lower limbs, another weighed about 150 kg and a third has been breathing since
childhood through a tube inserted into his neck."
Mahajana: "Doctors, who served in the Yemen field and spoke to the newspaper's reporters, reported
that they were told not to write their names on official documents and not to address each other by
their names in the presence of patients, for fear that they could be identified and accused of
committing war crimes at the International Court of Justice."
"They stripped them of any human qualities," one of the witnesses who worked as a medic at the
makeshift hospital in the facility told CNN. "The purpose (of the beatings) was not to gather
intelligence information. They were beaten out of revenge," said another witness. "It was a
punishment for what they (the Palestinians) did on October 7 and a punishment for the way they
behaved in the facility."
"Since the visit I have suffered from extreme frustration. I have been in the profession for 15
years and I have never witnessed anything like this," says Mahajana. "I think that after all this I
need psychological treatment, I never expected to hear about the rape of prisoners, or such
humiliations. And all this is not for the purpose of interrogation, since most of the prisoners are
actually interrogated after long days of detention, but for the purpose of revenge, and revenge on
whom? Everyone Civilians, young people, adults and children. There are no Hamas or Nohba people in
the Yemeni field because they are in the hands of the Shavas. It was without a doubt the worst
experience of my life, mixed with helplessness and uncertainty. I don't know what happened to the
prisoner who told me at the end of the visit that those were the best 45 minutes of his life. Did
they attack him? Did they kill him? I think about it all the time."
The army spokeswoman responded:
"During the fighting in the Gaza Strip, suspects of terrorist activity are arrested. The relevant
suspects are brought to further detention and investigation in Israel. Those of them who are found
not to be involved in terrorist activity are released back to the Gaza Strip. In the case of
detainees who are found to have room for continued imprisonment and a warrant was issued against
them under the Law on the Imprisonment of Illegal Combatants, A judicial review hearing was held
before the district court judge. The judge identifies the detainee, asks for his opinion and
explains his decision to him. The procedure is accompanied by an Arabic interpreter.
"The military prison facilities are intended for the interrogation and screening of detainees until
they are handed over to the Israel Security Service or returned to the Gaza Strip as long as it is
found that they are not involved in terrorist activity. In recent weeks, the number of detainees at
the detention facility in Sade Yemen has decreased after many detainees were transferred to the
Shavas, and it is expected to continue to decrease.
"Mistreatment of detainees during their stay in detention is against the law and IDF orders and is
therefore strictly prohibited. The IDF rejects claims concerning the systematic abuse of detainees,
including by way of violence or torture. The prison facility is regularly photographed and is under
the supervision of commanders. Concrete complaints regarding inappropriate behavior on the part of
the prison staff or unsatisfactory conditions are forwarded to the inspection of the relevant
authorities and dealt with accordingly. If necessary, Police investigations are opened when there
is a suspicion of unusual behavior that justifies it.
"Among the detainees held in the military detention facilities, there are skilled military
operatives at a very high level of danger. Depending on their level of risk and taking into account
their health status, the detainees are kept in handcuffs based on an individual decision. Every
day, a test is carried out with respect to each handcuffed detainee to make sure that the handcuffs
are not too tight.
"Each detainee receives blankets, a mattress and full clothing adapted to the weather. The
detainees receive three meals a day, in the scope and quantity approved by a nutritionist to
maintain their health, and water is regularly accessible to them.
"Detainees are allowed regular access to restrooms located in the prison complex and they shower
regularly, each shower lasts between 7 and 10 minutes and no violence is used against those who
exceed this. After the shower they are given new bricks and, as needed, they change clothes. The
detainees shave as needed by their personal decision. Detainees are allowed to read the Koran and
are allowed to pray, if necessary, Koran books are even provided to the detainees by the facility.
"Since the beginning of the war, there have been deaths of detainees, including detainees who
arrived injured from the battlefield or in a problematic medical condition. Each death is
investigated by the investigating military police. At the end of the investigations, their findings
will be forwarded to the military prosecutor's office."
We are shocked and shocked, worried and scared by the events of the last period.
In days like these there are those who demand the press to "choose a side". The side we chose is
clear: we stand by everyone who lost their loved ones in this war; alongside all those who had to
flee for their lives and leave behind a home; Alongside all those who fear for their lives and the
lives of their family and loved ones, in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
These days, we feel and feel that our voice, the voice of Palestinians and Israelis against the
occupation and for a just peace, security and freedom for all, is more important than ever. The
important stories that are not covered in the mainstream media are countless, but our resources are
limited. With your help, we can bring stories like the one you just read to a growing public, and
offer the much-needed analysis, context, and coverage, especially in this difficult and dramatic
time. The best way to ensure our stability and independence is the support of the community of
readers through membership in a local conversation.
It's time to be a member of a local conversation
Journalist, born in Kfar Metzer in the Lower Galilee, and lives in Nazareth.
Bachar has been working in the field of journalism since 2010, initially as a reporter for several
local Arab media, and later as an editor for the "Bukhara" website. Today he also works as an
editor in television programs, writes and uploads on his Facebook page various opinion articles on
politics and social fields related to Palestinian society.
In "Local Talk" Bacher writes about various issues in Palestinian politics and society.
Aziz Abu Sara and Mouz Yanon (Photo: Uri Levy)
Maoz Yanon and Aziz Abu Sara have been leading since October 7 an extensive personal and public
campaign against revenge and in favor of reconciliation. Yanon is now organizing the "Great Peace
Conference" together with dozens of organizations. The idea is to build a coalition and
infrastructure for a peace process that comes from the people themselves, they say. interview
A local conversation is an online magazine of news from the field, commentary and culture, operated
by a collective of writers, photographers. Launch: April 2014

---

"גרדיאן": יוסי כהן השתמש ב"שיטות נבזיות" ללחוץ על התובעת בהאג - שיחה מקומית
title : "Guardian": Yossi Cohen used "vile methods" to pressure the prosecutor in The Hague - local conversation

Seen as Prime Minister Netanyahu's "unofficial messenger" for the fight against the criminal court
in The Hague. Yossi Cohen, former head of the Mossad (Photo: Yonatan Zindel / Flash90)
Yossi Cohen, during the time he served as head of the Mossad, allegedly threatened Pato Bensouda,
when she served as the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC), in
a series of secret meetings, during which he tried to pressure her to stop the investigation into
Israel's war crimes, according to the published investigation This morning in the British newspaper
"Guardian".
The orders from the Hague: Israel's dubious bet on white supremacy
According to the newspaper, Cohen's secret meetings with Bensouda took place in the years leading
up to her decision in 2021 to open an official investigation into war crimes committed by Israelis
and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
The investigation into Cohen's activities is part of a wider investigation by the "Guardian",
together with "Sasheh Local" and the magazine 972+ which will be published later today, and will
reveal, according to many sources, how various intelligence agencies in Israel were complicit in a
secret "war" against the ICC for about a decade.
The newspaper quotes a senior Israeli source, who says that Cohen's actions "were approved at the
highest level in Israel on the assumption that the ICC endangers Israel." According to the
newspaper, another source familiar with the affair said that Cohen served as the "unofficial
messenger" of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The newspaper notes that Cohen was considered one
of the closest people to Netanyahu at that time.
"The Guardian" says that he contacted Prime Minister Netanyahu's office with detailed questions and
the response was that "the questions presented to us are full of many false and unfounded claims
aimed at harming the State of Israel." Cohen refused to answer The Guardian's inquiries.
A source who received an update on the operation against Bensouda told the newspaper that the
Mossad's goal "was to try to 'complicate' her, either through 'blackmail' or through recruiting her
as someone who would cooperate with Israel's demands."
The goal was to "complicate" her. Fatou Bensouda, former chief prosecutor at the Hague Criminal
Court (Photo: ICC)
The newspaper relied on four sources who said that Nesouda informed a small group of senior
officials at the ICC about Cohen's attempts to influence the prosecutor, because she feared the
"increasingly threatening and persistent nature" of his behavior.
These sources, who received reports of Bensouda's meetings with the head of the Mossad at the time,
said he "pressured her" on several occasions not to continue the investigation into the "Palestine
case," which she opened in 2015, shortly after Palestine joined the ICC as a member and filed a
complaint against War crimes, which Israel allegedly committed in the occupied territories.
The newspaper says that according to Bensouda's reports, which she shared with senior officials at
the ICC, at one point Cohen allegedly told her: "You need to help us and let us take care of you.
You don't want to get into things that could complicate your security and that of your family."
One of the sources, who received a report on Cohen's actions, was quoted in the British newspaper
as saying that the head of the Mossad used "vile tactics" against Bensouda "in an attempt to
frighten her and influence her", an attempt that was ultimately unsuccessful. The source compared
his behavior to "stalking".
According to the "Guardian" investigation, the Mossad showed an interest in Bensouda's family
members and obtained transcripts of her husband's secret tapes in order to use them to throw off
the former prosecutor's scent.
The "Guardian" claims that as part of its efforts to influence Bensouda, Israel received surprising
support in the form of the former president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Joseph Kabila,
who "played a central role in the plot against the prosecutor."
Warn those who try to intimidate the court. Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in
The Hague, Karim Khan (Photo: Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, CC BY-SA 2.0)
The newspaper points out that when Shakarim Khan, Bensouda's successor in office, announced last
week the requests to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense
Minister Yoav Galant, he added a warning that he would not hesitate to file a lawsuit against
"attempts to inhibit, intimidate or unfairly influence" The ICC officials.
The newspaper quotes legal experts and former ICC officials as saying that the attempts to
influence Bensouda could be considered a crime under Article 70 of the Rome Statute, on the basis
of which the tribunal was established. This section, which discusses interference with the court in
the performance of its duties, also applies to citizens of countries that are not signatories to
the treaty, such as Israel.
As mentioned, Bensouda decided to open an investigation in 2015 immediately after Palestine joined
the ICC. "Benseuda's decision provoked outrage in Israel, which feared that its citizens would be
prosecuted for their involvement in actions carried out in the Palestinian territories," the
Guardian wrote. "Israel openly expressed opposition to the ICC and refused to recognize its
authority."
According to the newspaper, after a preliminary investigation into the matter began, "Bensouda and
her senior prosecutors began to receive warnings that Israeli intelligence was very interested in
their actions. According to four sources familiar with the situation, Bensouda's personal safety
became a source of concern."
The "Guardian" goes on to say that "according to two sources, senior officials at the ICC even
suspected that Israel cultivated sources within the court's prosecution department. Another source
noted that although the Mossad 'did not leave a stamp,' the assumption was that the Mossad was
behind some of the activities that the members of the court They were aware of them. However, only
a limited group of senior officials at the ICC was informed that it was the head of the Mossad who
contacted the Prosecutor General."
Netanyahu appointed him head of the National Intelligence Service and then head of the Mossad.
Netanyahu and Cohen at a ceremony in honor of Cohen's appointment as head of the Mossad, 2016
(Photo: Kobi Gideon / Leam)
The "Guardian" mentions that before being appointed head of the Mossad in 2016, Cohen served as the
head of the MLA, and in this position - according to various sources - he coordinated the
activities of various bodies in Israel against the ICC.
According to the newspaper, the first meeting between Cohen and Bensouda took place at the Munich
Security Conference in 2017, where he introduced himself to her. "After this meeting, Cohen
'ambushed' Bensouda in a strange event in a suite at a New York hotel, according to multiple
sources familiar with the affair," The Guardian wrote.
Bensouda made an official visit to New York in 2018, and met there with Joseph Kabila, then
president of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The two had met several times previously regarding
an ongoing ICC investigation into crimes allegedly committed in the Congo.
"However, the meeting was apparently a trap," the Guardian wrote. "At a certain moment, after
Bensouda's team was asked to leave the room, Cohen entered it, according to sources familiar with
the meeting. The surprising appearance, they said, caused panic in Bensouda and the ICC personnel
who accompanied her on the visit."
The "Guardian" does not have a clear explanation as to why Kabila agreed to assist Cohen, but it is
noted there that the connections between the two were exposed in the newspaper "The Marker" in
2022, where Cohen's three secret visits to the Congo in 2019 were reported. A report in "The
Marker" stated that Cohen sought Kabila's advice on "a matter of importance to Israel". According
to "The Marker" the visits were unusual and astonished senior officials in the Israeli intelligence
system, but they almost certainly received the approval of Prime Minister Netanyahu.
A report in "Kaan 11" stated that Cohen's visits were related to a "very controversial program" and
noted that senior sources in Israel described it as "one of Israel's most sensitive secrets."
The "Guardian" says that "many sources confirmed that (Cohen's) visits were related to action
against the ICC", and that Kabila, who left his position in 2019, "played a central role in the
Mossad's plot against Bensouda".
A surprising meeting in a hotel in New York. Joseph Kabila, former president of Congo visiting the
White House in 2014 (Photo: White House)
"According to three sources, after the surprise meeting with Kabila and Nesouda in New York, Cohen
repeatedly called the plaintiff and asked to meet with her," the Guardian said. "According to two
of the people familiar with the affair, at one point Bensuda asked Cohen how he got her phone
number, and he replied: 'Have you forgotten what I work for?'"
According to the newspaper, Cohen first "tried to build a relationship with the prosecutor, played
the 'good cop' and tried to charm her. The first goal was probably to recruit the prosecutor to
cooperate with Israel's requests."
"However - the report in the "Guardian" continues, quoting a person who received a report on the
meetings - with the passage of time, Cohen's tone changed and he began using a series of tactics,
including threats and manipulation. This pushed Bensouda to report to a small group of senior
officials at the ICC about Cohen's behavior ".
In December 2019, Bansuda announced that there was a basis to open an investigation into crimes
committed by Israelis and Palestinians, however, it postponed the opening of the official
investigation until the decision of the judges of the court on whether the ICC has the authority to
hear the lawsuit filed by the Palestinian Authority.
While the justices were deliberating, according to the British newspaper, "multiple sources said
Cohen stepped up his efforts to persuade Bensouda not to launch a full investigation," in case the
justices decide the court has jurisdiction to hear the case.
According to sources who spoke to the newspaper, between 2019 and the beginning of 2021, "there
were at least three meetings between Cohen and Bensouda, all of which were initiated by the head of
the Mossad. Her behavior increasingly worried the ICC staff."
Senior officials began to be concerned about the plaintiff's safety. The International Criminal
Court in The Hague (Photo: United Nations)
"A source familiar with Bensouda's accounts of the last two meetings with Cohen said he (Cohen)
raised questions about her safety and the safety of her family in a way that made her believe he
was threatening them," the Guardian wrote. "In one case, it is said that Cohen showed her copies of
hidden photographs of her husband, while the couple visited London. In another case, according to
the sources, Cohen hinted to the prosecutor that a decision to open a full investigation would be
destructive to her career."
Three sources told the "Guardian" that during this period Bensuda and her aides discovered that
information about her husband, an international business consultant, was circulating in diplomatic
circles.
"Between 2019 and 2020, the Mossad actively searched for embarrassing information about the
plaintiff (Benseuda) and discovered a special interest in her husband," the Guardian wrote. "The
intelligence organization obtained a database of material, including transcripts of conversations,
of a sting operation against Bensouda's husband, during which he was recorded saying things that
the Israelis thought would indirectly put the plaintiff's scent off."
According to the newspaper, it is not clear who led the sting operation or what exactly Bensouda
said in the recordings. One possibility, according to the newspaper, is that an intelligence
organization or private individuals from another country followed him out of a desire to have
leverage on the ICC.
According to the newspaper, "Once the aforementioned recording was in Israel's hands, it was used
by its diplomats in an unsuccessful attempt to undermine the plaintiff's position by alleging
inappropriate behavior by her partner. However, according to many sources, they (the Israelis)
failed to convince that they (the documents) important".
The "Guardian" describes the information that Israeli diplomats shared with their colleagues as
part of the "smear campaign" against Bensouda. "They went over Pato's head," one of the sources
told the newspaper, but insisted that the move had "no effect" on Bensouda's work.
US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveil the "Plan of the Century" in
Washington, on January 28, 2020 (Photo: White House)
The "Guardian" claims that these diplomatic efforts were part of a coordinated move between the
Netanyahu government and the administration of President Donald Trump to pressure Bensouda and her
team. He mentioned that in 2019 the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Bensouda in response
to her decision to open an investigation into war crimes allegedly committed by US soldiers in
Afghanistan.
Trump's Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, then linked the sanctions to the Palestinian case at the
tribunal. "It's clear that the ICC is only targeting Israel for purely political reasons," Pompeo
said. A few months later, Pompeo claimed that Nessouda was "involved in acts of corruption for her
own benefit", without citing any actual facts to support the claim. Sanctions on the court were
lifted after Joe Biden entered the White House.
Ultimately, after the tribunal's judges ruled that they had the authority to hear the Palestinian
lawsuit, Bensuda announced in March 2021 her decision to open an official investigation.
"Ultimately, we need to take care first and foremost of the victims of crime, both Palestinians and
Israelis, resulting from a long cycle of violence and insecurity that causes deep suffering and
despair for all parties," she explained her decision at the time.
"They (Israel) chose the head of the Mossad to be the unofficial envoy of the Prime Minister
(Levansouda) in order to intimidate, from the beginning," a source familiar with the affair is
quoted in the "Guardian". "It failed."
In response to the Guardian's question, the ICC spokeswoman declined to say whether Khan, who
succeeded Bensouda in the post, was exposed to her reports about her contacts with Cohen, saying
that Khan had never met or spoken to Cohen. An ICC spokeswoman said, however, that Khan's office
had been the target of "various types of threats and communications, which can be seen as attempts
to put unfair pressure on his actions."
We are shocked and shocked, worried and scared by the events of the last period.
In days like this there are those who demand the press to "choose a side". The side we chose is
clear: we stand by everyone who lost their loved ones in this war; alongside all those who had to
flee for their lives and leave behind a home; Along with all those who fear for their lives and the
lives of their family and loved ones, in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
These days, we feel and feel that our voice, the voice of Palestinians and Israelis against the
occupation and for a just peace, security and freedom for all, is more important than ever. The
important stories that are not covered in the mainstream media are countless, but our resources are
limited. With your help, we can bring stories like the one you just read to a growing public, and
offer the much-needed analysis, context, and coverage, especially in this difficult and dramatic
time. The best way to ensure our stability and independence is the support of the community of
readers through membership in a local conversation.
It's time to be a member of a local conversation
This is the general channel of "local conversation", the place of our guests' articles, of group
initiatives on the site, live blogging at special events, system announcements and more.
We will be happy to receive proposals for articles and articles, photos and videos. You can read
our advertising policy on the about page, and send us emails here: info@mekomit.co.il
The articles and articles published on the channel represent their authors only, and not the
opinions of the members of "Shesha Local" or the opinions of the editors.
Aziz Abu Sara and Mouz Yanon (Photo: Uri Levy)
Maoz Yanon and Aziz Abu Sara have been leading since October 7 an extensive personal and public
campaign against revenge and in favor of reconciliation. Yanon is now organizing the "Great Peace
Conference" together with dozens of organizations. The idea is to build a coalition and
infrastructure for a peace process that comes from the people themselves, they say. interview
A local conversation is an online magazine of news from the field, commentary and culture, operated
by a collective of writers, photographers. Launch: April 2014

---

חזית אנטי פשיסטית, עכשיו - שיחה מקומית
title : Anti-fascist front, now - local conversation

Dangerous and far-reaching processes. Right-wing protesters in front of a demonstration against the
legal coup in Tel Aviv, on March 18, 2023 (Photo: Gili Yaari / Flash90)
In her latest column in Haaretz, Yoana Gonen tauntingly asks the leftists who intend to vote for
Naftali Bennett - yes, it turns out that there is such a trend - "What's going on with you?" The
question and wonder - not to mention the astonishment - embodied in it are certainly clear, but the
answer to Gonen's question is also clear: what they are going through, like the whole of Israeli
society, is an accelerated and deep process of fascisization.
Eight and a half months into a war whose end is still not in sight, the Israeli revenge campaign in
the besieged, starving and devastated Gaza Strip continues at full speed, despite the unprecedented
number of victims; the heavy diplomatic price; And the fact that the war crimes in Gaza have
already piled up to the charge of committing genocide, and international arrest warrants are
hovering over the heads of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant.
Amidst this ongoing horror, too little attention is given to the dangerous and far-reaching
processes that Israeli society itself is undergoing. The eyes of the world continue to be on Gaza,
and rightfully so, although too little has been done to stop the genocide that Israel is committing
there; While Israeli society, which has not yet recovered from the trauma of October 7, is still
licking its wounds and is torn between anxiety over the fate of the abductees who are still in
Gaza, the fate of those evacuated from their homes in the south and north, the fate of the soldiers
in Gaza, the fate of the shattered economy, and the fear of another war that could flare up in the
north at any moment.
It is very difficult for a society that is in a continuous state of trauma, to evaluate the
transformations taking place in it in real time, or even to notice them. However, it is impossible
to ignore the deep and accelerated fascismization processes that Israeli society is going through
under the auspices of the war. Although Israel has never been a substantial democracy in the full
sense of the term, but in the shadow of the war, Israeli society sinks into a new national ethos
that sees the democratic idea as a danger, and normalizes fascist values ​​and patterns, both at the
institutional level and at the popular level.
The brevity of the paper does not allow to unfold the full extent of the phenomenon, some
manifestations of which have been published sporadically during the past months. However, it is
important to understand that these are not random and independent cases, but rather a distinct,
continuous and coordinated trend, of which I will provide a few examples here briefly.
At the institutional level, since the beginning of the war the Israeli parliament has taken
advantage of the chaos and public panic to promote a series of extreme anti-democratic laws, which
characterize totalitarian regimes. An article in "The Hottest Place in Hell" lays out a partial
list of them - "The IDF and Shin Bet Certification Law", which makes it easier for these bodies to
penetrate private computers used to operate stationary cameras and delete, change or disrupt
materials on them, without the owner of the computer knowing about it and without the need to
obtain a court order that can supervise; The amendment to the "Law on Combating Terrorism" which
states that prolonged consumption of terrorist content by Hamas and ISIS will be considered a
criminal offense punishable by a year in prison; The "Likes Law" proposal, which seeks to allow a
person to be punished for liking a post defined as "inciting terrorism"; and the law increasing the
Shin Bet's supervision of teachers.
To these must of course be added the closing of Al-Jazeera's offices, which increased the appetite
of the ministers to the point of promoting legislation that would authorize ministers to shut down
Israeli media outlets without limit.
Another and particularly alarming manifestation of Israel's institutional fascism is the
transformation of the police from a body that serves the citizens, to a body that almost
exclusively serves the interests of the government and its worldview. Here we can mention the most
severe violence that police officers use against demonstrators in protests against the government,
against the war, and even in protests demanding the return of the kidnapped - violence that is used
not only during the arrest, but also during the detainees' stay in the detention cell.
The appalling treatment of the Palestinian prisoners and detainees is a category in itself, with
the hair-raising evidence of what is happening in the Sde Yemen detention facility. To these must
be added the hundreds of arrests and dismissals of Palestinian citizens of Israel for expressing
solidarity with their people in the Gaza Strip, opposing the war or participating in non-violent
civil protests since the beginning of the war.
An equally alarming expression of these processes can be found in the actions of "popular fascism"

• ordinary citizens reporting to the authorities about co-workers, neighbors in the building,
  classmates, school teachers and academic lecturers, who dared to deviate from the monolithic
  national narrative. Among these we can mention the dismissal of the citizenship teacher Meir
  Baruchin; the despicable campaign against Dr. Anat Matar; and the bill promoted by the Israeli
  Student Association, which seeks to fire any lecturer who spoke out against Israel as a "Jewish and
  democratic" state.
  It is no longer possible to hold the stick at both ends. Yair Golan (center) at a demonstration
  against the government in front of the Knesset, on April 1, 2024 (Photo: Aryeh Leib Abrams /
  Flash90)
  And to all of these must be added the fascist and genocidal terminology almost explicitly, which
  has become part of the everyday language among officials and ordinary citizens in Israel. The
  examples are numerous, some of them were heard during the hearings in South Africa's claim against
  Israel at the International Court of Justice. Not only leaders explicitly call to destroy Gaza
  completely, for all its inhabitants; Calls of this type flood the social networks in Israel,
  without the authorities lifting a finger.
  Not only that, but the police recently recommended to the prosecutor's office to shelve the case
  against Rabbi Eliyahu Mali, Rosh Yeshiva in Jaffa, who said in March that according to Halacha all
  residents of Gaza should be killed - including babies and the elderly. The ex-Member of the Knesset
  from the Likud party, Moshe Feiglin, who in a televised interview quoted Hitler as saying that he
  cannot sleep as long as there is one Jew in the world, added that in the same way "we cannot live
  in this country if one such Islamo-Nazi remains in Gaza". A Jewish Israeli politician cites Hitler
  as a source of moral inspiration - so deep is the abyss in which Israeli society has sunk.
  One day - who knows how much destruction and death will be added until then - the war will be over.
  The Israeli society at the end of the war will be more violent, more nationalistic, more
  militaristic, and almost openly fascist. We must start preparing for this day right now, especially
  by building a broad anti-fascist front, which will curb this deterioration and deal with its
  consequences.
  The Jewish center-left must understand that what was can no longer be. The camp that paid lip
  service to the democratic idea only to more firmly establish Jewish supremacy within the country's
  borders, was severely beaten and almost disappeared from the political map. He will no longer be
  able to hold the stick at both ends, certainly not to lead the front in question. Not Benny Gantz,
  the body-counting general who time and time again saved Netanyahu's political skin and joined his
  war crimes cabinet, only to retire from it criminally late and without any significant statement;
  Not Yair Golan, the new chairman of the Labor Party and the rising star of the Zionist left, who
  hastened to announce that he is ready to sit down with Likud and Mansor Abbas, but not with Balad;
  And not Yair Lapid, who even Abbas is not good enough as a minister for his taste, and who
  dismisses all the Arab parties comprehensively.
  The anti-fascist front that must arise here should be led by the Palestinian citizens - not only
  because no other camp matches their mileage in the fight against Israeli fascism, but because no
  one else has a coherent and well-articulated vision based on substantive democracy and full
  equality, as the citizens The Arabs formulated in the vision documents, as well as in the platforms
  of the Hadash and Balad parties.
  The earthquake that has been affecting Israel since October 7 has presented the country with
  existential questions in the most literal sense. This is exactly the kind of question that every
  decent person has to decide today - to stick to the self-deception, according to which one can
  continue to be satisfied with a sham democracy and an ethnocracy based on an abyss, from which the
  tongues of fire of fascism are sent higher every day - or to decide in favor of a substantial
  democracy, without which Israeli society will not have a resurrection.
  We are shocked and shocked, worried and scared by the events of the last period.
  In days like these there are those who demand the press to "choose a side". The side we chose is
  clear: we stand by everyone who lost their loved ones in this war; alongside all those who had to
  flee for their lives and leave behind a home; Alongside all those who fear for their lives and the
  lives of their family and loved ones, in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
  These days, we feel and feel that our voice, the voice of Palestinians and Israelis against the
  occupation and for a just peace, security and freedom for all, is more important than ever. The
  important stories that are not covered in the mainstream media are countless, but our resources are
  limited. With your help, we can bring stories like the one you just read to a growing public, and
  offer the much-needed analysis, context, and coverage, especially in this difficult and dramatic
  time. The best way to ensure our stability and independence is the support of the community of
  readers through membership in a local conversation.
  It's time to be a member of a local conversation
  Mizrahi political activist, chairman of the board at B'Tselem, editor of "Local Conversation".
  Deals with the lines that cross and shape my identity as a Mizrahi, a left-wing woman, a woman, a
  temporary immigrant who lives within the eternal immigrant, and in the constant dialogue between
  them. Engages in the translation of poetry and prose from Persian, dreams of putting If not the
  Persian bookcase in Hebrew, then at least the shelf, as part of a political action in the fight
  against the relegation of Eastern culture to the margins of the Israeli discourse.
  Aziz Abu Sara and Mouz Yanon (Photo: Uri Levy)
  Maoz Yanon and Aziz Abu Sara have been leading since October 7 an extensive personal and public
  campaign against revenge and in favor of reconciliation. Yanon is now organizing the "Great Peace
  Conference" together with dozens of organizations. The idea is to build a coalition and
  infrastructure for a peace process that comes from the people themselves, they say. interview
  A local conversation is an online magazine of news from the field, commentary and culture, operated
  by a collective of writers, photographers. Launch: April 2014

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בלוף הרפורמה להקלות לתלמידים (עשירים) עם לקויות למידה - שיחה מקומית
title : The reform bluff for relief for (wealthy) students with learning disabilities - local conversation

The industry of diagnostics, adaptations and test facilitation is related to the social power of
the parents, more than to the learning disabilities of their children. A student in the first grade
(Illustration photo: Oren Nachshon / Flash90)
A new study published by the Taub Center tracks the adaptations and facilitations given to students
with learning disabilities, following the 2014 reform. The reform eliminated the need to purchase
tests in private institutes in order to receive the simplest concessions, and most importantly -
extra time for the exam. Thus they hoped that learning disabled whose parents are from a low
socio-economic status would also be able to receive the necessary adjustments.
Not only did the reform not correct the social distortion, it even exacerbated the problem. More
than half of the female and male students currently receive accommodations for learning
disabilities, three to five times their actual share in the population. The gap in receiving
adjustments in favor of parents with means and schools that serve affluent populations has
increased threefold or more.
It has also been proven that the adjustments and facilitations do lead to an improvement in the
average matriculation grades. The increase in matriculation eligibility rates since 2016, of which
the Ministry of Education is so proud, is not the result of an improvement in teaching and
learning, but a product of inflation in adjustments and concessions given to examinees.
Three conclusions emerge from the study: educated and financially wealthy parents knew how to use
the bureaucracy (one way or another) for the benefit of their children better than other parents;
The matriculation tests have lost their reliability and validity, and must be changed; And most
importantly: the Ministry of Education should invest resources in early diagnosis and professional
assistance for learning disabilities, and not in hiding the problems behind a fabricated
improvement in grades.
Already in 2001, the State Comptroller warned against the diagnosis industry and the facilitation
of matriculation exams for students with learning disabilities. He claimed that the rate of female
and male students who receive concessions in the tests is unreasonable, since it is greater than
the rate of the phenomenon of learning disabilities in the population. The increase was due to the
fact that parents with means purchased diagnoses in private institutes, so that their children
would receive adjustments and concessions in the matriculation exams.
The auditor referred to the fact that it is possible to address learning disabilities, and to help
male and female students integrate into learning in schools. Hence, it is important to locate the
disability as early as possible (in kindergarten and elementary school) in order to receive
assistance, more than locating it on the eve of the matriculation exams, in order to receive
relief.
Only in 2014, after the problem became more and more acute, did the Ministry of Education remember
to act. The ministry did not choose the expensive option: to strengthen the early detection and
treatment mechanism for learning disabilities, through the psychological advisory service. Instead,
it further expanded the mechanism of hiding the problem, by making it easier to provide
adjustments.
It was then decided that the easiest level of relief (called level 1), such as extending the
duration of the exam, would be given by a decision within the school, and without the need for a
diagnosis at an external institute. Thus, the office hoped, money would no longer be a barrier to
receiving concessions in the tests, and there would no longer be discrimination on economic grounds
in receiving the concessions.
The new study reveals the results of the reform, ten years after its implementation. The research
was conducted at the Taub Center, by Sarit Silverman, Alex Weinerv and Nahum Blass. The researchers
note that the rate of learning disabilities in the population (worldwide) is on average between 5%
and 7%, and at most about 15%. Let's recall that in 1998, according to the State Comptroller's
report, 8.3% of all students in Israel were diagnosed with learning disabilities. A reasonable
rate.
But since then, the rate of those diagnosed in Israel has only increased. A decade after the
auditor's report, in 2008, the rate doubled and reached 19.9%! And in 2011, we had already reached
a third of the students (34%). As you can see in the attached chart from the study, the main
increase was in the rate of level 1 adaptation recipients, those which are given in the schools
without external diagnosis, since the first reform cycle reached the age of the matriculation exams
(2016).
In 2021, we have reached an absurd situation where more than half of those taking the matriculation
exams (54.1%) are defined according to the Ministry of Education as learning disabled who are
entitled to adaptations and facilitations. Three to five times their real share in the population.
The findings of the new study show that the reform also failed to correct the social injustice.
Educated and wealthy parents took advantage of the relief provided by the reform to the extent of
three times more than other parents. For example, schools in clusters 10-9 (the richest) increased
the rate of school adaptations in the aforementioned decade from approximately 10% of all students
to 48%. The schools in clusters 1-2 increased the school adjustments in those years from only 4% to
28%. From a six percent gap in favor of the rich, up to a 20% gap in their favor.
The study also shows the connection between parents' education and widening the gap in providing
accommodations. In 2020, the rate of school adjustments for students whose mother had a high school
education was about 30% in both Hebrew and Arabic education. In contrast, the rate of adjustments
given to students with a master's degree was 45% in Hebrew education, and 55% in Arab education.
Data such as these reinforce the assumption that the industry of diagnostics, adaptations and
facilitation of tests, is related to the social power of parents, more than to the learning
disabilities of their children.
The collected data made it possible to prove the connection between inflation in adjustments and
the level of grades. Students during a matriculation exam (Photo: Noam Ravkin / Flash90. Those
photographed have no relation to the article)
The collected data made it possible to prove the connection between inflation in adjustments and
the level of grades. The premise of the study was that if a school provides accommodations to the
extent required, then everyone who needs help receives it. Therefore, it is expected that the
average test score will not be affected by the number of students who receive accommodations in
each school.
On the other hand, if the school provides an excess of accommodations, beyond what is required,
then there are students who do not really need help and yet receive it, and therefore can achieve
higher grades. In this case, the score in schools where many students received adjustments will be
higher than schools where few students received adjustments.
In the study it was found that the schools in the lower socio-economic clusters correspond to the
first situation, meaning that they approve adjustments to the extent required. For example, in the
matriculation exams in mathematics in 2019 and 2020, in schools in the lower clusters, the average
score in schools with many recipients of adjustments (score 78) was similar to the score in schools
with few recipients of adjustments (75).
On the other hand, the schools in the higher socio-economic clusters correspond to the second
situation, meaning that they approve adjustments far beyond what is required. In the same math
tests, the average score in schools with many recipients of adjustments (score 100), was very high
compared to schools with few recipients of adjustments (87).
The findings of the study allow us to better understand the improvement in matriculation
eligibility rates over the past decade. The Ministry of Education is proud of the fact that the
proportion of those entitled to a matriculation certificate, out of those studying in majors
leading to matriculation, increased from 68% in 2016 to 76% in 2022.
The study found that the main cause of the increase in matriculation eligibility rates was not an
improvement in the teaching and learning processes, but rather the fact that more and more female
and male students received adjustments and concessions in the exams.
The explanation is presented in the report, and its bottom line, in the words of the researchers:
"The analysis of the eligibility data for the matriculation certificate found that the increase in
the proportion of students who receive school accommodations explained the entire increase in the
eligibility rates for matriculation."
The diagnosis and facilitation industry thus damages the core of the matriculation exams: the
reliability and validity of the exams. We can no longer know if the good grade was achieved due to
improved abilities of the student, or due to lenient conditions they received in the test.
Bottom line: the Ministry of Education should invest more resources in the psychological, advisory
and therapeutic service. This is in order to diagnose students with learning disabilities as early
as possible, and offer them professional accompaniment and support. All the rest are exhibition
games, based on a fabricated and absurd improvement in grades.
We are shocked and shocked, worried and scared by the events of the last period.
In days like these there are those who demand the press to "choose a side". The side we chose is
clear: we stand by everyone who lost their loved ones in this war; alongside all those who had to
flee for their lives and leave behind a home; Alongside all those who fear for their lives and the
lives of their family and loved ones, in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
These days, we feel and feel that our voice, the voice of Palestinians and Israelis against the
occupation and for a just peace, security and freedom for all, is more important than ever. The
important stories that are not covered in the mainstream media are countless, but our resources are
limited. With your help, we can bring stories like the one you just read to a growing public, and
offer the much-needed analysis, context, and coverage, especially in this difficult and dramatic
time. The best way to ensure our stability and independence is the support of the community of
readers through membership in a local conversation.
It's time to be a member of a local conversation
The education review blog by Dr. Gil Gertel: lecturer, consultant and independent researcher.
Books I have published: "The invention of education - reading the books of Jan Amos Comenius" (NIV
2022); "Home or school - state education versus parental education" (the didactic team, 2015); "The
way of nature - the natural pedagogy and the educational trip" (Sefrit Poalim, 2010); "Ein
Meshotetim - the beginning of the trips in the youth movements 1912 - 1942" (Matan, 2016).
From compulsory kindergarten until high school graduation, I didn't understand what they wanted
from me. I was diagnosed as an "untapped potential", and since then I have been filled with
revenge, for the terrible boredom I was condemned to in my youth. At the age of 24, I completed
matriculation in three months, and since then I have not only been studying, but also enjoying it.
The main message, from the mouth of Comenius, the grandfather of education: "Let us be like the sun
in the sky, which illuminates and warms and animates the whole earth, so that everything that can
live, flourish and prosper, can realize it."
Thanks to you and to you for every reference, response and sharing.
Aziz Abu Sara and Mouz Yanon (Photo: Uri Levy)
Maoz Yanon and Aziz Abu Sara have been leading since October 7 an extensive personal and public
campaign against revenge and in favor of reconciliation. Yanon is now organizing the "Great Peace
Conference" together with dozens of organizations. The idea is to build a coalition and
infrastructure for a peace process that comes from the people themselves, they say. interview
A local conversation is an online magazine of news from the field, commentary and culture, operated
by a collective of writers, photographers. Launch: April 2014

---

הווסט לא עזר: כך כטב"מים ישראלים הרגו עיתונאים בעזה - שיחה מקומית
title : The West did not help: this is how Israeli drones killed journalists in Gaza - a local conversation

Instead of protecting journalists in Gaza, the vest has become a life-threatening situation. A
journalist's helmet on the grave of Hamza al-Dahdoh, an Al-Jazeera journalist who was killed by an
Israeli attack. Hamza is the son of Al-Jazeera's office manager in Gaza, Waal al-Dahdoh. January
2024 (Photo: Mohammed Talatana, AP and DPA partnership)
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 108 journalists and media workers, including
more than 100 Palestinians, two Israelis and three Lebanese, have been killed since the war began
on October 7. Against the backdrop of the deadliest war for journalists since World War II,
"Forbidden Stories" - an international network of journalists committed to continuing the work of
silenced journalists - set out to investigate how journalists have become targets in the Gaza Strip
and the West Bank.
In an impressive collaboration, "Forbidden Stories" brought together 50 journalists from 13 media
outlets around the world. The joint body analyzed more than 100 cases of journalists and media
workers killed in Gaza, as well as cases in which Israel allegedly targeted, threatened and injured
press workers in the past eight months.
Because it is impossible to report freely from the Gaza Strip, members of the joint body contacted
more than 120 journalists and eyewitnesses to military operations in Gaza and the West Bank; 25
ballistics, weapons and audio experts were consulted, including the Earshot organization; and used
satellite imagery from Planet Labs and Maxtar Technologies.
Here below appears one of the articles from the project that "Sasha Localim" and 972+ publish
together with "Forbidden Stories". For the full list of articles included in the "Gaza Project",
and to get more information about the project, click here.
None
In the afternoon, on January 22 of this year, four journalists climbed a small hill in Tel
al-Za'tar in northern Gaza. Anas al-Sharif, Muhammad Shala, Imad Jabon and Mahmoud Sabah were among
the few journalists left in the northern neighborhoods of the city. They reported on the severe
famine in the area, and sought a high ground with reception to send videos to their editors. Then a
huge explosion knocked them to the ground.

• Anas Al-Sharif Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) January 22, 2024
  The documentation of the drone strike from Anas al-Sharif's camera
  Sources who were exposed to the use of drones in Gaza, told "Tasha Local" that this practice is
  known as "hunting" in the army. According to three sources, the use of drones and drones for
  assassination was particularly widespread in the current war, and according to them, led in some
  cases to harming innocents.
  There were two main reasons for this: a massive reliance on automatic and imprecise software, on
  the basis of which intelligence officers tried to "hunt" thousands of suspects simultaneously with
  the help of drones (one source called it a "broad hunt"); and the poor image quality of the cameras
  installed on the UAVs, which usually have difficulty recognizing facial features, so it is
  necessary to rely on circumstantial information to identify the target with a high, but not
  absolute, probability before an attack. However, according to information received by "Forbidden
  Stories", these cameras are as capable as possible which appears to identify clothing details.
  According to the investigation, the list of targets for assassination using UAVs was compiled,
  among other things, with the help of the Lavender software, and at one point included tens of
  thousands of people. Lavender is a human target marking software, which is based on artificial
  intelligence, and its existence was first revealed in a previous investigation by "Local Talk".
  Under international law, armies must distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, and the
  intentional harm of non-combatants, including journalists, is a war crime. When the Department of
  International Law in the Israeli Army formulated the rules for targeted elimination in the 2000s,
  it was determined that only those who take a direct part in the hostilities could be harmed.
  Another choice,'" Gabriela Blum, who was involved in drafting these rules, told the "Intercept"
  website in 2018, "It doesn't seem like that's the case now."
  In the investigation of "Tasha Mochimit" it is stated that the army knew that this software - which
  marked at least 37 thousand people during the war as operatives of military arms intended for
  killing - was wrong in about 10% of the cases, and also marked people with no connection, or only a
  "loose" connection, to the military arm of Hamas or of the Islamic Jihad. The sources said in the
  investigation that these mistakes of Lavender were seen as a legitimate price to pay for a
  significant automation of the criminalization procedure.
  It is not known if Lavender also flagged journalists. Three sources who are familiar with how the
  software works, estimated that this is "possible", since the communication patterns of journalists
  can be "similar" to those of armed activists, but they emphasized that they are not aware of a
  concrete case where such marking actually happened. Three Israeli sources said they did not know
  that the army had a list that filtered out journalists, so that they would be protected from harm.
  At least one case of "almost" killing a journalist by a drone. An Israeli drone over the Gaza
  Strip, December 2023 (Photo: Haim Goldberg / Flash90)
  Lavender learns to locate "suspicious" communication patterns of military operatives, and on the
  basis of these it marks people who are similar to them as targets. One source said that Lavender
  might mark journalists, because "there are journalists who talk a lot with Hamasniks. It is likely
  that they will be in their WhatsApp groups, calling them... so it is possible that Lavender will
  label them as Hamasniks."
  The source emphasized that he is not aware of a case where such marking actually led to an attack
  on a journalist as a target. However, the source said that he was personally exposed to one case
  where a journalist in Gaza was "almost killed" because he was marked as a target, and in the army
  they wanted to spread a picture of him as if he were a Hamas man wearing a communications vest. In
  the end it turned out that he was indeed a journalist.
  "It was a target they were working on, and they almost killed him. It was very close to it," the
  source said. "It would be terribly embarrassing if such a picture were distributed to the whole
  world. That's why the commander of the unit will investigate it personally."
  The similarity between the communication patterns of journalists and military operatives is known
  to other intelligence bodies in the world. A document leaked in 2015 from the NSA (American
  National Security Agency) revealed that the American government had mistakenly labeled Ahmed Mufak
  Zeidan, the director of Al Jazeera's press desk in Islamabad, Pakistan, as an al-Qaeda operative,
  and added him to a list of suspected terrorists.
  The document referred to the American software Skynet - which according to "Forbidden Stories" is
  similar to lavender - an artificial intelligence system that analyzes people's metadata to discover
  suspicious "patterns of behavior". The targets marked with Skynet, it is claimed, were attacked by
  UAVs.
  As in the Israeli army, the American government also insisted that in these attacks there would
  always be a "human factor in the loop" - a person who supervises and verifies the decisions of the
  software. But according to Jennifer Gibson, a human rights lawyer who is familiar with Zeiden's
  case, the American Skynet system is so imprecise that even "if a person is the one who presses the
  button it doesn't matter, as long as the computer selects the target".
  One of the sources emphasized to "Local Talk" that he did not automatically rely on Lavender,
  therefore even if a journalist was marked as a target, he would have discovered the mistake in real
  time and not attacked him. The source said other units may have had different criminalization
  practices.
  A journalist should never be a target. A Reuters armored vehicle damaged in an Israeli attack in

1. Agency photographer Fadel Shana who was injured in the attack was killed two years later in
   an Israeli attack (photo: Erich Huberts, Imperial Museum in London CC BY ND 2.0)
   On the other hand, two other sources claimed to "Local Talk" that in the early stages of the war,
   target investigators, mainly in the Gaza Division and Southern Command, worked to locate and
   assassinate thousands of suspected "junior" military operatives, and for this reason they were
   given permission to "automatically" rely on Lavender's kill list , without checking it at all, in a
   way that according to them raised the possibility that they also harmed journalists.
   International experts told "Forbidden Stories" that UAV attacks should not harm innocent people
   because they are more accurate, and that the warhead in a UAV attack is significantly smaller than
   that dropped from a fighter jet. Brandon Bryant, a sergeant in the US Air Force who operated a
   Predator type UAV that is no longer in use today, told "Forbidden Stories" that the UAVs they used
   surgically hit "about a foot from where we aimed our laser".
   A French expert on UAVs, who asked to remain anonymous, told "Forbidden Stories" that with these
   tools "you can look at the environment, and thus avoid the criticism that comes when you kill too
   many uninvolved civilians." An intelligence source in the Israeli army, who marked targets for such
   tools In Operation Guard of the Walls in 2021, he told "Local Conversation" that, in general, the
   expected collateral damage "was zero."
   But that day in Tel al-Za'tar, al-Sharif said, the explosion occurred "in the middle of our group."
   After seeing the video taken at the site of the attack, US Sergeant Bryant said the prominent
   buzzing noise in it was "definitely a drone." I will never forget that noise in my life... (it's)
   an engine with a propeller, flying low and slowly."
   Bryant's assessment was also supported by a German UAV expert. "The noise in the background (of the
   video) is indeed similar to that of UAVs that use piston or turboprop engines," he said. "Forbidden
   Stories" worked with the Earshot organization that does audio forensics. The findings of the
   organization and "Forbidden Stories" show that the Israeli army is using UAVs in Gaza with
   turboprop engines (Eitan type, manufactured by the Aerospace Industry) and with piston engines
   (Hermes type, manufactured by Elbit).
   A missile hit by a UAV is supposed to be less destructive than a bomb from an airplane. A house
   that collapsed in Al Buraij camp, June 2024 (Photo: Abd Rahim Khatib / Flash90)
   The results of the attack in Tel al-Zatar, added Bryant, indicate that a small explosive warhead
   was used, which is characteristic of UAVs. "If they had dropped bombs using fighter jets or F-16s,
   they would have destroyed these people. They wouldn't survive," he said.
   An Israeli source backed this up, telling the "local conversation" that often, in drone strikes in
   which he was involved, the assassination target was not killed immediately, and it was necessary to
   use another missile. ) one".
   An analysis of visible information from the area of ​​the attack in Tel al-Za'tar, which included
   satellite photographs, shows that all the buildings in the vicinity were already destroyed before
   the journalists were hit, so it is unlikely that the shooting was aimed at one of the nearby
   buildings.
   In response to repeated inquiries, the IDF spokesman finally stated that he was not aware of any
   attacks carried out at this location during the month of January.
   "The whole of Gaza is covered with UAVs that collect intelligence 24 hours a day. At the same time
   they can attack, all while their operators are well guarded in control cars, dozens of kilometers
   from the targets," said a video published by the Israeli army in 2022. The Israeli army, like other
   armies in the world, makes increasing use of these tools: according to the video, 80% of
   operational flights of the Air Force in 2022 were made using UAVs.
   Brigadier General Omri Dor, commander of the Palmachim base, explained in the video that the UAVs
   in Gaza make it possible to "find one person and neutralize him, without causing environmental
   damage and harm to any other person." A source in Amman also said that the use of UAVs in the
   current war is "more morally correct" than the use of fighter jets, because you don't "bring down
   an entire house" on its occupants to try to kill one person, but attack the target while he is in a
   car, on a motorcycle or walking By foot.
   But while some experts praise the UAVs for their accuracy, others argue that hitting a target
   "surgically" does not necessarily mean hitting the target legally or properly. "Accuracy can make
   it possible to avoid hitting civilians, or allow hitting civilians. A precision attack simply
   ensures the destruction of the target," says James Rogers, a UAV expert at Cornell University. "We
   live in a diverse world of UAVs that has many actors, state and non-state. Some want to reduce the
   price of war, and some want to maximize the damage."
   Experts estimated in the ears of "Forbidden Stories" that in some of the models of UAVs that the
   Israeli army uses, if the visibility is good, it is possible to identify a journalist's vest.
   Sources in the army said that the quality of the image provided by the UAVs makes it difficult to
   identify facial features. "You can see the size of a person, understand from their walk whether
   they are male or female, whether they are fat or thin," said a source who worked with UAVs in the
   army. "You cannot recognize faces. Difficulty recognizing facial features. You see small figures.
   You see small people."
   International experts told "Forbidden Stories" that cellular signals are an essential part of
   marking targets and incriminating them. According to them, drone attacks are directed by
   telephones. "A drone war takes place within a signal intelligence system (sigint)," explained
   Khalil Divan, a lawyer and expert on drones. According to him, relevant elements for determining
   the location of a target or its identification before An attack can be "mobile devices, SIMs, use
   of certain applications in the social network with location settings, and live streaming".
   On December 15, 2023, Samer Abu Daqa, a 45-year-old Al-Jazeera photographer and father of five,
   documented the destruction at the Khan Yunis center with his colleague, Wael al-Dahdoh, one of the
   most well-known and respected journalists in Gaza. Both wore journalist's vests, and arrived at the
   scene with a Palestinian civil defense team, which included medics and firefighters.
   They found his body torn to pieces. Al-Jazeera reporter and Al-Dahdoh at the funeral of his
   photographer Samer Abu Daqa, December 2023 (Photo: Muhammad Dahman / AP)
   As soon as they finished reporting and returned to their vehicles, they were hit by a desert that
   witnesses, independent organizations and Al-Jazeera claimed had been a drone attack. "Something big
   happened," Al-Dahdoh told Al-Jazeera from his hospital bed. "I fell to the ground... I could barely
   stand."
   While bleeding from his right hand, al-Dahdoh managed to reach the vehicles of the civil defense
   teams, hundreds of meters away. He looked back and saw that three of those crew members had been
   killed. Across from them lay on the ground - wounded but alive - Abu Daka. "I asked the people in
   the ambulance to go back for Samer, but they said we should leave immediately and send another
   vehicle so they wouldn't target us," Al-Dahdoh said. All around them they were constantly buzzing
   like UFOs.
   According to testimonies, the ambulances were blocked on their way to Abu Daqqa for five hours.
   When medics managed to get to the scene, they found Abu Daqa's journalistic vest and a clock on a
   wall. "For us, this was evidence that he was alive at the beginning, and that he took off the vest
   himself because it was heavy," said Bilal Hamdan, who arrived at the scene. About half an hour
   later, "a colleague found the body of Samer Abu Deka torn to pieces." The civil defense personnel
   concluded that he was hit by at least two missiles.
   "I'm sure he took pictures until the end. He was a professional, and such a wonderful person," said
   Ibrahim Kanan, a friend and colleague of Abu Dakka, who said that his camera was also destroyed in
   the attack. The Al Jazeera network told "Forbidden Stories" that they presented the case of Abu
   Daqa to the Criminal Court in The Hague, and will request that the prosecutor investigate him as a
   suspected war crime.
   The IDF spokesman did not provide Forbidden Stories with information about the attack or its goals.
   However, he stated that the case is being examined by the Joint Chiefs of Staff's investigative
   team, which discusses cases of possible violations of international law.
   The investigation brought up a series of other cases in which journalists were reportedly hit by
   drones. Ahmed Fatima, a journalist for Press-House - a non-profit organization that supported
   journalists in Gaza and provided them with legal assistance - was hit on November 13 while holding
   his young son The six-year-old, 50 meters outside his house. According to his wife, a drone hit him
   while trying to rush his son to the hospital, after their house was bombed. The Israeli army said
   that they carried out attacks against infrastructure and Hamas operatives in the area.
   A few months later, on February 24, Abdullah al-Haj was attacked by a UAV in an attack that killed
   two more people. Al-Haj, a journalist-photographer working for UNRWA and the Jerusalem newspaper
   Al-Quds, was one The first journalists to document the large-scale destruction in Gaza, thanks to
   the small drone they operated. His photographs were published all over the world.
   Our @UNRWA colleague & photojournalist Abdallah was severely injured in bombardments in north
   #Gaza
   Over past weeks he’s been sending powerful footage of the scale of destruction. We are recording
   the highest number of aid workers & journalists killed in any conflict #NotATarget
   https://t.co/p9CtjHgReH
   — UNRWA (@UNRWA) March 3, 2024
   Some of Abdullah Al-Haj's photographs
   That day, Al-Haj said, he was taking pictures in the A-Shati refugee camp. "I put aside my glider
   and went towards some fishermen," he repeated. "As soon as I asked what the price was, I was
   bullied." These days he is receiving medical treatment in Qatar, where he was interviewed by
   journalists partnering with the project. "I was unconscious for three days," he said from a
   hospital in Doha. Both of his legs were amputated above the knees.
   In February, a drone strike north of Rafah seriously wounded Ismail Abu Omar, who worked for Al
   Jazeera, and Ahmed Matar, a freelance photojournalist. Al Jazeera said Abu Omar was wearing a
   journalist's vest at the time. In Israel, they said Abu Omar was a friend Hamas, a claim that Al
   Jazeera denies. Two months later, another drone strike killed the press photographers Ibrahim and
   Ayman Muhammad al-Abawi while they were filming with their own drone in Khan Yunis.
   "This shouldn't happen," Prof. Asa Kosher, who wrote the IDF's code of ethics, told "Forbidden
   Stories". "No journalist should be killed under normal circumstances of a war in Gaza. That's
   illegal. It's not ethical. Those who do this should be tried... under no circumstances can it be
   imagined that soldiers would receive permission to shoot at a person who is clearly identified as a
   journalist... and did not take part in the fighting."
   But in drone warfare, legal responsibility is not a common thing, explained Lisa Ling, a sergeant
   in the US Army who dealt with the technical side of UAV monitoring systems. "There is a blurring of
   responsibility. People have little information, and there are so many elements related to the
   shooting from a drone, that it is very difficult to determine who is really responsible."
   In response to the "Forbidden Stories" investigation, the IDF spokesperson stated that "every
   attack by the IDF is carried out by a trained team", and that no attack "is carried out without the
   supervision and approval of IDF officers." The IDF directs its attacks exclusively at military
   targets and military operatives and carries out the attacks in accordance with the rules of
   proportionality and precautionary measures. It is a terrible tragedy that civilians, including
   journalists, are harmed in the conflict. This tragedy is caused by Hamas, which deliberately places
   itself among the civilian population."
   Several journalists in Gaza said they are afraid to wear their vests since being hit by drones.
   Some said they walk around without a phone, and are afraid to return to their homes, fearing they
   will be harassed once inside. Jabon, who has recovered from his injury, said he feels his identity
   as a journalist and the vest Journalists today are like "a means of harming you, more than they are
   a means of protection".
   Contributed to the report: Pinas Roker, Sofia Alvarez Jurado, Yoser Yosef ("Forbidden Stories");
   Arthur Carpentier and Majed Zarocki ("Le Monde"); ARIJ; Maria Kristoff, Maria Reter, Dajana Kulig,
   Christo Boshank (PTM)
   We are shocked and shocked, worried and scared by the events of the last period.
   In days like these there are those who demand the press to "choose a side". The side we chose is
   clear: we stand by everyone who lost their loved ones in this war; alongside all those who had to
   flee for their lives and leave behind a home; Alongside all those who fear for their lives and the
   lives of their family and loved ones, in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
   These days, we feel and feel that our voice, the voice of Palestinians and Israelis against the
   occupation and for a just peace, security and freedom for all, is more important than ever. The
   important stories that are not covered in the mainstream media are countless, but our resources are
   limited. With your help, we can bring stories like the one you just read to a growing public, and
   offer the much-needed analysis, context, and coverage, especially in this difficult and dramatic
   time. The best way to ensure our stability and independence is the support of the community of
   readers through membership in a local conversation.
   It's time to be a member of a local conversation
   I live in Jerusalem, study linguistics and documentary cinema, translate from Western and dream of
   justice and equality for all the inhabitants of the country, between the river and the sea.
   and writes in "local conversation"
   Aziz Abu Sara and Mouz Yanon (Photo: Uri Levy)
   Maoz Yanon and Aziz Abu Sara have been leading since October 7 an extensive personal and public
   campaign against revenge and in favor of reconciliation. Yanon is now organizing the "Great Peace
   Conference" together with dozens of organizations. The idea is to build a coalition and
   infrastructure for a peace process that comes from the people themselves, they say. interview
   A local conversation is an online magazine of news from the field, commentary and culture, operated
   by a collective of writers, photographers. Launch: April 2014

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