Episode 009: Check the Paperwork! #SaveSheikhJarrah

This week, Lara and Michael discuss the absurdity of "settler Jacob," the American settler who can be seen in a recent viral video brazenly attempting to the steal the home of Mona al-Kurd, a young Palestinian woman who hails from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem which is currently facing a mass ethnic cleansing campaign at the hands of Zionist settlers who are protected in their colonial pursuits by the Israeli army on a daily basis. #SaveSheikhJarrah because Palestinians, like all humans, deserve to live in their houses without foreign settlers invading and taking over talking about "God said so." Lara provides an update on the lawsuit before the Israeli Supreme Court in relation to the ethnic cleansing of Sheikh Jarrah and spoiler alert, it is loads of garbage and can only be described as quintessentially "Zionist logic." Michael considers that Zionists are like "New York and New Jersey mobsters who intimidate people by hanging them off a bridge" except they do that with logic (lol). Lara insists that the horrific expulsions in Sheikh Jarrah demonstrate that Israel is only interested in stealing more and more land, and that no amount of stolen land will ever be enough when the goal is a Greater Israel, which "map" covers several other countries in the region. Lara and Michael also reveal how Israel's repressive policies extend beyond its borders. For example, Israel provides Mexico with training and weapons in its counterinsurgency against the Zapatistas in Chiapas. Michael underscores the importance of connecting Palestinian activism with May Day solidarity by pointing to Israel's extraction of wealth from Palestinians. Lara provides an update on the Palestinian legislative elections and (spoiler alert), it's not looking good. Lara and Michael share the disturbing results of a global study on the effects of tear gas on reproductive cycles and also shoutout Foodbenders, the Toronto restaurant made target of several baseless lawsuits brought by the Israel lobby (including the terrorist JDL) seeking to crush its displays of Palestinian solidarity. Lara proposes an unusual solution to ending Israeli settler-colonialism and apartheid in Palestine.

To consult the sources used in the preparation of this episode, please see:

Background/Contextualizing Sources

• IV Geneva Convention (UN)

• Rome-Statute.pdf

• Convention on the Rights of the Child (OHCHR)

• Fact Sheet_UN Conv Rights of the Child

• Defense for Children Palestine (dci-palestine.org)

• A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid (B'Tselem)

• Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: crime against humanity (Amnesty International)

• A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution (HRW)

• Sheikh Jarrah (The Electronic Intifada)

• Jerusalem and the continuing Nakba (Mondoweiss)

• Before the Nakba: Images show Palestine then and now (Middle East Eye)

• Stealing Palestine: A study of historical and cultural theft (Middle East Eye)

• The Brief Origins of May Day | Industrial Workers of the World (iww.org)

• Judge dismisses discrimination charges against Foodbenders (toronto.com)

Videos/Social Media References

• An Israeli settler’s stealing a Palestinian’s home caught on camera (YouTube)

• The quiet part out loud: Jacob Fauci the American settler in Jerusalem (YouTube) (American settler, subsidized, “Necessary Evil”)

Articles/References

• A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution (HRW)

• Violent clashes in Jerusalem after Israeli far-right march (Al Jazeera)

• Israel launches attacks on besieged Gaza after rockets fired (Al Jazeera)

• Zionist Logic (Malcom X)

• ‘It is a Nakba’: Campaign to save Sheikh Jarrah builds momentum as forced displacement looms (Mondoweiss)

• Israeli court says Sheikh Jarrah residents must ‘reach agreement’ with the settlers trying to evict them (Mondoweiss)

• Absentees’ Property Law (Adalah)

• Law of Return (Adalah)

• 1948 - UN General Assembly Resolution 194 (state.gov)

• Palestine in the Revolutionary Imagination - Steve Salaita

• Ottoman Archives Help Palestinians Reclaim Their Land (The Libertarian Institute)

• What is happening in occupied East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah? (Al Jazeera)

• Israeli Forces Demolish Bedouin Palestinian Village of Al-Araqib for 185th  Time (prc.org.uk)

• Annexation was always on Israel's agenda (The Electronic Intifada)

• Israel: the model coercive state - Longreads (tni.org)

• McCollum Introduces Historic Legislation: Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act | Congresswoman Betty McCollum (house.gov)

• Postponing of Palestinian Election Proves Abbas Is Closer to Israel's Interests Than His Own People (Haaretz)

• Hundreds Reported Abnormal Menstruation After Exposure to Tear Gas, Study Finds (NYT)

• ‘It’s like they’re testing it on us': Portland protesters say tear gas has caused irregularities with their periods (OPB.org)

• Hundreds Say Menstrual Cycles Impacted After Exposure to Police Tear Gas at Oregon Protests (Common Dreams)

• Israel is Using American-Made Tear Gas to Repress and Kill Palestinians (Toward Freedom)

• Tear Gas: From the Battlefields of World War I to the Streets of Today (Independent Science News)

• The Yellow Jackets blinded by police weapons (POLITICO)

• 'Shoot to maim': How Israel created a generation on crutches in Gaza (Middle East Eye)

• Statement on activism and antisemitism (Foodbenders)

• Remembering Alex Odeh: 33 Years Later Still No Justice (ADC)

• Two JDL leaders charged in bomb plot - December 13, 2001 (CNN)

• How the US and Israel exchange tactics in violence and control (Al Jazeera)