Pro-Palestijnse activisten hebben zondagmiddag een concert van Lenny Kuhr in Theater De Leest in Waalwijk verstoord. Dat bevestigen de politie en het theater. De 74-jarige zangeres uit Eindhoven heeft aangifte gedaan. ‘Lenny en haar band zijn zich rot geschrokken’, zegt de directeur van het theater. De politie doet onderzoek naar de zaak.
Lenny Kuhrs echtgenoot Rob Frank was bij het optreden en vertelt zondagavond telefonisch dat zijn vrouw haar concert gewoon helemaal afgemaakt heeft. ,,Zij is niet zo gemakkelijk uit haar evenwicht te brengen. Er was even een verstoring en daarna heeft ze het gewoon weer opgepakt. Het nummer dat ze na het incident zong was Het gaat zoals het gaat. Dat was wel toepasselijk.”
Vrouw moest huilen
Voordat Lenny Kuhr haar optreden hervatte, gaf ze nog wel even een glaasje water aan een vrouw op de eerste rij, die zo was geschrokken dat ze moest huilen. Volgens Frank was er vooral sprake van verbaal geweld. ,,Zo kun je dat wel noemen, als mensen beginnen te roepen over genocide en dat je een moordenaar bent. En dat middenin een concert dat juist gericht is op harmonie.”
Vier mensen klommen zondagmiddag het podium op en riepen pro-Palestijnse leuzen als ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’. Medewerkers van het theater hebben de activisten de zaal uitgezet. De politie heeft geen verdachten aangehouden. ,,De groep had netjes een kaartje gekocht, tien stuks in totaal. Maar veel van die plekken bleven leeg. Tijdens de eerste helft van de voorstelling stonden die vier mensen ineens op, en begonnen te roepen. Ze strooiden ook met flyers en scholden Lenny Kuhr uit”, zegt theaterdirecteur Sander Knopper.
Extreem vervelend’
Volgens hem stonden op de folders leuzen ‘voor de Palestijnse zaak’. Knopper moest dat echter van medewerkers horen, omdat hij zelf tijdens het concert niet aanwezig was. ,,Ik werd gebeld toen dit aan de gang was. Voor ik in het theater was, hadden medewerkers de activisten tijdens de pauze uit de zaal gedirigeerd”, zegt Knopper. Hij baalt enorm van de commotie in zijn theater: ,,Ik vind het voor onze bezoekers heel vervelend, maar voor Lenny is het extreem vervelend. Haar man zat ook in de zaal. Zij en haar band zijn zich rot geschrokken.”
In de afgelopen dertig jaar dat Knopper in de theaterwereld werkt, heeft hij dit naar eigen zeggen nog nooit meegemaakt. ,,Maar ik vrees dat we dit soort dingen in de huidige tijd vaker gaan zien. Ik hoop niet dat het zo ver komt dat we in Nederland bij theaters aan de deur moeten fouilleren, of zoals in sommige andere landen detectiepoortjes neer moeten zetten.” Het bleef tijdens het tweede deel van het concert rustig in de zaal.
‘Van haat vertrokken gezicht’
Medewerkers van het theater en Lenny Kuhr zelf legden in De Leest een verklaring aan de politie af, die tussentijds was gebeld. ,,We kregen inderdaad de melding dat een aantal personen de voorstelling verstoorden. Omdat het personeel hen al buiten had gezet, hebben agenten niemand meer aangetroffen”, zegt een politiewoordvoerder.
Een van de vier mensen die het concert verstoorden was volgens Frank een jonge moslima: ,,Met een van haat vertrokken gezicht. Ik heb buiten nog geprobeerd met haar en de anderen te praten, maar het enige wat ze deden was schreeuwen. Ik had niet het idee dat ze luisterden als ik iets zei.”
Via X heeft de politie maandag een signalement van de vier activisten verspreid. Het gaat om drie vrouwen van ongeveer 65 jaar, 55 jaar en 25 jaar oud, en een man van rond de 25 jaar die een rode muts droeg, meldt de politie.
Kuhr heeft aangifte gedaan van belediging, smaad en laster. Inmiddels zijn twee getuigen gehoord. Ook worden de reserveringen en camerabeelden bekeken en geluidsfragmenten beluisterd.
Kleinzoon in Israëlische leger
Lenny Kuhr gaat gewoon door met optreden, dinsdagmiddag weer in Stadskanaal en vrijdag in Monster. ,,En zondag gaan we naar Israël, een weekje naar de kleinkinderen. Dat laten we natuurlijk niet verzieken door een paar schreeuwlelijks.”
Zowel Kuhr als haar man zijn joods. De zangeres, vooral bekend van de nummers De Troubadour en Visite, reisde eind vorig jaar nog naar Israël. Haar kleinzoon, die in het Israëlische leger zit, was gewond geraakt bij een Hamas-aanval.
Er zijn beelden opgedoken van de pro-Palestijnse activisten die zondag het concert van Lenny Kuhr (74) in theater De Leest in Waalwijk hebben verstoord. Ze scholden de zangeres uit voor terrorist en riepen dat ze schuldig was aan genocide. De demonstranten werden de zaal uitgewerkt, waarna de politie werd gebeld. “Ik ben als oude vrouw eigenlijk geen partij voor zo’n jonge man.”
Op de beelden is te zien dat een van de activisten met een Palestijnse vlag het podium op loopt en de zangeres aanspreekt. “Lenny schaamt u zich niet voor het supporten van genocide?”, is het eerste waar de activist over begint. De man wordt daarna de zaal uitgewerkt en uitgezwaaid door Kuhr, zo is te zien op het filmpje.
De andere activisten achter in de zaal roepen dat Lenny een terrorist is en een zionist, iemand die streeft naar een onafhankelijke Joodse staat. Haar man Rob Frank vindt het dan genoeg geweest en komt voor zijn vrouw op. “Het is mijn vrouw en jij gaat er godverdomme nu uit”, zo is te horen in de video.
Familie in Israël
De Nuenense Kuhr heeft familie in Israël en reist daar dan ook regelmatig heen. Eind vorig jaar ging ze nog naar Israël omdat haar kleinzoon, die vecht in het Israëlische leger, gewond was geraakt. Haar dochters en ex-man wonen ook in dat land. Afgelopen oktober sprak Kuhr haar steun uit voor het Israëlische volk tijdens een manifestatie in Amsterdam.
Frank werkt de activisten de zaal uit en is woest op hen. “Lenny is geen terrorist, idioot. Als je Lenny ooit nog terrorist durft te noemen, dan ga je over die balustrade hier.”
De activisten hadden volgens Kuhr kaartjes voor haar concert gekocht en zijn uiteindelijk uit het theater gezet. Kuhr heeft aangifte gedaan.
Een politiewoordvoerder laat weten dat agenten in de omgeving van het theater nog naar de activisten hebben gezocht, maar zonder resultaat. Het zou volgens de politie gaan om een 25-jarige man die een rode muts droeg en drie vrouwen van ongeveer 25, 55 en 65 jaar oud. Inmiddels is er een aangifte opgenomen en zijn er twee getuigen gehoord. De politie checkt de reserveringen voor het concert, camerabeelden en geluidsfragmenten.
Bij theater De Leest was maandag niemand bereikbaar. Onduidelijk is of de identiteit van de activisten, omdat ze een kaartje hebben gekocht, bij het theater bekend is. Kuhr treedt op 17 mei weer op in Brabant, ze staat dan in het Muziekgebouw in Eindhoven.
Haar voorstelling van dinsdag in het Groningse Stadskanaal gaat gewoon door. Het theater zet beveiliging in. De kaartverkoop is wel stilgelegd. Mensen die al een kaartje hebben kunnen gewoon naar het concert komen.
EINDE
NOS
CONCERT VAN LENNY KUHR IN WAALWIJK VERSTOORD DOOR PRO-PALESTIJNSE ACTIVISTEN
Actievoerders hebben gistermiddag in Waalwijk een concert van zangeres Lenny Kuhr verstoord. Dat bevestigen Lenny Kuhr en de politie na berichtgeving in De Telegraaf.
Vier toeschouwers in de zaal ontrolden een Palestijnse vlag en begonnen te schreeuwen. “Ik was een lied aan het introduceren toen een man naar voren kwam en mijn plaats op het podium wilde innemen. Hij noemde mij terrorist en beschuldigde mij meteen van genocide”, zegt de Joodse zangeres tegen de NOS.
“Van achter uit de zaal kwamen nog drie actievoerders, onder wie iemand die zijn gezicht had bedekt. Ze kwamen ontzettend agressief over.” Volgens Kuhr riepen de actievoerders de namen van haar kinderen en kleinkinderen, die in Israël wonen. Haar kleinzoon is dienstplichtig en zit in het leger.
De echtgenoot van Kuhr greep meteen in. “Hij is de jongste niet meer, maar hij pakte die man heel rustig bij zijn arm en zei dat hij zijn vrouw niet voor moordenares liet uitmaken.” Ook theaterpersoneel schoot te hulp en werkten de actievoerders de zaal uit. “Mijn man wilde nog het gesprek met ze aangaan, maar ze schreeuwden en bleven maar schreeuwen. Ze waren niet voor rede vatbaar.”
Extra kaartcontrole
Toen agenten bij theater De Leest kwamen, waren de vier verdwenen. De 74-jarige Kuhr, die in 1969 het Eurovisie Songfestival won, heeft aangifte gedaan van smaad en bedreiging. Ze heeft van theaterpersoneel gehoord dat de actievoerders uit Amsterdam komen en 10 kaartjes voor haar concert hadden gekocht. “Ze waren dus van plan om met een grotere groep te komen.”
Directeur Sander Knopper van theater De Leest bevestigt dat er tien kaarten waren gekocht door deze groep. “We hebben na de pauze ook een extra kaartcontrole gehouden om te voorkomen dat er nog meer actievoerders in de zaal zaten.”
Hij zegt niet te weten hoe het theater dit incident had moeten voorkomen. “Ik heb dit nog nooit meegemaakt en ik hoop het ook nooit meer mee te maken.”
Intimidatie
Na het incident is Kuhr doorgegaan met haar concert. Sommige bezoekers waren erg geschrokken. “Ik heb nog mijn water gegeven aan een vrouw die moest huilen van de schrik.”
Ook gaat Kuhr door met haar tournee. “Ik hoop wel dat theaters vanaf nu alerter zijn. Deze intimidatie moet uit de theaters blijven. Ik hoop dat de kunst gewoon door kan gaan.”
” Framing of denkraam is een overtuigingstechniek in communicatie waarbij woorden en beelden zo gekozen worden, dat daarbij impliciet een aantal aspecten van het beschrevene wordt uitgelicht. Deze uitgelichte aspecten helpen om een bepaalde lezing van het beschrevene of een mening daarover te propageren. ”
Actievoerders hebben gistermiddag in Waalwijk een concert van zangeres Lenny Kuhr verstoord. Dat bevestigen Lenny Kuhr en de politie na berichtgeving in De Telegraaf.
Vier toeschouwers in de zaal ontrolden een Palestijnse vlag en begonnen te schreeuwen. “Ik was een lied aan het introduceren toen een man naar voren kwam en mijn plaats op het podium wilde innemen. Hij noemde mij terrorist en beschuldigde mij meteen van genocide”, zegt de Joodse zangeres tegen de NOS.
“Van achter uit de zaal kwamen nog drie actievoerders, onder wie iemand die zijn gezicht had bedekt. Ze kwamen ontzettend agressief over.” Volgens Kuhr riepen de actievoerders de namen van haar kinderen en kleinkinderen, die in Israël wonen. Haar kleinzoon is dienstplichtig en zit in het leger.
De echtgenoot van Kuhr greep meteen in. “Hij is de jongste niet meer, maar hij pakte die man heel rustig bij zijn arm en zei dat hij zijn vrouw niet voor moordenares liet uitmaken.” Ook theaterpersoneel schoot te hulp en werkten de actievoerders de zaal uit. “Mijn man wilde nog het gesprek met ze aangaan, maar ze schreeuwden en bleven maar schreeuwen. Ze waren niet voor rede vatbaar.”
Extra kaartcontrole
Toen agenten bij theater De Leest kwamen, waren de vier verdwenen. De 74-jarige Kuhr, die in 1969 het Eurovisie Songfestival won, heeft aangifte gedaan van smaad en bedreiging. Ze heeft van theaterpersoneel gehoord dat de actievoerders uit Amsterdam komen en 10 kaartjes voor haar concert hadden gekocht. “Ze waren dus van plan om met een grotere groep te komen.”
Directeur Sander Knopper van theater De Leest bevestigt dat er tien kaarten waren gekocht door deze groep. “We hebben na de pauze ook een extra kaartcontrole gehouden om te voorkomen dat er nog meer actievoerders in de zaal zaten.”
Hij zegt niet te weten hoe het theater dit incident had moeten voorkomen. “Ik heb dit nog nooit meegemaakt en ik hoop het ook nooit meer mee te maken.”
Intimidatie
Na het incident is Kuhr doorgegaan met haar concert. Sommige bezoekers waren erg geschrokken. “Ik heb nog mijn water gegeven aan een vrouw die moest huilen van de schrik.”
Ook gaat Kuhr door met haar tournee. “Ik hoop wel dat theaters vanaf nu alerter zijn. Deze intimidatie moet uit de theaters blijven. Ik hoop dat de kunst gewoon door kan gaan.”
De cultuursector ziet naar eigen zeggen een toename van incidenten door polarisatie. Om die reden wil de sector in samenwerking met de staatssecretaris van Cultuur, Fleur Gräper een veiligheidsprotocol opstellen. Dat schrijven de Vereniging van Schouwburg- en Concertgebouwdirecties, de Nederlandse Associatie voor Podiumkunsten en de Vereniging Nederlandse Poppodia en Festivals in een verklaring.
Directe aanleiding is de verstoring van het concert van Lenny Kuhr afgelopen weekend. Pro-Palestijnse activisten verstoorden toen het optreden van de zangeres. “Hij noemde mij terrorist en beschuldigde mij meteen van genocide”, zei Kuhr, die joods is, na de verstoring.
De actie is scherp veroordeeld, onder meer door Nationaal Coördinator Antisemitismebestrijding Eddo Verdoner, die vaststelde dat sprake is van antisemitisme. “Zij wordt belaagd en uitgescholden voor terrorist, voor zionist, schijnbaar enkel en alleen omdat ze joods is en familie heeft in Israël.”
Vrije kunsten
In de verklaring stelt de sector dat “iedereen, van makers tot medewerkers en publiek, veilig moet zijn binnen onze huizen en onze podia”. Deze week kwamen dertien van de vijftien partijen in de Tweede Kamer ook naar buiten met een gezamenlijk verklaring tegen Jodenhaat.
Volgens de cultuurorganisaties kan een veiligheidsprotocol ervoor zorgen dat de “vrije kunsten en het vrije woord” kunnen blijven bestaan. “Mochten podia daar aanleiding voor zien, kunnen zij een beroep doen op preventieve veiligheidsmaatregelen van de overheid”, staat in de verklaring.
Pro-Palestijnse actievoerders verspreidden beelden van het protest bij het concert van Lenny Kuhr
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” De verstoring in Waalwijk heeft volgens actiegroep Palestine Action NL te maken met Kuhrs uitspraken over de oorlog in Gaza en met het feit dat haar twee kleinkinderen in het Israëlische leger dienen. ‘Lenny geeft in de media aan dat ze voor de aanval op Gaza is en heeft het steeds eenzijdig over de Israëlische slachtoffers van 7 oktober. Op Jonet.nl geeft ze aan dat ze achter de militaire actie staat van Israël’, schrijft de actiegroep op Instagram.”
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ONRUST ROND SHOW LENNY KUHR: VERKOOP STILGELEGD,
EXTRA BEVEILIGING. ”STRAKS WORDT ELKE JOOD EEN DOELWIT”
AANGIFTEPro-Palestijnse activisten dreigen opnieuw een concert van de Eindhovense zangeres Lenny Kuhr te verstoren. Bij theater Geert Teis in Stadskanaal zijn meerdere ‘vervelende’ telefoontjes binnengekomen, vertelt haar echtgenoot aan deze site. Er wordt daarom beveiliging ingezet. ,,Het is jammer dat dat noodzakelijk is’’, verzucht theaterdirecteur Riëtte Kruize.
De ticketverkoop voor de show van dinsdagmiddag is inmiddels al gestaakt, zegt theaterdirecteur Riëtte Kruize. ,,De mensen die al een kaartje hebben, kunnen gewoon naar het concert komen en daar een veilige middag met leuke liedjes hebben. Van hen weten we zeker dat ze daar ook echt voor komen.’’
Volgens Kruize is het besluit genomen in overleg met de driehoek (Openbaar Ministerie, politie en burgemeester) en met de manager en echtgenoot van Kuhr. ,,We waren het er allemaal over eens dat we mensen die een kaartje hebben, een leuke middag willen bezorgen.’’ Het concert was voor dit besluit nog niet helemaal volgeboekt. Over het aantal kaartjes dat is verkocht, doet Kruize geen uitspraken.
Wat is er aan de hand?
De 74-jarige Lenny Kuhr, voormalig songfestivalwinnaar en bekend van haar hit De troubadour, werd zondag tijdens haar concert in Waalwijk uitgemaakt voor moordenaar en terrorist. Pro-Palestijnse activisten beklommen het podium en riepen vanuit het publiek leuzen over de oorlog in Gaza.
Het ging om een gecoördineerde actie, stelt Kuhrs echtgenoot Rob Frank, die midden in de zaal zat. Op beelden is te zien en horen hoe hij samen met medewerkers een van de activisten de zaal uitwerkt. ,,Dat is mijn vrouw en jij gaat er nu godverdomme uit!’’ roept hij onder meer.
Wie aan zijn echtgenote komt, komt aan hem, vertelt hij een dag later aan de telefoon. De boosheid is inmiddels gezakt. ,,Ik weet niet eens meer dat ik dat heb gezegd’’, vertelt hij. ,,Als je een vrouw hebt waar je van houdt, dan kom je daarvoor op. Dat is het enige wat door mijn hoofd ging op dat moment. Ik moet voor Len opkomen. Je denkt niet, maar je handelt.’’ Frank staat volledig achter zijn actie, vertelt hij. ,,Of Lenny trots op mij is? Haha, ik geloof het wel. Ik en Len laten ons niet bang maken. Door niemand niet.’’
Kuhr noemt in het NOS Journaal de verstoring van haar concert door pro-Palestijnse activisten als antisemitisch ’anti-joods en anti-Israël.’ ,,Maar de haat op hun gezichten was zó verschrikkelijk groot. Ik voelde dat deze haat veel groter was dan het land Israël, en de woorden die zij zeiden.” De zangeres denkt dat de activisten ‘mij en mijn kinderen en kleinkinderen noemen omdat ze Joodse kinderen zijn en in Israël wonen. En omdat mijn twee kleinkinderen dienstplichtig zijn in het leger.’
Jacht op onruststokers
De groep activisten had voor de middagshow kaartjes gekocht, tien stuks in totaal. Veel van die plekken bleven leeg. Tijdens de eerste helft van de voorstelling stonden vier mensen ineens op. Ze riepen onder meer: ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’. Dat is een omstreden tekst, omdat het grondgebied van de staat Israël tussen de rivier de Jordaan (‘the river’) en de Middellandse Zee (‘the sea’) ligt. Ook zwaaide een van de demonstranten met een Palestijnse vlag en werden flyers door de zaal gegooid. De activisten verwezen verder naar het feit dat kinderen en kleinkinderen van de zangeres in Israël wonen.
‘Vogels alweer gevlogen’
De politie kwam zondag ter plaatse, ‘maar toen waren de vogels alweer gevlogen’, zegt Frank. Op het sociale platform X is maandag een signalement van de onruststokers verspreid. Het gaat om drie vrouwen van ongeveer 65, 55 en 25 jaar oud, en een man van rond de 25 jaar, die een rode muts droeg. Er zijn al signalen dat zij of andere activisten de volgende voorstelling van Kuhr willen verstoren. ,,Heel triest natuurlijk, maar we blijven ontzettend veel zin hebben in het concert’’, zegt Frank.
Intussen heeft Kuhr aangifte gedaan van belediging, smaad en laster vanwege de verstoorde show in Waalwijk. Twee getuigen zijn gehoord. Ook worden de reserveringen en camerabeelden bekeken en geluidsfragmenten beluisterd.
Kritiek op uitspraken Kuhr
Zowel Kuhr als haar man is Joods. De zangeres, vooral bekend van de nummers De troubadour en Visite, reisde eind vorig jaar nog naar Israël. Haar kleinzoon, die in het Israëlische leger zit, was gewond geraakt bij een aanval van Hamas. De verstoring in Waalwijk heeft volgens actiegroep Palestine Action NL te maken met Kuhrs uitspraken over de oorlog in Gaza en met het feit dat haar twee kleinkinderen in het Israëlische leger dienen. ‘Lenny geeft in de media aan dat ze voor de aanval op Gaza is en heeft het steeds eenzijdig over de Israëlische slachtoffers van 7 oktober. Op Jonet.nl geeft ze aan dat ze achter de militaire actie staat van Israël’, schrijft de actiegroep op Instagram. Het is niet duidelijk of aanhangers van deze actiegroep ook achter de verstoring zitten.
‘Afschuwelijk’
De Nationaal Coördinator Antisemitismebestrijding vreest dat elke Jood straks het doelwit wordt van demonstranten. ‘Kennelijk moet van deze activisten iedere Nederlandse Jood zich uitspreken tegen de politiek van Israël, anders ben je een terrorist, en mag je die persoon uitschelden en beletten haar vak uit te oefenen’, schrijft de coördinator op X. ‘We moeten koste wat kost voorkomen dat het gewoon wordt Joden te belagen om wie zij zijn.’
Demissionair minister Dilan Yeşilgöz (Justitie en Veiligheid) vindt de verstoring van het concert ‘anti-Joods en antisemitisch’. ‘Dit heeft niets met ‘pro-Palestina’ te maken, dit is anti-Joods. Laten we het benoemen en behandelen voor wat het is’, schrijft ze op X. ‘Wat afschuwelijk dat zelfs een avond genieten van muziek met antisemitische intimidatie wordt verstoord. Puur omdat iemand Joods is. Hier mag geen plek voor zijn ons land!’ Yeşilgöz hoopt dat de daders snel worden gepakt en wenst Kuhr sterkte.
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“Natuurlijk is nu strijd nodig,” zegt ze tegen de krant. “Ik sta achter de militaire operatie die Israël aan het voeren is. Het gaat om het voortbestaan van de staat Israël dat altijd wordt bedreigd.”
Lenny Kuhr (73) is teruggekeerd uit Israël, waar ze haar dochters en kleinkinderen bezocht na het uitbreken van de oorlog met Hamas. De zangeres was eind oktober naar het land afgereisd omdat haar kleinzoon een schotwond opliep tijdens zijn dienst in het Israëlische leger (IDF). Volgens haar komt er eens vrede tussen Israël en de Palestijnen, maar moet er nu voor gevochten worden.
Ozz
“Mijn oudste kleinzoon werd met zijn legeronderdeel ingezet bij de dorpen die Hamas aanviel. Hij werd geraakt in zijn dikke darm. De kogel vloog zijn lichaam in en uit. Enkele millimeters ernaast zou fataal zijn geweest,” vertelt Kuhr aan het Nederlands Dagblad (ND) in een interview. Vanwege volle vluchten was ze niet in staat om snel naar Israël te reizen om kleinzoon Ozz (19) te zien.
Twee operaties
Uit haar eerste huwelijk met een Israëlische man werden twee dochters geboren die later op aliya gingen. In Israël volgden kleinkinderen, waarvan er thans twee in het IDF dienen. Kleinzoon Ozz werd tot twee keer toe geopereerd en moet sindsdien herstellen. “Hij wil terug naar zijn onderdeel, zijn bijdrage leveren. Gewond en al hielp hij nog mee met het redden van anderen. Kameraden kwamen om.”
Eensgezindheid
Tegenover het ND benadrukt Kuhr dat ze merkt dat ook Arabische en christelijke Israëliërs veel meer achter de regering en het leger staan dan de Nederlandse media weergeven. “In brede kring wordt ook gedeeld dat regering en veiligheidsdiensten alle signalen die ‘vooral vrouwelijke soldaten’ doorgaven, hebben onderschat en zelfs genegeerd, aldus Kuhr.
Ooit vrede
“Natuurlijk is nu strijd nodig,” zegt ze tegen de krant. “Ik sta achter de militaire operatie die Israël aan het voeren is. Het gaat om het voortbestaan van de staat Israël dat altijd wordt bedreigd. Maar in mijn levensvisie moet geweld zo kort en minimaal mogelijk zijn.” Ooit komt het goed, nu moeten we strijden, zegt de zangeres. “Ismaël en Izak hebben toch beiden Abraham als stamvader?”
Troubadour
Na haar winst op het Songfestival, in 1969 met de Troubadour, had Lenny Kuhr nog een paar hits, waaronder het bekende Visite. In 1974 ontmoette ze een Israëlische kno-arts, die haar neus opereerde nadat ze in mei 1973 het slachtoffer was geworden van mishandeling op het station van Haarlem. Het voorval leidde tot Tweede Kamervragen over de toenemende agressie in treinen en op stations. Samen kregen ze twee dochters. Kuhr werd ook Joods.
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Op de Dam in Amsterdam kwamen vandaag enkele duizenden mensen samen om hun steun te betuigen aan Israël en aan de Joden in Nederland. De aanwezigen bemoedigden de Joden in de oorlog die ze momenteel voeren tegen Hamas. Verschillende sprekers, onder wie CIDI-directeur Naomi Mestrum en zangeres Lenny Kuhr waren aanwezig. Ook Rachel Meijer, rabbijnen Yanki Jacobs en Menno ten Brink, Afshin Elian, Jason Walters en oud-minister Uri Rozenthal van Buitenlandse Zaken hielden korte toespraken op de Dam. ”
Fotoverslag – Op donderdag 12 oktober werd er een grote manifestatie voor Israël gehouden op de Dam in Amsterdam. De manifestatie begon om 17.00 uur en werd georganiseerd door een aantal Joodse organisaties in samenwerking met Christenen voor Israël. Tijd om op te staan tegen terreur en vóór Israël! Christelijknieuws.nl was er bij, bekijk hieronder de foto’s
Op de Dam in Amsterdam kwamen vandaag enkele duizenden mensen samen om hun steun te betuigen aan Israël en aan de Joden in Nederland. De aanwezigen bemoedigden de Joden in de oorlog die ze momenteel voeren tegen Hamas. Verschillende sprekers, onder wie CIDI-directeur Naomi Mestrum en zangeres Lenny Kuhr waren aanwezig. Ook Rachel Meijer, rabbijnen Yanki Jacobs en Menno ten Brink, Afshin Elian, Jason Walters en oud-minister Uri Rozenthal van Buitenlandse Zaken hielden korte toespraken op de Dam.
U kunt hier de manifestatie terugkijken:
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“Natuurlijk is nu strijd nodig,” zegt ze tegen de krant. “Ik sta achter de militaire operatie die Israël aan het voeren is. Het gaat om het voortbestaan van de staat Israël dat altijd wordt bedreigd.”
Everyone in Gaza is going hungry. About 2.2 million people are surviving day by day on almost nothing, routinely going without meals. The desperate search for food is relentless, and usually unsuccessful, leaving the entire population – including babies, children, pregnant or nursing women and the elderly – hungry.
“There are no greens, fruit and dairy products here like I had before. Prices are very high because of the food shortage in the markets, so instead of three meals a day, we’ve gone down to one or two. My four-year-old has osteoporosis and needs to drink milk every day, but now I can’t get it for her.” Wisal Abu ‘Odeh, 34, a pregnant mother of two from Beit Hanoun, is a displaced person currently sheltering in the Khan Yunis area
The hunger in Gaza is not a byproduct of the war but a direct result of Israel’s declared policy, says B’Tselem in its new position paper. Residents now depend entirely on food supplies from outside Gaza, as they can no longer produce almost any food themselves. Most cultivated fields have been destroyed, and accessing open areas during the war is dangerous in any case. Bakeries, factories and food warehouses have been bombed or shut down due to lack of basic supplies, fuel and electricity. Stockpiles in private homes, stores and warehouses have long since run out, leading family and social support networks that helped residents at the start of the war to collapse, too.
Yet Israel is deliberately denying the entry of enough food into Gaza to meet the population’s needs. Only a fraction of the amount of food entering before the war is now allowed in, with limitations on the types of goods, how they are brought in and how they are distributed within Gaza.
Israel can choose to change this reality. The images of children begging for food, people waiting in long lines for paltry handouts and hungry residents charging at aid trucks are already inconceivable. The horror is growing by the minute, and the danger of famine is real. Still, Israel persists in its policy.
Changing this policy is not just a moral obligation. Allowing food into the Gaza Strip is not an act of kindness but a positive obligation under international humanitarian law: starvation as a method of warfare is prohibited, and when a civilian population lacks what it needs to survive, parties to the conflict have a positive obligation to allow rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian aid – including food. These two rules are considered customary law and violating them constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
EINDE
”Israel cut off all water on October 11, and most desalination also stopped that day due to the cutoff in electricity, leaving about 600,000 people without clean water, Omar Shatat, deputy director general of Gaza’s Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, told Human Rights Watch.”
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
ISRAEL: UNLAWFUL GAZA BLOCKADE DEADLY FOR CHILDREN
Denial of Water, Fuel, Electricity Endangers Lives
Update October 19, 2023: President Joe Biden announced that the United States mediated an agreement allowing the movement of up to 20 trucks of food, medicine, and water into Gaza. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has urged negotiators to raise their “level of ambition.” OCHA reported that, in August 2023 alone, 12,072 truckloads of “authorized goods entered Gaza through the Israeli and Egyptian-controlled crossings.” After the total siege on the civilian population on October 9, a single dispatch of 20 truckloads does not adequately address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, Human Rights Watch said. Israel’s international partners should press the Israeli government to restore water and electricity supplies and lift its unlawful restrictions on aid delivery and closure.
(Jerusalem) – The Israeli government should immediately end its total blockade of the Gaza Strip that is putting Palestinian children and other civilians at grave risk, Human Rights Watch said today. The collective punishment of the population is a war crime. Israeli authorities should allow desperately needed food, medical aid, fuel, electricity, and water into Gaza, and let sick and wounded civilians leave to receive medical treatment elsewhere.
Israel announced on October 18, 2023, that it would allow food, water, and medicine to reach people in southern Gaza from Egypt, but without electricity or fuel to run the local power plant or generators, or clear provision of aid to those in the north, this falls short of meeting the needs of Gaza’s population.
The Israeli bombardment and total blockade have exacerbated the longstanding humanitarian crisis resulting from Israel’s unlawful 16-year closure of Gaza, where more than 80 percent of the population relies on humanitarian aid. Doctors in Gaza report being unable to care for children and other patients because the hospitals are overwhelmed by victims of Israeli airstrikes. On October 17, a munition struck al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, causing mass casualties; Hamas blamed Israel for the strike, while Israel said it was a rocket misfire by Palestinian militants. Human Rights Watch is looking into the strike.
Public health officials said the lack of water, contamination of areas by sewage, and many bodies that cannot be safely stored in morgues could trigger an infectious disease outbreak.
“Israel’s bombardment and unlawful total blockade of Gaza mean that countless wounded and sick children, among many other civilians, will die for want of medical care,” said Bill Van Esveld, associate children’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “US President Joe Biden, who is in Israel today, should press Israeli officials to completely lift the unlawful blockade and ensure the entire civilian population has prompt access to water, food, fuel, and electricity.”
Senior Israeli officials have said the total blockade of the Gaza Strip, where children comprise nearly half of the population of 2.2 million, is part of efforts to defeat Hamas, following its October 7 attack on Israel. Hamas-led Palestinian fighters killed more than 1,300 people, according to Israeli authorities, and took scores of civilians, including women and children, as hostages. On October 9, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced “a complete siege … no electricity, no water, no food, no fuel. We are fighting human animals, and we act accordingly.” The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported, as of October 18, that 3,478 Palestinians have been killed. The Palestinian rights group Defense for Children International – Palestine reported that more than 1,000 children are among those killed.
The laws of war do not prohibit sieges or blockades of enemy forces, but they may not include tactics that prevent civilians’ access to items essential for their survival, such as water, food, and medicine. Parties to the conflict must allow and facilitate the rapid passage of impartial humanitarian aid for all civilians in need. Aid may be inspected but not arbitrarily delayed.
In addition, during military occupations, such as in Gaza, the occupying power has a duty under the Fourth Geneva Convention, to the fullest extent of the means available to it, “of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population.” Starvation as a method of warfare is prohibited and is a war crime.
Under international human rights law, states must respect the right to water, which includes refraining from limiting access to, or destroying, water services and infrastructure as a punitive measure during armed conflicts as well as respecting the obligations to protect objects indispensable for survival of the civilian population.
Israel’s total blockade against the population in Gaza forms part of the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution that Israeli authorities are committing against Palestinians.
News media reported on October 17 that Israel had refused to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, while Egypt was refusing to allow Palestinians to cross into the Sinai. Egypt and Israel should permit civilians to pass through their respective crossings to seek at least temporary protection or life-saving medical care, while also ensuring that anyone who flees is entitled to voluntary return in safety and dignity.
Lack of Medical Care
Shortages of medical equipment, supplies, and medication in the face of overwhelming casualties are causing avoidable deaths in hospitals in the Gaza Strip. More than 60 percent of patients are children, Dr. Midhat Abbas, director general of health in Gaza, told Human Rights Watch. An intern emergency room doctor at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital wept while speaking to Human Rights Watch by phone on October 15:
Yesterday, in the intensive care unit, it was full, and all ventilators were in use. A child came in with head trauma who needed a ventilator. They had to choose between two children, who would die. He [the doctor] made a decision that one child was more promising to treat, so we were forced to switch the ventilator, and the other child died.
A doctor at the Northern Medical Complex said that on the night of October 14, intensive-care unit medics had to disconnect an adult patient from a ventilator to use it for a 10-year-old. He said a lack of medical supplies had obliged him to stitch a woman’s head wound without gloves or sterile equipment.
In a voice message on October 14, a doctor at al-Shifa hospital described a group of patients with “back wounds, including compound fractures, that can be really painful.” He said that the hospital had run out of painkillers to administer to them.
Ghassan Abu Sitta, a British surgeon volunteering at al-Shifa hospital, posted on social media on October 10, that “the hospitals, because of the siege, are so short of supplies that we had to clean a teenage girl with 70 percent body surface burns with regular soap because the hospital is out of chlorhexidine (antiseptic).” On October 14, he said in a voice note shared with Human Rights Watch: “We are no longer able to do anything but the most life-saving surgeries” because medical supplies were exhausted, and deaths and injuries had caused staff shortages.
More than 5,500 pregnant women in the Gaza Strip are expected to deliver within the next month, but face “compromised functionality of health facilities” and lack of “lifesaving supplies,” the United Nations Population Fund said on October 13.
“We need insulin [for diabetics],” said the head of a UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) shelter on October 15. “People are dying.” The shelter was overwhelmed with 15,000 internally displaced people.
The UN World Health Organization stated on October 14 that it had flown medical and basic health supplies for 300,000 patients to Egypt, near the Gaza Strip’s southern border, and more than 1,000 tons of other humanitarian aid had been shipped to the area. As of October 17, though, humanitarian workers and aid remain blocked via the Rafah border crossing. Israeli attacks have reportedly hit the crossing repeatedly, rendering it unsafe. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said four Egyptian aid workers were injured in the Israeli strikes and that “there is not yet any sort of authorization for a safe passage from the other side of the crossing.”
Israel’s order on October 13 to all civilians located in the north of the Gaza Strip to evacuate to the south exacerbated the medical crisis: 21 hospitals currently holding more than 2,000 patients are located in this region. The World Health Organization said the evacuations “could be tantamount to a death sentence” for the sick and injured and said hospitals were already beyond capacity in the southern Gaza Strip. A pediatric doctor at Kamal Adwan Hospital said evacuating would likely cause the deaths of seven newborns in the ICU who were connected to ventilators.
Dr. Abu Sitta said that Israel’s evacuation order forced the Mohammed al-Durra Pediatric Hospital east of Gaza City to close, including a neonatal intensive care unit supported by the charity he volunteers with, Medical Aid for Palestinians.
The sick and wounded, including children and pregnant women, have not been allowed to cross Rafah into Egypt or the Erez crossing into Israel to receive treatment. Dr. Abbas, the director general of health, said, “We are in desperate need of a safe humanitarian passage for patients immediately, [and] we need field hospitals immediately.”
Electricity
On October 7, Israeli authorities cut the electricity it delivers to Gaza, the main source of electricity there. Israeli authorities also cut fuel necessary to run Gaza’s only power plant. The power plant has since run out of fuel and shut down. On October 17, Dr. Abbas told Human Rights Watch by phone that hospitals’ emergency generators will run out of fuel “within hours.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross regional director warned on October 11 that the power cuts are “putting newborns in incubators and elderly patients on oxygen at risk. Kidney dialysis stops, and X-rays can’t be taken. Without electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues.”
Water and Sewage
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that 97 percent of the groundwater in Gaza is “unfit for human consumption,” leaving people dependent on the supply of water from Israel and on the territory’s desalination plants. Israel cut off all water on October 11, and most desalination also stopped that day due to the cutoff in electricity, leaving about 600,000 people without clean water, Omar Shatat, deputy director general of Gaza’s Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, told Human Rights Watch.
The last functioning desalination plant stopped operating on October 15. Israel partially resumed water delivery that day, but only to the eastern Khan Younis area, and it amounted to less than 4 percent of the water consumed in Gaza prior to October 7, according to OCHA.
UNRWA warned that “people will start dying of severe dehydration” unless access to water is resumed. The Associated Press reported on October 15 that a doctor had treated 15 cases of children with bacterial dysentery due to lack of clean water, which can also cause diseases like cholera, particularly in children under 5.
“Israel has cut off the most basic goods necessary for survival in Gaza, where there are more than a million children at risk,” Van Esveld said. “Every hour that this blockade continues costs lives.”
Israel agreed Thursday to ease its three-year-old land blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, hoping to quell international outrage over its deadly raid on a flotilla bound for the Palestinian territory.
In one of the major changes, Israel will allow in more desperately needed construction materials for civilian projects, provided those projects are carried out under international supervision, government and military officials said. Israel has barely allowed in goods such as cement and steel, fearing Hamas militants could use them to build weapons and fortifications. The policy has prevented rebuilding thousands of homes and other buildings damaged in Israel’s war with Hamas last year.
An Israeli military official told The Associated Press all foods would be allowed in to the impoverished territory, effective immediately. Authorities had previously allowed a short and constantly changing list of foods in, but the list has been growing incrementally in recent months.
Israel is maintaining its naval blockade intended to keep weapons shipments out of the hands of Hamas.
“This is a step in the right direction,” said Cristina Galach, spokeswoman for the European Union presidency.
However, Hamas was not satisfied.
“We want a real lifting of the siege, not window-dressing,” said Hamas lawmaker Salah Bardawil.
The easing is evidence of the intense pressure Israeli leaders felt after an international outcry over the raid on a blockade-busting flotilla on May 31. Israeli commandos killed nine pro-Palestinian activists and both sides claimed they acted in self-defense.
Israel imposed the blockade in 2007 after Hamas, which calls for Israel’s destruction, violently seized control of Gaza. For the most part, only basic humanitarian goods have been allowed in for a population of 1.5 million. Egypt has cooperated by blockading its land border with Gaza, but it opened it days after the flotilla raid to allow thousands of Palestinians to leave.
Israel’s shift came just one week after President Barack Obama, the country’s most important ally, said the blockade was unsustainable and called for scaling it back dramatically. Israel made the decision after extensive consultations with European and American officials.
“This morning, the government of Israel took decisions to liberalize the system under which civilian goods may enter the Gaza Strip, to expand materials for projects inside Gaza which are under international supervision,” government spokesman Mark Regev said.
“But of course we must remain with the security procedures that prevent the import into Gaza of weapons and war materials that strengthen the Hamas military machine,” he said, indicating the naval blockade would remain in force.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly warned that if the naval closure is lifted, Iranian-backed Hamas would turn Gaza into an “Iranian port.”
There was no mention of lifting or easing bans on exports from Gaza or imports of raw materials that would be crucial to galvanizing the territory’s battered economy.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said officials wanted to see how the Israeli decision is carried out.’
“The detail is what matters,” she said. Israel must “make sure that many, many more goods can get in to Gaza to enable people to reconstruct their homes, to build schools, to place infrastructure, and also enable people to get on with ordinary lives.”
She said EU officials will discuss the possibility of helping reopen Gaza’s border crossings. The EU helped monitor Gaza’s southern border with Egypt until Hamas took power in 2007.
U.N. spokesman Chris Gunness said the blockade has prevented the United Nations from bringing in construction materials needed to carry out an internationally approved plan to rebuild thousands of homes and other buildings Israel damaged or destroyed in last year’s war in Gaza.
The closure has also shuttered hundreds of factories, put tens of thousands of people out of work and brought the territory’s fragile economy to a standstill, mainly hurting ordinary Gazans.
The blockade failed to achieve its aims of stanching the flow of weapons to Gaza, weakening Hamas or winning the release of an Israeli soldier held in captivity in Gaza for years. A network of smuggling tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border became a conduit for both weapons and commercial goods sold at black market prices. Gazans sank deeper into poverty, turning their anger against Israel and not their Hamas rulers.
In the West Bank, the pro-Western Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas which rivals Hamas also criticized the Israeli decision. Negotiator Saeb Erekat said the closure should be ended altogether.
“The siege is collective punishment and it must be lifted.”
Privately, however, Abbas’ aides have expressed concern that an opening of Gaza’s borders would strengthen Hamas at his expense.
Most Gazans remained confined to the territory. Egypt is only letting in people with special travel permits, such as students and Gazans with foreign passports. In the past two weeks, only 10,000 Gazans have crossed into Egypt.
Turkey on Thursday threatened not to send its ambassador back to Israel unless it receives an apology for the flotilla raid. Ankara, which withdrew its ambassador immediately after the raid, also wants Israel to agree to an international investigation into the raid and compensate victims, a government official said.
Israel opposes an international investigation, and has appointed its own panel of legal experts. That commission met for the first time on Wednesday.
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor Noten 14 t/m 16/Niets dan leugens!
” (Beirut, October 12, 2023) – Israel’s use of white phosphorus in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon puts civilians at risk of serious and long-term injuries, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing a question and answer document on white phosphorus. Human Rights Watch verified videos taken in Lebanon and Gaza on October 10 and 11, 2023, respectively, showing multiple airbursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port and two rural locations along the Israel-Lebanon border, and interviewed two people who described an attack in Gaza.”
Use in Populated Areas Poses Grave Risks to Civilians
(Beirut, October 12, 2023) – Israel’s use of white phosphorus in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon puts civilians at risk of serious and long-term injuries, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing a question and answer document on white phosphorus. Human Rights Watch verified videos taken in Lebanon and Gaza on October 10 and 11, 2023, respectively, showing multiple airbursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port and two rural locations along the Israel-Lebanon border, and interviewed two people who described an attack in Gaza.
White phosphorus, which can be used either for marking, signaling, and obscuring, or as a weapon to set fires that burn people and objects, has a significant incendiary effect that can severely burn people and set structures, fields, and other civilian objects in the vicinity on fire. The use of white phosphorus in Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, magnifies the risk to civilians and violates the international humanitarian law prohibition on putting civilians at unnecessary risk.
“Any time that white phosphorus is used in crowded civilian areas, it poses a high risk of excruciating burns and lifelong suffering,” said Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “White phosphorous is unlawfully indiscriminate when airburst in populated urban areas, where it can burn down houses and cause egregious harm to civilians.”
On October 11, Human Rights Watch interviewed by phone two people from the al-Mina area in Gaza City, who described observing strikes consistent with the use of white phosphorus. One was in the street at the time, while the other was in a nearby office building. Both described ongoing airstrikes before seeing explosions in the sky followed by what they described as white lines going earthward. They estimated that the attack took place sometime between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Both said that the smell was stifling. The person who was in his office said that the smell was so strong that he went toward the window to see what was happening and then filmed the strike.
Human Rights Watch reviewed the video and verified that it was taken in Gaza City’s port and identified that the munitions used in the strike were airburst 155mm white phosphorus artillery projectiles. Other videos posted to social media and verified by Human Rights Watch show the same location. Dense white smoke and a garlic smell are characteristics of white phosphorus.
Human Rights Watch also reviewedtwo videos from October 10 from two locations near the Israel-Lebanon border. Each shows 155mm white phosphorus artillery projectiles being used, apparently as smokescreens, marking, or signaling.
White phosphorus ignites when exposed to atmospheric oxygen and continues to burn until it is deprived of oxygen or exhausted. Its chemical reaction can create intense heat (about 815°C/1,500°F), light, and smoke.
Upon contact, white phosphorus can burn people, thermally and chemically, down to the bone as it is highly soluble in fat and therefore in human flesh. White phosphorus fragments can exacerbate wounds even after treatment and can enter the bloodstream and cause multiple organ failure. Already dressed wounds can reignite when dressings are removed and the wounds are re-exposed to oxygen. Even relatively minor burns are often fatal. For survivors, extensive scarring tightens muscle tissue and creates physical disabilities. The trauma of the attack, the painful treatment that follows, and appearance-changing scars lead to psychological harm and social exclusion.
The use of white phosphorus in densely populated areas of Gaza violates the requirement under international humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life, Human Rights Watch said. This concern is amplified given the technique evidenced in videos of airbursting white phosphorus projectiles. Airbursting of white phosphorus projectiles spreads 116 burning felt wedges impregnated within the substance over an area between 125 and 250 meters in diameter, depending on the altitude of the burst, thereby exposing more civilians and civilian structures to potential harm than a localized ground burst.
Israeli authorities have not commented on whether or not they used white phosphorus during the ongoing fighting.
Israel’s use of white phosphorus comes amid hostilities following Hamas’ deadly attacks on October 7 and subsequent rocket attacks that have killed, as of October 12, more than 1,300 Israelis, including hundreds of civilians, and taking of scores of Israelis as hostages in violation of international humanitarian law. Heavy Israeli bombardment of Gaza in this period has killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, more than 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza, including scores of civilians, and displaced more than 338,000 people. Many communities in southern Israel have also been displaced and more than 1,500 Palestinian militants reportedly died in Israel. Israeli authorities have cut electricity, water, fuel and food into Gaza, in violation of the international humanitarian law prohibition against collective punishment, exacerbating the dire humanitarian situation from over 16 years of Israeli closure.
Human Rights Watch has documented the Israeli military’s use of white phosphorus in previous conflicts in Gaza, including in 2009. Israel should ban all use of “airburst” white phosphorus munitions in populated areas without exception. There are readily available and non-lethal alternatives to white phosphorus smoke shells, including some produced by Israeli companies, which the Israeli army has used in the past as an obscurant for its forces. These alternatives have the same effect and dramatically reduce the harm to civilians.
In 2013, in response to a petition to Israel’s High Court of Justice regarding the use of white phosphorus in Gaza, the Israeli military stated that it would no longer use white phosphorus in populated areas except in two narrow situations that it revealed only to the justices. In the court’s ruling, Justice Edna Arbel said that the conditions would “render use of white phosphorous an extreme exception in highly particular circumstances.” Although this ruling did not represent an official change in policy, Justice Arbel called on the Israeli military to conduct a “thorough and comprehensive examination” and adopt a permanent military directive.
Attacks using air-delivered incendiary weapons in civilian areas are prohibited under Protocol III of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). While the protocol contains weaker restrictions for ground-launched incendiary weapons, all types of incendiary weapons produce horrific injuries. Protocol III applies only to weapons that are “primarily designed” to set fires or cause burns, and thus some countries believe it excludes certain multipurpose munitions with incendiary effects, notably those containing white phosphorus.
Human Rights Watch and many states have long called for closing these loopholes in Protocol III. These attacks should add impetus to the calls from at least two dozen countries for the CCW Meeting of States Parties to set aside time to discuss the adequacy of Protocol III. The next meeting is scheduled for November at the United Nations in Geneva.
Palestine joined Protocol III on January 5, 2015, and Lebanon on April 5, 2017, while Israel has not ratified it.
“To avoid civilian harm, Israel should stop using white phosphorus in populated areas,” Fakih said. “Parties to the conflict should be doing everything they can to spare civilians from further suffering.”
END
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”Two key principles enable the achievement of this goal. First – the principle of distinction – determines what legitimate targets are: according to Article 52(2) of Additional Protocol (I) to the Geneva Conventions, only military objects are legitimate targets for attack. They are defined as objects that make an effective contribution to military action and whose destruction would offer a definite military advantage to the attacking side. The second principle – the principle of proportionality – limits how attacks are to be carried out: according to Article 51(5)b of the Protocol, legitimate targets must not be attacked if the expected harm to civilians would be excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage. Whether or not an attack is proportionate is not determined by the actual harm inflicted but by the information those responsible for it had or should have had.
Israel’s airstrikes since the start of the war are an abject violation of these principles and constitute a war crime. The massive scale of destruction in the Gaza Strip is unprecedented.”
Since the start of the war, Israel has dropped thousands of bombs on the Gaza Strip. Gaza is an enclave enclosed on all sides. There are no safe rooms, no shelters, no safe spaces. Residents have no way to protect themselves. They wait, in terror and fear, hoping to survive. Over a million people have already left their homes in an attempt to find a safe place; some have been killed while fleeing, others where they sought shelter.
Israel, like Hamas and like every country in the world, must follow international humanitarian law. These legal provisions were not enacted by human rights or pro-Palestinian organizations. They were accepted by all nations – including Israel – out of a shared understanding that even during war, there must be rules that minimize the suffering caused to civilians and ensure that they are kept outside the cycle of hostilities to the extent possible.
Two key principles enable the achievement of this goal. First – the principle of distinction – determines what legitimate targets are: according to Article 52(2) of Additional Protocol (I) to the Geneva Conventions, only military objects are legitimate targets for attack. They are defined as objects that make an effective contribution to military action and whose destruction would offer a definite military advantage to the attacking side. The second principle – the principle of proportionality – limits how attacks are to be carried out: according to Article 51(5)b of the Protocol, legitimate targets must not be attacked if the expected harm to civilians would be excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage. Whether or not an attack is proportionate is not determined by the actual harm inflicted but by the information those responsible for it had or should have had.
Israel’s airstrikes since the start of the war are an abject violation of these principles and constitute a war crime. The massive scale of destruction in the Gaza Strip is unprecedented. Entire residential neighborhoods have been destroyed, and, according to Gaza authorities, at least 16,000 residential units have been completely destroyed, while an additional 11,000 have been rendered uninhabitable. The horrifying death toll, which rises every day, is unfathomable: according to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 7,000 people have been killed, including almost 3,000 minors, more than 1,700 women, and dozens of families who were killed together when their houses collapsed on them. More than 17,000 people have been injured, about 2,000 are still missing under the rubble.
These figures cannot be reconciled with the provisions of international law described above: neither with the requirement for each of the thousands of targets bombed to have made “an effective contribution” to Hamas’s activities and their destruction to have offered a “definite military advantage” to Israel; nor with the requirement that even if the targets did meet these conditions, the massive loss of life and damage to property was proportionate. Such an interpretation would be not only legally mistaken but also morally unacceptable.
Israel says Hamas is to blame for these figures because it uses civilians as human shields, conceals weapons in their homes, and fires at civilian targets in Israel from within a civilian population, allegedly leaving Israel with no choice but to harm civilians in its war against Hamas. According to this view, assigning full responsibility to Hamas means that every action taken by Israel, however horrific the outcome, would be considered legitimate. Such a claim is baseless. Respect for the law, international humanitarian law included, is not subject to reciprocity: failure by one side to comply does not give the other license to do the same.
Fighting Hamas poses difficult challenges to Israel: How to distinguish between legitimate military targets and civilian ones, when Hamas does not distinguish itself from the rest of the population? How to avoid harming civilians who are not taking part in the hostilities when Hamas members continue to fire on Israeli communities from within population centers? B’Tselem does not pretend to advise the government or the military how to conduct the fighting in Gaza, nor is this the role of a human rights organization. But one thing is clear: The choice whether or not to obey the law is Israel’s. The government and the military must stay respect the law and maintain humanity as they search for the answers.
On October 7, Hamas committed horrific war crimes. Hundreds of Hamas militants and other residents of Gaza entered Israeli territory, firing at anyone who passed by. They entered communities and homes, shot and killed entire families and party-goers, set homes on fire, and committed atrocities. More than 1,300 people were killed, thousands more were injured, and many are still missing. More than 200 people – including babies, children, women, and the elderly – were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip and are being held hostage.
There is no way, nor can there be a way, to justify these crimes, and any attempt to do so must be rejected and denounced. But these crimes cannot justify the death and destruction Israel is now inflicting on Gaza’s more than two million residents. Targeting civilians, their property and civilian infrastructure is always prohibited, and Israel must end this immediately.
Israel, like any other country, is obligated to protect its citizens. However, Israel, like any other country, is also obligated to comply with the restrictions set by international humanitarian law.
As Israeli forces continue to intensify their cataclysmic assault on the occupied Gaza Strip, Amnesty International has documented unlawful Israeli attacks, including indiscriminate attacks, which caused mass civilian casualties and must be investigated as war crimes.
The organization spoke to survivors and eyewitnesses, analysed satellite imagery, and verified photos and videos to investigate air bombardments carried out by Israeli forces between 7 and 12 October, which caused horrific destruction, and in some cases wiped out entire families. Here the organization presents an in-depth analysis of its findings in five of these unlawful attacks. In each of these cases, Israeli attacks violated international humanitarian law, including by failing to take feasible precautions to spare civilians, or by carrying out indiscriminate attacks that failed to distinguish between civilians and military objectives, or by carrying out attacks that may have been directed against civilian objects.
“In their stated intent to use all means to destroy Hamas, Israeli forces have shown a shocking disregard for civilian lives. They have pulverized street after street of residential buildings killing civilians on a mass scale and destroying essential infrastructure, while new restrictions mean Gaza is fast running out of water, medicine, fuel and electricity. Testimonies from eyewitness and survivors highlighted, again and again, how Israeli attacks decimated Palestinian families, causing such destruction that surviving relatives have little but rubble to remember their loved ones by,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
The five cases presented barely scratch the surface of the horror that Amnesty has documented and illustrate the devastating impact that Israel’s aerial bombardments are having on people in Gaza. For 16 years, Israel’s illegal blockade has made Gaza the world’s biggest open-air prison – the international community must act now to prevent it becoming a giant graveyard. We are calling on Israeli forces to immediately end unlawful attacks in Gaza and ensure that they take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians and damage to civilian objects. Israel’s allies must immediately impose a comprehensive arms embargo given that serious violations under international law are being committed.”
Since 7 October Israeli forces have launched thousands of air bombardments in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 3,793 people, mostly civilians, including more than 1,500 children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. Approximately 12,500 have been injured and more than 1,000 bodies are still trapped beneath the rubble.
In Israel, more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians, have been killed and some 3,300 others were injured, according to the Israeli Ministry of Health after armed groups from the Gaza Strip launched an unprecedented attack against Israel on 7 October. They fired indiscriminate rockets and sent fighters into southern Israel who committed war crimes including deliberately killing civilians and hostage-taking. The Israeli military says that fighters also took more than 200 civilian hostages and military captives back to the Gaza Strip.
“Amnesty International is calling on Hamas and other armed groups to urgently release all civilian hostages, and to immediately stop firing indiscriminate rockets. There can be no justification for the deliberate killing of civilians under any circumstances,” said Agnès Callamard.
Hours after the attacks began, Israeli forces started their massive bombardment of Gaza. Since then, Hamas and other armed groups have also continued to fire indiscriminate rockets into civilian areas in Israel in attacks that must also be investigated as war crimes. Meanwhile in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, at least 79 Palestinians, including 20 children, have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers amid a spike in excessive use of force by the Israeli army and an escalation in state-backed settler violence, which Amnesty International is also investigating.
Amnesty International is continuing to investigate dozens of attacks in Gaza. This output focuses on five unlawful attacks which struck residential buildings, a refugee camp, a family home and a public market. The Israeli army claims it only attacks military targets, but in a number of cases Amnesty International found no evidence of the presence of fighters or other military objectives in the vicinity at the time of the attacks. Amnesty International also found that the Israeli military failed to take all feasible precautions ahead of attacks including by not giving Palestinian civilians effective prior warnings – in some cases they did not warn civilians at all and in others they issued inadequate warnings.
“Our research points to damning evidence of war crimes in Israel’s bombing campaign that must be urgently investigated. Decades of impunity and injustice and the unprecedented level of death and destruction of the current offensive will only result in further violence and instability in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” said Agnès Callamard.
“It is vital that the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court urgently expedites its ongoing investigation into evidence of war crimes and other crimes under international law by all parties. Without justice and the dismantlement of Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians, there can be no end to the horrifying civilian suffering we are witnessing.”
The relentless bombardment of Gaza has brought unimaginable suffering to people who are already facing a dire humanitarian crisis. After 16 years under Israel’s illegal blockade, Gaza’s healthcare system is already close to ruin, and its economy is in tatters. Hospitals are collapsing, unable to cope with the sheer number of wounded people and desperately lacking in life-saving medication and equipment.
Amnesty International is calling on the international community to urge Israel to end its total siege, which has cut Gazans off from food, water, electricity and fuel and urgently allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. They must also press Israel to lift its longstanding blockade on Gaza which amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population, is a war crime and is a key aspect of Israel’s system of apartheid. Finally, the Israeli authorities must rescind their “evacuation order” which may amount to forced displacement of the population.
Gaza’s civilians pay the price
Amnesty International investigated five Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, which took place between 7 and 12 October. Between 2012 and 2022, the Israeli authorities have denied, or failed to respond to, all of Amnesty International’s requests to gain access to Gaza. For this reason, the organization worked with a Gaza-based fieldworker who visited attack sites and collected testimony and other evidence. Amnesty International researchers interviewed 17 survivors and other eyewitnesses, as well as six relatives of victims over the phone, for the five cases included in this report. The organization’s Crisis Evidence Lab analysed satellite imagery and verified photos and videos of attack sites.
In the five cases described below Amnesty International found that Israeli forces carried out attacks that violated international humanitarian law, including by failing to take feasible precautions to spare civilians, or by carrying out indiscriminate attacks that failed to distinguish between civilians and military objectives, or by carrying out attacks that may have been directed against civilian objects.
Under international humanitarian law, all parties to the conflict must, at all times, distinguish between civilians and civilian objects and fighters and military objectives and direct their attacks only at fighters and military objectives. Direct attacks on civilians or civilian objects are prohibited and are war crimes. Indiscriminate attacks – those which fail to distinguish as required – are also prohibited. Where an indiscriminate attack kills or injuries civilians, it amounts to a war crime. Disproportionate attacks, those where the expected harm to civilians and civilian objects is excessive in comparison with the “concrete and direct military advantage anticipated,” also are prohibited. Knowingly launching a disproportionate attack is a war crime.
Whole families wiped out
At around 8:20pm on 7 October, Israeli forces struck a three-storey residential building in the al-Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, where three generations of the al-Dos family were staying. Fifteen family members were killed in the attack, seven of them children. The victims include Awni and Ibtissam al-Dos, and their grandchildren and namesakes Awni, 12, and Ibtissam, 17; and Adel and Ilham al-Dos and all five of their children. Baby Adam, just 18 months old, was the youngest victim.
Mohammad al-Dos, whose five-year-old son Rakan was killed in the attack, told Amnesty International:
“Two bombs fell suddenly on top of the building and destroyed it. My wife and I were lucky to survive because we were staying on the top floor. She was nine-months pregnant and gave birth at al-Shifa hospital a day after the attack. Our entire family has been destroyed.”
Amnesty International interviewed a neighbour whose home had been damaged in the attack. Like Mohammad al-Dos, he said that he had not received warning from Israeli forces, and nor had anyone in his family.
“It was sudden, boom, nobody told us anything,” he said.
The fact that the building was full of civilians at the time of the air strike further supports the testimony of survivors who said Israeli forces did not issue any warnings. It took relatives, neighbours and rescue teams more than six hours to remove the bodies from beneath the rubble.
Amnesty International’s research has found no evidence of military targets in the area at the time of the attack. If Israeli forces attacked this residential building knowing that there were only civilians present at the time of the attack, this would be a direct attack on a civilian object or on civilians, which are prohibited and constitute war crimes. Israel offered no explanation on the incident. It is incumbent on the attacker to prove the legitimacy of their military conduct. Even if Israeli forces targeted what they considered a military objective, attacking a residential building, at a time when it was full of civilians, in the heart of a densely populated civilian neighbourhood, in a manner that caused this number of civilian casualties and degree of destruction would be indiscriminate. Indiscriminate attacks that kill and injure civilians are war crimes.
On 10 October, an Israeli air strike on a family home killed 12 members of the Hijazi family and four of their neighbours, in Gaza City’s al-Sahaba Street. Three children were among those killed. The Israeli military stated that they struck Hamas targets in the area but gave no further information and did not provide any evidence of the presence of military targets. Amnesty International’s research has found no evidence of military targets in the area at the time of the attack.
Amnesty International spoke to Kamal Hijazi, who lost his sister, his two brothers and their wives, five nieces and nephews, and two cousins in the attack. He said:
“Our family home, a three-storey house, was bombed at 5:15 pm. It was sudden, without any warning; that is why everyone was at home.”
Ahmad Khalid Al-Sik, one of the Hijazi family’s neighbours, was also killed. He was 37 years old and had three young children, who were all injured in the attack. Ahmad’s father described what happened:
“I was at home in our apartment and Ahmad was downstairs when the house opposite [belonging to the Hijazi family] was bombed, and he was killed. He was going to have his hair cut at the barber, which is next to the entrance of our building. When Ahmad left to go get a haircut, I could not imagine that I would not see him again. The bombing was sudden, unexpected. There was no warning; people were busy with their daily tasks.”
The barber who was going to cut Ahmad’s hair was also killed.
According to Amnesty International’s findings there were no military objectives in the house or its immediate vicinity, this indicates that this may be a direct attack on civilians or on a civilian object which is prohibited and a war crime.
Inadequate warnings
In the cases documented by Amnesty International, the organization repeatedly found that the Israeli military had either not warned civilians at all, or issued warnings which were inadequate. In some instances, they informed a single person about a strike which affected whole buildings or streets full of people or issued unclear “evacuation” orders which left residents confused about the timeframe. In no cases did Israeli forces ensure civilians had a safe place to evacuate to. In one attack on Jabalia market attack, people had left their homes in response to an “evacuation” order, only to be killed in the place to which they had fled.
On 8 October, an Israeli air strike struck the Nuseirat refugee camp in the centre of the Gaza Strip, killing Mohammed and Shuruq al-Naqla, and two of their children, Omar, three, and Yousef, five, and injuring their two-year-old daughter Mariam and their three-year-old nephew Abdel Karim. Around 20 other people were also injured in the strike.
Ismail al-Naqla, Mohammed’s brother and the father of Abdel Karim, told Amnesty International that their next-door neighbour received a call from the Israeli military at around 10:30am, warning that his building was about to be bombed. Ismail and Mohammed and their families left the building immediately, as did their neighbours. By 3:30pm, there had been no attack, so the al-Naqlas and others went home to collect necessities. Ismail explained that they had thought it would be safe to do so as five hours had elapsed since the warning, though they planned to leave again very quickly.
But as they were returning to their apartments, a bomb struck the building next door, destroying the al-Naqlas’ home and damaging others nearby. Mohammed and his family were still in the courtyard of their building when they were killed. Ismail described seeing part of his five-year-old nephew Yousef’s brain “outside of his head” and said that three-year-old Omar’s body could not be recovered from under the rubble until the next day. He told Amnesty International that Mariam and Abdel Karim, the two surviving children, were released from hospital quickly as Gaza’s hospitals are overwhelmed with the volume of casualties.
Giving a warning does not free armed forces from their other obligations under international humanitarian law. Particularly given the time that had elapsed since the warning was issued, those carrying out the attack should have checked whether civilians were present before proceeding with the attack. Furthermore, if, as appears, this was a direct attack on a civilian object, this would constitute a war crime.
‘Everyone was looking for their children’
At around 10:30am on 9 October, Israeli air strikes hit a market in Jabalia refugee camp, located a few kilometres north of Gaza City, killing at least 69 people. The market street is known to be one of the busiest commercial areas in northern Gaza. That day it was even more crowded than usual, as it was filled with thousands of people from nearby areas who had fled their homes empty-handed earlier that morning after receiving text messages from the Israeli army.
Amnesty’s Crisis Evidence Lab reviewed six videos showing the aftermath of the airstrike on Jabalia camp market. The images show a densely populated area with multi-storey buildings. Videos of the aftermath and satellite imagery show at least three multi-storey buildings completely destroyed and several structures in the surroundings heavily damaged. Numerous deceased bodies are also seen under the rubble in the graphic footage.
According to the Israeli military, they were targeting “a mosque in which Hamas members had been present” when they struck Jabalia market, but they have provided no evidence to substantiate their claim. Regardless, membership in a political group does not in itself make an individual targetable. Satellite imagery analysed by Amnesty International showed no mosque in the immediate vicinity of the market street.
Based on witness testimony, satellite imagery, and verified videos, the attack, which resulted in high civilian casualties was indiscriminate and must be investigated as a war crime.
Imad Hamad, aged 19, was killed in the strike on the Jabalia market while he was on his way to buy bread and mattresses for the family. His father, Ziyad Hamad, described to Amnesty International how a day earlier their family had left their home in Beit Hanoun after receiving a warning message from the Israeli army, and had walked almost five kilometres to a UNRWA-run school, which was operating as a shelter, in Jabalia camp.
On the walk, his son, Imad, had carried his toddler brother on his shoulders. The next day, Ziyad told Amnesty International, he was carrying Imad’s dead body on his own shoulders, taking his son to be buried.
Ziyad described the hellish scenes he encountered at the morgue where he found his son’s body, along with many others.
“The bodies were burned, I was scared of looking. I didn’t want to look, I was scared of looking at Imad’s face. The bodies were scattered on the floor. Everyone was looking for their children in these piles. I recognized my son only by his trousers. I wanted to bury him immediately, so I carried my son and got him out. I carried him.”
When Amnesty International spoke to Ziyad and his displaced family, they were at a UNRWA-run school which was sheltering displaced people. He said there were no basic services or sanitation, and that they had no mattresses.
Ziyad’s despair at the injustices he has suffered is palpable.
“What did I do to deserve this?” he asked.
“To lose my son, to lose my house, to sleep on the floor of a classroom? My children are wetting themselves, of panic, of fear, of cold. We have nothing to do with this. What fault did we commit? I raised my child, my entire life, for what? To see him die while buying bread.”
While Amnesty’s researcher was talking to Ziyad over the phone, another air strike hit nearby.
Since Amnesty researchers interviewed Ziyad on 10 October, conditions for internally displaced people have deteriorated further, due to the scale of the displacement and the extent of the destruction and the devastating effects of the total blockade imposed since 9 October. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the number of internally displaced people in Gaza had reached 1 million by 19 October, including over 527,500 people who are staying in UNRWA emergency shelters in central and southern Gaza.
‘We cannot even count our dead’
On 10 October an Israeli air strike hit a six-storey building in Sheikh Radwan, a district of Gaza City, at 4:30pm. The strike completely destroyed the building and killed at least 40 civilians.
Satellite imagery suggests damage to buildings on this street sometime between 12:11UTC on 10 October and 7:30UTC on 11 October. The Crisis Evidence Lab geolocated two videos posted to social media that corroborate the destruction of homes in Sheikh Radwan. One of the videos, which was posted online on 10 October, shows people pulling the body of a dead infant from the rubble.
Amnesty International spoke to Mahmoud Ashour whose daughter, Iman, and her four children, Hamza, six months, Ahmad, two years, Abdelhamid six, and Rihab, eight, were all killed in the attack.
He said:
“My daughter and her children came here to seek safety because this area was relatively safe in previous attacks. But I couldn’t protect them, I have no trace left of my daughter.”
Mahmoud described the extent of the devastation:
“I’m talking to you now as I’m trying to remove the rubble with my hands. We cannot even count our dead.”
Fawzi Naffar, 61, said that 19 of his family members, including his wife, children and grandchildren, were all killed in the air strike. When Amnesty International spoke to Fawzi five days after the air strike, he had only been able to retrieve the remains of his daughter-in-law and his “son’s shoulder.”
Amnesty International’s research found that a Hamas member had been residing on one of the floors of the building, but he was not there at the time of the air strike. Membership in a political group does not itself make an individual a military target.
Even if that individual was a fighter, the presence of a fighter in a civilian building does not transform that building or any of the civilians therein into a military objective. International humanitarian law requires Israeli forces to take all feasible precautions to minimise harm to civilians and civilian property, including by cancelling or postponing the attack if it becomes apparent that it would be indiscriminate or otherwise unlawful.
These precautions were not taken ahead of the air strike in Sheikh Radwan. The building was known to be full of civilian residents, including many children, and the danger to them could have been anticipated. This is an indiscriminate attack which killed and injured civilians and must be investigated as a war crime.
Amnesty International is calling on;
The Israeli authorities to:
Immediately end unlawful attacks and abide by international humanitarian law; including by ensuring they take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians and damage to civilian objects and refraining from direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks.
Immediately allow unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza’s civilians.
Urgently lift its illegal blockade on Gaza, which amounts to collective punishment and is a war crime, in the face of the current devastation and humanitarian imperatives.
Rescind their appalling “evacuation” order, which has left more than one million people displaced.
Grant immediate access to the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory to carry out investigations, including collecting time sensitive evidence and testimonies.
The international community and particularly Israel’s allies, including EU member states, the US and the UK, to:
Take concrete measures to protect Gaza’s civilian population from unlawful attacks.
Impose a comprehensive arms embargo on all parties to the conflict given that serious violations amounting to crimes under international law are being committed. States must refrain from supplying Israel with arms and military materiel, including related technologies, parts and components, technical assistance, training, financial or other assistance. They should also call on states supplying arms to Palestinian armed groups to refrain from doing so.
Refrain from any statement or action that would, even indirectly, legitimize Israel’s crimes and violations in Gaza.
Pressure Israel to lift its illegal 16-year blockade of the Gaza strip which amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s population, is a war crime and is a key aspect of Israel’s apartheid system.
Ensure the International Criminal Court’s ongoing investigation into the situation of Palestine receives full support and all necessary resources.
The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to:
Urgently expedite its ongoing investigation in the situation of Palestine, examining alleged crimes by all parties, and including the crime against humanity of apartheid against Palestinians.
Hamas and other armed groups to:
Immediately end deliberate attacks on civilians, the firing of indiscriminate rockets, and hostage-taking. They must release civilian hostages unconditionally and immediately.
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