No one to play soldier now, no one to pretend
–Metallica, “Disposable Heroes” 

Having read maybe scores of articles on the ongoing disaster in Israel and Palestine, I want to hold off indefinitely on offering up any commentary, and restrict any posts I write to news items with distinctive informational value, particularly items describing events that are not being reported in the mainstream media. These two are from +972 Magazine, “an independent, online, nonprofit magazine run by a group of Palestinian and Israeli journalists.” 

It’s been widely reported that the Israeli authorities have ordered the population of northern Gaza out of it, and–for their own “safety”–into southern Gaza, south of what’s known as Wadi Gaza (Gaza Ravine). What’s not being reported is that southern Gaza is currently under bombardment by the Israelis from both the air and by tank fire on the ground. To read about that, I suggest reading through Ruwaida Kamal Amer’s article, reporting from Khan Yunis: “Israel is ordering Gazans to flee south. But they’re bombing us here, too.” 

Upshot: what the Israelis are demanding, in the name of safety and humanitarian values, is that the people of northern Gaza walk straight into the line of fire being directed at southern Gaza. It’s been widely reported that 70 Gazans died while fleeing north Gaza for the south. It’s been less widely reported, but also happens to be true, that Israel demanded that Gazans leave Gaza for Egypt via Rafah Crossing, while also bombing Rafah Crossing three times over October 9-10. 

There are many possible explanations for the apparent discrepancy between ordering people to do something, then killing them after having done it, but one possibility is that “North Gazans” were ordered to leave north Gaza precisely so as to kill at least some of those who did. If that seems quixotic, remember that Gaza has been described as a “concentration camp” aimed at “politicide,” and that one purpose of a concentration camp is to induce despair. If you’re killed whether you comply or you don’t, despair is the next step. Once despair sets in, so does learned helplessness and submission. There’s no way at present to confirm, conclusively, that that’s what’s happened. But there’s certainly no way to rule it out, either. If you “Stand with Israel,” consider the possibility that that’s what you’re supporting: a government that directs people to flee one bombardment by directing them into a different one. You could, I suppose, gamble your moral integrity on the armchair supposition that the Israelis would never do such a thing. But what are you going to do if it turns out they did? 

Until October 7, almost all mainstream coverage of Palestine focused on the steady encroachments, violations, and even pogroms that were taking place in the West Bank. The West Bank has now dropped out of mainstream news coverage. This isn’t because nothing is happening there, but because mainstream journalists are failing to report what’s happening there. 

Here’s what’s happening: The entire West Bank is under complete military lockdown. My contacts in the West Bank tell me that the Israeli military has entered many, perhaps most, of the towns and villages of the West Bank, barricaded and bulldozed them shut (making them impassable to vehicles), and imposed wholesale 22 hour curfews on the entire population for the past week, permitting no exit from their homes except to buy food–which is itself becoming scarce. (I have photo and video evidence of these barricades, but I’ve been asked not to publish it here for fear of reprisals against the persons sending them along.)  Israeli settlers are going on rampages, assisted by the military. To attempt to engage in ordinary life activities under these circumstances is to court death. I was texting with someone when, in the middle of the conversation, he told me that someone nearby had just been shot dead. 

These are people who had no conceivable connection with the 10/7 attacks. All of them–millions of them–are now being punished anyway. And the punishment is likely the preclude to the wholesale annexation, depopulation, and expropriation of the West Bank.

This article by Yuval Abraham gives the story: 51 dead, two villages depopulated. It also includes a graphic video of a settler walking straight up to a Palestinian man, and shooting him point blank for no apparent reason whatsoever. Watch it, and keep it in mind for the next time you hear the assertion that “At least Israelis don’t target innocent civilians.” The claim is frankly preposterous, and has been since 1948, but at the very least, here is one undeniable videographic counterexample drawn from the immediate present.