Gaza Corner Archive

Dr. Stephen Zunes is the special guest on Gaza Corner. He is Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, where he served as founding director of the program in Middle Eastern Studies. Recognized as one the country’s leading scholars of U.S. Middle East policy, Professor Zunes has served as a senior policy analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus project of the Institute for Policy Studies, an associate editor of Peace Review, and a contributing editor of Tikkun until June 2024.

Gaza Corner is divided into two parts. The first segment features Andrea Assaf, creator and director of Eleven Reflections San Francisco @ The Brava Theater, October 4 - 5. This unique production digs into the impact of post-9/11 policies and engages local Bay Area artists to tell their stories. It features Syrian opera singer Lubana Al Quntar + Turkish violinist Eylem Basaldi. Tickets

Part 2 of Gaza Corner dives into Israel's New Campaign of "Terrorism Warfare" Across Lebanon.

Gazan journalist Mohammed R. Mhawish called in for a special hour long Gaza Corner to describe Israel's ongoing targeted assassinations of journalists. Mohammad Mhawish detailed his own story of how the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) targeted him several times including bombing his home with his family inside. Mohammad was rescued from under the rubble and both he and his 2 year old son suffered serious injuries. Israel does not allow foreign journalists independent access into Gaza. The IDF does not want its ongoing atrocities reported to the world. Thus all Gazan journalists have a target on their back and why Gaza is the deadliest place for journalists on record.

Gaza Corner describes how the Harris campaign silenced Palestinian voices at the Democratic National Convention (DNC). It also discusses an uncomfortable truth: Israel is a geopolitical liability for the US. This relationship increases direct risks to American national security. But what about "common values" which has long been given as a reason to justify US support and defense of Israel? A majority of Americans do not share values with a country that is an apartheid state, and is decimating Gaza in a "plausible" genocide according to the International Criminal Court.

Gaza Corner debunks two narratives the US government uses to support Israel's war on Palestinians. These narratives fuel its belief that the death count in Gaza is both justified and unavoidable. The US buys into Israel's argument that what the ICJ termed a "plausible genocide", is an act of self-defense. The medical journal The Lancet reported that direct and indirect deaths in Gaza could approach 200,000, about 10% of the total Gazan population. A majority of the dead are children, women and the elderly. All died in the name of "self-defense".

Another argument by the Biden administration to excuse Israel's daily war crimes in Gaza is blaming Hamas for using Palestinians as human shields. Not only is there little evidence but the Israeli newspaper Haaretz recently published a detailed investigation titled: "Israeli Army Uses Palestinian Civilians to Inspect Potentially Booby-trapped Tunnels in Gaza". The report includes testimonials from IDF soldiers who took part.

Gaza Corner starts off with the latest example of NPR’s misleading coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza. Instead of placing blame on Prime Minister Netanyahu for not negotiating in good faith, NPR continues to focus on Hamas for the lack of a peace deal. This is despite Hamas welcoming Biden’s plan that could lead to a durable ceasefire, while Netanyahu shot holes in it. The balance of Gaza Corner provides listener feedback.

This past week the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) poured cement onto Israel’s pariah status and further isolated the United States which continues to have Israel’s back at every turn.

Last Monday, Karim Khan, the ICC chief prosecutor, requested pre-trial arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as well as three Hamas leaders

The other earthquake ruling came from the ICJ which Israel is a signatory. It ruled that Israel must immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah “which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”

These two rulings are a critical test for the 'Rules-Based International Order'.

The 'Rules-Based International Order' has been in a steady decline. But this could be its death knell if Israel, as expected, ignores the rulings especially in Rafah and President Biden supports sanctions against prosecutor Khan.

One word that often pops up when discussing Palestine and Israel is “complicated”.

However, once you learn the history, the root causes of this conflict are not complicated.

It boils down to an indisputable truth. A people seeking a homeland cannot displace the indigenous or native people of the region. It’s a recipe for conflict and instability for generations on end.

May 15 is the date Palestinians commemorate the first Nakba (“Catastrophe”) when the state of Israel was established over the larger part of their homeland in 1948. This required the forced expulsion of over 750,000 Palestinians and preventing their right of return. Palestinians are experiencing a 2nd Nakba right now which has been described by genocide scholars as a “textbook case of genocide”. The slaughter has been enabled with the full complicity of the United States, as it arms and provides political cover to the Israeli government through UN vetoes and other actions.

The truth is the Nakba has been continuous not only for 76 years but also well before Israel was created in 1948.

This Gaza Corner provides a history lesson to better grasp the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and ongoing Nakba.

The first part of Gaza Corner discusses the imminent departure of the Freedom Flotilla packed with 5.5 tons of humanitarian aid. Significant obstacles remain, not least of which is doing everything possible to not have a repeat of the Mavi Marmara tragedy in 2010 which resulted in Israeli commandos killing 10 humanitarian activists.

The balance of Gaza Corner analyzes the normalization of genocide in Gaza. TV news coverage and internet searches about Gaza have plummeted. Despite daily mass slaughter in Gaza and a severe escalation of settler violence in the West Bank, it appears mainstream media fatigue is setting in.

The biggest story this week was apparently self-censored by Western mainstream media. However, several prominent news outlets in the Middle East reported that Prime Minister Netanyahu received American approval for a long sought ground military operation in Rafah in return for Israel limiting its military response inside Iran. If true, Biden’s complicity in the ongoing Gaza genocide deepens as more catastrophic horror unfolds.

Gaza Corner discusses the hypocrisy of President Biden's outrage over the 6 Westerners deliberately killed in the World Central Kitchen attack. Yet Biden continues to provide Israel with the bombs that have massacred 40,000 Gazans along with 200 humanitarian aid workers.

This is a stark reminder that Palestinians deaths are not viewed the same way as Western deaths. The racism cannot be more evident.

Sixteen Western countries led by the US suspended aid to UNWRA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. This could not come at a worse time as Gazans face death by bombardment, disease and starvation on a daily basis. Starving UNWRA of vital funds feeds into Israel’s long standing goal to eliminate this vital life saving humanitarian agency for Palestinian refugees.

Gaza Corner does a deep dive not only into the aid suspension but the true motive behind Israel’s quest to shut UNWRA down.

The International Court of Justice, (ICJ), is the world’s highest court in the international legal system. On January 26 it ruled that the claim of genocide brought to the court by South Africa against Israel in its war on Gaza is “plausible” and presents a “real and imminent risk”. The court ordered six provisional measures but stopped short of ordering an immediate cease-fire. The actual genocide ruling won't be decided for years. Directives by the ICJ are binding but not enforceable unless the UN Security Council passes a resolution to enforce them. The US has veto power which it has used repeatedly to provide Israel with impunity from its violations of international law. Gaza Corner dissects the historic ICJ ruling.

Long-time Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin is the special guest live from Jerusalem on this almost hour long Gaza Corner. Baskin is best known as the Israeli citizen who cultivated a secret direct channel to Hamas which resulted in the freeing of Gilad Shalit in 2011 after 5+ years in captivity. Baskin covers a wide range of topics including his own attempts to resolve the current hostage crisis. Gershon Baskin is the author of two books: The Negotiator: Freeing Gilad Schalit from Hamas and In Pursuit of Peace in Israel and Palestine.

Rabbi Arik Ascherman, the founder and director of Torat Tzedek is interviewed for close to an hour on Gaza Corner.

Rabbi Arik has a long history as a human right defender. He prioritizes being out in the field to live among and protect Palestinians facing violence and forced expulsion from fanatical messianic settlers. He's been doing it for decades as settler violence is nothing new. But the current onslaught has accelerated exponentially since October 7, literally erasing rural Palestinian communities through forced expulsion. This, coupled with the ongoing genocide in Gaza, is a second Nakba.

Donations to Torat Tzedek, a small but vitally important organization, has an outsized impact. Thank-you!

Gaza Corner covers much ground including Palestinian Christians being wiped out in Gaza and why Israel’s ongoing mass slaughter of Gazans meets the textbook definition of genocide. This segment also details how independent investigations by organizations including the Washington Post cast doubt on Israeli propaganda.

Gerard Horton of Military Court Watch (MCW) is the guest for the entirety of Gaza Corner. MCW monitors the treatment of children in Israeli military detention. In addition to describing deteriorating prison conditions and use of torture such as solitary confinement, Horton discusses the terrorizing of Palestinian communities that reside near settlements. He also details the mass unlawful transfer of child prisoners out of occupied territory. Horton also questions the validity of the global rules based order if we abandon it when it comes to Israel.

On 22 November, 2023 the New York Times published an op-ed by Senator Bernie Sanders that did not call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Dore Stein devotes this Gaza Corner segment to dissecting the op-ed, because for many progressives and Bernie supporters, his position was shocking.

Israel and the Western mainstream media are pushing a narrative that the current ‘war’ began on October 7 with Hamas’ attack on innocent Israeli civilians. As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guiterres stated, the attack “did not happen in a vacuum…The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation,” October 7 is one date among many massacres and points of reference which are outlined on Gaza Corner.

This segment also discusses the increasing voices demanding a cease-fire, and Senator Bernie Sanders flawed reasons for not supporting one.

Host Dore Stein also explains how Israel’s war on Palestinians has taken advantage of all eyes on Gaza by accelerating forced transfer, mass incarceration and killings in the West Bank.

Gaza Corner concludes with "Oulenohaa", a moving a cappella piece by Palestinian vocalist Amal Murkus.

Senator Diane Feinstein died September 29 at the age of 90.

If you read the corporate media obituaries including NPR, the New York Times, Washington Post, etc., one would have no idea that Senator Feinstein was significantly active in promoting and protecting Palestinian rights, especially (I know it’s a low bar) when compared to the overwhelming majority of her colleagues in Congress. Just last month Senator Feinstein halted demolition of two Palestinian schools. Her leadership also helped prevent impending demolitions in Susya and Khan al-Ahmar.

Perhaps the person most instrumental in educating Senator Feinstein and her staff about the dangers facing Palestinians especially in the West Bank and Gaza is Donna Baranski Walker, the Executive Director of Bay Area based Rebuilding Alliance. Donna is the special guest on this Gaza Corner segment.

Gaza Corner does a deep dive into the meaning of May 15 for Palestinians and Israelis. It analyzes why the Nakba (catastrophe) is ongoing for Palestinians. The Nakba continues as the world does nothing to stop it. The United States is complicit as it continues to provide Israel unconditional military, financial and diplomatic support.

Gaza Corner covers Israel’s brutal police raid of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The 2nd segment shifts to what could be a landmark Supreme Court decision in Israel. Since 1950, the Absentee Property Law has been manipulated as a form of legal abuse to evict Palestinians who have lived legally in their homes for generations. However, in a rare Palestinian victory, the Supreme court ruled in favour of the Sumreen family, blocking settlers from displacing them.

Gaza Corner observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day through the words of Auschwitz survivor Helen Lazar. Her words are preserved in the Wally Brill recording A Typical Day (in Auschwitz). This is an interview with Helen.

Awareness of the Holocaust has not helped governments recognize and speak out against crimes against humanity. This includes U.S. silence over Zionist crimes against humanity committed against Palestinians beginning with the Nakba in 1947-48 when over 750,000 indigenous Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homeland.

Gaza Corner describes the year in review in Palestine and Israel.

Whether due to bias or self-censorship, NPR has a long history of misleading coverage of Israel and Palestine. Gaza Corner brings this to light by dissecting part of a recent interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by NPR's Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep.

Gaza Corner details why this year's World Cup has a deadly and corrupt stain on it.

Gaza Corner profiles rising political star and Jewish supremacist Itamar Ben-Givr. He advocates unleashing violent ethnonationalism and forced expulsion of "disloyal" Palestinians. Ben-Givr has been indicted 53 times, seven of which ended in convictions, including memberhsip in a terrorist organization.

The first segment of Gaza Corner discusses the hypocrisy of the United States and Israel condemning Russia’s annexation moves in Ukraine. The second segment details how Facebook and Instagram have been censoring Palestinian voices critical of the Israeli government, including those who document Israeli state violence.

Gaza Corner discusses the likely problems arising from Marvel Studios' recently announced 2024 movie titled “Captain America: New World Order”. It stars a heroine from Israel named Sabra who plays the role of a super powered Mossad agent. The Mossad is Israel’s spy agency known for torture, oppression and assassination of Palestinians and other Arabs.

Gaza Corner delves into its sham military court system which relies on forced confessions and plea bargaining. Palestinian aid worker Mohammed Halabi refused to play by Israel's rules and spent an Israeli record 6 years in pre-trial detention. Israel's military court recently sentenced Halibi to 12 years (net 6). This is despite Israeli officials involved in the case confiding to Halabi's lawyer that they know he is innocent.

Gaza Corner details how Israel is ratcheting up its control and violation of the personal lives of Palestinians living in the illegally occupied West Bank.

Gaza Corner analyzes how President Biden's lack of human rights priorities has emboldened Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, to escalate his unprecedented crackdown on dissent at home and abroad. On March 12, 81 men were executed in one of the kingdom’s largest recent mass executions. In early August a Saudi terrorism court sentenced a Saudi women rights defender to 34 years in prison. Her crime was retweeting tweets by Saudi activists living in exile, which called for the freeing of Saudi prisoners of conscience.

Gaza Corner discusses Israel's raids and closure of 7 essential human rights organizations in Palestine. The UN, and human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned the move which threatens the future of human rights advocacy in Israel and Palestine.

Gaza Corner discusses the latest Israeli bombing assault in Gaza. Also analyzed is the legal right of a population under military occupation to defend itself "by all available means, including armed struggle".

Gaza Corner discusses how Germany has turned the Holocaust and its memory into a means for rejecting any criticism of Israel.

Gaza Corner reviews Trump’s most consequential policies and decisions regarding Israel and Palestine and what actions Biden has taken in response. In the big picture, Trump and Biden are alarmingly similar in allowing Israel to ratchet up mistreatment of Paestinians as impunity reigns.

Gaza Corner analyzes the U.S. excusing Israel's murder of iconic Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu-Akleh.

On May 4, 2022 Israel’s High Court approved the largest single forced expulsion of Palestinians since the 1967 war. Human rights activist Jim Haber provides an update on the situation in Masafer Yatta aka the South Hebron Hills. Jim joined the Center for Jewish Nonviolence delegation from June 6 to 15. They stood in solidarity with the Palestinians whose families have lived in this region since before the creation of Israel.

Shireen Abu Akleh was a fixture in Palestinian homes as the voice and face for the Palestinian cause since the time of the Second Intifada in 2002. Strong evidence points to the iconic broadcaster being shot to death by an Israeli sniper as she attempted to document an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Israel wants to silence the Palestinian narrative and therefore Palestinian journalists are targets. Even in death Shireen was a threat as Israeli security forces attacked mourners at her funeral in Jerusalem. Israel was intent on squashing any outpouring of Palestinian nationalism at Abu Akleh’s funeral procession. Former colleague, friend, and protégé, MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin described the scene: “This is what a dehumanizing occupation looks like. It deprives Palestinians even of their right to mourn, their right to express grief in whatever way brings them comfort and closure. This is what it means to be oppressed…to be subjugated, to be silenced by a state that shows its force with bullets, batons, bulldozers and bombs. As we watched the horrific scenes during her funeral, we’re reminded that even when mourning their dead, Palestinians can’t be Palestinian.”

The fact that Israeli security committed this barbarity in full view of the world indicates just how confident Israel is that there will no global consequences to its continued assault on Palestinian rights.

Israel recently celebrated its 74th Independence Day. Israel’s creation coincides with the Nakba or “Catastrophe”’ which marks the expulsion of the Palestinian people from Palestine. Approximately 750,000 Palestinians were forced into exile between late 1947 and mid 1949. The Nakba is not a one-time event. Ethnic cleansing is ongoing.

On the very day Israelis celebrated Independence Day, Israel’s High Court provided tangible proof that the Nakba continues with a ruling that approved one of the largest forcible transfers of Palestinians from their land since 1967. Well over 1,000 residents of 8 herding communities in Masafer Yatta, aka the South Hebron Hills, are facing forced displacement by Israeli forces on a moment’s notice. It is a blatant violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention which states: “Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.”

Israel’s High Court said that when international law contradicts Israeli law, the latter prevails. And that kind of says it all.

It’s nearing the twelve year anniversary that Gaza Corner has aired within Tangents on KALW, SF. The primary reason Gaza Corner continues to be a vital source of news and analysis about the Middle East, especially about Israel and Palestine, is the mainstream media consistently fails to cover certain stories. News that is reported often contains misleading language and lacks context.

“Why Reporting on Palestine has to change” is the title of an open letter to fellow journalists signed by 514 media members. It states: “Finding truth and holding the powerful to account are core principles of journalism. Yet for decades, our news industry has abandoned those values in coverage of Israel and Palestine. We have failed our audiences with a narrative that obscures the most fundamental aspects of the story: Israel’s military occupation and its system of apartheid.

For the sake of our readers and viewers—and the truth—we have a duty to change course immediately and end this decades-long journalistic malpractice. The evidence of Israel’s systematic oppression of Palestinians is overwhelming and must no longer be sanitized.”

Gaza Corner discusses Land Day, which is commemorated every March 30. Land Day reminds the world of the commitment Palestinians have to their land and their steadfastness to never surrender to Israel’s ongoing policy of land theft and displacement.

Rapper Lowkey's anthemic Long Live Palestine is the subject of this Gaza Corner due to a pro Israel lobby's attempt to remove it from Spotify. Lowkey's music is featured.

Long Live Palestine lyrics: Part 1 and Part 2
Lowkey @ Facebook
Lowkey @ Wikipedia

This segment is devoted to Gaza Corner Listener Comments.

Gaza Corner discusses the double standards and hypocrisy regarding the West's response to Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine.

Gaza Corner expands to learn the latest on the Ukrainian band DakhaBrakha with its long time booking agent Bill Smith.

Gaza Corner analyzes how Israel is impacted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and why it is doing a balancing act to maintain neutrality.

President Biden recently announced his intention to give half of the $7B in frozen funds that belong to the Afghan people to families of 9/11 victims. The Intercept headlined: Biden’s Decision on Frozen Afghanistan Money Is Tantamount to Mass Murder.

Various international organizations have warned that nearly 10 million Afghans are on the brink of starvation. The International Rescue Committee has been on the ground in Afghanistan since 1980. Its president and CEO, David Miliband, wrote in prepared Congressional testimony: “Business as usual will mean that a starvation crisis kills more Afghans than the past 20 years of war…This crisis will not be solved by more humanitarian aid. Economic collapse makes the humanitarian challenge…impossible…In just the last six months, the country has emerged as the world’s fastest-growing humanitarian crisis…Sanctions, which are meant to be on the Taliban, have in fact chilled almost all economic activity. While those in power in Afghanistan have much to answer for, it is these policy choices of the international community that are the proximate cause of the crisis we face today.”

Gaza Corner details the weaponizing of Anti-Semitism as a tool for censorship.

The new Amnesty International report "Israel's Apartheid Against Palestinians: A Cruel System Of Domination And A Crime Against Humanity" is the subject of Gaza Corner. Discussion points include why this report is especially significant and why waving the anti-Semite card has lost its juice to manipulate minds.

The one year anniversary of Biden’s presidency has passed without much to celebrate. Biden made lots of promises on the campaign trail on his way to being elected. Gaza Corner delves into his promises regarding Palestine and Israel. Outside of restoring aid to Palestinians that Trump cut, none of Biden's promises have been fulfilled. The reality is the plight of Palestinians has significantly worsened since Biden took office.

With global headlines preoccupied with Russia’s possible imminent invasion of Ukraine due to NATO’s flirtation, the mainstream media ignored the 4th anniversary of NATO country Turkey’s invasion and occupation of a sovereign state. Russia green lighted the assault of Kurdish populated Afrin in northern Syria while the U.S. did little to stop it. Less than two years later, Trump gave the thumbs up for Turkey’s next invasion and occupation further to the east in Syria. Both invasions struck at the indigenous heartland of the Kurds known as Rojava, aka The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. Gaza Corner documents how Afrin has become Turkified after four years of ongoing illegal occupation. The segment details the ethnic cleansing of Kurds and brutal treatment of women including femicide.

This Gaza Corner is about two Palestinians artists who are tied to the musical history of the First Intifada. Mo’min Swaitat is a London-based Palestinian Bedouin actor, filmmaker, music producer, DJ and archivist who discovered a shuttered music shop during COVD lockdown in Jenin, a city in the West Bank. Mo’min was allowed to search the store’s vast music archive and discovered a treasure. He came across the long forgotten music that enlivened Palestinian life when the First Intifada broke out in the late 1980’s. During the First Intifada songs became spaces for the articulation of the uprising. One of Mo’min’s special finds was “The Intifada Album” by Riad Awwad. After receiving an arts grant, Mo’min formed the Mojazz Project, which is an archive of the vintage Palestinian and Arab vinyl and cassettes he discovered.

Suhail Khoury is the Director of the Edward Said Conservatory of Music. In 1988 during the First Intifada he became the first Palestinian to be imprisoned by Israel for composing music. Gaza Corner excerpts Dore Stein’s 2015 interview with Suhail Khoury who retells the story including the physical and mental torture he suffered.

This year the war in Syria has passed its ten-year anniversary. The war has slowed down but the suffering has not. The war is at a stage that is best described as a violent protracted stalemate.

One of the consequences of the war is extreme poverty. Coupled with instability, this toxic combination greatly contributes to children’s vulnerability to join extremist groups such as the Islamic State. For Syrian families struggling to survive, the benefits that armed groups offer child soldiers can be life-saving. The Islamic State in Syria is regrouping and sleeper cell attacks are on the rise.

This Gaza Corner ends with a ray of sunshine. Syrian Kurdish emigres in Germany raised money and launched an internet technology company called Nestech that employs young Syrians. The employees work from home and despite obvious challenges earn an excellent income.

Gaza Corner does a deep dive into Archbishop Desmond Tutu's championing for Palestininan rights. The segment details how the mainstream media self-censored its coverage of Tutu's passing by omitting or minimizing Tutu's strong advocacy of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Desmond Tutu: “I know first-hand that Israel has created an apartheid reality within its borders and through its occupation. The parallels to my own beloved South Africa are painfully stark indeed."

”Nelson Mandela famously said that South Africans would not feel free until Palestinians were free. He might have added that the liberation of Palestine will liberate Israel, too."