“Imperial Envoy” (Mr Blinken) Back in Middle East

And each grim day after day / the people in Gaza / keep on dying
 

(on the day journalists Hamza Al Dahdou (AJ) and AFP journalist Mustafa Thuraya were killed by targeted Israeli Drone)

 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it “identified and struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat to IDF troops.”

“We are aware of the reports that during the strike, two other suspects who were in the same vehicle as the terrorist were also hit,” it added.

BBC – 12, January 2024

“Israel is eradicating

journalism in Gaza” (5:51)

Antoine Bernard from Reporters Without Borders

Al Jazeera, 8 January, 2024

 

What if flowers were weapons

and the grass itself were ammunition,

surely the earth would rise up

under the feet of these

American warlords?

 

What if the sky rained blood

on the children of the murderers,

washing their schoolbooks

of their histories

of lies?

 

Would we find peace then

in Palestine, in Kurdistan?

 

What if..?

 

What if…

all the dead could rise up from the ground

could speak and protest this lie

(of their carnage and their killing)..?

 

Would the news then learn to be silent

and TVs burn their dictionaries in shame?

 

Too many questions, it seems…

For the slaughter rages on.

And the women and the children keep on dying.

And the assassins keep on planning their murder.

And the Empire’s planes drops both diplomats and bombs

 

and Secretary of State, Mr Blinken lands

in Turkey or Qatar (but who cares?).

 

This then must be the News

(the day the journalists died)…

Listen:

 

One million verbs, with their siblings and cousins, all the nouns and adjectives and adverbs, sisters and brothers; all walked out the door, left and committed suicide:

 

…because flowers are not weapons.

And the grass is not ammunition.

And each grim day after day

the people in Gaza

keep on dying.

 

séamas carraher

 

Notes

 

“The Imperial Envoy, the imperial Emissary” – Antony Blinken

“is translating Israel genocide into strategic breakthrough”: Marwan Bishara

‘As Blinken continues his visit to the Middle East, Al Jazeera senior political analyst Marwan Bishara says that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is translating Israel genocide into strategic breakthrough.

“I think the most important point is where the imperial emissary talks about the ‘integrated regional approach’. That’s the main message from this trip,” said Bishara.

“He wants Saudi Arabia to normalise relations with Israel. Secretary Blinken wants to reward Israel for its genocide, by having Saudi Arabia normalise relations with Israel, in return for the promise of a Palestinian state,” he added.’ (Al Jazeera)

 

“American warlords”?

Following the earlier (9 December) transfer  to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth more than $106m.:

“For the second time this month the Biden administration is bypassing Congress to approve an emergency weapons sale to Israel as Israel continues to prosecute its war against Hamas in Gaza under increasing international criticism.”

 

The Sale: “covering a $147…for equipment, including fuses, chargers and primers, that is needed to make the 155mm shells that Israel has already purchased function.” (The Guardian, 29 December, 2023)

 

Assassination of Wael al-Dahdouh’s Family

Wael al-Dahdouh, (Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza) – October, 26, 2023

“Wael al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza, had fled with his family to the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza after Israel warned those in the northern half of the territory to leave immediately. His wife, son, daughter and grandson were killed in the airstrike late on Tuesday, which came amid an overnight surge of Israeli attacks reported to have killed hundreds of people. Twenty-one other people were killed in the same airstrike, according to Palestinian health officials.”

Al Jazeera says family of chief journalist killed in Israeli airstrike in Gaza  ((Guardian News) – October 23)

 

January 7, 2024

Israel appears to have directly targeted Al Jazeera journalists’ car:

“Antoine Bernard from Reporters Without Borders has said it appears that “a single rocket fell on the car” of Hamza Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya, both of whom worked for Al Jazeera. “If this is the case, it would qualify as another war crime against journalists for Gaza,” he told Al Jazeera. “It’s a massive slaughter and this has to stop.” – (Al Jazeera)

UNESCO Director-General condemns killings (UNESCO, 9 January 2024)

AJ GAZA BUREAU CHIEF WEEPS AS HE BURIES SLAIN JOURNALIST SON  – (Islam Channel, 8 January, 2024)

‘Journalists in Gaza believe they are being deliberately targeted’ • (France 24 English, 8 January 2024)

Israel war on Gaza: Son of Al Jazeera journalist among dead in attack  

(Al Jazeera, 8 January, 2024)

Journalists worldwide must take a stand about what’s happening in Gaza: Marwan Bishara  – (Al Jazeera, 8 January, 2024)

 

…

 

“A poem is not just words placed on a line. It’s a cloth. Mahmoud Darwish wanted to build his home, his exile, from all the words in the world. I weave my poems with my veins. I want to build a poem like a solid home, but hopefully not with my bones.”

‘Palestine A-Z:P’

Mosab Abu Toha from ‘Things You May Find Hidden In My Ear’

 

 

ph by U.S. Embassy Jerusalem, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

 

 

 

 

 

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