Israeli protesters have tried to block border crossings, or even attacked aid convoys bound for Gaza.

Months after some Israelis started to protest against aid lorries entering Gaza at the main Kerem Shalom crossing, the battle has moved to other key junctions, where rival groups of activists do their best to block or protect aid convoys.

Right-wing activists, including Jewish settlers living in the occupied West Bank, have uploaded dozens of videos of crowds, including some very young children, hurling food onto the ground and stamping on boxes of aid.

In one video, a group of jubilant protesters dance and celebrate on top of a looted lorry.

In another, one of the stranded lorries is ablaze.

In the West Bank, at least two drivers who were not carrying goods bound for Gaza were dragged from their cabs and beaten.

Other videos show Israeli vigilantes stopping lorries in Jerusalem and demanding that drivers show papers proving they are not transporting aid to Gaza. Their faces are uncovered and they appear to be acting with complete impunity.

  • dsemy@lemm.eeEnglish
    17·
    5 months ago

    Why didn’t they protest Hamas before the war? It’s not like Hamas suddenly became a terrorist organization on the 7th of October.

    • livus@kbin.social
      2·
      5 months ago

      They did protest Hamas before the war. I can’t tell if you’re lying on purpose or just ignorant about Gaza.

      Times of Israel, August 2023:

      On July 30, thousands of people throughout the Gaza Strip took to the streets demanding better living conditions, in a rare display of public anger against the Hamas regime. The following Friday, August 4, hundreds of people rallied again in various parts of the enclave.

      Popular discontent with the Hamas regime in Gaza has been simmering for years. Since the group wrested control of the coastal strip from the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority in 2007, large-scale protests have taken place on several occasions, most recently in April 2015, January 2017 and again in 2019. Each time, protests were repressed by Hamas security forces and did not lead to any significant changes for the local population.

      Here’s Human Rights Watch in 2019 reporting on the violent way Hamas suppressed protestors with beatings and arrests:

      The crackdown isn’t an aberration. In October, we published “Two Authorities, One Way, Zero Dissent,” a report showing that Hamas authorities routinely arrest and torture peaceful critics and opponents with impunity. We found Hamas often holds detainees for short periods, sometimes just hours, but during that time taunts, threatens, beats, and tortures in order to punish critics and, apparently, to deter them from further activism.

      Immediately after Hamas was elected in 2006 there were protests and violent reprisals. Surely you should know this.

      • dsemy@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        5 months ago

        I was talking about protests against violent acts against Jews (since the first comment in this chain about protests was specifically asking where are the Israelis protesting the genocide).

        However, I’ve thought about it some more and it’s unreasonable of me to assume those protesters don’t care about Hamas’ terrorism, just like I think it’s unreasonable to assume Israelis protesting the government don’t care about what’s happening to Gazans.