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The ongoing expulsion of Palestinians is the central injustice that must be addressed if we are to achieve peace.
In an interview I recorded in 2012, Israeli veteran Hava Keller recounted the day in 1948 that she drove to the town of Beersheba to assist an Israeli military unit. They greeted her with the words, “Wonderful! You came just in time. Tomorrow we are throwing out the Arabs from Beersheba. You are going to help.”
She and her fellow Israeli soldiers each held a gun, “so nobody will try and run away and all of them will go into the cars and go to Gaza. They are in Gaza until today.”
I agree with those who call upon Americans to hold Israel to the same standard as every other country. It is unjust to demand more of one country than we demand of others. At the same time, holding Israel to the same standards means we can’t ignore its crimes against humanity. The crimes committed against Israel on October 7 were horrific - but in no way do they justify further war crimes. And that’s what is happening right now.
Turning a blind eye to crimes against humanity is not the answer.
Not only are we currently witnessing the killing of thousands of women and children, but we are also watching the largest expulsion in Palestinian history: more Palestinians have been displaced from their homes since October than in the last hundred years combined. This is a war crime. Forcing Palestinian families out of their homes isn’t the solution to this tragedy; it’s the cause of it. And America has been turning a blind eye to it for far too long.
Beersheba is far from the only place where Israelis expelled Palestinians in 1948. Seventy percent of Gazans are refugees or descendents of refugees. In 1948, over 80% of the Palestinian population fled from the land that became Israel. Some fled out of fear of being attacked. But in many cases, Israelis launched operations with the express purpose of expulsion. To give just one example, in November 1948, an Israeli military unit received orders to go to several villages, then “gather the inhabitants, load them onto vehicles and expel them to Gaza.”
In another interview, Mordechai Bar-On, who served as a company commander in 1948, described a different method of forcing Palestinians out of their homes. They would begin with a “short barrage of either light mortars or three-inch mortars” and then, “we gave a one-minute coordinated shot of whatever weapons we had and stormed.” Upon entering the homes, “there was still coffee on the pot. You could see that people lived there until a few minutes ago.”
1948: Creation & Catastrophe Previewwww.youtube.com
Initially, the Palestinians who lived in those homes would stay nearby. But Bar-On made it clear that, “if they tried to come back, they were shot at. And eventually, they decided to leave altogether … moving toward the Gaza Strip.”
In the 1967 war, the Israeli military displaced another 300,000 Palestinians. But even outside of wartime, the Israeli government places heavy pressure on Palestinians to emigrate. Checkpoints, concrete walls, home demolitions, arrest without charge - the list of coercive tools is long. Adding to those tools is the violence committed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, which has long been tolerated by the Israeli government. In the documentary My Neighborhood, Yonatan Yosef, spokesperson for Israeli settlers in Sheikh Jarrah, explained the goal of settler attacks on Palestinians who live in East Jerusalem: “All this area will be a Jewish neighborhood. We are not finish[ed with] the job. We are going to the next neighborhood, and after that, we’ll go more.”
Yosef went on to say, “I see this as a continuation of the Zionist project. The return to Zion. Is it at the Arabs’ expense? Yes. But our government institutions were also built at the expense of Arabs who lived here. And so was the state itself.”
Over the past two months, Israel has once again used its military to force Palestinians out of their homes. And yet again, Israeli leaders are asking for Palestinian families to uproot their lives and flee. "I welcome the initiative of the voluntary emigration of Gaza Arabs to countries around the world," Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich said. This is the same politician who, just two years ago, turned to Arab members of Israel’s parliament and said, “You’re here by mistake, it’s a mistake that [Israel’s founding father] Ben-Gurion didn’t finish the job and didn’t throw you out in 1948.”
And an MP from Israel’s ruling party recently expressed her desire that the families of Gaza (who she called “monsters”), “will fly to the southern fence and enter Egyptian territory." She gave one goal to her country: “Erasing all of Gaza from the face of the earth.”
In addition to killing over 20,00 human beings—70% of whom are women and children—Israeli bombs have now damaged or destroyed more than 60% of homes in Gaza. Many of those bombs were paid for with American tax dollars. And our country repeatedly defends this slaughter in the United Nations.
The ongoing expulsion of Palestinians is the central injustice that must be addressed. Turning a blind eye to crimes against humanity is not the answer. It’s time for America to stop applying a different standard to Israel. That’s the only path to peace.
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next. It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk. Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. |
Andy Trimlett is the director of 1948: Creation & Catastrophe, a documentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In an interview I recorded in 2012, Israeli veteran Hava Keller recounted the day in 1948 that she drove to the town of Beersheba to assist an Israeli military unit. They greeted her with the words, “Wonderful! You came just in time. Tomorrow we are throwing out the Arabs from Beersheba. You are going to help.”
She and her fellow Israeli soldiers each held a gun, “so nobody will try and run away and all of them will go into the cars and go to Gaza. They are in Gaza until today.”
I agree with those who call upon Americans to hold Israel to the same standard as every other country. It is unjust to demand more of one country than we demand of others. At the same time, holding Israel to the same standards means we can’t ignore its crimes against humanity. The crimes committed against Israel on October 7 were horrific - but in no way do they justify further war crimes. And that’s what is happening right now.
Turning a blind eye to crimes against humanity is not the answer.
Not only are we currently witnessing the killing of thousands of women and children, but we are also watching the largest expulsion in Palestinian history: more Palestinians have been displaced from their homes since October than in the last hundred years combined. This is a war crime. Forcing Palestinian families out of their homes isn’t the solution to this tragedy; it’s the cause of it. And America has been turning a blind eye to it for far too long.
Beersheba is far from the only place where Israelis expelled Palestinians in 1948. Seventy percent of Gazans are refugees or descendents of refugees. In 1948, over 80% of the Palestinian population fled from the land that became Israel. Some fled out of fear of being attacked. But in many cases, Israelis launched operations with the express purpose of expulsion. To give just one example, in November 1948, an Israeli military unit received orders to go to several villages, then “gather the inhabitants, load them onto vehicles and expel them to Gaza.”
In another interview, Mordechai Bar-On, who served as a company commander in 1948, described a different method of forcing Palestinians out of their homes. They would begin with a “short barrage of either light mortars or three-inch mortars” and then, “we gave a one-minute coordinated shot of whatever weapons we had and stormed.” Upon entering the homes, “there was still coffee on the pot. You could see that people lived there until a few minutes ago.”
1948: Creation & Catastrophe Previewwww.youtube.com
Initially, the Palestinians who lived in those homes would stay nearby. But Bar-On made it clear that, “if they tried to come back, they were shot at. And eventually, they decided to leave altogether … moving toward the Gaza Strip.”
In the 1967 war, the Israeli military displaced another 300,000 Palestinians. But even outside of wartime, the Israeli government places heavy pressure on Palestinians to emigrate. Checkpoints, concrete walls, home demolitions, arrest without charge - the list of coercive tools is long. Adding to those tools is the violence committed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, which has long been tolerated by the Israeli government. In the documentary My Neighborhood, Yonatan Yosef, spokesperson for Israeli settlers in Sheikh Jarrah, explained the goal of settler attacks on Palestinians who live in East Jerusalem: “All this area will be a Jewish neighborhood. We are not finish[ed with] the job. We are going to the next neighborhood, and after that, we’ll go more.”
Yosef went on to say, “I see this as a continuation of the Zionist project. The return to Zion. Is it at the Arabs’ expense? Yes. But our government institutions were also built at the expense of Arabs who lived here. And so was the state itself.”
Over the past two months, Israel has once again used its military to force Palestinians out of their homes. And yet again, Israeli leaders are asking for Palestinian families to uproot their lives and flee. "I welcome the initiative of the voluntary emigration of Gaza Arabs to countries around the world," Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich said. This is the same politician who, just two years ago, turned to Arab members of Israel’s parliament and said, “You’re here by mistake, it’s a mistake that [Israel’s founding father] Ben-Gurion didn’t finish the job and didn’t throw you out in 1948.”
And an MP from Israel’s ruling party recently expressed her desire that the families of Gaza (who she called “monsters”), “will fly to the southern fence and enter Egyptian territory." She gave one goal to her country: “Erasing all of Gaza from the face of the earth.”
In addition to killing over 20,00 human beings—70% of whom are women and children—Israeli bombs have now damaged or destroyed more than 60% of homes in Gaza. Many of those bombs were paid for with American tax dollars. And our country repeatedly defends this slaughter in the United Nations.
The ongoing expulsion of Palestinians is the central injustice that must be addressed. Turning a blind eye to crimes against humanity is not the answer. It’s time for America to stop applying a different standard to Israel. That’s the only path to peace.
Andy Trimlett is the director of 1948: Creation & Catastrophe, a documentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In an interview I recorded in 2012, Israeli veteran Hava Keller recounted the day in 1948 that she drove to the town of Beersheba to assist an Israeli military unit. They greeted her with the words, “Wonderful! You came just in time. Tomorrow we are throwing out the Arabs from Beersheba. You are going to help.”
She and her fellow Israeli soldiers each held a gun, “so nobody will try and run away and all of them will go into the cars and go to Gaza. They are in Gaza until today.”
I agree with those who call upon Americans to hold Israel to the same standard as every other country. It is unjust to demand more of one country than we demand of others. At the same time, holding Israel to the same standards means we can’t ignore its crimes against humanity. The crimes committed against Israel on October 7 were horrific - but in no way do they justify further war crimes. And that’s what is happening right now.
Turning a blind eye to crimes against humanity is not the answer.
Not only are we currently witnessing the killing of thousands of women and children, but we are also watching the largest expulsion in Palestinian history: more Palestinians have been displaced from their homes since October than in the last hundred years combined. This is a war crime. Forcing Palestinian families out of their homes isn’t the solution to this tragedy; it’s the cause of it. And America has been turning a blind eye to it for far too long.
Beersheba is far from the only place where Israelis expelled Palestinians in 1948. Seventy percent of Gazans are refugees or descendents of refugees. In 1948, over 80% of the Palestinian population fled from the land that became Israel. Some fled out of fear of being attacked. But in many cases, Israelis launched operations with the express purpose of expulsion. To give just one example, in November 1948, an Israeli military unit received orders to go to several villages, then “gather the inhabitants, load them onto vehicles and expel them to Gaza.”
In another interview, Mordechai Bar-On, who served as a company commander in 1948, described a different method of forcing Palestinians out of their homes. They would begin with a “short barrage of either light mortars or three-inch mortars” and then, “we gave a one-minute coordinated shot of whatever weapons we had and stormed.” Upon entering the homes, “there was still coffee on the pot. You could see that people lived there until a few minutes ago.”
1948: Creation & Catastrophe Previewwww.youtube.com
Initially, the Palestinians who lived in those homes would stay nearby. But Bar-On made it clear that, “if they tried to come back, they were shot at. And eventually, they decided to leave altogether … moving toward the Gaza Strip.”
In the 1967 war, the Israeli military displaced another 300,000 Palestinians. But even outside of wartime, the Israeli government places heavy pressure on Palestinians to emigrate. Checkpoints, concrete walls, home demolitions, arrest without charge - the list of coercive tools is long. Adding to those tools is the violence committed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, which has long been tolerated by the Israeli government. In the documentary My Neighborhood, Yonatan Yosef, spokesperson for Israeli settlers in Sheikh Jarrah, explained the goal of settler attacks on Palestinians who live in East Jerusalem: “All this area will be a Jewish neighborhood. We are not finish[ed with] the job. We are going to the next neighborhood, and after that, we’ll go more.”
Yosef went on to say, “I see this as a continuation of the Zionist project. The return to Zion. Is it at the Arabs’ expense? Yes. But our government institutions were also built at the expense of Arabs who lived here. And so was the state itself.”
Over the past two months, Israel has once again used its military to force Palestinians out of their homes. And yet again, Israeli leaders are asking for Palestinian families to uproot their lives and flee. "I welcome the initiative of the voluntary emigration of Gaza Arabs to countries around the world," Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich said. This is the same politician who, just two years ago, turned to Arab members of Israel’s parliament and said, “You’re here by mistake, it’s a mistake that [Israel’s founding father] Ben-Gurion didn’t finish the job and didn’t throw you out in 1948.”
And an MP from Israel’s ruling party recently expressed her desire that the families of Gaza (who she called “monsters”), “will fly to the southern fence and enter Egyptian territory." She gave one goal to her country: “Erasing all of Gaza from the face of the earth.”
In addition to killing over 20,00 human beings—70% of whom are women and children—Israeli bombs have now damaged or destroyed more than 60% of homes in Gaza. Many of those bombs were paid for with American tax dollars. And our country repeatedly defends this slaughter in the United Nations.
The ongoing expulsion of Palestinians is the central injustice that must be addressed. Turning a blind eye to crimes against humanity is not the answer. It’s time for America to stop applying a different standard to Israel. That’s the only path to peace.
"Thank you to the hundreds of thousands of Americans across the country who are standing up and speaking out for our voting rights, fundamental freedoms, and essential services like Social Security and Medicare."
In communities large and small across the United States on Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people collectively took to the streets to make their opposition to President Donald Trump heard.
The people who took part in the organized protests ranged from very young children to the elderly and their message was scrawled on signs of all sizes and colors—many of them angry, some of them funny, but all in line with the "Hands Off" message that brought them together.
"Thank you to the hundreds of thousands of Americans across the country who are standing up and speaking out for our voting rights, fundamental freedoms, and essential services like Social Security and Medicare," said the group Stand Up America as word of the turnout poured in from across the country.
A relatively small, but representative sample of photographs from various demonstrations that took place follows.
Demonstrators gather on Boston Common, cheering and chanting slogans, during the nationwide "Hands Off!" protest against US President Donald Trump and his advisor, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, in Boston, Massachusetts on April 5, 2025. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP)
"Everyone involved in this crime against humanity, and everyone who covered it up, would face prosecution in a world that had any shred of dignity left."
A video presented to officials at the United Nations on Friday and first made public Saturday by the New York Times provides more evidence that the recent massacre of Palestinian medics in Gaza did not happen the way Israeli government claimed—the latest in a long line of deception when it comes to violence against civilians that have led to repeated accusations of war crimes.
The video, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), was found on the phone of a paramedic found in a mass grave with a bullet in his head after being killed, along with seven other medics, by Israeli forces on March 23. The eight medics, buried in the shallow grave with the bodies riddled with bullets, were: Mustafa Khafaja, Ezz El-Din Shaat, Saleh Muammar, Refaat Radwan, Muhammad Bahloul, Ashraf Abu Libda, Muhammad Al-Hila, and Raed Al-Sharif. The video reportedly belonged to Radwan. A ninth medic, identified as Asaad Al-Nasasra, who was at the scene of the massacre, which took place near the southern city of Rafah, is still missing.
The PRCS said it presented the video—which refutes the explanation of the killings offered by Israeli officials—to members of the UN Security Council on Friday.
"They were killed in their uniforms. Driving their clearly marked vehicles. Wearing their gloves. On their way to save lives," Jonathan Whittall, head of the UN's humanitarian affairs office in Palestine, said last week after the bodies were discovered. Some of the victims, according to Gaza officials, were found with handcuffs still on them and appeared to have been shot in the head, execution-style.
The Israeli military initially said its soldiers "did not randomly attack" any ambulances, but rather claimed they fired on "terrorists" who approached them in "suspicious vehicles." Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an IDF spokesperson, said the vehicles that the soldiers opened fire on were driving with their lights off and did not have clearance to be in the area. The video evidence directly contradicts the IDF's version of events.
As the Times reports:
The Times obtained the video from a senior diplomat at the United Nations who asked not to be identified to be able to share sensitive information.
The Times verified the location and timing of the video, which was taken in the southern city of Rafah early on March 23. Filmed from what appears to be the front interior of a moving vehicle, it shows a convoy of ambulances and a fire truck, clearly marked, with headlights and flashing lights turned on, driving south on a road to the north of Rafah in the early morning. The first rays of sun can be seen, and birds are chirping.
In an interview with Drop Site News published Friday, the only known paramedic to survive the attack, Munther Abed, explained that he and his colleagues "were directly and deliberately shot at" by the IDF. "The car is clearly marked with 'Palestinian Red Crescent Society 101.' The car's number was clear and the crews' uniform was clear, so why were we directly shot at? That is the question."
The video's release sparked fresh outrage and demands for accountability on Saturday.
"The IDF denied access to the site for days; they sent in diggers to cover up the massacre and intentionally lied about it," said podcast producer Hamza M. Syed in reaction to the new revelations. "The entire leadership of the Israeli army is implicated in this unconscionable war crime. And they must be prosecuted."
"Everyone involved in this crime against humanity, and everyone who covered it up, would face prosecution in a world that had any shred of dignity left," said journalist Ryan Grim of DropSite News.
"They're dismantling our country. They're looting our government. And they think we'll just watch."
In communities across the United States and also overseas, coordinated "Hands Off" protests are taking place far and wide Saturday in the largest public rebuke yet to President Donald Trump and top henchman Elon Musk's assault on the workings of the federal government and their program of economic sabotage that is sacrificing the needs of working families to authoritarianism and the greed of right-wing oligarchs.
According to the organizers' call to action:
They're dismantling our country. They’re looting our government. And they think we'll just watch.
On Saturday, April 5th, we rise up with one demand: Hands Off!
This is a nationwide mobilization to stop the most brazen power grab in modern history. Trump, Musk, and their billionaire cronies are orchestrating an all-out assault on our government, our economy, and our basic rights—enabled by Congress every step of the way. They want to strip America for parts—shuttering Social Security offices, firing essential workers, eliminating consumer protections, and gutting Medicaid—all to bankroll their billionaire tax scam.
They're handing over our tax dollars, our public services, and our democracy to the ultra-rich. If we don't fight now, there won’t be anything left to save.
More than 1,000 "Hands Off!" demonstrations—organized by a large coalition of unions, progressive advocacy groups, and pro-democracy watchdogs—first kicked off Saturday in European, followed by East Coast communities in the U.S., and were set to continue throughout the day at various times, depending on location. See here for a list of scheduled "Hands Off" events—or schedule one in your community.
"The United States has a president, not a king," said the progressive advocacy group People's Action, one of the group's involved in the actions, in an email to supporters on Saturday just as protest events kicked off in hundreds of cities and communities. "Donald Trump has, by every measure, been working to make himself a king. He has become unanswerable to the courts, Congress, and the American people."
Citing the Republican president's thirst for "power and greed," the group explained why organized pressure must be built and sustained against the administration, especially at the conclusion of a week in which the global economy was spun into disarray by Trump's tariff announcement, his attack on the rule of law continued, and the twice-elected president admitted he was "not joking" about the possibility of seeking a third term, which is barred by the constitution.
"He is destroying the economy with tariffs in order to pay for the tax cuts he wants to push through to enrich himself and his billionaire buddies," warned People's Action. "He has ordered the government to round up innocent people off of the streets and put them in detention centers without due process because they dared to speak out using their First Amendment rights. And he is not close to being done—by his own admission, he is planning to run for a third term, which the Constitution does not allow."
Live stream of Hands Off rally in Washington, D.C.:
Below are photo or video dispatches from demonstrations around the world on Saturday. Check back for updates...
United Kingdom
France
Germany
Belgium:
Massachusetts:
Maine:
Washington, D.C.:
New York:
Minnesota:
Michigan:
Ohio:
Colorado:
Pennsylvania:
North Carolina:
The protest organizers warn that what Trump and Musk are up to "is not just corruption" and "not just mismanagement," but something far more sinister.
"This is a hostile takeover," they said, but vowed to fight back. "This is the moment where we say NO. No more looting, no more stealing, no more billionaires raiding our government while working people struggle to survive."