Tommy Johnson
Editor’s note: This news story is a month old; we are posting it after a significant delay because it still contains useful information.
In the process of genocide, Israeli soldiers targeted and killed three Israelis held prisoner in Gaza on December 15th. The Israeli army claims that the three were identified as a threat. The killing of its own people and even its own soldiers is nothing new for the Israeli state. According to the monopoly media BBC, approximately one fifth of the Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza since October 7th were killed by Israel.
Israel, which insisted on forcing the release of Israeli prisoners held in Gaza by exclusively military means before acquiescing the demands of the resistance and the masses world wide, wages its genocidal war partially on the public pretext of freeing the very prisoners they have eliminated. Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz, and Samer El-Talaqu, all in their 20s, could have been freed with continued prisoner exchanges; instead they are now among the more than 20,000 dead Palestinians.
Evidence has emerged that much of the destruction on October 7th which claimed civilian lives were none other than the perpetration of the Israeli military, who used helicopters against civilian vehicles and apartment buildings in a panicked response. On the contrary, the monopoly media, whose interests align with US imperialism, over-blow the myth that civilians were the target of the Hamas-led attack. Al Aqsa Flood was not in any logistical sense an attack on normal, every day civilians, but a counter-offensive against mainly military targets. Military bases near the perimeter were targeted, alongside militarized colonies (called Kibbutzim), which concretely serve a military function as part of the perimeter which encases the people of Gaza. This bares no resemblance to the Israeli method of seeking to kill as many Palestinians as possible, and even if that means killing Israelis too.
In response to the Israeli killing of their own, the masses around the world, including within Israel, have held-fast to their demands to end the genocide in Gaza.
Difference between the Oppressors and the Resistance in Treatment of Prisoners
Palestinian political prisoners returning from the Israeli dungeons have reported extreme mistreatment, sexual assault, collective punishment, and other forms of abuse. Many of the Palestinian prisoners have no charges and no way to legally advocate for themselves or report such violations against them. Lama Khater, a Palestinian woman released from Israeli prison, published a video online in which she says “I was handcuffed and blindfolded,” she reports. “They threatened to rape me… It was clear the goal was to intimidate me.”
In contrast, several of the Israeli prisoners held by the resistance in Gaza have reported fair treatment; one woman who was captive had this to say “I will mention the kind deeds that were granted despite the harsh conditions you faced and the difficult losses that befell you here in Gaza.” This is what Danielle Aloni wrote to the Palestinian National Resistance in a “thank you letter” in regard to the treatment of her 5 year old daughter who was also held by the resistance. Read the full letter available on A Nova Democracia here.
photo: Al Qassam Brigades footage of fighters moving into position to attack Israeli soldiers in Gaza in November 2023
