The following article by Dianne Kirby was first published in Unity, the weekly paper of the Irish Communist Party.
Israel's Chief Rabbi, David Yosef, during an address at the Gush Katif Museum in West Jerusalem, denied the existence of a Palestinian people. Stating Palestinians had no rights, he claimed Gaza and West Bank cities for Jews and called for Gaza's destruction and Jewish settlement. Since 7 October 2023, Israel has confiscated approximately 5,200 hectares of West Bank land. Settler theft is but an add on to that of the state. Armed settlers, under the guise of 'hikes', provoke deadly clashes during which West Bank Palestinians are maimed and murdered. The weight of confiscation, plus the destruction of water wells in the northern West Bank's 'breadbasket' region, also targeted by settler attacks, has brought agriculture to the brink of collapse. In Gaza, Israel promotes death, disease, deprivation and destruction.
The Gaza Strip remains the world's deadliest place for humanitarian workers. 186 were killed in 2025. Palestinian health-workers daily confront arbitrary detention, violence and slaughter, including in Israeli prisons, a network of camps dedicated to the abuse of inmates as policy. Indicted by B'Tselem as a living hell, Israeli prisons function as torture sites.
Nearly half of journalists slain during 2025 were killed in Gaza by Israeli armed forces. Even the IDF concedes over 70,000 deaths in Gaza, not including bodies buried in the rubble. Other estimates are much higher. The death toll is insufficiently high for national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir. He demands Israel kill 30 to 40 Gazans every night. Unworthy of life, not even people, 'They shouldn't live.' Not only should they not live, Ben-Gvir is determined that Palestinian deaths become even more of a spectacle than that provided by the Gazan viewing platforms erected for Israeli genocide spectators. He recently released footage of a new facility constructed to undertake executions following legislation of the death penalty for Palestinians. A discriminatory reinforcement of Israeli apartheid, Ben-Gvir defended the inclusion of viewing rooms as modelled on the example of US executions.
In the US, chief facilitator of Israeli crimes, and the countries of its allies, home populations are increasingly conscious of Israeli atrocities, despite the huge sums expended on pro-Israel propaganda and the fostering of Islamophobia. In America, political candidates are calling for an end to military aid to Israel and disavowing Israel lobby support. In Europe, over 100 former British and French ambassadors and diplomats accuse Israel of policies of 'occupation and destruction', stating that 'Palestine is being erased before our eyes.' They suggest sweeping sanctions. Increased scrutiny also derives from ever-increasing escalations in the West Bank and Gaza, intensified attacks in South Lebanon, renewed aggression against Syria, plus rising rhetoric against Turkey.
In this context of growing international inspection of Israel's felonies, notably internal investigations of war crimes that generally acquit the perpetrators, Israel announces investigations into the murders of Hind Rajab and 15 Palestinian paramedics. The Hind Rajab case, plus the murder of the two paramedics trying to rescue her, is known globally. A winner at the Venice Film Festival, the film documenting the atrocity was also nominated for an Academy Award. A further critical consideration is that the Hind Rajab Foundation identified the IDF killers of the child and her family members and submitted their names to the International Criminal Court. Determined to pursue criminal complaints in national jurisdictions around the world, the HRF effectively forced Israel to admit that its troops did fire on the family car, after repeated denials of military responsibility, even claims that no soldiers were present in the area. Israel wants to present itself to the world as willing and able to investigate its own forces. Rather than a belated pursuit of justice, Israel's long-established record for mendacity and misrepresentation suggests it seeks the appearance of accountability through a deflection intended to perpetuate the impunity whereby most Israeli investigations close without a finding of wrongdoing or remain under review without any publicly reported outcome. There is little likelihood of justice for Palestinians from the Israeli judiciary. Subject to relentless attacks, weak and disempowered, the international justice system remains the only source of hope for redress. Along with the world's peoples.