From World Central Kitchen. We should remember their names.
“These are people I served alongside in Ukraine, Turkey, Morocco, The Bahamas, Indonesia, Mexico, Gaza, and Israel. They were far more than heroes,” said WCK founder and Chief Feeding Officer José Andrés. “Their work was based on the simple belief that food is a universal human right. It is not conditional on being good or bad, rich or poor, left or right. We do not ask what religion you belong to. We just ask how many meals you need.”
WCK coordinated everything correctly with the IDF in advance. Despite that, our convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse, where the team had unloaded hundreds of tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza on our newly established maritime route from Cyprus. “This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,” said Erin Gore, CEO of WCK.
The IDF has acknowledged its responsibility and its fatal errors in the deadly attack on our convoy in Gaza. It is also taking disciplinary action against some of those in command and committed to other reforms. These are important steps forward. But without systemic change, there will be more military failures and more grieving families. In addition to the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed, nearly 200 humanitarian workers have lost their lives during this conflict. That is why World Central Kitchen is demanding the creation of an independent commission to investigate the killings of our WCK colleagues.
While we continue to demand full accountability for what happened to our team—our friends—we continue to mourn the loss of their incredible hearts and smiles. WCK’s leadership is in close contact with their families, and we are doing everything we can to support them in this unimaginable time. Please stay tuned to our social media channels for information about the WCK global community honoring the lives of these heroes and ways you can participate. In the coming days, we will be sharing heartfelt tributes to remember their vibrant lives and indelible impact on the world.
Vigils held around the world.
I am glad to see World Central Kitchen calling them out:
This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,” said Erin Gore, CEO of WCK.
japa21
No errors were made.
Raoul Paste
You see the photos of these people, and their character just shines through. This is the world’s loss,
WaterGirl
I just removed this rotating tag: “Israel, don’t be dumb like we were in the US after 9/11!”
Too late! Dumb doesn’t even cover it. Their “error” was no accident. They murdered these people for having the audacity to feed the “wrong” people. Make that non-persons, whose only mistake was being born in the wrong place.
Replaced it with: “Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.”
Parfigliano
If Israel is serious turn over those responsible to be prosecuted. Everyone knows they arent serious.
Ryan
All I can say is thank you.
Ryan
@WaterGirl: Pro tip, that was why you were removed from the comment.
WaterGirl
I am crying again. Imagine the tears of the person who put together the top photos. Beautifully done. A lovely tribute.
Their images and their names are light against the dark background, just as they were lights against the darkness of this war.
WaterGirl
@Ryan: I’m not sure I understand?
Warblewarble
What happend is exactly what Israel intended. Those thrown under the bus, will get the Kyle Rittenhouse treatment from the Israeli right and their American backers.
Betty
The latest story I saw from the Israeli military was that someone had something slung over their shoulder which they thought could have been a weapon. Just absurd. At least this incident has forced the Israeli authorities to acknowledge they did something wrong.
mrmoshpotato
Weren’t there reports that the vehicle(s) had WCK on the hood and/or roof?
JPL
@Betty: Earlier today, CNN challenged the initial report and the person admitted that it the investigation wasn’t finished. yup We got caught lying again.
After the first strike, the aid workers went to the second vehicle. It’s time to admit that the IDF believes aid workers are worthy of being murdered.
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: Absolutely. And the IDF was notified in advance that WCK would be traveling in that area. Everything the IDF is saying is a coverup.
What the hell did they think would happen when they murdered these aid workers?
WaterGirl
@JPL: Israel admitted that with their actions; it’s obvious that it was deliberate, but they are too cowardly to say it out loud.
There is absolutely nothing they can say that can explain or excuse what they did. This was no accident or misunderstanding.
Parfigliano
@WaterGirl: What always happens when Israel murders…nothing
rikyrah
They were just feeding people in a war zone😪😪😪
SpaceUnit
Fuck Netanyahu up the nose with a baseball bat.
Scout211
Yeah, that sounds believable. Using drones at night that don’t have night vision. Uh huh.
Jay
Thank you for this post Watergirl.
coin operated
@SpaceUnit:
I’d prefer to use a splintered violin, but a bat will do in a pinch…
RaflW
From a WaPo article about the cold and frightening AI kill list program alleged to be used by IDF: “At present count, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 33,000 Palestinians, the majority being women and children, have been killed in the territory.”
The Bibi regime is causing mass civilian casualties. What they did to WCK is also horrific, but all of it is. The Hamas attack was wrong and brutal but the response has been unconscionable. Alas I have no great ideas for how that can change, other than that US policy is not working and should not be left as-is.
JPL
@Scout211: CNN challenged that and pointed out the errors in the report. Can’t remember who, maybe Acosta asked why Israel was sending money to Hamas.
YY_Sima Qian
There are graphic drone footage floating around on Twitter showing the IDF targeting unarmed Gaza males simply walking down the ruined streets. One shows a person walking w/ his bicycle alongside a friend. The IDF targeteers interpreted the bicycle as an RPG (when viewed from overhead), & blew the two to bits w/ a missile. Another shows a group of four walking down the middle of the street, no sign of any weapons, they were targeted w/ 2 missiles. 2 were incapacitated instantly, but the other 2 wounded tried to limp away. They too were targeted by missiles & blown to bits. The IDF claimed that they were wearing suicide vests.
I am not linking to the posts due to the graphic content. There is nothing unique about the IDFs strikes on the WCK workers, the only thing unique was that 6 of the victims were Westerners.
Then there are the footages of IDF soldiers executing elderly Gazans, IDF soldiers enjoying themselves as they systematically demolished public infrastructure, or the Israeli flag being planted all over the Strip to mark it as Israeli territory.
SomeRandomGuy
@WaterGirl: This is a huge issue with the American right wing. they don’t really think of people, or, they say “It’s Hamas’ fault for using human shields!”
From what I’ve heard elsenet, it was a deliberate attack, hoping to get someone the IDF thought was in the caravan (and not unreasonably – but he wasn’t in the caravan). And to the American right wing, “but HE was a valid military target!” is all that really makes it into their brain.
It’s a sickness – it’s like, they won’t be too weak to risk killing a few civilians, in large groups of terrorists, so they force themselves to justify killing a lot of people – good people, in this case! – just to get a terrorist who might be there.
They can’t think of the real world, where even killing the terrorist is morally questionable. I mean, people complain that Clinton didn’t take a shot at bin Ladin. Well, he had multiple shots at a look-alike – I don’t know if he ever had a clear shot at a verified sighting.
Still: even that is morally questionable, when using high explosives, because killing people, who are in your way, is called “murder,” and you can’t claim a clean “war” exemption because a Hellfire assassination attempt isn’t a battleground attack – people don’t get a warning to entrench further away from the higher-ups.
The idea that the aid workers became expendable, because a terrorist might be among them, is abhorrent. But it fits the US right wing brain without difficulty, and they have no idea how horribly sick it is… after all, they are all “god fearing” Christians, don’t you know… if they believed something *sick* someone in their circle would have called it out.
Old School
Colbert had a nice tribute to the WCK workers earlier this week.
LiminalOwl
@WaterGirl: Thank you for this post.
RaflW
@WaterGirl: “What the hell did they think would happen when they murdered these aid workers?”
They’ve repeatedly attacked hospitals full of patients. The IDF and the Bibi regime do not care what global perceptions are.
Among the callous ways this war has been unleashed is that after clearing what may have actually been Hamas using hospitals as cover, is the IDF doesn’t remain and hold. Yes that requires more personnel, but it shows that the IDF doesn’t give a rip about keeping hospitals functional for civilians.
WaterGirl
@Jay: You’re welcome. We need to know their names. Or at least their faces.
Jay
@RaflW:
And prior to this, that had already killed over 200 aid workers, over 500 first responders and medics and over 30 journalists, with no pushback or outrage in the West.
SomeRandomGuy
@Scout211: I’m a troubleshooter by trade, and my BS detector flares over “they couldn’t see the logo”. We humans are really good at paint and I’m sure someone has thought about how to make sure red cross/cresent logos, and other noncombatant logos, are highly visible.
Plus, standard gun rules apply. They knew “the gun” was loaded, so, check. Did they verify their target? No, they couldn’t? Then why did the acquire the target at all?
(Three rules:
1)it’s loaded, until you check load state, which you do upon taking control of the weapon.
2) don’t cover anything with the muzzle, unless you’re okay with its destruction (EPIC FAIL!)
3) Only fire when you’re sure of your target and the backstop (EPIC TURBO HE-FAIL!)
)
WaterGirl
@YY_Sima Qian: My anger at this knows no bounds.
Jay
@SomeRandomGuy:
Like ruZZia, everything Israel says is a lie.
SomeRandomGuy
@coin operated: Why splintered? Are you going to KaBong him with the violin first?
(Link is to video explaining the verb “to KaBong”)
RaflW
@YY_Sima Qian: I feel like most of the west viewed things somewhat akin to this (but with less sophisticated weapons in the 90s) as ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia conflicts.
I’ve seen some coverage remarking on this in Gaza (WaPo, gift link to a reported column on the issue from Jan) but I think it needs more open and public discussion.
JPL
@WaterGirl: Bibi pretended to be nice by opening borders for aid, but that will only last until the next delivery by the US.
That’s where my anger is at and Biden can fix this by delaying military equipment.
Parfigliano
@SomeRandomGuy: No fail. Israel policy. Israel is the moral equivalent of Russia. A terrorist state.
FastEdD
Heroes, yes indeed. I am heartbroken.
eclare
@japa21:
Nope.
frosty
@WaterGirl: Good change in the tags. Wouldn’t want to run across the old one now.
Warblewarble
Months of ethnic cleansing and genocide have been quite acceptable to the arms suppliers after all those people don’t belong in the land god gave to Israel. Killing westerners is very naughty and they had better stand in the corner,until the world looks away, then it’s back to business as usual.”And here’s some more bombs,and just how many more will you be needing”
kindness
I still think the IDF knew they were targeting the WCK convoy and did it purposefully. Clearly they herded people from the 1st bombed vehicle to the 2nd and then the 3rd where they got them all. Bastards.
SiubhanDuinne
@Old School:
I’m really grateful to you for linking that. I know I watched Colbert’s opening monologue that night, but I guess I either turned off the TV or fell asleep before he did this lovely tribute.
I find Stephen Colbert an extremely funny guy, unlike his late-night counterparts Seth and the Jimmies. He has excellent writers, PLUS he himself is quickwitted and intelligent. He gives great interview most of the time, and he must have aced all his Mime classes at theatre school, because he can do amazing things with his face and body. But on the infrequent occasions when he gets really serious about something dominating the news, he is simply superb.
Jay
@kindness:
check out comment #3 in Adam’s Ukraine post tonight.
It may, or may not be fact.
trollhattan
Seven meddling foreigners may have lost their lives but two senior IDF officers–top men–were sacked as a consequence, so I think we’re all good here.
—Quite a few people, probably.
Martin
Oh, and regarding our recent discussions on EVs and cars in general – today Tesla canceled development of their low-end EV.
I keep trying to tell people that reduced battery costs won’t result in cheaper cars, and the automakers keep backing me up on that.
Honus
@SpaceUnit: and fuck the Israelis that have repeatedly elected him
SiubhanDuinne
@trollhattan:
They were actually sacked? Gosh. Thoughts and prayers to their loved ones.
Suzanne
@RaflW:
If they genuinely cared about protecting life, they would evacuate patients out of the hospitals via airlift.
I believe that Netanyahu and his team of thugs are looking to kill Gazan civilians. Not that they don’t care about it and it use happens, oops, my bad. I believe they’re doing it on purpose, probably to reduce the population enough that they can’t fight for liberation.
WaterGirl
@frosty: Israel isn’t even on the same planet as stupid at this point.
I am hoping that the people of ISRAEL ARE AS APPALLED AS WE ARE. If some of them aren’t, there’s something terribly wrong.
Kay
Honus
@SiubhanDuinne: Colbert is a Hampden-Sydney alum. The last all-male school in the country.
Steve in the ATL
@Honus: “women at W&L. What next—MEN at Hampden-Sydney?!”
SomeRandomGuy
@Parfigliano: You may be right, but, right now, my goal is to show how you *look* right, to people who would refuse to believe you *are* right.
(I didn’t say I had any chance of accomplishing my goal, by commenting in a top 10k blog. Just, that’s what my goal was.)
YY_Sima Qian
@RaflW: The Bosnian Serbs were accused of committing genocide, & some of their top commanders were convicted on these charges by the ICJ. Of course, the Croats committed ethnic cleansing against Bosnian Serbs, too, but I do no recall anything was done.
That is why South Africa brought a case against Israel for committing genocide in Gaza, w/ strong support in the Global South, & the ICJ issued preliminary finding that there is enough evidence suggesting grnocidal practices that Israel must cease & desist immediately, while the case is adjudicated over the coming years.
Countries are obliged to take actions, too:
Senior UK jurists join calls to stop arms sales to Israel
However, I don’t think the US recognizes the ICJ’s jurisdiction over its own persons & actions, so perhaps it is not under the same legal pressure.
Timill
@SomeRandomGuy: “Now we see the violins inherent in the system…”
BruceFromOhio
@japa21:
None. Perfectly executed.
New Deal democrat
Well, this is not good. From CNN:
“The US is on high alert and actively preparing for a “significant” attack that could come as soon as within the next week by Iran targeting Israeli or American assets in the region in response to Monday’s Israeli strike in Damascus that killed top Iranian commanders, a senior administration official tells CNN….
“Senior US officials currently believe that an attack by Iran is ‘inevitable’….
“A direct strike on Israel by Iran is one of the worst-case scenarios that the Biden administration is bracing for, as it would guarantee rapid escalation of an already tumultuous situation in the Middle East….
“ The incident came after the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus on Monday….
“Iran vowed to take revenge after Israel’s airstrike on Iran’s embassy complex in Syria, which killed at least seven officials….
“ The US was quick to inform Iran that the Biden administration was not involved and had no advance knowledge of Monday’s strike on the embassy and has warned Iran against coming after American assets….
“The US has warned Iran not to use the Israeli strike in Damascus as “a pretext to attack US personnel and facilities,” a State Department spokesperson told CNN Friday.
“The warning was sent in response to a message from Iran, the spokesperson said. Iran’s message to the US blamed the US for the Damascus attack,
Jackie
OT: The Bully is a loser, again.
StringOnAStick
@Jackie: So is the Nebraska system for awarding electoral votes staying the same or did the loser get what he wanted?
WaterGirl
@Jackie: Yeah, but he’s the biggest loser!
Timill
@StringOnAStick: Staying the same, for now.
Jackie
@StringOnAStick: I believe the Loser is Losing. It’s not final yet, but the ticking clock suggests it won’t be changed in time for This election year.
As to whether it’s changed for future elections..?
Geminid
@New Deal democrat: Do you mess with Twitter? There’s an Iranan miltary analyst “Patarames”* who has some recent posts concerning Iran’s response. He discounts the possibility of Iran directly attacking Israel, and thought a strike on the Israeli Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan or a similar target was more likely. He thought Iran would not act so as to bring on a major war.
Some of his readers insisted that Iran must strike Israel a heavy blow right away or Israel would gain the upper hand in their conflict, but Patarames was like, “No, this is no emergency, the Axis of Resistance remains strong and the IGRC can choose the time and place to retaliate.”
* An interesting account. Most of Patarames’ posts concern advanced Iranian weapons systems and are fairly technical. He also compares Iranian, US, Israeli and other nations’ weapons systems. He is definitely pro-Regime but he seems objective.
Jackie
@WaterGirl: I hope it remains so! Every time TIFG loses is a win for democracy!
Steve Crickmore
For those of you who are trying to fathom why the the IDF, have been willing to kill so many Gazan civilians of all ages, irrespective of sex, this link establishes the means and how. https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/‘ The AI machine directing Israel bombing spree in Gaza.’ As one intelligence source said, “if officially every target is connected to Hamas, when the policy is so permissive, it loses all meaning.” If you haven’t read about Lavender it is frightening… AI to generate targets for assassination, Lavender has played a central role in the unprecedented bombing of Palestinians. It clocked as many as 37,000 Palestinians as suspected militants — and their homes — for possible air strikes .One Israeli soldier: “I was bothered by the fact that when Lavender was trained, they used the term ‘Hamas operative’ loosely, and included people who were civil defense workers in the training dataset,” he said, to get to 37,000 targets,’
LINKING TARGETS TO FAMILY HOMES
‘Most of the people you killed were women and children’
Old School
Mai Naem mobile
@RaflW: feature not bug. This dissuades other aid agencies to come in and provide help to the Palestinians. Meanwhile they keep on killing them via rockets, guns or just starvation. Bibi is just a garbage person like his pal Putin.
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
@WaterGirl: Thank you for this. I am so devastated by this I can’t find a way to process it.🕯😢💔
And those saying that the IDF were trying to kill a certain person are absolutely correct. Superstars who are genuinely good people are so hard to deal with. *S*
Blessed Be.
Jay
John Chapman, James “Jim” Henderson, James Kirby, Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, Jacob Flickinger, Damian Sobol, Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom,
rest in power. Peace be with you.
Warblewarble
Like raisins in a fruitcake religous fanaticss, settler fanatics and extremists are mixed in at every level of the IDF. Always I have refered to the IDF as the settler movement with tanks , artiillery and planes. The past months have been a killing spree aided by the US.
Steve Crickmore
@Warblewarble: So true. After receiving his tongue lashing phone call from Biden, following the WCK massacre, Bibi was only able to approve the reopening of supply routes into Gaza which had been closed since October 7, by demanding that the vote be held at the start of his Cabinet meeting, before Itamar Ben-Gvir, his national security minister arrived. A far-right member of the Knesset and a settler in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Ben-Gvir has faced criminal charges of hate speech against Arabs and was known to have a portrait in his living room of Israeli-American mass murderer and Jewish extremist Baruch Goldstein- On February 25, 1994, Goldstein, a resident of the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba near Hebron, entered a room in the Cave of the Patriarchs that was serving as a mosque. Dressed in Israeli military uniform, he opened fire on the 800 Palestinian Muslim worshippers praying during the month of Ramadan, killing 29 and wounding 125 worshippers, until he was beaten to death by survivors.
These are the sort of Zionist religious fanatics with such heroes, that America is arming with a bombing campaign more intense than anything in the Second World War, including Dresden or since, including Ukraine and Syria.
Geminid
@Steve Crickmore: The cabinet decision would have been the same if Ben-Gvir had been on time.
sab
@Warblewarble: Right wing in Israel is scary. They assassinated a prime minister, and they threaten ordinary people on a daily basis. Which is what makes the recent large protests against Bibi so remarkable. But then, when there is an election, they vote him back in.
Steve Crickmore
@Geminid: Thanks, yes, you are right, my bad, but Bibi did not want Ben-Gvir to hear his presentation or what Biden had to say.
Geminid
@Steve Crickmore: Few Israeli leaders wants to hear Itamar Ben-Gvir run his mouth. He’s fit to lead a gang of football hoodlums, nothing more. Ben-Gvir was already so radical as a teenager the IDF would not draft him.
Ben-Gvir is an accelerationist who wants a civil war between Arab and Jewish Israelis. He tried to stir up trouble during Ramadan by restricting admission to Al-Aqsa but Israel’s security agency Shin Bet said that was reckless; the cabinet followed Shin Bet guidance and neutralized Ben-Gvir on this matter.
Steve Crickmore
@sab: In theory, coalition or minority governments, should be more in tune to the will of the people, but as we find in the US, they are so precarious, they are often hostage to the religious extremists such as in Congress to the MTGreenes of the world, just as they are in the Knesset. Same God, but such different nutbar fundamentalist followers and positions. Very unfortunate.
sab
Back when the Berlin Wall fell and Jews could get out of Russia the Israelis hoped they would get an influx of socialists. Instead they got an influx of racist Russian mobsters.
There are a lot of the old style Israelis in the country, but the racist Russian mobsters are running the place. That is why the UAE likes them now.
sab
@Steve Crickmore: I wouldn’t know. I live in a two party country. Worked for decades until an immigrant Aussie drove one of the parties nuts.
Geminid
@sab: I read that the political impact of Russian immigrants was more the opposite. Conservative politicians hoped the immigrants would vote for them instead of the more liberal parties because of an aversion to socialism. In the mid-1990s, when 400,000 Russian immigrants had arrived, pollsters found that more of them voted for center-left parties.
The conservative Likud Party came to power in the 1970s by attracting a different set of immigrants: the Mizrachi who came to Israel from the Mideast and North Africa. Its leader, Menachim Begin, represented a conservative strain that was present from Israel’s founding, and predated the wave of Russian immigrants by 40 years.