“Bismillaahir-rahmaanir raheem”
(In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful)
Watermelon Wednesday is a weekly brief shared with our elected officials to ensure they are aware of Israel’s aggression, the Palestinian experience, and our country’s complicity in this genocide and international war crimes.
TL;DR:
- Killings in Gaza continue escalating, with plans for illegal displacement, panic over lack of fuel (1 fuel shipment in 130 days), and rising meningitis cases.
- Israel escalates its assault on the West Bank, including by using military force to expand illegal settlements.
- Intergovernmental organizations are explicitly calling for political-economic action against Israel, including BRICS and the EU.
- Trump hosts Netanyahu as they discuss plans for illegal displacement of Gaza, while the US sanctions the UN special rapporteur on Palestine.
Takeaways:
- Even as the US and Israel hold peace talks, they perpetuate Gazan suffering, which increasingly involves lack of fuel and medical supplies.
- Israel’s illegal operation in the West Bank is expanding, and various intergovernmental organizations are calling for trade cutoff from Israel.
- America remains tight friends of Israel’s crimes, going so far as to sanction the biggest UN prosecutor against Israel, which has been met with backlash.
As your constituents we urge you to:
- Publicly condemn Israel’s expanding crimes.
- Combat Trump’s support of Israel.
- Divest from Israel-supporting businesses.
Ailment and Displacement
- Missiles fall, meningitis on the rise, fuel at critical capacity, and Israel prepares for mass expulsion.
- Israel’s criminality doesn’t let up.
- 7/6 – >82 Gazans killed. [Al Jazeera]
- 7/11 – UN: >798 killings within past six weeks at aid sites in Gaza. [Reuters]
- 7/12 – >110 Gazans killed, many near aid sites. [Al Jazeera]
- 7/11 – >725,000 displaced since March. [UNRWA]
- 7/11 – >90% of Gazans displaced since Oct. 7th. [UNRWA]
- 7/11 – >57,680 Gazans killed since Oct. 7th. [UNRWA]
- 7/7 – US-backed proposal for temporary ceasefire envisages gradual release of hostages and Israeli troop withdrawals. [Reuters]
- 7/7 – Rising meningitis cases in northern and southern Gaza’s children. [Reuters]
- 7/8 – Israel’s defence minister has a plan to forcibly transfer 600,000 Gazans into a tent city as “voluntary migration”. [BBC]
- 7/10 – UN received the first fuel supply in 130 days — not even enough to cover one day of energy needs. [Reuters]
- 7/10 – Fuel shortages have led doctors to put several premature babies in single incubators. [Reuters]
- 7/11 – >8 Palestinians killed in strike on school shelter. [Al Jazeera]
- 7/11 – Satellite images show Israel preparing rubble in Rafah for mass displacement. [Al Jazeera]
- Israel’s criminality doesn’t let up.
- Israel’s campaign picks up steam in the West Bank
- 7/7 – Attacks by Israeli settlers in West Bank are on the rise. [Al Jazeera]
- 7/9 – Israel is installing mobile housing units in Hebron, West Bank. [Al Jazeera]
- 7/10 – Israeli military drive out Palestinians from Tulkarm refugee camp, West Bank. [Reuters]
- 7/10 – >50 Palestinians have been arrested across the West Bank. [Al Jazeera]
- 7/10 – Israel to expel Masafer Yatta Palestinians, as shown in the No Other Land documentary, from homes. [Al Jazeera]
- 7/11 – 961 Palestinians killed in West Bank since Oct. 7th. [UNRWA]
- Netanyahu expresses support for destruction, even calling up ultra-Orthodox Jewish students.
- 7/6 – Israel’s Finance Minister sharply criticised a decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a “grave mistake”. [Reuters]
- 7/6 – Israel’s military said it would call up 54,000 ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students. [Reuters]
- 7/7 – Netanyahu nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for giving Palestinians a better future; the two plan for illegal displacement. [Reuters]
- 7/7 – Netanyahu said he denied any possible independent Palestinian state. [Reuters]
- 7/8 – Gaza ceasefire talks enter third day in Doha. [Reuters]
Fuel shortages have led doctors to put several premature babies in single incubators. [Reuters]
Coalitions and Condemnations
- Nations globally explicitly call out Israel’s crimes, including BRICS and the EU.
- 7/6 – Brazil at BRICS: the world must act to stop an Israeli “genocide” in Gaza. [BRICS]
- 7/8 – Britain: “We have to get the ceasefire”. [Reuters]
- 7/9 – France: UK ought to recognize the state of Palestine. [Al Jazeera]
- 7/9 – Professor of int. law says that displacing Palestinians would be a “grave violation” of international law. [Al Jazeera]
- 7/10 – EU presented 10 options for political action against Israel, including limiting trade relations. [Reuters]
- 7/11 – EU “deeply regrets” US sanction on Francesca Albanese. [Middle-East Eye]
Brazil at BRICS: the world must act to stop an Israeli “genocide” in Gaza. [BRICS]
Welcome and Wrath
- Trump hosts a war criminal at home, amid legal-political backlash, while sanctioning the UN’s special rapporteur on Palestine.
- 7/7 – US university professors are challenging Trump’s oppression of pro-Palestinian advocacy, through trial. [Reuters]
- 7/7 – Trump hosted Netanyahu at the White House. [NPR]
- 7/8 – Trump hosts Netanyahu for the second day, where they discuss a plan to forcibly relocate Palestinians out of Gaza. [CBS]
- 7/9 – Nvidia plans on expanding its operations in Israel. [Reuters]
- 7/9 – US State Dept. official waives 9 mandatory safeguards to rush a $30M award to GHF aid group, despite the organization’s failure. [Reuters]
- 7/9 – US imposed sanctions on Francesca Albanese, UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Palestine. [US State Dept.]
- 7/10 – Mahmoud Khalil is seeking $20M from Trump over his false imprisonment. [ABC]
- 7/11 – US gov. Acknowledges use of Canary Mission to identify pro-Palestine students for deportation. [Al Jazeera]
- 7/12 – Family of Sayfollah Musallet, a Florida citizen killed by settlers in the West Bank, is demanding an investigation. [Al Jazeera]
Trump hosted a war criminal at the White House, where they discussed plans to illegally displace Palestinians. [CBS]