Noorah Alhamdan and B'Tselem Notes

Nooran Alhamdan is a graduate research fellow for the Middle East Institute's Cyber Program for the 2021-2022 academic year. She previously served as a graduate research fellow for the Middle East Institute's Program on Palestine and Palestinian-Israeli Affairs, where she focused primarily on Palestinian refugee rights. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Arab Studies at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. As a graduate fellow for the Cyber program, she will focus on digital rights and the intersection of online political speech and Palestine.

When Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed graduates yesterday she and others used the occasion to once again bring attention to the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh, killed last week during actions of Israeli Occupation Forces. I noted the story on Facebook but I have no confidence that what I wrote will be readily linked in the future so I am crafting these notes for backup and future reference. In short, part of the ceremony included all of the graduates formally shaking hands with the dignitaries, and when her turn came she conspicuously refused to shake hands with the Secretary of State, a gesture bringing attention her cause

Myself & my classmates in Arab Studies honored the legacy of Shireen Abu Aqleh during Anthony Blinken’s commencement address. We demand an independent investigation & an end to American aid to Israel now. I relayed these demands to Blinken personally & refused to shake his hand.

At the end of commencement @SecBlinken came up to me personally and said “I hear you.” I reiterated that an independent investigation and accountability for Israel were necessary. He walked away when I told him to cut all American aid to the Israeli military.

This link via B'Tselem has a number of first-person accounts of the recent IOF actions.

For 11 days, Israel relentlessly bombarded the Gaza Strip, one of the most crowded places on earth, killing 232 Palestinians. Almost a quarter of those killed were minors, and more than half were not taking part in the hostilities. Many were killed at home, with nowhere to run or hide. Thousands were injured and thousands lost everything they owned. A year on, B'Tselem's field researchers in Gaza talked to people who lost their loved ones and homes. These are their testimonies...

B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories strives for a future in which human rights, liberty and equality are guaranteed to all people, Palestinian and Jewish alike, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Such a future will only be possible when the Israeli occupation and apartheid regime end. That is the future we are working towards. B’Tselem (in Hebrew literally: in the image of), the name chosen for the organization by the late Member of Knesset Yossi Sarid, is an allusion to Genesis 1:27: “And God created humankind in His image. In the image of God did He create them.” The name expresses the universal and Jewish moral edict to respect and uphold the human rights of all people.

Since B’Tselem’s inception in 1989, we have been documenting, researching and publishing statistics, testimonies, video footage, position papers and reports on human rights violations committed by Israel in the Occupied Territories. The initial mandate we took upon ourselves focused on the occupation regime in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and in the Gaza Strip. However, over the years, it has become clear that the concept of two parallel regimes operating between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River – a permanent democracy west of the Green Line and a temporary military occupation to the east of it – is divorced from reality. The entire area that Israel controls is ruled by a single apartheid regime, governing the lives of all people living in it and operating according to one organizing principle: establishing and perpetuating the control of one group of people – Jews – over another – Palestinians – through laws, practices and state violence.

In more than 30 years of work, B'Tselem has earned a place of honor in the local and international human rights community, and has received various awards, including the Carter-Menil Award for Human Rights (1989, jointly with Al-Haq); the Danish PL Foundation Human Rights Award (2011, jointly with Al-Haq); the Stockholm Human Rights Award (2014); and the Human Rights Award of the French Republic (2018, jointly with Al-Haq). B’Tselem’s video project has also received various awards, including the British One World Media Award (2009) and the Israeli Documentary Filmmakers Forum Award (2012).

B’Tselem is an independent, non-partisan organization. It is funded solely by donations: grants from European and North American foundations that support human rights activity worldwide, and generous contributions by private individuals in Israel and abroad.