Lupo

Damn furries, committing insurance fraud again

Last week, near Be’eri, a border kibbutz devastated by the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023, the pro-settlement organisation Nachala held a “Preparing to Resettle Gaza” conference, laying out its vision for the strip’s future. The event was given a green light by the Israeli military despite the fact the area is still technically a closed military zone. Several hundred people showed up, including government ministers and Knesset members.

The atmosphere at the two-day conference was festive, marking the Sukkot harvest celebration: there was singing and dancing, and popcorn and candy floss. The area was awash in the blue and white of the Israeli flag, and most of the men attending carried pistols or rifles.

Adults took part in planning sessions in which speakers pointed out strategic areas on maps of Gaza, or milled about stands representing rightwing political parties and the Jewish supremacist group Lehava. Children enjoyed a puppet show and petting zoo.

“We plan to take what we have acquired in the years of settling Judea and Samaria and to do the same thing here in Gaza,” Nachala’s chair, Daniella Weiss, a veteran of the settler movement, told those attending, using the Israeli nomenclature for the occupied West Bank.

“I want to tell you now, that in less than a year, you can call and ask me: ‘Did you succeed in fulfilling your dream?’ And the answer will be yes … Each of you will witness how Jews go to Gaza and Arabs will disappear from Gaza.”

The Palestinian population of Gaza would “go to different countries of the world,” she said, without elaborating on how or why.

Original headline "Israeli officials seize AP equipment, citing new media law"

We say we don't want to leave without him. "Can one of our Israeli friends stay here?" we ask. The soldiers refuse, and a gun is raised. It points straight at us – and we begin to back away. "Move on," we're told.

Soldiers walk Abuhejleh out of sight around a hill, and as we make our way back to where the road was dug up, Rabbi Dana tells us she's worried. … We don't want to leave Abuhejleh, and so the waiting begins. What was promised as a few minutes becomes 30 minutes. Then 45. Then 90. What appears to be the same drone comes back, flying lower, with its camera pointed at us.

Eventually, our IDF contact calls back. He assures us that Abuhejleh is safe, and he strongly advises us to leave the area "for our safety." So, reluctantly, we do. … We sit down with Abuhejleh to make sure he's OK and to ask what happened after he was separated from us. He tells us that after he was led away, blindfolded and handcuffed, he was driven to a military office in a nearby settlement where he was mocked and questioned for hours.

"They say it's our land. It's not your land. So you must forget it," he says. Later, when we would ask the IDF why he had been detained, they would provide no comment.

Now that he's home, he assures us he's unharmed. And as we're about to leave, we ask if he plans to go back to see his land, even after today's incident.

"I will go back. Don't worry," he says. "They will arrest, and I will return back – until I will fix my land. It's our land."