Israeli forces have attacked a seed bank in the West Bank city of Hebron, destroying equipment used to reproduce heirloom seeds, according to the group managing the facility. The attack comes as an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip has fueled widespread hunger in the enclave.
On July 31, members of the Israeli military used bulldozers and other heavy machinery to demolish storage facilities at the Hebron seed bank, according to the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC).
The bank was established in 2003 to preserve hardy strains of local crops, those especially resistant to disease and harsh weather. It houses varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, zucchini, and other seeds gathered from farms in the West Bank and Gaza.
In 2021, Israel named the UAWC a terrorist group, a designation that neither the U.N. nor the EU has endorsed, and shuttered its offices in Ramallah. Therecent attackon the Hebron seed bank represents a “grave escalation” by Israeli forces, according to the UAWC.
“The destruction was carried out without warning, under military protection,” the group said in a statement. “Destroying a national seed bank is an act of erasure, intended to sever the generational ties between farmers and their land.”
In other conflict zones, in Ukraine and Sudan, seed banks have been looted or attacked, Yale Environment 360 recently reported. Scientists in these countries have rushed to preserve rare seeds — which may be needed to grow resilient crops in a warming world — by sending recovered samples to the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway.
In October, the UAWC deposited seeds from 21 varieties of vegetables, legumes, and herbs in the Svalbard “doomsday vault.” It said the deposit was part of its “strategy to protect Palestinian crops from the threat of confiscation and deliberate vandalism.”
'The
central bonfire this year in Rafah,' Israeli journalist Yinon Magal
said of an Israeli strike in Rafah in southern Gaza that killed at least
35, according to Palestinian health workers
Two right-wing journalists reacted to the
death of scores of Palestinians killed in Gaza on Sunday night by making
a joke likening footage of the fires caused by the Israeli airstrike
that killed them to the traditional bonfires lit on the Jewish holiday
of Lag Ba'Omer, which also took place Sunday night.
As of Monday morning, Palestinian health workers said that at least 35 people were dead,
with "numerous" others trapped in flaming debris as a result of Israeli
airstrikes on Rafah. Hamas' Health Ministry said women and children
made up most of the dead and dozens of wounded.
Journalist Yinon Magal –
who hosts the popular panel show The Patriots on Israel's
pro-government news outlet Channel 14 – and news columnist and frequent
Channel 12 panelist, Naveh Dromi, tweeted two versions of the same
reaction to the unfolding tragedy in Rafah to their social media
accounts. Magal posted a video of fires blazing in Rafah as emergency
personnel and civilians worked to rescue the injured under the caption,
"The central bonfire this year in Rafah."
Dromi
retweeted another user's post which also showed a fire in Rafah, adding
her own "Happy Holidays." Both have since deleted their tweets, but not
before they were shared widely across the platform, with some users
praising the sentiment.
Still, condemnation of the pair was swift and broad across social media,
with many responding both in Hebrew and in English with harsh criticism
of the crude joke. Ami Dror, one of the leaders of Israel's anti-government protest movement
posted a screenshot of Magal's tweet with the response, "Netanyahu and
his messianic, racist and corrupt government must be immediately
impeached! They are committing war crimes, and such reference from their
inner circle only emphasizes that intention."
Yinon Magal, the TV host of the most popular TV show on "Netanyahu's TV" (controlled by Russian oligarch, that used to work with Putin and Prigozhin) referred to the unfolding tragedy in Rafah as the "central bonfire of Lag Baomer." (Jewish holiday).
Netanyahu and his messianic, racist and corrupted government must be immediately impeached! They are committing war crimes and such reference from their inner circle only emphasizes their intention.
#BringThemHome#GazaWar#warcrime#netayahu
Professor Idan Landau, who managed to
capture Dromi's tweet before she deleted it, lambasted both her and
Avichai Shorshan, who posted the original photo. "Avichai Shorshan is a
Kfar Adumim security officer who routinely abuses the residents of Khan
al-Ahmar, with a special fondness for abusing children," Landau stated.
"Naveh Dromi is a woman who delights in the sight of women and children
engulfed in flames. (I forgot the name. What are these people called
again?)."
"As is the way of these far-right studio stars – be warned and shrug it off," Landau added, "she deleted the tweet."
Later in the video, the man threatened that "100,000" reservists,
according to his estimation, will refuse to surrender to the orders of
IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi or Defense MinisterYoav
Gallant. Magal shared the video, which resulted in the masked man's
dismissal from the military, under the caption "This is how we think and
feel in Gaza."
