September 19,
2024
A trio of human
rights groups on Wednesday announced a new interactive initiative exposing what
the coalition is calling a “Genocide Gentry” of weapons company executives and
board members and “54 museums, cultural organizations, universities, and colleges
that currently host these individuals on their boards or in other prominent
roles.”
Students at San Jose State University are gathered at University's
Student Union Patio, to protest Israeli attacks on Gaza, in San Jose,
California, United States on April 24, 2024. Photo by Tayfun
Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images
The
coalition—which consists of the Adalah Justice Project, LittleSis, and Action
Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE)—published a map and database detailing
the “educational and cultural ties to board members of six defense
corporations” amid Israel’s ongoing annihilation of Gaza, for which the
U.S.-backed country is on trial for genocide at the International Court of
Justice.
“Israel has
destroyed every university in Gaza and nearly 200 cultural heritage sites since
October 2023, using bombs and weapons manufactured by the companies included in
the Genocide Gentry research,” the coalition said. “As of April, these attacks
have killed more than 5,479 students and 261 teachers and destroyed or
critically damaged nearly 90% of all school buildings in Gaza.”
“Universities
across the country including the likes of Columbia University, Harvard
University, the University of Southern California, and New York University have
remained largely silent on Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza,” the groups
added. “Behind closed doors, these same universities are hosting executives and
board members of the companies manufacturing the weapons used in these attacks
as board members, trustees, and fellows.”
Members of the
Genocide Gentry include:
- Jeh Johnson, Lockheed Martin board of directors: Johnson is currently a Columbia University trustee, and sits on the board of directors at MetLife and U.S. Steel. Columbia University notably shut down student protests demanding divestment from weapons companies like Lockheed Martin.
- Brian C. Rogers, RTX board of directors: Rogers is currently a trustee of the Harvard Management Company, tasked with managing the $50 billion endowment. Notably Harvard administrators have cracked down on students demanding divestment from weapons companies like RTX, formerly Raytheon.
- Catherine B. Reynolds, General Dynamics board of directors: Reynolds is a trustee of the Kennedy Center and sponsors a fellowship at New York University, which has also cracked down on anti-genocide protests and recently enacted a policy equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism.
“Students on
university campuses across the country have not only been demanding divestment,
but transparency,” said Sandra Tamari, executive director of the Adalah Justice
Project. “Transparency about their institutions’ investments, partnerships,
donors, and decision-makers, and their connections to individuals and companies
directly enabling and profiting off war and genocide.”
“This research
helps provide some of this transparency by illuminating just how embedded the
interests of the weapons industry are within our institutions, so we can begin
chipping away at the power and influence that they wield,” she added.
ACRE campaign
director Ramah Kudaimi noted that “as part of its genocide since October 2023,
Israel has targeted universities and cultural centers across Gaza, destroying
campuses, museums, libraries, and more.”
“That this is
all backed by the United States means U.S. educational and cultural
institutions have a responsibility to consider what their role is in helping
end these war crimes, and that starts with reconsidering their connections with
the weapons companies profiting from the destruction,” Kudaimi said.
Munira
Lokhandwala, director of the Tech and Training program at LittleSis, said:
“This research provides a view into just how embedded the corporate,
profit-fueled war machine is in our higher education and cultural institutions.
Through this research, we show how the defense industry shapes and influences
our civic and cultural institutions, and as a result, their silence around war
and genocide.”
“We must ask our
institutions: What role are you playing in whitewashing war and destruction by
inviting those who profit from manufacturing weapons onto your boards and into
your galas?” she added.
Ibrahim Mohammad
September 18, 2024
On Sept. 16, Gaza’s Health Ministry
released a 649-page document containing the personal information of 34,344
Palestinians killed by Israel’s onslaught on the enclave over the past 11
months. The seemingly endless list is incomplete: more than 41,000 Palestinians
have been martyred since October 7, according to Health Ministry figures, but
many of them have not yet been fully identified. Over 11,300 of the identified
victims are children, and 710 of them were killed before they turned 1.
These are the stories of six of
those infants who were stolen from the world before even seeing their first
birthday, as told by their families.
Asser and Aysal Abu Al-Qumsan, four
days old
Asser and Aysal Abu Al-Qumsan, killed when they were four days old. (Courtesy of Muhammad Abu Al-Qumsan)
In August, people around the globe
saw the images of 33-year-old Muhammad Abu Al-Qumsan holding the birth
certificates of his newborn twins. Displaced from the Al-Rimal neighborhood of
Gaza City in early October, his family had been forced to relocate to Shaboura
refugee camp in Rafah, before fleeing again to an apartment in Deir Al-Balah in
the center of the Strip. It was there that an Israeli artillery shell killed
his twin infants, Asser and Aysal, just four days after they were born, along
with their mother, Jumana.
On Aug. 10, Muhammad and Jumana were
overjoyed when she gave birth to the twins after a difficult caesarean section
at the American field hospital in Deir al-Balah. But before they knew it, that
happiness was replaced by deep sorrow and pain.
“At the start of the Israeli war on
Gaza, after being displaced from one area to another in search of a safe place
where my wife could comfortably and peacefully complete the remaining months of
her pregnancy, I finally decided to stay in an apartment owned by one of my
wife’s relatives in Al-Qastal Towers, east of Deir al-Balah, along with her
mother and siblings,” Muhammad told +972. “I did not imagine that this
apartment would become a target for the occupation’s missiles.
“After having breakfast with my wife
and her mother on the morning of Aug. 13, I went to collect my children’s birth
certificates from the Civil Affairs Department at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in
Deir al-Balah,” he continued. “Minutes after receiving them, and while I was
still at the hospital, I received a phone call from a neighbor informing me
that the Israeli military had shelled the apartment where my wife and children
were, and that everyone inside had been evacuated to the hospital where I was
at the time.
“At first, I thought they might have
only been wounded, but shock overwhelmed me when I found that their bodies had
been placed inside the hospital morgue’s refrigerators,” Muhammad went on. “One
of the twins had been torn to pieces, his features unrecognizable, while the
other was soaked in blood, just like their mother. As for their grandmother,
the Israeli shell had severed her head. The shock and the horrific scene I
witnessed were too much for my mind and heart to bear. I fainted and collapsed
to the ground.”
After the twins’ birth, Jumana had
shared a post on her Facebook profile announcing the news, which brought joy to
everyone who knew her. A flood of congratulations and expressions of happiness
followed, despite the surrounding tragedies. Four days later, the same post was
filled with condolences: commenters expressed their shock at the news of her
death, offering sympathies for her and her children’s passing.
“Jumana and I were eagerly awaiting
our new life, which would be filled with the laughter of our two children, but
the Israeli occupation robbed us of that joy,” Muhammad said. “I only have
brief memories and the most beautiful moments of my life with my twins and my
wife before they left this world. Aysal and Asser were my first and last joy.
What were they guilty of? Why did the Israeli occupation bomb them?”
Sabrine Al-Rouh Al-Sheikh, five days
old
Malak, Shukri, and Sabrine Al-Sheikh. (Courtesy of the Al-Sheikh family)
Sabrine Al-Rouh Al-Sheikh was not
yet born when an Israeli airstrike on Rafah critically wounded her mother and
killed her father and sister in April. The baby’s paternal uncle, Rami
Al-Sheikh, described the devastation caused by the bombing in the city’s
Al-Shaboura neighborhood. “At dawn on April 20, while we were sleeping and
without any prior warning, warplanes bombed the house,” Rami recounted. “My
brother Shukri was torn to pieces, as was his daughter, Malak.”
Doctors performed an emergency
caesarean section on the mother, also named Sabrine, who was seven months
pregnant, but she died 10 minutes later from wounds to her head, chest, and
abdomen. Baby Sabrine was transferred to Al-Emirati Hospital in Rafah for
further medical care; for five days, she clung to life in the face of death,
before she eventually succumbed and joined her family.
Along with the baby’s mother,
father, and 3-year-old sister, Malak, 16 other members of their extended family
were killed in the strike.
“Her father was eagerly awaiting the
arrival of his baby girl and wanted to name her ‘Rouh’, meaning ‘soul’, but I
chose to name her Sabrine Al-Rouh in honor of her mother, while also fulfilling
her father’s wish before he was killed,” Rami told +972. “How long will these
massacres continue? The world is not paying attention to the genocide being
committed against us.”
Manal Abu Al-O’uf, seven months old
Manal Abu Al-O’uf. (Courtesy of the Abu Al-O’uf family)
During the first week of Israel’s
onslaught, Mo’emen Abu Al-O’uf, 26, was displaced with his family from their
home in Gaza City, and sought shelter with relatives in Deir al-Balah — assured
by Israeli evacuation notices that the areas south of Wadi Gaza were safe. But
on Oct. 14, only one day after they were displaced, Israeli warplanes bombed
the house next door to where they were staying, without any prior warning.
Mo’emen and his brother survived the blast with wounds, but his wife, Alaa
(22), his baby daughter, Manal (seven months), and his mother, Manal (53), were
all killed.
“At first, I thought what had
happened to me was just a dream,” he recounted. “I felt an overwhelming sense
of loss and sorrow that only someone who has experienced the bitterness of
losing their loved ones can understand.”
For the past 11 months following the
attack, Mo’emen has been accompanied by the memories of his family and the
devastating pain of their loss. “The happiest days of my life were when I
married Alaa on Dec. 12, 2021, and when my daughter Manal was born, but the
occupation deprived me of that joy by killing them. They were innocent. Were
they fighters? Were they carrying weapons?”
Naeem and Wissam Abu Anza, five and
a half months old
Naeem and Wissam Abu Anza with their father, Wissam. (Courtesy of the Abu Anza family)On March 2, an Israeli airstrike
targeted the home of 29-year-old Rania Abu Anza in the Al-Salam neighborhood,
east of Rafah, killing her baby twins along with her husband and 11 relatives
who had sought refuge with them. Rania survived the bombing and was pulled from
the rubble of her destroyed home.
“We were asleep when the house was
attacked,” Rania told +972. “Suddenly, I found myself buried in a pile of
rubble. I didn’t hear the missile that struck us. I screamed, hoping someone
would rescue us, as the rubble covered the bodies of my children and husband.
They were all killed.
It had taken Rania and her husband
many years to get pregnant. “We struggled a lot to have children,” she
explained. “I underwent three artificial insemination procedures; the first two
attempts failed, and we succeeded on the third try. I became pregnant with my
twins, Naeem and Wissam, and gave birth to them on Oct. 13.
“I never imagined I would lose my
twins and husband,” Rania continued. “I had eagerly awaited the day I would see
them grow up in front of me, but now I am left alone. To this day, I still
search through the scattered rubble of the house for memories of my children —
their blankets and clothes that I had dreamed of seeing them wear. I still hold
on to their clothes, and I still continue to wear my husband’s ring, with whom
I shared the most beautiful days of my life. But the occupation killed my dream
and prevented me from being a mother.”
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