JOHNSTONE

CNN's Clarissa Ward and her crew became the first western journalists to enter Gaza independent from Israeli forces since October 7, briefly visiting a 150-bed hospital that was recently constructed in a soccer stadium by the United Arab Emirates in the southern part of the enclave before leaving to report on the footage from Abu Dhabi.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Infectious diseases are tearing through Gaza, whose healthcare system has been rendered almost nonexistent, and people are beginning to starve in massive numbers. All of this is due to concrete policy decisions made by Israel in its horrific assault on the Gaza Strip.

Reading by Tim Foley.

In the last few days I've seen two separate articles attacking the idea that there are innocent people in Gaza, one from The Times of Israel titled "Innocents in Gaza? Don't be naive" and another from Town Hall titled "There Are No 'Innocent Palestinians'".

"Stop murdering thousands of children," said the evil, crazy Nazi.

"It's bad to murder children," the monster added. "Children should not be slaughtered at mass scale with powerful military explosives, they should be allowed to remain alive and happy and healthy."

Reading by Tim Foley.

Israel supporters are like, "No no you don't understand, the side that's killing babies and incinerating families and assassinating journalists and starving civilians and bombing cultural heritage sites and carpet bombing entire neighborhoods and driving an indigenous people off their land are the GOOD guys."

Reading by Tim Foley.

But for all the efforts to spin, justify and distract from the mass atrocity Israel and its allies are perpetrating in Gaza, more and more people are opening their eyes to what's happening, and are ceasing to fall for the propaganda any longer.

Reading by Tim Foley.

No matter how horrific it gets, I will not look away.

No matter how many children I see killed and injured in the most gruesome ways imaginable, I will not look away.

No matter how much human suffering I see by keeping my gaze on Gaza, I will not look away.

Reading by Tim Foley.

They killed a poet in Gaza on Wednesday.

Well, as much as you can kill a poet, anyway.

Kill a poet and his poems fight on.

That poet is still throwing his marker at the bastards.

A poet may have hands like velveteen mittens,

but he can fight on even if he has no hands at all.

A poet may have a home made of zip-ties and tarps,

but he can fight on even if he sleeps on rubble.

A poet can fight on even if he's got no legs.

A poet can fight on even if he's got no arms.

A poet can fight on even if he's got no teeth.

A poet can fight on even if he's got no eyes.

A poet can fight on even if he's got no hope.

A poet can fight on even if he's got no life.

A poet can fight on even after he has drawn his last breath,

even after they've returned him to earth's womb,

even after his possessions have been divided among his loved ones,

even after the flesh has gone from his bones,

even after there's no memory of him besides the poems he left behind.

Poets can midwife a new world into being.

Poets can give people a vision to fight for.

Poets can change reality.

Poets are powerful.

That's why people kill them.

I saw a video of two young boys strolling through Gaza

nursing some tea in a paper cup,

gossiping like the two old men

they might never get to be.

And there's a bee burrowing a hole in my door

and a siren going off in my head,

because the drones never stop in Gaza,

and because there are bodies popped open by girders,

buried under ruins rained down on by hellfire,

near where mothers lie awake weighing

whether it would be better to live without her children

or for her kids to live without her,

and we know this alarm won't stop

until the explosions stop,

until the screams stop,

until the bleeding stops,

until healing begins,

until justice is served,

until the bastards are beaten,

until a healthy world has been born.

Refaat, until there is justice,

I will throw my marker at them too.

_______________

Reading by Caitlin Johnstone.

If your position is based on truth and morality, you don't need to make up lies to defend it, and you don't need to hurl false accusations at those who disagree with it.

If your position was based on truth and morality, you wouldn't need to circulate bogus atrocity propaganda about decapitated babies, babies cooked in ovens, and murdered pregnant women.

If your position was based on truth and morality, you wouldn't have to circulate lies claiming actual dead Palestinian babies in Gaza are plastic dolls.

Reading by Tim Foley.

The official story is that on October 7, 2023, thousands of evil Hamas terrorists broke out of their walled-in enclave and killed approximately 1,200 Israelis for no reason other than because they were evil and wanted to kill Jews. Nothing was done by the Israeli government to provoke this attack, and nothing of any relevance happened prior to this date.

Reading by Tim Foley.