Israeli occupation forces carried out a four-hour killing spree in the Jenin refugee camp in late January that left ten dead, including a 61-year-old woman, Majda Obaid, and two teenagers. Their killers arrived in a cheese truck. Before departing, they fired tear gas at a nearby hospital, leaving children choking and coughing.
Israeli state violence has killed 36 Palestinians in the first month of 2023 and at least 220 last year, 48 of whom were children. The latest attack is part of a nine-month military campaign that has targeted Palestinian militants in the West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visited Jerusalem just four days after the attack and reaffirmed Washington’s role as the number one sponsor of Israeli state terrorism.
In a speech given alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Blinken declared his government’s “ironclad” commitment to Israel. The US funds Israel’s military to the tune of US$3.8 billion each year.
Blinken expressed his “condolences” to the families of seven Israelis killed in what he described as a “horrific terrorist attack” outside a synagogue on the outskirts of East Jerusalem. The attack was carried out by 21-year-old Alqam Khayri, a lone Palestinian gunman, in reprisal for the Jenin massacre the previous day.
Read the article by Nick Everett in Red Flag.