Israeli actor Gal Gadot's Hollywood star defaced with slur, graffiti removed
Vandals used a black permanent marker to write the slur against Gadot, a former member of the Israeli Defence Forces.
They also changed her surname from Gadot to 'Greestien' – a misspelling of
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
17 hours ago
- Scoop
The "Economy Of Genocide" Report: A Reckoning Beyond Rhetoric
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in occupied Palestine, stands as a testament to the notion of speaking truth to power. This "power" is not solely embodied by Israel or even the United States, but by an international community whose collective relevance has tragically failed to stem the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Her latest report, 'From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide,' submitted to the UN Human Rights Council on July 3, marks a seismic intervention. It unflinchingly names and implicates companies that have not only allowed Israel to sustain its war and genocide against Palestinians, but also confronts those who have remained silent in the face of this unfolding horror. Albanese's 'Economy of Genocide' is far more than an academic exercise or a mere moral statement in a world whose collective conscience is being brutally tested in Gaza. The report is significant for multiple, interlocking reasons. Crucially, it offers practical pathways to accountability that transcend mere diplomatic and legal rhetoric. It also presents a novel approach to international law, positioning it not as a delicate political balancing act, but as a potent tool to confront complicity in war crimes and expose the profound failures of existing international mechanisms in Gaza. Two vital contexts are important to understanding the significance of this report, considered a searing indictment of direct corporate involvement, not only in the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, but Israel's overall settler-colonial project. First, in February 2020, following years of delay, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) released a database that listed 112 companies involved in business activities within illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine. The database exposes several corporate giants – including Airbnb, Motorola Solutions, JCB, and Expedia – for helping Israel maintain its military occupation and apartheid. This event was particularly earth-shattering, considering the United Nations' consistent failure at reining in Israel, or holding accountable those who sustain its war crimes in Palestine. The database was an important step that allowed civil societies to mobilize around a specific set of priorities, thus pressuring corporations and individual governments to take morally guided positions. The effectiveness of that strategy was clearly detected through the exaggerated and angry reactions of the US and Israel. The US said it was an attempt by 'the discredited' Council 'to fuel economic retaliation,' while Israel called it a "shameful capitulation" to pressure. The Israeli genocide in Gaza, starting on October 7, 2023, however, served as a stark reminder of the utter failure of all existing UN mechanisms to achieve even the most modest expectations of feeding a starving population during a time of genocide. Tellingly, this was the same conclusion offered by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who, in September 2024, stated that the world had 'failed the people of Gaza.' This failure continued for many more months and was highlighted in the UN's inability to even manage the aid distribution in the Strip, entrusting the job to the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a mercenary-run violent apparatus that has killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians. Albanese herself, of course, had already reached a similar conclusion when, in November 2023, she confronted the international community for 'epically failing' to stop the war and to end the 'senseless slaughtering of innocent civilians.' Albanese's new report goes a step further, this time appealing to the whole of humanity to take a moral stance and to confront those who made the genocide possible. 'Commercial endeavors enabling and profiting from the obliteration of innocent people's lives must cease,' the report declares, pointedly demanding that 'corporate entities must refuse to be complicit in human rights violations and international crimes or be held to account.' According to the report, categories of complicity in the genocide are divided into arms manufacturers, tech firms, building and construction companies, extractive and service industries, banks, pension funds, insurers, universities, and charities. These include Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Amazon, Palantir, IBM, and even Danish shipping giant Maersk, among nearly 1,000 other firms. It was their collective technological know-how, machinery, and data collection that allowed Israel to kill, to date, over 57,000 and wound over 134,000 in Gaza, let alone maintain the apartheid regime in the West Bank. What Albanese's report tries to do is not merely name and shame Israel's genocide partners but to tell us, as civil society, that we now have a comprehensive frame of reference that would allow us to make responsible decisions, put pressure on, and hold accountable these corporate giants. 'The ongoing genocide has been a profitable venture,' Albanese writes, citing Israel's massive surge in military spending, estimated at 65 percent from 2023 to 2024 — reaching $46.5 billion. Israel's seemingly infinite military budget is a strange loop of money, originally provided by the US government, then recycled back through US corporations, thus spreading the wealth between governments, politicians, corporations, and numerous contractors. As bank accounts swell, more Palestinian bodies are piled up in morgues, mass graves, or are scattered in the streets of Jabaliya and Khan Yunis. This madness needs to stop, and, since the UN is incapable of stopping it, then individual governments, civil society organizations, and ordinary people must do the job, because the lives of Palestinians should be of far greater value than corporate profits and greed. - Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is ' Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out'. His other books include 'My Father was a Freedom Fighter' and 'The Last Earth'. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is
NZ Herald
a day ago
- NZ Herald
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill six, including five at school shelter
Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes on Friday killed at least six people in the Palestinian territory's north, including five at a school-turned-shelter. 'Five martyrs and others injured in an Israeli strike on Halima al-Saadia School, which was sheltering displaced persons in Jabalia al-Nazla, northern Gaza,' the agency said
1News
5 days ago
- 1News
Kiwi describes being inside Melbourne synagogue as it was set on fire
A New Zealander inside a Melbourne synagogue subject to an alleged arson attack on Friday says it is a worrying escalation from "hate speech into violence". Flammable liquid was poured over a door and set alight on Friday. About 20 people were in the East Melbourne Synagogue at the time of the attack. Counter terrorism police have arrested a 34-year-old man. Also in Melbourne, on the same night, about 20 masked protesters harassed diners at an Israeli-owned restaurant. Three cars were also set on fire outside a Melbourne business. One of those inside the Melbourne synagogue on Friday evening was New Zealander Murray Meltzer. ADVERTISEMENT He told RNZ's Morning Report it was a "very tranquil" service before the attack. "Congregants meet there every week on a Friday around sunset for the Shabbat services, and regularly a handful of us meet for dinner afterwards — that's what was happening on Friday night." Shortly before 8pm, soon after dinner began, the synagogue's bell began ringing "repeatedly, which is unusual". "One of the children, around age 13, was playing at the front of the building," Meltzer said. They glanced at the CCTV monitor — which Meltzer called an "unfortunate sign of the times [with] concern about rising anti-Semitism" — and ran towards the back. "By then there was smoke starting to creep under the front entrance and find its way into the central synagogue sanctuary area, and as a result of that, we obviously ran to the front initially to try and put out the fire. Everyone else was at the back of the building. "And by then we had a couple of passersby that had spotted the flames developing at the front of the building called the fire brigade, which is located fairly close by, so fortunately, the fire brigade was there very quickly, thank goodness." ADVERTISEMENT An unknown man entered the grounds of the synagogue on Albert Street in East Melbourne at 8pm yesterday. (Source: Google Maps) The gravity of what had happened — not just at the synagogue, but elsewhere — "hit home the next day" when people showed up for the Saturday morning service and there was a "large press crowd there". There has been a rise in the number of anti-Jewish and Islamophobic incidents in Australia since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war in 2023. In December last year, another synagogue in Melbourne was set alight. Australia in early 2024 banned Nazi salutes and the public display of symbols associated with designated terror groups like Islamic State and Hamas. Last week it cancelled American rapper Kanye West's visa after he released a song Heil Hitler, praising the genocidal Nazi Party leader. A synagogue in Sydney earlier this year was graffitied with swastikas, while in December anti-Islamic graffiti appeared in the city's west. The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including deadly Texas floods, Australian woman attacked by a lion, and Elon Musk's new political party. (Source: 1News) ADVERTISEMENT Meltzer said whoever lit the latest fire in Melbourne would have known there were people inside as all the lights were on. "It's shifted the sort of activity we've seen in recent times from, from just a bit of hate speech and people's right to protest and stand up and say what their views are — just sort of, kind of shifted it quite dramatically. It's been left to fester and develop, and I guess the speech has moved from just a bit of hate speech into violence. "And that's a real, that's a real, that's a real concern for us as a community." Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke condemned the attack as an "attack on Australia". (Source: Nine) 'Attack on Australia' Meltzer praised politicians from both sides of the Australian political divide for condemning the incidents. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he viewed the incidents with "utmost gravity," and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said they "have no place in our country". ADVERTISEMENT "Australians have every right to be able to conduct their faith, to engage with each other in peace and harmony. That is the Australia that we cherish." Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, speaking from the scene on Sunday, called it an "attack on Australia". "There's been some reporting that no one was physically injured — that doesn't mean no one was harmed. The community here was harmed. The Jewish community in Australia was harmed, and we were harmed as a nation."
