Prominent NYT writer 'resigns' after protesting Israeli crimes in Gaza

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
5 Nov 2023 15:06
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The New York Times says in an internal memo that Jazmine Hughes "violated the newsroom's policy" for signing a letter stating that "Israel" is committing a genocide in Gaza.

Protesters hold placards and wave Palestinian flags during a 'March For Palestine' in protest of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, in London, on October 28, 2023. (AFP)

The New York Times announced in an internal memo on Friday that one of its most prominent writers, Jazmine Hughes, has "resigned" after calling out the Israeli war crimes in Gaza and describing the entity as "apartheid," which is a "violation of newsroom policy," The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

Hughes added her signature to an open letter released by Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG), joining a coalition of thousands of notable individuals from various fields, including writers, journalists, academics, and artists among other professionals. The declaration protested the Israeli aggression on Gaza, calling it "an attempt to conduct genocide against the Palestinian people."

The toll on Palestinian journalists amid relentless Israeli airstrikes on Gaza has surged, with a tragic count of 46 killed since the start of the aggression, as per Government Media Office in Gaza. It is worth noting that the journalists' bullet-proof vests and the vehicles were all marked 'press' to indicate they are journalists - protected under international law.

"This war did not begin on October 7th," the letter said, adding that "Gaza is the world’s largest open-air prison: its 2 million residents—a majority of whom are refugees, descendants of those whose land was stolen in 1948—have been deprived of basic human rights since the blockade in 2006."

Gaza is in an anti-colonial struggle

"Israel is an apartheid state, designed to privilege Jewish citizens at the expense of Palestinians, heedless of the many Jewish people, both in Israel and across the diaspora, who oppose their own conscription in an ethno-nationalist project,” it continued.

The signatories confirmed that they support "their [Gaza] anticolonial struggle for freedom and for self-determination, and with their right to resist occupation," adding that they stand in "opposition to the silencing of dissent and to racist and revisionist media cycles, further perpetuated by Israel’s attempts to bar reporting in Gaza."

"We act alongside other writers, scholars, and artists who have expressed solidarity with the Palestinian cause, drawing inspiration from the Palestinian spirit of sumud, steadfastness, and resistance," the statement continued.

"We call on all our colleagues working in cultural institutions to endorse that boycott. And we invite writers, editors, journalists, scholars, artists, musicians, actors, and anyone in creative and academic work to sign this statement. Join us in building a new cultural front for a free Palestine," it concluded.

A British letter: Ban arms supply to 'Israel'

Another letter, signed by 250 retired judges, legal practitioners and legal academics (PhD or higher) in the UK, demanded British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to ban weapons exports to the Israeli entity and exercise the country's influence to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and the West Bank.

The signatories urged that Sunak ensure "the urgent and adequate provision of food, fuel, medicine, and other humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and the unconditional restoration of water and electricity; the protection of medical facilities; and the facilitation of safe passage for the critically ill and those requiring treatment abroad."

"The starvation of a civilian population as a method of warfare, including wilfully impeding adequate relief supplies, as Israel is doing in Gaza, is strictly prohibited under customary international law … and constitutes a war crime," the letter added.

"We also call on the Government immediately to halt the export of weapons from the UK to Israel,
given the clear risk that they might be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law."

Transatlantic support for Palestine

Viet Thanh Nguyen, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, revealed that his reading in New York City was canceled by a Jewish group just a day after he signed another open letter criticizing "Israel's" "indiscriminate violence" against Palestinians in Gaza.

In the letter joined by Nguyen, over 750 writers and artists in Europe and North America demanded an end to the Israeli escalating "indiscriminate violence .. against the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza."

The group said that the crimes being committed "with the financial and political support of Western powers, can and must be brought to an end," adding that, by imposing a complete blockade on the Strip, including cutting of power, water, food and meds, and continunously targeting civilians and the displaced, "Israel is committing grave crimes against humanity. Its allies, our own governments, are complicit in these crimes."

"We call on our governments to demand an immediate ceasefire and the unimpeded admission of humanitarian aid into Gaza. We also demand an end to all arms shipments and military funding, supplies that can only exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe at hand."

Nguyen wrote on Instagram that he found out about the cancellation of the event by the group, 92NY, which identifies itself as a "a proudly Jewish organization" on its website.

Silencing of Palestine support

In a report published at end of October, The Guardian said that many attempts to suppress pro-Palestinian views have been taking place in the US after the initiation of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7.

Major conferences were canceled, workers who expressed sympathy for Palestinians were fired, and intimidation efforts targeting Arab American voices critical of Israeli policy were launched.

According to Palestinian American activists, following a campaign of "listener complaints", NPR and the BBC dropped advertisements for a critically acclaimed new book about the war on Palestine.

Such events are becoming more systemic and reoccurring.

Nathan Thrall, a Jewish American author, was scheduled to speak about his new book A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: A Palestine Story, before finding out numerous events of his had been canceled.

Furthermore, NPR and the BBC’s America platforms also removed his advertisements for the book following what they called "listener complaints”.

"There’s an atmosphere that is wholly intolerant of any expression of sympathy for Palestinians living under occupation, any discussion of the root causes of the conflict," he stressed.