That Israel has to resort to such a level of savagery and violence is a symptom of desperation: The prospects of the colonial dream of a paradisiac Bronze-Age-resurrected garbage fantasy in the Near East is fading, slowly but inexorably. Just like all other colonial mass murderers before them did discover after a while, the big lies of blooming the desert, of taming and civilizing the indigenous savages, of bringing democracy albeit for Jews only, mind you, and not to the Palestinians, etc. have soured quickly, over a couple of generations, as expected. The more desperate the Israelis are at contemplating their failure, the more violent they become.
The historical record tells us that when invading colonizers first arrive to a land somewhere around the globe, the indigenous inhabitants at first see them as an exotic curiosity. They most often welcome them, let them stay and establish good relations with them. The "visitors" are typically few and do not pose a threat. But, as history has amply documented, very soon, the colonizers' real insidious intentions began seeping through. They want land. The build their own entrenched settlement. They want exclusive rights to native products. They want free or cheap labor. They want the natives to abandon their culture and religion and adopt those "much better" of the colonizers. Forced conversions, mistreatment (e.g. chopping off arms and legs in punishment, floggings), rapes, killings, burning villages and cultures to clear land for more foreign settlers and for mass production enterprises (plantations, factories...).
Naturally, the natives begin to refuse to cooperate and a budding rebellion starts. The colonizers bring a small brigade of soldiers, ostensibly to protect themselves, but in reality to brutally repress the indigenous owners of the land.
We've been through this scenario so many times in the history of humankind that it's become a generic script, a universal manual of "How to Colonize" other people. The interaction then turns into battles between , according to the colonizers, the "Forces of Good" (i.e. colonizing invading foreign settlers) and the "Forces of Evil" (i.e. the terrorist natives defending themselves against the invaders). In the narrative of the colonized, it is a war of liberation to end the oppression. It generally, though not always, ends with the natives recovering their land and their freedom.
Israel is no different.
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Jailed Gaza hospital chief in life-threatening condition, rights group says
Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safia, appears via videolink at the Israeli Supreme Court hearing in Jerusalem, June 10, 2026 [Reuters]
Elis Gjevori
Sun, July 5, 2026
The son of a Palestinian doctor held by Israel without charge issues an urgent appeal for his father’s release, citing severe abuse and signs of torture after more than 555 days in prison.
The son of a prominent Palestinian doctor abducted and held by Israel without charge has issued an urgent appeal for his father's release, warning that his health has sharply deteriorated after more than 555 days in prison, as a rights group warned that his life was in danger.
Elyas Abu Safia, the son of Dr Hussam Abu Safia, said in a video message on Sunday that his father, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, showed signs of severe abuse after Israeli authorities transferred him to solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison.
"The day before yesterday, the lawyer Nasser Odeh managed to visit my father, where he told us painful details about this visit," said Elyas, who is also a doctor.
"My father was unable to breathe. My father was unable to speak," he said, adding: "His face was disfigured from the marks of torture and pain, and the blood he endured inside the prison, especially after the last court session held in Jerusalem."
Israeli forces arrested Abu Safia at work on December 27, 2024, as they intensified their attacks on northern Gaza's healthcare system as part of the genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza. Two months earlier, an Israeli drone attack killed another of his sons, Ibrahim, at the entrance of the hospital where he worked.
Elyas accused Arab and Muslim leaders of abandoning his father.
"You deprived us even of your voices, your solidarity and your support, which should have been there from the start of the detention," he said.
"But sadly, your silence is a betrayal and a crime, and complicity in torturing my father and the hostages inside Israeli prisons," he added.
'The most shocking testimony'
Physicians for Human Rights Israel warned that Abu Safiya's life is in immediate danger after his transfer to the Rakefet section of Nitzan prison.
The group said lawyer Nasser Odeh visited Abu Safia on July 2 and documented severe injuries, signs of assault, difficulty breathing and repeated loss of consciousness. It said guards brought him into the visit with his hands and feet bound and surrounded him with masked officers.
Odeh also saw fresh bruises and injuries on Abu Safiya's head, around his eyes, ears and neck. The wounds were so severe that the lawyer struggled to recognise him, the group said.
"The information we received raises serious and immediate concerns for Abu Safiya's life. The lawyer's testimony is among the most shocking we have heard since the beginning of the war: a man detained without charge tells his lawyer that he believes they will kill him, after he arrived for the visit injured, suffering from difficulty breathing, and on the verge of losing consciousness," Naji Abbas, director of the Prisoners and Detainees Department at Physicians for Human Rights, told the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Israeli authorities have not filed charges against Abu Safia. They classified him as an "unlawful combatant", a designation Israel has used to hold Palestinians for prolonged periods without trial.
Physicians for Human Rights has demanded his release, along with other imprisoned Palestinian doctors. In March, United Nations experts also called on Israel to free Abu Safia immediately and ensure he receives medical care.
He is one of 14 Palestinian doctors from Gaza currently held by Israel without charge.
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