Wars on Gaza
In the past decade, Israel has launched four major offensives in the Gaza Strip. Its most recent assault, Operation Defensive Edge, claimed over 2200 Palestinian, and 70 Israeli lives. Israel claims its attacks come in response to rockets launched from the strip, while Palestinian militants claim the home-made, low-impact rockets are launched in response to Israel's ongoing bombardments. Following this Summer's aerial, naval, artillary, and ground invasion, Gaza suffered massive infrustructural damage and over more than 100,000 families lost their homes. Tarachansky has covered these assaults since 2009, however, being an Israeli, she has not been allowed to enter Gaza, being forced to report about it from Israel. The impact such attacks have on the people of Gaza has been the subject of Fida Qishta's devastating documentary, 2014 WHERE SHOULD THE BIRDS FLY.
Decades-Long Israeli Military Occupation Drives Palestinian Revenge Attacks
"What happened, in terms of the politics of the region, is that that last bombardment essentially made it very clear that there was a political void into which the usual ongoing negotiations of the so-called peace process usually step in, but those were absent. And so what walked into the political void since September, 2014 has been the messianic, extreme far-right" July 12, 2016
New York Times Runs Ad Equating ISIS and Hamas
"And so the entire Palestinian fight for land and for self-determination is completely lost when you're talking about this monolithic eternal enemy that doesn't have a face and that doesn't have any kind of representation, not in Israeli media, not in Israeli textbooks, and certainly not in various speeches by various politicians and the prime minister." Sept 2, 2014
Gazan Doctor: Entire Families Have Vanished In Operation Protective Edge
"Due to these relentless and inhumane bombings, we have 75 families completely were vanished from the civil registry here, and more than 500 families other." Aug 8, 2014
Inside Israel's Pro-War Nationalist Camp
As Israel's war in Gaza claims more than 1600 lives, a recent survey shows that more than 86% of Israelis oppose a ceasefire. All attempts to reach one collapsed. As the operation expands so too does the movement in Israel against it. The Real News looks into who are the groups chanting "death to Arabs" throughout Israel and attacking anti-war demonstrators. Aug 2, 2014
12-Hour Truce in Gaza, Protests in the West Bank
"We see here that the government and senior security personnel, the former head of the Israeli Army intelligence agency, they're trying to make it seem like Palestinians just for no reason whatsoever or for religious reasons are rising up and creating violent protests for Israel for no reason. Of course, they're not connecting the fact that these are protests in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, that these protests have been going on since the occupation started for political reasons. " July 25, 2014
Gaza Death Toll Nears 1500 As Cease Fire Breaks Down; Dozens Trapped Near Rafah Crossing
TRNN's Lia Tarachansky speaks with Gaza blogger Nalan al-Sarraj who is among dozens trapped near the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, and also comments on the renewed wave of protests spreading through the West Bank. Aug 1, 2014
Despite Growing International Condemnation, No End to Gaza Violence in Sight
As the death toll in Gaza passes 1,000 Lia Tarachansky and Phyllis Bennis respond to a poll which found 86% of Israelis reject a ceasefire, while a growing number of Americans want the Israeli offensive to stop. July 28, 2014
Is Israeli Public Opinion Turning after 700 Palestinian Deaths?
Israel-based TRNN correspondent Lia Tarachansky reports on the mood in Israel in the wake of a rising Palestinian death toll - July 23, 2014
"Evacuate to Where?" - Report from Gaza and Israel
Gaza-based blogger Nalan al Sarraj and TRNN's Lia Tarachansky report on the mood of the people in Gaza and Israel as Israeli ground troops join the attack.
July 18, 2014
Report From Gaza - Why Hamas Rejected Ceasefire
On Monday night the press became aware that a ceasefire proposal was being crafted by the Egyptian government in negotiation with Israel and the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The proposal was delivered to the Hamas leadership shortly before the deadline was to take into effect, and did not include the demands the Hamas party put forward already on the second day of the fighting, conditions that would score the group political capital, namely - the release of its rearrested fmembers, jailed in recent weeks by Israel, the lifting of the 8 year-long blockade on the strip, and the end of fire. When Hamas' main political rival - The Islamic Jihad - announced they reject the Egyptian proposal, Hamas followed suit, leading to international criticism. July 15, 2014
Report From Israel's Border with Gaza
While the Israeli cabinet deliberates whether to expand its current assault on the Gaza Strip, The Real News' Lia Tarachansky traveled to the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip. She reports on the barrage of rockets various militant groups inside the strip have been firing on Israeli population centers, and on the intensified bombardment campaign from the air and sea of the Strip.
Why Gaza's Healthcare Fails Thousands of Injured
In 2011, over 9,000 patients from Gaza received emergency care in Israeli hospitals. Many of the admitted were injured in Israeli attacks on the strip. In August, The Real News' Lia Tarachansky spoke with Muhammad Zaza, a fifteen year old who was hit by a drone missile near the Wafa hospital in the northern Gaza Strip while playing with his 12 year-old cousin (who did not survive). Last week, Muhammad and his father Ataf returned to Gaza after fourteen surgeries and nearly eight months in Israeli hospitals. In this story, Tarachansky speaks to Kifah Abdul Halim the director of Physicians for Human Rights’ occupied Palestinian territories division and Dr. Khamis al-Essi who works in the emergency department of one of Gaza biggest hospitals about why Gaza's healthcare system fails to treat the thousands of injured who are forced to seek treatment outside the strip.
The flotilla and the siege of Gaza
On Friday the Israeli Navy intercepted two activist boats in international waters, violently arresting those on board and transferring them to an Israeli jail. The boats, according to the activists, were badly damaged during the operation that was meant to challenge Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. The Real News' Lia Tarachansky spoke with Sari Bashi, the Executive Director of Gisha, an Israeli organization that works with Gazans on the freedom of movement about how the siege and blockade evolved since implemented in 2007. Tarachansky also speaks with Gaza- based journalist Safa Joudah.
Gaza Children in Israeli Hospital After Drone Attack
A month after the recent escalation between Israel and Gaza following a terror attack on Southern Israel by unidentified assailants dozens remain wounded. Two Gazan children, hit by a drone missile, were transferred to an Israeli hospital alongside their fathers. The Real News' Lia Tarachansky spoke with Muhammad Zaza, 14, who survived the attack but sustained significant burns and wounds and his father Ataf in Kaplan hospital in Rehovot. Tarachansky also spoke with Adnan, the father of Ibrahim Zaza, 12, Muhammad's cousin who was also severely injured in the attack. Ibrahim lost both his hands and remains in a coma. Because of Israel's non-association with Hamas, such patients' hospital bills are typical paid for by the Palestinian Authority. Lt. Col. Avital Liebovitz, the Israeli army spokesperson refused to comment on the incident.
Dubious Evidence Israeli Bus Attackers Based in Gaza
Two terror attacks shook Israel on Thursday and Friday. The attackers fired on an Israeli bus, set of a suicide bombing and roadside bombs, fired on civilian vehicles, and engaged in a fire battle with the Israeli army. The day after, 20 Grad rockets hit the Southern Israeli city of Ashdod, damaging a synagogue. By the weekend, eight Israelis were killed and nearly forty injured. Immediately after the attack, the Israeli air force bombed many locations in Gaza. Nine were killed and nearly thirty injured. In an interview with The Real News' Lia Tarachansky, Lt. Col. Avital Liebovitz admits the army does not connect the attack to the Popular Resistance Committee, whom the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blames. Tarachansky also spoke with Yossi Gurvitz, a contributing editor to +972 Magazine and Mohammed Fares Al Majdalawi, a Journalist and social worker based in Gaza City.
Israeli troops invade Gaza
After a week of aerial, naval, and long-range bombardment, Israel has deployed ground troops into Gaza. As a full week of bombing came to an end, Israeli Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, launched a ground invasion into Gaza. The Real News Network spoke to Sameh Habeeb, a photojournalist based in Gaza City. Habeeb reports the invasion has been closing down on the Strip from all sides. The troops, which entered Gaza around 8:00 p.m. local time, have been met with fierce resistance from Palestinian militants. Israeli intelligence reports several months ago have estimated there were roughly 20,000 trained gorilla fighters in Gaza. With the intensifying violence, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is also severely deteriorating as the siege, imposed after Hamas was elected in 2006, has caused massive shortages of food, water, gasoline, and medical supplies in the battered territory.
Rafah - Report from the ground
Fida Qishta of Rafah, Gaza describes the past few days as Israeli bombing kills hundreds As the fifth day of Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip begins, Rafah and Gaza City, the two main targets, have witnessed hundreds of deaths. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas blames Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza, for inciting Israel's attack. Hamas, vows to keep shelling Southern Israel with rockets fired from the Gaza Strip. Lia Tarachansky spoke to Fida Qishta in Rafah, located in Southern Gaza. Qishta reports one of the first targets of the Israeli bombardment were the tunnels dug by Palestinians under the wall, which separates Rafah in two, half in Palestine and half in Egypt. These tunnels, says Qishta, have been used since the beginning of the siege to smuggle food, and according to Israel, weapons. Qishta also reports of the wall being breached by Palestinians desperate to escape to Egypt. Though unsuccessful, this is the fifth attempt since the beginning of the second Intifadah to breach it.