Welcome to +972’s Sunday Recap!

Last Saturday night, Palestinian citizens of Israel held one of the largest demonstrations in recent memory in the middle of Tel Aviv, with tens of thousands coming to protest against organized crime. Yet Samah Watad argued, the event exposed the limits of Israeli solidarity, showing that Palestinian suffering can be acknowledged so long as it is stripped of any political meaning. 

Ibtisam Mahdi wrote about how with or without a ceasefire, Israel is still targeting Gaza’s journalists: the killing of Muhammad Qishta, Abdel Raouf Sha’at, and Anas Ghneim on Jan. 21 shatters any illusion of “post-war” safety. But for Mahdi, who knew and regularly collaborated with Qishta and Sha’at, the honor of their work and the memory of their laughter cannot be erased.

The United States is quietly deporting Palestinians arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the occupied West Bank by private jet, with two such flights taking place in coordination with the Israeli authorities since the beginning of this year. Ghousoon Bisharat and Ben Reiff revealed how these efforts are part of a secretive and politically sensitive operation, in a joint investigation by +972 Magazine and The Guardian.

Basel Adra reported from the hyper-militarized Old City of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, where the Ahmad Film House recently opened its doors. As the Palestinian city’s first movie theater in nearly a century, it is defying Israeli movement restrictions and settler attacks to screen political films for locals and activists.

And Amos Brison argued that the Foreign Press Association’s fight to open Gaza to international press has failed, after more than two years in which Israel’s Supreme Court has enabled the government’s foreign media ban — with Palestinian journalists paying the price. Further legal efforts are futile, and it’s time to change course.

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