Colombia was the biggest coal exporter to Israel — but last Saturday, president Gustavo Petro announced he would cut off the supply. The Colombian mobilization against the genocide in Gaza has shown the world how to put material pressure on Israel.
Source: Colombia’s Coal Embargo on Israel Is a Model to Follow
Top Israeli officials on Sunday discussed plans to expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank as an act of retaliation against countries that recently joined the majority of the international community in recognizing Palestinian statehood.
Progressive Jewish group The Jewish Council of Australia has blamed “extremist” right-wing Zionist lobbyists such as the Executive Council of Australian Jewry for ‘weaponising antisemitism’ and therefore giving rise to antisemitism in Australia.
Source: Jewish peace group blames Zionists, Christian Zionists, Neo-Nazis for antisemitism – Michael West
Since the 1980’s Israel’s biggest fear was the development of a pan-Islamic state military coalition. Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Yemen. With the help of America bringing down Gadaffi, invading Iraq twice they set themselves on a course of civil war invasion and any means to not let that happen. They have used the kingdoms and dictators to help that end. An Israeli psychosis has always been present. To say they were surprised by Oct 7th belies the reality that they with the blessing of America they actually encouraged the Hamas foray to capture hostages and gain both a bargaining chip and world attention. After all America warned them of what was coming down the pipeline and they claimed “We knew nothing” Their second most important export is SECURITY
If reelected in November, Trump is likely to renew his unqualified support for Israeli expansionism, not only when it comes to annexing the West Bank and resettling Gaza but also for a broader regional conflict that could unleash Israel against Iran and its allies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen.
Source: Opinion | Biden’s Middle East Policy Is Horrific. Trump’s Would Be Even Worse | Common Dreams
An especially bizarre example of propaganda has been published by the Israeli military over the past few days.
Despite how it is perpetrating a genocide in Gaza, the army boasted of conducting “humanitarian aid efforts” throughout the current war.
Palestinians have not witnessed any work by Israel that could accurately be categorized as “humanitarian.”
Source: Hunger is rapidly getting worse in Gaza | The Electronic Intifada
Israel’s raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp killed 274 Palestinians and wounded 700 more in order to free four healthy-looking Israeli hostages. The discrepancy was stark. However, what stands out in the murderous Israeli operation is the weaponising of aid to provide cover for the massacre. Denied by both the US and Israel, reports of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) using the American-built “humanitarian” floating pier and an aid truck to kill more Palestinians under the guise of rescuing the Israeli hostages must be exposed in the genocidal narrative that the occupation state continues to weave daily.
Australian parliamentarians are responsible for the wellbeing of Australia’s multicultural society but in the last eight months the majority have failed to understand the reaction of those citizens who have experienced colonisation, occupation and war. These Australians are more likely to identify with oppressed people, so they expect their parliamentarians to articulate commitment to international humanitarian law. And of course, as we know many Australians are opposed to militarism as a means to resolve conflict. It is important to recognise those few political representatives who have tried to initiate difficult debate about how Australia should respond when a hitherto trusted ally ignores international law to engage in ethnic cleansing? Australians want to see their representatives and senators engage in informed consideration of complex issues that require sensitivity and courage. Time is running out for many parliamentarians to fulfil their obligations and Australians are watching and waiting for greater responsibility .
Source: Why has the Australian Parliament failed to debate the tragedy of Gaza? – Pearls and Irritations
“We are not guests in our country, this is our country, all of it…” Feiglin said, adding, “As Hitler said, ‘I cannot live if one Jew is left.’ We can’t live here if one ‘Islamo-Nazi’ remains in Gaza.”
Source: Israeli Politician Quotes Hitler to Argue for Resettlement of Gaza | Common Dreams
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is opposed to plans announced by the military to hold daily tactical pauses in fighting along one of the main roads into the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip to facilitate aid delivery into the Palestinian enclave.
The children of Gaza have lost a school year. If they lose two more, studies suggest that they will never get back on track. Palestinians are the most educated people in the Middle East, but Israel is depriving those in Gaza of a basic education. Those who suffer malnutrition will suffer permanent cognitive losses as well as emotional problems. Others have PTSD and are traumatized, and may never be right in the head again.
Under UN Security Council Resolutions 2015/2222 and 2006/1738, which denounce international attacks on journalists and media workers in times of armed conflict, targeting journalists is considered to be a war crime and a violation of international law. Additionally, the 1977 Geneva Conventions’ Additional Appendix (Protocol) I, Article 79, emphasises the need to safeguard journalists who work in areas of armed conflict by treating them as civilians.
Source: EuroMed: “Israel Escalates Attacks Against Palestinian Journalists In Gaza” | – IMEMC News
Jews can no longer stand by while distortions of antisemitism are invoked in our name. The refrain of Never Again must return to its true meaning.
Source: Who can make the call on anti-semitism? – Pearls and Irritations
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is attempting to peddle the line that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted the Biden proposal for negotiations toward a permanent ceasefire, but that Hamas has rejected it.
This position is simply dishonest, and forms part of a pattern whereby the Biden administration runs interference for the extremist, fascist Israeli cabinet, which has repeatedly rejected any call for a ceasefire. In fact, the Israeli government has issued no communique stating its acceptance of the Biden plan, and both Netanyahu and powerful cabinet members have on the contrary vocally rejected elements of the Biden plan.
On Sunday, according to the Israeli newspaper Arab 48, Netanyahu told the families of soldiers killed in the Gaza campaign, “There was no deal because we will not give up on completing the war objectives. The main disagreement with Hamas revolves around the commitment to end the fighting without completing the objectives.”
Source: How Netanyahu and Fascists in his Coalition shot down the Biden Peace Plan
“The ICC, as the world’s first and only permanent international criminal court, is an essential component of the international peace and security architecture,” the statement reads. “We therefore call on all States to ensure full co-operation with the Court for it to carry out its important mandate of ensuring equal justice for all victims of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression, grave crimes that threaten the peace, security and well-being of the world.”
Source: 93 Nations Back ICC as Israel Faces Charges for War Crimes in Gaza | Common Dreams
Last week it was over according to the Israeli leadership. 15,000 Hamas are dead.
The Israeli military, at times in collaboration with Israel’s Border Police and Israel’s domestic secret police Shin Bet, has continued to conduct deadly raids into the occupied West Bank, wreaking havoc to private Palestinian property and civilian infrastructure in the process.
Source: Israel kills children, damages infrastructure in West Bank | The Electronic Intifada
After erroneously stating that The Grayzone was funded by Iranian media, the Washington Post had to issue a retraction. The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal explains how and why it happened.
Source: Max Blumenthal: The Washington Post’s Attack on The Grayzone – ScheerPost
The problem lies with Zionist political Ideology little over a century old the foundation on which Settler Colonialism is based and the Supremacist Zionising of the Israeli Education System
For the children of Palestine and Israel to reach their potential, we must end the military occupation of Palestine, once and for all. The Australian government must show it is doing everything possible to create a genuinely safe and fair future.
“I felt helpless watching my family dying and not able to help them. It is a nightmare that I will never wake up from.”
In a final desperate bid, they moved to al-Muwasi, a nearby desolate plot of land on the coast. As it once had for Rafah, Israel designated al-Muwasi a humanitarian area for evacuees and, like Rafah, it has been hit with airstrikes and shelling.
“The only safe place is where my family is now,” Al-Absi said. “They were killed for the sake of safety. I envy them.”
Source: Family Survived Rafah “Tent Massacre” but Died 2 Days Later in Another Attack
Last Saturday, Israel massacred hundreds of Palestinian civilians in an operation to rescue four Israeli hostages. American commentators rushed to justify the brutal operation.
Source: Israel Killed Hundreds of Civilians to Save Four of Its Own
Israel’s ability to maintain a permanent state of war, occupation, and oppression would be deeply imperiled without continuous American backing.
U.S. strategy in the Middle East came to rest upon two core pillars: Israel and the Gulf monarchies. These two pillars remain the crux of American power in the region today.
Source: Why the fight for Palestine is the fight against U.S. imperialism in the region – Mondoweiss
Add to that the numbers killed after Oct 7th and it begins to approach two Dozen. One thing is, for sure, those who witnessed it and have spoken up have since been silenced
At least 14 Israelis were likely intentionally killed by the Israeli army on 7 October as part of a protocol aimed at preventing capture, a new United Nations report has found.
Source: UN finds at least 14 Israelis likely intentionally killed by own army on 7 October | Middle East Eye
The ashes had barely settled on a Rafah tent camp incinerated by an Israeli airstrike before the next, gorged massacre presented itself for posterity’s gloomy archive. It was intended as a golden operation and had been months in the making. The rescue of four Israeli hostages, the killing of three others (bound to happen for the expertly inclined), and the massacre of over 274 Palestinians at the Nuseirat refugee camp were the end result.
The sanguinary episode at Nuseirat is hard to stomach, even by Biden’s rubbery standards. It stands to reason. The entire operation had the buttressing of what the New York Times reported to be “intelligence and other logistical support” from the United States. Two Israeli intelligence officials also confirmed that “American military officials in Israel provided some of the intelligence about the hostages rescued Saturday.” And let us not forget murderous military hardware, readily supplied from US defence companies. It follows that the lives of Israeli hostages, dubbed “diamonds” by their rescuers, are invaluable, the precious stones of Israeli-US policy. The Palestinians, on the other hand, are mere coal dust.
Source: Diamonds and Cold Dust: Slaughter at Nuseirat – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Recently, after an UNrwa (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) school at Nuseirat was bombed by Israeli forces leaving 33 dead, including 12 women and children, Sam Rose, the director of planning for the agency declared, “In previous conflicts, single incidents like this would cause shock and outrage and would be remembered forever. Whereas it seems in this conflict it will be this one will be replaced by another in a few days’ time unless it all comes to an end. So, it almost becomes commonplace and mundane that these things are happening. We have normalized horror.” Despite the horrors facing the children of Gaza, it is not too late for the warring factions to protect those children who remain.
Since the beginning of the Zionist project in Palestine, large efforts have been exerted to paint all resistance to its colonial endeavors as irrational and at odds with progress and modernity.
“In a notable feat of historical revisionism, Israeli leadership uses Palestinian opposition to the Balfour declaration as one of the first examples of Palestinian rejection of coexistence and rights for all.”
“The myth of Palestinian intransigence was weaponized and used to argue that Palestinians could not be reasoned with, and that peace would continue to be rejected no matter how generous their settler counterparts were.”
“By repeatedly peddling the false connection between the myth of Palestinian rejectionism, the rise of ‘extremism,’ and the current assault on Gaza, blame is implicitly placed on Palestinians themselves for the genocide being waged.”
Source: The Enduring, Racist Trope of Palestinian Rejectionism
The U.S. only managed to reconnect the floating pier to Gaza on June 7, less than a day before the Israeli military operation. This has sparked speculation about the true intended nature of the pier, as it is only operable in conditions with waves smaller than 1.25 meters and has delivered minimal aid for such a costly project.
Before booking your summer vacation, be aware that major western tourism operators willfully fund and legitimize illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories, actively contributing to human rights violations and war crimes.
Source: How Western Tourism Giants Illegally Enrich Israeli Settlements on Stolen Land – ScheerPost
WHAT IS IT about the Australian Jewish community, Australian Jewish “faith” schools and Israel?
Michael Brull spent 13 years at Moriah College, and he outlined in 2013 his experience as a fish out of water. The Jewish school system’s attachment to Israel appears deeply embedded. In particular, camps, both in Australia and Israel, involve soldier training simulations that feed, whether directly through recruitment or in sympathy, into Israel’s militarised society and killing machine.
An unqualified attachment by the Jewish school system to a pariah state sits uneasily with the system’s other “core values” that emphasise critical thinking and Jewish ethics.
Is this school system the nursery for the Israel lobby in Australia?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel issued a report on Wednesday in […]
At a joint Egyptian-Jordanian conference on the Dead Sea, Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs & Emergency Relief Coordinator, underlined the pressing need for an immediate ceasefire: “There was a unanimous horror at the vast toll of death, injury[,] destruction, displacement, serial displacement, trauma and deprivation suffered by the people of Gaza in just nine months, as well as the horrendous toll on humanitarian, and including United Nations, workers, of course, from UNRWA in particular, which exceeded the death toll across the whole world in the past 12 years combined.”
How to avert further catastrophes? He said that the working group in which he participated “stressed the need for these immediate measures to facilitate the delivery of aid: number one, a functioning mechanism for operational coordination and notification; number two, full access for basic equipment for safety and security of humanitarian staff; number three, passable roads and clearance of explosive ordnance; number four, unimpeded passage to distribute aid and access communities across Gaza; and finally, sufficient and predictable flows of fuel and prioritized aid, if you wouldn’t mind.”
The creation of Israel was tragic mistake but never an accident
As Israel’s atrocities continue to mount in Gaza, the LA Progressive (6/7/24) wrote that though Biden claimed to care about the loss of civilian life in Gaza, and that an Israeli attacked on Rafah would be a “red line,” “events of the past weeks have demonstrated that none of these claims are in fact true.” It added that a month ago, Hamas agreed to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire agreement “that looked a lot like the ceasefire agreement now being promoted by the Biden administration,” but Israel responded by rejecting that agreement as well.
In addition, Israel closed off the border area between Israel and Egypt, cutting off any aid or supplies from coming into famine-ravaged Gaza. The authors concluded, “What has transpired is a horrifying series of massacres against civilians, which the Biden administration continues to try to downplay, excuse and explain away.”
Over the last eight months, US establishment media have helped Biden “explain away” such atrocities. They have not stopped repeating Israel’s propaganda, and have acted as willing conduits for Israeli disinformation. It is past time they stopped doing so, and started reporting on what is actually happening on the ground in Gaza, not through the eyes of the IDF.
Source: When Israel Burned Refugees Alive, Establishment Media Called It a ‘Tragic Accident’ – ScheerPost
Unambiguous Rebuttal
Answering the question posed in the headline atop their piece, Philps and Weiniger reply with an unambiguous “No”: there is no sound evidence whatsoever that Hamas militias, and others that crossed into southern Israel with them last Oct. 7, engaged in systematic, officially planned sexual violence against Israelis, women and men, during their attacks on various kibbutzim just across the Gaza–Israel border.
The American and Israeli excuse. If true how is it that the people of Gaza haven’t been supplying all the intel Israel and America can’t seem to get. How is it there are Jews for Peace and Israel is so divided and Gazans aren’t? They are united in their suffering and not at the hands of Hamas. 270 + were killed by Israel and yet again women and children in large numbers
“The Palestinian people are going through sheer hell in this conflict because Hamas is operating in a way that puts them in the crossfire, that holds hostages right in the heart of crowded civilian areas.”
Source: Hamas & ‘Human Shields’
Nearly 20 years after the Second Intifada, the Israeli military has resumed airstrikes in the West Bank — and killed 24 children.
Source: Israel’s New Air War in the West Bank: Nearly Half of the Dead are Children
This was intentional. You don’t accidentally kill massive amounts of children and their families over and over again and get to say, “It was a mistake.” Genocidal maniac Netanyahu told us he wants to ethnically cleanse Palestinians.
For Israel, there are no clear consequences if it rejects the plan. Biden has not said he would cut off any form of aid. (Ceasefire Resolution)
Players on all sides have been shocked by the approach of the Biden administration. The Israeli government has been surprised by what a long tether it has been given.
According to Sunak, the UK would “stand unequivocally” with Israel. He assured Netanyahu of British “diplomatic, intelligence or security” support.
Sunak’s commitment was echoed by then Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on 9 October, when he said the UK would continue to support Israel’s military operation in Gaza. When asked if it was “proportionate” for Israel to cut off water, electricity, food and fuel, Cleverly said “Israel has a right to defend itself against attack,” seemingly unaware that occupying forces have no such right under international law.
Cleverly’s comments came on the same day that Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant infamously described the people of Gaza as “human animals.”
“I have ordered a complete siege in Gaza,” Gallant had pronounced. “There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed.”
Source: Britain is complicit in Israel’s barbarism | The Electronic Intifada
The human rights group also condemned the U.S. for allowing U.S. “hostage cell” officials — intelligence officials who have been providing aid to Israeli forces on the ground in Israel since October — to be involved in the massacre and blood-soaked hostage recovery mission, as multiple outlets like The Washington Post and Axios have reported.
“The rules of international humanitarian law state that it is illegal to gain the trust of an adversary through actions that lead them to believe they are entitled to protection or must provide it, with the intent to betray that confidence, resulting in their death or injury,” EuroMed Monitor wrote in a statement. “This includes simulation of civilian status, using civilian transportation or vehicles designated for humanitarian aid, or wearing civilian attire or attire of humanitarian relief workers as cover.”
Source: World Food Programme Pauses Use of US Aid Pier in Gaza Due to Israeli Attacks – ScheerPost
Since October 7th last year more than 9,500 Palestinians including 635 minors from the West Bank and Occupied Jerusalem have been held in Israeli jails. More than 3,400 Palestinian detainees, including women and children, have also been placed in administrative detention under the pretext of secret evidence. All prisoners and detainees have been subjected to systematic physical and psychological torture, deprivation of basic needs of human life and minimum levels of treatment.
Barghouti was one of the authors of the 2006 Palestinian Prisoners’ Document. The document called for the establishment of two states with resistance to Israeli occupation limited to military targets within the territory seized by Israel in the 1967 war. It was significant in that it recognised Israel and had broad political support among the various Palestinian factions. Should the time come and he were released Marwan Barghouti could well be the Palestinian leader needed to be a partner for a much needed peace in Palestine and Israel.
Source: Palestinian prisoners starved, abused and mistreated – Pearls and Irritations
The Quds News Network claimed that US soldiers were involved in the Israeli assault, sharing footage supposedly showing that US forces used the US-built humanitarian pier in Gaza to sneak American soldiers into the camp. An Israeli source claimed that US soldiers were wounded in the assault.
According to media reports, Israeli forces used two civilian cars carrying humanitarian aid. Survivors related that Special Forces assaulted civilians while disguised as aid workers and displaced persons. “They were in a truck carrying clothes and cooking pans,” a wounded eyewitness described the Israeli forces. “The United States actively coordinated, planned, and supported Israel in deceiving starving Palestinians and carrying out the slaughter of hundreds,” wrote one Palestinian journalist.
Following the assault on Nuseirat, the UN World Food Program halted its aid operations in Gaza through the US-built pier, saying that two of its warehouses were bombed during the attack. Videos of a helicopter leaving the US-built pier on Saturday have also raised questions over the US direct military involvement in Gaza under the guise of humanitarian aid.
The massacre suggests that the Biden administration’s “aid pier” may be something rather different. The $320-million pier, which Palestinians call the “occupation port,” may have been quietly morphing into a military base, as footage from May showed the US
Source: Israel Has Carried Out Another Civilian Massacre in Gaza
But the OHCHR, Laurence said, is “profoundly shocked at the impact on civilians of the Israeli forces’ operation,” which killed at least 274 Palestinians, including 64 children and 57 women, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
Source: UN Human Rights Office Says IDF’s Deadly Nuseirat Raid May Amount to War Crime | Common Dreams
The Australian Government should:
We call for urgent Government action on these matters.
Source: Australia and the Israeli-Hamas War – Pearls and Irritations
Apple employees and shareholders demands the tech giant stop matching employee donations to organizations with ties to the Israeli military assault on the Gaza Strip and ongoing illegal settlement development in the West Bank. The letter, building on a previous demand by Apple employees for a ceasefire in the conflict, calls on the company to “promptly investigate and cease matching donations to all organizations that further illegal settlements in occupied territories and support the IDF.”
organizations on Apple’s matching contribution list appear to include support for religious extremism or back activity in the West Bank deemed illegal under international law. The One Israel Fund, for example, includes on its website a talk titled “The Arab Takeover of Judea and Samaria: Who Is Behind It; What Can Be Done?” — invoking the religious name of the territory that is deemed to be part of a future Palestinian state under international law. HaYovel, a Christian Zionist organization, states on its website that its goal is to help further the “prophetic restoration” of a region that “many incorrectly refer to as the West Bank.” The charitable status of the Jewish National Fund has come under criticism in both the U.S. and European Union due its historic involvement in the “systematic discrimination” against Palestinians since the founding of the state of Israel, as well as ongoing support for dispossession of Palestinians in the West Bank.
Source: Apple Matches Donations to IDF and Illegal Settlements, Employees Allege
Anti-Zionist wins in Mexico
The Right attacked Mexican president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum for being a “Jewish foreigner” and communist during her campaign. Her grandfather and his brother, emigrants from Lithuania, were both of these things.
In this sense, neglecting to mention the Sheinbaum family’s Jewish-communist history could reflect a realistic reading of what the Mexican electorate finds acceptable in 2024.
olddogthoughts 
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