Category: Israel

Israel

Europe Exposed: Is the EU a Direct Partner in the Israeli Genocide in Gaza? – CounterPunch.org

Israel gets money for nothing but still is losing the war and changing its historical reputation in the eyes of the world.

One reason why Israel sees Europe as an inferior political actor compared to Washington, is because the Europeans have linked much of their foreign policy agenda to the US which, in turn, is motivated by Tel Aviv’s agenda and interests.

As of Nov. 2, the German government has approved the export of close to 303 million euros’ ($323 million) worth of defense equipment to Israel,” Reuters reported, comparing the large sum to the 32 million euros’ worth of defense exports that were approved by Berlin in all of 2022. This is just one example.

Source: Europe Exposed: Is the EU a Direct Partner in the Israeli Genocide in Gaza? – CounterPunch.org

Israel

U.S. Military Personnel on Standby for Israel Ground Involvement in Gaza

TF Redleg and Iraqi Soldiers Conduct Artillery Training

Despite Biden’s promises of no boots on the ground, documents obtained by The Intercept suggest the military has prepared for the possibility.

Source: U.S. Military Personnel on Standby for Israel Ground Involvement in Gaza

Israel, Israel Crimes

Houthis Speak- the blockade of Israel
Israel

In waging war on the UN refugee agency, the West is openly siding with Israeli genocide – Pearls and Irritations

The European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO), as well as other departments of the European Commission, have provided long-standing support to the important work that UNRWA is doing for Palestinian refugees.

Israel has been the beneficiary of American taxpayer military and economic support for 75 years . There has never been a better time for the mutinous tail to wag the dog. It’s the 2024 election year GOP, Trump, and Biden are all ready to support Israel but are a  divided right who needs donations for the battle. Israel is aware their importance in the Middle East is diminishing as fast as the importance of fossil fuels is. Even the surrounding arab states are refocusing their future economic interests and like Israel, they are testing new directions.

Never has Israel been so politically divided 4 elections in 2 years. Nor has the extreme-right Zionist land grabbers had the opportunity they have now at American taxpayer expense. “Money for nothing and land for free” is not a Dire Strait tune but a Zionist one. Given the political divide in America and the changes in politics of the global rest. It’s now or never if fossil fuels are to displaced for renewables. The world is on the edge of change. An Israel in control of Greater Palestine has never seen as many opportunities to leave Real Judaism in its wake and give rebirth to a revision something entirely different. Gaza has the gas and Greater Palestine has the Ben Gurion trench

Equally a boon to Israel is the fact that leading western states have so quickly pinned their colours to the mast. The funding freeze cements their fates to Israel’s. It sends a message that they will stand with Israel against the World Court, whatever it decides. Their war on UNRWA is intended as an act of collective intimidation directed towards the court. It is a sign that the West refuses to accept that international law applies to it, or its client state. It is a reminder that western states refuse any restraint on their freedom of action – and that it is Israel and its sponsors who are the true rogue states.

Source: In waging war on the UN refugee agency, the West is openly siding with Israeli genocide – Pearls and Irritations

Israel

Israel Cannot Hide From the UN Court

Israel’s future, by contrast, hangs in the balance, as it could soon find itself banished by the community of nations as a stark violator of international law.

Israel urgently requires leaders who embrace international law over military force, humility over arrogance, and peacemaking over brutality. And Israel — no less than the United States — must come to understand the self-destructive futility of deploying military force to deny justice and political rights for the Palestinian people.

Source: Israel Cannot Hide From the UN Court

Israel

IDF Troops Occupy, Burn Gaza Homes in Likely War Crime​s

Gaza firefighters at work

Israel’s “what the fuck are you going to do about it” attitude performs a Kristallnacht on Palestinian homes

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Wednesday that IDF soldiers have burned hundreds of Gaza homes and everything in them, on direct orders of their commanders. Some Israeli troops have posted videos on social media showing them taking part in home burnings and describing their actions as revenge for fellow soldiers’ deaths or the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel.

Source: IDF Troops Occupy, Burn Gaza Homes in Likely War Crime​s

Israel

AS`AD AbuKHALIL: Hamas’ Official Account

Messages that aren’t getting heard. These are the facts not told.

The wave of suicide attacks by Hamas during the second intifada turned off Arab and non-Arab supporters of the Palestinians. In the new document Hamas enunciates a declared policy of avoiding targeting civilians as part of its religious and ethical doctrine. (I will delve deeper into this question in Part Two of this article.)

There was a similar path in Hizbullah’s history. Hizbullah is now very keen to avoid targeting civilians. Even in the recent months of war between Hizbullah and Israel, Hizbullah strictly targeted military sites in Israel when it would have been much easier to fire randomly.

In contrast, Israel in all its wars, manages to kill many (or mostly) civilians. In fact, Israel — in this recent war of genocide – does not deny that most of its victims in Gaza have been civilians but maintains many of those slaughtered were Hamas combatants.

(U.S. intelligence estimates that Israel has exaggerated the percentage of combatants killed). In the July war of 2006, the overwhelming majority of those killed by Hizbullah were soldiers and officers, while most of those who were killed on the Lebanese side were civilians.

Source: AS`AD AbuKHALIL: Hamas’ Official Account

Israel

‘Strategic interests’, lobby power: What influences Biden’s Israel support? | Israel War on Gaza News | Al Jazeera

AIPAC Netanyahu speech

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 18: Protesters hold a demonstration in support of a cease fire in Gaza in the Cannon House Office Building on October 18, 2023 in Washington, DC. Members of the Jewish Voice for Peace and the IfNotNow movement staged a rally to call for a cease fire in the Israel–Hamas war. Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by ALEX WONG / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

The war in Gaza has intensified AIPAC’s endeavours. Since October 7, AIPAC has led efforts to advocate for $14bn in additional military support for Israel, a funding package that remains stalled in Congress.

It has also been a leading voice in criticising lawmakers who voiced concerns over Israel’s military campaign.

That criticism comes at a pivotal time for many elected officials. In the 2024 general elections, the presidency is up for grabs, as is every seat in the House of Representatives and 34 in the Senate.

Source: ‘Strategic interests’, lobby power: What influences Biden’s Israel support? | Israel War on Gaza News | Al Jazeera

Israel

Defunding UNRWA Is Collective Punishment

The US and Israel crowned Hamas as a “terrorist” organization. In 2006 it wasn’t Hamas the military brigade that democratically won the right to govern Gaza. It was an election verified by Jimmy Carter to be fair and legitimate. Hands tied unable to do anything because that election was at the suggestion of America and agreed to by Israel they did a TRUMP. They called foul and labeled all of Hamas and Gazans terrorists. Since then Israel has been breaking the peace or forcing the agreed-on peace to be broken.

The Russians haven’t killed the number of civilians in the Ukraine as Israel has Gaza in the shortest period. There is no moral justification for the criminal and genocidal actions the world is witnessing. Israel is making a mockery of America and its allies in supporting them.

Reeling from the ICJ’s genocide ruling, Israel attacked the credibility of UNRWA, the UN agency that provides food and health care to Palestinian refugees. Now Joe Biden and other Western leaders are cutting funding for the vital humanitarian aid agency.

Source: Defunding UNRWA Is Collective Punishment

Israel

Genocide and the Politics of False Equivalencies – CounterPunch.org

This is just one example of the horror the Israeli state is inflicting on Palestinians as part of its right-wing war of revenge. This is a horror magnified thousands of times. The smell of needless destruction, death, and untold misery in this case is only matched by the cowardly collapse of conscience, especially among the U.S. and other nations who refuse to call for a cease-fire and are supplying Israel with military weapons. Surely, a den inhabited by barbarians and cowardice. The war on Gaza and the Palestinian people makes clear what the death of humanity looks like through the lens of militarization, extermination, colonialism, and war.

Source: Genocide and the Politics of False Equivalencies – CounterPunch.org

Israel

Turning Zeitoun into Shivat Zion: Israeli summit envisions Gaza resettlement

Israelis look at a giant map of the Gaza Strip depicting future Israeli settlements at the "Conference for Israel's Victory" in Jerusalem, January 28, 2024. (Oren Ziv)

 

After the deliberations at the ICJ, Israel will have a hard time claiming that the ideas expressed at the conference don’t represent official policy. In the pamphlet that was distributed to the audience, the message was even clearer than in the speeches. On the question of how Israel should treat the Palestinian population in Gaza, the lawyer Aviad Visoli — a prominent Temple movement activist — wrote: “Nakba 2, meaning the mass expulsion of the Arabs of Gaza, is also justified by the laws of war.”

Source: Turning Zeitoun into Shivat Zion: Israeli summit envisions Gaza resettlement

Israel, Israel Crimes

UNRWA funding cuts threaten Palestinian lives in Gaza and region, say 20 NGOs – » The Australian Independent Media Network

 

We urge donor states to reaffirm support for the vital work that UNRWA and its partners do to help Palestinians survive one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of our times. Countries must reverse these funding suspensions, uphold their duties towards the Palestinian people and scale up humanitarian assistance for civilians in dire need in Gaza and the region.

Source: UNRWA funding cuts threaten Palestinian lives in Gaza and region, say 20 NGOs – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Israel

Australia’s withholding of aid to Gaza a human rights disgrace

Has this decision been foisted on them by the Australian Israeli Lobby, the LNP, Murdoch, or IPA? It’s certainly not a decision ALP voters would expect of their government. If Palestinian refugees came by boat would they find themselves in forced detention in open-air offshore concentration camps again? We know what Peter Dutton’s position is on that score Yes. While telling Australia it’s a holiday resort compared to where they are now. Israel will be the people smugglers and supply the boats with the foreign aid they already get from us no doubt.

There can be little more morally degenerate than the enabling of and cooperation with what the ICJ has warned is Israel’s “plausible genocide” in Gaza. Wong and Albanese have lost all moral authority and should prepare themselves for their every public utterance to be greeted with contempt, derision and scorn.

The Australian Government has paused contributing to the distribution of aid to Gaza, a decision likely influenced by our toxic allegiance to the USA. Dr Jennifer Wilson reports.

Source: Australia’s withholding of aid to Gaza a human rights disgrace

Israel

The Australian government’s pause of funding to UNRWA is irresponsible and shameful – Pearls and Irritations

Palestinian people holding empty bowls try to reach out for food distributed by volunteers at donation point as Israeli attacks Palestinian people holding empty bowls try to reach out for food distributed by volunteers at donation point as Israeli attacks continue in Dair El-Balah, Gaza on January 26, 2024. The UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees UNRWA has termed humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip.. Photo by Omar Ashtawy apaimages Dair El-Balah Gaza Strip Palestinian Territory 260124_Dair_EL-Balah_OSH_1_0038 Image: alamy/ xapaimagesxOmarxAshtawyxxapaimagesx

Has British Law has been thrown out the window by what Mark Regev simply ALLEGES?  12 Independent UNRWA workers out of 13,000 weren’t  “Independent” ERGO the biggest UN Aid Agency is a systemic agent of HAMAS? Stop the aid!! Mark Regev is a proven systemic essential of Israel’s  current offensive he is a central suit in Israel’s attack on Gaza. The 12 UNRWA workers of 13,000 weren’t! What bullshit logic is being applied here?

12 black sheep don’t define a herd of 13,000.  One sandwich doesn’t make a picnic. We didn’t judge Israel or suspend arms supply when allegations of genocide were made or that the IDF was ordered to shoot their own citizens. We continued supply when it was alleged Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem were being murdered and kidnapped. In fact, we allowed Israel to conduct their own investigation sometime in the future. That is an Israeli Promise!

Within 24 hours of an allegation made by Mark Regev, an advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to the BBC last Friday, that 12 employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) participated in the October 7 operation, foreign ministers of the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and a few other countries, jumped to announce they are pausing their funding to UNRWA, thus collectively punishing millions of Palestinian refugees throughout the region.

Source: The Australian government’s pause of funding to UNRWA is irresponsible and shameful – Pearls and Irritations

Israel, Israel Crimes

Israel’s Ministers attend this conference in favor of the Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza. That “joke” about beach front properties was always MORE THAN REAL

https://aje.io/86vyrq

https://aje.io/av8a82?update=2660615

Families of the captives also slammed this conference [calling for building illegal settlements in Gaza], saying the ministers who were dancing there, were “dancing on the blood” of 136 Israelis who are still being held inside of Gaza.

Protests [for the release of captives] are taking place on a near-nightly basis with the families trying to block roads, and holding signs that say, “Give up anything”, to get the captives back.

They have been reiterating this for around 115 days, saying that Israel’s government is simply not hearing their plight. They do not feel heard or seen.

They feel that the government is not keeping in line with what they have previously told them and they say that any deal that is on the table, any concession that needs to be given up [to get the captives back] – the time to do so is now.

Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a dilemma: Free the hostages or continue the war in Gaza?

A group of people, including several women, hold signs and shout in a nighttime shot, in front of tall, lit up buildings. One of the signs says 'Deal now.'

The problem faced by Gazans is that history shows any deal struck with Israel will either be broken or  put so much pressure on Hamas they will be forced to break the peace. Israel’s broken promises have been documented so many times and Israel and it’s still doing what it has time and again simply lie?

Israeli Ministry has already indicated it’s not going to bother about any ICJ demands or UN requests gimme gimme gimme has been Israel’s theme song for 78 years and it’s not going to stop. As soon as oil becomes unnecessary so will Israel the army base and the $5B in blackmail it receives annually

The only feasible option to free the hostages is to strike another deal with Hamas. But it will be very hard for Netanyahu to accept the terms that Hamas is demanding, particularly ending the war. Netanyahu and his defense minister argue that the more military pressure Hamas is under, the more likely it is to accept a deal on terms that are acceptable to Israel. But the other members of the war cabinet, and growing numbers of Israelis, now believe Israel should make a deal to release the hostages whatever the price, even if that means ending the war without defeating Hamas.

Source: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a dilemma: Free the hostages or continue the war in Gaza?

Israel

How the Israel war lobby coerces regulators and employers to fire Australian critics of the genocide in Gaza – Michael West

Sky News, Qantas

A government-subsidised workforce of Israel lobbyists is targeting regulators and employers across the fields of media, medicine and business to sack employees who criticise the government of Israel’s war crimes against the Palestinian people. Joel Jenkins reports.

The powerful reach of the Zionist lobby in Australia has been on display the past few weeks, with news that lobbyists pressured ABC executives leading to the sacking of ABC journalist Antoinette Lattouf for sharing information from Human Rights Watch on her social media.

Source: How the Israel war lobby coerces regulators and employers to fire Australian critics of the genocide in Gaza – Michael West

Israel

Zionism’s History Is Also a History of Jewish Anti-Zionism

Long but a history that shows the historic division of Jews

Defenders of Israel’s brutal war on Gaza have attempted to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism. But since its beginning, different forms of Zionist ideology have competed with varied anti-Zionisms for Jewish allegiance.

Early Zionists repeatedly invoked seemingly antisemitic descriptions of so-called diasporic Jews as weak, sickly, excessively bookish, effeminized — a people whose spirit was crushed not only by non-Jewish political rulers, but also by the dead weight of rabbinical law. They contrasted this weak diasporic figure with a model of a strong new people, drawing inspiration from everything from the Ukrainian Cossack to Palestinian Bedouin.

If you say that a Jew in Tel Aviv is like a Jew in the Warsaw Ghetto, then Zionism has accomplished nothing.

The liberal Zionist perspective is certainly on the ropes. What does it mean for a person committed to liberalism to support an illiberal nation-state project?

I know it’s hard for people to get their head around, but there are many pro-Israel antisemites. Their pro-Israelism is part of their Christian dispensational ideology.

Source: Zionism’s History Is Also a History of Jewish Anti-Zionism

Israel

ICJ Ruling on Gaza Genocide Is Victory for Palestinians That Israel Vows to Defy

Pro-Palestinian activists wave flags during session of the International Court of Justice, or World Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. Israel is set to hear whether the United Nations' top court will order it to end its military offensive in Gaza during a case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)

It really does seem like a conspiracy with Israel having killed 157 UNRWA staff and many more other independent observers like reporters. A simple allegation accusing the UNWRA of being a systemic branch of Hamas is enough to cut aid. AIPAC and the Israel Lobby appear to have Biden on a  short string in this 2024 election year and had him cut aid to Gaza on their behalf. 1M children lack clothing food water, fuel or electricity and winter is coming on. America and its Western allies have been drawn into war crimes and assisting in an act of genocide.

The 17-judge panel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague issued a series of rulings on Friday about Israel’s conduct during its war against Gaza that constitute a significant legal defeat for Israel and its chief defenders, the United States and Germany.

Source: ICJ Ruling on Gaza Genocide Is Victory for Palestinians That Israel Vows to Defy

Israel

Australia’s role in further collective punishment on Gazans – Pearls and Irritations

Waving flag of Israel and Australia.Image:iStock

While the UN Secretary General and head of UNRWA calls for an investigation into what Israel alleges are crimes committed by some 12 Gazan UNRWA staff (among the 13,000) in the participation of the October 7th events, the leaders of the Western world including Australia just jump on board of these allegations and immediately cut aid to UNRWA. In so doing I believe they are all involved in yet further collective punishment, Australia among them, on an entrapped, starving, drenched, freezing, ill and injured 2.3 million Palestinians.

Source: Australia’s role in further collective punishment on Gazans – Pearls and Irritations

Israel

Freezing Aid to Gaza: Israel’s International War against the UNRWA – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Australian Greens Senator and defence spokesman, Senator David Shoebridge, also picked up on the grotesque twist the latest stifling of aid to the beleaguered residents of Gaza entailed. “The one temporary pause [Senator Wong] has been able to achieve is not the bombing or killing, or even weapons exports, it’s providing aid to [Palestinians].”

Source: Freezing Aid to Gaza: Israel’s International War against the UNRWA – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Israel

As Civilians Starve in Gaza, Israelis Block Humanitarian Aid Convoy for Third Day – ScheerPost

The Actions of Israel are a reported factual embarrassment to them. The ICJ  told Israel to increase the flow of aid to Gaza and stop using it as a weapon. It’s no coincidence that to continue to restrict aid they accused the UNRWA of being a systemic branch of Hamas. However, simply an allegation rather than a fact. The US or Biden is wedged by Trump in this election year and has been dancing to the Israel Lobby’s tune and has cut UNRWA aid to Gaza. Biden is Israel’s get-out-of-jail card. The UNRWA was a source of independent information that Israel didn’t want to be revealed so reporters and doctors had to be declared branch of Hamas?

The blocking of aid at Kerem Shalom also comes days after the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reported that the IDF launched an attack with artillery shells, live ammunition, and drones on “hundreds of starving civilians” who were waiting near Gaza City for “U.N. trucks carrying limited aid supplies.” Health officials in Gaza said at least 20 people were killed and 150 were injured in the attack.

Source: As Civilians Starve in Gaza, Israelis Block Humanitarian Aid Convoy for Third Day – ScheerPost

Israel, Israel Crimes

UNRWA claims: UK halts aid to UN agency over allegation staff helped Hamas attack – BBC News

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid for Palestinians that entered Gaza through Rafah border crossing on the Egyptian border arrive at the UNRWA warehouse, in Deir al Balah,

British Justice applied to “he said, she said” allegations by Israel who’d been severely chastised by the ICJ for blocking aid to Gaza and told to stop. So it seems to have put pressure on their Western allies to cut aid rather than help increase it as the ICJ directed. Israel is making fools of governments and using them to assist in Gazan’s suffering. In the meantime, Doctors, Medical Professionals, UN Aid agencies, Reporters, Academics, and teachers have all had their turn being called Hamas operatives, antisemites, Jew-haters, and rapists and targeted for elimination. Meanwhile, Israel trains conscripts and brainwashes its children claiming they are being maligned for protecting Israelis dining in restaurants from genocide.

“One million displaced people are currently taking refuge in and around UNRWA buildings. They are the ones who will suffer as a result of this decision,” said Mr Gunness, adding: “The curtailing of UNRWA services will also destabilise the region at a time when Western governments are trying to contain a regional conflagration.”

“The UK is appalled by allegations that UNRWA staff were involved in the 7 October attack against Israel, a heinous act of terrorism that the UK Government has repeatedly condemned,” the UK Foreign Office said in a statement.

“The UK is temporarily pausing any future funding of UNWRA whilst we review these concerning allegations,” it added.

Source: UNRWA claims: UK halts aid to UN agency over allegation staff helped Hamas attack – BBC News

Israel

Why the United States Halted Funding to the UN’s Palestinian Refugee Agency – Mother Jones

Details of the allegations, which were made by the Israeli military and reportedly involve 12 UNRWA staffers, are not clear.

Even if it was found 12 of 13,000 staff did commit alleged acts of terror it fails to prove any systemic involvement with Hamas. 12 black sheep don’t systematically define the herd let alone the UNRWA & UN aid industry. Why is Israel being treated with such “Kid Gloves” and the Palestinians “Collectively Punished”?

“The abhorrent alleged acts of these staff members must have consequences,” UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said in a statement that urged the governments to resume funding. “But the tens of thousands of men and women who work for UNRWA, many in some of the most dangerous situations for humanitarian workers, should not be penalized. The dire needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met.”

Source: Why the United States Halted Funding to the UN’s Palestinian Refugee Agency – Mother Jones

Israel

From Jewish school days in Tehran, to a wish and a prayer from Hiroshima – Pearls and Irritations

Profiles with Islamic and Jewish symbols.

A few weeks ago walking past the Hiroshima A-Bomb Dome, I came upon a candle-light ceremony for the Israel/Gaza war. A young couple — she Jewish and he Muslim — were chanting prayers in Hebrew and Arabic, holding hands and weeping openly. Seeing the depth of pain ‘leaders’ in our region have caused these young people filled me with anger and shame. We are tired of ruthless despots, tired of their obscurantism and small-mindedness, tired of seeing religion used and abused to unleash so much suffering. As Ettefagh taught me all those decades ago, everyone simply aspires to genuine respect, dignity and a fair and level playing field. That is all. The rest will work itself out. What is the use of thousands of years of culture and history, if we are not even able to grasp the wisdom of this simple and obvious truth?

Source: From Jewish school days in Tehran, to a wish and a prayer from Hiroshima – Pearls and Irritations

Israel

Sky News apologizes over IDF ‘Nazi’ comparison — RT World News

Sky News apologizes over IDF ‘Nazi’ comparisonSemitic Peoples : r/MapPornSemitic Peoples

Rupert Murdoch has mining rights in the illegally occupied Golan Heights and  Sky News apologizes for an Israeli propagandist tripping over his own mouth?. After 30,000 bombs dropped 80% of housing, and hospitals were destroyed Danny Danon talked about no pressure purely “voluntary migration”. Israeli history stopped on Oct 6th and began on Oct 7th. If that were the case will Israel open their huge hearts to voluntary religious migration of Palestinian children wanting to become Jews? No fucking way! Voluntary migration means “transportation”. Danon didn’t care “anywhere” and Israel isn’t paying. He dared suggest that this was the Final Solution to the “Arab Problem” In the same way the “Jewish Problem” once was but not in Palestine. Sky News apologized to the mother fucker of an AntiSemite. Shown to be what he was he whined and cried “foul”.

Semites aren’t a race the science of genetics proved that. Nor are they religiously defined either. Semites all speak a Semitic language. So if that’s the case Israeli Jews and Danny Danon might be Semites but they are extremely anti-Semitic. Above is a map. Not all Jews are antisemitic but Zionists definitely are. They are cunningly clever and powerful but only a small and extremely tight socialized group, unlike the majority diaspora.

During a live interview on Friday with Israeli lawmaker and former United Nations envoy Danny Danon, Sky News anchor Belle Donati pressed the Knesset minister on his November 13 opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, which urged Western nations to take in Gazan families “who have expressed a desire to leave” the war-torn enclave.

While Donati described Danon’s proposal as a form of “ethnic cleansing,” the politician soon interrupted to insist that he had never used those words, stressing that his op-ed spoke only of “voluntary immigration” for willing refugees.

Source: Sky News apologizes over IDF ‘Nazi’ comparison — RT World News

Israel

Joe Biden Isn’t Rescuing Hostages — He’s Enabling War Crimes

He sent hundreds of 2000lb bombs that have a kill radius of 360 meters and a diameter of 720 meters Gaza is only 5000 meters wide. They aren’t called “bunker killers” for nothing they are deep penetration devices. Israelis have dropped over 30,000 bombs on a postage stamp they called a “concentration camp”

Earlier this month, Joe Biden expressed his concern for the Israelis taken hostage in Gaza. But if he really cared about their safety, he wouldn’t be sending Israel weapons for its indiscriminate and criminal bombing campaign.

Source: Joe Biden Isn’t Rescuing Hostages — He’s Enabling War Crimes

Israel

Biden Cuts Off Life-saving Aid to Palestinians Based on Israeli Allegations Against UNRWA – ScheerPost

Israel says “Jump ” Biden says “How High?” This is a case of the “Tail Wagging the Dog” Or is simply “A Tale Wagging the Dog?” The LOBBY & AIPAC  certainly are!

Biden cut aid on the advice of ISRAEL?

Israel’s war on Gaza live: Aid cuts are ‘collective punishment’ – UNRWA

In December, UNRWA announced that Israel’s onslaught against Gaza had killed 142 employees of the organization.

The State Department paused additional funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) after the Israeli government accused 12 UNRWA workers of being involved in the October 7 Hamas attack.

Source: Biden Cuts Off Life-saving Aid to Palestinians Based on Israeli Allegations Against UNRWA – ScheerPost

Israel

Israel’s Victory in Gaza turns Pyrrhic as a Majority of Youths and Democrats brand it Genocidal

ITV and Sky TV are playing catch up, however. TikTok, run by a Chinese company, freely allows video from Gaza to be shared and to go viral, and Americans thirty and under have therefore seen the war unfold before their eyes. Old people glued to CNN or Fox might not even know that a war is going on, and they certainly would have no sense of the magnitude of Israel’s atrocities. Not so for the under-30 population, which is why 55% of them have decided this is a genocide.

Source: Israel’s Victory in Gaza turns Pyrrhic as a Majority of Youths and Democrats brand it Genocidal

Israel, Israel Crimes

International Court of Justice finds against Israel in genocide case – Michael West

ICJ, Israel, Gaza

The question is much broader than that much broader. What does it mean for the teaching of Australian History?  Like the current Israeli Settlers Australian Squatters simply ignored any higher authority and ran riot killing for the land illegally occupying territory well past the “Limits of Location”. Australian and British inglorious colonial history is rarely taught and one the LNP do not want taught in our schools The Frontier Wars were claimed by squatters, like Israel, to be their “right of defense”. However, the indiscriminate killing of indigenous Australians suggested very much otherwise.

The ICJ has found decisively that Israel may have a case to answer for genocide in a preliminary judgement whose orders will reverberate around the world. What now of Australia’s support for the government of Benjamin Netanyahu? Farah Abdurahman reports.

Source: International Court of Justice finds against Israel in genocide case – Michael West

Israel, Israel Crimes

Informed Comment- John Mearsheimer- Israel, South Africans, USA
Israel

Israel- Chris Hedges Informed Comment -Death of Israel
Israel

Gaza is exposing Western Liberals for the frauds they are – Pearls and Irritations

Silence is Complicity Graffiti on the concrete wall built by Israel

Biden is a really Republican dressed as a Democrat. As a politician, he’s had a quid pro quo relationship with AIPAC and the Israeli Lobby for years. $3.5B p, a military aid alone is evidence coupled with bypassing Congress to deliver extra weapons removed any doubt. Apart from the fact he’s been wedged between the Israeli demands for more and Trump in this an election year.

The one faint glimmer of brightness in this profoundly dark chapter in human history is that it might start opening some eyes to the fraudulence of the mainstream fake-left political faction that has been marketed to the western public as an alternative to far right depravity. That westerners might start awakening to the reality that everything they’ve been trained to believe about politics, their government and their world is a lie. Such an awakening would be the first step toward a mass-scale movement into health.

Source: Gaza is exposing Western Liberals for the frauds they are – Pearls and Irritations

Israel

Opinion | With World’s Eyes on Gaza Genocide, Ben Gvir Unleashes Sinister Plot in West Bank | Common Dreams

With World's Eyes on Gaza Genocide, Ben Gvir Unleashes Sinister Plot in West Bank

Perhaps Ben-Gvir’s greatest achievement, so far,has been his ability to create a perfect amalgamation between the political interests of the settlers, the government, and its security apparatus.

The war in Gaza is a perfect opportunity for the far-right National Security Minster to achieve what he really wants: a religious war, one which will ultimately lead to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, not just from Gaza but from the West Bank as well.

Source: Opinion | With World’s Eyes on Gaza Genocide, Ben Gvir Unleashes Sinister Plot in West Bank | Common Dreams

Informed Comment, Israel, Israel Crimes

Chris Hedges – It May be Genocide, But it Won’t Be Stopped – Brave New Europe

Image

Residents of al-Dahra forced to evacuate by Israeli army and then fired on, as Khan Younis relentlessly targeted by Israeli strikes and snipers shoot at Palestinians leaving al-Amal Hospital.

At least 26,083 people have been killed and 64,487 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.

“This is the case with respect to the right of the Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide and related prohibited acts identified in Article III, and the right of South Africa to seek Israel’s compliance with the latter’s obligations under the Convention.”

It is clear from the ruling that the court is fully aware of the magnitude of Israel’s crimes. This makes the decision not to call for the immediate suspension of Israeli military activity in and against Gaza all the more distressing.

But the court did deliver a devastating blow to the mystique Israel has used since its founding to carry out its settler colonial project against the indigenous inhabitants of historic Palestine. It made the word genocide, when applied to Israel, credible.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) refused to implement the most crucial demand made by South African jurists: “the State of Israel shall immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza.” But at the same time, it delivered a devastating blow to the foundational myth of Israel. Israel, which paints itself as eternally persecuted, has been credibly accused of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Palestinians are the victims, not the perpetrators, of the “crime of crimes.” A people, once in need of protection from genocide, are now potentially committing it. The court’s ruling questions the very raison d’être of the “Jewish State” and challenges the impunity Israel has enjoyed since its founding 75 years ago.

Source: Chris Hedges – It May be Genocide, But it Won’t Be Stopped – Brave New Europe

Israel, Israel Crimes

ICJ VOTE ON ISRAEL – ISRAEL SCREAMS -ANTISEMITISM- ISREAL’S ACTION COULD FALL UNDER 1948 GENOCIDE CONVENTION
Israel, Israel Crimes

ICJ- Rules Against Israel
Israel

Why U.S. Talk of a “Revitalized” PA in Gaza Is Code for Outsourced Oppression

RAMALLAH, OCCUPIED WEST BANK -- OCTOBER 18, 2023: Palestinian Authority riot police take control after clearing out protesters near Al Menarah square, in Ramallah, Occupied West Bank, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. Protest have bloomed across the West Bank after a strike on a Gaza hospital, with both sides blaming each other for the killing of some 500 people. hospital in Gaza killed more than 500 people with both sides blaming each other. (MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMES)

Palestinian Authority riot police take control after clearing out protesters near Al Menarah square, in Ramallah, occupied West Bank, on Oct. 18, 2023.

Before They Vowed to Annihilate Hamas, Israeli Officials Considered It an Asset

The Israelis “always try their best to provoke us to react violently so they can justify their crimes.”“They are trying all the time to prove that we are a failure and cannot keep law and order and cannot keep the security of the place we’re supposed to be responsible for, to justify their daily incursions and killings of our people.”

 “If no protection is provided to you from a third party, from your own government, or from the occupying power,” said Jabareen, of Al Haq, “you will try to look for your own ways to protect yourself.”

 

Source: Why U.S. Talk of a “Revitalized” PA in Gaza Is Code for Outsourced Oppression

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Western media bias, Israeli apologetics, and ongoing genocide – Pearls and Irritations

Dictionary definition of the word genocide. including key descriptive words.

I found it shocking that the New York Times published on January 17th no less than three opinion pieces by Jewish authors, unbalanced by a single Palestinian or principled critical voice.

 NYT response to the Gaza genocide is indicative of a systemic problem with media reportage. For instance, watchers of CNN deserve more independent critical voices, and less official rationalisation from government spokespersons, or retired military officers and intelligence bureaucrats. It is dangerous enough to endure deep state manipulations from within the bureaucracies but to have such views infuse media integrity is to resign the country to an autocratic future.

Source: Western media bias, Israeli apologetics, and ongoing genocide – Pearls and Irritations

Israel

Further | Ironclad Support For Starving, Blinding, Shattering Children | Opinion

Displaced Palestinians in a tent camp in Deir al Balah wait for soup distributed by volunteers

Biden relies on AIPAC to survive

Harrowingly, confoundingly, Gaza’s horrors grow. Israel kills 250 people a day, attacks hospitals, bombs survivors in tents, blocks over 75% of humanitarian aid from reaching a place where “every single person is hungry,” a quarter are starving, most are cold, 60,000 are maimed. At a beleaguered hospital, a visiting Canadian doctor just saw 15 amputations a day; he himself removed 10 eyeballs ruptured by shrapnel from children as young as two. As we watch, he mourns, “Humanity has failed these people.”

Source: Further | Ironclad Support For Starving, Blinding, Shattering Children | Opinion

Israel

Germany backs Netanyahu for the same reason it created Hitler | The Electronic Intifada

” Were there no Israel America would have to invent one because you protect our interests like we protect yours” “The truth of the matter is we need you The world needs you.” Imagine if Biden stood up today and repeated what he’d said to AIPAC in 2015. Biden is a Republican in a Democrats clothes

Gaza is a general model a dress rehearsal for violence that threatens workers and the oppressed everywhere and anywhere globally. (The Untermenschen: People regarded as racially and socially inferior)

Germany’s gift to progressive forces is precisely that it has exposed the continuity of the colonial project.

Germany does not support the Zionist genocide despite the Holocaust. It supports Zionism for the same reason that it birthed Nazism.

It backs Benjamin Netanyahu for the same reason that it created Adolf Hitler. At a time of systemic crisis, both appeared as bulwarks of Western imperialism against the rebellious Untermensch, the subhumans – the people who “treat death differently,” who “just die.”

Gaza is a dress rehearsal for the violence that threatens workers and oppressed peoples everywhere as the crises of our century grow in magnitude. This is the historical tendency of capitalism in decay.

On one side, an Axis of Genocide is in formation as Germany, the US, Canada, the UK and other ramparts of the imperial order intervene on the side of extermination. On the other, we find an Axis of Resistance made up of those who know colonialism’s wretched face.

Source: Germany backs Netanyahu for the same reason it created Hitler | The Electronic Intifada

Israel

Israeli police repressing anti-war protests with ‘iron fist,’ say activists

Israeli activists protest against the arrest of members of the Arab High Follow-Up Committee earlier in the day, Tel Aviv District Police Station, November 9, 2023. (Oren Ziv)

This sequence of events is far from exceptional. Since October 7, Israel’s police have been implementing a consistent policy of preventing or limiting any protest against the war — in contrast to protests in solidarity with the hostages and their families, which have been permitted in certain areas. This policy is still in effect despite Israel’s Supreme Court issuing an interim injunction earlier this month prohibiting National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir from interfering with the policing of demonstrations; in large part, police appear nonetheless to be enforcing the minister’s desired crackdown on freedom of expression during the war.

Source: Israeli police repressing anti-war protests with ‘iron fist,’ say activists

Israel

21 Israeli Troops Killed While Planting Explosives for a Controlled Demolition in Gaza – The Intercept

Demolition in al-Maghazi Refugee Camp after Israeli forces withdrew

The single largest IDF casualty event of the Gaza invasion is a symbol of Israel’s deepening quagmire.

Source: 21 Israeli Troops Killed While Planting Explosives for a Controlled Demolition in Gaza – The Intercept

Israel

Israel’s war on Palestinian journalists: A crime against all humanity

They are the leading nation in the world holding Journalists without charge and killing them like fish in a barrel. How paranoid are they that they need to keep control of “their truth” rather than “the truth”?

As Israel’s military onslaught in the Gaza Strip moves into its fourth month, journalists continue to be killed at a rate of about one reporter a day, writes Paul Gregoire.

Source: Israel’s war on Palestinian journalists: A crime against all humanity

Israel

How Israel got Stuck in Orwell’s ‘1984’

Israel is now the world’s leading “Democracy” in its arrest of journalists add to that the number it’s killed (107) it must be the world’s outright leader.

At the top of the list sits China with 44 in detention, followed by Myanmar (43), Belarus (28), Russia (22), and Vietnam (19). Israel and Iran share sixth place with 17 each.

As state paranoia rises in Israel, civil liberties including freedom of the press have taken a huge hit. Indeed freedom of thought is under siege for Israeli Jews, not to mention the nightmare faced by Israeli Arabs, and those in the West Bank.* Israel has recently abused and imprisoned more journalists in the past two months than all but six, notorious right-wing dictatorships.

Source: How Israel got Stuck in Orwell’s ‘1984’

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Genocidal Israel, condemned by words and actions – Pearls and Irritations

Prayer Shawl - Tallit, jewish religious symbol.

The rationale for this genocide was that, ‘international Jewry’ was planning such against Germany, and that Germany was only doing such a ‘distasteful’ thing in self defence. That in the current Gaza conflict sounds familiar.

Source: Genocidal Israel, condemned by words and actions – Pearls and Irritations

Israel

The Inhumanity of Israel’s Crimes in Gaza – ScheerPost

Israel’s policing and control of media hasn’t worked but it has to the extent that the reality of the real horror hasn’t been completely witnessed yet. In as much, that fact is true any comparison with Germany is legitimate. If Jews knew what was being done in their name by the Zionists more than the current 33% of the diaspora would turn their backs in shame

In other words, Israel’s blackout strategy has worked, even with all the gory images that still manage to make their way to your screens. The relative scale of the killing has prompted the world to recognize that a genocide is unfolding, but the horrific character of Israel’s crimes and the abject inhumanity of the army’s conduct still remain largely unknown to most of the world.

Source: The Inhumanity of Israel’s Crimes in Gaza – ScheerPost

Israel

The four horsemen of Gaza’s apocalypse – Pearls and Irritations

The policies embraced by the Biden administration not only blithely ignore the realities in the Arab world, but the realities of an extremist Israeli state that, with Congress bought and paid for by the Israel lobby, couldn’t care less what the Biden White House dreams up.

Israel has no intention of creating a viable Palestinian state.

Its goal is the ethnic cleansing of the 2.3 million Palestinians from Gaza and the annexation of Gaza by Israel. And when Israel is done with Gaza, it will turn on the West Bank, where Israeli raids now occur on an almost nightly basis and where thousands have been arrested and detained without charge since Oct. 7. 

Israel

Gaza hostage relatives burst into Israeli parliament

Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages in Gaza called for their release outside the Knesset.

Hamas has clearly stated 60 hostages are dead Daily News says only 27 are. We saw Israel kill 4-5  of them. Hamas has reported that Israeli bombing has killed far more. Given Israel’s history of trying to forever fake numbers, why doesn’t Australia’s media pay greater attention to the numbers being delivered by the Palestinian medical professionals who are counting only verified real numbers rather than the Israeli army who seems to be making them up?

The fate of the hostages – 27 of whom Israel says have died in Gaza – has riveted the country, but relatives fear that war fatigue could soften that focus.

Source: Gaza hostage relatives burst into Israeli parliament

Israel

Postscripts on Israel: October 7 Surprise? – CounterPunch.org

Israel claims that the attacks of October 7, 2023, were a surprise. It wants us to believe that a country with one of the world’s most powerful and sophisticated militaries and intelligence agencies had neither expected, nor prepared for these attacks.

This claim is not plausible.

Israel was never SURPRISED the Zionists needed an excuse

The Gazans live in a tiny fishbowl. Indeed, when Israeli jets and drones start bombing Gaza, Israelis have been seen on the surrounding hills with binoculars and picnic baskets reveling in this spectacle in real time.

Misled by a small coterie of ambitious Jewish Zionists who first gathered at Basle, tragically and lamentably, the European Jews whose suffering placed them squarely in the camp of oppressed humanity—the ethnically cleansed, enslaved, and colonized peoples of the world—changed sides and joined the camp of their tormentors.

Source: Postscripts on Israel: October 7 Surprise? – CounterPunch.org