Israel #3

(Trump)

“And we moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem. That’s for the Evangelicals.
You know, it’s amazing with that: the Evangelicals are more excited by that than Jewish people.”

0:19 ( https://twitter.com/dpinsen/status/1295483079662997504 )

- David Pinsen @dpinsen | 6:10 PM · Aug 17, 2020

The rapture happy especially want to see Armageddon. They want to see Jesus descend from the clouds and rout the infidels and evildoers. They're living in a cartoon fantasy world but they see the potential in a global war for them to be lifted up into the clouds with Jesus, the choirs of angels---the whole nine yards of snake oil salesman christian propagandizing coming to fruition. It's not all that different from an Islamist suicide bomber who thinks 70 virgins are waiting for him on the other side either. Your megachurch christian told that if he closes his eyes and believes hard enough--puts his arms in the air and bobs his head to the music that anything can come true---how many millions of those are there in this country?

All of this is beyond Trump's comprehension which is why he's amazed.

The reality on the ground in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza is quite different. For instance in Gaza you have 2+ million inhabitants sealed off from the world in a very small fenced in area with guard posts all along the fence line and a pretty liberal shoot to kill whoever comes into your rifle's sights policy. Israeli warships constantly patrolling the harbor and Israeli warplanes continually flying overhead. They have nowhere to go. 2% of the water within is potable-the rest is pretty much sewage or sea water and the restrictions on anyone entering or leaving are extremely harsh. It is an open air prison.

The West Bank is different in that it's all about letting Jewish settlers steal more and more land from the Palestinians. The army and security forces meeting rocks and stones from protesters with rubber bullets (if they're lucky), live ammunition, warplanes and bulldozers. Most Palestinians are not allowed to vote for the real govt. and have no political say over the shit that happens to them. If their land is stolen or homes are taken or destroyed--it's too bad--they are non-citizens in the state of Israel. The United States aids and abets Israel--sometimes less (Obama) sometimes more (Bush, Trump). There is plenty of historical precedence I suppose for what's happening--that said Israel is still an apartheid like nation and any American politicians who get the support of organizations that fall under the umbrella of AIPAC are complicit in civil rights crimes to the Palestinian people. How can you be for Black Lives Matter and be against the Palestinian people?

The Israel deal may give the UAE a boost – but it doesn’t bring us any closer to peace in the Middle East (Independent)

The new agreement is good for all the political leaders involved, including Donald Trump, but answers few of the bigger questions...

Somewhat protected until now by Israeli embargo, densely populated Gaza suffered its first COVID outbreak, so shutdown. Poverty + restricted electricity + poor water + COVID. What hell...

Hamas: Gaza will not 'remain silent' as Israel escalates siege
Ali Adam | 8/26/2020

Gaza City - The threat of a new Gaza war continues to rise as Palestinians demand an end to the devastating 13-year-long blockade and Israel tightens the screws on Gaza's economy while targeting Hamas positions.

Israeli warplanes and tanks bombed Hamas military sites early on Tuesday in response to the incendiary balloons launched from Gaza towards Israel's south, according to an Israeli army statement.

...Over the past two years, following the momentum of the Great March of Return protests, multiple deals were reached between Palestinian factions in Gaza and Israel with the mediation of Egypt, Qatar, and the United Nations.

Hamas, which governs Gaza, was to provide security along the demarcation dividing the Palestinians and Israelis, in return for Israel's alleviation of the blockade.

But Palestinian leaders in Gaza accused Israel of continuing to renege on implementing its side of the bargain.

According to local Palestinian media reports, Israel has failed to extend Gaza's allowed fishing zone to 20 nautical miles, allow the construction of a new power line into the Gaza Strip, permit Gaza's power plant to operate on natural gas, and facilitate the movement of goods, including the entry of 1,200 trucks a day, through the Karem Abu Salem (known as Kerem Shalom to Israelis) crossing.

In response to the launching of incendiary balloons, Israel has taken punitive measures against Gaza by restricting goods coming through the crossing, fully closing the sea to Gaza's fishermen, and halting fuel supplies, causing the territory's sole power plant to shut down with electricity reduced to four hours a day....

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/gaza-israel-war-fears-grow-palestinians-d...

#4--almost all of the 'provocations' by the Gazan's are bow and arrow stuff that has as much chance of actually killing or hurting someone or destroying something of any significance than I have of winning the lottery or getting struck by lightning. The response by the Israeli government and IDF is always super disproportionate and the 'provocations' used by Israel as well to justify not living up to agreements they've made though if there were no provocations they would find some other reasons. Israel also has the United States supporting everything they do and not just the current administration. They have the majority of politicians on both sides of the aisle in their back pocket.

Why Trump wants Sudan to befriend Israel (BBC)

With Sudan in desperate straits - a collapsing economy, hyperinflation looming and a nationwide food crisis - the administration of US President Donald Trump and the Israeli government have seen an opportunity...

Interesting, sad, but hopeful to think green sprouts of democracy survive against all odds. Another story for the 'How to Democracy' thread?

>7 margd:

Yes indeed. The story of how a nonviolent popular uprising, led largely by women and youth, overthrew a brutal military dictatorship in Sudan is an inspiring one, although the struggle continues to build a new democratic society in the face of continued influence by the generals who were formely in power and shameless self-interested pressure from the USA and Israel. Perhaps the one overriding lesson which could be learned by other popular movements (including the Palestinians and Black Lives Matter) is that a nonviolent struggle has more credibility and ultimately a greater chance of success than a violent one.

JCB challenged over machinery used to demolish Palestinian homes (Guardian)

The British heavy machinery firm JCB’s sale of equipment used in the destruction of Palestinian villages in the Israeli-occupied West Bank may have breached Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development guidelines on human rights, a UK government body has assessed.

The case is likely to test the degree to which multinationals are responsible if their export goods are being sold by local distributors in ways that infringe human rights...

‘God help us’ if Trump wins re-election, Palestinian PM says (Al Jazeera)

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has said a Donald Trump victory in the upcoming presidential elections in the United States will be disastrous for his people – and the world at large.

In comments made during a meeting with European legislators on Tuesday, Shtayyeh said the last four years of the Trump administration have greatly harmed the Palestinians.

“If we are going to live another four years with President Trump, God help us, God help you and God help the whole world,” the prime minister said, repeating comments he made a day earlier in a virtual address to the European Parliament...

European powers condemn Israel’s settlement approvals (Al Jazeera)

EU ministers say pushing ahead with more settlements violates international law and further imperils the viability of a two-state solution...

Israel stops issuing visas to UN human rights agency (Al Jazeera)

OHCHR country director among 9 of 12 of UN agency’s workers forced to leave after visas were not renewed...

‘It’s a New Day’: Sudan Exults in Move to Take It Off List of Terror States
Abdi Latif Dahir | Oct. 20, 2020. Updated Oct. 21, 2020

...after 27 years the United States plans to remove (Sudan) from its list of state sponsors of terrorism...

President Trump announced on Monday over Twitter that he will lift the terrorist designation as soon as Sudan deposits a payment of $335 million in compensation to victims, and their families, of attacks on U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and the U.S. Navy destroyer Cole in Yemen in 2000.

The deal would allow the northeastern African nation of Sudan, one of the continent’s largest, to once again access foreign aid, investment and debt relief, as well as military aid. The announcement is likely to bolster Sudan’s fledgling transitional government, which came to power last year after the ouster of the strongman leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir, and has been facing protests from those calling for a quicker pace of reform.

...In exchange, American officials say they expect Sudan to take steps in coming days to normalize relations with Israel, becoming the fifth Arab state to do so, and notching a diplomatic win for Mr. Trump in the weeks before the presidential election. But that move could prove unpopular with Sudan’s populace, analysts say....

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/20/world/africa/Sudan-terror-list.html

‘Ignition of new war:’ Sudan political parties reject Israel deal (Al Jazeera)

Sudanese demonstrate in the capital against the deal that several political parties say transitional gov’t is not authorised to sign...

This meddling by the USA and Israel in the internal affairs of a fragile nation which has only just overthrown thirty years of military dictatorship in a nonviolent popular uprising is very unfortunate. It's a complex issue, but the current Sudanese government is a transitional one and many Sudanese feel that it does not therefore have the authority to make major foreign policy decisions - its proper role is to try to resolve domestic issues leading to democratic elections. US pressure on the fragile transitional government to implement this unpopular decision is both unfair and unhelpful.

While Israel and its supporters in the USA are hailing this as step forward for peace, it is far more complex than that.

Sudan’s Normalization Deal with Israel Faces Hurdles (Voice of America)

unlike Israel’s recent deal with Abu Dhabi where hotels are already promoting packages for Israeli tourists, the deal with Sudan still faces several hurdles, including some public opposition...

Head of Sudan’s Largest Party Slams Recognizing Israel (Haaretz)

Sudan’s former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi on Saturday slammed an announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump that Sudan would start normalizing ties with Israel... “This statement contradicts the Sudanese national law … and contributes to the elimination of the peace project in the Middle East and to preparing for the ignition of a new war,” al-Mahdi said...

Sudan's Normalization With Israel Looks Like An American 'Quid Pro Quo' (World Politics Review)

When is a peace deal not all it’s chalked up to be, even if it ends a formal state of hostility? The Trump administration’s race to pressure Arab countries to normalize their ties with Israel, goaded by promises of American financial assistance and weapons, isn’t really changing the Middle East, despite the White House’s own publicity and some breathless, boosterish commentary...

Sudan confirms moving ahead with Israel accord, despite growing opposition (Times of Israel)

some factions within the political alliance supporting the government have voiced their opposition to normalization with Israel, including Sudan’s former prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, who heads the country’s largest political party... Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the head of the sovereign council, and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok took the decision to normalize “without consultations within the sovereign council or the Cabinet”...

How US blackmail pushed Sudan to normalise ties with Israel (The New Arab)

Analysis: The normalisation deal between Sudan and Israel was the result of political and financial extortion by the Trump administration...

In another thread I looked up some figures to respond to a poster who demanded sources documenting the fact that Israeli violence against Palestinians is far greater than vice versa. Might be worth reposting it here.

From the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:

the number of Palestinians and Israelis who were killed or injured since 2008 in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and Israel in the context of the occupation and conflict...

5,586 Palestinian fatalities plus 114,226 injuries

249 Israeli fatalities plus 5,624 injuries

Human Rights Watch reports for 2019:

This is a narrative report divided into different sections, so it doesn't give a single comprehensive figure, but here are a few snippets:

Israel continued to fire live ammunition at demonstrators inside Gaza who posed no imminent threat to life, pursuant to open-fire orders from senior officials that contravene international human rights standards... Israeli forces killed 34 Palestinians and... injured 1,883 with live ammunition...

During a flare-up in early May, Israeli airstrikes killed 25 Palestinians, 13 of whom were civilians killed in strikes that appeared to contain no military objective or caused disproportionate civilian loss in violation of the laws of war, while Palestinian armed groups fired 690 unguided rockets towards Israeli population centers, war crimes, killing four Israeli and two Palestinian civilians...

As of November 11, lethal force by Israeli forces resulted in the killing of 71 and injuring 11,453 Palestinians in Gaza, OCHA reported. An additional 33 were killed and 114 injured... during escalated fighting between November 12 and 14...

Attacks by armed groups in Gaza have killed four Israeli civilians and injured more than 123 Israelis...

In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli security forces killed 23 Palestinians and wounded at least 3,221... attacks by Israeli settlers killed two Palestinians, injured 84, and damaged property in 234 incidents... Palestinians killed five Israelis and wounded at least 46 in the West Bank...

Disproportionate?

Worth remembering also that attacks and assaults resulting in death or injury are not the only form of violence. Human Rights Watch also references the "practice of demolishing the homes of families in retaliation for attacks on Israelis allegedly carried out by a family member, a violation of the international law prohibition on collective punishment"; holding hundreds of thousands of people virtually as prisoners without proper access to food, water, medical treatment, education, etc; the forcible occupation of Palestinian land to build illegal Israeli settlements; and holding minors in detention.

Sudan weakened by US demands on compensation & ties with Israel (The Africa Report)

Battered by an economy in freefall, Sudan’s transitional government is paying a heavy price to access international finance...

The tension between the security holdovers from the Bashir era and the reformers under premier Hamdok is the key fissure in the current government... The worse the economy gets, the harder it will be for the civilians to maintain popular support. Then the danger will be that the military uses that loss of support as a pretext to take back full control and wipeout the transition...

Israel rebuked for 'biggest demolition of Palestinian homes in years'
BBC | Nov 5, 2020

The United Nations has rebuked Israel for carrying out what it said was the biggest demolition of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank for a decade.

Some 73 people, including 41 children, were made homeless when their dwellings were knocked down in the Bedouin settlement of Khirbet Humsa, in the Jordan Valley...

The Israeli military said the structures had been built illegally. (within Israeli-designated "firing zones" )

But the UN called the Israeli actions a "grave breach" of international law.

According to the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), 76 structures - including homes, animal shelters, toilets and solar panels - were destroyed when Israeli bulldozers moved in late on Tuesday.

...Footage from the scene following the demolition, released by Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, showed the area strewn with wreckage including twisted metal, sheets and cots...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-54823660

Pentagon senior adviser accused Pompeo and senior politicians of taking money and getting rich from 'the Israeli lobby' (CNN)

A new senior adviser at the Pentagon repeatedly said the United States' support for Israel was the result of "Israeli lobby" money and accused prominent officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, of becoming "very very rich," from their support for Israel. Retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor, who was appointed as senior adviser to newly installed acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller this week, made the comments in two media appearances in 2012 and 2019...

Joe Biden should end the US pretence over Israel’s ‘secret’ nuclear weapons (Guardian) by Desmond Tutu

The cover-up has to stop – and with it, the huge sums in aid for a country with oppressive policies towards Palestinians...

Israel is a non-democratic apartheid regime, says rights group (Guardian)

Israel is not a democracy but an “apartheid regime” that enforces Jewish supremacy over all the land it controls, a leading domestic rights group has alleged in a position paper bound to provoke fierce controversy.

“One organising principle lies at the base of a wide array of Israeli policies: advancing and perpetuating the supremacy of one group – Jews – over another – Palestinians,” said B’Tselem, an organisation that documents human rights violations...

>22 John5918:. Gee, I thought that was already self-evident and widely acknowledged.

>23 2wonderY:

Me too. But not amongst the right wing in the USA, including right wing evangelical Christians. I have been blocked on LT by one longstanding right wing evangelical Christian poster for simply saying that Biden should "reverse the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and join the rest of the international community in recognising the illegality of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land."

ICC rules it can investigate alleged war crimes in Palestine despite Israeli objections (Guardian)

Palestinian Authority welcomes ruling that could see prosecution of Israeli officials and military as well as Hamas figures...

ICC rules it has jurisdiction over West Bank and Gaza 'abuses' (BBC)

The International Criminal Court ruled on Friday that it has jurisdiction over war crimes and atrocities committed in the Palestinian territories. The judgement paves the way for the court to open a criminal investigation. Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda had previously called for investigations, saying there was "a reasonable basis to believe" war crimes had happened...

How the Media Cracks Down on Critics of Israel
I was fired as a newspaper columnist after I joked about U.S. military aid to Israel on social media.
by Nathan J. Robinson
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/02/how-the-media-cracks-down-on-critics-of-i...

It is widely recognized that critics of Israel, no matter how well-founded the criticism, are routinely punished by both public and private institutions for their speech. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has documented a pattern by which “those who seek to protest, boycott, or otherwise criticize the Israeli government are being silenced,” a trend that “manifests on college campuses, in state contracts, and even in bills to change federal criminal law” and “suppresses the speech of people on only one side of the Israel-Palestine debate.” The Center for Constitutional Rights has shown that “Israel advocacy organizations, universities, government actors, and other institutions” have targeted pro-Palestinian activists with a number of tactics “including event cancellations, baseless legal complaints, administrative disciplinary actions, firings, and false and inflammatory accusations of terrorism and antisemitism” and concludes that there is a “Palestine exception to free speech.”

The effort to keep critics of Israel quiet sometimes takes the form of explicit government action—there is an open campaign to criminalize speech critical of Israel and some states even require oaths from government employees promising not to boycott Israel. But as Israeli journalist Gideon Levy notes in the Middle East Eye, it often comes in the form of baseless (and offensive) accusations that criticisms of Israel are definitionally anti-Semitic. In the United States, academic critics of Israel have had job offers rescinded or been otherwise kept from teaching, and CNN fired academic Marc Lamont Hill over his call for a free Palestine. In Britain, there has been a years-long absurd campaign to tar former Labour leader (and critic of Israeli government policy) Jeremy Corbyn as an anti-Semite. Human Rights Watch notes that the United States government has wielded unfounded accusations of anti-Semitism against it and against other human rights groups like Amnesty and Oxfam that have exposed Israel’s shoddy human rights record. Within Israel itself, the free speech rights of Palestinians are brutally suppressed, and even Jews supportive of Palestinian rights are regularly harassed by the state. Abeer Alnajjar of OpenDemocracy wrote last year about how “major, mainstream news media outlets are sensitized against any reference to Palestinian rights or international law, and any criticism of Israel or its policies.”

Personally, I had never thought about the question of whether I could suffer consequences for criticizing the government of Israel (and U.S. support for it). I have just about as much “free speech” as you can get in this world. Perhaps I should have thought about it more, though, because as soon as I crossed an invisible line, it was very quickly made clear to me. The moment I irritated defenders of Israel on social media, I was summarily fired from my job as a newspaper columnist....

It was the Grauniad, for those keeping score.

Israel expands nuclear facility previously used for weapons material (Guardian)

Israel is carrying out a major expansion of its Dimona nuclear facility in the Negev desert, where it has historically made the fissile material for its nuclear arsenal...

Israel is committing the crime of apartheid, rights watchdog says (Guardian)

Human Rights Watch has accused Israeli officials of committing the crimes of apartheid and persecution, claiming the government enforces an overarching policy to “maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians”... after decades of warnings that an entrenched hold over Palestinian life could lead to apartheid, it had found that the “threshold” had been crossed...

Pax Christi International urges the United Nations to oppose impending home evictions by Israel in the neighbourhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan (Pax Christi International)

Pax Christi International has sent an urgent letter to the members of the UN Security Council to immediately oppose Israel’s impending plans to forcibly evict Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem.

These families, expulsed from their land during the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, were resettled in the East Jerusalem neighbourhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan. They are now threatened to lose their homes once again. Under international law, East Jerusalem was illegally annexed in 1967 by Israel and is considered by the international community as occupied territory.

The first of these eviction orders are to be executed on 2 May 2021 leaving numerous persons, many of whom are old or children, homeless during a global pandemic. Any hope for a just and sustainable peace is slowly being chipped away by such attempts to create facts on the ground...

Full text of letter here

Sudan calls on Israel to stop violence against Palestinians in Jerusalem (Kuwait News Agency)

A reluctant Sudan has recently been pressured by the USA to establish relations with Israel, but it's good to see that they are still ready to speak out against Israeli oppression of Palestinians.

Not about Israel, but about the ingenuity and hope of the people oppressed by Israel.

Palestinian engineer behind helicopter flight on Mars (Anadolu)

A Palestinian engineer, who was in the team that designed NASA’s mini Mars helicopter Ingenuity, is proud of being part of a historic event. Loay Elbasyouni, born and raised in Gaza’s Beit Hanoun city...

Noting that his father is one of the best surgeons of Palestine in Israeli occupied Gaza City, he said people living in his country strive for success. From a young age, Elbasyouni did not see circumstances as an obstacle before his success and said: “I always knew I will succeed. Honestly, I have not reached my goals yet.” Due to Israel’s occupation, he could not see his parents for 12 years and his brother for 14 years, he noted, saying his parents have moved to Germany. “There's nothing legally stopping me {from going to Gaza} but there is a risk,” he said. “In engineering, we can predict everything, we can calculate everything and we can follow a project timeline. “If I do the same thing with the situation in Gaza, if I say, I want to visit Gaza, what is the timeline? I cannot answer that question,” he said, adding that border closure and opening may occur anytime there... He recalled that once his parents were stuck in Gaza for nine months and their visas got expired. “They used to go to the Rafah crossing every day. It’s not easy”... Elbasyouni called on Gazan people not to lose hope despite challenges, stating that he worked on a mission he called “impossible.” “I think they should dream, and they should believe in their hope”...

125 Democrats Say Military Aid to Israel Shouldn’t Depend on Human Rights Record (truthout)

In an apparent response to growing calls for making U.S. aid to the Netanyahu government conditional on Israeli adherence to human rights law, 330 members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter late last month insisting that the $3.8 billion in annual military aid the United States provides Israel remain unconditional.

The letter — which was signed by virtually all of the Republicans and over half of the Democrats — was a slap in the face to those who have argued that military aid to Israel, like all recipients of taxpayer-funded weaponry, be conditional on at least some level of compliance with human rights and international law.

The lawmakers’ overwhelming bipartisan opposition to conditioning aid is not a product of political pressures coming from their constituents. Polls show that barely one-third of U.S. voters, and barely one-tenth of Democrats, oppose such conditions. Rather, it appears to be part of a longstanding tradition going back decades of Congress rejecting the will of constituents in favor of the interests of arms exporters and the Pentagon...

Eoin Higgins @EoinHiggins_| 11:54 AM · May 15, 2021:
You see all of the kids around me, they’re just kids.
Why would you just send a missile to them?
— a 10-year-old girl in Gaza
A 10-year-old Palestinian girl breaks down while talking to MEE

1:19 ( https://twitter.com/EoinHiggins_/status/1393595559705972739 )
From Middle East Eye

After Years of Quiet, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Exploded. Why Now?
A little-noticed police action in Jerusalem last month was one of several incidents that led to the current crisis.
Patrick Kingsley | May 15, 2021

JERUSALEM — Twenty-seven days before the first rocket was fired from Gaza this week, a squad of Israeli police officers entered the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, brushed the Palestinian attendants aside and strode across its vast limestone courtyard. Then they cut the cables to the loudspeakers that broadcast prayers to the faithful from four medieval minarets.

It was the night of April 13, the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. It was also Memorial Day in Israel, which honors those who died fighting for the country. The Israeli president was delivering a speech at the Western Wall, a sacred Jewish site that lies below the mosque, and Israeli officials were concerned that the prayers would drown it out.

The incident was confirmed by six mosque officials, three of whom witnessed it; the Israeli police declined to comment. In the outside world, it barely registered.

But in hindsight, the police raid on the mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam, was one of several actions that led, less than a month later, to the sudden resumption of war between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, and the outbreak of civil unrest between Arabs and Jews across Israel itself...

...But last month, several factors suddenly and unexpectedly aligned that allowed this slight to snowball into a major showdown.

A resurgent sense of national identity among young Palestinians found expression not only in resistance to a series of raids on Al Aqsa, but also in protesting the plight of six Palestinian families facing expulsion from their homes. The perceived need to placate an increasingly assertive far right gave Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s caretaker prime minister, little incentive to calm the waters.

A sudden Palestinian political vacuum, and a grass-roots protest that it could adopt, gave Hamas an opportunity to flex its muscles.

These shifts in the Palestinian dynamics caught Israel unawares. Israelis had been complacent, nurtured by more than a decade of far-right governments that treated Palestinian demands for equality and statehood as a problem to be contained, not resolved.

...The loudspeaker incident was followed almost immediately by a police decision to close off a popular plaza outside the Damascus Gate, one of the main entrances to the Old City of Jerusalem. Young Palestinians typically gather there at night during Ramadan.

...To the police, the protests were disorder to be controlled. But to many Palestinians, being pushed out of the square was a slight, beneath which were much deeper grievances...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/15/world/middleeast/israel-palestinian-gaza-war....

For the Israeli’s who continue to elect Netanyahu there is no two state solution. They have their own version of a final solution which only ends with the deaths or expulsions of every single Moslem or Christian Palestinian.

In Gaza you are automatically criminalized at birth. You are fenced in by land and and at the mercy of snipers if you stray too close to an Israeli military outpost. You are patrolled constantly by a hostile Israeli Air Force flying overhead and blockaded from the open sea by the Israeli Navy. What’s more is 2% of a available water is actually drinkable and you’re dependent on Israeli whims for foodstuffs and goods entering the strip and it’s almost impossible to get a visa to leave even temporarily. All this is why some people consider the Gaza Strip an open air prison.

Power Up: Biden administration approves $735 million weapons sale to Israel, raising red flags for some House Democrats
Jacqueline Alemany | May 17, 2021

The Biden administration has approved the sale of $735 million in precision-guided weapons to Israel...Congress was officially notified of the proposed sale on May 5...That was nearly a week before Hamas, the terrorism-designated organization that controls the Gaza strip began intense rocket attacks against Israel that have reportedly killed at least 10 Israelis. The rockets have been answered with ongoing Israeli airstrikes that have left nearly 200 Palestinians dead and sparked worldwide calls for diplomatic action. The crisis is the worst since a 2014 Hamas-Israeli war that lasted nearly two months.

While calling for an immediate cease-fire, the administration has said that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas — a position that a majority in Congress has previously supported. But a new generation of House Democrats more open to questioning Washington’s support of Netanyahu is raising some concerns. Some lawmakers want to know more about the new proposed sale, and its timing, suggesting it be used as leverage...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/05/17/power-up-biden-administration...

Israel-Gaza Conflict: Patriarch Pizzaballa Asks Catholics to Pray for Peace and Justice (ACI Africa)

{The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem} Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa has urged Catholics worldwide to pray for “peace and justice” as violence racks the Holy Land...

“Unfortunately, this is not the first time and I fear not even the last in which we will have to deal with these explosions of violence and war in the Holy Land. These outbreaks of violence will only leave more rubble, deaths, animosities, and feelings of hatred, but they will bring no solution. We will see mutual accusations on the use of power, probably we will resort to international courts, accusing each other, but in the end, everything will be as before, until the next crisis. Until we decide to really face the problems that have afflicted these countries and these peoples for decades, in fact, I fear that we will be forced to witness more violence and other grief...

“Jerusalem is the heart of the problem and this time it was the spark that ignited the country. As is well known, it all started with the well-known question of Sheikh Jarrah, which has been presented as a legal question. However, as we have already reiterated in our previous declaration {referring to a May 10 statement by the Latin Patriarchate}, it is also evidently a political decision of further expansion of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem. It is a decision which changes the already many times broken balance between the two parts of the city and this creates tensions and suffering. This crisis, however, indicates that this methodology does not work and that no solution on Jerusalem can be imposed. The solution can only be the result of the dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, who will both have to make their own the open, multi-religious and multicultural vocation of the city...

“The Palestinian people have been waiting for years for a dignified solution, a serene and peaceful future, in their land, in their country. For them, however, there seems to be no place in the world and, before being able to live with dignity at home, they are continually invited by the various chancelleries to await an unknown and continually postponed future”...

He argued that the clashes resulted from years of “violent political language” that had driven an “ever-deeper” wedge between the two peoples. “It will take a long time to rebuild these deeply wounded relationships. We will have to work with the many people, of all faiths, who still believe in a future together and are committed to it. They are a lot. But they need support, someone who can bring their voice to the whole world,” he said. “We will have to start rebuilding the relationships between all of us all over again, and in this sense, it will be a priority to start from the painful discovery of these days, that is, from the hatred that harbored above all in the hearts of young people... We must not cultivate or allow feelings of hatred to develop. We must make sure that no one, whether Jewish or Arab, feels rejected...

“We will have to learn to be more attentive to the language we use and become aware that the reconstruction of a serious model of relations between us will require a long time, patience, and courage... We will need a new alliance, between people of goodwill who, regardless of faith, identity, and political vision, feel the other as part of themselves and wish to commit themselves to live with this conscience”...

I quote this at length as I think it contains some important points. It's also important for westerners who promote a false caricature of Palestinians as Islamist extremists to hear the words of a Palestinian Christian leader who preaches justice, peace and reconciliation. His moderate stance is not as rare as the bigots might want to suggest, and is shared by many ordinary Palestinians, whether Muslim or Christian, and probably also by many ordinary Israelis.

#37–unfortunately for the above it does work for Netanyahu as in allowing for the stealing of more Palestinian land keeps him in power and has kept him in power for a long time. Put another way there are not enough ‘ordinary’ Israeli’s who would choose the peaceful route of not coveting their neighbor’s land.

At least this time around the mainstream press that’s not on the hard right in the United States is not so blatantly pro-Israel.

Israel-Gaza conflict: Blinken vows to repair relations with Palestinians (BBC)

the US has promised to repair ties with the Palestinians by reopening a consulate in Jerusalem and help rebuild the conflict-torn Gaza Strip...

The headline assumes the reader knows who or what "Blinken" is. The story reveals that he is the US Secretary of State.

Ilan Pappe's Ten myths about Israel is offered free--in the e-book format--on Versobooks:

https://www.versobooks.com/books/2430-ten-myths-about-israel

UN to launch inquiry into ‘systematic discrimination’ in Israel and Palestine (Guardian)

The UN’s main human rights body will launch an investigation into “systematic discrimination and repression” in Israel and Palestine, with the aim of identifying what it said were the root causes of recent Gaza bloodshed...

Opening the session in Geneva, the UN rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, said Israel’s attacks on Gaza this month could constitute war crimes if they were found to be disproportionate, and accused Hamas of firing indiscriminate rockets on Israel. “There is no doubt that Israel has the right to defend its citizens and residents. However, Palestinians have rights too – the same rights,” said Bachelet, a former president of Chile. “The death of and injury of children in this escalation is a source of shame for all”...

An eye-opening article about the role cartography and the census played (and still play) in controlling and harassing the Palestinian population. Adapted by the author from Jess Bier's book Mapping Israel, Mapping Palestine: How Occupied Landscapes Shape Scientific Knowledge

Removing Borders, Erasing Palestinians: Israeli Population Maps after 1967

‘Violence Begets Violence’: Turmoil and Fear in the Holy Land (Catholic Near East Welfare Association)

May 10 is fraught with tension every year, as the narrow streets of the Old City become the parade route for extremist Jewish groups whose actions are described as increasingly confrontational and provocative, designed to elicit violent responses. While Israelis celebrate the military victory as a unification of their ancient capital, Palestinians lament it as a de facto divorce of the city from the West Bank, the vast majority of which remains occupied by the Israeli Defense Forces...

Life Under Occupation:
The Misery at the Heart of the Conflict
David M. Halbfinger and Adam Rasgon | May 22, 2021

...Even in supposedly quiet periods, when the world is not paying attention, Palestinians from all walks of life routinely experience exasperating impossibilities and petty humiliations, bureaucratic controls that force agonizing choices, and the fragility and cruelty of life under military rule, now in its second half-century.

Underneath that quiet, pressure builds...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/22/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-conflict.html

From the Jacobin October 2020:

https://jacobinmag.com/2020/10/boycott-divestment-sanctions-movement-israel-pale...

Basically there has been an ongoing campaign in the United States to squash any kind of criticism of Israel and to reference the same as anti-Semitism. The same was also effectively used against the Labour Party leader in England Jeremy Corbin to drive him out of power. In the meantime the real victims are the Palestinian people who have no rights or very restricted rights to live in the country they were born in....and the Trump administration and conservatives in the United States have been working very much in partnership with Netanyahu’s right wing regime to smother any kind of dissent vis-a-vis Israel’s apartheid agenda and that all became an avenue of attack for them on the BLM movement as well.

>45 lriley:

Here we see the true "cancel culture" in action. It is a tool used far more comprehensively by the right wing than by the left, yet the right has created a narrative that it is the left which is trying to limit free speech. 'Twas ever thus.

Senior figures attack ‘obstruction’ of ICC’s Palestine investigation (Guardian)

More than 50 former foreign ministers, prime ministers and senior international officials, including two British Conservative former ministers, have signed an open letter condemning political interference in efforts by the international criminal court (ICC) to investigate alleged war crimes in Palestine... Condemning the “increasing attacks on the ICC, its staff and cooperating civil society groups”, the letter identifies the Trump administration’s moves against the court as part of a wider trend...

“Deeply worrying is now the unwarranted public criticism of the court regarding its investigation of alleged crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territory, including unfounded accusations of antisemitism. It is well established and recognised that accountability for serious rights violations by all sides to a conflict is essential for achieving a sustainable and lasting peace. This is the case in Israel-Palestine, just as in Sudan, Libya, Afghanistan, Mali, Bangladesh/Myanmar, Colombia, and Ukraine. Attempts to discredit the court and obstruct its work cannot be tolerated if we are serious about promoting and upholding justice globally”...

Amnesty: ‘catalogue of violations’ by Israeli police against Palestinians (Guardian)

The latest flare-up of violence in the Gaza Strip has been accompanied by a “catalogue of violations” committed by Israeli police against Palestinians in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, according to research from Amnesty International.

Arab citizens of Israel have been subjected to unlawful force from officers during peaceful demonstrations, sweeping mass arrests, torture and other ill-treatment in detention, and police have failed to protect Palestinians from premeditated attacks by rightwing Jewish extremists, the human rights watchdog said on Thursday...

Sudan: Civilian lawmakers concerned by military's contacts with Israel's Mossad (Middle East Monitor)

The head of Sudan's governing council, Abdel Fatah Al-Burhan, and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok expressed their disapproval of the contacts between Israel and army Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemeti).

According to Israel's Walla news site, Burhan and Hamdok see contacts between Hameti and the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, as being against Sudan's legitimate civilian authorities, which reached a deal to normalise relations with the occupation state last year.

The concerns of the leaders of Sudan's transitional civilian authorities intensified after an Israeli private jet affiliated with Mossad landed in Khartoum last week, according to the American news website Axios. Mossad officials who were on board met with Hameti in Khartoum.

Since the beginning of the normalisation process, Hameti has tried to establish separate channels of communication with Israel, independently from the country's civilian authorities headed by Burhan and Hamdok...

For those who have never heard of him, Dagalo (aka Hemeti) leads a militia which was implicated in war crimes and alleged genocide in Darfur and which was later incorporated into the military of ousted Islamist dictator Omar Hassan al Bashir. Given Israel's own appalling human rights record, it's hardly surprising that the Israeli regime would want to be associated with such a figure.

Have ‘Human Shields’ Accusations Become an Excuse for War Crimes? (The Progressive Magazine)

From photos of dead Palestinian children on the front page of The New York Times to gripping accounts of people digging through the wreckage of high-rise apartment complexes and office buildings, evidence of last month’s horrific death toll from Israel’s eleven-day bombing campaign was hard to deny.

Yet those defending the devastating military offensive are insisting that somehow Israel is not at fault for such massive destruction of the civilian infrastructure. Rather, they argue, it is actually the fault of the Palestinians themselves, specifically their use of “human shields.”

Despite repeated claims by both Israel and the United States, there is absolutely no evidence that any of the more than 3,000 Palestinian civilians killed in Israeli military operations against Gaza since 2008 were a result of Hamas using human shields...

What neither Republican nor Democratic leaders have acknowledged, however, is that even if a terrorist group was using human shields in the narrower legal definition of the term, it still does not absolve armed forces from their obligation to avoid civilian casualties. Protocol I of the Fourth Geneva Convention makes clear that even if one side is shielding itself behind civilians, such a violation “shall not release the Parties to the conflict from their legal obligations with respect to the civilian population and civilians”...

#50–so many killed from bombings. How does their human shield theory work with that?

Ben & Jerry’s to stop sales in occupied Palestinian territories (Guardian)

Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream has announced that it will no longer sell its ice-cream in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying the sales are “inconsistent with our values.” The announcement on Monday was one of the highest-profile rebukes by a well-known brand of Israel’s settlements which are regarded as illegal under international law...

Ben & Jerry's will stop selling ice cream in Palestinian territories (CNN)

Ben & Jerry's will no longer sell ice cream in occupied Palestinian territories, saying it's inconsistent with the values of the socially conscious brand...

International law considers East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and Gaza as occupied territory under United Nations Security Council Resolutions...

We are Google and Amazon workers. We condemn Project Nimbus (Guardian)

We cannot support our employer’s decision to supply the Israeli military and government technology that is used to harm Palestinians...

Palestine olive harvest: Campaign begins to protect farmers (Al Jazeera)

As olive harvest season sets in Palestine, a 10-day campaign to aid and protect farmers has been launched in areas considered to be at high risk of Israeli settler attacks. Dozens of Palestinian volunteers, young and old, arrived on Wednesday morning to the village of Jalud, on the southern outskirts of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, to help landowners harvest their olive trees – as quickly as possible. Another group of volunteers worked simultaneously with landowners in the next-door village of Qaryout. The campaign, organised by the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), will cover 12 villages, mainly across southern Nablus, but also in the Ramallah and Bethlehem areas. It will bring together more than 250 volunteers including university students, farming committees, local councils, and residents of the villages...

By banning six Palestinian NGOs, Israel has entered a new era of impunity (Guardian)

I was one of the founders of the human rights organisation Al-Haq in 1979 and remain proud of its work over the past four decades in defending human rights in the Israeli occupied territories. I was horrified when it was declared to be a terrorist organisation by the Israeli defence minister on 19 October, along with five other Palestinian NGOs. During the many years of direct Israeli occupation, from 1967 to 1995, there was a long and expanding list of proscribed groups issued by the Israeli military commander under “emergency” regulations first put in place by the British in 1945. Al-Haq was never on this list...

Israel’s charge against the six NGOs, which include groups that offer legal support to prisoners and a women’s rights organisation, is based on a supposed connection to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Over the years, this claim has been used by Israeli officials to justify their refusal to permit travel for Al-Haq staff. The claim was that Al-Haq was not a genuine human rights organisation, but a PFLP front. Yet this unfounded and patently untrue accusation was never followed by issuing such a devastating order as happened last Tuesday. B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organisation that Al-Haq often collaborates with, has described the Israeli government’s declaration as “an act characteristic of totalitarian regimes, with the clear purpose of shutting down these organisations”. The policy change is evidence of how far Israel has gained confidence in feeling immune from the consequences of its actions, in this case interfering with civil society organisations that do tremendous work in the West Bank...

Israeli official voices support for Sudanese military coup in interview (The New Arab)

An unnamed Israeli official has voiced support for a military coup in Sudan in an interview with the Israel Hayom newspaper. The official said that Israel should support the head of the Sudanese military, General Abdel Fattah Burhan, who led the coup on Monday because he was more likely than Prime Minister Abdulla Hamdok to normalise ties with Israel...

Ironic to see the Israelis supporting an Islamist coup d'etat.

Israeli woman jailed three times for refusing to join the army (BBC)

n September, a young Jewish ultra-orthodox Israeli man asked for leave to remain in the UK because he feared being imprisoned as a deserter from the military if he returned to his home country. The unusual case has shone a light on the issue of conscientious objectors in Israel. Most Jewish Israelis do compulsory military service for at least two years. However, every year a small number take an ideological stance to oppose their conscription and end up in military prison...

NSO Group: Israeli spyware company added to US trade blacklist (BBC)

The Israeli company behind the controversial Pegasus spyware has been added to a US trade blacklist. Pegasus has reportedly been used by nation states to target the phones of rights activists and journalists. The US has now put its maker, NSO Group, on its "entity list", banning business dealings with them. NSO Group said it was "dismayed" by the decision, adding that its technology helped maintain US national security by "preventing terrorism and crime". It has long maintained that its software is sold only to military, law enforcement and intelligence agencies from countries with good human rights records. But earlier this year, it was accused of having sold its technology to authoritarian governments, which then targeted innocent people...

Amnesty International calls Israel’s actions against Palestinians apartheid (Guardian)

Amnesty International has joined other leading human rights groups in stating that Israel’s “system of oppression and domination” over the Palestinians amounts to the international definition of apartheid. The report immediately prompted fury among Israeli politicians who called for it to be withdrawn...

Amnesty says Israel is an apartheid state. Many Israeli politicians agree (Guardian)

While some in Washington DC and US media decry Amnesty’s conclusions, it’s a different story among some Israeli leaders...

As Yossi Sarid, a former Israeli cabinet minister, ex-leader of the opposition, and member of the Knesset for 32 years, put it in 2008: “What acts like apartheid, is run like apartheid and harasses like apartheid, is not a duck – it is apartheid.” Leading Israeli politicians have warned for years that their country was sliding into apartheid. They include two former prime ministers, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert, who can hardly be dismissed as antisemites or hating Israel... “As long as in this territory west of the Jordan river there is only one political entity called Israel it is going to be either non-Jewish or non-democratic,” Barak said in 2010. “If this bloc of millions of Palestinians cannot vote, that will be an apartheid state.” Israel’s former attorney general, Michael Ben-Yair, was even clearer. “We established an apartheid regime in the occupied territories immediately following their capture. That oppressive regime exists to this day,” he said in 2002. Ami Ayalon, the former head of Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence service, has said his country has “apartheid characteristics”. Shulamit Aloni, the second woman to serve as an Israeli cabinet minister after Golda Meir, and Alon Liel, Israel’s former ambassador to South Africa, both told me that their country practices a form of apartheid. Israel’s leading human rights group, B’Tselem, published a groundbreaking report last year that described “a regime of Jewish supremacy” over Palestinians that amounted to apartheid. Another Israeli group, Yesh Din, gave a legal opinion that “the crime against humanity of apartheid is being committed in the West Bank”. The reckoning is not confined to the political class. “The cancer today is apartheid in the West Bank,” AB Yehoshua, one of Israel’s greatest living writers, said in 2020. “This apartheid is digging more and more deeply into Israeli society and impacting Israel’s humanity”...

Democrats Attack Amnesty Report on Israel to Justify US Complicity in Human Rights Abuses (Truthout)

The Biden administration and congressional leaders of both parties have launched a full-frontal assault on the integrity of Amnesty International, the world’s largest human rights organization. This decidedly mainstream nongovernmental organization (NGO) — which is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, boasts more than 10 million members worldwide and is cited frequently by U.S. government agencies — was embraced by most leading Democrats until it released its latest report last week regarding systemic violations of international humanitarian law by Israel, a very close U.S. ally.

The 280-page report systematically examined Israel’s fragmentation of the Palestinian population into zones of control, dispossession of land and property, segregation, restrictions on economic and social rights, home demolitions and forced evictions, family separations, and other human rights violations. It made a very strong case that such practices collectively constitute the legal definition of apartheid — that is, serious human rights violations “perpetrated in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over another, with the intention to maintain that system”...

State Department spokesperson Ned Price... prevaricated when asked by a reporter why the State Department was so quick to denounce Amnesty in this case while being quite willing to cite Amnesty authoritatively when it criticized governments opposed by Washington...

>61 John5918: well support for Israel’s apartheid regime is the one area where all our political divisiveness disappears and the ultra right breaks bread with the Pelosi’s of the world.

The Democratic Party is not a left party and hasn’t been for a long time. As the Republican Party moves further right they follow behind taking up old Republican Party positions.

Europe: Ban Trade with Illegal Settlements (Human Rights Watch)

The European Commission should prohibit EU trade with settlements in occupied territories globally, Human Rights Watch said today as it signed onto a European Citizen’s Initiative (ECI). The citizen-led initiative, registered with the European Commission in September 2021 and initiated on February 20, 2022, calls for adopting legislation to prohibit products originating from unlawful settlements from entering the EU market and to ban EU exports to settlements. The transfer of an occupying power’s civilian population to a militarily occupied territory violates the Fourth Geneva Convention and, under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, is a war crime. Trading in products produced in settlements in occupied territory or with them helps to sustain these violations of international humanitarian law. It also entrenches the human rights abuses that often stem from settlements, including land confiscation, natural resource exploitation, and displacement of and discrimination against the local population. “Settlements unlawfully rob local populations of their land, resources, and livelihoods,” said Bruno Stagno, chief advocacy officer at Human Rights Watch. “No country should be enabling the trade in goods produced as a result of land theft, displacement, and discrimination.” The EU should also ban trade that contributes to unlawful resource extraction in occupied territories, which is also a violation of international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch said...

US accused of hypocrisy for supporting sanctions against Russia but not Israel (Guardian)

The US and some of its European allies are facing accusations of double standards for supporting sanctions and international war crimes investigations against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine while blocking them over Israeli military actions in the occupied Palestinian territories... While pressing for action against Russia, however, the US and other governments have resisted similar measures against Israel...

U.S. urges Israel to not normalize with Sudan’s coup leader (Sudan Tribune)

May 27, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – U.S. State Department urged Israel to not normalize relations with the military-led government in Sudan, the Jewish Insider reported on Friday. The Sudanese military officials, in October 2021, overthrew a civilian government implementing democratic reforms and working to bring peace to the country, because their economic interests and privileges were threatened by the process. Military delegations intensified their visits to Israel to reaffirm their commitment to Abraham Accords which Sudan joined in January 2021. They also requested Israel’s support to quell anti-coup protests...

Israeli forces raid offices of six Palestinian human rights groups (Guardian)

Israeli forces have raided the offices of six Palestinian human rights groups in the occupied West Bank that it previously accused of being terrorist organisations, a move decried as an “appalling attack” on Palestinian civil society... At the offices of Al-Haq, an internationally respected human rights organisation based in Ramallah, the front door was welded shut and a Hebrew statement left saying it would remain closed for “security reasons”. The minister of an Anglican church on the ground floor of the building, which rents the space to Al-Haq, said the church was also raided and its glass doors smashed... In October Israel outlawed Al-Haq; Addameer, which advocates for Palestinian prisoners; the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees; the Union of Agricultural Work Committees; the Bisan Center for Research and Development; and Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P)... Israel has provided little evidence to back up the accusations... Washington said it was “concerned” by Israel’s closure of the Palestinian NGOs...

So, how bad has it gotten? The Kahanists are no longer being held at bay by the police. They're now running the police.

Theocratic fascists rise to key security posts in Israel's gov't
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4jYq-Swezw

My reading list:

Opinion | How Can American Jews Confront Israel's Horrific New Government?
American Jews are desperate for a plan on how to respond to the Team Crazy nightmare of Israel's new government. From Homeland Security bans to telling the truth to our political allies, this is what I suggest
Eric H. Yoffie, Dec 11, 2022
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2022-12-11/ty-article-opinion/.premium/how-can-u...

Smotrich is about to become the West Bank’s overlord. Here’s what’s at stake
Under the new coalition agreement, millions of Palestinians are about to fall directly at the mercy of one of the most extreme figures in Israeli politics.
By Eliav Lieblich December 7, 2022
https://www.972mag.com/smotrich-west-bank-civil-adm

How Ben-Gvir blows apart the ‘security’ story of Israel’s occupation
Jonathan Cook
Published date: 6 December 2022 12:32 UTC
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-ben-gvir-occupation-security-blows-...

Very often leftists, anti-Semites and godless intellectuals go hand in hand with anti Zionists and irrational anti Israel behaviors. Old bigotries die hard. These people are always caught by surprise, the 1948 founding after the decimation of European Jewry just three short years after the holocaust was somewhat miraculous. Jerusalem returning to Jewish sovereignty in 1967 drives them nuts with the culmination of Trump's symbolic return of the US embassy to Jerusalem. What really frosts their derriere is that conservative Catholics and Fudamentalist protestants would have the audacity to believe that maybe this is God's doing....JMJ....

>69 brone: I think a lot of us are waiting for any attempt by the Israeli government to assimilate the Palestinian people into their society. Basic things like granting citizenship, shit like that that would at least bring them into some kind of third class, second class citizenships. As of now they're not citizens at all and do not have anything like the same rights as Jewish Israelis. Barring that that the Israeli government would stop Israeli settlers from illegally annexing more of the West Bank. For me this is very much about bigotry but it starts with a right wing Israeli government creating and allowing an apartheid like system to exist.

On the question of being 'godless' I would refer you to the Crass song 'So what'. Beliefs and faith are certainly fine and help a lot of people but believing is not the same as knowing and acting like it is the same has long been a huge problem. Pretty much every religious conflict (and for German and Austrian WWII Nazi's their faith in Nazi ideology or post WWI Russian communist their faith in that ideology amounts to religion) is a matter of we know better and we are better than those guys over there and therefore we deserve what they have and they (maybe) deserve to die for that difference.

>69 brone: Very often leftists, anti-Semites and godless intellectuals go hand in hand with anti Zionists and irrational anti Israel behaviors.

Which, like it frequently is, is just a way of avoiding actual discussion about what Israel is doing.

What really frosts their derriere is that conservative Catholics and Fudamentalist protestants would have the audacity to believe that maybe this is God's doing

As an atheist, if there's an omniscient omnipotent creator deity, I'm not sure what can be labeled as not their doing. Certainly a direct implication of that claim is that God arranged the Holocaust in order to create Israel.

And as Terry Pratchett wrote, “Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things.” And that viewpoint is very much treating people as things. We could talk about the Israeli Jews need for safety and unwillingness to see value in negotiating with terrorists when previous negotiations have achieved little and unilateral behavior has achieved a lot. We can talk about Palestinians need for safety and security, and feels that non-violent behavior has been largely unproductive, and unwillingness to accept any situation that cedes a lot of the Holy Land to the Jews.

But "this is God's doing" throws that all out; everyone is just doing lines in a play, and what the people of Israel and Palestine want and need and deserve is all irrelevant. (And note this is all about the people of the Middle East; many people who make these arguments still seem to think 'Mericans have free will and rights and stuff.)

I read somewhere yesterday that people on the right side of the political spectrum tend to view people more on the left side of the political spectrum as evil whereas people on the left side tend to look at people on the right side as stupid. There is a big difference between being thought of in terms of evil or stupid…..and when we throw in the religious component whether it’s murdering people of a different faith or taking your wrath out on non-believers who let’s say are pro choice or not threatened by people from the LBGTQ community. The likelihood anyway of doing violence to somebody is greater when people think they’re evil. Being dumb just doesn’t rise to that.

Palestinian fears heightened as Israeli far right takes power (BBC)

Palestinians in Hebron say they feel increasingly vulnerable to attack after Israel's recent election. The vote saw a massive rise in support for the far right, empowering an ultranationalist hardcore of the settler movement in Hebron and elsewhere, and reigniting a culture war within Israeli society over the role of the military in the occupied territories...

There’s no cycle of violence in Jerusalem – only Israel’s lethal oppression of my people (Guardian)

From house demolitions to military detention, the violence we Palestinians face daily reflects the power imbalance of occupier and occupied...

What We Saw, What We Heard, What We are Compelled to Do: A Testimony of Witness (Pax Christi International)

During the first two weeks of February, a delegation of thirteen members of the international Catholic peace movement, Pax Christi, travelled to the Holy Land. We came from six countries with a united purpose to reconnect with Pax Christi partners, see, first-hand, the facts on the ground, meet with religious leaders, activists, and those providing direct service and to speak with those affected by the occupation. Most importantly, we wanted to reaffirm our steadfast commitment and solidarity with our Palestinian sisters and brothers in their legitimate demand for freedom, justice, and equality. What we witnessed was nothing short of heartbreaking. Families living in daily fear that their homes could be demolished, at a moment’s notice, for lack of a building permit which is rarely approved by the Israeli authorities. Farmers who must choose between tending their animals and crops or being violently attacked by settlers. Human rights activists and other civil society spokespeople threatened for speaking truth to power and advocating for children, women, prisoners, or anyone whose rights are being violated. Bedouin communities who struggle to retain their way of life as they face sweeping eviction orders. We listened to stories of grief, dispossession, land confiscation, and imprisonment. We heard voices filled with fear, anger, defiance, and hopelessness. Everywhere, individuals expressed their frustrations with the ineffectiveness of the Palestine Authority and their grave concern for increased violence and repression in the future as the new Israeli ultra-nationalist government took control...

UN urged to reject antisemitism definition over ‘misuse’ to shield Israel (Guardian)

More than 100 Israeli and international civil society organisations have asked the United Nations to reject a controversial definition of antisemitism because it is being “misused” to protect Israel from legitimate criticism... “Adoption of the definition by governments and institutions is often framed as an essential step in efforts to combat antisemitism. In practice, however, the IHRA definition has often been used to wrongly label criticism of Israel as antisemitic, and thus chill and sometimes suppress, non-violent protest, activism and speech critical of Israel and/or Zionism, including in the US and Europe,” the letter said. Signatories include Israel’s largest human rights group, B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Israeli and Palestinian civil society groups. Some of the signatories are concerned that if Guterres formally adopts the IHRA definition it will be used to curb criticisms of Israeli policies by UN bodies including the special rapporteur for the occupied territories...

Abbot asked to remove his cross: Government does not accept Jerusalem as holy to 3 religions (YNet)

The German abbot who was instructed to remove the cross he was wearing when he accompanied a German Cabinet member to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem told Ynet Thursday that the incident is part of a changed atmosphere of the government toward the Christian community in Israel and a denial that it is a holy city for three religions. Nikodemus Schnabel, a high-ranking member of the Benedictine Order serving as the abbot of the Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem, escorted German Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger Wednesday on her visit to the holy Jewish site when he was approached by an usher and told he must remove his cross which she saw as a provocation, despite his explanation that he was a man of the Church...

MarkHertling @MarkHertling | 7:44 AM · Oct 7, 2023:
We’re waking to what Israel is reporting as Hamas “air, land and sea” attacks into Israel.
Open source films show swarms of Hamas fighters attacking, with 1000s of rockets into multiple sites from Gaza.
Interestingly, this post from Irans supreme leader a few days ago.

Quote
Khamenei.ir @khamenei_ir · Oct 3
The usurper regime is coming to an end. Today, the Palestinian youth and the anti-oppression, anti-occupation movement in Palestine is more energetic, more alive, and more prepared than ever during the past 70 or 80 years. God willing, the movement will achieve its goals.
____________________________________________

Scenes from Hamas’s morning rocket attack on Israel
Air raid sirens wail across southern and central Israel, with the army urging people to stay near bomb shelters.
Al Jazeera | 7 Oct 2023

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2023/10/7/scenes-from-hamass-morning-rocket-at...

Martin Kramer @Martin_Kramer | 8:09 AM · Oct 7, 2023:
Historian @TelAvivUni & Walter P. Stern fellow @WashInstitute . Past 1st president @ShalemCollege
J’lem. History & politics of Middle East & Israel.

A Gazan reporter reports from inside a kibbutz in the Western Negev, on Hamas killing and abducting Israelis. The IDF and Israeli media aren’t showing more than a fragment of the reality. It’s all on WhatsApp.

Quote
יואב זיתון @yoavzitun · 7h
כתבתנו לענייני פלסטינים עינב חלבי מדווחת על הסרטון הבלתי נתפס הזה: עיתונאי עזתי מדווח כעת מתוך קיבוץ בנגב המערבי על הריגת וחטיפת ישראלים כשחמושי חמאס סביבו.
חמאס השיג את כל תמונות הניצחון למלחמה הזו ממכת הפתיחה שלו
0:42 in Arabic? ( https://twitter.com/Martin_Kramer/status/1710628519527461273 )

Inexplicable?

Jennifer Truthful, Not Neutral Rubin @JRubinBlogger | 11:11 AM · Oct 7, 2023:

from a senior Knesset source: "We haven’t got control of all the places in the south yet. The number of people murdered has exceeded 100 and injured above 1000. It’s the most Israeli civilians killed in one day in our history. Inexplicable."

From Israel: "monumental security failure. . . Exactly 50 years after the Yom Kippur war, Israel has been surprised again, and the government – which has prioritized in recent months the judicial overhaul and the needs of the settlers – has failed to protect its citizens"

Russia...(?) Can't attack US or NATO country directly, but could work w Iran to arm Hamas?

https://thehill.com/policy/international/4243414-medvedev-says-hamas-attacks-exp...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-blames-us-for-israel-attacks-idiots/...
https://www.firstpost.com/world/instead-of-solving-israel-palestine-conflict-the...
______________________________________

Israel War Room @IsraelWarRoom | 11:44 AM · Oct 7, 2023:

#BREAKING: President @JoeBiden authorizes a transfer of weapons to Israel worth $8 Billion.
Allies stand together 🇮🇱🇺🇸

Memo, Biden to Sec'y of State ( https://twitter.com/IsraelWarRoom/status/1710682594851897741/photo/1 )

Iron Dome doesn't stop everything? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Dome

DW News @dwnews | 11:01 AM · Oct 7, 2023:

Israel says it is "at war" after Hamas launched thousands of rockets at Israeli targets.
Here's what we know so far:

1:59 ( https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1710671646594412578 )

Noga Tarnopolsky נגה טרנופולסקי نوغا ترنوبولسكي💙 @NTarnopolsky | 11:36 AM · Oct 7, 2023:
🇮🇱Israel🇵🇸 Palestine reporter♥️🇦🇷🇨🇭🥩🍷PostNews: https://post.news/ntarnopolsky IG @noga_ga

💥The Israeli army warned Netanyahu for months that his push for government overhaul put Israel at great risk of a multi-front attack. He dismissed their warnings by accusing the military of "joining the left-wing protesters" against him. His ministers said army could go to hell.
----------------------------------------

Surprise Palestinian attack is most significant military challenge to Israel in 50 years
Today's attack, launched almost 50 years to the day of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, is different, writes Bel Trew. And the consequences will be huge
Bel Trew | 7 Oct 2023

...Israel is famed for being the birthplace of world’s most powerful surveillance software. It has eyes & a blockade on Gaza, that is only 42km long. In Gaza the one constant is the Israeli observation drones in the sky. But no one saw this coming...

https://independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-palestine-hamas-attack-b...
____________________________________________

Anshel Pfeffer אנשיל פפר @AnshelPfeffer | 11:35 PM · Oct 7, 2023:
Mancunian hack @haaretz writer TheEconomist correspondent, unauthorized biographer of Netanyahu and Ovadya Yosef. Next book: God Fearers @penguinpress

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1710861402582221223.html :
...Netanyahu tried to ignore Gaza over his many years in office. He never made plans for its future and after each round of fighting there rushed to get back to other matters. Now he will be forever remembered by Israelis for this disaster coming from Gaza. That is now his legacy.

I expect Israel will beat this back and exact a revenge that is many times worse than what we've seen so far. I don't like what Hamas has done here but the Netanyahu government and the continued stealing of Palestinian land and locking away of more than a million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in extremely hard conditions with no movement or ability to leave or improve their lives.....the stripping of basic citizenry rights for decades is what's really driving this. There was once talk of a two state solution but the hardliners in Israel including those who once agreed to that compromise have never seriously negotiated any kind of compromise.....their stance always returns to demonization and more stealing of territory. Netanyahu seems to thrive off of events like this. I think Hamas must know that a ruthless repression is the price for this attack though an even harsher conditions. I wonder what it accomplishes. That said Palestinians have been already suffering an Apartheid like existence under a brutal Israeli govt.

>83 margd: I can see Ukrainians resorting to such methods if heavy-handed Russians still occupy decades from now... The violence against civilians is horrific, but geez, the desperation that must be driving it!

(Apparently Gaza relies on Israel for most of its electric power. Can't get that stat out of my head. Like Russia sitting in Ukrainian nuclear plants...)

Lebanon?

Samuel Ramani (Oxford U) @SamRamani2 | 7:33 AM · Oct 8, 2023:
The prospect of the Gaza War widening to Lebanon looms large
Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas
The IDF has also posted footage of strikes in the Mount Dov region against Hezbollah

Wojtek Wilk PCPM @WojtekWilkPCPM | 7:36 AM · Oct 8, 2023:
President @FundacjaPCPM | creator @RatownicyPCPM | previously 10+ years #ONZ UNOCHA @refugees | expert #PomocHumanitarna #Uchodźcy | expert UN Disaster Management

The rocket barrage was launched at the IDF sites in / in immediate vicinity of Shebaa Farms that Hezbollah claims at Lebanese territory still occupied by Israel. The situation could have spiraled quickly over last hours but so far remains in the confines of previous escalations.

Visegrád 24 @visegrad24 | 9:25 AM · Oct 8, 2023:
Aggregating and curating news, politics, current affairs, history and culture from Central and Eastern Europe.

BREAKING:
USA confirms that several American citizens have been killed and abducted by Hamas in Israel
_______________________________________

Revealed: German tattoo artist, 30, killed by Hamas while attending a music festival before the militants paraded her body on the back of a truck and claimed she was an Israeli soldier - as her devastated family say they are in a 'nightmare'
Caroline Graham and Elizabeth Haigh and Matt Strudwick | 7 October 2023
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12606553/Female-Israeli-soldier-killed-...
_______________________________________

U.S. Embassy Cairo @USEmbassyCairo | 8:32 AM · Oct 8, 2023:

Message to U.S. citizens: The Embassy is aware of reports of multiple foreign tourists killed in an attack in Alexandria, Egypt today, Oct 8, 2023. This incident may be related to ongoing hostilities in Gaza and Israel. U.S. citizens in Egypt should exercise increased security awareness and precautions.

...All U.S. citizens traveling abroad should enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive ongoing updates about emergency situations where they travel. Enroll now at http://step.state.gov

American Citizen Services
U.S. Embassy Cairo

https://www.mediaite.com/news/trump-rages-hamas-never-would-have-attacked-israel...
Trump Rages Hamas Never Would Have Attacked Israel If He Were President: ‘ZERO CHANCE!’

***
The war taking place in Israel is an illustration of how important religious beliefs can be in many peoples' lives. DJT being a president in the US would not make a bit of difference in this never-ending war story between two religious groups. Sadly, it also illustrates why many White Christians in America refuse to be separated from Trump, their Savior. When peoples' faith is involved in a situation, deprogramming is unlikely to work.

Things are going to unfold rapidly now, and no telling where it all ends. (Beirut? Tehran?)

I will say that I'm beyond surprised at the extent of the intelligence failure here.
Beyond surprised.

https://www.mediaite.com/politics/pence-blames-trump-and-isolationist-republican...
Pence Blames Trump And Isolationist Republicans Amid Israel Crisis: They Are ‘Signaling Retreat’

.....Pence then changed gears and took aim at Trump and his “America First” foreign policy.

“But I also believe this is what happens when we have leading voices like Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis signaling retreat from America’s role as leader of the free world,”.....

Two communities who both believe that the other is out to destroy them, both living in fear, both becoming more and more intransigent, and both committing violent atrocities against each other. It's understandable why Palestinians feel so helpless and hopeless that they resort to this type of attack, but responding to violence with more violence solves nothing. Violence begets more violence. Israel will respond by killing more Palestinians and becoming more intransigent, which in turn will lead Palestinians to become more determined to respond in kind. This human tragedy will continue until some way is found to break the cycle of mutual violence and fear.

Is Israel at War With Iran?
Tehran is exploiting a conflict left to fester for too long.
Arash Azizi | 8 Oct 2023

...the real dilemma for the Israeli government. The decades-long delusion that Israel could ignore, manage, shrink, or simply forget its conflict with its Palestinian neighbors has been a costly blunder. Netanyahu imagined that he could sustain the occupation of the West Bank without hampering the country’s continued diplomatic and economic success. But as other Israelis have long warned, this was a bubble ultimately due to burst. The Iranian regime is arming Palestinians and driving them toward its own murderous agenda vis-à-vis Israelis. But Israel’s continued subjugation of Palestinians is what allows such a festering wound to exist in the first place, giving Tehran an easy issue to exploit.

Allying with Tehran, doing its bidding, and bringing terror upon innocent Israeli civilians will not bring Palestinians any positive outcomes. Seven million Jewish Israelis and the State of Israel are not going anywhere, and so long as Palestinians don’t seek a strategy predicated upon coexistence, they will find no path forward. We have been here before: During the Second Intifada of 2000–05, the murders of Israeli civilians by Hamas and other Palestinian factions served only to weaken Israel’s pro-peace camp and lay the ground for the rise of the far right. A similar outcome today will not be in either society’s interest. Nor will it help the Iranian people, many of whom have long shown their opposition to the regime’s anti-Israel obsession, and some of whom are already protesting the regime’s support for the Palestinian attacks.* They have no interest in a conflict with Israel...

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/10/hamas-iran-tehran-axis...
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Gabriel Noronha @GLNoronha | 3:31 PM · Oct 8, 2023:
Former @StateDept advisor on Iran. @JINSADC Fellow. @PolarisNatSec ED. SASC/Inhofe/McCain/Ayotte alum.

The divide between the Iranian regime and the Iranian people could not be greater.
Soccer fans chant “Take that Palestinian flag and shove it up your ***” in response to an attempt by regime supporters to rally for Hamas.

From Cameron Khansarinia
0:24 ( https://twitter.com/GLNoronha/status/1711101913544966265 )
_____________________________________________________

Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan | 9:24 PM · Oct 8, 2023:
Host, @mehdihasanshow on @MSNBC & NBC's @peacockTV . New York Times best-selling author.

Gaza, in the words of an ex-Israeli intel chief, is an "open-air prison."
"Hell on earth," per the UN Secretary-General.
2.2. million people. 50% kids. 50% in poverty. 90% without access to clean drinking water.
I shared some important background & context on @MSNBC tonight:

1:44 ( https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/1711190819799986216 )

Barry R McCaffrey @mccaffreyr3 | 1:10 PM · Oct 8, 2023:
@NBCNews @MSNBC Four Star US Army General Ret. Four combat tours. Three Purple Heart awards. Council Foreign Relations. Inter-American Dialogue.

MSNBC. 7 Oct 23. Jose Diaz Balart. Hamas achieves strategic surprise. They now have a tactical dominance of the battlefield. Many hostages into Gaza. Hundreds of Israelis killed or wounded. Urban combat. IDF terrible options.
1:56 ( https://twitter.com/mccaffreyr3/status/1711066654489378996 )

Faytuks News Δ @Faytuks | 4:44 PM · Oct 8, 2023:
Fast & reliable news provider || Covering geopolitical incidents as they happen 🌍 @BNONews
collaborator.

BREAKING: Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas’s Saturday surprise attack on Israel and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah - WSJ

The planning went back to August and details were refined at biweekly meetings, according to Senior Hamas and Hezbollah members - WSJ
_______________________________________

Visegrád 24 @visegrad24 | 4:56 AM · Oct 7, 2023:
Aggregating and curating news, politics, current affairs, history and culture from Central and Eastern Europe

A high-level Hamas delegation travelled to Moscow twice last year to meet with Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov.
They promised Russia that they would "work to weaken the West"

Via @sumlenny
Photo 9 Dec 2022 ( https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1710579740287918548/photo/1 )

700 Israelis killed.

1,149 airstrikes in a population denser than Manhattan's:
50% of wounded Gazans are said to be fighters (IDF).
50% of Gazans are said to be children (MSNBC)

Swords of Iron: 1,149 IDF airstrikes on Gaza; 6 ongoing battles in south
Since Hamas' Saturday invasion of southern Israel, there are at least 700 dead Israelis.
YONAH JEREMY BOB | OCTOBER 9, 2023

...Since Hamas' Saturday invasion of southern Israel, there are at least 700 Israelis killed from the invasion and at least 700 dead Hamas terrorists, with around 300-400 dead from fighting in Israel and another 400 dead in Gaza from airstrikes. There are also over 2,000 wounded Israelis and over 2,300 wounded Gazans.

The IDF does not yet have a breakdown of how many of the wounded Gazans are fighters versus civilians, but in 2014 it was about 50% each, and in more recent wars the percentage of fighters has been much higher.

...The IDF admitted that it has been slower to fully clean out the Gaza corridor of Hamas invaders and to seal the border from continuing invaders than it had hoped, with an original goal of early to mid-Sunday.

Currently, the strategy is to move not only a huge volume of troops to the border, but also a larger number of tanks to project power...

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-766314
----------------------------------------------

An Israeli airstrike kills 19 members of the same family in a southern Gaza refugee camp
ISSAM ADWAN | October 8, 2023
https://news.yahoo.com/israeli-airstrike-kills-19-members-214548184.html
____________________________________

Jennifer Cafarella @JennyCafarella | 9:44 PM · Oct 8, 2023:
Director of Strategic Initiatives & National Security Fellow @TheStudyofWar . 40 under 40 @MidEastPolicy . Fellow @MasonNatSec .

The question I think we need to be asking is why might #Iran seek to draw the IDF decisively into #Gaza?
Much remains unclear, but the potentials include very dangerous worst case scenarios of multiple fronts / regional escalation.

{margd: US sending ships for US citizens, show of support, may may shoot down missiles...}

Samuel Ramani (Oxford U) @SamRamani2 | 8:10 AM · Oct 9, 2023:

BREAKING: Israel announces an immediate cut of water supply to the Gaza Strip
Israel's Energy Minister Israel Katz made this announcement which follows Israel's total blockade declaration on Gaza
Gaza has had problems with water security since 2005, exacerbated by the Israeli blockade since 2007

US

Aaron Gwyn @AmericanGwyn | 11:10 AM · Oct 8, 2023:
Novelist & Professor: ALL GOD'S CHILDREN EuropaEditions , WYNNE'S WAR @MarinerBooks , DOG ON THE CROSS AlgonquinBooks . {Charlotte, NC}
https://twitter.com/AmericanGwyn/status/1711036346477736162

Unless you were raised Evangelical in the American South (or Bakersfield, CA), you probably have no idea what tens of millions of Americans are thinking right now regarding the news coming out of the Middle East.
2. Btw: these people elect policy makers.
3. FTR, I’m still a Christian.
I was raised Pentecostal and my grandfather still gets his news out of the Book of Revelation and Daniel.
The Rapture, the Beast, the False Prophet, the Tribulation, Armageddon, the New Jerusalem (not necessarily in that order).
___________________________________

David Axelrod @davidaxelrod | 4:44 PM · Oct 8, 2023:
Founder, @UChiPolitics . Sr. Political Commentator CNN . Author, Believer...

Just to put it into perspective, 600 dead in a country Israel's size would be like 20,000 in the U.S--which would be more than 6 times the number of casualties we took on 9/11, the worst terrorist attack in our history. And the tally doesn't even include the wounded & hostages!
____________________________________

Courtney Kube @ckubeNBC | 12:32 PM · Oct 8, 2023:
NBC News Correspondent covering National Security & the Pentagon.

Exclusive: The US military is planning to move US Navy ships and US military aircraft closer to Israel as a show of support, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the planning. Movements could start immediately but all the assets will not be in place for several days.

The US is also working through plans for a possible non-combatant evacuation - helping Americans get out of Israel. Nothing has been decided or ordered but they are working through options, including one that involves putting some Americans on Navy ships to get them to safety
-----------------------------------------------

Location US naval assets near Israel (map)
https://twitter.com/ianellisjones/status/1711061666102722687/photo/1

Egyptian border:

Mourad Higazy @MouradHigaz | 6:21 AM · Oct 9, 2023:
التعليمات الرئاسية حتى الآن شدّدت على عدم دخول أي فلسطيني إلى مدينة العريش المحاطة بجدار من جميع الجهات مزود بأبراج حراسة، وثلاث بوابات عملاقة عليها ارتكازات مشتركة من الجيش والشرطة.
من ضمن الخطة أن تقيم القوات المسلحة كردونات أمنية حول الخيام لمنع التسلل، مع إقامة نقاط طبية.
Translated from Arabic by Google:
Presidential instructions so far have stressed that no Palestinian should enter the city of Al-Arish, which is surrounded by a wall on all sides equipped with guard towers and three giant gates with joint army and police posts.
The plan includes the armed forces establishing security cordons around the tents to prevent infiltration, while establishing medical points.

🔗 https://bit.ly/3F6eHM7

There are probably several million Americans who believe this Armageddon and rapture nonsense and the state of Israel has played up to it by turning it into a tourist thing.

Some reports that the Russians have sent captured American weapons from the Ukraine conflict into Gaza. Whether that's true or not weapons came from somewhere. The Israeli Navy has blockaded the Gaza Strip by sea for years. Israel has fenced the inhabitants in by land with towers lined up all along the circumference just like you might see with a high security prison so no one can get out. The Israeli Air Force regularly covers the Gaza area from above. When Gaza is called an open air prison if it's not the most surveilled area on Earth it's got to be close. As a matter of Israeli policy there is almost no movement for inhabitants in Gaza to go outside Gaza. It's a 2.2 million population that's been under lock and key more than less serving life sentences under very harsh conditions. There is also no Israeli military presence within Gaza. No Jewish inhabitants. Hamas has become its defacto govt. by virtue of force and militancy which is only to be expected under such conditions. Who has the biggest, toughest gang in a prison runs the prison. That's Hamas.

The real question is who really has the power in a given situation. Because who has the power has the greatest ability to rectify that situation. It's not the Palestinians. It's an Israeli govt. run by a corrupt right wing hardliner who has shown up to now that he will do anything to maintain power. I was reading this actor's defense of why he supported Israel somewhere and one of the things he said was that the Palestinians have just given up an opportunity to work with Israel....to improve their situation. An opportunity that hasn't really existed for more than a decade + anyway. The fabled two state solution is a fable. The Palestinians are pretty much in two places within the territory of Israel now. Gaza where there is no movement and no citizenship and the West Bank where Palestinians are continually under attack by settlers with their territory being constantly encroached on and illegally taken away quite often by force also continually by the same settlers with the tacit approval of the police, military and the Israeli govt. The West Bank might be a somewhat better situation for Palestinians living there having some very limited movement and citizenship rights but it's not very nice at all. It's a population always under threat.

There are really only two long term potential solutions. 1) the expelling and or genocide of the Palestinian people in its entirety. Many in Israel and many supporting Israel around the world would like this to happen whether they're willing to admit it or not. It seems to me that at least as of now this is the endgame that the Israeli govt. is really after. 2) the granting of equality and citizenship and citizen protections to all Israeli citizens whatever their ethnic/racial backgrounds and/or religious convictions like anyone would want to see in a for real democracy. This would also mean all citizens in elected government and government positions, police, military everything. That would mean a lot of negotiation and compromise. There are lots of people within and without Israel that support this too. The power structure is the problem. The best way IMO to destroy Hamas is with a political not war solution. Unfortunately it's easier for those in power to use only war instead.

>96 margd: Israel announces an immediate cut of water supply to the Gaza Strip

That's a form of collective punishment, which is outlawed, and constitutes a crime against humanity.

>100 John5918: Also, only one power plant in Gaza; most power comes from Israel, which I can't imagine hasn't already been cut? Siege warfare...might it drive faster conclusion and therefore be more humane than firing missiles into area more densely populated than Manhattan? Although Hamas probably wouldn't surrender/negotiate for civilians' sakes?
---------------------------------------------
ETA

Sky News SkyNews | 10:05 AM · Oct 9, 2023:

"We're imposing a complete siege on Gaza".
Israel's Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, orders a total blockade of Gaza - leaving them with "no electricity, no food and no fuel".
Follow live updates: https://trib.al/7eaTGhx

📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube
0:18 ( https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1711382405964075219 )
-----------------------------------------------
ETA

Siege Warfare and the Starvation of Civilians as a Weapon of War and War Crime
Beth Van Schaack | February 4, 2016

“Let me be clear: The use of starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime.” These are the words of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon...

US Secretary of State John Kerry..."{P}eople are dying; children are suffering not as a result of an accident of war, but as the consequence of an intentional tactic – surrender or starve. And that tactic is directly contrary to the law of war."

https://www.justsecurity.org/29157/siege-warfare-starvation-civilians-war-crime/

Dmitry Medvedev @MedvedevRussiaE | 8:07 AM · Oct 9, 2023:
Well, NATO buddies, you've really got it, haven't you?
The weapons handed to the nazi regime in Ukraine are now being actively used against Israel.

And it's only going to get worse. Do expect missiles, tanks, and, quite soon, planes fresh from Kiev in the black market.
---------------------------------------------

{margd: i read somewhere that US weapons captured and transferred to Hamas by Moscow? Will post if I come across again, and it looks credible.}
___________________________________

Earlier Medvedev pronouncement:
https://twitter.com/WaterMusic3/status/1710717666145575161/photo/1

>98 margd: Egypt, contd.

Ragıp Soylu @ragipsoylu | Last edited 10:52 AM · Oct 9, 2023
Turkey Bureau Chief for @MiddleEastEye

BREAKING — Egyptian Intelligence Minister called Netanyahu ten days before Hamas attack and warned him of "something unusual, a terrible operation" that was about to take place from Gaza.

Egyptians were "surprised by the indifference shown by Netanyahu".

— Yedioth Ahranoth
_______________________________

What went wrong? Questions emerge over Israel’s intelligence prowess after Hamas attack
TIA GOLDENBERG | October 9, 2023

...Allies who share intelligence with Israel said security agencies were misreading reality.

An Egyptian intelligence official said Egypt, which often serves as a mediator between Israel and Hamas, had spoken repeatedly with the Israelis about “something big,” without elaborating.

He said Israeli officials were focused on the West Bank and played down the threat from Gaza. Netanyahu’s government is made up of supporters of Jewish West Bank settlers who have demanded a security crackdown in the face of a rising tide of violence there over the last 18 months.

“We have warned them an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big. But they underestimated such warnings,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the content of sensitive intelligence discussions with the media...

https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-gaza-attack-intel-a5287a18773232f26ca171...

>103 margd: I'm going to hazard a guess that he already knew.
That's one way to shore up a coalition government.
(and/or form a unity government: https://www.timesofisrael.com/gantz-liberman-open-to-emergency-unity-government-...
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-09/ty-article/.premium/israeli-oppos...

>103 margd: "surprised by the indifference shown by Netanyahu"

Netanyahu would not be the first national leader to relish a war to take the political pressure off of domestic issues. Or am I being too cynical?

The Cradle
@TheCradleMedia
BREAKING: Israeli army targets three Hezbollah watch towers in southern Lebanon.
https://new.thecradle.co/articles/southern-lebanon-heats-up-with-israeli-shellin...

>104 davidgn: Netanyahu miscalculated if he thought that war would strengthen his hand?

Analysis | Another Concept Implodes: Israel Can’t Be Managed by a Criminal Defendant
A direct line runs between the judicial overhaul and the Gaza war. Netanyahu should emulate Begin and go, but we can’t expect introspection from him. The future inquiry must investigate how much time the prime minister devoted to the reform – and how much listening to the military leadership
Gidi Weitz | Oct 9, 2023

text: https://twitter.com/BGrueskin/status/1711355006127939716/photo/1

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-09/ty-article/.premium/another-conce...
----------------------------------------

Netanyahu Bears Responsibility for This Israel-Gaza War
Haaretz Editorial | Oct 8, 2023

The disaster that befell Israel on the holiday of Simchat Torah is the clear responsibility of one person: Benjamin Netanyahu. The prime minister, who has prided himself on his vast political experience and irreplaceable wisdom in security matters, completely failed to identify the dangers he was consciously leading Israel into when establishing a government of annexation and dispossession...

https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/2023-10-08/ty-article-opinion/netanyah...

>103 margd: Lordy, Egypt would have tapes?

Noga Tarnopolsky נגה טרנופולסקי نوغا ترنوبولسكي💙 @NTarnopolsky | 11:53 AM · Oct 9, 2023
Noga Tarnopolsky נגה טרנופולסקי نوغا ترنوبولسكي💙 @NTarnopolsky 🇮🇱Israel🇵🇸 Palestine reporter♥️🇦🇷🇨🇭🥩🍷PostNews: https://post.news/ntarnopolsky {Jerusalem}

💥It occurs to me, and it must occur to Netanyahu, that the Egyptian government could destroy him by r̶e̶l̶e̶a̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ leaking a recording of even a portion of that conversation, whatever was said. Both sides would have recorded.

>94 margd: contd.

Jennifer Griffin @JenGriffinFNC | 3:06 PM · Oct 9, 2023:
Chief National Security Correspondent for @FoxNews

Iran's goal is to draw the US into a broader conflict: senior intelligence source tells me.
_________________________________________

This might be wishful thinking from a Syrian-American(?), but Russia is Syrian ally and US is Israeli ally!

حمدي الرفاعي 🇺🇸 @HamdiRifaiJD | 2:47 PM · Oct 9, 2023:
@RutgersU BA @loynoLaw JD @NDLaw Foreign Affairs - Government Relations - Rule of Law - Represented over 3,000 individuals, businesses & governments

Israel 🇮🇱 is threatening imminent attack on Animal Assad
Tweets Israel Radar ( https://twitter.com/HamdiRifaiJD/status/1711453307447701955/photo/1 )
--------------------------------------------------

Israel Radar @IsraelRadar_com | 1:39 PM · Oct 9, 2023:
Geopolitical Intelligence & Early Warnings • Defense • Terrorism • Military Tech • Telegram: http://t.me/s/israelradar

Israeli warning to Hezbollah: IDF will destroy Damascus, target Syrian President Assad if Hezbollah joins war; US warships will support Israel in war. Message relayed via France (@ynetalerts )

🚨 IDF instructs Israelis to prepare for 3-day stay in bomb shelters/secure rooms, ensure supply of food, water, battery-run devices in case power is down. This is a clear indication of imminent escalation into larger war.
_______________________________________

Analysis / Israel at War: All Eyes on Gaza & Lebanon
Israel Radar / October 9, 2023

...Will Hezbollah join the battle?
1. Hezbollah is far more powerful than Hamas...
2. Any element of surprise for a Hezbollah assault is gone...
3. ...a large raid into Israel will be met with fierce resistance by a superior military force...
4. ...Hezbollah’s size is also a drawback. The group is more like a small army than a terror faction, and the IDF was built to fight armies...

https://israelradar.com/analysis-israel-at-war-all-eyes-on-gaza-lebanon/

Credible? No concern for civilians on either side?

Faytuks News Δ @Faytuks | 12:59 PM · Oct 9, 2023:
Fast & reliable news provider || Covering geopolitical incidents as they happen 🌍 @BNONews
collaborator.

BREAKING: Hamas says it will begin executing an Israeli civilian for every new Israeli bombing of civilian houses without pre-warning, adding that they will broadcast the executions with audio and visuals - REU
________________________________________

Israel Radar @IsraelRadar_com | 12:50 PM · Oct 9, 2023:

Israel's dramatic decision: Gaza assault will go ahead even at price of killing Israeli hostages held by Hamas, unless their exact location is known (via @GLZRadio )

_________________________________________

>108 margd: I totally 100% agree with this. When he was a general he started the first palestinian revolt by going to Temple Mont. His whole career has been to deny the humanity of the palestinians those who were forced out in 1948 into refugee camps and those living now from "annxeation and dispossession" He already had blood on his hands, but now due to his narrow minded beliefs and his incompetence he has left Israel open for attack. The blood shed is on his head

The political/military actors in this are really not good guys. It's all about how the power dynamic plays out in the region for them. Whether it's Iran, Hamas or Israel....even the Saudis. If the Egyptians warned Netanyahu 10 or so days ago.....

It's like for outsiders who did what is going to take some time to sort out. Some obvious things but a lot of not so obvious. But really it's non combatants bearing the brunt. The deaths of soldiers of Hamas or the IDF is not good but it's not quite the same as they signed up for or committed themselves to offensive or defensive military actions or reactions.

I should mention most of the observers I'm following tend to favor (to a greater or lesser degree) the theory of an actual intelligence failure, with explanations ranging from massive complacency, to an over-reliance on AI, to distractions caused by infighting, to distractions caused by the Israeli intelligence apparatus's present focus on Ukraine.

UK, US and allies offer Israel ‘steadfast support’ in joint statement (Guardian)

The leaders of the UK, US, France, Germany and Italy have released a joint statement expressing “steadfast and united support” for the state of Israel and “unequivocal condemnation” of Hamas...

It would be far more constructive if they would offer “unequivocal condemnation" against all war crimes committed by all parties, and "steadfast and united support" for a negotiated peace settlement in the region.

>110 margd: contd. "goal is to draw the US into a broader conflict"

Russia is interested in triggering a war in the Middle East to undermine world unity – address by the President of Ukraine
9 October 2023 - 20:25

...According to the available information – a very clear one – Russia is interested in triggering a war in the Middle East, so that a new source of pain and suffering could undermine world unity, increase discord and contradictions, and thus help Russia destroy freedom in Europe. We see Russian propagandists gloating. We see Moscow's Iranian friends openly supporting those who attacked Israel. And all of this is a much greater threat than the world currently perceives. The world wars of the past started with local aggressions.

...Every state in the world must now choose how it will defend international law. Defend! Not stand aside when terror tries to take over, and when another region of the world may collapse before our eyes.

...I thank everyone in the world who has the courage to call a spade a spade and defend life and the rules-based order!

https://president.gov.ua/en/news/rosiya-zacikavlena-v-rozpalenni-vijni-na-blizko...
_____________________________________________

Russia offered its serves as a peacemaker. As does his Chechen ally in Ukraine Kadyrov, himself apparently quit ill:

Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en | 3:15 AM · Oct 10, 2023:

Kadyrov (barely able to speak, it seems) published a video on his Telegram channel saying he/Chechnya supports Palestine.
"We support Palestine. And we are against this war that, unlike other conflicts, can grow into something larger...
In case it is necessary, our units are ready to work as peacekeeping forces to install order and oppose any offenders" - Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram channel.

1:00 ( https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1711641601066389956 )

Samuel Ramani (Oxford U) @SamRamani2 | 6:59 PM · Oct 9, 2023:

BREAKING: The White House rules out deploying US troops to help Israel against Hamas
John Kirby drew the boundaries for US support for Israel in its war in Gaza

This occurs as Republicans in Congress, such as Josh Hawley, call for a redirection of US aid to Ukraine to support Israel's war against Hamas
-----------------------------------------

"The US is offering Israel special operations planning and intelligence support as part of the effort to rescue hostages taken by Hamas".

- https://edition.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-gaza-attack-10-09-23/h...

Samuel Ramani @SamRamani2 | 7:01 PM · Oct 9, 2023:

BREAKING: Mahmoud Abbas calls for a UN intervention to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza

Abbas relayed these sentiments in a call to Antonio Guterres
Abbas blasted "Israeli aggression" against Palestinians and called for humanitarian and medical aid to reach the Gaza Strip as the blockade becomes air tight

Mahmoud Abbas is set to visit Russia
Vladimir Putin met with Abbas at a conference in Kazakhstan and the Palestinian Authority claims to have daily contacts with Russia
Russia flexes its diplomatic muscles in the Gaza War
_____________________________________

Samuel Ramani @SamRamani2 | 5:25 AM · Oct 10, 2023:

BREAKING: France rejects a suspension of EU aid to Palestine

Olivier Varhelyi, a senior EU official from Hungary involved in enlargement, placed 691 million euros in EU aid to Palestine under review
France's support for humanitarian and development aid to Palestine clashes with Germany's more rigid opposition
_____________________________________
ETA

Samuel Ramani @SamRamani2 | 5:24 AM · Oct 10, 2023:

Iraq and Russia are holding talks
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani {a Shiite} will meet with Vladimir Putin in Moscow
Iraq has expressed strong solidarity with Gaza and Moqtada al-Sadr {a Shiite} has called for a million strong pro-Gaza protest
______________________________________
ETA

Samuel Ramani @SamRamani2 | 5:19 AM · Oct 10, 2023:

BREAKING: The World Health Organization calls for a humanitarian corridor into the Gaza Strip
The WHO claims that 13 health facilities were struck in the Gaza Strip

It is important to keep in mind that Gaza's water security crisis is long-standing too. In February 2014, over 90% of Gaza's water was unsafe and similar figures are circulating right now

Map, Gaza:
https://twitter.com/SamRamani2/status/1711649114411205113/photo/1

Samuel Ramani @SamRamani2 | 5:43 AM · Oct 10, 2023:

Israel is using bunker buster bombs in the Gaza Strip
This allows Israel to strike underground positions held by Hamas without losing its own troops
The memory of Israeli troops being stuck in tunnels in the 2014 war with Gaza motivated this

A thorough analysis of the type of bunker busters Israel wants from the US, how they operate and how they might inflict large-scale civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip:

‘Israel doesn’t care about collateral damage’: Bunker busters used in Gaza
Israel has used bunker busters to target Hamas in Gaza’s tunnels, which are also a lifeline for the besieged strip.
Urooba Jamal and Alex Gatopoulos | 9 Oct 2023

...In 2021, Israel requested the newer GBU-72 model from the US, a deal that has yet to go through.

The GBU-72 is the most advanced bunker buster and is able to penetrate 30m (100ft) of earth or 6m (20ft) of concrete and obliterate anything nearby and causing a shockwave that is likely to trigger cave-ins of subterranean structures farther away than the intended target.

...When using them in urban, built-up areas, the potential for mass civilian casualties is extremely high.

According to the Geneva Conventions, the heavy-duty ammunition can only be used in “extreme circumstances of self-defence” and is prohibited for use in areas of high civilian populations...

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/9/israel-doesnt-care-about-collateral-dam...
__________________________________________

Samuel Ramani @SamRamani2 | 5:28 AM · Oct 10, 2023:

Hamas insists that Israel must stop attacks on al-Aqsa Mosque to consider prisoner exchanges
From threatening to execute hostages to a truce offer to hostage diplomacy around al-Aqsa
24 hours of evolution of Hamas's position

Saudi Arabia is emphasising the need to avoid expanding the Gaza War to new fronts
This was Mohammed bin Salman's core message after talks with Egypt and Jordan
__________________________________________
ETA A good sign? As in "success has many fathers, failure is an orphan"?

Samuel Ramani @SamRamani2 | 4:53 AM · Oct 10, 2023

BREAKING: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denies that Iran was behind the Hamas attack

Iran is officially denying a role in the Hamas attack on Israel
Iran is rhetorically backing Hamas's justification for the attack: the Abraham Accords
Ali Velayati framed the Hamas attack as a warning shot that showed the risks Arab countries faced in normalising with Israel

Khamenei did post relentlessly in the days leading up to the attack that the Zionist regime was dying

A somewhat unusual concentration of messaging of this kind even by Khamenei's standards. However, he is simply expressing moral support for the attack now in public
--------------------------------------------------------

"Iran's economy, already strained, faces additional challenges because the conflict in Gaza has caused the national currency to devalue and gold prices to surge in Iran."
https://www.newarab.com/news/israels-new-war-gaza-sets-currency-crisis-iran

>120 margd:

That last paragraph sums it up. Israel's use of these weapons in these circumstances is illegal due to the certainty of noncombatant casualties.

I don't think there's much question that both Israel and Saudi Arabia would like to draw the United States into a war with Iran. During the Trump years Bin Salman was asking to rent our troops which if I remember our Generals told him was illegal. Trump or Kushner will sell anything if they can.

The bunker buster bombs makes sense of what I'm hearing about United States giving Israel more weapons. I was thinking when I first saw that 'Don't they have more than enough already? Biden shouldn't entangle us in this shit. Supporting a right dictator and his right wing government in a racist war of their own making. I understand what Hamas did was wrong but piling wrongs upon wrongs is not going to solve anything nor is our taking part in it. If we're going to help Israel we should back somebody there who's not corrupt and will negotiate with the Palestinians to bring some kind of peaceful solution there. Netanyahu is not a good guy.

OSINTtechnical @Osinttechnical | 9:32 AM · Oct 10, 2023:
...analyst @CNA_org {Center for Naval Analyses, Arlington, VA}{OSINT open source intelligence}

Newly emerged images from Kibbutz Be’eri, Kfar Aza, and Kibbutz Re’em are incredibly disturbing.

All I can really say is that the degree of brutality is horrifying, and confirms that Hamas deliberately and systematically targeted civilians, aiming to kill as many as possible.
--------------------------------------------------

Malcolm Nance @MalcolmNance | 10:40 AM · Oct 10, 2023:
US Intelligence +36 yrs. Expert Terrorism Extremism

WARNING: DO NOT WATCH HOSTAGE VIDEOS. DO NOT TRANSMIT HOSTAGE VIDEOS. DO NOT POST VIDEOS OF THE DEAD. DO NOT DESCRIBE EXECUTION VIDEOS. This is INTEGRAL to the Hamas is Information Terror strategy. Pass it on!

Thomas Friedman as usual is right on target

Is this a debate on the country israel, or is it just pros and cons?

Because honestly, In my opinion, israel is all cons

>114 davidgn:

An Intelligence Failure in Israel, but What Kind?
Daniel Byman | October 10, 2023

...We are still (very) early in the conflict, but there are five potential forms of intelligence failure to consider:
poor assessments by the Israeli government about Hamas’s capabilities;
poor assessments about Hamas’s intentions;
misunderstanding the impact of Israel’s own policies;
overestimating the effectiveness of Israel’s security services; and the
possible unwillingness of senior Israeli policymakers to heed intelligence warnings...

https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/an-intelligence-failure-in-israel-but-what-...
----------------------------------------------------

margd: also failure to consider global environment and interests, e.g. Russia, Iran?

max seddon @maxseddon | 8:33 AM · Oct 10, 2023:
moscow bureau chief FT
https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1711721613610324242 {discussion: Bibi, Donald, Jared, Abraham Accord, $bn)

Putin finally makes his first comments on the Israel-Palestine war.
He says it's "a clear example of the failure of US policy in the Middle East" for not "taking the core interests of the Palestinian people into account" and working to create an independent Palestinian state.

1:20 Putin with Iraq PM Al Sudani, a Shiite( https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1711721613610324242 )

>102 margd: Medvedev: "The weapons handed to the nazi regime in Ukraine are now being actively used against Israel."

Eliot Higgins @EliotHiggins | 12:37 PM · Oct 10, 2023:
Founder and creative director of @Bellingcat and director of Bellingcat Productions BV. Author of We Are Bellingcat. Tonal Whiplash Zone.

A fake BBC video claiming a Bellingcat investigation shows Ukraine smuggled weapons to Hamas is being pushed by Russian social media users. It's unclear if this is a Russian government disinformation campaign or a grassroots effort, but it's 100% fake
https://t.me/sheyhtamir1974/58755

0:45 ( https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/1711782985815453902 )

>104 davidgn: Wow. Could Netanyanhu come out of this stronger than before?

Samuel Ramani @SamRamani2 | 2:22 PM · Oct 10, 2023:

BREAKING: Benjamin Netayanhu says that Likud is taking "big steps" towards a unity government in Israel
All partners of Netanyahu's coalition approve the unity government idea
Netanyahu will begin by meeting with Benny Gantz to get the centre-right National Unity Alliance on board
-----------------------------------------------------

Martin Kramer @Martin_Kramer | 1:02 PM · Oct 10, 2023:
Historian @TelAvivUni & Walter P. Stern fellow @WashInstitute. Past 1st president @ShalemCollege J’lem. History & politics of Middle East & Israel.

Fmr. chief of staff and defense min. Moshe Ya’alon says a unity government would be a mistake, and Netanyahu must resign. “Every hour he remains wreaks damage on the state.”

כאן | רשת ב@ReshetBet | 8:08 AM · Oct 10, 2023:
Translated from Hebrew by Google:
Former Defense Minister Ya'alon: "I called on the opposition not to enter the government with Netanyahu, but to demand his resignation. He was warned several times, he did not let the Chief of Staff speak to the Cabinet. There is no trust in him, how can you lead a people to war like this? Every hour he remains in office is a detriment to the country"
@perez_esty #בחציהיום

Is it possible that the Israeli-Palestinian problem all boils down to the fact that both populations keep voting for the wrong leaders decade after decade? None of the leaders ever appear to actually want an end to the never-ending lunacy. It is tribalism on steroids.

>130 Molly3028: Palestinian Arabs make up about 20% of Israel's official population. They are pretty much politically powerless within the state's institutions. That includes the Knesset, the courts, the police and military. Mainly the Palestinian population is to be found in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Gaza Strip out of which the attacks came the other day is all Palestinian. Somewhere around 2.2 million people live in a narrow strip of land by the sea in abject poverty with almost no potable water and no real access in or out. The Police and military are all outside and the Palestinians are fenced in by land with guard towers and the Israeli Navy continually patrols by sea so almost no one gets out unless there's some major emergency and usually not even then. Hamas grew to what it is because there was no other authority within. The West Bank is supposed to be all theirs but for decades their land is continually encroached upon and taken by Israeli settlers supported by judges, police, military. The international community for the most part recognizing that the state of Israel does not abide by the treaties they make. Movement of Palestinians even within the West Bank is limited.

Basically the power dynamic is not even close to the same between the Israelis and Palestinians and there are lots of reasons why people compare it to the South African apartheid.

>122 lriley: "If we're going to help Israel we should back somebody there who's not corrupt and will negotiate with the Palestinians to bring some kind of peaceful solution there. Netanyahu is not a good guy."

agree with your last comment, but the first? I remember in the 80s how the us propped up people in many countries that were supposedly not corrupt, with the result of several civil wars, as well as our business in Afghanistan (see Wilsons War) I do not trust that our government would do much better in Israel. My hope is that the israelis will rise up and vote Bibi out and put someone in power that does want to work for peace (I miss Itzchak Rabin) hope that happens, in the meantime Im reallly fearful how this is going to play out in our world

Jacqui Heinrich @JacquiHeinrich | 11:41 PM · Oct 10, 2023:
White House Correspondent, occasional anchor @FoxNews • @WHCA board • Capitol Hill & 2020 campaign trail alum • 3x Emmy Award-winning reporter • podcast host

🧵NEW, thread:
In an all-Senators unclassified Israel briefing, top officials from State, DOD, and ODNI told members the following:
Morgan Muir, Deputy Director for Mission Integration at ODNI, says THERE IS NO DIRECT LINK BETWEEN IRAN AND THE OCTOBER 7th ATTACKS.

In fact, he claims to have reports that directly contradict the information that was being reporting in WSJ article.
Currently the US is reviewing intelligence they have gathered to see how this attack was missed.

On the $6B in Qatar- zero requests have been made by the Iranian government to access these funds.
The US can review the request for as long as deemed necessary - essentially putting these funds in limbo indefinitely.

On Hamas motive: remember negotiations between the kingdom of Saudi Arabi and Israel to potentially recognize Israel as a nation.
“In the wake of these attacks, it appears all progress has been lost as the crown prince has made comments in support of Palestine….

…Hamas, likely fearing what support by arguably the most powerful/prominent power in the region would do for Israel, sabotaged this round of negotiations. Hamas wins in this scenario as long as Israel doesn't win.”

What Israel has to do:
- establish control around Gaza strip and close any gaps in coverage -Dismantle Hamas infrastructure existing in Gaza —estimating 1500-2,000 targets have already been hit
-recover 150+ hostages taken by Hamas
-Try to mitigate "second front" from occurring

Biden’s goals:
-Demonstrate US support to Israel.
-Contain the conflict by preventing others from fueling the fire
-Support hostages and Americans in the region

Is This a Real Photo of Part of the Gaza Strip Left in Ruins by Israeli Reprisal Attacks?
"A look at what the Israeli army have done in the Gaza Strip in a very short time," one X user captioned the photograph.
Aleksandra Wrona | Oct 10, 2023

...The image is authentic and was captured by Hassan Eslayeh, a journalist from Palestine...

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/gaza-strip-photo/

A big part of the issue for the United States that I'm not hearing yet from the Biden administration is there are United States hostages or at least 11 of them. Then there is the long standing support for an ally even if that ally negotiates in bad faith vis-a-vis the Palestinians and at least as important is the donor money and the fear of losing a sector of voters.

Hamas as the defacto govt. of the Gaza Strip certainly committed any number of horrific crimes but it's not really a state actor. Israel is and what it's doing in the Gaza Strips falls under war crimes or crimes against humanity. Just leveling buildings on top of civilians. Murdering non-combatants. Those taken hostage are in danger of being killed from this too but also the likelihood that Hamas kills the hostages becomes much greater. It doesn't seem that Netanyahu and his people care. They're just committed to revenge not negotiating for lives and this includes the United States citizens taken hostage. If it were Netanyahu's relatives that were taken would it be the same? I wonder.

I'll add that a lot of House representatives and Senators seem bloodthirsty or at least more than happy to give Israel carte blanche to do whatever it decides. Too many of them are beholden to the money they get from AIPAC. I'm looking at a ton of democrats here too. This is in part why even if I vote for some democrats I'll never register as one.

>133 margd: Re WSJ:
https://twitter.com/zenjournalist/status/1711349508733280349

Andrew MacGregor Marshall
@zenjournalist
The main reporter on this story,
@summer_said
, has a history of dishonesty and inventing stories. I fired her from Reuters in 2008 for this reason. I’m surprised that the
WSJ
has hired her and is publishing her stories that are clearly bogus.
7:54 AM · Oct 9, 2023
·
1M
Views

>136 davidgn: The WSJ is a Murdoch owned paper now. I don't know what's so surprising that they'd hire that reporter and run her stories.

message from one of my cousins fine so far but the younger daughter wants o leave, afraid that they will bomb ben gurion. Others want to wait. I messaged her - how many of our relatives waited until it was too late i 1938? Havent heard back ye

It's a shame Alastair Crooke doesn't get invited around anymore to places like the HuffPost.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IKCo3MVW1o

ETA: An old MI6 spook with a finger in every pie.

>138 cindydavid4: All my best to your family, Cindy. And yes, if it were me, I'd want them out.

>135 lriley: I'm not sure if the distinction between "state actor" and "not really a state actor" is meant to be one that makes a difference here, but surely we'd say that attacking civilian populations is generally a crime against humanity, no? I mean, it's almost the definitional case.

>139 davidgn: Here is (I believe) one of the mentioned articles from Crooke. https://english.almayadeen.net/articles/analysis/al-aqsa-flood:-the-surprise-is-...

Hamas Calls for Global ‘Day of Jihad’ on Friday the 13th

reported on Drudge via Breitbart.

I wonder what would happen if Israel gave food, water, electricity and medical surprises to the people who live in Gaza. Perhaps if they did that the population might see Hamas as enemies and not isreal. Yeah I know, hope springs eternal.....too late now probaby anyway

>143 cindydavid4: I'm afraid that ship has sailed. A very long time ago.

>141 davidgn: More on the crazy, for anyone who hasn't been in the loop (or, like me, has difficulty registering it properly).
https://www.972mag.com/temple-mount-movement-jerusalem/

>138 cindydavid4:

My thoughts and prayers are with your family and I hope they will be OK. I'm currently monitoring friends' and colleagues' families who are trying to escape the Sudan war. It reminds us of the plight of people all over the world who are trying to escape from the terrors of war and other violent situations, and who sadly are often not receiving much of a welcome from the countries they flee to.

Pax Christi International Statement on the current escalation of conflict in Israel –Palestine

Brussels, October 11th2023

Pax Christi International condemns all acts of violence which once again envelope the Holy Land in unimaginable grief, fear, and devastation. We mourn the loss of each life for all are equal. We remain steadfast in our call for a ceasefire, knowing that an escalation in fighting will not resolve the root causes of this relentless cycle of violence but only sow seeds of greater hatred and animosity.

We stand firmly in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who have lived for over seven decades under a brutal military occupation or have been subjugated to an inhumane blockade. Their cries for justice have gone unanswered for too long. While violence can never be justified and all who commit heinous acts must be held to account, the injustices and dehumanisation that have been allowed to continue without consequence have finally brought a people to their breaking point.

Pax Christi International joins the many voices pleading for an immediate end to the fighting.The cycle of violence which has shattered so many lives and dreams, must stop now.

Vengeful retaliation by either side will only lead to more bloodshed while extinguishing any hope for a just and sustainable peace.

A new path, one based on nonviolence and adherence to the rules of international law is the only way forward. It is time for old narratives to be transformed into a new reality. We call on all parties, supported and encouraged by the international community, to replace weapons with honest dialogue and create a new paradigm that is based on a commitment to recognise the inalienable rights of the other to flourish and live with dignity, security, and freedom in the land they call home.

Why BBC doesn't call Hamas militants 'terrorists' (BBC)

Government ministers, newspaper columnists, ordinary people - they're all asking why the BBC doesn't say the Hamas gunmen who carried out appalling atrocities in southern Israel are terrorists. The answer goes right back to the BBC's founding principles. Terrorism is a loaded word, which people use about an outfit they disapprove of morally. It's simply not the BBC's job to tell people who to support and who to condemn - who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. We regularly point out that the British and other governments have condemned Hamas as a terrorist organisation, but that's their business. We also run interviews with guests and quote contributors who describe Hamas as terrorists. The key point is that we don't say it in our voice. Our business is to present our audiences with the facts, and let them make up their own minds... And it's always been like this in the BBC. During World War Two, BBC broadcasters were expressly told not to call the Nazis evil or wicked, even though we could and did call them "the enemy". "Above all," said a BBC document about all this, "there must be no room for ranting". Our tone had to be calm and collected. It was hard to keep that principle going when the IRA was bombing Britain and killing innocent civilians, but we did... But we held the line. And we still do, to this day. We don't take sides. We don't use loaded words like "evil" or "cowardly". We don't talk about "terrorists". And we're not the only ones to follow this line. Some of the world's most respected news organisations have exactly the same policy...

Reminds me of the reporting of the 9/11 attacks in the USA. I was sitting watching it in a hotel in Khartoum, switching backwards and forwards between BBC and CNN. As events unfolded, the latter became more and more partisan, emotional, and indeed "ranting", while BBC maintained a more objective stance.

>143 cindydavid4: Hard to see how the spiral of violence can be broken, but if one can't hope for a messiah or a Mandela in such a place, what hope for the rest of us?

Gaza’s sole power station stops working as fuel runs out, after Israel orders ‘complete’ blockade
Ibrahim Dahman | October 11, 2023

... People in Gaza still use power generators for electricity, but with a blockade on all sides of the border, the fuel needed for generators to work is running out, Ismail said.

The Palestinian health ministry warned that hospitals are set to run out of fuel on Thursday, leading to “catastrophic” conditions...

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/11/middleeast/gaza-power-plant-shuts-down-intl/index...
--------------------------------------------------

‘Hamas is saying bring it on’: Engel on tensions as Israeli military gathers near Gaza border
MSNBC | 11 Oct 2023

The Israeli military presence is building near the Gaza border. "This will be a highly complex operation, very difficult to carry out for Israel... and potentially extremely lethal for all of the Palestinians…,” NBC News’ Richard Engel tells Joy Reid live from Ashdod, Israel of a possible invasion, “and Hamas is saying we welcome it. Bring it on." Ben Rhodes, former deputy national security advisor in the Obama administration, also joins The ReidOut with his analysis.

12:04 ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCBQHSHHUCA )

A warning from Israeli Opposition Leader ~2 weeks before:

{Yair} Lapid: Netanyahu has ‘lost control of his ministers,’ is a threat to security
Opposition Leader says PM’s coalition partners ‘each pursue their own dangerous policies,’ exacerbating security woes at critical time
Carrie Keller-Lynn | 20 September 2023

...The opposition leader specifically called out far-right coalition party heads National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for exacerbating the situation.

Ben Gvir has been consistently pushing to worsen prison conditions for inmates incarcerated on terror convictions, despite warnings from prison officials and the defense establishment that such measures could inflame the already fraught West Bank. Smotrich, like Ben Gvir, is a former settlement activist and has taken a lax stance toward Jewish extremist violence in the West Bank, including a deadly riot in the Palestinian village of Huwara.

Smotrich holds an additional post as an independent minister in the Defense Ministry, overseeing West Bank construction policy.

“All the heads of the security establishment – the Israel Defense Forces, the Shin Bet, the police, the intelligence agencies – have been warning the government and the cabinet of a violent conflagration, but Ben Gvir and Smotrich repeatedly ignore the security officials’ recommendation to act cautiously and responsibly,” Lapid added, speaking in Tel Aviv.

...Palestinian terror attacks, committed with small arms, knives, or by car ramming, that have claimed the lives of 27 civilians and three soldiers since the start of 2023

...186 West Bank and East Jerusalem Palestinians have been killed during the same period — the majority during clashes with security forces or while carrying out attacks, but some were uninvolved civilians and others were killed under unclear circumstances, including by armed Israeli settlers....

https://www.timesofisrael.com/lapid-netanyahu-has-lost-control-of-his-ministers-...

Israel-Hamas war: More than 300,000 displaced in Gaza
DW | 12 Oct 2023

The UN says most of the displaced are sheltering at schools it runs. Israel has, meanwhile, said it will block aid, fuel and water deliveries to the Gaza Strip until Hamas releases the hostages...

...Germany allows Israel use of Heron drones, but Chancellor Scholz also urges restraint

...The death toll has continued to rise, with at least 1,300 dead in Israel and over 1,350 in Gaza

Israel reportedly strikes Syria airports — Syrian sources...reports suggested the two airports were out of service.

..."Just as ISIS was crushed, so too will Hamas be crushed. And Hamas should be treated exactly the way ISIS was treated," Netanyahu said...

...{NATO} Alliance members expressed their solidarity with Israel, stressing it has the right to defend itself "with proportionality against these unjustifiable acts of terror."

The alliance urged Hamas to immediately release all hostages and also called "for the fullest possible protection of civilians."

...{In response to UN experts} Israeli military spokesman Richard Hecht denied Israeli forces were "carpet bombing" the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas, an Islamist militant group that is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the US, the EU and several Arab states.

He acknowledged that the Israeli airstrikes on the besieged Palestinian strip were "bigger" than ever before. Hecht, however, said that the targeting of struck sites is based on intelligence information.

The Israeli army was receiving specific information in each case about where Palestinian militants were heading, Hecht said. He added that the attacks were focused on destroying the infrastructure of Hamas...

https://www.dw.com/en/israel-hamas-war-more-than-300000-displaced-in-gaza/live-6...
-------------------------------------------

Can't imagine this happening under current Israeli Government...

Israelis and Palestinians are facing their moment of greatest danger since 1948
There is still a slim chance of peace if wiser counsels prevail and other major powers intervene in a coalition of the willing
Yuval Noah Harari | 12 Oct 2023

...what comes next? No one knows for sure, but some voices in Israel are veering towards reconquering the Gaza Strip or bombing it to rubble...On both sides of the fence, there are religious fanatics fixated on divine promises and the 1948 war. Palestinians dream of reversing the outcome of that war. Jewish zealots like the finance minister Bezalel Smotrich have warned even Arab citizens of Israel that “you are here by mistake because Ben-Gurion {Israel’s first prime minister} didn’t finish the job in ’48 and didn’t kick you out”; 2023 could enable fanatics on both sides to pursue their religious fantasies, and re-stage the 1948 war with a vengeance.

...What has already happened cannot be undone. The dead cannot be brought back to life, and the personal traumas will never completely heal. But we must prevent further escalation. Many of the forces in the region are currently led by irresponsible religious fanatics. External forces must therefore intervene to deescalate the conflict. Anyone who wishes for peace must unequivocally condemn the Hamas atrocities, put pressure on Hamas to immediately and unconditionally release all the hostages, and help deter Hezbollah and Iran from intervening. This would give Israelis a bit of breathing space and a tiny ray of hope.

Second, a coalition of the willing – ranging from the US and the EU to Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority – should take responsibility for the Gaza Strip away from Hamas, rebuild Gaza and simultaneously completely disarm Hamas and demilitarise the Gaza Strip.

There are only slim chances that these steps will be realised. But after the recent horrors, most Israelis don’t think they can live with anything less.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/12/israelis-palestinians-grea...

>144 davidgn: yeah, I know.

I knew about the evangelicals who are trying to push the 'end of days' but didn't realize there was a Jewish twin to this.

To me Israel should be focusing on getting the hostages back not on bombing Gaza into oblivion. If it means releasing Palestinians from prison so be it. They need to get those people back and returned to their families.

>10 John5918: God help us if Biden is re-elected. He cannot tie his own shoes. Israel retaliates, and must. Their battle is against Hamas, not the people of Gaza. But no Arab country will open their doors. A safe corridor. Hamas will be gone. Thank God.

>19 margd: Where is your "footage" of the massacre that propelled the world further into conflict? Israel responds. Hamas was voted in as the political leaders of Gaza. THEY have kept their people in an open-air jail and continue to endanger them daily and exponentially.

>155 littabq:

Footage of the massacres of civilians committed by Hamas fighters last week is all over the internet and social media and has been widely reported. There is no doubt that it was an atrocity, a war crime which has been widely condemned, including by many Palestinians.

Footage of Israeli atrocities and war crimes against Palestinian civilians over many years is also widely available, although it often doesn't get as much coverage nor condemnation in the western media.

But the point at issue this week is what is the legitimate response to an atrocity and a war crime? Committing further atrocities and war crimes is neither legal nor moral, and does nothing to foster peace and justice nor to increase the safety and security of civilians on either side of the conflict, nor indeed globally.

>155 littabq: At least somewhat because of dire living conditions 50% of the 2.2 million population of Gaza are under 18 years old. That number comes from the World Health Organization. The last time there was any kind of election in Gaza was in 2006. Just doing the math that would mean most all if not all of that 50% weren't even born when that election took place.

It's an open air prison not because of anything than Hamas or the Palestinian population have done. It's all because of Israeli policy. The population is locked in by land, air and sea. It's very rare that the Israelis let anyone out even for dire emergency. Living conditions are harsh and Hamas is what is is because there's no other authority inside as the Israeli military....any kind of police force is all on the outside. Hamas is like a prison gang that takes over the prison because there are no guards around.

We might say as well that Israeli soldiers shoot and kill protesters all the time with or without provocation and even if provocation it doesn't take much at all and Israeli soldiers are never held to account. The rise of Hamas by the way was aided by right wing Israeli's like Netanyahu because Hamas like they themselves did not want a two state solution which the United States amongst other nations were trying to push Israel towards. The PLO and Arafat wanted that solution....allying with Hamas was a way for them to avoid a two state solution.

Sooooo why has there not been an election or re-election. Could it have something to do with the tyranny of those elected the first time and with an iconoclastic belief system of death to Israel, did not allow one?
Where in your morality of generously should i say, your cosmology, do you put the EVIL promulgated by hamas? Even falsely accusing the Israelis of bombing a hospital, when that has been proven false but no retraction from the hamas faithful.
Sharpen your logic stick.

>158 littabq: Where in your morality of generously should i say, your cosmology, do you put the EVIL promulgated by hamas?

The evil and criminal acts committed by Hamas have been almost universally condemned. Where in your morality or cosmology do you place evil and criminal acts committed by Israel? Both sides are completely wrong (and evil) when they target civilians.

falsely accusing the Israelis

False information abounds in any conflict. All sides make false accusations against the other. The "fog of war", "truth is the first casualty of war", propaganda, etc.

I would reflect back to you your own suggestion to sharpen your logic. There will never be peace until it is recognised that both sides have legitimate claims and interests which need to be taken seriously, that both sets of belligerents have used and are using illegitimate and evil means to further their goals, and that innocent civilians on all sides of the conflict must be protected. The cycle of violence and revenge needs to be broken, and it needs courageous leadership to do so, which is sadly lacking on both sides.