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SvennoJ on 11 December 2023

Whether it's drone technology or the infamous Pegasus spy software, Israel has long developed and refined repressive technologies used by governments around the world by testing them on Palestinians. Antony Loewenstein, journalist and author of The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World, joins The Chris Hedges Report for a deep dive into the disturbing links between Israeli Apartheid, the arms industry, and global repression of civilian populations.




University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill voluntarily resigned her position Saturday after a House Education Committee hearing last Tuesday on how colleges have handled antisemitism. Magill has faced demands to resign since September, when she refused to bow to pressure to cancel the Palestine Writes Literature Festival on campus. More universities face accusations that they have failed to protect Jewish students since the October 7 Hamas incursion into southern Israel amid a broader effort to restrict pro-Palestinian speech on campus. We speak with Peter Beinart, professor of journalism at the City University of New York and the editor-at-large of _Jewish Currents_, and with Omer Bartov, a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University. "This whole discussion seems to me to be the least important issue," says Bartov. "What is most important now is that Israel now has been conducting a war for weeks and weeks in which it has killed thousands and thousands of Palestinians."


Last edited by SvennoJ - on 11 December 2023

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LurkerJ on 11 December 2023

Can we at least ask these ultra far right radicals to tone down their atrocities and stop airing their dirty laundry? if not for the sake of civilian lives that they obviously think have no value there, let it be for our sake and safety here, a bunch of idiots unconditionally gobbling our tax money.

The IDF now claims only 10% of those people belong to Hamas. Blimey, I actually somehow fell for their initial propaganda and believed all these men were militias or tied to Hamas one way or another, now it's down 10%, and I am expected to believe them again. 



SvennoJ on 11 December 2023
LurkerJ said:

Can we at least ask these ultra far right radicals to tone down their atrocities and stop airing their dirty laundry? if not for the sake of civilian lives that they obviously think have no value there, let it be for our sake and safety here, a bunch of idiots unconditionally gobbling our tax money.

The IDF now claims only 10% of those people belong to Hamas. Blimey, I actually somehow fell for their initial propaganda and believed all these men were militias or tied to Hamas one way or another, now it's down 10%, and I am expected to believe them again. 

Same with the claims of 'only' 2 civilian casualties per Hamas soldier killed. As if that somehow excuses over 21,000 deaths.

https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/gaza-death-toll-has-increased-40-percent-compared-temporary-humanitarian-truce

Euro-Med Monitor said preliminary statistics show that the daily death toll prior to the humanitarian truce ranged between 300 and 350 deaths per day, but has now risen to more than 500 since Israel resumed its attacks for the sixth consecutive day.

This brings the total number of Palestinian deaths in the Gaza Strip since 7 October to 21,731, including 8,697 children and 4,410 women as well as those missing and trapped under the rubble who are now presumed dead. The number of injured people has also increased to 4,016.

According to Euro-Med Monitor, Israel has increased the shocking extent of its targeting of civilians since the humanitarian truce collapsed, intensifying its complete destruction of residential areas and targeting schools that house thousands of displaced individuals in an apparent effort to increase the number of civilian victims.

That ratio makes no sense, 7,244 Hamas fighters killed, 8,697 children killed, 4,410 women killed, leaves 1,380 civilian men killed. So the IDF is targeting women and children specifically? Plus the claimed number of Hamas fighters killed fluctuates daily, currently from 5,000 to 7,000, and if the IDF gets asked directly they say we don't really know yet. (But it's 2:1 ratio!)

40% more daily casualties is also the opposite of Biden and Blinken's nonsense.




An apology of course doesn't absolve war crimes, but feel free to plead guilty IDF, makes the work of the ICC a lot easier. Not that they'll do much as Israel has been stalling their investigation for the past 9 years.

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2023/12/11/the-hague-court-wants-to-probe-war-crimes-in-israel-and-gaza-where-does-europe-stand

The ICC ruled in 2021 that its criminal jurisdiction extended to the Palestinian territories of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and opened a formal investigation into the endemic violence in the region since 2014.

This gives Khan a mandate to probe war crimes committed both in Palestine and by Palestinians - including Hamas’ deadly incursion into Israel on October 7th - and Israel’s military response in Gaza. He has vowed to make full use of the force of the law to bring justice to both Israeli and Palestinian victims.

But efforts to delegitimise Khan’s mandate threaten to stymie the investigation and perpetuate impunity.

Israel is not a state party to the court and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continuously attempted to undermine its work, denouncing the Palestine investigation as "pure anti-Semitism." The US also rejects the ICC’s legitimacy.

The European Union, a staunch supporter of the court on paper, could also face opposition to an ICC-led probe from within its own ranks due to the bloc's fragmented position on the Israelo-Palestinian conflict.



The Netherlands is also pretty pro Israel and supporting the Israeli war machine
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/4/court-to-hear-case-against-the-netherlands-over-israeli-jet-parts-shipments

https://www.timesofisrael.com/far-right-dutch-election-victor-geert-wilders-elicits-sympathy-and-fear-in-jewish-voters/

The Dutch elections in November sent shockwaves through Europe, as voters delivered victory to Geert Wilders, a hard-right populist known for crusading against Islam, immigrants and the European Union — along with professing support for Israel.

...

The firebrand politician, whose “Netherlands first” rhetoric and blond-dyed bouffant hair earned him comparisons to Donald Trump, has long made anti-Islam policies a centerpiece of his agenda. Along with demanding a halt to the country’s “asylum tsunami,” he has called for a ban on Islamic schools, Qurans and mosques. A court found him guilty on insult charges after he led supporters in a chant for “fewer” Moroccans in the Netherlands at a 2016 campaign rally. In 2009, he was refused entry to the United Kingdom on the way to screen his film “Fitna,” which associated the Quran with terrorism and sparked international protests.

...

Although he is not Jewish, Wilders volunteered on an Israeli kibbutz as a young man and is married to a Hungarian-Jewish former diplomat. He has also advocated for Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and suggested that all Palestinians should be relocated to Jordan.

Some Jewish organizations, including the Jewish news website Joods.nl, celebrated Wilders’ win as a victory for both Israel and Dutch Jews. On election day, the outlet posted a “Mazel tov” to Wilders alongside an Instagram post that read, “Hamas lost the elections.”



Good luck to the ICC getting any support in that climate to investigate Israeli war crimes... I'm glad I don't live there anymore. Not that Canada is doing much of anything to stop the war and is also complicit in war crimes with continuing weapon shipments.

https://www.jurist.org/news/2023/11/rights-group-warns-canada-officials-of-prosecution-referral-for-complicity-in-alleged-israel-war-crimes/

I signed the petition, Take action and sign the petition to the ICC: https://tinyurl.com/4mu5dd3w



TallSilhouette on 11 December 2023

Trump's latest lead counsel is in some doodoo:

What a surprise.



SvennoJ on 11 December 2023

Some background on Hasbara, or why you shouldn't take anything the IDF or Israel says at face value.

And that now includes Biden, Blinken and Kerby as well as they parrot (regularly proven) lies without hesitation.
This video is from 7 months ago btw, and it's all playing out exactly as described...

The Ministry of Truth in action.

US President Joe Biden on Monday night touted his unshakeable support for “the safety of the Jewish people and the security of Israel and its right to exist” in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks of October 7.

The president pointed to his support for Israel, while acknowledging daylight on issues between himself and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, joking that he had once told the Israeli leader: “I love you, but I don’t agree with a damn thing you have to say.” He added: “It’s about the same today.” 

Still, Biden said in remarks marking the fifth night of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah that Israel was in “a tough spot,” following the Hamas attack and subsequent war in Gaza.

 “We’ll continue to provide military assistance to Israel until they get rid of Hamas, but we have to be careful — they have to be careful,” Biden said. “The whole world’s public opinion can shift overnight, we can’t let that happen.”

The president also hailed the work his administration has done to secure the release of hostages still held in Gaza and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the region.


US concern is not the escalating humanitarian disaster, ongoing genocide, mass civilian deaths, it's whether they can keep public opinion under control.


And the EU response

The European Union’s foreign policy chief says the EU will work on introducing sanctions against Jewish settlers who commit acts of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new visa restriction policy targeting “individuals believed to have been involved in undermining peace, security, or stability in the West Bank, including through committing acts of violence or taking other actions that unduly restrict civilians’ access to essential services and basic necessities."

The State Department will be able to apply the policy to both Israelis and Palestinians who are responsible for attacks in the West Bank, Blinken said.

According to the Reuters news agency, Borrell did not give details of possible EU sanctions, but the news agency said officials believed it would also involve travel bans to the EU. 

WTF, travel bans to the US/EU? They're settlers, there to drive Palestinians out of their houses and off their land, backed by the IDF, to claim/colonize the land for themselves. Wth would they care about not getting a travel visa to the US/EU.


That while Europe has a perfectly good example how to de-escalate a colonization conflict. When I grew up IRA bombings in London were reported on about as much as PLO bombings in Israel. The IRA declared Ceasefire in 1994, Good Friday Agreement in 1998
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/07/how-did-the-good-friday-agreement-come-about-and-why-is-it-so-significant
and eventually
https://www.irishpost.com/history/ira-agrees-to-officially-lay-down-its-arms-on-this-day-in-2005-216845

One war ended, the other just kept escalating
https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/comparing-the-palestinian-and-irish-catholic-struggles/

It's no wonder Ireland (together with Spain, Belgium and Malta) are demanding a ceasefire, and is regularly getting into spats with Israel.
https://www.euronews.com/2023/11/10/why-irelands-leaders-are-willing-to-be-tougher-on-israel-than-most


There is a way towards peace, yet every day this goes on it slips further and further out of reach.

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 11 December 2023

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SvennoJ on 12 December 2023

Israel bragging about another war crime



A UN school in Beit Hanoun has been destroyed - while Israeli soldiers cheered. Hundreds of displaced families were sheltering there, and now have nowhere to go.


Biden making friends everywhere

Biden slammed for saying Jewish people anywhere would not be safe without Israel

The US president had made the comment during a Hanukkah holiday reception at the White House late on Monday.

“My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people and security of Israel and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is unshakable,” Biden said. “Folks, were there no Israel, there wouldn’t be a Jew in the world who is safe.”

Biden has repeatedly made that assertion throughout his decades-long political career, but this time, his remarks went viral on social media, sparking sharp criticism, including from some Jewish American progressives.

Critics noted that the US is home to millions of Jews, whose safety should be the responsibility of the US government, not a foreign nation.

“I’m sorry, but this is just not an affirming or appropriate message to Jewish Americans. We’ve been an integral part of this country from its beginning,” Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, wrote in a social media post.

“Our safety here should not rest on the existence or actions of any foreign country whatsoever.”


The extra humanitarian aid Biden was promising is off the table, was just another distraction tactic

Aid deliveries to Gaza directly from Israel "not on the table," Israeli official tells CNN


There is currently no plan to allow aid to enter Gaza directly from Israel, an official at Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) told CNN Monday. 

Israel opened the Kerem Shalom Crossing for inspections of aid on Tuesday, but not for goods to enter Gaza. Any aid screened at Kerem Shalom is sent to the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt to be handed over to international organizations and transported into Gaza.

  • Aid for Gaza: Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said Tuesday it would open the Nitzana crossing and the Kerem Shalom crossing for inspections, but not for the delivery, of aid into Gaza. Once screened, the aid will be shipped to the Rafah crossing, where it will be handed over to international organizations, COGAT added. No supplies will enter Gaza directly from Israel.
  • 'Endless deepening tragedy': Israeli bombardment and restrictions on essential supplies entering Gaza have caused rampant food, fuel and drug shortages, crushing the medical system and leaving 2.2 million Gazans at risk of dehydration and starvation. The commissioner-general of the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, called it an "endless deepening tragedy" and "hell on Earth" on Tuesday.
  • Disease and infections spread: Diseases including chicken pox, meningitis and upper respiratory tract infections are spreading in Gaza, Palestinian and international medical authorities said Tuesday, as living conditions deteriorate. Cases of impetigo, meningitis and jaundice have also been recorded in the enclave, according to Richard Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. 

The situation in Kamal Adwan Hospital is catastrophic, Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, has said, as the Israeli army continues its raid of the medical facility. “We are outraged by what’s going on,” Leo Cans, MSF head of mission for Palestine, told Al Jazeera. “It’s the same scenario as al-Shifa Hospital repeating in other hospitals again and again.”

Cans said MSF doctors and health practitioners across Gaza were operating in conditions comparable to World War I, which took place over a century ago. “We are operating on the floor. Children are arriving with very bad injuries, and [surgeons] have to do multiple operations but there are no more beds,” he said.

Hospitals have been forced to discharge patients they would not normally have due to the lack of space. Cans estimated 60 percent of the wounds get infected, becoming potentially life-threatening.

“This is totally inhumane, it’s totally unacceptable,” he said.



SvennoJ on 12 December 2023

Unsurprisingly, the USA and Israel voted against a ceasefire again in today's UNGA Ceasefire resolution.

Other countries that haven't seen enough civilians die yet:

Against: Austria, Czechia, Guatemala, Israel, Liberia, Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, United States

Abstain: Argentina, Bulgaria, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Malawi, Marshall Islands, Netherlands, Palau, Panama, Romania, Slovakia, South Sudan, Togo, Tonga, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay

Canada is finally supporting a ceasefire, better late than never I guess

Canada says it supports a ceasefire in Gaza, parting ways with US policy

In an apparent change from previous policy statements, Canada announced Tuesday that it would back a non-binding UN resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a joint statement with the leaders of Australia and New Zealand earlier Tuesday saying they wanted to see a pause resumed “and support urgent international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire.

Meanwhile Israel has started pumping seawater into the tunnel systems despite warnings of destabilizing buildings, poisoning ground water with salt water and likely worsening the broken down sewage situation.

(Of course CNN only mentions the hostages: The Israelis are still unsure of whether it will work, the official said, but they assured the US that they are being careful to only test it in tunnels where they do not believe hostages are being held)

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-begins-pumping-seawater-into-hamas-tunnels-gaza-wsj-2023-12-12/

WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The Israeli military has begun pumping seawater into Hamas' tunnel complex in Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday citing unnamed U.S. officials, adding that the process would likely take weeks.

Some Biden administration officials have said the process could help destroy the tunnels, where Israel believes the militant group is hiding hostages, fighters and munitions, the Journal reported. Other officials have expressed concerns the seawater would endanger Gaza's fresh water supply, the newspaper reported.



Add it to the list of war crimes, all designed to make Gaza uninhabitable.




CNN / Western media are such pussies

From CNN's Hamdi Alkhshali

Hamas welcomed the United Nations General Assembly' demand for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Izzat Al-Rishq, a member of the Hamas Political Bureau, urged the international community to sustain pressure on what he called the occupying forces and called for compliance with the UN decision.

In a short statement, he also condemned the "war of genocide and ethnic cleansing" against the Palestinian people.

On Tuesday, the General Assembly voted to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza with a majority of 153 nations voting in favor.

The brief resolution called for a ceasefire, for all parties to comply with international law, and for humanitarian access to hostages as well as their “immediate and unconditional” release.


Baby steps, at least CNN is finally mentioning occupying forces even though distancing themselves in the same sentence. As Biden has said, only a shift in public opinion will put the brakes on so that now makes US' news outlets complicit in further ongoing war crimes.

I wonder what CNN calls this revenge rampage from the occupier, 'special military operation' in the name of self-defense?
It's Russian invasion of Ukraine, while this is just called Israel-Hamas war. Looks like an invasion to me, provoked by Hamas, but an invasion nonetheless.

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 12 December 2023

LurkerJ on 13 December 2023

I love you, you genocidal ultra far right religious fanatic babies-murdering maniac. I can't wait to pull a Hillary and blame every body but myself if I lose the election. 



zeldaring on 13 December 2023
LurkerJ said:

I love you, you genocidal ultra far right religious fanatic babies-murdering maniac. I can't wait to pull a Hillary and blame every body but myself if I lose the election. 

Evil loves evil, what a surprise.



LurkerJ on 13 December 2023
zeldaring said:
LurkerJ said:

I love you, you genocidal ultra far right religious fanatic babies-murdering maniac. I can't wait to pull a Hillary and blame every body but myself if I lose the election. 

Evil loves evil, what a surprise.

To his credit, politicians words rarely match their actions, so he gets some points for being honest here.