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Forums - Politics Discussion - Israel-Hamas war, Gaza genocide

SvennoJ on 10 January 2024

UN: Israel denying aid requests into Gaza leaves "tens of thousands" without clean water and medical supplies

Israel's rejection of coordinated aid into Gaza is "critically" stalling efforts by rights groups to curb the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the enclave, where the Israeli bombardment has left more than 2.2 million people facing dehydration, starvation and deadly disease.

Israeli authorities denied a planned mission by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Health Organization to deliver critical supplies into northern Gaza on January 8, OCHA said on Tuesday. The two UN agencies planned missions to distribute "urgent medical supplies" to a drug store in Gaza City and Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalya in northern Gaza, as well as "vital fuel" to water and sanitation facilities in the region, according to an OCHA update.

It was Israel's fifth denial of a mission to the drug store and hospital since December 26, OCHA said, adding that the sanctions have left five hospitals in northern Gaza without access to life-saving medical supplies and equipment. At the same time, the continued denial of fuel delivery to water and sanitation facilities is leaving tens of thousands of people without access to clean water and increasing the risk of sewage overflows, significantly heightening the risk of the spread of communicable diseases,” the statement said.

A top UN humanitarian official previously warned that depriving Gaza's population of food, water, health care and hygiene "cannot be justified."

CNN has contacted the Israel Defense Forces and COGAT, the government entity responsible for implementing policy in the Palestinian territories, for comment.

I guess if CNN even actually asks for comment, and even if they actually get a response, they are not allowed to publish it anyway...


Krystal and Saagar discuss Israeli politician Ofer Cassif joining South Africa's genocide case against Israel.



Krystal and Saagar discuss Israelis demanding an investigation into IDF killings of Israeli citizens on October 7th.


The myth of Israel's 'democracy' w/Ilan Pappé | The Chris Hedges Report

Israel's status as a bona fide democracy is often taken to be a self-evident truth, but a more critical look at the history and reality of Zionism calls this into question. After all, how can a democracy exist in a country constitutionally defined as an ethnostate that can only exist through the suppression and gradual elimination of its Others?

Israeli historian Ilan Pappé joins The Chris Hedges Report for a discussion on Israel as an inherently colonial, and therefore anti-democratic, project. Ilan Pappé is a professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter in the UK, where he directs the European Centre for Palestine Studies, and co-directs the Exeter Centre for Ethno-Political Studies. Prior to coming to the UK, Pappé was a historian and politician in Israel. He is the author of several books, including The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.

The Psychology of Israeli Propaganda



No doubt many horrific things happened on Oct 7, including rape. However the Israeli propaganda machine is undermining real victims of rape and sexual abuse with the continuous extra fabricated 'witness' reports, many of which have been debunked.

The New York Times recently published an explosive report on alleged sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists against women on October 7th. The story contained testimony from many Witnesses and First Responders who described finding the bodies of murdered women stripped naked or missing their underwear their hands zip tied behind their backs some survivors said they witnessed the rapes firsthand.

Now the sister of an alleged victim featured in The New York Times report has come forward saying there was "no proof that there was rape with respect to her sister" accusing the New York Times of interviewing her family under false pretenses.

Just yesterday the Washington Post published and then deleted a claim by Israel's defense minister that Hamas's plans for October 7th specifically included which Commander should rape which soldiers. However just a day later the Washington Post deleted their report at the apparent behest of their IDF sources writing that their Outlet was "not authorized by Israel to print it".

Today Israeli news paper Haaretz reported that "the police are having difficulty locating victims of sexual assault of witnesses to acts from the Hamas attack and are unable to connect the existing evidence with the victims described in it.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-01-04/ty-article/.premium/israeli-police-ask-victims-and-witnesses-to-testify-about-hamas-sexual-violence/0000018c-d580-d751-ad8d-ffa4acf40000

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-12-24/ty-article/.premium/without-victims-consent-police-orders-hospitals-to-reveal-info-about-hamas-sexual-crimes/0000018c-9c3f-d17b-addd-bf7f3f300000


(And why is western media ignoring the sexual abuse allegations against the IDF and Israeli prison system)

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 10 January 2024

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SvennoJ on 10 January 2024

Why does CNN keep repeating this lie in every article about casualties in Gaza

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military “does its utmost to avoid civilian casualties including providing early warning before attack, safe passage corridors and designated safer zones.

“Hamas targets Israeli civilians and embeds itself in Palestinian civilian neighborhoods, using Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages as human shields,” the office added.

I guess that gets added by the IDF censor after running it through their office.


UN Human Rights Office: Israeli attacks placing civilians at serious risk in Deir el-Balah

The UN Human Rights Office in Occupied Palestinian Territory says it is deeply concerned that Israeli forces “have placed civilian lives at serious risk by ordering residents from various parts of Middle Gaza to relocate to Deir el-Balah – while continuing to conduct air strikes on the city”.

“The UN Human Rights Office has received reports that during the last ten days, four individual strikes in Deir el-Balah killed more than 40 Palestinians. It is clear – as the UN has repeatedly stressed – that there is no safe place in Gaza,” it said in a statement.

WHO chief says he is ‘appalled’ by strike on Gaza ambulance crew

World Health Organization director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that he is “appalled” by reports from the Palestine Red Crescent Society that an Israeli strike targeting one of its ambulances killed four medical workers and two patients.

“Violence and attacks on health and civilians must end,” the WHO leader said in a social media post on Wednesday, although the statement does not name Israel as the attacker.

https://x.com/PalestineRCS/status/1745151413280518375

Israel steps up strikes on Rafah

Israel has continued to hammer southern Gaza, despite its status as a so-called “safe” section of the enclave currently sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians.

“In the last hour, more attacks have been carried out against the Rafah district in southern Gaza, where farmland has been hit that was sheltering displaced evacuees,” Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Rafah. “Five Palestinians were reported killed, including four children, in that air strike. This is part of an ongoing series of attacks on the south,” he added.

Palestinians flee days of Israeli attacks at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital

As shelling intensified and got closer and closer to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, patients, displaced people and doctors there worried more and more about their safety. Then unmanned Israeli quadcopters started shooting at anything that moved outside the building, sending families scrambling to dismantle their tents and flee for their lives.

Israeli tanks had reached the entrance of the Maghazi refugee camp by then, and the Israeli army had announced that the area around the hospital had become a theatre of operations. There would be no safety inside the medical facility for the tens of thousands of Palestinians sheltering there. They had to start fleeing for their lives, to get themselves and their families to safety.



"Nothing had prepared me," British surgeon says about treating severely wounded children in central Gaza

Nick Maynard still remembers treating the little boy from the Al-Maghazi refugee camp. He found the 6-year-old on the floor of the emergency ward of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza.

“He was semi-conscious with an open chest wound, horrific burns to the body, and no one had seen him. He'd just been deposited on the floor, and he was moribund,” the British surgeon, who worked in the hospital until he says he was forced to leave under the shadow of intensifying Israeli attacks, told CNN. “We subsequently found out that most of his family had been killed,” he said.

Maynard has recounted the daily horror of working at the hospital: Scores of displaced civilians covering every inch of the medical facility, hundreds of wounded people – mainly children – arriving every day with traumatic burns, missing limbs and shrapnel injuries to the chest and abdomen.

Leading a five-member emergency team of clinicians, he worked with Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) from December 26 to January 5. Maynard, who has been coming to Gaza for 14 years, told CNN the overcrowding in and around the hospital in Deir al-Balah, one of the last remaining functioning hospitals in the enclave, was like “something I’ve never, ever seen before.”

“When you're dealing with acutely ill patients like that, you have to have a really comprehensive triage system where you can prioritize, and that system collapsed completely,” he said on Tuesday, speaking from the Egyptian capital Cairo.

The ratio of doctors to patients spiraled, as medical workers who were volunteering at the hospital increasingly fled south after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders. In Al-Aqsa hospital, many of the patients were refugees from local camps including Al-Maghazi, Al-Bureij and Nuseirat, in what Maynard called “the clearest evidence you could ever want that there was an indiscriminate slaughter of people.”

Maynard said most patients arrived at Al-Aqsa with “dirty wounds” after bomb blasts had pelted fallen glass, gravel, dust and dirt into their injuries. Rampant shortages of painkillers, drinkable water, and medical equipment including gloves, and skin staple removers meant “the wound infection rate was stratospheric.”

Some patients suffered blast injuries where shrapnel passed through multiple parts of the body, damaging the liver, the spleen, the stomach and bowel, while others sustained internal bleeding in the lungs. Worst of all, Maynard said, was the sheer number of Palestinians, mainly children, arriving with traumatic burns and amputations.

“(We saw) the most horrific burns, literally burned down to the bones, some of them,” Maynard said. “My colleagues in ER particularly saw people coming in with legs hanging off, or arms hanging off.”

He still thinks of the little boy he found on the floor at the hospital. The kid was just one of many orphaned by the war and coming in with no family, “screaming for their parents” who had been killed.“He was alive when we left, but I don't know whether he survived,” Maynard said.



Last edited by SvennoJ - on 10 January 2024

SvennoJ on 10 January 2024

So many lies, every day, it never ends.

COGAT official denies food shortage in Gaza

An Israeli official with the military body in charge of Palestinian affairs, the Coordinator of Government Activity in the Territories (COGAT), has denied that there is a food shortage in Gaza despite overwhelming evidence that Israel’s assault has plunged the Gaza Strip’s population into a severe hunger crisis.

“The assessment we all [have], with the UN and other organisations, show that there is sufficient aid,” said Moshe Tetro, blaming international aid groups for struggling to process aid. “In terms of food, the reserves in the Gaza Strip are sufficient for the near term. There is no food shortage in Gaza.”

The UN recently found that one out of every four Palestinians in Gaza is starving.

https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/gaza-now-worlds-worst-hunger-crisis-and-verge-famine


Israel deliberately not letting enough food into Gaza: B’Tselem

The Israeli human rights group says the amount being allowed in does not meet the needs of the population.

“Before the war, the Strip was already in a severe humanitarian crisis and 80 percent of residents relied on humanitarian aid. Without reserves, it is clear why Gaza has now plummeted into a full-blown catastrophe,” B’Tselem said.

“Yet Israel persists in its policy and the horror is growing by the minute. Experts warn that if these conditions continue, there is a real risk of famine throughout Gaza within six months.”


"It's a horrific situation across the board," says UN agency about food scarcity in Gaza

From CNN's Niamh Kennedy

The food situation in Northern Gaza is "absolutely horrific," according to the World Health Organization (WHO). "There's almost no food available and everybody we talked to begs for food," Sean Casey, an emergency coordinator for the WHO said during a news briefing Tuesday.

Casey, who has carried out several WHO missions to northern Gaza, said each time his team delivered medical supplies to the region, they were asked to bring food the next time. "That's not possible for a number of reasons including coordination and security concern," Casey said.  WHO has "no communication with entire areas," but Casey said when he meets a patient who has had a double amputation and asks for food or water, it is clear "they're not getting their basic needs met."

The WHO was unable to reach northern Gaza since December 26 and was forced to cancel six planned missions, according to briefing notes sent to CNN. Many people in central Gaza are also going hungry because there is not enough food coming in, Casey said. Even in southern Gaza, closest to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt where deliveries are received, not many people are eating a full meal a day, he said.


I guess it's all part of propaganda to keep people in Israel in the dark of what's really going in.

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 10 January 2024

SvennoJ on 10 January 2024

Israel puts senior Palestinian politician under ‘administrative detention’

Khalida Jarrar, who is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), has been sentenced to six months in Israeli prison without charge and with the possibility of being held indefinitely, her daughter says.

Jarrar was previously elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council (parliament) in 2006.

She was held in administrative detention by Israel between July 2017 and February 2019; and arrested again in October 2019. In March 2021 she was sentenced to two years in prison.

Jenin camp infrastructure destroyed

Reporting from Nablus, occupied West Bank

Nidal Naghnaghieh, who heads the Jenin refugee camp’s high-level committee, says the Israeli army has carried out several raids since October 7, destroying infrastructure in the camp and the city in the occupied West Bank.

“They destroyed the streets, electric poles, water lines, even the monument built for the late [Al Jazeera journalist] Shireen Abu Akleh,” he told Al Jazeera. “UNRWA is working slowly to repair streets, homes and infrastructure. There are many repairs inside the camp since October 7 that have not been completed yet,” he said.

“We call on UNRWA to rebuild the infrastructure and rehabilitate the streets and sewage network as soon as possible, especially since we are in the winter season.”

Israel publishes website depicting October 7 attack

Facing accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as it carries out one of the most destructive military campaigns in modern history, the Israeli government has published a website with gruesome photos from the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.

Israeli government official Moshik Aviv said that the website will “assist Israel in its goal to remind the world that we are the victim in this unprecedented terror event”.

The website, which is blocked within Israel and comes with a warning of “extreme viewer discretion”, shows photos of slain Israelis, bloody floors, and charred bodies.

Report: ADL will include pro-Palestine rallies in tally of anti-Semitic incidents

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a group that tracks anti-Semitism in the United States, will include pro-Palestine rallies in its tallies of anti-Semitic incidents, according to a report in the US news outlet The Jewish Forward.

While critics have previously said that the ADL fails to adequately distinguish between criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism, the report in the Forward says that the ADL has significantly widened its definition to include pro-Palestine rallies that feature “anti-Zionist chants and slogans”.

“The ADL released a report today claiming to find 3,283 incidents of antisemitism since October 7 — but roughly 1,300 of these, or 40 percent, appear to be rallies featuring ‘anti-Zionist chants and slogans,’ events that have not been counted in any previous tally,” Arno Rosenfeld, who covers anti-Semitism for the Forward, wrote in a social media post.



SvennoJ on 10 January 2024

South Africa’s case at the ICJ ‘strong and robust’: Legal expert

Triestino Mariniello, a reader in law at Liverpool John Moores University, and a member of the legal team representing Gaza victims at the International Criminal Court, says that South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice has a strong chance of succeeding, as it shows how Israeli “conduct has been put in place with the intent to destroy” Palestinians in Gaza as a group.

“Generally, what is difficult in relation to genocide is to prove the intent to commit genocide,” said Mariniello. “But the South African authorities here have submitted a list of statements by Israeli political and military leaders showing clear genocidal intent.”

The legal expert added that it would be difficult for supporters of Israel, including the United States, to ignore any ICJ ruling that does find Israel guilty of committing genocide.

“Legally, the decision is binding. Then, of course, the enforcement of the decision will be political,” Mariniello told Al Jazeera. “Just to be clear, every state has a legal obligation, not just a political obligation, to enforce any decision coming from the International Court of Justice, and I would say it would be really a scandal if states do not implement such a decision.”

First presentations start tomorrow


Poll shows overwhelming UK public support for Gaza ceasefire

A YouGov poll commissioned by Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu) has found that 71 percent of the British public believes there should be an immediate ceasefire in Israel and Palestine.

“Three months of bombardment and siege have resulted in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Children are starving, the health system is collapsing, and nearly two million people are displaced from their homes. The message from the public couldn’t be clearer: this must end now, and our politicians must play their part in making that happen,” said Melanie Ward, MAP’s CEO.

The poll also found only 17 percent approval for the UK government’s handling of the conflict. Only 9 percent of people approved of the Labour Party’s handling of the conflict, versus 30 percent disapproving. Neither party currently supports an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

“This should be a wake-up call to the [Labour] political leadership to realign themselves both with public sentiment, international law and the need to address the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza,” said Chris Doyle, director of Caabu.

https://www.map.org.uk/news/archive/post/1548-opinion-poll-shows-overwhelming-british-public-support-for-an-immediate-ceasefire-in-gaza

https://yougov.co.uk/about/panel-methodology


Security Council adopts resolution calling for halt to Houthi attacks in Red Sea

Russia, China and Algeria abstained – but importantly, Russia and China did not use their veto power.

The resolution, a copy of which was obtained by CNN, "condemns in the strongest terms the at least two dozen Houthi attacks on merchant and commercial vessels since November 19, 2023, when the Houthis attacked and seized the Galaxy Leader and its crew." 

Here's what else is in the resolution:

  • Demands that the Houthis "immediately cease all such attacks, which impede global commerce and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security"
  • Demands that the Houthis immediately release the Galaxy Leader and its crew
  • Condemns any supply of arms and related materials to the Houthis
  • Calls for cooperation to prevent the Houthis from acquiring these arms and materials to carry out more attacks
  • Respect for "navigational rights and freedoms by merchant and commercial vessels, in accordance with international law"
  • Urges "caution and restraint to avoid further escalation of the situation in the Red Sea and the broader region" and diplomatic cooperation to that end.

Well at least the 'world' can agree on that. However still just 'fighting the symptoms'.


https://www.tradewindsnews.com/casualties/galaxy-leader-owner-says-nothing-more-can-be-achieved-by-holding-crew-hostage/2-1-1565031

Nothing can be achieved by their further detention.” Galaxy Maritime and Stamco applauded the actions so far of the Philippines' maritime authorities and other maritime administrations to secure a release of the 17 Filipino seafarers, two Bulgarians, three Ukrainians, a Romanian and two Mexicans.

Hopefully they get to go home soon.

 



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Darc Requiem on 10 January 2024
Machiavellian said:
Darc Requiem said:

I firmly believe that the United States government doesn't care what Israel does. They only care that Israel government officials are saying the quiet part out loud. They openly talk about their genocidal agenda. Words mean nothing, action does. Officials of my countries, the US, say they are "having hard conversations" with Israel. Yet when you look at their actions, they do nothing to stop Israel. In fact, they are doing all they can to stifle any repercussions for Israel at the UN. The only good thing about Israel's government being brazen with their statements is that it has given South Africa ammunition for their case against Israel in The International Court of Justice.

The only people that can stop Israel is Israel.  We can sanction, we can play diplomate, we can voice our concerns at the UN but it really all comes down to Israel.  Anyone believing that the US is going to be the savior of anyone needs to read history.  The US can barely be the savior within their own country let alone outside of their boarders.  What will stop Israel is a concerted effort by the world but the world is divided and thus Israel will always have the green light as long as they do not get overboard with their efforts. The Palestinians have to pretty much pull a Gandhi in order to get the world on their side and even then it might not be enough.

The United States can greatly reduce Israels effectiveness. 80% of Israel's arms come from the US. If the US cuts Israel off it would greatly hamper their military efforts because they'd run out munitions. Biden has circumvented Congress twice since the start of the latest conflict to approval arms sales to Israel. This isn't even including the billions of dollars of aid the US provides to Israel in general. 



SvennoJ on 11 January 2024

South Africa presented its case today at the ICJ, accusing Israel of Genocide



Summary

South Africa criticizes “ongoing Nakba of the Palestinian people” in opening ICJ remarks

Vusi Mandonsela, South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands, said his country “places Israel’s genocidal acts and omissions within the broader context of Israel’s 25-year apartheid, 76-year occupation, and 16-year siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.”

“South Africa has recognized the ongoing Nakba of the Palestinian people through Israel’s colonization since 1948, which has systematically and forcibly dispossessed, displaced and fragmented the Palestinian people, deliberately denying them their internationally recognized, inalienable right to self-determination and their internationally recognized right of return as refugees to their towns and villages in what is now the state of Israel,” Mandonsela said.

Mandonsela said Israel’s allegedly genocidal acts in Gaza “inevitably form part of a continuum of illegal acts perpetrated against the Palestinian people since 1948.” He also accused Israel of “subjecting the Palestinian people to apartheid.”

"No armed attack" can justify breaching genocide convention, South Africa argues

Addressing the court, South Africa’s Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola said the oppression of Palestinian people did not begin following the Hamas attacks, arguing it has been ongoing for years. “In the Gaza Strip, at least since 2004, Israel continues to exercise control over the air space, territorial waters, land crossing, water, electricity and civilian infrastructure.”

He said that "South Africa unequivocally condemned the targeting of civilians by Hamas and other Palestinians and groups, and the taking of hostages on the 7th of October 2023."

But, he argued, “no armed attack on a state territory, no matter how serious... even an attack involving atrocity crimes can provide any justification for, or defense to, breaches to the convention. Whether it is a matter of law or morality. "Israel’s response to the 7th of October 2023 attack has crossed this line and gives rise to the breaches of the convention," he told the court.


South Africa Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola, left, and South African Ambassador to the Netherlands Vusimuzi Madonsela

South Africa cites evidence it says shows “pattern of genocidal conduct” by Israel

In an 84-page filing to the ICJ, South Africa cited evidence it said showed Israel is committing genocide by killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing serious mental and bodily harm, forced evacuations, widespread hunger, and by creating conditions “calculated to bring about their physical destruction.” 

Hassim discussed some of the evidence presented by South Africa in its filing, including Israel’s air strikes in Gaza. She said Palestinians in Gaza have “been killed if they have failed to evacuate, in the places to which they have fled, and even while they have attempted to flee along Israeli-declared safe routes". "The level of Israel’s killing is so extensive that nowhere is safe in Gaza,” she said, adding that the destruction was “beyond any acceptable legal – let alone humane – justification."

Hassim also cited videos and images she said showed Israeli soldiers “joyfully detonating entire apartment blocks and town squares, erecting the Israeli flag over the wreckage, seeking to reestablish Israeli settlements on the rubble of Palestinian homes, and thus extinguishing the very basis of Palestinian life in Gaza.” She also cited experts who have claimed that more may die in Gaza because of disease and starvation than because of Israeli air strikes.

South Africa not alone in drawing attention to Israel's "genocidal intent," lawyer argues

Fifteen United Nations special rapporteurs and 21 members of the United Nations weapon groups have warned that what is happening in Gaza reflects a genocide in the making and an overt intent to destroy the Palestinian people and occupation," he said.

Israel has a genocidal intent against the Palestinians in Gaza," Ngcukaitobi told the court.

"That is evident in the way in which Israel's military attack is being conducted, which has been described by Ms Hasim." "It is systematic in its character and form. The mass displacement of the population of Gaza, headed into areas where they continue to be killed and the deliberate creation of conditions that quote — lead to a slow death — unquote."

South Africa accuses Israel's leaders of showing "genocidal intent" towards Palestinians in Gaza

“Israel’s political leaders, military commanders, and persons holding official positions, have systematically and in explicit terms declared their genocidal intent.” These statements “are then repeated by soldiers on the ground in Gaza as they engage in the destruction of Palestinians and the physical infrastructure of Gaza.” “Israel’s special genocidal intent is rooted in the belief that in fact the enemy is not just the military wing of Hamas, or indeed Hamas generally, but is embedded in the fabric of Palestinian life in Gaza,” Ngcukaitobi claimed.

Ngcukaitobie cited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Israeli forces on October 28, ahead of the imminent launch of its ground offensive in Gaza. “Remember what Amalek did to you,” Netanyahu said in his address, which Ngcukaitobi told the court “refers to a Biblical command by God to Saul for the retaliatory destruction of an entire group of people known as the Amalekites.” Ngcukaitobi cited a verse from the book of Samuel also referring to the Amalekites. “Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys,” reads the verse.

Ngcukaitobi then referenced quotes from Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. "On 9 October, the Defense Minister Yoav Gallant gave a situation update to the army where he said that as Israel was imposing a complete siege on Gaza there would be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything would be closed. Because Israel is fighting 'human animals,'" Ngcukaitobi told the court.

Ngcukaitobi continued: "Speaking to troops on the Gaza border he instructed them that he has released “all the restraints” and that Gaza won’t return to what it was before." “We will eliminate everything. We will reach all places,” Ngcukaitobi quoted Gallant as saying.

ICJ risks treating Palestinians as “less worthy of protection than others," South Africa says


South African Ambassador to the Netherlands Vusimuzi Madonsela

South Africa has argued that if the International Court of Justice refuses to grant emergency measures in its genocide case against Israel, the court would “treat Palestinians differently, as less worthy of protection than others.” It wants the court to order a halt in Israel's Gaza campaign, something the court could rule on in a matter of weeks.

Max du Plessis, one of the advocates representing South Africa, cited various cases in which the ICJ has granted “provisional measures” in order to protect the rights of peoples around the world.

In January 2020, the court granted The Gambia's request for provisional measures to protect the Rohingya people remaining in Myanmar from Genocide. The Court has granted similar measures to protect Ukrainians from ongoing Russian aggression, and Bosnians during the Balkan Wars in the 1990s.

South Africa has argued that the rights of Palestinians must be protected “from imminent and irreparable loss” while the court considers the full merit of the case, which could take years. To find otherwise would not only be to treat Palestinians differently, as less worthy of protection than others, it would also be for the court to unduly limit its own competence, to turn its back upon its extensive prior jurisprudence, and to close its eyes to the breach of the rights which lie at the heart of the convention, and which breaches are taking place in Gaza right now,” du Plessis said.

South Africa has stressed throughout the hearing that the Court need only to decide that Israel’s actions are “plausibly genocidal” for it to grant provisional measures. “It is not necessary for the court to come to a final view on the question of whether Israel’s conduct constitutes genocide. It is necessary to establish only whether at least some of the acts alleged are capable of falling within the provisions of the convention,” Adila Hassim argued earlier. "It is clear that at least some, if not all, of these acts fall within the convention’s provisions," she said.

South African lawyer describes Gaza as "moral failure" and urges court to implement provisional measures

"The imminent risk of death, harm and destruction that Palestinians in Gaza face today, and that they risk every day during the pendency of these proceedings on any view justifies, indeed compels the indication of provisional measures," she argued.

Ní Ghrálaigh continued to say that the international community had "repeatedly failed. It failed the people of Rwanda. It failed the Bosnian people and the Rohingya, prompting this court to take action. It failed again by ignoring the early warnings of the grave risk of genocide to the Palestinian people sounded by international experts since October 19 last year."

"The international community continues to fail the Palestinian people, despite the overt, dehumanizing, genocidal rhetoric by Israeli governmental and military officials, matched by the Israeli army’s actions on the ground," she said.

As a part of her closing remarks, Ní Ghrálaigh says "the world should be ashamed" by the situation in Gaza.

South Africa has outlined its key requests from the ICJ

He requested the measures be considered "as a matter of extreme urgency".

Among the provisional measures requested include:

  • That Israel suspends its military operations in and against Gaza
  • That Israel ensures its military - and any associated groups stop any military operations
  • That Israel stops killing Palestinian people
  • That Israel stops displacing Palestinian people from their homes and ensures they have access to food, water, healthcare and basic infrastructure
  • That Israel take "all reasonable actions within their power to prevent genocide"

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 11 January 2024

Machiavellian on 11 January 2024
Darc Requiem said:
Machiavellian said:

The only people that can stop Israel is Israel.  We can sanction, we can play diplomate, we can voice our concerns at the UN but it really all comes down to Israel.  Anyone believing that the US is going to be the savior of anyone needs to read history.  The US can barely be the savior within their own country let alone outside of their boarders.  What will stop Israel is a concerted effort by the world but the world is divided and thus Israel will always have the green light as long as they do not get overboard with their efforts. The Palestinians have to pretty much pull a Gandhi in order to get the world on their side and even then it might not be enough.

The United States can greatly reduce Israels effectiveness. 80% of Israel's arms come from the US. If the US cuts Israel off it would greatly hamper their military efforts because they'd run out munitions. Biden has circumvented Congress twice since the start of the latest conflict to approval arms sales to Israel. This isn't even including the billions of dollars of aid the US provides to Israel in general. 

Naw, the US cannot do anything because the US is divided.  That is what I am trying to tell you.  Also Biden did not circumvent congress, its within his power as president, he does not need congress approval.  You believe the US is going to jump in and save the Palestinians but look at the US history in the region and you see that looking for them to do anything that will be effective is asking for a miracle.  Neither Dems nor GOP are concerted on any one effort and if you know US politics you know when both parties do not agree with a majority then nothing gets done.

So no, the US no matter who is in the president seat is going to do nothing.  If anything they will still do more for Israel then they will ever do for the Palestinians unless by some miracle you get someone in the president seat that is part of neither popular candidates.



SvennoJ on 11 January 2024

Israel calls ICJ genocide case "one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history"

The Israeli Foreign Ministry criticized South Africa in response to the International Court of Justice case that South Africa brought forth accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

"Today we were witness to one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history, compounded by a series of false and baseless claims," Lior Haiat, a spokesperson for the ministry, said on X, formerly Twitter.

Haiat accused South Africa of "functioning as the legal arm of the Hamas" and ignoring the massacre carried out by the militant group in Israel on October 7.

"South Africa seeks to allow Hamas to return to commit the war crimes," Haiat claimed.


Smotrich slams South Africa’s genocide case as ‘hypocritical debate’

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says the case brought forward by South Africa in The Hague, alleging genocide carried out by Israel, is hypocritical.

“The Hague Court, like other international tribunals, are political bodies plagued with anti-semitism and are exposed time and time again in stunning shows of hypocrisy,” he said.

“The countries that sent the judges to the Hague are being exposed today in all their hypocrisy. Somalia, Uganda, Lebanon and other countries that ‘care’ for the people of Gaza – all you need to do to assist them is to open the gates of your countries, allow those who want to get out of Hamas prison in Gaza and take them in your countries.”

So his argument is, it wouldn't be genocide if you would help us ethnically cleanse the territory....

Addressing the various charges of hypocrisy that have been laid against South Africa, including why it has not also brought a charge of genocide against Hamas, Lowe explained this is a matter for the International Criminal Court – and not the ICJ.

“Hamas is not a state and cannot be a party to the genocide convention, and cannot be a party to these proceedings,” Lowe said. Whereas the ICJ hears cases brought by states accusing others of violating their UN treaty obligations, the ICC tries individuals for crimes including war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Gaza residents surprised their plight has brought global attention

The South African lawyers have spoken to the Gazans’ hearts and minds, carefully describing in detail what is happening here.

Their account is consistent with what we have been reporting since the start of this war. House-by-house attacks, people displaced from one evacuation centre to another, people being sent to safe areas and then being bombed, using starvation as a method of war.

People here are quite hopeful now, despite knowing the fact that once this case reaches the UN Security Council, the US is likely to veto it.

The level of details told at the court has made everyone here hopeful. There are people who still believe in justice and there are people who are speaking the hearts and minds of what’s going on.





SvennoJ on 11 January 2024

Israel's tone has changed already, no longer owning up to attacks and now calling the Journalists they bombed terrorists.


Israel denies bombing Gaza ambulance, killing medics

The Israeli military has denied it was behind the bombing of an ambulance in the central Gaza Strip that killed four medics and two other people.

“A review was conducted based on the details provided to the [Israeli military] which shows no strike was carried out in the described area,” the army said in a statement to AFP. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said six people were killed on Wednesday in the strike on its ambulance at the entrance to the Deir el-Balah area of central Gaza, blaming it on Israel.

The killings brought to 11 the number of PRCS medics killed since October 7 [Ashraf Amra/Anadolu]


Israeli army accuses two journalists of being ‘terrorists’

The Israeli army says the son of Al Jazeera’s Wael Dahdouh, Hamza, and his colleague Mustafa Thurayya were “terrorists who committed terrorist acts against Israel”. Hamza, a producer with Al Jazeera Arabic, and Thurayya, a freelancer for AFP news agency, were killed on January 6 in an Israeli missile attack on their car in Rafah. A third journalist with them, Qusay Salem, was also killed.

In a series of posts on X, the Israeli army said Thurayya “served as an operative in the terrorist organisation Hamas in the Gaza City Division”. Hamza, it said, “served as an activist in a terrorist organisation”.

According to reports from Al Jazeera correspondents, Hamza and Mustafa’s vehicle was targeted as they were trying to interview civilians displaced by previous bombings.


Al Jazeera journalist Wael Dahdouh at the funeral of his son, Hamza Dahdouh, who was killed in an Israeli strike, at his funeral in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Jan 7, 2024

At the time of the attack, the Israeli army said it was targeting a “terrorist” in the vehicle.

It confirmed in a statement that a military aircraft “identified and struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat to (Israeli) troops,” adding that “we are aware of the reports that during the strike, two other suspects who were in the same vehicle as the terrorist were also hit”.

However, when asked if Israel had any proof that a so-called terrorist was present in the car, army spokesperson Daniel Hagari described the incident to NBC as “unfortunate”, and said that an investigation was continuing to determine what happened.

Calling for an independent investigation into the strike, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said: “Israel first said it lethally targeted a car carrying journalists in Gaza because there was a terrorist in the car. Now it says that the use by a journalist of a drone made it ‘look like’ they were terrorists.”

Flip flop, now calling all the people in the car terrorists


The list of Al Jazeera journalists and staff who have lost members of their families or have died themselves is also growing.

In December, Anas al-Sharif lost his father to an Israeli air raid that struck his family’s house in Jabalia.

A few days earlier, on December 6, Moamen Al Sharafi, a correspondent for Al Jazeera Arabic, had 22 members of his family killed when an Israeli attack hit the house they were sheltering in at the Jabalia refugee camp.

In late October, broadcast engineer Mohamed Abu Al-Qumsan lost 19 members of his family, including his father and two sisters, during Israeli air raids on the same refugee camp.