Ongoing Israeli attacks ‘a bid to drag out conflict, delay elections’

Israel’s ongoing attacks in Gaza are in part a bid to prolong the conflict in order to delay elections and internal scrutiny of the failures that led to the war, says Israeli political analyst Akiva Eldar.

He told Al Jazeera that the ongoing attacks, such as those today in southern Gaza, in part reflected the domestic concerns of Netanyahu’s government.

“It’s also a domestic issue since declaring an end of the war is also declaring elections in Israel, early elections,” he said, adding that the end of the war would also lead to a commission, demanded by the opposition and courts, “that will inquire [into] the blunders that made the October 7 [attacks] possible”.

Eldar said Hamas also had an incentive to be “dragging their feet” and delaying the next stage of the ceasefire agreement, which would require the group to be dismantled, as any additional time could allow them to recruit new members.

Looks like CNN's masters are worried about Mandani

‘I hate my choices’: How Zohran Mamdani’s run for mayor has split Jews in New York

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/02/politics/zohran-mamdani-jewish-vote

As a Jew and a New Yorker, Norman Needleman said he finds the city’s mayoral election “painful.”

Waiting in line Friday to vote on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, the 77-year-old Needleman thought Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist, would be good for the city’s social needs. But his positions on Israel were just too much for Needleman to accept.

“If I try and bend that far, I’ll break,” he said, quoting the musical “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Is it really that hard to denounce genocide...

This election has shown clearly that “Jews and Jewish voters are not a monolith,” said Phylisa Wisdom, the director of the New York Jewish Agenda, an advocacy group promoting liberal Jewish New Yorkers.

“Folks have been really trying to reckon with how much does it matter that they have a mayor that has their same feelings about Israel,” she said. “There are some who feel like it’s not the most important thing to me when I’m voting for mayor, how they feel about Israel, and there are some who think it’s existential, and they couldn’t vote for someone who disagrees with them on Israel or doesn’t support Israel as a Jewish state.”

The issue stems from Mamdani’s history of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel activism, from his college days when he started a Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, to his support for the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions movement against Israel, to his pledge to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.


I hate conflating Judaism with Zionism, however the older generation in the USA make it really hard:

“Shabbat Shalom. To be clear, unequivocal, and on the record: I believe Zohran Mamdani poses a danger to the security of the New York Jewish community,” Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue told his congregation on October 18.

More than 1,100 rabbis and Jewish leaders across the US soon signed an open letter agreeing with Cosgrove’s message and calling on Americans to “stand up for candidates who reject antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric.”


At least the indoctrination of younger generations has failed:

Mamdani’s rise comes amid a growing split in the American Jewish electorate, particularly along age lines, about Israel in the wake of the war in Gaza the last two years. While 56% of Jewish Americans say they are emotionally attached to Israel, that number falls to 36% among those aged 18 to 34, according to polling from The Washington Post.

While Mamdani is ahead among likely voters in most public polls, recent polls from Fox News and Marist both had 55% of Jewish likely voters in the city backing former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running an independent campaign after losing to Mamdani in the June Democratic primary. Mamdani had 32% with Jewish voters in each poll.

As opposed to the Guardian

It’s clear why Zohran Mamdani has a double-digit lead in the New York mayoral race

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/03/zohran-mamdani-lead-new-york-city-mayoral-race

For someone who exudes positive energy and seldom stops smiling, Zohran Mamdani certainly does provoke a lot of negative reactions.

“He’s not who you think he is,” one TV ad glowered over gloomy images of the 34-year-old state assemblymember who is the clear frontrunner for New York City mayor. The ad doesn’t make clear precisely what the supposed disconnect is, but the tagline clearly is meant to give voters pause.

“Never ran anything,” former New York state governor Andrew Cuomo charged, as he dissed his opponent on Fox News. “There’s no time for on-the-job training when any given morning, God forbid, you could have a mass murder or a terrorist attack.” Cuomo’s campaign yanked an ad that went further, using racist stereotypes to depict Mamdani supporters.

And the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page has been on an anti-Mamdani run for many weeks, churning out opinion pieces like this one from conservative columnist Peggy Noonan: “New York, You’ve Been Warned.” Or this one from Journal editorial board member Joseph Sternberg: “Sorry Republicans, There’s No Silver Lining to a Mamdani Win.”

Another Murdoch-controlled newspaper, the New York Post, has not confined its views to the opinion pages but rather shouted them on its tabloid front pages. “SCAMDANI”, read one cover story, with a subheading quoting Mayor Eric Adams calling the state assemblymember a “snake oil salesman”.

The pro-Trump billionaire Bill Ackman has warned New Yorkers that Mamdani’s personality is a fraud. “The whole thing is an act,” Ackman posted on X after the mayoral debate last month. “After watching him recreate his fake smile, your skin will start to crawl.” Ackman gave $1m to the anti-Mamdani effort through the Super Pac Defend NYC, while former mayor Mike Bloomberg has contributed more than that to efforts to thwart Mamdani’s rise; Bloomberg gave $1.5m to a pro-Cuomo Super Pac, after spending millions to help Cuomo in June’s primary.


But if you ignore the ads, the headlines and the social media posts, another story emerges, as researchers from the Harvard Institute of Politics found when they spoke to young people during the recent early-voting period.

“I think my life could really improve if he wins,” enthused one young woman, quoted in an ABC News story about the Harvard focus group. Another respondent compared him in one respect to Donald Trump: “There’s no flip-flopping.”

And another approvingly described Mamdani as “badass”.

The democratic socialist holds a double-digit lead in the race and right now looks like a shoo-in.

Fox News: The poll, conducted between Oct. 24–28, shows Mamdani at 47%, Cuomo at 31% and Sliwa at 15%.

Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill: The poll, conducted between Oct. 25-27, found Mamdani with a 25-point lead over Cuomo – 50% to 25% – with 21% support for Sliwa; 4% were undecided.

Marist Poll: The poll, conducted between Oct. 24–28, shows Mamdani at 48%, Cuomo at 32%, Sliwa at 16% and 3% undecided.

Quinnipiac University: The poll, released on Oct. 29, shows Mamdani with 46% support among likely voters, Cuomo with 33% support, and Sliwa with 15% support; 3% were undecided and 2% refused to respond.

Manhattan Institute: The poll, conducted between Oct. 22–26, has Mamdani up 15% points over Cuomo. Sliwa remains in third with 19%; 8% are undecided.

Israeli bill to impose death penalty on Palestinian ‘terror’ suspects a ‘crime against humanity’

The head of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society has described an Israeli bill to introduce the death penalty for Palestinian “terrorism” suspects as a crime against humanity.

Abdullah al-Zaghari told Al Jazeera that the bill, introduced by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s far-right Jewish Power party and backed by Netanyahu, underlines Israel’s disregard for international law.

In a separate statement, the society said the Israeli state was already carrying out extrajudicial executions against Palestinians “through deliberate execution during arrest, interrogation, assassination or fatal medical negligence, as part of a pattern of systematic medical crimes”.

“What is happening … is nothing more than an additional step to entrench a crime that has been practised for decades,” the statement said.

In Israeli abuse video scandal, focus on leaker eclipses attention given to original crime

The arrest of the former top lawyer in the Israeli military for the leak of a video showing Israeli soldiers assaulting a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman military prison is creating a political and legal storm in Israel.

You have the Israeli government accusing Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalm of blood libel against the Israeli army, of defaming Israeli soldiers. Netanyahu went as far as saying this was the most dangerous assault on Israel’s image since its establishment.

Many in Israel are fearful that Netanyahu and his coalition partners will use this as a pretext to introduce the changes they want in the Israeli military and judiciary.

There is so much focus on the fact that this video was leaked, at the expense of discussing how this crime actually happened – and the fact that the UN says that these kinds of crimes are being committed in a systematic manner.

In one way, it’s a way to shift attention from the fact that these crimes are happening, by focusing on this woman and the fact that she leaked the video.

Two people killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon

Israeli attacks have killed two people and wounded seven, Lebanon’s Health Ministry says, a day after Israel threatened to ramp up attacks it says would target Hezbollah.

In a statement, the ministry said an Israeli strike on the town of Doueir in Nabatieh province killed one person and wounded seven.

Another strike in Aita al-Shaab, about 2km (1.2 miles) from the Israeli border, killed one person, the ministry said.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that in the Doueir attack, three missiles were fired at a car, causing a fire that spread to two other vehicles and caused significant damage to a shopping complex.

Nasser Hospital receives 45 bodies of Palestinian prisoners; total rises to 270 returned by Israel

Now we have received 45 Palestinian bodies, and they were transferred to Nasser Hospital, bringing the total number of Palestinians received from Israel to 270.

However, only 78 bodies have been identified. Most have not been, due to the time that has passed. It has been two years since these bodies were taken by Israeli forces, and many show signs of torture.

We also need to note that there are families with sons or other relatives missing who go to try to recognise and identify these bodies.

If these bodies are not identified, they will be buried along with other Palestinians in a mass grave in Deir el-Balah. This process takes a couple of weeks as the Palestinian Health Ministry allows families time to attempt to recognise their relatives.

Thousands of Palestinians are still missing.

Half of Gaza households report stagnant or worsening food access despite ceasefire

Half of UN-surveyed households in Gaza report no change or deteriorating access to food with northern areas cut off from aid convoys since September 12.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs survey revealed a divided recovery picture as 50 percent of families saw improved conditions while the remainder struggle with continued or worsening shortages.

Meanwhile, 60 percent of the population burns waste for cooking due to gas shortages, according to a UN humanitarian report.

Recovery efforts are advancing with two field hospitals opening in Gaza City and five learning spaces reopening for 2,200 students while 29,000 people move northwards to return home.

3 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in southern Gaza

Three Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire north of Rafah in southern Gaza, a source at the Nasser Medical Complex has told our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.

Earlier the Israeli military said it had attacked southern Gaza, claiming individuals had crossed the so-called “yellow line” demarcating the area of the enclave currently under Israeli control, in what it said was a violation of the ceasefire agreement.

It is not clear whether the strike referred to by the Israeli military is the same one that killed the three Palestinians.

3 Palestinians, including child, wounded by Israeli fire in eastern of Gaza City

A child is among three Palestinians wounded by Israeli fire in the east of Gaza City, a source at al-Ahli Arab Hospital tells Al Jazeera.

Turkiye’s top diplomat calls for peace in Gaza, demands clear framework to address ceasefire violations by Israel

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan says Turkiye wants to do whatever is necessary for peace “but we need to see an agreeable framework first.”

Fidan also said there are still major differences between Israel and the Palestinians that can’t be resolved in the short term, adding that Israel must stop its regular violations of the ceasefire and fulfil its duty to allow access to humanitarian aid.

The foreign minister added that countries will have to decide whether to send soldiers to the still-unformed International Stabilisation Force (ISF), an international body whose establishment was part of Trump’s 20-point peace plan. The force is expected to guarantee security inside Gaza.

Yet there are still unanswered questions, including what kind of mandate the ISF would have, who would join and what would be its rules of engagement.

Fidan spoke after a ministerial meeting in Istanbul involving Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia and Turkiye.

Palestine condemns Israeli death penalty bill as ‘extrajudicial execution’ plan

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned a proposed Israeli law imposing the death penalty on people convicted of “terrorism”, calling it “a decision for extrajudicial field executions and intentions to commit a crime”.

The ministry urged the international community to hold those behind the bill accountable.

The legislation, advanced Monday by the Knesset’s National Security Committee and championed by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has been widely criticised by rights groups.

It is set for its first reading in the plenum on Wednesday.

UK foreign secretary urges Israel says ‘no excuse’ for blocking aid

The UK’s Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has said Israel has “no excuse” for delaying aid to Palestinians in Gaza and called for a Jordanian route to be opened from a warehouse full of aid intended for Gaza in the country.

“In this warehouse alone, there is enough wheat to feed 700,000 people for a month, and yet we still have children in Gaza going hungry. This is just wrong,” Cooper told Channel 4 in an interview.

Cooper has been visiting several countries in the Middle East.

Israeli fighter jets attack Gaza City

Israeli fighter jets carried out attacks on Gaza City on Monday evening in another violation of the ceasefire, Wafa reports

According to the agency’s correspondent, two strikes hit the eastern part of the city. It isn’t yet clear if anyone was killed or injured.

Egypt estimates $70bn needed for Gaza reconstruction

In an interview with CBS, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tamim Khallaf said that an estimated $70bn will be needed for the reconstruction of Gaza.

Khallaf also said that Hamas understands that it has “no place” in a future role governing Gaza.

Keeps going up as Israel keeps destroying more behind the yellow line.

Israel holds hundreds of children in West Bank prisons

Israel is holding a record 360 Palestinian children from the occupied West Bank in its prisons, many without charge or trial, in what rights groups call a system of control and abuse.

Families say the detentions, marked by torture and neglect, are meant to crush Palestinians.

https://theintercept.com/2025/10/26/mohammed-ibrahim-palestinian-american-child-israel-prison/

Israeli forces storm several locations in occupied West Bank

Israeli soldiers have initiated raids on several cities and towns in the occupied West Bank on Monday evening, according to the Wafa news agency.

Military vehicles were seen in the northeast city of Tubas, with Israeli troops spreading out across a number of neighbourhoods and raiding one house, according to Wafa news agency.

Local sources said the Israeli army also entered Turmus Aya, a town northeast of Ramallah, and set up a military checkpoint at its entrance.

A number of sites in the Qalqilya governorate are being raided as well, including the town of Azzun, where Wafa reported Israeli soldiers firing sound grenades “intensively”.

Group sues over California’s new anti-Semitism law, saying it will stifle US criticism of Israel

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee is challenging a new California law designed to protect Jewish students from discrimination, arguing it is unconstitutionally vague and violates their free speech rights, the Associated Press reports.

The federal complaint in the US, filed yesterday in San Jose, seeks to invalidate legislation Governor Gavin Newsom signed last month, creating an Office of Civil Rights to help schools identify and prevent anti-Semitism.

The new law, which takes effect January 1, does not define anti-Semitism, but gives educators the impression that they could be charged with discrimination “if they expose their students to ideas, information, and instructional materials that may be considered critical of the State of Israel and the philosophy of Zionism”, according to the complaint.

Jenin Younes, national legal director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, says the lack of guidance has a chilling effect on speech among educators.

“They censor themselves very broadly because they don’t know what’s going to get them into trouble,” she told AP.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of individual teachers and students in California public schools, and the Los Angeles Educators for Justice in Palestine.

In the complaint, middle school science teacher Jonah Olson says students at his rural, largely Christian school district often ask him what it means to be Jewish. He responds in part by saying that his Judaism does not include support for the State of Israel, and now he fears that might violate the law.

Parents who are part of the lawsuit say they fear their children will be prevented from learning about differing perspectives on Israel, Palestinians, and the Middle East.

Main events on Novemeber 3rd

• Three Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire north of Rafah in southern Gaza.
• An ex-Israeli army lawyer has been arrested after leaking a video showing Israeli soldiers abusing a Palestinian detainee at the notorious Sde Teiman military base last year.
• A United Nations survey has revealed that half of all polled Gaza households say food access is the same or has deteriorated since the October 10 ceasefire.
• Israel has released five Palestinian prisoners as well as the remains of 45 other Palestinians as part of the terms of the fragile Gaza truce.
• A whistleblower has said the last US government watered down a report on the killing of the Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reported to support proposed legislation that would introduce the death penalty against those accused of “terrorism”.

Israeli Society ERUPTS Over 'Right To RAPE'

Krystal and Saagar discuss Israel erupting over abuse of Palestinian detainees.

Jeremy Scahill: How Gulf Regimes Sold Out Palestine, Cashed In on Genocide

Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of Drop Site News and one of the few Western reporters in regular contact with Hamas leaders, breaks down the Middle East’s shifting power dynamics and Israel’s latest attacks on Gaza, including Tuesday night airstrikes that killed over 100 people, 46 of them children, despite the so-called ceasefire.

He details how Egypt and Turkey keep Hamas “severely weakened but not destroyed” to maintain leverage, while Saudi Arabia and the UAE quietly back Israel’s ongoing genocide, fearing Hamas inspires resistance at home.

Scahill warns that Trump and Netanyahu have turned mass murder into “a business opportunity for imperial America,” showing how U.S. complicity, Arab state corruption, and Democratic Party silence allow Israel’s “war of annihilation” to continue under the guise of peace.

Mamdani Smears BACKFIRE - Elites In PANIC