Fewer service members seeking careers in the Israeli military: Report

The Times of Israel, citing statistics published by Israel’s Channel 12, reports that the military is facing a major crisis in retaining career service members in the Israeli military.

According to the report, the Israeli military is short of about 1,300 officers at the ranks of lieutenant and captain, and another 300 majors. An internal survey conducted by the army showed only 63 percent of officers are interested in staying in the military, compared with 83 percent in 2018.

The Times of Israel said that recruitment to the army had been difficult as more Israelis are opting for civilian work “due to burnout from the war, perceived worsening service conditions, political delegitimisation, and discontent over recent appointments within [Israeli army] leadership”.

At least fewer people are willing to make a career out of committing genocide :/

Syria continues to transfer people displaced by Israel’s strikes

The Syrian Civil Defence has said that its teams continue to transfer 13 families from the Beit Jinn farm to the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside.

It said 11 families were transferred yesterday, following their displacement after last Friday’s Israeli attack, which killed at least 13 people, including two children.

Israel claimed it was going after members of Jamaa al-Islamiya, Lebanon’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. However, in response to the Israeli claim, the group said it was not active outside Lebanon.

Hamas: ‘We entered into ceasefire aware that Israel would test agreement’

Hossam Badran, a member of the group’s political bureau, has given an interview to Al Jazeera Mubasher.

In it, he reiterated that the group is adhering fully to the ceasefire agreement, that it is diligently searching for the two remaining bodies of deceased captives buried under rubble in Gaza, and that Israel is using these bodies as a pretext to delay movement to the second phase of the ceasefire.

“We went to this agreement fully aware of the magnitude of the challenges, whether in the texts contained in it or in the implementation mechanisms, and we are accustomed to the [Israeli] occupation’s evasion of its commitments”, he said.

He said that Hamas entered the agreement in order to stop “the daily genocide war that the occupation was waging against our people and our families in Gaza”.

“Although violations continue”, he added, “this is incomparable to what it was during the war”, urging the world to try to understand the group’s rationale in taking this course of action.

Badran said that there was no “severance” between his group and the Palestinian Authority (PA), and that a delegation from the group met with security and political officials from the PA in Cairo to discuss the roadblocks to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

“There is a kind of consensus, but the issue lies in the mechanisms to confront these challenges and how we can unify the Palestinian stance,” he said.

“We communicate daily with the other factions, and there is great agreement on follow-up mechanisms and how to confront this [Israeli] occupation. However, the Authority and Fatah movement remain influential factors in the national situation, and we are keen to reach at least a minimum level of unity in facing what our Palestinian people are confronting.”

The PA is largely seen as the go-to authority capable of administering Gaza by the West, should the ceasefire agreement reach a stage in which Palestinians once again govern the decimated territory.

_{Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, and an Egyptian delegation conduct search efforts to recover the bodies from the so-called yellow-zone area, with members of the International Committee of the Red Cross present}

Main events on November 30th

• Three Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been confirmed killed, and two were wounded in the past 24-hour reporting period, as a result of ongoing Israeli attacks, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.
• An attack by Israeli settlers on a water well east of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank has cut off the water supply to several Palestinian towns, according to the Jerusalem Water Authority.
• The Israeli military claimed it killed more than 40 Hamas fighters in the Rafah area of southern Gaza over the past 40 days.
• Hamas members are searching for the remains of an Israeli captive in Beit Lahiya in the north of the Gaza Strip.
• Israeli forces have arrested a 16-year-old child at a military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency is reporting.

American Teenager Finally Released From Israeli Prison

After 9.5 months in Israeli military detention, Palestinian-American 16-year-old Mohammed Zaher Ibrahim has been released from Ofer Prison and reunited with his family. He’s now receiving medical care. His family credits a sustained grassroots pressure campaign — and is urging continued advocacy for the hundreds of Palestinian children still held in Israeli military prisons.

"147 children, or 41 percent of the total, are held in administrative detention without charge or trial, which is both the highest number and the highest proportion on record since Defense for Children International Palestine began monitoring"

Netanyahu EXPOSED For Continuing The GENOCIDE

Israel is continually violating the ceasefire agreement with Palestine without consequence.

The Israel/Gaza Conflict Explained

This isn’t about taking sides it’s about telling the truth. From occupation to blockade, war to media spin here’s the real story behind the Israel/Gaza conflict that mainstream headlines always skip.

Genocide is a racket:

Top global arms producers’ revenues surge as major wars rage: SIPRI report

From Israel to Elon Musk’s SpaceX and other giant companies in the US and Europe, arms producers had a profitable 2024.

Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics led the pack in the US, where the combined arms revenues of arms companies in the top 100 grew by 3.8 percent in 2024 to reach $334bn, with 30 out of the 39 US companies in the ranking increasing their revenues.

However, SIPRI said widespread delays and budget overruns continue to plague key projects such as the F-35 fighter jet, the Columbia and Virginia-class submarines, and the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile.

Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX appeared in the list of top global military manufacturers for the first time, after its arms revenues more than doubled compared with 2023 to reach $1.8bn.

Excluding Russia, there were 26 arms companies in the top 100 based in Europe, and 23 of them recorded increases in revenues from sales of weapons and equipment. Their aggregate arms revenues grew by 13 percent to $151bn.

After boosting revenues by 193 percent to reach $3.6bn through making artillery shells for Ukraine, Czech company Czechoslovak Group recorded the sharpest percentage increase in arms revenues of any top 100 company in 2024.

As Ukraine faces a relentless Russian offensive in its eastern regions, the country’s JSC Ukrainian Defense Industry increased its arms revenues by 41 percent to $3bn.

European arms companies have been investing in new production capacity to fight off Russia, the SIPRI report said, but it cautioned that sourcing materials – particularly in the case of dependence on critical minerals – could pose a “growing challenge” as China also tightens export controls.

Rostec and United Shipbuilding Corporation are the only two Russian arms companies in the ranking, and they also increased their combined arms revenues by 23 percent to $31.2bn despite being hit by Western-led sanctions over the Ukraine war.

Israel reaps profits of Gaza genocide

For the first time, nine of the top 100 arms companies were based in the Middle East, according to SIPRI. The nine companies racked up a combined $31bn in revenue in 2024, showing a regional increase of 14 percent.

As the United Arab Emirates continues to face international allegations of arming the devastating war in Sudan, the institute noted its regional figure excludes Emirati-based EDGE Group due to a lack of revenue data for 2023. The UAE rejects the accusations.

The three Israeli arms companies in the ranking increased their combined arms revenues by 16 percent to $16.2bn amid the ongoing genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 70,000 Palestinians and destroyed most of the besieged enclave.

Elbit Systems pocketed $6.28bn in profits, followed by Israel Aerospace Industries with $5.19bn and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems with $4.7bn.

SIPRI said there was an international surge in interest in Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles and counter-drone systems. Rafael’s surge was tied to Iran, as demand for the company’s air defence systems rose to “unprecedented levels” after Iran’s large-scale retaliatory strikes against Israel in April and October 2024 that used ballistic missiles and drones.

Five Turkish companies were in the top 100 – also a record. Their combined arms revenues amounted to $10.1bn, showing an 11 percent increase.

Baykar, which makes, among other things, advanced drones most recently sold to Ukraine, saw 95 percent of its $1.9bn in arms revenue in 2024 come from exports to other countries.

Military companies from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, India, Taiwan, Norway, Canada, Spain, Poland and Indonesia were in the ranking as well.

Pro-Israel speaker blames 'wall of carnage' for anti-Israel Jewish youth

The Grayzone's Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate cover the revealing and cringeworthy commentary of former Obama speechwriter turned pro-Israel activist Sarah Hurwitz, who attempts to explain why more Jewish youth are turning against Israel without any self-reflection.

Israel Tried to Hide This — And Christian Visitors Blew It Open

Christian pilgrims have returned to the Holy Land, but have faced torrents of abuse from Israelis - you'd think they'd welcome the tourism!

You can always tell when Israel’s spin machine is wobbling, because something leaks out through a source that normally acts like a government loudhailer. And that’s exactly what’s happened here: Christian tourists finally start trickling back into Jerusalem after a year of war and a ninety-per-cent tourism collapse, and what do they find? Not welcome, not safety, not the “shared civilisation” nonsense Western governments like to parrot — they find ultra-Orthodox men spitting at them, boys kicking them off bicycles, crosses being hidden because the police can’t be relied on.

And when even a right-wing paper admits it, you know the problem isn’t isolated, it’s structural. Because this isn’t about one incident on the Via Dolorosa. It’s about what happens when a state that plays the eternal victim starts behaving like the unchallenged landlord of everyone else’s holy sites.

You can always tell when a state is losing control of its own story, because the mask slips in a place where it never meant to. That’s what’s just happened in Jerusalem. Christian tourists, the very people Israel claims as cultural allies, the very people Western governments tell themselves they are protecting when they defend Israel on the world stage, are being spat on, kicked, threatened and harassed as they return to the Old City.

Does anyone know how to mute a thread?

I don't need to see round the clock @SvennoJ coverage of this keep appearing on the forum feed.

Entering election year, Netanyahu’s government targets Israel’s free press

What began as Israel’s leader cold-shouldering the mainstream media is becoming a more widespread assault on the country’s freedom of the press.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not granted an interview to Israel’s three main broadcasters in over four years. He’s accused them of “brainwashing,” claimed they assist Israel’s enemies and personally gone after journalists who criticize him.

Now, that longstanding tension is evolving into something more aggressive.: On Monday, Netanyahu’s coalition will establish a special parliamentary committee to advance legislation that would replace Israel’s independent media regulators with political appointees. The change will give the government sweeping authority to fine and sanction news outlets – a move critics warn could permanently reshape the country’s media environment.

The bill, sponsored by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, a Netanyahu loyalist, passed its first reading last month after it was introduced in May. The government says its goal is to open the market, promote competition, remove outdated regulatory barriers and modernize Israel’s media laws for the digital era.

Israeli networks, however, have warned the proposed reform will expand political influence and erode editorial independence. In an unprecedented move, the rival networks created a joint emergency forum in August 2023 to oppose the government’s plans, which they dub a “hostile takeover” of the media market.

An official in the forum told CNN, “What we’re seeing is an attempted power grab on the eve on an election. The clear objective is to subdue the free press and silence criticism before Israelis go to the polls.”

‘True freedom of expression’

The media regulation bill is part of a broader set of restrictions and measures taken against freedom of the press in Israel. Earlier this year, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) dropped Israel’s ranking to 112 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index. “Disinformation campaigns and repressive laws have multiplied in Israel and pressure on Israeli journalists has intensified,” RSF said.

A bill originally aimed at banning Qatar-based Al-Jazeera is currently being expanded to empower the government to shutter certain foreign outlets without court oversight in the name of “national security.” Another bill would privatize Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan 11.

Defence Minister Israel Katz recently announced he will close Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) next year. While some have questioned the existence of a military-run broadcaster in a democracy, the timing aligns with the government’s wider moves to consolidate control over the media sphere.

And all of this is unfolding as Israel has barred foreign journalists from independently entering Gaza since the start of the war more than two years ago. Reporters Without Borders said the ban constitutes “an unprecedented violation of press freedom and the public’s right to reliable, independent, and pluralistic media reporting.”

...

https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/01/middleeast/netanyahu-israel-press-freedom-crackdown-intl

Trump, Netanyahu just proved Charlie Kirk right on 7 October attacks, Gaza?

The extraordinary mercy petition filed by Donald Trump and now Benjamin Netanyahu in the latter’s corruption cases appears to give huge legitimacy to Charlie Kirk’s public outbursts over 7 October attacks. Rifat Jawaid asks if Kirk was spot on with his analysis as he pieces together the chain of events to arrive at a fair conclusion. This wouldn’t go down well with the Republican support base of Trump in the US.

123. Israel Is Collapsing From Within - Ilan Pappé Explains Why

Is Israel beginning to collapse from within? In this in depth conversation, renowned Israeli historian Ilan Pappé explains why he believes Zionism has entered its final phase, how Israeli society is disintegrating internally, and what a just future for Palestinians and Israelis could look like.

Pappé, director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies and author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic and Israel on the Brink, draws on decades of archival research to argue that Israel is a classic settler colonial project built on ethnic cleansing, apartheid and permanent military rule over Palestinians. He details the social implosion inside Israel, the growing split between secular and religious Jews, the role of the U.S. and European powers, and why he thinks decolonization is inevitable.

We discuss 1948 and the Nakba, the Gaza war, accusations of genocide, the collapse of the two state solution, one democratic state between the river and the sea, Jewish-Palestinian coexistence, and what real decolonization might require in practice. For anyone trying to understand the future of Israel-Palestine, this is an unfiltered, long form analysis from one of the conflict’s most important dissident historians.

Israeli army says accused behind car-ramming attack in Hebron killed

According to the Israeli army, 17-year-old Muhannad al-Zughair was shot and killed in the Abu Daajan area in Hebron after the army claimed he was responsible for a ramming attack that injured two Israeli soldiers.

We do not know whether that attack occurred because no investigation has been launched. The teenager was injured and fled towards Hebron. He was later found and killed inside a car.

The incident comes amid an unprecedented surge in Israeli army and settler attacks against Palestinians, their property and their livelihoods throughout the occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces storm vicinity of three hospitals in Hebron

Israeli forces stormed the vicinity of three hospitals in the city of Hebron, the occupied West Bank, after a car ramming attack wounded a female soldier last night. According to the Wafa news agency, Israeli forces stormed the courtyards of al-Ahli, Muhammad Ali and al-Mizan hospitals, and stationed themselves at their entrances.

Following the attack, Israeli forces also reinforced their presence at the northern entrances to Hebron, closing the entrances to Ras al-Joura, Farsh al-Hawa, Halhul, Nabi Yunis and al-Hawawer with iron gates, military barriers and concrete blocks.

Palestinian woman wounded at checkpoint near Bethlehem

Israeli forces have opened fire at a military checkpoint near the towns of al-Numan and al-Khas, east of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, wounding a Palestinian woman. The Wafa news agency reported that the 35-year-old was shot in her foot and taken to hospital.

Israeli army says suspect behind stabbing attack in Ramallah killed

The Israeli army says a suspect has been killed after being involved in an incident near the Ateret settlement in Ramallah, the occupied West Bank. In a statement, the army claimed the suspect had begun to stab soldiers who responded with live fire, killing the individual.

According to the Magen David Adom ambulance service, two Israelis were lightly injured during the stabbing attack.

Muhammad Asmar, 18, was shot and killed near Umm Safa, northwest of Ramallah. 18-year-old Raslan Asmar was held by soldiers and was then shot while on the ground and left to bleed for hours.

Israeli forces demolish house belonging to Palestinian prisoner

Israeli forces have demolished a house belonging to a Palestinian prisoner west of Nablus city in the occupied West Bank.

Local sources quoted by the Wafa news agency said Israeli soldiers stormed the city and surrounded a residential building, forcing its residents to vacate in preparation for demolishing the apartment of prisoner Abdul Karim Sanoubar, who was arrested in February. 

Israeli soldiers also forced many residents of apartments and houses in the nearby area to evacuate, planted explosives in Sanoubar’s apartment, and detonated it.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OzQB6Z34lb4

Israeli forces, settlers attack Palestinian property in occupied West Bank

Israeli forces have demolished two apartments in al-Walaja village, west of Bethlehem. Elsewhere, settlers set fire to a tractor in Burqa after attacking the village northwest of Nablus. They also attempted to set a vehicle on fire and to spray graffiti on a house.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that settlers in Khirbet al-Deir, southwest of Bethlehem, paved a dirt road to facilitate their access to the area’s freshwater spring.

Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem are illegal under international law. The ICJ reaffirmed that position last year, saying Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and must end.

Israeli forces attack eastern areas of Bureij camp, Khan Younis

Israeli army vehicles opened fire east of the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip early this morning, local sources told our colleagues on the ground.

Separately, the Israeli army shelled the eastern areas of Khan Younis city, southern Gaza.

Israeli forces carry out demolitions east of Gaza City

Israeli forces have carried out demolitions and destruction operations at dawn on residential buildings in the eastern areas of Gaza City, behind the yellow line.

The Israeli army detonated a robot in the vicinity of the Shujayea intersection in the Sha’af area, east of Gaza City.

Israeli artillery fire heard east of Khan Younis city

Artillery shelling and heavy gunfire from Israeli helicopters have been heard inside the yellow line east of Khan Younis city.  In the Tuffah neighbourhood, east of Gaza City, Israeli forces also demolished residential buildings inside the yellow line.

Israeli forces have crossed the yellow line nearly daily, which separates where Palestinians can live and where Israeli troops are stationed, defying the terms of the ceasefire.

Search for missing bodies of captives ongoing in Gaza

The search is ongoing to find the bodies of the two remaining Israeli captives. Members of the Qassam Brigades, in coordination with the Red Cross, started new digging operations amid tonnes of debris in the Jabalia refugee camp.

We are getting reports suggesting Hamas will hand over one body soon. This signals that there is an ongoing effort to sustain the ceasefire agreement, which is on a knife-edge. If Hamas does not deliver what is promised, Israel can argue that it has not met the conditions to trigger the second part of the agreement, including the release of prisoners and a move towards a transitional authority.

Israel says it will receive samples of alleged captives’ remains

Israel is preparing to receive “findings” from the Red Cross that could belong to the two remaining Israeli captives, Netanyahu’s office has said. The samples were being transferred from Gaza to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine for examination, it added.

One Palestinian killed in Bureij refugee camp

At least one person has been killed in the Bureij refugee camp, central Gaza, after reports of Israeli army vehicles opening fire in the eastern part of the camp.

The Wafa news agency also reported explosions in the vicinity of the Shujayea intersection in east of Gaza City and in the Tuffah neighbourhood.

Gaza facing critical shortages of medication and equipment

Seven weeks into the ceasefire, healthcare workers in Gaza say they are still facing critical shortages of medication and equipment.

The UN has described the health situation in Gaza as “catastrophic”.

Palestinian photojournalist killed by Israeli attack in Khan Younis

An Israeli drone has killed photojournalist Mahmoud Wadi in central Khan Younis, according to local reports. In a video posted on Instagram and verified by Al Jazeera, the slain reporter is laid down with a press vest on top of him as mourners gather around the body.

More than 260 media professionals have been killed in Gaza, in what is the deadliest conflict for journalists ever.

Protesters call for Netanyahu to be brought to justice over corruption trial

Protesters have gathered in front of Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem following his request to be pardoned from his corruption trial.

Demonstrators called for the PM to be brought to justice because “Israel is a state of law,” and added that the country was not “a Trump protectorate and not a banana republic”, referring to Trump’s formal request last month for Netanyahu to be fully pardoned.

On Monday, Israel’s President Herzog said Netanyahu’s request to be pardoned “unsettles many people in this country”. He added that the request “will be handled in the most proper and precise way… I will consider only the good of the country and Israeli society.”

Netanyahu is currently charged with one count of bribery and three counts each of fraud and breach of trust.



Palestine condemns Israel’s shutdown of agricultural union

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has condemned the closure by the Israeli army of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) in el-Bireh following a raid on Monday.

The ministry said the move was “part of a systematic policy aimed at undermining civil and developmental work” in the occupied Palestinian territory, in contravention of international law protecting local institutions and those working in the humanitarian field.

It added that Israel has “no sovereignty over our land” and cited an advisory opinion issued by the ICJ last year, which states that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and should come to an end “as rapidly as possible”.

Israeli drone attack hit home in Lebanon’s south

An Israeli quadcopter drone has dropped explosives on a home in the southern Lebanese town of Aitaroun, Lebanon’s National News Agency has reported. The drone was launched from a newly established Israeli post in Jabal al-Bat shortly after midnight, according to the state-owned news agency.

Nearly 10,000 Israeli violations have been recorded in Lebanon in the year since the Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire, and more than 127 civilians have been killed.