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

SvennoJ on 15 January 2024

Updates from Aljazeera

Gaza war boosted Hamas’ popularity in Gaza and West Bank: Poll

The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research has said that the war also led to a significant decline in the standing of the Palestinian Authority‘s leadership. “Support for Hamas in the West Bank increased considerably by more than three times to 44 percent but increased slightly in the Gaza Strip to 42 percent. Support for Fatah [a secular political party that dominates in the government of the Palestinian Authority] dropped considerably to 17 percent only (16 in the West Bank and 18 in the Gaza Strip),” according to the findings.

The poll also found that the October 7 war also led to a significant rise in support for armed struggle in the occupied West Bank.

West Bank funerals for two Palestinians killed by Israeli forces

These men were from the town of Sa’ir, north of Hebron. They were working in an area called Wadi al-Reem, which is close to Sa’ir, yesterday when they were killed by Israeli soldiers. Their funerals have taken place in the past 90 minutes and really show how things continue to be extremely violent throughout the occupied West Bank. There are, on average, about 40 Israeli raids per day.



Elderly woman killed, 18 others injured in Israel’s Raanana

Police have spoken on local TV, saying that they have arrested two suspects for carrying out multiple car-rammings and a stabbing of an elderly lady who has now died from her wounds. That’s one person now killed and 18 others injured. The police chief confirmed that amongst those injured are children as well.

The police chief is saying that they are still trying to figure out what actually happened, but so far it’s believed that one of the attackers stole a car from a car wash. He ran some people over and then switched to another car after pulling out the elderly lady. He stabbed her and pulled her out of her car, and then continued driving and ramming a number of other people in his way and it seems that this happened in several locations in the city.

The two arrested people are from Hebron, in the occupied West Bank. The police chief is saying that they didn’t have work permits in Israel.

Israeli police arrest Palestinian suspect after attack in Raanana near Tel Aviv

Earlier, we reported on a suspected car-ramming attack in the city of Raanana near Tel Aviv. Israeli police now say that a man from Bani Naim, near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, was arrested for that incident. A second man from Hebron, a relative of the suspect, was also arrested.

In a statement, police said the man stole three cars during the suspected car-ramming attack. The Magen David Adom emergency service said at least 14 people were wounded, including one in critical condition and two in serious condition. At least one was reported to have been stabbed.

At least five Palestinians injured by Israeli forces in occupied West Bank

Israeli forces have fired at and injured a Palestinian at the Qalandia military checkpoint, the main crossing point between Ramallah and Jerusalem, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA. The Red Crescent Society said the 28-year-old was struck by a bullet in the lower abdomen at the checkpoint.

WAFA also reported that four Palestinians were injured during an Israeli raid on the city of Nablus. Citing Ahmed Jibril, director of the Red Crescent Ambulance and Emergency Center in Nablus, the report said the injured included:

  • A 15-year-old who was injured in the head
  • A 71-year-old who was wounded in the abdomen
  • A 9-year-old child was injured after being struck with shrapnel in the head
  • A 27-year-old who was also wounded by shrapnel

‘Student terrorist squads’: Israel claims to thwart Hamas activities

Earlier, we reported that Israeli forces arrested 25 Palestinian students at An-Najah University who staged a sit-in protest over the institution’s high tuition fees.

The Israeli military now claims they arrested nine students to “thwart the activities of Hamas cells’ student terrorist squads” who were hiding at the university in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli forces, in a post on X,  also said they detained other students for questioning.



Rockets land in northern Israel

The Israeli military says two rockets fell in an open area in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon. Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported sirens sounded in the area at 11am (09:00 GMT).

Hezbollah has so far refrained from entering the Gaza war. It has, however, kept pressure on Israel by conducting nearly daily attacks along its southern border with its neighbour. While the exchanges of fire from both sides have largely been confined to the border area, the risk of a major escalation remains.

UK’s alleged use of Cyprus bases to arm Israel and hit Yemen draw protests

Crowds of angry Cypriots have gathered at a British air base to protest against the alleged funnelling of weapons to Israel for its brutal war in Gaza. Akrotiri, near Limassol in southern Cyprus, is one of two military sites retained by the United Kingdom’s military under the 1960 treaty that saw the island gain independence from colonial rule.

Since the latest escalation of the Israel-Palestine conflict began on October 7, locals have seen a “daily” increase in the number of flights from Akrotiri, which is 40 minutes flying time from Tel Aviv, said Charis Pashias, head of the Cyprus Peace Council.

 



Central Gaza under severe Israeli attack

The entire central area is under heavy bombardment. This includes all the refugee camps — Maghazi, Bureij and Nuseirat – as well as az-Zawayda area and the city of Deir el-Balah. Even the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Hospital, which has now run out of fuel.

More wounded people are arriving at the hospital, even though it is unable to provide proper care. The facility’s remaining staff are exhausted and international medical teams had to evacuate over the past few days. We’re looking at crippled healthcare facilities, more displacement, and more suffering for Palestinians.

Israeli forces pushing deeper into besieged Khan Younis

There seems to be a surge in Israel’s aerial campaign in southern Khan Younis city. Heavy artillery shelling hit eastern Khan Younis overnight and into the morning. There are reports of continued shelling within the last half-hour. In southern Khan Younis, air strikes continued to destroy infrastructure and more homes.

And as we reported earlier, in western Khan Younis — in Mawasi “evacuation zone” — an Israeli strike hit a displaced family sheltering inside a tent. The death toll from that single strike is now at three — all from the same family. Others critically injured are at the Nasser hospital. There is fear more people are under the rubble. Israeli forces are pushing deeper into the heart of the city.

WHO paints grim picture of situation at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital

After a visit, the World Health Organization (WHO) has provided a more detailed picture of the situation inside two major Gaza health facilities, including Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. It said after a withdrawal this month by Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) and two other aid organisations, the hospital is even more short-staffed with only 12 health workers remaining, which is 10 percent of its total workforce.

“Only two doctors are available to treat the wounded in the emergency department, and maternity services have shut down,” it said, adding food, water and fuel are scarce. The WHO also reported the 360-bed Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis remains overstretched with 700 patients, double its normal capacity. About 7,000 displaced Palestinians are taking shelter at the hospital from Israeli bombing.



‘Still under the rubble’: 132 killed in Gaza in last 24 hours

At least 252 people were also wounded by Israeli attacks during this period, reports Gaza’s Health Ministry. “A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads and ambulances, and civil defence crews cannot reach them,” the ministry said in a post on Facebook.

The latest casualties bring the total death toll in Gaza since October 7 to 24,100, according to the ministry, with an additional 60,834 injured.

Gaza’s civil defence seeks fuel, equipment, vehicles to continue working

Gaza’s civil defence says in a video statement to Al Jazeera it completed more than 22,000 rescue missions “in tragic conditions” as its personnel, vehicles, headquarters and field points were subjected to systematic Israeli bombardment. Mohammed al-Mughayir, director of supply and financial affairs at the civil defence, said all civil defence headquarters are out of service as a result of shelling and bulldozing by Israeli vehicles.

He added crews in the Tuffah neighbourhood, in eastern Gaza, were targeted twice, which led to the death of 12 members. Al-Mughayir pointed out the rescue team death toll stood at 45, with more than 200 others injured. He confirmed the Israeli army arrested a number of civil defence personnel while they were on duty.

 



‘No safety, no future’: Palestinian envoy to UN delivers emotional speech

The Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Majed Bamya, says Israel destroyed “every spot where Palestinians kept happy memories”. “I am from the generation that was born with the Nakba, with its massacres, tents and hardships. I never thought I would see it again in my lifetime as 70 percent of Palestinians in Gaza became refugees and were denied their right to return,” he said.

“In 100 days, almost every Palestinian in Gaza has been forced to flee multiple times – from a house to a UN shelter to a tent – in search of safety. And every time a Palestinian searched for life met with death, Israel deliberately destroyed everything. It killed and maimed our children, doctors, journalists, engineers, poets, academics, and the requirements of life,” Bamia said.

“There are no more homes to live in, no schools or universities to study, hospitals to heal, no mosques or churches to worship, no agricultural land to cultivate, no bakeries to bake, no potable water, no markets to buy from, no safety, no future.”



‘Killed all our dreams’: Israel levels entire Gaza neighbourhood

Fierce fighting is under way between Palestinian fighters and Israeli troops in southern Khan Younis city. The Palestinian press agency Safa reports that Israeli tanks are firing near the Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps in central Gaza.

In the Nuseirat refugee camp, local journalist Doaa El-Baz showed footage of what once was the street where she lived. “This whole neighbourhood is destroyed. Not a single house has been spared,” she said, standing before mounds of rubble. “They killed all our dreams here. The house where I grew up and spent all my childhood,” El-Baz said, her voice trembling.

Israeli army must leave Khan Younis, bring captives back alive: General

Israeli Reserve Major-General Yitzhak Barik called on the army to devote all its resources to rescuing captives held by Hamas and bringing them back alive while reducing the intensity of fighting in Gaza.

“Take the troops out of Khan Younis, stop the situation in which two or three people [captives] are killed every day … and operate with precise intelligence planes or surgical raids,” Barik said in an interview with Israeli media outlet News 13. “If we don’t get the abductees alive it will not be forgiven.”

Of 240 people seized, about half were released in a November truce. Israel says 132 remain in Gaza and 25 have died in captivity.

Israel to continue ‘high intensity’ attacks in January: Report

Despite American pressure to reduce deadly strikes on civilians in Gaza, the Israeli leadership has decided to “continue its high-intensity campaign throughout January”, a news report says. The Washington Post quotes six unnamed US officials as saying Israel is ignoring all US requests to reduce the intensity of its attacks as the civilian death toll soars.

But cutting the $3.8bn in annual military aid is one way to get Israel on board, said Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy. “If the president [Biden] is really frustrated, he has a lot of tools he can use. Promising unconditional support no matter what isn’t a good way to get someone to do something different,” Duss is quoted as saying.


‘Worst humanitarian crises faced by any civilian population this century’: Relief group

Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, a humanitarian organisation, says that nowhere in the world have so many people been trapped under such an intensive bombardment for this length of time.

“More than 10,000 Palestinian children have already died, surpassing the child casualties in all other recent global wars. A grim testament to the unparalleled tragedy unfolding in Gaza,” Egeland said in a statement.

 

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 15 January 2024

Around the Network
xl-klaudkil on 15 January 2024

I pray one day mankind will find out we are all humans and we should not be killing our own.

Sadly that day will never happen.



 

My youtube gaming page.

http://www.youtube.com/user/klaudkil

zeldaring on 15 January 2024
SvennoJ said:
zeldaring said:

The Houthis from Yemen and Hezbollah. They are risking their lives for a ceasefire 

They have their own agendas.

Hezbollah has an ongoing 'dispute' with Israel over the Golan Heights and the Shebaa farms which Israel invaded in the past

In 1978 Israel invaded and occupied Southern Lebanon, and in 1981, the Golan Heights, including the Shebaa Farms, were annexed by Israel, a move only recognized by the United States.[2] Israel considers it part of the Golan Heights continues to hold it, along with the Golan, under military occupation.[3]



The houthis have been fighting over control of Yemen (or liberation of Yemen as they call it) for decades and have seized this opportunity to expand their influence.

With the current support and attacks the Houthis may expand their support base across Yemen and the Arab world. Additionally, it is believed the group is hoping to sabotage the Saudi normalization with Israel, which had been in the works.

Saudi Arabia and UAE have been the opposition to the Houthis. It has been a long bloody conflict, civil war in Yemen influenced by the long standing proxy war in the Iran - Saudi Arabia conflict over influence over the Middle East.

https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/yemen
https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/israel-iran-saudi-arabia-battle-for-supremacy-in-the-middle-east/



I don't think what they're doing is effective in helping Gaza. It's more fuel for distractions from the ongoing genocide, gives more legitimacy to Israel to keep the war cabinet going, and gives the US-UK an opportunity to (mis)direct the issues to Red Sea shipping. Also gives the US an excuse to focus on containing the conflict rather than having to deal with what goes on in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel is US' pawn in the Middle East to keep control of the area. The more regional instability the more the US will stick with Israel.

Regardless of the agenda how do you not think what they are doing is not helping Gaza is insane. They are disrupting world trade until there is a cease fire and making the war a bigger conflict which America doesn't want that puts huge pressure to end the war, and it's cost America billions.



Spirit_Detective on 15 January 2024

This whole thing is so vexing. Knowing my tax dollars is funding all this makes me even madder.



SvennoJ on 15 January 2024
zeldaring said:

Regardless of the agenda how do you not think what they are doing is not helping Gaza is insane. They are disrupting world trade until there is a cease fire and making the war a bigger conflict which America doesn't want that puts huge pressure to end the war, and it's cost America billions.

Disrupting world trade has given the US and UK a new distraction tactic. Just look how the reporting on CNN has changed, the latest headlines

Houthis claim responsibility for attack on American ship and vow to respond to future strikes on Yemen

3 missiles launched toward Red Sea on Monday, with one striking US-owned vessel, maritime security group says

Houthi ballistic missile strikes US-owned and operated vessel, US military says

UK wants to de-escalate regional tensions amid recent attacks on Houthi rebels, prime minister says


Focusing on the US/UK led coalition to save world trade, as well as claiming it's out of self-defense, that same word Israel keeps using to save everyone from 'terrorists'. US now wants to declare the Houthis a terrorist organization as well.
https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-says-yemens-houthis-are-terrorist-group-2024-01-12/

The problem is Western media doesn't give a crap about motives or reasons behind attacks. The Houthis will say they do it to disrupt trade with Israel as a form of sanctions against the Gaza genocide. However that's not mentioned in the western media. It already started with denial that the ships they attacked were affiliated with Israel, now it's not mentioned at all anymore, They fired on US ships, we need to defend ourselves!



For example CNN also doesn't report on the motives behind the GTA style attack in Raanana today

1 killed and at least 17 injured in twin attacks in central Israel. Here's the latest

At least one person — a woman in her 70s — has been killed, and 17 others injured after twin attacks in the central Israeli city of Raanana, according to statements released by the hospitals treating the victims of the attack. 

The Israeli police said two suspects in the two simultaneous terror attacks were residents of Hebron. Hebron is a city in the occupied West Bank. The police said they entered Israel illegally and are now in police custody. 

Hamas weighed in on the attacks, describing them as a "natural response to the occupation’s massacres and its continued aggression against our Palestinian people.”

That's it, suggesting a link between Hamas and the terrorists, well actually more than suggesting

Hamas praises deadly attacks in central Israel

Correction: An earlier version of this post reported Hamas claimed responsibility for the attacks. The group praised the attacks but did not directly claim responsibility for them.



Aljazeera instead looks for reasons behind the attack

Relatives of Raanana attack suspect died in Israeli prisons

We are hearing reports from locals in the occupied West Bank that the suspects in the Raanana attack had cousins who died in Israeli prisons in the early 2000s. It’s hard to know what the details were, but in recent months, we’ve been seeing the numbers of those Palestinians declared dead by the Israeli authorities inside Israeli prisons increase.

Now, Israeli forces are likely to raid the village of the suspect. That’s what usually happens after these kinds of attacks. They arrest the relatives of those perpetrators for a long time, for what Palestinians call collective punishment.

And the cycle continues

Israeli forces kill 30 Palestinians in West Bank so far this year: UN

The death toll includes seven children, according to the UN agency OCHA. Three children were killed by Israeli forces on Sunday, including a 14-year-old Palestinian in Ein el-Sultan refugee camp in Jericho and two 17-year-old boys near the Beit El settlement in the al-Bireh area outside Ramallah.

Last year, Israeli forces killed 507 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, the largest annual death toll since OCHA started recording casualties in 2005.

We're only 2 weeks into the new year...




And Hezbollah and Syria only makes it easier for Israel to allocate more money for the Gaza war.

Israel’s cabinet passes amended budget, adds $15bn for Gaza war

Israel’s cabinet has passed an amended 2024 state budget, adding 55 billion shekels ($15bn) of extra spending in light of the Gaza war, according to the Ministry of Finance. The measure passed after ministerial opposition to across-the-board budget cuts.

“This is the war budget, which also takes care of the needs of our reservists, their families, the self-employed and government ministries and the needs of the public,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said before the vote.

“We are increasing the health budget and adding a billion shekels [$270m] to it for mental health, an important need. There are increases to the education budget, the welfare budget, the internal security budget, but most importantly, the defence budget, which is simply essential for victory and for our future,” he added.

Netanyahu has been hammering on about the 80K displaced people in the North and wanting a safe zone between Israel and Lebanon

https://www.timesofisrael.com/pm-on-lebanon-border-well-restore-security-preferably-without-a-widespread-campaign/


The problem is, it's bolstering Netanyahu's conviction that he's doing the right thing. They're all out to get us, we need to destroy Hamas completely. We're not dealing with a sane person here. It's the same with Putin, The more push back, the more fuel he has to declare everyone else against them so he can claim he's doing the right thing for Russia. Plus he needs the conflict to grow and go on so he can stay in power. War cabinet done, Netanyahu is out and back facing corruption charges next to having to face up to all the failures that made Oct 7 possible, as well as all that went wrong on Oct 7. Escalation is in Netanyahu's interest.

As always, more violence doesn't solve violence. Hezbollah isn't sending troop carriers to Gaza to defend towns against the IDF, nor sending weapons and equipment like the West does for the Ukraine. They're only helping Israel's war cabinet to stay in power.


And indeed the US doesn't want a bigger conflict, which is why they will not stop supporting Israel. Because Israel is still the cheaper option to keep Hezbollah and Syria deterred from escalating further than having to send their own troops there.


Although the US is now sending more troops to maintain the status quo

US to send 1,500 soldiers to Iraq, Syria amid regional standoff

The United States is sending 1,500 troops to Iraq and Syria, ostensibly to fight ISIL (ISIS), even as its regional standoff with Iran-aligned groups in those countries is rapidly heating up. A report by US outlet CBS News showed soldiers from the New Jersey Army National Guard being celebrated and honoured by New Jersey state Governor Phil Murphy before their deployment, which is reportedly their largest since 2008.

The soldiers will first head to Fort Bliss in Texas for training before going to the Middle East. This is happening while US-opposed forces in Iraq and Syria have targeted US bases at least 130 times since the start of the war in Gaza. The government of Syria considers US forces to be an “occupying” force, and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said last week that he wants a “quick” exit of US forces.



Iran just attacked a Mossad headquarters in Iraq

Iran going ‘a step further’ with Erbil attack (Capital of the Kurdistan region in Northern Iraq)

The attacks are separate, one is in Syria and the other is in Iraq. But the Iranians issued statements claiming responsibility for both of them.

As for the attack in Erbil, they’re saying they targeted a Mossad headquarters – Mossad is the Israeli intelligence service. The Iranians claim the Israelis are responsible for the killing of an IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] general in Syria and also some other commanders of the regional “resistance axis”, as Iran describes its allies.

The context is very important here, given that there is already a war raging in the region. Iran has been trying as much as possible to distance itself from any kind of tension. This is the first time we have seen the Iranians going a step further, especially when they are claiming to have targeted a Mossad headquarters in Erbil. This isn’t the first time that the Iranians are claiming to have hit what they claim to be this specific headquarters – it also happened in 2022.

It is clear this is an escalation. Iran proxy forces in the region have been operating against Iran’s enemies. Those proxies would claim responsibility for the attacks, either in Iraq or in Syria or elsewhere in the region. But now, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is claiming responsibility for the attack.

This is all part of the spillover of the conflict in Gaza. Because these Iran-aligned armed groups, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, blame the United States for, as they say, standing as a major supporter of Israel’s war on Gaza. They are now demanding not only to stop supporting Israel [in] its war in Gaza but the removal of all foreign troops from Iraq including coalition and US troops.

Iran also claims attack on ISIL in Syria

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said that missile attacks had been launched against the “perpetrators of terrorist operations in the Islamic Republic. Particularly ISIL [ISIS]” in Syria, state media reported.

“The Guards identified and destroyed gathering places of their commanders and key elements with a series of ballistic missiles in response to the recent terrorist atrocities in Iran,” the statement said.

ISIL (ISIS) claimed responsibility for an attack in Iran’s southeastern city of Kerman earlier this month, which killed nearly 100 people.

 

It's a fucking mess and the whole region is escalating. However instead of going for the root of the problem, the genocide in Gaza stoking up tensions across the Middle East, the US and western media use the escalation as reasons to be there and for distraction theater. Turning it into a fight of us against them, stoking up Islamophobia to distract away from what's really been happening.

Sadly despite Hezbollah and the Houthis having good intentions towards the people of Gaza, Western media simply paints them as further scare mongering and supporters of terrorism.




Around the Network
zeldaring on 15 January 2024
SvennoJ said:
zeldaring said:

Regardless of the agenda how do you not think what they are doing is not helping Gaza is insane. They are disrupting world trade until there is a cease fire and making the war a bigger conflict which America doesn't want that puts huge pressure to end the war, and it's cost America billions.

Disrupting world trade has given the US and UK a new distraction tactic. Just look how the reporting on CNN has changed, the latest headlines

Houthis claim responsibility for attack on American ship and vow to respond to future strikes on Yemen

3 missiles launched toward Red Sea on Monday, with one striking US-owned vessel, maritime security group says

Houthi ballistic missile strikes US-owned and operated vessel, US military says

UK wants to de-escalate regional tensions amid recent attacks on Houthi rebels, prime minister says


Focusing on the US/UK led coalition to save world trade, as well as claiming it's out of self-defense, that same word Israel keeps using to save everyone from 'terrorists'. US now wants to declare the Houthis a terrorist organization as well.
https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-says-yemens-houthis-are-terrorist-group-2024-01-12/

The problem is Western media doesn't give a crap about motives or reasons behind attacks. The Houthis will say they do it to disrupt trade with Israel as a form of sanctions against the Gaza genocide. However that's not mentioned in the western media. It already started with denial that the ships they attacked were affiliated with Israel, now it's not mentioned at all anymore, They fired on US ships, we need to defend ourselves!



For example CNN also doesn't report on the motives behind the GTA style attack in Raanana today

1 killed and at least 17 injured in twin attacks in central Israel. Here's the latest

At least one person — a woman in her 70s — has been killed, and 17 others injured after twin attacks in the central Israeli city of Raanana, according to statements released by the hospitals treating the victims of the attack. 

The Israeli police said two suspects in the two simultaneous terror attacks were residents of Hebron. Hebron is a city in the occupied West Bank. The police said they entered Israel illegally and are now in police custody. 

Hamas weighed in on the attacks, describing them as a "natural response to the occupation’s massacres and its continued aggression against our Palestinian people.”

That's it, suggesting a link between Hamas and the terrorists, well actually more than suggesting

Hamas praises deadly attacks in central Israel

Correction: An earlier version of this post reported Hamas claimed responsibility for the attacks. The group praised the attacks but did not directly claim responsibility for them.



Aljazeera instead looks for reasons behind the attack

Relatives of Raanana attack suspect died in Israeli prisons

We are hearing reports from locals in the occupied West Bank that the suspects in the Raanana attack had cousins who died in Israeli prisons in the early 2000s. It’s hard to know what the details were, but in recent months, we’ve been seeing the numbers of those Palestinians declared dead by the Israeli authorities inside Israeli prisons increase.

Now, Israeli forces are likely to raid the village of the suspect. That’s what usually happens after these kinds of attacks. They arrest the relatives of those perpetrators for a long time, for what Palestinians call collective punishment.

And the cycle continues

Israeli forces kill 30 Palestinians in West Bank so far this year: UN

The death toll includes seven children, according to the UN agency OCHA. Three children were killed by Israeli forces on Sunday, including a 14-year-old Palestinian in Ein el-Sultan refugee camp in Jericho and two 17-year-old boys near the Beit El settlement in the al-Bireh area outside Ramallah.

Last year, Israeli forces killed 507 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, the largest annual death toll since OCHA started recording casualties in 2005.

We're only 2 weeks into the new year...




And Hezbollah and Syria only makes it easier for Israel to allocate more money for the Gaza war.

Israel’s cabinet passes amended budget, adds $15bn for Gaza war

Israel’s cabinet has passed an amended 2024 state budget, adding 55 billion shekels ($15bn) of extra spending in light of the Gaza war, according to the Ministry of Finance. The measure passed after ministerial opposition to across-the-board budget cuts.

“This is the war budget, which also takes care of the needs of our reservists, their families, the self-employed and government ministries and the needs of the public,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said before the vote.

“We are increasing the health budget and adding a billion shekels [$270m] to it for mental health, an important need. There are increases to the education budget, the welfare budget, the internal security budget, but most importantly, the defence budget, which is simply essential for victory and for our future,” he added.

Netanyahu has been hammering on about the 80K displaced people in the North and wanting a safe zone between Israel and Lebanon

https://www.timesofisrael.com/pm-on-lebanon-border-well-restore-security-preferably-without-a-widespread-campaign/


The problem is, it's bolstering Netanyahu's conviction that he's doing the right thing. They're all out to get us, we need to destroy Hamas completely. We're not dealing with a sane person here. It's the same with Putin, The more push back, the more fuel he has to declare everyone else against them so he can claim he's doing the right thing for Russia. Plus he needs the conflict to grow and go on so he can stay in power. War cabinet done, Netanyahu is out and back facing corruption charges next to having to face up to all the failures that made Oct 7 possible, as well as all that went wrong on Oct 7. Escalation is in Netanyahu's interest.

As always, more violence doesn't solve violence. Hezbollah isn't sending troop carriers to Gaza to defend towns against the IDF, nor sending weapons and equipment like the West does for the Ukraine. They're only helping Israel's war cabinet to stay in power.


And indeed the US doesn't want a bigger conflict, which is why they will not stop supporting Israel. Because Israel is still the cheaper option to keep Hezbollah and Syria deterred from escalating further than having to send their own troops there.


Although the US is now sending more troops to maintain the status quo

US to send 1,500 soldiers to Iraq, Syria amid regional standoff

The United States is sending 1,500 troops to Iraq and Syria, ostensibly to fight ISIL (ISIS), even as its regional standoff with Iran-aligned groups in those countries is rapidly heating up. A report by US outlet CBS News showed soldiers from the New Jersey Army National Guard being celebrated and honoured by New Jersey state Governor Phil Murphy before their deployment, which is reportedly their largest since 2008.

The soldiers will first head to Fort Bliss in Texas for training before going to the Middle East. This is happening while US-opposed forces in Iraq and Syria have targeted US bases at least 130 times since the start of the war in Gaza. The government of Syria considers US forces to be an “occupying” force, and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said last week that he wants a “quick” exit of US forces.



Iran just attacked a Mossad headquarters in Iraq

Iran going ‘a step further’ with Erbil attack (Capital of the Kurdistan region in Northern Iraq)

The attacks are separate, one is in Syria and the other is in Iraq. But the Iranians issued statements claiming responsibility for both of them.

As for the attack in Erbil, they’re saying they targeted a Mossad headquarters – Mossad is the Israeli intelligence service. The Iranians claim the Israelis are responsible for the killing of an IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] general in Syria and also some other commanders of the regional “resistance axis”, as Iran describes its allies.

The context is very important here, given that there is already a war raging in the region. Iran has been trying as much as possible to distance itself from any kind of tension. This is the first time we have seen the Iranians going a step further, especially when they are claiming to have targeted a Mossad headquarters in Erbil. This isn’t the first time that the Iranians are claiming to have hit what they claim to be this specific headquarters – it also happened in 2022.

It is clear this is an escalation. Iran proxy forces in the region have been operating against Iran’s enemies. Those proxies would claim responsibility for the attacks, either in Iraq or in Syria or elsewhere in the region. But now, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is claiming responsibility for the attack.

This is all part of the spillover of the conflict in Gaza. Because these Iran-aligned armed groups, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, blame the United States for, as they say, standing as a major supporter of Israel’s war on Gaza. They are now demanding not only to stop supporting Israel [in] its war in Gaza but the removal of all foreign troops from Iraq including coalition and US troops.

Iran also claims attack on ISIL in Syria

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said that missile attacks had been launched against the “perpetrators of terrorist operations in the Islamic Republic. Particularly ISIL [ISIS]” in Syria, state media reported.

“The Guards identified and destroyed gathering places of their commanders and key elements with a series of ballistic missiles in response to the recent terrorist atrocities in Iran,” the statement said.

ISIL (ISIS) claimed responsibility for an attack in Iran’s southeastern city of Kerman earlier this month, which killed nearly 100 people.

 

It's a fucking mess and the whole region is escalating. However instead of going for the root of the problem, the genocide in Gaza stoking up tensions across the Middle East, the US and western media use the escalation as reasons to be there and for distraction theater. Turning it into a fight of us against them, stoking up Islamophobia to distract away from what's really been happening.

Sadly despite Hezbollah and the Houthis having good intentions towards the people of Gaza, Western media simply paints them as further scare mongering and supporters of terrorism.


It's been 100 days even with south Africa taking it to court nothing is stopping Israel or America's support unless a regional war breaks out and America says that's enough. Thr western media doesn't matter anymore.



SvennoJ on 15 January 2024
zeldaring said:

It's been 100 days even with south Africa taking it to court nothing is stopping Israel or America's support unless a regional war breaks out and America says that's enough. Thr western media doesn't matter anymore.

The ICJ can undermine America's support, isolate the US in its support for the ongoing genocide. Canada, Europe, Australia will have to rethink their stance on supporting Israel and hopefully actually come with sanctions, at least stopping trading arms with Israel. The ICJ can also undermine support in Israel and amplify voices for reform from within.

A regional war however will amplify America's support, especially with elections coming up. Instead of genocide Joe it would be Biden defending the USA and its interests against the axis of evil, defending the world economy (in his words of course). Europe has plenty interests in the Middle East as well. It's still all about the oil. Waning off Russian gas exports is still going to take until 2027...

The calculations, based on data from the European gas transmission group Entsog and Gazprom's daily reports on gas transit via Ukraine, showed that average daily pipeline exports of Russian gas to Europe declined to 77.6 million cubic metres (mcm) in 2023 from 174.8 mcm in 2022.Jan 2, 2024

In April 2022, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said "the era of Russian fossil fuels in Europe will come to an end". On 18 May 2022, the European Union published plans to end its reliance on Russian oil, natural gas and coal by 2027.

And to offset waning off Russian oil and gas, imports shifted more to the Middle East... Weakening Israel with sanctions goes against Europe's interest in keeping the status quo in the Middle East. As much as Israel is disrupting regional stability, they're still one of the biggest military force there to keep Iran and its proxies in check. (and most willing to do so)



It's a cynical take, but Israel is not listening to the US and the US isn't willing to draw any lines in the sand against Israel. In that situation a regional war will only make things worse for the Palestinians in Gaza as they will become background noise next to a much wider conflict.

In fact all actors in the Middle East are digging in to their failed policies that led to Oct 7

https://tcf.org/content/commentary/time-to-discard-the-bad-policy-that-enabled-the-gaza-war/

If the United States were interested and able to make long-term policy, pursuing its core values and national interests beyond four-year presidential election cycles, then American leadership could pursue a major course correction in the Middle East. A subsequent Century International commentary will outline the elements of a useful, and viable, policy course correction in more detail. But a serious fundamental policy shift would mean a reevaluation of misguided strategic priorities, and an embrace of a rights-based framework for regional policy.

So far, no such rethink is taking place. To the contrary, all the major powers, from the United States to Israel, and Saudi Arabia to Iran, are committing to existing stratagems. This is bad news for ordinary people across the region; for the long-term peace and security of the Middle East; and for the United States’ tenure as the region’s indispensable power.

The risk of regional conflict is high and should be taken seriously— even in the event of a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, the underlying tensions create incentives for future violent escalations. Iran and its allies could all too easily cross an American red line that they assume Washington will not uphold. Equally, Israel could do something so egregious in Gaza that the Axis of Resistance feels compelled to escalate beyond its current, already serious pace of attacks and responses.

It’s increasingly clear that Middle Eastern powers and the United States are at risk of learning the wrong lessons from October 7 and its aftermath. In the region, Israel and the Gulf monarchies might try to pursue the same general strategy as before. The Axis of Resistance and even Hamas might conclude that even military disasters consolidate their power bases. In the United States, unless America is embroiled in a regional war, the issues of Gaza and the entire U.S. approach to the Middle East could be distant memories once the 2024 presidential campaign gets underway.


I think a full scale regional war breaking out will only make things worse, not only for Gaza but for people across the region. Reform is desperately needed, yet full scale war isn't going to bring it.




zeldaring on 16 January 2024
SvennoJ said:
zeldaring said:

It's been 100 days even with south Africa taking it to court nothing is stopping Israel or America's support unless a regional war breaks out and America says that's enough. Thr western media doesn't matter anymore.

The ICJ can undermine America's support, isolate the US in its support for the ongoing genocide. Canada, Europe, Australia will have to rethink their stance on supporting Israel and hopefully actually come with sanctions, at least stopping trading arms with Israel. The ICJ can also undermine support in Israel and amplify voices for reform from within.

A regional war however will amplify America's support, especially with elections coming up. Instead of genocide Joe it would be Biden defending the USA and its interests against the axis of evil, defending the world economy (in his words of course). Europe has plenty interests in the Middle East as well. It's still all about the oil. Waning off Russian gas exports is still going to take until 2027...

The calculations, based on data from the European gas transmission group Entsog and Gazprom's daily reports on gas transit via Ukraine, showed that average daily pipeline exports of Russian gas to Europe declined to 77.6 million cubic metres (mcm) in 2023 from 174.8 mcm in 2022.Jan 2, 2024

In April 2022, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said "the era of Russian fossil fuels in Europe will come to an end". On 18 May 2022, the European Union published plans to end its reliance on Russian oil, natural gas and coal by 2027.

And to offset waning off Russian oil and gas, imports shifted more to the Middle East... Weakening Israel with sanctions goes against Europe's interest in keeping the status quo in the Middle East. As much as Israel is disrupting regional stability, they're still one of the biggest military force there to keep Iran and its proxies in check. (and most willing to do so)



It's a cynical take, but Israel is not listening to the US and the US isn't willing to draw any lines in the sand against Israel. In that situation a regional war will only make things worse for the Palestinians in Gaza as they will become background noise next to a much wider conflict.

In fact all actors in the Middle East are digging in to their failed policies that led to Oct 7

https://tcf.org/content/commentary/time-to-discard-the-bad-policy-that-enabled-the-gaza-war/

If the United States were interested and able to make long-term policy, pursuing its core values and national interests beyond four-year presidential election cycles, then American leadership could pursue a major course correction in the Middle East. A subsequent Century International commentary will outline the elements of a useful, and viable, policy course correction in more detail. But a serious fundamental policy shift would mean a reevaluation of misguided strategic priorities, and an embrace of a rights-based framework for regional policy.

So far, no such rethink is taking place. To the contrary, all the major powers, from the United States to Israel, and Saudi Arabia to Iran, are committing to existing stratagems. This is bad news for ordinary people across the region; for the long-term peace and security of the Middle East; and for the United States’ tenure as the region’s indispensable power.

The risk of regional conflict is high and should be taken seriously— even in the event of a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, the underlying tensions create incentives for future violent escalations. Iran and its allies could all too easily cross an American red line that they assume Washington will not uphold. Equally, Israel could do something so egregious in Gaza that the Axis of Resistance feels compelled to escalate beyond its current, already serious pace of attacks and responses.

It’s increasingly clear that Middle Eastern powers and the United States are at risk of learning the wrong lessons from October 7 and its aftermath. In the region, Israel and the Gulf monarchies might try to pursue the same general strategy as before. The Axis of Resistance and even Hamas might conclude that even military disasters consolidate their power bases. In the United States, unless America is embroiled in a regional war, the issues of Gaza and the entire U.S. approach to the Middle East could be distant memories once the 2024 presidential campaign gets underway.


I think a full scale regional war breaking out will only make things worse, not only for Gaza but for people across the region. Reform is desperately needed, yet full scale war isn't going to bring it.


Let's hope ICJ will do something but something tells me all them are in US and and isreal pocket. Hoping for peace but it seems isreal goal is erasing palestine and it's people with us backing.

Last edited by zeldaring - on 16 January 2024

KratosLives on 16 January 2024

The fact netenyahu has been allowed back in power, speaks volumes. The whole government iscorrupt



Cobretti2 on 16 January 2024

wtf 15bn approved for gaza war?

The place is so small, what are they planning to do? bomb the rubble again to turn it into atoms? or napalm the whole place to turn the dead bodies into ash?

Yer I think you are right, middle east about to be destabilised further or another 50 to 100 years.