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

SvennoJ on 30 April 2024

US response to Israeli troop violations ‘a lot of empty words’

Antony Loewenstein, author of The Palestine Laboratory, has questioned the US State Department’s response to “gross violations” of human rights committed by Israeli army units in the occupied West Bank.

Earlier, spokesman Vedant Patel said four Israeli units have “remediated these violations”. Repeatedly asked to specify what the violations were, he didn’t respond.

“I wish I knew what that word [remediated] actually meant in this context because they also said they’d continue providing weapons to those units, which pretty much speaks for itself,” Loewenstein told Al Jazeera.

Israeli forces guilty of abuses against Palestinians are rarely held to account, he noted.

“Even when American citizens are killed, American journalists, and others, America seems to do very little at best. There’s been an explosion of settler and Israeli soldier violence in the occupied West Bank towards Palestinians, so it feels like a lot of empty words,” said Loewenstein.



Notorious Israeli battalion may still get US military aid

The US is considering sanctioning the Netzah Yehuda battalion, the ultra-Orthodox Israeli army unit accused of rights abuses against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

One of the incidents believed to be part of the charges against the unit is that its forces killed a 78-year-old Palestinian American dual citizen in 2022. They bound him, gagged him and left him to die in sub-freezing temperatures.

Four other battalions the US State Department also found responsible for “gross violations” have not been named. But the State Department says those units have “remediated” – meaning they’re now fine and will continue to receive American military aid.

The Netzah Yehuda last week wasn’t going to receive military assistance. Now the US State Department has given Israel more time to look into the allegations against it because of a massive backlash.


US response to Israeli troop violations – continue military aid

Despite the US State Department determining five Israeli military battalions committed “gross violations” of Palestinian human rights, it will continue funding at least four of them after they showed unspecified steps towards “remediation”.



US official challenged on Israeli army abuses

US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel has faced repeated questions from journalists asking for details on the department’s own report that concluded five Israeli army units had committed human rights violations against Palestinians but will nevertheless remain eligible for US aid and military assistance.





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SvennoJ on 30 April 2024

US says Houthis sent drone towards navy ships, ballistic missiles fired at merchant vessel

The US military said Houthi forces in Yemen fired three antiship ballistic missiles and directed three armed drones to attack a Greece-owned ship travelling in the Red Sea.

CENTCOM, which commands US forces deployed in the Middle East, said the Malta-flagged MV Cyclades was able to continue its journey and there were no reports of injuries resulting from the missile attack.

Earlier on Monday, US forces engaged and destroyed a drone which was “on a flight path towards” two US Navy ships – the USS Philippine Sea and USS Laboon – in the Red Sea. “There were no injuries or damages reported by US, coalition, or merchant vessels,” CENTCOM said in a post on social media.

Israeli military video shows latest attacks on south Lebanon

Israel’s military has released video footage of overnight aerial attacks on sites in southern Lebanon. In a post on social media, Israel said its warplanes had hit “a number” of sites in the region of Kfar Kila village and Khiam town in Lebanon’s south.

Israel also said that two antitank missiles were launched towards Israeli territory but landed in open areas and no damage or casualties were reported. Attacks were launched on the source of the missile fire, the military added.


Smoke plumes erupt during an Israeli bombardment on the village of Alma ash-Shaab in south Lebanon on April 25


UNICEF troubled by border clashes and impact on Lebanon’s children

“We are deeply alarmed by the situation of children and families who have been forced from their homes,” said Edouard Beigbeder, the Lebanon representative for UNICEF.

He warned of “the profound long-term impact” of the violence. “We call for an immediate ceasefire and the protection of children and civilians,” Beigbeder said.

Eight children have been killed in Lebanon and 75 wounded since hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah started in October, UNICEF said, citing figures from the country’s Public Health Ministry.

More than 92,000 people, almost a third of them children, have been displaced. “Without a permanent ceasefire, Lebanon is at risk of a full-scale war, which would have a devastating impact on the 1.3 million children living in the country today,” Beigbeder said.



SvennoJ on 30 April 2024

Images show US military building floating pier off Gaza. Pentagon says it will cost $320 million

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/30/middleeast/gaza-floating-pier-images-aid-intl-hnk/index.html



Construction of the temporary pier began at sea last week and the images show crew from several military vessels building the platform. Separately, a satellite image from Planet Labs shows the pier under construction.

Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said Monday the pier will cost the US about $320 million. That estimate includes all costs associated with the initial construction of the system, known as Joint Logistics Over the Shore, or JLOTS. The cost of operating the pier will likely grow over the next several months. 



A senior military official said last week the US is “on track to begin delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza from the sea in early May,” which will begin at the equivalent of 90 trucks per day of aid and then “quickly scale up” to 150 trucks per day once full operational capacity is reached.

....

Once established, the World Food Programme (WFP) will support distribution of aid from the pier, the organization said Saturday and USAID will work with the United Nations to distribute the aid once it reaches Gaza.

CNN previously reported that aid will flow from Cyprus via commercial vessels, which will travel about 200 miles to the floating pier anchored miles off the Gaza coast. That aid will then be moved onto smaller Army boats, which can hold about 15 trucks of aid each, that will shuttle to the causeway anchored to the shore.


The construction of the pier is seen in this satellite image from April 27



Up to an extra of 150 trucks a day still won't be enough but is desperately needed. However whether it will actually scale up to 150 trucks remains to be seen. So far Israel has managed to keep the average flow well below half of what is needed and as of April 27th the avg is still barely 200 trucks a day out of 500+ before the current war started.

For now it's still a PR stunt, stalling technique, expensive virtue signalling while still spending magnitudes more on bombing civilians. Tax payer money spend on killing people and on pretending to care about people getting deliberately starved.



SvennoJ on 30 April 2024

PA security forces crack down on protesters in front of Canadian office in Ramallah

Palestinians have been demonstrating in front of the Canadian representative office in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah against Ottawa’s stance on the Israeli war on Gaza. Some held flags while others hold posters calling for “unity against injustice”.

While the protests started out peacefully, they were then met with a crack down by Palestinian security forces.

Translation: Skirmishes between demonstrators and security forces during a gathering in front of the Canadian consulate in Ramallah in support of Gaza and to reject Canada’s war stance

No need for further proof the PA is just a tool of the occupation. I'm ashamed of my country not doing more to help Gaza while still supporting the occupation. I'm even more ashamed when I see the You Tube comments on Canadian news reporting, it's not feeling like the country I emigrated to in 2002 anymore. The internet brings out the worst in people.



SvennoJ on 30 April 2024

Forget about any ceasefire deal, Netanyahu and his right wing zealots need to go first.

Netanyahu ‘understands very well’ what not going into Rafah means, Ben-Gvir says

As we reported, Netanyahu announced that a ground offensive in Rafah would occur “whether or not there is a [ceasefire] deal” after he held meetings with right-wing members of his coalition government, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

In a video statement on X, Ben-Gvir welcomed Netanyahu’s statement and said, “I warned the prime minister [of the consequences] if, God forbid, Israel does not enter Rafah.” “If God forbid, we end the war. If, God forbid, there will be a reckless deal.

“The prime minister heard my words, promised that Israel would go into Rafah, promised that the war would not end and promised that there would be no reckless deal. I welcome these things. I think the prime minister understands very well what it will mean if these things do not take place,” he added.

On Sunday, Ben-Gvir threatened that a ceasefire and no operation in Rafah would mean the “dissolution” of Netanyahu’s government.

Israel ‘a hostage of irresponsible lunatics’, says opposition leader

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid says Israel has become “a hostage of irresponsible lunatics” in his latest post slamming Prime Minister Netanyahu.

“You can’t go on like this. A minister with a criminal record stands in the prime minister’s office and threatens the prime minister with the consequences if he does not do what he is told,” Lapid wrote on X.

“[Itamar] Ben Gvir tells the whole world and the whole region that Netanyahu is weak and works for him. It is unbelievable that he is not fired on the spot.”

Earlier, Ben Gvir said Netanyahu had “heard” his words and understood the consequences if the Rafah operation did not happen. Far-right ministers, including Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have both threatened to leave Netanyahu’s coalition government if the military operation in Rafah does not occur.

Netanyahu says possibility of ICC warrant ‘a scandal on a historic scale’

As we’ve been reporting, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating Israel’s operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and could issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders.

But Netanyahu said if the International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants, it would be a massive scandal.

“The possibility that they will issue arrest warrants for war crimes against [Israeli military] commanders and state leaders, this possibility is a scandal on a historic scale,” Netanyahu said.

“I want to make one thing clear: no decision, neither in The Hague nor anywhere else, will harm our determination to achieve all the goals of the war – the release of all our hostages, a complete victory over Hamas and a promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.”



Of course you have the right to defend your country, but not by committing war crimes indefinitely.



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SvennoJ on 30 April 2024

US continues to cover by pretending that a deal is close and it's Hamas which is the stumbling block.

US not deterred from Netanyahu’s Rafah comments

We heard from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that “with or without” a deal, the preparation for a ground operation into Rafah will continue and will be launched.

Still, that has not deterred the Biden administration from pushing forward, trying to avert something they have been doing for some time.

The latest coming from the White House, in the words of the National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby, speaking to reporters, saying there is a fresh agreement in terms of a proposal at least on the table.

The problem is that it needs to be agreed upon by both parties – that is what the administration is working hard to try and accomplish.

What we understand from this is the United States, Egypt, and Qatar would serve as guarantors of this ceasefire proposal that could allow for something more enduring and could build toward an end to the conflict.


Biden says discussed ceasefire deal with Qatari Emir, Egyptian president

In a post on X, the US president has said he spoke with Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi yesterday about “reaching a deal to secure the release of hostages together with an immediate ceasefire in Gaza”.

The United States, Biden said, will work with Egypt and Qatar “to ensure the full implementation of the terms of the deal, and exert all efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas, which is now the only obstacle to an immediate ceasefire and relief for civilians in Gaza”.

Earlier, we reported that Israel’s prime minister said he would order troops to invade Rafah whether a deal to release the captives and secure a ceasefire is inked or not.



Keep pretending genocide Joe. Israel isn't going to listen while you keep handing them ship loads of cash and weapons.



SvennoJ on 30 April 2024

US slams student takeover of Columbia building

The White House has denounced efforts to protest Israel’s assault on Gaza as students at Columbia University occupied a campus building, saying it was “the wrong approach”.

“The president believes that forcibly taking over a building on campus is absolutely the wrong approach. That is not an example of peaceful protests,” White House National Security Adviser John Kirby told reporters at a briefing.

While the president does have sweeping authority to federalise the National Guard, Kirby said such a move was not under consideration in response to the latest developments at Columbia in New York City, where students entered the building, blocked doors and linked arms outside to form a barricade.

President Joe Biden “condemns the use of the term ‘intifada,’ [uprising] as he has the other tragic and dangerous hate speech displayed in recent days,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates added in a statement.

“Forcibly taking over buildings is not peaceful – it is wrong. And hate speech and hate symbols have no place in America,” Bates said in a statement.

‘Students occupying the building face expulsion’: Columbia administrators

Standoffs between pro-Palestine protesters and Columbia University administrators appear to be coming to a head. The university limited campus access after protesters took over a building early Tuesday. The school promised that those students would face expulsion.

In a statement today, Columbia spokesperson Ben Chang said, “Students occupying the building face expulsion.”

Chang said the university had given protesters a chance to leave peacefully and finish the semester, but that those who didn’t agree to the terms from Monday were being suspended – restricted from all academic and recreational spaces, allowed only to enter their residences, and, for seniors, ineligible to graduate.

“Protesters have chosen to escalate to an untenable situation – vandalising property, breaking doors and windows, and blockading entrances – and we are following through with the consequences we outlined yesterday,” he said.

Protesters have insisted they will remain at the hall until the university agrees to three demands: divestment from Israel, financial transparency and amnesty.




Law enforcement action at US universities ‘disproportionate’: UN

The UN has voiced concerns regarding the treatment of pro-Palestine protesters at US universities.

The spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Marta Hurtado, said “We are concerned that some of law enforcement actions across a series of universities appear disproportionate in their inputs.”

Protests have swept through US higher education institutions, with many erecting tent encampments on campus grounds after about 100 protesters were first arrested at Columbia University in NewYork on April 18.

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, police moved in on Tuesday morning to clear one encampment, detaining some protesters.

TV footage showed police at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond on Monday evening pushing and shoving away protesters, with students saying tear gas and pepper spray were deployed.

At the University of Texas at Austin, police also clashed with protesters on Monday, including using pepper spray, and made arrests while dismantling an encampment, adding to hundreds detained nationwide over the weekend.




College Democrats of America hail student protests across US campuses

The College Democrats of America, the Democratic Party’s national organisation presiding over hundreds of campuses across the US, has hailed pro-Palestinian protests that have swept university campuses across the country.

In a statement, it described actions taken by students at several schools as “heroic”, saying they had the “moral clarity to see this war for what it is: destructive, genocidal, and unjust”.

It also criticised the response of school administrations for “arresting, suspending, and evicting students” and decried the Biden administration for taking the “mistaken route of a bear hug strategy” when it came to its Israel policy.

The group also reiterated calls for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, as well as the release of all Israeli captives.



SvennoJ on 30 April 2024

UN chief calls for independent investigation into mass graves

Guterres says he is “deeply alarmed” by reports of mass graves in several locations in Gaza. "There are competing narratives around several of these mass graves, including serious allegations that some of those buried were unlawfully killed,” he said.

“It is imperative that independent international investigators, with forensic expertise, are allowed immediate access to the sites of these mass graves, to establish the precise circumstances under which hundreds of Palestinians lost their lives and were buried, or reburied,” he continued.

“The families of the dead and missing have a right to know what happened. And the world has a right to accountability for any violations of international law that may have taken place.”

Last week, the secretary-general’s spokesperson said that a mandate from a United Nations body would be required for the organisation to take legal possession of any evidence collected during the discovery of the mass graves, in order for the UN to carry out its own investigation.

 

US rights group criticises antisemitism bill which cleared House Rules panel

DAWN has said that the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, which the US House of Representatives Rules Committee is trying to codify through a bill, is “problematic and contentious” and “is being used to stifle speech by Palestinians and Palestine advocates”.

Human rights and civil rights organisations, including Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), have said that the IHRA’s working definition of antisemitism has been misused to falsely label any criticism of Israeli government policies as antisemitic.

“Attempts to push criticism of Israel out of the legitimate discourse are particularly worrying at a time when US support for Israel is itself one of the most pressing foreign policy issues facing our nation,” said Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, director of research for Israel-Palestine at DAWN.

“The young people of this country deserve better than to be told that they are antisemites for questioning how and where their tax dollars and university tuition are invested.”


Israeli army again bombs southern Lebanon

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reports that Israeli warplanes carried out two attacks, one on the Wadi al-Asafir area, and another on the al-Maslkh neighbourhood of the southern Lebanese village of Khiam.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent confirmed the attack on Khaim.

Portuguese-flagged ship is hit in Arabian Sea

The container ship has come under attack by a drone in the far reaches of the Arabian Sea. That corresponds with a claim early Tuesday by Yemen’s Houthi rebels that they assaulted the ship there.

The attack on the MSC Orion, occurring some 600 kilometres (373 miles) off the coast of Yemen, appeared to be the first confirmed deep-sea assault claimed by the Houthis since they began targeting ships in November.

It suggests the Houthis have the ability to strike out potentially into the distances of the Indian Ocean as the rebels previously threatened in their continuing campaign over Israel’s war on Gaza.



Oh yeah this circus is coming to town as well this summer

Pro-Palestine protesters urge Olympic officials to limit Israel’s participation in Paris Games

About 300 people have rallied at the headquarters of the Paris Olympics’ organising committee, waving Palestinian flags and chanting slogans against Israel’s “institutional participation” in the games as it continues its war on Gaza.

The protesters said that Israeli athletes should compete in Paris under a neutral flag, similar to the rules the International Olympic Committee applied to Russian athletes after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Israeli athletes will compete in Paris under their country’s flag.

The Olympic Games in Paris will take place from July 26-August 11.



Double standards.... I won't be watching the Olympics.


‘1 in 3 Palestinian child prisoners are in administrative detention’

Defense for Children International – Palestine has said that Israeli forces have dramatically escalated their military operations in the occupied West Bank in the last six months.

“DCIP has been monitoring Palestinian child administrative detainees since 2008, and the numbers have never been this high,” it said in a statement.

Sixty-one children are currently held by Israeli forces without charge or trial, equivalent to about one in three out of all Palestinian child detainees, the organisation said.

DCIP called administrative detention “a cruel tool” because the children and their lawyers aren’t privy to what are deemed “secret charges”.

Administrative orders can also be renewed indefinitely, “creating an unbearable environment of anxiety for parents and children who don’t know when they will be able to go home”.



SvennoJ on 30 April 2024

Two children killed in Israeli strike on Rafah

At least two children have been killed in an air attack on Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, where more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.

The attack hit a home in the Shaboura neighbourhood and killed two siblings identified as Kareem Amer Jaradeh and his sister Mona, the Wafa news agency reported. It said several others were wounded in the attack. Those injured as well as the bodies of the two siblings have been taken to the Kuwaiti Hospital in the densely populated city, it added.

Netanyahu said today that a full-scale invasion of Rafah would happen soon, though the Israeli army has ramped up bombing of the city in recent weeks, leading to dozens of casualties.


Gaza’s Civil Defence pulls nine bodies from under rubble in Khan Younis

Crews have recovered nine bodies from under the rubble in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, Wafa reported.

Teams have been working to recover the bodies of slain Palestinians since Israeli forces withdrew from the area nearly one month ago.

Mass graves were also discovered in the vicinity of Nasser Hospital, where more than 390 bodies have been exhumed so far, including of children and patients who were receiving treatment at the medical facility that is now largely in ruins.

Israeli shelling again hits Rafah area

Al Jazeera’s correspondent reports that the Israeli army has again bombed a town in the vicinity of Rafah, al-Nasr. A short time ago, two children were killed when an Israeli attack hit a home in the Shaboura neighbourhood of the southern Gaza city.



SvennoJ on 30 April 2024

Travis County, Texas urges UT Austin to compromise with protesters

Travis County Attorney General Delia Garza has urged the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) to settle with protesters who are demonstrating against Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza.

She confirmed police arrested 97 students.

Yesterday, police, some in riot gear, detained dozens as they dismantled an encampment set up on campus by students calling on their university to cut ties with Israel.

Garza said that 65 of those arrested were charged with criminal trespass.

“Cycling people in and out of jail on low, low-level charges and dwindling our criminal justice resources for the rest of the community will do very little to maintain the public safety of our community,” she said.

Garza said it is not the role of the criminal justice system to assist the Texas governor in efforts to “suppress nonviolent and peaceful demonstrations”. She was referring to remarks made by Governor Greg Abbott, who last week called for the arrest and expulsion of students protesting at the university.


New Yorkers march in support of students protesting for Gaza

Footage shared by journalists on social media shows a crowd marching through the streets of New York City, stopping at a number of university campuses.

The march began at New York University, where dozens were arrested last week after the school administration called for police to break up pro-Palestine demonstrations.

The march will end at Columbia University where earlier today, students occupied a building belonging to the university, saying they would not leave until their demands – divestment of the university from Israel, financial transparency from the university, and amnesty for students so-far disciplined in pro-Palestine protests – are met.


Tulane University encampment continues despite calls from school administration to halt protest

Students at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, have gathered to protest Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza as pro-Palestinian demonstrations sweep college campuses across the country.

Videos verified by Al Jazeera show police setting up barricades and a large sign set up near the gathering that reads: “No trespassing”.

In a letter, the university administration confirmed the suspension of five students and urged protest organisers to end their sit-in. It further threatened university staff and employees who joined the protest with disciplinary measures, including dismissal, if they do not halt their participation.




Smear campaign continues in the US media, CNN today
Reports of anti-Semitic acts surging across campuses

Out of all the other countries around the world joining in, CNN focuses on
Iranians protest in solidarity with students
And of course with pictures of signs "Down with USA"

And time to pull out this card again
New documentary exposes Hamas' use of sexual violence
Jake Tapper presenting, no surprise

I'm not going to look at Fox news.