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

SvennoJ on 22 June 2024

Guantanamo bay is still operational "As of May 2024, of the 779 people detained there since January 2002 when the military prison first opened after the September 11 attacks, 740 had been transferred elsewhere, 30 remained there, and nine had died while in custody."

‘Happening again’: Guantanamo victims say Israel using ‘US-style’ torture

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/22/happening-again-guantanamo-victims-say-israel-using-us-style-torture

When former Guantanamo detainee Asadullah Haroon looks at pictures of Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons, the memories of his own abuse and torture in US detention centres come flooding back.

“This is the worst form of oppression,” he says. “When you are labelled as a terrorist you cannot defend yourself in any way. Without a doubt it’s the same process. They are torturing the people in the same way. I think the Americans have made this and the Israelis are implementing it.”

Haroon, who won his case against the US government for illegal imprisonment in 2021, was held without charge in the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba for 16 years following his arrest in 2007. He says Palestinians held in Israeli prisons now are enduring similar treatment to that he experienced.

Cuba joins South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the ICJ

Cuba has decided to join South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over Israel’s alleged genocide in the Gaza Strip, the Cuban Foreign Ministry has announced in a statement.

The ministry said Cuba wants to “contribute as much as possible … to put an end to the genocide committed against the Palestinian people”.

“Israel, with total impunity, protected by the complicity of the US government, ignores its obligations as an Occupying Power under the Fourth Geneva Convention,” the ministry said.

“Genocide, apartheid, forced displacement and collective punishment have no place in today’s world, nor can they be tolerated by the international community. Justice and respect for the UN Charter and international law must prevail,” it added.

Countries including Chile and Spain have also joined South Africa in its case against Israel for alleged genocide in its war on the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Translation: #Cuba has decided to participate as a Third State in South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel before the @CIJ_ICJ and will argue the transgression of the Genocide Convention to the main judicial body of @ONU_es. We must put an end to the massacre against the people of #Palestine.



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SvennoJ on 22 June 2024

ICRC base in al-Mawasi camp ‘clearly marked’ with Red Cross emblems

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said the location of its humanitarian office at the al-Masawi camp for displaced people – which was damaged by shelling that killed at least 22 people and wounded 45 people on Friday – was known to warring parties.

“Firing so dangerously close to humanitarian structures, of whose locations the parties to the conflict are aware and which are clearly marked with Red Cross emblems, puts the lives of civilians and Red Cross staff at risk,” ICRC said in a statement after the attack.

“The strike damaged the structure of the ICRC office, which is surrounded by hundreds of displaced civilians living in tents, including many of our Palestinian colleagues,” the organisation said.

Though the ICRC said the deadly attack – which one witness told the Reuters news agency was carried out by Israeli tanks – was “one of several in recent days”, the organisation did not state who it believed was behind the camp bombing in its statement.



EU top diplomat demands probe into Gaza Red Cross office shelling

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has called for a probe into deadly shelling that damaged an office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza.

“The EU condemns the shelling, which damaged the ICRC office in Gaza and led to dozens of casualties. An independent investigation is needed and those responsible must be held accountable,” Borrell wrote on X.



SvennoJ on 22 June 2024

UN special rapporteur says Israeli army is ‘criminal’ and ‘immoral’

Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, has said the Israeli army is “immoral” alongside being “one of the most criminal armies in the world”.

Quoting Chris Sidoti, member of a UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), who made the original remark about Israeli military criminality, Albanese said there was “no need to be a spiritual authority to arrive at this conclusion”.

“Considering the low standards to which they [and many illegal settlers] have descended,” she added.




Investigation shows Israeli tank had ‘clear view’ of car in Hind Rajab case

A joint investigation by NGO Earshot and Al Jazeera into the killing of Palestinian child Hind Rajab and her family in Gaza City on January 29 challenges a claim by the Israeli military that they were not responsible for the attack.

Hind, a six-year-old Palestinian girl, was travelling in a car with her family when they came under fire from an Israeli tank. Six of her family members, including her sister, were killed.

Hind pleaded for help from the Palestine Red Crescent Society for three hours before they lost contact. When rescuers finally reached the scene 12 days later, they found that Hind, her family and two Red Crescent paramedics who had been sent to rescue her had all been killed.

The Israeli military claimed that they didn’t have any troops in the area and denied carrying out the attack.

But a reconstruction of the attack, based on audio of the incident, shows that the Israeli tank from which the shots were fired “would have had a clear view of the car and the two children”, according to Earshot.

Read the thread and watch the footage below:



SvennoJ on 22 June 2024

IDF are nothing but a bunch of barbarians, worse than terrorists

Israeli forces strap injured Palestinian to vehicle to use as human shield

In Jenin, videos have shown an Israeli armoured vehicle driving past ambulances with an injured Palestinian man strapped to the hood, in what appears to be a case of using him as a human shield.

“It does seem there’s no other logical explanation to tie up a man who’s visibly injured and in pain to the hood of an armoured vehicle as it moves through Jenin after laying siege to at least two homes, searching them and detaining a number of people,” Nour Odeh said, reporting from Ramallah.

“That shocking image of the Jeep … is something that is repeated in several ways in the West Bank and it is what human rights organisations call the use of human shields. It’s been done on several occasions.”




‘Human shielding in action’

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territories, has responded to footage shared online showing an Israeli armoured vehicle in Jenin driving past ambulances with an injured Palestinian man strapped to the hood.

“It is flabbergasting how a state born 76 years ago has managed to turn international law literally on its head,” she said in a post on X.

“This risks being the end of multilateralism, which for some influential member states no longer serves any relevant purpose,” Albanese added.

https://x.com/FranceskAlbs/status/1804537012436791431

Israeli forces withdraw from Jenin

Israeli forces have now withdrawn from Jenin after detaining at least one Palestinian, local sources told Al Jazeera.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that three people were wounded, including the man who was filmed tied to the hood of the Israeli military jeep.

Israel carrying out ‘unprecedented crimes’ against Palestinians during arrests: Rights group

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society has said that Israeli authorities continue to carry out “systemic crimes” against Palestinians during detention campaigns, which have so far led to the imprisonment of more than 9,300 since October 7.

The organisation said that Israeli forces have been resorting to assault, beatings, torture, intimidation, threats and the use of weaponry, including live ammunition, with the “intent to kill”.

“The crimes perpetrated during arrest campaigns are unprecedented in scope and scale. Israeli forces are not content to merely detain people, but also to assault them and their families, humiliate and threaten them, in addition to vandalising their property and stealing assets,” the organisation said.

Palestinian boy in Ramallah succumbs to critical injury

A Palestinian boy has died after he was critically injured with a bullet fired by Israeli forces near Ramallah in northern West Bank. In a statement, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that the 12-year-old boy had died due to critical injuries he sustained about a week ago in Ramallah.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the boy was shot in his stomach during an Israeli incursion into the Am’ari refugee camp in Ramallah.



SvennoJ on 23 June 2024

More than 50 people killed or missing in Israeli strikes on central Gaza, local officials say

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/22/middleeast/israel-gaza-central-strikes-dozens-killed-intl/index.html

Fifty-two people have been killed or left missing in Israeli strikes near Gaza city on Saturday, according to the Hamas-controlled Government Media Office (GMO).

The GMO said that 38 bodies had arrived at Al Ahli Baptist Hospital and 14 people are still missing under the rubble of homes and buildings. Video from two of the areas targeted shows extensive destruction and multiple casualties after large explosions.

The Civil Defense Directorate said that a number of people remained under the rubble after Israeli aircraft targeted a house near the Batsh cemetery in the Al Tuffah neighborhood, which is east of Gaza City.

Another strike was reported against a residential block in Al Shati, another neighborhood near Gaza City.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in a brief statement Saturday, said that IDF fighter jets had struck “Hamas military infrastructure” sites in the area of Gaza City. The IDF did not specify where the strikes had taken place. CNN is seeking more details.

A medical rescue worker in the area told CNN that the airstrike at Al Shati camp felt like an “earthquake.” “There has been a targeting of Al Shati camp near Al Sousi Mosque, which was like an earthquake hitting a whole residential block. “There are entire families under the destroyed houses.”


It comes after the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said at least 22 people were killed in a strike that hit civilians sheltering in southern Gaza on Friday.  The strike hit the tents of displaced people in the Palestinian town of Mawasi, parts of which have been identified by the Israeli military as a humanitarian zone.

Israel drops hostage flyers

Also on Saturday, the Israeli military dropped at least two different leaflets with the names and photos of hostages over various locations in the Gaza Strip.

Leaflets were dropped in the Al-Zeitoun and Al-Sabra neighborhoods of Gaza City as well as in the city of Khan Younis in the south of the Strip, according to Palestinians in Gaza who spoke about the flyers on social media. The Israeli military said flyers had been dropped “throughout the Gaza Strip.”

“Look around you carefully… the hostages may be next to you,” the flyers read in Arabic. “If you want to preserve your families, do not hesitate to provide us with any information regarding the hostages or their kidnappers,” they add.

The flyers dropped in Gaza City were different from those dropped in Khan Younis, displaying different hostages. In total, 62 hostages were shown on the flyers.

CNN identified the photographs of six hostages who had previously been declared dead by Israel on the flyers. Four were kidnapped in Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. CNN identified the other two hostages as Israeli soldiers who were kidnapped prior to the October 7 attack. They are believed to be deceased.

It’s unclear why photos of hostages who are believed to be dead are included among the images on the leaflets. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.

The IDF said Saturday it had dropped flyers “throughout the Gaza Strip as part of the ongoing intelligence efforts to return the hostages.” An Israeli security official told CNN that the families of the hostages listed on the flyers had been notified in advance of Saturday’s drop. The official said the “selection of the photos stems from various considerations that cannot be detailed.”



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SvennoJ on 23 June 2024

‘All of the rats in the Knesset’: Mass antiwar protest in Israel

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/22/all-of-the-rats-in-the-knesset-mass-anti-war-protest-in-israel

Tens of thousands of protesters waving Israeli flags and chanting slogans against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday, demanding new elections and the return of captives held in Gaza.

Large protests have occurred in the Israeli city on a weekly basis over Netanyahu’s handling of the nearly nine-month-old war in Gaza started by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel.

Many protesters held signs reading “Crime Minister” and “Stop the War” as people poured into the biggest Israeli city’s main thoroughfare.

“I am here because I am afraid of the future of my grandchild. There will be no future for them if we don’t go out and get rid of the horrible government,” said contractor Shai Erel, 66. “All of the rats in the Knesset … I wouldn’t let any one of them be a guard of a kindergarten.”


Families and supporters of Israelis taken captive by Hamas fighters in Gaza in the October 7 attacks stand around a fire as they call for their release in Tel Aviv

 

Israeli police assault protesters, media in Tel Aviv

Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 has published video from the mass antigovernment demonstrations taking place right now in the streets of Tel Aviv, Israel, showing police assaulting a member of the media.

Other video from the protests posted on social media – and verified by Al Jazeera – shows police engaging violently with demonstrators and carrying out mass arrests.

Tonight, protesters in Israel are calling for the removal of Prime Minister Netanyahu, an end to Israel’s war on Gaza, and the safe return of the Israeli captives held there.

Israeli party leader condemns police violence against protesters

Yair Golan, the leader of the Israeli Labour Party, has taken to X to denounce mass arrests and brutality meted out by Israeli police on demonstrators, who are out in force tonight calling for an end to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government.

“Tonight’s violence in the demonstrations crossed all borders”, he said. “The police must not be allowed to become a tool in the hands of the corrupt and failed government of Israel’s destruction government”,  he added.

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-niemoeller-first-they-came-for-the-socialists

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.



SvennoJ on 23 June 2024

US-built pier partly washes onto shores of Tel Aviv beach

Parts of the Gaza floating dock washed up to Frishman Beach in Tel Aviv, according to Israeli media. Footage posted by local platforms showed parts of the US-built pier on the shores of the beach amid crowds of stunned settlers.

The US has maintained that the pier has provided “much-needed humanitarian aid” to Gaza, while aid groups warn it is an ineffective way to deliver aid and cannot be a substitute for opening land routes, which have been severely restricted by Israel.

The pier has been damaged and taken out of commission for repairs by the US several times.

Children starving to death as hunger spreads in Gaza

UN agencies are warning that over one million Palestinians in Gaza could face severe starvation by mid-July.

The hunger crisis is intensifying as Israel continues to block humanitarian aid from entering the region. This blockade has left parents desperately struggling to keep their children alive.



SvennoJ on 23 June 2024

Israeli forces strap wounded Palestinian to jeep during raid

A Palestinian man who Israeli soldiers strapped to an armoured vehicle and used as a human shield, has been taken to hospital for treatment.



Israeli action on Jenin ‘human shield’ incident will be telling

David Des Roches, a professor at the National Defense University in the United States, said if the Israeli military fails to discipline the soldiers who used a wounded Palestinian man as a human shield, then others could see their actions as a licence to do the same thing.

“It’s not standard practice. I hope that the investigation will find out who did this and I hope there will be exemplary punishment doled out. Otherwise, you can make the fair case that this is evolving into policy. But again, there’s a huge revolt against this in the Israeli press, so I don’t think we’ll see this become common,” Des Roches said.

“I think that the reaction of the Israeli military to this is going to be very telling, and, again, if the soldiers who did this are not disciplined appropriately, you can make the argument that this will be viewed as a licence for other people to do this. But at the end of the day, it’s hard to see that there’s any tactical advantage to this, and Israel has suffered grave strategic damage from it.”


Other recent cases of Israeli probes into troop misconduct

We’ve been covering Israeli soldiers’ apparent use of a wounded Palestinian man as a human shield during a raid in Jenin. The incident is not the first time the Israeli military has been forced to address troop misconduct.

Here are a few prominent examples from recent months:

May 2023: Palestinian rights groups accused Israeli troops of using five children as human shields, including during a raid near Jericho in the occupied West Bank, in March of last year.

May 2023: The Israeli military opened an investigation after video emerged of a soldier burning what appeared to be a Quran in May last year.

January 2024: The bombing of the Red Crescent headquarters in southern Gaza in January this year is also under investigation. Five people were killed at the site sheltering 1,400 people.

January 2024: Israeli soldiers in Gaza blew up the main building of a university at the start of the year, after using it as a military base for several weeks. The military said its troops did not get permission to destroy the building.

The next month, Israel’s top military lawyer warned troops about violations, saying the soldiers’ actions would ultimately cause strategic damage to the nation.






US airman ‘proud to go in footsteps of prior conscientious objectors’

Larry Hebert, a senior airman on active duty in the US Air Force, told Al Jazeera there is a long history of conscientious objectors from the United States, including in protest against the wars in Vietnam and Iraq.


Hebert is one of two members of the air force requesting to become conscientious objectors over the United States’ support for Israel’s war in Gaza. He says that he hopes to highlight that becoming a conscientious objector is an option for other active-duty US soldiers.

“I think a lot of service members don’t actually know entirely what it is and what their rights are,” he said. While on leave from duty in April, Hebert protested outside the White House, calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the end of US weapons shipments to Israel.



SvennoJ on 23 June 2024

Israel has been using Palestinians as human shields ‘for decades’

Antony Loewenstein, an independent journalist and author of The Palestine Laboratory, has spoken to Al Jazeera about a video that showed an injured Palestinian tied to the front of an Israeli military vehicle in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

He emphasised the historical context of brutality and abuse of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli military, noting that such actions have been ongoing for decades, inspired initially by British tactics in the 1920s and 30s.

Loewenstein criticised the notion of Israel’s “most moral army”, pointing out the impunity and lack of accountability. He also dismissed the feasibility of a two-state solution under the current circumstances.

 

‘I had hoped to be dead’ – Palestinian man used as a ‘human shield’ by Israeli forces

Al Jazeera has spoken to an injured Palestinian who appeared to be used as a human shield by Israeli forces in Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

Mujahed Abadi was strapped to the front of an Israeli military vehicle on Saturday which drove past several ambulances. He says Israeli forces continued to beat him while he was injured.



‘Israeli authorities need to be sanctioned for unlawful killings, abuse’

Antony Loewenstein – the author of The Palestine Laboratory, a book on Israel’s arms and surveillance industry – says Israeli authorities need to be sanctioned and held accountable for the unlawful killings and abuse in the Palestinian territory.

He was commenting after a Palestinian man was strapped to an armoured vehicle and used as a human shield by Israeli soldiers. Israel said it would investigate the incident that has caused outrage.

“There is a long history of Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, indeed in Israel itself, of using Palestinians as human shields,” Loewenstein told Al Jazeera.

“And I think it goes to the heart of what occupation does to a population, it dehumanises them,” he said.

To the Israeli military response that the conduct was “breaches of its values”, Loewenstein said, “There are no values under occupation by definition … Israel has been occupying Palestine for over half a century.”

“There has been less attention on the West Bank since October 7 and the rise of killings by settlers and soldiers. It’s so out of control that any Palestinian, including friends of mine that I speak to, say there is no protection for them.

“They fear, rightly so, soldiers and settlers.”

Israel puts cancer patient due for release in ‘administrative detention’

Prisoner rights groups say Mohammad Khdairat, who has lymphoma, was set to be released today when Israeli authorities placed him under administrative detention – without trial or charge.

The Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said the 21-year-old from Thaherya, near Hebron, will remain in detention until November 30, even though an order for his release on bail was issued by an Israeli military court.

“His family went to take him home today but they were shocked by the arbitrary order of detention,” the organisations said. “[This] is a crime with an intent to kill. This has been happening to several sick detainees – especially those with cancer – in a systematic manner.”

Khdairat was arrested on June 1 for alleged incitement. He has not received any treatment while in prison and has not been allowed to take his medication since.

Addressing his father via video conference during a court session last week, Khdairat said: “Dad, I am dying.”

The rights groups said there are at least 30 detainees in Israeli prisons who have cancer.



SvennoJ on 23 June 2024

Six Palestinians wounded in West Bank as Israeli forces carry out raids

The Wafa news agency is reporting that Israeli troops opened fire on Palestinians in the town of ar-Ram in the occupied West Bank, wounding at least six people.

The attacks took place near the separation wall, it said.

Wafa also reported Israeli raids in the Ein el-Sultan camp in Jericho, in the towns of Anabta and Kafr al-Labad near Tulkarem, and in the town of Tuqu near Bethlehem. Citing local sources, the agency said the raids triggered clashes in Tuqu, with Israeli forces using rubber-coated bullets and tear gas and wounding dozens of Palestinians.


Palestinian child subjected to abuse during arrest in Hebron: Wafa

Israel’s military has carried out a familiar round of raids in the occupied West Bank, storming into homes and making arrests, according to the Wafa news agency. During the raids, the Israeli forces arrested:

  • eight people, including three minors, from Hebron governorate,
  • one man from Qalqilya city,
  • one man from Nablus city.

One of the minors arrested, 14-year-old Uday Raed Awad, was subjected to “abuse and severe beating by soldiers”, according to Wafa.


Israel demolishes 3 homes near Jericho

Israeli forces have demolished three Palestinian homes in the village of Ein ad-Duyuk at-Tahta, southwest of Jericho, in the occupied West Bank, reports the Wafa news agency.

Footage posted on Palestinian social media channels, verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency, shows several Israeli bulldozers smashing the homes as Israeli troops look on.

Israeli authorities have also issued notices regarding the upcoming demolition of two additional homes in the Jericho area, according to Wafa.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Israeli forces demolished 565 Palestinian-owned structures in the occupied West Bank between January 1 and June 10, displacing 1,034 people.


Israeli forces storm village near occupied West Bank’s Nablus city

Israeli soldiers have stormed the occupied West Bank’s Qusra village, south of the Nablus city, footage shared online shows. The footage, verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad, shows Israeli army vehicles and infantry forces on the streets.


Israeli forces demolish 2 homes in Jericho

The houses are located in al-Murashahaat area, southwest of Jericho City, the official news agency Wafa reports.

Israeli forces demolished the homes of Abdullah Ahmed Nujoom and Mohammed Eid Nujoom under the pretext of building in Area C. Area C in the occupied West Bank is under exclusive Israeli administrative and security control.

This comes after Israeli soldiers demolished three homes in the town of Ein ad-Duyuk at-Tahta, northwest of Jericho in the West Bank, earlier this morning.

According to the Palestinian commission focusing on the separation wall and illegal settlements, Israeli forces demolished 66 structures in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in May alone.