Pro-Palestine protesters gathered in Atlanta for first US presidential debate

Pro-Palestinian protesters rallied on Thursday in Atlanta, Georgia, where the first 2024 presidential debate was being held between Democratic candidate US President Joe Biden and Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Racism out in the open

Trump says Biden has ‘become like a Palestinian’ in presidential debate

Republican candidate Donald Trump has said that US President Joe Biden has “become like a Palestinian” in a presidential debate being held in Atlanta, Georgia.

“[Biden] said the only one who wants to keep [fighting the war] is Hamas, actually Israel is the one. And you should let them go and finish the job,” Trump said. “[Biden] doesn’t want to do it, he’s become like a Palestinian. But they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian, he’s a weak one,” he added.

BREAKING| In the US #PresidentialDebate, former president Donald Trump calls Biden "A Palestinian" as an insult. pic.twitter.com/qcZplYxDPi

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) June 28, 2024

Trump dodges question about Palestinian statehood in US presidential debate

Republican candidate Donald Trump dodged a question about whether he supports Palestinian statehood during the first presidential debate with Joe Biden held in Atlanta, Georgia.

“I’d have to see,” he said, before launching into a rant about US defence spending on NATO.

Biden and Trump ‘not fit to represent’ US’s Palestinian and Arab communities: Analyst

Ayah Ziyadeh, director of the American Muslims for Palestine Advocacy group, said Trump’s branding of Joe Biden as being “like a Palestinian” in the debate was a “blatantly racist” slur, and neither presidential candidate appealed to many in the US’s Palestinian and Arab communities.

“Israel’s genocide in Gaza has become a focal point of this election. Not only are Muslim and Arab Americans deciding that they don’t want to commit to Biden or re-elect him because of his continued stance and fuelling of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. But the broader American public has also shifted and it’s become one of the biggest issues that is impacting the coming elections,” Ziyadeh told Al Jazeera.

“Right now, it seems that most of our communities are going after uncommitted or they just don’t want to vote because we are presented with two candidates that are just not fit to represent us, both as Palestinians and also as Americans,” Ziyadeh said.

“One is blatantly racist. Wants to deport all of us. And said that President Biden isn’t, essentially, being genocidal enough and that he should let Israel finish off its war on Gaza. And the current president has been consciously and willingly, politically and financially, backing an evident genocide in Gaza,” she said.

“There is no lesser than two evils here,” she added.

“The card we are being dealt with as voters and as Americans is frankly unfair.”

There's Jill Stein... But Americans have been two conditioned / brain washed to accept the two party system to consider an alternative :(
https://www.jillstein2024.com/
And of course without funding, the current electoral system and being blatantly ignored by the media makes it impossible for a 3rd party to enter US politics.

Debate between a openly racist convicted felon and a war criminal supporting genocide.

‘Lack of real vision’ in ending the conflict for both Democrats and Republicans in US

Tamer Qarmout, a professor at the Doha Institute of Graduate Studies, says the US presidential debate highlights how both Democrats and Republicans have lost their will to end Israel’s war on Gaza and to support the creation of a Palestinian state.

“The focus of the discussion was not on a Palestinian state per se – it was one supporting Israel and the best way to support Israel,” he told Al Jazeera. “For both candidates, there’s a lack of real vision to end this conflict. It’s a very shallow discussion that does not have ending the conflict in the centre of it.”

He added that the US’s policies are so aligned to Israel’s interests that Palestinians should turn to the “great global momentum” of solidarity and the increasing wave of [state] recognitions for support instead of waiting for the US to embrace a new position.

That would be my word of advice for Ukraine as well, turn to Europe for more help.

Coldhearted reporting on Gaza 'issue' by CNN

A vibes fight about Israel and Gaza

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/27/politics/takeaways-biden-trump-debate/index.html

There is no doubt that Trump would handle the war in Gaza much differently than Biden. But how?

“Let Israel finish the job,” he told Biden, the suggestion being that the president has done too much to restrain the Israeli government and its military bombardment of Palestinians in Gaza.

Trump did not say whether he would back a Palestinian state, but did insist that Hamas’ October 7 attack inside Israel would have “never happened” if he had been in the White House at the time. He also said that Biden has ”become like a Palestinian, but they don’t like him because he’s a bad Palestinian.”

That was probably intended as a jab to suggest Biden is too deferential to the Palestinians but also too ineffectual earn their respect. It landed flat – if it landed at all.

It's fucking racist is what it is. CNN trying to cover up for Trump's racist remarks?! Is CNN that far gone they can't even spot racism, only anti-semitism.
https://newrepublic.com/post/183234/trump-stunning-racism-debate-biden-insult

Biden didn’t offer much himself. He talked up America’s close alliance with Israel and made special note that the US is “providing Israel with all the weapons they need and when they need them.” If he was fishing for progressive votes, there wasn’t much to bite on.

The president also talked up the ceasefire deal he spoke about a few weeks ago that has yet to materialize. (It is, by all recent accounts, a non-starter with leaders on both sides.)

The next president – be it Biden or Trump – will have a massive job to do in the region. And that’s especially true in Israel and Gaza, where when the fighting ends the US and other world powers will be called upon to negotiate some kind of peaceful path forward. But as their performances on Thursday night showed, there are no easy answers and the hard truths will be difficult to come by.

When the fighting ends... US media is directly complicit in genocide.

Neither candidate acknowledged Gaza’s sufferings or even thought it was bringing up.

Tells you all you need to know about USA’s fake red lines.

Settlers have never had ‘so much power’

Yossi Mekelberg, an associate fellow at Chatham House, says as long as the current Israeli government is in power, the situation for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank “will get worse and worse” as the power of the settlers grows.

This includes settler violence, which is “continuing despite the sanctions by different countries”, Mekelberg told Al Jazeera.

Israeli minister says recognition of Palestinian state prevented in EU

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz says a decision to recognise a Palestinian state was prevented in the EU meeting yesterday through “joint effort and collaboration, [and] with the support of our friends in the EU”.

“Declaring a Palestinian state after the October 7 massacre is a reward for Iran and Hamas and proof that murder, rape, desecration of bodies, and burning of babies pay off,” Katz wrote on X.

“We will continue to work to provide Israel with a ‘Diplomatic Iron Dome’ until all hostages are freed and Hamas is eradicated.”

US confirms aid pier removed from Gaza due to high seas

The Pentagon says a temporary US aid pier has again been removed from the Gaza coast due to high seas and will be towed to an Israeli port.

It is the third time the pier has been detached from the shore because of weather conditions since its initial installation in mid-May, and the effort is also facing difficulties with distribution of assistance once it reaches Gaza.

“Due to high sea states expected this weekend, Central Command has removed the temporary pier from its anchored position in Gaza and will tow it back to Ashdod, Israel,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists, referring to the military command responsible for the Middle East.

She said she does not have a date for the pier’s reinstallation, and that “the commander will continue to assess the sea states over the weekend”. The pier was first anchored to the Gaza coast in mid-May, but was damaged by bad weather later in the month and had to be removed for repairs.

US has sent Israel thousands of 2,000-pound bombs since the war began: Report

The Biden administration has sent to Israel massive shipments of munitions, including more than 10,000 highly destructive 2,000-pound bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles, since the start of the war in Gaza, said two US officials, Reuters news agency reported.

The US has transferred at least 14,000 of the MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs, and other munitions, according to the officials.

The tally of shipments suggests there has been no significant drop-off in US military support for Israel.

“While these numbers could be expended relatively quickly in a major conflict, this list clearly reflects a substantial level of support from the United States for our Israeli allies,” Tom Karako, a weapons expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Reuters.

Earlier this week, a senior Biden administration official said that the US sent $6.5bn worth of weapons to Israel since the war began.

Quds Brigades says fighters ‘eliminated’ Israeli soldiers in Gaza City’s Shujayea

The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad says its fighters detonated a housing structure, killing an entire “Zionist force”, in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood.

In a statement, the group said it led soldiers into the building, which had a booby-trapped tunnel loaded with an undetonated F-16 rocket from an Israeli fighter jet. It added fighters are still engaging in “violent clashes” with Israeli soldiers and Israeli army vehicles in the area, using machineguns and antitank missiles.

Israeli forces killed in Shujayea reportedly lured into booby-trapped house

We have been getting reports by the Israeli media about the four soldiers that were killed inside Shujayea and five others who were critically injured.

What we’ve learned so far is that a group of Israeli soldiers were lured inside a house that was already booby-trapped with explosive devices as well as unexploded ordinance, an F-16 bomb that did not explode.

As soon as the [soldiers] got inside the house, the [devices] detonated, leaving four soldiers killed, according to the Israeli media outlets.

Two rockets fired from Gaza towards Sderot, Israeli army says

Two rockets were fired at Sderot city, southern Israel, with one being shot down by the Iron Dome air defence system, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth said, citing a military source.

The incident triggered the activation of rocket-incoming sirens in Sderot and other settlements around the Gaza Strip, the daily added. So far, no injuries or material damage have been reported in connection with the incident.

Earlier, the Islamic Jihad group’s armed wing, al-Quds Brigades, said in a brief statement that it had fired rockets and hit Israeli settlements near the Gaza Strip.

At least 60,000 people displaced from Gaza City on Thursday: UN

Israel forces displaced at least 60,000 people from Gaza City on Thursday, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.

“Humanitarian partners are reporting new displacement … Yesterday, the Israeli military ordered people living in 28 residential blocks in areas east of Gaza City to immediately evacuate … at least 60,000 people were displaced from this area, which spans over seven square kilometres [2.7 square miles]”, Dujarric told reporters.

He added that an overnight military operation in the area of al-Mawasi of Rafah resulted in many casualties and displacement of at least 5,000 people.

_{An Israeli tank takes position in the background as displaced Palestinians evacuate the Shakush area on the northwestern outskirts of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Friday}

The environmental destruction of Gaza in numbers

Fire erupts in illegal Israeli settlement

A large fire has broken out in the illegal Israeli settlement of Kfar Etzion, south of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank.

Helicopters are trying to extinguish the blaze, which Israeli media says has spread to a military base.

Heavy clashes reported as Israeli military storms Nablus

Local media is reporting ongoing heavy fighting in the Nablus area after the Israeli military stormed the occupied West Bank city.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Nablus said its fighters were using “machineguns and explosive devices” during “fierce clashes” with Israeli forces in the al-Makhfiyeh neighbourhood.

Israeli soldiers have also raided the home of journalist Moaz Sharida in the city of Nablus, while Israeli military vehicles have been attacked with Molotov cocktails during their storming of the town of Sebastia, northwest of Nablus.

The Israeli military has also stormed several towns in the Jenin area, including al-Fandaqumiya, Silat ad-Dhahr, and Qabatiya, where clashes have also been reported with Palestinians.

Yemen’s Houthis say they targeted four vessels in joint operation with Iraqi groups

Yemen’s Houthis have claimed carrying out a joint military operation with an Iranian-backed Iraqi group, known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, targeting four vessels in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a televised statement that the group fired drones and missiles at an oil tanker and cargo ships over noncompliance with a ban on entering “ports of occupied Palestine”.

The latest attacks come in response to the “massacres of the Israeli enemy against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip”, he said.

Lebanon urges countries to show solidarity in face of threats from Israel

After some countries issued warnings to their nationals to leave or avoid travel to Lebanon amid tension with Israel, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib urged them to stop causing “concern among citizens and visitors [to Lebanon]” and instead show solidarity.

Amid growing tension between Israel and Lebanon, several countries, including Germany, Canada, North Macedonia, Netherlands, the US and others have urged their nationals to leave or avoid travel to Lebanon.

In recent weeks, tensions have escalated between the Israeli army and the Lebanese armed group, Hezbollah, raising concerns about a potential full-scale war following Tel Aviv’s recent approval of operational plans for a “wide-scale attack” against Lebanon.

Iran says ‘obliterating war will ensue’ if Israel attacks Lebanon

Iran’s mission to the UN has warned Israel that it will face an “obliterating war” if it launches a full-scale attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“All options, [including] the full involvement of all Resistance Fronts, are on the table,” the mission wrote in a post on X, referring to Iran-backed armed groups stationed across the region.

Tensions have escalated between Israel and Hezbollah in recent weeks, raising concerns about a potential full-scale war after the Israeli government approved operational plans for a “wide-scale attack” against the Lebanese armed group.

Amid the growing tension, several countries, including Germany, Canada, the Netherlands and the US, have urged their nationals to leave or avoid travel to Lebanon.

Albeit Iran deems as psychological warfare the Zionist regime’s propaganda about intending to attack Lebanon, should it embark on full-scale military aggression, an obliterating war will ensue. All options, incl. the full involvement of all Resistance Fronts, are on the table.

— I.R.IRAN Mission to UN, NY (@Iran_UN) June 28, 2024

Gallant says Israel isn’t looking for a war with Hezbollah, ‘but we’re ready for one’

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has told troops stationed in northern Israel that while the government prefers to reach a political resolution with Hezbollah, Israel is ready for war if the Lebanese armed group wants one.

“Our alternatives are significant, and we’re ready for each. We prepare a defence and an attack, and this whole thing can happen very quickly,” Gallant told the troops, the Haaretz newspaper reports.

“On the other hand … we’re working on a political alternative. It’s always better. We aren’t looking for a war, but we’re ready for one”, he continued.

“[If Hezbollah chooses war], we’ll know what to do. If it chooses peace, we’ll respond accordingly.”

You're already at war with Hezbollah, the question is will you stop escalating it into a full conflict.