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

SvennoJ on 01 February 2024

Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque compound

Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting that dozens of Israeli settlers under the protection of police have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem.

Witnesses said they entered in separate groups and conducted mock tours through the mosque’s courtyards. The storming of the compound has become an almost daily occurrence even though entering any part of it is forbidden for Jews due to the sacred nature of the site, according to Jewish law.

Israeli settlers allowing only trucks without Gaza aid to pass Ashdod port

Footage shared on social media shows Israeli settlers inspecting trucks at Israel’s Ashdod port and only allowing those not carrying aid for Gaza to pass through.

Mass grave discovered in northern Gaza ‘clearly a war crime’

The discovery of a mass grave of Palestinian detainees who were handcuffed, blindfolded and thrown in the garbage at a school in northern Gaza is evidence that bolsters the ICJ’s ruling that there is a plausible risk Israel is committing genocide in the besieged strip, says Palestinian human rights lawyer Diana Buttu.

“This is precisely why Israel was taken to the ICJ,” the Ramallah-based attorney told Al Jazeera, adding that Israel has been committing war crimes against Palestinians since 1948 and nobody has ever held Israel to account. This incident, Buttu pressed, is clearly a war crime and the world should do something about it. She said this type of evidence needs to be preserved, but that can only happen under a ceasefire.

The Palestinian used as a human shield by Israel

Bahaa el-Din Abu Ras said he was used as a human shield to protect Israeli soldiers.

On January 15, the Israeli army stormed Dura, south of Hebron, using about 10 military vehicles, stopping in the town’s downtown commercial area, near Bahaa’s shop, and his ordeal began. Bahaa found himself marched into the street, where Palestinians were putting up the only resistance they had: throwing rocks at the heavily armed invading soldiers. The commanding officer sent Musaab and Mahmoud home and made Bahaa walk in front of him, saying, “You go in front of me, we’ll see if anyone dares to throw stones at us now.”

In the moments of terror, as bullets whizzed past his head and the sounds of shooting rang in his ears, he wondered if he would see his wife or his children again.



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SvennoJ on 01 February 2024

Some positive development

Australian gov’t ‘stalling’ on military exports to Israel

PM Anthony Albanese’s government is intentionally slowing down sales of military equipment to Israel over concern about civilian casualties in Gaza, the country’s national broadcaster ABC reported quoting an anonymous defence industry insider.

Israel has tried to purchase Australian-made equipment, such as a counter-drone system, but the Department of Defence has failed to provide a formal response for months, the source said. “There appears to be a deliberate ‘go slow’ happening on anything to do with Israel while the war in Gaza continues,” they continued. “Nobody in the government wants to be seen to be either approving or rejecting Israeli military sales.”

US city councils increasingly call for Israel-Gaza ceasefire, analysis shows

Jan 31 (Reuters) - Some 70 U.S. cities, including Chicago and Seattle, have passed resolutions on the Israel-Gaza war with most calling for a ceasefire, a Reuters analysis of city data shows, placing more pressure on President Joe Biden ahead of a November general election to help end the fighting.
At least 48 cities have passed symbolic resolutions calling for a halt to Israel's Gaza bombardment, with six others passing resolutions advocating more broadly for peace. At least 20 have passed resolutions condemning Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which sparked the current bloodshed, the data shows.



However it seems US and UK only want more war

UK deputy PM says strikes weakening the Houthis

Oliver Dowden has said that continued strikes by the US and the UK are weakening the Houthis, but that no ground forces will be sent to Yemen. “Let’s be absolutely clear from the start. We have no plans whatsoever to put boots on the ground,” Dowden said in remarks on Thursday.

“We need to tighten the pressure on the Houthis because at the root of this lies a commitment from the United Kingdom to ensure stability and free trade of goods and movement,” he added.

It's time to "take away even more capability" from Iran-backed groups, US defense secretary says

The US response against Iran-backed proxies for the attack against US forces in Jordan would be “multi-tiered,” Austin said Thursday, adding that US adversaries in the region do not have “a one-and-done mindset.” “They have a lot of capability. I have a lot more,” Austin said.

US President Joe Biden told reporters Tuesday he has made a decision about the US response but declined to provide further details.



SvennoJ on 01 February 2024

Groan

Lloyd Austin speaks with Yoav Gallant about ‘shift to low-intensity operations’ in Gaza

The US defence secretary spoke with the Israeli defence minister about shifting to “low-intensity operations in Gaza”, support for a diplomatic solution along the Israel-Lebanon border and stability in the occupied West Bank.

Austin also reportedly “thanked Minister Gallant for his efforts” in ensuring the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The UN and humanitarian agencies have repeatedly said aid entering Gaza is only a fraction of what’s needed on the ground in the besieged enclave. On Thursday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, “Everyone is hungry in Gaza”.




Oh and they have been talking about a shift to low-intensity operations for nearly 2 months now

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/05/politics/israel-ground-operation-us-warnings/index.html
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4360758-white-house-discussed-shift-to-lower-intensity-operations-with-israeli-officials/


You can't make this shit up

Israeli PM defends illegal settlers despite surge in attacks across occupied West Bank

Many statements from Israeli officials essentially are downplaying settler violence across the occupied West Bank against Palestinians.

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a majority of those who live in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank are “law-abiding citizens”. Many of them are currently serving in Israel’s war on Gaza.

Netanyahu then ended his statement by saying that anyone who violates Israel’s laws is prosecuted.

The 'law-abiding citizens' are currently committing war crimes in Gaza...
The Westbank is not Israel, it's military occupied Palestine.
Administrative Detention without access to legal representation is not prosecution, it's abduction and illegal detainment.
Military courts with 99% conviction rates and forced confessions is not prosecution either.
Settlers hardly ever get arrested, and even if arrested they get released again, while Palestinians get 20 years for throwing rocks.

Nightly raids are underway again

Israeli forces raid Jenin, Nablus and Hebron in the occupied West Bank

Israeli forces have conducted raids in the cities of Jenin, Nablus and Hebron in the occupied West Bank tonight, the Wafa news agency reports. Armed clashes have been reported in the Jenin refugee camp, while homes have been raided in all three cities, but no arrests have been reported so far. Local media is also reporting raids and arrests in the following locations:

  • The town of al-Mazra’a al-Sharqiya, north of Ramallah
  • The towns of Baqat al-Hatab and Hajjah, east of Qalqilya
  • The town of Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem
  • A man has been arrested in the town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya
  • A man has been arrested in the village of Baqat al-Hatab, east of Qalqiliya



hellobion2 on 01 February 2024

Hello Guys I was wondering if you think that the two-state solution is viable still?



BiON!@ 

zeldaring on 02 February 2024
hellobion2 said:

Hello Guys I was wondering if you think that the two-state solution is viable still?

it's the only option because unfortunately Most of  israelis  are basically white supremacists which plays in perfectly with jewish religion being we are god's chosen people and to think god is racist that chooses people is beyond stupid. 



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SvennoJ on 02 February 2024
hellobion2 said:

Hello Guys I was wondering if you think that the two-state solution is viable still?

Less and less each day, but it's the only way. A one state solution seems even less viable, both sides need time to recognize each other as human beings again... All other alternatives are impossible. Can't move 6 million Palestinians out of there, can't move 7.2 million Jews out of there.

It's not going to be easy to define that 2 state solution with 500,000 to 700,000 illegal settlers squatting in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Israel will have to make some huge concessions to make a 2 state solution possible. Maybe some of the Westbank can become part of Israel in trade of more continuous land for the Palestinian state in other parts of Israel that are not inhabited. However some settlements will have to be given up, should never have been there in the first place. They're right in the middle of the Westbank, isolated pockets.


More than 800 officials from across Europe and the US sign scathing criticism of Gaza policy

More than 800 officials from the United States and Europe have signed a scathing criticism of Western policy toward Israel and Gaza, accusing their governments of possible complicity in war crimes.

In a statement obtained by CNN, the officials say there is a “plausible risk that our governments’ policies are contributing to grave violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes and even ethnic cleansing or genocide.” They accuse their governments of failing to hold Israel to the same standards they apply to other countries and weakening their own “moral standing” in the world.

Among them are around 80 United States officials and diplomats, a source told CNN. In an unprecedented display of coordinated dissent since Israel’s war against Hamas began nearly four months ago, the signatories call on their governments to “use all leverage” to secure a ceasefire and to stop saying that there is a “a strategic and defensible rationale behind the Israeli operation.”

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/02/middleeast/western-officials-criticism-gaza-policy-israel-intl

Almost all children in Gaza require mental health and psychological support, UNICEF says

At least 17,000 children in Gaza are unaccompanied or separated from their parents, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) — about 1% of the total of 1.7 million people who have been displaced in Gaza. UNICEF State of Palestine Chief of Communication Jonathan Crickx said in Geneva on Friday that the number is only an estimate, as information is hard to gather in Gaza due to deteriorating security and humanitarian conditions.  

Children are suffering from mental health issues, displaying high levels of persistent anxiety, emotional outbursts or panic when they hear bombings, loss of appetite, and inability to sleep, Crickx said after returning from Gaza, where he spoke with some of these children. UNICEF estimates that almost all children in Gaza — more than one million — now require mental health and psychological support.   

He described one girl he met, 11-year-old Razan, who lost almost all her family members, including her parents, brother, and two sisters, when her uncle’s home where they were sheltering was bombed. Raza’s leg was injured, had to be amputated, and is now infected, Crickx said. “Each time she recalls the events, she falls in tears and gets exhausted. Razan's situation is also particularly distressing since her mobility is severely limited and specialized support and rehabilitation services are not available,” he said. 

UNICEF said it fears the situation for children in northern and central Gaza is much worse.  “Not a single child, whatever the religion, the nationality, the language, the race, no child should ever be exposed to the level of violence seen on the 7th of October, or to the level of violence that we have witnessed since then," Crickx said.

Mother of missing 6-year-old trapped in car in Gaza waits outside hospital hoping she will arrive

The mother of a 6-year-old girl, missing since Monday after becoming trapped when the car she was in came under fire in central Gaza, has been standing outside a hospital hoping her daughter will arrive "at any minute." 

The little girl, Hind Rajab, is thought to be the only survivor out of the seven passengers traveling in the car, which was part of a convoy that came under fire. More than 90 hours have now elapsed since a rescue crew was sent to her aid. As of Friday morning, the fate of young Hind and the Palestine Red Crescent Society crew was still unknown. 

When asked by CNN about the situation, the Israel Defense Forces said it was "unfamiliar with the incident described." 

UN says thousands are fleeing from Khan Younis to Rafah, where Israel says it will focus next

The "escalation of hostilities" in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis is driving thousands of civilians to Rafah — a town with more than 1.4 million Gazans "already crammed" in, according to the United Nations.

"In recent days, thousands of Palestinians have continued to flee to the south, which is already hosting over half the Gaza’s population of some 2.3 million people. Most are living in makeshift structures, tents or out in the open. Rafah is a pressure cooker of despair, and we fear for what comes next," said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

While civilians flee to Rafah looking for safety, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has also said the Israeli military will target the area after achieving its mission in Khan Younis. The UN said Thursday that more than 1.4 million Gazans are "already crammed" into the Rafah governorate. 






SvennoJ on 02 February 2024

Daily calls for ceasefire

WHO chief decries reports of civilians, medical staff killed at al-Amal Hospital

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has condemned the reported killing of civilians and PRCS workers at al-Amal Hospital by Israeli forces, which have placed the facility under what PRCS describes as a siege for 12 days.

“Horrified by the reports about killing of civilians, including @PalestineRCS staff, at the Al Amal hospital compound today and in the past two days in Khan Younis, #Gaza,” Ghebreyesus said in a social media post. “We cannot say it louder: hospitals MUST be protected, not attacked nor militarised. Ceasefire!”

Gallant comments on Rafah ‘sets off alarm bells’

UN human rights high commissioner Volker Turk has expressed concern about recent comments by Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who said on Thursday that Israeli forces will push on to Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge.

In a social media post on Friday, UN Human Rights said Turk is “deeply worried by Israel defence minister’s remarks on military push to Rafah. This sets off alarm bells for massive civilian casualties and further displacement to unknown location for over 1.5m already vulnerable Palestinians ordered into Rafah,” by the Israeli military.

WFP says food deliveries consistently blocked

The World Food Programme has said that convoys delivering food assistance have been barred from reaching northern Gaza throughout the week, even as the prospect of famine stalks the strip. Humanitarian officials have consistently reported that Israeli authorities are overwhelmingly rejecting aid delivery efforts, especially to northern Gaza.

“In Gaza, where WFP has been working hard everyday to deliver food to over a million people who are hungry, desperate, just surviving,” Matthew Hollingworth, WFP director for Palestine, said in a social media post on Friday. “For the third time this week, convoys meant for northern Gaza haven’t been able to reach. We need faster and sustained access to prevent famine.”

Algeria’s UNSC draft resolution could jeopardise Gaza talks: US

The resolution presented by Algeria to the 15-member Security Council on Wednesday demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, says the draft could jeopardise negotiations aimed at brokering a pause in fighting in Gaza. “This draft resolution could put sensitive negotiations in jeopardy – derailing the exhaustive, ongoing diplomatic efforts to secure the release of hostages, and secure an extended pause that Palestinian civilians and aid workers so desperately need,” she told reporters.

There is not going to be a pause, it's all delay tactics. Palestinians and aid workers desperately need a ceasefire, achieved by sanctions on Israel.

Palestinians detained in Gaza accuse Israelis of torture

More accounts are emerging from Palestinians from Gaza held in Israeli detention, where they say they were subjected to brutal torture and dehumanising treatment. One 70-year-old man told us his story. “I spent 10 days in Israel, where they hit me, insulted me and humiliated me every day,” Mahmoud al-Nabulsi told Al Jazeera. “I feel pain everywhere on my body,” he said.


Families struggling to take care of additional children orphaned in Gaza

As Israel’s assault on Gaza wipes out entire families and leaves thousands of children without their parents, relatives and other family members are trying to take care of orphaned children even as they struggle to care for their own immediate family members.

“One of the things I learned when I was in Gaza two weeks ago, is that for these extended families, they really consider these children part of their family once they lose their parents,” Tess Ingram, a spokesperson for UNICEF. “I spoke to a woman named Isra who had three children of her own and had recently taken in her five nieces and nephews who had lost both of their parents. She said, ‘I will look after them as if they were my own children until they’re married. I understand I can’t replace their parents, but I’m their aunt and I’ll do everything I can.'”

Some light

Israeli Jews and Palestinians hold antiwar rally in Haifa

The Israeli group Standing Together has said that more than 1,000 Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel convened in Haifa for a conference calling for an end to the war in Gaza. The Israeli publication Haaretz reported that messages of support from Democratic US lawmakers Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, members of President Joe Biden’s party, were played at the event.

“We are the camp of life against the camp of death … against those who say that there are no innocent people in Gaza … We are calling to release all hostages now, leave Gaza, and end the war and the occupation immediately. Israelis and Palestinians are here to stay. We support every agreement to release hostages and end the killing of innocent civilians in Gaza,” the group’s co-leader Alon-Lee Green said.

Protesters in Australia block access to arms factory supplying Israeli military

Protesters in Melbourne have blocked access to a factory belonging to the Australian manufacturer HTA, which produces parts for F-35 military jets used by Israel in its air offensive on Gaza. Weekly protests have been held in Melbourne since the war in Gaza began.



SvennoJ on 02 February 2024

Here we go again :(

US launches retaliatory strikes on Iranian-linked militia targets in Iraq and Syria

The US has begun conducting strikes on targets in Iraq and Syria, the start of what will likely be a series of larger-scale US strikes on Iranian-backed militias who have carried out attacks on US troops in the Middle East, according to two US officials. The retaliatory strikes came in response to a drone strike by Iran-backed militants on a US military outpost in Jordan on Sunday, which killed three US service members and wounded more than 40 others. 

The strikes come just hours after US President Joe Biden attended a dignified transfer ceremony and met family members of the three soldiers killed in Jordan.

Officials have signaled the strikes were likely to be more significant than previous attacks on Iranian-backed militias over the last several weeks, which have primarily focused on weapons storage or training facilities. But the administration is threading a needle; they want to deter and stop further attacks but avoid a full-scale conflict with Iran breaking out in a region already roiled by the continuing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. 

The Biden administration has signaled there could be additional action in the coming days. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday the US response would be “multi-tiered.”

Syrian state media is accusing “US aggression” for the attacks, which they said targeted Syria’s desert areas and those around the Syrian-Iraq border, resulting in a number of casualties.



SvennoJ on 02 February 2024

Israel's Claims Torn Apart By Ex-UN Spokesperson: The Truth About UNRWA, w/ Chris Gunness



British MPs Challenge Government On Arms Sales To Israel Following ICJ Ruling | Dawn News English



SvennoJ on 02 February 2024

One city too far, can this actually lead to sanctions?

Germany’s FM latest to warn Israel against Rafah offensive

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has warned Israel against its planned military offensive against Rafah in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, Germany’s DPA news agency reports. “Taking action now in Rafah, the last and most overcrowded place, as announced by the Israeli defence minister, would simply not be justifiable,” Baerbock told the media organisation Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) in remarks published on Saturday.

“The majority of the victims are women and children. Let’s just imagine: They are our children,” she said.

After more than 10,000 dead, over 19,000 children orphaned, more than 1,000 with amputated limbs (some without anesthesia nor painkillers) over 600,000 now homeless and nearly all of the children require mental health and psychosocial support, couldn't you imagine that a bit earlier....

UN human rights high commissioner Volker Turk said he was “deeply worried by [the] Israel defence minister’s remarks on military push to Rafah”. “This sets off alarm bells for massive civilian casualties and further displacement to unknown location for over 1.5m already vulnerable Palestinians ordered into Rafah” by the Israeli military, he said in comments posted on social media.

Red Crescent marks 100 hours since staff, 6-year-old Palestinian girl missing in Gaza

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has renewed its appeal for information regarding the fate of two of their emergency responders who went to rescue a six-year-old Palestinian girl who survived an Israeli attack on a civilian car in Gaza City.

The fate of the child, Hind, and the two PRCS ambulance crew members – Yousef Zeino and Ahmed al Madhoun – is still unknown after Israeli forces attacked the car in which the child was travelling with her teenage sister and several relatives.



A deep dive into history, how it all started

Colonial law and the erasure of Palestine w/Noura Erakat | The Chris Hedges Report


Watch the last 10 minutes (54:29) to what Noura Erakat thinks will/needs to happen and the cost.

Chris Hedges "The Death of Israel: How a Settler Colonial State Destroyed Itself"


Last edited by SvennoJ - on 03 February 2024