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

SvennoJ on 03 September 2024

Gantz accuses Netanyahu of putting personal interests before Israel’s

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main political rival, Benny Gantz, has accused him of focusing on his political career rather than the interest of the country.

This comes after Netanyahu reiterated that he wouldn’t budge on calls for Israel to leave the Philadelphi Corridor, a position he has turned into a key obstacle to a ceasefire agreement.

Speaking at the Israel Bar Association’s annual conference in Tel Aviv, Gantz said: “If he [Netanyahu] is not strong enough to withstand the international pressure, let him put the keys down and go home.”


Netanyahu lists achievements in response to Gantz’s criticism

In response to criticism by former war cabinet member Gantz, Netanyahu’s office has listed Israel’s achievements since Gantz pulled out of the government and the war cabinet in June.

“The reality speaks for itself. Since Gantz and his party left the government, Israel eliminated Hamas’s chief of staff and Hezbollah’s chief of staff, attacked the Houthis, seized the Philadelphi Corridor – the lifeline by which Hamas arms itself – and carried out a preemptive strike against Hezbollah, which thwarted its malicious plan and destroyed thousands of rockets aimed at the Galilee,” Netanyahu said, according to his office.

“Whoever does not contribute to the victory and the return of the hostages would do well not to interfere.”


GCC stands with Egypt against Netanyahu’s weapons accusations

The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has stated that he gives his “full solidarity and support with Egypt against the provocative statements of the Israeli prime minister”.

“The statements aim to tarnish Egypt’s image and undermine its leading and significant role in the region,” Jasem Mohammed Al-Budaiwi said in a statement.

Netanyahu had on Monday made accusations that weapons were being smuggled to Hamas through the Egyptian border.

“We reject these irresponsible statements which do not serve peace in the region but rather contribute to increasing tension,” Al-Budaiwi said.


Netanyahu stands before a map of Gaza during a news conference in Jerusalem on Monday


Qatar, Saudia Arabia back Egypt against Netanyahu’s weapons accusations

Qatar and Saudi Arabia expressed solidarity with Egypt over comments Netanyahu made earlier this week accusing the country of allowing weapons to be smuggled to Hamas through the Egyptian border.

“[Netanyahu] tried to use Egypt’s name to distract Israeli public opinion and obstruct joint mediation efforts aimed at a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the exchange of hostages and detainees,” Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs asserts that the Israeli occupation’s approach based on an attempt to falsify facts and mislead world public opinion by repeating lies will ultimately lead to the demise of peace efforts and the expansion of violence in the region.”

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry also chided Netanyahu’s accusation, saying it condemns it as a “futile [attempt] to justify continued Israeli violations of international laws and norms”.

The kingdom said it was “affirming its solidarity and support for the sisterly Arab Republic of Egypt in confronting these Israeli allegations”.

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 03 September 2024

Around the Network
SvennoJ on 03 September 2024

Journalist presses US State Department for answers on arms sales to Israel

A journalist pressed US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on the UK’s decision to suspend some arms sales to Israel, asking how the US has not reached similar conclusions about possible violations of international law.


US Justice Department files criminal charges against Hamas

The US announced criminal charges against Hamas’ top leadership, including the group’s chief Yahya Sinwar, accusing them of leading efforts to kill civilians and destroy the state of Israel.

“As outlined in our complaint, those defendants — armed with weapons, political support, and funding from the Government of Iran, and support from Hizballah — have led Hamas’s efforts to destroy the State of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Other Hamas leaders charged include Marwan Issa, the deputy leader of Hamas’ armed wing in Gaza, Khaled Mashaal, a deputy of slain former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and a former leader of the group, Mohammed al-Masri and Ali Baraka.

The US should file criminal charges against itself for leading efforts to destroy the state of Israel. All the ironclad support for a genocidal maniac is tearing Israel apart from within.


Slovenia says UN Security Council’s patience running out for Gaza ceasefire

Slovenia’s UN envoy, the president of the UN Security Council for September, says the 15-member body could consider taking action if a ceasefire is not reached soon in Gaza.

“I think the patience is out,” Ambassador Samuel Zbogar told reporters. “Either there is a ceasefire or the council then reflects on what else we can do to bring the ceasefire.

“There are many tools that the council has at its disposal,” Zbogar added, noting that it had been waiting for three months for a US-sponsored ceasefire resolution to be implemented.



SvennoJ on 03 September 2024

Israel's war on Gaza is only possible due to US support and weapons

A top Israeli military official admitted the war on Gaza is only possible thanks to US support and arms supplies. Ben Norton explains how Israel is an outpost of the US empire in a key geostrategic region. As Joe Biden said, "Were there not an Israel, the United States of America would have to invent an Israel to protect her interest in the region".

LEAKED CEASEFIRE DOCS Reveal Bibi Sabotage

Krystal and Saagar are joined by Jeremy Scahill to discuss Bibi sabotaging ceasefire proposals with Hamas.



Israel Is "COLLAPSING": Israeli General



SvennoJ on 03 September 2024

Young man, child shot near Hebron in occupied West Bank

A young man and a child were shot with live bullets during clashes that broke out between Palestinians and Israeli forces who stormed the city of ad-Dhahiriya, south of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, our colleagues on the ground are reporting.

Israeli forces raided a football stadium and detained several young men there and later released them. Meanwhile, clashes also broke out in the centre of the city, during which the Israeli military fired live bullets, stun grenades and tear gas.


Children among injured in Israeli bombing in Gaza City

Several have been injured, including children, in an Israeli air attack on a home in the Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City, the Wafa news agency is reporting, citing medical sources.

Earlier, we reported that nine people had been killed in an Israeli attack on a home in Gaza City, which is in the north of the Gaza Strip.

PA health minister calls on Israel to halt fighting for polio vaccine campaign

The Palestine Authority’s minister of health, Majid Abu Ramadan, renewed his appeal to the international community to keep pressure on Israel to halt its bombings and allow authorities to carry out a large-scale vaccination campaign against polio in Gaza, the Wafa news agency reports.

Ramadan said 350,000 doses of polio vaccines arrived in the Strip tonight, making the number of doses that have arrived in Gaza about 1.6 million. This is the amount needed to vaccinate all children aged between one day and 10 years with two doses each, Wafa said.

Polio has made a comeback in the Gaza Strip after 25 years, forcing the United Nations and local health authorities to launch a vaccination campaign in the Palestinian enclave ravaged by 11 months of war.



SvennoJ on 03 September 2024

Norway wealth fund may divest from companies that aid Israel: Reuters

Norway’s $1.7 trillion wealth fund may soon be forced to divest shares of companies that violate the fund watchdog’s new, tougher ethics standards for businesses that aid Israel’s operations in the occupied Palestinian territory, Reuters news agency reports.

The Council on Ethics for the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund sent a letter in late August to the Finance Ministry that summarises the changes, the agency said.

The letter did not specify how many nor name companies whose stocks might be sold but suggested it would be a small number, should the board of the central bank, which has the final say, follow recommendations that the council makes.

Some of the companies that the watchdog will be looking at are RTX Corp, General Electric and General Dynamics. According to NGOs, they make weapons used by Israel in Gaza, where its military offensive has killed nearly 41,000 Palestinians.

The fund is widely influential and has been an international leader in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment field. It owns 1.5 percent of the world’s listed shares across 8,800 companies.

Since the start of the war in Gaza in October, the fund’s ethics watchdog has been investigating whether more companies fall outside its permitted investment guidelines.

Rights groups slam ‘glaring legal errors’ in UK’s partial ban on arms exports

The Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and the Al-Haq rights groups say they are challenging omissions from the UK government’s partial ban on arms exports to Israel, including the exclusion of fighter jet parts and weapons used by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.

The two groups, which launched legal action against the UK government over its arms exports to Israel last October, say there are “glaring legal errors” in the government’s announcement, which they say came “less than 24 hours before a crucial hearing in the High Court”.

“While we welcome these initial measures, we are deeply concerned about the continued exclusion of crucial F-35 fighter jet components, from UK restrictions,” Shawan Jabarin, the general director of the Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, said in a statement.



Around the Network
SvennoJ on 03 September 2024

Israeli protests continue outside Netanyahu’s home


Thousands of Israelis protested outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem on Tuesday

 

Mass demonstrations set to continue in Israel against Netanyahu 

A third consecutive night of demonstrations across Israel with the main rally being held in Tel Aviv after the army had retrieved the bodies of six Israeli captives from a tunnel in southern Gaza over the weekend.

This has caused a lot of outrage among family members of captives, especially after Israeli military intelligence found that the captives were alive just a few days before and – according to leaks from Israeli officials, and also from Hamas officials who spoke publicly – who said that a lot of those captives were actually on a list to be released in the first phase of a ceasefire deal that never happened.

So these family members are especially angry. The groups that represent them say they are going to continue demonstrating.

But these demonstrations are on a much larger scale. Sunday saw some of the largest rallies in Israel’s history with half a million people across the country and police using mechanisms for the first time to disperse the crowd – like stun grenades and excessive force.

Multiple arrests were made as demonstrators were trying to block roads.

White House’s Kirby says won’t debate Netanyahu on Philadelphi Corridor

We reported earlier that White House National Security spokesman John Kirby told reporters the US is working on a proposal to ensure the release of the remaining captives being held in Gaza and relief for Palestinians.

Questioned on the Israeli prime minister’s repeated claims that he plans to leave Israeli troops in the Philadelphi Corridor on the Egypt-Gaza border, Kirby said:

“I’m not going to get into a debate with the prime minister of what he said over the weekend about the Philadelphi Corridor.”

Kirby then claimed that Israel had agreed to a deal that “included the removal of Israeli [army] forces from all densely populated areas, and that includes those areas along that corridor.”

“We’re going to continue to work on this as hard as we can,” he added.

So that means the US' bridging proposal includes leaving the IDF along the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridor in the parts that are away from densely populated areas. Oh but wait, Israel blew up a 1km buffer zone all along the Netzarim corridor both sides. No doubt wanting to do the same to Southern Rafah.

So an altered deal with a way out for Netanyahu, yet non starter for Hamas. They only agreed to the original deal with a full withdrawal from Gaza.

Israel’s Gantz says Netanyahu ‘main obstacle’ to Gaza ceasefire deal

While the sentiment is shifting among the Israeli public, the political opposition is also using stronger and harsher language against Netanyahu, who doubled down on Monday saying that Israel must have a presence in the Philadelphi Corridor in southern Gaza if there is a ceasefire.

But Benny Gantz, a former member of Netanyahu’s war cabinet, has said that it is not necessarily true or necessary.

[He said that] Netanyahu still remains the main obstacle as to why there still hasn’t been a ceasefire deal and that this [the Philadelphi Corridor] is something that can be overcome as a sticking point to achieve a deal.

The US is just as big an obstacle, making sure Netanyahu can keep stalling while the US keeps the negotiations going nowhere.



SvennoJ on 03 September 2024

US Hamas indictment includes ‘unknown person’ expected to be arrested in New York

The 38-page indictment, now unsealed from the Southern District of New York, does in fact charge the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, and six of his top deputies with seven different counts.

They range from conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organisation, conspiracy to murder US nationals and even violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

It seems unlikely that any of the leaders in Hamas are going to leave Gaza and travel to a country that has an extradition treaty with the United States.

But if you read through the indictment, it talks about “known and unknown” persons, “at least one of whom is expected to be first brought to and arrested in the Southern District of New York”. We have no information on who that could possibly be, so we’ll keep track of that.

Now, why would the US announce this indictment, when with the help of Egypt and Qatar, it is trying to negotiate a ceasefire deal?

The White House does not tell the US Justice Department who to investigate and the Justice Department, in my experience, doesn’t tend to even tell officials in the White House who they are investigating.


US’s charges against Hamas leaders

  • The Justice Department has announced criminal charges against Hamas’s top leaders over their roles in the October 7 attacks on Israel, which killed some 1,200 people, including 40 Americans.
  • The complaint names six defendants, three of whom are deceased.
  • The living defendants are Hamas’s chief Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to be in hiding in Gaza; Khaled Meshaal, who is based in Doha and heads the group’s diaspora office; and Ali Baraka, a senior Hamas official based in Lebanon.
  • The deceased defendants are former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in July in Tehran; military wing chief Mohammed Deif, who Israel said it killed in a July attack; and deputy commander Marwan Issa, who Israel said it killed in a March strike.
  • The seven-count complaint includes charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, conspiracy to murder US nationals and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, resulting in death.
  • US Attorney General Merrick Garland said the six men – “armed with weapons, political support, and funding from the Government of Iran, and support from [Hezbollah] – have led Hamas’s efforts to destroy the state of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim”.
  • US prosecutors brought charges against the six men in February but kept the complaint under seal in hopes of capturing Haniyeh, according to a Justice Department official. The department decided to go public with the charges after Haniyeh’s death.



US’s charges against Hamas shows it is not an honest broker in talks

Rami Khouri, a distinguished fellow at the American University of Beirut, said the US’s decision to charge Hamas’s top leaders hurts its role as a mediator in the ongoing conflict.

The charges come “as no surprise”, Khouri told Al Jazeera from the US city of Boston.

“The United States has been heavily, enthusiastically and vigorously supporting Israel in its current actions in Gaza – in what the UN calls a plausible genocide. And it has long opposed groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, designating them as terrorist groups,” he said.

That view, however, is challenged by much of the world, Khouri said, “especially in light of the UN affirmation and the Geneva protocols of 1949 saying that people who are subjugated under foreign occupation have the right to defend themselves by all means including armed resistance”.

More significantly, the move also shows “the United States is very keen to hold Hamas responsible for its actions but has no similar desire to hold Israel accountable for its actions,” Khouri said. “And therefore, in the eyes of most of the world, the United States is not an honest broker, but is complicit in the Israeli genocide.”

US must apply law equally to all, Hamas and Israel alike

Khouri at the University of Beirut told Al Jazeera that it’s not clear how the US’s decision to charge Hamas’s top leaders could affect the ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire.

“It’s hard to tell… They’re negotiating indirectly with Hamas, while trying to pulverise it through Israeli actions on the ground. And now through [these] judicial actions,” he said. “It also detracts from the United States’s credibility as a mediator. But the problem is, there’s no other mediator that the Israelis will trust. So you have to deal with the United States.”

He also said the US was behaving like an “imperial colonial power” by refusing to apply the law equally to all parties accused of violations.

“We have to keep pushing back against it and asking that the principles of international law be applied equitably to all parties who may be accused of war crimes or terrorism. This is something we’ve been calling for for decades,” Khouri said.

“Take any Arab party you don’t like, Hezbollah, Hamas, PLO, anybody. Take them to court but also take the Israelis to court. The evidence for what the Israelis have done in Palestine – not just now – but in the last 70-80 years, destroying villages and throwing people out and ethnic cleansing on a mass scale is massive. But the US will not take this to court."



SvennoJ on 04 September 2024

Israeli forces raid Bethlehem, Hebron and Nablus

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that Israeli forces have raided several towns, cities and camps in the north and south of the occupied West Bank.

Here’s where the early morning raids have been reported:

  • Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank where Israeli military vehicles patrolled the streets and raided homes after storming the city through the Murabba’a checkpoint.
  • Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank
  • The al-Azza refugee camp in Bethlehem, in the southern occupied West Bank
  • The town of al-Khader, also in Bethlehem

At least 33 Palestinians have been killed in an ongoing Israeli assault on the occupied West Bank, which has included a deadly siege on Jenin, in the north.



Children among six arrested, injured in West Bank raids

Israeli forces have arrested five Palestinians during raids in Nablus and Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency is reporting. Three people were arrested in Nablus, where a young man was also shot and injured by Israeli forces, Wafa reports.

In the town of al-Khader, in Bethlehem, two 15-year-old Palestinian boys were arrested after Israeli forces raided and searched their parents’ homes, Wafa added.


UN expert says Israel is continuing ‘extermination campaign’ in West Bank

Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, has decried the Israeli army’s continuing assault on the occupied West Bank.

“What the Israeli army is doing in Jenin and other locations in the West Bank is a continuation of the extermination campaign it has been waging in Gaza,” Rajagopal wrote in a post on X.

“What’s the justification and the end game here?” he asked. “When will the rest of the world and the Israeli public say, enough!”


Israeli soldiers take aim next to an army vehicle on a street destroyed by Israeli military bulldozers in the centre of Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday



SvennoJ on 04 September 2024

What’s happening in the occupied West Bank right now?

Our colleagues on the ground in the occupied West Bank are reporting that for about four hours now, Israeli forces have been raiding the Jalazone refugee camp, north of Ramallah.

Sources told Al Jazeera that dozens of Palestinians have been questioned in local community centres. At least 20 Palestinians have also been rounded up from Beit Surik. Most returned after they were interrogated.

Other raids were reported in Qalqilya, Nablus with a focus on Balata and Askar refugee camps, as well as al-Khader town south of Bethlehem and al-Azza refugee camp north of the city.

Israeli security forces have besieged Hebron for a fourth day running and more checkpoints and gates have been erected.


Israeli forces using ‘lethal war-like tactics’ in West Bank raids

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned that Israeli forces are using “lethal war-like tactics”, including air strikes, in the occupied West Bank, with people being killed, injured, displaced or deprived of access to basic services.

The Israeli military’s latest assault across the occupied West Bank is now in its eighth day. At least 33 Palestinians have been killed and 130 wounded since last Wednesday, the vast majority in Jenin.

The statement added that OCHA mobilised organisations from the UN and beyond to assess the damage and humanitarian needs on the ground, adding that during a visit to Tulkarem on Saturday, it was confirmed that 120 people, including more than 40 children, had been displaced and their homes destroyed.

It added that residents were traumatised and in need of psychosocial support.


Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp


‘No street, alley left without destruction’ as Israel’s raid on Tulkarem enters third day

The Wafa news agency is reporting that Israeli forces are inflicting “widespread destruction” in the city and refugee camp of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank as a large-scale military operation in the area entered a third day.

Citing its correspondents on the ground, the agency said Israeli forces dropped bombs on the Tulkarem refugee camp, causing fires to break out in al-Shamaliya neighbourhood.

At least eight people sought treatment for suffocation, it reported.

Israeli snipers were stationed on roofs of tall buildings, while spy drones continued to fly at altitudes and bulldozers damaged infrastructure, with “no street or alley left without destruction,” it reported.

The Israeli siege of al-Israa and Thabet hospitals was also ongoing, it added.

The continued Israeli operation in Tulkarem comes after Israeli forces killed three people, including a 15-year-old child on Tuesday, and destroyed power, water and sewage networks across the Tulkarem refugee camp.


People check the devastation in the the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank in the aftermath of a large-scale Israeli military operation


Another 30 Palestinians arrested in latest West Bank raids

Israeli forces have rounded up 30 Palestinians in raids across the occupied West Bank since last night, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.

Among those apprehended are children and former prisoners, the group said. Their detentions bring Israel’s total number of arrests in the West Bank since October 7 to more than 10,400, it added.



SvennoJ on 04 September 2024

Israel’s continuing raids in Tulkarem and Jenin

Israeli forces are inflicting “widespread destruction” in the city and refugee camp of Tulkarem


Palestinians in Jenin suffer without food, water as weeklong raid drags on

Jenin has been besieged for around a week now. Residents continue to see Israeli forces destroying their streets and infrastructure.

People here were unprepared for the large-scale raid, and many are now out of food, drinking water or medicine.

We talked to one family where the mother has diabetes. She has been suffering without her medicine. The family risked leaving the refugee camp to look for medicine but found all the shops closed. They had to return home as they heard Israeli forces inching closer to their neighbourhood.

Palestinians do not know how they are going to get through the day, let alone the upcoming days. Who knows when this invasion is going to end?


‘Palestinian flag will not be replaced by the white flag’

Israel’s deadly raids have been taking place across the occupied West Bank for more than a week now. At least 33 people have been killed, including children, and dozens wounded.

Meet Khairi Hannoun in the occupied West Bank, who waves Palestinian flags in front of Israeli bulldozers and atop the rubble of destroyed houses in a show of resilience:


Israel wants to make occupation of West Bank ‘stronger’

Palestinian reporter Leila Warah says Israel’s latest assault in the occupied West Bank is not a counterterrorism operation as it claims, but an attempt to “fortify the occupation”.

“They want to make their occupation stronger so that in the long run, they can take over the West Bank and turn it into part of the Israeli state, which we’re already seeing,” she told Al Jazeera.

Moreover, she said despite Israel’s military operations to “suppress” Palestinian resistance, it is unlikely to work.

“It just creates more resistance, more people coming forward and resisting … these are very young Palestinian men with very limited resources who are desperate to not be living under occupation,” she added.


Reporter witnesses wreckage in occupied West Bank as gunfire rings out

The Israeli military’s assault on the occupied West Bank has killed at least 30 Palestinians, among them 14-year-old Mohammad Kanaan, who was shot dead by an Israeli sniper in Tulkarem.

Gunshots were heard as Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim was on the scene.