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

SvennoJ on 19 September 2024

Israeli military bombs home in Gaza City, killing at least 6

The Israeli military strike hit the Abu al-Hatal family home in the centre of Gaza City in northern Gaza, Gaza’s civil defence reports. Several people have also been wounded in the attack, with their condition not currently known.


Deadly Israeli attacks reported in southern, central and northern Gaza

The Wafa news agency reports several deadly attacks across the Gaza Strip in recent hours.

Two people were killed after Israeli fighter jets bombed the eastern section of the town of al-Qarara, north of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Two men were also killed after Israeli forces “targeted” a vehicle near the al-Quds Open University at the entrance to the Maghazi camp in central Gaza.

The death toll for an Israeli military attack on a home in the Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City, northern Gaza, has also risen to seven, Wafa reports. Earlier, we reported that at least two women were among the dead following the strike on the al-Sheikh family home.

Israeli soldiers throwing bodies off roof shows ‘inhuman behaviour’

Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, told Al Jazeera that footage of Israeli soldiers throwing Palestinians from a roof in the occupied West Bank “shows absolutely savage and inhuman behaviour”.

Barghouti added he wasn’t sure if the soldiers had checked if the people they threw from the roof “were still alive or not”.

“You cannot say that this is a part of the war because there is no war in the West Bank,” he said. “There is war from one side, military actions from one side on a civilian population.”



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SvennoJ on 19 September 2024

Trump tells campaign event, ‘e’re going to make Israel great again’

The former US president spoke at length about the relationship between the United States and Israel at an event hosted by his campaign for the November 2024 presidential election on Thursday.

“We’re going to make Israel great again,” Trump said, adding that he’s the “most popular person in Israel” and “could run for Prime Minister”.

“Would you like me as your prime minister?” he asked the crowd at the event in Washington, DC.

Trump also spoke about his record of supporting Israel during his presidency, including the US recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights.

He also said he had been told the “best thing” he had done for Israel was terminating the Iran nuclear deal, describing the 2015 agreement as “the worst deal ever made for Israel”.



Rashida Tlaib submits names of children killed in Gaza into US Congressional record

Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib has submitted the names of children killed in Gaza, taken from a 649-page list, recently published by Gaza’s Ministry of Health, into the record of the US Congress.

“The first 14 pages alone are names of babies [who] were under the age of one when they were killed,” said Tlaib, who is the only Palestinian American member of Congress.

“That’s 710 babies that the Israeli government has murdered,” she added. “I wish my colleagues would look at it.”



Murdered with US tax payer money



Taiwanese authorities question head of pager firm linked to Lebanon blasts

Authorities questioned the founder of Gold Apollo, the Taiwanese firm linked to pagers that detonated across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday, in an apparent Israeli espionage operation targeting Hezbollah members.

Hsu Ching-kuang declined to answer questions as he left the Taipei offices of Taiwan’s prosecutors on Thursday evening. He told reporters earlier this week Gold Apollo did not produce the pagers in question, and they were made by Hungarian firm BAC that had licensed its design and branding.

A second person seen leaving the prosecutors office on Thursday was Teresa Wu, the only employee at a company called Apollo Systems Ltd who Hsu said earlier this week had been one of his points of contact for the deal with BAC.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that BAC was part of a network of Israeli shell companies created to obfuscate links to Israeli intelligence.

Taiwanese authorities have not issued a statement yet regarding their investigation into Gold Apollo.


Device attacks show Israel trying ‘to regain deterrence capacity’ – Analysis

Greg Stoker, a former US army ranger commando, and now an analyst with MintPress News, says despite the pager and walkie-talkie blasts in Lebanon, he doesn’t see the security situation in northern Israel changing dramatically.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, he said Israel is “losing time to exploit this attack”.

“The fact they haven’t made a move is typical of a flashy operation. They do a massive information push to make it seem like a bigger victory than it is,” Stoker told Al Jazeera. “From a strategic sense, this is a flagging war.”



SvennoJ on 19 September 2024

Standing at Gaza Border Felt Like Visiting Auschwitz: Burmese Genocide Scholar Maung Zarni


The United Nations is warning about widespread human rights abuses in Burma as the military regime intensifies the killings and arbitrary arrests of tens of thousands of civilians since seizing power in a coup over three years ago. A new report from the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says many of those detained by the Burmese military are children taken from their parents, with dozens of minors dying in custody. "What it paints is an extremely disturbing picture of Burma descending into this human rights abyss. If you're living there, it's a complete living hell," says Burmese scholar, dissident and human rights activist Maung Zarni.

He also discusses his recent visit with faith leaders to the West Bank and the border of Gaza, drawing parallels between Burma's and Israel's human rights abuses. "Israel has taken the practices and policies of genocide to a whole new level," says Zarni.

Is the Israeli Army raping children?



The war on Gaza is the deadliest for children, but lesser-known is the sexual abuse, starvation, and mistreatment of Palestinian children detained in Israel.

 

US official’s extraordinary logic to justify Israeli action in Lebanon



US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Thursday made quite a bizarre justification to defend Israeli attack on Lebanon by detonating communication devices there. His extraordinary logic meant that while Israel could attack any countries, those countries did not have the right to defend themselves.


Anti-Zionism Sweeping Across Jewish Communities


Adrienne Maree Brown, writer, activist, and co-founder of the United States League of Young Voters, joins to discuss her recent book Loving Corrections.

Maree Brown walks through a few particular essays in ‘Loving Corrections,’ which tackle the idea of countering the narratives of supremacy that have taken root in particular ideologies (patriarchy, Zionism) without atomizing or marginalizing the identities that have been corrupted (masculinity, Judaism, respectively). After expanding on the importance of understanding the historical and social context for building these bridges, Adrienne and Emma bring the conversation to a close with the importance of understanding the personal context of interpersonal conflict.



SvennoJ on 20 September 2024

Trump tells Israeli-American summit, ‘Evangelical Christians love Israel’

The former US president told the Israeli-American Council national summit on Thursday night that his Evangelical Christian supporters “love Israel”.

“You have Christians and Evangelical Christians. They love Israel so much, and it’s great to see that,” Trump said, at his second Israel-focused campaign event of the evening.

To illustrate, the Republican presidential nominee described how a church he had visited “went wild”, when he told them, “We will save Israel, and we will fight with Israel.”

“I hate to say it. Sometimes they love Israel much more than Jewish people in New York love Israel,” he said at the Washington, DC, event.

White Evangelical Christians have been among Trump’s most loyal supporters, with the former president fulfilling promises that reflect Christian Zionist beliefs about the “end times“, such as moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

 

Trump says Israel ‘has to defeat’ Kamala Harris

Here’s more from the first event, hosted by Trump’s own campaign, where the Republican presidential nominee said that Israel has to help defeat his opponent, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.

“More than any other people on Earth, Israel, I believe, has to defeat her,” Trump said, at the event, which was themed “Fighting Anti-Semitism in America”. “I believe that Israel will be wiped off the face of the earth if I don’t win,” Trump added.

Trump also repeated a claim he has made at similar events that senior Democratic politician Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish, “is Hamas all the way”, and “is a Palestinian“.

 

Uncommitted movement releases statement on election position

The Uncommitted National Movement has released a statement, saying that while it cannot endorse US Vice President Kamala Harris for president, a Trump presidency would “severely” undermine antiwar organising.

“In our assessment, our movement’s best hope for change lies in growing our anti-war organising power, and that power would be severely undermined by a Trump administration,” the antiwar group, which formed with the aim of pressuring the Democratic Party to change its position on the Gaza war, said in a statement.

According to the statement on X, at this time, the movement’s position is that it:

  • “cannot endorse” Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
  • “opposes a Donald Trump presidency, whose agenda includes plans to accelerate the killing in Gaza while intensifying the suppression of antiwar organising”.
  • “is not recommending a third-party vote in the presidential election, especially as third-party votes in key swing states could help inadvertently deliver a Trump presidency”.


Pro-Palestinian demonstrator charged with violating face mask ban

A pro-Palestinian demonstrator wearing a keffiyeh scarf has been charged with violating a suburban New York county’s new law banning face masks in public, reviving fears from opponents that the statute is being used to diminish free speech rights.

Police said the 26-year-old North Bellmore resident was arrested on Sunday afternoon during a demonstration in front of Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, an orthodox synagogue near the New York City borough of Queens.

Nassau County Police Department spokesperson said on Thursday that officers questioned the man because he had been concealing his face with a keffiyeh, which has become a symbol of support for Palestinian people.

When the man confirmed he was wearing it in solidarity with Palestinians, he was arrested. He was eventually released with a notice to appear in court on October 2. Videos showing part of the arrest have been shared on social media. They show the man wearing the keffiyeh around his neck as he is led away in handcuffs by officers and continues to lead other demonstrators in pro-Palestinian chants.



SvennoJ on 20 September 2024

Macron tells Israel that Lebanon war ‘must be avoided’

The French president said “escalation is in no one’s interest”, as he called for restraint in a video message published on X on Thursday. Emmanuel Macron said “a diplomatic path exists”, adding that “Lebanon’s integrity, security and sovereignty must be preserved”.

“Nothing – no regional adventure, no private interests, no faithfulness to any cause whatsoever – is worth launching a conflict in Lebanon over,” he said.

Macron continued that Lebanon was “hit by grief and fear” with this week’s deadly attacks and said the country should not “live in fear of an imminent war”.

Macron met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, in a meeting in which the pair “discussed the need for de-escalation in Lebanon and a commitment to a diplomatic solution”, according to a State Department press release.


Middle East ‘on the brink’: Norway’s foreign minister

Norway’s foreign minister is the latest Western official to call for calm as Israel and Hezbollah spiral deeper into conflict, warning the Middle East is “on the brink”.

“I extend my heartfelt sympathy with civilians in Lebanon and across the region who now live in fear,” Espen Barth Eide said as Lebanon continues to reel from a series of deadly, coordinated explosions earlier this week. “I call on all parties to show maximum restraint.”


Lebanon anticipates another round of escalation

We are in the middle of a very complicated and multilayered conflict. Hezbollah’s secretary-general spoke yesterday about the path of this confrontation.

Israel, according to Nasrallah, wants to link the southern Lebanon frontier to Gaza. So Israel is now dealing with the Lebanese front as a priority, and we are seeing a demonstration of this escalation.

We’ve seen reports from Israel that the number of daily strikes will increase threefold. We are probably on the verge of another round of huge escalation but likely still under the ceiling of a war.



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SvennoJ on 20 September 2024

War seems to be moving from Gaza to Lebanon

Every indication points to this week being the time Israelis see the major front of this war moving from Gaza to the border with Lebanon.

There are some very clear signs. Just earlier today, Israel’s reserve forces commander said: “It is time for Lebanon to suffer as well, … the power plants, bridges, airports and seaports as well.”

We’ve also seen videos from Israeli government media sources showing the destruction of their own minefields on the border. They’re clearing those minefields to make way for what most likely will be a movement of ground forces into southern Lebanon.

UN peacekeeping force urges immediate de-escalation on Israel-Lebanon border

The UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon has urged de-escalation after a rise in hostilities at the Lebanon-Israel border, where Israel and Hezbollah fighters have been trading fire for almost a year.

Spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told the Reuters news agency that UNIFIL witnessed “a heavy intensification of the hostilities across the Blue Line” and throughout its area of operations.

“We are concerned at the increased escalation across the Blue Line and urge all actors to immediately de-escalate,” he said, referring to the frontier between Lebanon and Israel.


Lebanon’s health minister says attacks won’t ‘undermine will of people’

Lebanon’s health minister says morale remains high even among victims and their families after a series of lethal explosions across the country this week.

“I want to send a message to anyone who thinks that these attacks will undermine the will and determination of this people. I say to them that your plan has failed,” Firass Abiad said in comments carried by Lebanon’s National News Agency.

The minister also said the best way to avert further civilian casualties would be an “immediate ceasefire in Gaza”.

Hezbollah, whose electronic devices were targeted in this week’s explosions, has repeatedly promised to continue striking at Israel until it ends its war in Gaza.



SvennoJ on 20 September 2024

Israel’s opposition leader warns against multi-front war

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid believes the government is dangerously hurtling towards a “multi-arena conflict” that could mean Israeli forces are simultaneously present in Gaza, occupied West Bank and Lebanon.

“The government has not coordinated with the security establishment, which warns of a violent flare-up,” Lapid wrote on X. “The ones who will pay the price are our children, who will be forced to enter Jenin, Gaza and Lebanon.”

Qatari minister says international community’s silence on Lebanon blasts ‘terrifying’

Qatari Minister of State for International Cooperation Lolwah Al-Khater calls the international community’s “cold reaction” and “inaction” after the communication device blasts in Lebanon “terrifying”, arguing that breaking the laws that govern wars means they risk having “no limits”.

“This is now not about Lebanon or Israel or Gaza, but it is about the new dimension that contemporary warfare has just entered,” Al-Khater said in a post on X.

“These mobile ticking bombs indiscriminately injure and kill people in public and civilian spaces, when did this become acceptable?”


Russia concerned about ‘dangerous developments’ in Lebanon

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson says Moscow is “deeply concerned about the dangerous developments in Lebanon following the exposure of Lebanon to terrorist cyberattacks unprecedented in the history of the international community”.

“We express our solidarity with the Lebanese people and condemn the acts of violence of a terrorist nature and the danger they carry of the expansion of the armed confrontation in the Middle East region,” Maria Zakharova said on the sidelines of the Eurasian Women’s Forum in Saint Petersburg.

“We are convinced that the launch of a large-scale military operation in Lebanon will have devastating consequences for the security of the entire Middle East.”



SvennoJ on 20 September 2024

Iran understands Israel ready for ‘full-fledged’ regional war

This week’s coordinated explosions in Lebanon have clarified to Iran that Israel is “very much willing” to expand its conflict in the region and will use a wide range of tools, including new technology, to do it, according to Tohid Asadi, an assistant professor at the University of Tehran.

The development has sparked concern in Iran that the entire West Asia region could be thrown into an “all-out, full-fledged war”, Asadi told Al Jazeera.

“That is something the Iranians are not interested in at any level, … but at the same time, Iranian officials understand the Israelis have no intention of de-escalating the situation,” he said.

While Iran’s government has sent messages of solidarity to its ally Hezbollah, it has so far stopped short of speaking about “practical plans” so as not to “give the game away”, Asadi added.


Israel files official objection to ICC warrant against Netanyahu, Gallant

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein says the government has argued in the case that the International Criminal Court (ICC) lacked jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants in May for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

“Israel submitted two separate legal briefs. In one brief, Israel outlined the ICC’s manifest lack of jurisdiction in the present case,” he said.

“And in another brief, Israel detailed the ICC Prosecutor’s wrongful breach of the Court’s Statute and the principle of complementarity, in failing to provide Israel with the opportunity to exercise its right to investigate by itself the claims raised by the Prosecutor, before proceeding,” Marmorstein added.

He also said that “no other democracy with an independent and respected legal system like that which exists in Israel has been treated in this prejudicial manner by the Prosecutor.”


Israel attempting to decouple its actions in Lebanon from Gaza

While Hezbollah has clearly stated that the group’s attacks on northern Israel would stop if a ceasefire in Gaza was reached, “Israel wants to decouple these two things as if they were separate,” Hassan Barari, an analyst at Qatar University, told Al Jazeera.

“Israel continues to ignore what Biden says because he has failed to condition his support to its actions,” Barari said, adding that the US has never stopped supplying Israel with weapons and taking its side at the UN.

The analyst said Israel seems increasingly inclined to use its military prowess to obtain what it wants in Lebanon, which may mean invading the southern part of the country to push Hezbollah beyond the Litani River and allow displaced Israelis to move back to the north of the country.


Israel’s president claims country needs war to return residents to its north

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog says the Gaza war and the possible war in Lebanon is necessary to bring “the displaced citizens from north and south to their homes, schools, and businesses”.

“I repeat again and again – we did not want this war. We do not want war – not today, not ever,” he said on X.

“Last night, we saw the precise and impressive actions of Israel’s Air Force against Hezbollah. We salute them, along with all our security forces, for their tremendous efforts in this difficult war,” Herzog added.

If you don't want war, stop killing people. You're dragging out and escalating this war every single day.



SvennoJ on 20 September 2024

‘Brutality’: Palestinian officials react to rooftop video



Palestinian officials have expressed outrage after a video captured Israeli soldiers kicking a dead body off a rooftop in the occupied West Bank town of Qabatiya. In a post on X, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the act as a “crime” that exposes the Israeli army’s “brutality”.

Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, Husam Zumlot, said the incident makes a mockery of the Israeli army’s claims of “self-defence”.



Palestinians not surprised by rooftop video as raids continue across West Bank

The footage we’ve seen is horrific, and it’s making the rounds here in Palestine. But ultimately, Palestinians are not surprised. Israel has a track record of disrespecting the bodies of the Palestinians they kill.

Several Israeli raids have also taken place across the occupied West Bank. There are raids taking place in Jenin, and one person has been critically wounded at the Qalandiya checkpoint.

A raid took place in Kafr Laqif, where the Israeli military occupied a Palestinian home and turned it into a field investigation centre.


Death toll rises from Israeli raid on Qabatiya

At least seven people are now confirmed dead following an hours-long Israeli raid on the occupied West Bank town of Qabatiya south of Jenin, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.

Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) crews have retrieved the body of a man from inside a house that was surrounded by Israeli special forces on Thursday afternoon, Wafa reports.

Israeli forces stormed Qabatiya on Thursday, backed by army vehicles, including bulldozers, as well as fighter jets and drones. The Israeli military said it was rooting out Palestinian fighters in the town.

At least one person was killed when Israeli forces bombed a vehicle near a commercial complex in the town, setting it ablaze. Eleven Palestinians have been injured by live bullets in clashes, while another was shot dead near the entrance to the town.

Israeli soldiers besiege Qabatiya in the occupied West Bank


An Israeli soldier stands next to bodies of Palestinians, who were killed during an Israeli raid on Qabatiya near Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Thursday


The death toll from the Israeli raid on Qabatiya has now risen to 7 people, Palestinian news agency Wafa reports


At least 1,200 children were trapped for hours on Thursday as Israeli soldiers surrounded two different schools in Qabatiyah during the deadly raid



SvennoJ on 20 September 2024

Israeli forces arrest 3 brothers in occupied West Bank raid

Israeli forces have stormed the Palestinian village of Amatin, near Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, and arrested three brothers, reports the Wafa news agency. At the same time, Israeli forces carried out violent raids in Qalandiya, near Ramallah, shooting and seriously wounding one man.

Raids have also been conducted in several neighborhoods in Nablus, but no injuries or arrests have been reported so far.


‘Rising violence undermining health system in West Bank’

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) warns that escalating violence in the occupied West Bank threatens to collapse the health system as humanitarian organisations suspend their activities.

The West Bank is facing the worst violence since the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) began keeping records in 2005, the IRC said.

“Rising violence is undermining the health system in the West Bank, as hospitals are not prepared to handle mass casualty incidents, nor withstand continued attacks on facilities and personnel,” Bart Witteveen, the IRC’s country director for the occupied Palestinian territory, said in a statement.

The organisation added: “Israel must uphold its obligations to ensure immediate and active protection of civilians and health care services in the West Bank.”


Anger builds over ‘savage’ occupied West Bank rooftop assault

As we’ve been reporting, footage of Israeli soldiers kicking an apparently dead body off a rooftop in Qabatiya in the occupied West Bank has generated angry reactions in Palestine and abroad.

Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, told Al Jazeera the footage shows “absolutely savage and inhuman behaviour”.

While Israel’s military has said the incident is “under review”, Shawan Jabarin, director of Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, doubts there will be a proper investigation.

“The most that will happen is that soldiers will be disciplined, but there will be no real investigation and no real prosecution,” said Jabarin.


Israel says commander among 7 killed in Qabatiya

The Israeli military says Shadi Zakarneh, who the army and Shin Bet identify as the head of a fighter cell in the occupied West Bank’s Qabatiya city, was among seven Palestinians killed on Thursday.

During the raid in Qabatiya near Jenin, Israeli troops killed four Palestinians in an exchange of fire, the military said. Several hours later, the Israeli army carried out a drone strike against alleged gunmen who were in a car, killing three.

Zakarneh was among those killed in that drone attack, it said.