Israel land grab law 'ends hope of two-state solution'

Salaam

The genocide continues.

Blurb

Norwegian physician Dr Mads Gilbert, who has spent extensive time working in Gaza, including at al-Shifa hospital, says the siege of the facility has destroyed its legacy.

“The Israeli occupation forces this night have ended 78 years of brave medical history,” Gilbert told Al Jazeera, speaking from Tromso, Norway. The hospital was built in 1946 and was the most important flagship hospital for the healthcare for people in Gaza, he said.

“This is such a sad day, I’ve been weeping all morning.”

Meanwhile, the fate of the 107 critical patients who were moved two days ago to an old part of the medical complex remains unknown, Gilbert said. People are now searching for corpses at the site, finding “the most horrible decomposed corpses with maggots coming out of the eyes”.

“The maggots that are creeping out of the corpses in al-Shifa Hospital now are really maggots coming out of the eyes of President Biden and the EU leaders doing nothing to stop this horrible, horrible genocide,” the physician said.




Blurb

Residents have described scenes of total destruction as Israeli forces completed their military operation to remove Hamas and other militants from within and around the al-Shifa hospital - once Gaza city's main medical facility.

Israel claims it has killed and captured hundreds of gunmen hiding inside or nearby and seized weapons and intelligence documents, claims which so far have not been confirmed.

Warning: Distressing images







BUT KHAMMMAAAASSSS

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Zios as per usual show no shame, in fact they are rather pleased with their 'handiwork'.

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In summary.

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This genocide saw innumerable atrocities and massacres. But what happened in Al Shifa deserves a study, a university course, and a Wikipedia page of its own. I have never ever seen anything like it, ever. I don't think ISIS ever accomplished anything like it. This looks like the work of death squads high on drugs on a long orgy of death, armed with 21st-century weapons. It is so insane we can't even understand what it means yet, and it will take us years to grasp that particular episode in the genocide. I have no idea what Israel did to its soldiers to prepare them for this, but it just doesn't look possible that normal humans, even the most hateful, can perform this. And it went on for 3 weeks. I am at a loss for an explanation. Even in the context of the utter depravity we've witnessed, this stands out as extremely, extremely sinister. My God, we have sunk so low.

Israel begs humanity to stop it. And no one listens.

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EDIT - The horror never ends

Blurb

Three British nationals have been killed by an Israeli air strike as they were working to deliver food aid in Gaza.

They were among seven workers with the charity World Central Kitchen who died after attacks on their vehicles - despite having coordinated with the Israeli military over their movements.

The Foreign Secretary David Cameron has called on Israel to provide a 'full, transparent explanation of what happened'.

Israel has promised an independent investigation of what Prime Minister Netanyahu called 'a tragic incident'.

Warning: This report contains distressing images.




This is not Self-Defense

The IDF murdered seven aid workers yesterday, three of whom were British special forces veterans, in three targeted drone strikes.

Late on Monday night three cars from the World Central Kitchen pulled out of the organisation’s warehouse in Gaza to distribute aid to Palestinians. Each vehicle was clearly marked as working for the humanitarian organisation, followed an IDF-approved route and had GPS trackers and SOS beacons broadcasting their positions.

But despite taking every precaution, the seven brave volunteers inside the cars were being watched – and were soon deemed hostile targets and eliminated.

Among the doomed passengers were former Royal Marine James Henderson, 33; former SBS soldier John Chapman, 57; as well as a British military veteran named last night by the BBC as James Kirby.

the IDF unit responsible for securing the area ordered UAV operators to attack one of the vehicles shortly before midnight.

It deployed a precision R9X Hellfire missile which smashed into one of the armoured cars. Passengers were seen scrambling from the wreckage and jumping into the other two vehicles.

They informed authorities monitoring their movements that they had been hit and sped off.

After travelling just 900 metres the Hermes 450 fired once more. The second armoured car was hit, leaving just the soft-skinned 4×4 remaining. Surviving passengers loaded the wounded into the final vehicle and pulled away.

But having made it 1.5km further along the coastal road the UAV fired for a third time – blasting the remaining vehicle to bits.

And then, as part of their diplomatic strategy to win friends and influence people, they bombed an Iranian consulate in Syria.

This isn’t self-defense. These attacks are not even taking place in Israel. No wonder Netanyahu is whining about how the whole world now hates Israel. Because it’s rapidly becoming impossible for any sane or impartial individual to not despise what the Israeli government and the Israeli military are doing.

Many wicked people were once victimized themselves. But having been a victim does not justify victimizing others.

https://voxday.net/2024/04/02/this-is-not-self-defense/


Interesting.

three of whom were British special forces veterans

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And

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Theres always more going on than meets the eye.

Patience is wearing thin

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Salaam

Another update.

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Muslims shouldn’t be fooled by China’s anti-Israel rhetoric

Blogger Najm Al-Din argues that Muslims should not be fooled by China’s recent anti-Israel rhetoric as Beijing remains a key ally of Tel Aviv.

Throughout the War on Terror and Arab Spring, China avoided entanglement in Arab affairs and focused on maintaining the decades-long relationships with many authoritarian governments in the region.

And following the regime changes in Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, Beijing reinforced the historically close ties with those countries, driven primarily by its economic interests in the region whilst maintaining a risk-averse approach to contentious Middle Eastern issues.

However, China’s recent condemnation of Israel’s genocide in Gaza represents a stark departure from Beijing’s previous neutrality towards Middle East conflicts.

The strident anti-Israeli tone amongst Chinese officials reflects Xi Jinping’s new foreign policy strategy, where far-flung conflicts are leveraged to accrue political capital and consolidate China’s strategic footprint in the Arab World whilst undermining its foremost rival, the U.S.

Amidst this shift in rhetoric and with the CCP calling for an end to Israel’s collective punishment of Gaza on the sidelines of a recently held BRICS summit, China’s calls for a ceasefire mustn’t detract from its important strategic relationship with Israel.

Technology

Soon after the establishment of full diplomatic relations between both countries, Israel’s status as a global technology hub was not lost on Beijing.

As China transitioned from a low-cost manufacturing giant to a high-tech economy, its government recognised that capitalising on Israel’s capabilities in the tech sphere could help the country meet its developmental needs.

Israel’s evolution from a start-up nation to an innovation hub partly explains China’s decision to court high-tech collaboration with Tel Aviv, granting it access to innovations in Artificial Intelligence, robotics and cybersecurity.

Over the past two decades, the formal rapprochement between both countries became more significant after growing concerns in Western nations over industrial espionage from China’s involvement in its tech sectors.

As China’s meteoric ascent fuelled its rivalry with the U.S., it was essential for the country’s conglomerates to curry favour with Israeli politicians as part of its competition with Washington to establish a sphere of influence in the Middle East.

With China being Israel’s largest East Asian trading partner and Israel ranking among the highest recipients of Chinese private and state-owned venture capital investments in technology, it’s no surprise that Netanyahu sees Israel as a crucial partner to help both nations solidify their status on the global stage.

Surveillance

The development of powerful AI ecosystems and in particular surveillance technologies is another crucial pillar of China-Israel relations.

Israel is monitoring Palestinians in the occupied territories with an intrusive database connected to smartphone apps and facial recognition cameras, echoing China’s repressive crackdown on Uighur Muslims.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Israeli Wolf Pack database which has a security profile and threat rating for every Palestinian in the West Bank mirrors China’s extensive data sources on the Turkic and Uighur populations, which are aggregated to compile social credit scores to determine the trustworthiness of citizens.

An Amnesty International report titled “Automated Apartheid” reveals that in places like Hebron and the Damascus Gate where demonstrations and social gatherings are often held, the movements of Palestinians are tracked and traced without their consent in vast biometric databases, much like the geo-fencing of Muslims in the heavily surveilled Xinjiang province.

With both countries having developed a draconian checkpoint regime to surveil Muslim populations, it is no coincidence that the vendors behind Israel’s surveillance tech apparatus happens to be Hikvision, a Chinese state-owned manufacturer and supplier of video surveillance equipment for civilian and military purposes.

Hikvision is Israel’s primary instrument of oppression of Palestinians in West Bank neighbourhoods and the illegal settlements and has also installed surveillance software in and around internment camps, schools and mosques in East Turkistan as part of a predictive policing system targeted at the Uighur Muslims.

In both countries, the use of ubiquitous AI-based surveillance systems architected by Chinese software engineers has impeded access to education, employment and healthcare for millions of Muslims and restricted their fundamental human rights including the freedom of movement and assembly.

Infrastructure

Being strategically located at the junction of three continents (Europe, Africa and Asia), Israel is also pivotal for the successful implementation of China’s BRI (Belt and Road Initiative), a sophisticated network of transcontinental railways and ports connecting Southeast Asia to central Europe and Africa.

Having recognised its geographic advantage, China has invested billions of dollars for more BRI projects in Israel compared to any other Middle Eastern country in the hopes of reviving the historic “Silk Road” trade route. As a vital conduit for China’s global power projection, China has undertaken large scale infrastructure projects across Israel’s energy and transportation sectors, ensuring the smooth functioning of Israel’s critical infrastructure.

These include the HaDarom Port Project, an important maritime gateway for the import and export of cargo which expands and modernises Israel’s second deepwater port. The tender for the project was awarded to China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) and is expected to accelerate the flow of trade into and out of Israel by offering accommodation for larger docking capacity, thus making Israel increasingly accessible to global trade.

Another major naval infrastructure project includes the cutting-edge Gulf Port in Haifa which will be capable of rapidly unloading huge vessels and significantly increasing maritime capacity, promising to bring prosperity to the economy of northern Israel. One of the world’s largest shipping managers-Chinese Shanghai International Port Group-was recently afforded a 25 year tender for the maintenance and operation of the port

These are just some examples of China-Israel cooperation enabling greater economic connectivity and efficient transportation, which I am expecting to accelerate in light of the increasing levels of congestion which shipping ports are experiencing worldwide.

New Middle East

With heightening tensions in the Red Sea threatening to sabotage transpacific shipments and disrupt a vital economic artery for the free flow of international trade, there is growing speculation that a new trading axis connecting Asia to Europe, known as IMEC (India-Middle East-Europe-Economic Corridor) will bypass China’s BRI, transform Israel into a key energy and logistical hub whilst securing Europe’s influence in the Gulf.

This “New Middle East” can convert Israel into a highly strategic outpost connecting the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, marking Tel Aviv’s arrival on the scramble for Eurasia and breaking Egypt’s monopoly over transcontinental trade routes.

However, any de-risking from Beijing doesn’t imply a break between the Middle East and China, as Israel and its neighbouring Gulf monarchies would rather maximise the benefits which can be accrued by delicately balancing ties between both China and the Western powers and relying on globalised supply chains.

After all, Israel remains a highly attractive BRI market while Israel’s status as a gateway connecting Europe and the Middle East is inextricably tied to the railways and ports which China has been building over the past decade. IMEC is unlikely to reverse this dynamic.

Given Beijing’s energy dependence on the Middle East and the potential threat to its maritime trade in the Suez Canal, any broader regional spillover will persuade the CCP to assume a more prominent role as conflict mediator in the region.

It can also encourage Xi Jinping to pivot closer to Israel by converging China’s Afro-Eurasian integration project with Israeli maritime corridors which bypass the Suez.

As tensions escalate in the Sinai and blockades in the Red Sea plunge Egypt into a period of uncertainty, Israel will be deemed a more reliable maritime partner for reaching China’s European export market, offering faster navigation and avoiding a backlog of ships which we saw recently when a vessel’s bow got lodged in the eastern bank of the Suez resulting in the blockage of transit.

Multipolarity

In an increasingly fractured global order which increasingly favours a redistribution and realignment of global power, the overlapping strategic interests of Israel and China could radically restructure the international rules based order.

Given Washington’s receding strategic footprint on the world stage and the emergence of new power blocs such as BRICS as major drivers of global trade and investment, the return to multipolarity looks increasingly likely with a large concentration of financial and technological power converging in China and Israel as America’s status as the global hegemon par excellence begins to fade.

It begs a question. With Tel Aviv diversifying strategic partnerships to balance its reliance on Washington and having close relations with leading BRICS signatories such as Russia, India and China, will Israel’s strategic shift in foreign policy mean pivoting away from the U.S.?

At present, Israel remains deeply anchored to the U.S.-led security architecture in the Middle East as America continues to bear the military and financial costs to protect its interests in the region. Therefore, Washington’s growing apprehension towards Israel-Sino relations will naturally impose limits on such a partnership.

However, as American unipolarity begins to unravel and Israel slowly emerges from its status as a U.S. protectorate, such an alliance offers Tel Aviv a hedge against any potential U.S. retrenchment from the Middle East and uncertainty surrounding America’s long term willingness to act as a guarantor of Israel’s regional security.

Conclusion

With Beijing and Tel Aviv utilising their capital, technology and manpower to consolidate mutual interests, the Muslim world shouldn’t be duped by the CCP’s soft power strategy in the Middle East.

China’s underdog diplomacy vis-a-vis Palestine is not motivated by any aversion towards Israel but rather its antagonism towards the U.S. and desire to be seen as the voice of the Global South. It’s a carefully calibrated approach to avoid fallout with Arab regimes whilst maintaining strategic ties with Tel Aviv.

Ultimately, China and Israel have much more in common than they would like to admit. With Israel an important node in the New Silk Road and China being indispensable for Israel’s infrastructural needs, both countries are central to each others’ strategic calculus.

Furthermore, we cannot forget that both nations are complicit in the genocide of Muslim populations and are actively contributing towards the systematic erasure of Islamic culture, history and ideology.

https://5pillarsuk.com/2024/04/06/mu...rael-rhetoric/

Salaam

The genocidal maniacs are shifting their 'focus' to Lebanon.

Blurb

Hezbollah said it holds Israel “fully responsible” for pager explosions across Lebanon, which killed at least nine people and wounded 2,750 others, including a young girl. At least 200 of the wounded are in critical condition.

Funeral services have been held for some of the victims.

Reports from Syria say members of Hezbollah have also been injured by exploding pagers there.

Israel declined to comment on the detonations. The simultaneous explosions came less than 24 hours after the Israeli cabinet expanded goals for the war on Gaza to include returning residents displaced by Hezbollah’s attacks in northern Israel to their homes.







Pager Terror Attacks

It is generally accepted that Israel is to blame for a mass terrorist attack that injured more than 2900 people in Lebanon.

Israel carried out a pager bomb attack that left roughly 2,800 people injured and 12 dead in Lebanon and Syria yesterday fearing that Hezbollah was on the cusp of foiling their deadly plot, a new report has claimed.

Pager devices recently introduced by the group to beef up security exploded en masse yesterday, causing chaotic scenes and devastation in Lebanese hospitals. Israel is believed to have orchestrated the attack but has not claimed responsibility. Security sources believe Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, intercepted devices en route to Lebanon months ago and attached explosives to be used when needed to cripple the Iranian proxy group.

Still, questions remain as to why the attack was carried out on Tuesday. One American official told Axios it was ‘a use it or lose it moment’ as Hezbollah were understood to be getting close to uncovering Israeli espionage.

Three US officials told Axios that Israel decided to blow up the pager devices carried by Hezbollah members on Tuesday as they feared the group was close to uncovering their operation.

A security source told Reuters that up to three grams of explosives had been hidden in the new pagers and had gone ‘undetected’ by Hezbollah for months.

One senior Lebanese security source told the news agency he believes the devices had been modified by Mossad ‘at the production level’ before arriving in Lebanon. ‘The Mossad injected a board inside of the device that has explosive material that receives a code. It’s very hard to detect it through any means,’ the source said.

Hezbollah earlier this year ordered thousands of pagers to conduct communications after leader Hassan Nasrallah declared smartphones would be more susceptible to cyber attacks by Israeli forces. As many as 5,000 devices are believed to have affected, though not all went off on Tuesday, according to the Lebanese source. The source claimed Hezbollah ordered the pagers from a Taiwanese company called Gold Apollo, but executives there said the devices were actually manufactured and sold under licence by BAC Consulting in Budapest, Hungary.

Elijah J. Magnier, a Brussels-based senior political risk analyst, later said he spoke with Hezbollah members who had examined pagers that failed to explode. The pagers appeared to receive a coded error message sent to all the devices that caused them to vibrate and beep for some 10 seconds. When the user pressed the pager’s button to cancel the alert, the explosives were detonated – a design that would ensure the pager was being held by the user at the time of the blast to inflict maximum damage.

The months-long operation by Mossad and the IDF represents an unprecedented security breach for Hezbollah, which vowed to exact revenge on Israel and continue its support for ally Hamas amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

First, this was obviously an own goal by Israel, which doesn’t seem to grasp that it is already considered to be a genocidal terrorist state by most of the world now due to the Gazacaust. The obvious probability of collateral damage, the trivial amount of military damage that could potentially be inflicted, and the indifference to civilian casualties make it a clear and obvious act of terrorism. There is no way this is going to improve the diplomatic crisis that Israel presently faces.

Second, there are three major implications in the Unintended Consequences department. One, who in their right minds is going to buy any Israeli technological product now or in the future? For all my opposition to anti-boycott laws and policies in the USA, I don’t follow the BDS movement and I’ve never had any issue with Israeli products in the past, but there is no chance I will ever buy or utilize any Israeli product that is capable of containing explosives in the future, and I very much doubt I am alone in this.

Two, Hezbollah’s leadership already wanted its fighters to stop using mobile phones. This mass attack on pagers has underlined the wisdom of the leadership’s position and will further reduce the likelihood that Hezbollah’s fighters will violate operational security.

And three, this should put a nail in the coffin of transhumanism. Only morons are going to put a chip in their hand, or in their head, in the knowledge that there is a genuine possibility that someone will have the ability to make it explode? It may even have a negative effect on device and smart phone sales over time, particularly if it is ever repeated.

These attacks were moderately successful. But they strike me as very ill-conceived and essentially non-military in conception. They are the sort of thing that Smart Boys in intelligence always concoct because they think it would be cool and clever, not the kind of operation that is conducive to actually winning wars.

UPDATE: Israel doubled down on its exploding device attacks:

Thousands of walkie talkies used by Hezbollah fighters have detonated across Lebanon, killing nine and wounding hundreds of people including mourners at a funeral, witnesses and security sources have reported. The second wave of carnage comes a day after thousands of exploding pagers used by the group left almost 3,000 people injured and a dozen dead, including civilians and children. Lebanese media has also reported that home solar energy systems have blown up in several areas of Beirut. The latest explosions this afternoon have hit the country’s south and the capital Beirut, where dramatic time-lapse video shows multiple plumes of smoke rising above the skyline in different locations almost simultaneously.

This really doesn’t bode well for devices such as the iPhone that don’t permit users to change their own batteries. How can you trust that there isn’t an ounce or two of high-explosive attached to your battery if it’s in a sealed-off department?

It’s certainly an object lesson in “build your own communications equipment” for everyone around the world.

https://voxday.net/2024/09/18/pager-terror-attacks/

Indeed.

“build your own communications equipment”

Blurb

The sudden, simultaneous explosion of hundreds of pagers in Lebanon last month killed dozens of people, and raised many questions. Companies and countries across the world have been left wondering who they can trust to provide sensitive equipment.

The Turkish army uses only locally produced communication systems. Asli Atbas visited the country’s leading international defence electronics maker to find out more about the safeguards in place.

Salaam

Zios are escalating the conflict.

Blurb

Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is reverberating across the region, raising fears of retaliation from Iran and a wider war. Nick Schifrin reports from Tel Aviv and joins John Yang to discuss the latest developments and what to expect next.





Blurb

Israel is expanding its attacks across the Middle East, bombing more sites in Yemen and Lebanon over the weekend after carrying out a massive attack in the suburbs of Beirut on Friday that killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders of the militant group.

Nasrallah led Hezbollah for more than three decades and was considered one of the most powerful figures in the region. Israel likely used U.S.-made 2,000-pound bombs in Friday's attack that leveled several high-rise apartment buildings, with a death toll estimated in the hundreds. U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both called Nasrallah's killing "a measure of justice" while saying they were against further escalation of the war.

"The news really shocked all of Lebanon, both supporters and people who oppose him," says Associated Press reporter Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, who notes about 1 million people inside Lebanon are now displaced by the fighting. "The airstrikes aren't stopping; they're continuing. And now people are anticipating a ground invasion."




Iranian response.

Blurb


The killing of Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah by Israel has raised fears of what happens next in the Middle East.

Professor Mohammad Marandi of Tehran University talks to Yalda Hakim about what Iran and the Lebanese militant group might do.




More analysis.

Head of the Snake Strategy

Israel is pursuing an essentially non-military strategy of attacking the enemy’s leadership rather than attempting to defeat them on the battlefield:

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has claimed it eliminated Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of the Hezbollah paramilitary group, in a strike on Beirut, Lebanon. In a statement on Saturday, the IDF confirmed media reports that the top official was killed in the bombing of an underground compound belonging to the militant group in the Dahiyeh suburb of the Lebanese capital. “Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world,” it added.

According to the IDF, Nasrallah “was responsible for the murder of many Israeli civilians and soldiers” as well as numerous other “terrorist activities.” “The IDF will continue operating against anyone who promotes and engages in terrorism against the State of Israel and its people,” the statement warned.

Hezbollah has confirmed the death of Nasrallah.

The reason most military strategists don’t recommend utilizing this strategy is that it usually doesn’t work very well outside of circumstances where the king, or khan, exerts sole control over the military and its use. Russia, for example, could have easily eliminated the Kiev regime’s leadership in a similar fashion, but has elected not to do so. China could do the same to the leadership of its estranged island province, if any such leadership were to exist.

I should probably explain that’s a bit of a diplomacy joke. You see, China’s foreign ministry recently informed reporters that the new Japanese head of the LDP could not have visited “the leader of Taiwan” as he was reported to have done in the past because “Taiwan is a province of China and there is no ‘leader of Taiwan.'” This is why I don’t do stand-up; I’d have to schedule an additional half-hour to explain why the jokes would have been funny if the audience had only possessed the information required to appreciate them.

The problem is that one has no guarantee that whatever leadership succeeds the previous leadership is not guaranteed to be less capable, or less inclined to escalate the conflict. Of course, if Israel’s goal is to escalate the conflict, as I suspect it is, then it had nothing to lose by removing Nasrallah from the equation since he was both a) capable and b) maintaining a disciplined strategy of attrition through restraint. A younger, less patient replacement who is more enthusiastic about engaging in direct war might be the best result that Israel could reasonably hope to accomplish.

That is why I think it’s too soon to have any opinion, one way or the other, about the wisdom of pursuing this Head of the Snake strategy in these particular circumstances. Sometimes, it’s impossible to know if a given course is the ideal one until a time well after the fact.

https://voxday.net/2024/09/28/head-o...nake-strategy/



Iran has responded - they have fired missiles into Israel.

Blurb

Live video from Tel Aviv showed a barrage of projectiles that the Israeli military says were Iranian missiles after warnings of an imminent attack.




Professor Marandi faces off against Sky news again.

Blurb

Professor at the University of Tehran, Mohammad Marandi, told Sky News that Iran "will hit Israel harder next time" after almost 200 missiles were launched at Israeli military bases.

He said the latest attack "was only the tip of the iceberg".






More analysis.

A Minimal Response

Iran appears to be continuing to sit tight, beyond a military response that appears to be small enough to be categorized as more of a diplomatic jab:

Israeli media are reporting that over 100 missiles have been fired into Israel – after Iran vowed on Saturday that Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah would be avenged. It also comes just hours after Israel launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon to carry out raids against Iranian-backed Hezbollah targets.

100 missiles sounds like a lot, and you certainly wouldn’t want them falling in your neighborhood, but to put them into context, Israel dropped considerably more explosives than that on a single apartment complex in Beirut last week.

UPDATE: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said Iran’s rocket attack against Israel was “totally unacceptable” and should be condemned by “the entire world.”

Oh, shut up already. Literally no one anywhere on the planet is fooled by this open hypocrisy. If you want to fight, then fight and accept the consequences. But this childish “I’m not touching you, you’re touching me” retardery just insults human intelligence.

https://voxday.net/2024/10/01/a-minimal-response/

Salaam

A more overarching look at the invasion.

Some background.







More recent.


Blurb

We get an update on Israel's war on Lebanon from journalist Rania Abouzeid in Beirut. "We are seeing a definite escalation that started a month ago and doesn't show any sign of letting up," she observes, describing unrestrained attacks by Israel throughout the country, on all sectors of society, as Israel carries out its "Dahiya doctrine" in an attempt to foment division among the Lebanese population. "This is the Gaza playbook. … The sentiment here is that this is now a war on Lebanon," Abouzeid says.







More on their divide and conquer 'strategy'.





How Israel is trying to generate civil strife in Lebanon

Israel is hitting targets far from Hezbollah-controlled areas, spreading panic and fear across Lebanon.

On October 14, Israel killed 22 people in the northern Lebanese village of Aitou in an air attack.

Israel claimed it struck a “Hezbollah target” but the attack on a predominantly Christian town has made many wonder if Israel is expanding its war to chase down Hezbollah members and mainly Shia Hezbollah supporters wherever they may have fled to.

“I can only guess Israel’s motives, but obviously they are trying to make the Shia community toxic by trying to isolate them completely,” said Michael Young, a Lebanon expert for Carnegie Middle East Center.

Fragile system

Lebanon runs a confessional system, with political posts reserved for members of specific religious sects.

The fragile system has been historically exploited by regional states for their own geopolitical goals, by dividing the country’s political factions and religious communities.

In addition, each religious community typically lives in relatively segregated areas and neighbourhoods in Lebanon – largely an outcome of previous violent conflicts that degenerated into sectarian violence and led to the mass displacement of communities.

The attack on Aitou harks back to Lebanon’s 15-year civil war (1975-1990) when the country got dragged into the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict and descended into multi-faceted fighting.

Now, Israel’s war – ostensibly against Hezbollah – is threatening to destabilise the entire country again as a pattern emerges, beyond the Aitou attack, where Israel attacks neighbourhoods and communities that have absorbed thousands of displaced people.

Analysts believe this trend reflects a sinister motive of collectively punishing Hezbollah’s Shia support base, psychologically tormenting the Lebanese populace and triggering sectarian violence.

“When [Israel] is hitting [these people] in areas that are largely not Hezbollah-controlled, then more and more people from these areas will be reluctant to receive displaced Shia because they fear Israel will attack them,” Young told Al Jazeera.

Psychological warfare?

The terrifying prospect that Israel could continue flattening districts across Lebanon is a clear form of psychological warfare, according to Maha Yahiya, an expert on Lebanon and the director of Carnegie Middle East Center.

“This is a message to Hezbollah and to the broader [Shia] community that says: ‘We will get you wherever you are,’” Yahiya said.

“On the flip side, it is aggravating sectarian tensions and triggering almost panic among the broader Lebanese populace, who are terrified of having neighbours they don’t know and who Israel may decide to target.”

According to Ori Goldberg, an Israeli commentator on political affairs, Israel appears to be applying the same open-ended discourse and military tactics in Lebanon as it has done in Gaza.

Aggravating sectarian tensions

Karim Emilie Bitar, a professor of international relations at the Saint Joseph University of Beirut, believes that the areas Israel is hitting outside of south Lebanon do not have any military or strategic importance.

“There seems to be an intention to foster civil strife in Lebanon,” he told Al Jazeera.

“The way we can read these attacks is… that it is a message sent to Christians in particular to be careful and do not welcome these [Shia] refugees.

“If [Israel] continues along this path, then it could lead to a deepening of the fault lines in Lebanon. People will become increasingly cautious, and it could sooner or later provoke serious incidents and civil strife.”

In many predominantly Christian quarters of Beirut, residents and sectarian factions have begun monitoring guests and visitors in their neighbourhood, often doing background checks.

In many cases, displaced people have been prohibited from moving into buildings or evicted from areas they recently moved into, according to Yahiya from the Carnegie Center.

She added that people in various communities are increasingly “terrified” of having neighbours they do not know and who may be targeted by Israel.

“[Israel’s tactics] have created a politics of fear,” she told Al Jazeera.

“And it is stoking sectarian fire by trying to basically make other communities reject the displaced wherever they are.”

Grand strategy?

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made his intentions known during his televised address to the Lebanese people on October 8, warning that they could face “destruction like Gaza” unless they acted now to “save Lebanon” from Hezbollah.

His remarks indicated that Israel aims to reshape the politics of Lebanon, belying his earlier claims that Israel would launch a limited operation in south Lebanon to allow thousands of displaced Israelis to return to their homes in north Israel across the border.

Goldberg, the commentator from Israel, believes it does not have realistic political objectives in the country.

“What’s worrying is I don’t think there is an end game. Officially, [Israel] wants to establish a 10-km [6.2-mile] buffer, with 7km [4.3 miles] being held by the Lebanese Armed Forces and 3km [1.9 miles] by the Israeli army, but I don’t think that’s credible,” he told Al Jazeera.

Worse yet, Goldberg believes Israel’s government is quite comfortable maintaining an indefinite war on Lebanon, just as it is doing in Gaza.

“Israel wants to bomb,” he said. “In the short term, it has a list of targets and objectives, but the bombing will be endless.

“[Israel] wants to enjoy its aerial superiority and it wants to rain down fire.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2...ife-in-lebanon



Blurb

Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed more than 2,400 people since October 7, most of them in the past month. They have mostly targeted Hezbollah's leadership and fighters, but in recent days, some government buildings have come under attack.

Christian towns further north, where fighters had reportedly taken shelter, have also been hit. Analysts say these attacks are intended to disrupt Lebanon's fragile power-sharing system, which is drawn along religious lines.

Is Israel trying to isolate Shia Hezbollah supporters by inflaming sectarian tension?







EDIT - Scope of the conflict is again widening.

An Intriguing Escalation

The IDF is bombing banks in Lebanon:

The Israeli military launched airstrikes on branches of a bank in Lebanon that the U.S. and Israel have linked to Hezbollah, escalating its military campaign to strike institutions that are part of the group’s far-reaching network of economic and social influence.

The Israeli air force hit branches of Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a U.S.-sanctioned bank that was established in the 1980s and that offers financial services, including loans and ATM deposits and withdrawals, to the Shiite community in Lebanon. The Israeli military says the bank is also central to Hezbollah’s economic functioning.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said a series of Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs and elsewhere in the country on Sunday night, local time, including three strikes on branches of the bank.

The strikes mark an expansion of Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah to target an institution that has no overt military purpose. In the past Israel has said its strikes focused on Hezbollah’s military infrastructure, though its attacks have also destroyed residential buildings and hit municipal and other civilian infrastructure.

Israeli officials said the strikes aimed at harming Hezbollah’s financial assets as well as weakening its ties with the community. The strikes took place on Sunday evening, when the bank branches were likely empty.

It would certainly be fascinating to see the outrage if Russia and Iran started responding in kind and bombing banks in New York and elsewhere that are central to the war efforts against them. This is potentially a very dangerous escalation, particularly in light of the coming BRICS announcement about its alternative to the SWIFT banking system.

https://voxday.net/2024/10/21/an-intriguing-escalation/


To summarise the Zios current strategy. They went on a genocidal rampage in Gaza (continuing) but now they are expanding their ambitions. They want destroy all its opponents in neighbouring countries with Iran being the final target.

Salaam

Houthis have been disrupting Israel aligned shipping in the Red Sea for several months now. More recently they have directly attacked Israel.

A reminder.

Blurb

Norman Finkelstein expresses his support for the Houthis in Yemen despite the religious aspects of their conflict, drawing attention to the human cost of the Saudi Arabian blockade on the country.

The blockade resulted in an estimated 88,000 deaths, with over 60,000 of those being starvation-related. Finkelstein draws a parallel between the suffering of the people in Yemen and the people of Gaza and expresses sympathy for the Houthis' cause.

He criticizes the international community for their inaction towards the conflict and compares their lack of intervention to a market woman who intervenes in a fight out of empathy. Finkelstein urges against interfering with the Houthis due to their compassionate attitude towards the people of Gaza who have experienced similar suffering.









Another perspective on why this is all happening.








More comment and speculation

Technology Changes War

And when it changes, those who struggle to adapt will suffer. Col Macgregor reports that an attempt to infiltrate Yemen resulted in a complete disaster courtesy of Russian satellite technology.

Andrew Napolitano:

Colonel was there recently some military activity by the Houthies which resulted in about 70 deaths of IDF and some American contractors about which you can tell us?

Col. Douglas Macgregor:

Well, I can tell you only what I found through open source material. I haven’t seen anything classified but I am reliably told that roughly 70 Israeli Special Forces along with some number of Americans, the total number was 70. How many were American mercenaries that joined in this operation, I don’t know what the exact breakdown was, but it was obviously mostly Israeli.

They infiltrated successfully into Yemen, but they were tracked from the moment they infiltrated by overhead satellites, presumably Russian, and the Russians provided this information to the Iranians who immediately telegraphed it to the Houthis.

Whatever you say about the Houthis, they’re tough hombres on the battlefield. They set up an ambush and they killed all of them, and there is footage of the dead. I haven’t had a chance to examine it carefully, clearly most of it’s Israeli, but there are some indisputably some American mercenaries, there may be some Brits mixed into it who are also employees of the same contract firm now.

This is something very important for everybody listening to understand: persistent surveillance today changes everything in warfare. It not only enables precision strike on a scale that has never been the case in the past, it makes it impossible for forces to infiltrate into regions without being discovered.

We can’t know yet if this report is true or not. But there are four reasons it is credible:

• Yemen successfully denied the Red Sea to the US Navy earlier this year.
• The US Navy wants to put its four aircraft carriers in the Middle East in position to support Israeli efforts in the region, but is endangered by Yemeni land-to-sea strike abilities.
• Taking out the coastal missile batteries using air strikes has failed.
• An infantry infiltration was the only remaining option for eliminating Yemeni land-to-sea capabilities.
• So, the fact that the IDF and some US special forces are reported to have attempted the obvious solution to the problem makes sense. However, I fail to see how this puts Israel on the ropes in any way; the denial of the Red Sea was already an accomplished fact and despite decades of claims to the contrary, Iran is observably not in any particular hurry to start a full-scale war with Israel.

Speaking of technology and war, I highly recommend Martin van Creveld’s work on the matter. It’s an excellent and informative book.

https://voxday.net/2024/08/09/technology-changes-war/


Douhet Wept

There’s an amount of discussion of the potential ramifications for the Middle East of the Yemeni missile that was used to strike the Gezer power plant from 1,265 miles away.

The Israeli air defense failed to intercept the Yemeni missile primarily because it is capable of changing its course suddenly – Israeli Channel 12. The US Navy failed to intercept the missile in the Red Sea as well. Great possibility that this was hypersonic.

Yemen confirmed that they used a hypersonic ballistic missile in the attack on Tel Aviv Yemeni Armed Forces says it hit an Israeli military target in Yaffa (Tel Aviv) with a new hypersonic ballistic missile that traveled 2,040 kilometers. This is the first time that an Iranian-made hypersonic missile has been used in an attack on Israel.

No doubt this has some ominous implications for the prospective Israel-Iran war. But of far more concern to Americans should be the fact that the military force that just drove the US Navy from the Red Sea has just demonstrated the capacity to hit a target from long range. Which means that both Iran and Yemen, to say nothing of China and Russia, almost certainly possess the ability to sink the US Navy’s carriers at will from longer range than the carriers’ own air assets can reach.

We are rapidly entering the post-airpower age, which has considerable implications for the applicability of seapower. A considerable amount of strategic rethinking is now in order.

https://voxday.net/2024/09/16/douhet-wept/

Salaam

A discussions of the implications of whats happened so far in Lebanon.

Israel - Hezbollah: What's different this time?



https://listen.aj.audio/MTG4K9nt?c=G...ce6f8544911f92

The Inside Story Podcast The Inside Story Podcast -- where we dissect, analyse and help define major global stories....

More on the implications of the pager bombing.

Blurb

Beginning on September 16th, thousands of small explosions occurred across Lebanon - not caused by airstrikes or artillery, but by the detonation of thousands of Hezbollah issued communication devices.

In this episode, I discuss the detonations, explore how they may have occurred, and ask what lessons they might highlight regarding the importance of supply chain security.





Im sure this is going to go down well in Lebanon and beyond.

Western Diplomat Says Foreign Forces An Option In Lebanon After Truce

Western countries have floated the idea of deploying international forces to Lebanon alongside the country’s army in case of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, a western diplomat told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday.

About 10,000 peacekeepers with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) are already deployed in the country’s south, but the diplomat said a separate multinational troop deployment was under consideration.

“What is needed right now is a ceasefire and a presence trusted by both sides – this could be the Lebanese army with international forces,” the diplomat told AFP, requesting anonymity as the matter is sensitive.

“Partners of Lebanon have already been supporting the Lebanese army and are looking very concretely into how they can support it further … in the context of a ceasefire and long-term diplomatic agreement,” the diplomat added.

UN security council resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah and called for the deployment of only Lebanese government forces Unifil peacekeepers in south Lebanon, has come under fire for its limited implementation, reports AFP.

Lebanese media outlets have reported discussions on bolstering the UN resolution’s implementation, dubbing such an option as “1701-plus”.

On a visit to Beirut on Monday, US envoy Amos Hochstein said that “both sides simply committing to 1701 is just not enough.” “We have to put things in place that would allow for confidence that it will be implemented for everyone,” he added.

The western diplomat speaking to AFP said that “the push towards a 1701-plus is a reflection of the reality that neither side implemented” the resolution.

Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati said this month that Lebanon was ready to bolster the army in the south after any ceasefire was reached.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/li...log-navigation

So Western powers who on the whole have supported the genocide in Gaza and the destruction of Lebanon

EDIT - proof

Blurb

How US and UK military airlifts have supported Israel’s war on Gaza

An Al Jazeera investigation has revealed that the United States and United Kingdom have provided military support to Israel by creating an air bridge that was vital to sustain the intensity of the war on Gaza. Alex Gatopoulos breaks it down.

https://www.aljazeera.com/program/ne...ls-war-on-gaza


Israel's secret trips to British cyber warfare base exposed | IDF leak latest

Professor Paul Rogers, an honorary fellow of the Joint Services Command and Staff College, commented: “This is a highly significant revelation that shows the extent of high level links between Israeli and British counter-insurgency and psychological warfare operators – and, as ever, the need for greater transparency from the military right across the board”.

An MoD spokesperson said: “We regularly conduct non-operational defence engagements at staff level with partners across the globe. All engagement focuses on best practices and is in compliance with International Humanitarian Law”.

The department refused to clarify whether psychological warfare collaboration with Israel was ongoing.

now they want to 'dictate' and 'police' any settlement to the conflict.

Not a new strategy, they tried this in 1982, it didn't work out.

During the Lebanese Civil War, a multinational force including 800 U.S. Marines lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestinian withdrawal from Lebanon. It was the beginning of a problem-plagued mission that would stretch into 17 months and leave 262 U.S. servicemen dead.

In 1975, a bloody civil war erupted in Lebanon, with Palestinian and leftist Muslim guerrillas battling militias of the Christian Phalange Party, the Maronite Christian community, and other groups. During the next few years, Syrian, Israeli, and United Nations interventions failed to resolve the factional fighting, and in August 1982 a multinational force arrived to oversee the Palestinian withdrawal from Lebanon.

The Marines left Lebanese territory on September 10 but returned on September 29 following the massacre of Palestinian refugees by a Christian militia.

The next day, the first U.S. Marine to die during the mission was killed while defusing a bomb. On April 18, 1983, the U.S. embassy in Beirut was devastated by a car bomb, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans. Then, on October 23, Lebanese terrorists evaded security measures and drove a truck packed with explosives into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. military personnel. Fifty-eight French soldiers were killed almost simultaneously in a separate suicide terrorist attack.

On February 7, 1984, President Ronald Reagan announced the end of U.S. participation in the peacekeeping force.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-...yed-to-lebanon

Salaam

Israel has directly attacked Iran.

Before the attack. Somehow Iranian hackers managed to get hold of classified intel.

The Leak was Real

Apparently Israel was genuinely observed making preparations to attack Iran on October 15th and 16th, but appears to have cancelled the attack for reasons that remain unknown, but are presumably related to the “earthquake” that was observed earlier this month.

The US has launched an investigation after highly classified intelligence reports about Israel’s preparations for possible strikes on Iran were leaked online, CNN reported on Saturday, citing three people familiar with the matter. The apparent security breach occurred amid an intense standoff between Iran and Israel – which has vowed to respond to a barrage of missiles fired by Tehran earlier this month.

On Friday, two documents were posted to the anonymous Telegram channel Middle East Spectator, which covers events in the region and is critical of Israel.

The first of the files, apparently prepared by the Pentagon’s National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, says the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “continued key munitions preparations and covert UAV activity on October 16 almost certainly for a strike on Iran.”

The second document contains a detailed report about a “large-force employment exercise” conducted by the Israeli Air Force on October 15-16.

An unnamed US official confirmed the authenticity of the documents to CNN, describing the leak as “deeply concerning.” The official told the network that the ongoing probe is aimed at determining who had access to the top secret files that eventually made their way to social media.

The plan reportedly involved a combination of ballistic missiles and air-to-surface missiles, although considerably fewer than were involved in the Iranian attack on Israel. Which, of course, tends to raise suspicions that some of them may have been armed with nuclear warheads, and may explain why the US intelligence source decided to try to stop the attack by leaking news of it.

https://voxday.net/2024/10/20/the-leak-was-real/

Then the attack

Blurb

The conflict across the Middle East escalated further overnight when Israeli jets launched dozens of air strikes against several locations in Iran. (Subscribe: https://bit.ly/C4_News_Subscribe)

Iran says the targets were military bases in Tehran and the south west regions of Ilam and Khuzestan.

Missile defence systems were targeted close to the capital's main airport, as well as surrounding military facilities.

And today in Lebanon, Israel has continued to hit Beirut, along with areas in the south.

In retaliation, Hezbollah says it launched a drone attack on an airbase south of Tel-Aviv. And Israel intercepted a barrage of missiles north of Haifa, acoss Upper and Western Galilee.

And more violence too in Gaza City, where several people have been killed in an Israeli strike.




The strikes didn't appear to cause too much damage, leading to much speculation.

Pseudo-Escalation

From the Jerusalem Post:

• The attack occurred in three major waves, with the second and third waves targeting Iranian drone and missile production sites, hitting over 20 targets.
• Over 100 planes were involved in the 2000 k.m. attack, including the cutting-edge F-35, according to Walla.
• The IDF confirmed the operation was over and that all mission goals had been achieved, with all planes returning safely home.
• Iranian officials and media have been denying that Israeli airstrikes took place, saying explosions were a result of Iranian air defense; an Israeli official strenuously denied this to Ynet, saying, “This is a lie. Total failure – zero interceptions.”

No one tells the truth in wartime. But sending 100 planes more than 2,000 kilometers is an impressive technical feat, even though it tends to imply US involvement in refueling the planes; there are rumors that 10 US tanker aircraft were involved in supporting the strike.

What we can conclude from what little we have been told is that either a) Iran’s air defenses are less effective than Ukraine’s or b) Iran was not contesting the strikes. Given that there is a non-zero chance that at least one of the planes might have crashed without any enemy action at all, the fact that there were zero interceptions reported, zero planes shot down reported, and minimal casualties on both sides tends to suggest that this was more war kabuki meant to let Israel keep its word without actually escalating the situation.

For one reason or another, neither Israel nor Iran appear inclined to genuinely put the other’s genuine military capabilities to the test. It’s really remarkable that when no aircraft on either side dares show itself within 100 miles of the battlefield in Ukraine, that 100 Israeli warplanes should be able to fly 2,000 kilometers into Iranian airspace unmolested.

https://voxday.net/2024/10/26/pseudo-escalation/

He revised his opinion

Unprecedented Gaslighting

And the reports about the airstrike on Iran is that the initial wave of fighter-bombers who were supposed to take out the radar installations turned back before they even reached the Iranian border because they were radar-locked despite their stealth technology. This may or may not be true, and certainly there are no images of Israeli F-35s being shot down, but for one reason or another, the bombing for which the neocons have been shrieking for the last 23 years turned out to be more similar to President Clinton lobbing a few cruise missiles at some tents in the desert than the fire-bombing of Dresden.

https://voxday.net/2024/10/29/unprec...d-gaslighting/

Much more to say on this subject but dont want to lose focus on what this thread is about.

EDIT - More analysis on whats happening in Lebanon.

Blurb

As Israel continues to bombard Lebanon and Hezbollah to fire rockets into Israel, negotiations are being held behind closed doors for a deal between the two sides.

But with a caretaker government unable to form a cabinet and no president for two years, Lebanon is in a war that's pushing its fragile institutions to breaking point as they struggle to respond to a growing humanitarian crisis.

Why would Hezbollah consider a deal with Israel when it has vowed to keep fighting until Gaza sees peace? And how weakened is the armed group after months of Israeli strikes decimating its leadership?

Salaam

Shifting focus to whats happening in the West Bank.

Blurb

“It is very hard to lose five children and have nothing left. You can’t imagine the pain of losing your sons.”

Peter Oborne goes inside the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli air strikes, bulldozers and snipers are reducing it to rubble and ruin.

Residents of the camp say that recent attacks by Israeli forces have taken on a terrifying dimension not seen before, one that amounts to a form of collective punishment, in which civilians and infrastructure have been targeted indiscriminately without red lines or limitations.

In April, at least 14 Palestinians were killed and scores more injured as Israeli forces laid siege to the camp for more than two days, leaving bodies in the streets and ambulances and medical teams unable to reach the wounded.

At least 80 residents of the camp have been killed since 7 October, according to the local popular committee. About 300 homes have been destroyed and at least 2,600 have been damaged. The camp has been raided 28 times.









Mapping 1,400 Israeli settler attacks in the West Bank over the past year

There was an average of four incidents of settler violence per day in the occupied West Bank since October 7.



While Israel continues its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers have ramped up their attacks on people, often under the protection of Israeli soldiers.

Over the past year, at least 1,423 incidents of settler violence in the occupied West Bank were recorded – an average of four a day, according to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

With 321 incidents, Ramallah and el-Bireh governorate saw the highest number of settler attacks, followed by 319 incidents in Nablus and 298 in Hebron.



The highest number of settler attacks in the past year occurred in October 2023 with 233 incidents leading to deaths and/or property damage.

After the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir distributed semiautomatic rifles and other weapons to settlers and far-right Israelis, which are now being used against Palestinians.

Since then, more than 120,000 firearms have been distributed among Israeli settlers, while tens of thousands more have received conditional approvals.

“We intend to continue arming Israel. That’s what we did, and that’s what we’ll continue to do!”, Ben-Gvir said on his X account.

Speaking about the unfolding violence in the West Bank, the United Nations said it “could worsen dramatically if [Israeli security forces] continue to systematically use unlawful lethal force and ignore violence perpetrated by settlers”.

Israeli settlement expansion

Israeli settlements are Jewish communities built on Palestinian land that has been taken by force from its owners.

Roughly 700,000 Israeli settlers are living in at least 250 settlements and outposts in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.

After October 7, 2023, settlers were particularly roused by far-right members of the Israeli government, such as Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, both of whom are settlers and have backed the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

In March, Israel approved the construction of about 3,500 new housing units, ​​adding to nearly 20,000 approved in the past year.





Thousands forced from their homes

In the past year, about 4,555 Palestinians have been displaced in the West Bank after Israeli forces demolished their homes.

Israeli forces demolished, seized or sealed at least 1,768 structures, including 390 in Tulkarem, 368 in Jerusalem and 242 in Jenin.




Number of dead in the West Bank: 744

Since Israel began its war on Gaza, which has killed more than 42,000 people, at least 744 Palestinians, including 164 children, have been killed in the West Bank.

More than 6,250 have been injured.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/...-the-past-year


Meanwhile the destruction of Al Aqsa is proceeding apace.

Blurb

Hundreds of illegal Israeli settlers have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque, on the anniversary of Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem. Middle East commentator Chris Doyle discusses how provocative this move is.





But how will they do it? Interesting take on the subject.




They will use 'Muslim' zionists to subvert Muslims into silence or even cheering for its destruction. (parallels with Christian zionism).

Blurb

Gaza: Muslim Zionists are cornerstone of Israel's new propaganda strategy.




Another video to help understand the thought processes of a 'Muslim' zionist.

Blurb

Madkhalis, or "Muslim" Zionists, have proven themselves to be close friends and allies with the state of Israel, especially since the beginning of the war. They have argued that boycotting Israel is haram, that the Palestinian resistance are terrorists and deviants who deserve to be eliminated. They have even argued that no one should criticize Israel because it might pose an obstacle to their personal careers.



CoolnessofHind has extensively documented and analysed what the Abrahamic accords are about.

https://coolnessofhind.wordpress.com...-our-critique/


Compare and contrast them with an authentic Muslim.

Blurb

"And call not those who are slain in the way of Allah "dead." Nay, they are living, only ye perceive not." 2-154

Salaam

A grim milestone has been passed. Lets have a recap of whats happened and the future prospects.

First of Why did Hamas launch this attack?

https://rumble.com/embed/v5nfmyb/?pub=462zjt


More Muslim perspectives.

Blurb

Sami Hamdi in conversation




Blurb

“When the Israelis and their supporters are called on to justify the ferocity of their response, which has killed far, far more people than the Hamas incursion… again and again and again, they will talk about babies and they will talk about rapes.”

Award-winning journalist and film director Richard Sanders, sits down with Middle East Eye columnist Peter Oborne to discuss his latest film with Al Jazeera’s Investigation Unit (I-Unit) October 7.

The film provides a forensic analysis of the Hamas-led attack on Israel that day, revealing human rights abuses committed by Hamas fighters. The months’ long investigation also found that many claims repeated by politicians and western media, including mass rape and killings of babies, were false.

Sanders explains that the failure of western media outlets in reporting these claims has been used by Israel to justify its war on Gaza.






Blurb

This feature length investigation by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit exposes Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip through the medium of photos and videos posted online by Israeli soldiers themselves during the year long conflict.

The I-Unit has built up a database of thousands of videos, photos and social media posts. Where possible it has identified the posters and those who appear.

The material reveals a range of illegal activities, from wanton destruction and looting to the demolition of entire neighbourhoods and murder.

The film also tells the story of the war through the eyes of Palestinian journalists, human rights workers and ordinary residents of the Gaza Strip. And it exposes the complicity of Western governments – in particular the use of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus as a base for British surveillance flights over Gaza.

“The west cannot hide, they cannot claim ignorance. Nobody can say they didn’t know,” says Palestinian writer, Susan Abulhawa.This is “the first livestream genocide in history … If people are ignorant they are wilfully ignorant,” she says.






Blurb

It has become quite rare to hear any meaningful accountability for Israel’s actions from Israeli citizens themselves. Israeli journalist Gideon Levy is an anomaly in Israel by today’s standards, as for his entire career he has challenged the apartheid and occupation of the Israeli state. On today’s episode of The Chris Hedges Report, Levy joins host Christ Hedges to discuss his book, The Killing of Gaza: Reports on a Catastrophe, and explain the spiritual destruction, both of Israel and Palestine, that the current genocide in Gaza is causing as well as the implications of new military operations in Lebanon.

(0:00) Intro
(2:06) Two-state solution
(8:38) Why Gideon covers the crimes of Israel
(11:09) The end of the Israeli peace camp
(18:40) Was Rabin genuine?
(21:33) Israel’s bipolar society
(24:19) Israel’s targeting of civilians
(29:23) Violent resistance is necessary
(36:14) Consequences of Oct. 7
(40:39) Netanyahu’s plan
(43:33) Is the West Bank next?
(45:12) Lebanon and regional war
(53:23) Outro







Blurb

Norman Finkelstein received his PhD from the Princeton University Politics Department, and is best known for his research on Israel and Palestine. In this episode, Norman and Robinson sit down for a discussion centered around the anniversary of October 7th, and they speak about the immensity of what has happened in the Israel-Palestine region in the time before and since.

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction
07:55 Is the Palestine Question Dead?
17:22 How the Nakba Created Gaza in 1948
25:20 High-Tech Israeli Killing Sprees in Gaza
29:23 The Butcher of Beirut & The Sabra and Shatila Massacre
37:11 On Hassan Nasrallah, Leader of Hezbollah
42:35 Israel Vs The Party of God
52:41 Noam Chomsky on Hezbollah’s Threat to Israel
01:02:10 On Martin Luther King Jr’s Final Words
01:12:37 Will the Gazans Be Emancipated like American Blacks from Slavery?
01:21:26 The Question of Gaza as a Concentration Camp
01:32:08 On His Mother, Piers Morgan, and Gaza as a Holocaust
01:41:36 Does Israel Have the Right to Commit Genocide?
01:50:10 Just How Brutal Are Israel’s High Tech Military Operations?
01:58:43 Are the Leaders of Hamas Rich Billionaires?
02:04:43 Comparing Gaza and the Warsaw Ghetto
02:09:33 The Absurdity of Gaza’s Economy
02:18:14 Did Hamas Commit Sexual Violence Against Israelis on October 7th?
02:24:07 On Israel’s Violent Revenge Against Hamas
02:30:34 Has Israel Exterminated Gaza?
02:39:39 Will There Be a Ceasefire in Gaza?
02:43:58 Why Does Israel Always Win?
02:52:40 On Philosophy, Chattel Slavery, and Justice in Palestine
02:58:02 On Justice and Norman Finkelstein’s Purpose in Life





Blurb

Should we, people who remain married to justice, accept that international law, if it ever did work, is today defunct? In a broader sense, when we pursue its application are we in danger of creating a sense of false hope. These are the existential questions we are now asking ourselves as the genocide proceeds at pace into its 2nd year.

My guest today is Francesca Albanese, an international lawyer who has been in the eye of the storm, speaking truth at the highest levels. Francesca specialises in international humanitarian law and is the special rapporteur for the UN reporting on Palestine.













And for the sake of 'balance' heres a perspective from the pro Israeli side.

Blurb

Peter Hitchens and John discuss the issues with a two state solution to the Israel and Palestine conflict (from 2023).

Salaam

The genocide continues.

Blurb

We have seen the horrific genocidal scenes unfolding in the north of Gaza and in particular the onslaught by the occupation in Jabaliya. There is a horrendous cleansing of Palestinians, apparently to make way for Israeli settler expansion and cut the territory into two. This is a Nakba but worse. A catastrophe. But the world seems to remain silent. On a deeper level – many are asking when will the help of Allah come? How do we deal with this situation as a personal trauma.

My guest today, is Imam Fuad Abdo, himself from palestine. Imam Fuad is the imam of Al Ansar Centre, Goodmayes, and someone who I have seen firsthand at the forefront of activism – especially encouragement the encampment movement.





EDIT - Very good interview on mapping out the the phased destruction of Gaza.

Blurb

In this conversation, Frank Barat & Eyal Weizman discusses the groundbreaking work of Forensic Architecture, particularly focusing on their recent report titled 'A Cartography of Genocide,' which analyzes the systematic violence and genocide occurring in Gaza. Weizman elaborates on the methodology used in their research, the patterns of violence observed, and the environmental destruction that accompanies these acts. He emphasizes the need for new terminology to describe the unique nature of this conflict, particularly the concept of 'ungrounding' which encapsulates both genocide and ecocide.

00:00 Introduction to Forensic Architecture and Its Mission
06:00 The Cartography of Genocide: Methodology and Findings
11:56 Patterns of Violence: Systematic Attacks and Their Implications
21:53 Ecocide and Ungrounding: The Environmental Impact of Conflict
36:03 Conclusion: The Need for New Terminology in Understanding Genocide




link to their work.

https://forensic-architecture.org/in...hy-of-genocide


Want more proof of the Generals plan? Lets hear from the man who proposed it.


Blurb

“All of Gaza strip should be closed and Israel should prevent any entrance of any supply to Gaza,” a former major general in the IDF has told Sky News.

In his proposal, known as The General’s Plan, Giora Eiland explains to Sky’s Alistair Bunkall he would put northern Gaza under siege with the aim of starving Hamas into surrender.







A more recent perspective on whats happening.


The Gaza genocide may not be in the news, but it hasn’t stopped

Israel continues to systematically exterminate Palestinians in Gaza through relentless attacks and starvation.

“All the world is a stage,” Shakespeare wrote. But on this stage today, there seems to be no place for one part of the world – Gaza. Instead, the lights are shining brightly on Donald Trump for his victory in the US presidential election and the Democrats for their defeat.

As the world’s attention focuses on American politics, the world media has stopped reporting that people are being exterminated in Gaza. Looking at media headlines, one would think the genocide has stopped, but it hasn’t.

Palestinian journalists and the barely functioning medical authorities continue reporting: 54 people killed on November 5, 38 people killed on November 6, 52 people killed on November 7, 39 people killed on November 8, 44 people killed on November 9, 49 people killed on November 10.

And these are just the bodies that have been found. Countless victims lie in the streets or under the rubble in levelled neighbourhoods.

The Palestinians of Gaza are being exterminated at a steady pace by US-made Israeli fighter jets, tanks, drones, quadcopters, bulldozers and machineguns.

In recent weeks, the genocide has taken yet another wicked turn, with the Israeli army implementing what the Israeli media have called the “General’s Plan” – or the ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza.

As a result, entire communities are vanishing in a campaign that transcends military goals, targeting the very existence of the Palestinian people.

The towns of Beit Hanoon and Beit Lahiya were traditionally sleepy villages once cherished for their agricultural bounty and quiet lifestyle. They were renowned for the sweetness of their strawberries and oranges and their sandy dunes full of grazing sheep and goats.

Nearby stood the behemoth of Jabaliya, home to the largest and most densely populated refugee camp among Gaza’s eight camps, with more than 200,000 residents. It is where the first Intifada began in 1987 after an Israeli driver mowed down and killed four Palestinian labourers.

All areas of northern Gaza have been subject to repeated destruction since the second Intifada. But today, they face a level of violence and devastation that are as unimaginable as they are unprecedented, “a genocide within a genocide” as described by Majed Bamya, a senior Palestinian diplomat at the United Nations. The mass death, mass displacement and mass destruction are carried out with shocking ferocity, rendering the entire north a wasteland.

At the start of this latest campaign, about 400,000 Palestinians remained in the north, down from a population of one million. These people were given an ultimatum by Israel to leave but no guarantees of safe passage or an alternative place to shelter. Many decided to stay. Those who have tried to leave have often been targeted by Israeli forces and killed in the streets. Others who have made it have been tormented along the way.

In one harrowing scene related by a witness to journalist Motasem Dalloul, who posted it on social media, Israeli soldiers separated children from their mothers and pushed them into a pit. Then an Israeli tank circled around the pit, covering the children in sand and terrorising them. Eventually, the soldiers started taking children from the pit and throwing them over to the women.

According to the post: “Whoever caught a child was ordered to carry him and move away quickly, with no guarantee that the child would be their own. Many mothers carried children who were not their own, and were forced to leave with them, leaving their own children in the hands of other mothers. This marked the beginning of a new chapter of suffering, with mothers searching for their children in the arms of other women, trying to calm the children they held until they found their real mothers.”

For those Palestinians who decided to stay or are unable to leave, the horror continues. To force them out or just to eliminate them, Israel has deployed a deliberate policy of forced starvation. Its forces are systemically blocking humanitarian aid from reaching the north, including food, bottled water and medical supplies.

To accelerate mass death, the Israeli army is also preventing medical staff and rescue teams from reaching the wounded and others in need of medical help. Those who manage to get to a hospital often discover upon arrival that it can provide neither medical care nor safety. Many succumb to their injuries due to a critical lack of medical supplies and personnel.

The Israeli army has repeatedly attacked the barely functioning hospitals in the north. This led the UN special rapporteur on health, Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, to label Israel’s actions as “medicide” on October 25. According to a recent UN report, Israel has engaged in a “concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system”, including “deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities” – actions constituting war crimes.

During the most recent Israeli assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, its remaining medical equipment, supplies, oxygen cylinders, generators and medicines were destroyed. Thirty healthcare workers, including Dr Mohamed Obeid, head of orthopaedic surgery at al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia, were detained while providing care at Kamal Adwan. An unknown number of patients and displaced civilians sheltering nearby were also detained. The Israeli army dismantled tents, stripped men of their clothing and transported them to undisclosed locations.

The hospital’s director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiyeh, was interrogated and eventually released, only to discover that his teenage son had been executed. The haunting sound of his voice leading the Janazah prayer for his son pierces the soul and serves as a reminder of the brutal toll exacted by the occupation on Gaza’s medical professionals and their families.

With few hospitals and schools able to provide safety, the remaining Palestinians are crowding into residential buildings. As a result, the indiscriminate Israeli bombardment of residential areas is taking a staggering human toll, sometimes erasing entire extended families.

As I write this, the Abu Safi home in northern Gaza has been struck, killing at least 10 members of the family and injuring many others. Those wounded and trapped beneath the rubble are calling out for help, but rescue teams are prevented from reaching them.

On October 29, the Abu Nasr family’s multistorey home in Beit Lahiya, which had become a sanctuary for more than 100 displaced individuals from the same extended family along with the nearly 100 residents of the building, became the scene of a horrific massacre when Israel bombed it.

No ambulance or rescue crew was permitted to reach them, leaving neighbours — some wounded themselves — to dig through the rubble with their bare hands, clinging to the desperate hope of rescuing survivors. Of the more than 200 people sheltering there, only 15 survived, including 10 children, according to witnesses. More than 100 remain under the rubble.

The Abu Nasr family was known for their generosity, always opening their doors to anyone in need and sharing the limited resources they had. After the massacre, a neighbour shared how the family had been supporting displaced families who had settled nearby with nothing for their children. Despite the severe shortages in the north and the ongoing siege, the family’s grandmother offered them blankets, food and water, checking on them each day until that tragic day when they were targeted.

This mounting toll captures a genocide in real time in which lives are not merely lost but extinguished without a trace, each one irreplaceable in a web of relentless and interconnected loss.

While Israel is trying to erase Palestinian life in northern Gaza, it has not slowed down its genocidal assaults in the rest of the strip. Palestinians continue to face bombardment even in so-called safe zones.

My own family felt the anguish of this reality two weeks ago.

That day, just as I was preparing to leave for work, my son cried out, “Mom, mom, that’s Aunt Majdiya on the news!” I rushed to the TV room, where the screen showed Majdiya – an enduring survivor of the 1948 Nakba – sitting beside the body of her daughter Suzan, 47, and clutching the lifeless form of her five-month-old great-grandson, Tamer. Family members encircled them.

The report relayed that Suzan and Tamer had been killed in a strike on Nuseirat camp, an attack that took at least 18 lives. Later, we learned that another of Suzan’s grandchildren, four-year-old Nada, was also killed as she lay sleeping beside her.

Majdiya is now mourning the sixth loss in her family. The sight of Suzan’s still body and baby Tamer in Majdiya’s arms, her face etched with grief, her hands trembling while she describes her loss, breaks the heart.

The silent sorrow of Suzan’s children and siblings, gathered around the bodies, is unforgettable. The image of Bisan, Suzan’s daughter-in-law and the mother of Tamer and Nada, taking the last photographs by mobile of her children’s lifeless bodies is unbearably haunting. And then Suzan’s 17-year-old son, clinging to his mother’s body and pleading to be buried with her, a depth of sorrow that defies description.

Just a few months before her own death, Suzan had suffered the painful loss of her eldest son, Tamer, a 29-year-old taxi driver who helped displaced people move from place to place. Tamer’s son was born just a few days after his death and named after him. Baby Tamer lived for five months before being killed last week while sleeping next to his grandmother.

In search of safety, Suzan and her family had been forced to flee multiple times. First, they sought refuge with my brother-in-law in the Hay al-Amal neighbourhood of Khan Younis. When Hay al-Amal came under attack, they moved to al-Mawasi, but shelter was hard to find in the overcrowded area. Their next stop was Rafah and then back to Khan Younis when Rafah was destroyed.

Exhausted but resolute, Suzan declared, “If we are to die, then let it be in Nuseirat near our home. We will live there, or we will die there, but I will not die far from home.” So she and her family made the impossible journey from Khan Younis to Nuseirat camp, miraculously making it past Israeli forces blocking off the way between al-Zawaida and Nuseirat.

Perhaps Majdiya’s only consolation in her unimaginable grief was that she was able to offer Suzan and her two great-grandchildren a dignified burial, wrapping them in white shrouds.

So many families, especially in the north, have been denied even the basic means for honouring their dead. Some have been forced to wrap their dead loved ones in blankets, others in plastic garbage bags.

This inability to provide loved ones a respectful farewell makes the pain and grief much more unbearable. This, of course, is an intentional erosion of dignity. The Israeli army appears to be following the words of retired General Giora Eiland, the author of the “General’s Plan”, who said at a Knesset meeting: “What matters to [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar is land and dignity, and with this manoeuvre, you take away both land and dignity.”

This is the painful reality of Gaza – a reality hidden from global view, yet demanding urgent attention and action. While the world may be absorbed by the political drama in the US, Gaza faces systemic extermination, dehumanisation and brutality. To ignore this suffering is to be complicit in the erasure of a people and their history. Palestinian people will neither forget nor forgive.

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2...-hasnt-stopped