Israeli forces kill 14 Palestinians during refugee camp siege in West Bank
Press TV – April 20, 2024
The Israeli regime’s forces have gunned down at least 14 Palestinians, including 10 fighters, during their ongoing days-long siege on Nour Shams, a refugee camp located in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
“So far, our crews have evacuated 14 martyrs from Nour Shams camp to the hospital,” the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Saturday.
News agencies, meanwhile, reported sighting Israeli drones loitering overhead and armored vehicles roaming throughout the camp.
Earlier, the Palestinian health ministry said it had confirmed that as many as 11 people had been injured by the troops. Seven of those injured had been “wounded by live gunshots,” it said, adding that among the wounded was a paramedic shot while trying to get to the wounded.
Medics had been alerted to “a number of killed and injured” inside the camp, but the army was “denying them access to tend to the wounded,” the ministry noted.
Minister Muayad Shaaban, head of the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, said residents were suffering from the “destruction of homes, shops, the electricity grid, the sewerage, the water network, and infrastructure.”
The Israeli military began its siege on the camp on Thursday, rolling bulldozers into the area, and deploying military vehicles on all routes leading to the camp.
The military began destroying main streets, alleyways, water, and wastewater networks inside the camp.
Reporting on Friday, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency said, “They (Israeli forces) turned some houses into military outposts, deployed snipers and prevented ambulances from entering the camp to evacuate patients.”
Also on Friday, the Israeli military killed Muhammad Samer Jaber, commander of the Tulkarm Brigade, a Palestinian resistance group affiliated with Saraya al-Quds, the military wing of the Gaza Strip-based Islamic Jihad movement, and a number of resistance fighters.
The Israeli regime has notably escalated its aggression against Palestinians across the West Bank since October 7, when it began an all-out genocidal war on Gaza.
Around 480 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank ever since the onset of the war that has claimed the lives of more than 34,000 people so far.
Zionist efforts against Palestinian statehood come crashing down
By Hannan Hussain | Al Mayadeen | April 21, 2024
What a sight.
In Europe, the Israeli occupation’s lobbying against a Palestinian state is falling apart fast. For years, pro-Zionist forces have sought to justify support for the illegal occupation and acquire a pass for genocidal atrocities committed in Gaza. But rising initiative in Europe, particularly from Spain and Ireland, shows that “Israel” is no one to influence attitudes towards Palestinian liberties. The occupation regime’s prolonged onslaught on Gaza is only fueling statehood momentum in Europe.
Begin with Spain. Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares recently said that all EU members must recognize Palestinian statehood “in a coordinated manner without delay.” Madrid’s initiative is part of a wider effort to engage with European capitals in the face of Israeli belligerence. More nations such as Ireland, Malta, and Slovenia have expressed their readiness to recognize Palestine, marking a departure from collective silence over Israeli war crimes, mass slaughter, and belligerence.
Europe has long maintained silence on the issue, caving into Israeli occupation lobbying and preferring to overlook Palestinian freedoms. But Brussels knows that its position is increasingly untenable. It needs to understand that the path to enduring peace is one that is negotiated on Palestine’s own terms, beginning with the long-delayed recognition of the state itself – an undeniable fact.
Zionist lobbying is bound to hit more brick walls. Consider EU’s High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell: he recently convened a gathering of all bloc foreign ministers to project bloc unity and muster consensus on the crisis. By continuing such attempts, Brussels stands a better chance to gain an autonomous outlook on the root causes of “Israel’s” war on Gaza. After all, “Israel” wants to keep such prospects out of sight, and frets at its possibility. For instance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu balks at the prospect of a Palestinian state, because this would demand an end to the illegal occupation itself.
Now as more countries in Europe open up dialogue on the all-important statehood issue, Brussels needs to keep pushing towards a unified approach. After all, there is a growing realization among some states that the “only way to achieve peace and security” is to recognize the Palestinian state. This is important because “Israel” has long benefitted from EU’s divided approach towards Palestinian liberties, as only eight EU states presently recognize Palestinian statehood. This broad-based indifference needs to end.
A joint approach could also play an important role in coordinating differences among several European countries. This would demand a process-driven approach which the occupation frets. Consider the fact that “Israel” has banked on the pro-Israeli support of countries such as Germany to do its bidding in the past. It feels it can skirt accountability for its war crimes as long as scores of countries turn a blind eye to the fundamental and inalienable rights of Palestinians. The EU’s course correction is thus long overdue, and more states appear to realize that. In order to truly deliver justice and lasting stability, it is imperative for the EU to address the root causes that have sustained this status-quo of oppression, largely through Europe’s own sponsorship.
Interestingly, “Israel’s” unwarranted provocations with Iran, and its push to expand genocidal spillovers, could add more fuel to the statehood momentum. For instance, Portugal says it could potentially recognize Palestine if the EU demonstrates a joint approach on the matter. As “Israel’s” protracted regional war prompts more fears in European capitals, scrutiny is once again razor-focused on bringing an end to this vicious cycle of instability. That cycle demands principled action on Palestinian statehood.
“Israel’s” pro-occupation media machinery would unquestionably downplay momentum for statehood in Europe, and project “Israel’s” genocidal interests as central to Europe’s own. This is largely because changing attitudes among European states are a direct threat to “Israel’s” system of apartheid, land theft, settler violence, and state-sponsored violence on Palestinian soil for decades. Moreover, “Israel’s” blatant lobbying against a statehood consensus in Europe cannot alter the facts on the ground: many countries are taking Palestine’s long-due recognition with greater seriousness than seen in some time.
Look no further than Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani. He recently spoke about the possibility of a Palestinian state that is recognized with the support of other countries. Not too long ago, such statements and references to Palestinian statehood were seen as taboos in Europe at the policy level. But “Israel’s” ongoing genocide has delivered a reality check over many EU assumptions favoring the occupation.
True, it is a long road ahead for the EU bloc which entails many member states that are complicit in aiding “Israel’s” assault on Palestine. But Spain and Ireland’s combined resolve to muster broad-based EU support on Palestinian statehood, in defiance of Israeli lobbying, is proof that much can be accomplished to the detriment of pro-Zionist forces.
Europe’s history of shielding “Israel” from war crimes and international accountability demands that it comes through.
How Iran’s ‘Operation True Promise’ revealed Jordan’s unholy alliance with Israeli regime
By Humaira Ahad | Press TV | April 21, 2024
Following Iran’s retaliatory military operation against Israel last Saturday, the so-called “defensive military alliance” formed by the Zionist regime comprised an odd member.
Apart from the regular Western allies of the Tel Aviv regime, including the United States, Britain, and France, Jordan was also part of this ‘unholy alliance”.
As per reports, Jordan opened its airspace to the Israeli regime and its Western allies to down some of the Iranian drones at the risk of putting its own people in harm’s way.
Being equipped with only about 60 older F-16 and F-5 aircraft, the Hashemite Kingdom lacks the capacity to independently intercept Iranian drones and missiles headed toward the occupied lands.
An Israeli media channel reported that Israeli fighter jets as well as French air defenses intercepted drones launched by Iran in the airspace of Jordan, drawing widespread anger and outrage.
Following the operation, which came in response to the Israeli attack on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Syria, the Jordanian government issued a statement, vaguely admitting its role.
“Some unidentified flying objects that entered our airspace last night were dealt with and intercepted to prevent endangering the safety of our citizens and inhabited areas,” read the statement.
Jordan’s active involvement in intercepting some Iranian drones enraged people around the world who saw it as an act of betrayal especially at a time when Israel has killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza.
With more than 60 percent of Jordan’s population being of Palestinian descent, the Kingdom’s military cooperation with Israel is not only considered treacherous but cowardly.
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal onslaught on Gaza, thousands of people have been protesting regularly outside the Israeli embassy in Amman, calling for a reversal of the 1994 Israel-Jordan treaty.
The kingdom has often resorted to the heavy use of force, arresting the protesters and exhibiting disdain for its commitments as an Arab-Muslim nation towards the Palestinian cause.
Jordan’s relations with Israel
Jordan’s opposition to Palestinian resistance became evident in 1970 when the Arab country massacred thousands of Palestinians. The tragic event called “Black September” was aimed at expelling the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) from Jordan.
The expulsion was backed by then-King Hussein bin Talal, who reportedly received support from the Zionist regime and its Western backers.
In 1994, Jordan and Israel signed the Israel–Jordan peace treaty. Thus, Amman became the second Arab country after Egypt to recognize the occupying regime. Since then, the two sides have shared close diplomatic relations with Jordan practically consigning the Palestinian cause into oblivion.
On his visit to Jordan in 2016, former Israeli President Reuven Rivlin spoke at the country’s Independence Day reception. He praised the close ties between Amman and Tel Aviv stating.
“Israel is proud to be Jordan’s partner and to stand at Jordan’s side…over the last year, your kingdom has played a critical role in dealing with the violence in Jerusalem which is holy to all of us.”
At an event in 2022, Jordan and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding on water and energy.
In January this year, Jordan’s Prime Minister Bisher al Khasawaneh said that peace with Israel remained a strategic choice for the kingdom, in complete disregard for Palestinians massacred in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s secret visits to Jordan
After the establishment of relations with the Zionist regime in 1994, most of the dealings between the two sides have been secretive and away from the media limelight.
In January 2023, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a surprise visit to Jordan to meet King Abdullah II. It was Netanyahu’s first known visit to Amman since a secret trip in 2018.
Amid attempts by then-US President Donald Trump to broker a deal for the infamous Abraham Accords, Netanyahu paid a secretive visit to Jordan in 2018.
He was accompanied by the then Mossad Director Yossi Cohen, military secretary Eliezer Toledano and other members of his cabinet.
Netanyahu participated in a secret summit in Aqaba in 2016. The meeting that was arranged by then-US Secretary of State John Kerry included King Abdullah and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi.
Following the Jerusalem intifada, the Hashemite King Abdullah met Netanyahu in November 2014 in Jordan.
Western military bases in Jordan
Western countries that helped the Israeli regime intercept some Iranian drones during ‘Operation True Promise’ are believed to have used military bases in Jordan.
US troops are stationed at the Tower 22 military base in northeastern Jordan, near the Syrian border, supporting Israel’s military operations.
The United States has at least 3000 military personnel stationed in the West Asian kingdom.
In 2022, America announced the headquarters of its 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing’s air combat command as Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in the eastern city of Azraq, located near the border of Iraq and Syria.
As per a 2023 report by the US Congress, an agreement between the two sides allows US forces, vehicles and aircraft to enter and move around Jordan freely.
UK and France also have a significant presence inside Jordan. Military personnel from the two countries are present at King Faisal Air Base in Al-Jafr and the Humaymah base near Aqaba.
French troops at King Faisal Air Base, known as Al-Ruwaished Base, which is close to Al-Tanf have been involved in espionage activities in Iran, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. The airport of the military base is believed to be used by both Israeli and US drones.
In December 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron paid a visit to French forces stationed at the Al-Ruwaished base. The Jordanian base is perceived to protect the occupying regime.
Jordan-Israel military cooperation
Jordanian Air Force pilots trained with the Israeli military in 2015 at a US-hosted air force exercise.
The cooperation was confirmed by then-Israeli war minister Moshe Ya’alon. A Jordanian pilot Majdi al-Samdi who refused to be a part of the joint military exercise was discharged from the Hashemite Kingdom’s air force.
In 2016, a delegation of almost a dozen Jordanian generals went on a three-day visit to the occupied territories to participate in an international conference with the Israeli military.
Apart from allowing the US to use its territory for the transportation of heavy military equipment to Israel, Jordan has been accepting arms from the child-killing regime.
Retired US-supplied Cobra combat helicopters were given to the kingdom by Israel in 2015. The handover was approved and facilitated by the United States.
Global anger against Jordan
Muslims around the world, including Jordanians, have expressed their disgust at the hypocrisy of Amman that on the one hand condemns Israel’s military aggression on Gaza and calls for a ceasefire and on the other hand, helps the regime against an unprecedented Iranian military operation.
Dima Khatib, the managing director of Aljazeera’s online platform AJ+, labeled the interceptions in the Jordanian airspace “a shocking scene”.
“Sister countries are responding, not to the attack of Israeli planes, drones and missiles on Palestine, but to an attack on Israel… There are Arab citizens who pull the trigger to protect Israel and watch when the Palestinians are bombed,” he wrote on social media.
Daniella Modos, UK-based campaigner quoted the Middle East Eye’s editor-in-chief David Hearst as saying that while Jordanians cheered the Iranian attack, the Jordanian government stood with Israel.
“While the population of Jordan cheered the Iranian missiles onto their targets in Israel, the Jordanian army shot them down on Israel’s behalf. Israel may be celebrating the fact they have real allies, but by doing so they are fatally undermining their friends’ legitimacy,” Modos wrote.
Masoud Khodabandeh, former director of Middle East Strategy Consultants and a freelance consultant, took to X to denounce Jordan’s role in helping the regime to intercept some Iranian missiles.
Referring to King Abdullah, Khodabandeh wrote, “Guess how many Israeli missiles going toward Palestinian women and children he downed during 6 months of Gaza Genocide?”
Marwa Osman, a Lebanon-based journalist and Press TV show host, quoted an Israeli newspaper as saying that the regime is set to approve a water agreement in exchange for Amman’s help.
“The Israeli YediothAhronoth newspaper: After the great assistance provided by Jordan in intercepting the Iranian attack on Israel: Energy Minister Eli Cohen is expected to approve Jordan’s request to extend the water agreement for another year,” Osman wrote.
“Think about it… Jordanians will use the water for Wudu before prayers… for a whole year… in return for “protecting Israel”. And it is STOLEN PALESTINIAN WATER! Wow.”
Nerdeen Kiswani, a Palestinian activist based in New York, pointed to the split between the monarchy and the Jordanian people concerning relations with the apartheid regime.
“So Jordan is killing its OWN people to defend Israel… Not surprising given that Jordan does not represent its people at all when it comes to normalization with the Zionists,” she wrote.
Rep. Gosar on Ukraine Vote: Congress ‘Seems to Want to Help Every Country Except America’
By Ilya Tsukanov – Sputnik – 21.04.2024
The House of Representatives gathered for a rare weekend session Saturday to advance $95 billion in new assistance for Washington’s foreign allies and clients, including just shy of $61 billion for Ukraine. Moscow slammed the decision, saying it signals US ruling elites’ commitment to Ukraine’s destruction in a hopeless proxy war against Russia.
Saturday’s vote to provide new US aid to Ukraine is a sign of the US political class’s readiness to “waste” taxpayer money abroad instead of using it to focus on issues Americans actually care about, Congressman Paul Gosar has told Sputnik.
“Unfortunately, 210 Democrats joined 101 Republicans in voting in favor of wasting more money on a war half a globe away. America is in a ditch and too many in Congress refuse to find the will to address the long list of issues ailing our nation,” Gosar, a Republican representing the state of Arizona, said.
“I’m angry that Congress and Joe Biden don’t hesitate to find another $60 billion for a corrupt country but are unbothered that inflation is 19% higher since Biden took office, gasoline is hovering around $4 a gallon nationwide, 11 million illegal aliens have poured into our country, interest rates for a home mortgage are 8%, our roads and bridges are in disrepair, our national debt is $34 trillion, real wages are in decline, parents have to decide between feeding their children or putting fuel in their automobile and we have a growing veteran homeless crisis in every corner of our country,” the lawmaker said.
Pointing out that he has voted consistently “against every dime wasted on the war in Ukraine” and “repeatedly called for peace,” since the escalation of the crisis in February 2022, Gosar confirmed that he voted against the $61 billion package which advanced through the House on Saturday as well.
“To say that I’m very unhappy that these politicians seem to want to help every single country except America is an understatement. I am beyond angry. It’s long past time we put America first,” he said.
Gosar is one of a handful of conservative Republicans in the House who have sought to rein in defense spending and US funding for conflicts abroad in favor of dealing with more urgent priorities facing the US, including economic issues, the debt and the border crisis.
Gosar joined Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky this week in a motion to oust Speaker Mike Johnson from his seat for advancing the Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan aid bills.
The Arizona congressman has taken a hardline, principled ‘America First’ foreign policy stance, voting Saturday against not only Ukraine aid, but against $14 billion in additional assistance to Israel. Last year, he joined Representative Matt Gaetz, Senator Rand Paul and others in calling for an end to the illegal US military presence in northeastern Syria. In 2021, he joined with House Republicans to vote to repeal the 2002 Congressional authorization for the Iraq War. In October 2022, he extended an invitation to Presidents Putin and Zelensky to come to Arizona to hold negotiations to end the Ukrainian crisis.
US Pumping Ukraine With Weapons to Protract War ‘Up Till Last Ukrainian’ – Moscow
Sputnik – 21.04.2024
MOSCOW – The United States is prepared to pour weapons into Ukraine as long as necessary and spare no Ukrainian lives to make sure that its proxy continues fighting Russia, including via terrorist attacks and killings of journalists, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
“The ruling elites in the US, regardless of party affiliation, are ready to arm the regime in Kiev so that it will be able to fight up till the last Ukrainian and continue, among other things, terrorist attacks on civilian targets on Russian territory, sabotage attacks and killing journalists,” the ministry said in a statement.
The White House is no longer counting on a “mythical Ukrainian victory,” but wants the Ukrainian army to hold out at least until the presidential election in the US, in order not to ruin the image of US President Joe Biden, the ministry noted.
“The actions of the US, as a de facto party to the conflict, will be unconditionally and decisively rebuffed, and Washington’s ever-deeper plunge into hybrid warfare against Russia will turn out to be as loud and humiliating of a fiasco for the United States as it was in Vietnam and Afghanistan. In any case, the feverish attempts to save [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky’s neo-Nazi regime are doomed to failure. The goals and objectives of the special military operation will be fully achieved,” the ministry added.
On Saturday, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that would unlock $60.84 billion in Ukraine-related aid, if approved by the Senate.
US could send more military personnel to Kiev – Pentagon
US Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine © John Moore/Getty Images
RT | April 21, 2024
The US is considering sending additional military advisers to its embassy in Kiev, Pentagon spokesperson Major General Pat Ryder told Politico magazine on Saturday.
The troops would be serving a non-combat role, primarily supporting logistics, monitoring the delivery of US weapons, and assisting with weapons maintenance.
The news comes as the US House of Representatives passed a $61 billion aid bill on Saturday, with the Pentagon saying that the package would include “things like air defense and artillery capabilities.”
Although Ryder did not specify how many personnel could be sent to Kiev, citing “operational security and force protection reasons,” sources familiar with the matter told Politico that the number would be up to 60.
The additional advisers could work at the Office of Defense Cooperation at the embassy, Ryder explained.
Ukraine is struggling to regain the initiative on the battlefield in the wake of a failed counteroffensive last summer, as well as more recent losses exacerbated by the dwindling supply of foreign ammunition.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently admitted that “things on the battlefield begin to shift a bit in Russia’s favor” with Kiev’s forces struggling “in terms of holding the line.” According to Politico, the advisers would be tasked with helping the Ukrainians with the newly delivered equipment as the fighting is expected to intensify during the summer.
Although President Joe Biden promised that American troops will not be sent to fight Russia in Ukraine, Moscow has repeatedly warned that it considers the US and other NATO members de facto participants in the conflict. Russia further criticized French President Emmanuel Macron and other European politicians who said that they could not rule out Western boots on the ground in Ukraine in the future.
Russia maintains that no amount of foreign aid would change the course of the conflict or save Ukraine from defeat.
Trump wants to ‘kill his opposition’ – Hillary Clinton
RT | April 20, 2025
Former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has claimed that the man who defeated her in the 2016 election, Donald Trump, is a wannabe strongman who aims to murder his political enemies.
Speaking in a podcast interview posted on Friday by Democrat activist Mark Elias, Clinton said American voters had underestimated how “dangerous” Trump would be as president. She likened Trump, now the presumptive Republican nominee in this year’s US presidential election, to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Putin does what [Trump] would like to do — kill his opposition, imprison his opposition, drive journalists and others into exile, rule without any check or balance,” Clinton said. “That’s what Trump really wants.”
Ironically, Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have themselves long been accused by some conservatives of eliminating people who pose a threat to their power or wealth. In fact, investigative journalist Danny Casolaro coined the conspiracist term “Clinton Body Count” in the late 1980s, in reference to the allegedly mysterious deaths of people with connections to the Clintons. Casolaro was found dead in a West Virginia hotel room in 1991 with his wrists slashed 10-12 times. His death was ruled a suicide.
Hillary Clinton also has made a habit of linking Trump to Russia and Putin. Her presidential campaign helped trigger allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 election by funding the since-discredited Steele dossier.
She told Elias that Putin is just one of the US adversaries whom Trump would like to emulate, and that his other role models include Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
“We have to be very conscious of how he sees the world because in that world, he only sees strongman leaders,” Clinton said. “He sees Putin. He sees Xi. He sees Kim Jong-un in North Korea. Those are the people he is modeling himself after, and we’ve been down this road in our world history. We sure don’t want to go down that again.”
If Trump is elected president again, Clinton warned, “it will be like having a dictator. I don’t say that lightly. Go back and read Project 2025. They’re going to fire everybody. The person in the government who knows about what may be the next pandemic? ‘Get rid of him, he didn’t vote for me, or I don’t like the way he looks.’”
She added: “It’s really important to think about what could happen to our world with Trump back in the White House – withdrawing us from NATO, not caring about what happens in Europe . . . the idea that he wants Ukraine to fail, the idea that he doesn’t want us to be able to surveil our enemies. I mean, this is a very scary prospect.”
Clinton expressed optimism that Trump will not be able to defeat incumbent President Joe Biden in November because Democrats will be running the election in key states, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Arizona.
Trump has maintained that all allegations against him are part of a politically motivated smear campaign. He dismissed the ‘Russiagate’ accusations as a hoax and witch hunt that aimed to sabotage his presidency and block him from forging better US relations with Russia.
‘Pariah’ Israel Dragging US ‘Into Garbage Bin of History’
By Ian DeMartino – Sputnik – 20.04.2024
On Friday, the US vetoed granting Palestine full membership in the UN, which was promised to the Palestinians in 1948 when the state of Israel was created. The US has been Israel’s strongest supporter in the UN, previously vetoing three ceasefire resolutions before finally allowing a fourth to pass through abstention last month.
Earlier, Israel struck Iran in response to Iran’s attack last week, which was itself a response to Israel attacking Iran’s consulate in Damascus earlier this month. The attack, which was described by both sides as minor, came after Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not respond until after Passover, which runs from April 22 to April 30.
Israel’s apparent insistence on launching a regional war in the Middle East is dragging the United States with it “Into the garbage bin of history,” and US lawmakers seem willing to watch it happen, journalist Esteban Carrillo, the head of news at The Cradle, told Sputnik’s Political Misfits on Friday.
While discussing the recent US vote against Palestinian statehood in the UN, Carrillo explained that it is working against US interests.
“It’s completely a case of the tail wagging the dog. And US politicians just seem so content to just go along with it,” he explained. “What does Netanyahu have over the heads of these people? Because it doesn’t seem like they are even willing to consider at this point stepping away from this pariah that is just dragging them down into the garbage bin of history.”
Tensions between Iran and Israel seem to have cooled somewhat after Israel’s attack was so minor. Explosions were heard near an Iranian base outside of Isfahan, but Iran claimed there was no damage or injuries. A second attack against the city of Tabriz was likewise thwarted.
The attack, which Iran claims came from within its own territory, seemed designed to make Israel not appear “as weak as they are,” Carrillo explained. “After six months of flattening Gaza and killing tens of thousands of Palestinians, they have failed to achieve a single strategic objective against Hamas.”
However, the small scope of the attack also seemed designed to allow Israel to “play tough guy” without igniting a larger conflict.
“Iran’s response over [Friday morning’s] attack is essentially summed up in ‘what strike? What happened? Our air defenses took everything down,’” said Carrillo.
But that doesn’t mean Israel is finished. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still determined to keep the war going to ward off political and legal challenges facing him. “I don’t think that we’re out of the water yet in terms of [Israel] dragging the United States into a regional war,” Carrillo explained, adding earlier that it isn’t hard to convince US lawmakers to join fights. “The United States government for so long now, hasn’t seen a war they didn’t want to be a part of.”
“The Israeli government currently, I don’t see them having an exit. They retaliated in such a small way overnight against Iran. That doesn’t mean they’re not going to try to do something in Lebanon, and that doesn’t mean at all that they’re not going to try to do something in Gaza,” Carrillo said, noting reports that the US is now on board with an Israeli plan to invade the southern Gazan city of Rafa, where roughly 1.5 million Palestinians fled to after being forcibly displaced by Israel.
Macron’s Olympic truce call takes gold for western cynicism
Strategic Culture Foundation | April 19, 2024
French President Emmanuel Macron wants a truce in Ukraine and Gaza for the duration of the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.
Macron said this week that his proposal is consistent with the ancient concept of an Olympic Truce when, historically, hostilities would be put to the side to showcase higher ideals of human fraternity and peaceful aspiration. In short, demonstration of the edifying notion that sport is above politics.
Russia responded that it was not against the idea in principle. However, Moscow pointed out that Macron’s Olympic peace idea lacks any practical details to vouchsafe a genuine initiative.
To put it more bluntly, the French leader has no credibility to proffer such a potentially important accord. His vague proposal is riddled with contradictions.
Only a few weeks ago, Macron was airing the idea of sending NATO troops to fight in Ukraine against Russia. He has not retracted that reckless provocation, which could escalate the conflict to a world war between nuclear powers.
Now we are to believe that Monsieur President is a tribune for world peace.
Paris and other NATO capitals are desperately pushing for more weapons to be sent to the NeoNazi regime in Kiev. The NATO proxy war against Russia is in its third year and is increasingly looking like a lost cause for Washington and its Western allies. Not one Western leader is prepared to give up the ghost of this bloody debacle to strategically defeat Russia by exploring a diplomatic solution to the war.
How then can Macron’s supposed concern for an Olympic Truce be taken seriously?
As for Gaza, France and its NATO partners have been complicit in sponsoring a genocide over the past six and half months. The Israeli regime’s massacre of over 34,000 Palestinians – a death toll that mounts every week – and its continuing starvation siege on the Gaza Strip are crucially enabled by the military and political support of the United States and the European Union.
As if that is not bad enough, France, the United States and Britain are de facto supporting Israel’s aggression towards Iran, as well as Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen. The Western trio are helping Israel’s air defenses while at the same time condemning Iran and imposing economic sanctions. Their tacit involvement is green-lighting more Israeli belligerence and violation of international laws which is corroding the entire fabric of global security.
Given the appalling culpability of the Western powers in fueling these explosive conflicts, it is the height of duplicity for Macron to turn around and make his pompous proposal for a truce during the Summer Games being held in Paris from July 26 to August 11.
The real concern for Macron is to showcase France in all its presumed greatness in a worldwide spectacle.
The narcissistic Macron is driven by self-aggrandizing ambition and delusions of grandeur as a world statesman and the president who restored France’s international prestige. It is this same megalomania that drives his recent calls for greater NATO involvement in the proxy war in Ukraine. The former Rothschild banker and now Napoleon wannabe is a charlatan who is completely bereft of any principles.
Significantly, the opening ceremony for the Summer Games is planned to take place along the Seine River in the form of an extravagant regatta. This arrangement breaks with the modern tradition of all Olympics being opened in the main stadium that hosts the sporting events. The Stade de France is located outside the French capital. One gets the distinct impression that Macron wants the grand opening to be televised in the center of Paris simply for the purpose of showing off the capital and its renowned cultural landmarks.
For Macron, the quadrennial games are first and foremost all about displaying France in the best possible light to the world for political and commercial exhibition. The games themselves are a vehicle for his vainglorious ambitions.
The truth is the Olympic Games and other international sporting events have long been hijacked by Western politics for their imperialist agenda.
When the U.S. and its NATO allies were waging illegal wars in countless countries in Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, there were never calls for an Olympic Truce. There were never calls for banning the U.S. and its allies from participating in games even though there were substantial grounds for such calls.
Russian athletes have for several years now been banned from sporting events based solely on trumped-up claims about drug abuse and other alleged infringements. As our columnist Declan Hayes has pointed out in several articles, Russia’s figure-skating champion Kamila Valieva and its other world-class athletes have been subjected to relentless Western efforts to destroy their reputations and participation in “NATO sporting circuses”.
Shamefully, the Western powers and their toxic mass media have done everything to ensure that politics are above sports. Sporting events have become just another adjunct of Western propaganda.
If Macron had any genuine motive for international peace, he would be calling for an end to arming the NeoNazi regime in Ukraine and advocating a credible diplomatic engagement with Russia.
If Macron earnestly wanted the Olympic Games to serve as an overture for peace and humanity, he would be calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and full respect for Palestinian national and human rights.
The Western-controlled International Olympic Committee has banned Russian athletes from participating in the games in Paris under their national flag. Their “concession” is that 40 Russian sportspeople may take part as long as they do so under a “neutral flag” and that they do not display any signs of supporting Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine. Why were such strictures not imposed on Americans or Britons during their criminal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Russia is banned yet Israel is allowed to send a full team in national colors while it conducts the worst genocide in modern times. The Western hypocrisy here is absolutely revolting and self-indicting.
Like a Greek tragedy, the rampant cynicism and abuse by Western powers are destroying the Olympic Games, the very event that they are trying to monopolize for their nauseating virtue signaling.
In a crowded Western field competing for the dubious title, Macron takes gold for cynicism.
Featured Video
John Mearsheimer Talking Iran with Iran
or go to
Aletho News Archives – Video-Images
Book Review & Summary
Calling of an Angel: The True Story of Rene Caisse and an Indian Herbal Medicine Called Essiac (1988)
Dr. Gary L. Glum – 30 Q&As – Book Review & Summary
Lies are Unbekoming | October 17, 2026
On June 10, 1975, Dr. Chester Stock, a vice president at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, wrote to a Canadian nurse named Rene Caisse: “Enclosed are test data in two experiments indicating some regressions in sarcoma 180 of mice treated with Essiac.” The sentence sat in a letter from one of the world’s largest private cancer research centers, concerning an herbal tea an elderly English woman had learned from an Ojibwa medicine man at a northern Ontario mining camp in the 1890s. The tests were terminated the following year after Sloan-Kettering admitted, in sworn affidavit three years later, that they had prepared the injectable solution improperly from the dried material supplied — freezing and thawing the herb rather than boiling it as Rene had instructed. By the time Calling of an Angel was published in 1988, Rene Caisse had been dead for a decade, having treated thousands of cancer patients across fifty-six years in her Bracebridge, Ontario kitchen, never charging a fee, and refusing every offer — from Memorial Sloan-Kettering, the National Cancer Institute, Merck, Parke Davis, and private corporations dangling contracts up to $1 million — to release her formula before the medical establishment admitted her remedy had merit. … continue
Blog Roll
Aletho News- Vice President J.D. Vance’s Deceptive ‘Antiwar’ Campaign Speech
- Iran: Palestinians’ rights must not be compromised in Gaza’s future; US, Israel to blame for Hormuz situation
- Ongoing tales of Syrian chemical weapons
- Moscow blasts UN for ignoring torture of Russian POWs
- Millions of Books Could Have Been Destroyed in Lebanon During Israeli Bombings
- Moscow warns of ‘hunt for Russians’
- Calling of an Angel: The True Story of Rene Caisse and an Indian Herbal Medicine Called Essiac (1988)
- South Korean Assistance to the U.S. in the War with Iran: Between Allied Duty and National Interests
- Pharma- and Gates-Funded GAVI Seeks to Assure Parents
- John Mearsheimer Talking Iran with Iran
- If Americans Knew
- Israeli soldiers debunk Israel’s talking points
- In West Bank, Israeli settlers are totally out of control – Daily Update
- NPR investigation finds evidence of widespread fraud at mall kiosks tied to Israeli skincare brand
- Tucker Carlson exposes Israeli Lies about the Oct 7th attack, Charlie Kirk, and the U.S.
- Israel has detained thousands of Palestinian children since Oct 7th – over half spent time in solitary, many uncharged
- Israeli Analysis: Is Netanyahu Planning an ‘October Surprise’ Attack Before Israel’s Election?
- Israeli settlers brutally attack Palestinians and Washington Post female photographer, 65
- Words Have Changed, Occupation Continues: The Reality of the Gaza Ceasefire
- Gaza’s child amputees are growing faster than their prosthetics allow
- Israel keeps Palestinians struggling just to survive–Daily Update
- No Tricks Zone
- New Study Suggests Large Regions Of The Pacific Ocean Have Been Cooling For The Last 80 Years
- Germany’s Green Energy Debacle: High Energy Costs Force Kahla Porzellan to Close After 182 Years!
- New Study: 50 Years Of The Most Aggressive ‘Net Zero’ Policies Can Only Affect The Global Climate By 0.03°C
- US September “Heat” Was No Record…Many Records Set Decades Ago
- Latest European Green Energy Debacle; Portugal’s Largest Flagship Solar Park Insolvent!
- Green Energy Debacle: German Expert Professor Fritz Vahrenholt Warns Of Severe Economic And Social Consequences
- Two More Paleo Reconstructions Affirm Meters-Higher Sea Levels Across Ireland, Brazil 7000-6000 Years Ago
- New Study: Earth And Venus Surface Warmth Largely Explained By Convection And Lapse Rate, Not CO2 Or Radiation
- 2025 Nature Paper Claiming Worsening Global Drought Gets RETRACTED …Heavily Flawed
- New Study: ‘Global Drought Shows No Detectable Recent Acceleration Under Climate Warming’
