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The U.S. Steals Syrian Oil, and the Kurds Sell It to Israel at a Discount in Erbil

By Steven Sahiounie | Strategic Culture Foundation | January 22, 2024

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRG) claimed responsibility for missile attacks on an Israeli “spy headquarters.” Kurdish businessman Peshraw Dizayee and four of his family members were killed in the attack on their home on January 16 near the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR).

Dizayee was the owner of the Falcon Group, which is a business involved in oil and gas, agriculture and security. The IRG claimed its missiles targeted a “Mossad headquarters”.

“No U.S. facilities were impacted. We’re not tracking damage to infrastructure or injuries at this time,” a U.S. official said in response to the recent attack.

Prime Minister of the IKR, Masrour Barzani, condemned the IRG attacks on Erbil.

The Oil business in Erbil

The oil business is thriving in IKR, and the Falcon Group was part of it. Kurdish oil has been exported to Israel, Italy, France and Greece through a secretive trade depending on pre-pay deals.

Israel buys much of its oil from Erbil, and Israel depends on the heavily discounted crude, making it a key customer. The oil is discounted to Israel because it is free, as the source is the stolen Syrian oil. 40% of Israel’s oil supplies were from IKR in the first three months of 2023, which doubled the amount in 2022.

Israel received its first substantial seaborne crude oil shipment from the IKR in 2014, which is the same time the U.S. occupation forces arrived in Syria. Israel was reportedly importing as much as three-quarters of its crude oil needs from the IKR by mid-2015.

Israeli refineries and oil companies imported almost $1 billion worth of Kurdish oil between May and August of 2023, according to shipping data, trading sources and satellite tanker tracking, which represents about 77 % of average Israeli demand, which runs at roughly 240,000 barrels per day. More than a third of all of the northern Iraqi exports, which are shipped from Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, went to Israel over the period.

According to anonymous sources, it was a Mossad agent who first traveled to Erbil to negotiate the deal to buy oil from IKR, which was facilitated by U.S. officials.

The U.S. Consulate in Erbil

The new U.S. Consulate General building in Erbil, near the attack carried out by Iran, is the biggest consulate complex built by the U.S. Embassies and Consulates are under the U.S. State Department, but the consulate in Erbil has a connection to the U.S. Department of Defense, demonstrating the strategic importance of the region for Washington, with a U.S. military base also in IKR.

Irvin Hicks, Jr., the U.S. Consul General in Erbil, stated in January 2023, that the new 800-million-dollar consulate building is a clear statement that the “United States of America is not going anywhere.”

The U.S. first opened a diplomatic office in Erbil in February 2007, and later upgraded to a consulate general in 2011, the same year the U.S.-NATO attack on Syria began for regime change, under the Obama-Biden administration.

The U.S. embassy in Baghdad was built in 2009 and is its biggest mission compound in the world at a cost of $750 million. Iraqi Kurdistan and the Iraqi central government in Baghdad operate separately, as the Kurds are a semi-autonomous region.

Erbil has 30 consulates, six honorary consulates, and six foreign trade offices, with the Japanese consulate the latest to open on Jan. 11.

“Opening more than 30 consulates is not normal,” Iranian Brigadier General Mohammad Hossein Rajabi criticized. Most of these consulates are used for espionage activities.”

Iran views the foreign offices as having the potential to carry out plans aimed at destabilizing the security of Iran, by hosting Iranian separatist groups and bases aligned with Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.

The Iraqi response to the Genocide in Gaza

“On October 20, 2023, the Department ordered the departure of eligible family members and non-emergency U.S. government personnel from U.S. Embassy Baghdad and U.S. Consulate General Erbil due to increased security threats against U.S. government personnel and interests,” according to the State Department’s Iraq travel advisory.

Iraqis have taken to the streets to protest the U.S. complicity in the genocide being committed in Gaza by Israel. U.S. President Joe Biden has defied the American values of human rights and international law by continuing to send weapons to Israel to promote the wholesale slaughter of the Palestinian civilians of Gaza, even in the face of international criticism which has lowered the image of America as a beacon of freedom to a joke.

Protests have taken place outside of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and military groups which are under the central government of Iraq have fired rockets and armed drones at U.S. troops based in Anbar and near Erbil multiple times. Baghdad does not recognize Israel; however, the IKR are aligned with the U.S., and sell the stolen oil from Syria to the prime U.S. ally, Israel.

The U.S. invaded and destroyed Iraq in 2003, and occupied the country for years until a withdrawal. When ISIS reared its ugly head, the Baghdad government requested U.S. troops to come to help in the fight against ISIS, which saw its defeat at the hands of Iraq, Syria, Russia, and the U.S. The Iraqi parliament ordered the U.S. troops to leave after the defeat of ISIS in 2017, but the Department of Defense refused. The Prime Minister of Iraq has recently ordered the U.S. troops to leave immediately following the U.S. assassination of Mushtaq Jawad Kazim al-Jawari in Baghdad on January 4, an Iraqi military commander who was instrumental in the defeat of ISIS.

The PKK in Syria and Erbil

The PKK aligned SDF in north east Syria is U.S. supported. The U.S. military in Syria are occupying the largest oil field in Syria, which prevents the Damascus government from using the oil to provide electricity to the Syrian people, who suffer with just 3 hours of electricity per day.

In December 2023, 44-tanker convoy carrying oil stolen from Syria traveled clandestinely to U.S. bases near Erbil. Just days before, U.S. forces took 95 tankers of oil and a truckload of stolen Syrian wheat to IKR. The Syrian wheat fields are also in the area the U.S. troops occupy and the area is controlled by Kurds who are aligned with the IKR.

Farhan Jamil Abdullah, head of the Syrian Oil Company, said in July that as a result of the U.S. sanctions and military occupation in Syria, oil production has decreased to 15,000 barrels per day from 385,000 barrels before 2011.

Firas Hassan Kaddour, the Syrian Oil Minister, said in July that the losses of the energy sector in Syria are close to 100 billion U.S. dollars.

The main oil field of Al Omar and Conoco in Syria are producing oil which is shipped in tankers by the U.S. Army and refined at Kar Oil Refinery in Erbil.

The U.S. sponsors the SDF militia in Syria which is dominated by the YPG. The YPG is the Syrian branch of the PKK, a group recognized by Turkey, as well as the U.S. and the EU, as a terrorist organization, who have killed more than 40,000 persons over decades.

Turkey has condemned the U.S. alliance with the SDF and YPG, and considers the U.S. is financing terrorism.

The commander of the SDF is General Mazloum Kobani, who is also a member of the PKK. His real name is Ferhat Abdi Sahin, is one of Turkey’s most wanted terrorists. Kobani was chosen by the U.S. as their military ally and it is at Kobani’s command that the stolen Syrian oil is loaded into tankers.

Erdogan has demanded for years that the U.S. must stop supporting the SDF, YPG, and to stop encouraging the Kurds to establish an independent homeland in north east Syria on the border with Turkey, which is a NATO member, and ally of the U.S., housing an American military base there.

January 22, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nasrallah: October 7 foreshadows the Liberation of all Palestine

RESISTANCE NEWS | JANUARY 19, 2024

Speech by Hezbollah Secretary General, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, on January 3, 2024, on the commemoration of the 4th anniversary of the assassinations of Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis:

[…] I now come to the third part of my remarks, devoted to Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood”. This operation was launched on October 7 by our brothers from the Izz al-Dine al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas’ armed wing), and our brothers from Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian factions joined them. The causes which led to this operation were recalled by the leaders of our brothers of Hamas, (Islamic) Jihad and other factions of the Resistance, and I myself spoke about it in detail in a previous speech, namely everything concerning the oppression of the Palestinian people for 75 years, the issue of the prisoners oppressed and persecuted in Zionist prisons, the attacks and threats against the Al-Aqsa mosque, the dangers of deportation of Palestinians from the West Bank, the state of continued siege against Gaza and the desire to push for an internal struggle, the ultimate goal of which was, as we now see, the deportation of the inhabitants of Gaza, but via internal struggles and economic and social strangulation. The causes and objectives of the Al-Aqsa Flood were therefore clear and well known.

On October 8, Hezbollah entered battle on the northern border of occupied Palestine, which is the southern border of Lebanon, in a front line more than 100 kilometers long. Then, our brothers from the Islamic Resistance in Iraq also entered the battle by striking the bases of the US occupation in Iraq and Syria, and with direct strikes against the usurping entity with drones, against Eilat and other targets. Then our brothers in Yemen also entered the scene, with drone and missile strikes against the usurping entity, and with the qualitative, huge, grandiose and greatly influential initiative that is the challenge in the Red Sea. In every sense of the word, (banning Israeli and Israel-bound ships to navigate) is truly a courageous, wise, epic and effective action, to the highest degree.

The course of events is well known to you, and therefore I am not going to repeat things that you follow regularly, every day and every hour. What has been happening for 3 months and to this day is on the one hand a scene of sacrifices, martyrs, wounded, houses destroyed, families massively displaced inside Gaza, in the West Bank to a certain extent, and even in the south of Lebanon: it is the scene of the price to pay, of the dangers incurred. But alongside this scene, we have on the other hand the scene of endurance, determination, steadfastness, courage, combat, resistance, challenges, considerable losses inflicted on the enemy, an indomitable character and refusal to surrender. And the first example, the first frontline and the most grandiose is of course Gaza. And the rest of the Axis of Resistance is at its image.

In the light of these two scenes, there are (concrete) results. Sometimes we get lost in such or such detail, but in this section of my speech, I want to step back and look at the situation in general. When we see the scale of the results obtained, their importance and the considerable nature of the accomplishments achieved so far, and when we add to this what can be achieved subsequently, we become fully aware of the fact that this operation was necessary and bore fruit, and we accept more willingly and with satisfaction the scale of the sacrifices made, whether in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Iran and on all terrains and battlefields of (the Axis of) Resistance.

Allow me to quickly and succinctly cite the various achievements already obtained, even if each of them deserves to be devoted to an hour-long presentation, but we will only point them out briefly. And in truth, these are not my own statements, as I have only compiled some of them, and not all, because time does not allow me to mention everything. What I am going to tell you is what the Israelis themselves say, whether they are generals, former or current officials, analysts, experts and strategists from America or the Arab-Muslim world, and certain statements by Imam Khamenei, and many elites in the (Arab-Muslim) Community and in the world.

What I want to show you are some of the results that all this blood and sacrifice has achieved so far, results that will have a great influence on the future of Palestine, of the Palestinian cause, Lebanon and the entire region, but in particular Palestine and Lebanon, and generally for the entire Middle East.

I will list the points one by one quickly.

1/ The return of the Palestinian cause to the forefront and with force, after it had been almost forgotten and erased, which once again imposes the search for a solution everywhere in the world. This is why they come back to talk to us about the two-state solution, etc. Because before the Al-Aqsa Flood, the Palestinian cause was on the verge of being forgotten by everyone, except the Resistance (Axis) movements, with their stances, the annual commemorations of Al-Quds Day, etc.

2/ The failed Israeli calculations which counted on the fatigue of the Palestinians, their despair and the abandonment of their cause. The Al-Aqsa Flood demonstrated that these people, whose Resistance took the initiative to launch this operation, and which was followed by the endurance, determination and sacrifices of all the people of Gaza, all of this demonstrated that this Israeli calculation could not be more erroneous and illusory. The idea that the Palestinians will get tired, abandon their territories and forget their cause, and that the new generation, which is that of the Internet and social networks, will turn the page, is over. It was ended in the West Bank, by the Intifadas and the martyrdom operations, but the Al-Aqsa Flood came to deal it the fatal blow and bury it definitively. Today, Israel has clearly understood that it is facing a people who can never forget his land, his history, his present, his future and his holy places, and Israel’s elites express this with regret. Israel is mortified in the face of this ineradicable people after 75 years, and despite 75 years of repression, torture, imprisonment, deportation, refugee camps, and severe and very difficult living conditions.

3/ The increase in the level of support for the Resistance and the choice of the Resistance within the Palestinian people and the entire Arab-Muslim Community, despite the massacres and the attempts of some people to blame the massacres in Gaza on the victims, on the worthy men, on  the Resistance (Hamas) shamefully deemed responsible of Israel’s actions, and to exonerate the criminal, the bloodthirsty assassin, namely Israel. And it also has a huge influence on the future of the Palestinian cause. After everything that happened in Palestine, they thought that this annihilation of the Gaza Strip, these mass murders and these massacres would make the Palestinians regret having launched the October 7 operation, and that the people of Gaza would abandon the Resistance and turn against Hamas, Islamic Jihad, other factions and fighters, but polls clearly show that the level of support for the Resistance, the Resistance movements and in particular Hamas, which is most blamed in the Al-Aqsa Flood and its consequences, has never been higher in the history of Palestine, the Palestinian people and the Resistance movements in Palestine. This has a considerable influence on the future of this struggle.

4/ The decline of Israel and its image in the eyes of the whole world, despite all the efforts made over the last 20 years by the American and Western media, unfortunately assisted in this by part of the official Arab media which have also worked to beautify the image of Israel, and to present it as a state of law, a democratic state respectful of human rights. With Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and what followed, and what is happening today on all frontlines, Israel’s decline is total, whether in terms of morality, humanity or respect for the rule of law. Today, in the eyes of the whole world, Israel is a murderer of children, a murderer of women, a destroyer of homes, guilty of deportation of populations, expelling them from their homes, their neighborhoods and their land, a starver of peoples, a terrible oppressor and a terrorist for civilians, author of the greatest mass extermination of the century. The image of Israel is broken into a thousand pieces and will not recover. And this will also have a great influence on the conflict and on the equations of struggle in our region.

O my brothers and sisters, recently, polls have been published in the United States, questioning American youth, these American people who do not follow our media, and are fed from birth to death by the American media which are controlled by Zionists or groups that support Zionism. But in the face of the atrocious carnage taking place in Gaza, we see the influence of the blood of children, of women and of the enormous oppression inflicted on Palestinians, and the benefits of social networks, which they designed to destroy Islam, our values and the Resistance, but the spell has turned against the sorcerer, and we see the story of Pharaoh and the sorcerers (defeated by) Moses (and giving allegiance to him) repeating itself again. Faced with the current situation, more than 50% of American youth support not only the idea of granting their rights to the Palestinians, but they support the dismantling of the State of Israel and the attribution of all the (historical) land of Palestine to the Palestinian people. How could such a change have happened (without the Al-Aqsa Flood)? Who could have imagined such an upheaval in US public opinion? Of course, we must continue to act on it and develop it further, and this will have enormous and considerable influences in the United States.

5/ What happened during these 3 months dealt a fatal blow to the path of normalization (of the relations of Arab countries with Israel), which aimed to envelop the Palestinian people (with normalizing countries), to make Israel a normal country and to make us forget Palestine.

6/ It has become clear to the world… In Lebanon, we continually hear this refrain about (the necessary) respect for the international community and international resolutions. The United States regularly lectures us on international resolutions, and will continue to do so, as do the Europeans and the West [reminding us in particular of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559 calling for the disarmament of the Lebanese militias, which targets Hezbollah], as well as certain Americanized and Westernized Lebanese, accusing us of being the only ones who don’t respect the resolutions of the international community and international law. The Al-Aqsa Flood has established more clearly than ever before the eyes of the whole world, although it is not something new, the identity of those who truly defy the will of the international community. What is the international community? When all 193 countries in the world, including large, important and powerful countries, demand a complete ceasefire in Gaza, except for only 10 countries, namely the United States, Israel, the United Kingdom and others, and Israel trashes this resolution and couldn’t care less about it, who really respects the will of the international community and the UN resolutions? How many UN resolutions has Israel respected so far? From the first resolution (taken on the subject of occupied Palestine) to this day, until resolution 1701 (voted in 2006), as one of the leaders of a UN body devoted to human rights said, only during the last two months, the usurping entity has trampled on all existing international laws & resolutions. Israel spared nothing. And of course, the United States stands with Israel in brazenly disregarding and confiscating the will of the international community.

7/ If we consider Israel directly, let’s look at the very important results that have been achieved, and in light of which we must develop our stance. Israel’s strategic deterrence was shattered, even as they pinned their hopes on it and worked to restore it. Let us remember all the speeches made before the Al-Aqsa Flood, and all the debate about Israel’s deterrence capacity. The (regular) attacks against Gaza aimed to restore this deterrence. The power of Israel is a power of dissuasion, that is, it frightens and terrorizes neighboring countries and their peoples, in order to keep them at bay, to push them to surrender, to concessions, to submission, to renunciation of their rights and abandonment (of Palestine and other occupied territories). This is the history of Israel, which rests entirely on this deterrent force. It is a power of terror and intimidation, and that is its only strength. This deterrent capacity began to erode in 2000 (with the Liberation of South Lebanon), then again in 2005 (with the Liberation of Gaza), and further with Lebanon’s divine victory in 2006. And after 2006, they declared that they must restore this deterrence capability. But after the Al-Aqsa Flood, whether in Gaza, or after the opening of the front in Lebanon and elsewhere, especially in Yemen, this Israeli deterrence capacity collapsed. Why is it collapsing?

When Hamas and other Resistance factions launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, they were in no way deterred, frightened or terrorized. They knew very well the consequences of their actions, and anticipated Israel’s (murderous) reaction, but the cause deserved this level of initiative, and they were in no way deterred. When the Lebanese Resistance opened a front on October 8, it was in no way deterred, and indeed has never been deterred by Israel in its entire history; and today, Hezbollah is even bolder, and more ready than ever for confrontation and initiative. When Yemen took the initiative (attacking Israeli territory with missile and drone strikes and targeting its economic interests in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea), it was neither frightened nor deterred. Yemen gave no consideration to Israel. And in this regard, even the US deterrence capacity is greatly eroding. The Israeli deterrence capacity was not sufficient, and they called for help the US deterrence capacity, with its aircraft carriers, but even the US deterrence capacity was not enough, neither in the face of the Iraqi Resistance (which strikes US bases in Iraq and Syria and targets in Israel on a daily basis), nor the Lebanese Resistance (which has caused thousands of occupation soldiers to be killed and wounded since October 8), nor the men of God in Yemen (which are ready to enter into open war against the United States and its allies), nor anyone. And that is why American aircraft carriers are starting to leave the region, without having achieved any results. Thus, Israel’s strategic deterrence capacity is eroding, breaking and collapsing.

8/ The end of the (myth of the) superiority of Israeli intelligence. We have always been told, wrongly so, about the omniscience of Israel, its capacity to know everything, but this is not true. The Al-Aqsa Flood clearly demonstrated this.

9/ After the 2006 war, Israel launched the Winograd Commission, investigative committees and numerous studies, and reconsidered many of its strategies and postulates, correcting and amending its flaws, but since I don’t have time to address the subject in detail, I will only recall a sentence that they declared, namely that from now on, if Israel enters the war, it must be done on the basis of a “quick, clear, decisive and unequivocal victory”. This is what Ehud Barak and all the defense ministers and chiefs of staff who came after him said. Well, after 3 months, if we only talk about Gaza, there is no victory in sight, and even less a decisive, rapid, clear and unequivocal victory. Worse still, there is no one within the Zionist entity who claims to see any prospect of victory in Gaza. With their operation last night, they are trying to present an image of victory in the treacherous assassination of Sheikh Salah (al-Arouri in Beirut). But on the battlefield of Gaza, where is the quick, clear, decisive and final victory?

10/ The failure of the air force to achieve victory, even in a narrow area like the Gaza Strip. Of course, this is very important for us in Hezbollah, and for everyone who will think about national defense strategies.

11/ This is the most important and dangerous point (for Israel) regarding the results of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and everything that is happening in the adjacent axes and battlefields: the absence of trust of the people of the Zionist entity in the Israeli army, security services and political leaders. This goes to the heart, the very foundations of Israel’s existence and perpetuation. Today there are people who… I don’t want to use inappropriate terms, but I hope that their capacity of understanding will understand this idea. When some people hear Hamas, our brothers in Islamic Jihad or other leaders of the Palestinian Resistance factions declare that the Al-Aqsa Flood truly lays the foundation for the demise of the State of Israel and places this entity on the road to extinction, they laugh and mock these predictions, because they lack lucidity. But fundamentally, and I will read you a text which shows this, if Israel loses security, it cannot survive. Its people, its inhabitants will not stay there, because their link with the land is a false, artificial, hypocritical link, which has absolutely no authentic basis. You all know that in the original project of the Zionist movement, at the time of (Theodore) Herzl, 4 countries were envisaged to bring together the Jews: Argentina, Uganda, a European country and Palestine, which was just one choice among others. It was the British who brought them to Palestine.

In all the countries of the region, which are authentic countries, when for example a civil war breaks out in Lebanon for 30 years, Lebanon and the Lebanese people remain. When disaster and world war strike Syria, Syria and the Syrian people remain. When Iraq suffers siege and wars, Iraq and its people remain. The same goes for Yemen and other countries. But when it comes to Israel, things are very different. Israel is an artificial entity. Israel is a patchwork people, made from scratch out of people gathered from all corners of the world. Every Israeli has a dual nationality, and their suitcases are always ready (to flee Palestine in case of danger). The Israeli connection with the lands of Palestine is based on security, and on the idea that it is “the land flowing with milk and honey” (Torah). When the milk and honey stop flowing and they lose security, it’s over! Why did I talk about a liberation of Palestine in stages? The scene that we can already glimpse for the future of Israel is these Zionists who pack up and leave, via airports, ports, borders, crossing points. This is the scene that will (inevitably) happen.

Al-Aqsa Flood powerfully laid, or completed, the foundations of this scene. Do you want proof? Alright. I will read to you a statement from the current Israeli Minister of War, [Yoav] Galant. Many Israelis say the same thing, but I will relate his words to you. He declared: “Without the achievement of the announced objectives of the war…”, namely the liquidation of Hamas, the release of prisoners alive and without negotiation, these are the announced objectives, and security, political or administrative control over the strip of Gaza, which is one of the unannounced objectives, “Without the achievement of the announced objectives of the war, we will be in a situation where the problem will be that the (Israeli) citizens will not be willing to live…” not only around Gaza, not just in the North, on the border with Lebanon. Galant says the problem will not only be those displaced from the area around Gaza, and the border with Lebanon, but that “(Israeli) citizens will not be willing to live in this country.” Why is that? “Because we don’t know how to protect them.” What does that mean ? He states that if Israel does not achieve the aims of the war, they will have lost the fundamental pillar on which the survival of the State of Israel rests. And I declare to him that with the grace of God, you will not be able to achieve the objectives of the war. You will not be able to achieve the objectives of the war.

The Al-Aqsa Flood also ended the myth of Palestine as the world’s only safe haven for Jews. The conception of Zionism is that Jews were not safe anywhere in the world except in occupied Palestine, in the Israeli entity. The Al-Aqsa Flood and what is happening on all fronts, yes, what is happening on all fronts, even though the main battlefield is Gaza, what is happening in Gaza first and foremost, and also in the West Bank, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and the region has shaken this foundation, and will collapse the concept and idea of safe haven on which the emigration of millions of Jews (to Palestine) was based. And the reverse migration began. Reverse migration has already begun. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have left occupied Palestine (since October 7), most of them elites, wealthy people, etc.

12/ The image of Israel’s power has been shattered. This Israel which presents itself to such or such Arab country that I will not name, promising that it will protect and defend them, will send them its air force and its Iron Dome, that it represents security, infallible intelligence services and advanced technologies, this image of a powerful and capable Israel has collapsed. And Israel is now in a position of needing to be defended. So imagine what Israel’s situation would be if the Americans and their aircraft carriers had not come to the Mediterranean. Israel needed such intervention from the United States from the very first days.

13/ The extent of direct losses at more than one level, to an unprecedented degree (in the history of the Zionist entity). Human losses, killed, injured and disabled: the figures communicated by Israel are much lower than reality. On our Lebanese front, in the north of occupied Palestine, Israel does not recognize any killed or wounded, but they number in the thousands. I will talk about it in detail in my speech scheduled for this Friday (January 5), with the grace of God. The (very large) number of vehicles and tanks whose destruction is announced every day (by the Resistance factions), the psychological situation…

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reports that as a result of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and its aftermath, so far, 300,000 new people have requested psychiatric care. 300,000 people requested psychiatric care! Will they stay here (in occupied Palestine)? That’s very unlikely! There are dangers, fear, worry, there is no security, and a difficult psychological situation. Do you want to live in peace? Let those who have a US passport return to the United States, let the British return to Great Britain, the French to France, etc. This is the only future available to you, O Israelis. And the land of Palestine, from the (Jordan) River to the (Mediterranean) Sea, belongs only and exclusively to the noble, fighting, enduring and patient Palestinian people, and to no one else!

Israel therefore has a (very worrying) psychological situation, reverse migration, hundreds of thousands of displaced people, even if they conceal the real figures. A few days ago they declared that in the north (on the Lebanese border) there were only 60 to 70,000 displaced people, in order to diminish the importance of this front, but Netanyahu made a slip of the tongue one day and said there were 100,000. And a few days ago, a US newspaper reported Israeli officials saying there were 230,000 displaced people in the north of occupied Palestine. All these displaced people represent a burden for the enemy government (which had to rehouse them, provide for their needs, etc.). Not to mention the economy, which has been slowing down or even is at a standstill for 3 months: there is no tourism, no agriculture, no industry. And what is Israel without an economy? The cost amounts to tens of billions of dollars, and US aid will not succeed in filling this financial gap. Of course, in this regard, the action of our brothers in Yemen in the Red Sea has a huge influence on the Israeli economy.

14/ The Israeli’s unability and failure to achieve even the slightest of its objectives. Israel has not achieved the slightest of its (military) objectives (announced in Gaza). Do not imagine that if today the United States is asking Israel to withdraw from the cities (of Gaza), it is out of fear for (the lives of) the Palestinians: it is for the Israelis that they fear! It is possible that our brothers in the Palestinian Resistance ardently wish that the Israeli (soldiers) remain where they are, in the cities, to continue to eliminate them morning and evening, by the destruction of their tanks and vehicles, sniper operations, direct targeting, etc. Israel has not achieved any goals. They were unable to free any prisoners alive. They have not been able until now, and will never be able to impose their political will on the Gaza Strip, nor on the future form of the administration of Gaza.

15/ Another very important result obtained which will accelerate the death of this entity is the (unprecedented) scale of internal divisions. Just wait until the war stops. All (Israeli political and military leaders) without exception, even within the same party, hold a dagger hidden behind their back, and as soon as the war ends, and the questions, demands, commissions of inquiry and trials begin, we will see which Israel will emerge from the Al-Aqsa Flood (they are united today because it is wartime, but as soon as it is over, everyone will tear each other apart).

16/ The fact that the United States has been unmasked in the eyes of the whole world. After the neo-conservatives and the atrocious massacres perpetrated (by the Bush administration) in Afghanistan and Iraq, they gave us Obama, a Black man whose father was called Hussein, with African and Muslim roots, and whatnot. They have thus worked to restore their image in the Arab-Muslim world. And this deception worked to a certain extent. Then came the sedition of the Arab Spring, the sedition of ISIS – it was the Americans who created ISIS and they then presented themselves as the protectors of the Iraqi people against ISIS – and therefore tried to improve their image. One of the most important results of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is that it shattered the image of the United States, exposing it to its most abject realities. The most abject realities of the United States have been revealed (to the whole world, and to the Arab-Muslim world in particular). Because today, those who kill in Gaza are the United States, US decisions, US policies, US missiles and US shells. Those who are preventing the end of the war against Gaza are the United States.

Those who veto the UN Security Council are the United States. And the brazenness of the United States has reached the point where its spokespersons claim that Israel does not deliberately target civilians. 22,000 civilian martyrs, the vast majority of them women and children, but Israel does not deliberately target civilians, this is a mistake my dear friends, it is only “collateral damage”. Israel does not deliberately kill civilians or journalists. It clearly appears that it is the United States which is outside the international community, international law, international resolutions, human rights and humanist and humanitarian values (and which opposes them and constantly flout).

17/ And the last point that I submit to you before arriving at the last part of my speech, which will not be long, is that in what is happening in Gaza, there is a lesson for all of us: it is clearly established that international institutions, international organizations, the international community and international law are incapable of protecting any people whatsoever. They are incapable of protecting anyone. Remember this lesson, O Lebanese! There are still people in our country who, until today, despite 22,000 martyrs in Gaza, nearly 60,000 wounded, (despite this mass massacre which is taking place) under the helpless eyes of the international community, there are still those in Lebanon who tell Hezbollah to disarm, because the international community and international resolutions would be enough to protect Lebanon (in the event of an Israeli aggression). I’m sorry to say it, but it’s no longer a question of divergent points of view, where everyone has their own perspective and everyone’s opinions should be respected. Not at all. These people are blindly stubborn. The hearts, eyes and lucidity (of these people) are completely blind. “Truly it is not their eyes that are blind but their hearts which are in their breasts. » (Quran, 22, 46) Is this not the undeniable truth today?

What does this experience teach us? And here I enter the last part of my remarks. This experience teaches that if we are weak, the world will not give us any credit, will not protect us, will not defend us and will not even shed a tear over our fate! Even tears, we will be deprived of them! What protects us is our strength, our courage, our grip, our weapons, our missiles and our presence on the battlefield! If we are strong, we can make the world respect us! Despite the severe blockade strangling Gaza, despite the enormous oppression inflicted on Gaza, if Gaza had fallen in the first days, everything would be over, and no one in the world would have mourned it. It is the enormous moral force, and the limited material force of the Gaza Resistance, of the people of Gaza, of the men, women and children of Gaza, which are a form of force, which were able to impose themselves on the world. This is why the whole world is changing its mind, reconsidering things, looking for solutions. Why? Because there is a show of strength in Gaza, despite the unspeakable oppression (suffered by its people).

All these results, which are only some of the achievements of the Al-Aqsa Flood, for there are still many others, and still others to come, I assure you that what happened since October 7 until today, and what will happen subsequently, has weakened Israel, shaken the whole entity, and shaken its very foundations and pillars. And yes, as our Palestinian brothers rightly say, all this has placed Israel on the path to annihilation, and all of us will witness with our own eyes the disappearance of the usurping entity, with the grace of God! And (when it happens), no one will be able to protect it. No one will be able to defend it. As for the Arab thrones (normalizing countries and allies of Israel), let them start by protecting themselves (because they are also shaking). […]

Source: Al-Manar

Translation: Resistance News

January 21, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New Evidence of Mass Execution of Gazans by Israeli Forces

IMEMC | JANUARY 20, 2024

A new report has revealed details about one of the numerous incidents of Israeli soldiers carrying out a mass execution of Palestinian civilians – this one in the ‘Anan’ residential building in Gaza City on December 19, 2023.

Photos and eyewitness testimonies documented this incident, in which 15 men were forced to lay down on their stomachs, then shot and killed. A three-year old girl, Nada, was killed in the Israeli shelling that followed the executions.

According to eyewitness testimony from a woman, Heba, her daughter Rula and son, Uday, the Israeli soldiers separated the men from the women before shooting them, and their father, Ayman (44 years old), was among the victims.

Heba told Al Jazeera reporters, “They separated us from the men first, then they pushed the women and kids from one room to another, brutally beating us as they moved us.”

She continues in her narration, “There were about 15 men in the building. They stripped them of their clothes and tortured them in front of us. They broke my husband’s jaw with rifle butts, and broke his arms severely, while he was groaning in severe pain. Then they shot all the men mercilessly while they were lying on their stomachs.”

Shortly after the executions, the Palestinian woman added, Israeli tank shells and Israeli quadcopter fire began raining down on women and children.

The Israeli tank shells hit Heba’s daughter, Nada (3 years old), who died in her older sister’s arms.

The older sister, Rula, said that she tried to protect her little sister, but she was not able to, since her injuries were too severe. She said that other women and children were also injured.

Her younger brother, Uday, confirms her account of the incident, and tells how the men were executed in front of him, including his father.

Their mother, Heba Salem, who lost her husband in the summary execution, told Al Jazeera “This was a day we will never, ever forget.”

Exclusive photos and videos obtained by Al Jazeera show the residential building where the mass execution took place, and document the first pictures of Nada’s body shortly after her death.

Other scenes also show the bodies of men lying face down with deep wounds on their bodies and traces of bullets in various parts of them, indicating execution-style killings.

Other internal shots of the building show the effects of continuous tank shelling on it. The camera also monitors the scene of the crime committed by the Israeli occupation soldiers, showing bloodstains on the walls and floors, and many empty bullet casings.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said regarding the incident that “field killings and executions are one of the types of horrific violations practiced by Israeli forces in areas of incursion, which include looting, intimidation, arbitrary arrest, torture, and widespread destruction without any necessity or proportionality.”

The Observatory called for an urgent international investigation to be opened into the horrific crimes committed by the Israeli army in areas of its incursion into the Gaza Strip, including field executions, torture, threats to rape women, stripping of men, women and children, beatings and torture of Palestinian civilians, according to testimonies collected from released civilians. … Video report (disturbing)

January 21, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israelis opposing war receiving ‘death threats,’ says Knesset member Ofer Cassif

Lawmaker from the Arab-majority Hadas-Ta’al party and a Knesset member, Ofer Cassif in his office in West Jerusalem on January 12, 2024. [Arif Kayacan – Anadolu Agency]
MEMO | January 20, 2024

Firebrand Israeli lawmaker Ofer Cassif, who has been criticized for backing South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, says “there is an assault going on” against those who are opposing Tel Aviv’s military campaign in Gaza.

The vocal politician from the left-wing, Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al party, was suspended from the Knesset for 45 days for criticizing the war that began after the Oct. 7 cross-border offensive by Hamas.

The Palestinian death toll from Israel’s more than 100-day bombardment of the Gaza Strip has crossed 24,000 people, most of them women and children.

The initial Hamas attack is said to have killed 1,200 people, and around 240 hostages were taken, some of whom were released during a week-long truce in November.

In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with Anadolu, Cassif said rejection of Israel’s military response has led to “an assault on freedom of speech,” including death threats.

“People are arrested for tweets and posts, not in support of Hamas, of course, but in supporting ending the war, or before even cease-fire. Students are suspended from the universities and colleges. People are fired from their workplaces. The police are brutally violent towards the demonstrators,” Cassif said.

“There is an assault on freedom of speech of those who raise voice against the war … there are death threats. Because it’s not only violence from above, from the government from the prime minister, legitimization of the violence against the protesters, of course by [Itamar] Ben Gvir (national security minister) and the police, which unfortunately mostly became a kind of a private militia of Ben Gvir. But it also penetrates the society as a whole. And you can see that within the society, a growing a part of the public supports, literally and explicitly, violence against those who oppose the war, including death threats.”

‘Region will explode’ if Netanyahu doesn’t go

Cassif said everyone will pay a “huge price” and the entire “region is going to explode” if Israel does not get rid of the “terrible government” headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to him, the only way to stop the catastrophe from happening is by stopping the war, exchange of prisoners and release of all hostages, withdrawal of Israeli military from Gaza, and the beginning of serious peace process.

“This government should go home, if not to prison” as it has caused a lot of damage to both Israelis and Palestinians, he said. “The only way to live, to have a future, to prosper, is this. No war.”

Israeli contradictions

He also highlighted the contradiction in statements of Israeli authorities over the assault on the blockaded enclave, who on one hand say they never intentionally target civilians, but at the same argue there are no innocents in Gaza.

“A minister said ‘… dropping an atomic bomb on Gaza is an option.’ Another member of the Knesset, although a backbencher, said Gaza be eliminated. He used this term eliminated. Netanyahu himself, the prime minister, said Gaza is like Amalek. Amalek is like a codename, a biblical codename, of a group that deserves extermination.

“The president of Israel, who is supposed to be objective and beyond politics, signed a bomb, before it was sent to Gaza. And he also said that there aren’t any innocent people in Gaza. This is only the tip of the iceberg. So how can you say that you do not target civilians, innocent civilians, and at the same time, you say they aren’t innocent civilians. This contradiction shows exactly how this government behaves, what is the policy of this government, and I emphasize this is against Israel too.”

‘What’s going on in Gaza must be investigated by impartial body’

Cassif said he did not want to claim that the Israeli government is pursuing a genocidal policy in the Gaza Strip, arguing: “The legal definition of genocide is one that I leave experts to analyze.”

But, he added, there are two main reasons for him supporting the genocide case in The Hague: conducting an impartial investigation on Gaza bombing, and to save lives.

“What’s going on in Gaza must be investigated by an impartial body. I do not trust the government of Israel or any branch or proxy of the Israeli government to investigate itself … It’s like asking a thief to investigate oneself whether he or she stole something. It doesn’t make any sense,” he said.

“This terrible assault on Gaza is costing the lives of thousands of thousands of Palestinians, and hundreds of Israeli soldiers and Israeli hostages. They (Israeli hostages) are held in terrible conditions by Hamas in Gaza. I want the lives to be saved.”

But that cannot be done just through protests in Israel, he added.

“We cannot demonstrate, we cannot raise our voice. We are limited. There is a dictatorship now here, practically. What’s left is to look for a refuge in international organizations. So that’s the main reason why I think we should have supported the appeal of South Africa.”

Interests of Palestinians and Israelis ‘not contradictory’

“The interests of Israel, and the interests of Palestinians, as far as I see, are not contradictory. I think it’s in common interest of both the Palestinians and the Israelis to seek peace and to end the war,” Cassif said.

The Israeli government, he said, “totally neglected” the hostages. “The government doesn’t do anything to save the hostages. And everybody knows the only way to save the hostages, who are dying there, is by ending the war.”

The parliamentarian claimed 47% of the Israeli public, according to polls, supports ending the war in order to rescue the captives. “I agree with this specific point. I do hope the ICJ will ensure a decision that will end the war.”

Israeli press ‘betrayed’ profession

Asked why the Israeli army does not allow journalists to enter Gaza, Cassif said: “Perhaps they have something to hide … Normally when you don’t allow someone to get into somewhere. It’s because you don’t want someone to see something.”

About press freedom in Israel, Cassif said there have been situations where authorities “mobilize,” or force the media to “publish something and not to publish something else,” but now a vast majority of journalists are “voluntarily” supporting the policy of the government.

“You can say, there are not many limitations on freedom of the press, but the press itself, most of them, choose not to act freely … this is disgraceful, it’s unprofessional, and it will be remembered once this terrible era is ended and finished. It will be remembered that they betrayed the profession.”

‘They want to silence us’

Commenting over a lawmaker’s efforts to get him expelled from the 120-member Knesset, Cassif said “they want to silence” and “don’t want our voice to be heard … the voices against the war. This is the part of the persecution and silencing of the people who support peace and go against violence and war.”

The opposition lawmaker said he believed the efforts against him will succeed, but he will approach the Supreme Court to get relief as “there is no legal basis.”

“According to the law, a member of Knesset can be expelled only if one supports racism, terrorism, or armed struggle against Israel. Neither of those is relevant to me. I’m against racism, I’m against terrorism. I am against armed struggle against Israel.”

He said the claim is based on political reasons. “The world should understand that the assault on Gaza, and the silencing of peace lovers and the democrats in Israel are two sides of the same coin. They continue with a coup they began before Oct. 7 by other means.”

January 20, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, Militarism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Complaint submitted against UK charity raising money for Israeli soldiers

MEMO | January 20, 2024

The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has submitted a formal complaint to the Charity Commission in the UK to complain about the activities of UK Toremet, a British registered charity that “continues to facilitate the supply of materials to the Israeli army, in apparent contravention of Charity Commission regulations”.

UK Toremet serves as a UK portal that funnels money to a range of Israel-based organisations, and these funds “are being used to buy supplies for the Israeli army,” IHRC said in a statement on its website today.

It added that a “cursory internet search” has found various Israeli organisations using UK Toremet fundraising for equipment for the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) during its current invasion of Gaza. These organisations have used UK Toremet to process their donations. One of these is One People, set up after 7 October 2023, in its own words “to provide IDF soldiers and rapid response teams with the bulletproof vests, helmets and other lifesaving equipment”. The website openly lists UK Toremet as a partner organisation through which people can donate to One People.

One People is also listed by Yad L’Olim, a non profit organisation in Israel, as a conduit for funds to Israeli soldiers and their units, supplying soldiers with helmets, vests, armour, tactical glasses, knee pads and tactical gloves.

Gush Etzion is another Israeli organisation that uses UK Toremet to channel funds from donors in the UK. It exists to serve settlers in the illegal cluster of settlements of the same name in the West Bank. Its website also states that it provides soldiers from the settlements serving in the army with “essential provisions such as soap, shampoo, blankets, as well as vital equipment including first aid kits.”

KEHgives (Kehillat Eretz Hemdah) is yet another Israeli organisation that services Israeli military forces with funds raised through UK Toremet. Its website states: “While the IDF provides core equipment there are many things that can make the life of a combat soldier in the field more comfortable and effective: gloves, thermal clothing, battery packs, and personal hygiene products, just to name just a few.”

The supply of military equipment to a state army that is currently on trial for genocide in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) “barely meets the threshold of what is legal, let alone what can be considered a charitable purpose,” the IHRC said. “It is a flagrant abuse of charity status to carry out activities that are not only legally dubious but potentially criminal.”

This is the second time that IHRC has made a complaint to the Commission about UK Toremet. The first, in 2015, alleged that funds raised by UK Toremet were being used to buy supplies for the Israeli army. The outcome of the Commission’s enquiries confirmed this main finding of our investigation.

“IHRC believes that the Commission’s failure to act firmly and decisively on previous complaints about the organisation has led to a situation whereby it continues to exploit its charity status to raise money from the British public for the pursuit of the military objectives of a foreign force.”

UK Toremet did not reply to MEMO’s request for comment at time of going to press.

January 20, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Leave a comment

Israeli forces desecrated at least 16 cemeteries in Gaza during their aggression: Report

Press TV – January 20, 2024

A new investigation has found that Israeli forces have desecrated at least 16 cemeteries in the Gaza Strip during the regime’s ongoing war against the besieged terrirtoy.

CNN, based on satellite imagery and social media footage, published an investigation on Saturday, saying Israeli troops have left tombstones torn down and even bodies unearthed as they destroyed the cemeteries.

It went on to say that the regime forces have destroyed an entire cemetery in the southern city of Khan Yunis, removing bodies buried there.

The Israeli military has defined the move as part of a search for the remains of captives taken by the Palestinian resistance during the operation al-Aqsa Strom in early October, the US-based broadcaster added.

Legal experts told CNN that Israel’s acts could amount to war crimes, stressing that the intentional destruction of religious sites, such as cemeteries, violates international law.

Confirming the desecration of the cemeteries by the regime forces, an Israeli military spokesman also told the broadcaster that the military sometimes has “no other choice” but to target cemeteries it claimed Hamas uses for military purposes.

The report further noted that in other cases, however, Israeli forces appear to have used cemeteries as military outposts.

Satellite imagery and videos showed that Israeli bulldozers turned multiple cemeteries into staging grounds, leveling large swaths and erecting fortifications.

Satellite imagery also showed a fixed presence of Israeli military forces in the central part of the Shajaiya cemetery since December 10.

At the Bani Suheila cemetery, east of Khan Yunis, satellite imagery revealed the graveyard’s deliberate and progressive bulldozing and the creation of defensive fortifications over the course of at least two weeks in late December and early January.

Destroyed tombstones and heavy tread marks also pointed to heavily armored vehicles or tanks driving over graves in Al Falouja cemetery in the Jabalia neighborhood as well as the Tuffah cemetery, east of Gaza City.

Israeli forces also severely damaged the cemetery in Khan Yunis, as they moved in on the area surrounding the Nasser Hospital and a Jordanian field hospital, according to satellite imagery and videos reviewed by CNN.

The Israeli regime waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s atrocities against Palestinians.

Since the start of the aggression, Israel has killed more than 24,900 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

The Tel Aviv regime has also imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

Israel says 253 people were taken captive during the Hamas surprise operation and believes 132 hostages are still in Gaza – 105 of them alive and 27 dead.

January 20, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

IRGC officials killed in Israeli attack on Damascus

The Cradle | January 20, 2024

An Israeli airstrike on the Syrian capital Damascus killed four members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) during the early hours of 20 January.

“An Israeli aggression today targeted a residential building in the Mezzeh neighborhood of Damascus,” SANA reports. 

According to Al-Mayadeen, the building targeted consisted of three stories and is affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

“Once again, the evil and criminal Zionist regime invaded the city of Damascus, the capital of Syria,” The IRGC statement following today’s attack read. “During the air attack […] several Syrian forces and four military advisers of the Islamic Republic of Iran were martyred.”

Two high-ranking members of the IRGC were among those killed: Commander Haj Sadegh Omidzadeh, deputy intelligence officer of the IRGC Quds Force, and his deputy, Haj Gholam. 

This attack comes days after Iran targeted a Mossad-affiliated base in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region (IKR) in retaliation for an earlier assassination of an IRGC commander in Syria.

On 16 January, Iranian missiles leveled an alleged Mossad base in IKR’s capital, Erbil, that was reportedly involved in coordinating the recent assassinations of several commanders of the IRGC and the Resistance Axis.

The IRGC noted that this base was used “to develop espionage operations and plan acts of terrorism” across the region, specifically in Iran.

The Iranian operation in IKR killed Kurdish oil tycoon Peshraw Dizayee, owner of the Empire and Falcon Group, who have reportedly facilitated oil exports to Israel.

Iraq condemned the IRGC operation, saying it is “an aggression against the sovereignty of Iraq and the security of the Iraqi people, and an insult to good neighborliness and the security of the region.”

January 20, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

US attacks on Yemen aimed at guarding Israel, not world: Ansarullah

Press TV – January 19, 2024

Yemen’s Ansarullah movement has condemned in the strongest terms the “unjustified” US airstrikes on the Yemeni territory, saying they’re aimed at “guarding Israel, not the world.”

Mohammed Abdulsalam, the Ansarullah spokesman, made the comment in an interview with Reuters.

The United States and Britain launched airstrikes on Yemen on January 12 in what they called an intervention to protect international shipping in the Red Sea.

“What the Yemeni people did, in the beginning, was to target Israeli ships heading to Israel without causing any human or even significant material losses, just preventing ships from passing as a natural right,” Abdulsalam said.

“We imposed rules of engagement in which not a single drop of blood was shed or major material losses.”

“It represented pressure on Israel only, it did not represent pressure on any country in the world.”

The Yemeni official said the US intervention has further escalated the situation and that the movement will continue to respond to the US attacks.

“Now, when America joined in and escalated the situation further, there is no doubt that Yemen will respond.”

“The strikes on Yemen, from our perspective, are a blatant violation of Yemen’s sovereignty and a serious aggression against the Yemeni people,” Abdulsalam said.

Yemen, he added, does not intend to expand the attacks on shipping in and around the Red Sea beyond their stated aim of blockading Israel and retaliating against the United States and Britain for airstrikes.

“We do not want the conflict to expand in the region, and we are still working on non-escalation, but the decision is up to the Americans, as long as they continue to attack.”

The Yemeni official said the decision to target Israeli-linked ships was a response to popular demands. “It came after great popular pressure not only in Yemen but in the region, demanding that the governments of the region and their leaders take a position towards the Palestinians facing a genocidal campaign.”

Referring to the Persian Gulf’s Arab countries, the Yemeni official said Ansarullah calls on them “to reject the militarization of the Red Sea or the presence of military forces inside the region.”

Abdulsalam said the Yemenis have made their own decisions in the conflict and do not take orders from Tehran, though they maintain a close relationship.

January 19, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Settlers refuse return to Gaza envelope: ‘Hamas not yet deterred’

The Cradle | January 19, 2024

Hebrew media reported on 19 January that tens of thousands of evacuated settlers from the Gaza envelope are refusing to return to their homes. 

A former resident of the Sderot settlement, located less than a mile from Gaza, told Israel’s Channel 13 in an interview that settlers “will not return to Sderot in the current situation.”

This is “not only due to the threat of rockets … no one knows if the Palestinians from Gaza can reach us. No one knows where their tunnels extend to,” the settler said. 

“I have been living in Sderot for years, and I cannot count the times they told us that Hamas is deterred.” 

Sderot is one of the Gaza envelope settlements that was stormed by resistance fighters during the outbreak of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October. Rockets struck the settlement at the onset of the attack, as Palestinian fighters made their way in. 

The Hamas fighters seized the Sderot police station, taking around 30 of its force as captives. The fighters then waged a 20-hour battle with Israeli troops in which all of the policemen were killed. The Israeli military then destroyed the station, bringing it down on top of those inside.

Since being evacuated in October, Sderot and other Gaza envelope settlements have continued to be hit by rocket attacks launched by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza. 

According to Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the Israeli government is facing great difficulty in convincing the residents of the Gaza envelope settlements to return to their homes. 

Last month, Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported that Tel Aviv was offering financial grants to those willing to return to the settlements located between four and seven kilometers from the Gaza border. 

A meeting was held between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the council chiefs of the Gaza envelope settlements on 16 January, according to a Channel 12 report. 

The council chiefs reportedly demanded that “the process of returning … be delayed or extended until the summer and the start of the new school year, and for the state to continue to fund their stay in temporary accommodation until then,” The Times of Israel said. 

Netanyahu also reportedly told the council chiefs during the meeting that the war could potentially continue until 2025. 

“Netanyahu said he accepted their request, promised that financial assistance to residents would be applicable then as well, and instructed the relevant officials to draw up the necessary framework.” 

Meanwhile, Hamas’ Qassam Brigades and other groups in Gaza are nowhere near defeat, continuing to engage the Israeli army in fierce clashes and deadly ambushes across the entirety of the Gaza Strip, including in north Gaza, where Israel has announced a scale-back of operations. 

The scale-back came as Israeli officials were boasting that Hamas has been “dismantled” in the north. Despite this, the fighters have been able to fire large rocket barrages at Israel from northern Gaza.

Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, reporting on 19 January, cited sources in the Palestinian resistance who said that the Israeli ground operation has achieved nothing – particularly in the north. The report added that in the north, Hamas has been able to replenish its supplies and rebuild its ranks. 

And just as the Israeli settlers of the Gaza envelope refuse to return to their homes, so too do the settlers of northern Israel, where hundreds of thousands have also been displaced by Hezbollah’s operations on the Lebanese border. 

January 19, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

BBC HardTalk: Professor Marandi on the Gaza Genocide and its regional implications

January 16, 2024

Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi discusses the Israeli genocide in Gaza, Yemen and the conflict in the Red Sea, Hezbollah’s border war, and Iraq. He explains the regional implications as well as the possibility of escalation and regional war.

January 19, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Video, War Crimes, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

UK Backing Israel With Spy Planes Over Gaza – Report

Sputnik – 19.01.2024

Late last year it was revealed the United Kingdom was supplying Israel with weapons from a base in Cyprus. Now new evidence is emerging of the lengths the country has gone to assist Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his Gaza military campaign.

British Defense Minister Grant Shapps had previously admitted the UK was providing “surveillance support to Israel,” although he couched the assistance in terms of “preventing the transfer of weapons to terrorist groups.” Shapps later claimed the surveillance flights were intended to locate two British captives being held in Gaza.

But now it has emerged that the British Armed Forces have flown 50 surveillance flights over the besieged enclave since December alone. The flights departed from RAF Akrotiri, the UK’s air force base in Cyprus.

The revelation is likely to prove controversial as the UK has been rocked by demonstrations protesting Israel’s deadly military operation in Gaza, which has killed nearly 25,000 people in the territory. Thousands of Britons have taken to the streets even as the country’s government has provoked free speech concerns by attempting to ban pro-Palestine protest chants. In France and Germany, authorities have banned some pro-Palestine demonstrations entirely.

The UK’s embattled defense minister was recently widely ridiculed for a speech warning that the UK was at risk of attack from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. Shapps was mocked for an address where he declared “the era of the peace dividend is over” – the United Kingdom has been perhaps the strongest supporter of US military interventions throughout the world.

January 18, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment

California Senator Says Calling for a Ceasefire in Gaza Is ‘Dehumanizing Language’

By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute | January 18, 2024

In an interview with the LA Times, Sen. Laphonza Butler said that it was “dehumanizing” to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. The striking comments come as Gaza has been turned into a humanitarian nightmare by an Israeli military campaign that has relayed upon US support.

The Senator was asked, “Why haven’t you called for a ceasefire in Gaza? Do you think it’s meaningful for a senator to call for a ceasefire or not?” “I don’t want my voice to ever be utilized in dehumanizing any Californian or American,” she responded. “We can both acknowledge that the atrocities of Oct. 7 were horrible and that Israel has a right to defend itself while we honor the humanity of the innocent Palestinian lives that are being used as a political pawn by a terrorist organization [Hamas].”

She continued, “And so for me, I want to use my time, energy, and attention to ensure that we are advocating for a permanent solution. And I don’t want to continue the language that further divides our party, our communities, or our country.”

The LA Times followed up, “What language is the dehumanizing language?” Butler answered, “To some, that is the ceasefire language and to some [it] is other words and phrases that have been sort of utilized in this context.” California’s junior Senator added, “To me, I want to focus on what is the solution that we can implement now and in the future, to accomplish both goals.”

Since the Hamas attack on southern Israel, which took place just over three months ago, Israeli operations in Gaza have killed at least 25,000 Palestinians, including over 10,000 children. The Israeli attacks have destroyed Gaza’s medical infrastructure, leading to children undergoing amputations in unsanitary conditions and without anesthetics.

Israel has used massive 2,000-pound bombs provided by the US near hospitals and in dense civilian areas, leading to massive deaths among women and children. Tel Aviv has also destroyed other critical civilian infrastructure, such as the solar array for a water treatment facility or universities.

Tel Aviv has severely restricted aid to Gaza. The lack of food has left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians suffering in famine conditions, according to the UN. Butler did not explain how ending the fighting in Gaza would be “dehumanizing” while continuing the onslaught in Gaza would “honor the humanity of innocent Palestinians.”

It is unclear what “solution” Butler is referring to. The White House claims it wants the conflict in Gaza to end with a Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he told his partners in Washington that he would never allow the two-state solution to materialize.

The White House, like Butler, refuses to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Biden administration has vetoed several UN Security Council resolutions that called for Israel to end its military operations in Gaza. Washington has additionally refused to place any conditions on the military assistance Israel is being provided on a near-daily basis.

The unrestrained support for Israel has started to break Biden from his voters and Democratic politicians. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen chastised Biden for allowing Tel Aviv to ignore Washington’s requests. “At every juncture, Netanyahu has given Biden the finger. They are pleading with the Netanyahu coalition, but getting slapped in the face over and over again,” he said. A recent USA Today poll found former President Donald Trump leading Biden among young voters, a demographic that also strongly opposes US support for Israel.

January 18, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

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