West promoting deceptive narrative on Hamas operation: Malaysia’s ex-PM
Malaysia’s long-serving former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (Reuters)
Press TV – October 9, 2023
Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has censured Western states and their media outlets for their hypocrisy toward the recent Palestinian operation against Israel.
In a Monday post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Mahathir said the narrative run by certain Western states was far from truth given the “seven decades” of atrocities by Israel against the Palestinians.
“With that narrative, they stoked fear in the Western community, claiming that it is an attack on democracy and peace-loving people and that the United States in particular felt justified to extend military support to Israel to retaliate against Palestinians attacks.”
“Instead of addressing the conflict for what it actually is, they chose to continue with their deceptive narrative that it is an attack on Israel by terrorists,” Mahathir said.
“They are outright lies which have been perpetuated unashamedly by Western leaders and their media.”
“The truth is actually very simple, the Israelis had been committing war crimes, massacres, genocide and unthinkable atrocities against the Palestinians.”
“These are not one-off acts but rather systematically conducted without respite throughout the seven decades.”
‘West an active partner to Israeli apartheid, genocide’
Mahathir said Washington and its Western allies have been active partners to Israeli crimes against the Palestinians.
“The Western powers and the US are party to apartheid, genocide and crimes against humanity for as long as they support the heinous Israeli regime.”
The former Malaysian prime minister said the Western camp remains silent when Israeli settlers forcefully seize Palestinian land and farms across the occupied territories.
“The Palestinians are chased out of their land and any attempt to seek some form of restitution from the Israeli authorities are met with violence backed most times by the Israeli forces.”
“The Palestinians, pushed to the corner, while Gaza was turned into an open-air prison, attempted sporadic retaliations, which in turn were met with the full force of the IDF with weapons supplied by superpowers in particular the US,” Mahathir said, referring to the Israeli military.
“This episode is not any different from previous retaliations except that probably this time around they are more focused with a bit more assistance externally.”
Mahathir said peace will not be achievable until the Palestinians are granted full rights. “With that, any attempt towards finding a just and fair solution for the Palestinians becomes an exercise in futility.”
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has condemned Israel’s ongoing attacks on the people in Palestine. The OIC says the principal cause of the latest bloody conflict is the regime’s disregard for the legitimate rights of the Palestinians.
Israel has launched deadly airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip.
The bombardment came after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas began a multi-pronged operation from Gaza into the occupied territories in response to weeks of violence against the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the continued presence of Israeli extremists in the al-Aqsa Mosque.
Who Do Middle Eastern Countries Support in Israel-Hamas Conflict?
© AFP 2023 / Mahmud Hams
By Christina Malyk – Sputnik – 09.10.2023
Hostilities have been raging around the Gaza Strip after Hamas units’ invasion to surrounding lands. The current escalation is projected to become one of the largest in the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Both Israel and the Gaza Strip have found themselves in the middle of a complex conflict, in which different countries support different sides.
For his part, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reportedly spoken to several foreign ministers from Arab countries, asking them to condemn the Hamas actions.
The majority of Arab countries, especially the monarchies of Persian Gulf, have close political and financial ties with the US.
In September, Blinken and foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council agreed to strengthen ties in defense and security. The US and Gulf foreign ministers also reaffirmed their “commitment to free navigation and maritime security in the Gulf region” in a move against what Washington believes to be an “Iranian threat” in the region.
Sputnik tracked how regional countries have reacted to the latest developments in Israel and Palestine, and whether this connects with its US relations.
UAE
The UAE became the first Arab country to condemn Hamas’ actions.
“The [Foreign] Ministry stressed that attacks by Hamas against Israeli towns and villages near the Gaza strip, including the firing of thousands of rockets at population centers, are a serious and grave escalation. The Ministry is appalled by reports that Israeli civilians have been abducted as hostages from their homes. Civilians on both sides must always have full protection under international humanitarian law and must never be a target of conflict,” wrote the official ministry press release.
It also noted, “The Ministry deeply mourns the loss of Israeli and Palestinian lives as a result of the outbreak of violence, and calls on both parties to de-escalate and avoid an expansion of the heinous violence with tragic consequences affecting civilian lives and facilities.”
The statement was announced right after UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s call with Blinken.
Bahrain
An official statement made by Bahrain stressed the need for de-escalation between Palestinians and Israelis. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain is “supporting the peace process and establishing the Palestinian state according to the two-state solution and other international legitimacy resolutions.”
“The Kingdom of Bahrain is closely following the developments taking place between Palestinian groups and Israeli forces, leading to an increase in violence and armed attacks that claimed the lives of a number of people and injured others,” noted the Foreign Ministry.
Saudi Arabia
The Saudi Arabia Ministry of Foreign Affairs through an official statement on Twitter “calls for an immediate halt to the escalation between the two sides, the protection of civilians, and restraint.” Nevertheless, the Saudi Foreign Ministry reminded “the deprivation of the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights.” But Saudi Arabia did not blame Israel for the escalation.
On Saturday, in a phone call with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Blinken said the Kingdom should clearly condemn the attack, State Department officially said.
Nevertheless, the Saudi Foreign Ministry did not include any criticism of the attack or of Hamas. So, Saudi officials appear to be taking a wait-and-see stance.
Qatar
The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially stated that Israel is “solely responsible for the ongoing escalation due to its ongoing violations of the rights of the Palestinian people.” Doha also expressed deep concern over the developments in the region and called for de-escalation as quickly as possible.
Earlier on Monday, Western outlets reported that Doha is mediating talks to swap Hamas-held hostages in coordination with the United States. But neither Israel, Qatar nor Palestine has confirmed this information. Later in the day, Hamas spokesman Husam Badran denied to Sputnik that any negotiations with Israel on prisoners exchange are taking place.
Kuwait
Kuwait officially expressed its “grave concern” over developments between Israel and the Palestinians, blaming Israel for what it called its “blatant attacks.”
Its Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for the international community, especially the Security Council, “to take responsibility and stop the ongoing violence, protect the Palestinian people and put an end to the provocative actions of the occupation authorities.”
Kuwait is one of the countries that strictly denies any contact with Israel.
Oman
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Oman called on Palestinians and Israelis to exercise restraint. Oman also highlighted “strategic necessity to find a just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the Palestinian cause on the basis of the two-state solution.”
Yemen
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Yemen officially blamed Israel for the current escalation. The ministry “called for the protection of civilians and an end to the provocations of the Israeli occupation forces and their repeated attacks on the Palestinian people and their sanctities.”
Iraq
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein expressed his full support for the Palestinian people “to act against the aggressive actions of the Zionist regime” during telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian on Sunday.
However, the Foreign Ministry of Iraq has not issued any official statement yet. This may be connected with close ties with both the US and Iran at the same time.
Syria
Syria’s Foreign Ministry issued an official statement expressing support for the Palestinian people and the forces “fighting against Zionist terrorism.”
Moreover, Damascus described Hamas’ actions as “honourable achievement that proves the only way for Palestinians to obtain their legitimate rights is resistance in all its forms.”
Lebanon
The Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry issued no official statements on the Israeli-Hamas conflict. That said, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which operates on Southern Lebanon near the Israeli border, praised Hamas for its “heroic operation” in a statement. Hezbollah also claimed responsibility for shelling Israeli territory during the escalation.
Jordan
Jordan’s King Abdullah said on Sunday there was a need to intensify diplomatic efforts to prevent escalating Israel-Palestinian violence with “dangerous repercussions” for the region’s security.
He also called for “urgent international action to avoid an escalation and prevent the region from the consequences of a new round of violence.”
In turn, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi warned both Palestinian and Israeli sides of the “volatility”’ of the escalation.
Egypt
Egypt warned of the “severe dangers” posed by current escalation between the Gaza Strip and Israel.
“Egypt calls for international actors involved in backing the efforts of resuming the peace process to intervene immediately to halt the ongoing escalation,” Egypt’s Foreign Ministry noted.
Egypt has always been a peace process mediator between Israel and Hamas, working with the US. According to media outlets, both Western and local, Egypt tried to bring the parties to the negotiating table, but did not manage to do it.
Iran
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned “the usurping Zionist regime’s attacks against civilian targets in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani also stated that Hamas’ attacks showed increased confidence by the Palestinians against Israel.
Iran regards both Israel and the US as its own enemy.
Palestinian operation puts Netanyahu between rock and hard place: Ex-diplomat
By Alireza Hashemi | Press TV | October 9, 2023
The military operation by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has placed the embattled Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu in a dilemma of whether to save his own political future or the illegitimate regime itself, says a former Iranian diplomat.
In an interview with the Press TV website, Abolfazl Zohrevand, a former Iranian ambassador to Afghanistan and Italy, said the Al-Aqsa Storm (also known as Al-Aqsa Flood) operation has put Netanyahu and his far-right cabinet between a rock and a hard place.
Hamas stunned the regime in Tel Aviv with a multi-pronged attack early Saturday, launching thousands of missiles into the occupied territories within a span of 20 minutes and at the same time launching a ground attack against Israeli settlements and military bases near the coastal strip.
The Israeli death toll is staggering, with some reports putting it at above 1,000, besides hundreds of others – soldiers and settlers – who are held as prisoners of war by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Zohrevand said the Israeli regime can opt for a very tough response to the Palestinian resistance operation but such a response might lead to an existential threat to the regime.
“Israel can’t do much to punish the Palestinians through air strikes. Such strikes usually fail to hit Hamas’s underground infrastructure and only leave high civilian casualties,” he stated.
“Netanyahu has to start a ground invasion of Gaza, like what he did recently with the Jenin camp in the occupied West Bank,” the former diplomat said, referring to the July Israeli raid into the Jenin camp.
However, he hastened to add that such an operation could end in a humiliating defeat for the regime.
“If Israel decides to engage in a major operation, we should expect weeks-long clashes in the region. Israel isn’t made for long battles. Also, its military is not well prepared as the whole regime is in a state of chaos. The fact that it was caught completely off guard by the operation is a testimony to this,” Zohrevand stressed in a conversation with the Press TV website.
“On the other hand, Palestinians are prepared for such an invasion and they hold the upper hand as Gaza is their home. Palestinians are now sending a message that enough is enough. They’re highly motivated to fight the regime. So the odds for Israel’s success are not high.”
He said the Israeli military action would put the existence of the regime at risk.
“This war can easily spread to the West Bank and other regions. Also, there’s a real possibility that the regime might face a major operation by Lebanon’s Hezbollah. It’s really hard for the regime to handle two fronts. I personally believe the regime won’t start such an operation,” Zohrevand said.
Hamas has already said the operation will be extended to the West Bank.
The Lebanese movement Hezbollah has also staged attacks in solidarity with Palestinians, firing artillery shells and guided missiles at Israeli positions in the occupied Shebaa farms on Sunday.
The former Iranian diplomat noted that Netanyahu might want to accept mediation efforts by Turkey or Egypt and halt its ongoing operation, but that will put his political future in real danger.
“If he decides to stop the Israeli operation, his cabinet won’t last long as it is filled with extremist elements that came to power on a promise of crushing Palestinian resistance and annexing all the Palestinian lands once and forever,” he remarked.
“For Netanyahu, it boils down to a decision whether to save the regime or save his own cabinet or save the regime. He’s in a no-win situation.”
Debunking The Conspiracy Theory That Netanyahu Wanted Last Weekend’s Attacks To Happen
BY ANDREW KORYBKO | OCTOBER 9, 2023
Hamas’ sneak attack on Israel over the weekend prompted speculation among some on social media that the latter knew about these plans in advance but allegedly had an interest in letting them happen. According to proponents of this conspiracy theory, embattled Prime Minister Netanyahu wanted to unite his politically divided people and/or establish the pretext for destroying Hamas, ergo why he supposedly let these attacks unfold. That doesn’t make much sense though if one really thinks about it.
It’s fashionable nowadays to claim that leaders sometimes provoke foreign conflicts to distract from domestic political problems, but that’s arguably not the case with the latest Israeli-Hamas war. In fact, Netanyahu was pursuing the exact opposite approach up until last weekend as suggested by credible reports over the months that he was engaged in secret talks with Saudi Arabia over recognizing Israel. This was aimed at uniting Israelis around him and unlocking their country’s geo-economic potential.
Had these efforts borne fruit, then not only would his fiercest opponents have been forced to praise him for this diplomatic achievement, but Israel could then have profited from its central role in the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) that was unveiled last month. Both goals required Saudi recognition of Israel, which Netanyahu hoped to obtain without recognizing Palestine’s independence, but that’s now in doubt since Riyadh might freeze these talks after Israel’s bombing of Gaza.
Those who claim that he knew about Hamas’ plans in advance but still let them happen are either unaware of his secret talks with Saudi Arabia, downplay their grand strategic importance, or think that they were all a ruse in preparation of this convoluted plot to establish the pretext for destroying Hamas. About that dimension of their conspiracy theory, it’s difficult to imagine that security-obsessed Netanyahu would let his country’s enemies inflict such unprecedented damage to Israel for that purpose.
He could always have simply exploited comparatively minor rocket fire to justify a disproportionate bombing campaign against that group without having to first lose literally hundreds of civilians and soldiers. Hamas’ breaching of the border barrier was also a strong blow to the Israeli psyche from which its people might never recover after having assumed that its construction would forever protect them. The same goes for that group doubling the territory under its control during the climax of its attacks.
Observers can still be opposed to the border barrier in particular, Israeli policy towards Palestine in general, and Netanyahu personally while also acknowledging that he’s such a security-obsessed leader that it doesn’t make sense to claim that he’d let Hamas powerfully undermine all three for any reason. He looks extremely weak after what happened, Israeli policy towards Palestine is now questioned from both sides like never before, and the border barrier is no longer deemed to be a credible defense.
These three outcomes represent the sum of Netanyahu’s worst nightmares, not to mention the likely failure of his plans to obtain Saudi recognition of Israel that would in turn unlock his country’s geo-economic potential via IMEC, all of which indisputably contradict Israeli interests. It remains unclear exactly how all of Israel’s security systems failed at the same time during last weekend’s attacks, nor has anyone explained the intelligence failures up until then either, but that’s indeed what happened.
The conspiracy theory speculating that Netanyahu knew about all this in advance but still let it happen doesn’t stand up to scrutiny as proven in this piece and is pretty much only predicated on the false perception that Israel’s intelligence services are omnipotent. They’re run by humans though and are therefore naturally imperfect, yet those who claim otherwise impart godlike power to the Mossad. This gives Israel too much credit while denying Hamas’ independent ability to organize attacks of this scale.
Israel has no one to blame but itself for war with Palestinians: Lawmaker
Press TV – October 8, 2023
Israel has no one to blame but itself for the war with the Palestinians, says a lawmaker of the regime, insisting that the illegal occupation of the Palestinian land has caused the situation to escalate.
Ofer Cassif, a member of the Knesset and leftist Hadash coalition, told Al Jazeera on Sunday that his party had repeatedly warned the regime authorities that the way they treated the Palestinians would have serious repercussions.
“We have been warning time and time again… everything is going to erupt and everybody is going to pay a price… And unfortunately, that is exactly what happened,” said Cassif, whose party has four seats in the 120-member parliament.
The “fascist” regime, he said, “supports, encourages, and leads pogroms against the Palestinians.”
“There is an ethnic cleansing going on. It was obvious the writing was on the wall, written in the blood of the Palestinians.”
Some sources say more than 750 Israelis have been killed since early Saturday, when the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched massive rocket attacks and a ground operation from its bases in the Gaza Strip into the occupied territories.
Hamas says Operation al-Aqsa Storm is a response to Israel’s growing acts of aggression against the Palestinians, especially in the occupied West Bank, and its support for the recurrent presence of settlers in the al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied Quds.
Scores of Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, a besieged enclave on the Mediterranean, since the regime started to respond to Hamas attacks on Saturday.
US Deploying Carrier Strike Group to Eastern Mediterranean Amid Hamas Attacks – Pentagon
Sputnik – 08.10.2023
WASHINGTON – The United States is deploying the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean to bolster US regional deterrence efforts in response to the Hamas attack on Israel, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Sunday.
“I have directed the movement of the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean. This includes the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60), as well as the Arleigh-Burke-class guided missile destroyers USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116), USS Ramage (DDG 61), USS Carney (DDG 64), and USS Roosevelt (DDG 80),” Austin said in a statement.
The United States maintains ready forces globally to further reinforce this deterrence posture if required, the US defense chief also said.
The US will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions, which will begin arriving in the coming days, Austin added.
‘We are not attacking civilians’: Hamas says amid Operation Al-Aqsa Storm
Press TV – October 8, 2023
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has rejected accusations of targeting civilians as the fighting rages across the occupied territories since the resistance groups launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm on Saturday.
Osama Hamadan, senior spokesperson of Hamas, has told Al Jazeera that they are not attacking civilians.
“You have to differentiate between settlers and civilians; settlers attacked Palestinians,” Hamdan said.
“We are not targeting civilians on purpose. We have declared settlers are part of the occupation and part of the armed Israeli force. They are not civilians,” Hamadan added.
His remarks came after a number of Western-backed rights groups, including Amnesty International, accused the resistance movement of killing “Israeli civilians” in their retaliatory strikes.
Asked whether civilians in southern Israel were considered settlers, the Hamas spokesman said “Everyone knows there are settlements there.”
On Saturday, the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement launched its large-scale operation, with a heavy barrage of rockets in response to Israel’s desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and increased settler violence.
At least 400 Israeli settlers and forces have died as a result of the large-scale operation — code-named Al-Aqsa Storm — and more than 2000 others have sustained injuries.
Following the operation, a spokesperson for the Israeli defense forces confirmed that Israeli settlers and soldiers are held captive in Gaza, however, the spokesperson declined to specify the number of hostages.
According to Israeli media outlets, unofficial estimates suggest that approximately 750 Israeli soldiers and settlers have been missing since fighting broke out.
Hospital officials in the Gaza Strip have recorded the death of 320 Palestinians and the injury of 1,990 others. A large number of buildings, homes, and public facilities have also been badly damaged due to heavy Israeli bombardments.
The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said on its Telegram channel that the group had directed a “major missile strike on the settlement of Sderot with 100 missiles.”
The Qassam Brigades also called on Palestinians “to join this battle” as fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters continues.
Meanwhile, Mohannad Aklouk, Palestine’s permanent representative to the Arab League, said he had submitted a request for an emergency meeting of the regional body’s foreign ministers in the wake of the latest Israeli onslaught.
“The urgent meeting comes in light of the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, including the escalation of incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound by thousands of settlers and Israeli officials over the past days,” Aklouk was quoted as saying by the official Wafa news agency.
The retaliatory operation by Hamas on the occupied territories is the largest after the 11-day Israeli war against the Gaza Strip in May 2021, which took place after weeks of violence against Palestinians in Al-Quds and a brutal crackdown on worshipers at the al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as attempts to steal their land in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
At least 260 Palestinians, including over 60 children, were killed during the Israeli offensive as the Gaza-based resistance movements retaliated. The regime was eventually forced to announce a ceasefire brokered by Egypt.
Statement by Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades top military commander
MEMO | October 7, 2023
On the military operation against the Israeli occupation across the borderline of the Gaza Strip, the commander-in-chief of Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades, Mohammed Deif, states the following:
The Zionist colonial occupation occupied our Palestinian homeland and displaced our people, destroyed our towns and villages, committed hundreds of massacres against our people, killing children, women and elderly people and demolishing homes with their inhabitants inside in violation of all international norms, laws and human rights conventions.
We have previously warned the Israeli occupation against continuing their crimes and appealed to world leaders to work on putting an end to the Israeli crimes against our Palestinian people and detainees, their holy sites and homeland and to put pressure on the Israeli occupation to abide by international law and resolutions.
Neither did the Israeli occupation leaders heed our demands, nor did the world leaders act in this regard.
Instead, the Israeli occupation intensified its crimes, crossing all red lines, particularly in occupied Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque – the Muslims’ first Qibla and third holiest site.
The Israeli occupation forces have escalated their raids into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, desecrating the Muslim sacred sites and repeatedly attacking worshippers, particularly women, children and elderly people.
Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation banned the Palestinian citizens from accessing the Al-Aqsa Mosque and allowed Israeli colonial settlers to defile the Muslim sacred site and conduct daily raids into the Muslim holy compound.
During such raids, Israeli colonial settlers performed religious rituals and prayers and blew the horn at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They have declared their intentions to build their purported temple on the ruins of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
They also insulted our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) inside the Al-Aqsa compound, tore up the Quran and brought dogs into the Muslim sacred site.
Each day, the Israeli colonial settlers attempt to impose a new fait accompli on the ground, attack the Palestinian citizens of occupied Jerusalem and steal their homes and property.
The Israeli occupation has desecrated the Al-Aqsa Mosque, from which the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) ascended to heaven on the Al-Isra wa Al-Mi’raj journey.
Hundreds of Palestinian citizens have been killed and wounded so far this year in crimes committed by the Israeli occupation and colonial settlers.
In the meantime, the Israeli occupation is holding thousands of Palestinian detainees in its prisons, where they are subjected to the most heinous forms of oppression, torture and humiliation.
Hundreds of Palestinian detainees have been jailed for over 20 years; dozens more have suffered cancers and other diseases; several more have died as a result of medical negligence and deliberate slow-death policies.
However, our calls for a humanitarian swap deal were met with rejection by the Israeli occupation.
The Israeli occupation forces storm the towns and villages of the occupied West Bank on a daily basis, raiding and ransacking Palestinian homes and shooting and detaining Palestinian citizens.
Hundreds of Palestinian citizens have been killed and wounded in crimes committed by the Israeli occupation.
Israeli settlers captured as Hamas and PIJ fighters overrun the Israeli army near the Gaza border
The Cradle | October 7, 2023
Palestinian resistance factions from the Gaza Strip have taken control of over a dozen illegal settlements in southern Israel as part of ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Floods,’ which has been raging since the early hours of 7 October.
Fighters from Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) say they hold at least 50 prisoners of war (POW) after overrunning many Israeli checkpoints and neighborhoods. Israeli media says the death toll from the operation has reached 100, with close 1,000 injured.
In describing the operation, Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri told Al Jazeera: “We managed to kill and capture many Israeli soldiers. The fighting is still on. As to our prisoners, I say, your freedom is looming large. What we have in hand will see you set free. The longer fighting continues, the higher the number of prisoners will become.”
Footage across social media has shown the extent of the resistance’s advance, as Israeli soldiers lay dead in many streets while settlers had to run for their lives or surrender to the armed groups.
https://twitter.com/TheCradleMedia/status/1710605327501017461
Among those captured is Israeli General Nimrod Aloni, the commander of the Depth Corps, a unit that coordinates the army’s long-range operations “deep in enemy territory.”
The spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, Abu Hamza, confirmed that fighters from the Al-Quds Brigades and the Al-Qassam Brigades were at the front of today’s incursion, saying that the Gaza resistance recorded “a new chapter of victory” and “broke the prestige of the enemy entity,” with “a resounding historical shock.”
“Al-Aqsa Flood [revealed Israel] as an illusion made of dust and capable of being defeated and broken.”
In response, Tel Aviv has been conducting air raids inside the Gaza Strip, a coastal area considered the world’s largest open-air prison, leaving over 200 Palestinians dead and 1,600 injured. Survivors of the onslaught say they are “bracing” for the continued Israeli response as Hamas declared, “We are ready for an [Israeli] land invasion.”
Saturday’s operation caught the world by surprise, with even former Israeli security officials calling it a “colossal failure” of the intelligence apparatus, which failed to detect the launch of about 7,000 rockets from Gaza.
“All of Israel is asking itself: Where is the [army], where is the police, where is the security?” the former head of the Israeli Navy said during a TV interview. “It’s a colossal failure; the hierarchies have simply failed, with vast consequences.”
In response to the crisis, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared his country at “war” to the support of his western allies. However, the offensive may throw a wrench at ongoing normalization talks with Saudi Arabia.
In a statement, kingdom officials said: “[Saudi Arabia] repeatedly warned of the consequences of [the deterioration] of the situation as a result of the occupation as well as of depriving the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights and [not halting] systematic provocations against their holy [sites].”
The UAE, which normalized ties with Israel in 2020, issued a statement “[expressing] its deep concern over the escalation of violence between Israelis and Palestinians,” also calling “for an immediate cessation of the escalation and protection of the lives of civilians.”
Support for the operation has poured in from the regional resistance, with Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah calling it a “triumphant operation [and] a decisive response to the ongoing crimes of the occupation.”
Nasrallah also said the Lebanese resistance is “closely following the significant developments [in Palestine]” and “looking at the field conditions with utmost interest.”
Similarly, Yemen’s Ansarallah said that “[Operation Al-Aqsa Flood] revealed the weakness, fragility, and impotence of the temporary zionist entity and showed the world the strength and effectiveness of the resistance in Palestine and its ability to strike the ‘Israeli’ depths, storm the settlements, kill the zionists, and capture their soldiers.”
For Israel, support has poured in from the west, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying via statement, “France stands in solidarity with Israel and the Israelis, committed to their security and their right to defend themselves.”
The White House issued a similar statement, describing Saturday’s resistance operation as “appalling terrorist attacks.”
Saudi Arabia willing to forego oil production cuts to secure Israel normalization: Report
The Cradle | October 7, 2023
Saudi Arabia has offered Washington to boost oil production levels next year if crude prices are “too high” as part of negotiations to reach a normalization deal with Israel, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on 6 October.
This plan is allegedly aimed at winning over US lawmakers who are wary about Biden’s “megadeal” with Riyadh, which includes mobilizing US troops in case of an attack in the kingdom.
The deal would also see the US help Saudi Arabia develop a uranium enrichment program.
“Saudi negotiators emphasized that market conditions would guide any action on production, and officials familiar with the talks said the discussions didn’t represent a long-term agreement to cut prices,” the WSJ says.
For the past year, Saudi Arabia has led the powerful OPEC+ bloc into significantly cutting oil production levels to offset the damage caused to the market by western sanctions on Russia’s energy sector.
The ongoing cuts have come despite multiple demands and threats from Washington.
In September, Riyadh, in a joint effort with Moscow, voluntarily extended oil cuts to help maintain the market’s stability. This cut sent oil prices up nearly two percent to $91.08 a barrel.
Per WSJ, Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein flew to Riyadh in late September to warn Saudi officials that soaring oil prices would make winning Washington over on the “megadeal” much harder.
This deal has raised concerns by 20 Democratic senators sent US President Joe Biden a letter on Wednesday regarding the deal. They voiced how he should demand that Israel makes a “meaningful and enforceable” concession to the Palestinian people as part of the normalization deal.
Negotiations are now discussing the defense benefits for Saudi Arabia, which requires US Senate approval for the civilian nuclear site in the Kingdom and billions of dollars in weapons sales.
The deal has left a sour taste in the US public’s mouth. In a poll conducted in September, 3 out of 5 US citizens “feel this is a bad deal for the US.” Those polled added that they don’t feel there’s justification for US soldiers defending the Gulf nation.
It has also caused an uproar in the Islamic world, as many see a normalization agreement with Israel as a betrayal of the Palestinian cause.
Publicly, Riyadh has expressed that any deal with Tel Aviv must also include significant concessions for the Palestinians, including forming an independent state.
The WSJ report was released one day before the Palestinian resistance in Gaza launched its biggest offensive against Israel in Gaza, with officials saying the operation serves as a message to Arab nations who want to normalize ties with Israel.
Palestine: The Resistance Rises toward Revolution, Return and Liberation
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network | October 7, 2023
As the morning dawns on 7 October 2023, the resistance is rising throughout occupied Palestine, smashing the siege on Gaza with a comprehensive offensive confronting the occupier by land and air, taking control of Palestinian land, seizing occupation settlers and soldiers and launching thousands of missiles as Palestinian resistance forces fight to advance return and the liberation of Palestine.
The new resistance operation, titled the Al-Aqsa Flood by Mohammed Deif, commander in chief of the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, comes on the 50th anniversary of the 1973 war in which Egypt reclaimed the occupied Sinai from Zionist occupation, and is set to alter the direction of the struggle in occupied Palestine, moving from resistance toward revolution and liberation.
The resistance operation comes in response to the ongoing stream of crimes against the Palestinian people, the daily murder of Palestinians on the streets of the West Bank of occupied Palestine, the siege on Gaza, the theft of land for settlements, the denial of refugees’ right to return, imposing exile for over 75 years, the torture and attacks on the Palestinian prisoners, the ongoing invasions of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the 75 years of Zionist occupation and over 100 years of imperialist domination and colonialism throughout occupied Palestine.
It also comes to bring about the liberation of Palestinian prisoners, as part and parcel of the Palestinian people and land. The occupation has repeatedly dragged its feet in conducting a prisoner exchange with the resistance, and now the resistance has announced that it has taken a significant number of prisoners from among the occupation soldiers and settlers in order to liberate the 5,250 Palestinian prisoners in occupation prions, including the 1350 jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, 39 women and 170 children. The resistance is taking new steps to liberate Palestinian land, to confront the settlement project and to liberate the prisoners from a position of power.
News is developing rapidly; however it is clear that the Palestinian resistance is determined to reset the status quo in the region and uncover the reality that the Zionist regime can no longer rely on its technological strength and imperialist weaponry to impose its domination on the Palestinian people. In particular, coming as it does on the 50th anniversary of the 1973 war, it is a decisive rebuke to the entire path of Oslo and normalization imposed upon the Palestinian and Arab people for the past 50 years, indicating a new path forward with a clear goal: liberation, and nothing less. It builds upon the liberation of south Lebanon from occupation by the Lebanese resistance, led by Hezbollah, in 2000, and the defeat of the Zionist invasion of Lebanon in 2006, as well as the successive heroic battles waged by the Palestinian resistance throughout occupied Palestine and especially from its base area of resistance land in Gaza.
In his statement announcing the operation, Deif said: “Starting from today, security coordination ends. Today, the people reclaim their revolution, correct their path, and return to the march of return.” He called upon all to participate in the resistance, and specifically to all the forces of resistance in the region, in Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Yemen, and all of the Arab peoples from the Gulf to the ocean, to join in this battle, which is their battle for freedom, dignity and liberation, declaring, “it is time for the forces of Arab resistance to unite.”
Samidoun joins the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, in calling “the masses of our Palestinian people, supporters of the resistance in exile and diaspora, allies from the liberation forces and movements, and solidarity committees with the Palestinian people everywhere, to express their support for the heroic Palestinian resistance, raise the flag of Palestine and the banners of resistance, and organize popular, political and media demonstrations and events to expose the Zionist crimes against our people in occupied Palestine…. The heroic Palestinian resistance has opened a chapter of battles of dignity and pride at the dawn of October 7, 2023, and it is now responding to decades of continuous and repeated Zionist, American and European aggression against the masses of our Arab and Islamic nation from the ocean to the Gulf, and in the face of the wars of starvation and siege that the United States and its agents have engineered against our peoples in the region, especially in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Iran.”
As the Palestinian resistance confronts occupation forces, it is critical that internationalists everywhere speak out, mobilize and act to confront the U.S.-led imperialist system, including the EU states, Britain and all complicit powers to end their ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people, and to defend the resistance. These crimes are reflected not only in the Balfour Declaration and the $3.8 billion in U.S. military aid to the occupation regime annually, but in the racist assaults on the Palestinian people in exile and diaspora throughout Europe, and especially in Germany, for speaking out and organizing to take up their role in the cause, for their return to Palestine and the liberation of their land.
Imperialism is the primary enemy of the Palestinian cause, creating the Zionist project and arming it to the teeth as a mechanism of attack against the Arab and Iranian peoples, alongside Zionism, the “Israeli” occupation regime and reactionary, complicit Arab forces.
Today, the resistance is making clear that despite the weaponry and brutality of the occupier, the promise of liberation is closer than ever before.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
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Infertility: A Diabolical Agenda
Dr. Joseph Mercola | July 9, 2022
“Infertility: A Diabolical Agenda,” is the fourth vaccine-related documentary by Dr. Andrew Wakefield. It tells the story of an intentional infertility vaccine program conducted on African women, without their knowledge or consent.
While it’s been brushed off as a loony conspiracy theory for years, there’s compelling evidence showing it did, in fact, happen, and there’s nothing to prevent it from happening again. … continue
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