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Israeli demolition campaign intensifies in southern Lebanon

The Cradle | January 2, 2025

Israeli troops advanced into and heavily attacked the southern Lebanese village of Beit Lif on 2 January, in violation of the fragile ceasefire that Tel Aviv has been continuously breaching since it took effect in late November last year.

“The Roumieh area between Beit Lif and Yater was subjected to enemy artillery shelling,” Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported on Thursday afternoon, coming as Israeli forces entered and searched homes in the area.

According to Al Manar’s correspondent in the south, the Israeli army pushed into Beit Lif with several Merkava tanks, military hummers, a bulldozer, and infantry forces and began demolitions in the town. The sounds of heavy explosions and gunfire were heard.

Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli drone targeted the vicinity of a farm between the towns of Beit Lif and Yater with two missiles.

The new ceasefire violations occurred a day after the Israeli military set fire to homes in the Aitaroun-Bint Jbeil district.

In accordance with the ceasefire agreement, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) entered the towns of Shamaa and Al-Bayada on 1 January. The two towns are among those that witnessed fierce clashes between the Lebanese resistance and the Israeli army during Tel Aviv’s failed ground operation in Lebanon, which began in early October and ended with the ceasefire on 27 November.

Al-Bayada and Shamaa were also heavily bombarded throughout the war that began in October last year.

NNA reported massive destruction of infrastructure – with entire neighborhoods and even the electricity network ravaged. “Everything was razed to the ground.”

Israel has violated the ceasefire – which is based on the implementation of UN Resolution 1701 – over 100 times since it took effect with deadly airstrikes, arrests of Lebanese citizens, troop advancements, and mass detonation campaigns in southern villages. Entire villages have been wiped out as a result of the demolition campaign.

Tel Aviv claims to be targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in the south, which the LAF was tasked to dismantle as per the agreement.

Israeli troops are required to withdraw from Lebanon within 60 days of the ceasefire’s announcement. So far, it has been over four weeks, leaving less than a month before the Israeli army must retreat, according to the agreement.

Security sources in Lebanon told The Cradle on 23 December that the Israeli army is unhappy with the LAF’s efforts to implement the ceasefire and is planning to maintain a presence in the south past the 60-day implementation period.

“Now is the opportunity for the Lebanese state to prove itself through political action,” Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem said in a speech on Wednesday, echoing recent comments by the resistance group’s MPs and officials.

Hezbollah officials have recently said that the current period represents a test for the Lebanese state regarding whether or not it will be able to protect the south from Israeli attacks and violations once the resistance is no longer present south of the Litani River.

“If the occupation takes any steps against Lebanon from the eastern front due to its expansion in Syria, we will carry out our national duty … anyone who believes that the resistance in Lebanon has weakened is deluded … We possess the resources and intellect to be in a position to confront the occupation. On the 61st day after the ceasefire, we will be in a position to make the Israeli enemy taste our wrath,” Hezbollah MP Ihab Hamadeh told Al Mayadeen on Wednesday.

January 2, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , | Leave a comment

Under the radar: ‘Israel’s’ ruthless expansion and Syrians’ struggle

By Sara Salloum | Al Mayadeen | January 2, 2025

“Israel” capitalized on the fall of the Syrian regime on the 8th of this month, launching a wide-scale operation to destroy the qualitative capabilities of the Syrian Arab Army. The operation targeted missile weapons stores, manufacturing and development sites, air force facilities, air defense systems, radar installations, research centers, and naval combat assets. Israeli warplanes are still freely parading in Syrian airspace, with Syrian citizens always hearing the sounds of Israeli reconnaissance planes overhead.

In this scenario, the Syrian Arab Army would have lost the majority of its weaponry. If reconstituted, it would become a fragile and symbolic army force, incapable of effectively facing an overwhelming, American-backed Israeli military that occupies whatever land it wants, and bombs whatever it wants, whenever it wants.

While the head of the new Syrian administration, Ahmad al-Sharaa, (formerly Abu Muhammad al-Julani), was busy receiving political and security delegations from various countries, “Israel” initiated a large-scale ground incursion into southern Syria. This action was justified by the new governor of Damascus who stated, “Recently, Israel might have felt afraid, so it advanced a little and bombed a little. These fears are natural, but Syria’s problem is not with Israel, and we do not wish to tamper with Israel’s security.”

In full view of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) posts, Israeli forces violated the 1974 agreement and took control of more than 10 Syrian villages, covering an area of ​​more than 20,000 km²,

Abu Muhammad, a resident of the Quneitra countryside, told Al Mayadeen English what happened:

“The Israeli forces raised their flag on the Quneitra Governorate building, and destroyed numerous houses in the surrounding countryside, along with small farms in various towns. They bulldozed lands and farms and uprooted trees, and erected earthen barriers and fortifications around the Mantara Dam, Syria’s second-largest dam, cutting off our water supply. Additionally, they installed extensive surveillance cameras and communication devices. When civilians protested against their actions, the Israeli forces fired live ammunition directly at them, resulting in numerous injuries.”

January 2, 2025 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Militarism, War Crimes, Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

Israel and the United States: Who Rules the Roost?

By Dr. M. Reza Behnam | Palestine Chronicle | December 8, 2024 

We had several other people in the country (USA), even among the Jews,the Zionists particularly, who were against anything that has to be done if they couldn’t have the whole of Palestine and everything handed to them on a silver plate so they wouldn’t have to do anything. It couldn’t be done. We had to take it in small doses. You can’t move 5 or 6 million people out of a country and fill it up with 5 or 6 million more and expect both sets of them to be pleased….don’t think that the decision to recognize Israel was an easy one. I had to make a compromise with the Arabs and divide Palestine.”

President Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953

The Palestinian catastrophe in the United States began with the 33rd president and has continued with the 47th.

And then there was one, or two—one country, two systems. The political, economic, military and intelligence “interests” of the United States and Israel have become intertwined and often indistinguishable since President Truman decided to officially recognize Israel in 1948.

President Joe Biden has repeatedly stated, “I am a Zionist.” With that avowal, he placed the government and the American people firmly in the Israeli camp, linking the United States to apartheid, genocide and crimes against humanity.

Fifty-seven years ago, the United States chose to inextricably link its interests with an apartheid entity. And since then, for Biden and many in Washington, Israel has become a religion. Very few American politicians, especially since the 1990s, have had the mettle to challenge Israel’s dominance over US policy in the Middle East.

Israel’s leaders are well-practiced in manipulation. They have a long history of insolence toward their number one patron. Americans and US policy in the Middle East have been seen as naive and easily exploited, said Uri Dromi, who served as spokesman for the regimes of Yitzhak Rabin (1974-77; 1992-95) and Shimon Peres (1984-86).

American presidents engage in public rebukes and short-term responses to Israel’s brutal actions, but rarely, if ever are there consequences. The following encounters are just a limited edition of instances when US politicians have buckled under Israeli pressure.

The interactions, for example, between President Ronald Reagan (1981-89) and Prime Minister Menachem Begin (former Irgun terrorist) were fraught. On June 7, 1981, Israel used US warplanes to destroy Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor without informing President Reagan.

Instead Begin called Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, to inform him of the impending attack. Begin and his Likud Party had been cultivating ties to evangelical leaders like Falwell to build the alliance between US evangelical Christians and Israel. Today there are more than 30 million Christian Zionists in the United States.

As a US “ally,” Reagan expected Israel to consult when planning measures that would impact US strategic interests in the region. The administration temporarily suspended the delivery of additional F-16 jets and supported a UN Security Council resolution denouncing the attack on an International Atomic Energy Agency-approved nuclear reactor. Despite Begin’s rejection of US proposals and refusal to apologize, the White House lifted the suspension of the F-16s deliveries in August 1981.

Reagan faced another affront a few months later in December 1981, when again, without informing the president, Begin illegally annexed the captured Syrian Golan Heights. The slight came shortly after the two countries had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on strategic cooperation, written specifically so that Israel would no longer surprise the United States.

In response to the annexation, the United States suspended the MoU and imposed limited economic sanctions on Israel. Begin then accused the United States of anti-Semitism and “pointed out” that the United States had a strong Jewish community and millions of Christians supportive of Israel. The underlying message of electoral consequences was not lost on Reagan. Like measures taken after the Osirak attack, the penalties imposed on Israel were merely temporary window dressings.

George H.W. Bush, who succeeded Reagan in 1989, experienced his measure of clashes with then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir (former Zionist leader of the right-wing Stern Gang) and Benjamin Netanyahu, who was deputy foreign minister at the time.

The Bush administration was the last to “seriously” negotiate peace. Pro-Israel lobbies, both Jewish and Christian, in the United States did their best to sabotage the 1991 comprehensive peace conference in Madrid.

Bush’s secretary of state, James A. Baker, came under fire for negotiating directly and officially with Palestinians. He was also criticized for leveraging US aid to stop Israel’s expanding colonization of the occupied West Bank and for calling on Israel to lay aside its expansionist policies and unrealistic vision of a Greater Israel.

Frustrated by Israeli intransigence, Baker reportedly referred to Tel Aviv’s stalwart supporters in the US Congress as “the little Knesset.”

The Madrid Conference failed to produce results. Although Palestinians were essentially asked to negotiate with their Israeli occupiers, little was asked of Israel. To get Shamir to attend, the United States accepted Israel’s conditions that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) be excluded, that the Palestinian delegation be subject to Israeli approval, and that Palestinian independence and statehood not be addressed.

The famous confrontation in 1991 over US loan guarantees to Israel was yet another example of its insouciance about bypassing the executive to achieve its aims.

Shortly after America’s war against Iraq in 1991, Israel sought an additional $10 billion in loan guarantees from Washington to help populate Palestinian land with Jewish emigres from the former Soviet Union. The White House wanted assurances that the money would not go toward the building of additional “settlements,” and threatened to withhold funds until it received guarantees.

Recalling the event years later, Baker explained that the clash between the two governments resulted because Prime Minister Shamir had threatened that if the administration did not provide the funds, he would bypass the executive and take his case directly to Congress. Baker said he responded, “you’re damn well not going to do that. You can’t go around the President of the United States.”

The Jewish right to this day views Baker as toxic. The Jewish Press, a religiously conservative pro-Israel newspaper, described him as one of the most “reviled” public figures in Israel and among American Jews.

Although the administration eventually yielded on the loan issue, President Bush remained convinced he lost re-election in 1992 because of the pro-Israel lobby campaign against him.

The willingness to enter into political struggles with Israel’s leaders and their Washington supporters and to seriously ask something of Israel essentially came to an end with the election of President Bill Clinton (1993-2001).

The Madrid Conference paved the way for the Oslo Accords (1993 and 1995) negotiated during the Clinton presidency. For the Palestinians, it was a sham. For Israel, it consolidated domination over Palestinians and their land.

Israel can be more thoroughly understood by observing the conduct of incumbent prime minister and international fugitive, Benjamin Netanyahu. It has been his mission since the early 1990s to expand illegal colonies in occupied Palestine, prevent the creation of a Palestinian state and crush Palestinian resistance.

Netanyahu thinks of the United States as gullible. A former Israeli minister who worked with him remarked that in cabinet discussions whenever someone raises the question of how America would act, Netanyahu says “Leave the Americans to me.”

To show America who’s the boss, Netanyahu has embarrassed presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden.

One of Netanyahu’s first acts as prime minister in 1996 was to sabotage the Oslo Accords, antagonizing President Clinton who had helped negotiate the agreement. After his first meeting with Netanyahu, Clinton let loose, saying “Who the f**k does he think he is? Who’s the f***ing superpower here?”

By the time Netanyahu’s first term ended in 1999, the Oslo agreements had collapsed and Zionist colonies were firmly entrenched.

Netanyahu’s contemptuous approach toward the United States was in full view in a secretly recorded video of a conversation he had with colonists in their house in the occupied West Bank in 2001. In it, he bragged that he had deceived Clinton into believing that he was implementing the agreement, that he knew how to manipulate Americans, and that he had essentially put an end to the Oslo Accords.

The video was taped during the second intifada (Palestinian uprising) when the Israeli military was crushing the resistance. Netanyahu talked about hitting Palestinians “hard” many times so that “the price will be unbearable.”

A skeptical colonist asked him if he worried about what the United States and the world would think and say of Israel “hitting Palestinians hard.” Netanyahu responded:

“The world will say nothing… that we are defending ourselves…  I know what America is. America is a thing that can be easily moved… moved in the right direction. The Americans will not bother us. Let’s suppose that they will say something… So they say it. Eighty percent of Americans support us. It’s absurd. We have such support there!”

Netanyahu’s belligerence intensified during the presidency of Barack Obama. His flippancy toward Obama was unabashed during a tense public meeting in the Oval Office in May 2011.

The meeting took place a day after Obama had attempted to revive the stalled peace process, where he stated that the borders between Israel and Palestine should be based on 1967 lines, with some adjustments for existing Zionist colonies.

Netanyahu bluntly responded, “It’s not going to happen,” Israel would never return to 1967 borders, warning Obama not to chase “illusions” of peace. He then brazenly lectured the president on the history of the region. After the meeting, Obama’s national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, said: “I have never seen a foreign leader speak to the president like that, and certainly not in public… ”

Netanyahu used the Oval Office exchange during his 2019 campaign by releasing a campaign video in which he boasted of how he stood up to Obama and stared him down.

An additional insult came on 3 March 2015. On that date, Netanyahu addressed a joint session of the US Congress (for the third time), excoriating the Obama administration’s signature foreign policy initiative—the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or Iran nuclear deal. He had come to Washington at the invitation of then-Republican House Speaker John Boehner. The White House was not informed of the arrangements.

Although the relationship between the two leaders was fraught, Obama was one of the most pro-Israel presidents, giving it more money and arms than any of his predecessors. Before leaving office, Obama approved one of the largest military aid packages yet: $38 billion for the next ten years.

Netanyahu repaid President Obama’s favors with a number of slights. During his campaign for re-election in 2012, for example, he endorsed the president’s opponent, Republican Mitt Romney. In addition, Netanyahu also embarked on a very public and intense campaign to sabotage the Iran nuclear agreement. That was finally accomplished in May 2018, when President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the JCPOA.

With the election of Biden in 2021, the pro-Zionist/pro-Israel sentiment of the US regime has become more pronounced.

In service to Israel, the Biden administration has spent more than $22 billion on military aid and made more than 100 military aid transfers and weapons sales to Israel from October 7, 2023, to September 30, 2024. Another $680 million arms sales deal was recently approved. And for the fourth time (November 20, 2024), the administration vetoed UN Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Our history reveals that some American politicians in the past exhibited the ethical and moral courage necessary to speak and write on the pitfalls of following Israel uncritically. There have not been many. Among the few, Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright stands out. In his 1989 book, The Price of Empire, he wrote:

“The (Israel) lobby can just about tell the president what to do when it comes to Israel. Its influence in Congress is pervasive and, I think, profoundly harmful to us and ultimately to Israel itself… So completely have many of our principal officeholders fallen under Israeli influence that they not only deny today the legitimacy of Palestinian national aspirations, but debate who more passionately opposes a Palestinian state…,” adding,

“AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and its allied organizations have effective working control of the electoral process. They can elect or defeat nearly any congressman or senator that they wish, with their money and coordinated organizations. They are the really important power to negotiate within the Middle East if you want an agreement.”

Senator Fulbright served for 30 years, 15 of those as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Another critic of Israeli arrogance was Admiral Thomas Moorer. He was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1970 to 1974. Republican Congressman Paul Findley of Illinois recalled Moorer’s comments on page 161 in his book, They Dare to Speak Out:

“I’ve never seen a president… stand up to them (the Israelis)… They always get what they want. The Israelis know what’s going on all the time… If the American people understood what grip those people have on our government, they would rise up in arms. Our citizens don’t have any idea what goes on.”

The political climate in Washington has gone from bad to worse since Findley served in Congress from 1961 to 1983. His recollections on page 84 of his book are noteworthy:

“Today, on Middle East issues at least, independence and courage are almost unknown… Since the establishment of modern Israel in 1948, only a handful of senators have said or done anything in opposition to the policies of the government of Israel. Those who break ranks find themselves in difficulty.”

George Ball, US Under Secretary of State (1961-1966), also spoke frankly when he discussed Israel and its relationship with US politics and American politicians. In a 1988 CBS “60 Minutes” report on AIPAC influence on US politics, he remarked: “Practically every congressman and senator says his prayers to the AIPAC lobby.”

Amnesty International, in December 2024, released its well-documented 293-page report, “You Feel like You Are Subhuman: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza.” In a warning to all, it stated: “Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: “This is genocide. It must stop now.”

The State Department’s response to the report: “What I can say as a spokesperson for the US government and as a spokesperson of this administration is that the findings of the accusations of genocide, we continue to believe those to be unfounded.” The non-response bears witness to America’s complicity in genocide and the continuous catastrophe for Palestinians.

Caveat lector: As long as Israel and its lobbies have ownership over America’s Middle East policy, Palestinians will experience more of the same indifference and injustice, the region will be thrown into more chaos, the American public will continue to be red-pilled and international law will become worthless.

Dr. M. Reza Behnam is a political scientist specializing in the history, politics and governments of the Middle East.

December 31, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Palestinian year in review: Genocide, resistance and unanswered questions

By Ramzy Baroud | MEMO | December 26, 2024

The story of the Israeli war on Gaza can be epitomized in the story of the Israeli war on Beit Lahia, a small Palestinian town in the northern part of the Strip.

When Israel launched its ground operations in Gaza, Beit Lahia was already largely destroyed due to many days of relentless Israeli bombardment which killed thousands.

Still, the border Gaza town resisted, leading to a hermetic Israeli siege, which was never lifted, even when the Israeli military redeployed out of much of northern Gaza in January 2024.

Beit Lahia is largely an isolated town, a short distance away from the fence separating besieged Gaza from Israel. It is surrounded mostly by agricultural areas that make it nearly impossible to defend.

Yet, a year of grisly Israeli war and genocide in Gaza did not end the fighting there. To the contrary, 2024 has ended where it started, with intense fighting on all fronts in Gaza, with Beit Lahia, a town that was supposedly ‘conquered’ earlier, still leading the fight.

Beit Lahia is a microcosm of Israel’s failed war in the Strip, a bloody grind that has led nowhere, despite the massive destruction, the repeated ethnic cleansing of the population, the starvation and the genocide. Every day of Israel’s terrible war on the Palestinians serves as a reminder that there are no military solutions and that the Palestinian will cannot be broken, no matter the cost or the sacrifice.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, remains unconvinced. He entered the new year with more promises of ‘total victory’, and ended it as a wanted criminal by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The issuing of an arrest warrant for the Israeli leader was a reiteration of a similar position taken by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the start of 2024.

The ICJ’s position, however, was hardly as strong as many had hoped or wanted to believe. The world’s highest court had, on 26 January, ordered Israel “to take action to prevent acts of genocide”, but stopped short of ordering Israel to halt its war.

The Israeli objectives of the war remained unclear, although Israeli politicians provided clues as to what the war on Gaza was really all about. Last January, several Israeli ministers, including 12 from Netanyahu’s Likud party, took part in a conference calling for the resettlement of Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. “Without settlements, there is no security,” extremist Israeli minister of finance, Bezalel Smotrich, said.

For that to happen, the Palestinian people themselves, not merely those fighting on the ground, had to be tamed, broken and defeated. Thus, the ‘flour massacres‘, a new Israeli war tactic that was centered around killing as many Palestinians as possible while waiting for the few aid trucks that were allowed to reach northern Gaza.

On 29 February, more than 100 Gazans were killed while queueing for aid. They were mowed down by Israeli soldiers, as they desperately tried to lay their hands on a loaf of bread, baby milk or a bottle of water. This scene was repeated, again and again in the north, but also in other parts of the Gaza Strip throughout the year.

The aim was to starve the Palestinians in the north so that they would be forced to flee to other parts of the Strip. Famine actualized as early as January, and many of those who tried to flee south were killed, anyway.

From the early days of the war, Israel understood that to ethnically cleanse Palestinians, they must target all aspects of life in the Strip. This includes hospitals, bakeries, markets, electric grids, water stations, and the like.

The Gaza hospitals, of course, received a large share of Israeli attacks. In March, once more, Israel attacked the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City with greater ferocity than before. When it finally withdrew, on April 1, the Israeli army destroyed the entire compound, leaving behind mass graves with hundreds of bodies, mostly medical staff, women and children. They even executed several patients.

Aside from a few statements of concern by western leaders, little was done to bring the genocide to an end. Only when seven international aid workers with the charity, the World Central Kitchen, were killed by Israel, a global outcry followed, leading to the first and only Israeli apology in the entire war.

Desperate to distract from its failure in Gaza, but also Lebanon, and keen on presenting the Israeli public with any kind of victory, the Israeli military began escalating its war beyond Gaza. This included the strike on the Iranian Embassy in Syria on 1 April. Despite repeated attempts, which included the assassination in Iran of the head of Hamas’s Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, on 31 July, an all-out regional war has not yet come to pass.

Another escalation was taking place, this time not by Netanyahu but by millions of people around the world, demanding an end to the Israeli war. A focal point of the protests were student movements that spread across US campuses and, ultimately, worldwide. Instead of allowing free speech to flourish, however, America’s largest academic institutions resorted to the police, who violently shut down many of the protests, arresting hundreds of students, many of whom were not allowed to return to their colleges.

Meanwhile, the US continued to block international efforts aimed at producing a ceasefire resolution at the United Nations Security Council. Ultimately, on 31 May, US President Joe Biden delivered a speech conveying what he termed an “Israeli proposal” to end the war. After some delay, Hamas accepted the proposal, but Israel rejected it. In his rejection, Netanyahu referred to Biden’s speech as “incorrect” and “incomplete”. Strangely, but also unsurprisingly, the White House blamed the Palestinians for the failed initiative.

Losing faith in the American leadership, some European countries began changing their foreign policy doctrines on Palestine, with Ireland, Norway and Spain recognizing the State of Palestine on 28 May. The decisions were largely symbolic but indicated that western unity around Israel was faltering.

Israel remained unfazed and, despite international warnings, invaded the Rafah area in southern Gaza on May 7, seizing control of the Philadelphi Corridor – a buffer zone between Gaza and the Egyptian border that extends for 14 kilometers.

Netanyahu’s government insisted that only war can bring their captives back. There was very little success in that strategy, however. On June 8, Israel, with logistical support from the US and other western countries managed to rescue four of its captives held in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. To do so, Israel killed at least 276 Palestinians and wounded 800 more.

In August, another heart-wrenching massacre took place, this time in the Al-Tabaeen school in Gaza City, where 93 people, mostly women and children, were murdered in a single Israeli strike. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, women and children were the main victims of the Israeli genocide, accounting for 70 per cent by 8 November.

An earlier report by the Lancet Medical Journal said that if the war stopped in July, “186,000 or even more” Palestinians would have been killed. The war, however, went on. The rate of genocide in Gaza seemed to maintain the same killing ratio, despite the major regional developments including the mutual Iranian-Israeli tit-for-tat strikes and the major Israeli ground operation in Lebanon.

In October, Israel returned to the policies of targeting or besieging hospitals, killing doctors and other medical staff, and targeting aid and civil defence workers. Still, Israel would not achieve any of its strategic goals of the war. Even the killing of Hamas’ leader, Yahya Sinwar, in battle on 16 October  would not, in any way, alter the course of the war.

Israel’s frustration grew by leaps and bounds throughout the year. Its desperate attempt to control the global narrative on the Gaza genocide largely failed. On 19 July, and after listening to the testimonies of over 50 countries, the ICJ issued a landmark ruling that “Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is illegal.”

That ruling, which expressed international consensus on the matter, was translated on 17 September to a UN General Assembly resolution “demanding an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestine within the next twelve months”.

All of this effectively meant that Israel’s attempt at normalizing its occupation of Palestine, and its quest to illegally annex the West Bank was considered null and void by the international community. Israel, however, doubled down, taking its rage against West Bank Palestinians, who, too, were experiencing one of the worst Israeli pogroms in many years.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, by 21 November, at least 777 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October 2023, while thousands more were wounded and over 11,700 arrested.

To make matters worse, Smotrich called, on November 11, for the full annexation of the West Bank. The call was made soon after the election of Donald Trump as the next US President, an event that initially inspired optimism amongst Israeli leaders, but later concerns that Trump may not serve the role of the saviour for Israel after all.

On 21 November, the ICC issued its historic ruling to arrest Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. The decision represented a measure of hope, however faint, that the world is finally ready to hold Israel accountable for its many crimes.

2025 could, indeed, represent that watershed moment. This remains to be seen. However, as far as Palestinians are concerned, even with the failure of the international community to stop the genocide and reign in Israel, their steadfastness, sumoud, will remain strong until freedom is finally attained.

December 27, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, War Crimes | , , , , | 2 Comments

Lavrov warns Israel against ‘sowing a storm’ in Syria

RT | December 26, 2024

Israel should refrain from solving its geopolitical problems at the expense of war-torn Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has cautioned. Reckless actions by the Jewish state could erode the security framework in the Middle East, he warned, during an online press conference on Thursday.

Lavrov stressed that Russia insists on Syria remaining an independent country following the demise of former President Bashar Assad, reiterating that Moscow maintains contact both with Damascus and other regional partners. “The disintegration of Syria must not be allowed,” he said.

In light of this, the minister urged Israel, which has established a so-called ‘buffer zone’ in internationally recognized Syrian territory, “to understand its responsibility in these collective [stabilization] efforts and refrain from ensuring its security at the expense of others.”

“One cannot expect to destroy all military facilities in a neighboring country and then live in peace and harmony forever. This is like sowing a storm that will inevitably come back to haunt those who engage in such actions.”

After Assad’s removal and subsequent asylum in Russia, Israel has launched multiple airstrikes across the border, targeting Syrian airbases, weapons depots, and other military facilities to prevent arms from reaching “the wrong hands.” West Jerusalem claimed to have destroyed 70-80% of its neighbor’s strategic military capabilities, with the Syrian navy essentially being eliminated as an operational force.

According to Lavrov, another facet of Syria’s well-being hinges on the situation in the oil-rich eastern part of the country. The US, the minister charged, has “illegally occupied a significant part of the territory, including areas with major oil fields and fertile lands,” adding that revenues from the export of these resources is being funneled to “separatist structures” that the Americans have created in the country.

He also addressed remarks by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who recently vowed to “bury” Kurdish militants – whom Ankara considers terrorists – in Syria if they fail to lay down their arms. “We understand the legitimate concerns of the Turkish leadership… regarding security along the border,” Lavrov said, adding that Türkiye’s “legitimate security interests must be ensured in a way that preserves Syria’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and unity.”

Earlier media reports claimed that Türkiye and the new leadership in Damascus were considering a joint military operation to expel Kurds from border areas if they failed to integrate with the Syrian military. Russian President Vladimir Putin did not rule out that Ankara could proceed with such an action, while urging both sides to resolve their differences peacefully.

December 26, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Five Syrians injured by Israeli army gunfire in Quneitra countryside

By Ahmad Karakira | Al Mayadeen | December 25, 2024

Israeli forces have established new positions in the countryside of Quneitra in Syria, specifically along the axes of Rasm al-Rawadi, Umm al-Edam, and al-Mantara Dam.

The village of Swisah in the southern countryside of Quneitra witnessed a protest against the Israeli occupation forces that had advanced into the village, entering barracks within and around it, local sources told Al Mayadeen.

The Israeli forces, consisting of bulldozers and tanks, stormed a barracks in the center of the village, carrying out acts of vandalism and cutting down trees in its surroundings but without approaching residential homes, the sources indicated.

Subsequently, the occupation forces moved to a barracks west of the village, continuing their acts of destruction, which prompted residents to gather near the site in protest against the incursion and raise the Syrian flag.

The Israeli forces then opened fire to prevent the protesters from approaching, injuring five individuals.

According to the sources, the Israeli forces transported equipment, including bulldozers, to the al-Tallayn al-Homr area, where they have been stationed for some time.

IOF give Jubatha al-Khashab residents ultimatum to turn in weapons

In a related context, Israeli occupation forces have given the residents of the town of Jubata al-Khashab in the northern countryside of Quneitra a 48-hour deadline to hand over all types of weapons.

This has sparked appeals to the new administration in Damascus, which has yet to take any action.

In response to Israeli threats, the elders of the town indicated that they would only hand over weapons to the Syrian authorities.

They urged active officials on the ground to address their demands “so they would not later be accused of treachery, especially after the Israeli forces claimed responsibility for the area’s security and its arms.”

IOF establishing posts on top of Mount Hermon

A couple of days ago, local sources told Al Mayadeen that the Israeli occupation forces are combing the entirety of Mount Hermon’s peak, and are establishing a new post overlooking Damascus’ southwestern countryside.

According to exclusive sources, the Israeli army seized military equipment in the area, as well as the wreckage of an Israeli helicopter downed during the 1973 war.

Earlier, a local source told Al Mayadeen that Israeli tanks and armored patrols infiltrated the al-Hamidiyah axis in the countryside of Quneitra towards the provincial center in the town of al-Baath, southwest of Syria, coinciding with inspection campaigns carried out by Israeli forces, which targeted some homes and farms in the villages of the central countryside.

December 25, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Mauritian Prime Minister Rejects Blinken’s Call to Sign Deal With UK on Chagos – Reports

Sputnik – 25.12.2024

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Mauritian Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam to sign the deal with the United Kingdom on the status of the Chagos archipelago, which was agreed by the previous Mauritian government, but he was refused, a news portal reported, citing sources.

Ramgoolam made it clear that he did not agree with the original agreement reached in October and told Blinken that he had sent a counter-offer to London, the report said on Tuesday.

The report noted that Ramgoolam thus confirmed his desire to achieve a better deal for Mauritius.

On October 3, the United Kingdom agreed to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Under the deal, the UK also promised to create a new trust fund and provide other support for the benefit of Chagossians, as well as to provide a package of financial support to Mauritius, including an “indexed annual payment for the duration of the agreement” and infrastructure investment, according to the UK-Mauritius joint statement. The UK however will retain control of the US-UK base on the Diego Garcia island for an initial period of 99 years. To enter into force, the deal must be ratified in the British parliament, which is expected next year.

Mauritius and the Chagos Islands had been colonial possessions of the British Crown since 1845. In 1968, Mauritius gained independence, but the islands remained a British overseas territory. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Chagos population was deported to the Seychelles and Mauritius. In 1966, the UK leased the largest island, Diego Garcia, to the United States for 50 years. The lease was extended for 20 years in 2016.

December 25, 2024 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Militarism | , , , | 1 Comment

Israel seeks to occupy south Lebanon past 60-day truce period

The Cradle | December 24, 2024

Israeli forces are unhappy with the Lebanese army’s efforts to implement the ceasefire agreement announced on 27 November and are planning to maintain a presence in south Lebanon, according to exclusive information.

“The French conveyed to the Lebanese army that the Israeli military is not satisfied with what is happening [in south Lebanon] and that it will not leave before destroying all of Hezbollah’s infrastructure [south of Litani River, even after the 60-day implementation period ends],” Lebanese security sources told The Cradle on 23 December.

The information came as an Israeli attack killed two people in the town of Taybeh in southern Lebanon’s Marjayoun District.

The Lebanese National News Agency’s (NNA) correspondent in Marjayoun reported on Monday afternoon that “two people were killed and another was injured in an enemy raid that targeted a group of people near the official school in Taybeh.”

Israeli ground troops continued their campaign of mass detonations and destruction of homes and buildings across southern Lebanon, blowing up houses in Al-Bustan and Al-Zaloutieh in the Tyre District.

They also put up an Israeli flag on a hill in the Naqoura area overlooking the main entrance to the town, in violation of the ceasefire announced last month.

Israeli troops are required to withdraw from Lebanon within 60 days of the ceasefire’s announcement. So far, it has been four weeks, leaving only a month before the Israeli army must withdraw, according to the agreement that is based on UN Resolution 1701.

The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) has deployed across south Lebanon with the aim of dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure south of the Litani River – which is required to take place within the 60-day period.

Tel Aviv has violated the ceasefire over 100 times since it took effect with deadly airstrikes, arrests of Lebanese citizens, troop advancements, and mass detonation campaigns in southern villages.

Israeli forces have exploited the ceasefire to advance into areas they were unable to during recent ground battles with Hezbollah.

Hezbollah responded once to dozens of violations in early December with a limited rocket attack on an Israeli site in occupied Lebanese territory, prompting a massive and deadly Israeli response in south Lebanon.

Israel claims it is acting in line with the ceasefire agreement by targeting what it says is Hezbollah infrastructure. However, according to the agreement, dismantling the resistance’s presence in southern Lebanon is the responsibility of the Lebanese state and army. Earlier this month, the Israeli army bombed Khiam after the LAF entered the city to clear rubble and prepare for civilian entry.

A secret side letter between Washington and Tel Aviv reportedly guarantees that Israel can act with force against “threats.”

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed on 22 December that Tel Aviv would “crush” Hezbollah’s “head” if the Lebanese resistance group violates the ceasefire, coming during a visit to an Israeli army position in southern Lebanon.

Two days earlier, Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad said that “the resistance will not be dragged into confronting Israeli violations and aggressions militarily, because its priority is the Israeli withdrawal from our land without giving it any pretext to exceed the 60-day deadline, and because we take into consideration the situation of our people who need shelter, reconstruction, and to clean up the effects of the war.”

“We want the Lebanese government and army to play their role in protecting the land and preserving sovereignty, based on the [agreement] based on Resolution 1701,” Fayyad added.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and UNIFIL called on Israel on Monday to hasten its withdrawal from southern Lebanon. Mikati called for the US and France to pressure Israel on the matter.

December 24, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , | Leave a comment

Israel threatens residents of south Syria as troops expand occupation

The Cradle | December 22, 2024

Residents of the town of Baath in the southern Syrian governorate of Quneitra – currently under occupation by Israel’s military – have been ordered by Israeli forces to surrender all weapons present in the town or face invasion.

Israeli troops ordered Baath City’s residents to give up all arms within two hours on 22 December, according to a report by Israel’s Maariv newspaper.

The army has “issued an ultimatum to residents of Baath to surrender their weapons within two hours, threatening to enter the city,” the report says. It is unclear what weapons or military infrastructure are in Baath.

This came as part of a large-scale deployment across southern Syria.

Israel continues to solidify its occupation of southern Syria after expanding its presence beyond the occupied Golan Heights and strategic Mount Hermon (Jabal al-Sheikh) following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government on 8 December.

Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Syria reported on Sunday “the entry of tanks and mechanized patrols of the occupation army from Al-Hamidiya in the Quneitra countryside towards the center of the governorate. “The entry of Israeli forces coincided with search campaigns that included some homes and farms in the villages of the central countryside.”

According to Al Mayadeen, Israeli troops also opened fire indiscriminately towards the forests of Al-Hamidiya and Al-Hurriya in the Quneitra countryside.

Israel has set up seven permanent outposts along the UN-monitored buffer zone, which Israeli forces expanded in the aftermath of Damascus’ fall.

Two of these outposts in Mount Hermon overlook Damascus and all its western suburbs. Since 8 December, Israeli forces have illegally occupied nearly 500 square kilometers of southern Syria.

Israel’s recent expansion has seen invading troops seize precious water sources such as the Al-Wahda Dam on the Yarmouk River Basin. Syrian and Israeli sources, including Carmel News citing an Iranian source, reported earlier this week that Israel now controls 30 percent of Syria’s water supply and 40 percent of Jordan’s.

After recently taking control of the freshwater basin of Yarmouk, Israeli troops have now reached three new bodies of water: Sheikh Hussein, Sahm al-Julan dam, and the western Baraka.

The Israeli army recently opened fire at protesters near the Yarmouk Basin as they were demonstrating against Tel Aviv’s occupation in Syria. At least one was injured.

The UN has expressed “deep concern” over Israeli violation of Syria’s sovereignty and the 1974 border agreement signed indirectly between the Syrian and Israeli governments. After the fall of Assad’s government, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly announced the end of the agreement.

Israeli airstrikes have decimated the majority of Syria’s military capabilities in a brutal aerial campaign launched after the government fell to extremist groups.

On Tuesday, Netanyahu said that Israeli troops will occupy the recently seized territory in Syria for the foreseeable future.

December 22, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , | Leave a comment

IOF admit to opening fire on protesters in southern Syria

Al Mayadeen | December 21, 2024

The Israeli occupation forces acknowledged their use of live ammunition against protesters in southern Syria, claiming the action targeted what they described as a “threat.”

According to an IOF statement, one protester sustained a gunshot wound to the leg in the village of Maaria.

The incident unfolded during a demonstration against the Israeli military presence and its encroachment on agricultural lands in the area.

Syrians protest Israeli occupation of base in Yarmouk Basin

Residents of the multiple towns in the Yarmouk Basin, in the western Daraa countryside, in southern Syria, protested on Friday the presence of Israeli occupation forces in the area.

Locals demanded the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from the area, specifically the al-Jazeera barracks. Demonstrators demanded an immediate halt to Israeli incursions into Syrian territory, calling on the international community to intensify efforts and exert pressure on the Israeli entity to ensure compliance with international laws and sovereignty.

It is worth noting that the IOF recently occupied two villages in the Yarmouk Basin region of Daraa province in southern Syria. These actions are part of what appears to be an ongoing expansion of Israeli-occupied territories in Syria, particularly since the emergence of new regime forces in the country.

Elders protest Israeli occupation of Quneitra 

Sources had previously told Al Mayadeen that Israeli forces were raiding, detaining residents, and arbitrarily searching homes in southern Quneitra and the western Daraa countryside. These actions have become a cause of widespread panic among civilians without a clear response from the current Syrian regime.

Moreover, elders of clans residing in the buffer zone east of the Golan Heights in the Quneitra District issued a statement demanding Israeli occupation forces withdraw beyond the buffer zone.

Razing areas, constructing roads 

Sources also revealed that Israeli occupation forces are advancing toward the Al-Shahar Forest and the Al-Khashab Nature Reserve in northern Quneitra, while other forces are advancing into the nearby towns of Taranja and Ufaniya.

Moreover, occupation forces are razing agricultural lands and nature reserves to construct roads connecting Quneitra to Mount Hermon.

Additionally, a group of 30 Israeli soldiers, supported by bulldozers and armored vehicles,  advanced into a military point west of al-Rafid town in the southern Quneitra countryside. These forces bulldozed structures and uprooted trees, destroying military fortifications in the area before withdrawing.

So far, the Israeli entity has occupied around 500 km² of Syrian territory, demolishing and razing Syrian military bases and other assets on the slopes of Mount Hermon, Quneitra, and Daraa.

Additionally, Israeli forces have expanded their incursion into southern Syria, advancing eastward from the town of Sayda, reaching three significant water bodies in the area, including Sheikh Hussein, Sahm al-Golan Dam, and al-Bakar al-Gharbi.

December 21, 2024 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Subjugation - Torture | , , | Leave a comment

China urges US to shut Guantanamo prison, end ‘occupation’ of Cuba

Lin Jian, spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, attends a press conference on March 18, 2024 in Beijing, China. [VCG/VCG via Getty Images]
MEMO | December 20, 2024

China today called on the US to close the Guantanamo detention facility and end its “illegal occupation” of Cuba.

The US has “long unlawfully occupied part of Guantanamo Bay, and carried out arbitrary detention and used torture to extort confessions at the detention facility there,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said during a press briefing in Beijing.

His comments came after the US recently transferred several detainees out of Guantanamo prison.

“The US needs to immediately stop illegally occupying Cuba’s territory, stop the bullying and blockade on Cuba, close the ‘black site’ and pull out of the base at Guantanamo as soon as possible, give the Cuban people’s land back to them, and remove Cuba from the list of ‘state sponsors of terrorism’,” Lin said, according to a transcript released by ministry.

He said Washington has “repeatedly failed to keep its promise of closing this US-run concentration camp” which “will only add another stain to the poor US track record on human rights and expose the emptiness of US commitment to human rights.”

In recent days, the US released several prisoners from Guantanamo, including two Malaysians and one Kenyan.

There are some 29 inmates still held inside the prison.

“The detention facility at Guantanamo Bay is Cuba’s protracted wound. It is a living witness to more than a century of US illegal interference in Cuba. The US, while running massive arbitrary detention at Guantanamo,” said the spokesman Lin.

Read also: Guantanamo’s cruelty is medieval. It’s a horror story. And it’s true.

December 20, 2024 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Subjugation - Torture | , , , | Leave a comment

Genocide in the name of security, according to Israeli settler narratives

Heavy machinery demolishes the house of Palestinian Bilal Abu Ayyash under the pretext of building without a permit in Area C, in West Bank on November 16, 2024
[MOSAB SHAWER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images]
By Ramona Wadi | MEMO | December 17, 2024

Israeli settler leaders are calling upon the Israeli government to emulate the genocidal strategy used against Palestinians in Gaza to displace and ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the occupied West Bank. In a letter to the Israeli security cabinet, Yisrael Ganz, head of the Yesha Council which deals with settlement affairs, together with other settler leaders and mayors, called for the demolition of buildings and refugee camps in the occupied West Bank. All of Israel’s settlers and the settlements in which they live are, of course, illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Israelis, though treat international law with contempt.

“After moving the population, the terrorism infrastructure should be dismantled exactly as we have done in the Gaza Strip, meaning: any incriminated building to be destroyed, every terrorist to be taken out,” he said in his letter. “This is the time to abandon a defensive posture and go forward to a posture of efficient and effective lethal offensive in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank].”

This is the time – the letter reads – because passive attention has been fixed on Gaza, before shifting to Lebanon and Syria. And while the occupied West Bank, slated for illusory state building and donor funds by the international community, served its purpose in the past by keeping the two-state “solution” alive, Israel has been stating openly that the paradigm is now defunct and inapplicable. So why should the international community have any concern over its lack of implementation now? Time is serving Israel well, but not the Palestinian people.

Genocide did not prompt the international community into action. On the contrary, it continued to stall while collecting statistical data as it always does. In the occupied West Bank, where data has already normalised human rights and international law violations, the international community will have an easier time. And, having normalised genocide and its ramifications, what can really stop Israel from repeating the same pattern of ethnic cleansing if it wants to?

Earlier this month, Ganz invoked and thus involved the international community in Israel’s expansionist decisions.

“Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria will cut off the axis of evil, protect Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and safeguard London, Berlin and New York as well,” he told the Jerusalem Post. Israel’s colonialism and genocide are now being promoted as tools that protect the West. Of course, the US, Germany and the UK would not object to such rhetoric and implementation, given their complicity in the Gaza genocide, not to mention their unquestioned support throughout decades of settler-colonial expansion.

If Israel and the international community are on board with genocide as an alleged security buffer zone, how does the latter define the victims? Collateral damage? Inconsequential? If Israel does indeed commit genocide in the occupied West Bank with the blessing of the international community — which is likely — how will human rights and international law be defined? Not only would the international community not have stopped genocide in Gaza; it would have agreed to its extension in the occupied West Bank under the guise of not only Israeli, but also international security concerns. This despite the Palestinian anti-colonial resistance being directed solely against Israel, not Israel and its accomplices.

The imbalance of power is immense and it continues to grow in parallel with the Palestinian people’s forced subjugation. Israel is openly proclaiming its role in changing the Middle East, and the world still refuses to acknowledge how Palestinians across all of colonised Palestine are being exterminated in Zionism’s quest for Greater Israel.

December 18, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

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