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Gaza Municipality: 70% of wells and 105,000 water lines destroyed

Palestinian Information Center – November 14, 2024

GAZA – The Gaza Municipality revealed on Thursday that the Israeli occupation destroyed more than 105,000 water lines and more than 70% of water wells in the Gaza Strip.

The limited capabilities of the municipality hinder its ability to solve this severe crisis, which forces citizens to transport water manually to their homes, said the municipality’s spokesman, Asem Al-Nabih.

He pointed out that the prices of desalinated water witnessed a significant increase due to the sharp increase in fuel prices, which further exacerbates the suffering of local citizens in obtaining potable water.

On October 23, two employees of the Gaza Municipality were killed, and two others were injured while repairing water wells at the Bir Al-Safa station in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood in eastern Gaza.

Since the start of the ongoing Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, the Israeli occupation has been working to destroy all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip.

November 14, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Israel is brazenly going against the entire world community

By Viktor Mikhin – New Eastern Outlook – November 14 2024

It is difficult for any reasonable person to understand or explain Israel’s recent actions with regard to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). After the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, it took two years for it to become a full member of the then nascent UN. One of the key issues that prevented Israel from joining the UN was the status of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who had been made refugees by the Israeli military. For its part, the UN adopted a clear and unambiguous resolution (General Assembly Resolution 194) guaranteeing the right of return and compensation for losses suffered by Palestinian refugees. Decades later, during negotiations, the Palestinians insisted that Tel Aviv recognize its historical and moral responsibility for the Palestinian refugee crisis.

Members of the UN Security Council, wanting to alleviate the terrible humanitarian conditions in which Palestinian refugees lived in tents in countries bordering Israel, helped create the UNRWA, which began operations in 1950. Donors to the UN agency included the US until President Donald Trump took office and cut off aid. These actions, which continued in part under the Biden administration because of enormous pro-Israel pressure in Congress, whetted the appetite of members of the now extreme right-wing Israeli government who had always hoped that the Palestinian refugee problem would simply disappear on its own.

The UNRWA provides humanitarian assistance to nearly 6 million Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. It is the main source of humanitarian support for the Palestinians. Its services include the provision of basic needs such as education, food, healthcare and fuel distribution. The closure of the Agency may inevitably lead to the withdrawal of basic services to the Palestinians. UNRWA is not a political body—it refrains from any political action and strictly follows the regularly approved UN mandate.

The mandate of the Agency, as defined by the UN General Assembly, is to provide assistance to “Palestinian refugees.” This term was defined in 1952 as “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict.” Palestinian refugees include both those who meet this definition and the descendants of those who meet this definition.

For years, Israel and its supporters have pressured the humanitarian agency, trying to get it closed, forcing countries not to fund it, or making false and often ridiculously trumped-up accusations against the UNRWA or its staff. The latest fiction that several local UNRWA staffers were involved in the October 7 (2023) Hamas attacks on Israel has been recently debunked by a high-level Investigative Committee set up by the UN secretary-general. The UN investigation, published in April, found no evidence of wrongdoing by UNRWA staff, noting also that Israel had not responded to requests for names and information and “has not reported any specific concerns about UNRWA staff to the UNRWA since 2011.”

But despite Israel’s failure to convince the world of the validity of its accusations, and despite pressure from Israel’s allies not to approve the ban, 92 of 120 Knesset members voted in favor of banning UNRWA from working in Israel, and 87 supported banning government agencies from any contact with the agency, effectively barring it from operating in the occupied territories.

Foreign ministers from Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Britain jointly criticized the proposed ban, saying it could have “devastating consequences” in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This move comes shortly after Israeli authorities confiscated land in East Jerusalem, where the UNRWA headquarters is located. The Israeli authorities plan to build 1,440 housing units on the site, which is illegal under international law. But Israel and its rulers simply don’t care about international law—they consider themselves above it.

While the international community was debating, under enormous pressure from Israel, whether and how much to allocate funds to this important UN agency, no one expected the Knesset to act so callously, in such heartless, brazen defiance of the entire international community and vote in its highest legislative chamber to ban UNRWA from providing simple humanitarian aid to Palestinians in dire need. It appears that the Israelis not only want to gratuitously appropriate Palestinian property, they want to destroy these people, to simply starve them to death.

For decades, Israel has demanded that the world, including its enemies, recognize its right to exist. But Palestinians also have a legitimate right to defend themselves. Yet by banning the UN agency, Israel weakens its own legitimacy and becomes an international pariah.

There are many proverbs in folklore that apply to what Israel, a UN member state bound by the UN Charter, plans to do to UNRWA. “Do not spit in the well from which you drink” and “do not cut off the branch on which you sit” are two examples that seem to perfectly illustrate the folly of a country that worries about its legitimacy while opposing the only international UN organization that gave it the right to exist. But the UN can also change its decision, which it made long ago in sympathy with Jewish refugees from WWII Europe.

What Israel does in this conflict it calls an “existential war” is actually weakening its own status in the world community. When someone else’s land is stolen and a new country is created on someone else’s property, the last thing you want is to strengthen those who question your own existence. And yet, that is the vast majority of the world community.

Thus, when the now racist Netanyahu government tries to solve the Palestinian refugee problem by exterminating the Palestinians, this move may have the opposite effect. As a UN member state that bans the UN agency for now, Israel is helping to strengthen the demands of its adversaries and forcing the international community to seriously consider its membership in the global body that once recognized it. Apparently, it is indeed true that, when God wants to punish someone, he simply takes away their mind.

November 14, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , | 1 Comment

All Of Your War Propaganda Describes Israel

By John Weeks | The Libertarian Institute | November 14, 2024

On October 30, former President Bill Clinton gave a campaign speech for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in Muskegon Heights, Michigan. Speaking at the Christ Temple Apostolic Faith Church, Clinton attempted to persuade American Muslims in that crucial swing state to vote for Harris despite her support for the Joe Biden administration’s disastrous Middle East policy.

It did not go well. For one thing, Harris went on to lose Michigan (and the election) in stunning fashion. There was also immediate backlash.

As the Huffington Post put it, Bill Clinton Justifies The Mass Killings Of Palestinians In Racist Michigan Speech.”

Clinton’s support for mass murder is not surprising. After all, this is the same Bill Clinton who presided over the massacre of American citizens and their foreign national guests at the Mount Carmel church and residence outside of Waco during the first year of his presidency.

The Waco slaughter was accompanied by a massive state and regime media disinformation campaign to convince the American people that the good folks to be sacrificed on the state’s altar were raving lunatics, armed to the teeth, and intent on waging war on downtown Waco.

The demonic entity that the propaganda portrayed the Christians of Mount Carmel as was pure fantasy. But decades later, the demon has slithered onto the world stage for real. That demon is Israel, and just like the fantasy version, the real demon was Made in America™.

The Waco propaganda was so good, more than thirty years later it still exists in the public mind. On the same day Clinton gave his pro-genocide speech, Stephen Colbert told a Waco joke during the opening monologue of The Late Show:

“[Elon] Musk already has eleven children and sources say he wants to gather them all together by creating a family compound in Texas. And you know a story is always going to end well when it starts with a compound in Texas.”

A “compound in Texas” is clearly a reference to the Mount Carmel church and home, which the state and its minions demonized as a compound with a “bunker” run by “lieutenants.” Did some deep state apparatchik submit that joke to The Late Show staff as a subtle threat against Musk (who heavily endorsed Donald Trump’s presidential campaign)?

The state certainly has been filled with levity recently:

“State Department spokesman Matt Miller on Monday [November 4] made a joke and laughed when pressed about Israel failing to meet U.S. requests to allow more aid into Gaza as it’s imposing a starvation blockade on the northern part of the Strip.”

The point is that the state’s Waco talking points still resonate. In fact, they have become part of a larger propaganda template routinely used by the United States Imperial Government (USIG).

As the Soviet Union was in free fall, the USIG launched its war of choice against Iraq in 1991. It even got the Soviets to diplomatically back the Desert Storm adventure. As George Carlin put it:

“We couldn’t wait for that Cold War to be over, could we? Couldn’t wait for the Cold War to be over so we can go and play with our toys in the sand. Go and play with our toys in the sand.”

The USIG took most of the toys it had been training with to fight the Soviet Union and unleashed them on its own client state:

“Desert Storm was, in effect, the NATO–Warsaw Pact war that never was, pitting largely Soviet weaponry, doctrine, and tactics against a Coalition, which reflected NATO strategic thinking.”

Desert Storm, like all U.S. wars, was based on lies. The Cold War was over, so the fantasy of international communism taking over America was obsolete. After Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, President George H. W. Bush went with a fan favorite and accused Hussein of being “Hitler Revisited.” The regime falsely claimed Iraq was poised to invade Saudi Arabia and that its soldiers had murdered over 300 babies by taking them from their incubators and [leaving them] “on the cold floor to die.”

At Mount Carmel, the imperial information warfare directorate and some of the toys from Desert Storm were deployed on the mainland to crush Americans who had the misfortune of drawing the AFT’s attention during budget season. As Libertarian Institute Executive Director Scott Horton put it:

“… these are Texans. These people are 100 miles up the road. But they’re a foreign nation. They’re Iraqis dude. You could just drop the nuke on them and… the housewives of Northwest Austin would have been happy with that.”

David Koresh, the preacher who oversaw Mount Carmel, was the new Saddam Hussein; the new Hitler. As Horton observed, the propaganda template became locked in.

The template was deployed over and over again, most famously during the Iraq War in 2003. Saddam Hussein was the new Hitler. (Again.) His regime possessed illegal weapons of mass destruction. And he was bad to his own people. As Horton put it, “That’s all Waco was. It was Iraq War II writ small.”

Koresh might have been a morally indefensible man, but the government never provided any evidence he broke any law. Saddam was a monster (which is why he worked for years as a U.S. government proxy) and he brutally repressed his own people, but he did not have the fantasy nuclear weapons the Bush regime pretended he did. Nor did he have ties to Al Qaeda.

Israel, meanwhile, fully fits the template. It is run by madmen who peddle religious kookery. It has illegal nuclear weapons. It is mean to its own people. It has supported Al Qaeda and ISIS. It has slaughtered U.S. military personnel. It interferes with American democracy. It is committing genocide. It is attempting to spark a regional war. Israel even kills little newborn babies for real, the way Iraq did in the fantasy.

The state is a disease masquerading as its own cure. Keep that in mind when the likes of Bill Clinton tell you Israel is defending western civilization.

November 14, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Students occupy Italy defence firm HQ to protest over Gaza

MEMO | November 13, 2024

Around a hundred students occupied Leonardo’s LDOF.MI Turin headquarters to denounce what they say is the Italian defence group’s complicity in Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports.

The students, who unfurled a Palestinian flag from the roof of Leonardo’s offices, said the company was supporting Israel by providing remote technical assistance and spare parts to Israel’s air force.

Leonardo declined to comment.

Images released by the students show them in Leonardo’s offices waving Palestinian flags and carrying spray cans. Outside they hung banners on the buildings saying ‘no arms to Israel’ and accusing the group of complicity in genocide.

They also clambered on top of a plane in the grounds of the company’s headquarters.

Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto condemned the protest, saying on X that the students were “destroying and defacing” the offices where an “important meeting with the staff of the defence ministry” was taking place.

“These people must be treated for what they are, dangerous subversives. Criminals have no political colour, they are just criminals,” he said.

Crosetto said in March that Italy had continued to export arms to Israel, despite government assurances last year that it was blocking such sales following the Israeli occupation army’s genocidal campaign in Gaza since October last year.

In March the minister said only previously signed orders were being honoured after checks had been made to ensure the weaponry would not be used against Gazan civilians.

Through its US subsidiary, Leonardo provides Israel with aircraft and owns an Israeli radar company called RADA.

Under Italian law, arms exports are banned to countries that are waging war and those deemed to be violating international human rights.

November 13, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | 1 Comment

British surgeon says Israeli drones ‘deliberately’ shooting children in Gaza

Retired British surgeon Nizam Mamode
Press TV – November 13, 2024

A retired British surgeon who recently returned from a hospital in Gaza says he treated bleeding children who had been deliberately targeted by Israeli drones.

In harrowing testimony to British MPs on Tuesday, Nizam Mamode recounted dealing with daily influxes of bombing and shooting victims while volunteering at Nasser Hospital in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The 62-year-old surgeon who broke down three times during his testimony said he and other experienced colleagues had “never seen anything on this scale ever.”

“Drones would come down and pick off civilians, children.”

He said at least once or twice daily, there were “mass casualty incidents,” meaning that 10 to 20 people were killed and up to 40 seriously injured.

“This is not an occasional thing. This was day after day after day operating on children who would say, ‘I was lying on the ground after a bomb dropped and this quadcopter came down and hovered over me and shot me’.”

Nizam Mamode estimated that at least 60 percent of the people treated were women and children.

He provided detailed accounts of his patients, including an 8-year-old girl who he said was bleeding to death during surgery one Saturday evening. “I asked for a swab and they said, ‘No more swabs’,” he said.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor says the Israeli forces are killing Palestinian children at a rate that is unprecedented in the history of modern wars. The regime’s forces have so far killed more than 17,000 children since October 7, 2023, the rights group said.

In recent months, several surgeons who volunteered at hopitals in the Gaza Strip says they were haunted by the harrowing scenes he witnessed in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Mamode said Israeli forces were frequently attacking humanitarian convoys to discourage aid workers from coming the besieged territory.

Mamode ascribed the same aim to five Israeli attacks on UN convoys, including one while he was in Gaza.

He said he spent the entire month in the hospital partly because it was not safe to travel around.

https://twitter.com/PalHighlight/status/1856674628766191833

Mamode said he had to choose whether to sleep in a hot room inside the hospital or outside on stairs where it was cooler, but where drones “had the ability to pick me off.”

“My biggest fear while I was there was being killed by the Israelis,” Nizar Mamode.

“All of those guest houses are in the Israeli army’s computers and are designated safe houses, so my assumption is that it was a deliberate attack and the aim behind it is to discourage aid workers from coming,” Mamode said.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the Tel Aviv regime has so far killed more than 43,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in Gaza, and injured over 103,000 others.

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has said women and children comprise nearly 70 percent of those killed in the Gaza Strip during Israel’s campaign of genocide in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Labour MP and committee chair Sarah Champion asked Mamode to clarify if he meant that rogue snipers were shooting at the armoured vehicles.

“No, no,” he said. “This is the Israeli army coming up as a unit and deliberately shooting.”

November 13, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

UN official: Israel systematically violates international law

Palestinian Information Center – November 13, 2024

The Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ilze Brands Kehris, described the humanitarian and human rights situation for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as catastrophic, saying that the Israeli occupation army systematically violates basic principles of international humanitarian law.

An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was held on Tuesday evening to discuss the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the specter of famine and humanitarian crisis in the Strip.

The meeting witnessed briefings by UN officials who spoke about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza in light of the ongoing Israeli war of extermination on the Strip since October 7, 2023.

Kehris stressed that the overwhelming majority (70%) of those killed in Gaza by strikes, shelling and other hostilities were children and women, noting that more than 43,000 Palestinians were martyred and nearly 100,000 others were wounded.

She suggested that the real numbers are much higher, as many of the martyrs and wounded are still under the rubble, stressing that the age group most represented in verified fatalities was children from 5 to 9 years old.

The UN official noted that nearly 1.9 million people have been displaced, many repeatedly, including pregnant women, people with disabilities, older people, children, and the sick.

Kehris stressed that the Israeli airstrikes on shelters and residential buildings continue to kill unconscionable numbers of civilians, reaffirming once again that there is nowhere in Gaza is safe. She noted that the pattern of strikes indicate that the Israeli forces have systematically violated fundamental principles of international humanitarian law: distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack.

Kehris stressed that “Israel’s conduct of hostilities has destroyed Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, including places that have protected status under international law: hospitals, schools, and vital services including electricity, water, and sewage. This contributes directly to the famine risk being discussed today.”

“Israel has killed hundreds of medical personnel, civilian police, journalists, and humanitarian aid workers, including more than 220 of our own United Nations staff. Thousands of Palestinians have been taken from Gaza to Israel, usually shackled and blindfolded to be held incommunicado,” she added.

“Meanwhile, there is constant and continued interference with the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance, which has fallen to some of the lowest levels in a year. As the Occupying Power, Israel is obliged under international law to protect Palestinian civilians, and to provide them with supplies essential to their survival,” she emphasized.

“The cumulative impact of more than a year of destruction in Gaza has taken an enormous toll – basic services for Palestinians in Gaza, the fabric of society, have been decimated. Conditions of life, particularly in northern Gaza, are increasingly not fit for survival,” she underscored.

The UN official said, “the manner in which the Israeli military is conducting operations in northern Gaza suggests not only that Israel’s actions are seeking to empty northern Gaza of Palestinians, by displacing survivors to the South, but points to further grave risks of atrocities of the most serious nature.”

November 13, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | 1 Comment

British Premier tells UK Parliament there is no genocide in Gaza

MEMO | November 13, 2024

UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has told the Parliament on Wednesday that Israel is not committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, Anadolu Agency reports.

During the Prime Minister’s Questions at the House of Commons, Independent lawmaker, Ayoub Khan, raised from Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, who recently claimed that the term genocide referred to “when millions of people lost their lives in comments like Rwanda, the Second World War in the Holocaust” and that using it to describe Gaza “now undermines [its] seriousness”.

Khan then said Lammy’s words are not acceptable.

“Article two of the United Nations Genocide Convention makes it explicitly clear that genocide is not about numbers, it’s about intent. The intent of the Israeli government and the IDF has been explicitly clear in words and in actions over the past 400 days, killed more than 45,000 innocent men, women and children.”

The lawmaker said the Foreign Minister explicitly denied that genocide was even taking place and “suggested that the Israeli army had not yet killed enough Palestinians” to constitute genocide.

“Will the Prime Minister share his definition of genocide with this House?” he asked.

In his response, Starmer said: “It would be wise to start a question like that by reference to what happened in October of last year. I’m well aware of the definition of genocide, and that is why I’ve never described this as and referred to it as genocide.”

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories who is currently on a UK visit, has repeatedly affirmed her belief that what is happening qualifies as genocide.

November 13, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | 2 Comments

US rewards Israeli regime with more weapons for breaching 30-day Gaza aid ultimatum

By Alireza Akbari | Press TV | November 13, 2024

During a meeting on Tuesday at the White House, Israeli President Isaac Herzog lavished praise on his outgoing American counterpart Joe Biden for his steadfast support of Israel, both in “words and deeds,” referring to Biden as “an incredible friend of Israel for decades.”

During the meeting, which coincided with the expiration of the US 30-day deadline for Israel to enhance aid flow to Gaza, Herzog presented Biden with a lucrative gift.

“You are clearly a Zionist, Mr. President,” Herzog told Biden, echoing his own words.

Despite the Biden administration vowing reduction in US military assistance if the Israeli regime failed to allow aid into the Gaza Strip in 30 days, the deadline expired without any change in the US policy.

Herzog told reporters in Washington on the sidelines of his meeting with Biden that the US government remains committed to ensuring the “security” of the Israeli regime.

In mid-October, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a crucial deadline to their Israeli counterparts amid the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, with the regime obstructing nearly 90% of humanitarian flow between the northern and southern regions.

The letter outlined that Israel needed to take “urgent and sustained actions” to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza within 30 days.

Specifically, it called for the daily entry of at least 350 trucks of aid, the opening of a fifth border crossing, enhanced security for aid sites and the movement of humanitarian workers, an end to the isolation of northern Gaza, and the facilitation of movement for individuals in al-Mawasi to travel inland.

Furthermore, the letter highlighted US laws that could “restrict military assistance” to those impeding the delivery of humanitarian aid.

As the November 12 deadline passed, the State Department announced that it would not suspend military assistance to Israel and stated that they had “not made an assessment that the Israelis are in violation of US law,” giving a clean chit to the genocidal regime in Tel Aviv.

The US decision not to impose reductions in military assistance to the Israeli regime can be understood within the broader framework of its unwavering support for Israel since October 2023, according to experts, as the death toll continues to surge in the territory.

Washington has maintained its “iron-clad” military support for the Tel Aviv regime amid the genocidal war on Gaza, providing arms worth tens of billions of dollars, breaking all records.

This contradiction between rhetoric and reality raises significant questions about the United States’ true commitment to addressing humanitarian issues in Gaza, according to human rights activists.

The United States has significantly bolstered its military support for Israel since early October 2023.

Shortly after the Israeli regime unfolded a genocidal campaign in the region, the US began deploying warships and warplanes, pledging to provide Israel with “whatever it needs.”

By October 10, the commitment deepened, as additional ships were dispatched, and more personnel in the US were put on alert for possible deployment.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin further bolstered the US military presence on October 12 by ordering about 2,000 troops to be prepared for potential deployment to Israel. This military buildup included five shipments of American weapons and equipment arriving in Israel by October 17.

On October 18, the US wielded its veto power in the United Nations Security Council, blocking a resolution that called for a pause in hostilities. The following days saw President Biden actively advocating for increased military support, urging Congress to approve more aid.

On October 20, Biden formally requested 14 billion in military aid for Israel, part of a larger 105 billion package intended for various global needs.

The Pentagon continued its military readiness by announcing the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems and additional Patriot batteries to the region on October 21.

By November 2023, the US House of Representatives responded to the intensified support efforts by approving a plan allocating $14.5 billion in military aid for Israel, further cementing the US’s commitment to its ally amid the ongoing war on Gaza.

Despite the extensive military support provided to Israel, the Biden administration has attempted to project concern for the humanitarian situation in the West Asia region.

In February 2024, the administration issued a national security directive requiring written assurances from Israel that it was using US-supplied weapons in accordance with international law.

This move came amid growing scrutiny of Israel’s acts of aggression and their impact on civilians.

By March 2024, the US began advocating for an immediate and sustained ceasefire, linking it to the release of hostages. However, Congress simultaneously approved $3.8 billion in military aid to Israel.

On March 29, despite escalating tensions, the Biden administration authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel.

In April, a supplemental appropriations act provided an additional $8.7 billion in military aid to Israel, further solidifying the US commitment to its ally.

By May, the White House announced a pause in the shipment of large bombs to Israel in anticipation of a pending assault on Rafah, though it indicated that other military assistance would continue.

The administration’s support for Israel continued to grow, with the announcement of $20.3 billion in new arms sales agreements in August.

Since October 2023, the United States has consistently approved military aid to Israel, reaching a record number of 17.9 billion in security assistance, including $6.8 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF), $5.7 billion for missile defense systems, $1 billion for heavy weaponry, and $4.4 billion to replenish US weapon stocks transferred to Israel.

During this period, the US has facilitated over 100 military aid transfers to Israel. These shipments have encompassed a wide array of munitions, including artillery shells, precision-guided bombs, and 2,000-pound bunker-buster munitions.

Israel has benefited from expedited deliveries drawn from a US strategic stockpile since the 1980s, underscoring the depth of the military partnership between Washington and the Tel Aviv regime.

November 13, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

The state-backed settler war to annex the West Bank

By Robert Inlakesh | The Cradle | November 13, 2024

Despite Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and military aggression against Lebanon, Tel Aviv is preparing to unleash its fanatical Jewish settlers in a coordinated war against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, aiming to ethnically cleanse what remains of the territory and pave the way for further annexation.

Adding fuel to the fire, billionaire Miriam Adelson, the wealthiest Israeli in the world, bankrolled Donald Trump’s “huge victory” in his successful presidential campaign with one clear condition: support for annexing the West Bank.

Last month The Times of Israel noted that the wealthy widow “is carrying on a legacy she built with her late husband, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson,” and that “The Adelson family has long been one of the largest sources of campaign money for Republican candidates and has backed Trump during each of the last three general elections.”

The complete consolidation of the West Bank

Speaking to The Cradle, Ubai al-Aboudi, executive director of Palestinian rights group ‘Bisan Center,’ says that “the Israeli settlers are preparing to carry out a major attack, to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian population,” adding that this attack will be particularly focused on completely erasing Palestinians from what is known as Area C, which constitutes roughly 60 percent of the West Bank.

That escalation has already begun. On 4 November, armed settlers launched a brazen assault on the Palestinian city of Al-Bireh, marking a surge in the violence that has gripped the West Bank. In October alone, settlers carried out at least 1,490 attacks against Palestinians, their property, and their land – often under the supervision and protection of occupation soldiers.

In the past, extremist settler attacks against Palestinians were characterized by their spontaneous nature and uncoordinated thuggery, but this has begun to change. During a recent interview with Israel’s Channel 7 News, West Bank Settlement Council leader Israel Gantz commented on a meeting he had with the recently sacked Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant:

“We asked that the West Bank be treated as Jabalia, Rafah, and the villages of southern Lebanon were treated, which means displacing the residents, killing the terrorists in these villages, cleansing the terrorist infrastructure, confiscating the weapons and then returning them to their villages.”

While the statement includes the idea of returning Palestinians to their villages, if such an operation replicated Gaza and southern Lebanon, there would be no village to return to. Gantz also requested that Palestinian villages bordering illegal Jewish settlements be ‘cleansed’ due to the potential security threat posed to Israelis living there – both ideas reportedly opposed by Gallant.

On 5 November, however, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu replaced Gallant and handed the defense minister position to long-time ally Israel Katz. While serving in his previous role as Israel’s foreign minister, Katz openly called for expelling Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank, unlike his predecessor.

‘Organized militias’

Last November, it was revealed that National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir had ordered the police to stop enforcing the law against West Bank settlers.

This is why the armed settler assault on Al-Bireh was seen as so significant. As Netanyahu reshuffles his cabinet to include a full deck of right-wingers, many of whom are themselves West Bank settlers, these groups are becoming even more brazen.

The assault on Al-Bireh was particularly alarming – a “pogrom-style attack,“ according to Aboudi, as “they feel emboldened by the impunity they enjoy.” Rampaging settlers burned 18 vehicles and two apartments while Israeli soldiers looked on.

One West Bank Palestinian described to The Cradle how settlers showed up outside her home armed with Molotov cocktails, but “were luckily scared off” prior to assaulting family members:

“I had just left my home prior to the attack, but I knew something was wrong because the soldiers were acting very violently at all the checkpoints as I was leaving … you have to understand that these kinds of attacks don’t happen without the soldiers participating in some way.”

“The settlers are acting more and more like organized militias; they are an extension of the Israeli army working towards an agenda of ethnic cleansing,” insists Aboudi, affirming that this year’s attacks have been dramatically increasing. According to statistics, settler violence has been escalating every year since 2021, reaching an unprecedented number of attacks in 2024.

Through the use of state-backed settler ‘defense squads,’ Israel has managed to ethnically cleanse 16 Palestinian communities in the southern hills of Al-Khalil (Hebron). In 2023, it was discovered that the Israeli army had established the ‘Desert Frontier’ unit, comprised of the most extremist Jewish settlers from the notorious ‘Hilltop Youth’ group. Human rights groups have also documented the use of Israeli standard-issue rifles by West Bank settlers attacking Palestinians, all pointing toward state complicity in these attacks.

According to Aboudi, “around 700 [Israeli] roadblocks cut off Palestinian villages from each other.” Set up by occupation forces, the roadblocks provide cover for “attacks from violent settlers who target Palestinians passing by … greatly affecting the ability to even travel safely across the West Bank.” The attackers can rely on unconditional impunity from Tel Aviv, he explains:

“They feel that they have enough resources, weapons, arms, political backing, to commit whatever crime they choose.”

Trump and West Bank annexation

Yossi Dagan, the settler leader of Samaria Regional Council, recently purchased some 500 rifles to arm and prepare “emergency security teams” in anticipation of a war in the West Bank. In September, Israel declared the West Bank a “combat zone,” and created closed military zones as buffers surrounding the illegal Jewish settlements.

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister who was recently gifted control of settlement affairs for the occupied Palestinian territories, issued a public call for annexation in late October. As a longtime West Bank settler himself, Smotrich openly works on behalf of a 2017 settler movement proposal, outlined in a document entitled ‘Decisive Plan,’ which seeks to double the settler population of the West Bank.

If this is combined with Israel’s decision to begin transferring the Israeli settler population from military to civil control, it becomes clear that the process of annexation is already underway.

With the victory of Donald Trump in the recent US elections, it is more than likely that Netanyahu views annexation of the West Bank to suddenly be a very viable option, despite the historic opinion delivered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July that declared Israel’s occupation of the territories to be a violation of international law and demanded that Tel Aviv end its occupation, dismantle all settlements, pay reparations for damages to Palestinians, and facilitate the return of all displaced natives.

But Trump’s sweeping electoral victory was aided by uber-Zionist Adelson’s contribution of $100 million to his campaign, with the single request that the Republican leader permit Israeli annexation of the West Bank.

Recall too that the Adelsons financed Trump’s first presidential bid, in 2016, with the quid pro quo that the Republican leader move the US embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognize the Holy City as Israel’s undivided Capital – a promise that Trump implemented in 2018.

Now, Miriam Adelson is pushing for the annexation of the West Bank. Combined with the surge in settler violence, the formation of Jewish militias, military training programs for settler civilians, and the distribution of 120,000 rifles, a calculated strategy is taking shape. This is not just about sporadic attacks – it is a deliberate, state-backed campaign to alter the demographics of the West Bank permanently in line with the expansionist, settler-colonial ideology of the most extremist coalition government in Israel’s history.

November 13, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | 1 Comment

How will ‘Israel’ finance its F-15IA fighter jets deal with Boeing?

Al Mayadeen | November 13, 2024

The Israeli Security Ministry’s recent announcement of an agreement with Boeing to purchase 25 F-15IA fighter jets for $5.2 billion, with funding to be drawn from US military aid, raised several questions, primarily about whether US military aid to “Israel” would cover the latest procurement, the Israeli news website Globes reported Wednesday.

According to the Watson Institute at Brown University, the US provided “Israel” with $17.9 billion in military aid during the first year of the war, significantly exceeding the formal annual aid package of $3.8 billion that Washington has committed to Tel Aviv, the news website highlighted.

It noted that among the $3.8 billion annually in military aid—$3.3 billion allocated for procurement and $500 million for joint air defense projects—along with other grants provided each year.

Globes added that the Israeli Security Ministry has stated that delivery of the F-15IA fighter jets is expected to begin in 2031, with 4-6 aircraft delivered per year through 2035 under the most favorable scenario.

It pointed out that this raises further questions about the financial structure of the deal, particularly as the total investment exceeds the annual US aid to “Israel” by $1.4 billion.

So how will “Israel” finance the F-15IA deal?

The report suggested that payments to Boeing may be structured in installments.

In this regard, Globes cited Moti Besser, who served as a financial advisor to the Israeli occupation forces Chief of Staff and headed the Ministry of Security’s budget division from 1997 to 2000, as saying that “Israel” is unique in that US security aid enables it to commit to long-term contracts based on project milestones.

Besser highlighted that while other parties must pay for defense products upfront before delivery, “Israel has a different model that has been built over the years and allows for funding to be deployed over a long period of time and to take into account existing and future sources.”

He explained that when a $5.2 billion contract is spread out, it doesn’t deplete accumulated aid, but rather aligns with a multi-year funding flow that supports additional procurements.

It is noteworthy that since October last year, the Israeli Air Force has conducted relentless airstrikes in the region, killing more than 43,000 people in the Gaza Strip and more than 3,000 others in Lebanon, in addition to leveling civilian infrastructure.

Israeli aircraft have also been used in repeated assaults on Syria and Yemen, as well as Iran.

In late September, “Israel” received a new US military aid package totaling $8.7 billion.

Ido Nehushtan, president of Boeing Israel, pointed to the long-standing relationship with the Israeli occupation entity and confirmed the company’s commitment to “working with the US and Israeli governments to deliver the advanced F-15IA aircraft through standard military procurement channels.”

November 13, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel fails to meet US aid demands to ease Gaza catastrophe, aid groups say

MEMO | November 12, 2024

Israel failed to meet a series of US demands intended to improve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza by a deadline set for today, aid groups have said according to Reuters.

The United States told its ally Israel in a letter on 13 October that it must take steps to improve the aid situation within 30 days. If not, it could face potential restrictions on US military aid.

“Israel not only failed to meet the US criteria that would indicate support to the humanitarian response, but concurrently took actions that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in Northern Gaza,” a group of eight aid groups including Oxfam, Save the Children and the Norwegian Refugee Council said in 19-page report.

For more than a month, Israeli forces have been pushing deeper into north Gaza, surrounding hospitals and shelters and creating fresh waves of displacement.

On Friday, global food security experts released a rare warning of imminent famine in parts of northern Gaza unless immediate steps were taken to ease the situation.

Israel says measures, including the opening of a new crossing into Gaza, have been implemented, however others pertain to its security and have not been put in place.

Washington has not yet commented on whether its conditions have been met. Last week, the State Department said Israel had taken some measures to increase aid access to Gaza but had so far failed to significantly turn around the humanitarian situation.

November 12, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Israeli ministers want issue of captives in Gaza to be solved ‘naturally and tragically’: Report

The Cradle | November 10, 2024

The Israeli government is waiting and hoping for the captives held by Hamas in Gaza to die while expanding the military occupation of territory in Gaza as part of a broader effort to cleanse the strip of Palestinians and to build Jewish settlements, Yedioth Ahronoth reported on 10 November.

The Hebrew media paper reported that “According to every intelligence report that is submitted to the cabinet ministers, the situation of the dozens of abductees who are still alive in the captivity of Hamas is getting worse from week to week.”

“As long as the negotiations are not restarted, the problem of the abductees will be solved naturally and tragically, according to some right-wing ministers. The resistance of those ministers to release hundreds of terrorists will be redundant,” the paper added.

Since Hamas’ Qassam Brigades took around 250 Israeli soldiers and civilians captive on 7 October last year, it has sought to release them in exchange for a ceasefire, the release of thousands of Palestinians held captive in Israeli prisons, and an end to the Israeli siege of Gaza that began in 2007.

However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his fellow ministers, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, have successfully sabotaged ceasefire negotiations, preferring to extend the war, destroy Gaza, and annex its territory to ultimately build Jewish settlements.

Israeli forces have killed many of the captives, both by bombing the locations in Gaza where Hamas was holding them and by opening fire and killing them directly.

If ceasefire negotiations are not quickly resumed, the remaining 70 captives who remain alive will likely die, providing Netanyahu with the pretext to move forward with the permanent occupation of Gaza.

“The deaths in captivity of another 20-30 hostages will be swallowed up in the sea of ​​mourning for the fallen soldiers, and then, when public anger is channeled against Hamas, the Israeli leadership will not be in a hurry to withdraw from the Gaza territory that the IDF captured from the terrorist organization – ministers and MKs on the right do not hide their ambitions to establish [Jewish] settlements there,” Yedioth Ahronoth wrote.

The Hebrew paper adds that the slow death of the captives and Israel’s increased control over Gaza territory are moving forward in tandem.

“These are actually two trends that are expanding quietly … One is the expansion of the occupied IDF territory and establishment [of military bases] within it. The second is the government’s ignoring of the abductees’ death throes. The two trends, unfortunately, will merge at some point in the future.”

The expansion of territory occupied by the Israeli army is illustrated by the construction of a massive military base in the Netzarim Corridor, Yedioth Ahronoth says.

The corridor was initially constructed as a road to bisect Gaza from north to south. However, in recent months, the corridor has doubled its area to about 56 square kilometers, making it a large Israeli military enclave in the heart of the northern Gaza Strip.

Today, the army is pressuring the approximately 300,000 Gazans remaining in the north of the Gaza Strip to cross to the south, Yedioth Ahronoth says.

“The most important part of this base is the innovative coastal barrier through which, the army hopes, a large mass of the Palestinian population will soon pass to the south of the strip, with the expansion of pressure on the Jabalia area.”

“The army established a large outpost on the beach to identify the tens of thousands it hopes will arrive soon and cross south. This will happen, the army hopes, with the expansion of the ground raid in Jabalia to other areas and neighborhoods in Gaza itself. In the base, apart from the interrogation rooms and the temporary detention cells.”

The Israeli army has been abducting Palestinian men en mass at checkpoints as they move south. The men are then stripped to their underwear and taken on trucks to detention facilities, where they are regularly tortured and raped.

In addition, the army plans to copy the Netzarim Corridor model and implement it at the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border as well, specifically in the area where the Gush Katif settlement bloc was located before the 2005 evacuation plan, Yedioth Ahronoth says.

November 10, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment