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Now is not the time to despair; it’s the time to stand up for Gaza

By Dr Swee Chai Ang | MEMO | October 23, 2023

Every day since 7 October has been yet another 24 hours of Israel killing Palestinians in Gaza. Water and electricity cut off, food and medicine denied, all that Gaza receives day and night are more and more bombs and devastation.

Twenty-two hospitals in Northern Gaza were told to evacuate thousands of critically wounded patients, or face bombing by land, air and sea, so the targeting of Al-Ahli Hospital was on the cards of the aggressors; there were even two smaller air strikes a couple of days before last Tuesday’s bombing. They might have lulled the hospital administration into thinking that they had already had their share of Israeli persecution.

The news of the bombing of Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza sent a feeling of paralytic numbness into many of us. As the death toll rose, the mainstream media tried to convince us that the Palestinians had done this to themselves; that this was a missile aimed at Israel which went wrong. Many of my friends chose to believe this.

The lie compounds my pain and anguish, for no matter who dropped the bomb or where it came from the urgent need is to stop other hospitals from suffering the same fate. I am devastated, because Al-Ahli is the only Christian foundation hospital in the Gaza Strip and it is well loved by everyone, Christians and Muslims alike. It was built by the Church Mission Society around 1900.

I worked and lived in the hospital in 1988-89 having answered a request from the Bishop of Jerusalem to look after the wounded of the First Intifada. I told the Bishop I would look after and protect them. I did so until I was barred from entering Gaza by the Israeli occupation authorities.

The bomb came without warning

When the bomb hit, many people were sheltering in Al-Ahli as it is a Christian hospital. There was no other place of safety, and there is also a precious water fountain in the hospital courtyard to drink from, a blessing with the current lack of fresh water in Gaza. The bomb came without warning, targeting the centre of the courtyard where hundreds of people were taking refuge. They were killed. Hundreds of bodies were lying in the hospital courtyard, with many children among those killed. This was not fake news.

Although I am not allowed to enter Occupied Palestine, the people and my colleagues working so hard despite desperate shortages are always in my heart as I am in theirs. Their smiles and their love for their patients keep coming back to me as I write this through my own tears. I wish I could be with them at this terrible time. Professor Ghassan Abu Sitta is now working there to help the wounded but I know he must be completely exhausted.

Please pray for those who have been killed and wounded. Console the mourners and stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Do not despair, as this is the moment we must all stand firm and speak up to protect Gaza and its people.

October 24, 2023 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Genocide Unfolding

By Craig Murray | October 23, 2023

Tonight has been the most violent bombardment of Gaza so far, notably concentrated on precisely the areas into which Israel ordered the population to evacuate. I find it almost impossible to believe that this genocide is under way with the active support of almost all western governments.

I want to look at two questions – what will happen internationally, and what is happening in western societies.

Israel plainly is on the course of further escalation and intends to kill many thousands more Palestinians. More than 2,000 Palestinian children alone have now been killed by Israeli aerial attack in the last fortnight.

Gaza has no defence from bombs and missiles, and there is no military reason why Israel cannot keep this up for months and simply rely upon aerial massacre. We are perhaps within a week of thirst, starvation and disease killing even more people per day than bombardment.

The population of Gaza are simply defenceless. Only international intervention can stop Israel from doing whatever it wishes, and those countries which have influence with Israel are actively abetting and encouraging the genocide.

The question is, what is Israel’s aim? Do they intend to reduce the Gaza Strip still further, annexing half or more of it? Will starvation and horror enable the international community to force Egypt to accept the expulsion of the population of Gaza into the Sinai Desert as a “humanitarian” move?

That appears to be the end game: expulsion of population and territorial expansion into Gaza. That would require a ground invasion, but probably not until after even more intense aerial bombardment to eliminate all resistance. This territorial ambition of course accords with the violent expansion of illegal settlement in the West Bank which is currently under way, with the world paying almost no attention.  It is very hard indeed to comprehend the passivity of Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas at the moment.

Netanyahu’s political stock within Israel is so low, that the only way he can recover is by making a major step towards the complete genocide of the Palestinian people and the achievement of Greater Israel  Netanyahu now knows that there is no violence against Palestinians so extreme that the western political elite will not support it under the mantra of “Israel’s right to self-defence”.

I do not see any salvation for Gaza coming from Hezbollah. If Hezbollah were to employ their vaunted missile strike capabilities, the moment to do it would be now when the Israeli armour is drawn up in massive parks outside Gaza, a perfect target even for longer range missiles of limited accuracy. Once dispersed into Gaza the armour would be far harder for Hezbollah to hit at range.

Hezbollah is even better equipped now to fight a defensive war in Lebanon than it was when it defeated the Israeli advance in 2006. But it is not configured or equipped to fight an aggressive ground war into Israel, which would be a disaster. It also has to worry about hostile militias in its rear. If Hezbollah can provoke an Israeli incursion into Southern Lebanon, that would enable it to inflict substantial casualties, but Israel is not going to do that in a way that detracts from its capabilities in Gaza.

Iran has greatly improved its diplomatic position in the last year. The Chinese-brokered lessening of hostility with Saudi Arabia has potential to revolutionise Middle Eastern politics, and the benefits of this will not lightly be laid aside by Tehran. Iran had also made real progress with the Biden administration in overcoming the blind hostility of the Trump years.

Iran has no desire to throw away these gains.  That is why it seems to me extremely improbable that Iran had endorsed the 7 October attacks by Hamas. Iran is now restraining Hezbollah. But there are limits to the patience of Iran. The extraordinary truth is that Iran is probably the only state under discussion here with a genuine humanitarian concern for the lives of Palestinians. If the genocide unfolds as horribly as I anticipate, Iran can be pushed too far.

That said, I offer just a cautionary footnote that Saudi Arabia is not, under MBS, quite the reliable US/Israeli puppet it has historically been. I do not have much time for MBS, as you know, but his high opinion of the importance of the Al Saud and their leadership role among arabs, makes him a different proposition to his predecessor.

Saudi Arabia has leverage. The Biden administration has gone all in on regional domination, sending two aircraft carrier groups into a situation which should it escalate, could send oil prices to highest-ever levels, with Russia blocked from the market. Biden is risking a huge gas price hike in an election year.

Biden’s calculation, or that of his security services, is that nobody can or will intervene to save the Palestinians. They judge the genocide as containable. That is an extraordinary gamble.

There has been an extraordinary amount of vitriol aimed at Qatar by pro-Israel commentators, for hosting the Hamas office and leadership. This is extraordinarily ignorant.

Qatar hosts Hamas, just as Qatar hosted the Taliban Information Office, at the direct request of the United States. It provides a means of dialogue between the United States and Hamas (exactly as it did with the Taliban) both at deniable level, and through third parties, including of course the government of Qatar. Thus when Blinken arrived in Qatar one day and the Iranian foreign minister the next, these were in fact “proximity talks” involving Hamas.

How do I know? Well, at Julian’s request, I visited Qatar about five years ago to discuss whether Julian, and Wikileaks, might potentially relocate to Qatar, which Julian had described as “the new Switzerland” in terms of being a neutral diplomatic venue.

It was explained to me by the Qataris, at a very senior level, that Qatar hosted the Taliban Information Office and Hamas because the United States government had asked them to do so. Qatar hosted a major US military base and depended on US support against a Saudi takeover. If I could generate a request from then President Trump for Qatar to host Wikileaks, then they would do so. Otherwise, no.

So I know what I am talking about.

One tiny but good result of this brokering in Qatar was the release of two American national hostages. British diplomats have told me that discussions in Qatar have so far held back the Israeli ground offensive, but I am not convinced that Israel really wished to do this yet. They are having sadistic fun shooting children in a barrel.

Qatar has also been the origin of deals allowing in a tiny amount of aid to Gaza, but this is so small as to be almost irrelevant. It is performative humanitarianism by the West.

I have frequently praised China for the fact that their economic dominance has been unaccompanied by any aggressive desire for world hegemony, but this also has its downside. China sees no benefit in assisting the Palestinians in practice. Hopeful reports of China sending warships refer simply to pre-planned exercises, largely in the Gulf. That China is carrying out such joint exercises with Gulf states is indeed part of a long term increasing of influence, but is not relevant to the immediate reality.

Russia of course has its hands full in Ukraine. It is allowing its Syrian bases to be used as a conduit following increased Israeli bombing of Syrian airports, but there is not a great deal more that it can do. Erdoğan is genuinely furious at what is happening in Gaza, but Turkey is struggling to find any way to apply pressure, barring linkage to Ukraine shipping issues (which Erdoğan is considering).

That is a very rough and ready tour d’horizon, but the net effect is that I see no current hope for averting the atrocity which is unfolding before our horrified eyes.

Most of our eyes are indeed horrified. The gap between the western political and media elites and their people on this issue is simply enormous. Western leaders have not only failed to restrain Israel, they have almost unanimously egged Netanyahu on, with the continued repetition of the phrase “Israel’s right to self-defence” as justification for the mass bombing, removal and starvation of an entire civilian population.

The western leadership glee in vetoing every attempt at a ceasefire resolution at the UN is astonishing.

Massive demonstrations have been taking place across Europe against this unspeakable massacre, and the knee-jerk reaction of politicians at their isolation from public opinion has been to try to make such shows of dissent illegal. In the UK people have been arrested for displaying Palestinian flags. In Germany pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been entirely banned. Something similar has been attempted in France, with predictable failure.

I have myself attended pro-Palestinian demonstrations in three different countries, and the most striking thing on each occasion was the strong support of passers-by, and the number of people spontaneously coming out to join the demo as it passed.

A wave of racism has been unleashed in the UK and elsewhere. I am astonished by the Islamophobia and racial hatred released online, with no apparent comeback. UK Ministers claim to be alarmed at the “terrorist sympathies” of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, yet it is perfectly legal to call for Palestinians to be exterminated, to compare them to different types of animal and vermin, and suggest they should be driven into the sea. That does not horrify ministers at all.

I am personally now subject to a police investigation for “terrorism” merely for suggesting that the Palestinians too have a right to self-defence and may offer armed resistance to genocide – a right they enjoy beyond doubt in international law. Remember, Israel has formally declared war. Is it the position in British law that the only belief it is legal to hold and express, is that in this war the Palestinians must simply line up quietly to be killed?

The step change in western authoritarianism is likely to be met by blowback.

After 20 years, we had finally come through the vicious cycle of the “War on Terror”, where terrorism, repression and institutionalised Islamophobia all boosted each other across the western world. Outrage at the appalling genocide in Gaza is very likely to result in isolated incidences of, also appalling, Islamist-inspired violence in Western countries, including the UK, particularly because of the UK’s military support of Israel.

That consequential terrorism in itself will be cited by the political elite as justifying their stance. And so the vicious cycle will restart. This will of course be welcome to the agents of the security state, whose power, budgets and prestige will be boosted. Once again we have to be on the lookout for radicalisation and real terrorism, but also for agent-provocateur-led terrorism and for false flag terrorism.

If we descend back into that nightmare again, the direct cause will be elite support for the genocide of the Palestinian people and the Islamophobic narrative. The major cause of terrorism here is Israel, the terrorist apartheid state.

October 23, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel’s actions in Gaza and international law

By Atif Raza | MEMO | October 23, 2023

The developments of the past few days in the Middle East have once again laid bare the brutality of decades-long conflict in Palestine, its grave impact on civilians and implications in the region and beyond. Palestinian people, who have been driven from their homeland, sometimes multiple times, continue to suffer under the oppressive control of the occupation and a ruthless and inhuman regime of apartheid. The Gaza Strip, in particular, has been reeling under the heavy yoke of blockade and siege for over a decade and half.

Beyond occupation of Palestinian territories, unequivocally considered illegal under international law and the primary cause of vicious cycles of violence in the holy land, there is a need to dissect Israel’s actions from the perspective of “laws of war” – the body of international law which in essence is concerned with minimising the impact of war and human suffering and protection of civilians.

As observed by the International Court of Justice in its Advisory Opinion Concerning Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, international human rights law is applicable at all times, including during the time of conflict and hostilities. International humanitarian law (IHL) is applied as lex specialis of human rights law during armed conflict.

The longstanding position by the United Nations is to view Israel as an occupying power in the Palestinian territories. Specifically with regards to Gaza, the circumstances of “effective control by Israel” have led the United Nations to believe that the “Gaza Strip remains occupied by Israel.” The first report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry submitted to the United Nations General Assembly in October 2022 also confirmed the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory to be “unlawful under international law due to its permanence and the Israeli Government’s de-facto annexation policies.”

Therefore, the United Nations has concluded that the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention apply with regards to obligations of Israel towards the people of Gaza. Whilst the first three Geneva Conventions dealt with combatants; the Fourth Geneva Convention is concerned with the protection of the population from the consequences of war and occupation.

It may also be noted that IHL is applicable on belligerents regardless of their status: state or non-state actors. Therefore, combatants are required to observe the law at all times and in all conditions. Another important point is that the provisions of international law are valid and must be followed even when the other party is considered to have violated them.

Broadly, “laws of war”, the codified body of international law as well as customary practice, require the parties to ensure:

  • the protection of civilian population and their basic rights;
  • discrimination between combatants and non-combatants;
  • observe proportionality;
  • avoid excessive use of force that would harm unarmed civilians, their properties and civilian infrastructure, especially schools and hospitals;
  • allow unimpeded access to humanitarian assistance;
  • save civilians and wounded combatants from degraded treatment or torture.

While keeping these “rules of war” as our guide, let us now examine if Israel’s actions in Gaza are compatible with the norms of international law:

  1. Protection of civilians: Given the dense population of Gaza and Israel’s decades-long occupation decimating wide swaths of civic life, any military action and use of force would only add to the suffering of the civilian population and thus be contrary to the letter and spirit of international human rights law as well as international humanitarian law. Article 32 of the Fourth Geneva Convention specifically prohibits “physical suffering or extermination of protected persons.” As of now, Israel’s military actions have resulted in the killings of over 4,200 people in Gaza, including women, children, elderly, journalists and health workers. The heavy loss of civilian life in Gaza, especially after incendiary and fiery rhetoric of Israeli senior officials, could be considered war crimes.
  2. Safeguarding basic rights: Israel’s decision to cut power, food, fuel and medicine to Gaza is also contrary to international law as well as basic human rights. Such Israeli measures, as pointed out by several governments and international organisations, amount to “collective punishment” and war crimes. The action of a belligerent entity, regardless of its status, cannot provide justification to subject the civilian population to cruel treatment and deprive them of protections guaranteed under international law.
  3. Principles of proportionality and discrimination: In the past few days, Israel has pulverised wide areas of Gaza indiscriminately, including civilian properties and businesses. Indiscriminate and disproportionate targeting and the use of heavy weapons in urban areas that are sure to affect civilians are prohibited under IHL. The choice of weapons is not unlimited and parties are obliged not to use excessive force beyond the necessity of achieving specific military targets. Israel’s aerial bombardment and the use of indiscriminate weapons such white phosphorus in densely populated areas amount to a breach of provisions of international humanitarian law.
  4. Siege as a method of warfare: As explained above, Gaza has experienced military blockade of land, sea and air by Israel for decades. On top of that, the Israeli defence minister’s announcement of a “complete siege” is against all norms of international law and civilised conduct. According to Tom Dannenbaum, an expert of international humanitarian law at Fletcher School, the statement represented an “unusually clear-cut example of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, which is considered a violation of international humanitarian law, a crime against humanity and a war crime.” Article 55 of the Fourth Geneva Convention demands the occupying power “the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population.” The notion of “complete siege” runs counter to such clear requirements of international humanitarian law.
  5. Forcible transfer of civilians: Israeli authorities have also warned civilians living in the north of the Strip to move to south within a very short period of time. Such pronouncements have been declared incompatible with international humanitarian law. Article 49 of the Geneva Convention requires that “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.” The relocation of civilians in a confined and overcrowded place like Gaza is particularly tricky and risky. Even if touted as a temporary refuge, though Israeli authorities have intentionally not provided the rationale and details behind such pronouncements, it carries the danger of turning into long-term displacement, especially painful from the experience of Palestinians. Israel’s warnings have been widely condemned by the United Nations, several governments and international human rights organisations.
  6. Access to humanitarian assistance: One of the cardinal requirements of international humanitarian law is the provision of unimpeded access to humanitarian assistance. In the case of Gaza, the whole territory is under Israel’s blockade and only viable connection with the outside world – Rafah international border crossing with Egypt – opened only on Saturday and only to a very limited number of aid trucks (less than four per cent of the daily amount of good delivered prior to Israel’s recent bombing campaign). Adding to the agony of trapped civilians, Israel has targeted the border crossing several times in the past week. This also runs counter to the international humanitarian law and amounts to war crimes.

In addition to international humanitarian law, international criminal law is applicable during the situations of armed conflict and occupation. The breach of international humanitarian law would itself constitute crimes under international criminal law. As concluded by the UN Commission of Inquiry, “some of the policies and actions of the Israeli Government leading to permanent occupation and de-facto annexation may constitute elements of crimes under international criminal law, including the war crime of transferring, directly or indirectly, part of one’s own civilian population into occupied territory, and the crime against humanity of deportation or forcible transfer.”

And this was before the current cycle of violence. In the midst of intensification of occupation and apartheid, Palestinians are again being subjected to war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. The world must not watch silently but correct historical injustices and bring the perpetrators to justice with the full and effective implementation of international law.

October 23, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular, Video, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

British site reveals Israel’s history of ‘lying’

Palestine Information Center – October 23, 2023

LONDON – The Middle East Eye has revealed, in a new report published this week, Israel’s history of making false claims after it blamed the attack on Gaza’s al-Ahli Arab hospital on Pales tinian Islamic Jihad.

Last Tuesday, close to 500 Palestinians were killed at al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City.

Alex MacDonald wrote that In the aftermath of the destruction, a blame game has begun. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said the hospital had been targeted by an Israeli air strike.

Hananya Naftali, a digital aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tweeted initially that the “Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza. A multiple number of terrorists are dead.”

Naftali then changed his story, calling the explosion “mysterious” and saying it was “either a failed rocket” or “something that was done on purpose in order to get international support”.

When Israel responded officially, it denied responsibility for the attack and attempted to pin the blame on a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group.

A number of previous incidents have tarnished the Israeli army’s reputation for misinformation.

Perhaps the most notorious example in recent years was the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

Abu Akleh, who was also a US citizen, was shot dead by Israeli forces on 11 May 2022 while covering an Israeli military operation in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. Her colleague Ali al-Samoudi was also shot and injured.

Israel first accused Palestinian gunmen of shooting her, but then conceded there was a “high possibility that Abu Akleh was accidentally hit by IDF (Israeli army) gunfire that was fired toward suspects identified as armed Palestinian gunmen”.

The Israeli military advocate general’s office said it would not open an investigation into any soldiers involved in the incident, as “there is no suspicion that a criminal offence was committed”.

Another example was the death of 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durrah in 2000, one of the pivotal events of the Second Intifada (2000-2005).

Footage of the boy cowering with his father in the middle of gunfire and then slumping down dead sparked international outrage and remains an iconic image of Israel’s repression of Palestinians.

Although the Israelis initially accepted responsibility for his death – and claimed he was being used as a human shield – they later retracted this in 2005.

Claims and counter-claims were thrown back and forth, with some claiming that France 2, which initially broadcast the footage, had staged the incident. The company issued a number of successful defamation lawsuits in response.

October 23, 2023 Posted by | Deception, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Gaza death toll from Israeli airstrikes climbs to 5,087: Health Ministry

An injured woman cries near a lifeless body after Israeli airstrikes hit Ridwan neighborhood of Gaza City, Gaza on October 23, 2023. [Ali Jadallah – Anadolu Agency]
MEMO | October 23, 2023

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip has climbed to 5,087, the Health Ministry in the blockaded enclave said on Monday, Anadolu Agency reports.

The fatalities include 2,055 children, 1,119 women and 217 elders, Ministry spokesman, Ashraf Al-Qudra, told a news conference in Gaza City.

He said 15,273 people were also injured in the Israeli attacks.

The Israeli occupation committed 23 massacres in the past 24 hours that left 436 people dead, including 182 children, Al-Qudra also said.

The Health Ministry has, so far, received reports about 1,500 people, including 830 children, who are still trapped under the rubble.

The conflict in Gaza, which has been under Israeli bombardment and a blockade since 7 October, began when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea and air. It said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.

The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed in Hamas attacks since 7 October, according to Israeli authorities.

October 23, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

The Mother of All Revelations, out of 30 people jabbed in 1 clinic in 1 day-all dead within a short space of time

BY MERYL DOREY | INFORMED CHOICE | OCTOBER 21, 2023

A whistleblower has come forward and given Liz Gunn of the NZ Loyal Party (NZL) documentation showing that tens of thousands of New Zealanders have died within a short time of vaccination. Remember, NZ has just over 5 million people so tens of thousands of deaths are significant in anyone’s book.

In this video, she describes one clinic where 30 people received the COVID jab and all 30 of them died soon after.

Ms Gunn is demanding a criminal investigation – not an inquiry – and I think that’s what we need here in Australia too.

Would our stats be any different than those in NZ? I doubt it very much. And a Royal Commission or Albo’s Clayton’s inquiry will do nothing to stop the carnage taking place all around us.

I clearly remember when the VaxXed Bus was in Lightning Ridge last year – a town of about 3,000 people. We spoke with 25 locals and every single person we spoke with could name at least 3 people they personally know who died after a COVID jab and 6-10 who were injured.

These jabs – actually ALL jabs – need to be stopped today! Until they are proven to be safe, effective and necessary, we should not be forcing, mandating or even using any medical products which are essentially untested.

I applaud Liz Gunn and pray she will be successful in her appeals to Winston Peters.

We need Senators Malcolm Roberts, Alex Antic, Gerard Rennick, Ralph Babbet and Matt Canavan to join together as one and make the same demands here in Australia.

October 23, 2023 Posted by | Timeless or most popular, Video, War Crimes | , | Leave a comment

The Damage Israel Does

Constitutional rights and genuine national interests are ignored as governments surrender to Jewish power

BY PHILIP GIRALDI • UNZ REVIEW • OCTOBER 23, 2023

There are numerous one-liners like “wag-the-dog” that constitute a long running joke about how Israel exploits Jewish power in the United States to limit and control Washington’s options in foreign policy as well as in many other aspects of international interaction. This has been accomplished by a cleverly executed neoconservative takeover of the foreign policy instruments of both major parties based on a series of nonexistent “threats” coupled with media control and billions of dollars in political donations that have bought the numerous politicians willing to be bought, which clearly constitutes a majority of Congress.

President Joe Biden and those who surround him are all about Israel and many of them are Jewish. His Secretary of the Treasury Janice Yellen claims that the US “can afford” two wars simultaneously and the Chuck Schumer led Senate has voted unanimously 97-0 pledging full and unconditional support for the Jewish state. Biden’s somewhat pathetic fifteen-minute speech last week justifying throwing another $105 billion of deficit spending at Ukraine and Israel could have been written by a neocon scribe in its attempt to demonstrate that the US is threatened by developments in those two countries. It is not, even Biden knows that, and his assertions were as hollow as the rhetoric used to support the false premise. My favorite argument being made by the president was that “American leadership holds the world together….and is necessary to keep freedom alive in both the Middle East and Eastern Europe… Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: They both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy.” As it turns out, Biden was wrong on every point. Opinion polls suggest that the world overwhelmingly sees the United States as the most disruptive and dangerous nation on the planet, so Biden’s unwillingness or inability to discern that he is presiding over the death throes of America’s global leadership is particularly troubling. And Joe even fails to realize that Russia is more democratic by most measures than is Ukraine, which is consistently rated as the most corrupt country in the world, while Israel is not a democracy at all unless one is a Jew.

Biden was certainly motivated to speak to the American public in prime time, only the second time he has done so, by his overriding concern to express and obtain absolutely total support for Israel no matter what it does. He is willing to lie, cheat and steal for Israel. In the wake of the devastating October 17th blast at al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, a Christian-run medical complex in central Gaza City, which killed at least 500 people and injured hundreds more, he immediately jumped on the protect-Israel bandwagon and declared that Israel had not done it, which is far from being demonstrated and is being hotly disputed by eyewitnesses and forensic specialists. Ukraine is a secondary issue but it too is a war supported overwhelmingly by international Jewry for various reasons, most notably visceral hatred of Russia.

Nevertheless, the control by the Israel Lobby aside, one is at a loss to understand the actual rationale behind the recent trips to Israel in the wake of the Gaza uprising made by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and “they beheaded the babies” Joe Biden since the United States has no genuine national interest that compels it to get involved in either war, even less so in Gaza where Israel has been indisputably the source of nearly all the trouble. Lest anyone be confused over what signal was being sent, two US aircraft carrier strike groups were also dispatched to the Eastern Mediterranean together with orders to prepare to deploy 2,000 Marines, suggesting that Washington was itself preparing for war. And the Muslim world, convulsed by what it is seeing happen to Gaza, is also heeding a call to arms. As of last Friday there have been seven separate drone and rocket attacks on US military bases in Iraq and Syria. Journalist Caitlin Johnstone has neatly summarized the legitimate rage on the ground in Palestine that the White House and Congress make no attempt to appreciate: “The status quo in Israel has been one of continually escalating violence, tyranny and abuse for generations… Stand on someone’s face for long enough and one day it will surprise you if he eventually bites your foot. You might even feel like you were the victim, because that’s just what you’d gotten used to.”

Blinken, citing his ancestors and the holocaust, presented himself as a Jew to his Israeli audience, which meant that no further justification was required as he totally rolled over to comply with the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s interpretation of what had taken place on October 7th. Reports suggest that Blinken had initially sensibly supported a cease-fire on social media just after the Hamas attack, writing that he would be “encourage[ing] Turkey’s advocacy for a cease-fire and the release of all hostages by Hamas immediately.” Presumably under pressure from Biden and the Israel Lobby, he then deleted that and wrote, “Israel has the right to defend itself, rescue any hostages, and protect its citizens.” The State Department got the message and circulated instructions to staffers to not use the terms “de-escalation/ceasefire,” “end to violence/bloodshed” and “restoring calm” in regard to the Gaza/Israel situation, giving Netanyahu a free hand to do whatever he would choose to do.

Blinken was thus converted to fully support massive and indiscriminate Israeli retaliation against the civilian population, a war crime, and his reward was being stiffed by the Saudi Crown Prince, forced to wait in attendance all night before being allowed a short and non-productive audience. Biden outdid his colleague in being completely stonewalled by Saudi, Jordanian, Egyptian, Iraqi and Palestinian heads of state and government, which leads to the question “What did Biden seek to achieve apart from demonstrating that the United States was owned by Israel which is committing a war crime by its collective punishment of Gaza? Did he think the Arab and Muslim states would react positively to a developing massacre of the Gazans, which he specifically supported?”

So why were Biden and Blinken so willfully ignorant as to be unable to appreciate that they were bearing a message that could only succeed in infuriating their hosts? Israel, after all, is by law a Jewish state which not only does not provide equal rights to the non-Jewish citizens and residents, it also has a government that has senior officials and some leading religious figures describing Palestinian Arabs as something less than human or even “animals” and who, in some cases, openly consider it perfectly acceptable to exterminate them. It is the same government with a different cast of characters that has been stealing, killing and inflicting a host of war crimes and crimes against humanity on its captive and largely helpless Palestinian Christian and Muslim minority for the past 76 years.

Biden’s nice package of $105 billion, which will likely sail through Congress because it is “for Israel,” will include $14 billion for Netanyahu to buy some new heavy ordnance to exterminate the Palestinians, which guarantees that the Muslim world will hate the United States for the foreseeable future. The money is also funding the war in Ukraine for the next year and arming Taiwan with some shiny new weapons to ward off China. Ironically, a new CBS/YouGov poll finds that most Americans don’t want the US providing Israel with weapons and supplies in this war, but, of course ordinary voters are never asked their opinion when the White House chooses to demonstrate “American exceptionalism” towards the country that it loves beyond all others. Oh, and the bill will also include some cash to “fortify” America’s Mexican border, a sweetener that runs completely contrary to what Biden has been doing for the past three years. All this will be piled on to the United States government debt which, at just short of $33 trillion, is considered to be unsustainable and weighs in at $350,230 for every American family. And it is all being done for no good reason whatsoever in terms of genuine American interests, and probably illegally too as proxy wars run by the Executive Branch would seem to go against the Constitution’s separation of powers as well as the time constraints in the War Powers Act of 1973. Congressman Michael McCaul from Texas, the Israel firster fanatic who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is currently pushing legislation that would provide an in-advance authorization to go to war on Iran and on Lebanon if Hezbollah were to come in to support the Gazans when Netanyahu starts his potentially genocidal ground attack. Another Congressional clown, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is already calling for an attack on Iran under the presumption that it assisted the Gazans.

Fortunately for all of us who care for such issues as life and death, some cracks are appearing in the wall surrounding total subservience to Israel and its interest. Some even suspect that the “US-based Middle East system,” which mandates blind support for Israel, has become so abusive that the public is becoming reluctant to support it. Indeed, public opinion polls suggest that support for the Palestinians is increasing while that for Israel is growing weaker as atrocities against the Arabs multiply with Israel new ultra-conservative government. The resignation letter of senior State Department official Josh Paul, who recently quit over the Biden administration’s position on the Gaza War, makes for interesting reading. Paul described the Hamas attack as a “monstrosity of monstrosities” but continued: “This Administration’s response – and much of Congress’ as well – is an impulsive reaction built on confirmation bias, political convenience, intellectual bankruptcy and bureaucratic inertia. Decades of the same approach have shown that security for peace leads to neither security nor peace, The fact is that blind support for one side is destructive in the long term to the interests of the people on both sides.”

Paul was responding to the latest arms package being rushed through congress for Israel, which he described as “shortsighted, destructive and unjust,” and the US veto early last week of a Russian proposal in the UN Security Council to call for a ceasefire. The US permanent representative to the UN Linda Thomas Greenfield submitted the veto and then erupted with “By failing to condemn Hamas, Russia is giving cover to a terrorist group that brutalizes innocent civilians. It is outrageous, it is hypocritical, and it is indefensible.” She is the hypocrite in that she obviously does not recognize or does not care that Israel’s record is far worse than Russia’s in “brutalizing innocent civilians” for the past 76 years.

There are also other reports of general “discomfort” and dismay among civil servants over what is happening vis-à-vis the US role in Gaza out of concern for Israel not being urged to show restraint and the White House lack of any genuine concern over the developing humanitarian crisis. It also appears that several of the few Muslim federal government officials have been removed from positions having anything to do with Middle East policy. The US media likewise has been transferring many of its Muslim journalists who were on the ground in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East for fear that they will actually try to tell the truth about what is going on and who is doing what to whom.

On a next to last final note, it has often been noted that the first victim of war is truth. The US government in its various guises has been lashing out at social media and other sites that have been making available material that can be construed as favorable to Gaza. So far, they have been less than successful, but the efforts persist and could lead to legislation. Also, there have been the usual claims regarding “antisemitism” which can be exploited in “hate crimes” prosecutions as well as the existing legislation in 35 states that protect Israel with potential criminal and civil penalties as well denial of jobs and services to applicants who are critics of the Jewish state’s behavior. In Israel itself, al-Jazeera journalists have now been detained and expelled as a consequence of legislation criminalizing the activity of journalists who report “facts” that are not approved by the Israeli government.

But some of the most bizarre lashing out by the Israel lobby and its friends is taking place in the United States. In Florida the state Attorney General has told prosecutors to “exercise zero tolerance” when dealing with the “anti-Jewish hate crimes” engaged in by college students who have been demonstrating in support of the Gazans. At Harvard, major donors who are mostly Jewish have cut off donations to the university due to its tolerance of pro-Gazan student demonstrators. A so called “conservative group” Accuracy in Media headed by one Adam Guillette, who is Jewish, has led the response to a coalition of more than 30 Harvard student groups that posted an open letter on the night of the Hamas attack, citing Israel as “entirely responsible” for the violence that killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians. The letter was posted on social media and did not include the names of the individual students in the groups. But within days, students connected to those groups were being identified together with their personal information, all of which was posted online. Families back home were threatened while presumed Harvard alumni businessmen and executives demanded a list of the student names to ban their hiring. And a truck with a digital billboard paid for by Accuracy in Media circled Harvard Square, flashing student photos and names, under the headline, “Harvard’s Leading Antisemites.” The students now have to deal with “people’s lives being ruined, people’s careers being ruined, people’s fellowships being ruined” because they opposed a certainly controversial war being fought. Guillette said his organization’s next move, which has already started, is to create online domains using the students’ first and last names to create sites identifying them as antisemites. Guillette boasted that “I think it’s incredibly important for people to know who the antisemites are on their campus and in their community.”

And on a final note, if you have wondered where the money is coming from to fund Israel’s wars and crimes beyond what Joe Biden and his buddies are willing to hand them, there is an interesting story out of Georgia. Republican Governor Brian Kemp has ordered his state treasurer to use tax revenues to purchase $10 million in Israel Bonds. The bonehead then issued a statement: “Israel is one of Georgia’s strongest allies and greatest friends, and our support for its people as they endure horrific attacks from terrorists is unwavering. Purchasing these bonds is just the latest expression of that support.” It is not clear if the purchase is completely legal and someone should have advised the governor that buying Israel bonds is in the nature of a gift as they lack liquidity and are generally regarded as a terrible investment. So it is a rip-off of the Georgia taxpayer. I wonder if anyone will notice!

Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org.

October 23, 2023 Posted by | Corruption, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, Militarism, War Crimes, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Daria Dugina’s Assassination Orchestrated by Ukrainian Intelligence – Report

Sputnik – 23.10.2023

The assassination of Russian journalist Daria Dugina was orchestrated by the Security Service of Ukraine, a US newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying.

The sources claimed that “the cluttered car carrying a mother and her 12-year-old daughter seemed barely worth the attention of Russian security officials as it approached a border checkpoint. But the least conspicuous piece of luggage — a crate for a cat — was part of an elaborate, lethal plot.”

According to the insiders, “Ukrainian operatives had installed a hidden compartment in the pet carrier, and used it to conceal components of a bomb. Four weeks later, the device detonated just outside Moscow in an SUV being driven” by Daria Dugina, the daughter of prominent Russian political philosopher Alexander Dugin.

“The operation was orchestrated by Ukraine’s domestic security service, the SBU,” the sources argued, referring to “the use of the pet crate, that have not been previously disclosed.” The sources also claimed that the deadly attack on Dugina in August 2022 was “part of a raging shadow war” that Ukraine’s spy services are waging against Russia.

The insiders pointed to the large role played by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in helping the SBU wage this “shadow war.”

“Since 2015, the CIA has spent tens of millions of dollars to transform Ukraine’s Soviet-formed services into potent allies against Moscow. The agency has provided Ukraine with advanced surveillance systems, trained recruits at sites in Ukraine as well as the United States, built new headquarters for departments in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, and shared intelligence on a scale that would have been unimaginable” before the above-mentioned year, according to the sources.

They insisted that “the extent of the CIA’s involvement with Ukraine’s security services has not previously been disclosed.”

The sources claimed that over the past 20 months the SBU and its military counterpart, the GUR, “have carried out dozens of assassinations against Russian officials, including a former Russian submarine commander jogging in a park in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar and a militant blogger at a cafe in St. Petersburg.”

“Ukraine’s affinity for lethal operations has complicated its collaboration with the CIA, raising concerns about agency complicity and creating unease among some officials in Kiev and Washington. […] Even those who see such lethal missions as defensible in wartime question the utility of certain strikes and decisions that led to the targeting of civilians including Dugina or her father, Alexander Dugin. Others cited broader concerns about Ukraine’s cutthroat tactics that may seem justified now — but could later prove difficult to rein in,” the insiders pointed out.

Dugina was killed in a car bomb explosion on August 20, 2022, on the Mozhayskoe highway in the Moscow region after returning home from a festival. Her father, who was supposed to be in the same car, changed his plans at the last moment.

Following the investigation, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) determined that the explosive device in Dugina’s car had been planted by Ukrainian Natalia Vovk. The FSB said Vovk worked for Ukrainian special services that organized the assassination. Both Dugina and her father were strong supporters of the Russian special forces operation in Ukraine.

Although Kiev denied its involvement, the FSB released video footage of Vovk entering and leaving the country using forged IDs and moving into an apartment in the same building where Dugina lived. Moscow strongly condemned the attack on the journalist and accused Ukraine of engaging in state terrorism.

October 23, 2023 Posted by | Full Spectrum Dominance, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Israel’s ambassador pushes to shut down pro-Palestinian activism

By Yves Engler | October 21, 2023

Israel wants Canada to criminalize growing displays of solidarity with Palestinians.

In a bid to amplify calls to ban Palestine solidarity marches, Israel’s ambassador Iddo Moed told the Canadian Press on Thursday, “I don’t think that democracies allow people to hate and to incite, and I think that that is something that is looked at very carefully in many places, including Canada.” He added, “when is a line crossed that is between supporting a cause and between changing our values in a way that incites hatred and violence and even glorification of horrendous terrorist attacks.”

As a purported example of the “hatred” Moed is referring to, the CP story reported “One sign spotted at the Oct. 9 protest outside Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square read: ‘Occupation is a crime, resistance is a response.’”

Moed is seeking to boost a push to change Canada’s criminal code. Last week the Globe and Mail published “Rallies raise question of whether Canada should have a law against public cheering of terrorism” and the National Post’s John Ivison called for federal legislation to criminalize the protests in “Tolerating the glorification of terror and slaughter is societal suicide”. Similarly, the host of CBC’s Power & Politics David Cochrane asked foreign affairs minister Melanie Joly whether Canadians participating in Palestine solidarity rallies should be prosecuted for supporting terrorism while National Post reporter Tristin Hopper mused about banning the Palestinian flag. On Twitter Hopper noted, “So when do we declare the Palestinian flag a hate symbol? I’m not seeing a lot of them being waved by people who *don’t* support mass-murder.”

Taking a page from Hopper’s line of thinking, a principal at an Ottawa elementary school recently asked a student to remove the Palestinian flag as their profile picture. “We will follow up with your family because we want to keep all students feeling safe, welcome and included in our classrooms,” the principal is recorded saying.

This isn’t an isolated case. On Thursday prominent Toronto teacher Javier DaVila tweeted, “I’ve received dozens of reports from parents of children in Ontario education who’ve been targeted, attacked or suspended for wearing Keffiyehs, displaying Palestinian flags, expressing solidarity with or even saying Palestine.”

In a bid to blunt opposition to Israel’s genocidal policies, the media and politicians have hounded CUPE Ontario leader Fred Hahn and Hamilton NDP MPP Sarah Jama. They’ve also vilified student unions standing for Palestinian rights and called for them to be defunded.

While they obsess about one-sided student union statements, the media has all but ignored racism spouted by more influential pro-Israel actors. They are uninterested that the head of Montreal’s Federation CJA told an audience, which included multiple elected officials, that “the barbarians are at the gate” or that Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs hosted a speaker days after he tweeted an image of an Israeli military boot crushing a Palestinian cockroach. The leaders of the four main political parties spoke at the same CIJA conference.

Without a hint of awareness of the irony, organizations that proclaim Israel as “the only democracy in the Middle East” and condemn anyone who draws parallels between Nazi behaviour and Israel’s, as well as newspaper columnists who decry leftists when they “de-platform” right wingers, target the jobs of Palestine’s supporters.

Zionist campaigners have targeted multiple individuals’ livelihoods. Under outside pressure, a number of public servants are being “probed for anti-Israel posts” while a doctor who has done humanitarian work in Gaza and elsewhere, Ben Thomson, was suspended by Mackenzie Health for his Palestine advocacy. Air Canada even fired a pilot for posting Palestine protest photos on social media.

In response to the witch-hunt, Labour 4 Palestine has launched an action campaign titled “Defend free speech. Stop the attack on Palestine solidarity.” For its part, Scholar Strike Canada released a statement condemning “University Administrators and the Western media for their ongoing Threats against Scholars and Students in Solidarity with Palestinian People in Gaza.” In response to the Ontario premier’s smears, Jama formally threatened a defamation suit against Doug Ford.

Notwithstanding the witch-hunt, tens of thousands of Canadians have taken to the streets in recent days. On Tuesday night multiple thousands rallied and marched in emergency protests in Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary and Toronto against Israel killing hundreds at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza. A few days earlier more than 5,000 marched in Montréal against Canada’s complicity with Israel’s genocidal violence in Gaza.

More protests are planned Friday and this weekend. The best way to respond to repression of solidarity is to amplify Palestine solidarity work.

October 22, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel’s hospital bombing claims not credible – analysts

RT | October 21, 2023

Independent analysis of video and audio footage has revealed major inconsistencies with Israel’s claim that Palestinian militants were responsible for the deadly bombing of the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza this week.

The Christian-run hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, was destroyed in an explosion on Tuesday. Around 500 people were killed in the blast, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Th Israeli authorities have released two pieces of evidence that they say prove the building was hit by a Palestinian rocket: A video showing a salvo of Palestinian rockets flying from east to west, with one apparently breaking apart with a flash and falling on the hospital; and an intercepted telephone call in which Hamas militants purportedly discuss how rockets fired by the Islamic Jihad group had fallen short and landed in Gaza.

“The entire world should know: It was barbaric terrorists in Gaza that attacked the hospital in Gaza, and not the [Israel Defense Forces],” Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on social media on Tuesday night.

However, analysts at Al Jazeera and Channel 4 studied the video and concluded that the flash could not be linked with the subsequent explosion at the hospital. Al Jazeera noted that the flash “was in fact consistent with Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepting a missile fired from the Gaza Strip and destroying it in midair.”

In a second video shot near the blast site, an incoming rocket or missile can be heard screeching through the air before impacting the hospital. Earshot, an NGO specializing in audio analysis of footage from conflict zones and human rights cases, studied this video and found that the frequency of the incoming projectile indicates that it “approached the hospital from north-east, east or south-east,” while Israel claimed it approached from the west.

Forensic Architecture, a research agency based at the University of London, backed up Earshot’s findings, stating that the projectile likely came from the direction of Israel. Further analysis of the crater left at the hospital pointed to an approach from the north-east, the agency said.

Earshot also studied the telephone recording and found that unlike most calls, in which both parties’ voices are transmitted on the same audio channel, the recording consists of two separately-recorded voices stitched together. While Earshot said it “cannot categorically state that the audible dialogue is fake… the level of manipulation required to edit these two voices together disqualifies it as a source of credible evidence.”

In the immediate aftermath of the blast, Israeli government adviser Hananya Naftali wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that the “Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza,” before deleting the tweet minutes later.

Nevertheless, US President Joe Biden has sided with the Israeli telling of events, while Israel remains the culprit throughout the Arab world. “Everybody here believes that Israel is responsible for it,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told CNN on Wednesday. “The Israeli army is saying it’s not but… try and find anybody who’s going to believe it in this part of the world.”

October 21, 2023 Posted by | Deception, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel must be internationally designated as terrorist entity: Iran FM spokesman

Press TV – October 21, 2023

The spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry has censured the ongoing Israeli onslaught in the besieged Gaza Strip, stating that the international community must designate the occupying Tel Aviv regime as a “terrorist entity” and put its leaders on trial over war crimes against Palestinians.

In a post published on his X account on Saturday, Nasser Kan’ani denounced the appalling Israeli atrocities against Palestinians and threats of bombardment of hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

“Following the catastrophic attacks on the al-Ahli Arab Hospital, mosques, schools and the Greek Orthodox church in Gaza, the Zionist regime has threatened to pound other hospitals in Gaza!” he wrote.

“Such horrendous crimes mean that the Zionist regime has crossed the limits of insanity,” said Kan’ani, adding that they amount to a morally shameful scandal for the governments that have long provided unconditional support to the Zionist regime while preaching to others about human rights.

Kan’ani stated that occupation, aggression, war, misdeeds, assassination, genocide, infanticide, attacks on mosques, churches, hospitals, ambulances and rescue vehicles, schools, houses and residential complexes, refugee camps and journalists, etc. are all crimes collectively manifested in the contemporary world by a bogus and terrorist regime entity called “Israel” with a 75-year-long record of relentless atrocities.

“Nowadays, all these crimes are being committed simultaneously and on a daily basis in Gaza just in front of the international community,” he said.

“All people advocating freedom, justice and fairness across the world demand that the Israeli regime be designated internationally as a terrorist entity, and that Zionist leaders be prosecuted and punished as war criminals,” Kan’ani asserted.

The United Nations says about half of Palestinians in Gaza have been made homeless, still trapped inside the enclave, which is known to be one of the most densely populated places on earth.

Health officials in Gaza say the Israeli bombardment has killed at least 4,137 people since October 7, when fighters from the Hamas resistance movement launched an unprecedented large-scale attack against the occupying Israeli regime. Another 13,162 individuals have also been injured.

Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for Gaza’s health ministry, confirmed that nearly 1,400 people, including 720 children, are still missing under the rubble.

Qudra also noted that 352 Palestinians were killed and 669 others wounded over the past 24 hours, including 16 victims who lost their lives in the aerial strike on the Greek Orthodox Church.

Seven general hospitals and 21 health centers are now out of service, he added, calling for international protection of hospitals and health facilities in Gaza in light of intensified Israeli aggression.

The Palestinian health official noted that 46 medical personnel were killed, and 85 others injured during Israeli airstrikes. At least 23 ambulances were destroyed as well.

October 21, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel settler: ‘Israel forces killed hostages, not Hamas’

Soldiers of Israeli army patrol in Kfar Aza settlement near Gaza, on October 15, 2023. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]
MEMO | October 21, 2023

Israeli settler Yasmin Porat has claimed that Israeli civilians were killed by Israeli forces and not by Hamas.

This came in an interview by Porat with an Israeli radio station on 15 October, where she said: “They eliminated everyone, including the hostages. There was very, very heavy crossfire and even tank shelling.”

The 44-year-old mother of three stated that she and other civilians were held by the Palestinians for several hours and were treated “humanely”.

A recording of her interview with Haboker Hazeh (This Morning) radio programme on state broadcaster Kan was circulated on social media.

It is worth noting that the interview was not included in the online edition of the Haboker Hazeh programme on 15 October and may have been censored.

Porat also gave an interview to Israel’s Channel 12 on Thursday, where she described that one of the Palestinian fighters who spoke Hebrew said to her: “Look at me well, we’re not going to kill you. We want to take you to Gaza. We are not going to kill you. So be calm; you’re not going to die.” The interview was published on X.

Porat added, “I was calm because I knew nothing would happen to me,” noting that although the fighters had loaded weapons, she did not see them shoot any captives or threaten them with weapons. She also said they provided them with water.

While the captives were waiting for the army to arrive, they were allowed to go outside to the lawn because of the afternoon heat. Porat reported that the Israeli forces announced its arrival with a barrage of heavy gunfire that wounded fighters and Israeli captives alike.

Porat recounted that she surrendered to the Israeli soldiers half an hour into the fierce battle that included “tens and hundreds and thousands of bullets and mortars flying in the air” and that one of the Palestinian fighters, a commander, decided to surrender, using her as a human shield.

October 21, 2023 Posted by | Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

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