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Canadian ‘charity’ high school trains students to serve in Israeli military

Press TV – August 10, 2024

A ‘charity’ high school in the Canadian city of Toronto has been training students to serve in the Israeli military, highlighting those graduates who are fighting for the occupying regime.

Toronto high school Bnei Akiva (or Chaim) is reportedly under intense scrutiny following a recent incident involving one of its former students, identified as Ben Brown, who has been critically injured while serving with the Israeli military.

The former student of Chaim was hit by shrapnel from a rocket purportedly launched by the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah while on a military base in the occupied Shebaa Farms or Mount Dov. Brown.

The controversy has prompted calls on Canadian authorities to strip the school of its charitable status and investigate its officials for violating Canada’s Foreign Enlistment Act, which criminalizes the recruitment of Canadians into foreign armed forces.

“Any person who, within Canada, recruits or otherwise induces any person or body of persons to enlist or to accept any commission or engagement in the armed forces of any foreign state or other armed forces operating in that state is guilty of an offense,” the Act states.

The Bnei Akiva High School is affiliated with the World Bnei Akiva movement, which has a known connection to promoting service for the Israeli military.

Brown’s school has a plaque honoring alumni who joined the Israeli military and its website highlights graduates who fought in the ranks of the regime’s armed forces.

Testimonials on the high school’s website suggest the school devotes significant effort to inducing kids to join the Israeli military.

In a podcast, the Canadian Jewish News recently replayed parts of a three-year-old interview with Brown’s older brother, Zach Brown, a former Israeli soldier. In the podcast, Zach described his own military experiences, including his role in urban warfare and checkpoints in the occupied West Bank, boasting about how he was the “top sharpshooter” in a company of the Kfir brigade.

This revelation has intensified scrutiny over the educational and ideological influences provided by Bnei Akiva High Schools.

Critics argue that the school’s activities, which may include encouraging students to join the Israeli military, could constitute an illegal inducement under Canadian law. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is urged to investigate whether Bnei Akiva Schools has breached these regulations.

In addition to legal concerns related to foreign enlistment, the school’s charitable status is also under question as Bnei Akiva Schools has received substantial public funding, including federal grants totaling $3.5 million in 2021 and 2022 (the last years of its budget the public has access to).

This is while Canadian charity regulations stipulate that supporting foreign armed forces is not considered a charitable activity. Moreover, there are concerns that the school’s financial practices may be violating guidelines set by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

“CRA rules state clearly that paying private school tuition is not tax deductible except any portion covering ‘religious’ studies,” the report added.

The Bnei Akiva Schools has a history of supporting and celebrating the Israeli military. The school has organized fundraising events, such as marathons, to support wounded Israeli soldiers and has featured Israeli soldiers and the Israeli military’s choir in its programs.

The World Bnei Akiva movement, with which Bnei Akiva Schools is affiliated, operates an academy in Israel that prepares non-Israelis for military service. This connection raises further questions about the extent to which the school actively encourages enlistment in the Israeli military, the report further said.

Backed by the US and its Western allies, the Israeli regime launched an all-out invasion of the besieged Gaza Strip after it was caught off-guard by Operation al-Aqsa Storm inside the occupied territories in October last year.

Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have since been killed, most of them women and children, and upwards of 91,000 others injured in the merciless Israeli aggression.

Israel has also been enforcing a crippling siege on the coastal territory by choking off the flow of foodstuffs, medicine, electricity, and water into the Palestinian territory.

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

Israeli strikes on Gaza kill two more Palestinian journalists, their family members

Deceased Palestinian journalists Abdullah al-Soussi (L) and Tamim Muammar (Photo via social media)
MEMO | August 10, 2024

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate mourned two journalists from the Gaza Strip who were killed by the Israeli army on Friday.

The Syndicate called on International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan to immediately investigate the Israeli crimes committed against journalists.

This was conveyed in a statement, a copy of which was received by Anadolu Agency, in which the Syndicate mourned journalists Tamim Muammar and Abdullah Al-Soussi, who were killed in a bombing of the city of Khan Yunis in central Gaza, denouncing this “crime”.

The Syndicate reported that Muammar worked as an editor at the Voice of Palestine (governmental) radio station, while Al-Soussi worked for Al-Aqsa TV (affiliated with Hamas). The journalists were assassinated in two separate airstrikes on Khan Yunis, along with a number of their children, family members and relatives.

The Syndicate considers the assassination of Palestinian journalists a “systematic crime” committed by the Israeli army.

The agency called on: “The International Criminal Court Prosecutor to quickly begin investigations into the occupation’s crimes against Palestinian journalists.”

Earlier on Friday, Wafa news agency quoted medical sources stating: “The bodies of 14 martyrs arrived at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis as a result of the occupation’s ongoing raids on various parts of the city.”

It added that an airstrike targeted: “The Muammar family home in the Tahlia area in central Khan Yunis, leading to the martyrdom of fellow journalist Tamim Muammar from Voice of Palestine radio.”

Meanwhile: “Local sources announced the martyrdom of journalist Abdullah Al-Soussi in an occupation airstrike that targeted his home in Khan Yunis,” according to the agency.

With the killing of Muammar and Al-Soussi, the number of journalists killed since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza has risen to 168, according to official Palestinian figures.

With US support, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since 7 October, leaving more than 131,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them women and children, with more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and deadly famine.

In disregard of the international community, Tel Aviv continues this war, ignoring the United Nations Security Council resolution to stop it immediately and the International Court of Justice’s orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.

August 10, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel kills 100 Palestinians performing fajr prayer in Gaza

MEMO | August 10, 2024

At least 100 Palestinians were killed early this morning when the Israeli military bombed the Al-Taba’een school in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City.

The school was housing displaced civilians. Dozens were injured in the attack.

Israeli military aircraft targeted the school while worshippers were performing the fajr (dawn) prayer, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Eyewitnesses said they could hear women and children screaming after the bombing but couldn’t reach them.

The attack comes just hours after news that the US is preparing to give $3.5 billion to Israel to purchase American weapons and military equipment from a $14.1 billion supplemental bill approved by Congress in April.

“On Thursday, August 8 the Department notified Congress of our intent to obligate $3.5 billion in FY 2024 Foreign Military Financing using funding provided by the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act,” said a State Department spokesperson.

Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 91,700 injured, in Israel’s bombing campaign since 7 October 2023, according to local health authorities.

More than ten months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

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

Largest UK pension fund divests from Israeli assets worth over $100mn: Report

Press TV – August 9, 2024

Britain’s largest private pension fund has reportedly sold off £80 million ($101 million) in assets linked to Israel as pressure mounts on its members to divest from the occupying regime over its genocidal aggression against the Gaza Strip.

The Financial Times reported on Thursday that the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) had “materially” reduced its exposure to Israeli investments in the past six months.

USS started selling down the bond and currency portfolio in March, the report said, citing two people with knowledge of the matter.

“This marks yet another instance in recent months of institutions divesting from Israel’s genocidal regime and complicit companies,” the pro-Palestine Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement said.

It also renewed its call for pressure on institutions to “divest from Israel’s sinking economy. Investing in it is not only unethical and illegal. It’s now also reckless.”

USS manages investments totalling £79 ($100 billion) and has more than 500,000 members, who are largely higher education sector workers, including lecturers at universities such as Oxford and Cambridge.

Back in May, the University and College Union (UCU) criticized the USS’s “shameful” refusal to review investments in companies linked to Israel’s crimes in Gaza and urged the pension fund to reconsider its position.

Calls have grown worldwide for divestment from Israeli interests since October 7, 2023, when the usurping regime waged its brutal Gaza onslaught.

So far, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 39,699 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 91,722 others.

August 9, 2024 Posted by | Economics, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , | Leave a comment

De-escalation vs. self-defense: Double standards or racism?

By Jamal Kanj | Al Mayadeen | August 9, 2024

On the evening of July 30, an Israeli drone targeted a residential building in the Southern Suburb of Beirut, killing three women and two children, and injuring 74 civilians. “Israel” claimed the attack was aimed at an officer of the Lebanese Resistance. Targeting residential infrastructures outside a war zone is part of the Israeli army’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) program, known as “Lavender.” The AI Lavender program, as we have seen in Gaza, koshers the killing of up to 100 civilians or entire families in order to assassinate a single commander.

Less than 24 hours later, Israeli agents violated Iran’s sovereignty and assassinated Palestinian leader Ismail Haniyeh during his official visit to Tehran, like when “Israel” bombed the Iranian embassy complex in Damascus last April, killing 8 military advisors and an equal number of Syrian civilians and Iranian consular staff.

Rather than condemning the Israeli aggression, Western capitals called on the victims (Iran and the Lebanese Resistance) to de-escalate and exercise restraint. “No one should escalate this conflict,” Blinken told reporters on August 6. “We’ve been engaged in intense diplomacy with allies and partners, communicating that message directly to Iran.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock took to X calling on “especially #Iran, to exercise restraint and de-escalate for the sake of the people in the region.”

Britain and France doubled down on the foreign violation of Iran’s sovereignty during the emergency UN Security Council meeting on July 31, blaming Iran, the victim in this case, for the dangerous escalation in the region. According to various resources, French President Emmanuel Macron told his new Iranian counterpart to end the “logic of reprisals” and for the “protection of civilian populations.”

Western powers called for de-escalation in response to the Israeli aggression against Iran and Lebanon. On the other hand, they defended “Israel’s” right to “self-defense” following the Palestinian revolt against the Israeli siege on October 7. Leaders from more than 14 countries, 8 including heads of state paid homage to declare solidarity with “Israel”. Yet, not a single Western leader called on “Israel” to de-escalate.

If “Israel” is perceived as the target of an attack, Western leaders promote Israeli “logic of reprisals” under the pretext of “self-defense”. Meanwhile, when others are targeted by “Israel”, then and only then, de-escalation is deemed necessary for the “protection of civilian populations.”

Returning to the German Foreign Minister’s recent post on X. When “Israel” was targeted on October 7, Germany saw no need to de-escalate “for the sake of the (Palestinian) people in the region.” De-escalation was necessary though, “for the sake of the (Israeli) people…” following the Israeli attack on Iran and Beirut.

Ironically, the call by Western leaders to “de-escalate” is not a genuine endeavor to avoid a wider conflict, but rather their proclivity to sanction Israeli wars. They sanctioned “Israel’s” war of genocide when they excused its aggression as “self-defense” and then refused to call for a ceasefire for more than six months. They empowered “Israel” by waging a proxy war against Yemen on its behalf. They enabled “Israel’s” defiance by continuing to supply the armament used to kill and maim the children of Gaza. They enabled Israeli-induced famine against 2.3 million people by refusing to accept the findings of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. More importantly, they enabled Israeli intransigence when, following the Israeli murder in Tehran and Beirut, the US president ordered US military deployments in the Middle East to defend “Israel” “against all threats from Iran.”

The above is not merely a double standard, but congenital Western racism toward the perceived “lesser” than equal people, for the US Administration, Canada, Britain, and the European Union’s unadulterated racism has for decades enabled “Israel’s” arrogance, both materially and diplomatically.

By the same Western definition of the right to self-defense, the Iranian government, the Lebanese Resistance, and Yemen have every right to exercise their right, according to international law following Israeli attacks on Tehran, Beirut, and Hodeidah in Yemen. This is more so than what Western leaders erroneously bestowed on an occupying power following October 7.

The Resistance is undoubtedly aware of Western powers’ efforts to delay and/or diffuse the response to Israeli extrajudicial assassinations. European leaders, for instance, have sent direct and indirect equivocal messages to Iran expressing a willingness to open a new chapter after the election of the new reformist president.

Arab and Western leaders have also cautioned the Resistance in Lebanon against taking any action that could jeopardize the “progress” in the ceasefire talks, when, in reality, the opposite is true. The Palestinians are in a stronger negotiating position with support from the Lebanese and the Yemeni fronts, not by the groveling of Arab regimes to Israeli enablers.

In fact, as it became clear that retaliation against “Israel” was imminent, the US, Qatar, and Egypt scrambled a statement on August 8 calling for a new round of ceasefire negotiations. This announcement was almost certainly coordinated in advance with “Israel”, as evidenced by Netanyahu’s unusually swift agreement to send a delegation “in order to finalize the details and implement the framework agreement.”

It is almost certain that the Resistance understands that all this is a ruse and outright prevarication by the Biden administration and two vassal Arab countries to muddy the waters, allowing “Israel” to literally get away with new murders. The aggrieved parties are expected to respond because allowing “Israel” to cross this redline would embolden Israeli intransigence and afford it a new opportunity to cross more dangerous redlines that could lead to a more destructive war in the future.

In the last decade, “Israel” has murdered at least five Iranian scientists, including its top civilian nuclear program chief Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in 2020. These assassinations came at a very little cost, if any, for “Israel”. However, the recent case of murdering an invited guest crosses a different redline that “Israel” and the West are unable to comprehend. In the East, protecting your guest is an honor that must be defended at all costs.

It’s implausible that the forces of Resistance would be dissuaded by the new American/Israeli gambit or the misplaced racist “de-escalation” rhetoric from the other Israeli enablers. According to public pronouncements from Iran, Yemen, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, a proportional retaliation against apartheid “Israel” is inevitable.

Patience is a virtue, and as some have suggested, ambiguity and waiting it out are part of that broader strategy. While that might be true, there is, however, a cost-benefit dynamic related to the time taken to make a decision. The Resistance is likely aware that further vacillation would decrease the benefits and fetter the momentum for an in-kind reprisal against “Israel”.

August 9, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israeli forces run over, kill 15-year-old Palestinian boy injured in drone strike

Israeli forces killed 15-year-old Khatab Majdi Asad Abu Badawiya in Jenin on August 6, 2024. (Photo: Courtesy of the Abu Badawiya family)
Defense for Children International – Palestine | August 8, 2024

Ramallah, August 8, 2024—Israeli forces killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy in Jenin during a military incursion on Tuesday morning.

Khatab Majdi Asad Abu Badawiya, 15, was struck by shrapnel from an Israeli drone-fired missile around 9:40 a.m. on August 6 during an Israeli military incursion into the eastern neighborhood of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International – Palestine. Khatab allegedly threw a homemade explosive device toward a heavily armored Israeli military vehicle prior to the drone strike. The strike, which injured Khatab, killed three armed Palestinian men. After Khatab was injured in the strike, an ambulance attempted to reach him but Israeli soldiers in the military vehicle fired live ammunition toward the paramedics. The military vehicle then dragged a civilian vehicle parked nearby and attempted to push it onto the child lying on the ground. After failing to do so, the military vehicle advanced towards Khatab, who was still alive, and drove one of its wheels onto his abdomen. The military vehicle stayed near the bodies of the child and the other young men for about 40 minutes before withdrawing.

“Israeli forces continue showing contempt for Palestinian children’s lives as they carry out aerial attacks in densely populated civilian areas like Jenin,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Israeli forces not only injured Khatab in a drone strike, but they shot at paramedics trying to provide aid, then parked their military vehicle on top of his torso while he bled out in a shocking act of cruelty. Countries need to enact an immediate arms embargo and sanctions on Israel to force accountability for Israeli forces who have been allowed to brutally kill Palestinian children with impunity for decades.”

Palestinian residents demolished a wall so paramedics could walk to the scene, since Israeli forces targeted the ambulance with live ammunition. Paramedics transported Khatab and the three Palestinian men to the ambulance, which was parked about 200 meters (656 feet) away. Doctors pronounced all four of them dead on arrival at Jenin Governmental Hospital.

Israeli forces stormed the center of Jenin on August 5 around 3:30 p.m. Soldiers raided the Gulf Exchange Company on Abu Bakr Street. During the incursion into the city center, Israeli military vehicles deliberately smashed many vehicles by crashing into them. The soldiers also fired heavily and indiscriminately while the area was crowded with vendors and shoppers.

Palestinian gunmen confronted the Israeli soldiers. During these confrontations, Israeli military reinforcements, accompanied by large military bulldozers, arrived in Jenin city and refugee camp. The bulldozers began destroying infrastructure, demolishing walls of several homes, and smashing and burning vendor stalls in the Jenin market.

After Israeli forces withdrew from Jenin, they entered the Palestinian village of Kafr Qud to the west and besieged a house, killing two young men and confiscating their bodies. Three others were injured in the besiegement and were subsequently arrested.

Israeli forces and settlers have killed 62 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2024, including two United States citizens, according to documentation collected by DCIP.

143 Palestinian children have been killed in the occupied West Bank since October 7, according to documentation collected by DCIP, when the Israeli military began a full-scale military offensive on the Gaza Strip.

In 2023, Israeli forces and settlers killed at least 121 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Israeli forces and settlers shot and killed 103 Palestinian children with live ammunition, 13 Palestinian children were killed in drone strikes, four Palestinian children were killed by missiles fired from a U.S.-sourced Apache attack helicopter, and one child was killed in an Israeli warplane airstrike.

Under international law, intentional lethal force is only justified in circumstances where a direct threat to life or of serious injury is present. However, investigations and evidence collected by DCIP regularly suggest that Israeli forces use lethal force against Palestinian children in circumstances that may amount to extrajudicial or wilful killings.

August 8, 2024 Posted by | War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Khan Yunis: Israeli army destroyed over 70 percent of the city’s water wells

Palestinian Information Center – August 8, 2024

GAZA – The municipality of Khan Yunis City in southern Gaza has affirmed that the Israeli occupation army has destroyed over 70 percent of the city’s water wells since October 7, 2023.

In a statement on Thursday, the municipality explained that the Israeli army destroyed the city’s water purification station, 26 of its 37 wells, and 220 kilometers of water lines.

According to the municipality, more than 1,200,000 displaced people currently sheltering in al-Mawasi area of western Khan Yunis are struggling to access drinking and usable water.

The municipality warned that the severe water shortage in Khan Yunis led to the spread of infectious diseases among the local and displaced families.

August 8, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the Problem of Torture

By Andrew P. Napolitano | Ron Paul Institute | August 8, 2024

In the months following the attacks of 9/11, the government laid the blame for orchestrating them on Osama bin Ladin. Then, after it murdered bin Ladin, the government decided that the true mastermind was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

By the time of bin Ladin’s death, Mohammed had already been tortured by CIA agents for three years at various black sites and charged with conspiracy to commit mass murder, to be tried before an American military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Mohammed and four other alleged conspirators have been awaiting trial since their arrivals at Gitmo in 2006. Since then, numerous government military and civilian prosecutors, as well as numerous military judges, have rotated into and out of the case. Two weeks ago, the government and the defendants agreed to a guilty plea in return for life in prison at Gitmo. Then, last week, the Department of Defense abruptly changed its mind and rescinded its approval of the guilty pleas.

Here is the backstory.

The concept of military tribunals for the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks was born in the administration of President George W. Bush, who argued that the attacks, though conducted by civilians on civilians, were of military magnitude and thus warranted a military response. Throughout the entire 22-year existence of the U.S. military prison at Gitmo, no one has been tried for causing or carrying out the crimes of 9/11. The government tried only one person for crimes related to 9/11. That was Zacarias Moussaoui, who pleaded guilty in federal court in Virginia to conspiracy for being the 20th hijacker and then was tried in a penalty phase trial where the jury chose life in prison.

Bush’s rationale not only brought us the fruitless and destructive wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; it also brought a host of legal problems unforeseen by Bush and his revenge-over-justice colleagues. The first legal issue was conspiracy. Since Mohammed did not carry out the attacks, he could only be charged with planning them. But conspiracy is not a war crime, and thus no military tribunal could hear the case. So Congress came up with a historic first — a military tribunal that would try civilian crimes.

The next issue was where to try Mohammed and his colleagues. President Barack Obama wanted to close Gitmo, which costs $540 million annually, and try Mohammed and the others in federal courts. This would have been consistent with federal law and the U.S. Constitution. But Republicans in Congress viewed Mohammed as too dangerous to bring onto U.S. soil, and so Congress enacted legislation that prohibits the removal of Mohammed and the others to the U.S. for any purpose.

The prohibition on removal means that any life terms would need to be spent at Gitmo. It also means that there would be a legal obstacle to the execution of a death sentence, as Gitmo is not equipped to execute anyone.

Most troubling, however, is the government’s problem of how to address the issue of torture. Bush believed that military men on military juries would neither cringe at torture nor hesitate to impose a death sentence. Yet, when defendants at Gitmo, in non-9/11-related cases, described the torture that CIA agents and military officials had inflicted upon them, military jurors were repulsed at what they heard and recommended clemency even for those who caused deaths.

These events — filing legally baseless charges, prohibiting the removal of civilian defendants to civilian courts, and fear of the likely reaction of military jurors to testimony about torture — caused the prosecution team to rethink the entire idea of putting Mohammed on trial, and thus in March 2022, the government initiated secret plea-bargaining negotiations with defense counsel.

In large measure, government prosecutors — now the fourth team since 2006 — recognized that Bush’s torturers had so brutalized the defendants that their so-called voluntary confessions would likely be tossed by the trial judge or rejected by a jury. Moreover, there are serious ethical issues when lawyers defend torture — so serious that it could jeopardize their careers.

Why would the government agree to such a plea bargain for the persons it claims are the monsters who murdered 3,000 Americans on 9/11 and triggered all the horrors that followed those murders? What does the government fear?

What does it always fear? THE TRUTH.

Since the trial judge — the fourth judge on the case — had already accepted the guilty pleas before the DoD changed its mind, it is unclear if he will enforce them.

If he does not, one day there will be a trial. At trial, the defendants will be permitted to bring the government’s imperialistic wars, its tortures and its foreknowledge of 9/11 into the courtroom. The government knows that much of its behavior — from the CIA-orchestrated overthrow of a popularly elected prime minister of Iran in the early 1950s to the untruthful excuses for toppling Saddam Hussein — will show American foreign policy at its imperialistic and violent worst.

And the hours and weeks and months and years of repeated torture — all of it criminal — will undermine the case against Mohammed and the others.

This is what happens when the fabric of our legal system is interfered with for authoritarian reasons. The tragedy of 9/11 happened on Bush’s watch. What did the CIA know before 9/11? Bush compounded his ignorance and failures with boasts of bravado and torture — all of which have come back to haunt his current successor in the White House.

Defense and Justice Department lawyers have recognized that they cannot try this case without material damage to the scheme of American empire, built on death, lies and torture, without revealing the names and methods of the folks who did these horrible deeds and the lies of the presidents who authorized them — and without the truth coming out at last.

What good has come from Bush’s torturers? None.

To learn more about Judge Andrew Napolitano, visit https://JudgeNap.com.

COPYRIGHT 2024 ANDREW P. NAPOLITANO

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM

August 8, 2024 Posted by | Deception, False Flag Terrorism, Subjugation - Torture, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel’s admission that it targeted a journalist exposes crude attempt to control war narrative

By Tim Dawson | MEMO | August 7, 2024

Ismail Al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami Al-Refee were observing the conflict-zone-reporting best practice, as they motored back from their assignment on the last day of July. Having reported issues facing the displaced people of northern Gaza, they were leaving the scene of greatest danger. Blast vests bearing the insignia “PRESS” protected their bodies. Minutes earlier they had updated the Al Jazeera newsroom with their location.

None of this would save their lives when an Israeli drone strike blasted their car. The explosion blew off Al-Ghoul’s head – an image subsequently shared on social media. Al-Refee and Khalid Shawa, a boy who happened to be passing by on a bicycle, also died instantly.

Unusually, we know that the killing was deliberate – because the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has admitted as much.

The occupation army justified the assassination, arguing that the journalist’s name appears on a list of “senior Hamas officers” that it captured earlier in the conflict. This allegation is strenuously denied by Al-Ghoul’s family, his employer and his union. And Israeli “evidence” in similar cases has appeared questionable. Indeed, Al-Ghoul spent enough time “on camera” that his capacity outside journalism would have been limited.

Critically, however, he was arrested by Israeli soldiers in March and held for 12 hours before being released without a charge. Surely, if the evidence of his Hamas membership justified his killing, there must have been sufficient basis for his prosecution?

This admission of targeting confirms much of what have for months been swirling allegations about Israeli operations. We know that it has software – Pegasus – that secretly invades mobile phones and shares its user’s locations, communications and the identities of those who they meet.

We know that the Israeli army uses software called “Lavender” that deploys AI to sort operational intelligence and suggest targets for assassination. A further tool, “The Gospel”, uploads targets’ geo locations to killer drones dramatically faster than had been possible with manual programming.

More than 12% of Gaza’s journalists killed

Alongside this technological capability is the extraordinary number of journalists who have been killed in Gaza since 7 October. The most conservative tally is around 120, some believe that as many as 165 Gazan reporters have perished since 7 October. This is dwarfed by the total death toll in Gaza, now somewhere around 40,000 victims. It is the mortality rate among journalists that is really striking. There were approximately 1,000 journalists in Gaza at the start of the conflict – more than 12 per cent have now lost their lives.

This extraordinary rate of killing, and the precision targeting to which the Israeli occupation forces have admitted, points to a simple and awful conclusion. But there is more.

Since the outset of the conflict the Israeli government has barred international reporters from entering Gaza – despite hundreds petitioning to be admitted. It has also threatened to remove funding from newspapers such as Haaretz, shut down Al Jazeera’s operation in Israel, and disabled the internet at key moments.

And, following the law is not the army’s way either. When the United Nations investigated the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, its report concluded: “The Israeli security forces used lethal force without justification under international human rights law and intentionally or recklessly violated the right to life of Shireen Abu Akleh.”

But why target journalists in this way? The only plausible explanation is that this is an attempt to control the war narrative.

In international law, journalists are considered civilians; combatants are obliged to ensure their safety. The Israeli army’s bloody campaign is in clear contravention of this – but whether the institutions of international law will bring anyone to justice remains to be seen. The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) lead prosecutor, Karim Khan, displayed bravery in May when he issued arrest warrants for the Israeli and Hamas leadership. If he sees these cases through to satisfactory conclusions he will have shown himself as one of the greatest jurists of our age.

Justice, if it comes, will be no comfort to Al-Ghoul and Al-Refee. They have distinguished themselves, however, by standing up to the most horrific force ever visited upon journalists and continuing to act as the world’s eyes and ears. There is no consolation for them – but they deserve celebration; their colleagues, who continue this work, deserve our support.

August 7, 2024 Posted by | Full Spectrum Dominance, Timeless or most popular, Video, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Ukrainian advance into Russia’s Kursk Region halted – Moscow

RT | August 7, 2024

Ukraine’s attempted incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region has been halted, the chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, said on Wednesday. Kiev’s forces have suffered 300 casualties in the attack, he added.

Reporting to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Gerasimov stated that border security services had stopped the Ukrainian advance with the help of reinforcement units, air strikes, missile forces, and artillery fire.

Kiev’s forces suffered 315 casualties during the attempted incursion, with at least 100 troops killed and 215 wounded, Gerasimov estimated. Ukraine also lost 54 armored vehicles, including seven tanks, he added.

Ukraine initially launched the attack at 5:30am on Tuesday with a force numbering up to a thousand, with the goal of taking over the Sudzhinsky district of Kursk Region, Gerasimov said.

He insisted that Russia’s counter-operation will end with the enemy forces being destroyed or driven back beyond the border.

Previously commenting on Tuesday’s attack, Putin stated that the incursion was yet another large-scale provocation undertaken by the Kiev regime, which he said has again resorted to indiscriminately targeting civilians.

Ukrainian forces “are conducting indiscriminate fire from various types of weapons, including rocket weapons, at civilian buildings, homes and ambulances,” Putin said at a government meeting on Wednesday.

More than 2,000 people have fled the border areas, some with the assistance of rescuers, since the fighting broke out on Tuesday morning, regional governor Aleksey Smirnov has reported. Authorities have provided emergency shelters for those who need them, while neighboring regions are also offering their help to the refugees.

August 7, 2024 Posted by | Militarism, War Crimes | , | Leave a comment

EU national convicted for looting in Ukraine

File photo: Filip Siman © Telegram
RT | August 6, 2024

A 27-year-old Czech who had fought in a Ukrainian volunteer unit has been sentenced by a Prague court to seven years in prison for looting in the towns of Bucha and Irpin. Filip Siman has argued that he was just following orders.

Filip Siman enlisted in the ‘Carpathian Sich’ unit at the start of the Ukraine conflict and boasted on social media of “liberating” the belongings of both civilians and fallen soldiers. Czech authorities charged him last month with looting and with serving in foreign armed forces.

“The defendant is guilty both due to the video recordings he took on the territory of Ukraine, as well as the statements of the witnesses,” Judge Hana Krestynova of the Prague City Court said on Tuesday, as quoted by the newspaper Ceske Noviny (CTK).

“Although the houses were demolished and their owners may be dead, or at best left their homes, they are still things that belong to someone and cannot be appropriated under any circumstances,” Krestynova added, rejecting Siman’s defense that he was taking “spoils of war” under orders to do so.

Siman’s case is the first criminal conviction related to Ukraine, Prosecutor Martin Bily told CTK. He noted that the court acquitted Siman of serving in foreign armed forces, because Prime Minister Petr Fiala and then-president Milos Zeman had promised an exemption to Czech volunteers in Ukraine.

Although Siman was technically guilty, “when two leading representatives of the state promise something so serious to the media,” and Prague openly supports Kiev in the conflict with Moscow, a conviction would be unfair, said Krestynova.

If the Czech Supreme Court upholds her verdict, Siman’s case could set a precedent for other cases involving Czechs fighting for Kiev.

Siman traveled to Ukraine in March 2022 and ended up in command of a group of volunteers. The ‘Carpathian Sich’ (now the 49th Assault Battalion) sent them to Bucha and Irpin, north of Kiev, for “clean-up duty.”

According to videos he posted on social media, Siman looted both civilian homes and the personal effects of fallen soldiers. Among his acquisitions were jewelry, Gucci eyeglasses, silver and gold bars, and cash. He also took rings and berets off his fallen comrades.

Looting is a crime under Czech law, punishable by anywhere from eight to 20 years in prison, or even more in aggravated circumstances. The court sentenced Siman to less than the minimum, however, noting he had led “an orderly life” before. Prosecutors said they would appeal the sentence as too lenient, as they asked for at least ten years.

August 6, 2024 Posted by | War Crimes | | Leave a comment

Palestinian activist succumbs to injuries after release from Israeli detention

This file photo shows female Palestinian activist Wafa Jarrar
Press TV – August 5, 2024

A female Palestinian activist has succumbed to injuries she sustained during an Israeli raid on her home back in May.

Wafa Jarrar died on Monday from injuries she had sustained when Israeli forces detained her on May 21.

Jarrar suffered severe injuries, and as a result underwent above-knee amputations.

The Israeli authorities reportedly released her shortly after her legs were amputated to avoid responsibility for her treatment.

The Israeli army claimed that Jarrar was injured in a blast while inside the military vehicle, where she was kept detained for four hours.

Despite its claim, the regime issued an administrative detention order against Jarrar before releasing and handing her over to the Palestinian Liaison Office, while she was in a critical condition.

Last month, the Euro-med human rights monitor said the Israeli army bears full responsibility for the life and safety of Wafa Jarrar.

“This is a clear effort by Israel’s army to avoid taking responsibility for the serious injuries Jarrar sustained during her detention, which resulted in the amputation of her legs above the knees as well as damage to her spine and lungs, and to avoid its legal obligation to provide the necessary medical treatment,” the Euro-med human rights monitor said on July 1.

“What Jarrar, age 49, was subjected to from the first moment of her arrest until her release reflects the repeated and systematic violations faced by Palestinians during their detention by Israeli forces, including arbitrary arrests, abuse, use as human shields, torture, and denial of medical care,” it added.

Wafa is the wife of Hamas leader Abdul Jabbar Jarrar who has been held in Israeli jails since February 2022 under administrative detention.

There are reportedly more than 8,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, with hundreds of the inmates incarcerated under the so-called practice of administrative detention.

Human rights organizations say Israel violates all the rights and freedoms granted to prisoners by the Fourth Geneva Convention, noting administrative detention violates their right to due process since the evidence is withheld from prisoners while they are held for lengthy periods without being charged, tried, or convicted.

Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to open-ended hunger strikes in an attempt to express outrage at their detention. Israeli jail authorities keep Palestinian prisoners under deplorable conditions without proper hygienic standards. Palestinian inmates have also been subject to systematic torture, harassment, and repression.

Since the outbreak of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza last October, the regime has also intensified arrest campaigns in the West Bank and al-Quds.

In a report issued over the weekend, the Commission of Detainees’ and Ex-detainees’ Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoners Society, the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association said Israeli forces had arrested about 9,920 people, including 345 women, 690 children and 93 journalists, since October 7.

More than 7,500 administrative detention orders have been issued since October 7, including new orders and renewals, according to the report.

The Israeli arrest campaigns, the groups said, were also accompanied by physical assaults, threats against detainees and their families, destruction of the detainees’ houses, and seizure of their properties.

The Israeli forces also carried out field executions against detainees and their family members, the report added.

“Since October 7, at least 20 detainees were martyred in Israeli prisons and their identities have been revealed,” the report said, adding that dozens of detainees from Gaza also lost their lives in Israeli prisons and detention centers, but the Israeli authorities refrained from declaring their names or the causes of the their death.

“The bodies of 18 detainees who were martyred after October 7 are still withheld” by the Israeli regime, the report said.

August 5, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

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