US-supplied GBU-39 bombs used in Israeli attack on Rafah camps: CNN
Al Mayadeen | May 29, 2024
The origin of the weapon used in the Rafah airstrike three days ago was the United States, a report published by CNN revealed. The revelation makes the US government a prime suspect in facilitating the war crime, especially as the US officials refuse to condemn the action.
According to CNN, an analysis of the video from the scene and a review by explosive weapons experts has determined that the origin of the weapon put to use by Israeli occupation forces is in fact the United States.
This is not the first time that US-supplied weapons have been used to commit acts of genocide against the Palestinian population and target internationally protected organizations, as Washington is the primary supplier of explosives, bombs, missiles, and various types of munitions to the Israeli military.
It is worth noting that the US has also supplied the Israeli regime with 328 fighter aircraft, which have been used to commit the bulk of war crimes and instances of violations of international law in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria in the past eight months.
In Rafah, the strike, which consisted of two guided munition bombs, eventually led to a fire breaking out, killing at least 45 and injuring 200 others, most of whom were women and children.
Moreover, the strike occurred after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered the Israeli regime to halt its military attack on the city.
What was the bomb used by ‘Israel’?
It also says that from a video shared on social media, it was able to detect the tail of a US-made and supplied GBU-39 small-diameter bomb (SDB), which has a warhead composed of around 17 kg of ATX 757 explosive material. ATX 757 is 1.65 times more powerful than TNT, and it is thought that at least two GBU-39s were launched at the campsite. The last assumption is based on the remarks of the Israeli occupation forces spokesperson, Rear Admiral David Hagari, who said that the Air Force used two small bombs with a 17 kg warhead each.
Although the GBU-39 is meant to be used in highly precise strikes for important point targets, the bomb is usually used to target military-grade vehicles and aircraft, due to its highly explosive warhead and bunker-busting capabilities, meaning that it is likely to cause casualties in densely populated areas.
Weapons expert Chris Cobb-Smith confirmed this to CNN, as he said that “using any munition, even of this size, will always incur risks in a densely populated area.”
Despite multiple weapons experts identifying the weapon as the GBU-39 bombs and serial numbers on remnants of the bomb in the crime scene matching the claim, the United States Department of Defense said that it could not confirm the origin or type of munition used in the attack.
“In terms of this particular strike, I just don’t have more information for you,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters.
Israeli jets open fire on Rafah ‘safe zone,’ killing dozens
The Cradle | May 27, 2024
At least 40 Palestinians were killed on 26 May in Israeli airstrikes on the camps in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah.
The Israeli attack on Sunday evening, which was carried out with over six missiles, left several women and children dead.
“At least 40 were killed and others injured after occupation forces targeted, with at least eight missiles, tents of people sheltering in a displacement camp that was recently established near the UNRWA warehouses northwest of Rafah,” WAFA news agency reported.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, the people inside the tents – mostly women and children – were burned alive as a result of the attack. The area targeted had been designated as a safe zone by Israel and was sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians.
It was one of several displacement centers targeted by Israeli forces that day, including in the northern city of Jabalia and Nuseirat in central Gaza, with the attacks resulting in the deaths and injuries of over 190 Palestinians on Sunday, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.
“The Israeli occupation army bombed more than 10 displacement centers within 24 hours, the last of which was committing a horrific massacre in the UNRWA Barkasat center northwest of the Rafah governorate, which claimed the lives of more than 40 martyrs,” it said.
The media office called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and all international courts to pursue “the war criminals of the Israeli occupation, the war criminals of the Americans, the German war criminals, and all other war criminals involved [in the killing of Palestinians.]”
Israel claimed it hit a Hamas compound in northwestern Rafah’s Tel al-Sultan area and said the strike was carried out “within international law.” It added that it was probing reports that fires spread and caused injuries inside a displacement camp.
The latest massacre in Rafah came two days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to halt its military offensive in Rafah as part of the ongoing genocide case filed by South Africa.
It also comes as the ICC faces the threat of US sanctions for its recent decision to seek arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Two Egyptian soldiers martyred in clashes with Israelis: Reports
Al Mayadeen | May 27, 2024
The Israeli Channel 13 reported an extremely unusual incident between the Israeli occupation forces and the Egyptian Army on the border in the Rafah border crossing area, adding that the incident comes at the peak of tensions and noting that the incident may have significant political consequences.
In turn, Israeli Channel 14 stated that Egyptian soldiers fired shots on their own accord at Israeli soldiers along the Rafah crossing and claimed that there were no injuries reported.
Moreover, Israeli media claimed that the Israeli occupation forces responded by firing warning shots, and it was confirmed that the military censorship of the Israeli occupation forces retracted all news about the incident between the Egyptian and Israeli occupation forces at the Rafah crossing.
However, the Israeli KodKod news site said there were no injuries among the Israeli occupation forces but two Egyptian soldiers had been killed in the incident.
The Israeli Ynet newspaper, meanwhile, claimed that only one Egyptian soldier was killed and several others were wounded in the cross-border confrontation.
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent reported that an agreement was reached to form a committee to investigate the incident between the Egyptian army and the Israeli occupation at the Rafah crossing.
The spokesperson of the Israeli occupation forces said an investigation was ongoing regarding the cross-border incident amid contacts with the Egyptian side.
Al-Qassam Brigades: Our fighters captured Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza
Palestinian Information Center – May 26, 2024
GAZA – Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, announced on Saturday the capture of an unspecified number of Israeli soldiers during an operation in Jabalia refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip.
“Our fighters were able to carry out a complex operation on Saturday afternoon in the northern Gaza Strip, where they lured an Israeli force into one of the tunnels in Jabalia camp, clashed with it at close range, and killed, captured, and wounded its members,” spokesman for the Brigades Abu Obeida said in a recorded statement broadcast by Al Jazeera satellite channel last night.
“The occupation forces are digging among piles of rubble in search for the remains of some of their prisoners, whom they had previously bombed on purpose, and keep throwing thousands of their soldiers into the alleyways of Jabalia and elsewhere to search for corpses, sacrificing their soldiers for the sake of Netanyahu’s personal machinations and his extremist fascist government’s interests,” Abu Obeida said in his statement.
A separate video clip released by al-Qassam Brigades showed an individual being dragged in a tunnel, purportedly an Israeli soldier, but this has not been yet confirmed.
The video also showcased weapons and equipment seemingly belonging to three Israeli soldiers.
In response, the Israeli occupation army denied the occurrence of an incident where a number of its soldiers were taken prisoners by fighters from al-Qassam Brigades.
Israel bombs Palestinian families in northern Gaza school
(Photo Credit: Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu Agency)
The Cradle | May 25, 2024
Israeli jets bombed the An-Nazla elementary school in northern Gaza near Jabalia camp on 25 May, killing at least 10 Palestinians, among them several women and children.
“The children were playing in the schoolyard, and suddenly we were bombed,” one displaced woman whose daughter was injured in the attack told Al-Jazeera. “We lived something unnatural.”
An-Nazla School has been serving as a shelter for hundreds of refugees. According to eyewitness reports, a group of Palestinians were filling up gallons of water when Israeli jets bombed the school.
Soon after the attack on the school near Jabalia camp, Israeli jets bombed a group of civilians in the Al-Faluja area of northern Gaza, killing several.
Palestinians, including five children, were also killed in Beit Hanoon when Israeli forces raided a house.
On Saturday afternoon, medical sources in Gaza reported to WAFA News Agency that Israeli troops conducted five massacres against families in the Gaza Strip over the previous 24 hours, killing at least 46 and injuring 130 others.
Occupation troops are also regularly blocking ambulances and rescue teams from reaching the sites of the massacres.
The spike of Israeli violence in northern Gaza comes one day after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah, where the army has also massacred dozens over the past 24 hours.
More than 900,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, over the past three weeks after Israel violently took control of the city’s only border crossing and “expanded” its military offensive.
Israeli troops earlier advanced towards Rafah’s Kuwaiti Hospital and struck residential buildings in its vicinity.
Israeli troops abduct injured civilians from Gaza hospitals: Report
The Cradle | May 24, 2024
The Israeli army has been abducting injured Palestinian civilians from hospitals in Gaza and transporting them to a detention camp in the Negev, where they are shackled to beds and undergo major surgeries, often without painkillers, the Guardian reported on 24 May.
A whistleblower from the Sde Teiman detention camp told the Guardian some patients had come from hospitals in Gaza after being abducted by Israeli forces. “These were patients who had been captured by the Israeli army while being treated in Gaza hospitals and brought here. They had [missing] limbs and infected wounds. They were moaning in pain,” the source said.
The source described how the field hospital in the detention camp consisted of tents, including an emergency room where patients underwent surgery on a stretcher as there was no operating table.
The patients were handcuffed to the beds, made to wear diapers, and blindfolded.
In one case, a detainee’s hand had been amputated “because the wrists had become gangrenous due to handcuffing wounds.”
A second whistleblower who spoke with the Guardian said, “There were about 15 patients in total, they were all handcuffed and blindfolded. They were naked, wearing diapers and were covered by blankets. Most of them appeared to have obvious war injuries; some had undergone amputations, and others underwent major abdominal or chest surgery. They were practically naked except for a diaper.”
The source said he witnessed a patient undergoing painful medical procedures without any painkillers.
In the other section of the camp, the whistleblowers said up to 200 Palestinian detainees from Gaza are being held in cages under severe physical restrictions.
“The prisoners are detained in a sort of cages, all blindfolded and handcuffed,” the source said. “If someone speaks or moves, they are immediately silenced or they are forced to stand with their hands raised above their head and handcuffed for up to one hour.”
“If they are unable to keep their hands raised, the soldiers attach the handcuffs to the bars of the cage. Many of the detainees had infected wounds that were not being properly treated.”
The source claimed the Israeli military had no proof that detainees were members of Hamas. Some inmates repeatedly asked why they were there. According to the whistleblower, most were considered suspects, and some were released. “But they had not been formally charged. It was a kind of filtering camp, a provisional detention,” he said.
US plans to be ‘very involved’ in post-war Gaza – Politico
RT | May 24, 2024
The US wants a “prominent” role in Gaza after Israel’s military operation in the Palestinian enclave ends, Politico has reported. Washington expects a joint Palestinian-Arab force of several thousand troops to take charge of security in Gaza after the current conflict.
On Thursday, Politico reported details of discussions within the administration of US President Joe Biden about what a post-war settlement should look like, citing four officials and a leaked document from the Department of State.
The US reportedly wants to retain a “civilian adviser” to any future security force, likely based in Egypt or Jordan. American forces, however, would “never enter Gaza itself” in order to avoid the impression that Washington was “dictating the future of the territory.”
A classified document from March envisioned an American filling the role of a “director-general” of the future security mission, according to the outlet. Under that proposal, the force would consist of roughly 2,000 Palestinians and 1,000 troops from Arab-speaking nations. It would be commanded by an officer from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, or “ideally” Egypt.
The timeline for the implementation of Washington’s plans are unclear, according to a US intelligence assessment described by Politico earlier this week. The document said Israel had managed to reduce the strength of Hamas forces by up to 35% since the group’s attack on Israel last October. However, it has recruited thousands of new fighters in recent months, a source in the intelligence community told Politico.
The Pentagon’s widely reported efforts to deliver humanitarian aid via a floating pier have been undermined by logistical and security issues. No food reached starving Palestinians between last Friday and Tuesday of this week, spokesman Pat Ryder told reporters, blaming the delay on local NGOs that were tasked with distributing the aid.
The US has refused to work with the UN Refugee Agency, a prominent provider of humanitarian aid in Gaza, after Israel accused some of its employees of involvement in the October 7 attack. Last month, the UN said it had closed or suspended its probes into the allegations because Israel had failed to provide any evidence substantiating its claims.
ICJ orders Israel to halt Rafah assault, allow entry of genocide investigators
The Cradle | May 24, 2024
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel on 24 May to halt its military offensive in Rafah as part of the ongoing genocide case filed by South Africa earlier this year.
The top UN court said that the current situation entails further risks of “irreparable damage” to the rights of Palestinians in Gaza and that conditions have been met for new emergency measures.
“[Israel must] immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,” ICJ President Nawaf Salam said.
He also ordered Tel Aviv to “maintain open the Rafah crossing for unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance” and to “take effective measures to ensure the unimpeded access to the Gaza Strip of any commission of inquiry, fact-finding mission or other investigative body mandated by competent organs of the United Nations to investigate allegations of genocide.”
Moreover, the World Court ordered Israeli officials to “submit a report to the Court on all measures taken to give effect to this Order, within one month as from the date of this Order.”
Following the ICJ session, Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Netanyahu will convene an emergency meeting later today, which will include Foreign Minister Israel Katz, war cabinet minister and opposition leader Benny Gantz, and the government’s judicial advisor.
Hamas also commented on the ruling, highlighting that Tel Aviv continues to commit “massacres” across the Gaza Strip and urged the court to issue an order for Israel to stop all its operations in the besieged enclave, not just in Rafah.
“What is happening in Jabalia and other governorates of the Strip is no less criminal and dangerous than what is happening in Rafah,” the Hamas statement reads.
“We call on the international community and the United Nations to pressure the occupation to immediately comply with this decision and to seriously and genuinely proceed in translating all UN resolutions that force the zionist occupation army to stop the genocide it has been committing against our people for more than seven months.”
For its part, South Africa welcomed Friday’s ruling and urged UN member states to back it.
“I believe it’s a much stronger, in terms of wording, set of provisional measures, very clear call for a cessation,” Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor told public broadcaster SABC.
The ruling comes as Israel’s now two-week bombing and ground offensive in Rafah has killed at least 171 people and displaced around one million Palestinians. Most had already been displaced by Israeli bombing and now face a further lack of shelter, food, water, and medicine.
South Africa made an urgent request in February for the court to consider whether Israel’s decision to launch an operation in Rafah “requires that the court uses its power to prevent further imminent breach of the rights of Palestinians in Gaza.”
The country had filed its case at the end of December, declaring that Israel was breaching obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention in its military campaign in Gaza.
On 26 January, the ICJ ordered that Israel take steps to prevent acts of genocide by its military in Gaza and punish incitements to genocide.
The court, however, stopped short of ordering a ceasefire. South Africa had been aiming for an ICJ order of an emergency halt to Israel’s military operations in Gaza. Any decision of the sort would need backing from the UN Security Council.
On 16 May, the ICJ held hearings to consider South Africa’s request for additional emergency measures to halt Israel’s ongoing operation in Rafah, resulting in Friday’s ruling.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 35,000 Palestinians while razing much of the besieged enclave, including entire neighborhoods, hospitals, schools, mosques, churches, farmland, and cemeteries.
Israel politicians and activists have repeatedly publicized their intent to destroy and ethnically cleanse Gaza to make way for future Jewish settlement.
Washington Digs In Deeper on Its Support for Israel
BY PHILIP GIRALDI • UNZ REVIEW • MAY 23, 2024
Judging by developments over the past several weeks, it would appear that nothing going on in Washington matters quite as much as defending Israel no matter what the Jewish state does. The White House and its befuddled leader President Joe Biden are obsessed with every twist and turn of the Israel and media shaped narrative, basing it on two key words “terrorism” and “antisemitism.” It plays out like this: Israel is a victim of terrorism from enemies seeking to destroy it and those who criticize the Israeli “self-defense” response are motivated by nothing less than antisemitism. It is also being claimed ludicrously in Washington that Israel is fully capable of investigating itself if war crimes actually were committed, something that it never has done, note particularly the lack of any follow-up in cases involving the recent killing of American citizens.
The necessity to support what are obviously parts of a suspect exculpatory narrative has administration clowns like Karine Jean-Pierre, Matthew Miller, John Kirby and Antony Blinken falling over themselves trying to explain developments using arguments which are frequently clearly based on lies. Sometimes the lies are huge, like the Blinken claims that the US foreign policy does not favor Israel and treats everyone the same, or that a thorough State Department investigation has failed to sustain the claims that Israel is engaging in war crimes to possibly include genocide.
The United States is also reflexively turning on any institution or government that has managed to anger Israel and its vitriolic psychopath leader Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The recent decision by Norway, Ireland and Spain to recognize Palestinian statehood brings to 145 the number of countries now taking that step. The move infuriated Netanyahu who summoned those countries’ ambassadors and called it a “reward for terror.” One wonders if the US will follow suit and either break diplomatic relations with those three otherwise friendly and even allied countries or in some other fashion punish or sanction them. That terrorism often operates in two directions and Israel has been a cruel, racist and capricious occupying power seems to have escaped the attention of the Washington punditry which is only engaged in finding in Israel a perpetual victim innocent of all charges.
And then there is the recent declaration by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague that it would be seeking warrants relating to possible war crimes for Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as well as the leader of Hamas Yahya Sinwar, plus his deputies Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh. This produced a scream of anguish from the White House which first argued that the ICC has no jurisdiction as Israel, like the US, is not a signatory to the Rome Treaty that founded the court in 2002 even though Palestine is. Joe Biden also said on Monday that “Whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence—none—between Israel and Hamas.” He backed up this legally irrelevant statement with the usual assertion that “we will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.” The court, in fact, was created to address war crimes and genocides that had escaped normal investigation and prosecution and the 124 signatory nations to it are empowered to arrest those named individuals who have outstanding warrants if they should happen to enter their jurisdictions.
The second argument being made both by Netanyahu and the Biden squeakers is that Netanyahu and Gallant are demonstrably government officials, not terrorists, while Sinwar and his colleagues are, meaning that different standards must be used to judge their actions. Of course, the Jewish state’s mass murder of 40,000 civilians by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and its deliberate use of starvation just might fit most people’s definition of terror, but apparently is not convincing to Israel, the US Congress, White House and the Zionist controlled mainstream media.
Interestingly, as a side issue, since the United States is complicit in the war crimes being committed by Israel due to its funding and arming Netanyahu’s war, it too might wind up charged by the ICC. It would be a real wake-up call and might make many Americans, including myself, very happy to see Biden and Blinken in a prison cell! And by implication the ICC’s charges are also an indictment of Israel’s other Western allies. If Netanyahu is guilty of murder, extermination and deliberate starvation of civilians, so are those who arm and fund Israel while giving it political protection. That includes not only Joe Biden, but also Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer in Britain and other Western European leaders who are sitting on the fence and regretting the death rates while also providing arms to Netanyahu. For Washington, however, unlike its European allies, given that there is a real potential threat against the US political leadership, a very sharp response has been triggered. Twelve GOP Senators have issued a threat letter to the court that stated that the US would sanction justices and other staff working for ICC as well as their families, including blocking their ability to travel to or through the United States and going after their assets. It ended with “You have been warned!” Several other bills are also currently moving through Congress that will directly challenge the authority and mission of the court, all being done to protect Israel.
And there’s more. Israel, which is frequently described as a “great US ally,” which it is not, and a “democracy,” which it is also not, is currently ranked in opinion polls as the most despised country in the world followed by the United States, which is rated as the country most likely to start a major war. The US, through direct Treasury transfers and various other “charity” gimmicks and trade subsidies, gives Israel, a tiny country, a huge $10 billion or so per year. This year, to fund the war, the flow has been closer to $30 billion and Biden has vowed that his mission is to keep Israel “secure” even if it means having to ignore the Constitution of the United States by engaging in a war that is not declared and which did not develop from a demonstrable threat to the United States or its vital interests. Israel, hardly a vital US interest in the real world, was completely capable of destroying Gaza without US help, it just would have had to spend its own money to do so.
The power of the Israel Lobby is such that, not only are Americans denied the truth by a twisted war narrative, critters in Congress are coming out of the woodwork to see what they can do to help “America’s greatest ally!” Bills in Congress include one particularly bizarre one that would legalize deporting to Gaza student-protesters who are arrested or detained while out demonstrating “pro-Hamas,” which is inevitably described as the felony referred to as “material support of terrorism!” The Republicans in Congress are currently taking the lead in launching legislation to benefit the Israelis, including some schemes that are so strange (or illegal) that they are worth noting. On May 17, legislation was introduced and referred to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Cosponsored by two Republicans, Chief Deputy Whip Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania and Ohio Representative Max Miller, H.R. 8445 went largely under the radar to provide direct support for those wishing to serve in the Israeli army. Miller is Jewish and Reschenthaler appears to be a Christian Zionist.
The Congressmen are proud of what they have done. “Over 20,000 American citizens are currently defending Israel from Hamas terrorists, risking their lives for the betterment of our ally,” said Reschenthaler in a recent statement. “This legislation will ensure we do everything possible to support these heroes who are standing with Israel, fighting for freedom, and combating terrorism in the Middle East.”
“As our closest ally in the Middle East continues to defend itself against terror, many brave Americans have decided to lend a hand,” added Miller. “I’m proud that this legislation extends important protections to those Americans who chose to risk their lives in the fight against terror.”
What H.R. 8445 aims to do is make a series of amendments to programs that ordinarily have only been available to active duty, reserve or National Guard members of the US military — the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) and Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). These amendments would do something absolutely unprecedented in extending the benefits provided by these programs to American citizens serving in a foreign military, in this case that of Israel.
The SCRA grants American servicemembers “legal and financial protections against default judgments in civil legal cases, reduces interest rates on any pre-service loans to a maximum of 6 percent, and provides protections against home foreclosures. USERRA ensures US servicemembers are covered by relevant “civilian job rights and benefits for veterans, members of reserve components, and even individuals activated by the President of the United States to provide Federal Response for National Emergencies.”
In effect, H.R. 8445 is a measure designed to provide federal government legal and financial protections to US citizens serving with the Israeli military in both Gaza and on the West Bank. Mostly consisting of dual national settlers from the United States, there are more than 23,000 US citizens serving in the IDF as of February 2024. Some Israeli army reservists living in the US have also been summoned back to Israel to fight. Twenty-one Americans in IDF units have been killed inside Gaza, another one died along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, and another was killed in Jerusalem while serving in Israel’s border police.
This number of American-Israeli soldiers is in part fed by the presence of an estimated 600,000 Americans living in areas that are under Israeli control, prior to October 7th. These settlers tend to be political hardliners supportive of the Netanyahu government’s war crimes and they often commit war crimes themselves directed against the local Palestinian population.
Pro-Israel sentiment runs deep in the White House but seemingly even more so in the GOP. Some Americans were rightly shocked when Representative Brian Mast of Florida shortly after the Hamas attacks on October 7th, arrived on the floor of the House of Representatives wearing his Israel Defense Forces (IDF) uniform. “As the only member to serve with both the United States Army and the Israel Defense Forces, I will always stand with Israel,” Mast wrote in a post on X, alongside several photos of him wearing the uniform.
Mast is a bit confused since as a US Congressman he is supposed to “always stand with America.” He should be impeached and shown the door, but, alas, there is little or no patriotic spirit in the federal legislature, which only asks itself “What have I done today for our good friend and ally Israel.” And worse might be coming. It is reported that “House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Wednesday that he’s ready to move forward with formally inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress but he’s waiting on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to sign on.” Another Bibi victory parade in front of a cheering US Congress could be coming right up! It is the ultimate tragedy for our times that a war criminal should be thus glorified and many are beginning to think that the “wag the dog” relationship will inevitably lead to nuclear war triggered by the reckless Jewish state that will inter alia destroy the United States of America. It is definitely something worth thinking about it!
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.
The thorn of Palestine: Re-invading Jabalia was a Fatal Israeli mistake
By Robert Inlakesh | Al Mayadeen | May 22, 2024
Around a week ago, the Israeli military decided to launch a sudden series of offensives against eastern Rafah, along with the Zeitoun neighborhood and Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip. Despite claiming to have already dismantled the Resistance in northern Gaza months ago, what they have experienced there recently has been death and embarrassment.
On May 6, after Hamas announced it had accepted a ceasefire proposal that would have led to a comprehensive prisoner exchange and the end of the war, the Zionist entity freaked out and decided to push ahead with its planned incursion into the southernmost Gazan city of Rafah. It began by pushing forward around three kilometers to reach the Rafah Crossing, before expanding its operation further in the eastern areas of Rafah.
What the Zionists also committed themselves to was the re-invasion of the Zeitoun neighborhood, later launching another incursion into Jabalia town and refugee camp. While the Israeli military was surprised by the performance and qualitative leap in the tactics of the Resistance, compared to previous months, in all areas of Gaza, the Jabalia Resistance battalions had something new in store.
The Israeli military decided that a re-invasion of Jabalia was their next primary focus, but have failed to produce any viable justification for its actions, especially when the Zionist leadership claimed to have already defeated the Resistance there months ago. When entering the densely populated area, it is likely that they believed it to be easier than the times before and conducted the offensive in a very similar manner to how it had done throughout the war.
While the Resistance had previously waited for the Zionists to invade an area, before launching their guerrilla-style counterattacks, there was a change in strategy on the part of the Resistance battalions this time. The Palestinian Resistance opted to confront the Israelis head-on and to try to hold them back for as long as possible, in an effort to see whether they could successfully kick them out. The Resistance battalions in the Jabalia refugee camp, the area known in Gaza as “the Thorn of Palestine”, adopted the attitude of the previous generations of al-Qassam brigades fighters during the Second Intifada and adopted the phrase of the people: “You will not enter our camp.” This embodies the frequently repeated line of al-Qassam’s spokesperson, Abu Obeida, who states that “this is a resistance of victory or martyrdom.”
The Jabalia refugee camp is famous for having started The Intifada in 1987 and is considered by many to be to Gaza what the Jenin refugee camp is to the West Bank, a hotbed and stronghold of Resistance. After several attempts by the Israeli military to take over the Jabalia refugee camp during the early 2000s, the Zionist entity launched an invasion of northern Gaza in October of 2004, with a special focus on the Jabalia camp. Yet after killing over 130 Palestinians – most of whom were civilians – they were forced to retreat. Their primary stated goal at the time was to prevent the firing of rockets, which had just killed two Israelis, but failed to prevent the Resistance from continuing its rocket attacks shortly afterward.
This time around, the Resistance is not the same as the Resistance in 2004 and doesnt resemble the Resistance in previous battles. In the earlier days of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the casualties inflicted on the Zionist forces were surprisingly high. Nobody expected that the Resistance, after eight months of war, would have become stronger and capable of implementing more complex operations than before. The Resistance managed to carry out dozens of ambushes, fire over 100 RPG warheads at Israeli military vehicles, plant explosive charges under tanks, use drones to drop anti-personnel munitions, carry out sniper operations, and engage in various gunbattles. The Jabalia battalions also managed to cut off the supply line to the invading army, forcing them to change it multiple times.
On top of all of this, the Israeli military and political leadership have been shown to be liars before their own population. Their soldiers are growing tired and ill-motivated, they return to their families in body bags or with serious injuries, in a location that their regime claims was pacified and that the Resistance there was already defeated. Even the rocket fire from the northern Gaza Strip has increased over the past weeks, while the dozens of videos published by the Resistance factions prove that the tunnel systems are still intact and effective at launching attacks.
As is always the case, the Zionist entity has inflicted mass murder against Jabalia’s civilian population, callously blowing up civilian infrastructure and committing a litany of war crimes. While the impacts of these cruel practices cannot be diminished by the effectiveness of the Palestinian Resistance, it demonstrates that murdering innocent people does not equal a military victory. What the effectiveness of the Resistance does do, however, is to inspire steadfastness in the people and to grant solace to those afflicted as the result of the Zionist crimes against their families.
Although it is not completely clear why the Resistance suddenly decided to alter its tactics in Jabalia, there are a few factors that could have contributed to making this decision. The first is the scale of the atrocities committed against civilians in places like al-Shifa Hospital, during the more recent Israeli incursions into populated areas. When the Zionist invaders enter areas and seize control of civilians, they imprison, torture, execute, sexually abuse, and use them as human shields. It is likely that the Resistance may have sought to change tactics in Jabalia in order to prevent a repeat of the ways in which the Zionist militants treated civilians elsewhere.
Another reason could have been to learn from the enemies’ reactions to such tactics, this could be especially useful for the Resistance fighters in Rafah, who will likely use a wide variation of tactics themselves and will benefit in attaining new knowledge from what has occurred in Jabalia. Unlike the Zionists, who continue to make amateurish mistakes that are laughable when comparing them to other nations’ armed forces, the Palestinian Resistance is constantly evolving and learning from battle experience. This is not to say that the temporary entity does not learn at all, or adapt in different ways, but it is clearly still failing to correct basic issues and failures in the field.
Once again, the Israelis have been pricked by the Thorn of Palestine and are losing more confidence in the face of an unrelenting, motivated, and focused Resistance. What we are seeing from the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza is unprecedented and will be studied for years to come. With limited tools and while their people are subjected to starvation and genocide, the Resistance continues to write epics through some of the most astounding battles in Urban Warfare history.
Itamar Ben-Gvir promotes future Israeli settlements in Gaza
Press TV – May 21, 2024
An Israeli minister has once again called for the expulsion of the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and an expansion of settlements in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Itamar Ben-Gvir in comments carried by Israel’s Maariv news site on Tuesday advocated a full military takeover of Gaza.
The far-right minister said Israel should push the Palestinians to “voluntarily” leave to make way for settlements.
“Israel should be the one that controls the Gaza Strip, unequivocally, and no one else,” Ben-Gvir said.
Most important, he said, is “encouraging voluntary emigration of Palestinians” from the territory. “I would love to live in Gaza if possible.”
Last week, the minister said the settlements called for by far-right attendees were the “true solution.”
“We must encourage emigration. Encourage the voluntary emigration of the residents of Gaza. It is moral!”
The minister has repeatedly called for the mass expulsion of Gazans and urged settlers to move into the besieged territory since Israel launched the savage military campaign across the region in early October.
Ben-Gvir has also said he “opposes transferring humanitarian aid” to the Gaza Strip, where basic necessities are scarce and a famine is looming.
Since early October, Ben-Gvir has encouraged shooting Palestinian women and children in Gaza, execution of Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails “to free prison space.” He has threatened to quit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet if the genocidal campaign ends.
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From the Archives
Fourteen Incredible Facts About 9/11
By Kevin Ryan | Dig Within | August 8, 2015
… What is known about 9/11 is that there are many incredible facts that continue to be ignored by the government and the mainstream media. Here are fourteen.
- An outline of what was to become the 9/11 Commission Report was produced before the investigation began. The outline was kept secret from the Commission’s staff and appears to have determined the outcome of the investigation.
- The 9/11 Commission claimed sixty-three (63) times in its Report that it could find “no evidence” related to important aspects of the crimes.
- One person, Shayna Steiger, issued 12 visas to the alleged hijackers in Saudi Arabia. Steiger issued some of the visas without interviewing the applicants and fought with another employee at the embassy who tried to prevent her lax approach.
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