Killing and banning journalists reveals what Israel wants to conceal
By Ramona Wadi | MEMO | January 11, 2024
On Monday, Israel’s High Court declared that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) can continue barring foreign journalists from entering Gaza, on the pretext of security concerns. According to the court decision, foreign journalists can place “an undue onus on IDF resources in wartime,” reported the Times of Israel.
As Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the ruling sheds light on the urgency for Israel to prevent further scrutiny by the media of what’s happening in Gaza. The IDF has implemented several constraints on media, including guidelines of what should not be published and what should be approved by the Israeli military censor. In a statement issuing directives to the media, Kobi Mandeblit, Brigadier General Chief Censor, introduces them thus: “In light of the current security situation and the intensive media coverage, we wish to encourage you to submit to the Censor all materials dealing with the activities of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and the Israeli security forces prior to their broadcast.” What we happen to see on mainstream media from journalists embedded with the IDF, therefore, is not only heavily censored, but also definitely in line with the Zionist narrative “Israel good, Palestinians bad”. Footage showing Israeli atrocities are accompanied by claims that Israel is abiding by international law and doing everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.
Moreover, on mainstream media pro-Palestine voices are talked over without giving them the chance to articulate the reality of what is happening in Gaza. Footage showing Israeli atrocities are accompanied by claims that Israel is abiding by international law and doing everything possible to prevent civilian casualties. In Gaza, Palestinian journalists are targeted deliberately in extrajudicial killings, despite their very clear “Press” vests and helmets. As of today, at least 79 journalists have been killed in Gaza, 72 of them Palestinian; 16 have been wounded; three are reported missing; and 21 have been arrested by Israel. Other sources put the number killed at 100, and this is besides other forms of violence against them, including killing the family members of Palestinian journalists.
In the most recent extrajudicial killing of journalists, Hamza Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza Wael Dahdouh, and Mustafa Thuraya, were killed by an Israeli missile strike on their vehicle. The IDF justified the killing by saying terrorists were being targeted. Later, the story changed, with IDF spokesperson Daniel Hangari explaining: “We understand they were putting a drone, using a drone. And using a drone in a war zone, it’s a problem. It looks like the terrorists.”
But what does a terrorist look like? As Israelis’ justifications for genocide become further deranged, so do their actions. The targeting of journalists is nothing new for the apartheid state. Shireen Abu Akleh’s murder in Jenin in 2022 garnered the most media attention due to her dual Palestinian-US citizenship. Even so, justice didn’t prevail.
In Gaza today, the presence of journalists and their protection is of utmost importance. But not for Israel. Palestinian journalists are being killed by the IDF with the ludicrous suggestion that they look like terrorists, while international journalists are barred from the enclave due to purported security concerns and added logistics for the IDF. In Israel’s narrative, the only way to protect journalists is to prevent them from entering Gaza and reporting remotely, otherwise journalists suddenly “look like terrorists” and are thus subject to being murdered, just as Palestinian civilians have been murdered by the US-supplied Israeli bombs and bullets.
The truth is that journalists have brought Israel’s genocide to worldwide attention, exposing how the use of “never again” in the Zionist narrative has become the façade for Israel and the international community’s complicity in allowing the colonisation of Palestine to take place and continue unabated. However, there are moments where silence never works. For months, the world has been shown proof of Israel’s genocidal actions. Shutting out journalists by preventing access or killing them only points towards the brutality that Israel would rather not expose. In doing so, Israel has invited unwanted attention, and now there is no escaping it.
Israel staring at Paris Olympics ban for killing Palestinian athletes
By Reza Javadi | Press TV | January 11, 2024
The Palestinian football fraternity is mourning the loss of Hani Al-Mossader, a veteran player and coach of the Palestinian Olympic football team, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza last week.
Known as Abu al-Abed in the football circles of Palestine, he became the latest victim of the occupying regime’s genocidal war, which has not even spared athletes.
“Abu al-Abed rose (to martyrdom – PC) due to the occupation aggression on the Gaza Strip for the third month, joining the constellation of football martyrs and martyrs of the Palestinian sports movement,” the Palestinian Football Association said in a statement.
According to Palestinian media, since October 7, at least 88 Palestinian athletes have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, with 67 football players among them.
“At least 88 athletes in team and individual sports, including 67 football players were killed. Additionally, 24 officials from managerial and technical staff also lost their lives in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza,” read a statement posted on the official PFA website.
The association said it has sent “urgent letters to the International Olympic Committee and all international, continental and regional federations (including FIFA) calling for an urgent international investigation into the crimes of the occupation against sports and the in Palestine.”
Sports infrastructure in the besieged coastal territory has also come under devastating Israeli aerial blitz in the past three months, resulting in widespread destruction.
Condemning the Israeli army’s actions, the Gaza-based Supreme Council for Sports said the Israeli army has killed hundreds of sports figures and destroyed dozens of playfields.
Playfields turn into torture chambers
The council said stadiums and sports clubs have turned into torture and execution centers, including the Yarmuk Stadium in Gaza City.
Images and videos showing young Palestinians being stripped down to their underwear and held in large numbers at gunpoint by the Israeli army in the Yarmuk Stadium, in northern Gaza, came as a shock to many football fans worldwide.
The Gaza-based council urged international authorities to take decisive action and hold the regime forces accountable for inhumane activities inflicted upon athletes.
In mid-December, a PFA report highlighted the destruction of at least nine sports facilities, four in the occupied West Bank and five in the Gaza Strip.
It also sounded alarm over the detention of athletes in the occupied West Bank towns, and injuries they sustained during Israeli military raids.
In Late December, a prominent Palestinian footballer, Ahmed Daraghmeh, 23, was killed by Israeli forces when they entered the city of Nablus to escort Jewish settlers to a site known as the biblical Joseph’s Tomb in the occupied West Bank city.
Local Palestinians say stories of many Palestinian athletes killed since October 7 remain untold amid the information blackout.
Palestine in Olympics
Despite heavy odds, Palestinian athletes have not lost hope and are confident to compete in international sporting events this year, including the AFC Asia Cup and 2024 Summer Olympics to be hosted by Paris.
So far, two Palestinian athletes, Ahmed-al-Zahhar and Wasim Naief, have expressed their intention to compete in the Archery event at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Amid the massive anti-Israel sentiment sweeping the world, there is a likelihood of athletes refusing to compete against their Israeli opponents in international events.
Palestinian wrestler Rabbia Khalil, who trains in Germany and aspires to compete in Paris, has already declared his unwillingness to compete against Israeli athletes.
He anticipates that more Arabic or pro-Palestine athletes may boycott competitions if required to compete against Israeli athletes, as athletes may become increasingly prepared to accept the associated consequences.
In the past, many international sports stars have refused to turn up against their Israeli opponents in international sporting events, including the Olympics, as a mark of protest against the apartheid entity’s war crimes against Palestinians.
Iranian athletes, for example, have been leading this anti-Israel boycott.
Exclusion of Israel from Paris 2024 Olympics
In light of the Israeli regime’s continued aggression against Palestinians in Gaza, calls to bar Israel from the 2024 Paris Olympics have gained momentum, reflecting a growing global concern over the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the territory.
Recently, a US-based magazine delved into the prospect of Israel’s participation in the Paris Olympics next year, asking whether it should face penalties or outright exclusion.
“Israel’s attacks on Gaza raise a question that Western powers in the world of sports would like to avoid: Should Israel be penalized or even barred from competing in the Paris 2024 Olympics?” The Nation wrote in a report.
A prominent football journalist, in an interview with Press TV on Wednesday, decried the “hypocrisy” of international sports organizations for their failure to ban Israel from global sporting events over its ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
Nima Tavallaey Roodsari, endorsing a petition run by the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), said Israel also must be barred from international sporting events if Russia was barred over the Ukraine war.
“This hypocrisy just cannot continue to stand, and if it does I fear that’s the beginning of the end of international sporting organizations as we know it,” he said.
The petition states that Western governments continue to toe the official line of Israel, ignoring the genocide unfolding in Gaza, with over 23,000 killed so far.
“The International Olympic Committee, FIFA, UEFA, FIBA, and other sports organizations are complicit as they allow continuous participation of the occupying apartheid regime in their events. Following a swift response and an instant suspension of Russia, it is now difficult for them to justify turning a blind eye to the Israeli government’s actions,” it stated.
Tragedy of Gaza
According to rights groups, a Palestinian is killed every four minutes in Gaza, mostly children and more than 80 percent of the population is on the brink of starvation.
Shockingly, the [civilian] death toll in Gaza within the first 25 days of the war surpassed the [civilian] casualties in the war in Ukraine, which has been going on for over a year and a half.
The numbers paint a grim picture—more than 23,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, have lost their lives, with nearly 59,000 injured.
The Zionist regime’s targeted strikes have crippled medical facilities, rendering more than 25 hospitals out of service and endangering millions of lives.
Reports indicate that the power of Israeli bombs in Gaza exceeded that of the Little Boy nuclear bomb used in Hiroshima, with an equivalent of 10 kilograms of explosives for each Palestinian residing in the Gaza Strip.
Tragically, within three weeks of the war, the number of Palestinian children martyred surpassed the global count for children killed in all parts of the world since 2019.
Experts believe banning Israel from the Paris Olympics is the least the international sports fraternity can do to hold the regime accountable for its genocide in Gaza.
Hamas denies Qatari initiative including departure of its leaders from Gaza
MEMO | January 11, 2024
The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement has denied that a Qatari initiative will include the departure of Hamas leaders from the Gaza Strip. This was confirmed by senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan during a press conference in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Wednesday.
According to Israel’s Channel 13, “A new proposal has been delivered to Israel from Qatar, to release all the captured individuals [Israeli hostages in Gaza] in several stages, most of which will come near the end of the deal and after the Israeli army withdraws from the Strip.” The channel added that the proposal includes the departure of Hamas leaders from the Gaza Strip, although this has not been confirmed officially by either Israel or Qatar.
“There is no initiative of this nature,” insisted Hamdan. “The people did not leave their land, so how will the resistance that defends the people do so? Talk about the resistance leaving the land is a delusion, as is the idea of disarming the resistance, which is naive and does not reflect an understanding of the facts of the matter.”
He described the talk by the Israeli media about this initiative as “a deception and misinformation” to calm angry Israeli citizens, “especially the families of the hostages who are watching them being killed at the hands of the occupation forces without [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu caring about them.”
Hamdan reiterated his movement’s assertion that it will not accept any prisoner exchange initiative unless it is based on a complete end to Israel’s “aggression” against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“So far, there is no talk about any initiatives,” he added. “We are committed to our position and presented a clear vision to the mediators, and this vision is the basis for any ideas or initiatives in this context.”
Channel 13 said that the Qatari proposal will be presented to the Israeli War Cabinet and the Political and Security Ministerial Council, which will meet tonight to discuss the “day after” the war ends in Gaza.
Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Thani said on Sunday that the ceasefire negotiations in Gaza “are ongoing and are going through challenges… and the killing of a senior leader of the Palestinian Hamas movement [Saleh Al-Arouri] could affect them.”
He pointed out that discussion “with all parties” are ongoing. “We are trying to reach an agreement as soon as possible that leads to a ceasefire in Gaza, an increase in aid and the release of hostages and [Palestinian] prisoners.”
Egypt and Qatar, along with the US, are sponsoring efforts to reach a second temporary truce in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October against Israeli military bases and settlements in the vicinity of Gaza, during which 1,139 Israeli soldiers and civilians were killed, many of them by the Israel Defence Forces, it has since been revealed. The operation was in response to “daily Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people and their sanctities,” said Hamas, notably Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem. Around 240 Israelis were captured during the operation, 110 of whom have already been exchanged for some of the thousands of Palestinians held by Israel.
Almost 23,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air and artillery strikes since 7 October, most of them children and women. Just under 60,000 have been wounded. Israeli bombs have laid much of the occupied Palestinian territory to waste. Thousands more Palestinians are buried under the rubble of their homes and other civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and places of worship. Nearly all of the enclave’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, many several times, and they are engulfed by a humanitarian catastrophe with acute shortages of food, water and medical supplies.
‘We want normalization with Israel after Gaza war:’ Saudi official
The Cradle | January 10, 2024
The Saudi Ambassador to the UK, Prince Khalid bin Bandar Al Saud, told the BBC on 9 January that Saudi Arabia wants to continue normalization plans with Israel after their brutal aggression on the Palestinian people in Gaza ends.
“Saudi Arabia wants to normalize its relations with Israel after the war in Gaza,” the Saudi ambassador told the British public service broadcaster, noting that “the two countries were about to reach an agreement before the 7 October war.”
Bandar made sure to note that normalization with Israel will only be possible if Palestine is granted its own state.
“Saudi Arabia still believes in establishing relations with Israel despite the unfortunate figures of the dead in Gaza,” he added, continuing: “But this cannot be at the expense of the Palestinian people, and it requires thinking about the issue of integrating Hamas into the future Palestinian state.”
The death toll in Gaza from Israeli aggressions is at least 23,210, with at least 59,167 Palestinians who have been wounded.
Israeli media has reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding “secret talks” with the White House regarding the resumption of normalization discussions with Saudi Arabia.
“A message was conveyed that Israel will not take steps that conflict with the vision of the US and that it will be prepared to discuss what was requested by Saudi Arabia relating to the Palestinian issue,” Hebrew news outlet Channel 12 reported on 9 January, adding that Saudi Arabia is “very interested” in reaching the normalization deal with Israel that will grant the kingdom the long-sought “megadeal” from the US.
Israel’s Channel 12 also noted that “for the US, the agreement that was appropriate before 6 October may be more appropriate now, in light of the war [in Gaza], as one of the goals Hamas had was to thwart the agreement.” The Israeli news outlet added that if normalization is achieved between Riyadh and Tel Aviv, it may prevent the escalation of a regional war and provide Saudi Arabia with the funding to help rebuild Gaza.
Riyadh’s desire for normalization comes in stark contrast to the feelings of 96 percent of the kingdom’s population, who believe that Arab states should swiftly sever diplomatic relations with Israel, according to a recent poll conducted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Oman seizes drones headed for ‘pro-UAE factions’ in Yemen
MEMO | January 10, 2024
The customs authorities in Oman intercepted a shipment of drones yesterday, which were concealed on a truck from the UAE heading for Yemen. The discovery was made at the Hafeet crossing on the border between the two Gulf states.
“The Directorate General of Customs seized a truck at the Hafeet crossing loaded with wireless drones coming by transit system from the United Arab Emirates heading to the Republic of Yemen,” said the customs authorities.
“Customs inspectors were able to discover the shipments that were hidden professionally in places specially prepared for smuggling them in the truck. The concerned authorities began investigating the case in order to complete the rest of the legal procedures against the suspects.”
According to the Sanaa-based Yemen Press Agency, citing informed sources, the drones were destined for UAE-backed factions in southern Yemen, most likely the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC).
The outlet noted that some observers speculate that the US may be using the UAE-backed proxies to turn international public opinion against the Houthi-led Yemeni forces by targeting merchant ships. The latter have been targeting Israel-linked vessels, or those heading for the occupation state through the Red Sea, because of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.
UAE-backed groups in Yemen plot ‘false-flag’ attacks in Red Sea: Sanaa
The Cradle | January 10, 2024
UAE-backed mercenary groups in Yemen are preparing to carry out false flag attacks against commercial vessels in order to implicate the Sanaa government and prompt further US militarization of the Red Sea, an official said on 9 January.
Fadl Abu Talib, a member of the political bureau of the Ansarallah resistance movement, said on Tuesday that “the UAE, through its mercenaries in Yemen, is making arrangements to target commercial ships that are not destined for the Zionist entity.”
Abu Dhabi and its proxy wish “to mix up the cards and give the Americans [the] justification for militarizing the Red Sea,” Abu Talib added. “But we tell it that its despicable behavior is exposed, as our operations in the Red and Arab seas have specific, clear objectives.”
Ansarallah and Yemen’s Armed Forces have carried out numerous naval operations against vessels linked to or bound for Israel. The attacks come in solidarity with the people of Gaza and the Palestinian resistance, and aim to prevent goods from reaching Israeli ports for as long as Gaza’s access to aid is hindered.
Sanaa has vowed that only Israeli-linked ships or those heading towards Israeli ports will be targeted, and nothing else. No deaths or injuries have resulted from Yemen’s attacks.
The US established a maritime task force last month in order to protect Israeli interests in the Red Sea. As part of the operations of this task force, on 31 December, US helicopters sank three Yemeni vessels and killed ten naval officers.
On 9 January, CENTCOM claimed that US and UK forces shot down 21 missiles and drones fired by Ansarallah towards Red Sea shipping lanes, calling it the 26th Yemeni attack. Sanaa has only confirmed 13 operations.
According to Arabic and Israeli media reports, officials in Yemen’s secessionist, UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) have expressed an interest in joining Washington’s task force and helping to protect Israeli shipping.
The STC has also reportedly discussed with Washington the possibility of mobilizing UAE-backed mercenary groups and STC-linked militias “against Israel’s opponents in Yemen,” Al-Akhbar newspaper reported last month.
“The STC in south Yemen wants to fight Houthi terrorism … If Israel recognizes our right to self-determination in southern Yemen, you will find an ally in the field against the Houthi threat,” Hebrew media cited a source close to STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi as saying.
US gives Spain ultimatum to ‘rectify its decision’ and join anti-Yemen alliance
The Cradle | January 10, 2024
Pentagon officials are pressuring Spain to “reconsider its refusal” to take part in the Red Sea Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG) and have set an 11 January deadline for Madrid to “join with a ship or, at least, with personnel stationed in the area,” according to informed sources who spoke with Spanish daily El Confidencial.
As the US-led alliance struggles to make an impact against the pro-Palestine actions of the Yemeni armed forces, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Brown, on Monday contacted his Spanish counterpart, Admiral Teodoro Lopez Calderon, to reiterate Washington’s “desire to work with all nations that share an interest in defending the principle of freedom of navigation and ensuring safe passage for global shipping.”
“Spain is a vital NATO ally and shares a long and strategic relationship with the US,” says the US navy readout of the phone call.
In parallel to this conversation, which was made public, a separate phone call took place between the US Secretary of the Navy, Carlos del Toro, and the Spanish ambassador in Washington, Santiago Cabanas, during which the Pentagon official “in much more direct language” pressed Madrid to take part in the naval coalition in support of Israel.
“[Del Toro] gave [Cabanas], at the end of the conversation, a kind of ultimatum: He wants to know, at the latest on Thursday the 11th, if Spain corrected its decision,” El Confidencial reports.
Spain has been the most vocal NATO member to reject being named part of this “coalition of the willing,” vetoing a vote at the EU that called for support of the coalition and making it clear that its forces committed to Operation Atalanta – a counter-piracy operation off the Horn of Africa and in the Western Indian Ocean – would not join OPG.
The veto by the Spanish mission to Brussels was a direct order from Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, according to local reports.
This public pushback prompted US President Joe Biden to contact Sanchez in late December to discuss the crisis in Gaza and warn him about the “Houthi threat” in the Red Sea.
Nonetheless, Sanchez maintained his decision against joining OPG and also refused to join a statement that the US and its main European and Asian allies published on 3 January in which they issued a collective warning to Yemen. France did not subscribe to this text either.
While Madrid has not publicly explained their reasoning for refusing Washington’s demands, El Confidencial reports that authorities believe that, if Spain were to join OPG, this “would be … a way to relieve pressure on Israel and reduce the possibilities of reaching a definitive ceasefire in Gaza.”
Haneyya: Israel failed to achieve its war goals in Gaza
Palestine Information Center – January 9, 2024
DOHA – Head of Hamas’s political bureau Ismail Haneyya has affirmed that the Israeli occupation regime failed to achieve any goal of its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip despite the massacres and destruction, stressing that the only way for the return of the Israeli captives to their homes alive is to release all the Palestinian prisoners.
“The declared goals of the war on Gaza are to eliminate the Hamas Movement, have their captives back and carry out the displacement plan, but I’d like to tell you that the enemy, despite the destruction and massacres, has failed to achieve any of its war goals,” Haneyya said in a conference on Gaza held by the International Union of Muslim Scholars in Doha.
Haneyya underlined that the Hamas Movement exists across the homeland and abroad as well as in the conscience of the Ummah and the world’s free people, so “it cannot be eliminated.”
Haneyya expressed his belief that the occupation state “only succeeded in exposing its bloodthirsty and murderous face to the whole world after committing all these massacres.”
The Hamas leader stressed that after about 100 days, the Israeli intelligence, its spy drones and its Western ally (US) failed to liberate a single captive from Gaza, adding that “the only way for the Israeli detainees to leave Gaza alive is when all the Palestinian prisoners are released from Israeli jails.”
He described the Israeli occupation’s escalation of its aggression in the West Bank as “dangerous and massive,” affirming that 350 West Bankers had been martyred since Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” started.
He also said that the Israeli regime imposed martial law on the Palestinian citizens in 1948 occupied Palestine.
The Hamas leader hailed the resistance front in Gaza as “strong, cohesive and promising,” asserting that it can fight a long battle against the occupation.
Israel about to engage in two-front war
By Lucas Leiroz | January 9, 2024
In recent days there has been a major escalation in the Middle Eastern conflict. Israel has launched a series of attacks against targets outside Palestine, including Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of key members of anti-Zionist organizations. Israel’s targeted assassinations have been seen as an affront to Lebanese national sovereignty, increasing the risks of an open war between the Zionist state and Hezbollah.
Israel has been bombing its neighboring countries since the war began in October. However, the frequency and brutality of these raids has grown significantly in recent weeks. Lebanon has become one of the main targets of Israeli attacks, especially in strikes targeting strategic public figures. In one of these operations, Wissam al-Tawil, deputy head of the Radwan group, a special unit of the Shiite militia, was murdered. Al-Tawil was a high-ranking member of Hezbollah, which means there will certainly be a retaliation.
A few days earlier, a brutal Israeli attack in Beirut had left six high-ranking Hamas members dead, including the Palestinian organization’s deputy head, Saleh al-Arouri. At the time members of Hezbollah were not targeted, and the strike was aimed at killing Hamas militants gathered in Beirut. However, the fact that the attack was carried out on Lebanese soil obviously generated outrage among members of the Shiite militia, who promised retaliation for the violation of Lebanese sovereignty.
Hassan Nasrallah, general secretary of Hezbollah, made two statements about these events. According to him, Hezbollah is already fighting Israel, but is using only a small percentage of its combat potential. The militia’s involvement is “limited”, being focused on neutralizing Israeli intelligence targets on the border. For now, the objectives of these operations are, according to Nasrallah, to generate military pressure against Israel and help the Palestinians by eliminating IDF’s resources. However, Nasrallah made it clear that if Israel continues to violate Lebanese sovereignty, the group will launch a “war without restrictions”, using full power against Zionist troops.
Apparently, Israel is not interested in de-escalation. The attacks on Lebanon have continued even after Nasrallah’s warnings – and more targeted killings of Hezbollah members could happen at any time. In fact, Tel Aviv is currently in a complicated military situation. The war in Gaza has become “unwinnable”, as the debris from the bombings have severely damaged the IDF itself, preventing the flow of armored vehicles and creating a network of hiding places and barricades that favor Hamas.
There is currently a guerrilla war in Gaza, with members of the Palestinian Resistance having the advantage, as they know the terrain better and are skilled at carrying out surprise attacks and hiding among the debris of buildings and tunnel networks. Although Israel has managed to destroy the physical structure of Gaza, the consequences of its attacks have mainly affected civilian people and have not been extremely effective in neutralizing Hamas and other Palestinian militias. The result is an uncomfortable situation, with Israel involved in a permanent war of attrition.
Given this, Israel is betting on the internationalization of the conflict as a way of “winning” the war. Since it is not being successful in Gaza, the Israeli government hopes to generate new outbreaks of hostilities by launching attacks against Lebanon and Syria. The aim is to bring new actors into the war, creating a situation of total regional conflict that makes intervention by Israel’s Western partners “inevitable”.
The main problem with this Israeli “strategy” is that the consequences could be devastating. It will not be easy to garner Western support and justify an intervention in the conflict, as global public opinion is outraged by Israeli genocidal actions in Gaza. Furthermore, Hezbollah is showing patience and strategic mentality by avoiding symmetrical responses to Israeli attacks. The group is trying not to engage in an all-out war, as the IDF is already in a delicate situation and there is no need to open a new front. Hezbollah’s focus appears to be to launch surgical strikes across the border, delaying more involvement as long as possible.
To get a strong reaction from Hezbollah, Israel will have to further increase the brutality of its raids against Lebanon. And this will be a serious problem in the Zionist strategy, since by doing this Tel Aviv will be justifying Hezbollah’s reactions, and there will therefore be no legal arguments for the West to mobilize collectively to support Israel. In fact, without full Western support, Israel will not be able to fight a two-front war, being a real catastrophe for the IDF itself.
This is further evidence of how Israel took wrong actions at the beginning of the conflict. Instead of only responding to Hamas’ “Operation Al Aqsa Flood”, Tel Aviv chose to launch a campaign of genocide and territorial expansion, sinking into a prolonged war that will not be won so easily.
Lucas Leiroz is a journalist, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, geopolitical consultant.
You can follow Lucas on X (former Twitter) and Telegram.
Haifa missile strike by Iraqi resistance shows how fragile Israeli regime is
By Wesam Bahrani | Press TV | January 8, 2024
In yet another significant act of solidarity with the people of Gaza, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq on Sunday struck “a vital target in occupied Haifa” with an advanced long-range cruise missile, grabbing headlines and taking the embattled regime in Tel Aviv by another surprise.
In a statement, the Iraqi resistance emphasized that the operation was carried out because of “our ongoing support for people in Gaza,” who have been reeling under the Israeli aggression since Oct. 7.
The statement added that the operation was “in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity against Palestinian civilians, including children, women, and the elderly.”
The Iraqi resistance, which has in recent months launched a string of attacks on US military bases in Iraq and Syria, said it will continue to hit enemy strongholds, warning that “more is yet to come”.
The concluding part of the statement was the most attention-grabbing.
Such is the stringent Israeli media censorship of the occupying regime’s war on the besieged Gaza Strip; it is difficult to speculate what vital infrastructure has been hit.
The Iraqi resistance struck Haifa with a long-range cruise missile, named al-Arqab, from Iraqi territory. The distance from Baghdad to Haifa is almost 1,000 kilometers.
According to sources, the launch of the missile took place closer to the Western Iraqi deserts. That is still roughly 600 kilometers away, or perhaps more, depending on the launch site.
It essentially means that Haifa, which is located in the northern part of the occupied territories, can expect attacks again from the Iraqi soil, the timing of which will be decided by the resistance.
More importantly, the long-range cruise missile traveled the same distance that can put Tel Aviv and all other Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories within the range of Iraqi fire.
On Monday, Iraq’s Harakat al-Nujaba resistance movement claimed responsibility for the strike, warning that Israel should await more crippling attacks in retaliation for its bloody war on Gaza.
“The Axis of Resistance is determined to disrupt US scenarios in the region and thwart the occupying Israeli regime’s schemes in Gaza,” Hussein al-Moussawi, spokesman for the group, said.
Should we be surprised that the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), under which the Islamic Resistance in Iraq operates, possesses such world-class military technology?
The short answer is no.
The Iraqi government itself armed the PMU with the most capable military equipment from Baghdad’s weapons depots because it plays the most fundamental role of all the Iraqi armed forces.
The attack on Haifa points to the start of a new chapter by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, in what is expected to be an even stronger show of support for the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and its people.
In this latest phase, we must expect an escalation in attacks on crucial Israeli infrastructure inside the occupied Palestinian territories, facilitated by the utilization of sophisticated long-range cruise missiles.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has made no secret of its iron-clad support and solidarity with the oppressed people of Gaza amid the Israeli regime’s indiscriminate bombings and inhumane siege.
It had also made no secret of its military operations against the Zionist regime and its Western backers, which has been completely evident in the past few weeks.
Shortly after the Israeli regime launched its war on Gaza on October 7, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq carried out a number of operations against Israeli interests and its main backer, the United States.
In late December, the Iraqi Resistance struck a vital target in the Eli-ad settlement, in the southern Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights with drones.
Before targeting Eli-ad, the resistance also pounded the regime’s main offshore (occupied) Karish gas field in the eastern Mediterranean Sea with a direct hit, inflicting heavy damage.
That came after the Iraqi resistance struck a target in occupied Umm al-Rashrash (Eilat) with appropriate weapons and released images of the operation for the public.
The regime evacuated the settlers of Eilat, transforming the area into a military garrison. It made the site an ideal target for Iraq as well as Yemen, another Arab country that has upped the ante recently.
Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement have carried out a series of operations against Israeli interests with a barrage of long-range drones and missiles.
At times, the goal has simply been to fire a barrage of missiles and drones to preoccupy the Israeli Iron Dome and Patriot Missiles. These calculated efforts have proven successful.
They effectively ease the pressure on the Palestinian resistance while at the same time drain out Israeli military resources, which have in recent months become extremely depleted.
The regime has killed more than 22,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, the majority of whom have been women and children. Thousands more are missing, presumably dead under the rubble.
Among the countries and movements taking the lead in militarily pressuring the U.S. and its apartheid regime to end its inhumane attacks on Gaza, Iraqis have played a courageous role.
In Iraq, the resistance has targeted illegal American military bases on its territory as well as in Syria more than 110 times since the Israeli war against Gaza began three months ago.
Rockets, mortar shells, drones, and short and long-range ballistic missiles have all been used in these operations, leading to scores of casualties among US troops and collateral damage.
Now, the question that everyone is asking is: Why has the Iraqi resistance opened a new chapter?
Lately, the illegal US military occupation on Iraqi soil made a costly mistake by attacking sites belonging to the PMU, which means Washington and Tel Aviv have to pay the price.
Recent US attacks against affiliates of the PMU, including Kataib Hezbollah, and the recent deadly strike on the headquarters of Harakat al-Nujaba, which led to the assassination of one of its leaders in Baghdad, Haj Mishtaq, means the time is ripe for the resistance to expand its operations.
For context: In the eyes of the Iraqi resistance, there is no difference between the US military occupation of Iraqi soil and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The liberation of the Palestinian territories begins with the expulsion of American troops from Iraq and the rest of the region.
While the Israeli regime commits horrendous crimes against humanity in Gaza, America is shielding, arming, funding and facilitating this madness of death and destruction campaign in the coastal strip.
Taking a closer look at the events unfolding in Gaza, it is, in essence, an American war on Gaza.
This direct complicity means that Washington has to pay the same price as the Israeli regime is paying for its massacres of civilians in Gaza. They are two sides of the same coin.
Whilst illegal US bases in Iraq and Syria are closer to the line of fire for the resistance, the indiscriminate Israeli attacks against women and children in Gaza have seen the PMU increasingly target the Israeli regime, the latest being Haifa.
What the Al-Aqsa Storm (or Al-Aqsa Flood) operation provided was an opportunity for the Iraqi resistance to strike at Israeli interests for the first time in history.
As pressure grows on the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Mohammad Shia’ al-Sudani to expel the illegal US forces, it has also opened a new window for the PMU to end the American occupation and avenge Washington’s assassination of its deputy leader Abu Mehdi al-Muhandis.
For the moment, the main goal of the resistance is to expand its scope of attacks against the Israeli regime in order to mount pressure on the apartheid occupation as well as the US.
And, as the Iraqi resistance warned after the Haifa attack, “more is yet to come”.
Wesam Bahrani is an Iraqi journalist and commentator.
Israeli army uses drones to terrorize civilians at Gaza hospital
Palestine Informtion Center – January 7, 2024
GAZA – The health ministry in Gaza has accused the Israeli occupation army of using its armed drones to terrorize the patients and medical staff at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah City in central Gaza.
“Israeli drones are opening fire at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital’s sections and courtyards, targeting everyone who moves,” the health ministry said in a statement on Sunday evening.
The ministry also accused the Israeli army of seeking to put Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital out of service through intensively opening fire at it from drones.
The ministry pointed out that the ongoing shooting attack on the hospital forced a number of patients and wounded civilians to leave it and expose themselves to gunfire from the drones.
The ministry warned that thousands of wounded and sick people in central Gaza would be sentenced to death if the hospital stopped providing its services.
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli army’s military aggression against Gaza and its deliberate attacks on medical facilities have made the majority of the hospitals and health centers “nonfunctional.” The Israeli army has also destroyed 121 ambulances since then.
Day 93: Israeli Assault Claims Two More Journalists
Al-Manar | January 7, 2024
Gaza Strip is witnessing a sharp escalation in violence, with Israeli military operations in last night’s onslaught in Al-Faluga and Khan Yunis leaving at least 20 Palestinians martyred, a toll that tragically includes civilians seeking refuge and victims from an attack on a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school in the Mughazi refugee camp.
In the southern Gaza Strip, at least two journalists, Hamza Wael al-Dahdouh, son of al-Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh, and Mustafa Thuraya, were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted and blew up their vehicle in Khan Younis on Sunday.
The journalists, including Hamza, were en route to the Moraj area northeast of Rafah, designated a “humanitarian zone” by the Israeli army but reportedly subject to recent bombings. Their intention was to report on the situation and aftermath of bombings in the area, where many displaced Gazans sought refuge from bombardment in other regions of the territory.
Bureau chief for Al-Jazeera Arabic in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh, stands over the body of his son Hamza
Wael al-Dahdouh, Hamza’s father and Al-Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza, was recently wounded in an Israeli strike. His wife and two children had been killed by a separate Israeli strike in the initial weeks of the aggression.
The media office of the Hamas resistance movement strongly condemned the “heinous crime” committed by the “Israeli occupation army against journalists.” The Zionist entity aims to “intimidate journalists in a failed attempt to obscure the truth and prevent media coverage,” the office added.
The media office called “on all press unions, human rights and legal bodies to condemn this crime and denounce its repeated commission by the occupation.” It also called for pressuring “the occupation to stop the genocidal war against our defenseless people in the Gaza Strip.”
20 Palestinians lost their lives during the night as the Israeli occupation forces launched airstrikes on Al-Faluga in the Jabalia refugee camp, situated in the northern Gaza Strip. Among the targeted locations was a building belonging to the Abu Alba family in Al-Faluja. Concurrently, air strikes pounded Tal Al-Zaatar in the northern Gaza Strip, further exacerbating the already dire situation.
Adding to the toll, 16 Palestinians were martyred in the bombing of the central Gaza Strip since evening.
Deir al-Balah witnessed 11 casualties due to Zionist attacks, while in Khan Yunis, located in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, the death toll rose to 17. Artillery shelling intensified in the neighborhoods of the city’s center, west, and north.
Rafah also bore the brunt of the occupation’s aggression, with several areas being targeted. The toll rose to 7 as a result of an Israeli bombing that specifically aimed at a building housing displaced people. Disturbingly, reports emerged of injuries resulting from an air strike on a house belonging to the Al-Ajez family in the Al-Zuhur neighborhood, situated in the northern part of Rafah.
According to reports from the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, the Israeli military targeted a residence in Khan Yunis, where a significant number of displaced individuals sought refuge. Tragically, this resulted in the loss of at least 12 civilian lives and injuries to 50 others.
Furthermore, Israeli warplanes struck a school operated by the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in the Mughazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, leading to the death of at least four individuals, including a woman.
The report indicates that the Israeli military employed drones and engaged in intensive firing at homes and streets in the Mughazi camp. Simultaneously, Israeli warplanes launched a fire attack near Sekka Street west of the camp, accompanied by heavy artillery fire from the army.
Eyewitnesses reported a fire breaking out east of the neighboring Nuseirat camp due to sustained Israeli airstrikes.
The Israeli aggression extended to Tel al-Zaatar and the city of Deir al-Balah, where fierce airstrikes resulted in additional casualties, according to the report.
The grim statistics underscore the severity of the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza, with the death toll reaching at least 22,700 Palestinians, the majority of whom are women and children. Additionally, 7,000 individuals are reportedly missing under the rubble, presumed to be casualties of the conflict. The international community faces an urgent call to address the escalating humanitarian crisis and seek a sustainable solution to the longstanding conflict in the region.
Display of Resistance
Palestinian forces thwarted the advances of the Zionist enemy, effectively dealing heavy blows and preventing any consolidation of occupation across various regions of the Gaza Strip.
Despite the passage of two and a half months since the commencement of the ground operation, the relentless efforts of the Palestinian resistance have led to successive defeats for the occupying forces, compelling their withdrawal from the majority of areas in the northern Gaza Strip—an accomplishment of significant magnitude for the steadfast resistance fighters.
A notable triumph unfolded today as the Al-Qassam Brigades orchestrated the complete destruction of a Zionist personnel carrier situated in Al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip, employing the formidable “Al-Yassin 105” shell. Scenes depicting the obliteration of the personnel carrier were released by Al-Qassam, symbolizing a powerful stance against the occupiers.
The resilience of Al-Qassam forces further manifested as they obliterated enemy forces that had penetrated Al-Maghazi camp, utilizing a barrage of heavy-caliber mortar shells. Simultaneously, the Al-Quds Brigades announced the successful missile salvoes targeting strategic locations, including “Nahal Oz,” “Sufa,” and “Hulit.”
In another commendable operation, the Brigades revealed their precision and efficacy by targeting an occupation army force entrenched in a house in Tal al-Hawa, Gaza, with an OG-7V anti-personnel missile. This precise strike resulted in casualties within the force, and the Mujahideen successfully seized the soldiers’ equipment.
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