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Beit Hanoun’s fury: How Gaza’s obliterated northern town defies Israeli victory

By Ramzy Baroud | MEMO | July 14, 2025

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu geared up for what was intended as a triumphant visit to Washington, commencing on Monday, 7 July 2025, Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades in Beit Hanoun were meticulously preparing their own stark counter-narrative. On the very inaugural day of the Israeli leader’s high-stakes diplomatic trip, the battalion launched a devastating strike, inflicting significant casualties on Israeli soldiers. The Israeli army, notorious for obfuscating its military losses, begrudgingly acknowledged five soldiers killed and 14 wounded, some critically.

This audacious operation, coupled with numerous others across both northern and southern Gaza, offered an undeniable truth: Israel’s utter inability to secure any segment of the Strip. This failure undermines its proclaimed intent to establish control over the genocide-stricken territory, seemingly as a prelude to forcibly displacing the entire population, first to Rafah in the south, and ultimately, towards Egypt.

Netanyahu may possess a sharp political cunning, yet his acumen primarily serves his personal survival as a politician. It demonstrably fails to harness politics for the genuine good of his nation, let alone for global stability. He might project an image of eloquence, but this perceived mastery of words often flourishes only because he remains largely unchallenged within his customary political circles.

Consider, for instance, this pronouncement he uttered on July 6, 2025, just hours before his flight to Washington:

“Our joint involvement brought a great victory over our mutual enemy – Iran. Iran has dedicated itself, for years, to our destruction, and for years, we had apprehensions: What should we do about Iran? Would we be able to take on Iran? And now, our heroic pilots flew in the skies of Iran, and the IDF did wonders, along with the Mossad and all other security branches…”

Stripped of critical context, this self-congratulatory declaration implies an earth-shattering event poised to fundamentally alter “the face of the Middle East,” a favored refrain of Netanyahu’s. Yet, beyond the relentless and baseless claims of having decisively defeated Iran – a narrative utterly devoid of credibility among sober political analysts – mere hours later, Palestinians in Gaza, enduring over 639 days of a relentless and internationally recognized genocide, delivered an undeniable message: Israel cannot even subjugate Beit Hanoun.

What, then, is Beit Hanoun?

In essence, this small town, encompassing an approximate area of 12.5 square kilometers (4.8 square miles), persists merely as a geographic marker and a name. It has been almost entirely obliterated, its entire pre-war population, estimated at around 60,000 residents, wholly displaced.

Owing to its perilous proximity to the Israeli border, often as close as 1.5 kilometers (approximately 1 mile), Beit Hanoun has been a primary target in nearly all of Israel’s prior aggressions against Gaza. It bore a disproportionately heavier burden of destruction compared to other Palestinian areas, dating back as early as 2004, 2006, and 2014.

However, the latest war and genocide have left virtually no building intact; some structures have been bombed repeatedly, rendering the entire area a haunting tableau of charred devastation. Indeed, numerous charred remains of victims still lie in the streets of Beit Hanoun or entombed beneath its vast rubble to this day.

Adding profound insult to grievous injury, the city was literally branded with the Star of David. In January 2025, chilling satellite imagery starkly revealed a giant Star of David carved into what was once fertile farmland in Beit Hanoun. Historically, alongside Beit Lahia and other eastern regions, the town constituted a vital segment of Gaza’s food basket – a role that became acutely critical during the two decades of suffocating Israeli siege.

Though much of this crucial agricultural land had already been appropriated by the Israeli army as ‘military zones,’ it still managed to somewhat stave off outright famine. Thus, the deliberate destruction of Beit Hanoun fundamentally equates to a deliberate assault on Gaza’s very capacity for survival.

Yet, Beit Hanoun simply refuses to die. On the contrary, it persists as one of the most active and formidable fronts for the Palestinian Resistance, posing one of the most perplexing military quandaries for the Israeli army. This defiance occurs despite Israel’s state-of-the-art killing technology, overwhelming troop numbers, and a seemingly endless supply chain, courtesy of Uncle Sam’s boundless generosity.

When Israel initiated its full-scale ground offensive on Gaza on 27 October 2023, it commenced precisely in Beit Hanoun. Astonishingly, it took the Resistance merely three days – between 27 October and 1 November – to discern the tactics of the invading Israeli army and adapt accordingly.

On 1 November, Al-Qassam declared it had decimated four Israeli Merkava tanks and armored vehicles using Yasin 105 anti-tank rocket-propelled grenades, followed by the precision targeting of an Israeli soldier gathering with a quadcopter drone. On 11 November, the Israeli army itself reluctantly admitted to the killing of four soldiers and the wounding of others in a booby-trapped tunnel in Beit Hanoun. The Resistance further asserted it had detonated an anti-personnel improvised explosive device (IED) targeting Israeli forces occupying a civilian home in the area.

Numerous other operations followed, each as lethal and sophisticated as its predecessors. It became terrifyingly evident that the more destruction the Israeli army wrought upon Beit Hanoun, the more fiercely and resiliently its resistance emerged. Desperate for a conclusive victory, the Israeli army brazenly declared on 18 December 2023, that it had “dismantled” the Al-Qassam battalions in the town. Consequently, its war tactics in the area supposedly shifted from a full-scale invasion to “holding operations,” predicated on the false premise that the Israeli army was now in “full control.”

That, too, proved to be another pipedream. The Israeli army was repeatedly forced to withdraw from Beit Hanoun as Palestinian fighters, expertly utilizing previously excavated tunnels – and possibly newly dug ones – infiltrated back into their ravaged town. They ingeniously leveraged the very mass destruction inflicted by the Israeli army to their strategic advantage, turning the urban wasteland into a complex battlefield.

The deadly 7 July attack on Israeli forces marked the 639th day since the war’s inception on 7 October 2023. This operation unequivocally signaled Israel’s failure, not only to occupy the town definitively, but also to truly conquer any part of Gaza. Beit Hanoun is, in essence, a microcosm of Gaza’s undefeated, and arguably undefeatable, nature.

And like every sacred piece of land in Gaza and throughout Palestine, the history of Beit Hanoun predates the very existence of Israel by millennia. Beit Hanoun, an ancient settlement, is believed to have been founded by a pagan king named Hanoun. Archaeological findings in the area testify to both ancient constructions and uninterrupted habitation across countless epochs.

It was there, just west of Beit Hanoun, that the Ayyubids famously vanquished the Crusaders at the Battle of Umm al-Nasser hill in 1239. To commemorate that pivotal victory, a mosque was consecrated bearing the battle’s name. Tragically, this very mosque, the revered Umm al-Naser Mosque, was obliterated by Israel in November 2023, with news of its destruction confirmed in January the following year.

If the human spirit were merely quantifiable by stones and concrete, Beit Hanoun would have been meticulously erased from both existence and memory long ago. The human spirit, however, can only be truly measured by the unyielding steadfastness of a people’s collective will. As clever as he may perceive himself to be, neither Netanyahu nor his formidable, US-backed army will ever manage to defeat this ancient Palestinian town, nor Gaza, nor the indomitable Palestinian people themselves. If history has bequeathed us any certain lesson, it is precisely this.

July 14, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular | , , , , | Leave a comment

Hamas rejects US allegations of Gaza aid centre attack

MEMO | July 7, 2025

The Government Media Office in Gaza has officially rejected claims by the US State Department alleging that the Palestinian resistance carried out a “bomb attack” targeting American personnel at aid distribution centres operated by the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – GHF”.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the office said the accusations were entirely baseless and part of a clear attempt to justify the continued killing and starvation of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. It added that the claims reflect full alignment with the Israeli military narrative, which aims to legitimise war crimes by using fabricated security pretexts to justify excessive force against civilians.

The statement described GHF not as a humanitarian organisation, but as a security and intelligence front supported by both Israel and the United States.

The media office held the foundation responsible for the deaths of 751 civilians, injuries to 4,931 others, and the disappearance of 39 people. These casualties, it said, resulted from the chaos and danger surrounding the aid distribution centres established by the foundation in exposed and unsafe areas.

The statement stressed that the US State Department’s narrative seeks to whitewash the image of an organisation involved in war crimes. It also pointed out that over 130 international humanitarian organisations refuse to cooperate with GHF, viewing it as a cover for Israeli military objectives.

July 7, 2025 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | , , , | Leave a comment

Details of Qatari negotiations framework for Gaza ceasefire revealed

Al Mayadeen | July 6, 2025

Qatari mediators put forward a negotiation framework to secure a lasting ceasefire deal between the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza and the Israeli occupation.

The Qatari proposal outlined the ceasefire’s terms and phases of implementation, though officials clarified that the published document was unofficial.

The proposed agreement calls for a 60-day ceasefire that would temporarily halt all military operations by both sides and includes a guarantee from US President Donald Trump that “Israel” will adhere to the truce throughout the agreed-upon period.

A complete halt to Israeli offensive operations in Gaza

The Qatari proposal states that all Israeli offensive military operations in Gaza will cease when the agreement takes effect, with the occupation’s aerial activities (both military and reconnaissance) halting daily for 10 to 12 hours during prisoner exchange days.

Additionally, the proposed terms outline “Israel’s” military redeployment in Gaza, specifying that on Day 1 after releasing 8 living Israeli captives, occupation forces will withdraw from northern areas and the Netzarim corridor to positions defined in previous agreement maps, with minor mutually agreed adjustments to be finalized later.

On day seven, following the release of 5 Israeli bodies, the occupation forces will redeploy in southern areas to positions previously agreed upon in the same past agreement maps, with minor adjustments to be finalized later.

Phased captive exchange

The proposed deal includes a prisoner exchange provision under which 10 living Israeli captives and 18 bodies from the previously agreed list of 58 would be released according to a phased schedule, with releases taking place on days 1, 7, 30, 50, and 60 following the ceasefire’s implementation.

The agreement outlines a specific release schedule, with 8 living Israeli captives to be released on the first day, 5 bodies to be returned on day 7, another 5 bodies on day 30, 2 living prisoners on day 50, and finally 8 bodies to be released on day 60 of the ceasefire period.

The proposal stipulates that “Israel” will simultaneously release Palestinian prisoners through a prearranged mechanism in exchange for both living Israeli captives and remains, with the process conducted discreetly without public displays or ceremonial events.

Ten days after the ceasefire takes effect, Hamas will provide complete documentation, including proof of life, medical reports, or death certificates, for all remaining Israeli captives. In return, “Israel” will provide complete records of Palestinians detained in Gaza since October 7, 2023, along with the number of deceased Gazans held in Israeli custody.

The Qatari proposal notes that Hamas is committed to ensuring the health, safety, and security of the captives throughout the ceasefire period.

A framework for negotiation

Moreover, Qatar supports continuing negotiations to establish the necessary arrangements for reaching a permanent ceasefire within 60 days while stipulating that upon reaching such an agreement, all remaining Israeli captives (both living and deceased) from “Israel’s” list of 58 individuals would be released. The proposal states that the temporary ceasefire may be extended if permanent ceasefire terms aren’t finalized in the given period.

The proposal affirms that negotiations mediated and guaranteed by international parties will begin on the first day to work out terms for a permanent ceasefire.

The negotiations will cover several key areas, including the terms for releasing all remaining Israeli captives in exchange for an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, the issues surrounding Israeli troop redeployment and withdrawal, along long-term security arrangements in Gaza. Additionally, the talks will cover post-war governance and reconstruction plans for Gaza that either party may propose, and announce a permanent ceasefire.

Support and guarantees

The document points out that Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is “serious about both parties’ commitment to the ceasefire agreement, and insists that the negotiations during the temporary ceasefire period, if successfully concluded through an agreement between the two sides, should lead to a permanent resolution of the conflict.”

Mediators, the United States, Egypt, and Qatar, will ensure the ceasefire holds throughout the 60 days and will guarantee that serious discussions take place regarding arrangements for a permanent ceasefire.

The mediators will also ensure negotiations continue seriously for an extended period until both parties reach an agreement and maintain all measures outlined in this framework.

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will arrive in the region to finalize the agreement and will lead the negotiations. Meanwhile, Trump announces a ceasefire, and the document states that the United States and President Trump are committed to working toward ensuring that fair negotiations continue until a final agreement is reached.

Humanitarian aid on the agenda

Regarding humanitarian aid, the proposal stipulates that assistance will be delivered to Gaza immediately upon Hamas’ acceptance of the ceasefire agreement, specifying that the delivery mechanism will align with the provisions outlined in the January 19th agreement.

The aid package covers rebuilding water, power, and sewage systems, restoring hospitals and bakeries, providing equipment for rubble clearance, and reopening the Rafah crossing for travelers, patients, and trade.

The Qatari proposal emphasized that humanitarian aid would be distributed to Gaza’s population through the United Nations and its agencies, along with the Palestinian Red Crescent.

July 6, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , | Leave a comment

Qatari-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal: What does it include?

Al Mayadeen | July 3, 2025

Baruch Yadid and Amichai Stein, analysts at the Israeli outlet i24NEWS, have revealed the terms of a proposed ceasefire agreement brokered by Qatar, aimed at stopping the Israeli war on Gaza.

According to the report, the proposal is essentially a modified version of the earlier Witkoff Plan. “Israel”, the United States, and intermediary nations are now awaiting Hamas’ response after “Israel” reportedly conditionally agreed to the outline.

This approval reportedly followed a meeting between Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff.

Multiple sources confirmed that “Israel” has agreed, with certain conditions, to resume negotiations on ending the war even after the 60-day ceasefire period. A source further stated that the Trump administration made it clear the ceasefire would be extended beyond 60 days if talks were deemed serious.

During this time, the US President would commit to ensuring the continuity of the ceasefire. However, the report notes that “Israel” has not pledged to end the war, but rather to engage in dialogue aimed at ending it. Regarding the scope of Israeli withdrawal during the ceasefire, two sources indicated that negotiations are still ongoing over the scale of the withdrawal and the future deployment of Israeli forces.

The plan includes the release of 10 captives held by Hamas, eight on the first day and two on the 50th day, as well as the return of 18 bodies. In return, a two-month ceasefire would be implemented, during which negotiations would be held to reach a permanent end to the war, with each side presenting its demands.

Captive exchange, withdrawal schedule

The release schedule for captives and bodies is as follows:

  • Day 1: Release of 8 live captives
  • Day 7: Return of 5 bodies
  • Day 30: Return of 5 additional bodies
  • Day 50: Release of 2 live captives
  • Day 60: Return of 8 additional bodies

Humanitarian aid will flow immediately upon Hamas’ acceptance of the proposal, in line with the January 9 agreement, with sufficient quantities and oversight from the UN and the Red Crescent.

On day one, following the release of the eight captives, “Israel” is expected to begin withdrawal from northern Gaza according to pre-agreed maps. By day 7, after the return of five bodies, withdrawal from southern Gaza is to commence. Additionally, technical teams will work on delineating withdrawal boundaries in swift follow-up negotiations.

Long-term negotiations 

Phase five of the agreement initiates negotiations for a permanent ceasefire, beginning on day one of the truce. On Day two, arrangements will be launched across four key areas:

  1. Criteria for exchanging remaining prisoners
  2. Declaration of a permanent ceasefire
  3. Long-term security arrangements in Gaza
  4. Commitment to international guarantees

The United States, under the Trump administration, has pledged to guarantee the ceasefire for the full two months and potentially beyond, should serious negotiations continue. There will be no official ceremonies or public displays during prisoner exchanges.

Information sharing on prisoners, captives 

On day 10, Hamas will provide full information (proof of life, medical records, or confirmation of death) for all remaining captives. In return, “Israel” will share comprehensive data on Palestinian prisoners detained since October 7, 2023.

Mediators, including Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, will be responsible for ensuring the negotiations progress sincerely. Should the talks require more time, the ceasefire may be extended according to agreed-upon protocols.

If a final agreement is achieved, the remaining captives will be released.

US President Donald Trump is expected to announce the agreement, with the United States reaffirming its commitment to fostering good-faith negotiations. Also, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to lead the dialogue aimed at bringing the war to a conclusion.

Hamas says mediation efforts ongoing

On another note, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas confirmed on Wednesday that mediators are exerting intense efforts to bridge gaps between negotiating parties and lay the groundwork for a potential framework agreement to end the ongoing war on Gaza.

In an official statement, Hamas said it was approaching the current phase of talks with a high sense of responsibility, holding national consultations to evaluate the proposals received from mediators.

The movement emphasized that its primary objective in these discussions is to achieve a deal that guarantees a complete end to Israeli aggression, ensures the withdrawal of the occupation forces, and enables the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

July 3, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel’s war on Iran is not about nuclear weapons

It is, and has always been, about regime change and breaking the Axis of Resistance

By Robert Inlakesh | RT | June 19, 2025

The claim that has been adopted by the United States, Israel and its European partners, that the attack on Iran was a “pre-emptive” attempt to stop Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, is demonstrably false. It holds about as much weight as the allegations against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein in 2003 and this war of aggression is just as illegal.

For the best part of four decades, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been claiming that Iran is on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon. Yet, every single attempt to strike a deal which would bring more monitoring and restrictions to Iran’s nuclear program has been systematically dismantled by Israel and its powerful lobbying groups in Western capitals.

In order to properly assess Israel’s attack on Iran, we have to establish the facts in this case. The Israeli leadership claim to have launched a pre-emptive strike, but have presented no evidence to support their allegations that Iran was on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon. Simply stating this does not serve as proof, it is a claim, similar to how the US told the world Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Back in March, the US Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard testified before a Senate Intelligence Committee that the intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”

On top of this, Iran was actively participating in indirect negotiations with the US to reach a new version of the 2015 Nuclear Deal. Donald Trump announced Washington would unilaterally withdraw from the agreement in 2018, instead pursuing a “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign at the behest of Israel.

Despite the claims of Netanyahu and Trump that Iran was violating the Nuclear Deal, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a report which stated Iran was in full compliance with the deal at the time.

If you trace back every conversation with neo-conservatives, Israeli war hawks and Washington-based think tanks, their opposition to the Obama-era Nuclear Deal always ends up spiraling into the issues of Iran’s ballistic missile program and its support for regional non-State actors.

Israeli officials frequently make claims about Iran producing a nuclear weapon in “years”, “months” or even “weeks,” this has become almost second nature. Yet their main issue has always been with Iran’s support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, who strive for the creation of a Palestinian State.

Proof of all this is simple. Israel, by itself, cannot destroy Iran’s vast nuclear program. It is not clear the US can destroy it either, even if it enters the war. An example of the US’ ineffectiveness at penetrating Iranian-style bunkers, built into mountainous ranges, as many of Iran’s nuclear facilities are, was demonstrated through the American failure to destroy missile storage bases in Yemen with its bunker-buster munitions, which were dropped from B-2 bombers.

Almost immediately after launching his war on Iran, Netanyahu sent out a message in English to the Iranian people, urging them to overthrow their government in an attempt to trigger civil unrest. The Israeli prime minister has since all but announced that regime change is his true intention, claiming that the operation “may lead” to regime change.

Israel’s own intelligence community and military elites have also expressed their view that their air force alone is not capable of destroying the Iranian nuclear program. So why then launch this war, if it is not possible to achieve the supposed reason it was “pre-emptively” launched?

There are two possible explanations:

The first is that the Israeli prime minister has launched this assault on Iran as a final showdown in his “seven front war,” with which he hopes to conclude the regional conflict through a deadly exchange that will ultimately inflict damage on both sides.

In this scenario, the desired outcome would be to conclude the war with the claim that Netanyahu has succeeded at destroying or has significantly degraded Iran’s nuclear program. He would also throw in claims, like we already see him making, that huge numbers of Iranian missiles and drones were eliminated. This would also make the opening Israeli strike, which killed senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders and nuclear scientists, make sense. It would all be the perfect blend of propaganda to sell a victory narrative.

On the other hand, the assumption would be that Tehran would also claim victory. Then both sides are able to show the results to their people and tensions cool down for a while. If you are to read what the Washington-based think-tanks are saying about this, most notably The Heritage Foundation, they speak about the ability to contain the war.

The second explanation, which could be an added bonus that the Israelis and US are hoping could come as a result of their efforts, is that this is a full-scale regime change war that is designed to rope in the US.

Israel’s military prestige was greatly damaged in the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, and since that time there has been no victory achieved over any enemy. Hamas is still operating in Gaza and is said to have just as many fighters as when the war began, Hezbollah was dealt significant blows but is still very much alive, while Yemen’s Ansarallah has only increased its strength. This is an all round stunning defeat of the Israeli military and an embarrassment to the US.

As is well known, Iran is the regional power that backs all of what is called the Axis of Resistance. Without it, groups like Hezbollah and Hamas would be significantly degraded. Evidently, armed resistance to Israeli occupation will never end as long as occupied people exist and live under oppressive rule, but destroying Iran would be devastating for the regional alliance against Israel.

The big question however, is whether regime change is even possible. There is a serious question mark here and it seems much more likely that this will end up on a slippery slope to nuclear war instead.

What makes the Israeli-US claim that this war is somehow pre-emptive, for which there is no proof at all, all the more ridiculous of a notion, is that if anything, Iran may now actually rush to acquire a nuclear weapon for defensive purposes. If they can’t even trust the Israelis not to bomb them with US backing, while negotiations were supposed to be happening, then how can a deal ever be negotiated?

Even in the event that the US joins and deals a major blow to the Iranian nuclear program, it doesn’t mean that Iran will simply abandon the program altogether. Instead, Tehran could simply end up rebuilding and acquiring the bomb years later. Another outcome of this war could end up being Israeli regime change, which also appears as if it could now be on the table.

Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the Palestinian territories and currently works with Quds News. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’.

June 19, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The rise of Abu Shabab: Mapping the Gaza militia armed by Israel

By Muhammad Shehada | The New Arab | June 10, 2025

A political earthquake hit Israel last week when former Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman revealed that “the Israeli government is giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons, identified with Islamic State [in Gaza], at the direction of the prime minister”.

Netanyahu has since admitted that Israel had been “running” proxy militias in Gaza, but tried to put a positive spin on it, claiming that such a move aims to challenge Hamas’s rule.

But branding these gangs as potential rivals to Hamas masks the very goal of why Israel created them in the first place. Around 300 untrained thieves, drug dealers, criminals, and convicted murderers cannot overpower Hamas’s estimated 30,000 militants.

Their actual role has more to do with advancing Israel’s genocide, starvation, and ethnic cleansing in Gaza while creating plausible deniability.

Furthermore, recent evidence indicates that Israel may have been collaborating with some of these Islamic State-linked elements even before 7 October.

Abu Shabab: A front for an Israeli proxy?

The most prominent gang leader in Gaza is Yasser Abu Shabab. His name first appeared in August 2024 on Hamas-linked social media groups as the figure responsible for looting the vast majority of humanitarian aid and reselling it on the black market for astronomical prices.

A senior security source told The New Arab that Abu Shabab’s gang had been active for months before then.

Local authorities knew Abu Shabab well. He was serving a long sentence in prison for the possession of large quantities of drugs, according to three knowledgeable sources. He was one of many inmates who escaped under the cover of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023.

Some other inmates were released on parole when Israel began bombing government facilities. Israeli newspapers like Maariv and Yediot Ahronot confirmed Abu Shabab’s criminal history through people close to him, and even added that he had links to the Islamic State (IS) through smuggling drugs from Sinai into Gaza.

Police in Gaza were perplexed when he emerged as a top gang leader. The security source told The New Arab that Abu Shabab is 35 years old, thin, weak, short (around 150cm in height), uncharismatic, illiterate, has strabismus in one eye, and has never received military training.

To them, he didn’t seem like someone with the leadership skills necessary to form a group of 300 armed militants, steal truckloads of aid, and store it under the radar.

Local authorities quickly decided that Abu Shabab was merely a front for an Israeli astroturfing campaign to maintain its policy of starvation in Gaza after the international community pressured Netanyahu to ease his total siege and allow a trickle of aid into the enclave.

What made this clear, according to them, is how Israeli drones bombed emergency committee volunteers or police officers every time they came close to thwarting a looting attempt by that gang in particular.

By late September 2024, Abu Shabab was talked about in Gaza as an Israeli-backed collaborator, not just a gang leader. That is when Hamas militants attempted to ambush him, firing around 90 bullets at a vehicle they thought belonged to Abu Shabab.

The vehicle, however, was identical to the one used by Islam Hijazi, the program officer of a US charity called Heal Palestine. She was tragically killed in the incident.

Two months later, Abu Shabab received widespread media attention after he burned a fuel truck and completely shut down the route used by aid convoys to retaliate against another Hamas ambush that killed his brother Fathi and 21 other members of his gang.

Soon after, the Washington Post revealed that the UN had named Abu Shabab in an internal memo as the main figure behind aid looting under “passive or active IDF protection”. This left little room for doubt that Abu Shabab’s gang was a tool for Israel to maintain starvation while externalising blame.

Mapping gang leaders: IS, ex-PA intel officers, and murderers

Abu Shabab’s deputy is thought to be Ghassan al-Dahini, 38, reportedly a former lieutenant in the Palestinian Authority (PA). Dahini is the one running the gang’s operations on the ground and actively trying to recruit new members, along with Saddam Abu Zakkar, per local authorities. His Facebook profile displays Israeli hostage emojis.

Another senior Palestinian security source told The New Arab that Dahini was a member of the “Army of Islam”, the extremist group responsible for kidnapping journalist Alan Johnston in 2007.

The group pledged allegiance to IS in 2015. Ghassan’s brother, Mohammed, died in prison after he was detained on drug-related offences, and Ghassan himself was imprisoned twice in March 2020 and November 2022, per the source. He added that “the Army of Islam relied on Dahini for the Sinai smuggling routes”.

On Sunday, Dahini posted a video of himself in military gear in Eastern Rafah close to Israel’s perimeter fence. He was standing next to a white pickup truck with a UAE license plate from Sharjah and firing a brand-new Serbian Zastava rifle.

Another prominent gang leader in Rafah is Shadi Soufi, a convicted murderer who was awaiting a death sentence before 7 October for killing a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) leader. Like Yasser, he also escaped prison during the war and was named by humanitarian organisations as responsible for looting aid under Israeli protection in Rafah.

Soufi, al-Dahini, and Abu Shabab are from the same Bedouin Tarabin clan that stretches across Rafah, Israel’s Negev desert, Egypt’s Sinai, and Jordan. Abu Shabab’s family recently disowned him for collaborating with Israel and said they will go after him to hold him accountable.

Another prominent leader of the Abu Shabab gang is Essam Soliman Nabahin, 35, a convicted murderer and IS member. He was implicated in a series of bombings against Hamas in 2015 by extremist Salafist groups and escaped to Sinai to formally join IS’s ranks. He caught the attention of Egyptian media in 2017 after taking part in attacks against the Egyptian army.

Nabahin’s name resurfaced in June 2023 when the police raided a house in central Gaza where he was hiding. He killed a police officer and was convicted in a military court before his escape in the early days of the war.

Israel says Nabahin was previously “recorded launching rockets into Israel without coordination with Hamas”.

Local authorities in Gaza have long suspected that IS-linked individuals like Nabahin were being pushed by Israel’s Shin Bet to fire one or two primitive projectiles sporadically to give Israel a pretext to strike Gaza and bomb specific targets. Hence, the police detained those militants repeatedly.

A senior Palestinian security source told The New Arab that authorities in Gaza caught a collaborator in 2018 who directed such occasional rocket attacks to give Israel cover for military action in Gaza.

Other members of the gang include multiple known drug dealers and convicted murderers.

How is Israel helping them?

Israel’s government has admitted it provided weapons to these gangs, mostly rifles and other light weaponry, in addition to money and equipment. Footage posted by Abu Shabab’s gang showed them driving in white pickup trucks with machineguns on top that looked virtually identical to those of Hamas.

In addition, Israel provides these gangs with safe refuge in areas fully depopulated by the Israeli military, like Rafah, and declared “extermination zones”, where any Palestinian entering would be killed on the spot. They are also provided with logistical support, protection, and even access to Israeli territory.

A Palestinian journalist documented one case of a gang member crossing into Israel, which could explain how those gangs disappeared completely during the ceasefire last January.

On the ground, the Abu Shabab gang has established warehouses operated with forklifts where they store looted aid. They have also established a military complex, according to the UN, which said the Israeli army would force aid convoys to drive through the areas where the gangs had positioned their militants and put up checkpoints to loot trucks.

And where the Israeli military goes, so do the gangs. After Israel issued forcible expulsion orders for Khan Younis and raided the European hospital and its surrounding area, Abu Shabab moved into the ‘Jarghoun’ villa in that very same area, per security sources.

On Tuesday, Israeli news channel i24 reported that Israel had launched airstrikes to protect the gang after it was attacked by Hamas militants in southern Gaza. The strikes killed four Hamas members.

What role do the gangs play on Israel’s behalf?

The Israeli-backed gangs in Gaza have become an unofficial arm of the Israeli military. For instance, whenever Israel gets pressured to allow food into Gaza, it immediately unleashes the gangs to maintain their use of starvation as a weapon of war, while blaming it on Hamas.

Experts believe Israel is using starvation as a tool for genocide by imposing conditions on a group “calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”. Prolonged starvation inflicts permanent mental and physical damage, particularly on children.

Israel has also been using these gangs to orchestrate chaos and engineer societal collapse through attacks on markets, shops, private businesses, homes, warehouses, soup kitchens, and other places vital to maintaining the population’s survival.

For instance, in early May 2025, a gang attacked a communal kitchen in Gaza. As soon as volunteers arrived to stop the looting, Israel bombed it and killed six volunteers, which implies it was a coordinated attack.

The Israeli army also sends the gangs on reconnaissance and surveillance missions in dangerous areas. Last month, Hamas released footage of an ambush it carried out against armed men in Rafah whom it thought were undercover Israeli troops. They turned out to be Abu Shabab militants.

Israel also uses the gangs to infiltrate Palestinian society and gather intelligence, as well as to kidnap and interrogate Palestinians by luring them with the promise of food, as documented by Palestinian journalist Younis Tirawi.

Israel is using proxy gangs for the final phase of the war

The most concerning use of these gangs, however, is Israel’s recently announced plan to push Gazans into camps in Rafah on Egypt’s borders to depopulate and destroy “everything that remains” of the rest of the enclave. This is a precursor to Israel’s declared goal of the mass expulsion of Palestinians into Egypt and other countries.

The Abu Shabab gang recently announced establishing an encampment area in eastern Rafah near the Egyptian borders and is using the very aid they have been systematically looting to lure starved Gazans into moving there.

This announcement was preceded by a clear rebranding psyop, where the same gang responsible for looting aid suddenly and shamelessly declared itself as a new “security force” that aims to “protect aid from looting”. They have since emerged in brand-new military and police uniforms in the Israeli-designated buffer zone in Rafah, where no Palestinians are allowed to enter.

Remarkably, Israel has allowed these gang members to wear Palestinian flags and insignia on their uniforms, while at the same time refusing to let the Palestinian Authority’s staff at the Rafah border crossing wear any such symbols.

In other words, Israel is using these gangs as a front. The Israeli army knows that if it orders Gazans to come to camps in eastern Rafah, people will immediately know it’s a trap for mass expulsion. But if a uniformed Palestinian force with good PR on social media makes such a demand, some people might fall for the trap.

Israel has used this same proxy tactic in Lebanon against Palestinians in 1982, where the Israeli military bolstered the South Lebanon Army (SLA) and used it and other militias to commit the Sabra and Shatila massacre, which saw 3,500 Palestinians killed.

Those collaborators collapsed after the Israeli army’s withdrawal from Southern Lebanon, as their leaders surrendered or fled to Israel. The same fate awaits these new Israeli-backed gangs once the Gaza genocide comes to an end.

Muhammad Shehada is a Palestinian writer and analyst from Gaza and the EU Affairs Manager at Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.

Follow him on Twitter: @muhammadshehad2

June 17, 2025 Posted by | Corruption, Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

The Nova Music Festival Exhibit: An Exercise in Racist Porn Propaganda to Justify Genocide

By Karin Brothers | Global Research | June 12, 2025

The Nova Music Festival Exhibit now touring North America is described on its website as:

… an in-depth remembrance of the brutal massacre at The Nova Music Festival on October 7th, 2023. The installation sets out to recreate a festival dedicated to peace and love that was savagely cut short by a terrorist attack on that fateful day. The attack at The Nova Music Festival was the largest massacre in music history. This groundbreaking installation is presented as a way to empower visitors to responsibly explore & bear witness to the tragic events of October 7 and its aftermath. …

The exhibit, now in Toronto, has been shown in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami. Its purpose (besides raising money and membership “for the Nova community”) is implicitly to rationalize Israel’s extermination of Gazans by generating hatred of Palestinians as inhumane and terrorist. The Hamas breakout, presented with no context, portrays it as sex-fueled and wantonly destructive.

I was aware that independent investigators had discredited Israeli claims that on October 7th Hamas had committed rapes, “killed babies” or burned them, but I wanted to examine the legitimacy of this exhibit because the Toronto school board had sent students to it.

Tickets ranged in price from $28 to $360 with everything over $18 donated to “the Nova community”. I wondered about the exhibit’s requirement not to wear a face covering unless “medically essential”.

When I arrived at the venue with my ticket (which could only be purchased online, after providing my home address and e-mail address), I was met with a sign that said by entering the exhibit, I consented to having my photo taken. So one of the costs of this exhibit was being coerced into sacrificing facial recognition privacy: a facial biometric scan connected to key information. (Was it a coincidence that two e-mail accounts ceased to function due to a “system error” after I purchased the tickets?  Days later, it’s not clear that they can ever be recovered.) On entering, visitors had to pass through metal-checking gates and searches similar to those in airports.

The exhibit venue is in a mammoth structure that appeared to have been a mall.  Most of the space was devoted to the exhibit, with a gift shop and a large seated area for membership and donation pitches for “the Nova community” or “the Nova Tribe” at the end. The dark, cavernous exhibit space tried to recreate what it would have been like at the abandoned festival site, with signs and dozens of computer screens featuring witness accounts and other information. An introductory sign at the beginning claimed that on October 7, 2023, three thousand “Hamas terrorists” entered Israel, raping and burning people. An introductory film, probably a reenactment, showed a packed Nova crowd jumping up and down and waving their arms to music before a “red alert” at around 6:30 am.

The computer screens, along with written signs, included what were claimed to be witness reports of sexual abuse and rape. The first was from first responders “Zaka” and a Rami Davidian, who both made pornographic claims that they found abused women who were naked, tied to trees with legs “spreadeagled” [sic]. Another exhibit claimed that Hamas sexually abused “both sexes”.

Intensive investigations, including one by Max Blumenthal(1), found that there was no evidence to support the claims of rape, or of the burning or killing of “babies” (one child was killed by accident). An early UN report that seemed to echo the sexual abuse claims was presented with the admission that the Special Rapporteur had “gone dark”, implicitly questioning the discredited accounts.(2)

Continuing through the exhibit, visitors pass the computer screens while wandering through what looks like hastily abandoned campsites, mock- ups of concrete shelters and a few incinerated, deformed cars. A sign at the end claims that (despite virtually all captives’ reports) Hamas beats and starves the hostages. Handwritten cards were on display through the end of the exhibit that appear to be visitor feedback, which showed how emotionally affected many were by the exhibit.

The exhibit played on the self-serving stereotypes of Jewish victimhood and Palestinian “terrorism”, clearly designed to leave naive visitors with a hatred of Palestinians and a rationalization for their extermination. The pornographic rape accounts, which were discredited well before the exhibit was put together, are at the shocking heart of this show. I saw no pictures of the fleet of Israeli tanks or of the helicopter gunships that came out on that day, despite open publication in Israeli media. There was no explanation of how Hamas fighters with hand-held weapons were able to incinerate about 80 cars along with their festival occupants. I saw no mention of the Nova victims’ calls for help that went unheeded for over eight hours that day.

I did not see any mention in the exhibit that Israel had invoked its “Hannibal Directive”(3) — which allowed the killing of Israelis to prevent them taken as hostages. This directive was responsible for much of the day’s slaughter. Despite Israeli calls for their government to hold an independent investigation into what happened on October 7th, and how people were killed, none is scheduled.

No background to the October 7, 2023, event is provided: no mention of Gaza being under a brutal military occupation since 1967, no mention of Gazans being illegally incarcerated for over 20 years, no mention of Israel’s illegal blockade since 2006, its illegal takeover of one third of Gaza’s agricultural land, most of its fishing zone, and no mention of daily Israeli attacks on Gaza by land, sea and air. Or the fact that Gazans have been incarcerated with virtually no potable water on land that the UN claimed could not sustain life after 2020. Richard Falk, the former United Nations Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, not only called the Hamas breakout on October 7th “entirely justifiable”, given the context, but “long overdue”.(4)

The Hamas suicide mission was not to kill Israelis but to capture hostages connected to the Israeli military bases around Gaza’s border to exchange for the thousands of Palestinians held by Israel. Soon after the hostages’ arrival in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar told the Israelis that they would be safe and returned in a hostage exchange within a day or two.(5) Hamas did not expect the presence of the Nova rave event; its placement near Gaza’s border had been named just two days earlier.(6)

School boards that encourage students to visit this exhibit demonstrate a political agenda and a lack of responsibility to both the students and the greater community. The Toronto District School Board (TDSB), the largest school board in Canada, sent students to this exhibit while banning the joint Israeli-Palestinian and Academy award-winning “No Other Land” as “political”. Palestinian children in at least one TDSB elementary school are already confronted with hate- filled jibes that “Kids in Gaza deserve what they get.” Exposing students (or anyone else) to this exhibit can be expected to turn them against any justice for Palestinians unless they come with an understanding of the historical context and are able to identify the exhibit’s lies, omissions and half-truths. Given this school board’s bias, that preparation is unlikely.

This exhibit moves to Washington, D.C. in late June, 2025.

Karin Brothers is a freelance writer. She is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Notes

1. “Mass rape by Hamas on Oct 7? NYT coverage questioned by Max Blumenthal: Rising debated”. The Hill. January 4, 2024.  https://thehill.com/video/mass-rape-by-hamas-on-oct-7-nyt-coverage-questioned-by-max-blumenthal-rising-debated/9302297/

2 Feminist Solidarity Network for Palestine. “Here’s what Pramila Patten’s UN report on Oct 7 sexual violence actually said”. Mondoweiss. March 11, 2024.
https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/heres-what-pramila-pattens-un-report-on-oct-7-sexual-violence-actually-said/

3. “Israeli army used Hannibal Directive during October 7 Hamas attack: Report”. Al Jazeera. July 7, 2024.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/7/israeli-army-used-hannibal-directive-during-october-7-hamas-attack-report

4. “Ex-UN Rapporteur: October 7 Attack By Hamas Was ‘Long Overdue’”. Matsav. April 7, 2025.
https://matzav.com/ex-un-rapporteur-october-7-attack-by-hamas-was-long-overdue/

5. Harel, Amos. “Hamas Leader Sinwar Met Israeli Hostages in Gaza Strip Tunnels Day After October 7 Massacre”. Ha’aretz. November 28, 2023.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-11-28/ty-article/.premium/hamas-leader-sinwar-met-israeli-hostages-in-gaza-strip-tunnels/0000018c-12d6-d65f-a7dd-f2d75b9f0000

6. Blumenthal, Max, Maté, Aaron. “Zero hour in Gaza – The Grayzone live.” Friday, October 13, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-p2bjA2b4U

June 13, 2025 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , | 1 Comment

Israel’s claim that ‘Hamas is stealing aid’ is patently a lie. Here’s why

By Jonathan Cook | May 27, 2025

Israel’s claim that Hamas is “stealing aid” is so preposterous no serious journalist or politician ought to give it any kind of airing – yet there it is continuously cropping up in the coverage of Gaza.

How do I know Israel’s claim is utterly worthless? For this simple reason:

Israel has a fleet of surveillance drones constantly hovering over the tiny strip of land that is Gaza, monitoring every inch of the territory. The incessant whine you hear every time you watch someone there being interviewed is from one of those drones. They are Israel’s eyes on the enclave. If you are outside in Gaza, you might as well be living in the Truman Show.

Were Hamas stealing aid in Gaza, Israel would easily be able to document it. It would have the video footage from its drones. The fact that it has not provided any footage showing Hamas’ theft of aid – its ransacking of aid trucks, or its fighters smuggling themselves into aid warehouses – is confirmation enough that Israel has simply invented this claim to rationalise its plans to starve the people of Gaza to death through months of an aid blockade or force them to flee into neighbouring Sinai, whichever comes first.

Without its disinformation campaign about “Hamas stealing aid”, Israel knows popular revulsion at its starvation campaign would grow quickly, and western governments would further struggle to keep opposition in check.

There are lots of others reasons, of course, to reject Israel’s lies about “Hamas stealing aid”. Not least, because every single charity and aid agency dealing with Gaza says that aid is not being stolen by Hamas.

But also because, were Hamas fighters doing so, they would be stealing from their own families: from their children and grandparents, who are much more vulnerable to Israel’s starvation campaign than they are. The idea that Hamas is stealing aid makes sense only to a racist, European colonial mindset in which Hamas fighters are viewed as bogeymen figures indifferent to the deaths of their own children, wives and parents.

What undoubtedly is happening is that Israel is allowing the strongest extended families in Gaza – often crime families with significant private arsenals – to loot the aid. That has become a serious problem since Israel killed off Gaza’s civilian police force (in violation of international law), leaving no one to enforce public order.

When everyone’s starving, the most powerful families mobilise their strength to grab an unfair share of the aid. That was an entirely predictable outcome of Israel’s policy to smash all of Gaza’s institutions, including its hospitals, government offices, and police stations, on the bogus pretext that they were “Hamas”.

Note too that Israel has long cultivated close ties to Palestinian crime families, because they provide a potential alternative, and more co-optable, power base to the Palestinian national movements and are a good source of collaborators.

The evidence suggests Israel is encouraging these crime families to loot the aid precisely to justify its dismantling of an existing aid system that works remarkably well, given the catastrophic circumstances in Gaza, and replace it with its own militarised, completely inadequate “aid distribution” system, which is designed only to herd Palestinians into the southern-most tip of Gaza, ready to be expelled into Sinai.

No journalist ought to be repeating Israel’s transparent disinformation. To do so is to collude in the promotion of lies to justify genocide. But the western media class have been doing that now for more than a year and half. They have grown entirely insensible to their own active collusion in the genocide.

May 27, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hamas senior official: The Movement agrees to US proposal for permanent ceasefire in Gaza

Palestinian Information Center – May 26, 2025

GAZA – A senior official in the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, stated that the Movement has agreed to a proposal by US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, which stipulates a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The first phase includes the release of 10 Israeli captives in exchange for a 70-day truce and a partial Israeli withdrawal from the Strip.

The senior official said in a press statement on Monday that the new offer approved by the Movement is a developed version of the path and vision proposed by Witkoff. It includes the release of 10 live Israeli captives held by the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, in exchange for a 60-day truce, a partial Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including several hundred with high or life sentences.

The mechanism for releasing the Israeli captives will occur in two phases: five will be released on the first day of the agreement, and five more on the sixtieth day.

The source said that Hamas and the American envoy are finalizing a ceasefire agreement in Doha that would lead to a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The senior official clarified that the new offer approved by the Movement includes the partial withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip—especially from Salah al-Din Road, including the Nuseirat junction south of Gaza City, the Morag axis in northern Rafah, and from residential areas.

According to the source, indirect negotiations will begin regarding a long-term truce and its requirements, and an independent Community Support Committee will be empowered to govern the Gaza Strip.

May 26, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hamas releases captive soldier Edan Alexander amid Gaza truce efforts

Al-Mayadeen | May 12, 2025

The military wing of Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades, released Israeli soldier and American captive Edan Alexander to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday in northern Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

The release coincided with the arrival of US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff at the Re’im military base, where Alexander was reportedly being transferred. Israeli media reported that Alexander is expected to travel to Qatar on Wednesday for a meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Alexander’s release leaves 58 captives still held in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli reports. Of those, 23 are believed to be alive.

Serious talks yield results

In an official statement, Hamas said that Alexander’s release followed communications with the US administration and falls within broader mediation efforts aimed at achieving a ceasefire, opening crossings, and facilitating humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The movement highlighted its high level of flexibility and willingness to engage, stating that “serious and responsible negotiations lead to results in the release of prisoners.”

Hamas also warned that the continued aggression by the Israeli occupation prolongs the suffering of the captives and risks their lives.

The group reaffirmed its readiness to immediately begin negotiations aimed at reaching a comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire agreement, calling for the full withdrawal of the occupation’s forces, the lifting of the blockade, a prisoner exchange, and the reconstruction of Gaza.

In its statement, Hamas urged the US administration to intensify its efforts to end the war on Gaza.

US sidelines ‘Israel’

The United States has overtaken the Israeli regime in leading negotiations related to Iran, Ansar Allah, and most recently, the case of Israeli soldier and American captive Idan Alexander, according to Israeli Channel 13.

Citing a US official, Channel 13 reported that following Alexander’s release, immediate negotiations are expected to begin to reach a comprehensive agreement. The fate of other captives held in Gaza is now reportedly in the hands of US President Donald Trump, as both Hamas and “Israel” await Washington’s next steps.

Israeli media also reported that the US is actively working to recover the remains of four American captives believed to have been killed during the war.

Netanyahu claims Edan Alexander’s release achieved through ‘military pressure’

The anticipated release of a US-Israeli captive by Hamas would not lead to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip or the release of Palestinian prisoners, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Monday.

Negotiations for a broader deal to secure the release of all Israeli captives in Gaza would proceed, Netanyahu stated, but would do so “under fire, during preparations for an intensification of the fighting,” according to a statement issued by his office.

Hamas announced on Sunday that it would release Edan Alexander, a US-Israeli soldier held in Gaza, as it confirmed direct talks with the United States toward a potential ceasefire in the war-torn Palestinian territory.

Abu Obeida, the spokesperson of Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades, confirmed that the group has decided to release the 21-year-old Israeli soldier on Monday, without providing further details concerning the process.

May 12, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , | Leave a comment

US abandons ‘Hamas disarmament’ demands in Gaza truce talks: Report

The Cradle | May 10, 2025

The US government has dropped its demand for Hamas to disarm as a precondition for a ceasefire in Gaza, Egyptian sources revealed to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

“US negotiators conveyed to Egyptian intermediaries that the issue of Hamas’s disarmament could be addressed at a later stage, rather than being an immediate requirement for a ceasefire agreement,” the Qatari-owned news outlet reports.

The unnamed source added that US President Donald Trump’s “inner circle” is convinced of the “futility” of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy to free the captives via military pressure, believing that no military option will help save the Israeli captives in Gaza.

Furthermore, US planners are reportedly aware of the “impracticality of forcibly exiling leaders and fighters from the armed wings of Hamas” and other Palestinian resistance factions due to “concerns from potential host countries and the large number of individuals Israel seeks to remove,” which number in the thousands.

The Egyptian source reported a “sense of optimism” among negotiators regarding the possibility of reaching a comprehensive solution in the near future, especially given Hamas’s readiness to release all Israeli detainees in Gaza simultaneously and the potential for an acceptable framework controlling the resistance’s weapons and the movement post-agreement.

Washington’s sudden shift follows reports in Hebrew media indicating that Trump has “lost patience” with Netanyahu and will not wait any longer for Israel before advancing US initiatives in West Asia.

Trump this week surprised his allies in Tel Aviv by announcing an end to the illegal war in Yemen as part of a ceasefire deal that excluded Israel. Moreover, Reuters reported on Thursday that the US president is no longer demanding that Saudi Arabia normalize ties with Israel as a condition before nuclear cooperation talks can proceed.

Trump is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar next week. As of press time, this trip does not include a stop in Israel.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday canceled his planned trip to Israel, which was set for Monday, to accompany President Trump on Air Force One for his trip to the Persian Gulf.

Despite the apparent cold shoulder from the White House, Israeli leaders say they are moving ahead with a large-scale military operation to “conquer” Gaza if no progress is made before Trump’s upcoming tour.

May 11, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Official Arab alignment with Israel to eliminate the resistance

By Majeb Zebda – Palestinian Information Center – May 4, 2025

The media warning issued by the Lebanese Higher Defence Council to Hamas, accusing it of undermining Lebanese national security, not only contradicts the facts that Israel is the one undermining Lebanese national security and violating Lebanese territory through killing, bombing and occupation without deterrence or accountability, but also paves the way for the disarmament of the Palestinian camps in Lebanon and suggests that they pose a threat to Lebanon’s security and territorial integrity. I will not rule out the possibility of the camp weapons issue being used to distort the image of the Palestinian resistance and to drag Hamas’s name into any future conflicts on the ground. This desire aligns with the vision of Mahmoud Abbas, who is hostile to the Palestinian resistance in general and Hamas in particular and plans to visit Lebanon to discuss the issue of weapons in the camps in the coming days.

On the other hand, the sudden Lebanese warning comes in response to the vision of the US and Israel’s arrangements for the future of the Arab region, which is being re-engineered politically and on the ground to allow for complete and undisputed Israeli domination. It also aligns with other Arab measures, including, for example, Jordan’s criminalisation of support for the Palestinian resistance and the new Syrian regime’s efforts, under American pressure, to tighten the noose on Palestinian resistance factions and prevent their activities inside Syria under the pretext of “arms control.”

This allows us to come to the conclusion that the Lebanese warning is just one scene among several others that together form the American-Israeli vision of the region. It is a bleak future for Arab dignity, in which Israel violates Arab lands and capabilities daily in a provocative and humiliating manner, while Arab regimes undertake the task of clipping the wings of the Palestinian resistance and cutting off its supply lines under the force of American pressure. The US will implement what these regimes fail to, and the American bombing of Yemen in defence of Israel, which has been ongoing for weeks, is a prime example of this.

Unfortunately, official Arab alignment with Israeli-American goals is pushing some to treat the Palestinian resistance with arrogance and condescension, describing it as the weakest link. Therefore, there is no high political price to pay for antagonising it and distorting its positive image, even though it has the legitimate and legal right to resist military occupation and defend its land, people and holy sites. This is a chance to recall the shameless insults and obscenities uttered by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas against the Palestinian resistance, which is the opposite of the official Arab approach to the criminal occupation, which violates the dignity of Arabs, their skies and their land around the clock. Yet, no one dares to threaten it or issue warnings—even as a formality—of resisting its attacks, which have become a daily occurrence on our television screens.

Arab identification with Israel’s desire to eliminate the resistance will strongly clash with the resistance’s popular support and its deep roots in the hearts of the nation’s free people. The resistance, which has persevered for 18 months against the Israeli enemies and sacrificed its best leaders and fighters without being broken, is capable of regrouping and rebuilding what the occupation has destroyed. When it does so, many of those who align with Israel’s goals today may seek to cosy up to the resistance after their strength weakens and they fail to eliminate it and uproot it from the land of Palestine and its surroundings.

Translation by MEMO

May 7, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment