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Prisoner thanks Gazans after release, says Israel tortures Palestinians

Press TV – January 31, 2025

One of the high-profile Palestinians released as part of the third batch of an agreement between Hamas and Israel on the exchange of Palestinian prisoners with Israeli captives under a Gaza ceasefire agreement was Zakaria Zubeidi.

Zubeidi, a senior leader of the Fatah movement and commander of its armed wing the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in the West Bank, was freed on Thursday alongside 109 other Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Their release came after Hamas and its ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad released three Israeli captives along with the five Thai nationals. They were handed over to the Red Cross.

“Today I say thank you to Gaza, which liberated me and brought me back to my family. I was isolated, tortured and beaten, and repeatedly humiliated, and the situation of all prisoners is the same,” Zubeidi said in his first remarks after the release.

He went on to describe Israeli prisons as centers of killing and daily torture.

“Gaza now needs reconstruction, and all levels of the Palestinian people must come together to accomplish this, and return our people to their homes safely,” the former Palestinian prisoner pointed out.

Zubeidi was born in 1976 at Jenin refugee camp in the northern part of the occupied West Bank. He became a military commander for the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades during the Second Intifada (2000–2005), leading armed resistance.

He lost his mother Samira and his brother Taha in 2002, as Israeli occupation forces stormed the camp.

Zubeidi was constantly pursued by the occupying Tel Aviv regime.

On July 15, 2007, Israel granted amnesty to several al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade members, including him, in exchange for their surrender to the Palestinian Authority.

Following the amnesty, Zubeidi got married and had two children – a son and a daughter. He shifted his focus to theater arts, and became a prominent advocate for Palestinian arts with the Freedom Theater in Jenin.

He met with many international activists and supporters of Palestinian rights.

But four years later, on December 29, 2011, Israel revoked his amnesty, despite Zubeidi’s insistence that he had not violated its terms.

He was detained without charge by the Palestinian Authority (PA) for six months, and then later held in a PA jail in “protective custody.”

In 2018, he pursued a master’s degree at Birzeit University.

He and his lawyer, Tariq Barghout, were arrested in January 2019 and charged with engaging in “new incitement activities” and armed resistance against the Israeli regime.

Zubeidi finally obtained his master’s degree behind prison bars.

On September 6, 2021, he escaped from the Gilboa maximum security prison in the northern sector of the Israeli-occupied territories alongside 5 other Palestinian inmates by digging a tunnel from their cell.

Israeli forces recaptured all six Palestinian inmates days later, but the daring escape, known as Operation Freedom Tunnel, was widely praised as legendary among Palestinians and Muslim nations.

Last May, Zubeidi’s son Dawoud succumbed to injuries sustained in an armed confrontation with Israeli forces in Jenin.

Last September, his other son Mohammad was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the West Bank city of Tubas along with several other Palestinians.

January 31, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , , | Leave a comment

RFK Jr. Pushes Back on Chronic Disease, Autism and Agency Corruption

By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. | The Defender | January 30, 2025

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hit back at Congress members who attacked his stance on vaccines and the chronic disease epidemic, suggesting today during his second U.S. Senate hearing to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that several members have accepted donations from Big Pharma.

One day after his first confirmation hearing in the Senate Finance Committee, which included an exchange with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) about onesies sold on the Children’s Health Defense (CHD) website, Kennedy testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, for which Sanders is a ranking member.

During an exchange with Sanders, Kennedy said, “Corruption is not just in the federal agencies, it is in Congress too. Almost all the members of this panel … including yourself, are accepting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry.”

This was one of several contentious moments during today’s meeting, which also focused on vaccine safety, the chronic disease epidemic and conflicts of interest in scientific research.

Kennedy frequently questioned the effectiveness of U.S. public health agencies in addressing the chronic health epidemic, which he said has come at a great cost both in terms of fatalities and the epidemic’s economic burden.

“The focus is on infectious disease, and we almost altogether ignore chronic disease, which causes 92% of the deaths in this country,” Kennedy said. Noting that the U.S. had a disproportionate percentage of COVID-19-related deaths during the pandemic, Kennedy said it is because “we are the sickest people on earth.”

Kennedy pledged to reverse this trend, if confirmed as HHS secretary, by emphasizing transparency and “good science.”

‘I’m pro-good science’

Unlike yesterday’s hearing, today’s hearing focused extensively on Kennedy’s views on vaccines and vaccine safety. Kennedy responded to claims he is “anti-vaccine” and “anti-industry.”

“I’m neither. I’m pro-safety. I’m pro-good science,” Kennedy said. “We should always follow the evidence no matter what it says.” Kennedy said he wouldn’t “impose” his opinions on HHS scientists. Instead, he would support examining “all the data” by empowering HHS scientists to do their job.

“We will have the best vaccine standards, with safety studies,” Kennedy said.

Much of the discussion about vaccines centered on rising autism rates, with Kennedy noting that they have increased from 1 in 10,000 to as high as 1 in 34, calling this an “explosion” that public health agencies have long overlooked.

Kennedy referred to a recent peer-reviewed study of 47,000 9-year-olds to respond to claims by members of the committee that the link between autism and vaccines has been definitively debunked. The study found that autism rates were higher among vaccinated children and increased as the number of vaccinations grew.

“Why don’t we know what’s causing this epidemic?” Kennedy asked. “Why hasn’t CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] been looking at other hypotheses to determine the etiology of why we’ve had this dramatic 1,000% increase in this disease that is destroying our kids?”

Several members of the committee openly agreed with Kennedy’s stance on autism.

“1-in-36. If that’s not a pandemic, then what is?” asked Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.). “Can any of you guys with a straight face say that we shouldn’t look at every aspect to what we’re putting in our kids, be it from the food to the vaccines?”

“I just want to follow the science where it leads, without presupposition,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)

‘We need a trustworthy government’

Kennedy also addressed the COVID-19 vaccines, stating that mandates and a lack of public trust in their safety have contributed to waning vaccination rates.

“If we want uptake of vaccines, we need a trustworthy government,” Kennedy said. “That’s what I want to restore to the American people and the vaccine program. I want people to know if the government says something, it’s true. It’s not manipulative.”

Kennedy responded to claims by some committee members that the COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives, pointing out that this statement can’t be made definitively because public health agencies “don’t have a good surveillance system.”

Kennedy cited a 2021 lawsuit he filed against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over its approval of the COVID-19 vaccines, as an example of deficiencies in the safety testing by public health agencies.

“I filed that lawsuit after CDC recommended the vaccine for 6-year-old children without any evidence that it would benefit them and without testing,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy said he would “support the vaccine program” — but by ensuring “that we have gold-standard, evidence-based science.”

‘A generation of kids’ has been ‘written off’

Kennedy suggested that agency capture and the entanglement of Big Pharma with drug regulation and safety, have adversely affected Americans’ health outcomes.

“Prescription drugs are now the third-largest cause of death in our country … Americans are getting less and less healthy. Seventy percent of pharmaceutical profits globally come from our country, which has 4.2% of the world’s population. We’re the only country that allows full-scale pharmaceutical ads on TV,” Kennedy said.

“A generation of kids” has been “written off” as a result of factors such as “misplaced institutional loyalty” and “entanglements with the drug companies,” Kennedy said.

“Our country will sink beneath a sea of desperation and debt if we don’t change course and ask the fundamental question, ‘Why are healthcare costs so high in the first place?’ The obvious answer to that question is chronic disease,” Kennedy said.

According to Kennedy, “a very little, low percentage” of the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is devoted to studying chronic disease — and the toxins that cause them. He vowed to change this if confirmed.

“We are allowing these companies — because of their influence over this body, over our regulatory agencies, to mass-poison American children. And that’s wrong. It needs to end,” Kennedy said. “The president’s pledge is not to make some Americans healthy again, but to make all Americans healthy again.”

Kennedy’s message drew the support of some of the committee’s members including Paul, who in a post on X said, “RFK Jr. has my vote.” Despite his contentious series of exchanges with Kennedy, Sanders also expressed support for Kennedy’s agenda to “Make America Healthy Again.”

According to Kim Mack Rosenberg, general counsel for CHD, today’s hearing was “a courtesy hearing.” Yesterday’s hearing before the Senate Finance Committee “is the decisive vote that will take the final vote to the Senate floor.”

Kennedy will then require a simple majority vote in the Senate to be confirmed as HHS secretary. If confirmed, Kennedy will lead a department that oversees 13 public health agencies, including the CDC, FDA and NIH.

Related articles in The Defender

This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.

January 30, 2025 Posted by | Science and Pseudo-Science | , | Leave a comment

New York’s Speech Crackdown Shields ISRAEL From Public Criticism

21st Century Wire | January 29, 2025

Recently, under intense pressure from the Israel Lobby, Harvard University capitulated to Zionist billionaires and media pressure by dramatically expanding its “guidance” for applying so-called Non-Discrimination and Anti-Bullying Policies and Procedures – specifying protections for Zionists and alleged victims of so-called “antisemitic” speech. This has already caused chilling effect on political speech and political protests on university campuses across the United States. These are some of the most draconian and arbitrary bylaws ever seen, and will almost certainly fall foul of the U.S. First Amendment once a challenge makes it to the high court.

In addition, the New York State legislature has also succumb to pressure from the Israel Lobby and pushed through a new law designed to shield Israel and Zionism exclusively – from public criticism or acts of protest.

American journalist and media critic Glenn Greenwald breaks down this fundamental problem now facing America and Europe. Watch: 

January 30, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, Video | , , , , | Leave a comment

Trump signs executive order to ‘find and deport’ pro-Palestine student activists

The Cradle | January 30, 2025

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on 29 January directing federal agencies to identify and deport “non-citizen participants” in pro-Palestine protests that swept college campuses last year.

“I will issue clear orders to my Attorney General to aggressively prosecute terroristic threats, arson, vandalism, and violence against American Jews,” the White House quoted Trump as saying earlier on Wednesday.

“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before,” the order’s fact sheet reads.

He added that the Department of Justice will “quell pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation” and “investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities.”

The executive order requires federal agency and department leaders to “provide the White House with recommendations within 60 days on all criminal and civil authorities that could be used to fight antisemitism,” according to the fact sheet.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations released a statement on Wednesday calling the executive order “a dishonest, overbroad and unenforceable attack on both free speech and the humanity of Palestinians.”

“It’s time for President Trump to pursue an America First agenda, not an Israel First agenda,” the statement adds.

Despite rampant claims of “antisemitism” during campus protests that demanded an end to the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, a study published last May by Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) found that 97 percent of the protests were peaceful.

“My promise to Jewish Americans is this: With your vote, I will be your defender, your protector, and I will be the best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House,” the White House quotes Trump as saying.

January 30, 2025 Posted by | Full Spectrum Dominance, Solidarity and Activism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Swiss official who jailed journalist Ali Abunimah is fanatical pro-Israel activist

By Wyatt Reed · The Grayzone · January 28, 2025

The Swiss official who ordered the arrest of renowned Palestinian-American journalist Ali Abunimah justified doing so on the false and defamatory basis that Abunimah is “an Islamist Jew-hater.” Mario Fehr, the head of Zurich’s Department of Security, made the bogus accusation in a recent comment to the Swiss publication NZZ, which also falsely characterized Abunimah as an “Islamist” and an “extremist.”

Swiss authorities detained Abunimah on Jan. 25, after they initially allowed him entry into Switzerland following an hour-long interrogation. Abunimah was deported on Jan. 27 after two nights, during which Swiss officials refused to tell him whether he was being charged with a crime. According to the Swiss newspaper NZZ, officers in Zurich successfully petitioned federal police for an arrest warrant after realizing Abunimah had travelled to the country in order to deliver a speech at an event organized by the Zurich Palestine Committee. Fehr explained the arrest by stating, in reference to self-described “non-religious person” Ali Abunimah: “We do not want an Islamist Jew-hater who calls for violence in Switzerland.”

It’s unclear how Fehr came to adopt this patently false claim, but the article in NZZ gives a hint. In painting the secular Abunimah as a jihadist, the story’s authors relied on a leader of a little-known group called “Never Again Is Now,” (NAIN) which characterizes itself as “the only non-profit organization in Switzerland dedicated exclusively to combating antisemitism,” says it “demands the uncompromising enforcement of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism,” and claims: “we… defend Israel against anti-Zionist agendas.”

NZZ quoted one of the group’s board members, Thomas Patzko, as stating “Abunimah and his platform are a mouthpiece for Hamas.” The outlet cited NAIN while insisting that Abunimah “delegitimizes the victims of the terrorist attack on October 7, specifically women and children” – a reference to Abunimah’s factual statement that “there is no credible evidence of a single rape on October 7.”

It’s not yet apparent whether these false accusations by Swiss media or the Zionist group led directly to Abunimah’s deportation. But at some point prior to Abunimah’s scheduled address, “the Zurich [regional] police had become aware of Abunimah’s planned appearance,” NZZ reported. “They had submitted a request to Fedpol for an entry ban,” the outlet wrote, adding “this request was granted” by “the responsible government councilor and security director Mario Fehr.”

What is clear, however, is the Zurich security chief’s allegiance to the Zionist narrative. At a “Rally in solidarity with Israel” on Oct. 10, 2023, Fehr openly stated that “the fate of Israel and its inhabitants is close to my heart” before rattling off a comprehensive list of pro-Israel talking points, ranting about Iran and quoting notoriously racist Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, while demanding the Swiss government cease funding any development projects in Palestine.

“Hamas and its main sponsor Iran have always called for the destruction of Israel and the Jews. The fact that official Swiss foreign policy believed in the illusion that it could seriously negotiate with these terrorists is naive and shameful. – Anyone who rapes women, kills old people, kidnaps children, dehumanizes the dead, takes countless peaceful people hostage is not a negotiating partner – he is a rapist, a murderer, a terrorist. Golda Meir was right: ‘You cannot negotiate peace with somebody who has come to kill you.’ Peace will not be possible with Hamas and its accomplices!”

Minutes later, Fehr launched into a tirade about those who “somehow try to explain that Israel is actually to blame,” complaining: “These relativists should simply spend their next trip to the Middle East in Gaza.” Though he conceded that “many Palestinian civilians are also suffering and are affected,” Fehr insisted that “the responsibility for this lies solely with the Hamas terrorists,” stating flatly: “Israel is not to blame for this escalation.”

Ultimately, Fehr insisted the Swiss “Federal Council must suspend development cooperation with Palestine (like the EU) until it is clear who the money is really going to benefit” because “there is currently no negotiating partner on the Palestinian side.”

“Anyone who sees it differently is allowing money to flow to terrorists,” he claimed.

In an interview with NZZ one month after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, Fehr claimed that “the rampant anti-Semitism” had become “unbearable” in Switzerland, a trend he said was borne out by pro-Palestinian protests, and which he attributed to the presence of Arabs:

“We see from Palestine demonstrations that anti-Semitism is more widespread in certain cultural circles. Particularly in parts of the Arab world, children learn to hate Jews and Israel from an early age. We have to be careful that we don’t give this hatred any room here.”

Fehr criticized authorities in Switzerland for allowing pro-Palestinian protests to take place and said he had demanded they ban such events in areas under his jurisdiction, asserting that “anti-Israel demonstrations that are increasingly being hijacked by extremists.”

“Their goal is the annihilation of Israel and all Jews. The danger that Islamists from Germany or other countries will now move to Switzerland and spread their hatred is real. A large Palestine demonstration took place in Bern last Saturday, and the next one has been planned and approved for this weekend in the city of Zurich. I think that is negligent.”

“I have emphatically insisted to the head of municipal security to not authorize any more Palestine demonstrations in the current dangerous situation,” he stated.

Asked whether regional police under his command would “continue to support the Zurich city authorities, even though the city allows such demonstrations,” Fehr replied simply: “We will protect Jewish institutions as before – with all the means at our disposal.”

January 30, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , | Leave a comment

UNRWA Shutdown Risks Killing Gaza Ceasefire: Official

By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute |  January 28, 2025

The head of the UN’s Palestinian Aid Agency (UNRWA) said Tel Aviv’s decision to halt his agency’s assistance programs in Israel jeopardizes the Gaza truce and hostage deal.

On Tuesday, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN said UNRWA would have to cease its operations in Israel when Tel Aviv’s law banning the organization goes into effect on Thursday. “UNRWA must cease its operations and evacuate all premises it operates in Jerusalem,” Ambassador Danny Danon told the Security Council. “Israel will terminate all collaboration, communication and contact with UNRWA or anyone acting on its behalf.”

UNRWA Chief Philippe Lazzarini responded by saying the shuttering of UNRWA in Israel risked causing the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal to end.

“In two days, our operations in the occupied Palestinian territory will be crippled, as legislation passed by the Israeli Knesset takes effect,” he told the UNSC. “At stake is the fate of millions of Palestinians, the ceasefire, and the prospects for a political solution that brings lasting peace and security.”

UNRWA serves as the most crucial aid agency for Palestinians who live as refugees or as second-class citizens in Israeli-occupied territory. Since the start of the Israeli onslaught in Gaza, UNRWA has provided a crucial lifeline to people living in deplorable conditions caused by the Israeli siege of the Strip.

Following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, then-Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a complete siege, including food, water, and medicine, of Gaza. UNRWA has been the key facilitator of bringing aid through the Israeli checkpoints to the people of Gaza.

Tel Aviv has attempted to portray UNRWA as another wing of Hamas, claiming its members helped to conduct the October 7 attack. However, an independent inquiry found that Israel could not provide evidence to back up that claim.

Lazzarini told the Security Council that Israel recently ramped up its global propaganda campaign against the agency. “The Government of Israel is investing significant resources to portray the Agency as a terrorist organization, and our staff as terrorists or terrorist sympathizers,” he explained. “Billboards and ads accusing UNRWA of terrorism recently appeared in major cities around the world. They were paid for by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

The UNRWA chief went on to say that Tel Aviv is weaponizing Google ads as a part of its narrative warfare. “Google ad campaigns re-direct those seeking information about the Agency to websites replete with disinformation,” he added.

Lazzarini argued that the anti-UNRWA propaganda has had deadly effects, as 273 of his organization’s staff have been killed during the Israeli destruction of Gaza.

January 29, 2025 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israeli quadcopters: Ongoing crimes against humanity

By Kit Klarenberg | Al Mayadeen | January 29, 2025

In November 2024, acclaimed surgeon Nizam Mamode testified to the British parliament’s International Development Committee’s ongoing inquiry into Gaza’s “humanitarian situation”. A veteran medical professional on the frontlines of the Zionist entity’s genocide of Palestinians, primarily women and children, he repeatedly burst into tears throughout. Describing scenes he and his team personally witnessed as they tended to countless mutilated and disfigured victims, he sketched a “particularly disturbing” picture of “Israel’s” inexorable, indiscriminate maiming and murder of civilians in the wake of October 7, 2023.

Mamode’s most intense grief was exhibited while elucidating Tel Aviv’s systematic, industrial-scale use of quadcopter drones to “regularly” shoot incapacitated Palestinians – in particular, children injured or trapped by rubble, following Israeli occupation force airstrikes. Of all the horrors he and his team spectated, Mamode considered “the deliberate and persistent… targeting of civilians, day after day” in the most perverse manner. Time after time, US-supplied IOF bombs would drop “on a crowded, tented area,” then:

“The drones would come down and pick off civilians – children [as young as seven] … This is not an occasional thing. This was day after day after day of operating on children, who would say, ‘I was lying on the ground after a bomb had dropped, and this quadcopter came down and hovered over me and shot me.’ That is clearly a deliberate and persistent act; there was persistent targeting of civilians, day after day. We had one or two mass casualty incidents every day.”

Mamode, who has “worked in a number of conflict zones in different parts of the world” – including Rwanda during the 1994 genocide – said he’d “never seen anything” on the scale of the barbarity in Gaza, “ever”. This perspective was shared by “all the experienced colleagues” with whom he worked. A surgeon on Mamode’s team who’d been to Ukraine on five occasions declared the situation in Gaza to be “10 times worse.”

Benjamin Netanyahu has at last seemingly accepted a ceasefire deal, identical to multiple prior proposals he repeatedly rejected while the Gaza genocide was at its monstrous peak. Yet, in the days leading up to the settlement’s January 19 commencement, “Israel” significantly intensified its attacks on Palestinians, liberally deploying quadcopters in the process. Over the prior month too, this technology was consistently employed to not only injure and slay surviving victims of IOF bombing attacks but target victims into the bargain.

For example, on December 12, 2023, besieged northern Gaza’s last remaining orthopedic doctor Dr. Said Joudah was executed via a quadcopter. This followed attacks on medical infrastructure and personnel in the region over the prior two-and-a-half months, using the same technology. Moreover, questions abound as to whether quadcopters were used to assassinate Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, in July 2024. Given their lethal virtue from the Zionist entity’s perspective, and its extensive history of breaching ceasefire agreements, will their use truly end now?

‘Precise monitoring’

“Israel’s” primary supplier of killer quadcopters is Elbit Systems, a Haifa-based company with significant foreign workshops, particularly in Britain. Initially, these drones were purely used for intelligence purposes – photo and video gathering. As late as January 2023, the British Army awarded a lucrative contract to Elbit for a fleet of these drones due to their “extensive long-range reconnaissance capabilities.” Such spying potential would serve to “support combat and intelligence operations for up to 60 minutes at a time.”

Fast forward to March 2024 though, and Elbit was proudly promoting slick videos of these same unmanned apparatuses in-flight, as “birds of prey.” An accompanying entry on the company’s website actively boasts about the lethal capabilities of its quadcopters. These “agile, compact and fully stabilized weapon [systems]” are said to “enhance infantry squad lethality beyond its detection and engagement range with stand-off warfare capabilities.” Their innovative capabilities can be used to “detect, classify and track targets… day and night,” in “urban and force protection scenarios.”

It appears at some point that the Zionist entity realized quadcopters could be converted into killing machines. As Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor noted back in February 2024, Elbit drones have been “repurposed… for the deliberate and direct execution of unlawful targets.” The original intelligence gathering function of these drones, the organization added, means they “have very precise eavesdropping instruments and high-quality cameras, and can carry out additional military duties like shooting and carrying bombs, as well as be modified to become suicide drones.”

Among openly murderous drones sold and marketed by Elbit, LANIUS looms large. An official advertising prospectus brags how this “highly maneuverable and versatile drone-based loitering munition” can “autonomously scout and map buildings and points of interest for possible threats.” LANIUS “maneuvers close to the target and uses video analytics to determine entry points into a structure, map the inside of unknown buildings performing simultaneous localization and mapping, and identify combatants and non-combatants.” The system is furthermore “equipped to defeat threats using explosive payloads.”

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has documented how, among other savagery, Zionist quadcopters “opened fire on Palestinians who had gathered to receive flour brought by United Nations trucks” in January 2024, after “suddenly” arriving at the scene. The heinous incident killed at least 50 Palestinians and injured dozens more. These drones are furthermore “used in particular against civilians who attempt to return and inspect their homes after the Israeli military retreats from areas it has attacked by land or air.”

Such targeting of civilians, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor contends, can only be conducted “intentionally”. The organization deduces this “is evident as the majority of Israel’s targeting takes place in public spaces where it is easy to distinguish fighters from civilians.” Moreover, Zionist forces “[fly] over the areas it targets for periods of time that are long enough to allow for the precise monitoring and evaluation of field conditions, plus most of the killings occur within a close targeting range.”

‘Military force’ 

The use of quadcopters for targeted murder is not explicitly prohibited or even formally regulated under international law. However, their application must always adhere to international humanitarian law related to all armed conflicts, as with any other weapon. Moreover, their routine use in extrajudicial killings of Palestinians is unambiguously war crimes and crimes against humanity under both the Geneva Conventions and the International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute. There can be little doubt that quadcopters are a fundamental component of Tel Aviv’s undeniable genocide in Gaza.

Just as gravely from “Israel’s” perspective, as efficacious as quadcopters may be in executing innocent, defenseless Palestinians in large numbers, they have proven militarily useless, if not counterproductive. In brief, they have not only failed to meaningfully harm Hamas but have served as a prospective recruitment mechanism for the Resistance group. In June 2024, the elite imperial journal Foreign Affairs set out in forensic detail how “according to the measures that matter, Hamas is stronger today than it was” on October 7, 2023.

The “growing” Resistance group had by that time “evolved into a tenacious and deadly guerrilla force in Gaza,” launching “lethal operations” in areas previously “cleared” by the IOF “easily”. Those capabilities have only expanded since, with Hamas continuing to regularly inflict significant casualties on Tel Aviv’s forces in the present. Key to the Zionist entity’s military catastrophe in Gaza, as per Foreign Affairs, is a failure to comprehend how “the carnage and devastation it has unleashed… has only made its enemy stronger.”

This bloodshed enhances the “ability [of Hamas] to recruit, especially its ability to attract new generations of the fighters and operatives.” Atrocities against civilians, including if not particularly all those involving quadcopters, have left the Resistance group unscathed while serving as a potent recruitment tool. Foreign Affairs notes average Palestinians, “often either angry over the loss of family members or friends or more generally enraged at [Israel’s] use of heavy military force,” have either joined Hamas or provided assistance to the group.

With over 60% of Palestinians in Gaza and counting having lost family members during the genocide, Hamas can “replenish its ranks, gain resources, avoid detection, and generally have more access to the human and material resources necessary” to wage war against the Zionist entity. Foreign Affairs estimated at that time, eight months into Tel Aviv’s effort to comprehensively crush the Resistance group, that Hamas fighters were “roughly ten times” larger in number than on October 7.

Meanwhile, “more than 80% of the group’s underground tunnel network remains usable for planning, storing weapons, and evading Israeli surveillance, capture, and attacks,” and “most” of its “top leadership in Gaza remains intact.” Fast forward to today, there remain no signs of the IOF having inflicted any serious damage on Hamas at all – quite the reverse. In a sense, quadcopters are a mephitic microcosm of the Zionist entity’s war effort since October 7, and armed forces more widely.

Tel Aviv has over many years constructed a military at every level that is exclusively suited to blunt-force, indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. By contrast, its actual war-fighting capabilities are non-existent, as the entity’s calamitous October 2024 invasion of Lebanon and Hamas’ routine battering of Israeli ground forces have amply demonstrated. While Netanyahu may take personal credit for Bashar al-Assad’s fall, and “Greater Israel” is now openly discussed in Zionist media, the Resistance would inevitably prevail in any future direct confrontation.

January 29, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Two prisoners from Gaza announced dead in Israeli detention

Palestinian Information Center – January 29, 2025

GAZA – Palestinian rights groups said on Wednesday that two prisoners from the Gaza Strip were martyred in Israeli jails.

This came in a joint statement released by the Commission of Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affair, the Palestinian Prisoner Society, and Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.

The martyred prisoners have been identified as Mohamed al-Asali and Ibrahim Ashour.

Mohamed al-Asali was kidnaped by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) from Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City in March 2024. Later, his family received information that he was in Ashkelon prison before receiving another response to a request about his fate saying he died and then a response claiming that he was still in Ashkelon. The last response from the IOF affirmed that he died on May 17, 2024.

Asali, a father of four kids, did not suffer from any chronic health issues. During the war, all his brothers were martyred and only his father survived. His mother was buried in Ramallah after she passed away as she was having medical treatment in Occupied Jerusalem.

As for Ibrahim Ashour, he was kidnaped on February 14, 2024 from Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, south of Gaza. He also had no health problems before his detention.

The three organizations accused the Israeli occupation of deliberately killing Palestinian detainees and manipulating information about their fate.

The martyrdom of Asali and Ashour has brought to 58 the number of the Palestinian prisoners killed by Israel since its genocidal war on Gaza started in October 2023. 37 of those detainees are from the Gaza Strip.

January 29, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Unarmed southern Lebanese defy Israeli occupation; injuries reported

Al Mayadeen | January 29, 2025

“Israel” continues to violate the ceasefire with Lebanon, persistently attacking residents of southern villages and demolishing homes and lands in the region.

In this context, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported that five Lebanese civilians were injured, including two in critical condition, following an Israeli drone strike on the outskirts of Majdal Selem, near Wadi al-Slouqi.

Meanwhile, an Israeli military bulldozer conducted excavation operations at the western entrance to Mays al-Jabal, advancing beyond the UNIFIL headquarters in a provocative maneuver.

Invading Israeli units carried out extensive bulldozing operations on the outskirts of Marwahin, shielded by a Merkava tank while demolishing an artesian well in Houla and erecting new earthen fortifications.

Concurrently, an Israeli drone dropped three explosive bombs on the town of Tallousah, injuring one person and damaging a bulldozer and a truck. Additionally, Israeli forces set fire to homes between the towns of al-Qantara and Taybeh.

Residents defy the IOF, determined to reclaim their land

Despite the brutal Israeli assaults, residents of Maroun al-Ras continue attempting to enter their town from the northeastern side to retrieve the bodies of martyrs still under the rubble.

Al Mayadeen’s correspondent reported that residents of Maroun al-Ras bypassed Israeli forces controlling the northern entrance by using alternative routes to enter the town. During the incident, one civilian was shot and wounded by Israeli forces, while the invading Israeli units abducted four civilians in Maroun al-Ras, including a woman. While three have been released, one remains in captivity.

It is worth noting that gunfire from Israeli forces echoed as residents entered for the first time.

A resident of Maroun al-Ras stated, “Our return is our decision. We will liberate our land with stones and boiling oil, just as we did in the 1980s.”

Similarly, residents of Yaroun are preparing to enter their town from the northern entrance, reaffirming their resilience and commitment to their land, supported by the Lebanese Army.

The National News Agency reported that residents of Kfar Kila set up a tent on the Khardali road at the Deir Mimas-Qlayaa junction, declaring their intent to remain there until invading Israeli units withdraw.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported a total of 36 injuries from Israeli attacks the previous day, with six in Yaroun as residents attempted to re-enter, 20 in an airstrike on Nabatieh al-Fawqa, and 10 in an assault on Zawtar.

It is worth noting that the Israeli occupation forces launched on Tuesday evening two airstrikes on Nabatieh al-Fawqa in Southern Lebanon within the span of an hour.

The first strike injured 14 people, according to the initial figures reported by Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.

Thousands of southern Lebanese residents gathered at the entrances of their villages, preparing to return after the expiration of the 60-day deadline. This marks the fourth consecutive day of their return following the conclusion of the deadline for Israeli forces’ withdrawal, which ended on Sunday.

“Israel”—under US backing—confirmed through Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office that its forces would not fully withdraw from southern Lebanon after the expiration of the deadline.

Hezbollah responded late Thursday, declaring that “any violation of the 60-day deadline is a blatant breach of the agreement and an escalation of the assault on Lebanese sovereignty.” The Resistance movement emphasized that the Israeli occupation had entered a new phase that should be confronted by the Lebanese state using all available methods guaranteed by international law to reclaim and liberate the land.

January 29, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Live from Bethlehem – Jason Jones on the Trump Effect on Gaza

If Americans Knew | January 27, 2025

Eric Metaxas interviews Jason Jones about his thoughts on the Trump effect on the Gaza agreement.

Full video at:    • Live from Bethlehem – Jason Jones on …  

– See Jones’ articles and bio at https://israelpalestinenews.org/trump…

January 28, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Video | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

IRIB head confirms journalist held by Israeli forces in occupied territories

Press TV – January 28, 2025

The head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Peyman Jebelli says an IRIB journalist has been detained by Israeli forces in the occupied territories.

Jebelli on Tuesday revealed that following extensive inquiries, it has been confirmed that the journalist is currently imprisoned and held captive by the Israeli regime.

Highlighting the sensitivity of the matter, the IRIB chief noted that the family of the detained journalist had preferred not to publicize the matter, which has complicated efforts to secure the release.

He emphasized that the journalist remains in captivity in the occupied territories and is not in Gaza.

Jebelli said, “We are hopeful that he will be freed from captivity soon.”

Journalists working within the Palestinian territory encounter heightened risks while covering the genocidal war, particularly in light of Israeli ground assaults and airstrikes, as well as challenges such as disrupted communications, shortages of supplies, and power outages.

Despite these dangers, Palestinian journalists continue to document the atrocities of the war, serving as the eyes and ears of the global community during one of the deadliest wars of the 21st century.

Last month, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the deliberate targeting and killing of journalists and media professionals by Israeli forces in Gaza, labeling such actions as a “war crime.”

The statement emphasized that such attacks are meant to “terrorize Palestinian journalists and prevent them from performing their role in exposing the crimes and atrocities being committed by the occupation army against our people and land.”

Since the start of the Israeli war, an unprecedented number of journalists and media workers have been arrested — often without charge — in what they and their attorneys say is retaliation for their journalism and commentary.

More than 200 journalists have also been killed since Israel unleashed its strikes in October last year.

Nonetheless, media workers remain committed to reporting developments in Gaza, even in the aftermath of the recent ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

January 28, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Switzerland releases, deports pro-Palestine American journalist

Press TV – January 28, 2025

Swiss officials have freed and deported prominent Palestinian American journalist Ali Abunimah, whom they arrested in the city of Zurich and held in police custody for three days, raising concerns about freedom of speech in the European country.

Abunimah, executive director of the online Electronic Intifada publication covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, confirmed his release in a post published on the X social media platform on Monday.

He said Swiss authorities detained him because of his advocacy for Palestinian rights.

“My ‘crime’? Being a journalist who speaks up for Palestine and against Israel’s genocide and settler-colonial savagery and those who aid and abet it,” the Palestinian American journalist wrote.

He was arrested in Zurich on Saturday before he was set to deliver a speech in the city. UN human rights experts and activists condemned the arrest.

The Reuters news agency, citing the Swiss police, said on Sunday that an entry ban and other measures under the country’s immigration law were the reason for Abunimah’s arrest.

The 53-year-old journalist said that when he was questioned by police officers, they accused him of “offending against Swiss law,” without providing specific charges.

He said he was “cut off from communication with the outside world, in a cell 24 hours a day”, adding that he was unable to contact his family. He added that he was only given back his phone at the gate of the plane that flew him to Istanbul.

Abunimah noted that during the period when he was taken to prison like a “dangerous criminal”, Switzerland welcomed Israeli President Isaac Herzog to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“This ordeal lasted three days but that taste of prison was more than enough to leave me in even greater awe of the Palestinian heroes who endure months and years in the prisons of the genocidal oppressor,” Abunimah said.

“More than ever, I know that the debt we owe them is one we can never repay and all of them must be free and they must remain our focus.”

UN experts denounced Abunimah’s detention as an assault on free speech.

The UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan, called the arrest “shocking news” and urged Switzerland to investigate and release him.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, also called for an investigation into the incident.

“The climate surrounding freedom of speech in Europe is becoming increasingly toxic, and we should all be concerned,” Albanese wrote in a social media post.

The detention of Abunimah took place against the backdrop of intensified restrictions on pro-Palestinian advocates in Europe, amidst the catastrophic war on Gaza.

In April, Germany canceled a conference intended for advocates of Palestinian rights and barred British physician Ghassan Abu Sittah, who had provided medical assistance in Gaza, from entering the country.

January 28, 2025 Posted by | Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , , | Leave a comment

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