Aletho News

ΑΛΗΘΩΣ

ADL attacks Trump’s attorney general pick

RT | November 15, 2024

The Anti-Defamation League has accused US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, of “trafficking in anti-Semitism” and called for him to be barred from office.

Trump announced Gaetz’s nomination on Wednesday, declaring that the Florida Republican would end the “partisan weaponization of our justice system.” Gaetz is a hardline conservative and staunch ally of Trump, but his nomination rankled some establishment Republicans and angered the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish advocacy group that typically supports the Democratic Party.

”Rep. Matt Gaetz has a long history of trafficking in anti-Semitism – from explaining his vote against the bipartisan Anti-Semitism Awareness Act by invoking the centuries-old trope that Jews killed Jesus to defending the Great Replacement Theory and inviting a Holocaust denier as his 2018 State of the Union guest,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote on X on Wednesday.

”He should not be appointed to any high office, much less one overseeing the impartial execution of our nation’s laws.”

Greenblatt did not fully explain the examples of Gaetz’s conduct that he cited. The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which passed the House of Representatives earlier this year but never became law, would have criminalized “contemporary examples of anti-Semitism,” including “claims of Jews killing Jesus.” As these claims are repeatedly made in the New Testament of the Bible, Gaetz argued that the bill would have essentially outlawed much of Christianity’s core text.

The so-called ‘Great Replacement Theory’ refers to the idea that white people are slowly being replaced in their own lands by non-white immigrants. While this is often written off by liberals as a racist conspiracy theory, the ratio of whites to other races in the US has steadily been shrinking since the mid-20th century.

In 2021, the ADL condemned former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for claiming that Democrats plan to replace America’s Republican-voting whites with Democrat-voting immigrants. Greenblatt called Carlson’s claims “toxic, anti-Semitic and xenophobic.”

Gaetz weighed in on the controversy, calling the ADL a “racist organization.”

In 2018, Gaetz invited right-wing pundit Charles Johnson to then-President Trump’s State of the Union address on Capitol Hill, prompting another showdown with the ADL. Johnson had previously claimed that 250,000, and not six million, Jews were killed by Nazi Germany during World War II. Gaetz refused to call Johnson a “Holocaust denier,” but said afterwards that he “should’ve vetted him better before inviting him.”

It is unclear how Greenblatt’s complaint will affect Gaetz’s chances of being confirmed by the Senate. While the GOP holds a majority in the upper chamber, four ‘no’ votes from Republicans plus unified opposition from Democrats would sink the Florida lawmaker’s chances of leading the Department of Justice.

November 15, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , | Leave a comment

There are no “Easy Wars” left to fight, but do not mistake the longing for one

By Alastair Crooke | Strategic Culture Foundation | November 15, 2024

Israelis, as a whole, are exhibiting a rosy assurance that they can harness Trump, if not to the full annexation of the Occupied Territories (Trump in his first term did not support such annexation), but rather, to ensnare him into a war on Iran. Many (even most) Israelis are raring for war on Iran and an aggrandisement of their territory (devoid of Arabs). They are believing the puffery that Iran ‘lies naked’, staggeringly vulnerable, before a U.S. and Israeli military strike.

Trump’s Team nominations, so far, reveal a foreign policy squad of fierce supporters of Israel and of passionate hostility to Iran. The Israeli media term it a ‘dream team’ for Netanyahu. It certainly looks that way.

The Israel Lobby could not have asked for more. They have got it. And with the new CIA chief, they get a known ultra China hawk as a bonus.

But in the domestic sphere the tone is precisely the converse: The key nomination for ‘cleaning the stables’ is Matt Gaetz as Attorney General; he is a real “bomb thrower”. And for the Intelligence clean-up, Tulsi Gabbard is appointed as Director of National Intelligence. All intelligence agencies will report to her, and she will be responsible for the President’s Daily briefing. The intel assessments may thus begin to reflect something closer to reality.

The deep Inter-Agency structure has reason to be very afraid; they are panicking – especially over Gaetz.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have the near impossible task of cutting out-of-control federal spending and currency printing. The System is deeply dependent on the bloat of government spending to keep the cogs and levers of the mammoth ‘security’ boondoggle whirring. It is not going to be yielded up without a bitter fight.

So, on the one hand, the Lobby gets a dream team (Israel), but on the other side (the domestic sphere), it gets a renegade team.

This must be deliberate. Trump knows that Biden’s legacy of bloating GDP with government jobs and excessive public spending is the real ‘time bomb’ awaiting him. Again the withdrawal symptoms, as the drug of easy money is withdrawn, may prove incendiary. Moving to a structure of tariffs and low taxes will be disruptive.

Whether deliberate or not, Trump is keeping his cards close to his chest. We have only glimpses of intent – and the water is being seriously muddied by the infamous ‘Inter-Agency’ grandees. For example, in respect to the Pentagon sanctioning private-sector contractors to work in Ukraine, this was done in coordination with “inter-agency stakeholders”.

The old nemesis that paralysed his first term again faces Trump. Then, during the Ukraine impeachment process, one witness (Vindman), when asked why he would not defer to the President’s explicit instructions, replied that whilst Trump has his view on Ukraine policy, that stance did NOT align with that of the ‘Inter-Agency’ agreed position. In plain language, Vindman denied that a U.S. president has agency in foreign policy formulation.

In short, the ‘Inter-Agency structure’ was signalling to Trump that military support for Ukraine must continue.

When the Washington Post published their detailed story of a Trump-Putin phone call – that the Kremlin emphatically states never happened – the deep structures of policy were simply telling Trump that it would be they who determine what the shape of the U.S. ‘solution’ for Ukraine would be.

Similarly, when Netanyahu boasts to have spoken to Trump and that Trump “shares” his views regarding Iran, Trump was being indirectly instructed what his policy towards Iran needs to be. All the (false) rumours about appointments to his Team too, were but the interagency signalling their choices for his key posts. No wonder confusion reigns.

So, what can be deduced at this early stage? If there is a common thread, it has been a constant refrain that Trump is against war. And that he demands from his picks personal loyalty and no ties of obligation to the Lobby or the Swamp.

So, is the packing of his Administration with ‘Israel Firsters’ an indication that Trump is edging toward a ‘Realist’s Faustian pact’ to destroy Iran in order to cripple China’s energy supply source (90% from Iran), and thus weaken China? – Two birds with one stone, so to speak?

The collapse of Iran would also weaken Russia and hobble the BRICS’ transport-corridor projects. Central Asia needs both Iranian energy and its key transport corridors linking China, Iran, and Russia as primary nodes of Eurasian commerce.

When the RAND Organisation, the Pentagon think-tank, recently published a landmark appraisal of the 2022 National Defence Strategy (NDS), its findings were stark: An unrelentingly bleak analysis of every aspect of the U.S. war machine. In brief, the U.S. is “not prepared”, the appraisal argued, in any meaningful way for serious ‘competition’ with its major adversaries – and is vulnerable or even significantly outmatched in every sphere of warfare.

The U.S., the RAND appraisal continues, could in short order be drawn into a war across multiple theatres with peer and near-peer adversaries – and it could lose. It warns that the U.S. public has not internalized the costs of the U.S. losing its position as the world superpower. The U.S. must therefore engage globally with a presence—military, diplomatic, and economic—to preserve influence worldwide.

Indeed, as one respected commentator has noted, the ‘Empire at all Costs’ cult (i.e. the RAND Organisation zeitgeist) is now “more desperate than ever to find a war it can fight to restore its fortunes and prestige”.

And China would be altogether a different proposition for a demonstrative act of destruction in order “to preserve U.S. influence worldwide” – for the U.S. is “not prepared” for serious conflict with its peer adversaries: Russia or China, RAND says.

The straitened situation of the U.S. after decades of fiscal excess and offshoring (the backdrop to its current weakened military industrial base) now makes kinetic war with China or Russia or “across multiple theatres” a prospect to be shunned.

The point that the commentator above makes is that there are no ‘easy wars’ left to fight. And that the reality (brutally outlined by RAND) is that the U.S. can choose one – and only one war to fight. Trump may not want any war, but the Lobby grandees – all supporters of Israel, if not active Zionists supporting the displacement of Palestinians – want war. And they believe they can get one.

Put starkly and plainly: Has Trump thought this through? Have the others in the Trump Team reminded him that in today’s world, with U.S. military strength slipping away, there no longer are any ‘easy wars’ to fight, although Zionists believe that with a decapitation strike on Iran’s religious and IRGC leadership (on the lines of the Israel’s strikes on Hizbullah leaders in Beirut), the Iranian people would rise up against their leaders, and side with Israel for a ‘New Middle East’.

Netanyahu has just made his second broadcast to the Iranian people promising them early salvation. He and his government are not waiting to ask Trump to nod his consent to the annexation of all Occupied Palestinian Territories. That project is being implemented on the ground. It is unfolding now. Netanyahu and his cabinet have the ethnic cleansing ‘bit between their teeth’. Will Trump be able to roll it back? How so? Or will he succumb to becoming ‘genocide Don’?

This putative ‘Iran War’ is following the same narrative cycle as with Russia: ‘Russia is weak; its military is poorly trained; its equipment mostly recycled from the Soviet era; its missiles and artillery in short supply’. Zbig Brzezinski earlier had taken the logic to its conclusion in The Grand Chessboard (1997): Russia would have no choice but to submit to the expansion of NATO and to the geopolitical dictates of the U.S.. That was ‘then’ (a little more than a year ago). Russia took the western challenge – and today is in the driving seat in Ukraine, whilst the West looks on helplessly.

This last month, it was U.S. retired General Jack Keane, the strategic analyst for Fox News, who argued that Israel’s air strike on Iran had left it “essentially naked”, with most air defences “taken down” and its missile production factories destroyed by Israel’s 26 October strikes. Iran’s vulnerability, Keane said, is “simply staggering”.

Kean channels the early Brzezinski: His message is clear – Iran will be an ‘easy war’. That forecast however, is likely to be revealed as dead wrong. And, if pursued, will lead to a complete military and economic disaster for Israel. But do not rule out the distinct possibility that Netanyahu – besieged on all fronts and teetering on the brink of internal crisis and even jail – is desperate enough to do it. His is, after all, a Biblical mandate that he pursues for Israel!

Iran likely will launch a painful response to Israel before the 20 January Presidential Inauguration. Its riposte will demonstrate Iran’s unexpected and unforeseen military innovation. What the U.S. and Israel will then do may well open the door to wider regional war. Sentiment across the region seethes at the slaughter in the Occupied Territories and in Lebanon.

Trump may not appreciate just how isolated the U.S. and Israel are among Israel’s Arab and Sunni neighbours. The U.S. is stretched so thin, and its forces across the region are so vulnerable to the hostility that the daily slaughter incubates, that a regional war might be enough to bring the entire house of cards tumbling down. The crisis would pitch Trump into a financial crisis that could sink his domestic economic aspirations too.

November 15, 2024 Posted by | Militarism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Gaza Municipality: 70% of wells and 105,000 water lines destroyed

Palestinian Information Center – November 14, 2024

GAZA – The Gaza Municipality revealed on Thursday that the Israeli occupation destroyed more than 105,000 water lines and more than 70% of water wells in the Gaza Strip.

The limited capabilities of the municipality hinder its ability to solve this severe crisis, which forces citizens to transport water manually to their homes, said the municipality’s spokesman, Asem Al-Nabih.

He pointed out that the prices of desalinated water witnessed a significant increase due to the sharp increase in fuel prices, which further exacerbates the suffering of local citizens in obtaining potable water.

On October 23, two employees of the Gaza Municipality were killed, and two others were injured while repairing water wells at the Bir Al-Safa station in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood in eastern Gaza.

Since the start of the ongoing Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, the Israeli occupation has been working to destroy all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip.

November 14, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Israel is brazenly going against the entire world community

By Viktor Mikhin – New Eastern Outlook – November 14 2024

It is difficult for any reasonable person to understand or explain Israel’s recent actions with regard to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). After the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, it took two years for it to become a full member of the then nascent UN. One of the key issues that prevented Israel from joining the UN was the status of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who had been made refugees by the Israeli military. For its part, the UN adopted a clear and unambiguous resolution (General Assembly Resolution 194) guaranteeing the right of return and compensation for losses suffered by Palestinian refugees. Decades later, during negotiations, the Palestinians insisted that Tel Aviv recognize its historical and moral responsibility for the Palestinian refugee crisis.

Members of the UN Security Council, wanting to alleviate the terrible humanitarian conditions in which Palestinian refugees lived in tents in countries bordering Israel, helped create the UNRWA, which began operations in 1950. Donors to the UN agency included the US until President Donald Trump took office and cut off aid. These actions, which continued in part under the Biden administration because of enormous pro-Israel pressure in Congress, whetted the appetite of members of the now extreme right-wing Israeli government who had always hoped that the Palestinian refugee problem would simply disappear on its own.

The UNRWA provides humanitarian assistance to nearly 6 million Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. It is the main source of humanitarian support for the Palestinians. Its services include the provision of basic needs such as education, food, healthcare and fuel distribution. The closure of the Agency may inevitably lead to the withdrawal of basic services to the Palestinians. UNRWA is not a political body—it refrains from any political action and strictly follows the regularly approved UN mandate.

The mandate of the Agency, as defined by the UN General Assembly, is to provide assistance to “Palestinian refugees.” This term was defined in 1952 as “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict.” Palestinian refugees include both those who meet this definition and the descendants of those who meet this definition.

For years, Israel and its supporters have pressured the humanitarian agency, trying to get it closed, forcing countries not to fund it, or making false and often ridiculously trumped-up accusations against the UNRWA or its staff. The latest fiction that several local UNRWA staffers were involved in the October 7 (2023) Hamas attacks on Israel has been recently debunked by a high-level Investigative Committee set up by the UN secretary-general. The UN investigation, published in April, found no evidence of wrongdoing by UNRWA staff, noting also that Israel had not responded to requests for names and information and “has not reported any specific concerns about UNRWA staff to the UNRWA since 2011.”

But despite Israel’s failure to convince the world of the validity of its accusations, and despite pressure from Israel’s allies not to approve the ban, 92 of 120 Knesset members voted in favor of banning UNRWA from working in Israel, and 87 supported banning government agencies from any contact with the agency, effectively barring it from operating in the occupied territories.

Foreign ministers from Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Britain jointly criticized the proposed ban, saying it could have “devastating consequences” in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This move comes shortly after Israeli authorities confiscated land in East Jerusalem, where the UNRWA headquarters is located. The Israeli authorities plan to build 1,440 housing units on the site, which is illegal under international law. But Israel and its rulers simply don’t care about international law—they consider themselves above it.

While the international community was debating, under enormous pressure from Israel, whether and how much to allocate funds to this important UN agency, no one expected the Knesset to act so callously, in such heartless, brazen defiance of the entire international community and vote in its highest legislative chamber to ban UNRWA from providing simple humanitarian aid to Palestinians in dire need. It appears that the Israelis not only want to gratuitously appropriate Palestinian property, they want to destroy these people, to simply starve them to death.

For decades, Israel has demanded that the world, including its enemies, recognize its right to exist. But Palestinians also have a legitimate right to defend themselves. Yet by banning the UN agency, Israel weakens its own legitimacy and becomes an international pariah.

There are many proverbs in folklore that apply to what Israel, a UN member state bound by the UN Charter, plans to do to UNRWA. “Do not spit in the well from which you drink” and “do not cut off the branch on which you sit” are two examples that seem to perfectly illustrate the folly of a country that worries about its legitimacy while opposing the only international UN organization that gave it the right to exist. But the UN can also change its decision, which it made long ago in sympathy with Jewish refugees from WWII Europe.

What Israel does in this conflict it calls an “existential war” is actually weakening its own status in the world community. When someone else’s land is stolen and a new country is created on someone else’s property, the last thing you want is to strengthen those who question your own existence. And yet, that is the vast majority of the world community.

Thus, when the now racist Netanyahu government tries to solve the Palestinian refugee problem by exterminating the Palestinians, this move may have the opposite effect. As a UN member state that bans the UN agency for now, Israel is helping to strengthen the demands of its adversaries and forcing the international community to seriously consider its membership in the global body that once recognized it. Apparently, it is indeed true that, when God wants to punish someone, he simply takes away their mind.

November 14, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , | 1 Comment

West Asia reacts to Trump’s dalliance with Zionism

By M. K. BHADRAKUMAR | Indian Punchline | November 14, 2024 

The election victory of Donald Trump in the November 5 election is being perceived in the West Asian region with growing anxiety as presaging the US aligning one hundred percent with the Zionist project for Greater Israel. 

Although Trump has kept out vociferous neocons from his government positions, the same cannot be said for pro-Zionist figures. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims he has spoken three times with Trump already since the election and they “see eye-to-eye regarding the Iranian threat and all of its components.”

The “components” implies that Netanyahu hopes to get a blank cheque from Trump to accelerate the ethnic cleansing in Gaza, for annexation of West Bank, violent reprisals against Palestinians and, most important, to carry the war right into Iranian territory.  

Three events in as many days this week show the first signs of a backlash building up. On Monday, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei gave Tehran’s first official reaction to Trump’s election victory. Baqaei took a nuanced line saying, “What matters to us in this region is the United States’ actual behaviour and policies regarding Iran and the broader West Asia.” 

Notably, Baqaei expressed “cautious optimism that the new [Trump] administration might adopt a more peace-oriented approach, reduce regional hostilities, and uphold its commitments.” (Tehran Times) Baqaei also refuted the recent allegation by Washington that Iran was involved in plots to assassinate Trump. He called the Biden Administration’s allegation as “nothing more than an attempt to sabotage relations” between Tehran and Washington by “laying traps to complicate the path for the next administration.” 

Baqaei also held out an assurance to the incoming US administration that Tehran firmly adheres to a nuclear programme for peaceful purposes. He announced that Rafael Grossi, head of International Atomic Energy (IAEA) was due to arrive in Tehran  on Wednesday night. 

Taken together, Baqaei’s remarks suggest that Iran hopes there’s still daylight possible between Trump and Netanyahu. The clincher here would have been the remark that Trump slipped into his victory speech with great deliberation on November 6 that “I’m not going to start a war. I’m going to stop wars.” 

Trump was on record during his election campaign that “I don’t want to do damage to Iran but they cannot have nuclear weapons.” Tehran’s consultations with Grossi responds to Trump’s concern. This is smart thinking. Iran’s non-provocative stance would mean there is no alibi for attacking Iran.

That said, however, the “known unknown” still remains — namely, Iran’s retaliation to the Israeli attack on October 26. On November 2, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a video released by Iranian state media, promised “a crushing response” to Israeli attack. Conceivably, the period till January 20 when Trump is sworn in, is going to be critical. 

Meanwhile, this week witnessed that Iran and Saudi Arabia have given verve to their detente, which is now manifesting as Riyadh’s solidarity and open support for Iran in its growing confrontation with Israel.

Amidst the growing tensions in the region, the chief of staff of Saudi Arabia’s armed forces, Fayyad al-Ruwaili, visited Tehran on November 10 and met with his Iranian counterpart General Mohammad Bagheri. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke on the phone with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the phone in the context of a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) – Arab League in Riyadh on November 11-12. Iran has extended an invitation to MbS to visit Tehran! 

Two hugely significant highlights of the Riyadh summit have been, first, the Saudi prince’s inaugural address where he warned Israel against hitting Iran. This marked a historic turn by Riyadh toward Tehran-Israeli conflict, and away from US-supported normalisation with Jerusalem.

MbS told the summit that the international community should oblige Israel “to respect the sovereignty of the sisterly Islamic Republic of Iran and not to violate its lands.” 

Again, Saudi Arabia accused Israel for the first time of committing “genocide” in Gaza. MbS told the leaders who gathered in Riyadh, that the kingdom renewed “its condemnation and categorical rejection of the genocide committed by Israel against the brotherly Palestinian people…”

Trump has been put on notice that he’s meeting a radically different geopolitical landscape in West Asia compared to his first term as president. The Trump transition team is keeping its cards close, offering NatSec Daily a boilerplate statement that Trump will take “necessary action” to “lead our country” and “restore peace through strength.” But warning bells are ringing. 

The key pillars of Trump’s “maximum pressure” strategy against Tehran — isolating Iran and ramping up economic pressure while  maintaining a credible threat of military force as deterrent — have become wobbly.

On the other hand, the massive Iranian ballistic missile attack on Israel on October 1 and the colossal failure of the Israeli air strike on Iran twenty-six days later convey a loud message all across West Asia that Israel is no longer the dominant military power it used to be — and there is a new sheriff in town. Trump will have to navigate the fallout of both sides of this issue with diminished US diplomatic and geopolitical capital at his disposal. 

Meanwhile, Tehran is also deepening its cooperation with Russia, which adds a giant new Ukraine-sized complexity to Trump’s Iran policy. While in Eurasia, the US has allies, Trump is navigating in West Asia pretty much alone.

The US’ stark isolation comes home dramatically by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s announcement on Wednesday that Turkey, a NATO member country, has severed all ties with Israel. Erdogan disclosed this to journalists aboard his plane after visiting Saudi Arabia. A regional trend to ostracise Israel is visible now and it is destined to expand and deepen. 

The summit in Riyadh witnessed the African Union joining hands with the Arab League and OIC to sign a tripartite agreement on Tuesday to establish a mechanism to support the Palestinian cause, which will be coordinated through the three organisations’ secretariats as a game changer to strengthen their influence in international forums. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan noted that the three organisations will now onward speak with one voice internationally. 

Even as the summit concluded in Riyadh, Crown Prince Salman had a call on Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin readout stated that the two leaders “reaffirmed their commitment to continue the consistent expansion” of Russian-Saudi ties and specifically “stressed the importance of continuing close coordination within OPEC Plus and stated the effectiveness and timeliness of the steps being taken in this format to ensure balance on the global energy market.”

On the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Kremlin readout noted with satisfaction that “the principled approaches of Russia and Saudi Arabia with regard to the Middle East settlement are essentially identical.”

MbS’ initiative to re-invigorate his conversation with Putin can only be seen against the backdrop of the profound misgivings in Riyadh regarding the Trump-Netanyahu bromance and the spectre of a possible regional war haunting the region stemming out of Israel drawing encouragement from the seamless US support expected through the coming 4-year period for the Zionist cause. 

November 14, 2024 Posted by | Militarism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Truth About the violence in Amsterdam

If Americans Knew • November 13, 2024

See the full video at    • Sky News DELETES Truth About Israeli …  

Owen Jones is a writer and political commentator in the United Kingdom. He is a columnist for The Guardian and the author of two books.

RELATED: “Will the Israel Lobby Cause America’s Downfall?” https://israelpalestinenews.org/will-…

November 14, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Fake News, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Video | , , | Leave a comment

Students occupy Italy defence firm HQ to protest over Gaza

MEMO | November 13, 2024

Around a hundred students occupied Leonardo’s LDOF.MI Turin headquarters to denounce what they say is the Italian defence group’s complicity in Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports.

The students, who unfurled a Palestinian flag from the roof of Leonardo’s offices, said the company was supporting Israel by providing remote technical assistance and spare parts to Israel’s air force.

Leonardo declined to comment.

Images released by the students show them in Leonardo’s offices waving Palestinian flags and carrying spray cans. Outside they hung banners on the buildings saying ‘no arms to Israel’ and accusing the group of complicity in genocide.

They also clambered on top of a plane in the grounds of the company’s headquarters.

Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto condemned the protest, saying on X that the students were “destroying and defacing” the offices where an “important meeting with the staff of the defence ministry” was taking place.

“These people must be treated for what they are, dangerous subversives. Criminals have no political colour, they are just criminals,” he said.

Crosetto said in March that Italy had continued to export arms to Israel, despite government assurances last year that it was blocking such sales following the Israeli occupation army’s genocidal campaign in Gaza since October last year.

In March the minister said only previously signed orders were being honoured after checks had been made to ensure the weaponry would not be used against Gazan civilians.

Through its US subsidiary, Leonardo provides Israel with aircraft and owns an Israeli radar company called RADA.

Under Italian law, arms exports are banned to countries that are waging war and those deemed to be violating international human rights.

November 13, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | 1 Comment

British surgeon says Israeli drones ‘deliberately’ shooting children in Gaza

Retired British surgeon Nizam Mamode
Press TV – November 13, 2024

A retired British surgeon who recently returned from a hospital in Gaza says he treated bleeding children who had been deliberately targeted by Israeli drones.

In harrowing testimony to British MPs on Tuesday, Nizam Mamode recounted dealing with daily influxes of bombing and shooting victims while volunteering at Nasser Hospital in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The 62-year-old surgeon who broke down three times during his testimony said he and other experienced colleagues had “never seen anything on this scale ever.”

“Drones would come down and pick off civilians, children.”

He said at least once or twice daily, there were “mass casualty incidents,” meaning that 10 to 20 people were killed and up to 40 seriously injured.

“This is not an occasional thing. This was day after day after day operating on children who would say, ‘I was lying on the ground after a bomb dropped and this quadcopter came down and hovered over me and shot me’.”

Nizam Mamode estimated that at least 60 percent of the people treated were women and children.

He provided detailed accounts of his patients, including an 8-year-old girl who he said was bleeding to death during surgery one Saturday evening. “I asked for a swab and they said, ‘No more swabs’,” he said.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor says the Israeli forces are killing Palestinian children at a rate that is unprecedented in the history of modern wars. The regime’s forces have so far killed more than 17,000 children since October 7, 2023, the rights group said.

In recent months, several surgeons who volunteered at hopitals in the Gaza Strip says they were haunted by the harrowing scenes he witnessed in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Mamode said Israeli forces were frequently attacking humanitarian convoys to discourage aid workers from coming the besieged territory.

Mamode ascribed the same aim to five Israeli attacks on UN convoys, including one while he was in Gaza.

He said he spent the entire month in the hospital partly because it was not safe to travel around.

https://twitter.com/PalHighlight/status/1856674628766191833

Mamode said he had to choose whether to sleep in a hot room inside the hospital or outside on stairs where it was cooler, but where drones “had the ability to pick me off.”

“My biggest fear while I was there was being killed by the Israelis,” Nizar Mamode.

“All of those guest houses are in the Israeli army’s computers and are designated safe houses, so my assumption is that it was a deliberate attack and the aim behind it is to discourage aid workers from coming,” Mamode said.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the Tel Aviv regime has so far killed more than 43,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in Gaza, and injured over 103,000 others.

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has said women and children comprise nearly 70 percent of those killed in the Gaza Strip during Israel’s campaign of genocide in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Labour MP and committee chair Sarah Champion asked Mamode to clarify if he meant that rogue snipers were shooting at the armoured vehicles.

“No, no,” he said. “This is the Israeli army coming up as a unit and deliberately shooting.”

November 13, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

UN official: Israel systematically violates international law

Palestinian Information Center – November 13, 2024

The Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ilze Brands Kehris, described the humanitarian and human rights situation for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as catastrophic, saying that the Israeli occupation army systematically violates basic principles of international humanitarian law.

An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was held on Tuesday evening to discuss the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the specter of famine and humanitarian crisis in the Strip.

The meeting witnessed briefings by UN officials who spoke about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza in light of the ongoing Israeli war of extermination on the Strip since October 7, 2023.

Kehris stressed that the overwhelming majority (70%) of those killed in Gaza by strikes, shelling and other hostilities were children and women, noting that more than 43,000 Palestinians were martyred and nearly 100,000 others were wounded.

She suggested that the real numbers are much higher, as many of the martyrs and wounded are still under the rubble, stressing that the age group most represented in verified fatalities was children from 5 to 9 years old.

The UN official noted that nearly 1.9 million people have been displaced, many repeatedly, including pregnant women, people with disabilities, older people, children, and the sick.

Kehris stressed that the Israeli airstrikes on shelters and residential buildings continue to kill unconscionable numbers of civilians, reaffirming once again that there is nowhere in Gaza is safe. She noted that the pattern of strikes indicate that the Israeli forces have systematically violated fundamental principles of international humanitarian law: distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack.

Kehris stressed that “Israel’s conduct of hostilities has destroyed Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, including places that have protected status under international law: hospitals, schools, and vital services including electricity, water, and sewage. This contributes directly to the famine risk being discussed today.”

“Israel has killed hundreds of medical personnel, civilian police, journalists, and humanitarian aid workers, including more than 220 of our own United Nations staff. Thousands of Palestinians have been taken from Gaza to Israel, usually shackled and blindfolded to be held incommunicado,” she added.

“Meanwhile, there is constant and continued interference with the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance, which has fallen to some of the lowest levels in a year. As the Occupying Power, Israel is obliged under international law to protect Palestinian civilians, and to provide them with supplies essential to their survival,” she emphasized.

“The cumulative impact of more than a year of destruction in Gaza has taken an enormous toll – basic services for Palestinians in Gaza, the fabric of society, have been decimated. Conditions of life, particularly in northern Gaza, are increasingly not fit for survival,” she underscored.

The UN official said, “the manner in which the Israeli military is conducting operations in northern Gaza suggests not only that Israel’s actions are seeking to empty northern Gaza of Palestinians, by displacing survivors to the South, but points to further grave risks of atrocities of the most serious nature.”

November 13, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | 1 Comment

British Premier tells UK Parliament there is no genocide in Gaza

MEMO | November 13, 2024

UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has told the Parliament on Wednesday that Israel is not committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, Anadolu Agency reports.

During the Prime Minister’s Questions at the House of Commons, Independent lawmaker, Ayoub Khan, raised from Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, who recently claimed that the term genocide referred to “when millions of people lost their lives in comments like Rwanda, the Second World War in the Holocaust” and that using it to describe Gaza “now undermines [its] seriousness”.

Khan then said Lammy’s words are not acceptable.

“Article two of the United Nations Genocide Convention makes it explicitly clear that genocide is not about numbers, it’s about intent. The intent of the Israeli government and the IDF has been explicitly clear in words and in actions over the past 400 days, killed more than 45,000 innocent men, women and children.”

The lawmaker said the Foreign Minister explicitly denied that genocide was even taking place and “suggested that the Israeli army had not yet killed enough Palestinians” to constitute genocide.

“Will the Prime Minister share his definition of genocide with this House?” he asked.

In his response, Starmer said: “It would be wise to start a question like that by reference to what happened in October of last year. I’m well aware of the definition of genocide, and that is why I’ve never described this as and referred to it as genocide.”

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories who is currently on a UK visit, has repeatedly affirmed her belief that what is happening qualifies as genocide.

November 13, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | 2 Comments

US rewards Israeli regime with more weapons for breaching 30-day Gaza aid ultimatum

By Alireza Akbari | Press TV | November 13, 2024

During a meeting on Tuesday at the White House, Israeli President Isaac Herzog lavished praise on his outgoing American counterpart Joe Biden for his steadfast support of Israel, both in “words and deeds,” referring to Biden as “an incredible friend of Israel for decades.”

During the meeting, which coincided with the expiration of the US 30-day deadline for Israel to enhance aid flow to Gaza, Herzog presented Biden with a lucrative gift.

“You are clearly a Zionist, Mr. President,” Herzog told Biden, echoing his own words.

Despite the Biden administration vowing reduction in US military assistance if the Israeli regime failed to allow aid into the Gaza Strip in 30 days, the deadline expired without any change in the US policy.

Herzog told reporters in Washington on the sidelines of his meeting with Biden that the US government remains committed to ensuring the “security” of the Israeli regime.

In mid-October, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a crucial deadline to their Israeli counterparts amid the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, with the regime obstructing nearly 90% of humanitarian flow between the northern and southern regions.

The letter outlined that Israel needed to take “urgent and sustained actions” to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza within 30 days.

Specifically, it called for the daily entry of at least 350 trucks of aid, the opening of a fifth border crossing, enhanced security for aid sites and the movement of humanitarian workers, an end to the isolation of northern Gaza, and the facilitation of movement for individuals in al-Mawasi to travel inland.

Furthermore, the letter highlighted US laws that could “restrict military assistance” to those impeding the delivery of humanitarian aid.

As the November 12 deadline passed, the State Department announced that it would not suspend military assistance to Israel and stated that they had “not made an assessment that the Israelis are in violation of US law,” giving a clean chit to the genocidal regime in Tel Aviv.

The US decision not to impose reductions in military assistance to the Israeli regime can be understood within the broader framework of its unwavering support for Israel since October 2023, according to experts, as the death toll continues to surge in the territory.

Washington has maintained its “iron-clad” military support for the Tel Aviv regime amid the genocidal war on Gaza, providing arms worth tens of billions of dollars, breaking all records.

This contradiction between rhetoric and reality raises significant questions about the United States’ true commitment to addressing humanitarian issues in Gaza, according to human rights activists.

The United States has significantly bolstered its military support for Israel since early October 2023.

Shortly after the Israeli regime unfolded a genocidal campaign in the region, the US began deploying warships and warplanes, pledging to provide Israel with “whatever it needs.”

By October 10, the commitment deepened, as additional ships were dispatched, and more personnel in the US were put on alert for possible deployment.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin further bolstered the US military presence on October 12 by ordering about 2,000 troops to be prepared for potential deployment to Israel. This military buildup included five shipments of American weapons and equipment arriving in Israel by October 17.

On October 18, the US wielded its veto power in the United Nations Security Council, blocking a resolution that called for a pause in hostilities. The following days saw President Biden actively advocating for increased military support, urging Congress to approve more aid.

On October 20, Biden formally requested 14 billion in military aid for Israel, part of a larger 105 billion package intended for various global needs.

The Pentagon continued its military readiness by announcing the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems and additional Patriot batteries to the region on October 21.

By November 2023, the US House of Representatives responded to the intensified support efforts by approving a plan allocating $14.5 billion in military aid for Israel, further cementing the US’s commitment to its ally amid the ongoing war on Gaza.

Despite the extensive military support provided to Israel, the Biden administration has attempted to project concern for the humanitarian situation in the West Asia region.

In February 2024, the administration issued a national security directive requiring written assurances from Israel that it was using US-supplied weapons in accordance with international law.

This move came amid growing scrutiny of Israel’s acts of aggression and their impact on civilians.

By March 2024, the US began advocating for an immediate and sustained ceasefire, linking it to the release of hostages. However, Congress simultaneously approved $3.8 billion in military aid to Israel.

On March 29, despite escalating tensions, the Biden administration authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel.

In April, a supplemental appropriations act provided an additional $8.7 billion in military aid to Israel, further solidifying the US commitment to its ally.

By May, the White House announced a pause in the shipment of large bombs to Israel in anticipation of a pending assault on Rafah, though it indicated that other military assistance would continue.

The administration’s support for Israel continued to grow, with the announcement of $20.3 billion in new arms sales agreements in August.

Since October 2023, the United States has consistently approved military aid to Israel, reaching a record number of 17.9 billion in security assistance, including $6.8 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF), $5.7 billion for missile defense systems, $1 billion for heavy weaponry, and $4.4 billion to replenish US weapon stocks transferred to Israel.

During this period, the US has facilitated over 100 military aid transfers to Israel. These shipments have encompassed a wide array of munitions, including artillery shells, precision-guided bombs, and 2,000-pound bunker-buster munitions.

Israel has benefited from expedited deliveries drawn from a US strategic stockpile since the 1980s, underscoring the depth of the military partnership between Washington and the Tel Aviv regime.

November 13, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

The state-backed settler war to annex the West Bank

By Robert Inlakesh | The Cradle | November 13, 2024

Despite Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and military aggression against Lebanon, Tel Aviv is preparing to unleash its fanatical Jewish settlers in a coordinated war against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, aiming to ethnically cleanse what remains of the territory and pave the way for further annexation.

Adding fuel to the fire, billionaire Miriam Adelson, the wealthiest Israeli in the world, bankrolled Donald Trump’s “huge victory” in his successful presidential campaign with one clear condition: support for annexing the West Bank.

Last month The Times of Israel noted that the wealthy widow “is carrying on a legacy she built with her late husband, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson,” and that “The Adelson family has long been one of the largest sources of campaign money for Republican candidates and has backed Trump during each of the last three general elections.”

The complete consolidation of the West Bank

Speaking to The Cradle, Ubai al-Aboudi, executive director of Palestinian rights group ‘Bisan Center,’ says that “the Israeli settlers are preparing to carry out a major attack, to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian population,” adding that this attack will be particularly focused on completely erasing Palestinians from what is known as Area C, which constitutes roughly 60 percent of the West Bank.

That escalation has already begun. On 4 November, armed settlers launched a brazen assault on the Palestinian city of Al-Bireh, marking a surge in the violence that has gripped the West Bank. In October alone, settlers carried out at least 1,490 attacks against Palestinians, their property, and their land – often under the supervision and protection of occupation soldiers.

In the past, extremist settler attacks against Palestinians were characterized by their spontaneous nature and uncoordinated thuggery, but this has begun to change. During a recent interview with Israel’s Channel 7 News, West Bank Settlement Council leader Israel Gantz commented on a meeting he had with the recently sacked Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant:

“We asked that the West Bank be treated as Jabalia, Rafah, and the villages of southern Lebanon were treated, which means displacing the residents, killing the terrorists in these villages, cleansing the terrorist infrastructure, confiscating the weapons and then returning them to their villages.”

While the statement includes the idea of returning Palestinians to their villages, if such an operation replicated Gaza and southern Lebanon, there would be no village to return to. Gantz also requested that Palestinian villages bordering illegal Jewish settlements be ‘cleansed’ due to the potential security threat posed to Israelis living there – both ideas reportedly opposed by Gallant.

On 5 November, however, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu replaced Gallant and handed the defense minister position to long-time ally Israel Katz. While serving in his previous role as Israel’s foreign minister, Katz openly called for expelling Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank, unlike his predecessor.

‘Organized militias’

Last November, it was revealed that National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir had ordered the police to stop enforcing the law against West Bank settlers.

This is why the armed settler assault on Al-Bireh was seen as so significant. As Netanyahu reshuffles his cabinet to include a full deck of right-wingers, many of whom are themselves West Bank settlers, these groups are becoming even more brazen.

The assault on Al-Bireh was particularly alarming – a “pogrom-style attack,“ according to Aboudi, as “they feel emboldened by the impunity they enjoy.” Rampaging settlers burned 18 vehicles and two apartments while Israeli soldiers looked on.

One West Bank Palestinian described to The Cradle how settlers showed up outside her home armed with Molotov cocktails, but “were luckily scared off” prior to assaulting family members:

“I had just left my home prior to the attack, but I knew something was wrong because the soldiers were acting very violently at all the checkpoints as I was leaving … you have to understand that these kinds of attacks don’t happen without the soldiers participating in some way.”

“The settlers are acting more and more like organized militias; they are an extension of the Israeli army working towards an agenda of ethnic cleansing,” insists Aboudi, affirming that this year’s attacks have been dramatically increasing. According to statistics, settler violence has been escalating every year since 2021, reaching an unprecedented number of attacks in 2024.

Through the use of state-backed settler ‘defense squads,’ Israel has managed to ethnically cleanse 16 Palestinian communities in the southern hills of Al-Khalil (Hebron). In 2023, it was discovered that the Israeli army had established the ‘Desert Frontier’ unit, comprised of the most extremist Jewish settlers from the notorious ‘Hilltop Youth’ group. Human rights groups have also documented the use of Israeli standard-issue rifles by West Bank settlers attacking Palestinians, all pointing toward state complicity in these attacks.

According to Aboudi, “around 700 [Israeli] roadblocks cut off Palestinian villages from each other.” Set up by occupation forces, the roadblocks provide cover for “attacks from violent settlers who target Palestinians passing by … greatly affecting the ability to even travel safely across the West Bank.” The attackers can rely on unconditional impunity from Tel Aviv, he explains:

“They feel that they have enough resources, weapons, arms, political backing, to commit whatever crime they choose.”

Trump and West Bank annexation

Yossi Dagan, the settler leader of Samaria Regional Council, recently purchased some 500 rifles to arm and prepare “emergency security teams” in anticipation of a war in the West Bank. In September, Israel declared the West Bank a “combat zone,” and created closed military zones as buffers surrounding the illegal Jewish settlements.

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister who was recently gifted control of settlement affairs for the occupied Palestinian territories, issued a public call for annexation in late October. As a longtime West Bank settler himself, Smotrich openly works on behalf of a 2017 settler movement proposal, outlined in a document entitled ‘Decisive Plan,’ which seeks to double the settler population of the West Bank.

If this is combined with Israel’s decision to begin transferring the Israeli settler population from military to civil control, it becomes clear that the process of annexation is already underway.

With the victory of Donald Trump in the recent US elections, it is more than likely that Netanyahu views annexation of the West Bank to suddenly be a very viable option, despite the historic opinion delivered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July that declared Israel’s occupation of the territories to be a violation of international law and demanded that Tel Aviv end its occupation, dismantle all settlements, pay reparations for damages to Palestinians, and facilitate the return of all displaced natives.

But Trump’s sweeping electoral victory was aided by uber-Zionist Adelson’s contribution of $100 million to his campaign, with the single request that the Republican leader permit Israeli annexation of the West Bank.

Recall too that the Adelsons financed Trump’s first presidential bid, in 2016, with the quid pro quo that the Republican leader move the US embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognize the Holy City as Israel’s undivided Capital – a promise that Trump implemented in 2018.

Now, Miriam Adelson is pushing for the annexation of the West Bank. Combined with the surge in settler violence, the formation of Jewish militias, military training programs for settler civilians, and the distribution of 120,000 rifles, a calculated strategy is taking shape. This is not just about sporadic attacks – it is a deliberate, state-backed campaign to alter the demographics of the West Bank permanently in line with the expansionist, settler-colonial ideology of the most extremist coalition government in Israel’s history.

November 13, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | 1 Comment

« Previous Entries