“Who runs U.S. policy? It’s Zionists.” – Former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman
Source video: IAKN.org/US-IsraelPolicy
MEMO | October 22, 2024
Israel and the United States are reportedly considering a joint plan to deploy a private American-Israeli security firm to administer Gaza by subjecting Palestinians to biometric screenings with the threat of withholding humanitarian aid.
According to media reports, based on an initial report by Israeli journalist, Shlomi Eldar, on Monday this week, the US and Israel are planning to run a pilot programme – starting with the Al-Atatra village in north-western Gaza – involving 1,000 private mercenaries who would create “gated communities” within the Strip where they will control the inhabitants and their movements through the use of biometrics.
The plan would reportedly see Israeli Occupation Forces clear Palestinian Resistance fighters and Hamas operatives out of areas, with the mercenaries then erecting separation walls around the neighbourhood 48 hours later, forcing only its residents to enter and exit through the use of biometric identification.
Compliance with the forced system would also entirely determine the provision of humanitarian aid, with any who refuse to accept the biometric methods reportedly being cut off from receiving the vital aid.
The plan will reportedly allocate $90 million for the areas’ residents to rebuild their homes, with a “local sheikh” appointed to the position of “head of the council” in the particular zone.
The private security firm at the forefront of the reported plan is Global Development Company (GDC), which brands itself as an “Uber for war zones”. Owned by Israeli-American businessman, Mordechai Kahana, the firm’s operatives include former high-ranking Israeli military officers and former American military and intelligence operatives.
In a press release on Monday, GDC stated that it has “developed a strategy to securely deliver humanitarian relief to civilians in Gaza. Security for the humanitarian convoys will be provided by a US security company acting as a subcontractor”, which GDC claimed has “extensive experience in operating overseas with the highest standards of integrity, respect for human rights, and cultural sensitivities.”
Revealing that the firm and its subcontractor “have had extensive discussions with the Israeli government including the Ministry of Defence, the Israeli Defence Forces, and the Prime Minister’s Office on the modalities for this initiative”, it stated that the goal of the proposal “is to enable humanitarian organisations to deliver large amounts of humanitarian assistance to needy Gazans without the threat of having Hamas, or others divert or steal the assistance and sell it for profit on the black market”.
Although it has reportedly been approved by the Biden administration and White House National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, the plan requires official authorisation by the US and Israeli governments in order for its implementation. As a US private security firm, GDC would also apparently need approval from the US Senate to offer armed services to the Israeli government.
Israel looks set to also approve the plan, however, with its war cabinet having discussed the proposals on Sunday, resulting in its reported readiness to authorise such a pilot programme within the next two months.
The Cradle | October 22, 2024
Journalists toured the Sahel Hospital in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut’s southern suburbs on 22 October, disproving claims made by the Israeli military that Hezbollah was storing hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in a bunker below the hospital.
Independent journalist Steve Sweeney was among those visiting the hospital. He wrote on social media that he “had unrestricted access to all areas, including the basement, and all I found were the normal things found in any hospital, in any country across the world.”
“The hospital director believes it will be bombed by Israel, repeating a pattern seen in Gaza, with attempts to link the hospital to Hezbollah a smokescreen to justify an attack. We had to leave the hospital with drones flying overhead with the potential for Israel to strike at any moment,” he added.
L’Orient Today reported that the hospital was evacuated on Monday evening after the Israeli army said it was conducting “a reconnaissance of the complex” beneath which it said “hundreds of millions of dollars” belonging to Hezbollah were hidden.
Hezbollah has “hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold under the Sahel Hospital in Haret Hreik to fund its terrorist activities,” Israeli army Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on social media.
“The Israeli allegations about the Sahel hospital are false, but we were forced to evacuate,” said the director of the health facility, Fadi Alameh, in an interview with Al Jadeed TV.
He also said that “the Sahel Hospital has nothing to do with the parties” and called on the army command to inspect it and confirm that no tunnels were under the building.
Later on Tuesday afternoon, an Israeli airstrike completely destroyed a high-rise building in the Ghobeiry region in the Beirut southern suburbs as Hezbollah’s Media Relations Officer, Mohammad Afif, was giving a press conference in the area, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported.
At the press conference, Afif discussed Israel’s bombing on Sunday of multiple offices of the Al-Qard al-Hassan Association, which provides financial services to Lebanese civilians.
Afif said the bombing had “no justification at all. It is a licensed civil institution, and Hezbollah does not receive its allocations from this institution.”
“Al-Qard al-Hassan Association was prepared for the aggression, took all necessary precautions, and will meet its commitments.”
He also stated that despite recent Israeli bombings and the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, “Hezbollah’s military and logistical support lines have returned to what they were, and the enemy has suffered heavy losses in lives and tanks.”
“The resistance and the chain of command are in good health,” he added.
Late Monday, Israel also bombed residential buildings in the Jnah area of Beirut near the Rafic Harir Hospital, killing 13, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
If Americans Knew | October 21, 2024
Segment from @ArabCenterWashingtonDC live-streamed panel on October 10, 2024: “One year after Al-Aqsa Flood: How U.S. and Israeli foreign policy evolved.”
Speakers include former U.S. Ambassador Chas Freeman, former Palestinian Ambassador Leila Shahid, lawyer Diana Buttu, and professor of international relations Karim Bitar.
Source video: IAKN.org/US-IsraelPolicy
But journalists who oppose genocide are the worst
Laura and Normal Island News | October 18, 2024
It has been brought to my attention that British counter-terrorism police visited the home of a man under suspicion of practising journalism. Disgustingly, the man had been raising awareness of Israel’s genocide, and therefore had to be dealt with. The man, who I am reluctant to name out of fear of making him a martyr, is called Asa Winstanley. He is one of the most prominent figures in the worrying wave of radicals who believe genocide is wrong, even when Israel does it.
Thankfully, counter-terrorism police found an excuse to harass Winstanley, even though they had no evidence of terrorism. The thing about counter-terrorism police is they’re supposed to go after terrorists, and no one thinks Winstanley is a terrorist.
Police therefore told Winstanley he is not under arrest, but they’re confiscating his devices on the off-chance they can find evidence. This would be like regular police saying we have no evidence you’re a paedo, but we’re snooping through your hard drive anyway!
Would you feel comfortable being accused of a horrible crime without evidence? If you’ve done nothing wrong, you should be perfectly happy with this grotesque violation of your privacy!
Natural justice is when police harass people they don’t like until they find an excuse to jail them. I’m just praying police find something incriminating on Winstanley’s hard drive, such as the image of a Palestinian flag. If they find one of those, they should bloody well throw the book at him.
Sadly, there is every chance police don’t find anything on the innocent man, but they will probably keep his devices anyway. If they do, he will be out of pocket when he replaces them, and in the meantime, he won’t be able to work. The scumbag won’t be able to raise awareness of the plight of the Palestinians who are being mangled by the weapons we’re supplying.
It’s hoped this sort of intimidation will make others think twice about doing the right thing. If the public fully understood the role our rulers are playing in genocide, they would demand their prosecutions. Therefore, the only thing we can do is prosecute those who attempt to tell the truth. I’m sure you will agree this is sensible. However, if you disagree because you too object to genocide, it’s not too late to change your mind.
Simply copy and paste the following words to social media and the judge is likely to give you a reduced sentence:
I would like to apologise for my attempts to stop Israel’s genocide over the past year. I realise now that I was wrong. I only hope my words have not caused distress to the people who are committing genocide or the people who are supporting genocide. I would like to apologise unreservedly to those people and to anyone whose minds I may have polluted with dangerous ideas like “human rights” and “international law”. I only hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. Now that my thoughts have been corrected, I would kindly ask that police go gentle on me and the courts show lenience. I will never attempt to do journalism again.
Can I just be the first to say fuck journalism? I don’t mean the brilliant corporate journalism that I do, I’m talking about real journalism. Real journalism can go and fuck itself! Anyways, copy and paste the above words and police are likely to cut your beating by thirty minutes and the judge should reduce your sentence to five years. Let’s be honest you deserve so much worse, you fucking do-gooder.
Palestinian Information Center – October 21, 2024
GAZA – Israeli occupation forces executed seven displaced Palestinians and wounded dozens of others while being evacuated from a school sheltering the displaced people in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, according to medical sources and eyewitnesses’ accounts.
A medical source at the Kamal Adwan Hospital reported that the bodies of seven martyrs and many wounded were transferred to the hospital as a result of the Israeli artillery shelling on Jabalia camp.
Eyewitnesses told Anatolia agency that the Israelis forced the trapped people at the UNRWA’s Krizm School in the Jabalia refugee camp to gather in preparation for evacuation.
Once they did so, the Israeli forces fired an artillery shell directly towards them, killing at least seven displaced people and wounding dozens, the eyewitnesses added.
Al Mayadeen | October 21, 2024
The United States will work on providing the Israeli regime with a special emergency aid package of $5.2 billion, aimed at augmenting Israeli air defense systems, Israeli media reported on Monday.
The Director General of the Israeli Security Ministry, Major General (Res.) Eyal Zamir, and Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Williamn La Plante, engaged in an exchange of letters to implement the emergency aid package.
According to Israeli media, the funds will be allocated to developing, enhancing, and expanding the Iron Dome, David Sling, and Iron Beam systems.
The $5.2 billion will be part of the broader package approved by the US administration and Congress of $8.7 billion. The remaining $3.5 billion will be allocated to the Israeli Procurement Mission in the US, which will use the vast funds to make purchases on the behalf of Israeli occupation forces.
US rushes to patch up Israeli air defense systems
The Israeli regime has one of the world’s densest networks of air defense systems, a significant portion of which has been financed by the US.
Moreover, the US has recently deployed a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in Israeli-occupied territories, aimed at further bolstering Israeli air defense capabilities. This comes after the embarrassing performance of Israeli air defenses against Iran’s ballistic missile strike, which was conducted on October 1, 2024.
Moreover, Israeli air defenses have struggled against low-budget one-way attack drones launched by the Axis of Resistance. Most recently, a swarm of drones penetrated Israeli-occupied territories, traveling a 70 km distance from the Palestinian-Lebanese border.
One of the drones was seen flying right past an Israeli Apache attack helicopter, before impacting the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Caesarea.
Yemen Threatens US With Quagmire Worse Than ‘Hell of Vietnam’
By Ilya Tsukanov – Sputnik – 21.10.2024
The Yemeni militia began a stream of drone and missile attacks targeting merchant ships suspected of ties to Israel last November, and started attacking US and British warships in January amid a Pentagon-led effort to “degrade” its capabilities through airstrikes. Nearly one year and $5 billion later, the US operation has yet to achieve its goals.
Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer has called on colleagues from both parties in the Senate to ramp up the US sanctions regime against Yemen’s Ansar Allah (Houthi) militia, urging lawmakers to act amid the Biden administration’s inaction on proposed tougher restrictions.
“In recent months, the Houthis, as part of Iran’s Axis of Evil, have escalated their attacks, launching drones and ballistic missiles directly at Israel,” Gottheimer wrote in a letter to Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer and Minority leader Mitch McConnell on Monday, with the ‘Axis of Evil’ rhetoric an apparent throwback to the early 2000s Bush-era term which culminated in the invasion of Iraq.
“Despite this escalation, the State Department reaffirmed their decision not to reimpose the [Foreign Terrorist Organization] designation on the Houthis. This is deeply troubling, and underscores the need for Congressional action. Currently, a similar version of this bill exists in the Senate, with bipartisan support,” Gottheimer, a member of the House select committee on intelligence, and one of the Democratic Party’s most steadfastly pro-Israel House lawmakers, added.
“The Houthis have been targeting ships they believe are destined for Israel using ballistic missiles, drones, and even hijacking vessels by boarding them from a helicopter,” Gottheimer wrote, pointing out that “since March 14th, there have been more than 77 reported attacks on ships in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels. The Houthis’ indiscriminate targeting threatens the more than 117,000 ships that travel through the Bab el Mandeb Strait annually and has forced thousands of ships belonging to companies such as AP Moller-Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM, and BP to reroute their vessels away from the Red Sea and delay the delivery of goods key to the international supply chain.”
“The Houthis have forged alliances with anti-democratic, authoritarian regimes that violate the values our two nations strive to promote and uphold,” the lawmaker added.
“Recently, the Houthis reached an agreement with [Russia and China] pledging not to target Russian or Chinese vessels. This new alignment potentially bolsters the Houthis militarily and grants significant economic advantages to Russia and China at the expense of our economies and national security,” the letter claimed.
The Biden administration partially reimposed Trump-era sanctions on the Houthis in January, re-adding the group to the Treasury’s ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’ listing, which allows for the blocking of any assets designated persons or entities may have in the United States by the Treasury. In the case of the Houthis, the restrictions appear to be largely symbolic, with most of the movement’s leadership believed to be entrenched in Yemen and never setting foot in the United States.
The White House has yet to re-list the Houthis under its ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization’ (FTO) sanctions, citing humanitarian concerns, including access to food and medicines, and fears of a repeat of the dramatic humanitarian crisis Yemen suffered in the wake of a US-backed Gulf coalition’s blockade of the country after the Houthi revolution. Those opposed to the designation fear that reinstating it would worsen Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, while doing little to impact the Houthis’ military capabilities.
Since the Houthis began their campaign of attacks on ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinian late last year, the US has spent nearly $5 billion on deployments in support of Israel in the Middle East, including billions on a flagging military campaign against the militia. According to a recent calculations by Brown University’s Costs of War Project, the US has spent $2.4 billion on costs associated with operating carrier strike groups and other missions against the Yemeni militia, plus $50-$70 million for additional combat pay to officers and troops.
US-UK attacks have done little to ease tensions, with the Houthis instead ramping up their shipping attacks, and missile and drone attacks on Israel directly – including a July drone strike in Tel Aviv which slammed into a building 100 meters from a US consulate, and a missile attack earlier this month which slipped past Israeli missile defenses and landed in central Israel.
On Monday, Jamal Ahmed Ali Amer, foreign minister of the Houthi-led National Salvation Government, commented on rumors of suspected US plans to launch a invasion of the strategic Yemeni port city of al-Hudaydah, warning that “if [the US] acts rashly” and proceeds with the operation, “the hell of Vietnam will be just a walk in the park.”
The Cradle | October 21, 2024
After a year of committing genocide in Gaza, more and more Israeli soldiers are quietly refusing orders to return to the strip to fight, saying they are depressed, worn out, psychologically damaged, and unmotivated, according to a report by Ha-Makom magazine published on 20 October.
The ultra-Orthodox-oriented magazine interviewed multiple soldiers and parents of soldiers who refuse to return to Gaza. When a platoon of 30 soldiers of the Nahal Brigade was recently ordered to enter Gaza for the latest of several tours, only six reported for duty.
“I call it refusal and rebellion,” says Inbal, the mother of one of the soldiers in the platoon.
“They return to the same buildings that they cleaned, each time trapping them anew. They have been to Al-Zaytoun neighborhood three times already. They understand that it is futile and pointless.”
Although they had only a fifth of their personnel, the commander still insisted they enter Gaza.
“Because they were a small team, they couldn’t go out on missions. They just stayed there and waited for the time to pass. It was even more unnecessary.”
In addition to battling Hamas fighters, Israeli soldiers have been demolishing residential buildings with explosives, sniping children, shelling hospitals and schools housing displaced people, and destroying Gaza’s water and electrical infrastructure.
One parent of a soldier in Nahal said that according to her son, “The wards are empty. Everyone who is not dead or injured is mentally damaged. There are very few left who returned to fight. And they’re not quite right either.”
After Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon, in which many soldiers have already been killed and injured, her son told her, “I don’t know what army they’re thinking of entering Lebanon with, but I’m not going back to the battalion.”
According to those interviewed by Ha-Makom, there is no movement among the soldiers to refuse to serve.
Instead, one goes quietly to his commander and says he is unable to fight. He is then removed and placed in a non-combat position elsewhere.
“Things are resolved within the unit. It happens all the time. There is an incessant covert drop from fighting,” one parent explained.
Among mothers, the phenomenon is called “silent refusal” or “gray refusal.”
Soldiers feel demoralized having to return to places in Gaza where they fought months ago and supposedly defeated Hamas.
“When the return to the places we were in, such as Jabalia, Al-Zaytoun, and Shujaiya, began, it broke the soldiers,” a parent named Eidit explains.
“These are the same places where they lost their friends. The area was already clean. It had to be preserved. It frustrated them a lot. What kills them is the conditions and the duration of the fighting, which has no end in sight. You never know when you will get out, and it’s been like this for a year. Not to mention the loss and the difficult sights they see in Gaza.”
Yael, the mother of a fighter in a commando brigade, said that her son told her, “We are like sitting ducks at the range. We don’t understand what we’re doing here. The abductees don’t come back a second and third time, and you see it’s endless, and soldiers get injured and die on the way.”
In March, four fighters of the unit were killed, and dozens more were injured in three different attacks.
After returning from Gaza, the soldier’s unit was converted to a reserve unit and sent right back to fight in the enclave.
“He told his commander that he wanted to remain a fighter in the reserves but that, at the moment, he is unable to because of his parents, whom he does not trust and does not think there is any point in continuing. He was released but did not receive an order 8,” which is an order call up to fight in the reserves.
Their commanders shame them for abandoning their fellow soldiers and try to convince them to fight, but ultimately take no action against the soldiers.
“Two months before him, two fighters from his team refused and that is what gave him the courage. At the moment, most of them have not been put in prison, and the phenomenon is just kept quiet.”
Ha-Makom added, “After 12 consecutive months of a war that goes nowhere, the soldiers are ‘black.’ In military slang, this means that they are depressed, worn out and unmotivated.”
“In the beginning, he was very determined,” says Ofer, the father of a sniper in one of the infantry units. “He said: ‘Our job is to return the kidnapped, our job is to take revenge,’ and he went there.”
By Ron Paul | October 21, 2024
When you take on the role of the world’s policeman, don’t be surprised when countries who cannot fight their own wars call “911.” That is exactly what is happening to the United States on two fronts and it is bankrupting our country, depleting the military that should serve our own national interest, and threatening to drag the US into World War III.
Last week, Ukraine’s “president” Vladimir Zelensky publicly presented his “Victory Plan.” It was delusional: immediate NATO Membership for Ukraine, NATO strikes against incoming Russian missiles, and permission to use Western long-range missiles for strikes deep into Russia including Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The real intent was not hard to understand. Ukraine is on the verge of losing its war with Russia and is desperate to draw the United States military into the fight. There were numerous opportunities to avoid this bloody war but at every step the Ukrainian leadership listened to western neocons (like Boris Johnson) and decided to keep fighting Russia down to the last Ukrainian.
But now that they are nearly down to the last Ukrainian, they are calling on us to step in and fight the country with the most nuclear weapons on earth – Russia – in a battle that could not be more unrelated to our actual interests.
Washington’s answer should be simple but firm: “No more weapons, no more money. You’re on your own. Make peace.”
Would the US be mortally wounded if the people in Eastern Ukraine were allowed to secede from Kiev and join Russia? Would anyone except the Russia-obsessed neocons in DC think tanks even notice?
Likewise with Israel. Tel Aviv has, in response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, launched a war to annihilate Palestinians from Gaza, invade and occupy southern Lebanon, degrade the military of Iraq and Syria, and take on Iran. But the Israeli military has nowhere near the capacity to fight so many wars on so many fronts, so it has increasingly demanded US involvement in the conflicts. Already the US has provided some $23 billion in additional military aid to Israel and has employed US military assets in the region to shoot down missiles and provide increased weapons and intelligence.
But it’s still not enough for Israel. To fight Iran, with its significant military capabilities, Israel appears desperate to drag the US military into the battle. The stationing of one or perhaps two THAAD air defense systems, each with 100 US troops to operate them, is part of that effort. These 100-200 US troops are illegally engaged in combat, but what’s worse is that they are being used as a tripwire. US and Israeli leaders understand that they will be considered legitimate targets for any additional Iranian missile attack, but as soon as American troops start getting killed in Israel there will be a massive push for further US involvement. Imagine the mainstream media war propaganda if such a terrible thing happens.
That is no way to use members of the US armed services. It is the opposite of supporting our troops.
Washington’s response to Israel trying to drag us into its war with Iran should be just like with Ukraine: “No more weapons, no more money. You’re on your own. Make peace.” That is what a pro-America foreign policy looks like. Our Founders understood it very well and wrote about it often. It’s called “non-intervention.”