Trump approves $1 billion in new bombs, armored bulldozers for Israel
The Cradle | February 4, 2025
US President Donald Trump has asked Congress to approve transferring $1 billion worth of additional bombs and other military equipment to Israel, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on 4 February.
The planned weapons transfer includes 4,700 bombs that weigh 1,000 lbs each, worth more than $700 million, as well as armored bulldozers built by Caterpillar, worth more than $300 million, the White House officials said.
The 4,700 bombs consist of 4,500 BLU-110s and 200 Mk-83s, which the Pentagon refers to as “general purpose bombs.”
The Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozers are used by the Israeli army to demolish Palestinians’ homes in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Funds for the weapons and equipment will come from the billions of dollars in US military aid provided to Israel annually at the expense of US taxpayers.
US-supplied bombs have significantly contributed to Israel’s killing of over 62,000 Palestinians in Gaza, the majority women and children, since the start of the war on 7 October 2023.
The report of the new weapons transfer comes as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli officials are in Washington to meet with President Trump.
Netanyahu is expected to pressure Trump to approve additional arms transfers that were initially requested by former president Joe Biden, the WSJ added. These additional arms requests include $8 billion in new bombs, missiles, and artillery rounds.
Before Israel’s ground invasion of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza last spring, the US suspended just one shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel.
President Trump lifted the suspension last week, saying he released the bombs because “they paid for them, and they have been waiting for them for a long time.”
Netanyahu later thanked Trump in a video message.
While a temporary ceasefire is currently in place in Gaza, Israel is escalating its war on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including through the use of airstrikes.
On 1 February, three Israeli airstrikes killed five Palestinians and injured three others in Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank. Among the victims was a 14-year-old.
During the recent Israeli army campaign in Jenin, dozens of houses have been demolished, and roads in the refugee camp there have been dug up by armored Israeli bulldozers, driving thousands of people from their homes.
Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, Israeli forces and settlers have killed more than 900 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank.
As the war began, former national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir initiated a campaign to arm Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank with thousands of additional high-caliber rifles. He also intensified calls for Israel to annex the occupied Palestinian territory.
When asked about the possibility of annexation on Tuesday, Trump did not answer the question but stressed Israel’s small size.
“It’s a pretty small piece of land,” Trump said. “It’s amazing what they’ve been able to do when you think about it – a lot of good, smart brain power.”
Al Mayadeen’s camera sniped by Israeli soldier in Yaroun, S. Lebanon
Al Mayadeen | February 2, 2025
Al Mayadeen’s camera was sniped by occupation forces on Sunday at the northern entrance to the town of Yaroun. Fortunately, no injuries were reported among the crew.
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Yaroun, southern Lebanon, reported that the occupation forces opened fire to deter residents from gathering in the town.
The attack occurred while the Al Mayadeen team was covering the ongoing resistance of the southern people, aimed at compelling the occupation forces to withdraw from their villages.
Ali Alloush, the head of the Lebanese Photojournalists’ Syndicate, condemned the attack on Al Mayadeen, describing it as an assault by a criminal and usurping enemy.
In a deliberate attempt to suppress the voice of resistance that Al Mayadeen Network strives to present with professionalism and realism to the world, the occupation forces have intentionally targeted its correspondents in various locations.
On October 25, the Israeli occupation attacked the residence of journalists in Hasbaya, southern Lebanon, resulting in the martyrdom of Al Mayadeen’s photojournalist Ghassan Najjar and broadcast engineer Mohammad Reda.
Before this, on November 21, 2023, Al Mayadeen’s correspondent Farah Omar, photojournalist Rabih Me’mari, and collaborator Hussein Akil were martyred in an Israeli raid that targeted them in the town of Tayr Harfa, southern Lebanon.
Additionally, Al Mayadeen teams in occupied Palestine have faced multiple attacks from both the occupation forces and Israeli settlers.
In August of last year, the Israeli occupation government approved a proposal by Minister of Communications Shlomo Karhi, which called for the renewal of the ban on the Al Mayadeen Network, the confiscation of its equipment, and the blocking of its websites.
Over 61,700 Palestinians killed in Israel’s genocidal war, local authorities say
MEMO | February 2, 2025
At least 61,709 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, local authorities said on Sunday, Anadolu Agency reports.
“Only 47,487 bodies were transferred to hospitals, while 14,222 remained missing under the rubble,” Salama Marouf, who heads Gaza’s government media office, told a news conference in Gaza City.
He said the victims included 17,881 children, including 214 newborn babies.
“More than 38,000 Palestinian children were orphaned by the Israeli war,” Marouf said.
According to the local official, at least 1,155 medical personnel, 205 journalists, and 194 civil defense workers were also killed during the Israeli onslaught, which also damaged more than 450,000 housing units.
“More than 6,000 Palestinians were detained by the Israeli forces and dozens of them were tortured to death in detention,” he added.
“Over 2 million Palestinians were forcibly displaced, with many forced to relocate more than 25 times amid absence of essential services,” Salama said.
On Jan. 19, the first six-week phase of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel went into effect, halting Tel Aviv’s genocidal war.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
Hamas calls on the Red Cross to protect Palestinian prisoners’ rights
Palestinian Information Center – February-2025
GAZA – Hamas called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to protect Palestinian prisoners’ rights based on the Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols, confirming that the torture, medical neglect, starvation, and lack of medication that they endure is a full-fledged war crime.
The horrifying testimonies of the released prisoners, the confirmation that they were abused and beaten both days before and up until the final hour of their release, as well as the various forms of physical and psychological torture, medical neglect, starvation, deprivation of medication, and deprivation they endure in the occupation prisons, “constitute a full-fledged war crime and a brutal violation of international laws related to prisoners by the occupation government,” the Movement said in a letter to the Red Cross.
“The International Committee of the Red Cross must step up its efforts to monitor the conditions of Palestinian prisoners in light of the Hebrew media’s confirmation of the cruel treatment that the released inmates endure at the hands of the Zionist Prison Service and occupation soldiers.”
Hamas demanded that the international organization forward its reports to the appropriate international bodies and endeavor to guarantee that their rights are respected in compliance with international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions, and their supplementary protocols.
In addition, the Movement emphasized that the occupation’s continued crimes against Palestinians and their prisoners in jails “will only increase our determination to continue on the path of resistance until the occupation is removed from our land and our holy sites and the establishment of the Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.” These crimes demonstrate how the occupation deviates from human values and international law.
Earlier, the Red Cross condemned Israel’s treatment of recently released Palestinian prisoners, who reported severe beatings, death threats, and inhumane conditions before their freedom.
Red Cross expressed outrage over “the way the Israel Prison Service led the prisoners out of Ketziot on Saturday morning – handcuffed with their hands above their heads, wearing a bracelet inscribed with the phrase, ‘the eternal people never forget’.”
Released Israeli captive says Hamas made sure to meet all his needs in Gaza
Press TV – February 2, 2025
Former Israeli captive Keith Siegel, who was recently released after 15 months in Gaza, says Palestinian resistance fighters made sure to meet all his needs in captivity.
The US-Israeli dual national was among three captives released on Saturday. Before his release, Siegel recorded a farewell video message to “thank Al-Qassam for everything,” saying, “You were good with us for the past 15 months.”
Hamas military arm Al-Qassam Brigades released the video on Sunday.
“The fighters guarding me during this period made sure to meet all my needs, including food, drink, medicine, vitamins, eye treatment, blood pressure monitor, and other needs.”
Siegel said the resistance fighters “made sure to bring food that was suitable for my health condition, vegetarian food, without oil.”
“The guards treated me well,” he said.
The released captive also criticized Tel Aviv for not doing “what was required to reach a deal to return the prisoners and end the war, which led to many victims and additional damage to both parties.”
Gadi Moses, 80, the oldest captive and the first man who was released as part of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, also told his family that he was “treated with respect,” in Gaza.
Moses was released after 482 days in Gaza captivity on Thursday.
According to details Moses shared with his family, his son said in a written message that this father “lived in the same conditions as his captors & ate what they ate together.”
“He lived in the same conditions as his captors & ate what they ate together. They provided him with books about the environment & Islam & reading glasses.”
Israel’s bombardment was “very scary for him,” he said.
Hamas said in a previous statement that the Israeli military “deliberately and repeatedly” targeted locations where Israeli captives were held.
It said the regime was “seeking to get rid of their captives in Gaza by all means.”
Another freed Israeli captive said after she was released by Hamas in late November the resistance fighters protected her during the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.
Chen Goldstein-Almog and three of her children were taken captive during Hamas Operation al-Aqsa Storm on October 2023.
Chen recounted that the captives were staying somewhere behind a supermarket when Israeli airstrikes hit nearby.
“Our guards, our captors … were on top of us, protecting us with their bodies from the strikes.”
The Israeli woman recalled asking her captors if they were going to kill them, “and they would tell us: We will die before you.”
Ceaseless Fire
Craig Murray | January 27, 2025
Israel massacred 24 civilians attempting to return to their homes on the agreed date for the Israeli forces to leave Lebanon, and shot and wounded 132 more.
This our sixth short documentary looks at that day and at the wider effects of the Israeli occupation.
I am very proud of it. I think the team have done a remarkable job, and I am confident you will too. News you will not get anywhere else.
Trump Issues Executive Order Aimed At Deporting Anti-Israel Protesters
By blueapples | ZeroHedge | January 31, 2025
Last spring, a wave of protests across college campuses nationwide against Israel’s war in Gaza became the focal point of the growing cultural schism further dividing American society. The dichotomy between supporters and opponents of those protests immediately parlayed into the 2024 election cycle, with rightwing politicians seizing upon the opportunity to use the chaos in order to chip away at the crumbling foundation that the Biden administration’s re-election hopes rested upon. Smelling blood in the water, Biden’s opponents used the protests as evidence of the incumbent’s anti-American ideals manifesting on the nation’s soil and vowed to take swift action against the participants.
As is often the case, the right inextricably tied the interests of the US to those of Israel by categorizing the protesters critical of the genocidal war effort led by the Netanyahu regime as terrorists who were able to find safe haven in the US due to policies of the Biden administration like DEI and open borders that were rooted in Cultural Marxism. Proposed legislation aimed at purging students on visas involved in the protests due to their political leanings gained momentum but ultimately did not achieve any impact. However, an Executive Order signed by the Trump Administration realizes the goal of that reactionary response to those protests and carries the same concerns about its constitutionality and the chaos that enveloped the country across college campuses last spring being used as a catalyst to infringe upon the right to free speech.
On Wednesday, Trump signed an Executive Order titled Additional Measures To Combat Anti-Semitism into effect that fulfilled the promise he made to “get rid of the Jew haters” in the US during his presidential campaign last year. The Executive Order reaffirms another one that Trump signed during his first term that served this same interest. That previous order is Executive Order 13899, which Trump executed in 2019. The 2025 iteration of Executive Order 13899 dictates that the heads of each executive department offer reports on pending civil and criminal action taken under their respective jurisdictions in relation to the “wave of vile anti-Semitic discrimination, vandalism, and violence against our citizens, especially in our schools and on our campuses.” The Executive Order ultimately aims to provide the framework necessary to deport non-citizen college students who took place in last year’s protests against Israel from the United States.
The fact sheet accompanying the Executive Order minced no words, concluding by saying “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.” That language echoed the promises Trump made on the campaign trail set by the rising tide represented by the protests that he compared to the cultural landscape that preceded the Holocaust. When making that comparison between the college protests to demonstrations across the Third Reich, Trump stated “If you look, it’s the same thing.”
Since Trump has taken office, his blitzrkrieg of Executive Orders have defeated many doubts about his ability to live up to the promises he made in the hopes of being re-elected. Criticisms of those who point out how he never took action to lock up Hillary Clinton during his first term as a portent of a similarly disappointing second tenure in the White House have largely been assuaged as Trump has already made good on his commitments to do things like offer pardons to the multitudes of January 6th protesters and to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road who was serving a life sentence behind bars. Those Executive Orders honored the commitments Trump made to his base of supporters as well as the Libertarian voters whose support he hoped to garner to aid his re-election hopes.
With those promises fulfilled, Trump’s swift executive actions now appear to have turned to serve the interests of his largest political donor, Miriam Adelson, whose $100 million donation to Trump’s re-election campaign ensured that any return to the Oval Office would serve the interests of Israel.
While Trump’s triumphant return to the White House has largely been celebrated, one unwavering criticism he continues to face is the paradox that exists between the overarching interests of Israel being held as paramount by a supposed “America First” political platform. Appeasing Israel’s interests has continued to be the exception to every rule as each of Trump’s cabinet nominations that expressed their unconditional support for the Jewish state, echoing the president’s own long-held position. Trump’s latest Executive Order highlights the continued prevalence of that contradictory dynamic within the “America First” movement of putting Israel’s interests above that of America’s.
Supporters of Trump’s effort to deport anti-Israel protesters on student visas have attempted to dispel concerns over the infringement of the First Amendment it poses by highlighting how those being targeted by it are not US citizens. That criticism isn’t just myopic, it illustrates an absence of civic engagement that would belong to any dutiful American who believes in the supreme importance of upholding the constitution. That hollow argument is entirely ignorant of even a rudimentary understanding of constitutional law that has extended civil rights protections to non-citizens for nearly a sesquicentennial.
In 1886, The United States Supreme Court set that precedent when it issued its decision in the case of Yick Wo v. Hopkins. The case was brought to the SCOTUS by Lee Yick, a Chinese immigrant who moved to San Francisco in 1861 and ran a laundromat named Yick Wo for over 22 years. When Yick sought to renew the license they needed to operate the laundromat, they were denied on the basis of safety concerns. Before Yick sought to renew their license, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance making it illegal to operate a laundromat in a wooden building without a permit from the Board, a permit that the business owner was not granted. Despite not being granted the permit, Yick continued to operate the laundromat and was eventually imprisoned for not paying the fine they received for violating the ordinance.
After being imprisoned, Yick petitioned the California Supreme Court for a writ of habeas corpus. Yick’s legal counsel argued that of the 320 laundromats that applied for the permit to operate in a wooden building, only 1 of the 200 Chinese applicants was approved. Comparatively, all 120 of the non-Chinese applicants had their permit applications approved. Yick’s counsel argued that this constituted de facto discrimination against the Chinese, an argument that the SCOTUS upheld. When examining the issue of Yick not being a citizen, the court held that the plain meaning of the text of the 14th Amendment extends the right to protection under the law to “all persons” who have action taken against them in the United States, regardless of citizenship.
The longstanding precedent set by the SCOTUS through Yick Wo v. Hopkins serves as the bedrock for criticism of Trump’s Executive Order aimed at deporting non-citizens on student visas for participating in protests against Israel. “The First Amendment protects everyone in the United States, including foreign citizens studying at American universities,” said Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which became the epicenter of anti-Israel protests last spring. DeCell concluded that “Deporting non-citizens on the basis of their political speech would be unconstitutional.”
The culture war that continues to be waged across the US creates a landscape in which its opponents have lost sight of the forest through the trees. Championing unconstitutional efforts to defeat opposition runs the risk of winning the battle only to lose the war, as the implications of empowering the state to infringe upon free speech would ultimately befall upon the fate of its citizens. This concern was prominent in the wake of the spring 2024 anti-Israel college protests when the Antisemitism Awareness Act was proposed. That proposed legislation highlighted how opportunistic Congress was in exploiting the chaos of those protests to make sweeping attacks against the right to free speech under the guise of combating antisemitism. President Trump’s latest Executive Order highlights how that threat to free speech has emerged yet again, illustrating the dire need for the continued resolve necessary to uphold the most sacrosanct of American virtues.
10-year-old Palestinian boy in critical condition after Israeli soldier shoots him in Tulkarem
Saddam Hussein Iyad Mohammad Rajab, 10, was shot by an Israeli soldier in front of his home in Tulkarem on January 28 and is now in critical condition. (Photo: Rajab family)
Defense for Children International – Palestine | January 31, 2025
Ramallah — A 10-year-old Palestinian child is in critical condition after an Israeli soldier shot him in the northern occupied West Bank on Tuesday.
Saddam Hussein Iyad Mohammad Rajab, 10, was shot in the abdomen by an Israeli soldier around 6:10 p.m. on January 28 during an Israeli military incursion into Tulkarem in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International – Palestine. Israeli forces attacked Saddam’s father as he attempted to carry him to receive medical aid, and after paramedics placed him in an ambulance, soldiers detained his father for about an hour. After three hours of surgery at Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital, doctors referred Saddam to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, and during the transfer Israeli forces detained the ambulance transporting Saddam. While Israeli soldiers held up the ambulance, one soldier told Saddam’s father, “I am the one who shot your son. God willing, he will die.” Saddam remains in the intensive care unit at Rafidia Hospital.
“Israeli forces have utter contempt for Palestinian children’s lives as they deliberately target children with live ammunition with no accountability,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “This deliberate obstruction of medical aid reflects the Israeli military’s routine disregard for the protections afforded to medical personnel and infrastructure under international law, often intentionally targeting these entities and rendering essential health resources for Palestinian children ineffective.”
Saddam sustained a gunshot wound to his waist that exited from his chest, according to information collected by DCIP. The bullet tore through his intestines and injured the pancreas and other vital organs in the abdomen.
The attack was captured on camera and has gone viral on social media.
Saddam and his family had been trapped at home for two days as the Israeli military carried out an incursion into the city of Tulkarem. Saddam’s father said he was going to go downstairs for a minute and took a mobile phone with him.
“After about a minute, I heard the sound of only one bullet with my son Saddam’s scream,” Saddam’s father, Iyad, told DCIP. “He called out in a loud voice that still echoes in my ears, as he said “Dad!” and his voice disappeared.”
“I carried him in my arms, wanting to take him to the nearest vehicle or hospital or something to save his life,” Iyad continued. “When I carried him in my arms, I found that more than 20 Israeli soldiers surrounded me within moments, as some of them assaulted me with severe beatings, punches, and blows using their hands, feet, and rifle butts. I was carrying my son in my arms, and I was telling them to hit me and do whatever you want, but let me take my son for treatment.”
Saddam’s medical care was obstructed by Israeli forces several times, including immediately after the shooting and during the transfer from Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital in Tulkarem to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus.
Under international law, children are entitled to special protections, which necessitate that they receive the care and aid that they need during times of armed conflict. Palestinian children like Saddam are systematically denied that right, as Israeli forces simultaneously continue to indiscriminately and fatally target children throughout occupied Palestinian territory. These ongoing assaults on children’s lives are perpetuated by Israel’s entrenched culture of impunity, which continues to claim the lives of Palestinian children nearly every day.
Trump’s call for Palestinians’ relocation will threaten regional peace, Arab nations warn
Press TV – February 1, 2025
Major Arab nations have expressed their opposition to US President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza and the occupied West Bank to neighboring Egypt and Jordan under any circumstances.
In a joint statement following a meeting in Cairo, the foreign ministers and officials from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League presented a unified stance against the US president.
They warned that such a move would threaten regional stability, risk spreading the conflict, and undermine prospects for peace and coexistence among its peoples.
“We affirm our rejection of [any attempts] to compromise Palestinians’ unalienable rights, whether through settlement activities, or evictions or annex of land or through vacating the land from its owners… in any form or under any circumstances or justifications,” the statement read.
The top diplomats emphasized that they were looking forward to working with Trump’s administration to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the region, it noted.
Trump said last week that he had spoken with the king of Jordan about potentially building housing and moving more than 1 million Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries.
The US president added that he would like both Jordan and Egypt — which borders the battered enclave — to house the Palestinians displaced by 15 months of the Israeli regime’s genocidal war.
However, critics said that Trump’s suggestion would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday opposed the idea that his country would facilitate the displacement of Gazans and said Egyptians would take to the streets to express their disapproval.
Trump on Thursday insisted that Egypt and Jordan would accept displaced Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, despite the two nations having dismissed his plan to relocate Gazans there.
Jordan is already home to several million Palestinians, while tens of thousands live in Egypt. The foreign ministries of Egypt and Jordan have both rejected Trump’s suggestion in recent days.
‘Israel’ lost the Gaza war and must accept the reality: Report
Al Mayadeen | February 1, 2025
The threats by Israeli officials to destroy resistance movements in the Gaza Strip have diminished following the ceasefire agreement and the exchange of prisoners. This has shifted to discussions about “Israel’s” failure to achieve the war’s objectives, amid growing media criticism of “Israel’s” inability to secure victory despite claims of “absolute victory.”
Meanwhile, the Hamas movement has reasserted itself as a dominant force in shaping the future of the Gaza Strip, with its influence expanding towards the West Bank.
The Israeli failure is reflected in opinion polls, where responses to a question about the return of Gaza residents to the northern part of the Strip revealed that only 4% of respondents believe the war’s objectives were fully achieved. In contrast, 57% feel the objectives were not fully met, and 32% believe the objectives were not achieved at all.
‘Israel’ completely failed in its war on Gaza
The threats by Israeli officials to destroy the Resistance movements in the Gaza Strip have subsided following the ceasefire deal and the exchange of prisoners, shifting the focus to discussions about the Israeli occupation’s failure to achieve the war’s objectives.
In this context, Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the Jewish Power Party and resigned Police Minister, encapsulated the prevailing sentiment in Israeli discourse by stating, “The horrific images from Gaza—referring to the release of Israeli captives by Palestinian Resistance movements—show that what happened in the Gaza Strip is not a complete victory, but a complete failure,” further describing the deal as an act of unparalleled recklessness.
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted a senior officer in the Israeli military’s General Staff as saying that “Israel, during the 15 months of the war on Gaza, has not achieved the war’s goals, which were to eliminate Hamas both militarily and administratively.”
The Israeli occupation’s failure to achieve its objectives in the war against the Gaza Strip, which started on October 7, 2023, has sparked attention from various experts and commentators in “Israel”. Among them, lawyer and penal law expert Doron Nir-Tzavi, who in an interview with Israeli Channel 7, emphasized that the true victor in any war is the side that “successfully achieves its goals.”
Since “Israel” set four goals for itself—destroying Hamas as a military force, dismantling Hamas’ authority in the Gaza Strip, ensuring the Israeli occupation is not exposed to “threats from Gaza”, and securing the return of all kidnapped individuals—it has failed to achieve any of these objectives. As a result, it is the party that did not win, according to the reports.
‘No achievements’
Former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo spoke to Israeli Channel 12, stating that while the Israeli army may have won the individual battles, “Israel” ultimately lost the war. He further emphasized that the proposal to create a buffer zone on the Gaza Strip border, 300 to 800 meters deep, to protect Israeli settlements, reflects “Israel’s” failure in the war. Pardo remarked, “This is not how you end a war, and this is not how you win a war.”
Former Mossad official Rami Igra highlighted in an interview with Israeli channel i24news that it is clear to everyone in “Israel” that the Israeli army failed to eliminate Hamas’ authority. He pointed out that no one in “Israel” planned for the aftermath or sought to establish an alternative authority to replace Hamas.
As mentioned in the interview, the clear outcome is that the lack of an alternative to Hamas’ authority means it continues to control the Gaza Strip, which is the reality on the ground. Igra further noted that “Israel” has, perhaps unwillingly, abandoned its goal of eliminating Hamas. The situation indicates that Hamas will remain in Gaza and is likely to grow stronger in the West Bank, which will force “Israel” to pay a significant price in the future.
‘Fruitless victory’
In an interview with Channel 12, former advisor to the Israeli Security Ministry, reserve Lieutenant Colonel Alon Avitar, stated, “Hamas is like a player who enters the field and says, if I don’t play, no one will play. That is, Hamas says that it will remain in power, whether directly or from behind the scenes, but in any case, it is the one dictating matters in the Gaza Strip. As for Israel, it must swallow the big frog in the story of absolute victory.”
In an article published in Haaretz, writer and linguist Rubik Rosenthal argued that everyone in “Israel knows they lost the Iron Swords war. Netanyahu knows it, the Smotrich-Ben Gvir duo knows it, Halevi knows it, and the whole world knows that Israel lost, failing to achieve any of the goals of the war.”
The article noted that despite “Israel destroying the enemy’s country, killing tens of thousands of its soldiers and citizens, eliminating its leaders, and blocking kilometers of its tunnels,” Rosenthal emphasized that there is no image of victory for “Israel” in this war, and therefore, no “fruits of victory.”
Hamas rebuilds itself militarily and authoritatively
In his analysis, Haaretz military affairs analyst Amos Harel stated that “there is no basis for the boasts of absolute victory by Netanyahu’s supporters” and emphasized that “one would have to be a foolish follower, who has lost all his control mechanisms, to believe that Israel defeated Hamas.”
Harel also pointed out that despite the massive military blow Hamas received, it did not surrender. Instead, it is gradually regaining its civil authority in the Gaza Strip and beginning to restore its military infrastructure. That said, this reality contradicts Netanyahu’s statements about the “goals of the war and the promises he made during it”.
Avi Issacharoff, an analyst on Arab affairs at the Walla website, criticized the Israeli government during an interview with Channel 12 for selling the public empty slogans about “absolute victory.” He argued that the government failed to achieve its primary goal of eliminating Hamas’ rule, which remains intact.
Zvi Yehezkeli, an Arab affairs commentator for the Israeli i24news channel, stated that Hamas is the dominant force in the Gaza Strip. He emphasized that it is evident to everyone that Hamas is the primary authority in Gaza, and it is the group with which “Israel” coordinates.
Yehezkeli further stated that the images Hamas intentionally broadcasts during the release of Israeli captives are not aimed at the people of Gaza, but rather at the international community. He noted that Hamas uses these images to demonstrate “how Israel was unable to achieve what it wanted in the Gaza Strip.”
WhatsApp accuses Israeli spyware firm of targeting journalists, civil society members
RT | January 31, 2025
Meta’s popular messaging platform WhatsApp has alerted nearly 100 journalists and civil society members to potential device breaches involving spyware from Israeli firm Paragon Solutions, a company official told Reuters on Friday.
These individuals have likely been compromised through a zero-click attack, possibly initiated via a malicious PDF sent in group chats, according to WhatsApp.
The identity of the attackers remains unknown, though Paragon’s software is typically used by government clients. After detecting and disrupting the hacking effort, WhatsApp issued a cease-and-desist letter to Paragon. The incident has been reported to law enforcement and Citizen Lab, a Canadian internet watchdog.
Paragon declined to comment on the accusations, according to Reuters.
Citizen Lab researcher John Scott-Railton told the outlet that the incident “is a reminder that mercenary spyware continues to proliferate and as it does, so we continue to see familiar patterns of problematic use.”
Paragon’s website advertises “ethically based tools, teams, and insights to disrupt intractable threats,” and claims to only sell to governments in stable democratic countries. The company’s products include Graphite, spyware that allows total phone access.
Despite Paragon’s claims of ethical practices, WhatsApp’s findings suggest otherwise, Natalia Krapiva, senior tech-legal counsel at Access Now, told Reuters. She emphasized that such abuses are not isolated incidents, saying, “This is not just a question of some bad apples – these types of abuses (are) a feature of the commercial spyware industry.”
This incident follows a series of legal challenges against Israeli spyware firms. In December 2024, a US judge ruled that NSO Group, the maker of Pegasus spyware, was liable for hacking the phones of 1,400 individuals through WhatsApp in May 2019, violating US state and federal hacking laws, and WhatsApp’s terms of service. A separate trial in March will determine what damages NSO Group owes WhatsApp.
Legal documents from ongoing US litigation between NSO Group and WhatsApp have revealed that it is the Israeli cyberweapons maker NSO Group, not its government clients, that installs and extracts information using its spyware. This disclosure contradicts NSO’s prior claim that only clients operate the system without NSO’s direct involvement.
A Republic of Spies
By Andrew P. Napolitano | Ron Paul Institute | January 30, 2025
In 2021, to his credit, President Joe Biden warned the American public against the dangers of zero-click spyware manufactured by an Israeli corporation. Zero-click is unwanted software that can expose the entire contents of one’s mobile or desktop device to prying eyes without tricking one into clicking on to a link. Biden banned its importation and use in the United States.
Last week, as an inducement to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the Israel/Hamas ceasefire agreement, President Donald Trump secretly agreed to lift the embargo on zero-click.
Here is the backstory.
Though America has employed spies since the Revolutionary War, until the modern era, spying was largely limited to wartime. That changed when America became a surveillance state in 1947 with the public establishment of the Central Intelligence Agency and the secret creation of its counterparts.
The CIA’s stated public task at its inception was to spy on the Soviet Union and its satellite countries so that American officials could prepare for any adverse actions by them. This was the time of the Red Scare, in which both Republicans and Democrats fostered the Orwellian belief that America needed a foreign adversary.
We had just helped the Russians defeat Germany in World War II, and our Russian ally — which was bankrupt and had just lost 27 million troops and civilians — suddenly became so strong it needed to be kept in check. The opening salvo in this absurd argument was fired by President Harry Truman in August 1945 when he used nuclear bombs intentionally to target civilians of an already defeated Japan. One of his targets was a Roman Catholic cathedral.
But his real target — so to speak — was his new friend, Joe Stalin.
When Truman signed the National Security Act into law in 1947, he also had Stalin in mind. That statute, which established the CIA, expressly stated that it shall have no internal intelligence or law enforcement functions and all its collections of intelligence shall come from sources outside the United States.
These limiting clauses were vital to passage of the statute, as members of Congress who crafted it feared the U.S. was creating the type of internal surveillance monster that we had just confronted in Germany.
Of course, no senior official in presidential administrations from Truman to Trump has taken these limitations seriously. As recently as the Obama administration, the CIA boasted that it had the capability of receiving data from all computer chips in the homes of Americans — such as in your microwave or dishwasher.
As well as its presence in your kitchen, the CIA is physically present in all 50 state houses in America. What is it doing there?
The feds admit to funding and empowering 18 domestic intelligence agencies — spies next door. The most notorious of these is the National Security Agency, which, when it last reported, employs 60,000+ persons, mostly civilians, with military leadership.
What do they do? They spy on Americans. We know this thanks to the personal courage of Edward Snowden and others who chose to honor their oaths to uphold the Constitution. NSA spying has produced so much data that the NSA built the second-largest building in the U.S. — after the Pentagon — for use as a storage facility of the data it has collected, and it is running out of room.
What has it collected? Quite simply, everything it can get its hands on. These domestic spies have access to every keystroke and all data on every digital device everywhere in the United States, without a warrant. This is computer hacking, a federal crime; but the feds don’t prosecute the spies they have hired to spy on us.
It also represents an egregious violation of the Fourth Amendment, which guarantees the right to privacy of all persons. The operative language is “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.”
The law defines all searches and seizures conducted without a warrant as unreasonable and thus violative of not only this amendment but also the uniquely American value it was enacted to protect — the right to be left alone. Surely the computer chip in every desktop, mobile device, dishwasher and microwave is an “effect” protected by the Constitution.
The spies and, sadly, the presidents for whom they have worked don’t see it that way. They have claimed in federal courts and elsewhere that the Fourth Amendment does not pertain to them because they are not law enforcement and because they work directly for the president, who, when he is operating as the commander in chief, is free to employ government assets as he wishes, without constitutional constraints.
This argument has been used to justify the CIA’s violent killings of Americans and others in foreign lands using drones and its agents dressed as military. It has justified the brutal torture of foreign nationals, even those whom the CIA deemed were being truthful during their interrogations. And, of course, it has justified ignoring the Constitution and the rights it protects and the values that underlie it.
This argument was also used to justify foreign and federal spying on Trump. Now he wants to make it easier for America’s spies to spy on the rest of us.
Spying belies the very purpose of the Constitution — to keep the government off the people’s backs. Of course, when the late Justice William O. Douglas coined that phrase, there were no computer chips, the CIA was thought to be law-abiding and the NSA didn’t exist.
So, we can see how desirous of secrecy the Trump administration was last week when it agreed to lift the zero-click embargo.
We can try to avoid commercial spyware, but how can we avoid a totalitarian government that spies on everyone?
According to the Declaration of Independence, we can do so by altering or abolishing it.
To learn more about Judge Andrew Napolitano, visit https://JudgeNap.com.
COPYRIGHT 2025 ANDREW P. NAPOLITANO
DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM
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From the Archives
Secret document reveals plans for civil war in Lebanon, Israeli false flags, and invasion
By Randi Nord | Geopolitics Alert | April 5, 2019
Beirut – During his visit with US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, Lebanese President Michael Aoun reportedly received a US-Israeli document detailing plans for creating a civil war in Lebanon with covert false flag operations and possible Israeli invasion.
Although the source of the document is Israeli and created in partnership with Washington, no one knows who presented it to Aoun. The Lebanese TV station, Al-Jadeed, initially reported the document on Lebanese TV and a video on its website. Geopolitics Alert translated the report for this article. … continue
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