Bernard-Henri Lévy, a Zionist spin master masquerading as a ‘philosopher’
By Ivan Kesic | Press TV | November 30, 2024
Bernard-Henri Lévy, a self-proclaimed “philosopher,” has earned notoriety for himself as a supporter of controversial causes and illegitimate entities, most notably the Israeli regime.
He was at it again recently after jumping in defense of war criminals in Tel Aviv following the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants against them over the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Introduced in the Western and Israeli media as an “intellectual,” “philosopher,” and “peace activist,” Lévy’s words and actions illustrate that he is a PR agent for the Israeli occupation.
While the ICC’s indictment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant on Thursday for their roles in the regime’s war crimes against Palestinian civilians in Gaza has been widely welcomed, the move has frustrated Zionists and their apologists.
Among them is Lévy, a French national and a Zionist at heart, who vented his disappointment on X and other social networks where he is followed by hundreds of thousands of people.
He took to X on November 22 to criticize the Hague-based court for “distorting international law” and disfiguring the noble idea of international justice.”
He posted similar rants on Facebook and Instagram, where he wrote that the ICC indictment was “shameful” and “disgraceful,” and that the same applies to calling Israeli crimes in Gaza genocide.
Lévy vehemently denied that genocide was taking place in Gaza, calling it “false, morally abject and a perverse inversion,” while linking his review to the US conservative news website The New York Sun.
In the article, he anachronistically argued that the use of “genocide” for the Israeli campaign of extermination is “insulting to the real victims of genocide,” or the victims of Nazism 82 years ago.
On November 25, he again took to X to defend the Zionist regime’s genocide in Gaza and decry the ICC for issuing arrest warrants against Netanyahu.
“The ICC in The Hague is only competent for countries with failing judicial systems, unable of trying themselves their leaders’ misconduct,” he wrote.
The court, he hastened to assert, was “created (and I was part of this reflection and conceptualization) for countries like #Russia! #China! #Iran! #Nigeria” adding that it has “no jurisdiction over tiny but democratic #Israel!”
“This mandate, in other words, makes no sense. Netanyahu cannot, under any circumstances, be apprehended. Those who claim otherwise simply have no understanding of the international law.”
Lévy’s outbursts were met with widespread criticism for their bias, whitewashing, contradictions, hypocrisy, and double standards, especially since he had welcomed the ICC arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin in March last year.
In his tweet on March 17, 2023, the French “philosopher” described the indictment of the sitting Russian president as “great news, glaring truth and justice.”
“The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir #Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova for the deportation of #Ukrainian children. The truth is glaring. Justice will prevail,” he wrote then.
Long-time Zionist
Lévy’s latest pro-Zionist rhetoric and inconsistencies are nothing new, but a continuation of his uncompromising apologetics in favor of the Israeli regime.
Late last month, he also produced a book, “Israel Alone,” in which he argued that the Tel Aviv regime, openly and unabashedly supported by the United States and European countries, as the title suggests, actually stands “alone.”
He dehumanizingly referred to the Axis of Resistance as “barbarians,” while spouting the classic clichés that anti-Zionism amounts to “anti-Semitism” and that the Zionist entity “fights for the entire collective West.”
Lévy’s statements to the media and on social media have also been riddled with such twisted interpretations, and in the last few weeks alone, he has used them to justify all of the most extreme moves by the Netanyahu cabinet.
In collaboration with the influential Zionist organization B’nai B’rith International, he regularly participates in pro-Israel conferences in Paris, defending Israeli genocidal actions against Palestinians in Gaza and Lebanese in Lebanon.
Despite the global outcry, he welcomed the Israeli ban on the operations of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees on whose aid millions of civilians depend, questioning the organization’s humanitarian mandate.
He has also supported the Israeli aggression against Iran and Lebanon, claiming that they are “not invading, but liberating Lebanon,” and that those who do not understand this have “lost all moral and political compass.”
According to available evidence, over the past quarter of a century, Lévy has been known as a fierce advocate of aggressive Israeli, American, and French foreign policies, justifying all of their wars, as well as their proxies in numerous conflicts.
He has often justified Israeli aggressions with the cliché of “the most moral army in the world,” which is a repetition of Ariel Sharon’s statements from 2004, as well as with the regime’s frequent demagogy of “the only democracy in the region.”
The same worn-out platitude about “democracy” was used by Lévy to glorify all terrorists backed by the aforementioned Western powers.
Bernard-Henri Lévy with Olivier Rafowicz and Israeli officials in occupied Palestine in this undated photo.
Part of a PR campaign
Although Lévy has a habit of defending his support for Zionism with so-called “political worldviews,” experts and investigative journalists have for years pointed to his direct cooperation with the top brass of the Israeli regime.
He was born into a Jewish Zionist family and visited the occupied territories as a teenager, but his stronger political engagement began at the beginning of this century, congruent with the then-US neocon-Zionist imperial ambitions.
Lévy is often placed in the context of the so-called “liberal hawks,” a group of public figures, often former Marxists and declared liberals, who ironically have justified Western military aggressions with “humanitarian” arguments.
Their sudden appearance in the mass media and public space was not spontaneous, but part of an organized PR campaign aimed at winning over Western public opinion from all sides of the political spectrum.
Lévy is thus branded as a “thinker, intellectual, or philosopher,” even though he briefly worked as a lecturer and did not produce any significant philosophical work or ideas, nor is he treated as a serious thinker by contemporary philosophers.
In fact, he has been widely criticized and ridiculed in philosophical circles for quoting Jean-Baptiste Botul, who is a fictional figure, which, as some suggest, shows his works are written by ghostwriters.
Political philosopher Perry Anderson called Lévy’s prominence “bizarre” and a reversion to national standards of taste and intelligence in France’s public sphere.
French investigative journalists Jade Lindgaard and Xavier De La Porte, in a co-authored book analyzing his words and works, called him a “pseudo-philosopher, an impostor, and an ace of postmodern agitprop.”
The duo states that he skillfully camouflages his Zionism and has invented a discourse that delivers both propaganda and the antidote to that propaganda, eluding critical grasp and making it impossible to criticize him.
For example, he claimed to support the creation of a Palestinian state, but he supported all Israeli moves and policies that tried to prevent that from happening.
Bernard Henri Lévy with members of Israeli military in occupied Palestine in this undated photo.
The unofficial IOF spokesman
Lévy is a long-time zealot advocate of the Israeli military (IOF) and has actively participated in the regime’s PR campaign to whitewash its genocidal crimes and improve its public image.
This collaboration began in 2002 during the Second Intifada when accompanied by soldier Olivier Rafowicz and with the permission of the Israeli regime, he visited their army barracks, giving eulogies about them to the media.
Accompanying him, Lévy visited the battlefield again in 2006 during the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, presenting Rafowicz as an ordinary soldier and an expert on the situation on the ground.
In reality, Rafowicz was the IOF’s spokesman to the foreign media; French-born and a perfect French speaker, in charge of PR relations with French journalists.
During the neatly choreographed tour, Lévy also visited minister of military affairs Amir Peretz, foreign minister Tzipi Livni, and former PM Shimon Peres, but he did not talk to a single Israeli opponent of the war, not one Palestinian refugee and no one from Lebanon.
Once again, in 2009, Levy covered the Israeli aggression on Gaza, telling foreign media that he entered Gaza City and there were no signs of any destruction.
The implicit message was that Israeli shelling had not been as destructive as claimed in the media, but his claims were quickly exposed as a lie because he did not visit Gaza but Abasan al-Saghira, a border town 20 km away.
Unlike foreign journalists, Lévy was not denied a visit to the troops, which, together with manipulative statements to the media, proves it was another regime PR stunt.
This time he also had ready access to the top dignitaries of the Israeli army and the regime, including PM Ehud Olmert, minister of military affairs Ehud Barak, and Yuval Diskin, the director of Shin Bet, the Israeli internal military service.
During all these excursions, Lévy delivered the regime’s PR mantra of “the most moral army in the world” to foreign media, and was awarded two honorary doctorates by Israeli universities for his propaganda activities.
He continued his role as an Israeli field operative later during the Arab Spring protests, when he met with militants in Libya and Syria, claiming to the media that they were ready to recognize the Israeli regime and establish diplomatic relations.
Terrorist Offensive in Aleppo Reeks of US and Israeli Involvement – Marandi
Sputnik – 29.11.2024
The sudden escalation in Syria where anti-government groups launched a sudden offensive towards Aleppo betrays the involvement of several foreign powers, including Israel and the United States, says Seyed Mohammad Marandi, political analyst and professor at Tehran University.
“We see thousands of foreign fighters affiliated to al-Qaeda from across Central Asia,” Marandi tells Sputnik. “They’ve been mobilized and well trained to carry out this assault.”
The offensive, he points out, takes place “literally a day after Netanyahu said he needs the ceasefire in order to deal with the so-called Iranian threat,” and it appears that the goal of this offensive is “to cut off Syria from the Axis of Resistance in order to isolate Lebanon.”
“Obviously, this is being done in coordination with the United States. The whole dirty war in Syria since 2011 was led by the United States,” Marandi adds. “We know that Jake Sullivan back then, who is now the national security adviser of Biden, said in an email to Hillary Clinton on February 12th, 2012, that in Syria, al Qaeda is on our side.”
Given the long history of the US’ association with terrorist groups in the region and previous efforts by Washington to “create a Salafist entity between Syria and Iraq to isolate Syria,” there is no doubt that the United States and its allies “are a part of this conspiracy against Syria,” the analyst concludes.
That said, Marandi identifies the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the “number one beneficiary” of the current crisis in Aleppo.
“Netanyahu needs war, and he only accepted a ceasefire under a great deal of pressure. So no one has faith in the Israelis. The Israelis have always violated commitments,” Marandi says. “After all, it is carrying out a holocaust in Gaza, a regime that carries out the Holocaust and continues to do so in front of the eyes of the world after 14 months is not a regime that can be trusted for anything.”
Syrian military expert Mahmoud Abdel Salyam offers a similar take on the subject, blaming Israel for the current crisis and claiming that Tel Aviv’s plans threaten the security situation in the region.
“Israel essentially wants to solidify its position in the region after the ceasefire in Lebanon,” he says. “So Tel Aviv has no intention of stopping – it wants to sow discord among the other players in the region and to force them to react to such challenges.”
Salyam does note, however, that other global players who are interested in “changing the power balance in the Middle East” will undoubtedly capitalize on this situation.
“Some countries, for example, may use the weakening of the Arab republic to bolster their influence by supporting radical and extremist groups that Israel tries to use in Syria,” he says. “But such dangerous actions will lead to unpredictable consequences, for these countries and for their allies.”
Haavara to Hague: Germany’s stance on ICC arrest warrants unmasks deep Zionist ties
By Musa Iqbal | Press TV | November 29, 2024
International Criminal Court’s (ICC) landmark decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli regime leaders Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gollant has sparked outrage from Western leaders, who have for decades used the Hague-based tribunal for political agendas.
Though the arrest warrants are riddled with glaring contradictions, such as describing Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif as a “war criminal” and equating Hamas resistance leaders with war criminals in Tel Aviv, the warrants are still significant because even the institutions founded by the Western world are unable to dismiss the criminality of the Zionist regime.
But now comes the true test: are the states that are signatories to the Rome Statute, which recognizes the authority of the Hague-based international tribunal, willing to follow through with their pledge?
Many countries have reluctantly expressed their willingness to accept the decision – such as Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands, just to name a few. However, some have been more reluctant, retreating to “analyze” the verdict issued by the ICC.
Perhaps the case that deserves the most attention is that of Germany, a Rome Statute signatory and one of the biggest allies of the child-murdering Tel Aviv regime that has been deeply complicit in the Gaza genocide.
A German government spokesperson, Steffen Hebestreit, said he “finds it hard to imagine” that they would make arrests “on this basis,” questioning the authority and decision of the Court entirely.
Naturally, these statements have caused a stir, and have journalists pressing German officials on what their stance actually will be on ICC arrest warrant, which took more than six months to make headway.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, when pressed on the enforcement of the warrants, retreated.
“As I said, we abide by the law and legislation nationally, at the European level and internationally, and that is why we are now examining exactly what that means for us for implementation in Germany,” he said.
She made no comments regarding whether Germany would follow through with the arrest warrants, despite being obligated as a signatory of the Rome Statute – something Hebestreit mentioned himself.
Germany has been one of the most staunch European supporters of the Zionist entity, particularly amid the ongoing genocidal war on Gaza, refusing persistent calls to halt arms sales to the Tel Aviv regime.
Time and time again – throughout the decades – Germany has attributed its ironclad and unconditional support for the Israeli occupation to its own Nazi-era crimes against Jewish people in the 1930s and 40s.
Germany claims it is motivated to support the Zionist regime because of its own guilt.
But this is a complete distortion of the truth. The fact of the matter is, the German Nazi regime was a direct collaborator with the Zionist movement from the early days of Nazi party rule in Germany.
In fact, while most Jewish organizations were banned, the lone organization permitted to legally exist was the German Zionist movement, under different initiatives.
To the uninitiated, an alliance between the Zionist movement and the Nazi regime seems completely contradictory. But when looking at the material desires of both the Zionist movement and that of Nazi Germany, the motivations become quite clear and obvious, and manifested in the infamous Haavara Agreement, signed by the Zionistische Vereinigung für Deutschland (Zionist Federation of Germany) and the German Reich Ministry of Economics in August 1933.
The agreement is quite simple: in exchange for Jewish immigrants (particularly, those loyal to the Zionist doctrine, and some of the most wealthiest – indicating it was never about moralism but rather preserving class interests within Zionism) to safely leave Germany, the Nazi regime would help transfer the Jewish population themselves to Palestinian territories, accelerating the removal of indigenous Palestinians from a territory where they were already persecuted by a growing Zionist population and British colonialism.
The Nazi regime received tremendous material benefits for this. Jewish organizations were enacting worldwide boycotts of the German regime at the time, on the grounds of the Nazi laws persecuting the Jewish population in Germany.
The Nazi regime saw this as a major threat, as it created grounds for economic isolation in a post-World War I world. The open collaboration with the Zionist movement allowed the Nazi regime to dodge the accusations of antisemitism, and further dangerously conflated anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, a defense the Zionist regime would use to the modern day.
Furthermore, the German government was able to enact further economic deals under Haavara, which resulted in a new German market in the British-occupied Palestinian land.
The agreement materially improved a heavily boycotted Nazi regime while laying further groundwork for the Zionist colonization of Palestine. The transfer of wealth was often cited and met with glee in Zionist-controlled media in occupied Palestine.
Fast forward 91 years. The German government, which has enacted laws that criticism of the Israeli regime is “anti-semitic” in nature, is yet again making a callback to its Nazi roots.
Hebestreit, quoted in The Telegraph, states that “it is a consequence of German history that we share unique relations and great responsibility with Israel.”
This is completely true, but not in the context in which they are using to deceive the public. Germany is not defying the ICC arrest warrants because of any shame to its Nazi crimes. Rather, functionally speaking, it is the same dedication to the Zionist movement Germany declared in 1933, in order to not only evade allegations of anti-Semitism, but continue making billions of dollars from exports to the Zionist occupation.
Refusing to enforce the ICC warrants means that Germany can continue its arms shipments to the Zionist occupation. Just last month, Germany approved a sale of over $100,000,000 worth of arms to the Israeli regime. Some researchers suggest that Germany exports nearly 30 percent of the arms sent to the occupation regime.
Germany is in a particularly debased state of affairs, due to its close allegiance to the United States. The American insistence to cut off energy imports from Russia as well as the US involvement in bombing the Nord Stream II pipeline has drastically impacted the German economy.
The economic peril due to this commitment the led the German government to collapse earlier this month. However, the US encourages its allies (rather, proxies) to continue arming the Israeli occupation.
The road ahead indeed goes both ways. German purchases of Israeli surveillance and military equipment, recently and most notably the Arrow 3 ballistic defense systems raised eyebrows to Palestinian solidarity organizations. There is also documentation that German police have purchased Israel’s infamous Pegasus software to be used for spying on its own citizens.
Acknowledging the ICC arrest warrants means that the imports and exports of arms come to a grinding halt.
Indeed, the reluctance to enforce the ICC arrest warrants on behalf of the German government is not rooted in any sense of “moralism.” This is a talking point to earn the sympathy of Western liberals who still do not see the massive fingerprint of their own governments in the ongoing Gaza genocide.
The root of the decision, as it usually is within the context of imperialism, is money. Germany is solely motivated by its role as a junior agent in American imperialism, hoping to make a quick buck while its US masters erode its own energy infrastructure.
A refusal to enforce an already toothless warrant, which attacks two Israeli regime leaders and not the issue of Zionism itself, is simply the German government conducting business as usual as it has for over 90 years.
The infamous Haavara agreement lives on today, not in its original context, but not far from it either. Germany’s stance on the ICC arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant reveals deep ties to Zionism rooted in the Haavara agreement.
Musa Iqbal is a Boston-based researcher and writer with a focus on US domestic and foreign policy.
US mercenary firms compete for ‘huge contracts’ to control security in north Gaza: Report
The Cradle | November 28, 2024
Israel is examining the launch of a “pilot program” that could see US private security firms replace the army in northern Gaza to “accompany food and medicine convoys” for Palestinians who remain in the devastated region, according to a report by Israeli daily Globes.
Among the top competitors for the multi-million dollar contract are Constellis, the direct successor to infamous mercenary company Blackwater, and Orbis, a little-known South Carolina company run by former generals that has worked with the Pentagon for 20 years.
Officials say the pilot program for north Gaza aims to “prevent Hamas or other gangs from taking over the aid trucks and free the IDF soldiers from the dangerous mission.”
In recent weeks, Gaza’s interior ministry established a new police force to deal with groups of bandits and gangs that have been raiding humanitarian aid shipments and blackmailing international organizations in the southern Gaza Strip.
The UN has said these gangs are likely “benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence” or “protection” from the Israeli army.
In October, a third US security firm – Global Delivery Company (GDC) – which describes itself as “Uber for warzones” – claimed to be working with another firm to create and manage “humanitarian bubbles” in Gaza.
GDC is run by Mordechai Kahane, an Israeli businessman who worked with Israeli intelligence during the war on Syria to arm extremist groups seeking to topple the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Although no official figure exists about the size of the contracts being offered by Tel Aviv for these mercenary firms, Globes cites Lt. Col. Yochanan Zoraf, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and former advisor on Arab affairs in the Israeli army, as saying the figure will likely reach “billions of shekels per year.”
“These are not companies that will manage the daily lives of the residents,” Zoraf claims, adding that “peripheral responsibility for the defense of [north Gaza] as well as the civil responsibility itself” falls at Israel’s feet.
The former army officer also says Tel Aviv will likely “ask that the US – or an outside party – finance the program.”
On Tuesday, Israel Hayom reported that the pilot program has yet to receive approval from the security cabinet “due to legal difficulties in defining the occupation” based on international law.
“In order to circumvent the legal obstacles, the security services are examining bringing in external funding from humanitarian aid organizations or foreign countries for the [mercenary firms], which costs tens of millions of dollars to operate,” the report adds.
Since the start of the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, the Israeli government has turned to mercenaries to overcome an enlistment crisis. This includes cooperation with German intelligence to recruit asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria.
“Over the past seven months, the Values Initiative Association and the German–Israeli Association (DIG) have worked to enlist these refugees from war-torn Muslim-majority countries as mercenaries for Israel. Offered monthly salaries ranging between €4,000 to €5,000 and fast-tracked German citizenship, many have joined the fight. Reports suggest that around 4,000 immigrants were naturalized between September and October alone,” writes The Cradle columnist Mohamed Nader al-Omari.
UK, US intended to move Palestinians out of Palestine through UNRWA, British documents reveal
By Amer Sultan | MEMO | November 27, 2024
Canada helps Israel in broadening its definition of ‘anti-Semitism’
By Ramona Wadi | MEMO | November 26, 2024
Once again, anti-Semitism was the catchphrase for political rhetoric denouncing the protest in Montreal against NATO’s complicity with Israel’s genocide. NATO delegates met in Canada for the 70th annual session of its Parliamentary Assembly, and protesters called for Canada’s withdrawal from the organisation, even as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the country is on track to increase its military spending, which NATO has established as two per cent of the country’s GDP.
“We need to commit ourselves every day to NATO and the principles that keep us safe in this uncertain world,” said Trudeau, acting as if former colonial powers were not responsible for “this uncertain world” and, along with Israel, the genocide in Gaza.
Activists at the protest thought otherwise, of course. As the gathering outside the meeting turned violent, Israeli and mainstream media were swift to label the protest as “anti-Semitic”, as did Trudeau. Montreal’s police, however, said that they did not receive reports of anti-Semitic violence or hate crimes. Mayor of Montreal Valerie Plante condemned the violence, but said that she did not believe that the protest was anti-Semitic.
The protest was organised by Divest for Palestine and the Convergence of Anti-Capitalist Struggles, with the purpose of exposing NATO’s complicity with Israel’s genocide.
However, as Israel increasingly targets any criticism of its actions as “anti-Semitism”, Trudeau followed suit.
“As a democracy, as a country that will always defend freedom of speech, it’s important for people to be able to go out and protest and express their anger, their disagreements in free and comfortable ways,” he declared. “But there is never any room for anti-Semitism, for hatred, discrimination, for violence.”
Canada’s Defence Minister Bill Blair took a similar position. “Those behaviours are unacceptable and we can condemn them, and in particular the hatred and anti-Semitism that was on display, in the strongest possible terms.”
According to reports in Israeli media, a protestor referenced the “Final Solution” which was a Nazi euphemism for the Holocaust.
What stands out is the discrepancy in responses to two different scenarios – Israel’s internationally-approved genocide and a protest against NATO – which showed clearly that the latter’s manifestation of violent action, directed against a transatlantic military alliance, was deemed to be more disturbing than Israel’s systematic destruction of Gaza and the Palestinian people.
Besides this discrepancy, Israel is also extending the “anti-Semitic” label to include any form of protest directed even at organisations that are not Jewish, but prioritise allegiances to Zionism and Zionist colonial violence. The target audience of the protest in Montreal was clearly the NATO delegates.
NATO members have supported Israel’s genocide through purchasing the occupation state’s military technology (“as field-tested against Palestinian civilians”) and also by selling weapons to Israel. Since 2017, Israel has also benefited from its permanent official mission established in NATO headquarters in Brussels. In January 2023, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog at NATO headquarters, noting that,
“NATO and Israel have worked together for almost 30 years.”
Calling out NATO’s complicity in genocide is not anti-Semitic by any stretch of the imagination. Trudeau has confirmed recently that Canada will abide by the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. What message is Trudeau sending to the Canadian public about his government picking and choosing what part of colonial violence it deems worthy of support, while vilifying protestors for drawing attention to government-level hypocrisy?
‘Genocide’ vs ‘Bigger Genocide’ in Gaza: Time to decolonise our minds
By Ramzy Baroud | MEMO | November 27, 2024
“Imperialism leaves behind germs of rot which we must clinically detect and remove from our land but from our minds as well,” wrote Frantz Fanon in The Wretched of the Earth (1961). What the iconic anti-colonial philosopher and psychiatrist was essentially arguing is that the mind must be decolonised first, in order for the undoing of colonialism to succeed in all aspects of our liberation.
Many in the Global South, but especially intellectuals and analysts concerned with Middle East affairs, are still struggling with their relationship with the United States. Although all signs indicate a rapid decline of America’s global status, many among our intelligentsia, possibly unwittingly, still believe that Washington holds all the cards, and that whoever controls the White House must naturally also rule the world.
Of course, US domestic and foreign policies are relevant to global affairs, as financial decisions by the US Federal Reserve, for example, will affect US-global trade volumes, and will have an impact on the interest or disinterest in purchasing US treasury bonds. Some countries that are keen on standing at an equal distance between the US and China often jockey to refine their positions and to protect themselves in case of seismic political changes in the US.
The vibe radiating from many in the Middle East is that the doomsday scenario is real, and that the big war is upon us.
However, they ignore the fact that for many nations around the world, from Gaza to Lebanon to Ukraine to Sudan and elsewhere, wars have already arrived, many of which are bankrolled by western funds and political blank cheques. To warn of war while tens of millions are already suffering the outcomes of western-funded wars reflects the degree of desensitisation and opportunism of the followers of western order.
Some of those crying over the supposedly imminent doom had initially presented the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, as the best worst-case option for Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims. Although they may have acknowledged the genocide in Gaza, and even criticised the Joe Biden administration for enabling it, they recoiled at the mere suggestion that the Democrats must be punished for their many sins in the Middle East and beyond.
Another crowd presented Donald Trump as the saviour, the strong man who, with a stroke of a pen, will end all wars, the one in Gaza included. They cited the man’s repeated claim that, “I’m not going to start a war, I’m going to stop the wars.” They even went on to argue that Trump, who would be serving a second and final term in office, is now immune to political manipulation from the pro-Israel lobby and all other pressures.
Trump won, of course.
His crushing defeat of the Democrats on all fronts, including in the popular vote, indicates that he would have won regardless of those who considered ending the war in Gaza to be a top political priority. However, the early announcements that Trump’s administration come January will be a who’s who of the pro-Israel Republican circle has reignited the debate about the “bigger genocide” awaiting Palestinians and other scare-mongering tactics.
Both sides of this inconsequential debate conveniently ignore obvious facts: that America’s ruling elites are rooted in pro-Israel political allegiances; that although there might be a difference in style, US foreign policy under Democratic Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Trump’s future hire, Marco Rubio, is likely to be identical; and that the Biden-Harris administration gave Israel all the help it needed to sustain its wars in the Middle East over the course of 13 months and counting.
This stifling debate, however, misses some of the most critical points that should be discussed, and urgently so. For example, the Middle East region is not a single political monolith. It has its own political calculations, conflicts, alliances and options that include other political heavyweights, such as China and Russia, among others.
Moreover, several Middle Eastern countries are joining the increasingly influential BRICS alliance. The latter is not just a trade club, but also a powerful economic alliance with a strong political discourse to match.
Thus, the future and survival of the Middle East does not hinge on US economic policies.
Finally, the war in Gaza is a war that also involves the Palestinians, the Lebanese and their Arab and international allies. The people of occupied Palestine and Lebanon have agency, choices and strategies that are not wholly dependent on the ideological identity or political inclinations of a lone American ensconced in the White House.
If the political views of the US president were indeed the most decisive aspect in the fate and future of the Palestinian people, Palestinian aspirations would have been suppressed decades ago due to America’s inherent pro-Israel bias. They weren’t, not because of any compassion on the part of US administrations, but due to the sumud, resilience, of the Palestinian people.
It is time that we abandon the archaic thinking regarding our collective colonial past, or present, that views western leaders as our masters, and our people as mere subjects, struggling to survive, imploring, though never obtaining, prudent western foreign policies.
The world is changing, vastly, and it is time for us to change as well. Fanon gave us the cure decades ago: We must clinically detect and remove the rot, not only from our land but from our minds as well.
Ceasefire with Hezbollah ends Israel’s illusion of reshaping West Asia by force: Hamas
Press TV – November 27, 2024
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says the ceasefire Israel eventually clinched with Hezbollah has shattered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “illusion” of reshaping West Asia by force.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu finally accepted the deal, which is expected to end the regime’s months-long deadly escalation against Lebanon.
It came after a meeting of his “security cabinet” to discuss a proposal put forward by the United States and France.
“The enemy’s acceptance of the agreement with Lebanon without fulfilling the conditions it set is an important milestone in shattering Netanyahu’s illusions of changing the map of the Middle East by force,” Hamas said in a statement published on its Telegram channel on Wednesday.
It said Netanyahu’s “illusions of defeating the Resistance forces or disarming them” were also sent to the oblivion.
The Israeli regime has killed more than 3,700 people in Lebanon, including 42 who perished across the country on Tuesday, besides wounding nearly 15,700 others.
“We commend the pivotal role played by the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, in support of the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian resistance, and the great sacrifices made by Hezbollah and its leadership, led by the late Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.”
“We appreciate the steadfastness of the brotherly Lebanese people and their constant solidarity with the Palestinian people in confronting the Zionist occupation and its brutal aggression, asking God Almighty to protect Lebanon and its people from all harm and evil,” Hamas said.
Israeli military commanders had pledged to eradicate Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. However, they were ultimately compelled to accept the ceasefire agreement without achieving any of those goals.
“We affirm that this agreement would not have been achieved without the steadfastness of the Resistance and the popular support around it. We are confident that the Resistance Axis will continue to support our people and back their battle with all possible means,” Hamas said in its statement.
Hezbollah has been responding to the Israeli aggression with hundreds of successful retaliatory strikes against various sensitive and strategic military targets across the occupied territories.
The Lebanese resistance movement recently announced killing more than 100 Israeli troops and injuring upwards of a thousand others during the strikes.
Ceasefire Deal: Netanyahu’s ‘Focus on Iran’ Could Mean ‘Serious Regional War’ if Backed by US
By Ekaterina Blinova – Sputnik – 27.11.2024
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday there are three reasons why Israel concluded a ceasefire deal with Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah: to focus on Iran; to replenish weaponry stocks; and to isolate Hamas.
“It is not clear how Israel would focus more on Iran,” Dr Marco Carnelos, a former Italian diplomat and Middle East adviser of Prime Ministers Prodi and Berlusconi, tells Sputnik. “Probably the Israeli prime minister hopes that with the incoming Trump administration a direct military pressure on Iran might be increased together with the US.”
Dr. Tamer Qarmout, associate professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, dubs Netanyahu’s focus on Iran as “cheap talk.”
“How would the Israelis engage with Iran if they were not able to eliminate Hezbollah,” Qarmout asks while talking to Sputnik. “We’ll have to see the new [Trump] administration’s take on Iran. But if this happens for whatever reason, this means a serious regional or even could be a global war.”
The experts allege Netanyahu has been cornered by the military leadership over heavy losses sustained by the Israeli Defense Forces in southern Lebanon, and snubbed his hawkish cabinet members to implement the deal.
“My feeling is that the Israeli military echelon cornered Netanyahu on this point because on the battleground in Southern Lebanon the Israeli Army was able to advance only a few km and incurred in severe losses. Israel erased Hezbollah’s leadership but it did not defeat the movement on the ground… And because Hezbollah has not lost the battle, by default it will be perceived as the winner,” Carnelos says.
It is clear that Netanyahu will use the “breather” to double down on attacking Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to Qarmout: “Israel would be able to shift its military power on to sources to continue its genocidal war on Gaza,” he says.
Still, the future of the ceasefire deal is hanging in the balance, according to the pundits.
“The devil is still in the details. We still have 60 days to see if this agreement will hold,” Qarmout concludes.
Israeli forces use Palestinian children as human shields in Jabalia refugee camp
A Palestinian family rests on the rubble of a building west of Gaza City, on November 25, 2024. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Defense for Children International Palestine | November 26, 2024
Israeli armed forces have forced Palestinian children to act as human shields during the siege on Jabalia refugee camp in north Gaza, placing them directly in harm’s way amid live fire and tank shelling.
During a series of military operations in the Jabalia refugee camp, the Israeli military forced Palestinian children and their families to stand in front of tanks and military vehicles as soldiers fired on civilian areas in multiple incidents during October, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International – Palestine. On October 15, Israeli tanks surrounded the camp, firing indiscriminately and severely injuring several Palestinian civilians. In multiple documented cases, including on October 15, 17, and 20, Israeli soldiers detained Palestinian children as young as six years old, using them and other Palestinian civilians to shield advancing military forces. These tactics not only endanger the lives of children but constitute an egregious violation of international humanitarian law.
“Israeli forces’ use of Palestinian children as human shields is a deliberate and unlawful act, one that places children’s lives in extreme danger and causes unimaginable trauma,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “This practice is a clear war crime, demonstrating a blatant disregard for international law and underscoring a pattern of impunity that has cost Palestinian children their safety, dignity, and in many cases, their lives.”
On October 15, Israeli forces launched an assault on Jabalia refugee camp, where Mohammad Al-Za’anin, his wife, and three children, aged six, four, and two, had been sheltering in a relative’s home. At approximately 9 a.m., Israeli tanks surrounding the Tal Al-Zaatar neighborhood began firing shells indiscriminately, severely injuring Mohammad’s wife. Mohammad attempted to flee with his children, raising a white flag and moving towards Gaza City. However, Israeli soldiers intercepted the family, detaining them with several others and positioning them in front of a tank that continued to fire shells over their heads. Mohammad and his children were held in this position for over five hours, with soldiers ignoring his pleas to protect his terrified children. After hours of intense fear, Israeli forces ordered the family to abandon their belongings and walk south.
On October 17, Israeli tanks again encircled the Jabalia refugee camp’s Tal Al-Zaatar area, where Islam Fayyad, his wife, and their three children, aged six, four, and eight months, were living. As Israeli forces closed in, Islam’s wife raised a white flag and attempted to flee with the children. When they neared a checkpoint, Israeli soldiers ordered them via loudspeakers to discard their belongings into a pit and approach the tanks. Israeli forces then separated the men from the women and children, holding Islam’s wife and children in front of military vehicles for two hours while shells and bullets flew overhead. Fayyad’s six-year-old daughter, Marwa, pleaded with her mother, “We are going to die, Mom,” as soldiers continued firing, undeterred by the children’s visible terror.
A third incident occurred on October 20, when Israeli forces bombed homes near the residence of Mahmoud Nasser and his family in Jabalia. Mahmoud, his wife, and their three children, including a newborn, raised a white flag and attempted to escape with dozens of other families. Soldiers detained them, ordering men, women, children, and elderly civilians to walk in front of advancing military vehicles, which were shelling nearby buildings. The Nasser family, along with other displaced families, was forced to walk in front of a bulldozer and a tank that directed fire toward the Indonesian Hospital. This lasted for over half an hour before the families were taken to a high point overlooking Jabalia camp, where they were held as human shields for an additional hour and a half before being released.
The recent siege on northern Gaza is part of a broader pattern of escalated violence and collective punishment targeting civilians. Over the past few months, relentless military operations in northern Gaza, including heavy bombardments, have resulted in widespread destruction, displacement, and civilian casualties. The siege has exacerbated starvation and turned overcrowded shelters into disease-ridden areas where families are forced to live without access to adequate food, clean water, or medical care.
Since 2000, DCIP has documented dozens of cases of Palestinian children used as human shields by the Israeli military in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Since the Israeli military began its genocidal assault on Gaza on October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have used many Palestinian children as human shields during ground operations, and the full extent is unknown given the limited capacity of human rights organizations to document cases safely.
The use of children as human shields is a blatant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Additional Protocol 1 of the Geneva Conventions, and a war crime under international criminal law which prohibits putting civilians at risk in armed conflict, particularly in situations where they may suffer physical harm or psychological terror. Deliberately positioning children in front of armed vehicles to deter resistance or shield military forces is an appalling violation of international humanitarian, criminal, and human rights law.
Despite clear international prohibitions, Israeli forces have repeatedly used Palestinian children as human shields in military operations across the occupied Palestinian territory, perpetuating a cycle of trauma and violence for which there has been no accountability. DCIP’s documentation reveals a consistent pattern in which Israeli forces act with impunity, knowing they are unlikely to face any repercussions or consequences for their systematic abuse of Palestinian children.
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