Lebanese PM: ‘Israel’ Rejects Ceasefire, Evacuation Warnings Additional War Crime
Al-Manar | November 1, 2024
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati accused the Zionist entity on Friday of rejecting any ceasefire with Lebanon or any commitment to the UN Resolution 1701.
In a meeting with UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Lt. Gen. Aroldo Lázaro at the Grand Serail, the acting Lebanese premier condemned the expansion of Israeli attacks, saying they signaled a Tel Aviv’s refusal to engage in truce efforts.
“The Israeli enemy’s renewed expansion… and its renewed targeting of Beirut’s Dahiyeh with destructive raids are all stark indicators that confirm the Israeli enemy’s rejection of all efforts being made to secure a ceasefire,” he said.
Mikati denounced the Israeli regime’s evacuation warnings for Baalbek and the southern city of Tyre as an additional war crime.
Meanwhile, he condemned the Israeli assaults on UNIFIL and the threats directed at its personnel, commending “the determination of many friendly nations to support the continuation of UNIFIL’s work in south Lebanon.”
Mikati insisted on the need to preserve the tasks and operational protocols assigned to UNIFIL, which are executed in close cooperation with the Lebanese Army.
The Lebanese PM further reaffirmed Lebanon’s ongoing commitment to the United Nations resolution and its provisions, asserting that “Israeli statements and the diplomatic signals received by Lebanon reflect the enemy’s obstinacy in rejecting proposed solutions and its insistence on a path of killing and destruction. This places the entire international community before its historical and moral responsibilities to stop this aggression.”
The War Against the Palestinians Must Go On
Both major political parties connive at Israel’s genocide in Gaza
By Philip Giraldi • Unz Review • November 1, 2024
The sucking up to Israel and its backers by the political class in America never seems go away. Indeed, it if anything increases during the lead up to national elections. In the latest manifestation of Judeophilia, Rudy Giuliani, self-described as “America’s Mayor,” has now informed us that “They [the Israelis] are our best friends. I worked for Ronald Reagan for eight years and Ronald Reagan said that we have to always be there for Israel because Israel is always there for us! Hamas is not there for us, the Iranians are not there for us, they want to kill us and the Palestinians are taught to kill us at two years old! They won’t let a Palestinian in Jordan. They won’t let a Palestinian in Egypt. And [Kamala] Harris wants to bring them to you! They may have good people, I don’t care, but I won’t take a risk with people that are taught to kill Americans at two! I’m on the side of Israel! You’re on the side of Israel! Donald Trump is on the side of Israel! And they [the Democrats] are on the side of the terrorists.”
Giuliani said all that and more at a Donald Trump election rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden, where he was breathing fire in a speech [at minute 17:27] that one media outlet described as “unhinged” to rouse the overflow crowd to hate Israel’s enemies, which apparently includes the Democratic Party if they should regain the presidency. I would not want to disagree with a man of Giuliani’s psycho-phantasmagoric stature about facts, but I do not recall when the United States was actually threatened by Israel’s enemies to include Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran or a place we once called Palestine, but then again, I am getting older and my memory might be failing. Nor can I recall anything at all that Israel has done for what was once my country apart from take huge bundles of our tax money equivalent to one quarter of a trillion dollars while also corrupting our politicians and undermining both our rule of law and our Bill of Rights, but, then again, blame it on my memory since I cannot imagine a warm and friendly chap like Benjamin Netanyahu doing anything nasty or naughty.
In trying to score political points, Giuliani does not seem to get that the adoration of the Jewish state is a bipartisan thing, that the US government, no matter who wins elections, will continue to supply the Israelis with money and weapons to expel or kill as many of its neighbors as possible. The carnage will create a new metaphoric “land without people” empty space between the Euphrates and Nile Rivers that will become a great nursery for establishing and populating the Eretz or “Greater Israel” Chosen by Yahweh to rule the Middle East.
One good thing about Giuliani and his master Donald Trump is that they do not even pretend to want to help Palestinians and other “lesser breeds without the law” to resist the occupation and eradication by their Jewish masters. Trump would like to have the job of extermination finished so Israel’s public relations image would not be further damaged. Kamala, on the other hand, would keep handing out weapons and money while piously calling for a cease fire, an objective that is routinely rejected by a stern Netanyahu. How the Biden-Harris rule of foreign relations vis-à-vis the Middle East operates is to pretend one thing while doing something else. It has been reported that Biden’s peace negotiators Amos Hochstein, an Israeli who served in the IDF, and Brett McGurk, who were ostensibly working to help avoid expansion of the Gaza crisis into Lebanon, were doing quite the opposite. They have been working “behind the scenes” to encourage Israel, and they are now describing Israel’s Lebanon operations that have included a major land invasion as a “history-defining moment” — one that will “reshape the Middle East for the better for years to come.”
And there’s more. The US Ambassador to Lebanon one Lisa Johnson has been meeting with the various parties and groups that make up the Lebanese government and its social and religious mix with a proposal that it organize to prepare the country for a “post-Hezbollah era” by mobilizing “internal” forces to eliminate the Islamic resistance movement while it is engaged in fighting the Israeli Army. Johnson, a Joe Biden appointee to her post, certainly reflects White House and State Department thinking on the Middle East. She reportedly told Lebanese politicians, “Israel cannot achieve everything through war; it’s time for you to do your part and launch an internal uprising under the banner of ‘Enough.’ The Lebanese people must show their desire to rise-up and get rid of Hezbollah.” Johnson challenged the politicians, “Why do you seem afraid? Hezbollah has been defeated, its leadership is destroyed, and we are with you, and the entire free world stands by your side… We do not only want to limit Hezbollah’s influence, but we will strike its support lines, and we are working non-stop to bring down the regime in Iran as well.”
Someone should remind Ms. Johnson as well as McGurk and Hochstein that we are not legally at war with Lebanon, nor with Iran, and nor even with the Palestinians whose genocide we are enabling. The reality is that Gaza and Lebanon are America’s war in the sense that Israel’s onslaught against its neighbors would not be either possible or sustainable without Washington picking up the costs and supplying the weapons. A recently released report by the Israeli news outlet Calcalist reviewed Israeli military spending on wars since fighting began on October 7th. It determined that Washington has over the past year funded directly 70% of Tel Aviv’s total military costs. That has amounted to more than $20 billion in military aid, a figure close to the $22.57 billion estimated by several US sources including Brown University’s highly respected Cost of War Project which has likewise looked at the numbers. And, one assumes there are also substantial hidden expenses consisting of armaments shipped directly from US arsenals without any accounting procedure as well as money concealed in other projects. As a bottom line, one has to conclude without direct US support, Netanyahu’s war would simply be unaffordable for the Jewish state. Calcalist concludes that “Therefore, it is doubtful whether this war would have been conducted as it is – neither in intensity nor in scope – without the American assistance.” So in a very real sense it is and has been America’s war while the secret objective by the US government to destroy Hezbollah as well as Hamas and even overthrow the regime in Iran indicates clearly that Netanyahu’s hegemonical and genocidal plan to make Israel the supreme power in the Middle East is shared by many in Washington.
Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org.
Here’s why the Israeli military only knows how to fight civilians
By Robert Inlakesh | Al Mayadeen | October 31, 2024
While it may sound hyperbolic, the Israeli military is only truly prepared to commit high-tech civilian massacres and cannot confront any well-prepared foes. The Zionist regime’s history of asymmetric warfare lulled it into a false sense of security that supplemented their racist worldview, proving catastrophic for them in today’s multi-front war.
Who are the soldiers who make up the military?
In order to understand the Israeli military and how it fights, we first have to understand the society that shapes its soldiers. All Israelis are indoctrinated from a young age with a supremacist ideology through their school system and are geared toward military service from the moment they exit the womb. They believe their army to be “the most moral” on earth, while also believing in the concept of their own supremacy over others.
Any discussion on the Zionist armed forces must begin with recognizing who the Israeli public are because when every one of them finishes high school, they are required to do a 2-3-year stint of mandatory service, which is often followed by reserve service for some time. While there are the likes of the Ultra-Orthodox (Haredim) who do not serve due to religious reasons and liberal Israelis who often use mental health issues as an excuse, most are drafted into some section of the military.
Those soldiers who enter their mandatory years of service, who will actually experience real combat settings, will not enter direct warfare and are instead stationed at checkpoints, do crowd control, or participate in night raids that aim to arrest teenagers who do things like throw stones. This is why many young Israelis find it more mentally stimulating to join the Air Force or work on intelligence. It is not uncommon to find soldiers sitting at checkpoints, bored out of their minds and with frustrated looks. For journalists covering protests across the West Bank, the Israeli soldiers who are deployed to shoot at children/teenagers who burn tires and throw stones act as if they are playing a game of paintball.
These soldiers also quickly gain rank in the Israeli army, earning in a matter of years what most other militaries would usually only issue to their forces after 10 to 15 years of service. These are entitled individuals whose minds aren’t focused and especially over the past decades have become ill-disciplined, permitted to get away with all kinds of decisions they take on an individual basis. It is a citizens’ army, which means that they are very much part of the society as a whole.
If we look at the actions they have been able to commit during armed confrontations, especially inside the Gaza Strip, it is no wonder that they feel emboldened to take matters into their own hands at this time too. This is exemplified through the trend over the past year where their fighters have filmed themselves committing all kinds of crimes and perverted activities, posting this onto social media.
These videos that are posted gleefully on online platforms like Tiktok, where Israeli soldiers wear the underwear of Palestinian women they displaced and killed or blow up/bulldoze civilian homes, are not only reflective of a lack of discipline but also hurt the objectives of the Zionist entity too.
The following are two such cases that highlight how the soldiers damaged the Israeli army’s war efforts: 1) The instant release of information and photos/videos of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, which prevented their superiors from creating a false story about what happened and inflicting a psychological blow. 2) Israeli forces who seized the Rafah Crossing in May filmed themselves callously destroying the site and insulting the Egyptian army while committing an action that technically violated the normalization agreement between Cairo and “Tel Aviv”.
So why can the Israeli army not just clear up this problem? Well, we all saw what happened when 10 soldiers were detained over the gang-rape of a Palestinian detainee; who was being held at the Sde Teiman detention facility without any charge. This led to protests where thousands of Israelis rioted and stormed military facilities in what were dubbed the “right to rape” demonstrations. However, it wasn’t just protesters, the idea of the right of soldiers to gang-rape prisoners was expressed by members of the Israeli Knesset and received support from a large segment of the public.
Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that if the Israeli high command gives the order to begin prosecuting its soldiers for posting videos of themselves burning homes in Gaza and defecating on the floors of houses or committing a litany of other disgusting actions, they would face an internal uprising against such decisions.
What is the Israeli military strategy?
Understanding that Israeli society is inextricably linked to the armed forces, it also helps to shape how we view the mindset of this military. For instance, while in most societies around the world, a civilian death is perceived as more damaging than the death of a soldier, this is precisely the opposite for Israelis. This partly comes down to the supremacist myth of Israeli superiority and also the fact that soldier deaths have not been all that common, with the exception of occasional lone-wolf attacks here and there.
The doctrine of the Israeli military is roughly congruent with that of the US’ Counterinsurgency model that emerged during the so-called “War on Terror” in the early 2000s, yet it differs in key dimensions that make it way less effective than the American military.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Israeli military enjoyed asymmetry on the battlefield, heavily relying on their air force to respond to aggression with a significant force that would complete missions and achieve tactical victories at a very low cost to military personnel. While relying on their superior military vehicles/aircraft during the years of the Second Intifada (2000-2005), the Israelis managed to inflict a defeat on the West Bank-based Resistance groups, the most significant blow being delivered during their 2002 “Operation Defensive Shield” that resulted in around 500 Palestinians being killed.
In the year 2000, the Zionist regime withdrew from South Lebanon – as the situation became costly to their forces – then in 2005, they decided to do the same in the Gaza Strip after failing to crush Hamas during a battle that took place in northern Gaza back in October of 2004.
However, as the Zionists discovered in their 2006 war on Lebanon and later in their countless wars against Gaza, they were now facing a new kind of threat that today they describe as “rocket-based terror armies.” Throughout the past nearly two decades, the Zionist military believed that it could manage the threats posed by both the Palestinian and Lebanese Resistance, needing only to periodically attack in order to maintain “deterrence”.
Yet, between 2019 and 2020, the Israeli military began recalculating and released two important publications: “The Momentum Multiyear Plan” and “The Operational Concept for Victory”. In these documents, it is clear that the Israelis were seeking to adapt to their newly faced challenges. It presents a plan to integrate the developments of the technological “fourth industrial revolution” into military planning, noting that the short military operations that the Zionist armed forces had committed were not delivering the desired image of victory in the face of Iran’s ever-growing military power.
Therefore, the Israelis sought to implement a system that would link all their technological surveillance, reconnaissance, and spyware devices together. We see that in 2021, this new system begins coming into practice as the Zionists brag about their AI systems that helped them conduct the 11-day Gaza war in May of that year. The idea here was to use this system that would be eventually fully integrated to enable the Zionist entity to strike first and deliver undeniable blows resulting in strategic victory.
Then came October 7, when the Hamas-led Operation Al-Aqsa Flood flipped the world upside down for an overconfident Israeli military and its leadership. Suddenly, they were the side that had to muster a response to a blow that completely embarrassed them on every single level, delivered by the least powerful bastion of resistance they faced.
Understanding the Israeli strategy, it shouldn’t come as a surprise also that Hezbollah instantly began targeting the Zionist regime’s reconnaissance and spyware technology during its first phase of the war either.
If we look at their Counterinsurgency strategy in Gaza on the ground, we see that, unlike the US military, they don’t allow infantry to go through and clear buildings before tanks enter an area, instead they use armored vehicles to protect their soldiers and reduce the number of deaths. But the problem with this improvised US Counterinsurgency strategy is that in reducing soldier deaths, it also makes it nearly impossible to properly combat the fighters that they are supposed to be seeking out.
This is because the Israelis are simply too cowardly to follow a traditional Counterinsurgency strategy, attempting to perform this task without the required risk it involves. In the absence of anything to show for their ground operations, which are designed to keep their ill-prepared and ill-disciplined soldiers out of harm’s way, they began to just destroy more and more civilian infrastructure.
What has occurred before our eyes is that the Israelis have been knocked back to their armed strategies of the 1970s, where we see today that they are trying to besiege the Palestinian Resistance in northern Gaza the way they besieged the Egyptian military in 1973. Yet, in the current war inside the Gaza Strip, the Israeli ground forces aren’t prepared for the kind of strategies that were implemented during the October war.
The Israelis needed to reinstate their military dominance and were suddenly placed in the worst possible position, knowing only how to use their technology to kill from a distance, and appearing to have no coherent ground strategies, they were forced to use this rather useless army to achieve extremely difficult goals that their air force and AI tech couldn’t perform for them. In light of this understanding, genocide became the choice and the strategy.
In the past, civilian massacres weren’t simply used for the purpose of shedding blood for no reason – although the Zionist regime had no issue with this at all – the massacres that we saw periodically in Gaza were committed with the goal of inflicting real psychological blows on the Resistance and Palestinian public; in addition to sending a message to the wider region. This time, it is an uncontrolled mass slaughter campaign, allowing their racist unhinged soldiers to do whatever they choose to butcher innocent people and completely destroy the infrastructure of the Gaza Strip.
Why? The Zionist entity realized that it had no military options left and the only way to achieve a victory and rescue the image of strength they had lost was to unleash a genocide, to kill, displace, and destroy everyone and everything. Even their tactical achievements in Lebanon around a month ago are today being swept away by Hezbollah, to which they have no real answer. To their peril, it has become obvious that assassinations and booby-traps cannot achieve a strategic victory and in face-to-face combat, the Lebanese Resistance is clearly superior to them.
Israel has issued 9,500 administrative detention orders since 7 October 2023
MEMO | October 31, 2024
Two Palestinian institutions concerned with prisoners’ affairs said on Wednesday that Israel has increased its issue of administrative detention orders, with nearly 9,500 issued since 7 October last year.
“The huge increase in the number of administrative detainees is mainly linked to the arrest campaigns in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, with more than 11,500 arrests in all groups,” said the Palestinian Authority’s Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Prisoners’ Club civil society group in a joint statement seen by Anadolu.
“The occupation intelligence agency has recently escalated the number of transfers to administrative detention of detainees whose sentences have ended, as well as the number of administrative detention orders issued against prisoners who were released on bail and specific conditions, or without conditions.”
Administrative detention sees prisoners being held with neither charge nor trial for up to six months, renewable indefinitely.
Monitoring of administrative detainees’ has proven that the occupation regime’s military courts have formed and continue to form an essential structure for solidifying its crimes, including the crime of administrative detention, said the Palestinian institutions.
According to the latest data that they supplied, there are currently 3,398 administrative detainees among the 10,100 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, including 30 women and more than 90 children, one of whom is just 14 years old. “The number of administrative detainees in the occupation prisons is 33 per cent of the total number of prisoners and detainees.”
It is worth noting that the prisoner data is related only to those from the occupied West Bank. The Israeli regime does not disclose information related to prisoners in Gaza.
US-Israeli proposals do not include permanent ceasefire: Source
Al Mayadeen | October 31, 2024
The Israeli and US proposals regarding a deal on Gaza lack provisions for a permanent ceasefire or a complete withdrawal from the Strip, a Palestinian source told Al Mayadeen on Thursday.
Instead, the proposal entails 10 days of calm in exchange for the release of four Israeli captives, including two women, in exchange for the release of an unspecified number of Palestinian detainees, according to the approved mechanism.
The proposal also stipulates the entry of about 300 aid trucks daily into Gaza.
The source stressed that Hamas believes the US wants to exploit partial initiatives to benefit election campaigns only. Meanwhile, upcoming meetings are planned between Fatah and Hamas to resume discussions on managing the Gaza Strip and forming a special committee with mutual approval from both parties.
Netanyahu ‘buying time’ with Gaza deal negotiations: Hamas official
On Wednesday, Taher al-Nounou, a senior Hamas official told Al Mayadeen that in any negotiations, the movement’s goal is to stop the war on the Gaza Strip while “Israel” merely seeks a prisoner exchange.
Al-Nounou stressed that any potential agreement must include a permanent ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, reconstruction of the Strip, an end to the blockade, and a captive-prisoner exchange.
According to the official, prioritizing a prisoner exchange alone would not necessarily lead to a lasting ceasefire.
The Palestinian official argued that current discussions regarding a deal are merely a waste of time, under the guise of negotiations in preparation for the coming US elections.
Al-Nounou said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aim with these proposals is to “buy time”, which he sees as “part of a local or US election campaign.”
“We have no veto on listening to mediators if they have any proposals,” the Hamas official reiterated but underlined that the movement had made it clear that it opposes a temporary pause of hostilities and the resumption of the Israeli aggression on Gaza.
The Palestinian official clarified that openness to offers is distinct from agreeing to them, particularly “if they fail to meet the resistance’s four core demands,” affirming, “If we are invited to hear new proposals, we will certainly attend.”
His statements echoed those of the movement’s spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri, who confirmed on Tuesday that Hamas has responded to requests from mediators to discuss new proposals regarding a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Several meetings have already occurred on this matter, with more scheduled to follow, Abu Zuhri indicated.
Israel’s Deadly Miscalculation: Consequences of Attacking Iran & Hezbollah
Dialogue Works | October 29, 2024
Seyed Mohammad Marandi is a Professor of English Literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran and advisor to Iran’s nuclear negotiations team: (https://x.com/s_m_marandi)
Iran’s response to Israeli attacks to fit within international law: UN envoy
Press TV – October 29, 2024
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations says the Islamic Republic reserves its inherent right to respond to the Israeli regime’s recent attacks against the country, saying Tehran’s potential retaliation will be perfectly aligned with the international law.
Amir Saeid Iravani made the remarks on Monday, speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council that took place at Iran’s request to address the issue of the attacks against defensive targets across Tehran, Khuzestan, and Ilam Provinces, which were successfully thwarted by the country’s Air Defense Force.
“As a sovereign state, the Islamic Republic of Iran reserves its inherent right to respond at a time of its choosing to this act of aggression, a right clearly affirmed under Article 51 of the UN Charter,” he said, echoing various Iranian authorities’ promise of retaliation against the aggression.
“Our response will be lawful, and fully compliant with international law,” Iravani added.
He denounced the Israeli atrocities as “egregious and severe violation of international law and the United Nations Charter” that led to the martyrdom of four Iranian servicemen and one civilian.
The envoy considered the aggression to be part of the regime’s broader and sustained pattern of aggression through which it is destabilizing the entire West Asia region with unchecked impunity.
He cited the regime’s October 2023-present war of genocide on the Gaza Strip and escalated deadly attacks against Lebanon as the prime examples of the atrocities.
‘US complicit in Israeli crimes’
Iravani regretted that the United States, the regime’s biggest ally, had emboldened Tel Aviv towards perpetrating the aggression with its “unwavering and unconditional” support and obstruction of the Security Council’s efforts at holding the regime accountable.
He considered the US to be “complicit” in the regime’s acts of aggression across the region due to its provision of technical expertise and advanced military systems to Tel Aviv.
The support and the resultant Israeli insistence on committing the crimes “gravely undermine regional peace and security,” the ambassador asserted.
He called on the international community and institutions, including the Council, to take decisive measures to respond robustly to such threats and restore peace and security throughout the region and the world.
“The international community cannot—and must not—remain silent in the face of such violations. The price of this silence is evident in Palestine and Lebanon, where Israel’s impunity perpetuates a vicious cycle of violence and instability across the region.”
Iravani, meanwhile, condemned the regime’s backers for supporting its atrocities as acts of “self-defense,” while “shamelessly” calling on the Islamic Republic to exercise self-restraint.
The US Is Funding 70% of Israel’s Wars
By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute | October 29, 2024
A new report by the Israeli outlet Calcalist reviewed Israeli military spending on wars since October 7, finding that Washington is funding 70% of Tel Aviv’s military costs. In a little over a year, the US has provided Israel with more than $20 billion in military aid.
“The scope of American aid since the beginning of the war is about 85 billion shekels… According to official estimates by the Bank of Israel, the total cost of the war is…approximately NIS 118 billion.” It continues, “Therefore, according to a simple calculation, The Americans financed about 70% of the war effort.”
According to the Cost of War Project, the US has given Israel $22.57 billion in military aid since the Hamas attack. Calcalist concludes without US support, Tel Aviv’s war would simply be unaffordable.
“There is no doubt that without the American aid the government deficit for the years 2024-2025 (which is one of the highest in the country’s history), would have increased by about 4.3 % GDP, which would have made it unfinanceable,” it says. “Therefore, it is doubtful whether this war would have been conducted as it is – neither in intensity nor in scope – without the American assistance.”
The US has sent Israel tens of thousands of bombs, artillery rounds, and tank shells. Those weapons have been used to commit countless war crimes against the Palestinian people of Gaza.
The official death toll in the besieged enclave now exceeds 43,000. However, a group of American healthcare workers who have spent time volunteering in Gaza estimate the actual death count to be over 118,000.
Dr Tammy Abughanim, a pediatric intensive-care surgeon, said, “We cannot do our jobs, because Israel has made our jobs impossible, and Israel has made our jobs impossible with the direct support of the United States.” She added, “We all know the obvious step is to stop supplying Israel with the arms that it is using, the weaponry that it is using to target and kill civilians.”
Israeli army bombed shelter centers in Gaza Strip 39 times during October: Euro-Med
Palestinian Information Center – October 28, 2024
GAZA – The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor documented that the Israeli occupation army targeted shelter centers in the Gaza Strip 39 times since the beginning of October 2024, resulting in the deaths of 188 Palestinians and injuries to hundreds more. This marks a serious escalation in crimes targeting civilian gathering places, especially in northern Gaza, aimed at forcibly emptying it of its Palestinian residents.
The Euro-Med Monitor said that its field team recorded the Israeli army’s targeting of schools, hospitals, clinics, and halls used for shelter 65 times since the beginning of August this year, 39 of which occurred in October. During these incidents, 672 Palestinians were killed, and over a thousand others were injured.
The report highlights that 57 of these attacks targeted locations in northern Gaza and Gaza City, while 8 occurred in central Gaza. The attacks include bombings, direct gunfire, and the killing of forcibly displaced individuals and their families, or forcing them to evacuate schools under fire or through orders of forced displacement, followed by burning or destroying these schools to render them uninhabitable and to prevent the displaced from returning.
The Monitor noted that Israel’s systematic policy of destroying shelter centers further tightens the noose on the available options for residents regarding places they can seek refuge, facilitating Israel’s goals of destroying and forcibly displacing Palestinians and altering the demographic makeup of the region, especially in northern Gaza. Various Israeli officials have explicitly expressed their intention to annex and settle in the area.
The Euro-Mediterranean team documented the scattering of dozens of Palestinian families and the separation of their members due to the targeting of shelter places and the subsequent repeated waves of forced displacement, which have compounded their psychological suffering, especially among children.
Targeting shelter places is considered a fundamental part of Israel’s strategy to undermine the social structures of Palestinians in Gaza, continuing to weaken the population psychologically and physically, and eradicating their shared spaces that could provide some degree of psychological and social support.
Furthermore, the targeting of shelter places negatively affects families’ and individuals’ access to humanitarian aid, as many of these sites serve as distribution points for humanitarian assistance from charities. If they are forced to flee to other locations, they may find themselves in areas lacking access to available humanitarian aid, which is already limited in the region, exacerbating the humanitarian situation and increasing the suffering of the population.
The Euro-Med Monitor reported that its field team documented, on the afternoon of Sunday, October 27, the Israeli air force bombing the “Asma” school, which shelters thousands of displaced individuals in the Shati Camp west of Gaza City, resulting in the deaths of 11 Palestinians, including 4 journalists, among them two women, and injuries to dozens more. This bombing came eight days after the Israeli air force targeted the same school, killing eight Palestinians and injuring others.
The field team also documented the bombing of the “Shuhada al-Nuseirat” secondary school for boys, which shelters thousands of displaced individuals in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, resulting in the deaths of 18 Palestinians, including 12 children and 3 women, and injuries to 52 others.
A review conducted by the Euro-Med field team revealed that none of the victims were militants, among whom was Professor Ashraf Yaqub Al-Jadi, 54 years old, the dean of the nursing faculty at the Islamic University of Gaza.
The Monitor noted that the Israeli occupation army evacuated no fewer than 10 schools housing thousands of displaced individuals in northern Gaza, burning most of them. This evacuation followed quadcopter aircraft sending of Palestinian detainees, ordering those inside to evacuate and head to checkpoints established by the Israeli occupation army.
The occupation forces also unexpectedly bombed some of these schools, as happened with the Jabalia Preparatory School, where 10 displaced individuals were killed on October 21, and the Zaid bin Haritha School, where 7 displaced individuals were killed on October 22.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor renewed its call on all countries to fulfill their international responsibilities to stop the crime of genocide and the serious crimes being committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, to protect civilians there, to ensure Israel’s compliance with international law and the decisions of the International Court of Justice, to impose effective sanctions on Israel, and to halt all forms of political, financial, and military support provided to it, including an immediate cessation of arms sales, exports, and transfers to Israel, as well as export licenses and military assistance.
It also called for accountability and prosecution of countries complicit and partners with Israel in committing crimes, especially those supplying Israel with any forms of support or assistance related to these crimes, including providing aid and engaging in contractual relationships in military, intelligence, political, legal, financial, media, and other fields that may contribute to the continuation of these crimes.
The Monitor demanded the activation of all available accountability and prosecution pathways at the international, regional, and local levels, including serious and joint efforts to activate the pathway of universal jurisdiction to hold accountable the perpetrators of crimes against Palestinian civilians before the national courts of countries that recognize this jurisdiction.
South Africa submits 750 pages of evidence in genocide case against Israel
The Cradle | October 28, 2024
South Africa’s legal team on 28 October submitted hundreds of documents to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) offering “undeniable evidence” of acts of genocide committed in Gaza by the Israeli army and statements by authorities that carry genocidal intent.
“The evidence will show that undergirding Israel’s genocidal acts is the special intent to commit genocide, a failure by Israel to prevent incitement to genocide, to prevent genocide itself, and its failure to punish those inciting and committing acts of genocide,” a statement from Pretoria says.
“South Africa’s Memorial is a reminder to the global community to remember the people of Palestine, to stand in solidarity with them, and to stop the catastrophe. The devastation and suffering has been possible only because despite the ICJ and numerous UN bodies’ actions and interventions, Israel has failed to comply with its international obligations,” the statement added.
Officials say that the submission, also called a memorial, is presented in more than 750 pages of text, in addition to over 4,000 pages of annexes.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, officials said they are confident that the hundreds of pages of evidence are “more than enough” to sustain their case. “The problem we have is that we have too much evidence,” Ambassador Vusimuzi Madonsela, South Africa’s representative to The Hague, told the Qatari news organization.
Some of the evidence submitted includes public statements made last week by senior members of the Israeli government at a conference named “Preparing to Settle in Gaza,” which was organized by the extremist Nachala Settlement Movement and promoted by Israel’s ruling Likud party.
“[We will] tell them, ‘We are giving you the chance, leave from here to other countries’,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said during the conference. “The Land of Israel is ours,” he stressed.
Israel is currently trying to expel tens of thousands of Palestinians who remain in northern Gaza as part of an extermination campaign that seeks to transform the region into a military zone under the General’s Plan.
On 26 January, the ICJ ruled it was plausible that Israel had breached the Genocide Convention and ordered the government to ensure that its army refrained from genocidal acts against Palestinians. In response, Israel significantly intensified its ethnic cleansing campaign, including blocking the entry of humanitarian aid to the strip.
International NGO Oxfam on 1 October reported that the Israeli army has killed more children and women in Gaza during the past year than in the equivalent period of any other war this century.
Nasrallah’s Deputy Naim Qassem: Hezbollah will subdue the Israeli Beast
Full Speech by Naim Qassem, Deputy Secretary General of Hezbollah, on October 15, 2024.
Source : Al-Jazeera
Translation : resistancenews.org
In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds. May prayers and salutations be upon the most deserving of creatures, our master, beloved leader, (the Prophet) Abul-Qassim Mohammad, upon his noble and pure family, upon his pious chosen companions, and upon all the Prophets and Righteous, until the Day of Judgment.
Peace be upon you, and God’s Mercy and Blessings.
Israel and its supporters fight, kill, and commit massacres. We find ourselves in a situation that demands we take a stand.
God Almighty has said in His Sacred Book: “Permission to take up arms is hereby granted to those who are attacked; they have suffered injustice. God has all the power to give victory to those who were unjustly expelled from their homes only because they said, “God is our Lord.” Had it not been for God’s repelling some people through the might of the others, the monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which God is very often worshipped would have been utterly destroyed. God shall certainly help those who help Him. He is All-powerful and Majestic.” [Qur’an, s. 22, v. 39-40] God Most High has spoken the truth.
We are in the Resistance. We have been uplifted by our great leader, His Eminence Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, may God the Most High be pleased with him, to whom we extend our sincerest greetings. This leader has filled every land with determination, jihad, glory, and victory.
O great leader, you have not abandoned us; your spirit remains with us. Did not the Almighty say: “(The martyrs) are alive with their Lord, receiving their sustenance” [Qur’an, s. 3, v. 169]? Your teachings are our constitution; your words illuminate our path, and your speeches mark the milestones of our journey. You have not left us. The Mujahideen confront their challenges with determination and strength, and your people stand firm, embodying the deep love of God. You have not left us: our hearts are filled with your love, our hope for victory is limitless, and your enemies fear your ghost, seeing you in every mujahid and every person who loves you. Your commands will be executed: we will defeat them and drive them from our land.
I would like to address several points.
First, let us recount what has transpired this year, so that both those close to us and those not so close may understand the vision that guides us and how we perceive the unfolding events. We regard Israel as a usurping and occupying entity, posing a genuine threat to the region and the world. Israel is an expansionist occupation that is not satisfied with Palestine; it seeks to dominate the entire Arab region, the whole Islamic world, and the globe from its position in the region. This occupying force is founded on murder, displacement, massacres, and the worst vices known to this earth. This occupation relies on three pillars: 1) criminality that instills fear, 2) unwavering support from the United States, and 3) time, meaning the notion that what it cannot seize today can be taken tomorrow or the day after.
The Palestinians, led by Hamas, initiated the Al-Aqsa Flood (on October 7) to expel the occupier and declare to the world that 75 years have passed during which the occupation has become entrenched, killing, expanding, displacing, exterminating, and committing every atrocity, leaving us with not an inch of this land. Is it not the right of the Palestinians to act against this occupation, to undermine its presence, and to prevent its continuation? Instead of questioning why the Al-Aqsa Flood occurred, we should ask why the occupation took place. The Al-Aqsa Flood has happened now, after 75 years of occupation. It is a legitimate right—an inherent right for the Palestinians and all who stand beside them.
In Lebanon, we cannot separate Lebanon from Palestine, nor the region from Palestine. Did not the Israelis officially and directly occupy Lebanon in 1978, refusing to leave despite Resolution 425? Did they not occupy again in 1982, maintaining their presence for a total of 22 years, from 1978 to 2000, only to be expelled by the Resistance? Why did Israel persist in occupying Lebanon? It established the Lahd Army, hoping to create a state in southern Lebanon as a precursor to further Israeli colonization, but this plan failed. In 2006, Israel attempted once more to advance into southern Lebanon, only to fail again. Clearly, Lebanon is part of Israel’s expansionist agenda. When Israel appears to cease its expansion, it is merely due to its incapacity; whenever it feels able to expand, it will.
That is why our support for the Palestinians is a support for justice, as they have a legitimate cause. By backing the Palestinians, we restrict Israel’s options for fulfilling its expansionist ambitions. On one hand, we strive to counter the threat to the Palestinians as much as we can, and at the same time, we confront it to prevent the expansion they desire.
Without the United States—the Great Satan—Israel would not have been able to establish such a foothold. The United States seeks a new Middle East. Condoleezza Rice articulated this in 2006, just days after the Israeli attack on Lebanon, when she responded to calls for a ceasefire by saying, “These are the birth pangs of a new Middle East.” However, they failed in 2006.
Today, Netanyahu utters those same words: he desires a “new Middle East.” This means that the United States and Israel, through their crimes and acts of extermination in Palestine, Lebanon, and the region, when the U.S. hands over control to Israel to do as it pleases—mobilizing all its military, political, media, and international resources—are complicit in this project. Thus, we face the threat of a new Middle East shaped by the Israeli-American partnership, executed by the Israeli criminal under the auspices of the Great Satan. When foreigners came to Lebanon with their ambassadors and envoys, asking us through intermediaries or directly to cease our war of support for Gaza so that settlers can return to the north of occupied Palestine, they demanded that we retreat 10 kilometers or more from the border to avoid provoking Israel. They avoid discussing the root of the problem: Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the extermination of the Palestinian people. We replied that they should get a ceasefire in Gaza, after which everything would return to normal in Lebanon, everything would revert to the way it was before. They responded that they couldn’t speak in such terms, and insisted that they wanted to separate Lebanon from Gaza. We did not yield to their demands.
We consider our resistance to be legitimate. It is defensive and has two objectives: rejecting the occupation and liberating the land. O people, you must understand that the project in the region is an expansionist one, and that the Palestinians are fighting for the liberation of their homeland. When we support the Palestinians, it is to help liberate their land and protect ours. And when Iran supports the Palestinians, it is to facilitate the liberation of Palestine, which would also be a blessing for Iran. This is not merely an Iranian project, but a Palestinian endeavor supported by Iran, Hezbollah, Yemen, Iraq, and the free peoples of the region. Is it fair that the entire arrogant imperialist world should support Israel in its aggression while we are denied the right to support the oppressed in their struggle for liberation? Contributing to this cause is an honor for Iran—the Iran of Imam Khomeini, may God sanctify him; the Iran of Imam Khamenei, may God preserve him—who has committed all of Iran’s resources to strengthen the Palestinians. It is Iran’s pride that the great martyr Qassem Soleimani worked to fortify this region in the face of Israeli occupation. In contrast, it is the shame and disgrace of the United States and its allies to support Israel’s criminality and murder.
I’m going to address a question that some people naively ask through the media: “Don’t you see the damage being inflicted in Lebanon?” I ask them: who is responsible for this damage? Is it the one defending the land or the one murdering our people and destroying our infrastructure? In defending ourselves, are we causing harm? Can’t you see that it is Israel that kills, Israel that attacks, Israel that commits these atrocities? I want you to understand that if we do not confront Israel—whether under the pretext of international resolutions meant to protect Lebanon and restore its rights, or the notion that Palestine is not our concern, or any other excuse—Israel will achieve its objectives. This is how Israel operates today: they sow terror, killing children and women and committing horrific massacres to undermine the will of the people. After that, all they have to do is say, “We want this village, we want this town, we want this country,” and people will surrender because they’ve seen what has happened before. But when we stand firm, when we take on the challenge and confront the enemy, when we endure sacrifices and inflict losses upon them, we will have protected generations for decades and centuries to come. It is natural to pay a price when we face the enemy, and these sacrifices—which we honor and praise—are necessary to liberate our land, deter the enemy, and thwart its plans, for the enemy also pays a price.
Secondly, how do we cope? As the Resistance, we fight with honor, targeting their military. Israel acts with monstrosity and ignominy, murdering children, women, the elderly, hospitals, humanitarian workers, and all those in the civilian sphere. Israel’s goal is to destroy and eradicate the Resistance and its people; they want to obliterate everything. When Israel initiated its recent campaign in Lebanon, it established three phases. The first was to strike at our leadership and military capabilities in order to deprive us of our ability to defend ourselves and confront the occupation. The second phase aims to eliminate Hezbollah’s presence. Finally, the third phase seeks to redefine Lebanon to serve Israeli and American interests, allowing them to govern it at will. However, they haven’t even succeeded in achieving the first phase. It is true that we have suffered greatly, and the loss of our leaders, including His Eminence the Secretary General—may God be pleased with him—has been significant and painful. Israel attempted to neutralize our military force by targeting our capabilities and missiles in various locations, but, thank God, they were unable to complete this first phase.
Let me clarify our position: there is only one way to achieve results, recover our territory, and halt the aggression, and that is through the steadfastness of the Resistance and the unity of its people around it. The Secretary General, His Eminence Sayyed Nasrallah—may God be pleased with him—has built a robust Resistance based on faith, trust in God, and preparation of all its capabilities. The mujahideen have hearts that aspire to a dignified life and do not fear death. As for the enemy, because he is morally bankrupt and all the resources at his disposal have proven useless, he has resorted to assassinating members of the Lebanese army, attacking UNIFIL forces, and bombing churches, places of worship, and mosques. Today, he even struck an aid convoy carrying the flag of the International Red Cross, prompting the Commissioner of UNRWA to declare that the agency has never faced such a situation since its inception. Even when Israel attacks UN forces, including UNIFIL, he demands they abandon their positions. Where are the emergency forces? Where is the UN? Where are France, Great Britain, and the United States? Where are all those who constantly lecture us on the necessity of respecting international resolutions? Israel disregards any international resolution. Israel does as it pleases, and international resolutions merely serve to remind Israel of the law, to no effect. Israel answers to no one.
In any case, we are facing a rampaging monster that cannot tolerate resistance preventing it from achieving its goals. But here’s the good news: we are going to grab its leash and take it back to the pen. Just wait and see.
Third, what are the equations of confrontation? We have moved from support (for Gaza) to direct confrontation with Israel since September 17, marked by the pager explosions, which were the first step toward war, culminating on September 27 with the assassination of His Eminence the Secretary General—may his soul be sanctified. Consequently, since September 17, we have entered a new phase: the confrontation of Israeli aggression against Lebanon. We are no longer in the support phase, which involved occasional escalations at the front line (along the border between Lebanon and occupied Palestine). Today, Israel has declared war against us. For the past two weeks, we have started the equation of the battlefield at the front line. The Mujahideen have been engaging the enemy in various locations, including Kfar Kila, Adaisseh, Yaroun, and Mays al-Jabal. In all honesty, their performance on the ground during these two weeks has exceeded their expectations. The mission of the Resistance is not to act as a regular army preventing a regular army from advancing; it is to conduct guerrilla operations against the enemy wherever it may be. So, when the Israelis boast that they have gained hundreds of meters in Lebanon, we respond that they are behind schedule, as they have been unable to advance in the past two weeks. In any case, as they advance, our young fighters are ready for increasingly tough confrontations.
In the first week on the front line, 25 Israeli soldiers were killed and 150 wounded. This was just in the first week. Of course, as usual, Israel has acknowledged only a fraction of those casualties. From one week ago to today—seven days since last Tuesday—we have established a new equation called “inflicting pain on the enemy,” ensuring that he feels the pain. Our missiles will reach Haifa and beyond, as our Sayyed (Nasrallah) wished. You have seen that our drone and missile strikes have reached Tel Aviv. Last Sunday alone, Israel acknowledged 100 killed and wounded—and of course, when Israel claims 100 casualties, we know there are likely more. The strike on Benyamina alone resulted in over 70 casualties. This demonstrates the Resistance’s resolve and capabilities. On Monday, we successfully targeted our missiles at Tel Aviv. Two million settlers from the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, Gush Dan, took shelter. A total of 194 towns and settlements went into their shelters, and warning sirens sounded everywhere. Ben Gurion Airport halted operations. This is all part of the “inflict pain on the enemy” equation, and it will continue.
Sidebar: On october 23rd, Hezbollah stated that the enemy’s losses have reached over 70 killed and more than 600 injured among the officers and soldiers of the Israeli army. Additionally, 28 Merkava tanks, 4 military bulldozers, one armored vehicle, and one troop transport vehicle had been destroyed. Three Hermes 450 drones and one Hermes 900 drone have also been shot down. These figures do not include Israeli losses in the military bases and barracks in the north and interior of occupied Palestine.
I tell you: since the Israeli enemy has targeted all of Lebanon, we have the right, from a defensive position, to target any point within the Israeli entity—whether in the center, north, or south. We will choose any point we deem appropriate. There are no limits in this equation, as Israel has opened this equation. In this regard, I’d like to point out something that many people may not be aware of. While we certainly cannot thank the enemy, it inadvertently aids us in striking back. How so? When we launch a missile, their anti-missile systems engage, and the debris falls on settlements and towns, which is a blessing. It’s not just about what we hit; it’s also about what their anti-missile systems hit when they fall back. Our drones and missiles are active, and sirens sound everywhere. You should understand that the sirens ringing throughout Israel are a sign of the impact on Israeli society.
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Book Review
The Greatest Threat to World Peace? A Review of Daniele Ganser’s ‘USA: The Ruthless Empire’
Review by Marilyn Langlois | November 10, 2023
If you regard the United States as perhaps flawed but overall a force for good in the world . . .
If you scoff at the notion that the US, a republic founded on principles of freedom and democracy, has morphed into a world empire, perpetrating assassinations, coups d’état, acts of terror and illegal warfare . . .
If you want to promote peace but haven’t yet explored deceptive events that precipitate US warmongering . . .
. . . here is a volume that will clear the air and paint an honest picture of the significant, not-so-rosy impact US foreign policy and actions have had in the world around us.
USA: The Ruthless Empire, by Swiss historian and peace researcher Daniele Ganser, is the newly published English language translation of his book Imperium USA, originally written in German and published in 2020. Here is a summary of key points — including some lesser-known ones — along with remedies for a more peaceful future, that are covered in the book. … continue
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