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Headlines in Western media distort facts about Israeli genocide in Gaza

Press TV – February 24, 2024

Since October 7, when the Israeli regime launched its no-holds-barred onslaught against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, Western states have gone out of their way to whitewash the ongoing genocide.

The mainstream Western media, which is an extension of Western states, has toed the same line.

Headlines in the leading newspapers and news channels in the West, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom, have deliberately sought to distort facts about the Israeli war on Gaza.

An attempt has been made to dehumanize Palestinians and belittle their tragedy while the Israeli regime and settlers living in the occupied Palestinian territories have been portrayed as victims and sufferers.

More than 29,300 Palestinians have been killed in the genocidal war on Gaza since October 7, including more than 13,000 children and an equal number of women. However, Western media outlets have sought to dehumanize them by reducing them to cold statistics.

We analyzed news headlines in the Western press in recent months regarding the Israeli war on Gaza and it became crystal clear that the reportage has been heavily biased and riddled with distortions.

  • ‘Gazans who sought shelter in Rafah are fleeing again’

A headline in the New York Times on February 15 showed how the Western media has resorted to spin-doctoring while reporting the events unfolding in Gaza. No mention of what the Israeli regime did in Rafah, southern Gaza, or why 1.4 million Palestinians are packing up and constantly moving.

Headline suggested: No place is safe in Gaza as Israel bombs and attacks anywhere Palestinians go

  • ‘The UN says more than 1 in 4 people in Gaza are starving because of war’

A headline in the Washington Post, originally from AP, on December 21 cited the United Nations as saying that more than one in four Gazans are starving because of war. It didn’t specifically mention whose war is it and who is using starvation as a weapon of this genocidal war against Palestinians.

Headline suggested: The UN says more than 1 in 4 people in Gaza are starving because Israel is using food as a weapon

  • ‘Five-year-old Palestinian girl found dead after being trapped in car with dead relatives’

A headline on CNN on February 10 was about the murder of 5-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab. The report carefully and cunningly portrayed the murder as a death without mentioning how she went missing and was eventually found murdered in cold blood with other members of her family.

Headline suggested: Five-year-old Palestinian girl killed after being trapped in car with relatives also killed by Israel

  • ‘Israeli strikes hit Rafah after Biden warns Netanyahu to have ‘credible’ plan to protect civilians’

A headline in the AP news agency, reproduced by other mainstream media outlets, on February 12 said Israeli strikes targeted the city of Rafah in southern Gaza after President Joe Biden “warned” Benjamin Netanyahu to protect civilians. It didn’t refer to how the US government and its allies green-lighted it with financial aid and arms.

Headline suggested: Israeli strikes hit Rafah after Biden does nothing to protect civilians

  • ‘Israel’s war on Hamas homes in on Gaza hospitals’

A headline in Reuters on November 11, 2023, sought to push the narrative that the Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza targets the Hamas resistance group, not civilians. There was no mention of hospitals, universities, refugee camps and other civilian infrastructure destroyed by the regime.

Suggested headline: Israel’s war on Gaza hospitals, journalists, children and civilians continues

  • ‘Netanyahu directs Israeli military to draw up plan to evacuate more than one million people from Rafah as offensive looms’

A headline on CNN on February 9, in a manipulative way, tried to project the Israeli premier as a messiah who cares about the people in Rafah and wants them evacuated before launching the ground offensive. It ignored the fact that hundreds of Palestinians are being killed daily in the southern city.

Headline suggested: Netanyahu directs Israeli military to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza

  • ‘Arab nations condemn US vetoing ceasefire resolution’

A headline in the New York Times on December 10, 2023, after the US used its veto against the resolution that called for a humanitarian truce in Gaza, said Arab countries slammed the move. The fact is that the majority of countries condemned the American veto, which the US daily disregarded.

Headline suggested: Vast majority of world condemns US for vetoing ceasefire resolution

  • ‘Israel’s next aim is southern Gaza. US urges restraint’

Another headline in the New York Times on December 1, 2023, before the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas expired, stated that the US was urging restraint as Israel moved to attack southern Gaza. The headline sought to distance the Biden administration from the southern Gaza carnage while overlooking the fact that the Israeli regime was using US-supplied weapons there.

Suggested headline: Israel’s next aim is all of Gaza. US will do nothing to stop it

  • ‘Samer Abuqada: Al Jazeera cameraman killed in Gaza drone strike by Israel’

This BBC headline on December 16, 2023, reported the killing of another Palestinian journalist in Gaza (the toll is now 131), without mentioning the perpetrator. It has been a standard operating procedure of Western media outlets, including BBC, to absolve the Israeli regime of its crimes in the besieged territory, especially since October 7.

Suggested headline: Samer Abuqada: Al Jazeera cameraman killed in Gaza drone strike by Israel

  • ‘Deadly airstrike hits area of Gaza that many have fled to’

A headline in the New York Times on December 29, 2023, said the Israeli airstrike targeted an area of Gaza where many people had taken refuge. The fact is that the area was bombed after the Israeli regime forced Palestinians to move there – to assemble them in one place and bomb them.

Suggested headline: Deadly Israeli airstrike hits area of Gaza that Israel told Palestinians to move to

  • ‘Displaced Gazans wonder where to go as Israel vows to keep pushing south’

This New York Times headline on February 6 referred to the planned Israeli invasion of southern Gaza, saying displaced ‘Gazans’ are wondering where to take shelter. The fact is that the Israeli regime has vowed to bomb Palestinians wherever they go.

Suggested headline: Displaced Palestinians in Gaza wonder where to go as Israel vows to keep bombing anywhere they go

Speaking at an event in Tehran last week, Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan hailed the media’s role in defeating the Israeli narrative of the Gaza war, referring to the important role played by media.

Hamdan stressed that journalists play no lesser role than those fighting on the battlefield, which is why the Israeli regime has been deliberately targeting journalists in the besieged strip.

February 24, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | , , , | Leave a comment

Saudi-backed Yemeni forces make inroads with Ansarallah

The Cradle | February 24, 2024

Officials in Yemen announced an initiative to open the Sanaa–Sarwah–Marib road on 22 February. 

The strategic road has been closed since 2015. It links Yemen’s capital, Sanaa – administered by the Ansarallah resistance movement – to the country’s energy-rich province of Marib, part of which is controlled by the Saudi-backed Islah Party. 

The initiative aims to improve ties between Ansarallah and forces loyal to the Saudi-led coalition, as well as alleviate the suffering of citizens living under blockade. 

“The initiative comes as a goodwill from the leadership of the local authority … and is a first stage that will be followed by stages to open the rest of the roads,” said Ali Muhammad Taiman, an Ansarallah-affiliated governor in one of the Marib province’s several governorates. 

Sultan al-Arada, an influential tribal leader in Marib and member of the Saudi-backed Islah Party, confirmed the initiative on the same day. 

“In consultation with political and military leadership, a security checkpoint was established today on the road linking Marib and Sanaa,” Arada said, adding that the initiative to open the road has been discussed with the UN. Arada expressed hope that “the other side” will take similar steps. 

A local source confirmed to The Cradle that the initiative signifies the recent warming up of ties between Ansarallah and the Saudi-backed Islah Party, who were periodically at odds with one another throughout the nine years of war in the country. 

“The Islah Party controls [parts of] Marib. They have become more supportive of Ansarallah. Many members of Islah previously defected [to Ansarallah]. Now, it is coming within the context of the peace deal with Saudi Arabia … The Saudis do not want to be a part of this war anymore,” the source said. 

He added that Marib has become “closer” to Ansarallah and that this road-opening initiative signals increasing “closeness” between them and the Islah Party, particularly after the Gaza war – which has boosted Ansarallah’s local popularity due to its pro-Palestine naval operations in the Red Sea. 

Ansarallah was close to advancing militarily in Marib toward the end of 2021. However, peace talks began not long after, which halted their offensive. 

The peace agreement between Saudi Arabia and the Ansarallah-led government in Sanaa, which has been in the works for the past two years, was recently revealed as completed and ready to be signed. 

Saudi Arabia has not taken part in Washington’s military campaign against Sanaa – which comes as a response to the Yemeni naval blockade on Israeli shipping in the Red Sea – so as not to compromise peace efforts.

The kingdom’s foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan announced this week that Riyadh is “fully committed” to the Saudi-Yemen peace deal, which will be “ready to sign as soon as possible.” 

The road opening initiative comes as Ansarallah and the Yemeni Armed Forces’ attacks on Israeli-linked vessels and ships bound for Israeli ports are garnering significant amounts of popular support for Ansarallah in Yemen. 

According to a January report by Responsible Statecraft, the Islah Party has recently been providing Ansarallah with material support and has praised its operations in support of Gaza. 

Sanaa’s pro-Palestine position and subsequent popularity boost have weakened what remains of Saudi and UAE-led coalition forces in Yemen, according to Yemeni writer Mohammed Moqeibel. 

Yemenis have also become more unified since the brutal US–UK military campaign that began against Yemen last month. 

February 24, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

US intelligence casts doubt on Israel’s accusations against UNRWA

Press TV – February 23, 2024

A US intelligence assessment has cast doubt on Israel’s accusations against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), citing the regime’s bias against the UN agency.

A National Intelligence Council (NIC) report released last week assessed with “low confidence” that a handful of UNRWA staffers had taken part in the October 7 operation launched by Hamas resistance movement against the occupying entity.

The four-page intelligence report indicated that the NIC could not independently confirm the allegations.

Earlier this year, the Israeli regime claimed that 12 employees of the UNRWA were involved in the attack.

Tel Aviv also alleged that 10% of all UNRWA’s 12,000 workers have links to Hamas.

Noting that UNRWA does coordinate with Hamas, which governs Gaza, in order to deliver aid and operate in the besieged strip, the NIC said there was a lack of evidence to suggest that the UN agency was collaborating with the resistance movement in a wider way.

The NIC report added that Israel has not “shared the raw intelligence behind its assessments with the US.”

The Wall Street Journal cited two sources familiar with the report as saying that it highlighted Israel’s dislike towards the UNRWA.

“There is a specific section that mentions how Israeli bias serves to mischaracterize much of their assessments on UNRWA and says this has resulted in distortions,” one source told the WSJ.

Last week, Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of the UNRWA, said Israel was waging a concerted campaign aimed at destroying the main UN agency in the besieged Gaza Strip.

“It is believed that if the aid agency is abolished, the status of the Palestinian refugees will be resolved once and for all — and with it, the right of return,” Lazzarini told the Swiss newspaper group Tamedia.

The regime’s allegations against UNRWA, which were not publicly backed by evidence, have prompted more than 10 donor countries, including the United States, Germany, the European Union, Canada, and Japan, to suspend financial support.

The funding from these countries makes up the bulk of all funding received by the UN agency.

UNRWA said being cut off in this way means the agency will run out of money altogether within weeks.

“The grossly disproportionate decision to suspend funding by some of the largest donor states defies the basic principle of humanity, and goes against states’ commitment to leave no one behind,” several UN experts said in a statement earlier this month.

Nearly the entire population of Gaza now relies on UNRWA for basics, including food, water, and hygiene supplies.

Since the regime started its war on Gaza in early October, 1.9 million people – 85 percent of Gaza’s population – have been internally displaced.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 29,410 Palestinians and injured more than 69,465 others.

Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble in Gaza, which is under “complete siege” by Israel.

February 23, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Leave a comment

Arms transfer to Israel must stop immediately: UN experts

Press TV – February 23, 2024

UN experts have called for an immediate halt to weapons transfer to Israel, warning that state officials involved in arms exports to the regime “may be individually criminally liable for aiding and abetting any war crimes” in the Gaza Strip.

The experts said on Friday that any delivery of weapons or ammunition to the regime that would be used in the genocidal war on Gaza is likely to violate international humanitarian law and must cease immediately, according to a statement by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

The UN experts reiterated that weapons transfers to Israel “are prohibited even if the exporting State does not intend the arms to be used in violation of the law – or does not know with certainty that they would be used in such a way – as long as there is a clear risk.”

They said that “the need for an arms embargo on Israel is heightened,” since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in late January that “there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and the continuing serious harm to civilians since then.”

“This necessitates halting arms exports in the present circumstances.”

The experts warned the US and Germany, in particular, since the two countries have increased arms shipments to Israel, since October, when the regime started its war on the Gaza Strip. Other military exporters include France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

The UN experts welcomed the suspension of arms transfers to Israel by Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and the Japanese company Itochu Corporation.

Washington, the regime’s main supporter, is still preparing to send more bombs and other weapons to Israel, the Wall Street Journal reported last Friday.

The arms are estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars, the journal cited current and former US officials. They said that the proposal which is still undergoing internal administration review, needs to be sent to Congress for approval.

However, US President Joe Biden’s administration has so far twice bypassed Congress to urgently send bombs and other munitions to Israel to support the regime’s war machine that has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians, mostly children and women.

February 23, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

PCHR condemns the killing of its lawyer, and her family by an Israeli airstrike on Rafah

PCHR | February 21, 2024

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns in the strongest terms the killing of our dear colleague, Nour Naser Abu Al-Nour and seven of her family members, including her two-years-old daughter, by an Israeli airstrike on her family house in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip. The killing of Nour along with seven of her family members, comes as the latest example of the genocide that Israel is committing against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and a reminder that all Palestinians, including human rights defenders, are a target for the Israeli government and army. This heinous crime also constitutes further evidence of the lack of safe space for Palestinians in the Strip and an example of what the Palestinians in the Strip have been subjected to for the last 137 days of ongoing Israeli aggression. Nour and her family are among of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom are women and children, unjustly, illegally and cruelly killed as result of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, which members of the international community have not only failed to bring to an end, but have been complicit by providing Israel with the necessary political, diplomatic and military support.

Our dear colleague Nour worked in the Women’s Rights Unit at PCHR since 2019. She holds a master’s degree in law and worked with distinction, perseverance and dedication until the last days, documenting the violations committed by the Israeli occupation, particularly against women and children, providing legal consultations, and trying to provide self-care to the women victims in shelters despite the difficult conditions. Several weeks ago, Nour was forced to move to her family’s house after Israeli war planes targeted a neighboring house, causing significant damage to her house.

According to information collected by PCHR, last night, 20 February 2024, at approximately 10:00 pm, Israeli war planes directly targeted without any prior warning the house of Nour’s Father, Professor Nasser Abu Al-Nour, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing at the Islamic University in Gaza, located in Al-Jeneina neighborhood in Rafah, on top of its residents. The targeting resulted in the killing of our dear colleague Nour Abu Al-Nour (30), who works as a lawyer in the Women’s Rights Unit, her child, Kenzi Jumaa (2), her father, Professor Nasser Abu Al-Nour (60), her mother, Mjida Farid Abu Al-Noor (55), three of her sisters, Amal Nasser Abu Al Nour (35), Mona Nasser Abu Al Nour (24), and Ayat Naser Abu Al-Nour (19), and her brother, Abdulrahman Nasser Abu Al Nour (23), and the wounding of dozens others.

The crimes committed by the Israeli occupation have not spared anyone, including human rights defenders, who have become themselves, along with their families, actual victims of the aggression by being subjected to targeting, starvation, torture and forced displacement as part of the ongoing genocide against the Palestinians in the Strip.

PCHR extends its deepest condolences to the remaining members of Nour’s family and to the Palestinian human rights community and calls upon the international community to abide by their moral and legal obligations and act promptly to end the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people. With every day that passes, more civilians are targeted and killed. Despite this heinous crime and the challenging working environment, PCHR reiterates its commitment and dedication to documenting and exposing the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against Palestinian civilians to ensure justice and dignity for the victims.

Our thoughts and prayers are with her loved ones. May the soul of our beloved Nour and her family rest in peace.

February 23, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Gaza victims sue German government for ‘aiding genocide against Palestinians’

MEMO | February 23, 2024

Victims of months of Israel’s attacks on Gaza are filing a criminal complaint against top German government officials for supporting Israel’s war crimes and “genocide” against Palestinians, Anadolu Agency reports.

“We’re filing a criminal complaint against German government officials for the crime of aiding and abetting genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza by providing Israel with weapons and issuing related export permissions,” lawyers for the Gaza victims told a press conference in Berlin on Friday.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, and Economy Minister Robert Habeck all stand accused of “complicity in the genocide in Gaza” by supporting Israel’s military offensive, and authorising the export of €326 million ($350 million) worth of weapons to Israel.

Nadija Samour, one of the lawyers who filed the criminal complaint with federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe, south-western Germany, said: “Our governments in Europe have a legal obligation not to provide Israel any support in perpetrating the current genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. This has to stop and this is what we hope to achieve by going to court. This lawsuit sends a clear message to German officials: you cannot continue to remain accomplices of such crime without consequences. We want accountability.”

Samour said German law requires a ground for initial suspicion to start investigations on a potential crime being committed.

“The International Court of Justice’s interim ruling clearly showed that there is such ground for initial suspicion when it comes to the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza,” she stressed, referring to a 26 January ruling ordering Israel’s government to stop genocidal acts and take steps to ensure that civilians in Gaza get humanitarian assistance.

February 23, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel’s skin bank raises ethical concerns on organ consent

Jordan News – November 17, 2023

GAZA – Israel possesses the world’s largest skin bank, a medical facility that stores human skin for later use in treating burns and skin cancers. This bank was established in 1986 under the supervision of the military medical sector of the occupying army, which provides its services internationally, especially to requests from Western countries.

Israeli occupation authorities been stealing organs from the bodies of dead Palestinian, a heinous criminal practice that has been revealed in several reports and through testimonies of Israeli doctors who participated in this gruesome practice, violating professional ethics and constituting a crime against humanity, Al-Ghad reported.

In contrast, this Israeli bank differs from other banks worldwide in that its supply of these vital organs does not come solely from voluntary donors. Instead, documented cases of stealing skin from the bodies of Palestinians have been recorded, individuals whose organs are also stolen.

There is compelling evidence of Israelis engaging in trafficking these stolen organs, making the entity the largest market for organs in the Middle East.

Where did Israel get this inventory from?

Expert in Israeli affairs Anas Abu Arqoub says, “The Israeli skin bank is the largest in the world, surpassing the American skin bank that was established 40 years before it, noting that Israel’s population is much smaller than the United States.”

Arqoub emphasizes that the theft of organs from Palestinian bodies is not just suspicions, stating, “Even the Israeli media acknowledges that it is an extraction process without the knowledge of the dead’s families.”

The reserve of human skin held by the Israeli occupation state, equivalent to 170 square meters, stored within the Israeli skin bank, confirms Arqoub’s account. The number is considered unreasonable since Israel ranks third in its population’s refusal to donate organs, attributed to Jewish religious beliefs.

Handing over Palestinian bodies to their families without organs!

The details of the story date back to 2001 when Swedish investigative journalist Donald Boström published an investigation exposing the theft of organs from the bodies of Palestinian martyrs and their trafficking by Israeli entities. This was the first time this crime was revealed to the international public.

Boström did not stop at this point but published another investigation on the same subject in 2009 in the pages of the Swedish magazine Aftonbladet. The investigation mentions that the Israeli Ministry of Health launched a national campaign to encourage organ donation in 1992. However, despite that, a significant gap persisted between the demand and the supply of donations.

Coinciding with that campaign, cases of the disappearance of several Palestinian youth began, only to return afterward in closed coffins. The Israeli authorities imposed on their families to bury them at night without funerals.

Boström says, “I was in the region at that time, and on several occasions, UN employees contacted me concerned about the developments. The individuals who contacted me said that organ theft certainly happened, but they were prevented from doing anything about it.”

These contacts prompted the journalist to delve further into the issue, so he went to interview the families of the dead who confirmed the theft of their sons’ organs before their killing. Among them was the son of the martyr Bilal Ahmed Ghannan, who was 19 years old when the Israeli army arrested him in the village of Um al-Tut in the West Bank in 1992. He returned with a body without internal organs, from the neck to below the abdomen.

The Israeli medical authorities did not deny the torture and theft of Bilal’s organs. At that time, the director of the Israeli Institute of Forensic Medicine, Chen Kugel, said that Bilal’s family could be right because they “took everything that could be taken from all the bodies that came to the Institute of Forensic Medicine,” without the family’s consent. His family did not receive any explanation, apology, or compensation for what happened.

Israeli confessions of organ theft from Palestinians

In a 2009 documentary on the issue, there are admissions from the former director of the Israeli Institute of Forensic Medicine, Yehuda Hiss, confirming the theft of organs from the bodies of Palestinian in the institute. Hiss stated, “We took corneas, skin, heart valves, and bones … Almost everything was done unofficially to a large extent… and permission was not sought from the families.”

In her study on dealing with the bodies of Palestinians at the Abu Kabir Forensic Medicine Center in Tel Aviv, published in a book titled “On Their Bodies,” anthropologist Meirav Feis stated that she witnessed “how they take organs from the bodies of Palestinians. In return, they leave the bodies of soldiers intact.”

The researcher added, “They take corneas, skin, and heart valves in a way that makes the absence of those organs unnoticed by non-specialists. They replace corneas with plastic bodies and remove the skin from the back so that the family does not see it. In addition, the bodies of the dead are used in medical schools in Israeli universities for research purposes.”

Feis said, “In the first intifada, the army effectively allowed the institute to extract organs from Palestinians under a military procedure that required dissecting the bodies of Palestinian prisoners. The autopsy procedure was accompanied by the removal of organs used by the Israeli skin bank, established in 1985 to treat burns suffered by Israeli soldiers.”

Trafficking in the organs of Palestinian casualties

Israel is one of the largest markets for trafficking in human organs in the world, and the largest in the Middle East. Media reports revealed that the Israeli entity is involved in killing Palestinians to steal their internal organs illegally and trade them within an illegal international network.

In 2009, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested an Israeli settler named Levy Izhak Rosenbaum. After investigating him, it was revealed that he played the role of a broker in organ-selling operations in the United States for the benefit of a criminal cell led by rabbis, politicians, and government officials in Israel.

Journalist Donald Boström, in his mentioned investigation, suggests a connection between this network and the theft of organs from Palestinian martyrs taking place in “Israel.” Boström said, “Half of the kidneys transplanted to Israelis since the beginning of the first decade of the 21st century were illegally purchased. The Israeli health authorities have full knowledge of this activity but do nothing to stop it.”

In a report published by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in 2016, Israel admitted to losing dozens of bodies of Palestinians. The newspaper quoted statements from sources in the Israeli judicial and security apparatuses about the loss of 121 bodies of Palestinians held by the occupation authorities since the 1990s.

Continued organ theft

Following the explosion of the organ theft scandal in 2009, the Israeli government tried to evade the proven charges against it. The spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Health at that time, Einav Shimron Greenboim, issued a statement saying, “The practice mentioned in the investigation is an old story that ended years ago.”

Doubts persist about the continuation of these unethical practices that violate human rights, as indicated by the Israeli authorities’ continued detention of dozens of bodies of Palestinian dead, justifying it as a punitive measure.

According to Abdel Nasser Farwana, the head of the Studies and Documentation Unit at the Palestinian Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Commission, Israel still holds more than 370 bodies of Palestinian and Arab bodies who died in different circumstances and years apart. He added, “The list of these detained martyrs includes individuals who died from the 1970s until around 2023.”

February 23, 2024 Posted by | Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Despite coordination with Red Cross, Israel targets municipality vehicles

Palestinian Information Center – February 22, 2024

GAZA – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) targeted the Gaza Municipality parking once again, and destroyed what has remained of public service vehicles on Tuesday night.

The IOF had previously targeted the same place several times in an attempt to hinder the access to municipality services, as part of the Israeli genocidal war against the trapped people in the Gaza Strip since October 7.

The municipality said in a statement posted on its Facebook page on Wednesday that the IOF targeted the municipality’s cars despite being marked in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza.

The Gaza Municipality explained that its vehicles were given special marks that show the kind of service provided and the identities of its drivers to be distinguished and accordingly protected in times of emergency.

The statement added that the vehicles that were completely destroyed encompassed 3 road-repair bulldozers, an excavator used to repair water and sewage lines, a water pump and sewage suction truck, and a car used for administrative purposes, in addition to multiple damages to the garage and its facilities.

The municipality reported a severe shortage in operating vehicles after repetitive Israeli targeting of the garage led to the destruction of about 95 vehicles of various types and sizes, in addition to the destruction of the maintenance workshop.

The Gaza Municipality called on the international community and human rights organizations to intervene urgently to improve the humanitarian conditions in the city, by the provision of fuel and electricity and the implementation of urgent projects that would enable the municipality to provide basic municipal services such as water, sanitation, and waste collection services.

Since the beginning of the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October last year, the IOF has been deliberately destroying the infrastructure, service facilities, water, and sewage networks, and preventing the arrival of fuel, causing health and environmental crises as a result of sewage overflow and waste accumulation in the streets.

February 22, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

China backs Palestinians’ right to ‘armed struggle’ against Israeli occupation

The Cradle | February 22, 2024

China expressed support for the right of Palestinians to engage in “armed struggle” against Israel, stressing this is not “terrorism” during the fourth day of hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a case against Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories.

“In pursuit of the right to self-determination [the Palestinian people have the right to the] use of force to resist foreign oppression and to complete the establishment of the Palestinian state,” Ma Xinmin, a Chinese Foreign Ministry legal adviser, told the World Court on 22 February.

Citing examples of “various people [who] freed themselves from colonial rule” through armed resistance, Xinmin argued that acts of resistance against the Israeli occupation are “not terrorism” but a legitimate armed struggle and an “inalienable right.”

“Numerous other resolutions recognize the legitimacy of struggle by all available means, including armed struggle by people under colonial domination or foreign occupation to realize the right of self-determination,” the Chinese official said.

“Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed on multiple occasions that China calls for a comprehensive ceasefire and the early solution to the question of Palestine on the basis of a two-state solution through negotiation,” he added.

Xinmin took to the podium ahead of Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, Reza Najafi, who highlighted Israel’s historic violations of Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

“The establishment of the Israeli regime was done through a violent process which involved the forcible displacement of native Palestinian people to create a majority Jewish colony in line with the Zionist movement,” Najafi said.

He also listed a series of ongoing violations by Tel Aviv, which include the prolonged occupation and manipulation of the demographic composition in the occupied Palestinian territories, the alteration of the character and status of Jerusalem, and the discriminatory measures and violations of the rights of Palestinian people to permanent sovereignty over their natural resources.

“The expansion of settlements, segregated roads and barriers as well as checkpoints has created a system of apartheid which is isolating Palestinian communities,” Najafi added before addressing the UN Security Council (UNSC) for their “inaction or insufficient action,” saying this was one of the “main causes of prolonged occupation of the Palestinians” and highlighting that the top UN body is “paralyzed due to the stalemate” caused by a “certain permanent member.”

“All the atrocities and crimes committed by the Israeli regime in the past almost eight years are a consequence of such inaction,” the Iranian official concluded.

The Iraqi representative to the ICJ, Hayder Shiya al-Barrak, took to the podium next and called on the ICJ to respect previous court orders against Israel, such as the provisions made after South Africa’s case to “stop the systematic killing machine against the Palestinian people.”

“We hope that the court’s commitment to justice will lead to additional decisions … affirming its dedication to ending the campaign of mass murder and preventing acts of genocide as well as policies of harassment, blockade, and starvation against the Palestinian people,” he said.

Barrak concluded his intervention by calling on the World Court to take decisions “that safeguard the lives of the Palestinian man, women, children, and elders, allowing them to enjoy a dignified and secure life where all human rights are achieved.”

February 22, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Buffer zone in Sinai: Is Sisi preparing to displace the Palestinians?

By Osama Gaweesh | MEMO | February 22, 2024

Over the past days, the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights has published three reports accompanied by videos and photos from the buffer zone in North Sinai, a few kilometres from the Egyptian border with the Gaza Strip and the Occupied Territories.

The issue began on 4 February, when the Egyptian army, accompanied by engineers from engineering companies contracted by the Abnaa Sinai Company, owned by the head of the Sinai Tribes Union, Ibrahim Al-Organi, moved loaders and vehicles to begin bulldozing and construction operations in a 13 kilometre-area inside the buffer zone, at an unusually rapid pace. The pictures also showed the construction of a huge seven-metre-high wall.

A day later, several Western websites, such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Reuters and AP published reports accompanied by satellite images, all confirming what the Sinai Foundation had stated. Everyone was looking for an answer to one question: Is Egypt preparing to receive the displaced Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in Sinai after Israel begins the military operation in the Palestinian Rafah?

The Egyptian regime did not wait long before issuing its response quickly, not once, but four times, with four different official narratives, and you can choose whichever you want from them.

The first narrative came from Major-General Mohamed Abdel Fadil Shousha, the Governor of North Sinai, on 15 February, when he spoke to the Saudi Al Arabiya website, saying that there is no intention to displace Palestinians to Sinai, and that the ongoing works in the buffer zone are nothing but committees from the governorate that are counting the numbers of homes that were demolished in this area during the war on terrorism to determine the appropriate compensation from the State to the people of Sinai who were displaced from their homes years ago.

The problem with this story is that the people of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid have already been demonstrating for months to demand their return to their homes and land, which the Egyptian authorities have been refusing and even dealing with by using a strong security fist. The Egyptian authorities have been arresting the most prominent figures from the Sinai tribes who are demanding the right of return. So why did the Egyptian authorities suddenly and without warning decide to allow them to return and even compensate them?

The second narrative came from Diaa Rashwan, head of the State Information Service, who said in two phone interviews that Egypt has no intention of receiving the Palestinians and that the buffer zone has existed for years and there is nothing new about it, so why should Egypt establish a new buffer zone?

It is strange that Rashwan denied something that the Sinai Foundation did not mention, nor did Western press reports mention. No one claimed that Egypt was establishing a new buffer zone, and no one denied the existence of a buffer zone in the first place. Rather, they were talking about the strange construction that suddenly appeared in this area in coincidence with the Israeli military operation in Palestinian Rafah.

The third narrative came from Major-General Shousha, again, on 17 February, when he said in statements, also reported by the Saudi Al Arabiya website, that the Egyptian army is establishing a logistical area in that place to organise the waiting aid trucks and provide comfortable accommodation for the drivers of these trucks who have been waiting for months.

Major-General Shousha contradicted his first story with this second one, refuting and denying the first narrative. He also cast doubts on his credibility as an official source when he gave two different narratives, on two different days, to the same site. The question is why is the army establishing a logistical area after these trucks have been waiting for four months in front of the Rafah Crossing? What has changed?

What is more, the army put up a flimsy sign in front of that area reading “Logistical Area”, which Egyptian media outlets close to the regime were quick to broadcast this footage immediately to confirm the news and deny any talk or speculation about Egypt’s preparations to receive the Palestinians.

The fourth narrative came from Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, on the sidelines of his participation in the Munich Security Conference, where he said that Egypt has no intention of receiving the Palestinians and cannot allow the displacement of the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip. He added that what is happening in the buffer border zone is nothing but maintenance work.

Honestly, I do not know what kind of maintenance work is needed for the desert sands in the buffer zone and why the army is building a wall that is 7 metres high, if the goal is maintenance work. Is it a logistical area, an inventory of the homes of the displaced or maintenance for something we do not know about on the Egyptian border?

The conflicting Egyptian narratives all prove what the Sinai Human Rights Foundation and Western press reports have said: Egypt is preparing to receive the Palestinians in the buffer zone in a place similar to cantons.

What are cantons?

A canton is a security and military-governed space subject to strict measures that can be imagined as an open-air prison for a group of people and is considered self-governed by its residents under a larger regional authority.

These cantons depend on external communication channels to obtain aid and do not have sufficient resources to rely on themselves for living, as they are established as alternative plans that provide security control and are subject to a strict siege from the higher regional authorities.

The cantons are considered an easy way to get rid of ethnic groups indirectly, as the Israeli Occupation implemented them on some people in the West Bank who were trapped in the middle of the settlements. The displaced Syrians also suffered from remaining inside these cantons that belong to different ethnic forces.

Historically, there has been the Cantonal rebellion in Spain, the canton system in Switzerland and the apartheid regime imposed in South Africa to continually disperse and weaken the population.

If Egypt adopts the same policy and places the Palestinians in these cantons, this will raise a set of important questions. For example, who would be responsible for them: the Egyptian armed forces or the militias of the Sinai Tribes Union and its head, Ibrahim Al-Organi?

When will these Palestinians return to their land again, and who decides how, when and where they will return? Will it be the Egyptian regime or Israel?

The Egyptian regime possesses the power cards that enable it to stop the entire Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and prevent the displacement plan once and for all, but it has chosen a policy of statements and declarations that Israel disregards, and a policy that will not stop the flow of Palestinians into the cantons of the buffer zone in North Sinai.

February 22, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fresh aggression: US, UK launch five strikes on Yemen’s Hudaydah

Press TV – February 22, 2024

The United States and Britain have conducted fresh aerial assaults on Yemen’s strategic western province of Hudaydah.

The al-Masirah television network reported three airstrikes on Ras Issa area in Hudaydah’s a-Salif district late on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, it added, four similar air raids also targeted al-Jabana and al-Arj areas in Hudaydah.

Meanwhile, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement that its forces had carried out four strikes on areas in Yemen, targeting “seven mobile anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile launcher” in the act of aggression.

It claimed that the targets “presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and to the US Navy ships in the region.”

CENTCOM also said that its forces had shot down a “one-way attack unmanned aircraft system.”

In recent months, the US and its allies have launched illegal attacks on Yemen amid their frustration in the face of an anti-Israel maritime campaign by the Yemeni armed forces.

Israel waged a US-backed genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip on October 7 following a historic operation by the Palestinian Hamas resistance group against the occupying regime.

In support of Gaza, Yemeni armed forces have targeted ships going to and from ports in the occupied territories, or whose owners are linked to Israel, in the southern Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Gulf of Aden, and even in the Arabian Sea.

The US-led attacks on Yemen prompted the country’s military to declare American and British vessels to be legitimate targets.

February 22, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , | Leave a comment

London high court rejects legal challenge against UK arms sales to Israel

Press TV – February 21,2024

The High Court in London has rejected a legal challenge against UK weapons exports to Israel, despite growing concerns over human rights violations in war-torn Gaza Strip.

The court refused the appeal against the UK Department for Business and Trade (DBT) on Tuesday, saying the criteria requiring the DBT to consider whether there is a risk the weapons might be used in a violation of international law must be “clear” and has to be “of a serious violation”.

The court refusal said there was a “high hurdle” to overcome to establish the government’s conclusion was “irrational,” adding that “There is no realistic prospect of that hurdle being surmounted here.”

Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq and UK-based Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) applied for a judicial review of the government’s export licenses for the sale of British weapons capable of being used in Israel’s war on Gaza.

They warned that the UK government is ignoring its own rules in the Israeli war on Gaza, saying they are seeking to overturn the court’s decision.

The legal challenge stated that the government has granted licenses for the sale of British weapons to Israel under a wide range of categories in recent years.

Existing UK arms export criteria say that if there is a “clear risk” that a weapon might be used in a serious violation of international humanitarian law (IHL) then an arms export should not be licensed.

Shawan Jabarin, general director of al-Haq, said the UK government’s decision to continue supplying Israel with weapons for offensive against men, women, and children in Gaza is effectively arming the occupying regime to “completely decimate” the Gaza Strip, reducing the besieged enclave’s vital civilian infrastructure to rubble.

GLAN also said the high court’s decision is out of step with the growing international consensus that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has issued a preliminary ruling on a genocide case brought by South Africa against the Israeli regime, ordering Tel Aviv to take all measures necessary to prevent genocide in the Gaza Strip

Last week, a Dutch court ordered the government of the Netherlands to stop supplying F35 fighter jet parts to Israel within seven days, citing violations of international and humanitarian law. Italy and Spain also blocked all arms exports to Israel as soon as the attacks in Gaza started.

Israel waged the devastating war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity over its intensified violence against Palestinians.

The Israeli aggression has so far killed more than 29,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured about 70,000 others in Gaza.

The Tel Aviv regime has imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

According to the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), between 2015 and 2022, the UK licensed more than half a billion dollars worth of weapons to Tel Aviv.

February 21, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

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