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Hamas denies Qatari initiative including departure of its leaders from Gaza

MEMO | January 11, 2024

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement has denied that a Qatari initiative will include the departure of Hamas leaders from the Gaza Strip. This was confirmed by senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan during a press conference in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Wednesday.

According to Israel’s Channel 13, “A new proposal has been delivered to Israel from Qatar, to release all the captured individuals [Israeli hostages in Gaza] in several stages, most of which will come near the end of the deal and after the Israeli army withdraws from the Strip.” The channel added that the proposal includes the departure of Hamas leaders from the Gaza Strip, although this has not been confirmed officially by either Israel or Qatar.

“There is no initiative of this nature,” insisted Hamdan. “The people did not leave their land, so how will the resistance that defends the people do so? Talk about the resistance leaving the land is a delusion, as is the idea of disarming the resistance, which is naive and does not reflect an understanding of the facts of the matter.”

He described the talk by the Israeli media about this initiative as “a deception and misinformation” to calm angry Israeli citizens, “especially the families of the hostages who are watching them being killed at the hands of the occupation forces without [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu caring about them.”

Hamdan reiterated his movement’s assertion that it will not accept any prisoner exchange initiative unless it is based on a complete end to Israel’s “aggression” against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“So far, there is no talk about any initiatives,” he added. “We are committed to our position and presented a clear vision to the mediators, and this vision is the basis for any ideas or initiatives in this context.”

Channel 13 said that the Qatari proposal will be presented to the Israeli War Cabinet and the Political and Security Ministerial Council, which will meet tonight to discuss the “day after” the war ends in Gaza.

Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Thani said on Sunday that the ceasefire negotiations in Gaza “are ongoing and are going through challenges… and the killing of a senior leader of the Palestinian Hamas movement [Saleh Al-Arouri] could affect them.”

He pointed out that discussion “with all parties” are ongoing. “We are trying to reach an agreement as soon as possible that leads to a ceasefire in Gaza, an increase in aid and the release of hostages and [Palestinian] prisoners.”

Egypt and Qatar, along with the US, are sponsoring efforts to reach a second temporary truce in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October against Israeli military bases and settlements in the vicinity of Gaza, during which 1,139 Israeli soldiers and civilians were killed, many of them by the Israel Defence Forces, it has since been revealed. The operation was in response to “daily Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people and their sanctities,” said Hamas, notably Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem. Around 240 Israelis were captured during the operation, 110 of whom have already been exchanged for some of the thousands of Palestinians held by Israel.

Almost 23,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air and artillery strikes since 7 October, most of them children and women. Just under 60,000 have been wounded. Israeli bombs have laid much of the occupied Palestinian territory to waste. Thousands more Palestinians are buried under the rubble of their homes and other civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and places of worship. Nearly all of the enclave’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, many several times, and they are engulfed by a humanitarian catastrophe with acute shortages of food, water and medical supplies.

January 11, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Fake News, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | , , , , | Leave a comment

Global South rallies behind South Africa’s genocide case against Israel

The Cradle | January 11, 2024

Nations across the Global South have thrown their support behind South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), as the hearings are set to begin on 11 January.

On Wednesday, Brazil and Colombia joined other Latin American nations like Bolivia, Venezuela, and Nicaragua publicly endorsing the South African case.

“In light of the flagrant violations of international humanitarian law, the president expressed his support for the initiative of South Africa to ask the International Court of Justice to determine that Israel immediately cease all acts and measures that could constitute genocide or related crimes,” the statement from Brasilia reads.

“South Africa’s lawsuit is a brave step in the right direction,” a statement from the Colombian government stressed.

The 22-member Arab League bloc also confirmed its backing for the South African case on Wednesday in a social media post made by Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit.

“It is natural and logical for the Arab League to fully support the lawsuit filed by South Africa against Israel … We look forward to a just and bold ruling that will stop this aggressive war and put an end to the shedding of Palestinian blood,” Aboul-Gheit said.

Iran issued a similar statement on the same day, backing South Africa and saying the Islamic Republic “strongly denounces the apartheid Zionist regime’s war crimes and genocide against the Palestinian nation, and expresses its support for resistance as a liberation move and legitimate right recognized by international law for the Palestinian nation in the struggle against occupation.”

The Maldives, Namibia, and Pakistan also announced their support for the South Africa case this week.

Pakistan’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, Usman Jadadoon, on Tuesday called Israel’s war in Gaza “a brutal, veritable genocide” and said his country “looks forward to the Advisory Opinion of the ICJ on the legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.”

Turkiye, Jordan, and Malaysia had previously supported the case. Similarly, the 54-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) – including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Morocco – was among the first to back South Africa’s case.

Furthermore, over 1,000 popular movements, political parties, unions, and other organizations worldwide issued a joint statement this week calling on all signatories to the 1948 Genocide Convention to stand by South Africa.

“We urge national governments to immediately file a Declaration of Intervention in support of the South African case against Israel at the International Court of Justice to stop the killing in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” the statement reads.

Other nations like France and Costa Rica stopped short of supporting the case against Israel but nonetheless reiterated their trust in the ICJ, with Paris saying it would support “whatever decision the court reaches.” Mexico also called on states to refrain from using their veto power should they oppose the court’s findings.

In spite of growing global support for Palestine, the US and the UK have refused to support the case, with Washington explicitly saying they have seen “no evidence” of genocide in Gaza.

In the same vein, on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video statement claiming that “Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population,” in a complete U-turn from the dozens of documented statements he and other senior officials have made over the past three months.

South Africa filed the lawsuit against Israel at the end of December, accusing Tel Aviv of genocide and seeking a halt to the brutal military assault that has killed about 25,000 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children.

The 84-page filing accuses Israel of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention, drawn up in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust.

January 11, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Conduct of British TV host exposes West’s ‘bias’ towards Israel: Palestinian MP

MEMO | January 11, 2024

A Palestinian parliamentarian said the conduct of a British TV host has exposed the Western “bias” towards Israel amid its deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip, Anadolu Agency reports.

Mustafa Barghouti appeared in a 3 January interview with TalkTV host, Julia Hartley-Brewer, to discuss the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

A clip of the interview showed the TV host shouting over the top of her guest and accusing him of being uncomfortable listening to women speak.

“The conduct of the British host exposes the bias of some media outlets in the West towards Israel by repeating the Israeli narrative without the slightest degree of professional examination” Barghouti told Anadolu.

“I believe the interview served the Palestinian people by exposing the war crimes being committed by Israel, despite the host’s interruptions and attempts to silence me,” he said.

“The TV host sought to silence the Palestinian voice, but I succeeded in conveying our message.  Her behaviour reflects racism as she behaved in a racist manner.”

The conduct of the British host has sparked outrage with more than 15,000 complaints sent to the Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom.

The Palestinian lawmaker termed the TV host’s comments as “racist, absurd and meaningless”.

“Her comments reflected ingrained racism against Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims,” he said, stressing that the British host acted unprofessionally.

Israeli failure

Barghouti, the leader of the Palestinian National Initiative, which describes itself as a democratic movement of non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation, said Israel has failed to achieve any of its declared goals in the Gaza Strip.

“After 100 days of aggression and massacres, Israel has failed to achieve any of its goals in Gaza,” he said.

“It failed to achieve the main goal of ethnic cleansing and forcefully displacing Gaza’s population to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.”

The Palestinian MP said Israel has also failed to uproot the Palestinian Resistance in the Gaza Strip.

“It also failed to exert control over the areas its tanks invaded,” he added.

“Israel also failed to free its hostages held in Gaza,” Barghouti said. “Hostages will not be set free until Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are released.”

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas which Tel Aviv says killed around 1,200 people.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

At least 23,357 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 59,410 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

About 85 per cent of Gazans have been displaced, while all of the population is food insecure, according to the UN. Hundreds of thousands of people are living without shelter, and less than half of the aid trucks are entering the Territory before the start of the conflict.

“The world now realises that the Palestinian cause is a just issue and that Israel is committing massacres,” Barghouti said. “The only thing Israel has achieved in Gaza is killing, crimes and destruction.”

Gaza’s future

Barghouti termed the Arab reaction to the Israeli onslaught and siege on the Gaza Strip as “weak”.

“Israel maintains control over everything in Gaza and the humanitarian aid entering the enclave falls far short of its actual needs,” he said.

“Since the outbreak of the war, we have urged Arab and Islamic nations to send a humanitarian convoy comprising representatives from the 57 member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation,” the MP said.

“Would Israel target a 57-track convoy? I don’t think so, but unfortunately, nothing has happened,” he lamented.

Barghouti said the Palestinian issue is now at the forefront of international attention.

“There is a change that will have an impact in the next stage on the quest of the Palestinian people to win their freedom.”

Barghouti termed talks about the post-war phase in Gaza as an Israeli attempt to draw attention away from its deadly onslaught on the enclave.

“The issue of who governs Gaza is a Palestinian matter, and does not concern the US, Israel or any other country,” he said.

January 11, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

UK’s chief rabbi gives his blessing to war crimes in Gaza

By Jonathan Cook | January 11, 2024

Britain’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, spoke at a public event at a synagogue last Sunday to extol the “outstanding” performance of the Israeli military in Gaza. He did so days before South Africa argues its case before the International Court of Justice in The Hague – starting today – that Israel is committing genocide in the enclave.

Whether Israel is eventually found to be perpetrating genocide may prove more a political decision than a legal verdict, given the pressures on the 15 judges from their respective national leaderships.

But it is indisputable that Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. It is known to have killed more than 23,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and seriously wounded tens of thousands more. It has driven from their homes the overwhelming majority of the enclave’s population of 2.3 million – that is, Israel has ethnically cleansed them.

Israel has repeatedly bombed the “safe zones” to which it has ordered civilians to flee, as well as critical infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, mosques, churches and bakeries. It has imposed a “complete siege” that is denying food, aid and medicine, leading to mass starvation and the spread of lethal disease.

Video footage has shown Israeli soldiers in Gaza gleefully smashing up shops; stripping Palestinian men and boys to their underwear; and shooting civilians, including women, in the street as they carrying white flags. Soldiers even executed three of Israel’s hostages trying to escape captivity and surrender with an SOS sign.

Yet Britain’s chief rabbi, the face of Judaism in the UK, has raised his voice to call all of this “the most outstanding possible thing”. He has gone further: he has described the troops committing these crimes “our heroic soldiers” and revealed that his own son, Danny, is assisting with the attack on Gaza in the Israeli military. He has said he is “immensely proud” of him.

Mirvis could have chosen a form of weaselly words of the kind Israel’s apologists more typically deploy. He could have argued that the Israeli military was carrying out its task in Gaza as best as it could in near-impossible circumstances. That the Palestinians killed in Gaza were unfortunate collateral damage as the Israeli military sought to eradicate Hamas.

But he didn’t. He called the undoubted war crimes being carried out over the past three months “the most outstanding thing”.

There are several points to note about his remarks:

1. For any public figure, Jewish or otherwise, to call atrocities committed by the foreign power of Israel “outstanding” reflects a worldview that utterly dehumanises Palestinians and is ready to incite war crimes against them. Even were the Hague court not to rule that genocide is taking place, Mirvis has clearly incited to crimes against humanity.

2. As the effective head of British Judaism, Mirvis is giving religious sanction to the carrying out of war crimes. Many of the soldiers in Gaza – a significant proportion of them religious – will now have reason to believe that the crimes they and their army have been committing over the past three months are blessed, that their mission is divinely ordained. In short, Mirvis has implied that killing Palestinians is God’s work.

3. In referring to “our heroic soldiers”, Mirvis has conflated the Jewish people with Israel. Those soldiers are not British soldiers. They are not Jewish soldiers. They are Israeli soldiers. Were you or I to do this – to suggest Jews are behind the atrocities being committed in Gaza, not a foreign national army – we would rightly be called antisemites. And for good reason. Because when you confuse the identifiers “Jewish” and “Israeli”, you tar all Jews everywhere, including in the UK, with the crimes being committed by Israel against Palestinians. You make all Jews responsible for atrocities. And you thereby make them the target of antisemitic hate crimes by those who fall for this malicious conflation. So in other words, Mirvis now has not only Palestinian blood on his hands but potentially Jewish blood too. His words may inspire attacks on Jews.

4. There is something deeply ugly – maybe sinister would be a better word – that Mirvis’ religious incitement to crimes against humanity (and very likely genocide) is viewed as entirely unremarkable by our establishment media and politicians. And yet a slogan calling for equality between Palestinians and Israelis is systematically misrepresented by these same actors to suggest it is somehow genocidal. “From the river to the sea, Palestinians will be free” is a demand to end Israel’s unified system of apartheid across both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, a system that assigns Israeli Jews and Palestinians entirely different rights. Reversing that can be viewed as genocidal only if you imagine that Israelis will fight to the death to stop Palestinians gaining equal rights. It reveals far more about the mindset of those who believe the slogan is genocidal than any evil intent of those chanting what is a call for liberation. That mindset is on full display in the atrocities Israel is committing in Gaza, cheered on by Jewish leaders like Mirvis.

5. Britain has a Prevent strategy whose official aim is “to reduce the threat to the UK from terrorism by stopping people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism”. In practice, the strategy is the British state’s attempt to stigmatise the Muslim community as a pool of potential terrorism recruits, surveill their community organisations, and weaken legal protections against arrest and conviction. The stated concern is that Muslims are being “radicalised” by extremist imams in their mosques – rather than by the extreme events they see, such as genocide unfolding in Gaza.

Mirvis has shown beyond doubt that extremist preachers are to be found not just in mosques but in synagogues too. If the government is really using Prevent to end support for terrorism, it needs to apply the strategy even-handedly. Killing and seriously wounding some 100,000 Palestinians – roughly one in every 20th person in Gaza – and making almost of all the population homeless, destitute and starving surely ranks as state-organised terrorism, whether or not the court eventually rules it amounts to genocide.

The context is that for many years Mirvis chose to study and live in Israel’s illegal West Bank settlements, where Jewish extremists regularly terrorise Palestinian communities to drive them off their land. He raised at least one of his children to choose to serve in an army terrorising and ethnically cleansing Palestinians in Gaza. Mirvis considers the soldiers committing war crimes to be “our heroes”.

In 2017 Mirvis endorsed the fanatical Jewish settlers – Israel’s equivalent of white supremacists – on their annual march through the occupied Old City of Jerusalem. Every year on that march, most of the participants are recorded waving masses of Israeli flags at Palestinians who live there and chanting “Death to the Arabs”. One Israeli newspaper columnist describes the Jerusalem Day march as a “religious carnival of hatred”. But Mirvis celebrates it.

A further point. Despite the fact that, judged by any reasonable standard, Mirvis is an extremist and holds views that should be repellent to any decent person, he is held in high esteem by the British establishment, including its media.

One can understand why. In late 2019, days before the UK general election, Mirvis publicly accused the leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, of being unfit for high office because he supposedly indulged and promoted antisemism in the Labour party. The British establishment had spent years cultivating this evidence-free smear.

Mirvis argued that “the very soul of our nation is at stake” in Britain’s election. He thereby effectively called on British Jews and the British public to vote for the government.

It was an unprecedented act of electoral interference that was reported reverentially by the British media. Both the fact that Mirvis sought to influence the vote with a deception and that the establishment media colluded with him in doing so should have been shocking, even at the time. But Mirvis’ latest remarks provide additional context. Because it is Rabbi Mirvis – not the antisemites – who is quite happy to flaunt his dual loyality. Those soldiers are apparently “ours”.

So the question is this: which nation was Mirvis actually referring to when he warned shortly before the 2019 election that “the very soul of our nation is at stake”? The British nation whose religious Jews he supposedly represents, or the Israeli nation that is currently ethnically cleansing and murdering Palestinian men, women and children?

Mirvis, it seems, just gave us his answer.

January 11, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Palestine: EU’s Borrell bats for US

BY M. K. BHADRAKUMAR | INDIAN PUNCHLINE | JANUARY 11, 2024 

The diplomatic arena of the Middle East was dominated in the past week by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s regional tour to Türkiye, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Egypt. It was a ‘road show’ to rally the leaders of the Arab countries behind the US but culminated in an acrimonious meeting in the West Bank between Blinken and the Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas marred by “quarrels and arguments,” according to Sky News Arabia. 

The region is gripped by angst that Israel may provoke a fateful  expansion of the conflict in the Gaza Strip to Lebanon and Iran after the assassination of a number of senior military figures from Hamas and Hezbollah in the recent days, which overlapped Blinken’s presence in the region and underscored Tel Aviv’s disdain toward diplomatic niceties. Two videos from the West Bank showed Israeli troops shooting a 17-year-old boy and repeatedly running over the dead body of a man they had shot last Friday. 

The US fears the expansion of the conflict in the Middle East. Yet, Blinken was burdened with the contradiction that the rhetoric of Washington’s continued support for the Israeli operation is so visibly at odds with the words of President Joe Biden last week that he was doing “quiet” work with the Israeli government “to get them to significantly reduce their presence and largely withdraw from the Gaza Strip.” 

Blinken claimed that “the (Arab) countries agreed to work together to help the Gaza Strip stabilise, chart a political path for the Palestinians and work towards long-term peace, security and stability in the region.” At the same time, he conceded that to do this, it is necessary to end the conflict in Gaza and identify a concrete path to the creation of a Palestinian state. Blinken flagged that the countries of the region are still interested in normalising relations with Israel, but only on the terms of a settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Arguably, these could be incipient signs of a road map emerging. 

The killing of senior Hamas and Hezbollah officials indicates that Israel is not making significant progress on the battlefield and the leadership is under compulsion to gather ‘trophies’ and claim ‘victory’. In a hybrid war, such killings will not significantly weaken the resistance movement. An effective leader was appointed overnight to head the IRGC’S Quds Force when the legendary Iranian general Qassem Soleimani was assassinated in 2020. 

That said, the probability of a direct conflict between Israel and Hezbollah should not be overestimated, since the latter is well aware that an outbreak of hostilities is precisely what suits Tel Aviv. Iran also sizes up Israel’s calculus to drag the US into the war. According to reports, Iran has supplied cruise missiles to Hezbollah.      

Against such a tumultuous backdrop, in a carefully choreographed sideshow, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also appeared in the region at the same time as Blinken. Borrell’s destinations were Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. The EU announcement said that Borrell’s mission “will be an occasion to discuss all aspects of the situation in and around Gaza, including its impact on the region, especially the situation at the Israeli-Lebanese border, as well as the importance of avoiding regional escalation and of sustaining the flow of humanitarian assistance to civilians.” 

While speaking to the media in Beirut, Borrell was highly critical of Israel’s war in Gaza and called for a pause “that could become a permanent one.” He also said, “It is imperative to avoid a regional escalation. It is absolutely necessary to avoid Lebanon being dragged into a regional conflict.” Borrell saw his mission as one to take stock of the situation and “to contribute to a way out of the crisis.”

Borrell met with the Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) General Aroldo Lazaro, a compatriot from Spain. Indeed, there has been some talk of deploying a peacekeeping force on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reported, citing a government source in Beirut, that Borrell also had an unpublicised meeting with a delegation from Hezbollah led by Mohammad Raad, a member of the Lebanese legislature. Conceivably, this might have been a key item on his itinerary in Beirut.

While the US and several European countries, including Germany, the UK, Czech Republic, Austria, among others, regard Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation, the EU restricted itself to merely adding Hezbollah’s so-called “military wing” to its terror list, leaving the door open to interact with the movement’s political leadership if need arises. 

That came in the wake of the group’s alleged 2012 suicide bus bombing in Burgas, Bulgaria, which killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian driver. During a debate on the crisis situation in Lebanon last July, the European Parliament, for the first time, adopted a resolution calling for the EU to add the whole of Hezbollah to its list of banned terrorist organisations, but that hasn’t yet been acted upon.

Borrell’s meeting with the Hezbollah delegation would only have been with the knowledge of the Biden administration — it could even be providing a thinkable (and actionable) leitmotif of Borrell’s trip to Lebanon. BBC had reported a week ago on secret contacts between Israel and Hezbollah as well.

At any rate, by a coincidence, Borrell happened to be in Saudi Arabia when Blinken arrived there, and the two of them had a meeting. Later, in a prepared statement to the media after talks in Saudi Arabia with foreign minister Prince Faisal, Borrell also took a nuanced stance apropos Hamas, saying, 

“And now we have to stop the killing of civilians in Gaza. We have to stop this great number of casualties. Hamas has to be eradicated. But Hamas is an idea, it represents an idea, and you cannot kill an idea. The only way of killing an idea –- a bad idea — is to propose a better one, to give a horizon to the Palestinian people, to their dignity, to their freedom, to their security, which has to go hand in hand with the security of Israel.” 

Clearly, Borrell strove to break the ice by engaging with Hezbollah. Considering that the EU has been the US’ junior partner on major international issues, Borrell’s mission can be considered as substantive aimed at opening a diplomatic track to ease the Israel-Lebanon border tensions. 

Equally, Borrell and Prince Faisal rekindled the so-called Peace Day Effort launched in September last year jointly by the EU with Saudi Arabia, the League of Arab States, Egypt and Jordan as an initiative “to reinvigorate the peace process in the Middle East.” 

A joint statement issued at that time on the sidelines of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, in the presence of almost fifty Foreign Ministers from around the world sought “to produce a “Peace Supporting Package” that will maximise peace dividends for the Palestinians and Israelis once they reach a peace agreement, … thus incentivising earnest efforts to reach it.” 

As EU foreign policy chief, Borrell navigated international turbulence and divisions within the 28-member bloc to make Europe more united and turn it into a diplomatic heavyweight, but with patchy success. Of course, Ukraine spoiled the party. Palestine could well be Borrell’s last waltz. Borrell’s five-year term in Brussels ends in December. 

January 11, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Iranian Navy Detains US Oil Tanker in Gulf of Oman

Press TV – January 11, 2024

The Navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran has announced the seizure of an American oil tanker with a court order in the Sea of Oman.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) identified the tanker Marshall Islands-flagged St Nikolas, saying it was boarded at about 7:30 am (0330 GMT) off Sohar in Oman and changed course towards Bandar-e-Jask in Iran.

Ambrey, a British maritime risk company, said the recently renamed tanker was previously prosecuted and fined for carrying Iranian oil, which was confiscated by US authorities.

“Iran has previously taken action against those it has accused of cooperating with the US,” it added.

The vessel had been loaded with 145,000 tonnes of crude oil in Basra, Iraq and was destined for Aliaga in Turkey via the Suez Canal, the tanker’s Greece-based management company Empire Navigation said.

Last August, the US Navy unloaded a tanker of stolen Iranian oil worth around $56 million off the Texas port, despite warnings from Iran and after American oil firms had resisted the temptation of touching the 800,000-barrel tanker for fear of Iranian retaliation in the Persian Gulf waters.

The decision came as Iran was marking the 70th anniversary of the CIA-engineered military coup against Iran’s then-PM Mohammad Mosaddeq.

The Marshall Islands-flagged Suez Rajan tanker carrying Iranian oil was illegally seized by Washington in April 2023 under the guise of “a sanctions-enforcement operation” and guided toward the Texas port.

It came days after a group of US senators and House representatives, at the behest of the Israeli lobby in Washington, began mounting pressure on the Joe Biden administration to unload the tanker, without considering its possible repercussions.

It was not the first time the US had resorted to the unconventional step of seizing a sovereign country’s cargo in international waters.

In May 2022, the US seized a Russia-operated ship, the Pegas, carrying Iranian oil off the shore of Karystos near Greece to dispatch the oil cargo to the US but the Greek court ruled against the move.

In February 2021, Washington seized a tanker carrying Iranian oil off the coast of the Emirati city of Fujairah and sold more than a million barrels of oil confiscated from it for $110 million, or $55 a barrel.

The Unite States has also regularly stolen Syrian oil in recent years under the guise of anti-terror operations in the Arab country. In August 2022, the Syrian oil ministry accused the US and its mercenaries of stealing 66,000 barrels of oil per day, accounting for almost 80 percent of the country’s oil production.

January 11, 2024 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

Yemen slams UN Security Council resolution on Red Sea operations

Press TV – January 11, 2024

Yemen has condemned as a “political game” a resolution adopted by the United Nations Security Council on naval operations in the Red Sea, saying the US is the side that is violating international law.

In an X post on Thursday, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of Yemen’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee, emphasized that the actions of the Yemeni armed forces in support of the Gaza Strip fall within the framework of legitimate defense.

The remarks came hours after the Security Council approved a resolution, backed by the US and Japan, which demanded an immediate end to attacks by Yemeni forces on Israeli-owned or Israeli-bound ships in the Red Sea.

The resolution, passed 11-0 with four abstentions, also called on Yemen to release the Galaxy Leader, an Israeli-linked cargo ship that was confiscated on November 19.

“We inform the people of the world that the decision adopted regarding the security of navigation in the Red Sea is a political game, and that the United States is the one violating international law,” Houthi said.

Any act the Yemeni armed forces face “will have a reaction, and any state that attacks bears the responsibility for aggression and the protection of the usurping entity which commits massacres under American and British protection,” he warned.

Houthi also urged the Security Council to immediately release 2.3 million people from the “Israeli-American siege” on Gaza.

‘Unjust resolution comes amid UN failure to stop Gaza war’

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Mujahideen resistance movement condemned the Security Council resolution and said that the Yemeni operations are aimed at reducing oppression against the people of Gaza and ending the Israeli genocide.

“This unjust resolution comes amidst the Council’s inability to issue a resolution condemning the brutal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza due to American hegemony, confirming the international system’s failure to protect human rights,” it said in a statement.

Israel waged the genocidal war on Gaza on October 7 following a historic operation by the Palestinian Hamas resistance group against the occupying entity. The US has offered untrammeled support for Israel during the devastating onslaught.

In solidarity with the Palestinians in blockaded Gaza, the Yemeni armed forces have targeted ships in the Red Sea with owners linked to Israel or those going to and from ports in the occupied territories.

In response, the US has formed a multinational military coalition against Yemeni forces in the Red Sea and endangered maritime navigation in the strategic waterway.

January 11, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Progressive Hypocrite | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel’s DNA wars: Forbidden Tests

MEMO | January 10, 2024

Tracing your ancestral DNA is a popular activity throughout the world, companies offering home testing kits promise to uncover your geographic origins for a small fee.

A Jewish TikToker took the test and found he had heritage in different parts of Europe, but in his results there was no trace of Levantine origins. A cool new thing to tell his friends about, however, he points out that if he was from Israel this test would be illegal. We delve into why Israel restricts tracing your ancestors DNA.

January 11, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , | Leave a comment

‘We want normalization with Israel after Gaza war:’ Saudi official

The Cradle | January 10, 2024

The Saudi Ambassador to the UK, Prince Khalid bin Bandar Al Saud, told the BBC on 9 January that Saudi Arabia wants to continue normalization plans with Israel after their brutal aggression on the Palestinian people in Gaza ends. 

“Saudi Arabia wants to normalize its relations with Israel after the war in Gaza,” the Saudi ambassador told the British public service broadcaster, noting that “the two countries were about to reach an agreement before the 7 October war.”

Bandar made sure to note that normalization with Israel will only be possible if Palestine is granted its own state. 

“Saudi Arabia still believes in establishing relations with Israel despite the unfortunate figures of the dead in Gaza,” he added, continuing: “But this cannot be at the expense of the Palestinian people, and it requires thinking about the issue of integrating Hamas into the future Palestinian state.”

The death toll in Gaza from Israeli aggressions is at least 23,210, with at least 59,167 Palestinians who have been wounded. 

Israeli media has reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding “secret talks” with the White House regarding the resumption of normalization discussions with Saudi Arabia. 

“A message was conveyed that Israel will not take steps that conflict with the vision of the US and that it will be prepared to discuss what was requested by Saudi Arabia relating to the Palestinian issue,” Hebrew news outlet Channel 12 reported on 9 January, adding that Saudi Arabia is “very interested” in reaching the normalization deal with Israel that will grant the kingdom the long-sought “megadeal” from the US. 

Israel’s Channel 12 also noted that “for the US, the agreement that was appropriate before 6 October may be more appropriate now, in light of the war [in Gaza], as one of the goals Hamas had was to thwart the agreement.” The Israeli news outlet added that if normalization is achieved between Riyadh and Tel Aviv, it may prevent the escalation of a regional war and provide Saudi Arabia with the funding to help rebuild Gaza.

Riyadh’s desire for normalization comes in stark contrast to the feelings of 96 percent of the kingdom’s population, who believe that Arab states should swiftly sever diplomatic relations with Israel, according to a recent poll conducted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

January 10, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Oman seizes drones headed for ‘pro-UAE factions’ in Yemen

MEMO | January 10, 2024

The customs authorities in Oman intercepted a shipment of drones yesterday, which were concealed on a truck from the UAE heading for Yemen. The discovery was made at the Hafeet crossing on the border between the two Gulf states.

“The Directorate General of Customs seized a truck at the Hafeet crossing loaded with wireless drones coming by transit system from the United Arab Emirates heading to the Republic of Yemen,” said the customs authorities.

“Customs inspectors were able to discover the shipments that were hidden professionally in places specially prepared for smuggling them in the truck. The concerned authorities began investigating the case in order to complete the rest of the legal procedures against the suspects.”

According to the Sanaa-based Yemen Press Agency, citing informed sources, the drones were destined for UAE-backed factions in southern Yemen, most likely the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC).

The outlet noted that some observers speculate that the US may be using the UAE-backed proxies to turn international public opinion against the Houthi-led Yemeni forces by targeting merchant ships. The latter have been targeting Israel-linked vessels, or those heading for the occupation state through the Red Sea, because of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.

January 10, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, False Flag Terrorism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

UAE-backed groups in Yemen plot ‘false-flag’ attacks in Red Sea: Sanaa

The Cradle | January 10, 2024

UAE-backed mercenary groups in Yemen are preparing to carry out false flag attacks against commercial vessels in order to implicate the Sanaa government and prompt further US militarization of the Red Sea, an official said on 9 January.

Fadl Abu Talib, a member of the political bureau of the Ansarallah resistance movement, said on Tuesday that “the UAE, through its mercenaries in Yemen, is making arrangements to target commercial ships that are not destined for the Zionist entity.”

Abu Dhabi and its proxy wish “to mix up the cards and give the Americans [the] justification for militarizing the Red Sea,” Abu Talib added. “But we tell it that its despicable behavior is exposed, as our operations in the Red and Arab seas have specific, clear objectives.”

Ansarallah and Yemen’s Armed Forces have carried out numerous naval operations against vessels linked to or bound for Israel. The attacks come in solidarity with the people of Gaza and the Palestinian resistance, and aim to prevent goods from reaching Israeli ports for as long as Gaza’s access to aid is hindered.

Sanaa has vowed that only Israeli-linked ships or those heading towards Israeli ports will be targeted, and nothing else. No deaths or injuries have resulted from Yemen’s attacks.

The US established a maritime task force last month in order to protect Israeli interests in the Red Sea. As part of the operations of this task force, on 31 December, US helicopters sank three Yemeni vessels and killed ten naval officers.

On 9 January, CENTCOM claimed that US and UK forces shot down 21 missiles and drones fired by Ansarallah towards Red Sea shipping lanes, calling it the 26th Yemeni attack. Sanaa has only confirmed 13 operations.

According to Arabic and Israeli media reports, officials in Yemen’s secessionist, UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) have expressed an interest in joining Washington’s task force and helping to protect Israeli shipping.

The STC has also reportedly discussed with Washington the possibility of mobilizing UAE-backed mercenary groups and STC-linked militias “against Israel’s opponents in Yemen,” Al-Akhbar newspaper reported last month.

“The STC in south Yemen wants to fight Houthi terrorism … If Israel recognizes our right to self-determination in southern Yemen, you will find an ally in the field against the Houthi threat,” Hebrew media cited a source close to STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi as saying.

January 10, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, False Flag Terrorism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

US gives Spain ultimatum to ‘rectify its decision’ and join anti-Yemen alliance

The Cradle | January 10, 2024

Pentagon officials are pressuring Spain to “reconsider its refusal” to take part in the Red Sea Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG) and have set an 11 January deadline for Madrid to “join with a ship or, at least, with personnel stationed in the area,” according to informed sources who spoke with Spanish daily El Confidencial.

As the US-led alliance struggles to make an impact against the pro-Palestine actions of the Yemeni armed forces, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Brown, on Monday contacted his Spanish counterpart, Admiral Teodoro Lopez Calderon, to reiterate Washington’s “desire to work with all nations that share an interest in defending the principle of freedom of navigation and ensuring safe passage for global shipping.”

“Spain is a vital NATO ally and shares a long and strategic relationship with the US,” says the US navy readout of the phone call.

In parallel to this conversation, which was made public, a separate phone call took place between the US Secretary of the Navy, Carlos del Toro, and the Spanish ambassador in Washington, Santiago Cabanas, during which the Pentagon official “in much more direct language” pressed Madrid to take part in the naval coalition in support of Israel.

“[Del Toro] gave [Cabanas], at the end of the conversation, a kind of ultimatum: He wants to know, at the latest on Thursday the 11th, if Spain corrected its decision,” El Confidencial reports.

Spain has been the most vocal NATO member to reject being named part of this “coalition of the willing,” vetoing a vote at the EU that called for support of the coalition and making it clear that its forces committed to Operation Atalanta – a counter-piracy operation off the Horn of Africa and in the Western Indian Ocean – would not join OPG.

The veto by the Spanish mission to Brussels was a direct order from Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, according to local reports.

This public pushback prompted US President Joe Biden to contact Sanchez in late December to discuss the crisis in Gaza and warn him about the “Houthi threat” in the Red Sea.

Nonetheless, Sanchez maintained his decision against joining OPG and also refused to join a statement that the US and its main European and Asian allies published on 3 January in which they issued a collective warning to Yemen. France did not subscribe to this text either.

While Madrid has not publicly explained their reasoning for refusing Washington’s demands, El Confidencial reports that authorities believe that, if Spain were to join OPG, this “would be … a way to relieve pressure on Israel and reduce the possibilities of reaching a definitive ceasefire in Gaza.”

January 10, 2024 Posted by | Militarism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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