Israel lobby offers another candidate $20m to run against Rashida Tlaib in Michigan
MEMO | November 28, 2023
Nasser Beydoun revealed on social media that he had been contacted by the Israeli lobby group AIPAC and offered $20 million to run against Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib in Michigan. Beydoun is the second candidate who has been offered funds to run against Tlaib, with Senate candidate Hill Harper speaking of a similar offer last week.
Taking to X, Beydoun wrote: “Even knowing where I stand on AIPAC’s influence on our elections and foreign policy, the pro-Israel lobby had the nerve to suggest that I would even consider taking a dime from them.”
Adding that he had been asked to “run against my friend Rashida Tlaib.”
“The pro-Israel lobby will go to any length to remove anybody from the US Congress that has any opposition to their agenda and their total unequivocal support for Israel, good, bad, or indifferent.”
Tlaib, who represents Michigan’s 12th District in Congress, is the only Palestinian-American in the US House of Representatives. She is known for her criticism of Israel’s occupation and its invasion of Gaza.
Earlier this month, the House of Representatives voted to censure Tlaib for some statements that angered the Zionist lobby and the right-wing movement in the US, such as the use of the slogan “From the river to the sea.”
Politico first reported on 22 November that a Michigan businessman had offered Harper $20 million in campaign money if he stood against Tlaib in next year’s Democratic primary race, identifying Linden Nelson as the figure.
There is no sharing in settler-colonialism, Josep Borrell, only land theft
By Ramona Wadi | MEMO | November 28, 2023
When the so-called humanitarian pause is over, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “We are returning full power to carry out our aims: destroy Hamas, ensure that Gaza won’t return to what it was, and of course to free all of our hostages.” No one ever doubted that, but the international community has descended into further disgrace with its silence over Israel’s next round of ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s agreement to the hostage deal served as relatively good publicity, of course: “These incredible images of people being reunited with their families — the humanity of it, the sense of accomplishment of that and the possibility and promise that more and, ultimately, all of the hostages will come home.” This was despite the fact that it is possible that not all Israeli hostages will be freed by the end of the pause.
Those who are left run the risk of becoming part of Israel’s “collateral damage” in the enclave.
Meanwhile, as the focus on Gaza and the pause continues, Israel is ramping up its arrests of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, ensuring that the number of prisoners it releases as part of the deal is negligible in comparison. Since 7 October, Israel has arrested 3,260 Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory.
On top of this, extreme far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is requesting funds for “security and security infrastructure” in the West Bank. The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, was “appalled” by this, according to a post on X, in which he described settlements as “Israel’s greatest security liability.” Even so, according to Borrell, Israel and the Palestinians “both have equal and legitimate right to the same land, so they have to share it,” imparting colonialism in the most erroneous way possible.
If Israeli settlements are a liability, they always were, including the early colonial settlements that paved the way for Israel’s colonisation of Palestine. The UN’s differentiation of settlement expansion is merely an excuse to justify Israel’s colonial enterprise and the international community’s recognition of it as a state. For Borrell, and the rest of the EU, sharing the land is equal to enforcing the two-state paradigm, in which, hypothetically, Palestinians get some slivers of land while Israel owns and manages it all.
The scenario unfolding in Gaza should at least prompt Western leaders to reconsider their two-state rhetoric. Netanyahu has stated that Gaza will not return to what it was; that overt threat speaks of the next phase of Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the enclave. The entire world has watched Israel kill thousands of Palestinians and displace most of the population of Gaza, while diplomats debated over pauses – “humanitarian”, of course – in accordance with the hypocritical politics they espouse. Is there any consideration in the West for Israel’s genocide about to resume after the pause? How many more Palestinians will Israel kill before it is determined that there is no humanitarianism in this lull which has the world focused on hostages and not the process of settler-colonisation?
Settler-colonialism is not a sharing concept; it is theft. So, when will Borrell and all diplomats and politicians who speak of the two-state compromise face any accountability for encouraging genocide by refusing to acknowledge the reality of Israeli settler-colonialism, which seeks to replace the indigenous population with settlers?
United for Gaza: Time now for Palestinians to protect their collective sumud
By Ramzy Baroud | MEMO | November 28, 2023
Shortly after the start of a four-day ceasefire in the war on Gaza, the prime ministers of Spain and Belgium, Pedro Sanchez and Alexander De Croo, appeared in a joint press conference at the Rafah Crossing.
While Sanchez described “what is happening (as) a disaster,” De Croo called for a “permanent cessation of hostilities” and for an end to the killing of children.
Equally significant, the two European leaders declared that “we may decide to recognise the State of Palestine, if the European Union does not.”
Coupled with the strong position of Ireland, some in Europe seem to be waking up to the fact that the Israeli occupation is the primary cause of the recent Gaza ‘hostilities’.
Israel was not pleased by the evolving European position. It immediately summoned the ambassadors of both countries and sharply ‘rebuked’ them. This exaggerated response comes to show that Israel is not willing to give Europe even the narrowest of margins – as in condemning the killing of children or, expecting some kind of a peaceful settlement centered round Palestinian sovereignty.
Spain and Belgium’s phrase of “we may decide” to recognise Palestine even without EU consensus is indicative of an actual foreign policy schism within Europe itself. It turned out that not all EU governments have the same tolerance towards the genocide in Gaza as, for example, Germany and Britain.
Interestingly, other EU officials, too, are calling for a Palestinian State, though their intention is neither to ensure Palestinian freedom nor to safeguard Palestinian rights.
EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell, for example, argued on 20 November that “the creation of a Palestinian state would be the best way of ensuring Israel’s security”.
Even the former British prime minister, now secretary of state for foreign affairs, used similar logic. Israel will not have security unless it guarantees “long-term safety, security and stability” for the Palestinian people, David Cameron said.
Regardless of the reasoning behind the growing emphasis on a ‘solution’ and rights for the Palestinians, this language was almost entirely absent from the Western political discourse prior to 7 October.
The truth is that Palestinians have succeeded, through their resistance and sumud, to reassert Palestine on the global agenda. But how did Palestinians succeed in doing so, despite the utter marginalisation of their cause before the war?
First, unlike previous wars, especially those that preceded the Unity Intifada of May 2021, this time around Palestinians spoke in unison.
Without rehearsing or even coordinating, it felt as if the Palestinian message flew seamlessly, when all Palestinians, regardless of their ideological backgrounds, placed the focus on the Israeli atrocities, without falling into the trap of the typical factional blame game.
Even children who have lost members of their families in Gaza would stand bravely in front of cameras reiterating that they will never weaken and that nothing would remove them from their homeland. Young and old repeated the same logic, used similar language, even from their hospital beds.
This led Israel to do everything in its power to excommunicate the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza from the rest of the world, shutting down the internet, electricity and any form of communications, even among Palestinians themselves.
Yet, somehow, a clear, united Palestinian message continued, amplified countless times by an army of social media activists who impressively helped balance out mainstream media bias, eventually overpowering corporate media’s control over the war narrative altogether.
The Palestinians have done this, and more, without powerful lobby groups, media consultants or a hasbara machine, like that which attempted, to no avail, to sway the public opinion in favour of Israel.
Secondly, the factional Palestinian suddenly disappeared.
For years, factional narratives, dividing Palestinians into conflicting interest groups, have thwarted the Palestinian people’s attempt to unify behind a single leadership – one that is capable of conveying, representing and defending Palestinian political aspirations.
Yet, all the Fatah-Hamas talks and agreements have failed, leaving the people with no other alternative but to explore different manifestations of unity that go beyond the interests of politicians.
This unity is now on full display, compelling everyone, including those affiliated with the Palestinian Authority itself, to adhere to the line of the people. While Gazans fought to free prisoners in the West Bank, West Bankers rose, and died in large numbers, in defence of Gaza.
This popular unity must continue, so that it would eventually be harnessed in the form of political unity, which will bring all Palestinian groups together under a single leadership. This is the only way to ensure the tremendous Palestinian sacrifices and the precious blood that spilled in Gaza, eventually translate into the freedom that all Palestinians covet.
Thirdly, unity beyond Palestine also proved critical.
Arabs and Muslims served as the core of Palestinian solidarity throughout the Israeli war on Gaza. They protested, boycotted, fought and mobilised. Moreover, tens of millions of people, beyond the confines of the Arab and Muslim worlds, also marched around Palestinian rights and priorities.
Indeed, whole new conversations on Palestine are now occupying many public spheres around the globe. The Global South is once more embracing the struggle for Palestine, while the Global North is challenging governments, big corporations and mainstream media for justifying, supporting and financing the Israeli genocide.
The Palestinian people will now have to lead and direct this momentum of solidarity so that it may serve their righteous objectives, those of equality, justice and freedom – all enshrined in international law.
No public space should be left without engagement, no audience should be overlooked or neglected, and no stone should be left unturned in the search of that critical mass needed to hold Israel accountable for its crimes.
Western leaders and officials are speaking out now because they understand that the Palestinian cause has become a global one, and that the prolonging of Israeli occupation and apartheid will not bode well, neither for Tel Aviv nor for the collective West.
It is time for Palestinians to utilise this significant moment. It is time for them to lead the process of their own liberation. In fact, in Gaza, Jenin and elsewhere, this process has already begun.
UN: Aid entering Gaza is 5% of what entered before 7 October
MEMO | November 28, 2023
The spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Adnan Abu Hasna, today confirmed that dozens of trucks of aid had entered Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip during the truce.
He said it contains food supplies, drinking water, baby milk, flour, canned goods and various other foodstuffs.
Abu Hasna noted that the volume of humanitarian aid entering through the Rafah crossing is only five per cent of the volume that entered before the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip on 7 October.
On average, he explained, 50 trucks are entering the Strip each day, while before the aggression 500, sometimes 600, trucks entered per day.
“What we need is the entry of 200 trucks daily for at least two continuous months in order to respond to the necessary humanitarian needs,” Abu Hasna said. The Rafah crossing alone is not sufficient for the entry of Gaza’s aid needs, he explained, adding that “the only crossing that has the capabilities, mechanisms, and detection devices is the Karam Abu Salem crossing.”
With winter temperatures setting in, Abu Hasna said, “we need bedding, covers and winter clothes, and we are working hard to bring them in or at least open a commercial corridor to bring in goods so that people can buy.”
Israel’s Greatest Failure: Hamas Stays and More Popular than Ever
By Robert Inlakesh | Covert Geopolitics | November 28, 2023
After repeatedly rejecting a truce with Hamas and labeling the idea “ridiculous”, Israel agreed to a four-day cessation of hostilities in Gaza and a prisoner exchange.
Six weeks of death and destruction, which Israeli and Western leaders declared should have led to the destruction of Hamas, have now bolstered the Palestinian movement’s image throughout the Arab world and beyond.
The four-day truce that was implemented this Friday provided a sigh of relief for those most affected by the war in the Gaza Strip, but has in many ways spelled disaster for the Israeli government. As women and children, held captive by both Hamas and Israel, are being reunited with their families, the threat of further warfare looms.
Although the loved ones of those released are now celebrating, the next steps will be crucial in determining the final outcomes of the 46-day battle that has now been placed on pause. At this time, it appears that the idea that “Hamas must go” is no more than a pipe dream.
On October 27, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution to the sound of overwhelming applause, calling for a truce to stop the fighting in the Gaza Strip. Although the non-binding resolution passed with a majority of 120 votes in favour, Israel and the United States outright rejected it.
Tabled by Arab nations, the call for a truce was labeled as a “defense of Nazi terrorists” by Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the UN. This came after Hamas released four Israeli civilian hostages without conditions, for what the group said were humanitarian reasons.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others in his emergency war government, have repeatedly stated their goal of crushing Hamas and allied Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, refusing to negotiate with them.
The six-week-long aerial bombardment of densely populated civilian areas in the besieged Palestinian enclave, which also morphed into a ground war, has claimed over 20,000 lives according to some estimates, but failed to eliminate Hamas.
In fact, Israeli forces have not been able to show a single significant military achievement against the Palestinian armed groups. While Hamas claim to have struck 355 Israeli military vehicles during the past two weeks of fighting, publishing video evidence of dozens of attacks, Israeli forces have failed to assassinate senior leaders of Hamas, to free hostages by force, uncover major tunnel networks, or even publish proof that they have killed a significant number of Hamas fighters on the battlefield.
According to the Calcalist financial newspaper, the Gaza war was estimated early on to cost around $50 billion, roughly 10% of Israel’s GDP. In addition to this, the Israeli military has reportedly suffered losses in intelligence and monitoring equipment along their northern border, due to attacks carried out by the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Yemen’s Ansarallah also seized a ship in the Red Sea, owned by an Israeli businessman, which has severely impacted trade through the southern port city of Eilat. This is not factoring in the inevitable long-term effects on things like Israel’s tourism sector or investment in its high-tech industry.
On top of this, we have seen immense pressure being placed upon US forces throughout Syria and Iraq, with daily attacks occurring against their military facilities, for the sole purpose of pressuring Washington to force an end to Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
Across the Arab World, the general public is also boycotting Western products on an unprecedented scale, in particular companies like McDonalds that have shown support for the Israeli army.
The blatant double standards of the collective West’s political and economic elites, as well as the establishment media, are also being severely criticized, as the likes of the BBC are feeling the heat for biased reporting on the issue of Palestine-Israel.
Instead of facing the wrath of the whole world and getting crushed, Hamas has not only survived, but is becoming more popular. While US President Joe Biden’s administration provided excuses for Israel’s invasions and bombings of hospitals in the Gaza Strip, claiming that Hamas has maintained a significant presence in places like the recently-raided al-Shifa Hospital, the world has risen in outrage against the atrocities Israel has committed in the Palestinian territory.
UN relief chief, Martin Griffiths, has called the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza “the worst ever,” and it’s seen as a direct result of the US having drawn “no red lines” for Israel’s behavior in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Hamas scores victory after victory, from a guerilla warfare and political perspective, while its military capabilities appear to have been undiminished so far.
The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, that launched their attack on Israel on October 7, have managed to shift the world’s attention back onto the issue of Palestine, have freed political prisoners held in Israeli detention, while inflicting blow after blow against one of the most powerful military forces in the world.
Since the Kerry Peace Plan, which was a failed initiative set forward under the administration of Barack Obama, the US government has not made any real effort towards creating a viable Palestinian state.
In fact, until October 7, nobody was talking about a Palestinian state, the focus was instead on the issue of Saudi-Israeli normalization. It was clearly the shared belief of the Israeli and US governments that Hamas could be contained with the periodic issuance of Qatari aid grants, while the Palestinian Authority was to be strengthened only to deal with a number of militias that have formed in the West Bank over the past two years.
Today, the whole world is talking about the formation of a Palestinian state. There is also the notion of bringing the Palestinian Authority into power in the Gaza Strip, which would essentially mean the lifting of the 17-year economic blockade that the West has imposed on it. The issue of protecting the status-quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is also on the regional agenda in a serious way, while the government of Benjamin Netanyahu veers towards collapse.
If Israel and its Western backers choose to escalate the conflict further instead of finding a peaceful settlement, the war threatens to extend into a broader regional conflict; a threat to the stability of all nations involved. The pursuit of a ceasefire agreement can usher in a new era in the conflict, one in which Hamas will remain.
Peace is in the interests of the entire region, we have seen what the Israeli army has to offer and it has not resulted in the defeat of Palestinian armed groups, it has only scored a blow against civilians in Gaza.
This will be a hard pill for the Western governments to swallow, but the only solution to safeguarding civilian life and securing the release of all prisoners, will be through a peaceful resolution, not through more violence.
Israel has been unable to achieve any meaningful victories against the Palestinian militants.
Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the Palestinian territories and currently works with Quds News. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47
Israeli ship changes course in light of ‘Yemeni threat’
The Cradle | November 28, 2023
A container vessel operated by Israeli shipping company Zim changed its course to avoid passing through the Bab al-Mandab strait in fear of attacks from Yemen, the company announced in a statement on 27 November.
“In light of the threat to the safe transit of global trade in the Arabian and Red Seas, Zim is taking temporary proactive measures to ensure the safety of its crews, vessels, and customers’ cargo by rerouting some of its vessels,” the statement reads.
“As a result of these measures, longer transit times in the relevant Zim services are anticipated, though every effort is being made to minimize disruptions.”
According to information from data provider MarineTraffic, the Zim Europe, which was on its way from Boston to Malaysia’s Port Klang, passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and entered the Mediterranean Sea on Friday.
It continued east before turning in the opposite direction on Saturday and heading back towards the Atlantic Ocean.
The Zim Europe vessel’s decision to change course comes in the wake of recent Yemeni military operations carried out by Yemen’s Sanaa government in support of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.
These operations include numerous drone and missile attacks on Israeli targets, as well as more recent maritime operations carried out by Ansarallah and Yemen’s Armed Forces, targeting Israeli-linked vessels.
Yemeni naval forces intercepted and captured the Israeli-owned Galaxy Leader vessel on 19 November, detaining dozens of crew members who were on board.
The operation followed official warnings that the Yemeni armed forces would target all Israeli shipping in the Red Sea.
An Israeli-owned ship sailing the Indian Ocean was targeted in a drone attack less than one week later, on 25 November. The spokesman for the Yemeni military, Yahya al-Saree, posted the word Zim on social media that day, suggesting involvement in the attack.
The post also suggested that one of Zim’s vessels was the target of the operation. Reuters said the targeted ship was identified as a Malta-flagged CMA CGM SYMI, renamed Mayet.
The ship was said to have been rented by an Israeli-owned shipping firm, Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS).
Yemeni journalist Ali al-Nassi revealed via social media on 25 November that the Zim company has been involved in arms transfers to Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen.
Zim is “contracted with the forces of Saudi Arabia and the [Saudi-led] coalition … to transport weapons and ammunition to Yemen.”
“The last of these shipments arrived at Hadhramaut in February 2022,” he added.
The Middle East at an inflection point
BY M. K. BHADRAKUMAR | INDIAN PUNCHLINE | NOVEMBER 28, 2023
It has been a perennial hope and expectation that Israel would abandon the path of repression, colonisation and apartheid as state policies and instead accept a negotiated settlement of the Palestine problem under pressure from its patron, mentor, guide and guardian — the United States. But that proved delusional and the remains of the day is a chronicle of dashed hopes and hypocrisy. The big question today is whether a paradigm shift is possible. That is also the dilemma facing US President Joe Biden at 80.
History shows that while catastrophic events have myriad negative effects, positive effects are also possible, especially in the long term. The French-German reconciliation after two world wars is, perhaps, the finest example in modern history, and it planted the germane seeds of the European integration project. Certainly, the collapse of the Soviet Union gave impetus to the Sino-Russian rapprochement, which morphed into a “no limit” partnership.
However, for such miracles to happen, visionary leadership is needed. Jean Monnet and Konrad Adenauer were indeed political visionaries — and, in a different sort of way, the two consummate pragmatists Boris Yeltsin and Jiang Zemin were as well.
Does it look as if Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu belong to that pantheon? When Biden met with Netanyahu and his war cabinet in Tel Aviv on October 18, he assured them: “I don’t believe you have to be a Jew to be a Zionist, and I am a Zionist.” Therein lies the paradox. For, how could you possibly be an Irish Catholic and a Zionist at the same time? Sinn Féin, which is on course to top Ireland’s next election, is embracing Palestinians and condemning Israel. Of course, there are no surprises here.
Biden is torn between conflicting faiths. Suffice to say, when Biden speaks about a two-state solution, it becomes hard to believe him. On Netanyahu’s part, at least, he doesn’t even feel the need to pay lip service to a two-state solution, after having systematically buried the Oslo Accord and embarked on the journey towards a Jewish theocracy in what was once the state of Israel. Make no mistake, Greater Israel is here to stay and the world opinion regards it as an apartheid state.
There is a great misconception that Biden is under pressure from American opinion on the conflict in Gaza. But the fact of the matter is that support for Israel has all along been rather thin in America and had it not been for the Israel Lobby, it would have probably ceased a long time ago. Curiously, something like one third of American Jews, especially the youth, don’t even care for the Israel Lobby.
That said, it is also a fact that Americans have generally a favourable opinion about Israel. Their problem is really about Israel’s aggressive policies — this is despite the absence of any open media or academic discussion in the US regarding the state repression of Palestinians or the colonisation of West Bank.
A defining moment came when Netanyahu taunted and humiliated President Barack Obama on the Iran nuclear deal by consorting with the Congress against the presidency in an audacious attempt to derail the negotiations with Tehran.
In recent years, Israel’s image has been tarnished in liberal opinion following the ascendance of right-wing forces and the overtones of racist attitudes including among Israeli youth. Indeed, Israel has been an increasingly illiberal country even toward its own citizens. Due to such factors, Americans no longer take an idealised view of Israel as a morally upright country battling for existence.
Meanwhile, there has been a marked erosion of support for Israel within the Democratic Party. But this needs to be put in perspective, for, there has been a countervailing rise in support for Israel among Republicans. Thus, although “bilateral consensus” on Israel is dissipating, paradoxically, the Israel Lobby still wields influence.
That is because the Israel Lobby traditionally didn’t much pay attention to rank and file Americans but instead focused on the power brokers and indeed worked hard to shore up their support. Therefore, it must be understood that what Biden cannot but factor in is that the elites in the Democratic Party establishment remain deeply committed to relations with Israel although the support within the party for Israeli policies may have waned and American opinion finds the bestiality of Israeli conduct in Gaza revolting.
The elites fear that the Lobby will target them if there are any signs of them wavering in their support for Israel. Put differently, the political elites do not place American national interests above their own personal or career interests. Thus, the Israel Lobby always wins on the Palestinian issue and in extracting generous financial support for Israel with no strings attached. Make no mistake that the Lobby will go to any extent to have its way whenever the crunch time comes, such as today.
Biden is hardly in a position to displease or annoy the Israel Lobby on a day of reckoning. So, why is he making big promises to President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi of Egypt that “under no circumstances will the United States permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, or the besiegement of Gaza, or the redrawing of the borders of Gaza”?
The answer is simple: these are fait accompli that have been forced upon the US and Israel by the Arab States in their finest hour of collective security, none of whom is willing to legitimise Israel’s genocide or its roadmap of ethnic cleansing. Didn’t even little Jordan say ‘no’ to Biden?
Biden is making hollow promises. In reality, what matters is that the Israel Lobby will go to extraordinary lengths to protect the emerging Greater Israel. Again, it costs Biden nothing by affirming support for a two-state solution. He knows it will be aeons before such a vision takes life, if at all, and if South Africa’s experience is anything to go by, the journey will be fraught with much bloodshed.
Most important, Biden knows that Israel will not accept a two-state solution as per the Arab Initiative crafted by Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, which is a finely balanced matrix of mutual interests with an historical and long term perspective. In an historic speech addressing the Arab League on the day of its adoption, then Crown Prince Abdullah said with great prescience: “In spite of all that has happened and what still may happen, the primary issue in the heart and mind of every person in our Arab Islamic nation is the restoration of legitimate rights in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon.”
The high probability is that Israel will hunker down with the help of its Lobby in the US and would rather prefer to be a Pariah in the world community, to a two-state solution that demands abandonment of the Zionist state built around Greater Israel. The only game changer could be if Biden is willing to make the US force its will on Israel — through coercive means, if necessary.
But that requires the courage of conviction and a rare ingredient in politics — compassion. Biden’s hugely successful half century in public life was almost entirely devoted to realpolitik and there are no traces of conviction or compassion in it. A legacy cannot be built on ephemeral considerations and expediency.
Israel must stand trial for committing ‘4 core international crimes’ in Gaza: Iran deputy FM
Press TV – November 27, 2023
An Iranian deputy foreign minister says the Israeli regime should be brought to justice for all four core international crimes it committed against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip during its latest large-scale military operation.
Reza Najafi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, made the remarks in the 28th session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention in The Hague, the Netherlands, on Monday.
“During the past eight weeks, the Israeli regime has committed all four core international crimes, namely genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression repeatedly and concurrently,” he said.
“This entails the international responsibility of the Israeli regime and its supporters as well as the individual criminal responsibility of all those who ordered and committed such crimes or facilitated, aided and abetted their commission, including by providing the required means,” he added.
The senior Iranian diplomat emphasized that all those responsible for the crimes against the Gazans shall be held to account and be brought to justice.
Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza on October 7, more than 15,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed only in Gaza while over 6,000 are still missing and more than 36,000 are wounded, Najafi said, adding that over 70 percent of those killed, missing or wounded are women and children.
He reiterated that in addition to these figures, the “horrifying” reports and “heart-breaking” images of Israel’s barbaric invasion once again revealed, clearly and undeniably, the very “murderous” nature of the regime which possesses weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), including chemical weapons in its stockpiles.
Najafi emphasized that Israel’s crimes along with a call by a regime’s minister for dropping even a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip once again proved the serious danger of the Israeli chemical weapons for the regional and international peace and security.
He stressed the importance of making every effort for the speedy universalization of the Chemical Weapons Convention, particularly by compelling the Israeli regime to join it without any precondition or further delay.
Israel is the sole possessor of nukes in the Middle East. The regime, which pursues a policy of deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear weapons, is estimated to possess 200 to 400 nuclear warheads in its arsenal.
Unlike Iran, Israel has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and continues its unsupervised nuclear activities with the support of the United States and European countries.
Palestinian surgeon recounts ordeal following Israel’s use of white phosphorus, incendiary bombs in Gaza
Press TV – November 27, 2023
A British-Palestinian surgeon has recounted harrowing healthcare-related ordeals the Palestinian civilians went through during Israel’s onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip, which was initiated after Palestinian resistance groups launched Operation al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity, the largest retaliatory attack in decades.
Professor Ghassan Abu Sitta, who traveled with Doctors Without Borders via Egypt to Gaza on 9 October to work in the besieged territory’s hospitals as a surgeon, said in a press conference in London on Monday that he had seen evidence of war crimes, including the use of white phosphorus on civilians.
Sitta, who worked in both al-Shifa and al-Ahli hospitals in Gaza, said fragmentary missiles were used by the Israeli occupation army to attack Gaza, causing unique injury patterns and amputations.
At the burns unit in al-Shifa Hospital, he said, some 40 to 45 percent of the wounded were children and the primary target of the Israeli bombing was residential homes.
Stressing that incendiary bombs were used against Palestinian civilians, Sitta said he treated 100 patients with 40% of their body surface area burnt but no other injuries.
“Phosphorus burns burn through to the inner core of the body and only stop when they have no exposure to oxygen,” he added. “So the patient would be puckered with burns that bore right into the ribs, the bones.”
The British-Palestinian surgeon said he “increasingly” saw white phosphorous burn wounds while he worked in the besieged Gaza Strip.
“When the land invasion happened, we started getting patients increasingly from the north with white phosphorous burns,” Sitta told reporters. “Once you’ve seen them you know what they are. The flesh of these patients turns to Swiss cheese, with black burns from phosphorous pellets.”
Sitta underlined that a 15-year-old boy was “showered” with pellets of white phosphorous while running away which left his back with chemical burns.
Israel ‘deliberately’ targets civilians
Speaking at the press conference, the surgeon said the Israeli military “deliberately” targeted civilians in schools, hospitals and places of worship.
“Patients reported the wiping out of entire families and have described them as massacres,” he said, adding that there were between 700 and 900 children with amputations by day five of their visit to Gaza.
Sitta said he had witnessed Palestinian casualties shot by snipers in Gaza and that necessity had forced them to conduct several surgeries without anesthesia, including one on a nine-year-old girl.
At a hospital in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, Sitta also said he witnessed a phone call by the Israeli army to the director of the hospital, who was informed that unless he evacuated within two hours, the hospital would be targeted.
“One of the most horrific scenes I witnessed was when, after an air raid, the dead and the wounded were brought in, members of the staff would be running frantically in the emergency department, looking at the faces of the wounded and the dead to see whether their relatives had been among the dead and the wounded,” he said.
“In many cases their children had been among the dead and the wounded.”
Sitta also said there was a “huge explosion” in another day and “the ceiling in the operating room fell on top of us, luckily I wasn’t injured.”
He added, “The ambulances were on fire, some of the cars were on fire, and the forecourt, which had been lit by fire, was full of bodies and parts of bodies.”
The British-Palestinian surgeon said 160 doctors and nurses lost their lives during the occupation’s aggression on the Gaza Strip.
Israel waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas conducted Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
Since the start of the aggression, the Tel Aviv regime has killed nearly 15,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and left vast swathes of the coastal enclave in ruins.
It has also imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.
The Magician’s Hat, and the Great Simulacrum of Palliative Balm
By Alastair Crooke | Strategic Culture Foundation | November 27, 2023
The Magician steps onto the stage, his black cloak swirling about him. Centre stage, he flourishes his hat: It is empty. He punches it lightly to demonstrate its solidity. The Magician then picks up certain objects and places them into his hat. Into it goes AnsarAllah’s seizure of an Israeli-owned vessel (the situation is being ‘monitored’); into it goes the Iraqi strikes on U.S. bases (barely noticed by the main-stream media); into it too go the 1,000 missiles fired into northern Israel by Hizbullah; into it goes the hot war in the West Bank. The Magician turns to the audience – the hat is empty. But the audience knows those objects have a physical reality, but somehow they are magically obfuscated.
It is in this way that the western main-stream media maintains deterrence by playing down the state of war through what Malcom Kyeyune describes as “a simulacrum of peace” – of a gently subsiding conflict and the quieting deployment of (paraphrasing Kyeyune) a very “post-modern question”: What exactly is the meaning of civilian ‘non-combatant’ anyway?
One aspect to the image of easing conflict is the hostage exchange that has been agreed. It is both real, and at the same time it underpins the simulacrum that once Hamas is annihilated, and the hostages released, then the problem of 2.3 million Palestinians can go into the magician’s hat, and be eased from sight. For some, the hope is sincere and well intentioned – that once the fighting ceases, it will stay ceased, and that an end to the bombardment in Gaza might open a window to some political ‘solution’ – if it can be extended sine dei.
‘Solution’ being here but a polite word for the EU’s attempted bribery of Egypt and Jordan. Reportedly, the EU President, Ursula von der Leyen, visited Egypt and Israel to present them with financial offers ($10bn for Egypt and $5bn for Jordan), in exchange for the dispersal of the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip elsewhere – effectively to facilitate the evacuation of the Palestinian population from the Strip in line with Israel’s aims of ethnically-cleansing Gaza.
However, former minister Ayalet Shaked’s tweet – “After we turn Khan Yunis into a soccer field, we need to tell the countries that each of them take a quota: We need all 2 million to leave. That’s the solution to Gaza” – is but one by senior Israeli political and security figures extoling what Israel increasingly sees as the “solution” for Gaza.
But by being so explicit, Shaked likely has torpedoed Von der Leyen’s initiative – for no Arab state wants to be complicit in a new Nakba.
A Hudna or ‘time out’ inevitably is highly precarious. In the 2014 fighting, when IDF forces initiated military sweeps in Gaza after a ceasefire had begun, it led to a fire-fight and the collapse of the cease-fire. The fighting continued for another full month.
Two key lessons that I learnt from trying to initiate truces on behalf of the EU during the Second Intifada were that a ‘truce is a truce’ and only that – both sides use it to reposition themselves for the next round of fighting. And secondly, that ‘quiet’ in one confined locality does not spread de-escalation to another geographically separate locality; but rather, that one outbreak of egregious violence is virally contagious, and spreads geographically instantly.
The present hostage exchange is centred on Gaza. However, Israel has three fronts of hot conflict open (Gaza, its northern border with Lebanon, and in the West Bank). An incident occurring in any one of the three fronts may be enough to collapse confidence in the Gaza understandings and re-launch Israel’s assault on Gaza.
On the eve of the truce, by way of example, Israeli forces heavily bombed both Syria and Lebanon. Seven Hizbullah fighters were killed.
The point here, plainly said, is that the historical precedents of Hudnas leading to political openings are not that great. A hostage release, per se, resolves nothing. The issue in the present crisis runs far deeper. When, ‘once upon a time’, Britain promised the Jews a homeland, western powers also (in 1947) promised Palestinians a state, but never took it to implementation. This lacuna ultimately is culminating in a head-on train crash.
The Israeli Cabinet’s ambition for a Jewish State on the biblical lands of Israel simply is intended to block any Palestinian State from emerging either in part of Jerusalem, or elsewhere in historic Palestine. In this context, Hamas’ actions were precisely intended to break this impasse and the endless paradigm of fruitless ‘negotiations’.
Unsurprisingly, Israel’s Defence Minister already has announced Israel’s intention to renew fighting immediately after the end of the cease-fire. Israeli officials have been telling their U.S. counterparts that they anticipate several more weeks of operations in the north of the Strip, before shifting focus to the south.
Thus far, the IDF has been operating in areas close to the shoreline in Gaza, and in places, such as the Wadi, south of Gaza City, where the subsoil does not facilitate the building of tunnels. These are the areas, therefore, where Hamas does not have significant defensive capabilities. Should military action be renewed, the IDF is likely to move away from the northern coastline towards the Gaza City epicentre, allowing Hamas to manoeuvre more easily, and inflict greater losses on the IDF and their armoured vehicles. In this sense – away from the simulacra – the war is just beginning.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has been described both in Israel and in the western MSM as a ‘dead man walking’ in political terms. Be that as it may, Netanyahu has his strategy: He has openly defied the Biden Team on every war-related issue, except that of eradicating Hamas.
During a press conference last Sunday, Netanyahu touted a “diplomatic Iron Dome”, saying he would not give in to “increasingly heavy pressure … used against us in recent weeks … I reject these pressures and say to the world: We will continue to fight until victory — until we destroy Hamas and bring our hostages back home”.
Yonatan Freeman, from the Hebrew University, perceives the gambit in Netanyahu’s vague statements: He defies Team Biden, yet takes care to leave sufficient ‘wiggle room’ so that he can always blame Biden, whenever he is ‘forced’ by America into some reversal.
The Israeli Cabinet’s strategy, therefore, rests on the big bet that Israeli public opinion will hold – despite Netayahu’s personal disapproval ratings – due to the overwhelming public support at this point for the two declared objects set by the War Cabinet: Destroying the ‘Hamas regime’ and its capabilities, and the release of all Israeli hostages.
At its core, ‘the bet’ lies in the conviction that public sentiment – contextualised deliberately by the Israeli cabinet in absolute Manichean terms (light versus the dark; civilisation versus barbarism; all Gazans being complicit with ‘Hamas’ evil’) – will ultimately arouse a wave of support for the further move of taking “the fiction” of a Palestinian state off the table “once and for all”. The table is being set for a long war against ‘cosmic evil’.
The ‘solution’, as National Security Minister Smotrich and his allies underline, is to offer Palestinians a choice – ‘to renounce their national aspirations and continue living on their land in an inferior status’, or to emigrate abroad. Put bluntly, the ‘solution’ is the removal of all non-subservient Palestinians from the lands of Greater Israel.
Turning now to the contending perspective:
The ‘united axis’ supporting Palestinians observe that Israel continues to adhere to its initial military goals of destroying Gaza to the point where there is nothing left – no civilian infrastructure at all – by which Gazans might live, were they even to try to return to their collapsed homes.
They see this Israeli objective fully supported by Biden when his spokesman said:
“We believe that they have the right to [embark on further combat operations in Gaza]; but [such actions] … should include greater and enhanced protections for civilian life”.
Regional security commentator, Hasan Illaik, notes,
“Axis officials also believe that conciliatory-sounding U.S. statements, which sometimes suggest that a de-escalation phase is imminent, are nothing but an effort to repair a public image heavily damaged by unstinting U.S. support for Israel’s continuing massacre of Palestinians in Gaza”.
So, is Israel, supported by Team Biden and some EU leaders, winning?
Tom Friedman – an intimate of Team Biden – wrote in the New York Times on 9 November – after traveling around Israel and the West Bank:
“I now understand why so much has changed. It is crystal clear to me that Israel is in real danger — more danger than at any other time since its War of Independence in 1948”.
Far-fetched? Possibly not.
Back in 2012, U.S. author Michael Greer wrote that Israel was founded at a particular propitious time, despite being surrounded by hostile neighbours:
“Several of the major Western powers supported the new state with significant financial and military aid; of at least equal importance, members of the religious community responsible for creating the new state, who remained back in those same Western nations, engaged in vigorous fundraising efforts to support the new state, and equally vigorous political efforts to get existing governmental support maintained or increased. The resources thus made available to the new state gave it a substantial military edge against its hostile neighbours, and its existence became enough of a fait accompli that some of its neighbours backed away from a wholly confrontational stance”.
“Still, the state’s survival depended on three things. The first, and by far the most crucial, was the ongoing flow of support from the Western powers to pay for a military establishment far larger than the economic and natural resources of the territory in question would permit. The second was the continued fragmentation and relative weakness of the surrounding states. The third was the maintenance of internal peace within the state and of collective assent to a clear sense of priorities, so that it could respond with its full force to threats from outside – instead of squandering its limited resources on civil strife or popular projects that contributed nothing to its survival”.
“In the long run, none of these three conditions could be met indefinitely … When it happens that these early patterns of support break down, Israel may find itself backed into a corner”.
Last week, a leading Israeli commentator noted:
“You might think a Presidential visit, presidential speech, three Secretary of State visits, two Secretary of Defence visits, the dispatching of two aircraft carrier groups, a nuclear submarine and Marine expeditionary unit, and the pledge of $14.3 billion in emergency military aid, are testament to the unwavering support the U.S. is extending to Israel” …
“Think again”.
“Underneath the full and robust backing of the Biden administration, there are dangerous and treacherous currents that are chipping away and encroaching on public sympathy for Israel across the United States. Polls released last week contained the most alarming and telling data: Public support for Israel is cratering – particularly amongst the 18 – 34 age group. Another poll shows that 36% of Americans say they oppose additional funding for Ukraine and Israel: Support for funding Israel, only – was at 14%”.
What is truly remarkable is that the leaders of the new narratives are the youth of Generation Z, Y, and Alpha. Leveraging social media, and speaking directly to their peer groups, they have conveyed the grievances of the Palestinians to the world. Many had limited knowledge of Palestine, but their unfiltered sense of justice fuelled their collective anger against Israel’s ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
Greer’s second and third conditions for Israel’s survival also are metastasizing as the global tectonic plates grind and move: Non-western powers are not siding with Israel. They are coalescing in opposition to the Israeli Cabinet’s aspiration to end the notion of a Palestinian State, once and for all. And today, Israel is bitterly divided on the vision for its future; what it is exactly that constitutes ‘Israel’ and even that very post-modern question, ‘what it is to be Jewish’.
Region ‘let down’ by West’s reaction to Israeli crimes in Gaza: Qatar
Press TV – November 27, 2023
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani has slammed the West’s support for Israel’s war on the besieged Gaza Strip, warning against the risk of a regional spillover.
“There’s a big disappointment in the region from the West’s reaction… We were expecting from the West the killing of Palestinian people is something to be condemned,” the Financial Times quoted al-Thani as saying on Sunday.
“And what we expect at least is [the West] to step up to the same standards, the same principles that they stood up to with other wars,” al-Thani added.
Noting that the war on Gaza was not treated like other conflicts, Sheikh Mohammed said “calling for a ceasefire after this destruction and killing [in Gaza] and displacement is a duty on everyone.”
Destruction of Hamas ‘not realistic’
Al-Thani emphasized that Israel’s declared aim of eliminating Hamas resistance movement was not realistic.
“At the end of the day, Hamas’s destruction by the continuation of this war will never happen,” he said, calling for a political solution to the conflict.
He stressed that Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank needed to have a “political horizon” for a viable state of their own and to be able to choose their own leadership, adding “Other than that . . . there won’t be a solution.”
The minister noted that Qatar now focuses on stopping the war. “Our only plan is to stop the war.”
“Talking about the day after as the killing and the massacres is ongoing is just like endorsing this war,” he said.
“The amount of anger and agitation in the Arab population in the region is unprecedented when they see these images, and nobody is stepping up to stop it.”
Al-Thani also warned that the failure to secure an extended ceasefire would risk the war spilling over and destabilizing “the entire region.”
He slammed Western powers for not exerting more pressure on Israel to end the war.
Referring to the underway temporary ceasefire in Gaza, al-Thani said it could be extended if Hamas managed to locate women and children captives who are held in Gaza and secure their release.
“If they get additional women and children, there will be an extension,” he said, adding “We don’t yet have any clear information how many they can find because . . . one of the purposes [of the pause] is they [Hamas] will have time to search for the rest of the missing people.”
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.
Nearly 15,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in the Israeli strikes.
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From the Archives
The great ADHD swindle
By Daniel Ken | TCW Defending Freedom | May 20, 2023
Over more than two decades in the classroom I’ve taught thousands of children and teenagers: some were lovely and lots were hard-working. On the other hand, quite a number were disruptive and argumentative, and a number were violently opposed to learning. But I don’t think I’ve taught more than a handful of kids who could be properly described as having the symptoms of ADHD. And that handful could just as easily have had something else wrong with them. Because here’s the thing: despite the fact that the best part of a million children are medicated for the condition, ADHD doesn’t exist.
There’s no definitive medical test for it, experts can’t agree on what it actually means, and most of the symptoms disappear if the child in question has lots of exercise, good diet and, crucially, a set of clear behavioural boundaries, preferably set early in childhood and, for the boys at least, enforced by a stable adult male living at home. … continue
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