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Israeli Heritage Minister Suggests Dropping a Nuclear Bomb on Gaza, Kill Israeli Prisoners

Al-Manar | November 5, 2023

Israel Today newspaper said today, Sunday, that Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu suggested dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip would be one of the options to be considered.

“We must recognize what scares them enough to force them to flee, as death does not frighten them. Thus, we must search for ways to horrify and eliminate them,” the Israeli minister said.

“I disagree with those who refer to Gaza Palestinians as civilians. In Gaza, there are no civilians, and there is no difference between them and Hamas,” Eliyahu added.

Referring to the Israeli captives taken by Hamas and other Palestinian factions throughout Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the Zionist minister said, “The lives of Israeli captives and detainees are no more valuable than the lives of soldiers, and we must recognize that warfare entails human losses.”

Yifat Biton, a Knesset member, reacted to the aforementioned comments, saying that “through his statement, a stupid minister is destroying ‘Israeli’ propaganda efforts around the world. The only way to reply is to dismiss him immediately.”

Palestinian Factions Respond

The Hamas movement perceived the Zionist minister’s statements as evidence of the enemy government’s terrorism against the Palestinians.

According to the Islamic Jihad movement, ‘Israel’ is gradually carrying out what its minister stated, and all evidence exposes the severity of their ongoing crimes.

“What the minister in the Zionist government said about dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza was not a slip of the tongue or an act contrary to reality, as the criminal Netanyahu tried to justify. Rather, it is reality itself as the thousands of tons of explosives are being dropped by the Israeli occupation forces on the Strip”, said the head of the media office in Gaza.

November 5, 2023 Posted by | Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Israeli Missiles Kill Dozens Of Palestinians In Gaza

IMEMC | NOVEMBER 5, 2023

On Saturday evening, Israeli missiles killed dozens of Palestinians and injured hundreds, mainly women and children, in the Gaza Strip.

Media sources said the army fired missiles at a home of the Sam’an family in Al-Maghazi refugee camp, in central Gaza, killing fifty-one and wounding dozens, mainly women and children.

The sources added that the Israeli Air Force fired dozens of missiles in many neighborhoods west and north of Gaza City and fired phosphorous shells into the areas, especially the Al-Maghazi refugee camp.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said the number of casualties is much higher than confirmed as search operations under the rubble of bombarded homes and buildings were ongoing.

The Municipality of Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza, said the Israeli army has not only been bombing homes, medical centers, and various residential and commercial buildings, in addition to media facilities, but is also deliberately bombing water wells and water tanks and destroying infrastructure needed to provide basic services to the displaced families.

It said two of the bombed targets were a well and a water reservoir providing water for more than 70.000 Palestinians in the Tal Az-Za’atar area in northern Gaza, causing flooding in various surrounding homes and buildings.

Furthermore, the Israeli Air Force carried fifteen air strikes in the vicinity of the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza.

In addition, the Palestinians located the corpses of five Palestinians and rescued many others from the rubble of the Abu Haseera family home, which Israel bombed west of Gaza City.

At least seven Palestinians were killed, and dozens injured by Israeli missiles targeting homes in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Also, seven Palestinians were killed and many injured by Israeli missiles that struck a home for the Mheisin family in the center of Jabalia refugee camp.

Among the Israeli bombing targets were not only homes and civilian buildings but also dozens of bakeries, water stations, fishing boats, and various infrastructure facilities and streets.

The Israeli army also bombed the main gate and yard of the An-Nasr Children’s Hospital in Gaza City, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians, in addition to firing missiles at the Al-Quds Hospital in Tal Al-Hawa.

The Israeli army also fire many missiles at the AlAzhar University in Gaza, destroying killing, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians.

On its part, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, published videos showing their fighters targeting and destroying many Israeli tanks, including some that were detonating at point-blank range, and confirmed the death of many Israeli soldiers.

Al-Qassam added that the constant Israeli bombing on the Gaza Strip has also resulted in the killing of 60 Israelis, who were captured by the group, since October 7, and said that twenty-three of them remain buried under the rubble of bombarded buildings.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said Israeli missiles and shells have killed at least 9488, mainly women and children, and injured at least 26.000, most of them are children, women, and seniors.

The number of Palestinians who were killed by Israeli soldiers and paramilitary colonizers in the occupied West Bank is 147, in addition to more than 2200 injured.

November 5, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Fuel crisis forces complete shutdown of Gaza hospital generators

Palestine Information Center – November 5, 2023

GAZA – Power generators at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza have stopped working due to a lack of fuel, officials at the hospital said.

“Generators in Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza have completely stopped operating due to the severe fuel shortage,” director of the hospital Ahmed Kahlut said in a statement on Saturday.

During the past few days, the health ministry in Gaza appealed for fuel supply for hospitals’ generators in the war-torn coastal enclave.

It announced last Thursday that the main power generators at the Indonesian Hospital and Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza had shut down.

Such a serious fuel crisis threatens the lives of hundreds of patients, including premature babies, at Gaza’s hospitals.

Israeli warplanes also bombed the power generator and solar energy panels at Al-Wafa Hospital in central Gaza City on Saturday.

November 5, 2023 Posted by | Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

President Raeisi: War against Hamas amounts to war on democracy

Press TV – November 5, 2023

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi has highlighted the role played by Hamas in the Gaza Strip as the territory’s legitimate government, saying the war against the Palestinian resistance movement is tantamount to waging war on democracy.

During a telephone conversation with Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre on Saturday night, Raeisi welcomed Oslo’s position on the need for an immediate end to Israel’s killing of civilians in Gaza as well as international efforts to lift the siege on the coastal enclave and deliver aid to its residents.

He also expressed Iran’s readiness to cooperate with the Norwegian Justice Ministry in an investigation into the atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza, stressing that the regime’s war crimes and the US support for such criminal acts should not go unpunished.

“Hamas is the legal, elected and legitimate government of Gaza,” he said. “The war against Hamas is a war on democracy.”

Israel waged a bloody war on the blockaded Gaza Strip on October 7 after Hamas’s Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity.

Since the start of the aggression, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 9,572 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 26,000 others.

It has also imposed a “complete siege” on the coastal sliver, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

Raeisi noted that the killing of almost 10,000 Gazans, including 4,000 children, is the result of the massive shipment of weapons and equipment by the United States to the Zionist regime.

“The fact that a child is killed in Gaza almost every 10 minutes is horrible and a clear example of crime against humanity and genocide. The disgusting silence of the US and some European countries along with their weaponry support for the Zionist regime prove the West’s double standards and its obvious partnership in the Zionists’ crimes,” he said.

The Iranian chief executive further censured the ineffectiveness of 180 UN resolutions to change Israel’s behavior.

The Islamic Republic, he added, has presented a UN-registered democratic and fair solution to the Palestinian issue based on the idea of one vote for every Palestinian.

The Norwegian premier, for his part, said his country is aware of Iran’s important and effective role in the region.

He also appreciated Tehran’s attempts to reduce regional tensions and called for interactions with the Islamic Republic toward resolving the Palestine issue.

Iran and Norway, he emphasized, can consult and cooperate through diplomatic channels to find a solution that immediately ends the fighting, lifts the Gaza siege and provides relief aid to its people.

November 5, 2023 Posted by | Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Horrific testimonies of Gaza workers held captive in Israel

Israel releases thousands of Gazan workers into Rafah
Palestine Information Center – November 3, 2023

GENEVA – The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor revealed that thousands of Gaza laborers were subjected to horrific forms of torture by Israeli forces during their four-week detention, which resulted in the death of one of them.

Horrific testimonies were provided to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor after the deportation of over 3,000 of Palestinian workers to the Gaza Strip on Friday. It was confirmed that the worker Mansour Nabhan Warsh Agha, from the northern Gaza Strip, was tortured to death, while the fate of thousands more is still unknown.

The deported workers were reportedly blindfolded, their hands and feet bound, and transported on private Israeli buses to the Kerem Abu Salem crossing in southeast Gaza, according to testimony gathered by Euro-Med Monitor.

They were forced to walk for more than five kilometers before reaching the Rafah crossing gate and entering the Gaza Strip.

A 62-year-old worker, identified as “A.S.,” told the Euro-Med team upon his arrival in the Gaza Strip: “They detained us for ten days, during which we were subjected to harsh interrogation. They asked us for details regarding the Palestinian resistance groups, and anyone who replied that he doesn’t have any information was mercilessly beaten.”

The workers were subjected to multiple forms of torture, beatings, and brutal abuse during their detention, as well as psychological intimidation during and after intensive investigations, Euro-Med Monitor said.

Euro-Med Monitor expressed its shock at these practices, calling on the International Labor Organization and all relevant organizations to investigate these incidents of torture and abuse and hold those responsible accountable.

November 4, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

The Gaza Genocide Continues

Israel is an unrestrained monster that endangers all of us

BY PHILIP GIRALDI • UNZ REVIEW • NOVEMBER 4, 2023

Mainstream media and official government commentary on the violence in Gaza appears to have acquired a certain rhythm to make sure that everyone understands that it is the poor Israelis who are the real victims being assailed by a group called Hamas that is invariably labeled as “terrorists.” It is absolutely obligatory in the first paragraph of an article on developments in the fighting to remind the reader that on October 7th the “terrorist” group Hamas “invaded” Israel and killed 1,400 peace loving Israelis, taking 200 additional Israelis as hostages. Israel is described as “retaliating” and it is frequently seen as relevant to state that it was the most dreadful mass killing of Jews since the alleged “holocaust.” To add a bit of current cultural and historic relevance, “9/11” and “Pearl Harbor” are often also cited to suggest that it was a both a surprise attack and a game changer in terms of how Israel now sees the external threat and will have to harden its national security imperatives. And there might even be inserted a comment from Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi or Senator Chuck Schumer that “Israel has a right to defend itself!” Joe Biden was also quoted as saying it was 15 “9/11”s for Israel given the comparative size and populations of the US and the Jewish state, emphasizing the enormity of the tragedy.

And that’s just in the first paragraph to make sure that the reader gets his or her mind right. The second paragraph is the really important contribution to the discussion, raising the issue of “surging antisemitism” in the United States and Europe, frequently including a quote from the relentless Jonathan Greenblatt of the redoubtable and widely feared Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Greenblatt is cited frequently, often intoning something along the lines of “There is a growing, radical movement on many campuses in which opposition to Israel and Zionism is required to be fully accepted, effectively marginalizing campus Jewish communities.” The intention of raising the antisemitism issue is to lead the reader away from any possible perception that an apartheid Israel was attacked because of its exceptionally brutal behavior towards the Palestinians over the past 76 years and was instead a victim of vicious terrorists who did what they did largely because they hate Jews. In that fashion, the possible issue of Israeli responsibility for what occurred goes away and Benjamin Netanyahu and his fanatical and racist colleagues Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir get a pass to do whatever they want to solve their Arab problem. Both men have expressed their dream of an Israel without any Palestinians, whom they regard as not quite acceptably human, and have endorsed shoot to kill authority for policemen and soldiers who are confronted by any Arab demonstrators. More than 100 Palestinians have already been killed on the West Bank by armed settlers, police and soldiers who will not be held accountable for the murders while there have also been hundreds of arrests of protesters.

In America Fox News has been a leader in pumping out the interviews and reports suggesting that America’s Jewish students are so terrified by the threats implicit and explicit in the antisemitic rage that is manifest on college campuses and elsewhere that they have stopped eating at the university kosher dining halls lest they become the targets of a madman. And there are the inevitable calls to completely ban gatherings expressing sympathy with the Palestinians or even waving or displaying Palestine’s flag. The moaning about surging antisemitism is indeed all over the mainstream media even though there are quite a few things wrong with the narrative about Israel-Palestine and the events on October 7th and subsequently. In short, the American and European public are being subjected to the usual con job when it comes to anything having to do with Israel. And the propagandization is certainly also given additional effectiveness when it is repeated by senior politicians coming from both parties with a unanimous Senate vote of 97-0 and a House of Representatives vote of 412 to 10 on resolutions pledging unconditional and total support for Israel and whatever it chooses to do, backed up by two US carrier groups plus Marines standing by in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Colleges and universities have been particularly targeted by Israel’s many friends, with mostly Jewish alumni holding back donations from those schools that do not explicitly denounce Hamas and praise Israeli “restraint” or that permit demonstrations by students supporting Gaza. Students who sign on to protests about what is being done to the Palestinians are being identified and placed on lists that will be submitted to potential future employers and universities to make it more difficult for them to get good jobs or secure academic appointments and fellowships. Ambitious politicians out to endear themselves to Jewish campaign donors and voters, like Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, have gone to extremes, banning Palestinian political groups at state universities and considering prosecution of members of such organizations for “hate crimes” as they are automatically being regarded as motivated by “antisemitism.” DeSantis has also vowed that his state will not accept any Palestinian refugees, though it is not clear how he would enforce that, basing his decision on his judgment that they are “all antisemites,” and Florida has recently purchased $135 million’s worth of so-called Israel Bonds to help in the Jewish state’s war effort. Senator Lindsey Graham has said that there should be “no limit” on Israelis killing Palestinians while Donald Trump has called for all Palestinian students in the US to be deported. It is just one more example of how low and even inhumane our politics have become when Israel is in any way involved, but it is also interesting to note that several European countries and Israel itself are also silencing critics of the Gaza massacres, in some cases by firing them from their jobs.

Part of the problem is that the narrative of what took place on October 7th and subsequently has been so spun by the media and talking heads that it continues to be somewhat unclear regarding what actually happened. The Israelis have persistently claimed that 1,405 Jews and Asian farm workers were killed by Hamas, 386 of whom were apparently soldiers. But how they died is where the tale goes adrift. Israeli survivors of the attack have told journalists that they were treated well when captured by Hamas and that the real killing began when Israeli Army units including tanks, artillery and helicopters counter-attacked Hamas, creating a brutal cross fire referred to in the trade as “friendly fire” which killed many if not most of the civilians. Houses in one kibbutz, where civilians were sheltering, were largely destroyed by fire from heavy weapons, which Hamas did not possess.

What we now also know from a growing body of evidence obtained from the Israeli media and eyewitnesses is that the Israeli military appear to have been overwhelmed by the day’s events. The reaction may have triggered an apparently long-standing policy referred to as the “Hannibal procedure” that seeks to prevent Israeli soldiers from being taken captive due to the high price the Israeli public insists on paying to make sure that the soldier-prisoners are returned. As a result, the military command has authorization to order Israeli troops to kill fellow soldiers rather than allow them to be taken prisoner. For the same reason, Hamas expends a great deal of energy in trying to find innovative ways to seize soldiers.

The possible reality that the Israeli military killed many of its own soldiers and civilians is, of course, being suppressed in the mainstream and by politicians eager to assist Israel in the Gazan genocide, but it is nevertheless out there. There is, however, another part of the story that is devastating in terms of its implications, and that is the immediate response to the crisis by offering to send Israel $14.5 billion to help in its defense, an incomprehensibly large figure that appears to have been pulled out of some lobbyist’s behind, which translates to performing genocide in Gaza and committing a host of war crimes along the way. The tribute payments, as some have described it, was approved by a party-line 226-196 vote in Congress last Thursday. The vote would have been closer to unanimous but for a partisan dispute over the funding of the measure. If Joe Biden and Congress are not aware that genocide is a big time crime against humanity as defined by the United Nations charter and by the Geneva Conventions and most international lawyers would agree that arming and funding an organization or state that is exterminating a nation or identifiable ethnicity is complicity or even participation in the crime.

Biden and Blinken may not have any idea of how much money Israel gets from the American taxpayer at all levels of government in a year beyond the $3.8 billion per year that it gets in direct “military assistance,” a gift from Barack Obama. Additional money flows from joint military projects, through dubious charities and via state and even local level development boards that bring the total up to roughly $10 billion. That contributes to making Israel a wealthy country which can afford to give its Jewish citizens free health care and college education as well as subsidized housing and it does not need additional US support to fight its wars.

And, by the way, that brings us to the final issue, Israel’s secret nuclear program which certainly should be of concern to US policymakers confronted by an exploding conflict that could engulf the entire Middle East and even spread beyond that area. The fact that Israel uniquely has the nukes in the region, numbering more than 200 by some estimates, is significant. In the United States government there exists a so-called “legislative rule” that no federal employee can confirm that Israel has nuclear weapons. The rule is ridiculous as the existence of the Israeli nuclear arsenal is well attested, including by Colin Powell, who once confirmed that “Israel had over 200 nuclear weapons pointed at Iran.” Powell made the statement when he was out of office but even prominent Israel-firster Senator Chuck Schumer has confirmed the existence of the arsenal.

The reason for acute sensitivity by the Israel Lobby and its bought-and-paid-for politicians over its nukes is the Symington Amendment in Section 101 of the US Arms Export Control Act of 1976 which bans foreign aid to any country that has nuclear weapons and has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Which means that Israel’s annual $3.8 billion in aid would be in jeopardy if Washington were to enforce its own laws, though one cannot imagine that President Joe Biden or the Attorney General Merrick Garland, both fervent Zionists, will take the necessary steps to do so.

Another sticky bit of law consists of the so-called Leahy Amendments, which prohibit the US Department of State and Department of Defense from providing military assistance to foreign security force units that violate human rights “with impunity.” Israel’s numerous brutal assaults on Gaza, including the current one in which it is targeting hospitals and churches, bombing and killing helpless civilians, half of whom are children, is a textbook case for when the Leahy Amendments should be applied, but, of course, they never will be. That reality illustrates once again the actual political power of the Jewish Lobby in the United States backed up as it is by Christian Zionists like the new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.

Finally, one must take a look at the Israeli nuclear arsenal itself coupled with the country’s reckless and aggressive leadership and what that represents, a subject that no one currently is even considered as a factor in what the expanding Gaza war might lead to. Twenty years ago, when the United States President George W. Bush initiated his disastrous neocon devised “war on terror” Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon saw the war as an opportunity and Israel as a major beneficiary, poised as it was to draw the US into the much-desired attack against Iran coupled with a renewed drive to terrorize the remaining Palestinians into fleeing into the neighboring Arab states. Israel clearly intended its nuclear capability to be used against its neighbors if needed, as described in the 1991 book by veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, entitled The Samson Option. The book’s title refers to the Israeli government’s nuclear strategy whereby Israel would launch a massive nuclear retaliatory strike if the state itself was under threat from outside forces and was in danger of being overrun, just as the Biblical figure Samson pushed apart the pillars of a Philistine temple, bringing down the roof and killing himself and the thousands of Philistines who had gathered to see him humiliated. One of Hersh’s sources in the Israel intelligence service reportedly told him “We can still remember the smell of Auschwitz and Treblinka. Next time we’ll take all of you with us.”

When Sharon was queried about how the rest of the world might respond to Israel using its nukes to effectively wipe out its Arab neighbors, he responded “That depends on who does it and how quickly it happens. We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome. Most European capitals are targets for our air force. Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: ‘Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother.’ I consider it all hopeless at this point. We shall have to try to prevent things from coming to that, if at all possible. Our armed forces, however, are not the thirtieth strongest in the world, but rather the second or third. We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that that will happen before Israel goes under.”

So, there we are, poised on the edge of what might plausibly be the second avoidable nuclear war mishandled by Joe Biden and the muttonheads that he has chosen to “advise” him. Colonel Douglas Macgregor is rightly referring to the exploding crisis that contains a nuclear threat as an “Armageddon War.” Few Americans know that Israel only has nuclear weapons because it stole the enriched uranium and triggers from the United States with the cooperation of a Jewish industrialist Zalman Shapiro, owner of the NUMEC plant in Pennsylvania and a Jewish-Israeli Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan, neither of whom has ever been seriously held accountable by the US government. So, we have an Israel with a secret nuclear arsenal that no American official can even mention and that it currently is at “war” and is in theory prepared to use the weapons, most likely against an arch-enemy like Iran, but if threatened, to “take the world down.” As for the mostly silent majority of us Americans who would like to see a government that actually tries to do good for the people who live here and pay taxes, having a world at peace where Washington leaves everyone alone and is in return left alone by others, is an aspiration whose time seemingly has expired.

Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org.

November 4, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes, Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

Venezuela Repudiates the Israeli Bombing of Ambulances in Gaza

teleSUR | November 3, 2023

On Friday, Venezuela strongly repudiated the new massacre committed by Israel against ambulances that were preparing to leave the Al Shifa hospital towards the Rafah crossing.

“This constitutes a new Nazi-style war crime, for which responsibilities must be determined at the international level,” the Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Ministry stated.

“The world must not remain indifferent to the atrocities that the state of Israel continues to commit. The barbarism must stop, and those responsible must be tried at the International Criminal Court,” it added.

“Venezuela urges the international community to mobilize and immediately demand a ceasefire, stop the genocide, undertake humanitarian assistance actions for the population of Gaza, and enforce United Nations resolutions for the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian State.”

On Friday, the Israeli bombing of the Palestinian ambulance convoy left dozens of patients, paramedics and bystanders injured and dead. Since Oct. 7, the Israeli bombings have killed 136 paramedics and destroyed 126 hospitals, 50 medical centers, and 25 ambulances.

“Israel is bombing at least three hospitals at the time: Al Quds, Al Shifa and Indonesia,” Italian journalist Cesare Sacchetti said, commenting that the Israelis “this time are not even trying to deny what happened or blame Hamas. They are simply pretending that nothing happened.”

“This time, however, Israel can do nothing to hide the evidence of its crimes on social media. The entire world knows today that Zionism is nothing more than an ideology based on Jewish supremacism,” he added.

November 4, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Honduras recalls envoy from occupied territories citing Israeli violations in Gaza

Press TV – November 3, 2023

Honduras has recalled its ambassador from the occupied territories for consultations amid the Israeli regime’s hugely deadly and devastating war against the Gaza Strip.

The Honduran foreign ministry announced the development on Friday, citing Tel Aviv’s violations of the international humanitarian law in Gaza.

The country’s top diplomat confirmed the development in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Amid the grave humanitarian situation, the Palestinian civilian population suffers in the Gaza Strip, the government of President Xiomara Castro has decided to immediately call Mr. Roberto Martinez, ambassador of the Republic of Honduras in Israel, to consultations in Tegucigalpa,” read the post by Enrique Reina.

On Friday, the 28th day of Israel’s genocidal attacks on the coastal territory, the death toll reached at least 9,227 people, including 3,826 children and more than 2,405 women. At least 23,516 people have been wounded.

The regime launched the war after Gaza’s resistance groups conducted Operation al-Aqsa Storm, their biggest operation against the occupying entity in years.

So far, Chile and Colombia have similarly recalled their envoys from the occupied territories, while Bolivia has moved to sever its diplomatic ties with the occupying entity.

On Thursday, Bahrain’s lower house of parliament said the country had halted its economic relations with the Israeli regime over the war.

The chamber also confirmed that the Israeli ambassador to the kingdom had left Bahrain, and that Manama had decided to return the Bahraini ambassador from the occupied territories.

November 4, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Amnesty International: A Template for Futility

Even in the worst period of the repression during the apartheid era in South Africa, the armed forces never bombed the townships
— Ronnie Kasrils, March 2009
BY PAUL DE ROOIJ • UNZ REVIEW • NOVEMBER 3, 2023

One would hope that human rights NGOs would be influential, be tools to mobilise the public against oppression and barbarity, and maybe be of use in making the perpetrators of crimes accountable… Or is it the case that human rights NGOs are instruments of propaganda, means to deflect action against state power, and even instrumental in justifying state violence and war? Maybe Amnesty International’s latest press releases and the inevitable “reports” will enable one to determine on which side of the ledger its actions fall.

Yet again the Palestinians face massive Israeli attacks against Gaza, and the retail bombing of the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, and even Egypt. Israelis engage in these attacks every four or five years; they call them “mowing the lawn operations”. Inevitably, the human rights NGOs utter clucking sounds, and issue press releases and reports; some of their insufferable researchers will appear on TV mouthing predictable trite statements. And if past experience is any guide, all that effort will be an exercise in futility. Who reads these materials, have they ever led to any action or change of state policy, or have they galvanised a public into action? The answer is self-evident.

Amnesty’s output also suggests that they are a lazy bunch incapable of improving their “product” to make it more effective. Invariably they utilise the same template; they just fill in the blanks whenever the level of violence has propelled a “conflict” onto the front pages or to the top of the hour news reporting. The template requires distressing clucking sounds about the violence, and a tally of those killed; it provides a few individual examples of violations. It then blames “both sides,” and asserts that the Palestinian violence was “horrific” and “indiscriminate”; both sides have perpetrated war crimes. It then urges both sides to cease and desist; return to the status quo ante. And finally, it calls on the “international community” to impose an arms embargo on “both sides”. And “independent” investigators should be allowed in to compile evidence of war crimes. That is it.

Basic Background

Gaza has been under military occupation and control for decades, and extreme Israeli violence has punctuated its history. Massacres, bombings, assassinations have been regular features; each military attack is increasingly more destructive and violent than the preceding ones. Furthermore, since 2006 Gaza was transformed into the largest open air prison with Israeli forces controlling who enters/exits the exclave; walls, razor wire fences, and watch towers armed with robotic machine guns surround the area; drones buzz overhead every day, especially at night. Dov Weissglas, a close confidant of Ariel Sharon, quipped that they’d put Gaza “on a diet”. Israelis calculated the basic caloric intake required to maintain the population just above starvation, and proceeded to limit food imports to that level; airplanes sprayed herbicides on crops, and even small allotments. The water supplied into Gaza was polluted with high levels of salt and over-fluoridation. Unemployment rate in Gaza has been staggeringly high. Gazans have lived in a terrible situation for many years. Non-violent resistance was brutally crushed. With no prospects political or negotiated solution what were Palestinians supposed to do?

It is this history that must serve as the foundation to guide solidarity with the Palestinians, and for any organisation to channel efforts to ameliorate the situation. It behooves us to understand why human rights NGOs are a failure by design; to understand why the human rights babble is equally a cruel fraud. Here is an explanation of this failure in Eight Acts:

They are so ahistorical…

Given the above snapshot history, the nature of the crimes requires recognising them as crimes against humanity, arguably one of the most serious crimes under international law. Second, Israeli crimes put the violence of the Palestinian resistance into perspective. Palestinians have a right to defend themselves. Third, the long history of violence perpetrated against the Palestinians, and the resulting power imbalance, suggest that one should be in solidarity with the victim.

Amnesty however refuses to acknowledge the serious nature of Israeli crimes, by using an intellectually bankrupt subterfuge; it insists that as a rights-based organisation it cannot refer to historical context; doing so would be considered “political” in its warped jargon. An examination of what AI considers “background” in its press releases/reports confirms that there is virtually no reference to relevant history, e.g., the prior attacks on Gaza, who initiated those attacks, the Goldstone report, etc. Presto! Now there is no need to mention serious crimes. Every time AI issues the same statements and even some reports; they are written from the same template. They may change a few details, but each of their statements and reports studiously ignores the previous attacks as if history didn’t matter. It also doesn’t recognise the nature of the Palestinian resistance, and their right to self-defence. Nowhere does AI acknowledge that Palestinians are entitled to defend themselves. And finally, AI cannot express solidarity with the victim; hey, “both sides” are victims!

Criminalising Palestinian Resistance

When Palestinians were engaged in non-violent demonstrations in front of the walls / fences surrounding Gaza, AI didn’t have much to say about the demonstrators who were shot by snipers. A demonstrator in a wheelchair shot and killed; dozens of demonstrators shot in the knee, kids flying kites shot, a journalist operating a drone killed… There are many Palestinian prisoners arbitrarily imprisoned, and when some of them engage in months-long hunger strikes, even resulting in death, AI barely utters a peep. So, non-violent resistance didn’t deliver much, and thus armed resistance seemed to be the only option.

When the Palestinians launch crude inaccurate missiles this is deemed “indiscriminate” in nature and ipso facto a war crime. AI also deems the taking of hostages to exchange for Palestinian prisoners to be a war crime. Attacking Israel and in the process killing civilians is also deemed beyond the pale. So Amnesty’s gang is not willing to state anything constructive about the Palestinian resistance other than to chastise them with accusations of serious crimes.

A blatant double standard is at play. Palestinian weapons are rudimentary and are not precise, and AI labels these as “indiscriminate” thus unlawful. On the other hand, Israeli weapons that are very accurate used to deliberately target civilians, hospitals, mosques, bakeries, ambulances, etc. These weapons are fine and dandy; AI will merely state that an independent body might have to “investigate war crimes” — knowing full well the fraudulent nature of these so-called independent investigations. What is worse: using inaccurate weapons that may result in civilian deaths, or use very accurate weapons to intentionally kill civilians? And what about the scale and proportionality of the weapons? Most Palestinian weapons are small, and not very lethal. Israelis use huge bombs to flatten buildings, hospitals, … with inevitable civilian deaths. For every Palestinian rocket, how many Israeli bombs have dropped? Amnesty usually reports the former, but not the latter.

When resistance fighters take hostages (both civilian and military) AI deems this to be a war crime. On the other hand, when Israeli forces routinely round up Palestinian civilians and arbitrarily imprisons them, this merits no comment. The use of an Israeli military kangaroo court to rubber stamp the imprisonment order is enough to keep Amnesty at bay. Recent video footage shows that Palestinian resistance fighters were captured alive, but a few minutes later they were executed. Does this merit any AI reproach? AI has a pompous sounding “Evidence Investigation Unit” — they may be taking a little nap now.

Addressing Apartheid

In its 26 October 2023 press release AI states: “The root causes of the conflict to be addressed, including through dismantling Israel’s system of apartheid against all Palestinians.” Maybe uttering this statement about 40 or 50 years ago would have been a bold statement. But as Ronnie Kasrils, the great anti-apartheid fighter, stressed: the Palestinians face a system of oppression far more serious, pernicious and violent than what was experienced in South Africa during the 1960-70s. The current Israeli policy is meant to drive the Palestinians off their land (ethnic cleansing) and it doesn’t shy away from implementing a genocidal plan. Amnesty lags behind these developments.

Appeals to the international community

In the 26 October press release, AI also states: “The international community to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on all parties to the conflict given that serious violations amounting to crimes under international law are being committed.” The day after the 7 October attack, the US and UK started flying in military materiel — by now amounting to about 60 military cargo plane deliveries. The US is itself militarily involved having assembled an armada in the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf; it has sent senior military officers to advice on the attack on Gaza; and a US Seal team is on location. Thus AI’s statement is yet another example of its futility and impotence; maybe it was meant to add a bit of comic relief.

But this time it is different…

While in the past, Amnesty could engage in its ritual press releases and reports, and eventually revert to its regular routine, the current attack on Gaza may force Amnesty to adopt a different stance or risk exposure of its true spineless and duplicitous nature.

Top Israeli politicians and military officers have ordered cutting off Gaza’s access to food, water, and fuel; outright state that all inhabitants “are not innocent,” are “human animals,” that “there is no safe place in Gaza,” “There is no symmetry; the children in the Gaza Strip brought this on themselves,”or recite Deuteronomy 25:19 to smite the Amalek. Other religious figures have chimed in with other vengeful and chilling religious utterances. The same chapter in Deuteronomy urges Israelis to prise open the jaws of the Amalek and pour molten lead into their throats. (NB: this gave rise to the 2008 operation name “Cast Lead”.) Arnon Soffer, the infamous demographer, stated (2004): “we will have to kill and kill and kill. All day, every day.” And finally, a bevy of foreign prime minsters/presidents has flown in to repeat that: “Israel has a right to defend itself”. None of these dignitaries uttered a word urging restraint or a return to negotiations, let alone observance of international humanitarian law. Israel was given a green light to do whatever it wants with no impediments, and as a matter of fact, with the aid of recently flown-in military materiel. The UN will be rendered impotent given the US veto; and the lame ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel, thus any meaningful war crimes tribunal will never materialise.

So will Amnesty pursue its business as usual or opt for a stronger stance — preferably a pronouncement by a coalition of NGOs and solidarity activists. There will be an answer within a month.

The feces smellers

Agnes Callamard, AI’s Secretary General, is possibly one of the better and most outspoken general secretaries; there is no doubt that she is a well intentioned person. Many of her statements are clear and strong statements, but they are clearly limited by AI’s overall posture. But her stance is very much like that of a person who finds a fresh piece of feces in her path. After studying the sample, tasting it, and sniffing it, declares “that an independent investigation is necessary to determine if Israel committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.” So why does AI hesitate to make a strong statement about Israel? It has to do with its funding; a strong stand would upset the main donors.

The nature of human rights organisations

Many little NGOs have popped up that are merely meant to assuage the liberal conscience. Thus one may be worried that bananas were produced under harmful and exploitative conditions, and thus a little sticker on the banana may warm the liberal soul. The sticker they offer is merely meant to reduce consumer hesitancy when buying a product. The human rights NGOs perform very much the same function. When sordid and violent acts occur somewhere in the world, well intentioned concerned individuals may want to do something about it. And what could be easier than sending a donation to a human rights NGO! You will even get an Amnesty sticker to paste on your forehead to boast your liberal righteousness. Furthermore, the NGO will enlist well intentioned people to perform next to useless tasks like writing overly polite letters to dubious politicians seeking to improve the prison conditions of their adopted “prisoner of conscience”. Resources and effort are deflected away from pressuring domestic politicians to stop aiding and abetting mass crimes. There seems to be no downside to the back slapping politicians visiting Netanyahu encouraging greater mass crimes. Where are the activists clamouring to stop weapons deliveries to Israel from the US, UK and Germany?

And of course, Israel views the human rights NGOs as a necessary nuisance — easily ignored. While volunteers write overly polite letters, the paper shredders in Israel are whirring away. There is no effective action sought by the human rights NGOs which would cause Israel to take notice. In the very least, the human rights NGOs could heed Palestinian civil society’s call to implement a boycott of Israel. The boycott campaign was effective against apartheid South Africa, and given that the Palestinians face conditions that are orders of magnitude worse than apartheid, it would suggest a boycott campaign would be in order. Amnesty claims to have seven million followers, thus a call to implement a boycott would have more effect than the empty exhortations to governments to do nothing.

In the end, one cannot expect an organisation to change its spots after such a long and dubious history which includes trumpeting for war (AI was instrumental in pushing the throwing-babies-out-of-incubators hoax), pushing state propaganda (e.g., putting Croatian propagandists on tour in the US to push the “rape camp” slur), and many more. Amnesty International was created by a Zionist, it is difficult to countenance that a critique of Israel would be tolerated even today. Amnesty International Israel was run for many years by Israeli Foreign Ministry officers; this gang blocked critical reporting and played the gate keeper function. Amnesty never responded to the revelation of the penetration of its Israeli branch. Even today, as Amnesty’s website shows, the Israeli branch of the organisation is based in Tel Aviv. Maybe a clarification about its contribution and about its personnel may be in order. AI must be aware that several prominent Palestinians refuse to meet with them. And if the Israeli branch contributes to or edits its reportage, then AI must confront the ethics of producing Palestinian human rights coverage by Israeli personnel. During the war in Yugoslavia, Serbian researchers were not allowed to report on the condition of Croatians, Bosnians; the evident bias was not tolerated. But when it comes to Palestinian issues, a different standard applies.

During the 1970s Dr. Israel Shahak, the well known scientist and activist, headed a human rights organisation which translated Hebrew texts into English. He related how the state attempted to harass and interfere with his organisation. Break-ins, intimidation, destruction of archives, and planting their own operatives in the organisation leading to successful violent takeover of the organisation. So, does Amnesty-Israel have the same fraught relationship with the state? Or are they on chummy terms with Israeli officials? If the latter, there may be a reason for that.

And then there is snake oil

Pushing for the observance of human rights doesn’t necessarily imply that one will obtain justice. The human rights agenda merely softens the edges of the status quo. As Amnesty’s position on the Israeli attacks on Gaza illustrate, pushing human rights can actually be incompatible with obtaining justice. Human rights are a bastardised, neutered, and debased form of justice. The application and effectiveness of international law is bad enough, but a pick and choose legal framework with no enforcement is even worse. If one seeks justice, then it is best to avoid the human rights discourse; above all, it is best to avoid human rights organisations. If one wants justice it is best to avoid the discourse that only delivers bandages.

Palestinians should be wary of sanctimonious do-gooders peddling human rights snake oil. In exchange for giving up their resistance and complying with AI’s norms, it is not likely that Palestinians will obtain a pixel of justice. One should be wary of human rights groups that don’t push for justice, play the role of Israel’s lawyer, and are bereft of solidarity with the victims. During the Algerian war for independence, Frantz Fanon related that whenever a European would come to talk with him about “human rights,” his urge was to fetch a gun. Palestinians could learn something from this. When the likes of Amnesty come wagging their finger, it is best to keep the old blunderbuss near at hand.

November 3, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Progressive Hypocrite, Subjugation - Torture, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

ALL OUT FOR PALESTINE in Washington, DC, and everywhere around the world, November 4!

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

In the United States, Saturday Nov. 4 is a major national mobilization to Washington, DC, to confront imperialism in the belly of the beast. It is on track to be the largest demonstration for Palestine in U.S. history. Around the world, from Johannesburg to Caracas to Beirut, from Santiago to Vancouver to Tokyo, people will march for Palestinian liberation. Samidoun is one of hundreds upon hundreds of organizations endorsing and supporting this major mobilization.

If you are in the United States and can come to Washington, DC, we urge you to join the mass mobilization and demonstrate popular power and resistance to imperialism and Zionism! 

Samidoun is collecting demonstrations and actions around the world on the Global Calendar of Resistance for Palestine. TO ADD YOUR EVENT TO THE CALENDAR: Email us at samidoun@samidoun.net or tag us on social media! We know that these events are mainly international and that the Arab people are marching everywhere for Palestine — we will be honored to add Arab events.

Please attend all of these events and actions in your area. The genocide is continuing — and the resistance is still rising. ALL OUT FOR PALESTINE!

Saturday, November 4

Sunday, November 5

November 3, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism | | Leave a comment

Russia, Israel, and the Law of War Regarding Civilians

By Scott Ritter – Sputnik – 03.11.2023

There has been much discussion in the aftermath of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israeli military bases and settlements in the vicinity of Gaza related to issues of legitimate self-defense and the legality surrounding Israel’s use of force in response to that attack.

Inevitably, this discussion leads to an effort to compare Russia’s conduct in the Special Military Operation with Israel’s behavior to date regarding Gaza. The particular example of Mariupol is often raised as a point of comparison with the ongoing Israeli operation in Gaza. While it is far too soon to be able to make such a direct comparison of those two battles, one can examine the foundation of international law relied upon by both Russia and Israel in justifying their respective military operations. Sadly, Israel is found wanting.

Russia has cited the inherent right of individual and collective self-defense, as enshrined in Article 51 of the Charter, as justification for the initiation of its military operation.

Article 51 reads as follows:

“Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defense shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.”

In his address announcing the initiation of the special operation, Russian President Vladimir Putin laid out a case for pre-emption, detailing the threat that NATO’s eastward expansion posed to Russia, as well as Ukraine’s ongoing military operations against the Russian-speaking people of the Donbass.

NATO and Ukraine, Putin declared, “did not leave us [Russia] any other option for defending Russia and our people, other than the one we are forced to use today. In these circumstances, we have to take bold and immediate action. The people’s republics of Donbass have asked Russia for help. In this context, in accordance with Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, with permission of Russia’s Federation Council, and in execution of the treaties of friendship and mutual assistance with the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic, ratified by the Federal Assembly on February 22, I made a decision to carry out a special military operation.”

Russia’s President set forth a cognizable claim under the doctrine of anticipatory collective self-defense as it applies to Article 51, citing the ongoing, imminent threat to the Russian-speaking population of the Donbass from a brutal eight-year-long bombardment that had killed thousands of people.

For its part, Israel has repeatedly cited its inherent right to self-defense when justifying its ongoing military operations in Gaza. But Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, has rejected that claim, declaring that, “as an occupying power, it [Israel] does not have that power.”

Nebenzia’s argument is founded in a 2004 advisory opinion written by the International Court of Justice. “Article 51 of the Charter,” the court wrote, “thus recognizes the existence of an inherent right of self-defense in the case of armed attack by one State against another State. However, Israel does not claim that the attacks against it are imputable to a foreign State.”

The ICJ did not say that “Israel has to face numerous indiscriminate and deadly acts of violence against its civilian population,” adding that Israel “has the right, and indeed the duty, to respond in order to protect the life of its citizens.” However, the ICJ found, any measures taken by Israel must be “in conformity with applicable international law” As such, in so far as Gaza and much of the land that currently constitutes the territory of Israel can be considered “occupied territory” under international law, and noting that the threat Israel is responding to originates from within, and not outside, this occupied territory, Israel cannot invoke the right of self-defense based upon any claim of a “state of necessity” in order to preclude the wrongfulness of its occupation of Palestinian territory, under Article 51 of the UN Charter.

According to Nebenzia, Israel’s right to security “can be fully guaranteed only in the case of a just solution to the Palestinian problem on the basis of the well-known UN Security Council resolutions. We don’t deny Israel’s right to fight terror,” the Ambassador noted, “but fight terrorists and not civilians.”

Having established that Russia, in its conflict with Ukraine, has acted in conformity with international law by adhering to the requirements set forth under Article 51 of the UN Charter regarding self-defense, and that Israel is, due to its status as an occupying power operating in direct contravention of international law, not able to cite legitimate self-defense under Article 51 as a justification for its actions, the question now moves on to the question of whether or not either Russia or Israel executes their respective military missions in a manner which conforms to the standard set under international humanitarian law.

The key considerations that distinguish a legitimate act of war from a war crime is the concept of “military necessity.” Military necessity, by definition, “permits measures which are actually necessary to accomplish a legitimate military purpose and are not otherwise prohibited by international humanitarian law. In the case of an armed conflict the only legitimate military purpose is to weaken the military capacity of the other parties to the conflict.”

The issue of “distinction” becomes paramount when discussing any question of “military necessity.” The notion of “distinction” ensures that parties to an armed conflict must “at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives, and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives.” The distinction prohibits “indiscriminate attacks and the use of indiscriminate means and methods of warfare,” such as carpet bombing, or an artillery bombardment which lacked a specific military purpose.

“Military necessity” and “distinction” serve as the core principles around which the international community has codified specific acts that constitute war crimes in the form of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, in particular Article 8 (War Crimes). These include:

  • Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities;
  • Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives;
  • Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units, or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict; and
  • Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects.

Regarding their respective battles for Mariupol and Gaza, both Russia and Israel have been accused of engaging in activity that violates all of the acts described above. The main point that distinguishes Russia from Israel in this regard is that Russian doctrine specifically prohibits the behavior described. Israeli doctrine, both written and spoken, embraces it.

During the 2006 Lebanon War, Israel Defense Force Northern Commander Gadi Eisenkot implemented a military strategy that sought to target and destroy entire civilian areas rather than engage in difficult and dangerous ground combat necessary to capture them. The goal of this strategy was more than simply trying to reduce Israeli casualties—the stated purpose of this new approach was to hold the entire civilian population accountable for the actions of Hezbollah fighters. Eisenkot did away with the requirement under international law to distinguish between military and civilian targets. This new doctrine was first used on the West Beirut Dahiya neighborhood, and the doctrine took its name from this location—the “Dahiya” Doctrine.

The “Dahiya Doctrine” specifically calls for the deliberate targeting of civilian populations and civilian infrastructure for the specific purpose of causing suffering and severe distress throughout the targeted population. The goal was to simultaneously destroy any enemy in the targeted area, to intimidate the targeted population into turning on the militants (in the case Hezbollah), and to deter other population centers from supporting Hezbollah. The “Dahiya Doctrine” was used extensively against Gaza since 2008, killing thousands of civilians. In its definition and through its execution, the “Dahiya Doctrine” amounts to nothing less than state terrorism, which means that the Israeli military, through its implementation of this policy, has become a state sponsor of terrorism.

As the facts emerge about the performance of the Russian military during the battle for Mariupol, it becomes crystal clear that the Russian soldiers behaved in an exemplary fashion, putting themselves at risk to ensure that the principles of distinction and military necessity were applied liberally and well within the spirit and letter of international law.

One cannot make a similar claim about the Israeli Defense Force and Gaza, where the “Dahiya Doctrine” is being executed with a vengeance.

November 3, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spanish MP calls for coercive measures against Israel

Palestine Information Center | November 3, 2023

MADRID – Spanish MP and member of the European Parliament Idoia Villanueva has condemned what is happening in the Gaza Strip as a “real genocide in 2023 with complete impunity and complicity from the international community, the US administration and the European Union as well.”

“The ongoing atrocities and war crimes committed by Israel, the colonial power, against the population under occupation are considered a war crime, and all this is done in the dark,” she said.

“The cutting off of supplies, electricity, water and fuel exacerbates the situation and further harms the civilian population, which is another crime against the international humanitarian law, causing hospitals to stop functioning and causing massive loss of life,” she said.

“The attempted forced displacement of populations is also a war crime and contrary to the international humanitarian law, and a few days ago, communications and the internet were cut off in an attempt to carry out this genocide,” Villanueva said.

The Spanish MP called on the international community to do much more, adding that “it is unfortunate that the European Union is lost in the maze of expressions and words calling for a ceasefire.”

She called for coercive measures, such as arms embargoes and sanctions, against Israeli officials, as well as the suspension of European funds to Israeli arms companies currently contributing to these systematic human rights violations.

Villanueva also called for “the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement due to these crimes and violations, accountability before the International Criminal Court, and moving forward with the recognition of the State of Palestine in order to somehow pressure Israel.”

“If the international community and Europe do not act and put an end to this genocide, they will carry a horrific stigma,” the lawmaker warned.

November 3, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

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