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Five Palestinian minors say they were severely beaten, tortured by Israeli soldiers during detention

Israeli occupation forcing detaining Palestinian minors in the occupied territories
WAFA – February 2, 2021

Five Palestinian minors said they were severely beaten and tortured by Israeli soldiers and interrogators during detention, today said the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs.

It said it got affidavits from the five minors, who gave details of the beating and torture they were subjected to at the hands of Israeli soldiers and security agents during arrest and interrogation.

Mustafa Salameh, 17, was detained at his family home in Azzoun town, east of the northern West Bank city of Qalqilya. He was beaten with the butt of guns, smacked and kicked around, then shoved into an army jeep where he was thrown on the floor as soldiers kept trampling on him with their army boots, and kicking him while cursing him.

He said in his affidavit that he lost consciousness after that for a while and when he woke up he found himself in Jalama detention center where he was later interrogated for long hours while tied to a chair before being moved to the Majeddo prison for minors.

Mohammad Zalloum, 17, was detained at his family home in Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem. He was dragged out of his house, severely punched on his stomach causing him to vomit, and then moved to Asqalan detention center where he was kept in the cells for 23 days, occasionally severely beaten.

Hani Rmeilat, 17, from Jenin refugee camp in the north of the West Bank, was interrogated in difficult conditions at Jalama detention center, assaulted with clubs by five prison guards causing him bruises on his body which required hospitalization at an Israeli hospital, after which he was taken back to the Jalama prison where he was kept for 20 days before being moved to Majeddo prison.

Majd Waari, 17, from Beit Hanina neighborhood of East Jerusalem, underwent severe interrogation at the infamous Russian Compound detention center in West Jerusalem for several hours while tied up on a small chair, smacked on the face and insulted.

Munir Arqoub, 17, from Kufr Ein, north of Ramallah, was detained at the Beit El military checkpoint north of Ramallah, attacked by three soldiers and thrown to the ground, beaten severely, then thrown into an army jeep before he was taken to a nearby military base. He was there left in an open area during cold weather conditions for several hours and denied sleep. He was taken the next day to Ofer military camp and detention center for interrogation and then moved to Majeddo prison.

The Commission said Israel is holding 170 Palestinian minors in its prisons, most of them were subjected to some form of cruelty, abuse, and brutality during their arrest.

February 2, 2021 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , , | Leave a comment

The Palestinian boycott of Israel is not racist, it is anti-racist

By Ramzy Baroud | MEMO | February 2, 2021

The claims made by Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang in a recent op-ed in the Jewish weekly The Forward, point to the prevailing ignorance that continues to dominate the US discourse on Palestine and Israel. Yang is a former Democratic Presidential candidate and is vying for the Jewish vote in New York City.

According to the reductionist assumption that all Jews must naturally support Israel and Zionism, Yang constructed an argument that is based entirely on a tired and false mantra equating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. His pro-Israel logic is not only unfounded, but also confused.

“A Yang administration will push back against the BDS movement which singles out Israel for unfair economic punishment,” he wrote, referring to the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Shamelessly, Yang compared BDS to the “fascist boycotts of Jewish businesses”, most likely a reference to the infamous Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses in Germany, starting in April 1933.

Not only does Yang fail to construct his argument in any historically defensible fashion, but he also claims that BDS is “rooted in anti-Semitic thought and history.” The concept of BDS is indeed rooted in history, but not that of Nazi Germany and anti-Semitism. It goes back to the Palestinian General Strike of 1936, when the Palestinian Arab population took collective action to hold colonial Britain accountable for its unfair and violent treatment of Palestinian Muslims and Christians. Colonial Britain backed the political aspirations of European Zionists who wanted to establish a “Jewish homeland” in Palestine.

Sadly, the efforts of the indigenous Palestinians failed, and the State of Israel became a reality in 1948; nearly one million Palestinian refugees were uprooted and ethnically cleansed as a result of a violent and very deliberate Zionist campaign, the aftershocks of which continue to this day. Israel’s ongoing military occupation and apartheid are all rooted in that tragic history.

This is the reality that the boycott movement is trying to change. No anti-Semitic, Nazi or — according to Yang’s ahistorical account — “fascist” love affair is at work here; just a beleaguered and oppressed nation struggling for its most basic and legitimate rights.

Yang’s ignorant and self-serving comments were duly answered appropriately by many anti-Zionist Jewish intellectuals and other activists across the US and around the world. Alex Kane, a writer in Jewish Currents, for example, tweeted that Yang made “a messed up, wrong comparison”, and that the politician “comes across as deeply ignorant about Palestine, Palestinians and BDS.” US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) added their voices to numerous others, all pointing to Yang’s opportunism, lack of understanding of history and distorted logic.

However, this goes beyond Yang, as the debate over BDS in the US is almost entirely rooted in fallacious comparisons and ignorance, of history and much else. Those who had hoped that the unceremonious end of the Donald Trump Administration would bring about a measure of justice for the Palestinian people will surely be disappointed, as the American discourse on Palestine and Israel rarely changes, regardless of which president is in the White House and what political party dominates Congress.

Hence, reducing the boycott debate to Yang’s confused account of history and reality is, in itself, a reductionist understanding of US politics. Indeed, similar language was used by President Joe Biden’s nominee for America’s UN envoy, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, during her confirmation hearing at the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee on 27 January7. Like Yang, Thomas-Greenfield conflates legitimate criticism of the state of Israel and its apartheid policies with racism. Boycotting Israel is “unacceptable” and “verges on anti-Semitism,” she told Senators.

The presumptive envoy supported the return of the US to the Human Rights Council, UNESCO and other UN-affiliated organisations. Her reasoning for such a move, though, is merely to ensure that Washington has a place “at the table” so that it may monitor and discourage any criticism of Israel.

Yang, Thomas-Greenfield and others perpetuate such inaccurate comparisons with full confidence that they have strong support among the country’s ruling elites from the two dominant political parties. They do. Moreover, according to the latest count produced by the pro-Israel Jewish Virtual Library website, “32 [US] states have adopted laws, executive orders or resolutions that are designed to discourage boycotts against Israel.”

In fact, the criminalisation of the entirely peaceful boycott movement has taken centre stage of the federal government in Washington DC. Anti-boycott legislation was passed with overwhelming majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives in recent years and more is expected to follow.

The popularity of such measures prompted former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to declare the Israel boycott movement to be anti-Semitic. Standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a press conference in the illegal settlement of Psagot in November, Pompeo described BDS as “a cancer”.

While Pompeo’s position is unsurprising, as members of minority groups that have suffered immense racism and discrimination, it behoves Yang and Thomas-Greenfield to brush up on the history of popular boycott movements in their own country. The boycott weapon was a very effective platform to translate political dissent into tangible achievements for oppressed Black people in the heyday of the US civil rights movement in the mid-20th century. Arguably the most memorable and consequential of these boycotts was the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955.

Moreover, beyond America, numerous volumes have been written about how the boycott of the White supremacist apartheid government in South Africa ignited a global movement which, combined with the sacrifices of non-white South Africans, brought apartheid to an end in the early 1990s.

The Palestinian people do not learn history from Yang and others, but from the collective experiences of oppressed peoples and nations around the world. They are guided by the wisdom of Dr Martin Luther King Jr., who once said, “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

The boycott movement aims to hold the oppressor colonial state of Israel accountable as it places a price tag on its military occupation and apartheid. Not only is the Palestinian boycott movement not racist, but it is essentially an anti-racist rallying cry against oppression.

February 2, 2021 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism, Timeless or most popular | , , , , | Leave a comment

Biden/Harris Aren’t Serious About Rejoining the JCPOA

By Stephen Lendman | February 2, 2021

Time and again, public rhetoric of US officials and actions are world’s apart — why trusting them to do the right thing is foolhardy.

Candidate Biden publicly favored returning to the JCPOA nuclear deal Trump unlawfully abandoned in May 2018.

Selected, not elected, Biden won’t rejoin the landmark agreement unless Iran agrees to his regime’s unacceptable first-step demands.

Straightaway in his tenure, hardliners surrounding Biden seem more intent on abandoning the JCPOA than rejoining it by their rhetoric and actions.

Having breached the deal, it’s for the US to take good faith first steps by reversing Trump’s unlawfully imposed sanctions — a step the new US regime appears unwilling to do.

Iran vowed to reciprocate in good faith if Biden does the right thing by observing his obligations under Security Council Res. 2231.

Instead of agreeing to comply as the rule of law demands, the hardline new US regime is going the other way.

Based on what’s gone on since replacing Trump on January 20, unacceptable US hostility toward Iran appears unbending.

It’s an ominous sign for what may lie ahead.

To his credit, Trump launched no new hot wars on invented enemies.

Bush/Cheney raped and destroyed Afghanistan, Yemen and Iraq.

Obama/Biden continued inherited wars, waging its own on nonbelligerent Libya and Syria.

To his discredit, Trump continued wars he inherited, breaching his vow to end them — along with waging all-out war by other means on China, Russia, Iran, and other nations free from US control.

In its first few days in office, the Biden/Harris regime shows it’ll continue dirty business as usual that includes hostile actions against nations free from US control.

Are plans in place for escalating hot war in Syria? Will intermittent fighting in Libya heat up?

Will war by other means on China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and other nations escalate?

Will one or more nations free from US control be preemptively attacked in the weeks or months ahead?

Will Biden regime rhetoric favoring return to the JCPOA be replaced by escalated harshness against Iran?

Will a US staged false flag trigger a hostile move already planned?

Was returning to the JCPOA rhetoric by Biden and regime hardliners surrounding him head fake deception all along?

Knowing how the US operates against nations unwilling to subordinate their sovereign rights to a higher power in Washington, Biden/Harris regime war on Iran by other means is far more likely than good faith steps toward returning to JCPOA compliance.

On Sunday, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf slammed Biden’s unacceptable demands on Iran, including Blinken’s hostile remarks, saying:

“Instead of setting preconditions for carrying out its commitments… Biden (and regime members surrounding him) must determine how it is going to fulfill the commitment to the removal of sanctions practically,” adding:

“Iran won’t take good faith first-step actions in return for US promises to be breached like before.”

“It is like we have paid the seller for a commodity, but have not received anything. Who would make such a bargain?”

Separately, Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif tweeted:

“Throughout that sordid mess, Iran abided by the JCPOA, only took foreseen remedial measures. Now, who should take 1st step?”

“Never forget Trump’s maximum failure.”

Claims by Blinken about wanting to negotiate with Iran on returning to the JCPOA — provided its government acts first with no assurance of compliance steps Biden may take — ring hollow.

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said the following:

“The US needs to return to its commitments, and if that happens, it will be possible to negotiate within the framework of the Joint Commission of the JCPOA.”

Unless Biden fully complies with SC Res. 2231 and lifts unlawfully imposed sanctions on Iran, preserving the JCPOA will be jeopardized.

Khatibzadeh stressed that rhetoric and signing “a piece of paper will not suffice.”

If Biden “intends to correct the US’ wrong path, it should take practical measures.” Nothing less is acceptable.

On Sunday, IRGC commander General Hossein Salami said Iranian self-sufficiency showed it can operate successfully with or without Washington’s return to the JCPOA and removal of sanctions.

Over the weekend, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) head Ali Akbar Salehi said the following:

Iran is “producing 20 grams (of 20% enriched uranium) every hour.”

“We are producing half a kilo every day.”

“We produce and store this 20% (enriched uranium) and if they return to the nuclear deal, we will return to our undertakings too.”

The AEOI is required to implement policies adopted by Iranian lawmakers.

“(B)oth the government and the AEOI have declared that they do not have any technical problems with implementation of parliament(ary) (laws) and we launched 20% enrichment within 24 hours.”

If the US complies with SC Res. 2231 requirements that include lifting unlawful sanctions on Iran, the above policy can be reversed with equal swiftness.

Iranian lawmakers approved the Strategic Counteractive Plan for Lifting Sanctions and Safeguarding Rights of Iranian People.

The measure highlights Iran’s legitimate right to use nuclear technology with no military component and be free from unlawfully imposed US sanctions.

It calls for increased production of 500 kg per month of uranium enriched to 20% purity and be stored at the Fordow nuclear site, along with other provisions being implemented.

If unlawful actions against Iran by the US and E3 countries are reversed, Iran will return to JCPOA compliance as affirmed by SC Res. 2231 in 2015.

If not, current actions permitted under the agreement’s Article 26 and 36 will continue.

At this time, rhetoric and actions by Biden/Harris suggest continued noncompliance with their JCPOA obligations.

If this policy continues unchanged, the landmark agreement will unravel altogether.

That’s where things appear heading — Iran no doubt to be falsely blamed for lawless US/E3 actions against the country.

If things turn out this way, it’ll be further proof that these countries can never be trusted.

Further negotiations with them will be a waste of time.

A Final Comment

Biden demands what Iran won’t accept — renegotiating the JCPOA to include restrictions on its legitimate missile program.

He also wants constraints on Iran’s lawful involvement with and support for Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

In response to unacceptable Biden regime demands, Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif said the US side in violation of its JCPOA obligations is in no position to demand conditions for Biden’s return to the landmark agreement.

Iran won’t change a single word in what was agreed on following years of negotiations, Zarif stressed.

The Security Council affirmed agreement is binding international and US constitutional law — what no nation can unilaterally change.

February 2, 2021 Posted by | Deception, Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

Netanyahu tells Biden how to deal with Iran

By Philip Giraldi • Unz Review • February 2, 2021

Anyone who persists in believing that the United States is not Israel’s poodle should pay attention to the comedy that is playing out right now. Joe Biden was [proclaimed] president for less than a week when the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu government announced that he would soon be receiving a possibly unwelcome visitor in the form of the Israeli foreign intelligence service Mossad’s chief Yossi Cohen, who will be flying to Washington in February to explain the correct policy when dealing with Iran. And lest there be any confusion on the issue, the Israel Defense Force chief of staff Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi also announced that any Biden attempt to mend fences with the Islamic Republic will have to meet certain conditions or Israel will exercise other options. He said “In light of this fundamental analysis, I have instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare a number of operational plans, in addition to those already in place. It will be up to the political leadership, of course, to decide on implementation but these plans need to be on the table.” Another government minister clarified that the options would include “an attack” on Iran, though there has been no indication whether or not Israel would possibly contemplate deploying its tactical nuclear weapons to prevent retaliation by Iranian forces.

There is no limit to Israeli hubris. A leading Rabbi in Israel is predicting that as the United States is in decline it is up to the Jewish state to take over the role of “guiding civilization forward.” And that kind of thinking shapes how Israel treats the United States with condescension, acting as if it is the knowledgeable elder statesman whose guidance must be respected. In this case the Zionist solution to the Iran problem will by design be unpalatable for the government in Tehran if it intends to remain sovereign. For Israel the correct policy for dealing with Iran is to effectively disarm it and make it impossible to establish any sphere of influence in the countries adjacent to it, to include Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. That would be to concede Israeli dominance over the entire region and if the Iranians do not play ball the next step would be to convince the United States to attack it on some pretext, possibly to include an Israeli “false flag” to start the process going.

The Times of Israel sums up the Israeli official position as “… Iran must halt the enriching of uranium; stop producing advanced centrifuges; cease supporting terror groups, foremost Lebanon’s Hezbollah; end its military presence in Iraq, Syria and Yemen; stop terror activity against Israeli targets overseas; and grant full access to the IAEA on all aspects of its nuclear program.” Completing the disarming of Iran would also include requiring Tehran to abandon its ballistic missile program.

The irony is, of course, that it is Israel that has a secret nuclear arsenal that it created by stealing uranium and triggers from the United States and it is also the leading regional supporter of terrorist groups, to include al-Qaeda and ISIS. Iran’s presence in Syria is due to its lending assistance to the Damascus government’s resistance to the insurgencies supported by Israel and the United States. And Iran has not targeted Israeli citizens and groups overseas, but Israel and the U.S. have assassinated Iranian officials while also bombing both government and civilian targets in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. And all of the kinetics occur in a context where Israel continues its illegal occupation of Palestine and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people replete with both war crimes and crimes against humanity. Iran is also a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Israel is not, so who is the rogue state?

Biden will likely fold like a cheap suit when confronted by the force majeure of Cohen. The new American president has assembled a national security team for dealing with the Middle East that is nearly all Jewish and all Zionist, an affliction that he himself claims to suffer from. The Biden nominee for secretary of state Tony Blinken said at a confirmation hearing last week that the new administration would “consult with Israel” before any possible return to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal and he also made clear that there would be additional conditions for Iran. It was an odd comment for a government official who is supposed to support American interests, but it was predictably what Congress wanted to hear. As Iran has already indicated that it is unwilling to abandon its defenses and its role in the region, the Biden proposal will be a non-starter in any case, though Israel will be prepared to apply its own veto if anything undertaken by the State Department moves beyond the talking stage.

Currently there is credible speculation that Israeli intelligence has been able to compromise most if not all of the U.S. government’s information systems as well as those of major corporations. As the Jewish state is the most active in spying against the United States, that should surprise no one. For Israel to interfere in U.S. politics or government blatantly is not exactly new, though it is rare to have anyone in the mainstream media or in government say anything about. That is because Israel’s ability to wage war against critics is second to none, having at its back nearly unlimited financial resources and easy access to the media as well as active supporters from among the nearly six hundred Jewish organizations that exist in the United States.

Indeed, Israel has been involved in American politics frequently, one might even argue incessantly, even if it is predictably never held accountable. To cite only one well known example, it has been suggested that Russiagate was really Israelgate based on what actually took place shortly after the 2016 election. The contact with Russia was set up by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was at the time seeking to kill an anti-Israeli vote in the United Nations. He sought to do so by lobbying Donald Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner on the matter shortly after the 2016 election. Netanyahu was particularly close to the Kushner family, having on at least one occasion slept overnight at their mansion in Manhattan.

Prompted by Netanyahu, Kushner dutifully contacted Trump National Security Advisor-designate Michael Flynn and asked him to privately call Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak to lobby Moscow to vote against the bill. There were two phone calls but Kislyak refused to cooperate. It should be noted that while all of this was taking place Barack Obama was still president and his intention to abstain on a vote on Israel’s illegal settlements is what provoked Netanyahu to act, so Netanyahu-Kushner-Flynn were subverting their own elected government and were definitely in the wrong. Flynn was subsequently thrown under the bus by his Jewish friends without any mention in the media of the Israeli role, thereby becoming the first casualty of “Russiagate.” He was subsequently forced to resign from his post in disgrace in February 2017.

The whole issue of the U.S.-Israel relationship constitutes one of the most formidable “red lines” in American politics as part of its power comes from the fact that the media and political classes pretend that it does not even exist. Israel’s power was poisonous enough prior to the election of Donald Trump, but Trump, “advised” by a gaggle of orthodox Jews, dramatically shifted the playing field to favor Israel in ways that will define the relationship for years to come. Biden’s team is little better and the president will be taking his orders from Jerusalem and saluting as long as he stays in the White House. Will it lead to a totally unnecessary and unwinnable war with Iran? That is what Israel demands above all, and Israel always gets what it wants.

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 https://councilforthenationalinterest.org address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org

February 2, 2021 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rights Group Calls on Israel to Immediately Release Palestinian UN Worker

UN employee and human rights activist, Shireen Al-Araj.
Palestine Chronicle | February 1, 2021

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor today expressed its grave concern over the Israeli authorities’ arrest of a UN Palestinian employee in Jerusalem, calling for her immediate and unconditional release.

The Israeli authorities arrested UN employee and human rights activist, Shireen Al-Araj, on January 25, in front of the Magistrate’s Court in Jerusalem. She was summoned to an interrogation on charges of “contacting with foreign clients and persons.”

Al-Araj, who holds an Israeli ID in addition to a UN diplomatic passport, had returned to the Palestinian territories after an Israeli ban that lasted for five years. Her lawyer had contacted her informing her that she has to return to the Palestinian territories to renew her residency papers or she will lose her residency and become a “refugee”, which will deny her entry into the Palestinian territories again.

On January 24, at the border between Jordan and the Palestinian territories, Al-Araj was interrogated upon her arrival, where she was ordered to go to the Magistrate’s Court in Jerusalem the next day for further investigation by the Israeli police.

As she arrived at the court, Israeli intelligence agents stopped Al-Araj near the court door, took her to her home, and confiscated her computers and mobile phones. After that, she was taken to Petah Tikva prison in central Israel. The Israeli authorities prevented her lawyer and an Israeli lawyer appointed by the UN from meeting her or even being with her during the interrogation.

Al-Araj has been working with the UN in several organizations and programs, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), the United Nations Population Fund and the Office of the High Commissioner in Turkey.

Israel restricts the work of UN workers in the Palestinian territories, despite the UN’s coordination with the Israeli authorities. The Israeli authorities also follow a strict policy with local and international human rights defenders and impose significant restrictions on granting them entry visas to Israel or accessing the Palestinian territories.

February 1, 2021 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , | Leave a comment

Hezbollah fighters intercept, shoot down Israeli reconnaissance drone in southern Lebanon

Press TV – February 1, 2021

The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement says it has intercepted and shot down an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle as it crossed into Lebanon’s airspace near the border village of Blida in the south of the Arab country.

Hezbollah said in a brief statement that the drone was struck on Monday morning, adding that it was now in the control of the drone. It did not provide any further details.

The Israeli military, however, asserted that the drone had fallen in Lebanese territory during an operation, alleging that “there is no risk of breach of information.”

The development came a day after Palestinian resistance fighters brought down an Israeli quadcopter conducting an espionage mission against the besieged Gaza Strip.

The drone was shot down on Sunday while taking images over Beit Hanoun Crossing, which is located on the enclave’s northern border with the occupied territories, the Arabic-language Palestine al-Yawm news agency reported.

Israel frequently violates Lebanon’s airspace. Lebanon’s government, Hezbollah and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) have repeatedly condemned Israel’s overflights, saying they are in clear violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and the country’s sovereignty.

The resolution, which brokered a ceasefire in the war Israel launched against Lebanon in 2006, calls on the Tel Aviv regime to respect Beirut’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

On August 23 last year, Hezbollah resistance movement said it had downed and seized an Israeli drone as it flew over the Lebanese border.

The Israeli military claimed back then that a drone had fallen in Lebanon during operational activity along Lebanese border, claiming that there was no risk of breach of information.

Tensions have been running high between Israel and Hezbollah since July 20 last year, when Tel Aviv killed Hezbollah member Ali Kamel Mohsen in an airstrike in Syria.

The Israeli military has placed its forces near the Lebanese and Syrian borders on high alert after Hezbollah promised retaliation.

Israeli forces shelled the Lebanese village of Habaria in late July 2020 to stop an alleged Hezbollah offensive, but the Lebanese movement dismissed the allegation, calling it the result of tension and confusion among Israeli forces.

February 1, 2021 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , , | Leave a comment

US military lands Daesh terrorists behind PMU positions in Jurf al-Sakhar: Report

Press TV – January 31, 2021

The US military airlifts groups of Daesh Takfiri terrorists to areas behind the positions of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in Jurf al-Sakhar region in the central province of Babil, says an Iraqi security expert.

Sabah al-Akili told Iraq’s al-Maloumeh news website on Sunday that the move is aimed at infiltrating and targeting the PMU positions and sabotaging power transmission lines.

“The strategic military goal of the US forces is to cause division in Jurf al-Sakhar in order to create a threat to nearby provinces and to invent a pretext for American forces to stay in Iraq,” he said.

Al-Akili argued that the move also provides a justification for the Iraqi government to ask the US troops to remain in the Arab country.

“Foreign and [Iraqi] political parties, backed by the US, are doing their utmost to drive the Hashd al-Sha’abi (PMU) forces out of Jurf al-Sakhar, which connects the provinces of Babil, al-Anbar and Baghdad via the holy [city of] Karbala,” he added.

The remarks came a day after the PMU announced its forces had thwarted an attack launched by the remnants of Daesh on Jurf al-Sakhar.

The PMU’s communication office said in a statement that the attack was repelled by the Al-Jazirah Operation Headquarters Command.

Jurf al-Sakhar was liberated from Daesh terrorists in 2014 in Operation Ashura, which was led by Iran’s top anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by the US military in January 2020, in an assassination lauded by Daesh. Over 200 Takfiri terrorists were killed during Operation Ashura.

Iraq declared victory over Daesh in December 2017, after over three years of death and destruction by the terrorist group against the Iraqi people. However, remnants of Daesh still carry out terrorist attacks across the country from time to time.

Earlier this month, a twin bombing by the Takfiri terrorist group in a busy square in Baghdad killed more than 30 people.

Iraq’s Kata’ib Hezbollah, which is part of the PMU, blamed the “American-Saudi-Israeli alliance” for the bombing, and warned that Iraqi resistance forces will target the main source of Takfiri violence.

“The perpetrators of the massacres in Iraq are the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel,” Abdul-Ali al-Asgari, Katai’b’s security chief, wrote in a tweet on January 24.

“Revenge should be exacted by retaliating against the source and fountainhead of fire, not its branches,” he added.

January 31, 2021 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, War Crimes, Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

Syria: A new policy is needed, but not this one

Former UK Ambassador to Syria, Peter Ford on the US “responsible statecraft” under Biden:

Just World Educational | January 28, 2021

Jeffrey Feltman and Hrair Balian recently argued in a piece on Responsible Statecraft for a new U.S. policy on Syria that would ostensibly be more humane and productive since it would calibrate Syria sanctions relief to changes in President Bashar al-Assad’s behaviour. This approach may appear to be an improvement on present sanctions policy, which is clearly not working and is causing immense civilian suffering throughout the country. But it could end up making things worse.

We must be grateful to previous Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s point-man on Syria, Ambassador Jim Jeffrey, for having been brutally candid about the real goals of sanctions on Syria under the previous administration. In an early-December interview with Al-Monitor Jeffrey bragged openly about the hardships the sanctions had inflicted:

… And of course, we’ve ratcheted up the isolation and sanctions pressure on Assad, we’ve held the line on no reconstruction assistance, and the country’s desperate for it. You see what’s happened to the Syrian pound, you see what’s happened to the entire economy. So, it’s been a very effective strategy…

It’s important to grasp the moral enormity of this. Jeffrey did not stoop to deploying the standard cant about theoretical ‘humanitarian exemptions’ (which don’t work in practice) or about aiming only at Assad’s capacity to do harm. No, for him, the purpose of sanctions was and is to strangle the Syrian economy and if that should mean causing ordinary Syrians to queue for bread or gasoline for hours, or be unable to revive factories and recover jobs, or rebuild and re-equip hospitals, or import vitally needed medical goods… well that’s just collateral damage and it’s all for the greater good of pursuing U.S. interests.

What Feltman and Balian are proposing is to ease off on some of this strangulation in return for political concessions. There is a term for this: it’s called extortion. It’s the technique of New Jersey hoodlums rather than a Delaware ‘ordinary Joe’.

Let’s take a closer look at what Feltman and Balian are calling for. First, they argue,

… the United States should consider exempting from sanctions all humanitarian efforts to combat COVID-19 in Syria. Equally urgent would be facilitating the reconstruction of essential civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals, schools, and irrigation facilities. Next would follow a phased and reversible easing of U.S. and European sanctions.

They stress, however, that this “phased and reversible” easing of sanctions “would be triggered only when the United States and its European allies verify the implementation of concrete steps negotiated with the Syrian government. Monitoring mechanisms would ascertain progress.” Such “monitoring” would doubtless be intrusive and under U.S. control…

And what are these steps? Here’s how Feltman and Balian lay them out—with my own comments in italics:

  • the release of political prisoners [the US-favoured ‘moderates’ no doubt, now known to be in many cases Islamist fanatics ],
  • dignified reception for returning refugees [meaning no checks for returning jihadis ],
  • civilian protection [what lurks behind this elastic concept? ],
  • unhindered, countrywide humanitarian access [i.e. supplying jihadi-controlled Idlib ],
  • the removal of remaining chemical weapons [here we go again! Iraq WMD redux, a tailor-made excuse to withhold sanctions relief ], and
  • political as well as security sector reforms [i.e., pave the way for regime change ], including good-faith participation in the U.N.’s Geneva process and greater decentralization [partition ].

No government with any awareness of what happened to other countries that bowed to intrusive verification regimes (Iraq) or signed unrequited sanctions-easing agreements (Libya, Iran) could possibly make such a surrender of sovereignty, which is tantamount to capitulation. Anyone putting such a plan forward ought to know that it could not possibly be accepted even as a basis for negotiation. On the other hand it would serve neatly to deflect from the U.S. (and EU) responsibility for the suffering their sanctions inflict on the Syrian people by making it possible to say “Assad won’t negotiate to save his people.”

We can imagine Assad-haters drooling in anticipation of endless opportunities to yank his leash if he puts his head in any collar such as this. And if he doesn’t, well it’s not our fault, then, is it? We can go on as now, only now folks queasy about the hardship we are causing can rest easy in their consciences.

To appreciate the sheer chutzpah of this approach let’s imagine Assad had the temerity to demand reciprocation. How about monitoring for the withdrawal of US troops stationed in violation of international law in Eastern Syria? How about compensation for desperately needed oil illegally lifted from the areas of Eastern Syria under US control? How about cessation of intelligence cooperation with Israel (boasted about by Pompeo) to facilitate wide-scale, unprovoked Israeli bombing of Syria? How about cessation of support for the ‘autonomous authority’ which administers territory in Northern Syria on behalf of jihadi groups masquerading as moderates? Etc, etc.

Let us imagine that the Assad-haters’ dreams came true and Assad was successfully starved into making the required concessions? Who can honestly doubt that throwing open the prisons and permitting unfettered return of Islamists would lead to instability which would make post-Saddam Iraq look like a model of order? Or that replenished and revived jihadi fighters in Idlib would break out of their enclave, overrunning neighbouring Christian and Alawite areas with results too horrifying to imagine? Or that in these conditions ISIS would revive? Or that “decentralisation’”would lead to the breakup of Syria long desired by some?

It might be objected that “we have to try something” or “why not give this a shot at least?” The answer to that is that any person with the slightest understanding of the thinking in Damascus knows that the approach stands absolutely no chance of getting past first base. So it is just not going to work, at least in terms of its declared objectives. It won’t produce changes in behaviour and it won’t lead to sanctions alleviation. But just by being put on the table it will make it optically easier for the regime change advocates to carry on with the callous and cynical Jeffrey approach.

Offering a new form of a poisoned chalice is not a new policy but a way to entrench the old one.

January 30, 2021 Posted by | Progressive Hypocrite, Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

Sharjah: Emir’s wife criticises UAE-Israel education cooperation

MEMO | January 29, 2021

The wife of the Emir of Sharjah has criticised the UAE’s cooperation with Israel in the education field. Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al-Qasimi made her comment about an online meeting between the ministries of education in the UAE and Israel to discuss cooperation, student exchanges, and joint academic studies.

“Their [the Israelis’] curriculum encourages the killing of Arabs and stealing Arab lands,” she said on Twitter. The Sheikha also retweeted a post by “Ahmed”, a tour guide, about Andalusia in which he recalled the background of Israeli Minister of Education Yoav Galant.

“Who is the Israeli Education Minister Yoav Galant?” wrote the tour guide. “He is one of the bloodiest generals in the history of Israel. He participated in the killing of Hassan Salameh in Beirut in 1979. He is the leader of the operation to storm the Jenin [refugee] camp, which led to the killing of dozens of defenceless Palestinians, and operation Grapes of Wrath against Lebanon (Lebanese Qana massacre) in 1996.”

Sheikha Jawaher’s tweet is the most prominent and explicit objection to have emerged from the ruling circles in UAE against cooperation with Israel. Hundreds of Twitter users have praised her courage in expressing her opinion.

In 2013, the UN-appointed Sheikha Jawaher as the first prominent advocate for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in the UAE. This, said the international organisation, was because of her “proven track record in the field of humanitarian work, community support, and women’s empowerment.”

The UAE and Israel signed an agreement last September to normalise their relations under US auspices, despite Palestinian and Arab objections.

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January 29, 2021 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel Warns Hamas Leaders Not to Run in Elections in West Bank

MEMO | January 28, 2021

Israeli intelligence services have started to warn Hamas officials in the occupied West Bank not to participate in the upcoming Palestinian elections, sources within the movement revealed on Wednesday.

According to the sources, the Israelis first summoned senior Hamas official Sheikh Omar Al-Barghouti to speak with intelligence officers at Ofer Detention Centre. While he was there, Al-Barghouti, who lives in the Ramallah neighborhood of Coper, was “asked” not to take part in the presidential, legislative and National Council elections. The Hamas leader was only released from prison a few weeks ago.

Several other Hamas officials and senior members have also been “asked” the same thing by the Israelis. The sources said that some were asked on the telephone and others were also summoned to detention centers or military bases to be interrogated on this issue.

Al-Barghouti has spent a total of 30 years in Israeli prisons. He is the brother of Nael Al-Barghouti, who has been held by Israel for more than 40 years.

In 2018, the Israeli occupation forces arrested Al-Barghouti and his wife. During the same raid, they not only killed his son but also demolished his house.

Previous warnings from Israeli intelligence to Hamas have included telling officials not to get involved in reconciliation talks with Fatah.

In 2006, Hamas won the parliamentary and municipal elections in the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel, Fatah, Arab states and the West, including the US, refused to accept the victory before going on to help Fatah oust Hamas in the West Bank and impose a strict siege on Gaza.

January 28, 2021 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Leave a comment

Biden’s top cyber adviser donated a lot to Israeli lobby AIPAC, say leftist reporters – and get accused of anti-Semitism

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses AIPAC conference in Washington, DC on March 26, 2019. © REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
RT | January 28, 2021

An investigative report about ties between President Joe Biden’s pick for cyberwar adviser Anne Neuberger and AIPAC has unexpectedly landed two Democrat-friendly journalists in hot water with the Washington establishment.

Neuberger is supposed to become Biden’s deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology on the National Security Council. A “rising” star at the NSA, Neuberger got promoted to cybersecurity chief in 2019, after overseeing “a preemptive strike” at Russia during the 2018 election, reveals an investigative piece by David Corn of Mother Jones and Ken Dilanian of NBC News, published Wednesday.

However, Corn and Dilanian also revealed that Neuberger used her family foundation to channel substantial donations to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

The Anne and Yehuda Neuberger Foundation has donated “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to AIPAC in recent years, according to Dilanian and Corn. The donations increased starting in 2015, when the foundation received a $93 million gift from the Chesed Foundation of America, a charity run by George Karfunkel – described as a “billionaire investor,” who also happens to be Anne Neuberger’s father.

Meanwhile, her husband Yehuda Neuberger chairs AIPAC’s Baltimore executive council, and lobbied against the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran in 2015. The latter point may be the reason behind the piece, as Corn specifically argues that “AIPAC has been widely seen as a supporter of Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right and hardline policies,” incompatible with the Obama administration line that Biden has been busy trying to restore over the past week.

“While Israel is a close American ally, it operates in its own interest and aggressively spies on the US, including using cyber capabilities, current and former officials say,” Dilanian wrote.

Meanwhile, Corn lets former CIA official John Sipher phrase it instead, saying that “In her world, when people think of cyber-threats, Israel is always there, even if it’s an ally. It is surprising that someone in cyber who understands Israeli capabilities would not want to steer clear of these politics.”

Sipher characterizes Neuberger’s donations to AIPAC as “unwise at best.” Corn and Dilanian cite unnamed intelligence officials as saying that while the donations are “probably” not disqualifying, they’re “not good.”

Even so, the duo spent much of Wednesday defending themselves from accusations of anti-Semitism from groups and individuals. For example, the American Jewish Committee insisted that Neuberger is owed an apology, because “questioning the loyalty of a public servant for supporting [AIPAC] is not just offensive, it reeks of bigotry.”

Rabbi Michael Adam Latz said Corn was “intimating dual loyalty & claiming AIPAC is foreign-implying that Jews are foreign,” to which Corn replied that he never said either.

“It’s about policy,” Corn said, citing Barack Obama’s recent book saying that AIPAC is ”aligned with the Israeli right” and sided with Israel when it “took actions that were contrary to US policy.”

Some of the arguments used in the back-and-forth were by themselves revealing, such as Defense One executive editor Kevin Barron saying that the US “officially is 100% biased toward Israel” and the Pentagon maintains a policy of backing Israeli “qualitative military edge,” presumably in cyberspace as well.

“No argument on that. This is complicated,” replied Dilanian.

Corn was one of the first reporters to publicize British spy Christopher Steele’s claims about “ties” between then-candidate Donald Trump and Russia, which were put together on behalf of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 US presidential election.

Dilanian also took part in the ‘Russiagate’ reporting, and has a reputation of getting his stories vetted by the CIA – something that became part of the court record in the UK trial of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange.

January 28, 2021 Posted by | Corruption | , , , , | Leave a comment

Iraqi MPs outraged by US decision to review troop drawdown

Press TV – January 27, 2021

Iraqi parliamentarians have given fiery responses to a decision coming out of Washington to review the previous US administration’s plan to draw down the number of American forces in the Arab country.

Iraq’s Arabic-language Baghdad Today news agency reported the reactions that were issued by MPs Hassan Shaker al-Ka’abi, head of the Badr parliamentary bloc, and Mukhtar al-Mousavi, representative of the Fateh Alliance, to which Badr is affiliated, on Wednesday.

The US’s new Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during his confirmation hearing last week that he was to reexamine the plan announced by the administration of former president Donald Trump for reducing the number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan each to 2,500.

Aside from throwing hopes of the drawdown into question, Austin’s remarks also flew in the face of a decision by the Iraqi parliament last January for all the US-led troops to leave the Iraqi soil. The legislature passed the law following the US’s assassination of top Iranian and Iraqi anti-terror commanders, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in a drone strike in Baghdad.

The Iraqi lawmakers insisted that the parliamentary ratification had to be implemented at the end of the day.

Ka’abi said the legislative body had made its final decision in this regard, and referred to the Iraqis’ millions-strong rallies in the aftermath of the assassinations to protest Washington’s gall to resort to such barbaric atrocity in violation of the Arab country’s sovereignty and the international law.

Mousavi said the parliamentary law was definitive and the Biden administration had to understand this.

Iraq does not need American or any other foreign forces on its soil, he said, urging Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s government to act on the law regardless of the Biden administration’s position.

Austin’s spokesman John Kirby, however, defended Washington’s revisiting of the troop level decision, saying, “It stands to reason that the incoming administration will want to better understand the status of operations in both places and the resources being applied to those missions.”

He also cast serious doubt on any speculations that Washington had finally begun to listen to those protesting its motto of trying to “defend America” by deploying troops thousands of miles away from America’s own borders.

“Nothing has changed about our desire to defend the American people from the threat of terrorism, while also making sure we are appropriately resourcing our strategy,” Kirby added.

Ka’abi warned likewise that Joe Biden’s succession after Trump did not mean that Washington had either stopped wishing the Arab country and its resources ill or shuttered its regional projects, including providing support for the Israeli regime.

“The US is hopeful of and has set its eyes on sustaining its presence in Iraq,” he said.

The lawmaker, meanwhile, expressed regret that “Iraq’s troubles and Daesh elements’ movements [there] are the result of the US presence.”

“We are certain that Daesh is America’s creation and functions at its behest in this country,” he added.

The Takfiri terror group of Daesh started its attacks in Iraq in 2014, creating an excuse for the US and scores of its allies to significantly ramp up the Western-led military presence in the country.

The Western states retain their presence there, although, Baghdad and its allies defeated Daesh in late 2017.

January 27, 2021 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Wars for Israel | , , | Leave a comment

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