2024-07-30 US Data Shows Surge in Hate Against Muslims, Palestinians Persists A spike in “relentless” Islamophobia across the United States that began in October with Israel’s U.S.-backed attack on the Gaza Strip continued through the first half of this year, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group said Tuesday.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released data showing the sustained surge in anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate from January to June 2024, with 4,951 documented complaints, a 69% increase over the same period in 2023.
That came after CAIR received 3,578 complaints from last October through December, a 178% increase from a similar three-month period the previous year, as Common Dreams reported when the data was published in January.
The largest share of 2024 complaints related to immigration and asylum cases (19%), which is in line with 2023. That was followed by employment discrimination (14%), education discrimination (10%), and hate crimes and incidents (8%). https://www.commondreams.org/news/islamophobia-in-the-united-states
2024-01-24 Islamophobic Tropes in the Palestine-Israel Discourse THE CENTER FOR Security, Race and Rights (CSRR) at Rutgers Law School hosted a virtual panel on Dec. 14, 2023, to launch its report, “Presumptively Anti-Semitic: Islamophobic Tropes in the Palestine-Israel Discourse.” The study examines how an “Islamophobia industry” of think tanks, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and lobbying groups weaponizes anti-Semitism to smear Muslim supporters of Palestine as inherently prejudiced. Professor of law and CSRR director Sahar Aziz moderated the discussion, which included Mitchell Plitnick, president of ReThinking Foreign Policy, and Jonathan Matz, a Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) board member.
Although the report was mostly complete before Oct. 7, it still addresses a fundamental question regarding Israel’s catastrophic war on Gaza, Aziz said: “How is it that the United States can so easily support Israel in what has been very clearly termed, even by allies, as the most devastating military attack of the 21st century?”
The report found that Islamophobia plays a substantial role in policymaking, identifying three ways that it shapes U.S. foreign policy: “1) restricting open debate about unconditional U.S. support for Israel, notwithstanding documented and systematic violations of international law by the Israeli government; 2) perpetuating racist tropes that Muslims and Arabs innately hate Jews; and 3) discrediting the Palestinian people from realizing their full civil, political, national and human rights.” https://www.wrmea.org/israel-palestine/islamophobic-tropes-in-the-palestine-israel-discourse.html
2024-08-15 Israel forgot about Iran’s nuclear threat – will it pay the price? Israel is very ready to defend against a massive Iranian conventional missile and drone strike, against a massive rocket and drone strike from Hezbollah, it has for now mostly neutered Hamas in Gaza, has terrorists on the run in the West Bank, and is ready for attacks from Syria, Yemen, or Iraq.
But sources have given the Jerusalem Post mixed signals about how ready Israel is to stop an Iranian nuclear weapons breakout. In several high level briefings the Post has been part of where discussion of Iran’s nuclear weapons threat used to take up a significant amount of the time, the issue is often not mentioned at all or only discussed briefly as a response if the issue is pushed. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-forgot-about-iran-s-nuclear-threat-will-it-pay-the-price/ar-AA1oRLSV?
2024-08-14 Iran advancing research on nuclear bomb detonators, nuke expert tells ‘Post’ For years, US intelligence agencies have maintained that Iran was not engaged in the key activities necessary to develop a testable nuclear device. Very large amounts of Iranian academic research have been refocused to advancing issues relevant to nuclear bomb detonation, the Institute for Science and International Security’s president David Albright told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.
This is a potentially radical paradigm shift in how close a real Iran nuclear weapons threat could become, given that until now, defense officials and analysts always said that no matter how far along the Islamic Republic was enriching uranium, there would be time to stop it from getting the bomb seeing as it had not mastered key “weapons group” activities. https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-814738
2022-7-14 Biden: US prepared to use force to stop Iran getting nuclear arms President Joe Biden has pledged that the US is “prepared to use all elements of its national power” to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Mr Biden made the declaration with Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid on the second day of his visit there. Israel considers the Iranian nuclear programme to be its greatest threat, though Iran insists it is peaceful. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-62155165
2024-04-13 An Iranian cyber group claims: ‘We breached the radars in Israel’ An Iranian cyber group named Handala claims to have breached Israel’s radar systems and sent hundreds of thousands of threatening text messages to Israeli citizens. The group alleged it infiltrated the radar systems and dispatched 500,000 text messages to Israeli citizens. “You have only a few hours to fix the systems,” the message.
Moreover, the group claims to have sent 500,000 text messages to Israeli citizens, urging them to oppose their government and support Iran. These messages also contained threats to Israel. “People will pay for the crimes and foolishness of your leaders. There is no doubt that your leaders will regret these foolish ventures. Evacuate the cities; perhaps you will see less damage!” the message stated. “Do not hesitate and do not sleep; the chance to escape is less than ten seconds, and perhaps your city will be chosen.”
Handala is known for targeting Israeli interests. In the past, it has conducted cyber attacks on government and private sector websites. While the attackers’ claims remain unverified by official Israeli sources, security experts in Israel are expressing increasing concern over the possibility of Iranian cyber attacks aimed at critical national infrastructure. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/an-iranian-cyber-group-claims-we-breached-the-radars-in-israel/ar-BB1lzT0s?
2024-04-13 Here’s how Iran’s strike on Israel has unfolded Iran has made good on its threat to retaliate against a deadly strike on its consulate in Syria with a large aerial strike against Israel on Saturday. The drone and missile strikes could spark a major escalation of fighting in the Middle East amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Israeli officials said Saturday they had confirmed more than 100 drones had left Tehran and were heading towards Israel. Iranian state media reported that Tehran launched ballistic missiles and drones against targets in Israel. It is important to know that these attacks, unlike others in the past, are explicitly and directly coming from the Iranian government and its military.
Israel announced that it had detected the drone launches around 4 p.m. EST Saturday, noting that they would take hours to arrive. Social media reports and videos reviewed by POLITICO indicate that Iranian drones had already begun entering Israeli airspace and encountering Israel’s air defenses by 6 p.m. EST. Iran said around 6 p.m. EST that it concluded its military action, according to an X post from Tehran’s mission to the United Nations.
Ten Iron Dome batteries are scattered throughout Israel to protect the country. Each battery is composed of three to four launchers, 20 Tamir missiles and a radar. The U.S. has allocated more than three billion dollars over the years to support the maintenance and development of the air defense system, according to the Congressional Research Service. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/here-s-how-iran-s-strike-on-israel-has-unfolded/ar-BB1lzZ2U
2024-04-13 At least 7 missiles hit Israeli Ramon airbase Sputnik cited the Zionist regime’s media sources that at least seven missiles hit Ramon Airbase base in the Negev desert.
In response to the Israeli terrorist attack on Iran’s consulate building in Syria on April 1, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked targets in occupied Palestine with dozens of drones and missiles early on Sunday. The Israeli regime attacked Iran’s consulate in the Syrian capital of Damascus on April 1. The Israeli aggression led to the destruction of the entire building and the martyrdom and injury of the entire people inside it. Seven of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military advisors were martyred following the Israeli attack on Iran’s consulate in Damascus, IRGC said in a statement. https://en.mehrnews.com/news/213835/At-least-7-missiles-hit-Israeli-Ramon-airbase
2024-04-13 Sirens, blasts sound across Israel after Iran launches retaliatory attack Iran launched a swarm of explosive drones and fired missiles at Israel late on Saturday in its first ever direct attack on Israeli territory, risking a major escalation as the United States pledged “ironclad” backing for Israel. Sirens wailed and Reuters journalists in Israel said they heard distant heavy thuds and bangs from what local media called aerial interceptions of explosive drones. Authorities said a 7-year-old girl was critically injured. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/sirens-blasts-sound-across-israel-after-iran-launches-retaliatory-attack/ar-BB1lzUXZ?
2024-04-13 Israel begins to respond to Iran’s drone attack Air sirens sounded and aerial defense operations were in place in Bethlehem and Jerusalem after Iranian drones were launched Saturday evening toward Israel. U.S. forces in the Middle East have shot down some of the Iranian-launched drones, two U.S. officials told CBS News. Charles Faint, the deputy editorial director for the Modern War Institute at West Point, joins CBS News with more on how Israel could respond to the attacks. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-begins-to-respond-to-iran-s-drone-attack/vi-BB1lzV71?
2024-04-13 What we know about the strike Iran is sending into Israeli territory Iran launched more than 100 drones at Israel Saturday, in a retaliatory attack weeks after a strike hit an Iranian government building in Syria. Iran holds Israel responsible for the attack that killed two top Iranian commanders. The counter strike heightens concerns about “a major escalation between the regional archenemies,” Reuters reported.
According to a White House press release, President Joe Biden’s administration expects the attack to “unfold over a number of hours,” and confirmed the U.S.’s alliance with Israel. This attack is likely to unfold over a number of hours. “President Biden has been clear: our support for Israel’s security is ironclad. The United States will stand with the people of Israel and support their defense against these threats from Iran.”
The U.S. military shot down some of the Iranian drones en route to Israel Saturday afternoon. Israel has a “very strong defensive posture in order to address anything flying toward Israel,” an Israel Defense Forces official said, per The Washington Post.
Iran is targeting the Negev Desert region, an area that houses several military bases, per The New York Times.
2024-04-13 Iran has launched drone attacks at Israel, U.S. officials say Iran launched an attack on Israel, escalating long-standing tensions between the two nations. Iran accused Israel of perpetrating a strike on its consulate in Damascus on April 1, and pledged to retaliate. Israel also threatened a counterattack if Iran made any retaliatory moves, though Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the Damascus strike. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/iran-has-launched-drone-attacks-at-israel-u-s-officials-say/ar-BB1lzsYV?
2024-04-13 Israeli officials warn civilians after Iran launches drone attacks Iran has launched a drone attack toward Israel, the Israeli military said Saturday evening. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) vowed to protect the country and ordered changes to its defensive guidelines, closing schools and limiting crowded gatherings. CBS News contributor Robert Berger and foreign correspondent Imtiaz Tyab are following the latest developments. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israeli-officials-warn-civilians-after-iran-launches-drone-attacks/vi-BB1lzOAT?
2024-04-13 U.S. sees Iran moving military assets including drones and cruise missiles One of the people familiar with the intelligence tells CNN Iran wants any retaliatory strike on Israel– a response to the Israeli strike on an Iranian consulate last week in Damascus– to be “significant.” CNN’s Anna Coren discusses the situation with Middle East expert Hasan Alhasan. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/u-s-sees-iran-moving-military-assets-including-drones-and-cruise-missiles/vi-BB1ly2mK?
2024-08-09 Palestine and international law In the second half, the latest about Palestine, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC). A legal expert examines the recent ICJ opinion on the illegality of the Israeli occupation, as well as the ICC’s possible issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
2024-07-31 Covert Action Bulletin: ICJ Ruling Lays Out Case Against Israeli Occupation In a ruling on July 19, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion that confirmed what Palestinians have been saying for over 7 decades: That the Israeli occupation is illegal, that the way Palestinians are treated by Israel is a form of apartheid, and that the occupation must end. This ruling includes the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which have grown especially since the Israeli military withdrew from Gaza in 2005. https://covertactionmagazine.com/2024/07/31/covertaction-bulletin-icj-ruling-lays-out-case-against-israeli-occupation/
2024-07-19 ICJ: Israel’s Occupation of Palestinian Territory Is Illegal The vote at the International Court of Justice against Israel’s occupation was 11-4. The court also voted to call on Israel to evacuate all settlers from the West Bank.
The court’s non-binding advisory opinion was read aloud by ICJ President Nawaf Salam, a Lebanese judge and academic. Salam said the court determined based on “extensive evidence” that Israel is guilty of confiscating “large areas” of Palestinian land for use by Israeli settlers, exploiting natural resources and undermining the local population’s right to self-determination under international law.
The court pointed to “Israel’s systematic failure to prevent or punish” settler violence and “demolition of Palestinian property” in the West Bank as part of its case that the Israeli government’s actions in the occupied territories are indicative of an attempt to permanently annex land and forcibly transfer Palestinians from their homes.
“Israel is not entitled to sovereignty in any part of the occupied Palestinian territory on account of its occupation, nor can security concerns override the prohibition on acquisition of territory by force,” said Salam.
2024-07-19 ICJ Tells Israel to End Occupation of Palestinian Territories, Pay Reparations In a landmark opinion issued today, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has said that Israel’s 57-year occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip is in breach of international law.
The proceedings came out of a UN resolution passed in December of 2022. In the resolution, the UN General Assembly requested an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on “Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.” The ICJ, also known as the World Court, is the UN’s principal judicial organ that adjudicates disputes between member states and provides advisory opinions on international legal matters.
This case is separate from the one brought forth by South Africa last year, in which the ICJ provisionally ruled that Israeli practices in Gaza are plausibly genocidal. Following that ruling, Israel indicated that it rejects the ICJ’s findings. In a post on X, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote, “Nobody will stop us – not The Hague, not the axis of evil and not anybody else.” Ihttps://truthout.org/articles/icj-tells-israel-to-end-occupation-of-palestinian-territories-pay-reparations/
2024-05-25 How can the ICJ’s orders against Israel on Gaza be enforced? | Inside Story The International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to stop its assault on Rafah. The order is one of three issued by the UN’s top court in the genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel over its war on Gaza. Israel has long-declared it plans to intensify its assault on the southern city, saying it is necessary to dismantle Hamas. And it appears it plans to follow through with that strategy. The ICJ’s rulings are final and legally binding. But it does not have a way to enforce them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W-H7CJRIWQ
2024-05-25 Israel continues to bomb Gaza, including Rafah, despite ICJ ruling Israel has continued its relentless attacks on Rafah despite the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering it to put an end to the military operation there, and multiple deaths were reported from central and northern Gaza, which have been subjected to renewed attacks.
2024-05-24 World reacts to ICJ’s order for Israel to stop Rafah offensive The top United Nations court has ordered Israel to “immediately” halt its military assault on Rafah, describing the humanitarian situation in the southern Gaza city, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are sheltering, as “disastrous”.
Israel must “immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in the Rafah Governorate which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”, the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ’s) president, Nawaf Salam, said. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/24/world-reacts-icj-order-for-israel-to-stop-rafah-offensive-gaza
2024-05-24 Rights groups demand Biden halt Israel arms transfers after ICJ ruling Rights groups have renewed calls for US President Joe Biden to halt weapons transfers to Israel, after the United Nations’ top court ordered the Israeli government to immediately halt its ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and allow aid into the area. The United States has faced months of pressure to suspend military assistance to Israel as the Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip rose steadily and a humanitarian crisis deepened across the besieged enclave. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/24/rights-groups-demand-biden-halt-israel-arms-transfers-after-icj-ruling
2024-05-15 Rafah Invasion Goes to Court at the ICJ; Plus, the Student Movement for Palestine George Bisharat, Professor Emeritus at University of California College of Law, San Francisco. His research and writing focus on international legal aspects of Palestine/Israel and on U.S. policies toward the Middle East.
Ali Winston is an independent reporter covering criminal justice, privacy, and surveillance.
2024-07-26 UK Dropping Challenge to ICC Arrest Warrants for Israeli Leaders Under New PM The U.K. has announced that it is no longer going to pursue its legal challenge to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) seeking of arrest warrants for key Israeli leaders behind the Gaza genocide, helping to clear the way for the warrant to be issued.
A spokesperson for U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the new Labour government believes in international law and the separation of powers when it comes to the ICC’s determinations.
2024-06-01 Why is Israel targeting hospitals in Gaza? | Al Jazeera World Documentary Israel is attacking Gaza’s hospitals in violation of international law, but is it part of a pattern going back to 1948?
Hospitals are supposed to be immune from attack in times of war but Israel has repeatedly bombed and shelled them since October 7, 2023. This film looks at Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s hospitals in the context of its historical expansion at the expense of the Palestinian population, going back to 1948. The Israeli army cut off water, power, fuel and medical supplies to Gaza and has attacked most of its hospitals. It claims that al-Shifa Hospital shielded a Hamas command centre and attacked it despite the hundreds of civilians sheltering there – but produced little evidence to support that claim.
The alleged war crimes that the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for on both sides include Israel’s deliberate targeting of civilians, many of whom have taken shelter in Gaza’s hospitals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjCbuwAtJeg
2024-05-25 Scott Ritter Exposes: The Controversial ICC Arrest Warrants – A Turning Point for Israel? In this video, former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter provides exclusive insights into the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) groundbreaking arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several senior officials. Discover how this bold move is reshaping international politics and causing a global uproar. Ritter delves into the hidden consequences, the fierce backlash from Israel, and the broader implications for international justice and diplomacy. Join us for an in-depth analysis of this pivotal moment and what it means for the future of global accountability. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcqHxTFWSQg
2024-05-24 Former ICC chief prosecutor: ‘Netanyahu is afraid’ Luis Moreno Ocampo discusses the International Criminal Court arrest warrant requests for Israeli and Hamas leaders. As Israel’s war on Gaza keeps raging, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The prosecutor, Karim Khan, has taken the same actions against three Hamas leaders.
If the arrest warrants are granted, the five men won’t be able to step foot in any country that is a signatory to the ICC without risking arrest. Both Israel and Hamas have condemned the requests. The court has long been criticised for going after leaders only from the Global South, so does this decision signal it is now willing to prosecute Western powers and their close allies? This week on UpFront, Marc Lamont Hill speaks with the first chief prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo, about the implications of arrest warrants for the Israeli and Hamas leaders. https://www.aljazeera.com/program/upfront/2024/5/24/former-icc-chief-prosecutor-netanyahu-is
2024-05-21 Hamas on ICC charges: Palestinian resistance is NOT a crime The Public Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court issued arrest and detention warrants against a number of leaders of the Zionist occupation.
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) followed up on the arrest and detention warrants issued today by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court against only two war criminals of the Zionist entity. They are “Benjamin Netanyahu” and “Yoav Gallant,” who were proven to be involved in committing the crime of genocide, aggression and crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people.
The arrest and detention warrants against the aforementioned occupation leaders came seven months late, during which the “israeli” occupation committed thousands of crimes against Palestinian civilians, including children, women, doctors, and journalists, and destroyed private and public property, mosques, churches, and hospitals.
The Public Prosecutor should have arrest and detention orders against all officials from the occupation leaders who gave orders, and soldiers who participated in committing crimes, in accordance with Articles 25, 27 and 28 of the Rome Statute, which emphasized the individual criminal responsibility of every official, commander, or any person who ordered, or instigated, committed, assisted or aided in the commission of crimes, or failed to take measures to prevent the commission of crimes.
The Hamas movement strongly denounces the attempts of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to equate the victim with the executioner by issuing arrest warrants against a number of Palestinian resistance leaders, without a legal basis, in violation of the international conventions and resolutions that gave the Palestinian people and all the peoples of the world under occupation the right to resist the occupation in all forms, including armed resistance, especially as stipulated in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.
Hamas demands the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to issue arrest and detention orders against all war criminals, including occupation leaders, officers and soldiers who participated in crimes against the Palestinian people. It also demands the cancellation of all arrest warrants issued against Palestinian resistance leaders, as these warrants violate international conventions and resolutions. https://www.workers.org/2024/05/78772/
2024-05-21 ICC Prosecutor Seeks Arrest Warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders; Plus, UAW 4811 Strike Begins in UC Santa Cruz; Academics Supporting Palestine Face Repression, Doxxing George Bisharat, Professor Emeritus at University of California College of Law, San Francisco. His research and writing focus on international legal aspects of Palestine/Israel and on U.S. policies toward the Middle East.
Natasha Lennard is a columnist for The Intercept and associate director of the Creative Publishing & Critical Journalism graduate program at the New School for Social Research in New York. She is the author of “Being Numerous: Essays on Non-Fascist Life.” https://kpfa.org/episode/upfront-may-21-2024/
2024-05-03 ICC warns against ‘threats’ The International Criminal Court prosecutor warned on Friday against unspecified threats and intimidation, amid reports that Israel is concerned the tribunal could issue arrest warrants over the war in Gaza.
But it added that the court’s “independence and impartiality are undermined, however, when individuals threaten to retaliate against the court or against court personnel. “Such threats, even not acted upon, may constitute an offence” against the ICC’s “administration of justice”, it warned, calling for an end to such activity https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/icc-warns-against-retaliation-threats/ar-AA1o6f8E?
2024-05-02 War on Gaza: Israel will ‘punish’ Palestinian Authority if ICC issues arrest warrants The Israeli government has told US President Joe Biden’s administration that if the International Criminal Court (ICC) issues arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, it will “punish” the Palestinian Authority, two Israeli and US officials have told Axios.
The ICC has been investigating possible war crimes committed by both Israeli and Palestinian fighters since 2021, with the probe taking in events going back to the 2014 Gaza war. Recently, there have been reports that the court, which is based in the Dutch city of The Hague, is poised to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior political and military figures in Israel.
Two US officials told Axios that the Biden administration has told ICC officials in private that “arrest warrants against Israeli leaders would be a mistake and that the US doesn’t support the action”. “We are quietly encouraging the ICC not to do it. It will blow up everything. Israel will retaliate against the Palestinian Authority,” a US official said. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-us-biden-netanyahu-icc-arrest-warrant-punish
2024-05-01 Israel tells U.S. it will retaliate against Palestinian Authority if ICC issues arrest warrants Israeli officials have grown increasingly concerned over the last two weeks that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is preparing to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Herzi Halevi.
The ICC, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands, has been investigating since 2021 possible war crimes by both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants dating back to the 2014 Israel-Hamas war.
U.S. and Israeli officials said Israel told the Biden administration that if arrests warrants are issued, it will consider the Palestinian Authority responsible and retaliate with strong action that could lead to its collapse.
2024-02-27 Examining Israeli Allegations of Atrocities by Resistance in Operation al-Aqsa Flood Hamas’s Narrative: It’s important to note that the Hamas movement, amidst numerous false Israeli accusations after Operation al-Aqsa Flood on 7/10/2023, had its media office issue a document in January 2024 to clarify that their operation specifically “targeted the Israeli military sites, and sought to arrest the enemy’s soldiers to pressure on the Israeli authorities to release the thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli jails through a prisoners exchange deal. Therefore, the operation focused on destroying the Israeli army’s Gaza Division, the Israeli military sites stationed near the Israeli settlements around Gaza.” These locations were responsible for bombarding Gaza and its residents.
It also clarified that “Avoiding harm to civilians, especially children, women and elderly people is a religious and moral commitment by all the Al-Qassam Brigades’ fighters. We reiterate that the Palestinian resistance was fully disciplined and committed to the Islamic values during the operation and that the Palestinian fighters only targeted the occupation soldiers and those who carried weapons against our people,” adding, “if there was any case of targeting civilians; it happened accidently.”
The Israeli accusations against the Palestinian resistance and GS residents of brutality and inhumanity in the attack on 7/10/2023 are an attempt to legitimize further Israeli crimes in GS. These accusations do not justify the retaliation against more than 2.3 million Palestinians living there, nor do they justify the commission of more than 2,325 massacres, the killing of more than 27,238, including more than 12,000 children, and more than 8,190 women, 122 journalists, 339 medical staff, and 46 civil defense members. Nor do they justify the loss of more than 7 thousand Palestinians under the rubble (70% of them are children and women), the injury of more than 66,452 Palestinians, the displacement of more than 2 million people in GS, and the destruction of hundreds of thousands of residential units, mosques, churches, health centers and government buildings, all until 3/2/2024, the 120th day of the war.
Israeli crimes in GS are well-documented with audio and visual evidence, and even admitted by Israeli officials, despite their false denials. This is often encouraged by the extreme right-wing settlement movement, which, according to a Haaretz article by Uri Misgav, prohibits criticism of the government and Israel’s “saintly soldiers.” They believe that “it is forbidden to end the fighting; dead soldiers and hostages are a worthy, noble sacrifice on the way to redemption, the silver platter on which the State of Judea will arise. For this camp, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the Messiah’s donkey, a useful idiot. They keep warning him that the day he dares stop the fighting is the day that his government falls.” https://www.globalresearch.ca/examining-israeli-allegations-atrocities-resistance-operation-al-aqsa-flood/5850689
2023-12-29 IRGC commander: October 7 was independently conducted by Palestinians Esmail Qaani, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, told Iranian news organization IRNA this week that Hamas planned and executed the October 7 attacks on southern Israel without Iranian help. IRNA (Islamic Republic News Agency) is funded and controlled by the Iranian government. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/irgc-commander-october-7-was-independently-conducted-by-palestinians/ar-AA1mdNHp
2023-11-20 Palestinian Activist Remembers Vivian Silver, Israeli Canadian Peace Activist Killed in Hamas Attack [MEK Note:We will probably never know for sure, but is more likely that Vivian was killed by IDF tank firing at Kibbutz housing]
Israeli and Palestinian peace activists are mourning 74-year-old Canadian Israeli peace activist Vivian Silver after she was confirmed killed on October 7 during the Hamas attack on Kibbutz Be’eri, where she lived. She was previously thought to be held hostage. Silver co-founded the Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperation, sat on the board for the human rights group B’Tselem and was an active member of Women Wage Peace. Silver’s friend and colleague Samah Salaime, a Palestinian feminist activist, says Silver would have pushed for dialogue to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. “This was her legacy, and this is what we have to march for and fight for after her death.” https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/20/vivian_silver
2023-11-21 US OK’s Bombing Children as Hamas Fights for Their Freedom from Illegal Israeli Military Occupation Israel maintains an illegal air, sea and land blockade on Gaza, not allowing anyone, including children, to escape being bombed to death. The US government, providing Israel with warplanes, missiles, weapons, ammunition and political and diplomatic backing, is complicit in this ongoing genocide of bombing to death thousands of militarily confined civilians, mostly women and children . The Israeli government claims the right to bomb its illegally occupied and captive Palestinians and kill all the members of their Hamas government.
As to Israel’s using the Israelis killed in the Hamas Oct 7th attack to justify the Israeli response of murdering already 12, 500 Palestinian civilians, resent investigations find that a large fraction of the bodies recovered had been charred beyond all recognition, making it very difficult to distinguish between Israelis and Hamas attackers. Since the Hamas fighters had only been carrying rifles and other small arms, all those victims must have been killed by explosive tank shells and Hellfire missiles. Indeed, newly released video footage revealed that hundreds of Israeli cars had been incinerated by such munitions, suggesting that many or most of the Israelis killed fleeing the dance festival had probably died at the hands of trigger-happy Apache pilots, who reported that they had blasted anything that moved. https://countercurrents.org/2023/11/us-oks-bombing-children-as-hamas-fights-for-their-freedom-from-illegal-israeli-military-occupation/
2023-11-19 IDF combat helicopter targeting Hamas fighters at Nova festival massacre shot some partygoers by mistake, says Haaretz A police investigation of the Nova music festival massacre on October 7 indicates that the IDF mistakenly shot some festival attendees while firing at Hamas terrorists. The alleged debacle was reported by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing a police source. The source told Haaretz that their police investigation intimates that an IDF combat helicopter fired at terrorists after arriving on the scene. While targeting the perpetrators, the helicopter reportedly also hit the festivalgoers. Three hundred sixty-four people were killed at the festival, a third of the fatalities from Hamas militants’ coordinated terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, per The Times of Israel. Approximately 3,500 people attended the psychedelic trance festival three miles away from the Gaza border, per The New York Times.
2023-11-18 VIDEO: What really happened on October 7? The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal joins Chris Hedges to discuss his investigation into Israel’s indiscriminate use of heavy weapons against Israeli citizens on October 7, and the shock-and-awe campaign of misinformation it subsequently employed to create political space for its brutal assault on Gaza. This was originally published by The Real News Network.
Editor’s note: Since the publication of this interview, an Israeli police investigation has confirmed that Israeli Apache helicopters killed numerous Israeli citizens at and around the Nova electronic music festival, and that Hamas did not know in advance about the festival. The Israeli government has also acknowledged that 200 of those it counted as Israeli casualties were, in fact, Hamas militants killed by its forces on October 7, and that it may have marketed images of their charred bodies to the public as proof of Hamas’ brutality. https://thegrayzone.com/2023/11/18/video-what-happened-october-7/
2023-11-18 Hamas had not planned to attack music festival, Israeli report says Hamas fighters who attacked a music festival in Israel on October 7, killing hundreds, likely did not know in advance about the event and decided to target it on the spot, Israeli media has reported citing police and security sources. According to a copy of the first Israeli police report into the attack, obtained this week by Israel’s Channel 12, Palestinian fighters had originally intended to attack nearby kibbutz Re’im as well as other villages near the Gaza border. They found out about the music festival with drones and from the air as they parachuted into Israel.
2023-11-17 DID ISRAEL’S MILITARY KILL ITS OWN CIVILIANS ON OCT. 7? Testimony from survivors of Al Aqsa Flood, combined with the documented past actions of Israel’s armed forces against captured soldiers and civilians, raise questions about what really caused the high Israeli death toll. For all the sensationalism surrounding the events of Oct. 7, when Hamas broke through the Gaza fence and seized territory in the Gaza Envelope as part of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, there is still much that we do not know. The official Israeli death toll from the attack is estimated at 1,200 civilians, revised from an initial estimate of 1,400. Among this figure are several hundred civilians, which Israel says were killed by Hamas militants. Other testimony from survivors of Oct. 7 suggests an alternative explanation—that in its fervor to defeat Hamas, Israeli commanders may have willingly targeted and sacrificed Israeli soldiers and civilians in the crossfire. Max Blumenthal of The Grayzone joins The Chris Hedges Report for an in-depth look. https://therealnews.com/did-israels-military-kill-its-own-civilians-on-oct-7
2023-11-16 Were the Hamas Attacks in Israel a False Flag? The October 7th Hamas attack on Israelis has been referred to as “Israel’s 9/11,” which gives us good reason to believe that it was probably another false flag psy-op. Some people really do believe it was a false flag, i.e., that the Israeli regime allegedly knew that it was being planned and let it happen. As Paul Craig Roberts notes, how could Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency not know this was being planned? Don’t Israeli intelligence and military have the most sophisticated and comprehensive monitoring and surveillance of the Israeli sheeple and of Palestinians and of Hamas? The planning allegedly was going on for 2 years. Really? And there were warnings from other countries or intelligence agencies, including Egypt who had warned the Israelis of a terrorist attack being planned, warnings ignored.
And now we are learning that there is a high probability that many of the Israelis killed on October 7th were killed by the Israeli military (IDF) itself, possibly as high as 80% of the Israeli deaths, according to Scott Ritter. And Ron Unz described the IDF as possibly “trigger-happy Apache pilots”. It has also been difficult for Israeli authorities to distinguish between many killed Israeli and Palestinian bodies.
2023-11-14 Biden SLAMMED for Israel/Gaza ‘MISINFORMATION’ By 100+ STATE DEPARTMENT Employees Internal Memo Briahna Joy Gray and Robby Soave react to latest updates on Israel and Palestine [MEK Note: at 3minutes – discussion of actual Hamas attack fatalities and cross-fire deaths.] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cck1z_N71K8&list=RDNSDQH8HYIkCwU&start_radio=1&rv=DQH8HYIkCwU
2023-11-13 The October 7 Hamas Assault on Israel The Most Successful Military Raid of this Century. Israel has characterized the attack carried out by Hamas on the various Israeli military bases and militarized settlements, or Kibbutz, which in their totality comprised an important part of the Gaza barrier system, as a massive act of terrorism, likening it to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks against the United States. Israel supports this characterization by citing the number of persons killed (some 1,200, a downward revision issued by Israel after realizing that 200 of the dead were Palestinian fighters) and detailing a wide variety of atrocities it claims were perpetrated by Hamas, including mass rape, the beheading of children, and the wonton murder of unarmed Israeli civilians.
The problem with the Israeli claims is that they are demonstrably false or misleading. Nearly a third of the Israeli casualties consisted of military, security, and police officers. Moreover, it turns out that the number one killer of Israelis on October 7 wasn’t Hamas or other Palestinian factions, but the Israeli military itself. Recently released video shows Israeli Apache helicopters indiscriminately firing on Israeli civilians trying to flee the Supernova Sukkot Gathering held in the open desert near Kibbutz Re’im, the pilots unable to distinguish between the civilians and the Hamas fighters. Many of the vehicles that the Israeli government has shown as an example of Hamas perfidy were destroyed by the Israeli Apache helicopters.
Likewise, the Israeli government has widely publicized what it is calling the “Re’im massacre,” citing a death toll of some 112 civilians it claims were murdered by Hamas. However, eyewitness accounts from both surviving Israeli civilians and military personnel involved in the fighting show that the vast majority of those killed died from fire from Israeli soldiers and tanks directed at buildings where the civilians were either hiding or being held hostage by Hamas fighters. It took two days for the Israeli military to recapture Re’im. It only did so after tanks fired into the civilian residences, collapsing them onto their occupants, and often setting them ablaze, causing the bodies of those inside to be consumed by fire. The Israeli government has publicized how it has had to make use of the services of forensic archeologists to identify human remains at the Kibbutz, implying that Hamas had burned the occupants’ home. But the fact is it was Israeli tanks that did the destruction and killing. https://www.scottritterextra.com/p/the-october-7-hamas-assault-on-israel
2023-11-07 A deadly cascade: how secret Hamas attack orders were passed down at last minute Plan drawn up by handful of leaders was unknown to men who would carry it out until morning of attacks on Israel a month ago.
The first orders went out before 4am: anyone who had been attending the regular training sessions and was not planning to attend dawn prayers at their usual mosques must go to pray. An hour later, as the sky began to lighten over Gaza and the congregations began to disperse, new instructions were issued. These too were straightforward and passed mainly by word of mouth: bring your weapons and any ammunition you have and assemble at specific landmarks. But still no one was told what was about to happen. Operation al-Aqsa Flood, the most ambitious operation launched by Hamas since the extremist Islamist organisation had taken control of Gaza in 2007, was still a secret.
The plan had been formulated by a handful of hardened, veteran Hamas leaders and was still unknown to the men whose violence was about to shatter any passing sense of calm or progress towards a new stability in the Middle East. It was unknown, too, to Israel’s much vaunted military and intelligence services. The decision to pass instructions verbally to thousands of Hamas militants scattered among Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants was the latest in a series of measures designed to deceive one of the most potent surveillance systems in the world and keep any word of what might be about to happen from a network of spies.
The instructions spread across Gaza in a cascade, given first to the commanders of the “battalions” of a hundred or more, then to leaders of platoons of 20 or 30, who told the squad commanders at the head of a dozen, who passed the message on to the friends, neighbours and relatives who had joined them at the twice weekly drills held in dozens of locations in the enclave. Only when the men had assembled was extra ammunition and more powerful weaponry distributed. Many had handled such arms over previous months and had returned them to Hamas’s arsenals after each lesson. Soon they were carrying hand-held and rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns, sniper rifles and explosives. It was now 6am. The sun was up and the final orders were issued. Now, these were written down: the men were to rush through gaps that would soon be blown or smashed through the $1bn perimeter fence around Gaza and attack Israeli soldiers and civilians on the other side.
One factor was the sheer number who came through the fence – some sources say as many as 3,000, including members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), an allied but independent faction that was not told in advance of the attacks, sources said, but joined once aware of the breach of the fence. Civilians also poured out of Gaza in the general chaos, emboldened by the slow response of Israeli security forces.
Written orders explained to Hamas units a precise plan drawn up by two men believed by Israel to have been the main planners of the attack: Yahya Sinwar, the overall head of Hamas in the enclave, and Mohammed Deif, the commander of Hamas’s military al-Qassam brigades and elite Nukhba squads. Each unit was given a separate objective: a military base, a kibbutz, a road or a town. Often their orders were accompanied by maps showing details of defenses and key locations within their targets, drawing on information derived from sympathizers working in Israel, the sources claim. The rave at which 260 people died was not among the initial targets, it is thought. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/07/secret-hamas-attack-orders-israel-gaza-7-october
2023-10-27 The Hannibal Directive: What Really Happened On October 7th As the fog of war clears, it seems the true story of October 7 is not quite as cut and dry as it once seemed. MintPress director Mnar Adley reports on how Israel used the Hannibal directive that resulted in the deaths of Israeli civilians at the hands of Israeli soldiers and police. This is a key piece of context missing from mainstream corporate media reporting on October 7th. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxGDRJJ9avw
2023-10-27 October 7 testimonies reveal Israel’s military ‘shelling’ Israeli citizens with tanks, missiles Israel’s military received orders to shell Israeli homes and even their own bases as they were overwhelmed by Hamas militants on October 7. How many Israeli citizens said to have been “burned alive” were actually killed by friendly fire? Several new testimonies by Israeli witnesses to the October 7 Hamas surprise attack on southern Israel adds to growing evidence that the Israeli military killed its own citizens as they fought to neutralize Palestinian gunmen.
Tuval Escapa, a member of the security team for Kibbutz Be’eri, set up a hotline to coordinate between kibbutz residents and the Israeli army. He told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that as desperation began to set in, “the commanders in the field made difficult decisions – including shelling houses on their occupants in order to eliminate the terrorists along with the hostages.”
A separate report published in Haaretz noted that the Israeli military was “compelled to request an aerial strike” against its own facility inside the Erez Crossing to Gaza “in order to repulse the terrorists” who had seized control. That base was filled with Israeli Civil Administration officers and soldiers at the time.
An Israeli woman named Yasmin Porat confirmed in an interview with Israel Radio that the military “undoubtedly” killed numerous Israeli noncombatants during gun battles with Hamas militants on October 7. “They eliminated everyone, including the hostages,” she stated, referring to Israeli special forces. As David Sheen and Ali Abunimah reported in Electronic Intifada, Porat described “very, very heavy crossfire” and Israeli tank shelling, which led to many casualties among Israelis. While being held by the Hamas gunmen, Porat recalled, “They did not abuse us. We were treated very humanely… No one treated us violently.” She added, “The objective was to kidnap us to Gaza, not to murder us.” https://thegrayzone.com/2023/10/27/israels-military-shelled-burning-tanks-helicopters/
2023-10-24 What really happened on 7th October? [MEK Note: Recommend reading full article] Evidence is now emerging that up to half the Israelis killed were combatants; that Israeli forces were responsible for some of their own civilian deaths; and that Tel Aviv disseminated false ‘Hamas atrocities’ stories to justify its devastating air assault on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
In the interim, two weeks of blanket western media reporting that Hamas allegedly killed around 1,400 Israeli civilians during its 7 October military attack has served to inflame emotions and create the climate for Israel’s unconstrained destruction of the Gaza Strip and its civilian population. Accounts of the Israeli death toll have been filtered and shaped to suggest that a wholesale civilian massacre occurred that day, with babies, children, and women the main targets of a terror attack.
Now, detailed statistics on the casualties released by the Israeli daily Haaretz paint a starkly different picture. As of 23 October, the news outlet has released information on 683 Israelis killed during the Hamas-led offensive, including their names and locations of their deaths on 7 October. Of these, 331 casualties – or 48.4 percent – have been confirmed to be soldiers and police officers, many of them female. Another 13 are described as rescue service members, and the remaining 339 are ostensibly considered to be civilians. https://new.thecradle.co/articles/what-really-happened-on-7th-octoberhttps://progressiveissuesblog.com/2023/11/25/2023-10-24-what-really-happened-on-7th-october/
2023-10-18 Israel/Palestine: Videos of Hamas-Led Attacks Verified ICC Has Mandate to Probe Attacks as War Crimes. Human Rights Watch has verified four videos from the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas-led gunmen, showing three incidents of deliberate killings, and presents this analysis in a video published today. The attacks should be investigated as war crimes.
On the morning of October 7, 2023, heavily armed men breached the fences separating Israel and Gaza and entered southern Israel. At least 1,400 people were killed, many of them civilians, including children, according to Israeli officials. Human Rights Watch continues to investigate these incidents, as well as others, as war crimes.
“These attacks highlight the importance of the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s ongoing investigation,” said Ida Sawyer, crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch. “The ICC prosecutor has made clear he can investigate serious crimes committed both by Palestinian armed groups in Israel and by Israeli authorities in Gaza.” https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/18/israel/palestine-videos-hamas-led-attacks-verified
2023-10-16 Hamas attack Israel’s Kibbutz Sufa: Newly surfaced video details terrorists infiltrating homes Newly surfaced bodycam footage details how the terrorists attacked Israel’s Kibbutz Sufa residential compound on October 7. The footage, captured on a camera worn by Hamas, showed them entering the Kibbutz in the south of Israel by climbing over the entrance gate, after which they unleashed gunfire on the neighbourhood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4XiTRkg9s8
2023-10-07,09 What happened in Israel? A breakdown of how Hamas attack unfolded A surprise attack by Palestinian group Hamas on Israel – combining gunmen breaching security barriers and a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza – was launched at dawn during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. Saturday’s attack came 50 years and a day after Egyptian and Syrian forces launched an assault during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in an effort to retrieve territory Israel had taken during a brief conflict in 1967. Here’s how the brazen assault unfolded:
03:30 GMT – Covering rocket fire
At about 6:30am (03:30 GMT) Hamas fired a huge barrage of rockets into southern Israel with sirens heard as far away as Tel Aviv and Beersheba. Hamas said it launched 5,000 rockets in an initial barrage. Israel’s military said 2,500 rockets were fired. Smoke billowed over residential Israeli areas and people sheltered behind buildings as sirens sounded. At least one woman was reported killed by the rockets. “We announce the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and we announce that the first strike, which targeted enemy positions, airports, and military fortifications, exceeded 5,000 missiles and shells,” Mohammed Deif, head of the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said.
04:40 GMT – Dawn infiltration
The rocket attack served as cover for an unprecedented multipronged infiltration of fighters with the Israeli military saying at 7:40am (04:40 GMT) that Palestinian fighters had crossed into Israel. Most fighters entered through breaches in security barriers separating Gaza and Israel. But at least one Hamas soldier was filmed flying over in a powered parachute. A motorboat carrying fighters was seen heading to Zikim, an Israeli coastal town with a military base. One video showed at least six motorcycles with fighters crossing through a hole in a metal barrier. A photograph released by Hamas showed a bulldozer tearing down a section of fence.
06:45 GMT – Israeli attacks
At 9:45am (06:45 GMT) blasts were heard in Gaza and at 10am (07:00 GMT) Israel’s military spokesperson said the air force was carrying out attacks in Gaza.
07:00 GMT – Fighting at Israeli military bases
Israel’s military said at 10am (07:00 GMT) that Palestinian fighters penetrated at least three military installations around the frontier – the Beit Hanoon border crossing (called Erez by Israel), the Zikim base, and the Gaza division headquarters at Reim.
Hamas videos showed fighters running towards a burning building near a high concrete wall with a watchtower and fighters apparently overrunning part of an Israeli military facility and shooting from behind a wall.
Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chief of Hamas in the occupied West Bank, issued a call to arms. “We must all fight this battle, especially the resistance fighters in the West Bank,” he said in a statement.
Several captured Israeli military vehicles were later pictured being driven into Gaza and paraded there.
Border town raids
Fighters raided the Israeli town of Sderot, another community Be’eri, and the town of Ofakim, 30km (20 miles) east of Gaza, according to Israeli media.
Residents of southern Israel fortified their homes to function as bomb shelters and were using them as panic rooms. Israel’s military ordered residents to shelter inside, saying on the radio, “We will reach you.”
2023-10-08 ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 2: Israel declares war as casualties skyrocket Ongoing fighting in towns around Gaza. As of 2 p.m. local time, Palestinian resistance fighters were still engaged with Israeli forces in several Israeli localities bordering Gaza, while the Israeli army announced that it would be evacuating 25 other border towns, and possibly more in the next 24 hours “according to the assessment of the situation.”
Throughout the day, the fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian commandos has been thickest in Kfar Aza, Re’im, Ofakim, Kissufim, Kibbutz Magen, Erez, Zikim, and several other Israeli colonies, although the map of confrontation continues to shift throughout the day, with some place being taken over by Israeli forces, while others coming under control of Palestinian resistance fighters.
Most importantly, both the resistance factions’ media organs and Israeli military sources are confirming that the Palestinian forces have been able to partially resupply in certain areas, which indicates that the resistance intends to prolong its operation in occupied Palestine. Hamas military spokesperson Abu Obidah confirmed that Hamas could resupply its fighters inside the occupied territories and managed to infiltrate more fighters.
“The Al-Qassam leadership managed to supply the fighters with weapons, shells, and equipment. The leadership also infiltrated new fighters and supported them with over 100 rockets.” Abu Obidah said. In a recent statement by Abu Obidah, he said that the Hamas air forces joined the battle with over 35 homemade drones.
The fighters inside Israel are not only Hamas-affiliated fighters, the PIJ also said that dozens of its fighters are joining the battle and fighting the Israelis. Whether this may lead to extended control over areas surrounding Gaza, or is part of a moving force meant to fulfill limited tactical objectives before withdrawing, remains to be seen. Media reports have reported increasing Israeli and Palestinian casualties from the ongoing fighting in the settlements, and the Israeli army released the names of 25 soldiers killed during the fighting as of 1 p.m. local time.
Hezbollah launches limited strikes
On Sunday morning, October 8, Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon fired rockets into northern occupied Palestine at three Israeli targets in the Shebaa Farms region, which is historically Lebanese land that has been occupied by Israel since 1967. The areas targeted by Hezbollah were “radar sites” such as Zebdine and Ruwaisat al-Alam.
The Islamic resistance organization put out a statement following the attack, proclaiming that it was “on the road to the liberation of what remains of occupied Lebanese soil,” and that an armed force in Hezbollah had carried out these attacks on the Israeli sites with “a large amount of artillery fire and guided missiles.”
The immediate cause of the strike was its coinciding with the surprise attack of the Gaza resistance a day earlier, which Hezbollah conducted in retaliation for Israel’s retribution against Palestinians in Gaza and its attacks on Al-Aqsa, and “in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance and their struggle,” as conveyed by a Hezbollah spokesperson.
Yet the Lebanese strike was also preceded by gradually mounting tensions on occupied Palestine’s northern border, namely between Hezbollah and the Israeli regime. The tensions expressed themselves in various incidents and inflammatory remarks from Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s threats of sending Lebanon “back to the Stone Age” after Hezbollah put up tents on the Israeli side of the border.
By approximately 11:50 a.m. local time,, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, Hashem Safi al-Din, put out a statement saying that “we are not remaining neutral in the battle that is being waged against the Israeli occupation.”
2024-02-09 Hamas’ Gaza Chief Untraceable? Yahya Sinwar ‘Not In Touch’ With Leaders Amid IDF Offensive Speculation is mounting over the whereabouts of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Sinwar reportedly lost touch with other leaders “weeks ago” and was not involved in Hamas’ response to the latest truce proposal. IDF believes that Sinwar and other Hamas leaders are hiding in Khan Younis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PicagrKhCA8
2024-02-04 ‘Houthis Our Brothers’: Gaza Militants Come Out In Support Of Yemeni, Iraqi Resistance Against U.S. Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad blasted U.S. and UK strikes on Iran-linked groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen and accused the western nations of supporting ‘Israeli crimes’ against Palestinians in Gaza by striking anti-Israel militants in neighbouring countries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JHpaqATrZU
2023-12-19All the Reasons Israelis and Palestinians Need a Cease-Fire in Gaza—Now! What follows is an issue by issue look at why a ceasefire is necessary to save innocent Palestinian lives, release Israeli hostages, prosecute the perpetrators of October 7, and follow international law. There is no military solution — this was true in Afghanistan and Iraq and it is true in Gaza. It is not possible to destroy Hamas militarily. Going to war against a small group of militants doesn’t work — with nearly 20,000 Palestinians killed, it still appears as of this writing that Israeli forces haven’t killed any top leaders of Hamas. Such military action only breeds greater resistance.
Hamas isn’t only made up of its military wing. It has a political wing that carries out Islamic education, social welfare, and other functions. And while its religious focus is not particularly popular, it is perceived by Palestinians across Gaza as the only Palestinian force standing up to Israeli occupation, apartheid, and the 17 years of siege Israel has imposed on Gaza since before October 7.
2023-12-04 Israel’s Impossible Dilemma Despite American and other entreaties to limit civilian casualties, Israel appears determined to push into the south of Gaza, but its strategic thinking seems to end there, and to hold no plausible endgame in sight. As a consequence, the next phase of this vicious conflict will almost certainly lead Israel to an unenviable dilemma: whether to grant Hamas a small and ultimately hollow victory or a much larger and all-too-real one.
The next stages of the fighting seem clear. Israel will likely seize all of the significant aboveground urban areas in Gaza’s south, just as it did in the north. After that will come a major battle for control of Hamas’s extensive underground tunnel network, where most of the group’s fighters, leaders, equipment, and remaining hostages are presumed to be located.
All of those goals are plausibly achievable. But Israel’s larger stated aim—of utterly eradicating Hamas—is impossible. Hamas is a brand name, not a list of individuals and objects. Israel could destroy its leaders and all of its equipment, declare victory, and leave Gaza to its fate. Hamas, in some form, would still crawl out of the rubble and declare a “divine victory” of its own.
Not only that: Hamas has cadres all over the Middle East, including the group’s de facto diplomatic branch in Qatar, as well as significant pockets of fighters in the West Bank, Lebanon, and elsewhere. Israel could assassinate them all—and still, at the end of this round of fighting, somebody, in the name of Hamas, will declare victory over Israel, even if only by pointing to October 7 and claiming to have destroyed Israel’s veneer of invincibility, sense of impunity, and insufferable arrogance, while reviving the Palestinian issue on the international stage.
For Israel, leaving Gaza comes with this risk, no matter how severe the physical devastation. Not only could Hamas declare victory, but it could resurrect its governing structures in Gaza if Israel leaves. Israel would then continue its de facto siege and fortify its buffer zone, while Hamas would declare that Israel had retreated in humiliation and defeat. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-s-impossible-dilemma/ar-AA1kZ7th
2023-12-19 Who is Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas ‘mastermind’ in Gaza? Israeli officials say Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in Gaza and a member of its politburo since 2013, was one of the masterminds behind the October 7 attack, along with Mohammed Deif, the commander of Hamas’s military wing the Qassam Brigades, and Marwan Issa, Deif’s deputy. But Sinwar seemingly has the biggest target on his back, as Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have called him a “dead man walking”.
Sinwar, also known as Abu Ibrahim, has myriad stories around him, most adding to the idea that he is a near-mystical villain. This man painted as “the face of evil” was born in 1962 in a refugee camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, to a family that had been displaced by Zionist gangs during the Nakba, or “catastrophe” of 1948. They were from al-Majdal, a Palestinian village razed and built over to create the Israeli town of Ashkelon. Before he turned 20, in 1982, Sinwar was first arrested by Israeli authorities for “Islamic activities”. In 1985, he was arrested again, and it was during this second stint in prison that he met and became close to Hamas’s founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Sinwar was drawn to Hamas and, at 25, he helped establish al-Majd, the group’s internal security organisation, which earned him an uncompromising reputation in dealing with Palestinians who collaborated with Israel. Adding to that reputation was former Shin Bet officer Micha Kobi’s interview with the Financial Times telling of Sinwar boasting to him in the late 1980s about making the brother of an alleged informer bury the accused man alive.
In 1988, at 26, Sinwar was arrested and charged with plotting the murder of two Israeli soldiers and killing 12 Palestinians. He was given four life sentences. During the next 22 years in prison, Sinwar remained strictly disciplined, learned to speak and read Hebrew fluently and became a leader among the prisoners and a focal point for negotiations with prison staff. An Israeli government assessment from his time in prison described Sinwar as charismatic, cruel, manipulative, content with little, cunning and secretive, according to the BBC.
On October 18, 2011, Israel exchanged more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was kidnapped by Hamas, and Sinwar was among the Palestinians traded for Shalit. Outside jail, Sinwar quickly climbed the ladder in Hamas. His name landed on Netanyahu’s desk as a target for assassination, but the Israeli premier allegedly rejected plans to kill Sinwar on several occasions. In 2013, he was elected as a member of Hamas’s politburo in the Gaza Strip, before becoming the movement’s leader in Gaza in 2017, replacing Ismail Haniyeh.
Still, in 2018, Sinwar signalled that Hamas’s tactics were moving towards non-armed resistance. Another war with Israel is “definitely not in our interest,” he said at the time. But by late 2022, Sinwar’s calculus seemingly changed. On December 14, 2022, Sinwar and other Hamas leaders told a large crowd in Gaza they predicted an “open confrontation” after Israel elected the most right-wing government in its history. Sinwar’s threats were repeated in early 2023. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/who-is-yahya-sinwar-the-hamas-mastermind-in-gaza/ar-AA1lIrV7
2023-11-13 Why Norm Finkelstein Won’t CONDEMN Hamas The foremost scholar on the Israel-Palestine conflict returns to Bad Faith podcast to weigh in on why he refuses to condemn Hamas despite acknowledging the atrocities of October 7th, and update the pod on the most recent hospital bombing. He also destroys Jake Tapper and Hilary Clinton’s rationales for Israel’s siege against the civilians of Gaza, and debunks common talking points circulated by Zionist mainstream media figures. This is an epic nearly 3 hour conversation you’re not going to want to miss. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqXikmXo2Gw
2023-11-12 Hamas Didn’t Attack Israelis Because They Are Jewish We need a basic analysis of power and history to understand that Hamas’ attacks on Israeli civilians, while egregious, had nothing to do with those Israelis’ religion and everything to do with occupation and settler colonialism. In all my urgency, I’d neglected the core thing that needed tending to in my Jewish community: the assumption that Hamas’ attacks on October 7 were an expression of antisemitism, and thus, a threat to all of us.
Much of my family was killed in the Holocaust. On my grandparents’ wedding night, Hitler invaded their home country of Belgium. I grew up hearing my grandmother’s stories of narrowly escaping death at every turn, the wails of Jewish mothers over their dead children, fields of lifeless bodies. My grandparents arrived at Ellis Island traumatized by the unfathomable murder of their families in the gas chambers of Auschwitz while the world let it happen.
So I can understand why many of my fellow Jewish Americans’ limbic systems were triggered on October 7, especially in a world where antisemitism still very much exists, particularly in the context of white nationalism. A world where we are told the same story that Elena was, and where Palestinians are demonized to legitimize that story. Jews can grieve for Israeli lives lost and refuse the weaponization of that grief to commit genocide against Palestinians.
Antisemitism is defined as “discrimination against, violence toward, or stereotypes of Jews for being Jewish.” Let me be clear: Hamas’ killings of Israeli civilians were wrong, in clear violation of international law. But they weren’t about antisemitism.
The key thing to understand is that, in Israel/Palestine, unlike anywhere else in the world, Jewish people—specifically white Ashkenazi Jews—are the ones in power. Jewish Israelis are the occupiers and Palestinians are the occupied. When I spent eight months in the West Bank documenting human rights abuses, I saw the way Israel controls every aspect of Palestinian life, separating Palestinians from their schools and hospitals; torching their olive groves; demolishing their homes; imprisoning them without trial; discriminating against Palestinian citizens of Israel; and bringing about the slow, sometimes quick, death of Palestinians in Gaza by cutting them off from the outside world, putting them on a collective “diet,” and periodically bombing civilian infrastructure, homes, and families. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/hamas-attacks-not-antisemitic
2023-10-26 Hamas: Today’s Amalek There are some pretty despicable characters sprinkled throughout the Hebrew Bible; Amalek and his followers are among the worst. Exodus 17:8-16 recounts that, not long after the glorious celebration of dance and song described so beautifully in the Song of Miriam, the Israelites were ambushed by the Amalekites. We learn more about the brutality of the attack near the conclusion of the Torah, in Deuteronomy 25:17-18: “Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt — how, undeterred by the fear of G-d, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear.” The implication is that if there are any accepted rules of warfare, the Amalekites ignored them with their ruthless barbarity.
The Amalekites, eternal enemies of the Jewish people, are said to be the embodiment of pure evil. Just as the Nazis were the 20th century’s version of Amalek, Hamas has proven that they are the Amalek of today. I see the words “Do not forget” as an admonition to minimize the chances that this nightmare will happen again. Learn from military intelligence mistakes, don’t trust in the humanity of enemies who have none, and always remain vigilant.
At this stage, I doubt that many of us need be reminded of what Hamas did to our people. And I suspect that we agree on what we need to do in return. If we ever hope to live in peace alongside our Palestinian neighbors, Hamas, like Amalek, must be removed from the world. https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/columnist/364360/hamas-todays-amalek/
2023-10-20 “Divide and Rule”: How Israel Helped Start Hamas to Weaken Palestinian Hopes for Statehood “This isn’t an effort to try to quell, to destroy Hamas specifically,” says Tareq Baconi, Palestinian analyst and author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance. “This is an effort to pursue an ethnic cleansing campaign in the Gaza Strip and beyond the Gaza Strip, as we see the violence rising in the West Bank.” Baconi lays out Israel’s history of enabling Hamas while designating them as terrorists in order to maintain tight control over Gaza. https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/20/divide_and_rule_how_israel_helped
2023-10-19 US Warmongers Keep Pushing The Narrative That Hamas Is To Blame For All Deaths In Gaza US warmongers have been forcefully pushing the propaganda narrative that Hamas bears 100 percent responsibility for all deaths in Gaza, and Israel bears zero percent, as Israel ramps up its mass slaughter of Palestinians. https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/us-warmongers-keep-pushing-the-narrative
2023-10-14 THE PLAN TO WIPE OUT HAMAS It’s been one week since the horrific Hamas attacks on Israel took place, and the shape of what is to come from the Israeli armed forces is clear, and uncompromising. Over the past week Israeli jets have conducted around-the-clock bombing of non-military targets in Gaza City. Apartment buildings, hospitals, and mosques were torn apart, with no prior warning and no effort to minimize civilian casualties.
By the end of the week Israeli jets were also dropping leaflets telling the citizens of Gaza City and its surrounding areas in the north that those who wished to survive had better start going south—walking if necessary—25 miles or more—to the Rafah border crossing leading to Egypt. As of this writing, it was not clear whether financially stricken Egypt will allow a million immigrants, many of them committed to the Hamas cause, to cross. In the short term, I have been told by an Israeli insider that Israel has been trying to convince Qatar, which at the urging of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a long-time financial supporter of Hamas, to join with Egypt in funding a tent city for the million or more refugees awaiting across the border. “It’s not a done deal,” the Israeli insider told me. Israeli officials have warned Egypt and Qatar that without a landing site, the refugees will have to “go back to Gaza. https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/the-plan-to-wipe-out-hamasnvince Qatar, which at the urging of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a long-time financial supporter of Hamas, to join with Egypt in funding a tent city for the million or more refugees awaiting across the border. “It’s not a done deal,” the Israeli insider told me. Israeli officials have warned Egypt and Qatar that without a landing site, the refugees will have to “go back to Gaza. https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/the-plan-to-wipe-out-hamas
2024-06-11 UN Human Rights Office Says IDF’s Deadly Nuseirat Raid May Amount to War Crime Israeli forces killed at least 274 Palestinians in the refugee camp on Saturday while conducting an operation to save four hostages.
Citing the “principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution” that international humanitarian law demands military forces obey, the United Nations’ top human rights office on Tuesday said the raid conducted at Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces over the weekend may amount to a war crime.
The IDF conducted the operation at the camp in the central Gaza Strip in order to free four Israeli hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, and Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) told reporters their release was “clearly very good news.”
But the OHCHR, Laurence said, is “profoundly shocked at the impact on civilians of the Israeli forces’ operation,” which killed at least 274 Palestinians, including 64 children and 57 women, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
Eyewitnesses and aid groups have said the attack began in broad daylight andstarted after IDF soldiers entered the camp in a humanitarian aid truck. The operation was carried out with jets, drones, and tanks and included strikes in the vicinity of a maternity clinic that has been converted to a hospital to help care for people wounded in Israeli attacks since October. https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-hostage-rescue
2024-06-22 Hind Rajab Killing: Analysis Finds Israeli Tank Fired 335 Bullets Into Car at Close Range An Israeli tank or tanks likely fired the bullets that killed five-year-old Palestinian Hind Rajab and six relatives as they sat in a car in northern Gaza in January, according to an analysis released Friday that adds to evidence of the Israeli military’s role in an indiscriminate killing which galvanized anti-war protests around the world earlier this year.
tank had to have been positioned between 13 and 23 meters from the family car when it fired the shots that killed Layan Hamada, Hind Rajab’s 15-year-old cousin, and it’s “not plausible that the shooter could not have seen that the car was occupied by civilians, including children,” wrote the authors of the analysis, which was completed by U.K. research agency Forensic Architecture, based at Goldsmiths, University of London, with Earshot, an NGO, and Al Jazeera journalists.
The investigators found 335 bullet holes on the body of the Kia Picanto the family was using. An Israeli tank also likely killed the two Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedics who came to the scene, the analysis found. The new analysis refutes Israel’s contention that its forces were not responsible for the killings, which caused an international outcry.https://www.commondreams.org/news/hind-rajab-forensic-investigation
2024-05-04 Palestine Talks | Chris Hedges on the moral corruption of Israel and the “savagery” of violence In this episode of Palestine Talks, we speak to writer and activist Chris Hedges as he discusses the philosophical nature of the evil underlying Israel’s violence against the Palestinian people, and the radical dehumanisation of Palestinians based on his own troubling experience covering stories in war zones. He also discusses how American media, paralleling the propaganda of the Israeli lobby, deliberately trivialises such violence and misleads the public.
As Hedges points out, this reflects how such media including outlets that enjoy a “liberal” or “progressive” reputation like The New York Times “embraces American militarism”, contemptuous of both human life and the possibility of peace grounded in actual principles of justice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyErcPn2VIU
2024-04-06 In Gaza and Beyond, War Itself Is the Problem Condemning “war crimes” is nothing more than a shrug; it’s war itself that must be not simply “condemned,” but transcended.
And then I thought about Larry Hebert, a U.S. airman who recently began waging a hunger strike in defiance of his country’s complicity in the genocide of Gaza. He stood in front of the White House holding a sign declaring: “Active-Duty Airman Refuses to Eat While Gaza Starves.”
And Hebert was influenced by Aaron Bushnell, also an active-duty airman, who stood in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. on February 24, doused himself in flammable liquid, lit a match, and set himself on fire, shouting, “Free Palestine!” as he burned to death.
War is personal, even when it’s occurring on the other side of the planet—or it can be. Hebert and Bushnell—and all the others on the planet who feel the same connection with the victims of war—aren’t simply “being critical” of how Israel is “conducting” its war. They’re screaming from their souls: “No! No! No! Stop blowing the limbs off children! Stop killing moms and newborns! Stop dehumanizing them, stop doing what you’re doing. War is wrong!”
Even the international condemnation of the Israeli devastation of Gaza often feels tepid. United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said: “This is unconscionable. But it is an inevitable result of the way the war is being conducted.”
Yes, of course, this is unconscionable, but the implication here is that there are decent, moral ways to conduct a war, to “defend yourself” from an impoverished, occupied population. Attention, patriots! Attention, mainstream journalists! Waging war doesn’t keep us safe. Diminishing the humanity of others, then killing them and stealing their land, while it may be embedded in our history, doesn’t make anyone safe. It guarantees endless hell. But guess what? “Just as individuals can relinquish their righteous rage and compulsion to punish indiscriminately, so, too, can groups and nations. But doing so requires leaders who can reach across divided communities and provide hope in a seemingly hopeless time to override the all-too-human drive to retaliate.” https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/war-problem-in-gaza
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