progressiveissuesblog

Amalekites

Updated 2024-07-15

Amalek’s Attack   The Defeat of Amalek   While the Jews were still in Rephidim, the Amalekites, a mightily and fierce people, descendants of Esau, and well-trained in the art of warfare, suddenly attacked the people of Israel. It was an unprovoked and cowardly attack upon a tired and weary people, just liberated from slavery, on the way to their homeland.

Moses put his disciple Joshua in charge of the troops who were to fight against the Amalekites. Then Moses, together with his brother Aaron and nephew Hur, went up to a hill, to pray for G‑d’s help in the battle. The battle lasted a whole day until the Amalekites were finally defeated and routed. G‑d ordered Moses to record the treacherous attack of the Amalekites for everlasting memory. Together with this memory went an oath to wipe the Amalekites — the incarnation of all evil — off the face of the earth. There could be no peace between Israel and Amalek for all time to come.     https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/246634/jewish/Amaleks-Attack.htm

Amalek -Wikipedia  Commandment to exterminate the Amalekites   Commandments

In Judaism, three of the 613 mitzvot (commandments) involve Amalek: to remember what the Amalekites did to the Israelites, not to forget what the Amalekites did to Israelites, and to destroy the Amalekites utterly. The rabbis derived these from Deuteronomy 25:17–18, Exodus 17:14 and 1 Samuel 15:3. Rashi explains the third commandment:

From man unto woman, from infant unto suckling, from ox unto sheep, so that the name of Amalek not be mentioned even with reference to an animal by saying “This animal belonged to Amalek”.

As enumerated by Maimonides, the three mitzvot state:

598 Deut. 25:17 – Remember what Amalek did to the Israelites

599 Deut. 25:19 – Wipe out the descendants of Amalek

600 Deut. 25:19 – Not to forget Amalek’s atrocities and ambush on our journey from Egypt in the desert

Some commentators have discussed the ethical deficiency of the commandment to exterminate all the Amalekites, especially including the command to kill children, and the presumption of collective punishment. It has also been described as genocidal, according to genocide scholars like Norman Naimark.

As a people, the Amalekites were identified as a recurrent enemy of the Israelites. This role appears in several stories:

In Exodus 17:8–16, Amalek makes war against Israel in the wilderness. Joshua is ordered by Moses to lead Israel in battle, and Moses watches from a hillside. When Moses’ hand is raised, Israel prevails, but when it is lowered, Israel falters. So he keeps his hand raised through the entire battle, even having assistants hold him up, so that the battle will go to Israel.

In Deuteronomy 25:17–19, The Israelites are specifically commanded to “blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven” once they have taken possession of the promised land in retribution for “what Amalek did to [them] on the way as [they] were coming out of Egypt.” Earlier, in Deuteronomy 7:1–16 and Deuteronomy 25:16–18, they are commanded to utterly destroy all the inhabitants of the idolatrous cities in the promised land and their livestock; scripture purports that King Saul ultimately loses favor with Yahweh for failing to kill King Agag and the best livestock of the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15 in defiance of these commandments.

In 1 Samuel 15:1–9, Samuel identifies Amalek as the enemy of Israelites, saying “Thus says the Lord of hosts: I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt.” God then commands Saul to destroy the Amalekites. In 1 Samuel 15:33, Samuel identifies king Agag of Amalek as an enemy and killer, saying “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.”

According to 1 Samuel 30:1–2, the Amalekites invaded the Negev and Ziklag in the Judean/Philistine border area towards the end of the reign of King Saul, burning Ziklag and taking its citizens away into captivity. The future king David led a successful mission against the Amalekites to recover “all that the Amalekites had carried away”.

In 2 Samuel 1:5–10, an Amalekite tells David that he found Saul leaning on his spear after the battle of Gilboa. The Amalekite claims he euthanized Saul, at Saul’s request, and removed his crown. David gives orders to his men to kill the Amalekite for killing the anointed king, believing him to be guilty by admission.      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalek

2024-04-09 Sympathy for the Devil, Part Two  “You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. And we do remember.” – Benjamin Netanyahu

In the Book of Samuel, it is Samuel who oversees the transfer of religious authority from the Judges to the Kings—at the insistence of the people, not the command of God. And it is to Saul, the first Hebrew King, that Samuel, claiming to be speaking on behalf of God, commands Saul to kill every person in Amalek, a rival nation to ancient Israel.

“This is what the Lord Almighty says,” Samuel tells Saul. “‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

This is the biblical reference which Benjamin Netanyahu drew upon when he exhorted Israel to “remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible.”  https://scottritter.substack.com/p/sympathy-for-the-devil-part-two

2023-11-03 The Dangerous History Behind Netanyahu’s Amalek Rhetoric      His recent biblical reference has long been used by the Israeli far right to justify killing Palestinians.    On Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israelis were united in their fight against Hamas, whom he described as an enemy of incomparable cruelty. “They are committed to completely eliminating this evil from the world,” Netanyahu said in Hebrew. He then added: “You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. And we do remember.”

There are more than 23,000 verses in the Old Testament. The ones Netanyahu turned to, as Israeli forces launched their ground invasion in Gaza, are among its most violent—and have a long history of being used by Jews on the far right to justify killing Palestinians.

As others quickly pointed out, God commands King Saul in the first Book of Samuel to kill every person in Amalek, a rival nation to ancient Israel. “This is what the Lord Almighty says,” the prophet Samuel tells Saul. “‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”   https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/benjamin-netanyahu-amalek-israel-palestine-gaza-saul-samuel-old-testament/

2023-10-30 Netanyahu Accused of ‘Genocidal Intentions’ in Gaza After ‘Holy Mission’ Speech      “The biblical reference to Amalek is genocidal,” noted one theologian after the prime minister invoked an ancient enemy. “The Bible commands to wipe out Amalek, including women, babies, children, and animals.”   Human rights defenders on Monday accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of an “explicit call to genocide” after he delivered a televised address calling Israel’s imminent invasion of Gaza a “holy mission” and invoked an ancient mythical foe whom the God of the Hebrew Bible commanded the Israelites to exterminate.   Declaring the start of a “second stage” of Israel’s war on Gaza—which he described as a “holy mission”—Netanyahu said that “you must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible.”   According to the Hebrew Bible, the nation of Amalek was an ancient archenemy of the Israelites whose extermination was commanded by God to Saul via the prophet Samuel. https://www.commondreams.org/news/netanyahu-genocide

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/

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Antisemites – Number One & Two: USA and Israel Governments

Updated 2023-12-08

2023-11-06 MICHEL CHOSSUDOVSKY – MIDDLE EAST WAR: A FALSE FLAG LEADING TO MORE FALSE FLAGS?      https://rumble.com/v3txhqg-michel-chossudovsky-middle-east-war-a-false-flag-leading-to-more-false-flag.html

2020-06-26 Letter to President Trump – June 26, 2020    Do you think you have enough on your table these days? Wait until the Israeli government, fortified economically and militarily by U.S. taxpayers, illegally annexes a large region of the Palestinian West Bank, including the Jordan Valley, next month. That is the declaration of the Israeli Prime Minister.    You can prevent these calamities. First, you need to stop your bigotry against the Palestinian Arabs and desperate Syrian Arab refugees that make you a leading anti-Semite against the Arab peoples.  https://nader.org/2020/06/29/letter-to-president-trump-june-26-2020/  

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

2023 Conflict Timeline

Updated 2023-11-11

Timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2023      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_conflict_in_2023

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Media -Anti Palestine

Updated 2024-02-26

The Middle East Media Research Institute     https://www.memri.org/

2023-11-15 Understanding the U.S. Media’s Deadly Double Standards on Gaza      FEATURING MEDEA BENJAMIN – Hundreds of journalists have signed onto a statement saying they condemn, “Israel’s killing of journalists in Gaza and urge integrity in Western media coverage of Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians.” U.S. media coverage of Israel’s brutal war on Gaza appears blatantly lop-sided, taking claims of the Israeli state at face value, while requiring “independent” verification of the atrocities that Palestinians are reporting. It’s a familiar pattern, says longtime peace and justice activist Medea Benjamin, who sees a strong link between uncritical media acceptance of the U.S.’s misdeeds in Iraq and coverage of what’s happening today in Gaza. https://risingupwithsonali.com/understanding-the-u-s-medias-deadly-double-standards-on-gaza/

2023-10-15 The first casualty of war is the truth   multiple case studies in disinformation and propaganda spread by sources ranging from MSNBC to the White House itself. The militarism enabled by failures of institutional journalists has led thousands to their graves, and international human rights to their ruin.  

One reason I focus so much of my ire on journalists and editors is because they are supposed to play such a crucial role in ensuring legitimacy, transparency, and accountability in government.   Their failures cascade well beyond their profession. By leaving the public blind to important issues (or by legitimating outright lies), journalists ultimately enforce ignorance on the electoral process that, in turn, allows militarism to increasingly threaten democracy—as we were warned that it would.  https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/p/the-first-casualty-of-war-is-the

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Self-defense by Colonial Powers

Updated 2023-11-06

2021-05-16 The fallacy of the colonial ‘right to self-defense’    Colonial powers have long demanded the ‘right to self-defense’ against the people they have colonized.   In response, Western governments, led by US President Joe Biden, have been quick to unequivocally condemn Palestinian groups for the rocket barrages, but have been much more circumspect about condemning Israel’s attack on Palestinian civilians.  

Lukewarm expressions of “dismay” and “grave concern” at Palestinian deaths have been interspersed with declarations of “unwavering support for Israel’s security and for Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself”. They have also included appeals for “moral clarity”, implying that the actions of Palestinian groups, though causing  a tiny fraction of the death and destruction that Israeli bombardment has wreaked, were nonetheless much more objectionable.

The idea that imperial land grabbers have the right to terrorize, brutalize, torture and murder those whose land they steal under the rubric of “self-defense” flies in the face of UN General Assembly Resolution 37/43 of 1982 which recognized “the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle”. That resolution specifically reaffirmed this right in the case of the Palestinian struggle.   https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/5/16/the-fallacy-of-the-colonial-right-to-defence

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

United States Greatest Nation Ever?   

Updated 2024-02-26

2024-02-14 Patrick Lawrence: Crisis at the NYT   It has been evident to many of us since the genocide in Gaza began Oct. 7 that Israel risked asking too much of those inclined to take its side.  The Zionist state would ask what many people cannot give: It would ask them to surrender their consciences, their idea of moral order, altogether their native decency as it murders, starves and disperses a population of 2.3 million while making their land uninhabitable.  The Israelis took this risk and they have lost.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports, as American media do not, that the Israel Defense Forces covertly sponsor a social media channel disseminating this degenerate material in the cause of maintaining maximum hatred.  It is a psychologically diseased nation that boasts as it inflicts this suffering on The Other that obsesses it. The world is invited — the ultimate in perversity, this — to partake of Israel’s sickness and it said, in a Hague courtroom two weeks ago: “No.”   Post–Gaza, apartheid Israel is unlikely ever to recover what place it enjoyed, merited or otherwise, in the community of nations. It stands among the pariahs now.  

The Biden regime took this risk, too, and it has also lost.  Its support for the Israelis’ daily brutalities comes at great political cost, at home and abroad, and is tearing America apart — its universities, its courts, its legislatures, its communities — and I would say what pride it still manages to take in itself.   When the history of America’s decline as a hegemonic power is written, the Gaza crisis is certain to figure as a significant marker in the nation’s descent into a morass of immorality that has already contributed to a collapse of its credibility.    https://consortiumnews.com/2024/02/14/patrick-lawrence-crisis-at-the-nyt/

2023-12-29    2023: The Year the Bubble of US Leadership Burst   If Ukraine exemplifies yet another iconic U.S. military failure, and BRICS the changing of the guard in the economic realm, the sadistic savagery in Gaza repudiates the moral right of the U.S. to lead… anything. 

Most important in bursting the bubble of U.S. leadership in international affairs is its tragic, morally suicidal complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The Biden administration has gone to extraordinary lengths to enable Israel to murder tens of thousands of innocent, defenseless Palestinian civilians, most of them women and children.   It has provided—and dramatically increased—economic subsidies. It has rush-shipped tens of thousands of tons of weapons and ammunition to Israel, even bypassing Congress to do so. It has provided military cover in the form of two aircraft carrier battle groups to prevent other nations from intervening to stop the slaughter. It has exercised its veto power at the U.N. Security Council to prevent a cease-fire, even for humanitarian reasons. The U.S. is all in on the massacre of tens of thousands of defenseless Palestinian civilians.

As a result of the U.S.’ help, Israel is able to bomb, with impunity, working hospitals, refugee camps, schools, churches, mosques, relief agencies, anything where civilians shelter to try to escape the apocalyptic destruction. And it is doing this, knowing that civilians are the main casualties, thus making it not just “killing” innocent, defenseless women and children, but murdering them. And this is still just the beginning of the depraved degeneracy.

The World Food Program says that as many as 750,000 civilians are now being intentionally starved. This, by a supposedly civilized nation. And, with no hospitals, no medicines, no water, and no sewerage, it is only a matter of time before epidemic diseases emerge and spread and kill hundreds of thousands. It is undisguised mass murder for the undeniable purpose of ethnic cleansing, which has always been Israel’s agenda, since even before it was founded. It is genocide, pure and simple, and all in public view of the world’s 8 billion people.

In Gaza, the U.S. returns to its roots, albeit vicariously. It, too, was founded in genocide, in its case, of the 50+ million native Americans who once populated the North American continent. It too, used vastly disproportionate force, the mechanized tools of an industrial-age civilization systematically exterminating a stone-age one. It, too, bolstered its commitment to ethnic cleansing with its self-flattering myths of racial superiority and its carefully cultivated conceits of cultural supremacy.  The difference is that then, all the world was not watching the daily depravity. And it had not formed its present-day revulsion and international prohibitions against such state-sponsored barbarism. Now it is, and has. The damage to the U.S.’ reputation is palpable, undeniable, stunning, and irreversible.

The U.S. has defiled itself, humiliated itself, as no other nation could possibly do. It has destroyed goodwill that has taken centuries to acquire and that will never be recovered.    If Ukraine exemplifies yet another iconic U.S. military failure, and BRICS the changing of the guard in the economic realm, the sadistic savagery in Gaza repudiates the moral right of the U.S. to lead… anything. No nation will ever again be intimidated by its hypocritical tut-tutting about human rights or its sanctimonious finger wagging about the responsibility to protect. It is, more than anything else, the world’s leading purveyor of death and all the nations of the world can see it.

The combination of these three events signal the 2023 bursting of the bubble of U.S. global leadership. The year will be remembered as the pivot point, the turning away from the post-Cold War unipolar era, and the ushering in of the post-unipolar, post-Western-centric multipolar world. Five hundred years of Western domination of the world order are ending. There will be no going back. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/2023-us-leadership-bubble-burst

2023-12-26 US Foreign Policy Is a Scam Built on Corruption     On the surface, US foreign policy seems to be utterly irrational. The US gets into one disastrous war after another — Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and Gaza. In recent days, the US stands globally isolated in its support of Israel’s genocidal actions against the Palestinians, voting against a UN General Assembly resolution for a Gaza ceasefire backed by 153 countries with 89% of the world population, and opposed by just the US and 9 small countries with less than 1% of the world population.

In the past 20 years, every major US foreign policy objective has failed. The Taliban returned to power after 20 years of US occupation of Afghanistan. Post-Saddam Iraq became dependent on Iran. Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad stayed in power despite a CIA effort to overthrow him. Libya fell into a protracted civil war after a US-led NATO mission overthrew Muammar Gaddafi. Ukraine was bludgeoned on the battlefield by Russia in 2023 after the US secretly scuttled a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine in 2022.  

The puzzle is solved by recognizing that American foreign policy is not at all about the interests of the American people. It is about the interests of the Washington insiders, as they chase campaign contributions and lucrative jobs for themselves, staff, and family members. In short, US foreign policy has been hacked by big money.   As a result, the American people are losing big. The failed wars since 2000 have cost them around $5 trillion in direct outlays, or around $40,000 per household. Another $2 trillion or so will be spent in the coming decades on veterans’ care. Beyond the costs directly incurred by Americans, we should also recognize the horrendously high costs suffered abroad, in millions of lives lost and trillions of dollars of destruction to property and nature in the war zones. 

Yet to describe these gargantuan costs is also to explain the twisted “rationality” of US foreign policy. The $1.5 trillion in military outlays is the scam that keeps on giving—to the military-industrial complex and the Washington insiders—even as it impoverishes and endangers America and the world.    To understand the foreign-policy scam, think of today’s federal government as a multi-division racket controlled by the highest bidders.   https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/corruption-of-us-foreign-policy

2023-11-24 U.S. Marine Makes Undeniable Case For Hamas!    Former United States Marine Kenneth O’Keefe has become an outspoken critic of Israeli policy toward Palestine, announcing that if he were Palestinian he would likely fight back against the occupation by any means necessary. In a clip dating from more than 10 years ago O’Keefe even compares Hamas to the African National Congress and Nelson Mandela.   Jimmy and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss efforts by certain non-profit groups to label O’Keefe an anti-semite.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kuRZ2FcRaU

2023-11-19 Myth Of “Western Civilization” Destroyed In 2 Minutes By U.N. Palestinian Representative   United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese recently addressed the General Assembly and lit into the United States for making any claim to being a force for peace in the world. The United States is a warmongering nations, she said, with a foreign policy wholly based on the demands of the powerful military industrial complex. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx3NbXFkM1k

2023-11-02 The U.S. Is NOT “The Greatest Country In The World” & Here’s Why.   Often appearing on lists of the greatest scenes in television history, Jeff Daniels’ famous monologue from the show Newsroom helps lay out all the reasons why the United States is not “number one.” Except when it comes to incarceration and belief in religious nonsense, his character says.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzdSySFNNoc&t=6s

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Yemen

Updated 2024-08-29

2024-08-27 British Telegraph: The Houthis have defeated the US Navy     Operation “Guardian of Prosperity” was launched in December 2023 in response to Houthi attacks on commercial ships passing through the southern parts of the Red Sea. The goal of the operation was to create a unified international bloc to deter the Houthis from further attacks and influence shipping companies, which had begun rerouting vessels around the Cape of Good Hope due to the risk and increased insurance costs. 

However, the problem is that this did not happen, and the Houthis were not deterred but continued to attack everyone and everything, reports the British Telegraph. With relatively little effort and money, they almost immediately achieved their desired goal of “improving local influence” and “posing a challenge to international transport,” and their narrative that they would stop attacks only if a ceasefire in Gaza occurred convinced only a small number of people.

This led in January 2024 to the initiation of Operation “Poseidon’s Archer,” when the US and the UK began targeting Houthi objectives. Still, according to the British newspaper, Saudi Arabia had proven multiple times between 2015 and 2023 that attempts to disable the Houthis through direct strikes were like “striking smoke,” and this was once again confirmed.

The situation was not helped by the EU forming its own “breakaway” coalition named “Aspides” to avoid being associated with the US stance on Israel. The inability of the West to agree on how to carry out a relatively simple task did not go unnoticed by potential adversaries, and certainly by the shipping companies that needed to be reassured about maritime safety.  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/british-telegraph-the-houthis-have-defeated-the-us-navy/ar-AA1pxtWL?

2024-08-19 Israeli strikes on Yemen port ‘possible war crime’: HRW     n Israeli air raid last month on a key Yemeni rebel-held port was a “possible war crime” that has threatened food and aid supply for millions, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

The July 20 attack on the western port city of Hodeida, controlled by Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthis, came a day after the rebels claimed responsibility for a drone attack on Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv.     https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israeli-strikes-on-yemen-port-possible-war-crime-hrw/ar-AA1p2HrW?

2024-07-21 Israel Bombs Yemen After Houthis Claim Responsibility for Tel Aviv Drone Attack    Houthi-run media say Israeli air strikes Saturday targeted oil storage facilities in the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah and that there are an unspecified number of fatalities and injuries.  The attack came a day after the Houthis claimed responsibility for a drone attack on Tel Aviv that killed one person and struck just yards from a U.S. Embassy branch office.

Israel’s air strikes will not stop the Houthi’s military operations in support of the Palestinian people, Houthi political bureau member Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said in a post on X, warning they will instead increase until the war in Gaza ends. “The Zionist entity will pay the price for targeting civilian facilities, and we will meet escalation with escalation,” al-Bukhaiti wrote. https://truthout.org/articles/israel-bombs-yemen-after-houthis-claim-responsibility-for-tel-aviv-drone-attack/

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  

2024-02-02 Red Sea underwater cables under threat from Houthis? | The West Asia Post     Amid rising tensions across the Red Sea corridor, Yemen’s Houthis could potentially target the critical undersea cable network next. What are the ramifications of these reports? Should the west be worried? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg4L1dQBlVo

2024-01-14 Navy SEALs lost at sea were searching for Yemen-bound weapons shipment    The Navy SEALs lost at sea after a ship-boarding operation went awry near Somalia last week were dispatched to look for suspected Iranian weapons bound for militants in Yemen, which has become a staging ground for repeated attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea, two U.S. officials familiar with the incident said Sunday. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/navy-seals-lost-at-sea-were-searching-for-yemen-bound-weapons-shipment/ar-AA1mYd2T

2024-01-12  He should be arrested’: Internet fumes as Joe Biden orders Yemen airstrikes without congressional approval    Several Democrats on Capitol Hill voiced their disapproval of President Joe Biden’s airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Thursday, January 11.   The lawmakers argued that the military action was unconstitutional and called for adherence to the War Powers Act.

Rep Ro Khanna from California took to X, stating, “The President needs to come to Congress before launching a strike against the Houthis in Yemen and involving us in another Middle East conflict. That is Article I of the Constitution. I will stand up for that regardless of whether a Democrat or Republican is in the White House.””Section 2C of the War Powers Act is clear: POTUS may only introduce the US into hostilities after Congressional authorization or in a national emergency when the U.S. is under imminent attack,” he added. “Reporting is not a substitute. This is a retaliatory, offensive strike.”

Echoing Khanna’s sentiments, Rep Val Hoyle of Oregon tweeted, “These airstrikes have NOT been authorized by Congress. The Constitution is clear: Congress has the sole authority to authorize military involvement in overseas conflicts. Every president must first come to Congress and ask for military authorization, regardless of party.”

Rep Pramila Jayapal, the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, labeled the US- and UK-led bombing campaign as “an unacceptable violation of the Constitution,” stressing that Article 1 mandates “military action to be authorized by Congress.” 

Rep Mark Pocan expressed concerns about the risk of the US getting entangled in another prolonged conflict without congressional authorization. “The White House must work with Congress before continuing these airstrikes in Yemen,” he insisted.

Rep Cori Bush, a member of the far-left “Squad,” went further, calling the airstrikes “illegal” and imploring President Biden to “stop the bombing and do better by us.” She tweeted, “The people do not want more of our taxpayer dollars going to endless war and the killing of civilians.”

Rep Rashida Tlaib, who has previously accused Biden of supporting “genocide” against Palestinians, condemned the Yemen offensive, stating, “The American people are tired of endless war,” and describing the airstrikes as unconstitutional.

Regardless, the president faced backlash on social media, with users calling for his arrest, prosecution, and even impeachment over the airstrikes launched without congressional approval.  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/he-should-be-arrested-internet-fumes-as-joe-biden-orders-yemen-airstrikes-without-congressional-approval/ar-AA1mRAcz

2024-01-12 FM calls for parliament recall over Yemen strikes   Scotland’s first minister Humza Yousaf has called for the UK parliament to be recalled over the air strikes in Yemen.   The UK and US strikes against Houthi rebel sites have been described by Rishi Sunak as “necessary and proportionate” to protect the global shipping in the Red Sea. 

 He told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “Let there be no equivocation that the SNP align ourselves with the UN security resolution, which is essentially calling for the Houthi rebels to stop their attacks in the Red Sea.

“But of course the UK’s record on military intervention, particularly in the Middle East, is not a good one.    “Before action was taken, the correct and appropriate thing to have done would have been to have recalled parliament, who have given serious detail about any proposed military action.”    He added: “There are significant questions around the action taken. What is the end goal? What will be deemed as a success?”  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/fm-calls-for-parliament-recall-over-yemen-strikes/ar-AA1mRq3g

2023-12-22 Biden Urged to Reject Military Attack on Yemen as Red Sea Tensions Soar       “A full-blown open-ended regional war would be horrific and undoubtedly entail significant casualties to U.S. forces and civilian populations across the region,” anti-war groups write in a new letter. 

“While these attacks are concerning, expanding the war into Yemen will not resolve them and instead may dramatically worsen the threats to commercial shipping both in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and other regional waterways,” the 31 advocacy groups wrote in a letter to Biden, whose administration has reportedly been “actively weighing options to strike back at Houthis in Yemen.”

The groups added that “with the horrific civilian toll in Gaza, the entire region is on a knife’s edge,” and warned a U.S. attack on Yemen “would undoubtedly upend this tentative balance and invite more direct attacks on U.S. forces and interests throughout the region.”  https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-attack-yemen 

2023-12-19 How powerful are Yemen’s Houthi rebels?  Yemen’s Houthi rebels have stepped up attacks in the Red Sea. But who are they, and why are they attacking vessels along one of the world’s most important shipping routes? CBS News foreign correspondent Ramy Inocencio and Center for Strategic and International Studies senior adviser Mark Cancian explain.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbav8P4NHtc

2023-12-19 Are The Iran-Backed Houthi Rebels Outsmarting The U.S. With DRONES?     Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels are using drones in an attempt to shock the global economy. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks.  “Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels are stepping up their strikes on ships in the Red Sea, which they say are revenge against Israel for its military campaign in Gaza.  The attacks have forced some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes, which could potentially cause a shock to the global economy.”    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWT8ghUe_0c

2023-12-05 Biden admin downplays Ansarallah threat: US Officials   Some US officials are criticizing the Biden administration for deliberately downplaying the threat from Yemen’s Ansarallah on US naval forces, Politico reported on 5 December.   The criticism follows an Ansarallah attack on Sunday on several commercial vessels in the Red Sea, which forced a US Navy warship to scramble to respond.  The Yemeni resistance movement launched missiles and drones against three separate commercial vessels. The USS Carney fired back, taking down three unmanned aerial drones.It is unclear whether the US Navy ship was also a target of the attack or was simply coming to the aid of the commercial vessels. 

Ansarallah has made clear it is targeting commercial ships with ties to Israel, and has launched missiles toward the Israeli port city of Eilat in support of the Palestinians.  “People are thinking this is an Israel thing, and because they are heavy-handed in Gaza no one is saying anything,” the official said. “The world should be condemning this.”

A second US official acknowledged that the US has deliberately avoided acknowledging its warships are a target because they are “trying to avoid unnecessary escalation.” But the official also pointed out that the administration has not said definitively that its warship was not targeted.   https://new.thecradle.co/articles/biden-admin-downplays-ansarallah-threat-us-officials

2023-11-22 Israel-Hamas war updates: Houthi vessel seizure in Red Sea ups the stakes       Yemen’s Houthi rebels seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship in the Red Sea and took two dozen crew members hostage, raising fears of escalation in Israel’s war on Gaza. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/11/19/israel-hamas-war-live-israel-attacked-two-schools-killing-dozens

2023-11-20 Video Shows Yemen’s Houthi Militia Hijacking Ship in the Red Sea     Yemen’s Houthi militia released a video on Monday showing its forces hijacking the ship Galaxy Leader in the Red Sea. The whereabouts of the Galaxy Leader has been unknown since Saturday, when its last received location signal showed it between Saudi Arabia and Sudan. The new video contains clues about when and where the vessel was hijacked. A clock on the bridge shows a time of just after 1 p.m. and the navigational computer display shows the ship had traveled almost three quarters of the way down Yemen’s coast. 

Yemen’s Houthi militia released a video on Monday showing the hijacking of the ship Galaxy Leader in the Red Sea as a show of support for the Palestinian people.   The video, verified by The New York Times, shows armed men jumping out of a military helicopter onto the ship’s deck and seizing control of the bridge.   Small boats, known to be used by Houthi rebels, were seen moving around and alongside the hijacked ship, displaying Yemeni and Palestinian flags. https://onenews.com/summary/?category=News&aid=84dd9edd53c5facd878ac4ab90656deb&native=ob&type=0_1023_102_1075_108_231030 2023-11-02 Yemen’s Houthis Declare WAR On Israel!     In response to the Israeli military bombing campaign and incursion into Gaza — and all the civilian deaths that have resulted — the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen have declared war against Israel. So far none of the rockets sent from Yemen have struck sensitive targets inside Israel, but the larger concern is that this move from the Houthi may presage a wider war roping in Hezbollah, Iran and possibly other countries.   Jimmy, along with The Convo Couch host Craig Jardula and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger, discusses what Houthi entry into the conflict may mean.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laXLDiuWBcQ&t=33s

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Jerusalem

Updated 2024-07-25

2024-01-17 VIDEO: Life in Jerusalem under Israel’s military dictatorship    Journalist Jeremy Loffredo visits the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, a climate of unprecedented repression has descended since October 7. Loffredo documents settler terror attacks on businesses and speaks to local activists who tell him they fear arrest and beatings from Israeli police if they speak out against the assault on Gaza.  https://thegrayzone.com/2024/01/17/jerusalem-israels-military-dictatorship/

2024-02-23 Palestine Talks | Mohammed el Kurd gives an insight into growing up in Occupied East Jerusalem    Poet and writer Mohammed el Kurd and his twin sister Muna became globally famous in 2021 when the Israeli state tried to evict them from their home in Sheikh Jarrah, Occupied East Jerusalem. Mohammed speaks to TRT World and sheds light on how Israeli settlers have used religion and the power of the state behind them to displace indigenous Palestinians. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4Byer9suho&list=PLUW304lJeu3Vg_nM0WQfWDZTDyu6h6PlD&index=11

2022-06-17 Who Controlled Jerusalem the Longest?   Buy a map of Ancient Jerusalem: https://usefulcharts.com/products/map…      Check out the full Project Middle East Playlist:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GCXhKpoml0

2017-12 06 Why Jews and Muslims Both Have Religious Claims on Jerusalem      The matter of Israel’s capital city has long been a source of dispute. Although nearly all foreign embassies in Israel are located in Tel Aviv, the country considers Jerusalem to be its capital. Jerusalem, which is one of the oldest cities in the world, has been formally divided between Israel and Palestine for nearly 70 years, yet changed hands many other times throughout the course of its over 5,000-year history.  

On December 6, 2017, President Donald Trump broke with previous U.S. foreign policy and announced that the U.S. would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, effectively endorsing Israeli control of the city. On May 14, 2018, the U.S. relocated its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.  https://www.history.com/news/why-jews-and-muslims-both-have-religious-claims-on-jerusalem

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Israel Civil War

Updated 2024-08-26

2024-08-09  46% of Israelis fear an internal civil war, politicians rated by acts of division     An N12 “Ulpan Shishi” survey conducted by Meno Geva reveals troubling insights into public perceptions of civil conflict in Israel.   The data, collected on Thursday from a representative sample of 510 individuals aged 18 and over, shows that 46% of respondents are concerned about the possibility of civil war, while 48% are not. 6% were spilt on the issue.    

On the list of figures seen as divisive, Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir tops the list, with 70% of respondents viewing him as a divider, compared to just 19% who see him as a unifier. Following him are Miri Regev, Bezalel Smotrich, and Tali Gotliv. Regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 62% of the public considers him divisive, while 30% view him as a unifier. Even among Netanyahu’s supporters, 30% consider him divisive, and among his opponents, a striking 93% believe he is a divider. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/46-of-israelis-fear-an-internal-civil-war-politicians-rated-by-acts-of-division/ar-AA1oxS1m?

2023-11-03 Israel On Brink Of Civil War!    Reader Comments “There were riots and protests in Israel for 30 weeks against Netanyahu for corruption by people of the Jewish faith in Israel. Then Netanyahu wanted to abolish the judiciary. The protests , and riots got even more heated. Then there were the attacks. How long this guy Netanyahu been going in and out of power in Israel? He seems to be in power almost as long as Putin, if not longer.” “The Hamas attacks were allowed to happen in order to give Israel a reason to do this.   Does anyone think it was an accident that the most defended boarder in the world was left unattended and undefended on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur war??“ “This conflict has woken up many in questioning the reality of democracies, free speech, fairness and trustworthiness of news outlets.” “ Have they ever explained how the security was breached without any response, almost like they let them attack.” “Israel can say whatever they want but their actions are showing their true intentions!” 

Given all the obstacles to their rescue, the fate of the hostages is uncertain. The Hamas leaders have refused to allow the International Red Cross to visit the hostages. And I was told by a well informed Israeli that two weeks ago Netanyahu instructed Israel’s foreign and domestic intelligence agencies “to hunt down and kill every single Hamas political and military leader” in the Middle East. “Israel, ruthlessly,” I was told, “is going after the families, wives, kids, brothers, sisters, parents of Hamas political and military leaders.” He said fourteen members of the family of Ismail Haniya, the political leader of Hamas based in Qatar, had already been killed. Within two days of the October 7 raid, he said, the widow of Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, a Hamas co-founder who was assassinated in 2004, was killed. Similarly, he said, eight members of the family of Muhammed Deif, the Hamas military leader, were killed in safe homes.   “From Israel’s perspective,” the Israeli told me, “It is now a no-holds-barred war.”    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Niafzk6Exc8&t=1s

2023-11-01 Netanyahu’s ‘PSYCHOTIC’ Tweet Deleted As GROWING COALITION of Israelis Push To DUMP PM: Analysis   Senior correspondent at Vox Zack Beauchamp weighs in on Israel’s view of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu amid the war with Hamas. #Palestine #Gaza    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUb8xm1mwus

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Iron Dome

Updated 2024-02-25

2024-01-12 How Does Iron Dome of Israel Work?      Israel’s Iron Beam is the world’s first energy-based weapons system that uses a laser to shoot down incoming UAVs, rockets & mortars at a cost of $3.50 per shot. Are energy weapons becoming a viable option for modern armies? SUPPORT Interesting Engineering.   https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/webcontent/how-does-iron-dome-of-israel-work/vi-AE21i6MhsD00pA?

2024-01-12 Why Iron Beam Can’t Replace Israel’s Iron Dome   Israel’s defense system known as the “Iron Dome” costs a whopping $100,000 per shot, mostly paid for by the United States, but a new defense weapon that is a fraction of the cost is on the horizon. Check out today’s epic new video to find out why Israel will never replace the “Iron Dome” despite how much it costs.    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/israel-is-not-going-to-stop-until-it-finishes-the-job-nathan-sales/vi-AA1mBwTI 

2021-05-20 Drones add little to rocket-filled Israel-Palestine skies, but represent growing global threat    Beneath the ongoing collision of Israel’s cutting-edge and costly missile defense systems and imprecise but inexpensive Palestinian-built rockets, Hamas has begun using so-called “kamikaze drones” to try penetrating Israeli defenses another way.    The Israeli government has claimed that its Iron Dome rocket defense system is effectively blocking most incoming rockets that pose a threat to Israel’s cities. Hamas has launched more than 3,000 rockets from Gaza since May 10, but Israeli officials claim most have either been intercepted by Iron Dome’s missile interceptors or did not reach significant targets (landing in unpopulated areas or failing in flight).  https://thebulletin.org/2021/05/drones-add-little-to-rocket-filled-israel-palestine-skies-but-represent-growing-global-threat/#post-heading

2014-07-29 Israel’s Iron Dome: a misplaced debate   Back in 2012, Israel’s Iron Dome rocket defense system was hailed as a real, working battlefield weapon that could shoot down unguided rockets before they struck Israel. Iron Dome was lauded as a game changer in the Israel-Palestine conflict; at the time, Israel claimed that it shot down 441 Hamas rockets in flight, before they could do serious damage. Admittedly, normal life in Israel was disrupted, as its citizens had to scamper to bomb shelters when the siren sounded, but that was held to be acceptable. Israeli casualties were negligible in comparison to more than 1,000 Palestinian deaths. 

For the current conflict, Israel has reportedly improved Iron Dome, claiming that the system intercepts 90 percent of the rockets that it attempts to hit. It is true that there have been only two Israeli civilian casualties so far (one from mortar fire), which buttresses claims of the success of Iron Dome. Yet, while citizens of distant Tel Aviv and other cities far from Hamas’ Gaza-based rocket launch sites are now able to lead normal lives, people continue to run toward bomb shelters in areas closer to the action.    https://thebulletin.org/2014/07/israels-iron-dome-a-misplaced-debate/#post-heading

2014-07-23 AS DEBUNKING CONTINUES, CONGRESS PUSHES FOR US CONTRACTORS TO PROFIT OFF IRON DOME   Back in April, I wrote about the horrible success rate of Israel’s Iron Dome defense system and the outrageous sums of money that the US has poured into it. With more rockets now being fired from Gaza and Israel responding by massacring Palestinians who have no escape, the Iron Dome system is getting renewed attention. And as with much in the Israel-Palestine situation, there is the propaganda we see in much of the main press and then there is the stark reality behind it that is vastly different.   Writing in The Atlantic, James Fallows noted a week and a half ago how the Washington Post had swallowed the propaganda completely, putting up the headline ‘Israel’s “Dome’ changes the fight” and provided a snippet of the Post’s praise:

To Israeli security officials, the success of Iron Dome is akin to that of the separation barrier between Israel and the West Bank, which they say helped bring an end to an onslaught of suicide bombings in the early 2000s.   The Iron Dome system has rendered rockets so ineffective that Hamas and its allies have, in recent days, been attempting more-creative ways of attacking Israel.

To debunk this baseless propaganda, Fallows relied heavily on an article by John Mecklin in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Mecklin pulls no punches, titling his piece “Iron Dome: the public relations weapon”.

Despite the abysmal performance of Iron Dome, the US has sunk over a billion dollars into the program. And despite this horrific waste of money, it appears that our elected officials are only upset about one aspect of the program. Most of the money spent to date on the program has gone to Israeli companies, and so Congress is moving now to make sure US contractors get a piece of the action:   https://www.emptywheel.net/2014/07/23/as-debunking-continues-congress-pushes-for-us-contractors-to-profit-off-iron-dome/

2014-07-10 Iron Dome: the public relations weapon   The New York Times, noted for its authoritative reporting, wrote that the Israeli Army contended Iron Dome “intercepted about 27 percent of all the rockets fired between Monday night and midday Wednesday.” But the Times did not indicate how many missiles had been targeted, leaving the efficiency of the Iron Dome system in this conflict unclear, even as the newspaper reported that “Israel has said that the system has a success rate of nearly 90 percent in intercepting the missiles it is meant to thwart.” The Times also put a headline over its online story—“A Growing Arsenal of Homegrown Rockets Encounters Israel’s Iron Dome”—that could be read as suggesting Israel’s missile defense was, overall, as effective as its name implies.    https://thebulletin.org/2014/07/iron-dome-the-public-relations-weapon/

2012-12-13 Iron Dome: Behind the hoopla, a familiar story of missile-defense hype      Since an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire was announced in November, Israel’s Iron Dome system has been hailed as proof that missile defense has emerged from the realm of the theoretical and assumed the status of a real battlefield weapon. It’s also been called a game changer for the Israel-Palestine conflict. The verdict is in, crowed Max Boot, a defense expert at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York: “Missile defense works.” But behind press reports on the supposedly spectacular success of Iron Dome — which the Israeli government claims shot down more than 400 rockets launched toward Israel from Hamas-controlled Gaza during recent hostilities — lies a murkier story. https://thebulletin.org/2012/12/iron-dome-behind-the-hoopla-a-familiar-story-of-missile-defense-hype/#post-heading

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World