Massive demonstrations in cities across Morocco with thousands demanding an end to the Israeli genocide

Massive demonstrations in cities across Morocco with thousands demanding an end to the Israeli genocide

    Monday, October 21, 2024   No comments

Middle East News Review: Thousands of Moroccans demonstrated in the city of Casablanca (west) on Sunday, rejecting the Israeli genocide that the Gaza Strip has been subjected to since October 7, 2023.

The demonstration, called for by the "Moroccan Front to Support Palestine" (non-governmental), toured the main streets of the city, before heading to Al-Shajar Street, according to an Anadolu Agency correspondent.

The participants expressed their rejection of targeting leaders and the sovereignty of states, demanding an end to the aggression against Palestine and Lebanon.

The demonstration was organized under the slogan "Stop the barbaric Zionist aggression against the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples", and was attended by human rights activists and politicians.

The participants raised the flags of Palestine and Lebanon, and pictures of the head of the political bureau of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, its former leader, and Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of "Hezbollah", denouncing their assassination.

The participants chanted slogans in support of the Gazans, including "Moroccan greetings... to proud Gaza", "Morocco and Palestine... one people, not two peoples", "Haniyeh left a will, no compromise on the cause", "Sinwar, martyr, we are still on the path", and "Sinwar, rest, we will continue the struggle".

In Morocco, extensive solidarity campaigns with Gaza continue, including demonstrations and protests, donation campaigns and solidarity evenings.

With American support, Israel has been waging a genocidal war on Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving more than 142,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and elderly people, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.

Tel Aviv continues this war, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution to end it immediately, and the International Court of Justice’s orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Biden makes statement on the anniversary of killing of Palestinian American boy, stabbing of mother

Biden makes statement on the anniversary of killing of Palestinian American boy, stabbing of mother

    Tuesday, October 15, 2024   No comments

US President Joe Biden commemorated the one year anniversary of what he called a "heinous" fatal assault on a Palestinian American mother and son that left the 6-year-old dead. 

Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden "continue to think" about Wadea Al-Fayoume, 6, and his mother, Hanaan Shahin, saying they are "grateful for Hanan’s recovery and her powerful voice for peace." He further hailed Wadea as "a bright and cheerful American Muslim boy of Palestinian descent."

"On this day, let us all take steps that honor Wadee’s memory and reaffirm together that there is no place for hate in America, including hatred of Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims. We can all reject hatred and expose misinformation and disinformation that is cynically aimed at turning us against one another," he added.

Al-Fayoume was fatally stabbed 26 times at his Plainfield, Illinois, apartment with his mother, Hanaan Shahin, on Oct. 14, 2023. Shahin was critically injured after being stabbed more than a dozen times. The killing of the child and the attempted killing on the mother came just days after President Biden amplified a false claim that Hamas beheaded 40 babies, a fake story that still repeated by US officials including US senators and House leaders.

Nihon Hidankyo: "In Gaza, bleeding children are like in Japan 80 years ago"

Nihon Hidankyo: "In Gaza, bleeding children are like in Japan 80 years ago"

    Monday, October 14, 2024   No comments

The Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs at the end of World War Two, won the award on Friday in what was seen as a plea to nuclear-armed countries not to use those weapons. Toshiyuki Mimaki co-chairs the organization.

Mimaki said after the prize was announced on Friday that the plight of children in Gaza was similar to what Japan faced at the end of World War II.

"In Gaza, bleeding children are being held (by their parents). It's like in Japan 80 years ago," Mimaki said.

Responding to Mimaki, Israel's ambassador to Japan attacked the comparison as "outrageous and baseless", and said such comparisons "distort history and dishonor the victims".

A representative for the Hiroshima chapter of Nihon Hidankyo could not be reached for comment about Cohen's post.

Around 140,000 people were killed when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and 74,000 more were killed in Nagasaki three days later.

Survivors of the blasts later formed Nihon Hidankyo to tell the stories of those atomic bombings and to press for a world without nuclear weapons.

   

The National is publishing a full chronology of Israel's war on Gaza

The National is publishing a full chronology of Israel's war on Gaza

    Friday, October 11, 2024   No comments

Message from the editor of The National: Tomorrow's front page explained

It is a year since Israel began the deadliest attack on Palestine in modern history.

According to Oxfam, more women and children have been killed by the Israeli military in Gaza this past year than in the equivalent period of any other conflict in the last two decades.

I could go on and on, provide statistic after statistic from respected charities and NGOs. But none of it could ever fully capture the reality of the situation in Gaza.

One of our political reporters attended a devastating press conference this week, hosted by the Palestinian ambassador, hearing from two women who had lost dozens of family members who described the horrors facing their people every day.

There were three journalists from English-language outlets there. Just three.

We are a very small team compared to some of the legacy titles in the UK, and we could find the time to send a reporter to this important event. Why couldn't our other media colleagues?

You could fill every newspaper in the country from cover to cover, reporting news on the horrors occurring in Gaza. But many papers can't even fill a news brief.

So we decided to work with dedicated campaigners, and fill our front page, and a huge chunk of our newspaper, with a detailed chronology of exactly what Israel has done to Gaza.

Tomorrow's front page of The National aims to highlight the scale of the atrocities taking place in Palestine, and shows that the media have a responsibility to use their platforms to share the reality of the situation with the world.

We publish a timeline of a year of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. It’s all here in black and white—the war crimes, murdered journalists, flattened hospitals, orphaned children. 7567 words, 42,000 deaths. Don’t look away.’ - Laura Webster, Editor.

                            Message from the editor of The National (https://www.thenational.scot/)

Media review: "Flattened in a year"

Media review: "Flattened in a year"

    Friday, October 11, 2024   No comments

A news story by CNN writer Sana Noor Haq, in collaboration with visuals team, over weeks of painstaking work, produced this review of what they think has happened to Gaza in one year, although Gaza Strip is flat by nature, they, nonetheless concluded it was flattened Israeli bombardment. It must take extraordinarily powerful weapons, and endless supply thereof, to flatten already flat densely populated piece of land.

Media review: "The biggest problem with Western media is more in what they don't show than in what they do show"

Media review: "The biggest problem with Western media is more in what they don't show than in what they do show"

    Friday, October 11, 2024   No comments

The true face of Israel's war on Gaza is hidden from Western public opinion through the Western media’s ignoring of Israel's attacks and war crimes, according to a US journalist.

Max Blumenthal, editor-in-chief of the independent news website The Grayzone, spoke to Anadolu at a conference in Istanbul, Türkiye about his views on how Western media portrays Israel's attacks on Gaza and the role of the US in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“On Oct. 7, the Western media did not show the losses that the Israeli military took at the hands of Hamas and other factions in Gaza. They focused exclusively on civilians being kidnapped and then began with not just the killings that took place of civilians on Oct. 7, which were real and documented, but fabricating atrocities about beheaded babies and babies burned in ovens, and so on, in order to create leverage and political space for Israel to totally destroy Gaza,” said Blumenthal... > source article ...

130 Israeli soldiers will stop fighting if Netanyahu and Gallant continue the war in Gaza

130 Israeli soldiers will stop fighting if Netanyahu and Gallant continue the war in Gaza

    Wednesday, October 09, 2024   No comments

A number of Israeli soldiers have threatened to end their military service unless the government seeks a deal to release prisoners. In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant, 130 soldiers said: “For some of us, the red line has already been crossed. For others, the day is fast approaching when we will stop serving.”

They stressed that "the continuation of the war in Gaza not only delays the return of the prisoners, but also puts their lives in danger, as many of them were killed by IDF strikes."

They added: "If the government does not change course immediately and work to secure an agreement to return the prisoners to their homes, we will not be able to continue our service."

The letter included reserve soldiers and conscripts from various military units, such as the Armored Corps, the Artillery Corps, the Home Front Command, the Air Force and the Navy.

The Israeli "army" has been facing a severe shortage in recruitment for months due to its aggression on Gaza since October 7, 2023, and its depletion on more than one front supporting the Strip, and in light of the "Haredim" refusing to join the service.

Israel is normalizing the assassination of religious leaders by targeting Sistani

Israel is normalizing the assassination of religious leaders by targeting Sistani

    Wednesday, October 09, 2024   No comments

Channel close to Netanyahu included Sistani on Israeli assassination list. Channel 14 Israel published a photo of the highest Shiite authority in Iraq, Ali al-Sistani, as one of the targets of Israeli assassination plans.

The photo of al-Sistani appeared alongside photos of the leader of the Houthi Ansar Allah group, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, Naim Qassem, deputy secretary-general of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Yahya Sinwar, head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The Israeli channel, which is close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, broadcast the photos yesterday, Tuesday, with the word “target” over the head of each of the aforementioned figures, without explaining the reasons for placing al-Sistani on the assassination list.

The photos appeared while one of the right-wing channel’s correspondents was talking about the possible Israeli response to the missile attack launched by Iran on Israel last Tuesday.

The correspondent said during his interview accompanying the photos that Israel "has made a decision to strike Iran, but the targets that will be attacked have not yet been determined," and he also indicated that the date of the possible Israeli response has not yet been determined either.

He said that unless a decision is made regarding the determination of targets and the date of the response, all possibilities are possible.

Israel has not previously spoken about the assassination of Sistani, although a number of its officials have mentioned the names of all the other figures whose pictures were shown on the channel as potential targets on the Israeli assassination list.

Sistani, who was born in 1930, is a religious authority for the fundamentalist Twelver Shiites and resides in the city of Najaf in central Iraq, which is the center of the main religious science schools known as the "Najaf Seminary," and he is one of the most influential figures in the country due to his broad religious authority. His name might have been added to Israel's assassination list due to his statements about the assassination of the Lebanese leader of Hezbollah. Sistani issued a statement, then, saying that "Martyr Nasrallah is a leadership model that is unparalleled in recent decades"

In his official statement he added: "We received with great sorrow and regret the news of the martyrdom of the great scholar, the hujjat al-Islam and Muslims, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and a group of his brothers in the honorable Lebanese resistance, and dozens of innocent civilians in the horrific massacre committed by the Zionist enemy army in the beloved suburb of Beirut."

He added, "The great martyr was a leadership model that was rarely seen in recent decades. He played a distinguished role in the victory over the Zionist occupation by liberating Lebanese lands and supported the Iraqis with everything he could in liberating their country from the ISIS terrorists. He also took great positions in support of the oppressed Palestinian people until he paid his precious life as a price for that." He added, "As we offer our sincere condolences and deepest sympathy to the noble Lebanese people and all oppressed peoples in this great loss and affliction, we implore God Almighty to bestow His vast mercy and satisfaction upon the deceased and to unite him with His saints, Muhammad and his pure family, in the highest heavens, and to inspire his family and all those who are grieving his loss with patience and solace. To God we belong and to Him we shall return."

Iraqi government responds

In the first reactions, the Iraqi government said that it rejects in the strongest terms any infringement on the status of the supreme religious authority.

The spokesman for the Iraqi government, Bassem Al-Awadi, stressed in an official government statement that "after the Zionist entity has gone too far in its genocidal war, committed blatant crimes against humanity, and openly practiced murder and aggression in Gaza and Lebanon, it is the turn of its inciting and racist media, in a cheap attempt to harm the image of the supreme religious authority."

He added, "the Iraqi government rejects in the strongest terms any infringement on the status of our authority, which is appreciated and respected by all the Iraqi people, the Arab and Islamic worlds, and the international community, and warns of the danger of these attempts based on a racist intellectual background, and foundations that have gone too far in disregarding the sanctities of peoples, which encourages the expansion of the circle of aggression and exposes international security and peace to a real threat."

He continued, "the Zionist entity proves, once again, that it is nothing but a criminal group that thrives on fabricating crises, feeding aggression and wars, and its isolation increases day after day, and the popular and international positions in the world rejecting its behavior are nothing but confirmation of this aggressive trend."

Based on these facts, the Iraqi government- according to the statement - "call on the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and all international and UN forums, to reject and denounce everything that affects the feelings of Muslims in the world, and attempts to undermine figures with global influence and respect."

The statement explained that Iraq, government and people, have made every effort to stop the war, but Israel and its extremist government, in addition to the failure of the international community, have caused the situation to worsen, and today it is trying to spread insults to cover up the clear crimes, which we reject in general, and consider it a dangerous aggression that will not change Iraq's firm and principled position on all fateful issues.

CIA: Iran capable of producing a nuclear bomb in a week

CIA: Iran capable of producing a nuclear bomb in a week

    Tuesday, October 08, 2024   No comments

CIA Director William Burns said that Iran is capable of producing a nuclear bomb within a week, but there is no evidence that it has decided to do so.

NBC quoted Burns - during a security conference in Georgia - as saying that Iran has made progress in its nuclear program by accumulating depleted uranium to levels that allow for the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

As a result, Burns continued, Iran may be able to quickly obtain enough fissile material to make an atomic bomb if it chooses to do so, and there will be less time for the outside world to respond.

He added that there is no evidence that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has reversed his decision taken in late 2003 to suspend the nuclear weapons program, and said that American intelligence agencies believe that Iran has suspended its program in accordance with Khamenei's declaration last year.

The US intelligence chief explained that Tehran has developed "conception methods" by building a missile arsenal, noting that Iran has become closer to producing a nuclear bomb since the US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement in 2018.

In response to recent rumors that an earthquake in Semnan province near the capital Tehran was related to a nuclear test, the Nour News website, which is close to the Iranian National Security Council, stated that "the suspicious rumors spread by foreign media about the first Iranian nuclear test are completely false and contradict Iran's nuclear and defense doctrine."

Burns' statements and talk of a nuclear test came amid Israeli threats to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities in response to Tehran targeting Israel with dozens of missiles after the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and Abbas Nilforoushan, deputy commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, in Israeli raids on Beirut, and the assassination of Hamas Political Bureau Chief Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil.

The CIA confirms similar statements by US officials that essentially concluded that building a nuclear weapons is now in the hands of Iranian leaders. In July of this year, the head of the State Department, Blinken, also stated that Iran was a week to a week and half from the breakout stage for developing nuclear weapons. Other Western officials confirmed that US assessment is accurate. Given the timeline, this means that the decision for building a nuclear weapon is entirely in the hands of Iranian leaders. The developments and threats since July 2024 can only push them to building a weapon. Alternatively, and absent in Western assessment of Iran capabilities, is whether Iranian leaders have thought of using depleted uranium in their rockets, especially after reports that Israel may have used depleted uranium bombs in its assassination of Hassan Nasrallah and Abbas Nilforoushan in Beirut last month.

Also, if Western assessment about Iran's nuclear capabalities is true, restoring the 2015 nuclear deal that Trump withdrew from in 2028 becomes moot. The starting point for any new deal will start with the Iran preserving what it has achieved and what the West can offer to limit increased nuclear activities.

Taliban Delegation Arrives in Moscow for Consultations on Afghan Issues

Taliban Delegation Arrives in Moscow for Consultations on Afghan Issues

    Friday, October 04, 2024   No comments

A Taliban delegation, led by the acting Afghan Foreign Minister, has arrived in Moscow for the “Moscow format” consultations on Afghanistan. The format, established in 2017, brings together 10 nations interested in an Afghan settlement, including Russia, India, Iran, and China.

The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the decision to remove the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations "was made at the highest level," the Russian news agency TASS reported on Friday. The Russian president's special representative to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, explained that this decision must be followed by various legal procedures.

Russian President Vladimir Putin noted last July that Russia considers the Taliban an ally in the fight against terrorism. Russia has called on Western countries to lift sanctions imposed on Afghanistan.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed the need for the West to take responsibility for the reconstruction of post-conflict Afghanistan, stressing the need to return confiscated assets to Kabul.

Relations between Russia and the Taliban have strengthened since they seized power in August 2021, following the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan. Moscow has gradually moved towards removing the movement's designation as a "terrorist organization," despite Western sanctions imposed on the Taliban for more than 20 years.

"We urge Western countries to recognize their responsibility for the reconstruction of post-conflict Afghanistan, lift sanctions imposed on it, and return confiscated assets to Kabul," Lavrov said.

Lavrov stressed that Russia will not accept any military presence of other countries in Afghanistan or the establishment of new military bases in neighboring countries. He also stressed the importance of the current Afghan government in combating drug production and fighting ISIS.

Lavrov called for increasing humanitarian aid to the Afghan people, and stressed that Russia will continue to provide food support and basic supplies to Afghanistan.

At the end of his remarks, Lavrov called on the United States to return confiscated Afghan assets, holding the West responsible for the country's post-conflict reconstruction.

“Iran’s Attack on Israel Failed”

“Iran’s Attack on Israel Failed”

    Wednesday, October 02, 2024   No comments

Western media and Western government reactions to Iran’s retaliatory attack on Israel raises serious concerns. Before sharing some of these reactions, some context, then some questions that would drive world community perception of governments' reactions to these developments.

On October 1, Iran struck several military and security sites in Israel in response to Israel’s assassination of Haniyeh, Nasrollah, and Iranian officials. Iran described the attack as “legal, rational and legitimate”.

Israeli leaders said Iran's strike "failed" but also siad that Israel reserves the right to retaliate. Some Western governments said Iran’s attack failed because their armies participated in intercepting the rockets. They also “strongly condemned” the attack by Iran. 

These positions might be convenient at the moment. However, long term, the West might come to regret their reactions and non-reactions to the events of the last weeks and months because their positions expose their disdain to the life and dignity of other peoples, compared to how they avenge the deaths of their own. These are critical moments that require principled response. Few facts will illustrate the problem the West faces.

1. If Iran’s attack failed, why are Western governments condemning it in the strongest terms possible? And did it fail because it did not kill Israeli civilians? Because many of the rockets landed, and they seem to have landed in specific locations, which means if they were aimed at civilian centers they would have landed in civilian centers. Is the West's measure of failure and success determined by the number of civilians killed?

2. Whenever Israel attacks another country and such attacks result in countless deaths of civilians including children and women, the West does not condemn such attacks; instead reaffirms Israel’s right for self-defense. If they believe in a principle of self-defense, Western governments need to answer the questions: Do other peoples and other countries have the right to such self-defense, too?

3. When Israel attacks in self-defense, civilians, including children and women, as acknowledged by France’s president are killed. In fact, in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attack, Israel killed 13 Palestinian children for 1 Israeli death for a total of 16,000 Palestinian chidlren and counting; or 33 Palestinians for 1 Israeli, for a total of 41,000 Gazans and counting. Is this an acceptable formular for self-defense killings?

Answers to these questions are not an exercise in morality speak; answers to these questions can form a practical, sound foundation for ending the cycles of violence.

  

Media Review: What will Hezbollah and Iran do and what might happen in the Middle East after Beirut Attacks?

Media Review: What will Hezbollah and Iran do and what might happen in the Middle East after Beirut Attacks?

    Sunday, September 29, 2024   No comments

In about a week, Israel turned electronic devices into weapons, assassinated military and political leaders, and launched arial bombings in Lebanon injuring thousands and killing hundreds, including the leader of the Lebanese group Hezbollah. Media reports about these unprecedented events vary. Governments’ reactions also vary. A review of how the global media and governments reacted will provide some context. The media review is prefaced by some thoughts about what might happen next, given the current events and given the expressed reactions as reported by media outlets. 

Israeli leaders claim that what they did will usher in a new Middle East. Israel has crossed so many red lines to achieve these stated goals: Destroy Hamas, Hezbollah, and all other affiliated groups. But they don't seem to have an answer for what their plan, long term, is for Palestinians. Instead they seem to focus on Iran. That is where it becomes clear that the current military success is just tactical success and it is not hard to achieve given the superior firepower and military technology the state of Israel enjoys, not to mention the unlimited supply of weapons the US government has provided thus far. However, strategically, this could be seen in the very near future as the moment when Israel forced the Iranian leaders to make a serious strategic shift. Here is why.

Iranian leaders have recently described Israeli leaders' actions as a form of "insanity", for crossing all legal, diplomatic, and ethical boundaries. Given that Israel is believed to have a stockpile of nuclear weapons, in the view of Iranian leaders, such "insane" leaders will not hesitate in using nuclear weapons against Iran. After all, some members of the Israeli government have publicly threatened to use nuclear weapons in Gaza.  If Iran did not take that threat seriously in the past, the recent actions must have changed their nuclear posture. 

Recalling that US assessed in June of this year that Iran was a week to a week and a half from breakout point in developing nuclear weapons capability, if Iran does not respond in the way it responded in the past, attacking with rockets and drones, the US and Israel should worry. Their non-response could mean a muted strategic response, whereby the religious authorities rescind earlier directives not to develop nuclear weapons and issue a new one that would speedup the development of nuclear weapons capabilities, at least for deterrence purposes. Such development would place the world on a path towards catastrophe, not just because of the potential for nuclear incident in the Middle East, but globally given that Russia's president just warned that Russia will change its nuclear posture if Western governments-supplied weapons to Ukraine are used to strike deep inside Russia.

Based on some Iranian media coverage, turning communication devices into discriminate weapons and killing religious figures is a form of nuclear strike without using a nuclear weapon. Some Iranians are now convinced that Israel will use nuclear weapons against their country. This is what will create a strategic shift in the region, not wining a war against non-state actors In Gaza and Lebanon without a plan for a political settlement with the Palestinians.

Chinese Foreign Minister: The Palestinian issue is the greatest wound to the conscience of humanity and historical injustice should not be ignored

Chinese Foreign Minister: The Palestinian issue is the greatest wound to the conscience of humanity and historical injustice should not be ignored

    Saturday, September 28, 2024   No comments

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed on Saturday that the Palestinian issue is the greatest wound to the conscience of humanity at this moment. In his speech at the general debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Chinese official spoke about the ongoing war in Gaza and the recent developments in Lebanon, stressing that force cannot replace justice and that the long-held aspiration of Palestine to establish an independent state should not be ignored.

 “The historical injustice suffered by the Palestinian people should no longer be ignored, and there should be no delay in reaching a comprehensive ceasefire,” he continued, stressing that the fundamental solution lies in the two-state solution. 

He stressed that China has always been a strong supporter of the Palestinian people’s just cause to restore their legitimate national rights and a strong supporter of Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations. 

Wang Yi stated that Beijing has recently helped achieve breakthroughs in Palestinian internal reconciliation and will continue to work in coordination with like-minded countries to achieve a comprehensive and just settlement of the Palestinian issue and lasting peace and stability in the Middle East.

New Zealand journalist Shaneel Lal on Western Media and Genocide

New Zealand journalist Shaneel Lal on Western Media and Genocide

    Friday, September 27, 2024   No comments

New Zealand journalist Shaneel Lal delivers a powerful speech in support of Gaza and Palestinian journalists killed by the Israeli occupation during his acceptance speech for the Journalist of the Year Award at the One Young World Summit in Montréal, Canada.

“It’s our moral obligation to give voice to those who have been oppressed and silenced by those in power” 

Is this what self-defense looks like?

Is this what self-defense looks like?

    Wednesday, September 25, 2024   No comments

If these are the images and characterization of what Israeli "self-defense" looks like, then what basis is there to condemn other "self-defenses"?

If Israel can kill babies and women, starve two million people, throw injured persons off rooftops, kills medical doctors and aid workers, sexually abuse Palestinian prisoners, and torture detained Palestinians, then what basis is there to condemn others if they do it?

Former French Prime Minister: Gaza is the biggest historical scandal

Former French Prime Minister: Gaza is the biggest historical scandal

    Friday, September 20, 2024   No comments

 Dominique de Villepin, former Prime Minister of France, on Gaza:

"No longer has a voice on the international scene", because (among other things) of its "double-standards" and lack of action with regards to Gaza. 

He calls France's internal silencing of what's happening in Gaza a "real scandal in terms of democracy", making France live in "absurdity" and resulting in it "fading away". He says that we (France and the West in general) would have many levers to stop the war - in terms of armament or economic sanctions - "but we refuse to use these levers with arguments which are absolutely unreal culturally or intellectually speaking. Saying 'we need to let Israel fight its war to the end': but what end? What is the end?".

As a consequence, he says, France and the West will "foot the bill" for what's happening in terms of loss of credibility and legitimacy.

On Gaza specifically he calls it "undoubtedly the biggest historical scandal since... I don't even dare to find a reference", calling it a war "not like the others since it is civilian populations that die". 

He also rebukes the journalist for using the usual term "according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health" with regards to the number of death: "There's not only the Ministry of Health from Hamas which says that there are 40,000 dead. And there are probably many more, MANY more! So from this basis let's not give the feeling that it would be a number like that, unreliable. No!"

Dominique de Villepin: "In Gaza bodies are torn into pieces, Hearts are in pieces! Souls are in pieces! Heads are in pieces!" ("À Gaza les corps sont en morceaux! Les coeurs sont en morceaux! Les âmes sont en morceaux! Les têtes sont en morceaux!")

He says that ""Israel has no political objective and when you have no political objective the only thing you can do is war... There is a security objective, there is an identity objective, there is a messianic madness and that explains the catastrophe that we're witnessing."

UN approves proposal for arms embargo on Israel

UN approves proposal for arms embargo on Israel

    Wednesday, September 18, 2024   No comments

Ignoring the US plea for UN to reject the resolution, the UN overwhelmingly adopted resolution to impose sanctions, arms embargo on Israel. The US does not have the veto power it enjoys and always uses to shield Israel from UNSC resolutions.

The U.S. urged the General Assembly to reject the resolution demanding Israel end its 'unlawful presence' in the Occupied Palestinian Territory within 12 months, arguing it undermines the two-state solution, but lacked veto power. Only a handful of small nation-states joined the US to vote against it. Even other Western nations, including some European US allies voted for the resolution, or abstained. Although UNGA resolution are not binding, they represent a moral and ethical judgement by the world community, exposing US's double standard, and lack of principles in relations to human rights and respect to International Humanitarian Law, which has been violated by Israel many times.

Israeli media took notice of this development.

Media review: World reacts to the unprecedented terrorist attack using pagers that took place today in Lebanon

Media review: World reacts to the unprecedented terrorist attack using pagers that took place today in Lebanon

    Tuesday, September 17, 2024   No comments

If a state actor is behind this attack, it represents an unprecedented indiscriminate attack that killed people as they shopped, played with their children, sat in classrooms, or interact with any other person while carrying a pager. The Lebanese government and other governments from around the world are now reacting to this terrorist attack. Here is an update based on news reports from around the world.

Lebanese Health Minister on Pager Blow-up: What Happened Was a "Real Massacre" (Press Conference)

Lebanese Parliament Speaker: What Israel did (blowing up pager communication devices) is a "war crime and its continuation of this crime will drag the region towards widespread evil" (statement)

Jordanian Foreign Minister confirms in phone call with Mikati the Kingdom’s support for Lebanon’s security, sovereignty and stability, and expresses its condemnation and rejection of any action that threatens the safety of the Lebanese (statement)

After a cyber attack that left 9 dead and thousands injured, the King of Jordan directs to provide any assistance needed by the Lebanese medical sector (statement by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry)

The sabotage of communication systems in Lebanon points to Israel's intent to escalate military operations in the Middle East, according to a statement from the Syrian Foreign Ministry.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller: The U.S. is not involved in the pager explosions in Lebanon and was not aware of the incident beforehand.

"I can tell you that the U.S. was not involved in it, the U.S. was not aware of this incident in advance and, at this point, we're gathering information," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters at a press briefing Wednesday.

Miller did however go on to say the U.S. supported the action to carry out Tuesday's attacks.

"Going back to Lebanon, you said that you consider targeting terrorists as a legitimate act. Then Hezbollah is a terrorist organization by the U.S. Does that mean that you support such operation that happened today and that targeted Hezbollah?" he was asked at a news briefing on Tuesday.

"So again, when I gave that answer, I said I want to be very clear that I'm not answering with specific, with any specificity regarding this incident, because we're continuing to gather facts on it," Miller replied. "But in general, yes, of course we support operations to target Hezbollah militants, who continue to launch terrorist attacks against civilians. Israel has a right to defend itself against terrorism and a right to carry out legitimate attacks against terrorists, not civilians, but terrorists. So as a general proposition, yes, of course," the U.S. State Department spokesman said.

Miller added: "We would urge Iran not to take advantage of any incident, any instability, to further increase tensions in the region."

Others in the US seem to support the attack. Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman tweeted on Twitter celebrating the bombings, saying, “I fully support efforts to target and neutralize any existential threat like Hezbollah.” AIPAC, the largest pro-Israel lobby in the United States, retweeted the tweet, thanking the senator for his support for Israel.

The organization reminded its audience that Hezbollah is “a terrorist organization and proxy of Iran,” and noted its role in supporting the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) after October 7 of last year, arguing that “Israel is fully entitled under international law, including but not limited to Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, to exercise its right to self-defense.”

The Wall Street Journal editorial also celebrated the Israeli operation, saying that “the explosion of pagers carried by Hezbollah members across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday was a ‘daring display of modern technological warfare. ’ It also considered it a ‘warning to Iran’s proxy Shiite militia of the human price it will pay if it continues to bombard northern Israel. ’” The conservative newspaper, known for its closeness to Israeli positions, added that “at best, this pager operation will convince Hezbollah leaders that their lives are at grave risk if a wider war breaks out, and they cannot say they did not receive a message to that effect.”

...

In his interview on CBS News Sunday Morning (9/22), Former CIA director Leon Panetta  said that Israel’s actions are “a form of terrorism”. He also warned that these actions could lead to more deadly operations as the conflict continues.

“The ability to be able to place an explosive in technology that is very prevalent these days. And turn it into a war of terror. Really, a war of terror. This is something new,” said Panetta.

“I don’t think there’s any question that it’s a form of terrorism…This is going right into the supply chain, right into the supply chain. And when you have terror going into the supply chain, it makes people ask the question, what the hell is next?” added Panetta.

...

The widespread, and seemingly indiscriminate attack was triggered simultaneously when hundreds or thousands of pagers, mostly across Lebanon, but also in Syria, exploded. If the instigator was not believed to have been Israel, it would have been uniformly described as a mass series of terrorist attacks.

Other world governments condemned the attack, and some called it an act of terrorism.

Belgium has designated the mass explosion of pagers across Lebanon and Syria as a terror attack.

"I strongly condemn the massive terror attack in Lebanon and Syria, which injured thousands of people. A brutal escalation of violence," Belgium's Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter posted on X on Wednesday.

"Silence is not an option. An international investigation is called for. The bloodshed must end," she added.

"We consider this incident to be another act of hybrid warfare against Lebanon, which has affected thousands of innocent people," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

"We strongly condemn the unprecedented attack on friendly Lebanon and its citizens, which is a gross violation of its sovereignty and a serious challenge to international law using unconventional weapons," she added.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expresses sorrow over pager explosions in Lebanon, saying Israel's attempts to spread conflicts in the region are extremely dangerous 

EU's Borell: pager detonations had 'heavy, indiscriminate collateral damages among civilians'

The EU’s top diplomat has described the pager detonations in Lebanon as “extremely worrying”, and said they had caused “heavy, indiscriminate collateral damages among civilians.”

In a statement, Josep Borrell said:

Following yesterday’s series of explosions in Lebanon, I called the Lebanese foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib. He briefed me on the explosion of a high number of electronic devices in many areas across the country. Thousands of people were injured – hundreds in critical condition – hospitals are collapsing.

Even if the attacks seem to have been targeted, they had heavy, indiscriminate collateral damages among civilians: several children are among the victims

I consider this situation extremely worrying. I can only condemn these attacks that endanger the security and stability of Lebanon, and increase the risk of escalation in the region.

The European Union calls on all stakeholders to avert an all-out war, which would have heavy consequences for the entire region and beyond.

UN high commissioner for human rights demands accountability for Lebanon pager blasts

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said on Wednesday that those responsible for the bombing of Hezbollah’s communications devices “must be held accountable.”

“The simultaneous targeting of thousands of people, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowing who was in possession of the targeted devices, where they were located, and the environment in which they were located at the time of the attack, constitutes a violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law,” he said in a statement.

Türk called for an “independent, serious and transparent investigation” into these events to find those who ordered and carried out the attacks.

He said that the bombings of the communications devices, “which killed 12 people, including two children, and injured thousands, are shocking and their effects on civilians are unacceptable, and the fear and horror they cause are profound.”

“In this volatile period, I call on all influential states in the region and beyond to take immediate action to avoid further escalation of the current conflicts,” he added, stressing that “it is time for leaders to act to save the right of everyone to live in peace and security.”

Those responsible for a deadly wave of explosions across Lebanon targeting paging devices used by members of the Hezbollah militant group “must be held to account”, the UN high commissioner for human rights said on Wednesday.

...

Irish foreign minister Micheál Martin: pager detonation showed 'wanton disregard' for civilian lives in Lebanon

Irish foreign minister Micheál Martin has said that the pager detonations in Lebanon showed a “wanton disregard” for the lives of civilians, and said it was a “logical conclusion” that Israeli forces were behind the incident. Israel has not claimed responsiblity for the attack, which injured nearly 3,000 people and killed at least 12 people, including two children.

The tánaiste said “The nature of the attack illustrates a wanton disregard for the lives of people because these pagers with explosives put into them went off in public areas and supermarkets and around people going out about their daily lives. It meant that many innocent civilians – men, women and children – were caught up in this.”

PA Media reports that asked if he considered it to be a breach of Geneva conventions rules on indiscriminate attacks, Martin replied: “In my view, yes, absolutely.”

Martin continued:

I would appeal to the Israeli Government to desist and not to engage in war in Lebanon and likewise to Hezbollah to desist and not to do anything to further escalate the situation. That kind of warfare and the creation of that terror in the midst of communities, commercial areas and normal human behaviour is unacceptable.

The Problem is not Netanyahu, it is Israel's next generation of leaders like Bezalel Smotrich

The Problem is not Netanyahu, it is Israel's next generation of leaders like Bezalel Smotrich

    Monday, September 09, 2024   No comments

Hundreds of thousands protest weekly in Israel these days, wanting to bring down Netanyahu and his government, accusing the former of being an obstacle to making a deal that would end the war in Gaza, and saying that he is doing so for purely personal reasons--fear of being charged and convicted with crimes. If that is true, that would make him less dangerous to the region than other members of his government who are against any deals, not for personal reasons, but for ideological and religious reasons. And the future of Israel will be in the hands of people like Bezalel Smotrich, who hold the belief that Israel will be secure only when Palestinians are erased.

“I believe that the village of Hawara should be wiped out, and I believe that the State of Israel should do it, and not, God forbid, private individuals.” These words escaped the lips of Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Finance and Minister of Civil Affairs in the Ministry of Defense in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, during a conference organized in Tel Aviv in March 2023 by the Israeli economic newspaper The Marker. 

The minister, who heads the “Religious Zionism” party and is known to be a licensed lawyer and carefully calculates his words, did not expect, in the context of his comment on the settlers’ barbaric campaign against homes and property in the village of Hawara, south of Nablus, (in revenge for the killing of settlers by Palestinians), that this statement would bring upon him the wrath of the US State Department, whose officials called for a boycott of him. The US ambassador to Tel Aviv, Tom Nides, went on to call Smotrich “stupid,” prompting the latter to try to minimize the damage during a televised news program, saying, “Whoever can attribute to me the intention of wiping out the village, that is up to their obsessive mind. The intention is to be more proactive and aggressive in the war against terrorism, because people are being killed here… Perhaps this was said during a fit of emotion… I stumbled over my tongue.” 

But "the cat's out of the bag", and Smotrich’s words and actions, past and present, have come under scrutiny, given that he has been the third pillar of the ruling coalition in Israel since December 2022, after Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant, and the guardian of settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, in its new form.

Smotrich is not an outlier who represents no one in Israel, he has been elected consistently for years. Smotrich entered the Israeli political arena after being elected to the Knesset in March 2015, and was re-elected for five subsequent terms. With the formation of Netanyahu’s sixth government at the end of 2022, Smotrich was given the Finance Minister portfolio, which was previously held by Avigdor Lieberman, controlling the budgets of ministries and state institutions, including the army, in addition to controlling the movement of funds received by the Palestinian Authority under the 1994 Paris Agreement, especially the tax funds that must be handed over to the Authority, known as the clearance revenue, which is considered the backbone of public revenues in Palestine. In addition to this important and sensitive portfolio, another portfolio was added, the Ministry of Civil Affairs within the Ministry of Defense. In addition to the two portfolios, the leader of the Religious Zionism Party, Orit Struck, was appointed Minister of Settlement.

Smotrich first ran for the 18th Knesset in 2009, coming in ninth place on the National Union list. According to the Knesset Elections Law, he was exempted from serving in the IDF for three months, after which he returned to complete his service. At first, Smotrich opposed entering politics, but he did so on the instructions of his elders - headed by Rabbi Haim Druckman - who decided that this was a necessary step.

On June 23, 2019, he was appointed Minister of Transportation and a member of the Political-Security Cabinet in the transitional government.

Ahead of the 24th Knesset elections, he split from the Yamina list, according to him, against the backdrop of Naftali Bennett's willingness to enter the government in cooperation with left-wing parties. Smotrich ran as head of the "Religious Zionism" list in the technical bloc of the National Union parties: "Takuma", "Otzma Yehudit" and "Noam". The list won 6 seats in the elections, 4 of which went to Smotrich's party.

Where did this settler, haunted by the doctrine of "religious Zionism", come from?

His biography published on social media platforms says that he was born in 1980 in the settlement of "Haspin", built on the ruins of the village of "Khasfin" in the southern occupied Syrian Golan, to a Ukrainian family of religious nationalist zealots. In the settlement of "Beit El" north of Ramallah, he grew up in schools that combine the Jewish religion and Zionist thought.

Smotrich is the son of a settlement rabbi. He was born in one settlement, raised in another, married and lived in a third, from the Golan Heights to Hebron in Kiryat Arba, and then to Kedumim near Nablus. When he was 28, Smotrich volunteered in the Israeli army, and served for a year and a half in the central square in the operations department of the General Staff, a special period of service for religious people.

A leader for the future who is putting roots settlements he is determined to expand

Although he holds a bachelor’s degree in law and is licensed to practice law, Smotrich does not believe in international law, peace agreements with neighboring countries, or any Israeli laws that contradict the “Greater Israel” doctrine that aims to impose sovereignty over all of the Palestinian territories and parts of Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

The man currently lives with his settler wife and seven children in the Kedumim settlement, built on Nablus land in the northern West Bank, after he seized private Palestinian land and built his home on it without a permit even from the occupation authorities.

The Israeli investigative website "Shomrim" revealed some features of the doctrine of "religious Zionism" and its impact on Smotrich's statements and speeches, in a report published by the Arabic version of the "Madar" website on September 4, 2023.

The report says: Regarding the conflict with the Palestinians, Smotrich often repeats phrases: There is no such thing as "two states for two peoples" and "The land of Israel is ours, and what is ours cannot be stolen," and another refrain that clearly reflects his quest for a single state or the implementation of a transfer. In 2015, he said in a speech he gave before the Knesset General Assembly: "There is only one state here, a Jewish state, and there will never be a Palestinian state alongside it. Whoever wants to live with us is welcome, but whoever does not want to either leave or we will see him in the crosshairs" (rifle aim). A year later, Smotrich wrote on Twitter (then X now): “All that remains now is to move from words to deeds: turn off the lights in the Palestinian Authority, impose sovereignty, and do everything that any self-respecting independent state would do.” As for the idea of ​​voluntary transfer, Smotrich calls it “encouraging immigration,” explaining that “those who do not want or cannot put aside their national aspirations will receive assistance from us to immigrate to an Arab country or to any other destination in the world.” This is not immigration on rickety boats, but rather the modern phenomenon of immigration on a plane to an organized future. 

Smotrich: My life’s mission is to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state

Smotrich has declared just this week that his life mission is to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism party, made these remarks via social media, further emphasizing his commitment to expanding Israeli control over the occupied West Bank.

Smotrich stated, “My life’s mission is to build the Land of Israel and thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger the State of Israel.” He framed this goal as not merely political but “national and existential,” highlighting the deep ideological commitment that drives his agenda.

Smotrich also highlighted his policies to entrench Israeli control in the occupied West Bank. “This is why, in addition to my role as Finance Minister, I took on the responsibility for civilian affairs in Judea and Samaria (the Israeli biblical name for the West Bank),” he added, reinforcing his intent to expand and support illegal settlements.

Smotrich’s rhetoric, which explicitly rejects Palestinian statehood, further highlights the ongoing challenges Palestinians face under Israeli occupation. His pledge to protect the “half a million settlers on the frontline, under fire,” is seen as a direct message to Palestinians threatening of subjecting them to ethnic cleansing.

Recently, Israeli settlers in the West Bank have escalated their violent attacks on native Palestinians, emboldened by Israeli leaders like Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Senior Israeli military officials have even accused Smotrich and Ben Gvir of fueling unrest and “provoking a regional war.” According to reports in Israeli media, their extreme policies are seen as the “direct cause” of what is described as an increase in Palestinian resistance across the West Bank.

Smotrich also said that while the Israeli political leadership aims to control the aid entering Gaza, the Israeli military refuses to take responsibility for managing it.

The minister’s insistence on Israeli control over aid comes at a time when the besieged Gaza Strip is suffering from an Israeli-made famine and humanitarian crisis.

 Smotrich's Messianic "Revolution"

“A few weeks ago, I met with one of the settler leaders in the West Bank, a Likudman. I asked him what grade he would give Smotrich and Ben-Gvir. The man said, ‘I’m disappointed with Ben-Gvir. He talks more than he does. I’m very satisfied with Smotrich,’” Yedioth Ahronoth political analyst Nahum Barnea wrote in his report on the radical changes that Finance Minister and Defense Minister Smotrich have brought about in the West Bank. Although the report did not provide anything new in this regard, it explained, in some detail, how the extremist minister, founder of the Regavim movement, was able to bring about a qualitative shift in the settlement project in the West Bank towards actually annexing the latter to Israel, which enabled him to obtain the “mark” he deserved. 

According to Israeli law, the army is the supreme authority or sovereign in the West Bank, “but in reality, Israel’s sovereignty in Judea and Samaria was handed over to a closed, extremist political sect, which obeys the command of one person and advances according to one messianic plan,” according to Barnea, who adds that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “supports that sect or does not obstruct it. What it currently lacks is completed by the government revolution within the Green Line, with weak opposition from the army.” 

The writer explains that Smotrich took control of the West Bank using a pincer tactic, the first jaw of which is represented by his position as Minister of Finance, and the second by his powers derived from his position as Minister of Defense, adding that “the goal he set in the decisive plan he published in 2017 has not changed: to cause the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and present the seven million Arabs living between the Jordan River and the sea with one of these options: death in battle, emigrate abroad, or remain second-class citizens forever.” In this context, Smotrich froze or delayed the transfer of clearance revenues that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority from customs and taxes, in order to pay the salaries of its employees. 

Not only that, but he also activated “Article B of the Terror Victims Compensation Law,” which was approved last June at the behest of Justice Minister Yariv Levin and the chairman of the Constitution and Law Committee, Simcha Rothman. It stipulates that “any person injured in a terrorist act who sustains a permanent disability is entitled to compensation of up to five million shekels,” which is the money that Israel deducts from the clearance revenues, and is equivalent to the allocations that the Palestinian Authority pays to the families of Palestinian martyrs and prisoners. 

According to the new law, Israel can deduct it twice. Also, since October 7, the issuance of work permits within the Green Line has been suspended; Barnea points out here that “the Shin Bet, which feared the consequences of the economic crisis and its impact on the escalation of resistance operations, prepared a plan for the supervised entry of a portion of the workers into permanent workplaces,” while “the army supported this plan, but Smotrich and his colleagues exerted pressure that led to its rejection, and the Palestinian population was left with no choice but to rely on foreign aid, including money sent by Iran to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements.”

The second arm of the “Smotrich empire” is Hillel Rot from the Yitzhar settlement, who, after being appointed deputy head of the Civil Administration for Civil Affairs by Smotrich, became the de facto governor of the West Bank. In this context, Barnea quotes Professor Dan Turner, a settler in the Kfar Adumim settlement on the Jerusalem-Jericho road, as saying that “all the powers of the head of the Civil Administration were given to Rot, who is subordinate to the Settlement Administration, a political body in Smotrich’s ministry in the Ministry of Defense.” 

Among these powers is the appointment of department heads in the Civil Administration; Rot “appoints activists in the Religious Zionism Party to it, and thus an engineer from the Revava settlement was recently appointed director of the planning office in the Civil Administration, which is the highest authority in the field of planning and construction (in the West Bank).” The “Smotrich revolution” also affected the “legal advisor for Judea and Samaria,” who is subordinate to the military prosecution; He was fired and his department was closed, while “Smotrich appointed more than 20 lawyers whose mission is to quickly change the regulations to allow the development of the area for Jews only,” according to Turner, who explains that “everything is managed by civilian officials, politicians. Civilizing services is one of Smotrich’s means of freeing himself from the control of the army and implementing de facto annexation.” 

He explains that “over the past year and a half, there has been no planning for the 300,000 Palestinians living in Area C, and they have not been granted a single building permit, while demolitions, including the demolition of water wells and schools, have become routine.” In contrast, the declaration of lands as “state land” has quadrupled, as have building permits, and the establishment of unauthorized outposts has accelerated. According to Turner, “There are more than 100 small outposts and farms on Palestinian pastures. 

Unauthorized construction by Jews is not enforced, with Smotrich’s encouragement.” For its part, the “Judea and Samaria Police are acting in accordance with the policy of (National Security Minister Itamar) Ben-Gvir; they refrain from stopping Jewish violence and terrorism. If a settler is arrested, he is immediately released.” In fact, all of the above “will not help us in the court hearings against us in The Hague,” according to Turner, which intersects with what Barnea reported from Israeli security officials, who expressed their fear of “the impact of Kahanist measures (terrorism derived from the doctrine of Rav Meir Kahane, founder of the terrorist Kach movement) in the West Bank on the escalation of terrorism (resistance operations), and of a ruling that may be issued by the two international courts in The Hague.” 

According to Barnea, what is happening in the West Bank “seems to be a convenient pretext for issuing arrest warrants for government ministers, including its prime minister,” and “the American administration is concerned about the changes taking place in the West Bank, no less than it is concerned about the stagnation in Gaza. What happens in the West Bank does not stay in the West Bank.” Yesterday, Smotrich renewed his defense of what he is doing in the West Bank in a post on X, saying that “my life’s mission is to build the Land of Israel and thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger the State of Israel. 

This is not political, but rather national and existential. That is why I have taken upon myself, in addition to my position as Minister of Finance, responsibility for civil affairs in Judea and Samaria.” He added, “(I) will continue to work with all my might so that the half a million settlers living on the front lines and under fire enjoy the rights of every citizen of Israel, and to establish facts that prevent the establishment of a Palestinian terrorist state, which will be (…) an Iranian forward base for the next massacre in Kfar Saba, Raanana and the entire center of the country.”

...

  These are not the views of an outlier, Israel's leaders are elected, and Bezalel Smotrich was not elected once or twice, he was elected many times and he, like leaders of other Zionist parties, represent a majority of the Israeli society, which means it represents the popular view of Israel. When Western governments, and Arab leaders address the place of Hamas and other religious groups in Palestinian societies, they often say, Hamas does not represent the Palestinians. The problem for Western leaders, is, what do you say about the Israeli Hamas-like, based on Western reasoning, like the groups that elect Bezalel Smotrich, who represent the majority of society, and are calling for genocide, forced population transfer, and ethnic cleansing? Does their being elected make them less subject to the principles of justice upon which the Palestinian claim to statehood is based?

  

Media review, compiled by Ali Hafez, B. Hamoud et al.

How serious is the killing of US citizen outside US? It depends on who does the killing

How serious is the killing of US citizen outside US? It depends on who does the killing

    Friday, September 06, 2024   No comments

When US citizens are killed by Muslims, US administrations exact bloody revenge swiftly and decisively, and the media always finds the way to explicitly name the persons who killed them and emphasize their being Muslim. But not when American citizens are killed by Israeli forces. The reaction to the recent killing of a US citizen by Israeli forces in West Bank is one example in a series of many including the killing of American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and going back all the way to the gruesome killing of Rachel Corrie.

Here is how the media reported on the killing and how some Western officials, including UN officials reacted: generally, wanting the accused to investigate themselves.

US-Turkish activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was shot dead by Israel in the West Bank during settlement protest.

Social media users, including Scotland’s first minister, Hamza Yousaf, have criticized the BBC for not including the perpetrators of Eygi’s death in their headline.

The pattern of shielding the killer is clear; NPR reported on Israeli troops shooting of American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in West Bank echo's BBC's:

Eygi was participating in a protest against illegal Israeli settlement expansion in the town of Beita, south of Nablus, the Palestinian Wafa agency reported.

An activist who was with Eygi at the time told Middle East Eye that she and other volunteers from the International Solidarity Movement had been attending the weekly demonstration at Beita.

"When she was shot, she was standing there doing absolutely nothing with one other woman - it was a deliberate shot because they shot from a very, very, very far distance," said the activist, who did not want to be identified.

US officials' reaction, mostly muted

The only voice in the US to demand serious action to address Israel's killing of a US citizen was US Senator Chris Van Hollen.

On Friday Van Hollen urged Biden administration to do more to hold Israel accountable for killing of American citizens.

"The Netanyahu Government - including racist extremist like Smotrich and Ben-Gvir - has fueled settler violence in the West Bank at the same time that it has announced new illegal settlements.

"The United States cannot turn a blind eye to these actions – including the killing of American citizens," Democrat senator said in a statement.

His remarks came after Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was shot dead by Israeli forces on Friday during a protest against illegal Israeli settlements in the town of Beita in the Nablus district of the occupied West Bank.

Van Hollen said the US has not received "satisfactory responses" from the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Government about the two other Americans killed in the West Bank since Oct. 7, adding the Biden administration has "not been doing enough" to pursue justice and accountability on their behalf.

"The Biden Administration must do more to hold the Netanyahu Government accountable and use American influence to demand the prosecution of those responsible for harm against American citizens.

"If the Netanyahu Government will not pursue justice for Americans, the U.S. Department of Justice must," he added.

When UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric was asked about the killing of American citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank, he replied, "We would want to see a full investigation of the circumstances, and that people should be held accountable. And again, civilians must be protected at all times."

A long history of bias

In the case of Corrie, even after 21 years, US media, including NPR, continue to deny her justice, using headlines that says, "the death" instead of the killing, and living the name of the actor who did the killing out.

...

Update:

On September 9, US President Joe Biden appeared to embrace Israel's explanation, which claimed that IDF killing of American activist in West Bank was accidental. 

Biden described the killing of a 26-year-old American citizen in the Israeli-occupied West Bank last week as an apparent accident, echoing the Israel government's description.

Israel has claimed that Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was "hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire" on Friday. 

"We're finding more detail," Biden told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House Tuesday. "Apparently, it was an accident. It ricocheted off the ground and it – (she) got hit by accident, but we're working that out now."