Pilot Aaron Bushnell (25 years old) died of the serious
burns he sustained yesterday, Sunday. This incident comes amid mounting
protests in the United States against the ongoing war in Gaza.
Victims of months of Israel's attacks on Gaza are filing a criminal complaint against top German government officials for supporting Israel's war crimes and "genocide" against Palestinians.
“We're filing a criminal complaint against German government officials for the crime of aiding and abetting genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza by providing Israel with weapons and issuing related export permissions,” lawyers for the Gaza victims told a press conference in Berlin on Friday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, and Economy Minister Robert Habeck all stand accused of “complicity in the genocide in Gaza” by supporting Israel's military offensive, and authorizing the export of €326 million ($350 million) worth of weapons to Israel.
Nadija Samour, one of the lawyers who filed the criminal complaint with federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe, southwestern Germany, said: “Our governments in Europe have a legal obligation not to provide Israel any support in perpetrating the current genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. This has to stop and this is what we hope to achieve by going to court. This lawsuit sends a clear message to German officials: you cannot continue to remain accomplices of such crime without consequences. We want accountability.”
Samour said German law requires a ground for initial suspicion to start investigations on a potential crime being committed.
“The International Court of Justice's interim ruling clearly showed that there is such ground for initial suspicion when it comes to the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza,” she stressed, referring to a Jan. 26 ruling ordering Israel's government to stop genocidal acts and take steps to ensure that civilians in Gaza get humanitarian assistance.
The case against several members of the country's Federal Security Council, which directs national security policy and authorises weapons exports, was announced on Friday (23 February).
In addition to Scholz, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Economics Minister Robert Habeck, Finance Minister Christian Lindner and others were accused.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accused Israel of committing "genocide" against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, likening what it was doing to the Holocaust during World War II.
Lula told reporters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he attended an African Union summit, that “what is happening in the Gaza Strip is not a war, it is genocide,” adding that it is “a war between a highly prepared army, and women and children.”
He continued, "What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has not happened at any other stage in history. In fact, it had already happened when Hitler decided to kill the Jews."
These are among the harshest statements made by the leftist Brazilian president regarding the Israeli aggression against Gaza and the Hamas movement since its outbreak on October 7, and since then he has strongly criticized the retaliatory military campaign launched by Israel against the besieged Gaza Strip.
As a result, the Foreign Minister of Israel, Israel Katz, decided today, Sunday, to summon the Brazilian ambassador to “Israel” to rebuke him in the wake of the Brazilian president’s statements, which he described as shameful against “Israel,” according to the Israeli media.
For his part, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, described Lula da Silva's statements as "shameful and dangerous."
He said that comparing "Israel" to the Nazi Holocaust and Hitler is crossing a red line, noting that "Israel" is fighting to defend itself and ensure its future until complete victory.
Previously, the Brazilian President denounced the provocative actions carried out by the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza, stressing that they had “reached an unacceptable extent.”
He stressed the need to "pressure Israel to comply with United Nations resolutions," stressing that he came to deliver a message of support to the Palestinian people, and that Brazil is against the war, pledging to provide financial aid to UNRWA.
After re-listing Houthis as a terrorist entity, US government has signaled that its strikes in Yemen are going to gain some permanence, coining a new name for the operation: “Operation Poseidon Archer”. Afterwards, the US Central Command issued a statement, announcing that the "U.S. Forces, Allies Conduct Joint Strikes in Yemen."
As part of ongoing international efforts to respond to increased Houthi destabilizing and illegal activities in the region, on Jan. 22 at approximately 11:59 p.m. (Sanaa / Yemen time), U.S. Central Command forces alongside UK Armed Forces, and with the support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, conducted strikes on 8 Houthi targets in Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen.
These strikes from this multilateral coalition targeted areas in Houthi-controlled Yemen used to attack international merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region. The targets included missile systems and launchers, air defense systems, radars, and deeply buried weapons storage facilities.
These strikes are intended to degrade Houthi capability to continue their reckless and unlawful attacks on U.S. and U.K. ships as well as international commercial shipping in the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden. These strikes are separate and distinct from the multinational freedom of navigation actions performed under Operation Prosperity Guardian."
UK Defense Security statement. Four British Eurofighter Typhoon fighters conducted strikes against Ansar Allah this evening.
____
My message to the European Union countries regarding their possible participation in a military mission in the Red Sea.
The exceptional state of stability and security that Europe experienced after World War II is a result of the moral values that prevailed in its societies at the internal level. However, this moral system began to weaken as a result of the participation of some European countries in the immoral wars that America fought outside its borders. We are now seeing its effects in the rise of the extreme right and the war in Ukraine.
European societies must realize that moral and human values are fixed and do not change according to the nationality and religion of a person, and their treatment of them with extreme selectivity that amounts to schizophrenia will expand the scope of wars in the world, which will expand to Europe.
There are genocidal crimes committed every day in Gaza, the majority of whose victims are women and children, in full view of the world, and all countries must take serious action to stop them.
Unfortunately, the movement of some countries with their fleets in support of the perpetrators of genocide and the silence of others is what prompted us to take unilateral military action to stop it, because we had no choice but to do so.
We only target ships linked to Israel, not with the aim of seizing them or sinking them, but with the aim of changing their course to increase the economic cost to Israel as a pressure card to stop its crimes in Gaza and allow the entry of food, medicine and fuel to its besieged residents. This is a legitimate act, especially since we are in a state of war with it. If the crews of those ships had responded to the instructions of our naval forces, they would not have been detained or bombed.
The steadfastness of the Palestinian people and the military operations of Yemen and Hezbollah against Israel were sufficient to pressure it to stop its crimes, but the American and British support for it, which reached the point of launching an aggression against Yemen, created the conditions for it to continue committing more crimes and expanded the scope of the conflict.
Today there is a war between Yemen, which is struggling to stop the crimes of genocide, and America and Britain, which are fighting to support and protect the perpetrators. It is also clear that the Palestinian people are not ready to surrender, which means that the situation is heading towards escalation.
Instead of European Union countries moving to add more fuel to the fire, they should move seriously to stop the crimes of genocide in Gaza, and then we will stop all our military operations immediately and automatically.
The Palestinian people are being subjected to great injustice to the point of being deprived of the right to live on their land by force of arms. If another human group had been subjected to the injustice that the Palestinians are being subjected to, we would have moved to help them, regardless of their religion or color.
We are not advocates of war, but rather advocates of peace, and it is America and Britain that attacked us, whether in 2015 indirectly or today directly, and we advise the European Union countries not to participate in any aggression against Yemen.
Our keenness to achieve a just and comprehensive peace that guarantees the safety and dignity of all countries and peoples does not mean abandoning our duty to defend the oppressed, nor abandoning our right to self-defense, no matter the sacrifices it costs us. We are prepared to fight until the Day of Resurrection even if the whole world comes together against us."
As reported in international media outlets, Dia Rashwan, head of the Egyptian Information Service, categorically denied the allegations and lies of the Israeli defense team before the International Court of Justice, that Egypt is responsible for preventing the entry of humanitarian and relief aid into the Gaza Strip from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing.
Rashwan explained in a statement today, Friday, that the inconsistency and lies of the Israeli allegations are evident in the following points:
After all these statements, which did not consider this prevention and siege to be war crimes and genocide under international law, and when the occupying state found itself before the International Court of Justice accused with documented evidence of these crimes, it resorted to throwing accusations against Egypt in an attempt to escape its likely condemnation by the court. .
He said that it is known that Egypt's sovereignty extends only to the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, while the other side of it in Gaza is subject to the actual occupation authority, which was actually demonstrated in the mechanism for the entry of aid from the Egyptian side to the Kerem Shalom crossing, which connects the Gaza Strip to Israeli territory, where She is inspected by the Israeli army, before being allowed to enter the Gaza Strip.
He said that Egypt has announced dozens of times in official statements, starting with the President of the Republic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and all concerned parties, that the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side is open without interruption, calling on the Israeli side not to prevent the flow of humanitarian aid to the Strip and to stop deliberately obstructing or delaying the entry of aid under the pretext of inspecting it.
He said that many of the world's senior officials, led by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, had visited the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, and none of them were able to cross it into the Gaza Strip, due to the Israeli army preventing them from doing so, or fearing for their lives due to the ongoing Israeli bombing of the Strip.
He said that the negotiations that took place over the humanitarian truces, which lasted for a week in the Gaza Strip, in which Egypt, Qatar, and the United States were parties, witnessed extreme intransigence on the part of the Israeli side in determining the amount of aid that the occupation forces would allow to enter the Strip, given that they control it militarily, which resulted in The end of the entry of quantities announced at the time.
Rashwan said that in light of the continued Israeli intention to obstruct the entry of aid at the Kerem Shalom crossing, Egypt has resorted to assigning Egyptian trucks with Egyptian drivers to enter, after inspection, directly into the territory of the Gaza Strip to distribute aid to its residents, instead of transferring it to Palestinian trucks to do this.
He said that what confirms the Israeli occupation army’s control over the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip and its deliberate obstruction of it is what US President Joe Biden asked it to open the Kerem Shalom crossing to facilitate its entry, which was announced by his National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on December 13, as good news.
Rashwan concluded his statement by saying: “If the Israeli authorities really want food, medical supplies, and fuel to enter the Gaza Strip, they have six (6) crossings from their lands with the Gaza Strip, and they must open them immediately for trade and not for the entry of aid, especially since this trade with the Gaza Strip has reached Gaza in 2022, more than $4.7 billion for the benefit of the Israeli commercial and industrial sector.”
The American website Axios leaked a memorandum signed by 100 (today NYT reported 500) employees of the State Department and the US Agency for Development, accusing President Joe Biden of spreading misleading information about the war in the Gaza Strip, and also accusing Israel of committing war crimes in the besieged Strip.
The memorandum, signed by 100 employees of the State Department and USAID, urges the American leadership to reconsider its policy towards Israel and demand a ceasefire in Gaza, where the number of Palestinians martyred in this war has reached more than 11,000 according to Palestinian Health.
The five-page memorandum also shows clear divisions and disagreements within the Biden administration regarding the Israeli war on Gaza, and is characterized by sharp language, as one of the signatories of the memorandum indicated that Biden’s support for Israel made him a “partner in genocide” in Gaza, which is a rare allegation within The corridors of American diplomacy.
The memo explicitly accuses Biden of spreading incorrect information in his October 10 speech in support of Israel, and calls for pressure from the United States to release hostages by Hamas and Israel, referring to the thousands of Palestinians detained in Israel.
The memorandum reviews the events of the Hamas attack on October 7, but focuses on the Israeli response, considering that the Israeli actions constitute “war crimes and/or crimes against humanity in accordance with international law.”
The memorandum refutes these measures, explaining that they included cutting off electricity, reducing aid, and carrying out attacks that led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
She pointed out that "we failed to re-evaluate our position towards Israel," adding: "We have firmly adhered to our consistent military assistance to the government of Israel without clear red lines or implementable measures."
The memo also monitors broader criticism of US policy in the Middle East and its failure to provide a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and points to White House members’ disdain for the lives of Palestinians and a lack of strategic foresight.
This leak reveals new challenges facing Biden's 2024 presidential campaign, in light of escalating anger and protests within the Democratic Party.
Roughly 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were brutally murdered by attacking Bosnian Serb forces 27 years ago.
For the first time since the 1995 massacre, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren apologized to survivors for the Dutch peacekeepers' failure to prevent the killings.
"The international community failed to offer adequate protection to the people of Srebrenica. The Dutch government shares responsibility for the situation in which that failure occurred. And for this, we offer our deepest apologies," Ollongren said during a ceremony in Potocari.
Sourse of the News Story: https://www.dw.com/en/srebrenica-massacre-netherlands-apologizes-after-27-years/a-62434446
Nobel laureate issues heartfelt letter to fellow peace prize winner calling for her to speak up for Rohingya in Myanmar
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