Media review: Western democracy is declining and losing its value

Media review: Western democracy is declining and losing its value

    Sunday, February 11, 2024   No comments

Under the title “Democracy is declining in a number of countries that seek to achieve it and is losing its value in the democratic countries themselves,” Alain Frachon wrote in the French newspaper “Le Monde” an article in which he highlighted the decline of democracy in a number of countries, and considered that democracy has lost its ability to seduce. Its soft power was shaken under the weight of the blows received by Westerners as a result of their repeated betrayals of its principles.

Summary

Hail to democracy: In 2024, about half of the adults on this Earth are expected to vote. We can already hear skeptics about the results of this democratic activity even before it happens. Voting conditions are not the same in the United Kingdom and India under Narendra Modi and in the United States and Russia under Vladimir Putin if we take a few countries whose residents are asked to elect their rulers.

However, the call to go to the polls reflects an important dedication to the principle of democracy. The elections that will be held in several countries, in Azerbaijan, for example, which is ruled by Ilham Aliyev, the autocratic ruler believes that he is forced to hold them, even with his prior knowledge of the results.

Elections are a purely formal procedure, hypocritical, or whatever it is, but the tyrant sees it as a way to obtain the legitimacy and respect that the results of the ballot box give him, just as one puts on a tie or wears a hat to go to a wedding. It is certain that this process does not stem from a sincere belief in the principle of democracy, although it is felt as an obligation. Rather, it expresses a simple fact, even if in the subconscious mind, that the democratic character is taking a better turn.

This situation is not without contradictions. According to Janan Ganesh, a columnist for the Financial Times, the “man and woman of 2024” are the voters.

But democracy is “in decline,” according to American Larry Diamond, a professor at Stanford University. As for the number of countries that practice this system, it is declining. In the lands that established this system, especially in the West, this system lost its quality.

Democracy, in the broad sense of regular and fairly free elections, reached its peak in 2000, benefiting about 54% of the world's population, according to Freedom House, a non-governmental organization that conducts this type of statistics. This percentage then decreased to 50% in 2018, finally reaching 32% in 2019. This is mainly due to the reclassification of India, which today is the most populous country on this earth.

Only 34 countries are classified as liberal democracies, which includes elections, the rule of law, freedom of the press, powers, checks and balances, and minority rights, which in short constitute the complete and complex institutional arsenal of democratic life. American Samantha Power, who heads the US Agency for International Development, expressed this situation by saying: “For 17 years, freedom has been in decline.”

The export of democracy has declined, it has lost its ability to seduce, and its soft power has been shaken under the weight of the blows that Westerners are receiving as a result of their repeated betrayals of its principles. George W. Bush is considered one of the main contributors to changing the course of democracy after his invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Samantha Power continues by saying that the slide of some democracies towards authoritarianism puts us before a fundamental question about “which model [of government] will prevail in the coming years?” Estimates from the Cambridge University Center on the Future of Democracy indicate that China and Russia enjoy slightly more popularity than the United States. In the Global South, however, this information is difficult to confirm.

She adds that liberal democratic systems are eroding from within, which she calls "democracy fatigue." She believes that Western youth will move away from the chaotic and exhausting system, which decides slowly and always searches for short answers and confuses them with its ambiguous decisions. The contemporary voter decides according to what he wants from the list and not according to what is presented to him from the list. He is no longer loyal to his party affiliations; Accordingly, the popularity of the main institutions of democracy and political parties is declining.

Other risks loom in the digital environment, where the distinction between truth and falsehood is blurred by conspiracy theories and the dominance of social media over traditional journalism, as well as disinformation and manipulation of public opinion. According to what Lawrence Norden, an expert from New York University School of Law, told the New York Times, “Everything that has been threatening our democracy for some time may be exacerbated by generative artificial intelligence.” For example, false speeches attributed to President Joe Biden are circulating on the Internet.

According to opinion polls, the European Parliament elections that will be held in June herald the rise of far-right parties. In a climate that encourages taking advantage of elite parties' loss of credibility, these anti-investment parties are betting on contemporary problems, including immigration, economic and social disparity, and environmental restrictions.

These parties follow the approach of illiberal democracy, also known as “democracy,” and the champion of this democratic retreat was Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister.

The US elections scheduled for November 5 will determine whether the most powerful liberal democracies are willing to submit to “democracy” by returning Republican Donald Trump to the White House.

The dilemma of the times is that the announcement of this decline in liberal democracy comes at a time when it has proven its absolute superiority in its battle against the “Covid-19” pandemic. Also, the Polish "democracy" was defeated by the centrists led by Donald Tusk.

The West, which is described as a decadent and decadent entity, remains the preferred destination for an unprecedented migration movement. Crowds of hapless people from the Global South seem drawn to the promise of freedom and prosperity embodied by liberal democracy. Therefore, announcing her death seems very premature.

Media review: How to End America’s Hypocrisy on Gaza

Media review: How to End America’s Hypocrisy on Gaza

    Friday, February 09, 2024   No comments

Sarah Yager, director of Human Rights Watch in Washington, described the US handling of the Israeli war on Gaza as “hypocrisy,” and the Biden administration must evaluate Israel’s behavior and hold it accountable for that.

Yager commented in an article published by Foreign Affairsmagazine that the staggering numbers of Palestinian casualties and injuries as a result of the war launched by Israel on Gaza in response to the attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on October 7 is impossible to consider without considering whether Israel has violated the law. International humanitarian aid during its war.

She added that a large amount of available information indicates that Israel did in fact do this, as human rights organizations and the media published reports of illegal collective punishment of the Palestinian population, the use of starvation as a weapon of war, air and artillery strikes, and the demolition of buildings that had no targets. A clear military operation, but it resulted in heavy civilian casualties and the destruction of property.

She pointed out that there was enough smoke to suspect a fire, which put American officials in a dilemma, because American law obliges the State Department to ensure that American security aid does not go to security forces that constantly commit gross human rights violations.

 Current US policy also requires the department to evaluate whether recipients of US military assistance are “more likely” to use US weapons to violate international law, and prohibit transfers to any country that meets these criteria.

 Yager questioned whether the State Department had conducted these assessments yet, despite the fact that its Secretary, Tony Blinken, and Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, repeated on more than one occasion the phrase that the number of civilian casualties was “very high.”

 However, despite President Joe Biden's offhanded warning last December about the risk to Israel's reputation by carrying out "indiscriminate bombing," US officials have avoided clearly stating that any specific Israeli actions in Gaza are unacceptable, taking Administration spokesmen walk back Biden's comment.

 The director of Human Rights Watch referred to the direct questions directed to White House spokesmen regarding Israel's behavior in Gaza and their twisted responses on more than one occasion.

 She commented that these official statements and many others were noticeably absent of any positive declaration that Israel is in fact adhering to international law.

 She said if American officials believed that Israel was doing this - or at least taking all possible measures to avoid harming civilians under difficult circumstances - they would say so with passion, but they did not do so even though the Biden administration was not shy about criticizing the behavior of the warring parties in Other conflicts.

 The reason is that drawing more attention to what is happening in Gaza could almost certainly force a policy change that Biden does not want to make, could confront his administration with a series of difficult choices that it would rather avoid, and could also further complicate the already complex dynamics of the US-Israel relationship. And it may create political weakness for Biden in the election year.

 She added that as long as the administration avoids the reality of Israeli violations in Gaza and selectively applies the rules for military assistance, the moral authority claimed by the United States will diminish more and more, and the Biden administration’s apparent unwillingness to apply the legal aspect to the available information will be exacerbated by its clear failure to adhere to policies that She put it herself as an expression of Biden's supposed commitment to human rights.

 Yager believes that the worst consequence of the administration's refusal to comply with the letter and spirit of American law is that Washington may make it possible for massive and perhaps criminal loss of civilian lives in Gaza.

 

She added that there is another victim of this approach, which is the credibility of the United States, which has been damaged by what can be considered at best inconsistency and at worst hypocrisy.

 

For example, in 2016, President Barack Obama condemned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s deprivation of food and water to civilians in Aleppo. It can be said that Israel did the same thing with the civilian population in Gaza for more than 3 months without facing any criticism for this method from the Biden administration. Biden Netanyahu called for opening a corridor to Gaza to deliver more aid, but he did not directly criticize the blockade.

 

She added that to begin to rein in Israel and stop the bleeding of American credibility, the Biden administration needs to assign its lawyers to evaluate all available information - confidential and non-confidential - regarding the Israeli military campaign in Gaza and determine the time and place of Israeli forces violating the laws of war, and the results should be published and evidence submitted to Congress.

 

She concluded that the political costs resulting from looking directly at the evidence and correcting the course of American policy as necessary will not be comfortable for the president and lawmakers during the election campaign.

 

But these costs are less than the cost of US authorities acting as if the extreme suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza does not deserve the same scrutiny as the suffering of civilians in other conflicts, a position that gives an argument to those who claim that when it comes to applying basic American principles and protecting inherent human rights, Washington applies A clearly hypocritical double standard.

 

 

 

Media Review: The National Interest calls on Biden to return soldiers from Syria and Iraq: stop making them targets

Media Review: The National Interest calls on Biden to return soldiers from Syria and Iraq: stop making them targets

    Wednesday, January 03, 2024   No comments

The American magazine "National Interest" criticized the foreign policy of US President Joe Biden, and his involvement of the United States in endless conflicts at the expense of the interests of the nation and the well-being of the army.

In an article entitled “Joe Biden Should Stop Treating American Soldiers as Targets” published, Tuesday, the magazine stated that attacks on American bases in Iraq and Syria with mortar shells, drones, and missiles have become routine (more than 100 since October 17). It caused dozens of injuries.

The magazine considered that the claim of National Security Council spokeswoman Adrian Watson that “the president does not place a higher priority than protecting American soldiers” is clear nonsense, because they are still being injured in Iraq and Syria without clear strategic goals, and that 2,500 Americans are stationed in Iraq, And 900 others are in Syria, with no clear purpose other than to be targets for enemies.

The magazine feared a larger strike that might hit a crowded building, with many American deaths expected, forcing the United States to fight another war in the Middle East, questioning the legal justification for occupying Syrian territory, mocking the slogan of “self-defense” on this front.

It considered that Washington's policy, supported by successive administrations and Congress, aimed at starving the Syrian people in a futile attempt to pressure Damascus, is morally abhorrent and practically foolish.

The magazine concluded by emphasizing the need for American military personnel in Iraq to also return to their homeland, instead of remaining a suitable target, considering that “the security of the United States is not served by illegal intervention and endless war, and that America is best served by avoiding involvement in conflicts that are of little importance to us.” "For the United States."

Le Monde: Western donors punish human rights organizations because of their support for Gaza

Le Monde: Western donors punish human rights organizations because of their support for Gaza

    Wednesday, December 27, 2023   No comments

The French newspaper Le Monde said that civil society organizations in many Middle Eastern countries are extremely angry because of their loss of European funding, after they condemned the Israeli attack on Gaza.

The newspaper - in a report by its correspondents Laure Stephane in Beirut and Clotilde Mravco in Jerusalem - reviewed the story of the Egyptian lawyer Azza Soliman, who had been relying on German support for about 10 years, and learned that Germany would withdraw the funds allocated from her for a project to support women victims of human trafficking.

This came after it signed - with more than 200 Arab organizations - a text condemning “genocide against the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip” and calling for sanctions to be imposed on Israel, “the occupying and apartheid state.”

The punishment sparked intense anger within Egyptian civil society, which denounced this censorship. The lawyer said, “Do the German authorities want to discipline us? Teach us what we have the right to say? It is a scandal.” However, the German Foreign Ministry said that it acted because of “the public statements of the Seola organization and its founder, Azza Soliman.” , which contradicts “the Berlin line, including the call for an economic boycott of Israel.”

This decision comes within a broader framework - according to the newspaper - since the attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, during which Germany reviewed the projects funded “in the region,” which “includes a re-evaluation of the political positions and announcements of our partners, with regard to these issues.” 

The newspaper saw that Arab human rights defenders risk losing their funding if they do not adhere to the political line of this donor regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, at a time when the unconditional support provided by Washington and the majority of European leaders for Israel arouses discontent in the Arab world, in light of the massacre committed by Israel. against civilians in Gaza.

Other European governments want to reconsider their partnerships with civil society organizations in the Middle East, especially Palestinian NGOs, after the European Union generalized the “combat incitement” to hatred and violence clause to all new contracts signed with Palestinian actors, including vague language, which is likely To be used to force beneficiaries to silence their work denouncing the Israeli occupation.

For its part, Sweden intends to ask its Palestinian partners to condemn Hamas. Switzerland also announced the end of its cooperation with 3 Palestinian non-governmental organizations, considering that its statements after the Hamas attack are not consistent with its rules of conduct. The director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, lawyer Raji Sourani, says, “It is an issue that returns.” "For political motives."

At the end of November, Amnesty International and about 100 organizations denounced this pressure, which is seen in the Middle East as a reflection of right-wing policies in Europe, and considered it an obstacle to freedom of expression and opinion.

Le Monde believed that the conditions imposed on non-governmental organizations threaten to weaken civil societies that rely heavily on Western funds, at a time when their silence in the face of the ongoing massacre in Gaza means losing their credibility in the region.

Media review: Libération, accounts of the beheading of children, rape and burning by Hamas fighters are false and aimed at garnering support for revenge against Gaza

Media review: Libération, accounts of the beheading of children, rape and burning by Hamas fighters are false and aimed at garnering support for revenge against Gaza

    Tuesday, December 12, 2023   No comments

The French newspaper “Libération” published a lengthy investigation into the stories circulated by the Israeli authorities about cutting off the heads of children, raping women, and tearing open the stomachs of pregnant women. The newspaper’s fact-finding team concluded that most of these stories were false and were aimed at inciting international public opinion and gathering support for a revenge operation against Gaza. Here are some excerpts, translated from the French  report:

 

On October 7, Hamas, and later other Palestinian factions, killed more than 1,200 people, including about 800 civilians, including the elderly, families, women, and children. The newspaper's investigative team returned in detail, on numerous occasions, to these documented and often photographed acts, which Hamas continues to deny, despite countless evidence.

...

However, over the past two months, the investigation team has also noted numerous unconfirmed or inconsistent stories and testimonies. Today, the final results of the attack are almost known. And also for the many civilians who were killed, and the circumstances of their deaths. However, available data confirms that some of the atrocities initially described did not happen, and these false testimonies relate almost exclusively to allegations of child abuse, which were at the heart of the media war that began two months ago and have been relayed for weeks by volunteer rescuers, soldiers or Israeli army officials, but also by the head of state and Israeli diplomacy. It was rich material for the international press, as well as Western political leaders.

 ... 

Did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Foreign Ministry, or even Michal Herzog, wife of President Isaac Herzog, deliberately spread lies, sometimes in diplomatic talks at the highest levels, with the aim of garnering support from international public opinion? October 7 was a real massacre, but it was also the subject of war propaganda.

The lie of forty children and beheadings
 

On Tuesday, October 10, the Israeli army allowed two foreign press journalists to enter Kibbutz Kfar Azza, located less than one kilometer from the Gaza Strip. One of the testimonies stands out: Nicole Zedek, a correspondent for the English-language Hebrew channel i24News, who reported: “One of the commanders here said that at least 40 children were killed,” adding that “some of them were beheaded.” He said he had never seen such atrocities before.

 ...

This statement will be repeated by the media around the world, but also by the Israeli authorities, for several weeks. The next day, the official Twitter account of the State of Israel published a video clip from the i24 channel recalling the Kafr Azza massacre, accompanied by the phrase: “40 children were killed.” The statement then found itself prominently among the videos that flooded Israel's Internet in October denouncing Hamas' crimes.

 ...

In particular, a clip from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlighted the “forty children” who were killed, in imitation of children’s programs, against a backdrop of unicorns and rainbows.

 ...

This assertion is now contradicted by the numbers. As of December 5, the Israeli police had notified the Israel National Insurance Institute, whose statistics serve as today's reference, of the names of 789 identified civilian casualties (excluding security forces), and published 686 of them, and the Foreign Ministry told us that only ten were civilian casualties. Their identities have not been established, and among the 100 unpublished names, a very large number are known thanks to the systematic collection work carried out by numerous media outlets (including Haaretz) and Israeli associations, in particular on the basis of reports submitted by the families of the victims, and as It is highly unlikely that the existence of other young victims remains unknown two months after the events, as internal sources from the Israeli forensic medical institutes that received the bodies confirmed to us that “the official assessments are correct,” a journalist from the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

 ...

According to medical institutes, only one child was found among the civilians killed on October 7. They are Mila Cohen, 10 months old, who was shot and killed in Be'eri along with her father. But according to our information, there is a second child: Omer Kedem Siman Tov, who died in his burning house in Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with his 5-year-old sisters, after their parents were shot. Omer Kedem Siman Tov appears in the institute's file as 4 years old, but

 ...

Several consistent items consulted by our investigation team, and privately available on the social networks of the deceased family, indicate that he was in fact two years and three months old at the time of his murder, and other than these two cases, no other children were killed on October 7 in The kibbutzim, and there was no “headless” child, contrary to what was widely reported. 

Yossi Landau told several international media outlets that he discovered the body of a pregnant woman with a bullet wound to her head, and her abdomen was cut open to remove the fetus that had been stabbed.

 ...

Haaretz newspaper indicates that Yossi Landau confirmed that the pregnant woman was found dead near House 426, which consists of two apartments and is located in a neighborhood where mainly elderly people live. According to the survivors of the building who were interviewed by the Israeli newspaper, there was no pregnant woman.

 ...

However, the Israeli authorities have highlighted this horrific testimony, for example in a message posted by the Israeli Embassy in the United States on Twitter (now X) and Instagram, on October 27. In a recent column published in the American magazine Newsweek, entitled “‘The silence of international authorities in the face of mass rapes committed by Hamas is a betrayal of all women,’” lawyer and First Lady of Israel, Michelle Herzog, also referred to this act and stated: “A Hamas videotape shows One of the kibbutzim terrorists tortured a pregnant woman and extracted her fetus.”

 ...

Our investigative team was able to view a video being circulated that claims to provide evidence of this abuse, and since this has been specifically corrected by the Anti-Defamation League, a leading US NGO in the fight against anti-Semitism, the images were in fact taken. From a video shared in 2018, which allegedly shows abuses committed by a Mexican cartel and is not there.

 ...

These atrocities, initially described by Landau, were reported verbatim on October 31 to the US Senate by Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State: “A little boy and a little girl, ages 6 and 8, and their parents were around the breakfast table, Where the father’s eye was gouged out in front of his children, the mother’s breast was cut off, the girl’s foot was amputated, and the boy’s fingers were cut off before they were executed...and after that their tormentors sat and ate a meal...this is what this society faces.”

 ...

According to our investigations, no child between the ages of 6 and 11 years old died in Be’eri, according to available reports, and the only family that witnessed the death of two children of different genders in Be’eri is the Hatsroni family, whose circumstances of death, previously mentioned, do not match Landau’s account. It is impossible to know whether the elements reported by the head of the relief organization are a distortion of the facts of an event or an invention.

 

The goal is to obtain American and international support to take revenge on Gaza

 This campaign, launched in the ears of political leaders and promoted on social media and among journalists, was intended to mobilize, and then consolidate, Israeli and international public support for the violent reprisals in Gaza, and had the side effect of fueling strong denial. of the October 7 crimes on social media, casting doubt on the true accounts of the attack that killed about 800 civilians.

 

source: https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/israel-7-octobre-un-massacre-et-des-mystifications-20231211_A7QBBETYDRDERFAQINGA66ZAR4/

Media review: US, Israel isolated in the world, face internal and external pressure to stop the killing

Media review: US, Israel isolated in the world, face internal and external pressure to stop the killing

    Sunday, December 10, 2023   No comments

Le Monde: Israel has transformed the right of self-defense into the right to destroy everything

Le Monde newspaper said that the isolated United States, by rejecting the draft United Nations Security Council resolution in favor of an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” on December 8, guaranteed the continuation of the punishment imposed by Israel on an entire people, so that the horrific routine in Gaza continues, with more Of dead, wounded and devastated with no hope of seeing the end.

The newspaper pointed out in an editorial that the right to self-defense has become the right to destroy everything, since Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant announced that Israel is facing “human animals” and that it will “act on this basis.”

The results of the strategy aimed at eliminating the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) have now turned, according to the newspaper, into death everywhere, hospitals being bombed, destitution and starvation for hundreds of thousands of people.

In her editorial, which she chose as the title: “Israel Lost in the Gaza Massacre,” she said that the Palestinians are being driven like cattle by Israeli orders from one part of the Gaza Strip to another, and the cries of the heads of the United Nations agencies who, despite Israeli disdain, are making impressive efforts, even if they resonate in Void.

Le Monde believed that this unprecedented massacre is not justified because the results obtained so far are still far from the declared goal of eliminating Hamas, noting that Israel’s loss in this war is not a surprise, because it is a reflection of its deviation before October 7. The first, since it tore itself apart on the basis of its social contract instead of the law, in light of the attacks of the extremist movement that has been ravaging it for more than half a century, especially since the United States does not protect Israel from itself.

The newspaper concluded by justifying the US representative at the United Nations for their use of veto power against the ceasefire, saying that such a truce “will sow the seeds of a future war,” asking whether Washington believes that the continued bombings supplied by Israel to fall on Gaza without protecting civilians could result in Other than the hatred that does not extinguish on this bloody land?

Media Part: Israel seeks to kill journalists so that they do not document its crimes

The Media Part website said that the head of the Palestinian Journalists Union, Nasser Abu Bakr, spoke in Paris about the importance of the work of his fellow journalists in informing the world about the situation in the Gaza Strip, and described the hell they live in and the danger to which they expose themselves in order to overcome the media siege that Israel imposes on them. It is committing its information crime in Gaza.

The French website explained - in a report written by Younes Abzouz - that Nasser Abu Bakr, who is on a European tour to alert international public opinion to the tragic situation that journalists are experiencing in Gaza and the West Bank, stated that “Gaza had 200 journalists before October 7, and today There are almost none of them, as 63 journalists and media workers were killed, 56 of them in Gaza.

“He is regularly threatened with death and arrest, and receives anonymous calls and messages,” said photo reporter Moataz Azaizeh, who documents every day on Instagram the horrific lives of civilians trapped in Gaza, just as Palestinian journalists working in the West Bank are threatened by settlers and members of the Israeli security forces.

Biden's arming of Israel provokes violent reactions due to the high casualties in Gaza

The Washington Post revealed that the administration of US President Joe Biden is facing increasing pressure due to its supply of powerful weapons to Israel, with the death toll rising in the Gaza Strip and raising questions about whether the United States is making more efforts to ensure the safety of civilians, as the main military supporter of Tel Aviv. .

Human rights groups, along with a growing bloc within Biden's Democratic Party, are intensifying their work to scrutinize arms flows to Israel, which have included tens of thousands of bombs since the Hamas attack on October 7.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Sunday that the time remaining for the battle in Khan Yunis is shortening and the fighting is becoming more critical and complex.

The time remaining for the battle in Khan Yunis is shortening, and the fighting has become more critical and complex

The newspaper said that the Israeli "army" is finding it difficult to advance in areas of the incursion into the Gaza Strip.

The newspaper pointed out that "there is a tension between the goals of the war and the time allocated to achieve them."

She added that the Israeli divisions are now fighting three battles at the same time, and in each of them they face stronger resistance than in the past.

According to the newspaper, “The Israeli army hopes to end most of its operations in the northern Gaza Strip within a week, but after that the battle in Khan Yunis will become more critical.”

These developments, according to the newspaper, “make the fighting in the coming weeks more complex.”

She said, "It is better not to be drawn into the atmosphere in the television studios, in some of which chants of victory have already been heard in recent days."

She stressed that "the Israeli army does not have a complete intelligence picture of the locations where Hamas hides prisoners, and there is no doubt that the continuation of the fighting puts their lives in danger."

Earlier today, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper published on its front page a report under the title, “The fighting is difficult and slow, and it will take a long time for the Israeli army to accomplish its tasks.”

In this context, the Israeli Channel 7 said that estimates in Israel are that the war will continue at high intensity for at least two months.

They also estimate in "Israel", according to the Israeli media, which quoted sources, that "there will be attempts to advance additional deals to liberate prisoners in the near future."

Yesterday, Israeli media confirmed that the death toll from the Israeli occupation army had risen to 102 since the beginning of the ground incursion into the Gaza Strip.

Israeli media reported on Sunday that the heat in the arenas in Yemen and Iraq poses a real dilemma for the United States of America.

The Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" expressed its fear of the Yemeni threats, saying that "the Yemeni threat to prevent any ship from heading to Israel has been raised to the level of a strategic threat."

The Israeli newspaper confirmed that "these threats may ignite an international military confrontation in the Red Sea."

She added that the American and Israeli presence in the Red Sea appears to be “not succeeding in deterring them,” noting that “the matter may require a major show of force in the near future.”

The Israeli newspaper quoted "Reuters" and "Bloomberg" as saying, "Saudi Arabia is now pressuring the administration in Washington to exercise restraint in its responses to Yemen, in order to allow the completion of the peace agreement between Saudi Arabia and the Yemenis."

Another Saudi fear, according to Haaretz, is that “an American attack on the Yemenis may harm relations between Riyadh and Tehran, at a time when the two countries are slowly restoring relations after resuming them last March.”

From Saudi Arabia's al-sharq alawsat:

The Western political culture, which many of us have had the opportunity to live and enjoy its good deeds, is not at all as ideal as we thought out of our admiration - and sometimes - our fascination with it. If under normal circumstances it appears civilized, sophisticated, and tolerant. When problems become severe and hostility escalates, it strips off all the garments of civilization, sophistication, and tolerance. This is exactly what we see today, not only in the atrocities committed against civilians, hospitals, schools, and places of worship in the occupied Palestinian territories, but also appears shocking and shocking in the government’s restrictions on freedom of expression in American universities and the British media, and the blackmail of the advertising boycott practiced shamelessly in order to... Gagging mouths and stifling voices of objection.

 

Media review: CNN: The possibility of the Israeli army placing weapons in Al-Shifa Hospital is high

Media review: CNN: The possibility of the Israeli army placing weapons in Al-Shifa Hospital is high

    Saturday, November 25, 2023   No comments

After accidentally revealing that the tunnels under the hospital were built by Israel, CNN is raising doubt about the weapons the Israeli military claimed was found in the healthcare facility.

The American network "CNN" reported that the number of weapons that appeared in a video clip of the occupation "army", which he published on November 15, in which he said that he found them in Al-Shifa Hospital and that they belonged to the Hamas movement, differs from similar scenes that were filmed. By the media crews, which indicates, according to the American network, that the Israeli “army” may have transferred the weapons, or placed them there, before the media crews arrived.

CNN said that it compared the footage published by the Israeli army with the scenes captured by Fox News, which was granted access to Al-Shifa Hospital in the following hours.

The network added that the wristwatch on the wrist of the Israeli army spokesman, who led the photography tour at Al-Shifa Hospital, showed that the time was 1:18 p.m. The Fox News correspondent, who was later admitted to the hospital, said in his report that it was midnight.

"CNN" explained that the "Fox News" scenes showed a bag located behind the MRI machine inside the hospital, and two AK-47 rifles appeared on top of it, while the "Army" scenes showed the presence of one rifle of this model. CNN said that it is not clear where the second weapon came from, and why it did not appear in the Israeli army video.

The network reported that it had contacted the Israeli army to obtain clarifications regarding the apparent contradiction, but had not received a response.

CNN said that there is no evidence yet of the existence of a network of tunnels under Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, and that there is no indication that Israeli forces have uncovered a multi-level tunnel with underground rooms.

Israeli media confirmed that the massive Israeli propaganda after the Israeli occupation “army” stormed Al-Shifa Hospital was a disappointment to the Israeli settlers, who thought that “Israel” would eliminate “Hamas” during its operation.

The Israeli media said that the leadership of Hamas remains cohesive even after the storming of Al-Shifa Hospital, and that its fighters are continuing to fire rockets towards the settlements on the Gaza Strip and towards Tel Aviv.

The media also pointed out that "the army reached recovery, but the goal was not achieved, and we have not yet captured Sinwar or Deif. Yesterday, the army announced that it had eliminated a Hamas official whom no Israeli knew."

The Arab affairs analyst for the Israeli Channel 13, Tzivi Yehezkeli, said that it is clear that there is nothing of real value in Al-Shifa Hospital.

Media Review, BILD: Russia, Türkiye and Qatar are preparing a new agreement to replace the grain deal

Media Review, BILD: Russia, Türkiye and Qatar are preparing a new agreement to replace the grain deal

    Friday, August 18, 2023   No comments

 Russia, Türkiye and Qatar are preparing a new agreement to replace the grain deal, BILD,  reports.

The media leaked memos between the Foreign Ministry and the embassies of Russia and Turkey from July 21 to August 8.

The letters say the Kremlin informed Erdogan in advance of its withdrawal from the grain deal. The new agreement considers the supply of Russian grain to poor countries, mainly Africa. Türkiye will act as an organizer, Qatar as a sponsor of supplies.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan asks Russia to resume the previous grain deal, so that grain is also supplied from Ukraine. Ankara also proposes to act under the auspices of the UN.

The deal is expected to close this weekend in Budapest. It is reported that the head of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov is flying to Budapest, where Erdogan is also going.

Media review: Cracks in Western media coverage of the war in Ukraine created by the narrative of a spring offensive and Bakhmut

Media review: Cracks in Western media coverage of the war in Ukraine created by the narrative of a spring offensive and Bakhmut

    Friday, March 31, 2023   No comments

Ukrainian leaders institance to defend Bakhmut at any cost and the outcome of that battle may create a narrative problem for media, thus far eager to promote the notion that Ukraine will be able to retake all the lost terrirties militarily. 

Western media and officials in Ukraine are promoting the spring offensive as it will adjust the balance of military forces and restore dignity to the Ukrainian army, without any indication of the date of the attack or on which front it will start. There may be actual preparations for this counter-attack, but this does not negate that it may be a last attempt before the great collapse.

The words of Scott Ritter, a retired US Marine Corps intelligence officer whose statements were celebrated by the Russian media that Ukraine faces inevitable defeat, depend on military estimates and indicators that the Western media tries not to address.

The Ukrainian army has not been able to achieve a breakthrough in the Russian defenses during the past months, at a time when the continuous Western support did not succeed in changing the rules of the field balance of forces. The situation in Bakhmut embodies the course of the war throughout Ukraine. According to what was announced by the Ukrainian presidential advisor, Sergey Leshchenko, on Thursday, that Kiev no longer controls only a third of the city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, which has been witnessing fierce battles for months. While the Russian forces control 70 percent of the civilian population. With this field reality in Bakhmut, it is clear that the Ukrainian forces are preparing to suffer a resounding defeat after months of attempts to defend the city with the support of Western countries. For this reason, the foreign ministers of NATO countries will hold a new meeting in Brussels between the third and fifth of next April, a meeting in which they will stress the continuation of US support for Ukraine. But what will the alliance do about the retreat of the Ukrainian army?

Away from the details of the decisive battles in Bakhmut, and in general, the reports that the Western media controls are obfuscating them, talking about the emergence of symptoms of the defeat of the Ukrainian army. And indications of developments indicate that Ukraine is not on its way to achieving a complete victory, with the apparent stumbling of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's attempts to recover what his country lost in the war.

Western media and officials in Ukraine are promoting the spring offensive as it will adjust the balance of military forces and restore dignity to the Ukrainian army, without any indication of the date of the attack or on which front it will start. There may be actual preparations for this counter-attack, but this does not negate that it may be a last attempt before the great collapse.

The words of Scott Ritter, a retired US Marine Corps intelligence officer whose statements were celebrated by the Russian media that Ukraine faces inevitable defeat, depend on military estimates and indicators that the Western media tries not to address.

Everything is already there, Ritter adds. The decisive defeat of Ukraine is inevitable. Ukrainian forces can do nothing to prevent Russia from destroying them.”

Regarding the promised spring offensive, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba says that the failure of the offensive planned by the Ukrainian armed forces will strengthen the positions of supporters of a settlement with Russia in the West.

“They (proponents of settling the conflict with Russia through diplomacy) are everywhere – in Washington, in Berlin, in Paris, in London. They will try to do something creative in the spirit of Minsk-3.”

According to Kuleba, if the Ukrainian offensive falters, this will affect the additional supply of American and European weapons. He also noted that there is a narrative in the West that is dangerous for Kiev that the Ukrainian Armed Forces must wage “one decisive battle” that determines the outcome of the entire conflict, otherwise military assistance must be stopped.

On the other hand, a lengthy report published by the New York Times revealed many imbalances among the American volunteers in Ukraine, some of which relate to claiming non-existent military experience, wasting resources, and trying to profit from the war.

The “New York Times” highlighted that the research and interviews it conducted revealed a series of acts of deception, mistakes, and disagreements among volunteer fighters in Ukraine that hindered the volunteer campaign that began after the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of February 2022, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky launched an appeal requesting He asked all friends of Ukraine who wanted to join the fight in its defense to come to the country, stressing that Ukraine would give them weapons to do so.

Global Media Review for March 1-10, 2023

Global Media Review for March 1-10, 2023

    Saturday, March 11, 2023   No comments

 We cull through more than 340 media outlets to identify stories about the most consequential events, so you don't have to.

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