(12 January 2025 16:15 GMT)
Donald Trump‘s incoming national security adviser, Mike Waltz, spoke with ABC News on Sunday, where he called for a ceasefire deal in Gaza to happen before Trump‘s inauguration on 20 January.
„Hamas has nowhere else to go but enter some type of agreement. Let‘s have a ceasefire, let‘s allow our hostages to be set free. I want to see them walking across a tarmac. At a minimum, some type of agreement before inauguration,“ he said.
A diplomacy of hope is also a diplomacy of forgiveness, capable, at a time full of open or latent conflicts, of mending relationships torn by hatred and violence, and thus caring for the broken hearts of their all too numerous victims. My wish for the year 2025 is that the entire international community will work above all to end the conflict that, for almost three years now, has caused so much bloodshed in war-torn Ukraine and has taken an enormous toll of lives, including those of many civilians. Some encouraging signs have appeared on the horizon, but much work must still be done to create the conditions for a just and lasting peace and to heal the wounds inflicted by the aggression.
Similarly, I renew my appeal for a ceasefire and the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza, where there is a very serious and shameful humanitarian situation, and I ask that the Palestinian population receive all the aid it needs. My prayerful hope is that Israelis and Palestinians can rebuild the bridges of dialogue and mutual trust, starting with the smallest, so that future generations can live side by side in the two States, in peace and security, and that Jerusalem can be the “city of encounter”, where Christians, Jews and Muslims live together in harmony and respect. Just last June, in the Vatican gardens, we joined in commemorating the tenth anniversary of the Invocation for Peace in the Holy Land that, on 8 June 2014, saw the presence of the then President of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres, and the President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, along with Patriarch Bartholomew I. That meeting bore witness to the fact that dialogue is always possible and that we cannot give in to the idea that enmity and hatred between peoples will have the upper hand.
At the same time, it must also be pointed out that war is fuelled by the continued proliferation of ever more sophisticated and destructive weapons. This morning, I reiterate my appeal that “with the money spent on weapons and other military expenditures, let us establish a global fund that can finally put an end to hunger and favour development in the most impoverished countries, so that their citizens will not resort to violent or illusory solutions, or have to leave their countries in order to seek a more dignified life”. [3]
War is always a failure! The involvement of civilians, especially children, and the destruction of infrastructures is not only a disaster, but essentially means that between the two sides only evil emerges the winner. We cannot in any way accept the bombing of civilians or the attacking of infrastructures necessary for their survival. We cannot accept that children are freezing to death because hospitals have been destroyed or a country’s energy network has been hit.
The entire international community seems to agree on the need to respect international humanitarian law, yet its failure to implement that law fully and concretely raises questions. If we have forgotten what lies at the very foundation of our existence, the sacredness of life, the principles that move the world, how can we think that this right is effectively respected? We need to recover these values and to embody them in precepts of the public conscience, so that the principle of humanity will truly be the basis of our activity. I trust, then, that this Jubilee year will be a favourable moment in which the international community will take active steps to ensure that inviolable human rights are not sacrificed to military needs.
On Thursday, Pope Francis offered more criticism of the Israeli bombing campaign and siege on the Gaza Strip, calling it “shameful” and saying the bombing of civilians is unacceptable.
On Dec. 11, over a dozen NYU students and faculty dropped flyers and hung banners throughout the Bobst Library while 13 people sat in on the administrative floor of thelibrary. The actionists were demanding a meeting with administrators, who had, in the spring during the Gaza solidarity encampment movement at NYU, promised students to disclose the university’s endowment, including all its investments in weapons manufacturers and ties to Israel and companies that profit off its occupation of Palestine.
The direct action was organized by student group Shut It Down NYU, which challenges what it sees as NYU’s ties to imperialism. Not only were the students’ demands ignored, but yesterday, 11 of them were suspended for a year on the pretext of participating “in coordinated and collective disruptive action” — the non-violent action at the library. Several more NYU students are currently going through disciplinary proceedings that could result in similar punishments.
Here is the press release we received from Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine:
The Indonesian Hospital, one the biggest health facilities in northern Gaza, has been out of service for weeks due to ongoing Israeli attacks and a debilitating siege put in place since early October.
Earlier this week, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the WHO, called on Israel to cease its attacks on Gaza‘s beleaguered hospitals and medical centres and offer a brief reprieve to exhausted Palestinians.
The FBI said in a statement Wednesday morning that it is investigating the Bourbon Street attack as a terrorist act. Earlier, before that designation had been officially made, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell (D) called the incident an act of terrorism, but FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge for New Orleans Alethea Duncan said the incident “is not a terrorist event.”
Jan 1, 2025 #CNN #News
Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick of the New Orleans Police Department provides an update after a vehicle drove into a crowd during New Year’s celebrations on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
After mowing down numerous people over a three-block stretch on the famed thoroughfare while firing shots into the crowd, the suspect allegedly got out of the truck wielding an assault rifle and opened fire on police officers, law enforcement officials briefed on the incident told ABC News. Officers returned fire, killing the suspect who was not immediately identified, sources said. At least two police officers were shot and wounded, authorities said.
Explosive devices found in and around the scene on Bourbon Street were apparently found to be viable, multiple law enforcement sources tell ABC News.
According to Hadash-Ta’al MK Ofer Cassif, “We must not allow the Israeli government to kill this noble man [Abu Safiya]. His life and liberty, like those of all Palestinians, must be protected.” “In human history, every genocide has had its own martyrs and symbols. Those who faced barbaric power and humanitarian calamity with resilient, stoic virtue. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and his unlawful abduction is the symbol of the Gaza genocide. We must not allow him to perish in captivity. I filed an official query for the Minister of Defense, like habeas corpus, demanding to know of his whereabouts. But this isn’t enough. I urge all to demand his immediate release from Israeli captivity.”
MK Ahmed Tibi (Hadash-Ta’al) called in the Knesset plenum on Monday, December 30, for the release of the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital. Tibi stated that “Dr. Abu Safiya has become an international icon in the last 24 hours. With a systematic destruction of hospitals in Gaza, and all health infrastructure, to render life impossible after the conflict – Israel is the country that has destroyed the most hospitals globally.” “This brave doctor, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, whose 15-year-old child was killed, and later had his hospital shot at and was wounded, remained with his team and patients – it’s a brave decision.” He added: “Ultimately, he came out to the tank and was arrested. Today, he’s in the detention facility at Sde Teiman and there is an international demand to release him. Why? Because doctors are killed in Sde Teiman. Dr. Albatsh, an orthopedist, was detained, tortured, and died. I called on the Defense Minister to release him today.”
According to Hadash-Ta’al MK Aida Touma-Sliman, “Dozens of Palestinians who were held at some point by the Israeli Army are nowhere to be found. The fact is extremely concerning given that according to Bt’selem, more than 60 Palestinians have died while imprisoned by Israel since the beginning of the war – some with clear indications of violence and torture. Like the darkest regimes, Israel is creating, under the cover of war, a parallel world of torture and violence where people are being disappeared.”
The head of the World Health Organization called for the immediate release of Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, who was detained as Israeli forces raided the facility last week. Other human rights organizations, along with Abu Safiya’s family, have made the same demand.
Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza on 7 October 2023, 258 staff members from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees have lost their lives, and at least 650 attacks on Unrwa facilities have been recorded. Additionally, 20 Unrwa workers have been abducted by Israel.
Lazzarini condemned the ongoing violence, stating, “This cannot become the new standard, and impunity cannot become the new norm.” His remarks highlight the growing frustration over the global community’s lack of action in halting Israel’s aggression which has been widely described by human rights organisation as genocidal.
Amnesty also highlighted the broader issue of Israeli detention practices, noting that since the onset of its military onslought in Gaza, Israel has detained hundreds of Palestinian healthcare workers without charge or trial. These workers, the organisation stated, have been subjected to torture, ill-treatment, and incommunicado detention.
„The international community, especially Israel’s allies, must act to end Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,“ Amnesty concluded, demanding the immediate release of all Palestinians arbitrarily detained, including healthcare workers. Hospitals and health workers, the organisation reiterated, are not legitimate targets.
Das Kamal-Adwan-Krankenhaus sei die letzte größere Gesundheitseinrichtung im Norden des Küstenstreifens gewesen und sei nun außer Betrieb, teilte die WHO auf X mit. Erste Berichte deuteten darauf hin, dass einige wichtige Abteilungen bei der Razzia stark verbrannt und zerstört worden seien.
Patienten in mittelschwerem bis schwerem Zustand seien ins zerstörte und nicht funktionstüchtige Indonesische Krankenhaus verlegt worden. Die Weltgesundheitsorganisation mache sich „große Sorgen um ihre Sicherheit“, hieß es.
Immediately after the airstrikes, Harneis said, U.N. security officials moved the delegation out of the VIP building and into five armored cars where they waited for approximately 40 minutes to ascertain what happened and help the injured crew member.
He was taken to a hospital in Sanaa and underwent four hours of surgery while the rest of the delegation spent the night in a U.N. compound, Harneis said. The U.N. plane with Tedros and the U.N. team, including the injured crew member, was able to depart for Jordan on Friday afternoon – without an operating control tower.
The United Nations said the injured crew member was taken to a hospital in Jordan, and Tedros was heading back to Geneva, where WHO is based,
(December 26, 2024)
As we were about to board our flight from Sana’a, about three hours ago (around 5 pm local time), the airport came under aerial bombardment. One of our plane’s crew members was injured. At least two people were reported killed at the airport.
The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged. We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave.
May the sound of arms be silenced in war-torn Ukraine! May there be the boldness needed to open the door to negotiation and to gestures of dialogue and encounter, in order to achieve a just and lasting peace.
May the sound of arms be silenced in the Middle East! In contemplating the Crib of Bethlehem, I think of the Christian communities in Palestine and in Israel, particularly the dear community in Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is extremely grave. May there be a ceasefire, may the hostages be released and aid be given to the people worn out by hunger and by war. I express my closeness to the Christian community in Lebanon, especially in the south, and to that of Syria, at this most delicate time. May the doors of dialogue and peace be flung open throughout the region, devastated by conflict. Here I also think of the Libyan people and encourage them to seek solutions that enable national reconciliation.
“President Biden has an opportunity to make history by addressing the racist and unjust federal death penalty system and keep an early campaign promise he made to the American people,” Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said this month after the ACLU and more than 130 other civil and human rights organizations sent Biden a letter urging him to commute the sentences of those on death row.
The head of the World Food Programme (WFP), Cindy McCain, has warned that two million people in Gaza are suffering from “acute hunger” as humanitarian aid struggles to reach those in need.
In a post on X, McCain highlighted the dire situation, noting that last month only one-third of trucks carrying WFP aid managed to enter the besieged enclave.
Mr Martin, who is also Minister for Foreign Affairs, said supporting the ICJ and the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, should not be viewed as a hostile act.
“Recognising a state of Palestine, which we did with Norway and Spain and which other countries have done, is not a hostile act, and should not be seen as a hostile act,” he said.
The actions of the Israeli army in northern Gaza, where there are daily reports of the killing of men, women and children, is “beyond any moral compass,” Mr Martin said.
We will now restore the Rule of Law for all Americans. Under the leadership of Christopher Wray, the FBI illegally raided my home, without cause, worked diligently on illegally impeaching and indicting me, and has done everything else to interfere with the success and future of America. They have used their vast powers to threaten and destroy many innocent Americans, some of which will never be able to recover from what has been done to them.
Wray will leave before the end of the 10-year term that Trump himself appointed him to in 2017.
The unnamed officer made the remarks to Reuters on Sunday after reports said President Assad had flown out of Damascus for an unknown destination.
Meanwhile, the militants declared that they had captured the capital, announcing the fall of the Assad government.
President Bashar al-Assad’s immediate location was not initially clear after rebels took control of Syria’s capital. Russia’s Foreign Ministry did not provide details on where he had gone, saying only that he had resigned and left the country.
An official of the Autonomous Administration has informed the Agence-France Presse (AFP) that following the Turkish-backed armed groups’ takeover of Tall Rifat and the villages of the Shahba area, the Kurdish residents of those areas were forced to flee from their homes.
As the official disclosed, a group of displaced Kurds have arrived at the areas controlled by SDF.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) also declared that they will “attempt to move the displaced Kurds from Aleppo and its surroundings to areas under SDF’s control.”
(December 2, 2024)
Communications have been cut in Kurdish-majority areas, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, raising fears of possible “massacres” of Kurds.
(…)
“Following the collapse and withdrawal of the Syrian army and its allies, we intervened to establish a humanitarian corridor between our eastern regions, Aleppo, and the Tal Rifaat area, with the aim of protecting our people from potential massacres.
“However, the attacks of the armed groups backed by the Turkish occupation have disrupted this corridor.”
Abdi said despite the offensive, “our forces continue to resist to protect our people residing in the Kurdish neighborhoods of Aleppo.”
(December 2, 2024)
US troops are steering clear of the fight between Islamist opposition factions led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and forces aligned with the government of President Bashar al-Assad in northwest Syria, Pentagon officials said on Monday. That, despite advances by the rebels in also driving out local Kurdish-led forces from key pockets in Tel Rifaat and Aleppo.
“Let me be clear that the US is in no way involved in the operations you see playing out in and around Aleppo in northwestern Syria,” Defense Department press secretary US Air Force Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder told a group of reporters on Monday.
– The council condemned Israel‘s aggression in Gaza, and said it reaffirmed its stance demanding an „immediate and permanent cessation of Israeli military operations“ and lifting the blockade on Gaza.
– The council said Israel bears „full responsibility“ for its targeting and assault on civilians in Gaza, and said these attacks were war crimes and crimes against humanity.
– The council welcomed the International Criminal Court‘s decision to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.
– The council said Israel‘s ongoing war on Gaza is a part of „a genocide and ethnic cleansing agenda“, and condemned Israel‘s attacks on hospitals and on aid workers in Gaza.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders convened in Kuwait on Sunday, issuing a unified call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza amid „Israel‘s“ ongoing genocidal campaign.
The summit‘s final statement urged a complete halt to military operations, the delivery of humanitarian aid, and the establishment of safe corridors for civilians in the beleaguered Palestinian territory.
Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and “America First” fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People. He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution.
President-elect Donald J. Trump said on Saturday that he wants to replace Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, with Kash Patel, a hard-line critic of the bureau who has called for shutting down the agency’s Washington headquarters, firing its leadership and bringing the nation’s law enforcement agencies “to heel.”
President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he plans on firing FBI director Christopher Wray and replacing him with longtime ally Kash Patel.
The appointment must be approved by the Senate.
Lebanese MP Hassan Fadlallah has said that Hezbollah is cooperating with the Lebanese state over bolstering the army‘s presence in the south, saying that the group has „no visible weapons or bases,“ AFP news agency is reporting.
According to the ceasefire agreement between the group and Israel which was implemented this morning, the Lebanese army can be the only armed presence in southern Lebanon.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is encouraged that a ceasefire has been agreed that would end the fighting and help bring some hope and stability to a region exhausted by conflict.
The ceasefire must be upheld and enforced across all levels of command to ensure much-needed respite for civilians on both sides of the border. It must also facilitate the rapid and unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid for civilians wherever they are.
In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Secretary-General António Guterres expressed hope that the agreement “can put an end to the violence, destruction and suffering the people of both countries have been experiencing.”
“The Secretary-General urges the parties to fully respect and swiftly implement all of their commitments made under this agreement,” the statement noted.
He also urged the parties to undertake immediate steps towards the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 (2006).
“The UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) both stand ready to support the implementation of this agreement, in line with their respective mandates,” the statement added.
US and Arab officials told Middle East Eye that under the agreement, Israeli forces will withdraw from south Lebanon.
Hezbollah has agreed to end its armed presence along the border and move heavy weapons north of the Litani River, the sources said.
The Lebanese army is expected to deploy in south Lebanon, with at least 5,000 troops set to patrol the border area along with an existing UN peacekeeping force.
The UN Interim Force Lebanon (UNIFIL) is also seriously concerned by numerous strikes on the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) despite their declared non-involvement in the hostilities, he added.
The LAF have reported that at least 45 soldiers have been killed in recent attacks.
To address these challenges, Germany plans to ramp up its defense capabilities:
– Accelerating Arms Production: The German government will unveil a new strategy to streamline bureaucracy and expedite the production of weapons by the end of the year.
– Leadership Role: Pistorius reiterated Germany’s commitment to becoming the central pillar of European defense, as he stated in September.
„If the British Army was asked to fight tonight, it would fight tonight,“ Rob Magowan, the deputy chief of the British defense staff, told the House of Commons defense committee. „I don‘t think anybody in this room should be under any illusion that if the Russians invaded Eastern Europe tonight, then we would meet them in that fight.“
The striking comments came as MPs asked Magowan Thursday how many British brigades could get to NATO‘s eastern flank in the event of a major escalation by Russia.