(Nov 4, 2023)
President Biden has been deeply involved in the U.S. response to the Israel-Hamas war — one of the thorniest challenges of his presidency so far — receiving briefings at least once per day and speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu several times a week.
The big picture: Biden is leaning on a tight circle of trusted aides and officials. Here‘s a look at who‘s in the room when major decisions are being made.
(January 2, 2024)
The deal, which has not been announced publicly, highlights Washington’s reliance on the tiny Gulf country that has recently played a central role in mediating the release of Americans from captivity in Gaza and Venezuela.
The Al Udeid Air Base, located in the desert southwest of Doha, is the biggest US military installation in the Middle East and can house more than 10,000 American troops.
(November 30, 2023)
The document circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but experts determined that an attack of that scale and ambition was beyond Hamas’s capabilities, according to documents and officials. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document, as well.
(…)
Last year, shortly after the document was obtained, officials in the Israeli military’s Gaza division, which is responsible for defending the border with Gaza, said that Hamas’s intentions were unclear.
“It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” read a military assessment reviewed by The Times.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department announced criminal charges Tuesday against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other senior militants in connection with the Oct. 7, 2023, rampage in Israel, marking the first effort by American law enforcement to formally call out the masterminds of the attack.
The seven-count criminal complaint filed in federal court in New York City includes charges such as conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization resulting in death, conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals and conspiracy to finance terrorism.
(24.08.2024)
Brown landed in Jordan on Friday, where he told reporters he would visit Egypt as well as Israel to meet with senior military officials in each country.
A well-informed source in The Hague confirmed to Le Monde on Sunday that an „event is imminent,“ but did not specify the nature of the charges or the names of those involved.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is calling on President Biden to utilize the U.S.‘s influence on the world stage to block the International Criminal Court‘s (ICC) reported plan to issue arrest warrants for top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli officials did not disclose the nature of the information that led them to be concerned about potential I.C.C. action, and the court did not comment on the matter.
Arrest warrants from the court would probably be seen in much of the world as a humbling moral rebuke, particularly to Israel, which for months has faced international backlash over its conduct in Gaza, including from President Biden, who called it “over the top.”
Warrants could be issued this week against Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and army chief Herzl Halevi. Some legal experts say the attorney general and army lawyers are partly to blame for not doing enough to prevent Israeli violations of international law
However, at the same time, the rule on demobilization after 36 months of service disappeared from the final version. (…)
The military members, who have been serving since 2022, were waiting for this provision, wrote DPSU officer Maksym Nesmyanov.
“This is a disaster… How could it be possible to promise demobilization to soldiers from December 2023, only to abandon them at the end!!! You can‘t take away hope from soldiers that they will return home,” Nesmyanov wrote on Facebook.
Gen. Erik Kurilla, commander of the U.S. Central Command, is expected to meet Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and senior Israel Defense Forces officials.
Israeli officials say they are preparing for a possible unprecedented direct attack from Iranian soil using ballistic missiles, drones and cruise missiles against Israeli targets.
In such a scenario, Israel will retaliate with a direct attack against Iran, the officials said.
(05.04.2024)
Bei der Regierungspressekonferenz am 3. April war auch der israelische Angriff gegen das iranische Botschaftsgelände in Damaskus, bei dem mindestens 13 Personen starben, darunter mehrere Diplomaten sowie der Brigadegeneral Mohammad Reza Zahedi und dessen Stellvertreter, ein Thema. Die Bundesregierung vertrat in der BPK die Linie, dass man nicht wisse, wer für die Tat verantwortlich sei, daher könnte man auch keine Wertung vornehmen. Dies, obwohl bereits einen Tag zuvor das US-Verteidigungsministerium offiziell eingeräumt hatte, dass es sich bei dem Militärschlag um eine israelische Operation gehandelt habe. Wohl einer der seltenen Fälle, in denen die Bundesregierung nicht der Einschätzung der USA folgt.
U.S. officials in Washington and the Middle East said on Friday that they were bracing for possible Iranian retaliation for the Israeli airstrike on Monday in Damascus, Syria. U.S. military forces in the region have been placed on heightened alert.
(02.04.2024)
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — An Israeli airstrike that demolished Iran’s consulate in Syria on Monday killed two Iranian generals and five officers, according to Iranian officials. The strike appeared to signify an escalation of Israel’s targeting of military officials from Iran, which supports militant groups fighting Israel in Gaza, and along its border with Lebanon.
Giora Eiland, a retired Israeli major general, serves on the board of directors of Corsight …. He wrote: ‘The entire population of #Gaza will either move to #Egypt or move to the Gulf.’
The retired general also recommended targeting civilian vehicles in Gaza.” #writingcommunity
(March 27, 2024)
The expansive and experimental effort is being used to conduct mass surveillance there, collecting and cataloging the faces of Palestinians without their knowledge or consent, according to Israeli intelligence officers, military officials and soldiers.
The technology was initially used in Gaza to search for Israelis who were taken hostage by Hamas during the Oct. 7 cross-border raids, the intelligence officials said.
(28.03.2024)
There is little complaint from western politicians. Corsight’s complicity isn’t seen as an urgent matter.
Nor, for that matter, do most of these politicians give sufficient attention to Israel’s genocidal policies in Gaza.
Unmentioned by the Times is that Giora Eiland, a retired Israeli major general, serves on the board of directors of Corsight.
When Eiland joined the board in January 2021, Igal Raichelgauz, chairman and founder of the Cortica Group, stated, “We are excited to add Giora to the company board, we believe that due to his extensive experience in the national security field, Corsight will continue growing into new markets and territories and lead the face recognition market in Israel and in the world.” Corsight is a subsidiary of Cortica, a firm focused on artificial intelligence.
Eiland is a proponent of the ethnic cleansing of the occupied territory of Gaza.
„Grundsätzlich sei gesagt, dass eine Kriegsbeteiligung Deutschlands im Grunde nur durch zwei Szenarien zustande käme: Erstens, wenn deutsche Soldatinnen und Soldaten aktive und unmittelbare Kampfhandlungen ausführen würden oder zweitens, wenn der Bündnisfall (NATO oder EU) durch die Ausweitung der Kampfhandlungen auf einen EU- oder NATO-Mitgliedsstaat ausgelöst würde.“
Durch bloße Waffenlieferungen oder Ausbildung, selbst auf ukrainischem Staatsgebiet, wäre dies nicht der Fall, so Schwarz. Heikel könne es im Kontext der „Taurus“-Raketen dann werden, wenn deutsche Soldatinnen und Soldaten direkt beim Einsatz dieser Waffen eingebunden wären.
Mitte letzter Woche gab es noch Ärger zwischen Deutschland, Frankreich und Großbritannien, da Bundeskanzler Scholz angeblich „geheime Informationen verraten“ hatte. Es ging um den Einsatz von Marschflugkörpern, den Scholz ablehnt. Der Kanzler will Deutschland nicht zu einer direkten Kriegspartei machen. „Was an Zielsteuerung und an Begleitung der Zielsteuerung vonseiten der Briten und Franzosen gemacht wird, kann in Deutschland nicht gemacht werden“, so Scholz wörtlich. Franzosen und Briten widersprachen Scholz, das britische Verteidigungsministerium warf ihm gar vor, Falschinformationen zu verbreiten. Wenn die Inhalte des abgehörten Gesprächs der vier deutschen Luftwaffenoffiziere korrekt sind, lügen jedoch die Briten.
(15.01.2024)
(30.11.2023)
The document circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but experts determined that an attack of that scale and ambition was beyond Hamas’s capabilities, according to documents and officials. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document, as well.
(…)
Last year, shortly after the document was obtained, officials in the Israeli military’s Gaza division, which is responsible for defending the border with Gaza, said that Hamas’s intentions were unclear.
“It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” read a military assessment reviewed by The Times.
(28.01.2024)
(Feb. 4, 2022)
A total of 11 Marines, a soldier and a sailor were killed in the ISIS-K attack with a total of 45 wounded.
Contrary to first reports, it was not a complex attack. „The investigation found that a single explosive device killed at least 170 Afghan civilians and 13 U.S. service members by explosively directing ball bearings through a packed crowd into our men and women at Abbey Gate,“ McKenzie said. „The investigation found no definitive proof that anyone was ever hit or killed by gunfire either U.S. or Afghan. This conclusion was based upon the careful consideration of sworn testimony of more than 100 witnesses, and especially those witnesses and Observation Towers — both American and British — who were in locations unaffected by the blast, and that had commanding views of the scene before, during and after the explosive attack.“
„While positive steps have been taken to reshape the future relationship and missions of the Coalition members and advisors in Iraq, the recent actions are hindering this progress, undermining agreements and various sectors of joint security cooperation,“ Rasool said.
„This unacceptable act undermines years of cooperation, blatantly violates Iraq‘s sovereignty, and contributes to an irresponsible escalation.“
Maj. Gen. Rasool said the strikes came at a time when the region is already grappling with the „danger of expanding conflict, the repercussions of the aggression on Gaza, and the consequences of the immoral war of extermination faced by the Palestinian people.“
Lt. Gen Halevi said he believes Israel will be starting the war with more advantages than in the past, and that lessons learned in Gaza will be applied to the situation in Lebanon. Tens of thousands of troops are reportedly being readied for the new offensive.
The comments echo those of Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, the head of northern forces, who said earlier this week that he believes the troops are “ready” for the war in Lebanon, and could start “tonight, if necessary.”
The attack against the Gibraltar Eagle appears to be the first time the Houthis have successfully struck a US-owned or operated ship, raising the stakes in the Red Sea after the US vowed that further Houthi launches would be met with a response.
It came just days after a US-led coalition carried out strikes against the Iranian-backed rebel group in Yemen and warned more strikes were possible if the Houthi attacks continue.
Israel‘s War Cabinet gathered overnight on Friday to discuss the future of the Gaza Strip after the nation‘s war against Hamas ends. The meeting was reportedly cut off after lawmakers clashed with the defense establishment over the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) investigation of the mistakes leading to the October 7 tragedy that had previously been promised to start after the Israel-Hamas war.
Miri Regev, Minister of Transport and Road Safety, pointed out that the decision over the probe had been made without lawmakers‘ knowledge and argued that the army should be fully focused on the combat in the moment.
(05.01.2024)
Citing an investigation into Friday’s incident, the IDF Spokespersons Unit says in a statement to The Times of Israel that after the UN humanitarian convoy finished delivering aid to shelters in northern Gaza, it was asked by the military to go via a different route back south.
“This was to maintain its safety given the fighting that was taking place near the area,” the IDF says.
(29.12.2023)
Israel‘s Prime Minister and the commander of the military arm of Hamas stand out in the rogues‘ gallery for their blood-soaked acts of inhumanity.
(25.12.2023)
1) Pessi Cohen
2) Hannah Cohen
3) Yitzhak Siton
4) Tal Siton
5) Zeev Hacker
6) Zehava Hacker
7) Hava Ben Ami
8) Adi Dagan
9) Tal Katz
10) Ayala Hatsroni
11) Liel Hatsroni
12) Yanai Hatsroni
13) Suhayb al-Razim
Video and witness accounts recently published by Israeli media reveal new details about how Israeli forces killed their own civilians in Kibbutz Be’eri on 7 October.
Last week, Israel’s Channel 12 released previously unseen footage of an Israeli tank firing at a civilian home in the settlement, just a few miles east of Gaza.
The new evidence shows that the Israeli commander on the scene, Brigadier General Barak Hiram, lied to a top Israeli journalist about what happened in the kibbutz that day, after Palestinian resistance fighters launched a large-scale assault on Israeli military bases and settlements across the boundary from Gaza.
(14.12.2023)
An Israeli Apache helicopter fired into Kibbutz Be’eri, according to testimony from Erez Tidhar, a military veteran who on the scene on October 7 as a rescue and evacuation volunteer for the Eitam unit .
“Every minute a missile comes down on you, every minute,” Tidhar recalled. “And suddenly you see a missile from a helicopter that fires into the kibbutz. You say to yourself, ‘I don’t get it. An IDF helicopter firing into an Israeli kibbutz.’ And then you see a tank driving through the streets of the kibbutz flanking the cannon and it fires a shell into a house. These are things you cannot comprehend.”
(30.11.2023)
The document circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but experts determined that an attack of that scale and ambition was beyond Hamas’s capabilities, according to documents and officials. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document, as well.
(…)
Last year, shortly after the document was obtained, officials in the Israeli military’s Gaza division, which is responsible for defending the border with Gaza, said that Hamas’s intentions were unclear.
“It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” read a military assessment reviewed by The Times.
(…)
“The Air Force continues to strike non-stop. A building falls when it is an enemy target, a building falls when it poses a danger to our forces,” Halevi says.
His comments come as Defense Minister Yoav Galant said Israel is waging a war on seven fronts.
“This is a long, tough war. It has costs, heavy costs, but its justification is the greatest there can be,” Gallant told parliament on Tuesday.
He vowed Israel would punish Hamas over its Oct. 7 attack, “whether it takes months or years.”
Although some Western media view Russia‘s latest control of Maryinka in eastern Ukraine, which is a small town in the Donetsk region, as Moscow‘s „most significant battlefield gains since May,“ some Chinese experts believe that this single progress will not provide the means to break the military stalemate between the two sides that has persisted for nearly two years.
Saluschnyj sprach außerdem von der Möglichkeit, dass es den russischen Truppen gelingen würde, die nördlich von Donezk gelegene Stadt Awdijiwka in „zwei bis drei Monaten“ zu erobern. Der ukrainische Oberbefehlshaber warnte davor, sich an bestimmte Siedlungen zu klammern und eine „Show oder Trauer“ darum zu veranstalten.
An Israeli air strike outside the Syrian capital of Damascus has killed a senior adviser in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to reports from Iranian state media.
The document circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but experts determined that an attack of that scale and ambition was beyond Hamas’s capabilities, according to documents and officials. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document, as well.
(…)
Last year, shortly after the document was obtained, officials in the Israeli military’s Gaza division, which is responsible for defending the border with Gaza, said that Hamas’s intentions were unclear.
“It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” read a military assessment reviewed by The Times.
(01.12.2023 16:29 Uhr)
Laut New York Times war der Bericht weiten Kreisen der israelischen Sicherheitskräfte zugänglich – neben den Angriffsplänen habe er auch geheime Informationen über die israelische Armee und deren Kommunikation enthalten. Wie die Hamas an solch sicherheitsrelevante Informationen kommen konnte, sei unklar.
“Contrary to the false claims: Under no circumstances and at no stage was Prime Minister Netanyahu warned of Hamas’s war intentions,” read the original tweet, posted shortly after 1 a.m. local time, hours after Netanyahu held a joint press conference with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister Benny Gantz.
The tweet elaborated: “On the contrary, all the security officials, including the head of military intelligence and the head of the Shin Bet, assessed that Hamas had been deterred and was looking for a settlement. This assessment was submitted again and again to the prime minister and the cabinet by all the security forces and intelligence community, up until the outbreak of the war.”
(October 7, 2023)
Other US officials familiar with the matter said if the US did have intelligence suggesting an upcoming attack, it would have undoubtedly shared that information with Israel.
The Israelis historically have had dominant capabilities to monitor communications in Gaza. The Israelis also have some of the best capabilities to break into encrypted communications, US officials say.
That’s partly the reason why US officials were shocked that preparation for Saturday’s attacks weren’t detected.
(9 October 2023)
However, Israel was not only reportedly ignoring clear warnings from its allies.
For Palestinians in Gaza, Israel’s eyes are never very far away. Surveillance drones buzz constantly in the skies. The highly secured border is awash with security cameras and soldiers on guard. Intelligence agencies work sources and cyber capabilities to draw out information.
But Israel’s eyes appeared to have been closed in the lead-up to the surprise onslaught by the Hamas terror group, which broke through Israeli border barriers and sent hundreds of terrorists into Israel to carry out a brazen attack that killed over 700 people and wounded over 2,000.
Russia‘s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that a strike on a hospital in Gaza that killed hundreds of Palestinians was a shocking crime, adding that Israel should provide satellite images to prove that it was not involved in the attack.