After silently watching Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza for the past one year, the leaders of the Arab and Muslim countries have once more met in Riyadh to discuss the escalating conflict.
The so-called international alliance conceived by Saudi Arabia, with its aim of pressing for the establishment of a Palestinian state, failed to formulate a concrete plan of action to stop the Israeli invasion that has been extended to Lebanon.
18- To start working to mobilize international support to suspend Israel‘s participation in the United Nations General Assembly and all its affiliated entities, in preparation for submitting a joint draft resolution to the General Assembly – the tenth special session (Uniting for Peace), on the basis of its violations of the United Nations Charter, its threat to international peace and security, and its failure to fulfill its membership in the United Nations and based on the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice on July 19, 2024.
19- To call on all countries to ban the export or transfer of weapons and ammunition to Israel; urging countries to join the initiative proposed by the Republic of Turkey and the core group consisting of (18) countries, which was signed by (52) countries, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the League of Arab States, and to send a joint letter to the UN Security Council, the President of the UN General Assembly and the UN Secretary-General to halt the provision of arms to Israel, and to invite all countries to sign it.
Central to the statement was a call on the United Nations Security Council to enact (..)
Arab and Islamic leaders also demanded a global embargo on arms exports and transfers to Israel, (…)
Highlighting Saudi Arabia’s leadership role in uniting Arab and Muslim voices, the statement also called for broader international protection and support for the Palestinian people and the State of Palestine.
(23. Mai 2013)
Now, the speech:
The president who dramatically expanded the CIA secret drone war, ordered a troop surge in Afghanistan and aggressively prosecuted leakers made a forceful defense of his actions and an even more forceful case for winding down the war on terrorism.
The key line: „This war, like all wars, must end. That‘s what history advises. That‘s what our democracy demands.“
The White House last week paused a shipment of weapons to Israel, as Israeli leaders closed in on a decision to launch an operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a senior administration official said Tuesday.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed Wednesday in testimony to Congress that „we paused one shipment of high payload munitions.„
Chancellor Gene Block released a statement Thursday afternoon claiming that the Palestine solidarity encampment had been shut down because it led to unsafe university conditions and interfered with UCLA’s educational mission.
Block confirmed that more than 200 people were arrested, with more than 300 leaving voluntarily Thursday morning following a police sweep of the encampment. The dispersal followed an outbreak of violence on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, during which counter-protesters attacked the encampment using fireworks, tear gas and by throwing projectiles.
he PRESIDENT: Please be seated. The sitting is open.
The Court meets this morning to hear the single round of oral argument of the Federal Republic of Germany on the Request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by the Republic of Nicaragua in the case concerning Alleged Breaches of Certain International Obligations in respect of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Nicaragua v. Germany).
I now give the floor to the Agent of Germany, Ms Tania von Uslar-Gleichen. You have the floor, Madam.
Ms VON USLAR-GLEICHEN:
OPENING STATEMENT
1. Members of the Court, it is an honour to address you today and to open the oral proceedings for the Federal Republic of Germany.
2. Monsieur le Président, Madame la Vice-Présidente, permettez-moi au début de vous féliciter chaleureusement pour votre élection.
3. Germany comes to these proceedings as a friend of the Court and a firm believer in the peaceful settlement of international disputes. Proceedings before this Court are rightly noted for their deep and serious engagement with the law and the facts.
4. Respect for, as well as the promotion of, international law are cornerstones of Germany’s constitution and of its foreign policy. Germany has always been an advocate for the promotion and strengthening of international humanitarian law and humanitarian principles…
(today)
Germany and other Western nations have faced street protests, various legal cases, and accusations of hypocrisy from campaign groups who say Israel has killed too many Palestinian civilians in its six-month military assault.
But Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, legal adviser for the German Foreign Ministry, told the International Court of Justice judges that Nicaragua‘s case was rushed, based on flimsy evidence and should be thrown out due to lack of jurisdiction.
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.
Israel has previously launched attacks on Aleppo and the Syrian capital Damascus, including before the October 7 war, saying it feared that Iran would turn Syria into “a base for aggression” against the Jewish state.
The Israeli military said soldiers had conducted a „precise operation“ based on intelligence that the hospital was being used by senior Hamas leaders, and were fired upon when they entered the compound.
Two Israeli officials told Politico that the Israel Defense Forces is still developing a plan for protecting the civilians.
But unnamed US officials told Politico that in private meetings, top administration officials have told the Israelis that the US would back a strategy for “counterterrorism operations” in Rafah rather than the full-scale war waged elsewhere in Gaza.
U.S. military officials said Wednesday’s strike was carried out about 9:30 p.m. “in response to the attacks on U.S. service members” and resulted in the death of a militia commander “responsible for directly planning and participating” in those attacks. The statement, which does not identify the individual who was killed, said there were no initial indications of civilian casualties.
Speaking to NBC, Sullivan was asked repeatedly if the US was considering attacks inside Iran.
„Well, sitting here today on a national news programme, I‘m not going to get into what we‘ve ruled in and ruled out from the point of view of military action,“ he said.
„What I will say is that the president is determined to respond forcefully to attacks on our people. The president also is not looking for a wider war in the Middle East.“
He has estimated the cost of the project to be around $5 billion and has indicated in the past that Saudi Arabia or the Chinese might be interested in investing in the venture.
All sounds good until one factors in Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union.
(21.01.2024)
„The end of the US-led coalition mission is a necessity for the security and stability of Iraq. It is also a necessity for preserving constructive bilateral relations between Iraq and the coalition countries,“ Sudani stated during a televised event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“The United States remains firmly opposed to any forced or enduring displacement of Palestinians from Gaza,” a State Department spokesperson told Al Jazeera in an email on Monday evening, without commenting specifically on the Israeli ministers’ most recent remarks.
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.
Christmas has arrived and the IDF is still fighting on the ground in Gaza. The early forecasts in Washington, and to some extent in Jerusalem, were that the Biden administration would demand that Israel end the high-intensity phase of the ground offensive against Hamas by the close of the year …
Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, said that during his 13 years on the committee, he’d pressed multiple FBI directors about civil liberties violations associated with the surveillance program and had repeatedly been given false reassurances about the reforms being put in place.
“Every darn one of them has told me the same thing: ‘Don’t worry about it, we’ve got this taken care of, we’ve got new procedures, it’s going to be different now,’” Lee said. “It’s never different. You haven’t changed.”
(05.12.2023)
FBI Director Christopher Wray at a Tuesday hearing gave an impassioned pitch for Congress to reauthorize warrantless surveillance powers for the intelligence community without the need to secure a court’s blessing to review information on Americans swept up in the process.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is set to expire at the end of the year unless it is reauthorized by Congress, threatening to topple a program that allows the U.S. government to monitor the communications of foreign nationals located abroad.
(December 6, 2023)
The FBI director is pushing senators on reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to expire at the end of this year. The law enables the US government to obtain intelligence by targeting non-Americans overseas who are using US-based communications services.
(14.11.2023)
Members of the Judicial Appointments Committee are looking into the option of initiating a motion to elect Justice Isaac Amit as the president of the Supreme Court, despite the opposition of Justice Minister Yariv Levin.
(November 12, 2023)
(November 5, 2023)
In a letter from his lawyer to the Supreme Court, Justice Minister Yariv Levin pledged to convene the Judicial Appointments Committee within 15 days. The court had been scheduled to hear challenges to his hold-ups, which have resulted in backlogs in filling vacated bench positions.
„The justice minister believes there is no justification for being preoccupied with disputes during a war,“ the letter said.
„We talked about humanitarian pauses, and we’re interested in pursuing language on that score,“ said U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood following the meeting.
(06.11.2023)
„Well, there‘ll be no cease-fire, general cease-fire, in Gaza without the release of our hostages,“ Netanyahu responded. „As far as tactical little pauses, an hour here, an hour there. We‘ve had them before, I suppose, will check the circumstances in order to enable goods, humanitarian goods to come in, or our hostages, individual hostages to leave. But I don‘t think there‘s going to be a general cease-fire.“
(Today, 6:48 pm)
Asking a question at Secretary of State Blinken’s press conference earlier today, AFP’s Leon Bruneau described the incident as “apparently a missile strike.”
(Today, 5:25 pm)
“In support of hostage recovery efforts, the US is conducting unarmed UAV flights over Gaza, as well as providing advice and assistance to support our Israeli partner as they work on their hostage recovery efforts,” Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder says in a statement.
IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus talks with CNN‘s Erin Burnett after a blast, targeting a Hamas commander, in a neighborhood of the Jabalya refugee camp left catastrophic damage and killed dozens of people.
Halevi says a time will come to investigate how Hamas managed to carry out the attack.
(October 5, 2023)
Fitzpatrick notes Saudi Arabia acquired more advanced DF-21 missiles from China in 2007, although Riyadh has never acknowledged the purchase. He also says that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) approved Saudi Arabia’s acquisition because they were modified not to carry nuclear warheads.
However, the inaccuracy of those missiles means that they are only suitable for large targets such as cities and would be ineffective with anything less than a nuclear warhead.
(September 25, 2023)
“We are putting an end to our military cooperation with the de facto authorities of Niger because they don’t want to fight terrorism anymore,” Macron said regarding the military leaders who took over rule of the northwest African country.
(26.09.2023)
Mr. Trudeau was in Toronto for an event with auto parts manufacturers. Karina Gould, the government’s house leader responded on his behalf by repeatedly pointing out that the invitation to Mr. Hunka was done without the government’s knowledge.
Speaker apologizes to Jews worldwide for encouraging parliament to hail Yaroslav Hunka, 98, a volunteer fighter in a Waffen SS unit, as a ‘Ukrainian and Canadian hero’