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The Israeli government is expected to declare full lockdowns of numerous ultra-Orthodox communities across the country and West Bank to contain the fast-spreading coronavirus.
A Knesset (Israeli Parliament) ministerial committee was formed late on Sunday to oversee the decision that is expected to affect at least eight cities that and more than a dozen neighborhoods.
With Joe Biden possibly the U.S. president come January 20, many Likudniks think it’s now or never for a West Bank land grab
The Lebanese-American man, Amer Fakhoury, had been jailed in Lebanon since September and charged with murder and torture of prisoners at the same SLA-run prison — charges he denied. A Lebanese judge ordered him released last week, saying more than 10 years had passed since the alleged crimes.
U.S. officials confirmed Fakhoury was aboard a U.S. Marine V-22 Osprey seen taking off from the U.S. Embassy compound northeast of Beirut on Thursday.
Each person is the chief cause of their success or failure in life.
SECTION III
MILITARY AUTHORITY OVER THE TERRITORY OF THE HOSTILE STATE
Art. 42. Territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the
hostile army.
In Germany’s current view, the United States cannot be considered an occupying power in these areas, because although it exercises physical control over them, it does not “exercise jurisdiction” there. On this approach, for an occupation to materialize, two cumulative elements must be fulfilled: effective physical control and the actual establishment of an administration in the area.
Granted, this interpretation can be read into the text of Article 42 of the 1907 Hague Regulations,
Late in her impressive career, under the threat of anti-Semitism in her country, Angela Merkel is willing to forgive Israel everything in an utter knee-jerk reaction. Thus she’s abusing her office as chancellor of the different Germany and one of the last defenders of human rights in the world. We’re left with Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
A Germany that doesn’t allow an investigation into war crimes, no matter by what country, isn’t a different Germany but a Germany that provokes war crimes.
Germany filed a petition Friday with the International Criminal Court in which it requested to be „a friend of the court“ (amicus curiae) in deliberations that will examine if the court has jurisdiction to rule whether Israel committed war crimes against Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
In its petition, Germany backed Israel’s argument that the court’s jurisdiction does not extend to occupied Palestinian territories, as Palestine is not a state that fulfills all the criteria under general international law, although it has joined the ICC’s Rome Statute.
Palestinian-backed plans for a UN security council vote on Tuesday designed to show international opposition to Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan are expected to be shelved after the US and the UK raised separate objections to the draft text.
In what was being seen as a key test of the diplomatic support for Trump’s “ultimate deal”, Tunisia, with Arab League and Palestinian support, …
(07.02.2020)
Two of those diplomats said they understood Tunisia’s newly elected President Kais Saied had fired Baati—who has served for only five months—following complaints from the United States.
The draft resolution demands that any two-state solution forces Israel to return to its pre-1967 war lines.
Choreographed sword fights, such as those traditionally performed in Gulf Arab countries, may look like clashes between deadly enemies but in fact require close coordination between the participants.Many Arabs believe the conflict between the US and Iran in Iraq is similar.
U.S. recognizes applying Israeli law to settlements, PM says after Trump unveils plan
If one believes the leaks emanating from Netanyahu’s office and other top right-wing politicians in recent days, Trump’s “deal of the century” shouldn’t be classified as a proposal at all. Its main purpose is to serve as a crude cover for Israel to annex the Jordan River Valley and most Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Once the Palestinians reject the plan as expected, Israelis have been led to believe, the U.S. administration will give Israel a green light to unilaterally seize areas earmarked for annexation, which it has long desired.
Needless to say, this is not the way peace proposals are supposed to work.
The press conference is slated for noon. Watch the live video above.
“I think we’re going to make a deal,” he said in 2017. “It might be a bigger and better deal than people in this room even understand.”
“As with any successful negotiation,” Mr. Trump continued, “both sides will have to make compromises. You know that, right?” he added, turning to his guest.
Mr. Netanyahu grinned. “Both sides,” he replied.
The CPI observed that “The true ‘Deal of the Century’ is a prime minister accused of corruption and a president under an impeachment trial attempting to save each other through a dangerous political maneuver that will set military rule over the Palestinian people in the occupied territories for generations.” The CPI reiterated its consistent and well-known position that “Only recognition of a Palestinian state, its people and its borders, and the end of the occupation is a long-overdue international obligation and a positive step towards peace. All states must now formally recognize a sustainable Palestinian state being established contiguous with the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, demanding the end of the settlements policy and a just resolution of the Palestinian refugee question.”
“The disappearance of Labor and Meretz would mean the elimination of the only alternative on the left side of the political map,” writes my contemporary Uzi Baram (“Don’t be so quick to toss out the Zionist left,” Haaretz, January 20). And I ask him: Where were you and your friends during all those years when your camp held power in the country and paved the way for the extreme right that holds power today? They are only continuing the path you began, and doing so openly and also openly saying: “Truly the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands; and moreover all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of us.” But you did and you lied, you did and you deceived.
Deal of the century offers Israelis annexation right now and Palestinians a Bantustan in the far future
“The moment Israel carries out annexation it destroys this alibi and admits it does not think the final status needs to be determined by negotiations, and that Israeli control of the Palestinian population is not temporary,” says Sfard. “It destroys its only defense against the claim it is establishing an apartheid regime.”
It is no coincidence that the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Fatou Bensouda, mentioned Netanyahu’s intentions for the Jordan Valley when she determined that, as far as the objectives of international criminal law are concerned, the authority of the ICC should be recognized. These statements, she said, “reflect concerns of a potential de jure annexation.”
The Yisrael Beiteinu chairman, who according to recent polls could once again be kingmaker and decide the leader of which political bloc would secure the backing of enough lawmakers to become prime minister after Israel’s March 2 election, added that „Instead of driving two-and-a-half kilometers to the Knesset, he [Netanyahu] prefers to fly 9,500 kilometers to Washington.“
Bashing the premier, Lieberman said: „It’s clear that Netanyahu worked very hard to escape [the immunity discussions], and it would be best if he kisses his immunity goodbye before he brings peace to the Middle East.“
Israeli officials say that the plan would promise the application of Israeli sovereignty to all existing Jewish settlements in the West Bank, in addition to annexing the Jordan Valley
Plan offers demilitarized Palestinian state; borders controlled by Israel under overall Israeli sovereignty
Let’s imagine the next scenario: A unity government has been set up in Israel along the lines of President Rivlin’s proposal – which specifies a rotation of the premiership between Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz. Donald Trump lays the “deal of the century” on the table. Netanyahu would say this is no time to change a prime minister. This is a historic, one-time opportunity Israel is getting a de facto green light for annexation from the United States.
Up until recently, Kahol Lavan leader opposed publication of peace plan during campaign, calling it ‚outright intervention‘ in Israeli election
“A decrease in our investment now may result in the need for the United States to reinvest at many more times the cost down the road,” Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and ranking member Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) wrote in letter to Esper last week.
The Battle of Brest-Litovsk took place between 14 and 17 September 1939. After three days of heavy fights for the stronghold in the town of Brześć, the Germans captured the fortress and the Poles withdrew. According to the terms of the 1939 German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact the territory around Brest as well as 52% of the then Poland was assigned to the Soviet Union. The Soviet 29th tank brigade under Brigadier Semyon Krivoshein reached the area of Brześć on September 21st and took over the fortress from the Wehrmacht. During that event a joint German-Soviet parade was held in the town, after which the German forces left the area. The XIX motorized Corps of Wehrmacht and the 29th Tank Brigade of the Red Army participated in the parade.
The German-Soviet military parade in Brest-Litovsk was an official ceremony held by the troops of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union on September 22, 1939, during the invasion of Poland in the city of Brest-Litovsk.
It marked the withdrawal of German troops to the demarcation line secretly agreed to in the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, and the handover of the city and its fortress to the Soviet Red Army.
SS Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler, architect and director of the Holocaust, would be proud of the latest move by Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Intent on the total elimination of the Jewish race, Himmler supported Amin al-Huseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, in his plans to eradicate the Jews in Palestine.
Now Bensouda and the ICC have joined the international campaign aimed at eliminating the Jewish state, led by al-Huseini’s successors.
Israel has many detractors, real and imagined, but since Friday the country has a brand new public enemy number one: Fatou Bensouda, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
Since announcing her intention to open an investigation into the “situation in Palestine” because she believes war crimes “have been or are being committed” there, the 58-year-old Gambia native has endured a massive wave of criticism.
The veteran leader said that in the upcoming year he would „bring Israel more historic achievements that we can only dream of.
„We will set our final borders, bring about American recognition for Israeli control over the Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea and our sovereignty over every settlement in Judea and Samaria,“ he said.
Plans of Israel’s incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the West Bank’s Jordan Valley have reportedly entered a “deep freeze”over concerns that it could potentially intensify confrontation with the International Crime Court.
The move was initiated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ministers speaking on condition of anonymity were cited as saying that public discussion and media media coverage of Israel’s efforts to forestall the ICC from launching its probe could potentially compromise Israel’s national interests.
Israel has done everything to reach The Hague. That’s what happens when the prosecution is a cemetery for war crimes, the High Court whitewashes them and the media hides them and covers for them. That’s the way it is when international law is disparaged for decades. There’s probably no other country that thumbs its nose at international law this way and pays no price for it. Perhaps now the moment of truth is approaching, the moment of penalty. It will be very good for Israel. It might clean out its stables, stained with blood and stolen land. Every Israeli patriot and seeker of justice should now look to The Hague with hope.
(02.09.2014)
Israel and Gaza’s ruling Hamas agreed to an open-ended ceasefire on August 26 after seven weeks of fighting – an uneasy deal that halted the Protective Edge operation, with more than 2,200 killed.
(03.08.2014)
The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) began their current operation against Hamas after three teens were kidnapped and killed. The military op has already claimed over 1,500 civilian lives in Gaza.
A full ICC investigation could possibly lead to charges against individuals. States cannot be charged by the ICC.
The ICC’s preliminary investigation has looked at the 2014 war which left 2,251 dead on the Palestinian side, the majority civilians, and 74 on the Israeli side, most of them soldiers.
As there has been a referral from the State of Palestine, there is no requirement to seek Pre-Trial Chamber’s authorisation before proceeding to open an investigation, and I do not seek to do so.
However, given the unique and highly contested legal and factual issues attaching to this situation, namely, the territory within which the investigation may be conducted, I deemed it necessary to rely on article 19(3) of the Statute to resolve this specific issue.
Earlier today, I therefore requested from Pre-Trial Chamber I a jurisdictional ruling on the scope of the territorial jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court („ICC“ or the „Court“) under article 12(2)(a) of the Rome Statute in Palestine.
Gripped by panic at Fatou Bensouda’s statement that there’s reasonable basis to investigate it for war crimes, Israel claimed ‘there is either the occupation and no Palestinian state, or there’s a Palestinian state and no occupation’. By using this problematic argument, Israel gave the answer
(28.08.2019)
Pompeo made the remarks in a „Celebrating Americanism in Our Foreign Policy“ speech at the American Legion National Convention in Indianapolis.
„Americanism means taking care of our own,“ said Pompeo.
„We stopped international courts from prosecuting our service members,“ Pompeo continued, adding that the potential probe „was an outrage.“
In April, the ICC announced that it rejected a probe into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan. Outgoing ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda requested the investigation in 2017, saying at the time that there was a „reasonable basis to believe“ that war crimes were committed by the Taliban, Afghan National Security Forces, U.S. armed forces, and the CIA. That move won the praise of human rights organizations and triggered over one million statements from alleged Afghan victims.
“We firmly oppose this and any other action that seeks to target Israel unfairly,” Pompeo said.
“We do not believe the Palestinians qualify as a sovereign state, and they therefore are not qualified to obtain full membership, or participate as a state in international organizations, entities, or conferences, including the ICC.”
Bensouda “completely ignored the serious legal arguments we presented to her,“ the prime minister said. „She also ignored truth and history when she said it is a war crime that Jews live in their homeland, the land of the Bible, our ancestral land. We will not be silent. We will not bow to this injustice.“
Sanders added, however, that „U.S. foreign policy is not just being pro-Israeli; we must be pro-Palestinian as well.“ Sanders criticized Netanyahu, saying that „we must understand that right now in Israel we have the leadership of Netanyahu who has recently been indicted for corruption, and who in my view is a racist.“
The Vermont Senator said U.S. foreign policy should work toward solving the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and should focus on „bringing people together and negotiating agreements, not running endless wars.“
Bensouda launched a preliminary probe in January 2015 into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and the Palestinian territories, in the wake of the 2014 Gaza war.
Belonging to the left means holding a wide-ranging worldview, based on the belief that all humans are born equal, worthy of equal and fair treatment. This is why the left fights for weaker segments of society, for laborers and for migrants. This is why a true left must fight for people who are living under an occupation that deprives them of the most fundamental rights while preventing them from fulfilling their national aspirations of living in a state of their own, alongside Israel.
From July 2009 to March 2010, I served as one of the U.S. Air Force’s designees for a nation-building mission, and I witnessed the disconnect between what happened on the ground and the messages the public heard about it. As my team’s information operations officer, I played a direct role in crafting those messages. I employed “strategic communication” during events like the 2009 Afghan presidential election and directed embedded reporters to only the sunniest stories, keeping them away from disgruntled troops who might not stick to tidy talking points. But my job wasn’t only to mislead the American public: Our information campaign extended to the Afghan people and to higher-ups within the American military itself.
A Taliban infiltrator opened fire on soldiers as they were sleeping in a military base in Ghazni Province, officials said.
“The Afghan forces are better than we thought they were,” Marine Gen. John Allen told Congress in 2012. “The Afghan national security forces are winning,” Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson told reporters in 2014.
But in a trove of confidential government interviews obtained by The Washington Post, U.S., NATO and Afghan officials described their efforts to create an Afghan proxy force as a long-running calamity. With most speaking on the assumption that their remarks would remain private, they depicted the Afghan security forces as incompetent, unmotivated, poorly trained, corrupt and riddled with deserters and infiltrators.
Jabareen added that if that is the case, Gantz and his faction will not be able to count on the support of the Joint List — an option seriously discussed following the September elections. “There was talk all along the way of our external support to enable the formation of a different kind of government, but this will not happen given the annexation intention and masquerading as Likud II,” Jabareen said.
He reminded us that the Joint List — the Knesset’s third-largest faction — wields significant power both in the domestic political arena and in the international one.
Officials in attorney general’s office reportedly say that if Netanyahu extends sovereignty over Jordan Valley, settler leaders and IDF officers could be probed
In his remarks made at a conference in Jerusalem, Gantz said that Netanyahu turned the annexation of the West Bank — a highly contentious issue — into a talking point, but did little for the people living there.
Blue and White, he said, would be just the opposite – the plans for annexing the Jordan Valley, set to be Israel’s ‚eastern wall‘, are ready, and standing at the helm the party will implement them.
Joe Biden said Saturday that it is “bizarre” for Bernie Sanders to propose withholding U.S. military aid from Israel if the government there doesn’t moderate its treatment of Palestinians.
The remarks highlight a nuanced but significant distinction between the Democratic presidential contenders.
The plague is spreading. Under cover of the (just) war against anti-Semitism, Europe and the United States silence every voice daring to criticize Israel. Under cover of this war, they are undermining their freedom of speech. Incredibly, this new phenomenon is not triggering any protest, as one would expect. Laws labeling anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism and the anti-occupation movement as anti-Semitic, are passed with overwhelming majorities.
Sources close to the prime minister relayed that while no annexation plan had been formally discussed, it did not mean the issue had not come up in the conversation.
Schenker’s remark contradicts what Netanyahu told reporters while he briefed them in Lisbon. The prime minister said that he „discussed with Pompeo the annexation of the Jordan Valley. Clearly it will be easier [if the Jordan Valley is annexed under] a government and not a transitional government which is much more complicated, we are looking for solutions.“
The U.S. House of Representatives passed on Friday a resolution opposing Israeli annexation of the West Bank. This is the first time such a resolution has passed in U.S. Congress, and while it is not legally binding, it displays growing opposition among the Democratic Party to the policies of Prime Minister Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition.
2. Considers that, by providing substantive support to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People in the implementation of its mandate, the Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat continues to make a constructive and positive contribution to raising international awareness of the question of Palestine and of the urgency of a peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine in all its aspects on the basis of international law and United Nations resolutions and the efforts being exerted in this regard and to generating international support for the rights of the Palestinian people;
States led by Germany change their voting pattern in favor of Israel, opposing Division of Palestinian Rights, although motion still passes by wide margin
“The story of how the colonizers quickly forgot their manners is the one that has been marginalized,” Peters lamented, who described as a “terrible irony” that the pilgrims, themselves the target of religious persecution, were not tolerant of the Natives’ spiritual beliefs.
(07.03.2013)
A historic trial underway in Argentina is set to reveal new details about how Latin American countries coordinated with each other in the 1970s and ’80s to eliminate political dissidents. The campaign known as „Operation Condor“ involved military dictatorships in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. They worked together to track down, kidnap and kill people they labeled as terrorists: leftist activists, labor organizers, students, priests, journalists, guerilla fighters and their families. The campaign was launched by the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and evidence shows the CIA and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger were complicit from its outset.
“I think the return of Kashmiri Pandits is being instrumentalized to justify a settler-colonial project in Kashmir,” Mona Bhan, an associate professor of South Asian Studies at Syracuse University in New York, said.
Bhan told Middle East Eye that there remains a deep anxiety among Kashmiri Pandits that their pain is being weaponised to further the goals of the BJP-led government. She says the event on Saturday seemed to be an attempt to allay those fears.
The UK failed to meet a UN deadline Friday to hand over their last African colony back to its people. The Chagos Islands are far removed from mainland Africa and lay in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
The bill was put forth two weeks ago by Likud lawmaker Sharren Haskel, who said “the bill has the prime minister’s full backing,” The Jerusalem Post reported.
In light of the US announcement on Monday to shift its position on West Bank settlements, the Knesset (Israeli parliament) member requested to fast-track her bill, aiming to pass it next week.
The United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Security Council and the International Court of Justice have all said that Israeli settlements on the West Bank violate the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 war and has occupied the territory ever since. The Fourth Geneva Convention, ratified by 192 nations in the aftermath of World War II, says that an occupying power “shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
– Carter administration declared in 1978 that Israel’s settlement-building in the disputed West Bank territory was ‚inconsistent with international law‘
– Ronald Reagan disagreed with that a frew years later; the Trump administration is siding with Reagan
– Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the policy shift, undoing 41 years of regarding the settlements as illegal provocations in the Arab-Israeli conflict
– America’s smbassy in Jerusalem issued a travel warning to U.S. citizens visiting Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza
In this Democratic primary, it was shifting faster than ever. Candidates were taking positions that the party would have warned against just a year or so earlier.
From this Tuesday until next Thursday, the First International Meeting of Indigenous Peoples will take place in the city of Guayana, Venezuelan state of Bolivar, with the participation of indigenous leaders from some 20 countries, including Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, Canada and the United States…
The initiative is part of the strategic lines of the 25th Meeting of the Sao Paulo Forum, developed in this capital between 25 and 28 July, to establish a Bolivarian alliance of indigenous peoples for sovereignty, solidarity and decolonization.
Rabbi Moshe Yehudai, a peace activist, was beaten with an iron rod by five extremist settlers, their faces hidden by masks, while trying to protect Palestinian olive farmers. The assault comes during a severe spike in settler violence that has even included attacks on Israeli soldiers. Settler leaders have voiced condemnations, but Israeli human rights groups say that the impunity of these young extremist settlers shows the obstacles that stand in the way of any peaceful resolution to the conflict. CNN’s David McKenzie reports.
First, Syria doesn’t even rank among the world’s top 60 oil producers, pumping out only about 0.05 percent as much petroleum as Iraq—just half as much as Cuba, which isn’t known as an oil power.
Second, its oil fields aren’t America’s to protect. They are owned by the Syrian government, with some venture capital provided by China, Russia, and India. No American oil companies are keen to step into the fray.
The eastern oil fields in Deir al-Zour province, where most of Syria’s relatively small and low-quality reserves are located, were once the primary source of income for the militants, who sold the oil to the Syrian government, Turkey and, reportedly, even to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
In a speech at the White House on Wednesday he added: “We’ve secured the oil, and, therefore, a small number of US troops will remain in the area where they have the oil.
“And we’re going to be protecting it, and we’ll be deciding what we’re going to do with it in the future.”
The decision was made at the request of the Palestinian prosecution, but it is widely assumed that senior PA officials were behind the move. The prosecution, in its petition to the court, argued that the sites disseminate harmful content about the PA and its officials and are likely to be used to incite lawlessness.
(today)
(1.12.2014)
5. In view of the heavy fighting, which was approaching close to the UNDOF headquarters at Camp Faouar and the mission’s positions in the central part of the area of separation, the Force Commander briefed both parties early in September on the Force’s plans to relocate its personnel and assets should the Nusra Front or other extremist fighters who posed a clear threat to the mission endanger the safety and security of the United Nations personnel. It should be noted here that from information posted on social media as well as in the course of its efforts to secure the release of the peacekeepers, the United Nations learned that its personnel had been taken and held by members of the Nusra Front. There were indications that the Nusra Front intended to detain additional UNDOF personnel and take from UNDOF more weapons and vehicles as opportunities arose. (…)
12. Crossing of the ceasefire line by civilians, primarily shepherds, was observed on an almost daily basis. On 24 October, United Nations observation post 73 observed 12 IDF soldiers who detained one civilian between the Alpha line and the Israeli technical fence south-east of the observation post and subsequently took him away. IDF informed UNDOF that they released the person within one hour at the same location. On 27 October, position 80 observed two IDF soldiers east of the technical fence returning from the direction of the Alpha line towards the technical fence. UNDOF observed IDF opening the technical fence gate and letting two individuals pass from the Bravo to the Alpha side. Following the evacuation of UNDOF personnel from position 85 on 28 August, UNDOF sporadically observed armed members of the opposition interacting with IDF across the ceasefire line in the vicinity of United Nations position 85.
(4.12.2014)
UN troops monitoring the 1974 ceasefire between Israel and Syria have witnessed interactions between members of the Israeli Defence Forces and the Al Nusra Front who have taken over a large part of the Golan Heights.
(10.11.2015)
Netanyahu’s general, implied statement on the Golan Heights draws from political ideas developed by various right-wing figures over the past year, who argue that the situation in Syria and the takeover of ISIS and other Al-Qaida-affiliated groups of large portions of the country may allow Israel to receive international recognition of 1981 the annexation of the Golan Heights.
(03.07.2015)
Syria used to exist, but soon will no longer exist. The validity of the arrangements that defined the borders and the countries in the Middle East after World War I has expired, and the region can now expect many years of instability. In such a situation, Israel must reformulate its geostrategic interests – not only on the Syrian front – by looking far into the future, rather than deep into the past.
(10.10.2019)
Netanyahu focused on Iran during his remarks at the Thursday ceremony on Mount. Herzl in Jerusalem.
“Iran threatens to wipe us off the map. It says explicitly: ‘Israel will disappear.’ It has tried to attack us repeatedly; therefore, we must stand ready to defend ourselves against danger,” Netanyahu said.
Erdogan said on Thursday Ankara will send the 3.6 million Syrian refugees in Turkey to Europe if European countries label the country’s military incursion in Syria as an occupation.
„We will open the gates and send 3.6 million refugees your way,“ Erdogan said in speech to lawmakers from his AK Party.
(24.09.2019)
STUTTGART, Germany — When the new U.S. and German defense chiefs held high-level talks in Washington this week, Defense Secretary Mark Esper wasted no time getting to his main point — the dollars and cents of defense spending.
His announcement prompted widespread international condemnation. But for most Palestinians such declarations mean nothing. We’ve heard many statements of support over the years, and nothing ever changes. Cynicism is widespread; by now, many of us would prefer straight talk. As Gideon Levy, a columnist for Haaretz, wrote recently, referring to Mr. Netanyahu’s plan: “Let him turn the reality in this territory into a political reality, without hiding it any longer. The time has come for truth.”
Netanyahu’s recent announcements, like a pledge to annex parts of the West Bank he made three days before the April 9th elections, have barely registered in the campaign of Blue and White, the centrist party co-led by Generals Benny Gantz, Moshe „Bogie“ Ya’alon, and Gabi Ashkenazi (all former chiefs of the Israeli Defense Forces) along with former finance minister Yair Lapid
If Benjamin Netanyahu succeeds in prolonging his tenure as Israel’s prime minister following Tuesday’s election, the proposition that Israelis and Palestinians will be condemned to live in one state forever is likely to become inescapable. That would mean a choice between a country that is secular and democratic but binational, or a Jewish apartheid regime.
In other words, if “Bibi” wins, the doomsayers about Israel are finally going to be proved right.
Many of the burning issues that are facing Israel barely got a look-in during the election campaign that’s mercifully drawing to a close: the ballooning deficit, the rising housing prices, the climbing cost of living, the burning need to integrate the ultra-Orthodox and Arab communities into the job market, to name just a few. And then of course, the lack of any prospect for a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and an end to the occupation got nary a mention, but you knew that already because you’ve been paying attention and that has become a cliché.
(10.09.2019)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Tuesday that he would move swiftly to annex nearly a third of the occupied West Bank if voters returned him to power in the election next week, seizing what he called a historic opportunity from a sympathetic White House to give Israel “secure, permanent borders.”
Over the past few days, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s intentions and modus operandi have been exposed. It once again turns out that he seeks to get rid of all the checks and balances that he views as impediments to his continued rule, and also to annex the settlements to Israel, including even the most isolated and extreme ones, under a new system of government he has invented – “Jewish sovereignty.”
“It’s all about freedom,” said John C. Kornblum, a former United States ambassador to Germany, who has lived here on and off since the 1960s, and was once shouted at by a naked German for not taking off his swimming shorts in a whirlpool.
“Germans are both afraid of freedom and deeply desire it,” Mr. Kornblum said. “But hierarchy and rules are so embedded that direct political or social dissonance is simply not thinkable.”
Kashmiris have not yet forgotten that in August – November, 1947, RSS colluded with the Hindu Maharajah of Kashmir to perpetrate the horrific genocide and exodus of Jammu, whereby hundreds of thousands of Muslims were massacred and an estimated half a million forcibly displaced. This reduced the region’s Muslim majority to a minority. This time, RSS is working through BJP, its political wing, to complete its original mission of ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Muslims. The genocide is being substituted by settler colonialism, but the objectives remain the same.
It’s therefore morally wrong and deceitful to portray Israel’s occupation of Palestine within the definition of an „occupation,“ as specified in the Fourth Geneva Conventions, as temporary and for the benefit of the occupied population. The oppressive reality we live under is evident, as well as Israel’s plan to turn its occupation into annexation for the expansion of its colonial-settlement enterprise – a war crime under international law that is being fully endorsed by the U.S. administration.
(15.08.2019)
Interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who hoisted the tricolour at the party headquarters in New Delhi Thursday, said there is no place for bigotry and fanaticism in India. She said that if the nation wants to truly cherish freedom, then it will have to stand against every act of injustice, intolerance and discrimination. Addressing the party members, Gandhi cited the founding principles of India as ‘Truth, Non – Violence, Compassion and unwavering Patriotism.’
Kashmir sits on one of India’s foundational fault lines, that of religion. With the rise and consolidation of an aggressive Hindu majoritarianism, many rightfully worry about India’s future as a multicultural democracy.