(October 15, 2024)
One rogue nation cannot declare war on the UN itself and continue to get away with it
Archiv: staatliche / nichtstaatliche Stellen / Stäbe / Individuen / „officials“ / state / non-state staffers / individuals
Netanyahu arrest warrant delayed in ICC for 5 months
(October 29, 2024)
Delays in the Palestine investigation trace back to 2015 when former ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda initiated a preliminary examination. Although the investigation met the necessary criteria in 2019, it was postponed due to jurisdiction debates over Palestinian territories. The formal investigation began in March 2021, yet no meaningful progress has been made, further delaying requests against Netanyahu and Gallant.
Spying, hacking and intimidation: Israel’s nine-year ‘war’ on the ICC exposed
(May 28, 2024)
Thanks to their comprehensive access to Palestinian telecoms infrastructure, the sources said, intelligence operatives could capture the calls without installing spyware on the ICC official’s devices.
“If Fatou Bensouda spoke to any person in the West Bank or Gaza, then that phone call would enter [intercept] systems,” one source said. Another said there was no hesitation internally over spying on the prosecutor, adding: “With Bensouda, she’s black and African, so who cares?”
The surveillance system did not capture calls between ICC officials and anyone outside Palestine. However, multiple sources said the system required the active selection of the overseas phone numbers of ICC officials whose calls Israeli intelligence agencies decided to listen to.
According to one Israeli source, a large whiteboard in an Israeli intelligence department contained the names of about 60 people under surveillance – half of them Palestinians and half from other countries, including UN officials and ICC personnel.
In The Hague, Bensouda and her senior staff were alerted by security advisers and via diplomatic channels that Israel was monitoring their work.
Israel is a rogue nation. It should be removed from the United Nations
(October 15, 2024)
One rogue nation cannot declare war on the UN itself and continue to get away with it
Damning Report Reveals How Antony Blinken Lied to Congress on Israel
The U.S. government’s handling of USAID’s memo led to internal conflict, with one official in the State Department, Stacy Gilbert, resigning in May over Blinken’s statement to Congress.
“There is abundant evidence showing Israel is responsible for blocking aid,” Gilbert wrote in a statement at the time. “To deny this is absurd and shameful. That report and its flagrant untruths will haunt us.” (mehr …)
Lead Vehicle in an Anera-Coordinated Convoy Hit in an Attack en Route to Hospital. Four Killed.
Shortly after departing Kerem Shalom, initial reports indicate that four community members with experience in previous missions and engagement in community security with Move One stepped forward and requested to take command of the leading vehicle, citing concern that the route was unsafe and at risk of being looted.
The four community members were neither vetted nor coordinated in advance, and Israeli authorities allege that the lead car was carrying numerous weapons. The Israeli airstrike was carried out without any prior warning or communication.
“According to all the information we have, this is a case of partners on the ground endeavoring to deliver aid successfully,” says Anera President and CEO Sean Carroll. “This should not come at the cost of people’s lives.”
No Anera staff were harmed, though one Anera employee, who was in the second vehicle, witnessed the incident at close range.
Israel strikes aid convoy organized by U.S. humanitarian group, killing 5
The Anera convoy was carrying medical supplies and fuel to a hospital in Rafah, and its route was coordinated in advance with the IDF.
World Food Program Halts Gaza Aid Deliveries After Workers Are Attacked
The World Food Program said it is suspending deliveries of aid in Gaza after one of its humanitarian teams was hit by gunfire this week as it approached an Israeli military checkpoint.
In a statement, the United Nations agency said none of its employees were injured during the shooting on Tuesday night, which occurred after a convoy of its trucks had delivered assistance to central Gaza. The agency said one of its vehicles had been hit by 10 bullets — five on the driver’s side — a few yards from the Israeli security post at the Wadi Gaza bridge.
Another US official resigns over Gaza policy amid growing protests
United States State Department’s spokesperson for the Middle East and North Africa, Hala Rharrit, has resigned in protest of America’s policy on Gaza — at least the third high-profile resignation from the department, as pro-Palestinian demonstrations at university campuses across the country grow.
Hamas political leaders were unaware of Israel incursion plan, Egypt officials say
(Oct 09, 2023)
Most of the movement‘s political leaders have lived in exile outside the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip for years, deepening the divide between them and the group‘s military wing known as the Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades, who are spearheading the continuing fighting with Israel.
The political leaders have mostly been living in Qatar, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran and Egypt.
Speaking to The National, the officials said a handful of Gaza-based Hamas leaders, reportedly as few as three who once served in the Al Qassam Brigades, knew of the attack in advance. As a precaution, they were made to believe that the operation would begin 48 hours after it got under way on Saturday.
Two US Citizens Are Accused of Assassinating Haiti’s President
(09.07.2021)
Solages also worked as a security guard for the Canadian Embassy in Port-Au-Prince. (…)
Despite an obvious failure in police operations, the masthead of the police force has not changed, with Charles remaining the Chief of Police, despite claims from Haitian journalists that he gave the order to allow the caravan of assassins into the President’s neighborhood. In February, the Haitian National Police began a partnership with Colombian police forces, but it is unknown if any of the mercenaries arrested participated in this arrangement.
In the two days since the attack, former Prime Minister turned interim President Joseph has consolidated power. In 2004, Joseph was a member of the group Grenn Nan Bouda (GNB) which means “balls up your ass” in Haitian Creole. GNB participated in the coup to oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide that same year.
Joseph was not elected to his position, but was appointed in April by Moïse, and served only three months as Prime Minister. After declaring himself interim President, he has been breezily accepted by the international community, including the United States.
UN agency accuses Israel of detaining, coercing staffers into false confessions about ties to Hamas
The unreleased report, a copy of which CNN obtained, is largely based on the testimony of Gazan detainees held in Israeli prisons and at military sites and released back into Gaza at the Kerem Shalom border crossing between mid-December and mid-February. An UNRWA spokesperson said that when the report was leaked, the agency had not yet decided whether to release it publicly.
The detainees cited in the report gave testimony of beatings, sleep deprivation, sexual abuse and threats of sexual violence against both men and women detained by the Israeli military. Some of the detainees are also reported to have died while in Israeli custody, at times allegedly as a result of the abuse they suffered in detention.
UN sees ‘large number of gunshot wounds’ after Israel’s ‘flour massacre’
At least 117 Palestinians were killed and more than 750 wounded during the “flour massacre” at the Nabulsi Roundabout on the southwestern side of Gaza City, after Israeli troops opened fire on the crowd.
On Friday a UN team visited some of the wounded in Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, and saw a “large number of gunshot wounds”, UN chief Antonio Guterres’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
UN official: victims of disputed Gaza attack had gunshot wounds
An official with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, reported on social media on Friday that medics at Al-Shifa Hospital are treating more than 200 people injured in the attack, some of whom have gunshot wounds.
IDF arrests 8 UNRWA staffers over suspected Hamas ties – report
It is understood UNRWA requested Israel access to the detainees.
Israel possesses concrete evidence tying several dozen UNRWA employees to the October 7 massacre.
Biden’s allies can’t agree on how to combat questions about his age and memory
One Democratic member of the House responded to being told of the questions about age and memory raised in the report with a morbid laugh and sullen shake of the head. Another started anxiously asking for a sense of how others were responding, palpably feeling at wit’s end.
‘Hair on fire’: Democratic worries grow over claims about Biden’s memory lapses
The spectacle — at times chaotic, at times emotional — echoed around the country among the networks of Democratic donors and strategists who have been struggling for weeks to contain their concern about the state and direction of Biden’s campaign.
The broad conclusion, both inside and outside Biden’s inner circle, is that a dangerous and misleading caricature of the president’s performance is at risk of setting in, pushed by the biting prose of a special prosecutor they suspected of seeking political revenge.
UNRWA employs 30,000 people. Israeli intelligence claims 12 were involved in the 7 October attack. That‘s 0.04% Biden, Trudeau, Albanese and Meloni immediately move to accelerate genocide by collective punishment, cutting desperately needed relief aid. It is beyond belief.
@lauraches21
Replying to @CraigMurrayOrg
Let‘s be honest. We all know how reliable „Israeli intelligence“ is its just another pathetic way of deflecting and giving the UN/UNRWA less credibility due to their witness statements read out yesterday.
@CraigMurrayOrg
Yes. I assume this was planned in advance including with the neoliberal states who leapt in.
@bigbaddommie
Replying to @CraigMurrayOrg
The 12 have also been sacked
@CraigMurrayOrg
Sacked before the investigation. It is disgraceful.
Canada, U.K., Australia, others join U.S. in pausing funding to UNRWA
Driving the news: A senior Israeli official said the Shin Bet and Israeli military intelligence provided information that pointed to the active participation of UNRWA staffers and the use of the agency‘s vehicles and facilities during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
„This was strong and corroborated intelligence,“ the official said. „A lot of the intelligence is a result of interrogations of militants who were arrested during the Oct. 7 attack.“
Statement on UNRWA Allegations
The Department of State has temporarily paused additional funding for UNRWA while we review these allegations and the steps the United Nations is taking to address them.
(…)
The United States has reached out to the Government of Israel to seek more information about these allegations, and we have briefed Members of Congress.
Serious allegations against UNRWA staff in the Gaza Strip
(26.01.2024)
„The Israeli Authorities have provided UNRWA with information about the alleged involvement of several UNRWA employees in the horrific attacks on Israel on 7 October.
“To protect the Agency’s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, I have taken the decision to immediately terminate the contracts of these staff members and launch an investigation in order to establish the truth without delay. Any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.
Biden „running out“ of patience with Bibi as Gaza war hits 100 days
„At every juncture, Netanyahu has given Biden the finger,“ Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who has been in close contact with U.S. officials about the war, told Axios. „They are pleading with the Netanyahu coalition, but getting slapped in the face over and over again.“
Behind the scenes: Biden hasn‘t spoken to Netanyahu in the 20 days since a tense Dec. 23 call, which a frustrated Biden ended with the words: „This conversation is over.“
War on Gaza: Internal anger with Biden and Congress reaches boiling point
So far, two people from the administration have tendered their resignations – Josh Paul, who oversaw arms transfers at State, and Tariq Habash, who worked on education policy at the White House.
The morale of staff in the White House is so low that the chief of staff planned a party in the hopes of cheering up the employees, according to a report from Axios.
However, it‘s not clear if the senior staff members of the administration understand why morale is so low. After the report of the party for White House staff, another report stated that hundreds of federal employees across 22 government agencies are planning a walk-out to protest against Biden‘s handling of the war.
White House: Second Biden official resigns over Israel-Hamas war concerns
(04.01.2024)
A senior Biden education adviser on Wednesday became the second administration official to resign from his post over the White House’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, the latest instance of internal turmoil over the war.
This is unprecedented as far as I know. It is, in fact, historic. Biden staffers organized a vigil outside the #WhiteHouse calling on their boss to call for a ceasefire. Wow!
(13.12.2023)
Biden administration staffers call for ceasefire at vigil outside White House
More than three dozen people, including political appointees, administration staffers and civil service career staff, attended the early evening vigil in front of the White House. The participants wore sunglasses and masks to conceal their identities.
Biden administration privately warned by American diplomats of growing fury against US in Arab world
(10.11.2023)
“We are losing badly on the messaging battlespace,” reads a Wednesday cable from the US Embassy in Oman, citing conversations with “a wide range of trusted and sober-minded contacts.”
The robust US support for Israel’s actions is being seen, the cable warns, “as material and moral culpability in what they consider to be possible war crimes.”
The cable from the embassy was written by the second-highest US official in Muscat and sent to, among others, the White House’s National Security Council, the CIA and the FBI.
Mike Pompeo says State Dept has an ‚AOC, Rashida Tlaib wing‘ after leaked memo blasts Biden‘s Israel policy
(November 7, 2023)
MIKE POMPEO: I wish I could tell you I‘m surprised, but having led that organization, the State Department, this is the AOC, Rashida Tlaib wing of the State Department. These are classic appeasers who don‘t understand that the Israelis are acting in self-defense. They are taking out a terror threat that killed 1,400 of their citizens. They have not only the right to do it, but an obligation to do it.
Dissenting Memo From State Dept Criticizes Biden Response to Israel’s Attacks
(November 7, 2023)
It’s unclear how many staffers in the department signed on to the memo, or whether it has been altered or amended since it was leaked, Politico reported. Dissenting memos are not uncommon — indeed, the department encourages such commentaries, and has a Dissent Channel set up for them — but it’s unusual for dissenting memos to be released publicly. Other dissenting memos relating to Israel’s recent actions are reportedly being discussed within the department.
Unterstützung für Ukraine: BND liefert militärisch nutzbare Daten
(28.09.2022)
Die Satellitenaufnahmen, sogenannte IMINT-Daten, stammen vom SAR Lupe System der Bundeswehr, das diese faktisch gemeinsam mit dem BND betreibt. Das System besteht aus Kleinsatelliten, die unabhängig von Tageszeit und Wetter hochauflösende Bilder erstellen können, dies auch bei dichter Wolkendecke.
New investigation suggests errant Ukraine Air Defence missile behind deaths of 17 in Sept. 6 missile strike on Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine. They pump us full of fury at the time but then whisper the sad reality later
(20.09.2023)
Ukrainian officials say a Russian attack on a village cafe killed 48 people
Presidential chief of staff Andrii Yermak and Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov say Russian forces shelled a shop and a cafe in the village of Hroza, in the Kharkiv region, around 1 p.m.
Hanegbi sits with protesters in front of his home who urge him to obey High Court
The Tuesday night protest in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevaseret Zion was made up largely of former defense officials, including senior members of the National Security Council, which Hanegbi now leads.
While protests outside the homes of lawmakers have become the norm over the past year, the decision to target Hanegbi, who is no longer a politician appeared relatively rare — as was his willingness to sit with those demonstrating against him.
U.S. officials: Saudi deal still far off
(13.08.2023)
In their conversation with Ynet, the officials said U.S. President Joe Biden wants to advance a deal with Saudi Arabia, one that would be hard to enlist Democratic support for, although Biden may use his full force, to achieve it. „We would need Republican support, but we believe that since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu really wants this deal, he will be helpful in the matter,“ they said. Netanyahu is expected to meet with Biden on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September.
With Israel, It’s Time to Start Discussing the Unmentionable
In reality, it’s not so much aid to Israel as it is a backdoor subsidy to American military contractors, which is one reason some Israelis are cool to it.
(…)
“Israel’s economy is strong enough that it does not need aid; security assistance distorts Israel’s economy and creates a false sense of dependency,” Kurtzer said in an email. “Aid provides the U.S. with no leverage or influence over Israeli decisions to use force; because we sit by quietly while Israel pursues policies we oppose, we are seen as ‘enablers’ of Israel’s occupation.”
Former U.S. Ambassadors: Time to Cut Military Assistance to Israel
The two former U.S. ambassadors to Israel claim that the aid provides ‚no leverage or influence‘ over Israeli decisions, and cause U.S. to seem like ‘enablers’ of Israel’s occupation
Russia-Ukraine War: Anti-Kremlin Group Involved in Border Raid Is Led by a Neo-Nazi
(May 26, 2023)
The leader of the Russian Volunteer Corps, one of the two insurgent groups responsible for an armed incursion into Russia this week, is a far-right extremist, German officials and humanitarian groups say.
Britain has delivered long-range ‘Storm Shadow’ cruise missiles to Ukraine ahead of expected counteroffensive, sources say
The United Kingdom has delivered multiple “Storm Shadow” cruise missiles to Ukraine, giving the nation a new long-range strike capability in advance of a highly anticipated counteroffensive against Russian forces, multiple senior Western officials told CNN.
UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, calling the donation Ukraine’s “best chance to defend themselves against Russia’s continued brutality,” confirmed the transaction on Thursday after CNN exclusively reported the deal.
Top Democrat threatens to subpoena Biden officials as Blinken testifies on Afghanistan
The committee‘s chair, the hawkish New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez, pulled no punches in his opening statement, threatening to subpoena Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other Biden officials who decline to voluntarily appear before the committee.
„Mr. Secretary, the execution of the U.S. withdrawal was clearly and fatally flawed,“ Menendez told Blinken.