Archiv: scorched earth tactic / Taktik der Verbrannten Erde


13.09.2024 - 14:47 [ Jerusalem Post ]

The Palestinian Authority‘s diplomatic war continues – editorial

Ever since then-PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, infamously carrying a pistol, spoke at the UN in 1974, the Palestinian situation has not significantly changed. In fact, as the situation in Gaza attests, it has only gotten worse – despite the PA winning vote after vote in the UN General Assembly.

If the Palestinians had spent the same energy over the past half-century building up the areas under their control in the West Bank and Gaza rather than demonizing Israel on the world stage, their situation today would be markedly different and much better.

09.09.2024 - 16:49 [ Middle East Eye ]

My cousin‘s poems were the heartbeat of Palestine. Israel killed him but his words live on

Rashad was killed for his talent and inspiration – for daring to be a voice of hope in a world that so desperately needs it. Israel is not just targeting individuals; it is trying to break us as a people, to erase Palestinian culture, identity and existence.

These efforts at erasure have been ongoing for 76 years, since the Nakba. They have targeted our leaders, intellectuals and artists. Indeed, Rashad’s story is not unique: Israel has killed thousands of Palestinians like him, people who dared to dream of a better world, and to use their talents to inspire others.

I don’t know what to say or do in the face of such grief. Rashad shone so brightly. I will not let his memory fade.

09.09.2024 - 13:06 [ genocide.news ]

Israel calls Palestinians “human animals” before cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to Gaza, an open air prison enslaving millions

(October 17, 2023)

In an announcement – watch below – Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Channel 12 that starving the roughly two million people who live in the Gaza Strip is necessary to ensure Israel’s “existence in the region.”

“It will take many weeks,” Gallant said about the deprivation operation. “There will be steps here that have never been seen before.”

“There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel,” he further added. “We are fighting human animals and we will act accordingly.

09.09.2024 - 13:00 [ TRTAfrika.com ]

Live Updates: Gaza death toll rises to 40,972

Sunday, September 8, 2024

1150 GMT — Death toll in Gaza from Israeli attacks rises to 40,972

At least 40,972 Palestinians have been killed and 94,761 others injured in Israel‘s military offensive on Gaza since October 7, the health ministry in the besieged enclave has said.

03.09.2024 - 02:58 [ Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt / X.com ]

The widespread devastation and massacres of the Israeli army in #Jenin and other parts of occupied northern West Bank, where Hamas is not ruling, are a powerful reminder that Hamas is just the last excuse for the State of #Israel to wreak the Palestinian territory havoc.

Everywhere for 57 years Israel has made life impossible for Palestinians under a brutal military occupation, seeking to realize a “#GreaterIsrael”.
In agreement with the Palestinians in the oPt, an int‘l #ProtectionPresence must be immediately deployed to stop the massacres, wanton destruction and forced displacement.

31.08.2024 - 19:15 [ Caitlin Johnstone ]

Do Something Every Day To Help De-Normalize The Abuses Of The Empire

One very important task we can undertake as citizens of the western empire is to help de-normalize the tyranny, murderousness and savagery that the imperial propagandists work to normalize.

(…)

Denormalize poverty.

Denormalize injustice and inequality.

Denormalize the ruined buildings and ruined bodies in Gaza.

Denormalize the nuclear brinkmanship with Russia.

Denormalize the destruction of our biosphere in the ravages of ecocidal capitalism.

Denormalize the surging authoritarianism we’re experiencing as the empire works frantically to stomp out dissent.

Denormalize the war machinery rolling out around the world, and the increasingly militarized police forces in our streets.

Denormalize the psychopathy of the politicians and government officials who cheerfully serve the empire in facilitation of these horrors.

Denormalize the way media and government institutions controlled by the powerful work to manipulate the way we think and perceive every day of our fucking lives for the benefit of the powerful.

30.08.2024 - 12:05 [ Middle East Eye ]

War on Gaza: Israel‘s killing of Palestinian intellectual leaders is an incalculable

Indeed, the Israeli army’s killing of Palestinian scientists, intellectuals and artists appears to be part of a systematic attempt to destroy Palestinian cultural life. Such voices are essential for educating the next generation of Palestinians. Their loss is incalculable.

05.05.2024 - 10:40 [ Council on American-Islamic Relations ]

CAIR Says Israeli Official’s Call to ‘Annihilate’ Gaza Cities is Further Evidence of Genocidal Intent

(01.05.2024)

Haaretz reported that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is a member of the security cabinet, called for the “total annihilation” of Rafah and other areas of Gaza.

He said on Monday: “There are no half measures. [The Gazan cities of] Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat – total annihilation. ‘You will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”

30.03.2024 - 20:15 [ United Nations Humanitarian Affairs Coordination Office (OCHA) ]

Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #148

– Since 1 March, 30 per cent of humanitarian aid missions to northern Gaza and 10 per cent of missions to southern Gaza were denied access by the Israeli authorities.

– Nearly 40 per cent of school buildings in Gaza have been directly hit, according to an updated assessment of satellite imagery by the Education Cluster.

24.03.2024 - 21:20 [ SearXNG ]

The World must ask: where is its Court? #ICJ #genocide #Palestine #totalitarism #arbitrariness #accountability

24.03.2024 - 21:00 [ International Court of Justice ]

Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel) – The Republic of South Africa submits an urgent request for the indication of additional provisional measures and the modification of the Court’s prior provisional measures Order and decision

THE HAGUE, 6 March 2024. South Africa today filed an urgent request with the Court for the indication of additional provisional measures and the modification of the Court’s Order of 26 January 2024 and decision of 16 February 2024 in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel).

In its new request, South Africa states that it is “compelled to return to the Court in light of the new facts and changes in the situation in Gaza — particularly the situation of widespread starvation — brought about by the continuing egregious breaches of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide . . . by the State of Israel . . . and its ongoing manifest violations of the provisional measures indicated by this Court on 26 January 2024”. It requests the Court to indicate further provisional measures and/or to modify the provisional measures indicated it its Order of 26 January 2024, pursuant to Article 41 of the Statute of the Court and Article 75, paragraphs 1 and 3, and Article 76, paragraph 1, of the Rules of Court, respectively, “in order urgently to ensure the safety and security of 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, including over a million children”. It urges the Court to do so without holding a hearing, in light of the “extreme urgency of the situation”.

24.03.2024 - 20:24 [ Human Rights Watch ]

Israel Not Complying with World Court Order in Genocide Case

(February 26, 2024)

“The Israeli government is starving Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians, putting them in even more peril than before the World Court’s binding order,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. “The Israeli government has simply ignored the court’s ruling, and in some ways even intensified its repression, including further blocking lifesaving aid.”

Other countries should use all forms of leverage, including sanctions and embargoes, to press the Israeli government to comply with the court’s binding orders in the genocide case, Human Rights Watch said.

24.03.2024 - 20:06 [ Associated Press ]

Top UN court rejects South African request for urgent measures to safeguard Rafah

(February 16, 2024)

An estimated 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza’s population, has crammed into the city, most of them displaced people who fled fighting elsewhere in Gaza.

Israel has said it will evacuate the civilians before attacking, though international aid officials have said there is nowhere to go due to the vast devastation left behind by the offensive.

24.03.2024 - 19:55 [ Reuters ]

World Court stops short of Gaza ceasefire order for Israel

(January 27, 2024)

It asked the court to grant emergency measures to halt the fighting, which Palestinian officials say has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians and displaced the majority of the population in a more than three-month campaign of intensive bombardment.

24.03.2024 - 19:18 [ PRCS (Palestine Red Crescent) / Twitter ]

Urgent: Israeli Occupation vehicles are besieging both Al-Amal Hospital and Al-Naser Hospital amidst very intense shelling and heavy gunfire. Occupation vehicles are currently surrounding Al-Amal Hospital and conducting extensive excavation work around the hospital. All of our teams are in extreme danger at the moment and are completely immobilized. Additionally, they are unable to bury the body of our colleague Amir Abu Aisha within the hospital’s backyard.

24.03.2024 - 19:15 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israeli forces demand Palestinians leave Khan Younis hospital ‘naked’ says medical charity

The charity said that Israeli forces had made these demands on Saturday via a drone speaker as it launched smoke bombs to encourage staff to leave the facility.

It added that one of the injured Palestinians left in al-Amal hospital was also shot dead by Israeli forces.

24.03.2024 - 18:57 [ Associated Press ]

Palestinians describe bodies and ambulances crushed in Israel’s ongoing raid around Gaza hospital

Israeli jets on Sunday launched several strikes near the Shifa Hospital, which largely stopped functioning following the November raid. After claiming that Hamas maintained an elaborate command center there, Israeli forces months ago exposed a single tunnel leading to a few underground rooms.

Hardly any aid has been delivered in recent weeks to northern Gaza and Gaza City, where Shifa is located.

24.03.2024 - 18:42 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israel will no longer approve Unrwa food convoys to northern Gaza, says agency‘s chief

In a post on social media platform X, Philippe Lazzarini said Israeli authorities informed the UN of the decision, which he called „outrageous“.

„As of today, Unrwa, the main lifeline for Palestine Refugees, is denied from providing lifesaving assistance to northern Gaza,“ Lazzarini said.

07.03.2024 - 19:05 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israel destroying Gaza‘s food system as ‚starvation‘ tactic, says UN expert

„Israel is not only denying and restricting the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel is destroying the food system in Gaza,“ Michael Fakhri, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said in a speech to the UN Human Rights Council on

„Israel has mounted a starvation campaign against the Palestinian people in Gaza.“

He said that Israel was targeting small-scale fishers as part of the campaign, including by denying them access to the sea and destroying boats.

25.02.2024 - 04:06 [ Commmunist Party of Israel ]

Far-Right Minister Says ‘Proud’ of Destruction in Gaza

Israel’s Minister May Golan expresses pride in the “ruins” of besieged Gaza and claims that Palestinian babies will grow up to tell their grandchildren what the Jews did.” “I am personally proud of the ruins of Gaza and that every baby even 80 years from now will tell their grandchildren what the Jews did when their families were murdered, raped and their civilians were kidnapped,” she said during a Knesset session held on last Monday, February 19, after the motion to impeach MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash) was defeated.

17.02.2024 - 15:22 [ Democracy Now! / Twitter ]

“I think this is the plan: to break Gaza and to make Gaza uninhabitable and to destroy any possibility for Gazans to … rebuild or to just to retake their lives again,” says Gaza-based journalist Akram Al-Satarri in Rafah.

17.02.2024 - 15:15 [ Democracy Now! ]

“I Always Imagine Myself Being Blown Up”: Journalist in Rafah on Dire Situation as Invasion Looms

You will never be able to imagine the things that are happening, when you’re walking down the streets; when you see small children out crying for food; when you see lining up hundreds of people for a very limited one pot of rice or one pot of food, and they are struggling to get some of that to bring back to their families; when you see small children staying unaccompanied because they lost their whole family; when you see one man who buried his whole family and who’s walking down the street, like, losing his mind because he lost all that he dreamt would grow up with him, which is his children — he lost his wife, he lost his father, he lost his mother, he lost his house, he lost any hope in life that he can clutch to. I saw many people talking to themselves down the streets. I saw many people crying because they have no one to cry to. They have no shoulder to cry over. They have no one to look after them. They have no one to console them. They have no one even to offer them some kind word to look after them. And they are going to — and they are driven insane because of that.

16.02.2024 - 19:38 [ UNRWA, @UN Agency for Palestine Refugees / Twitter ]

Shocking footage shows unimaginable destruction in #Gaza city, including our health centre. +70% of civilian infrastructure- including homes, hospitals & schools- have been destroyed or severely damaged.

84% of health facilities have been affected by attacks. Nowhere is safe.

14.02.2024 - 22:45 [ Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor ]

Gaza: Israel targets Palestinian civilians trying to access communications and internet services

Geneva – Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has documented the Israeli army deliberately killing Palestinian civilians, including journalists, as they attempted to access communications and internet services to communicate with their families or employers, by targeting them with sniper or drone attacks in various areas of the Gaza Strip.

At least seven civilians have been killed in the North Gaza Governorate in less than a week after they were directly targeted by Israeli army drones in the Al-Bashir area of Tal Al-Zaatar in Jabalia Camp. The victims were attempting to access internet services to communicate with their families and relatives.

14.02.2024 - 22:23 [ Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده / Twtter ]

Breaking: Israel kills journalist Muath Mustafa Al-Ghefari, his wife, and their son, Joud, this afternoon by bombing their car near the Sheikh Radwan pool north of Gaza City.

14.02.2024 - 22:10 [ Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده / Twitter ]

Breaking: Israel has just killed political analyst Dr. Ayman al-Rafati. Al-Rafati had been hosted by Al Jazeera last night as a guest from Gaza. It is evident that Israel seeks to silence any voice from Gaza.

14.02.2024 - 21:12 [ MoTaz / Twitter ]

I survived death many times, but many people, places and memories didn’t. Like the press house I was using during the first days of as a safe house for journalists, but it’s demolished now.

14.02.2024 - 21:12 [ Middle East Eye ]

Gaza Press House headquarters in Gaza destroyed in Israeli bombing

Gaza‘s Press House headquarters was demolished on Tuesday, the organisation announced on Instagram in a series of photos.

The non-profit media institution provided legal protection and training, as well as resources for journalists.

12.02.2024 - 20:44 [ Times of Israel ]

UK slaps sanctions on West Bank settlers for ‘egregious’ violence, following US move

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the four targeted Israeli settlers, one of whom was also included in the US sanctions, were involved in “egregious abuses of human rights.”

“Extremist Israeli settlers are threatening Palestinians, often at gunpoint, and forcing them off land that is rightfully theirs,” he added. “This behavior is illegal and unacceptable.”

07.02.2024 - 14:20 [ Sophal Ear / theConversation.com ]

Henry Kissinger’s bombing campaign likely killed hundreds of thousands of Cambodians − and set path for the ravages of the Khmer Rouge

(November 30, 2023)

To Kissinger, Cambodia was a “sideshow,” to use the title of William Shawcross’ damning book exposing the story of America’s secret war with Cambodia from 1969 to 1973.

During that period, the U.S. bombing of neutral Cambodia saw an estimated 500,000 tons  of ordnance dropped on 113,716 targets in the country.

Kissinger and others in the White House tried to keep the campaign from the public for as long as they could, for good reason. It came as public opinion in the U.S. was turning against American involvement. The bombing campaign is also considered illegal under international law by many experts.

But to Kissinger, the ends – containing communism – seemingly justified the means, no matter the cost. And the cost to Cambodians was huge.

It resulted in the direct deaths of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians. With the U.S. government keeping the bombings secret at the time, comprehensive data and documentation are limited. But estimates on the number of deaths range from as few as 24,000 to as many as a million.

06.02.2024 - 11:55 [ UNRWA, @UN Agency for Palestine Refugees / Twitter ]

In north #GazaStrip, the scale of destruction and loss is staggering. This footage shows one of our @UNRWA health centres. There is nothing left.

This is an unprecedented level of destruction and forced displacement, taking place in front of our eyes.

01.02.2024 - 23:35 [ White House ]

Executive Order on Imposing Certain Sanctions on Persons Undermining Peace, Security, and Stability in the West Bank

I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, find that the situation in the West Bank — in particular high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages, and property destruction — has reached intolerable levels and constitutes a serious threat to the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, and the broader Middle East region. These actions undermine the foreign policy objectives of the United States, including the viability of a two-state solution and ensuring Israelis and Palestinians can attain equal measures of security, prosperity, and freedom. They also undermine the security of Israel and have the potential to lead to broader regional destabilization across the Middle East, threatening United States personnel and interests. For these reasons, these actions constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat. Accordingly, I hereby order:

Section 1. All property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person, including any foreign branch, of the following persons are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in:

(a) any foreign person determined by the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, or the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State:

(i) to be responsible for or complicit in, or to have directly or indirectly engaged or attempted to engage in, any of the following:

(A) actions — including directing, enacting, implementing, enforcing, or failing to enforce policies — that threaten the peace, security, or stability of the West Bank; or

(B) planning, ordering, otherwise directing, or participating in any of the following actions affecting the West Bank:

(1) an act of violence or threat of violence targeting civilians;

(2) efforts to place civilians in reasonable fear of violence with the purpose or effect of necessitating a change of residence to avoid such violence;

(3) property destruction; or

(4) seizure or dispossession of property by private actors;

(ii) to be or have been a leader or official of:

(A) an entity, including any government entity, that has engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, any of the activities described in subsections (a) or (b) of this section related to the leader’s or official’s tenure; or

(B) an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order as a result of activities relating to the leader’s or official’s tenure;

(iii) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, any person blocked pursuant to this order; or

(iv) to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person blocked pursuant to this order; or

(b) any foreign person determined by the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury:

(i) to have committed or have attempted to commit, to pose a significant risk of committing, or to have participated in training to commit acts of terrorism affecting the West Bank; or

(ii) to be a leader or official of an entity sanctioned pursuant to subsection (b)(i) of this section.

01.02.2024 - 23:30 [ CNN ]

Biden issues executive order targeting violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank

The order targets four individuals accused of directly perpetrating violence or intimidation in the West Bank, a senior administration official said, including people accused of initiating and leading a riot; setting buildings, fields and vehicles on fire; assaulting civilians and damaging property.

The State Department announced the names of the Israelis targeted by the executive order, which blocks their financial assets and bars them from coming to the US. They are David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjil, Shalom Zicherman and Yinon Levi.

01.02.2024 - 22:55 [ United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) ]

Preliminary assessment of the economic impact of the destruction in Gaza and prospects for economic recovery

The possibility and speed recovery of Gaza depends on the date of ending of the military operation and subsequent growth performance – both remain unknown.

(…)

However, if the 2007–2022 growth trend persists with an average growth rate of 0.4 per cent, it will take Gaza 70 years just to restore the GDP levels of 2022, with GDP per capita continuously and precipitously declining given the population growth rate.

01.02.2024 - 22:36 [ UNCTAD, @UN Conference on Trade and Development / Twitter ]

#Gaza: Unprecedented level of destruction will take tens of billions of dollars and decades to reverse. Even with the end of the military operation and the recent average growth rate of 0.4%, it would take Gaza until 2092 just to restore 2022 GDP levels.

01.02.2024 - 11:10 [ United Nations ]

‘We cannot abandon the people of Gaza’: chiefs of UN agencies and NGOs unite in appeal for UNRWA

The IASC signatories to the appeal are:

– Martin Griffiths, Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
– Qu Dongyu, Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
– Jane Backhurst, Chair, ICVA (Christian Aid)
– Jamie Munn, Executive Director, International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)
– Amy E. Pope, Director General, International Organization for Migration (IOM)
– Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
– Paula Gaviria Betancur, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (SR on HR of IDPs)
– Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
– Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
– Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
– Michal Mlynár, Executive Director a.i., United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat)
– Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
– Sima Bahous, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN Women
– Cindy McCain, Executive Director, World Food Programme (WFP)
– Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO)

01.02.2024 - 11:00 [ UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordination Office (OCHA) ]

Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #106

01.02.2024 - 10:12 [ Saul Staniforth / Twitter ]

Yesterday the UN security council discussed the ICJ ruling that Israel must be investigated for genocide & the imposition of several orders on them. The USA said it changes nothing as far as they‘re concerned. China says the ICJ orders can only be implemented with a ceasefire.

22.01.2024 - 09:01 [ Middle East Eye ]

War on Gaza: ‚There is nothing left. They destroyed everything‘

(21.01.2024)

Many will say this is the second Palestinian Nakba, and it is for the majority of Palestinians in Gaza who were driven from their homes and lands in 1948.

But for my family, and for nearly 30 percent of Gaza’s population, this is our first experience of Nakba. This is the first time our connection to the city that has held our lives, our stories, and our history, for thousands of years, has been disrupted.

The house my aunty was driven out of belongs to my great-grandfather and was first built during the Ottoman empire, more than 100 years ago. Our neighbourhood, Tuffah, and its adjacent Mohatta Street, where the old railway station used to be, are much older than Israel and all its wars.

22.01.2024 - 08:43 [ United Nations ]

Carnage in Gaza: ‘How much is enough?’ asks UN Assembly President

(19.01.2024)

Addressing the 19th Non-Aligned Summit in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, President Dennis Francis urged the bloc of 120 nations to exert its influence to bring an end to the “carnage” in the war-ravaged enclave.

“That situation behooves us to ask: how much is enough? And does the very concept of enough even exist in this setting?” he said. “I renew the demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and for the release of all hostages. This stands as the only credible course of action to authentically address – let alone resolve – this conflict.”

21.01.2024 - 06:34 [ Mohamed Salah / Twitter ]

The Israeli occupation forces blow up an entire residential block in Abasan area, east of Khan Younis.

20.01.2024 - 06:30 [ ]

War on Gaza: Arab despots‘ failure to stand up to Israel could fuel an explosion

But something else is happening that is just as important: Palestine is being officially defended by the Global South. South Africa has taken the lead by launching the case for genocide at the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

Palestine, at the same time, is reemerging as a global cause, just as was the case in the fight against apartheid in South Africa. The composition of South Africa’s team of lawyers says it all: multi-ethnic, male, female, Irish, British, South African. There was no Palestinian officially with them in the group. And yet, a day after the hearing ended, there were massive demonstrations in 45 countries – but not in Egypt, Saudi Arabia or even Algeria.

20.01.2024 - 02:38 [ UN Humanitarian / Exposure.co ]

Gaza: Children Under Attack

„The nightmare in Gaza is more than a humanitarian crisis, it is a crisis of humanity.“

– United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres

The images and stories below are unbearable. But they must be seen and shared. The world needs to know what the people of Gaza are enduring, and political leaders must bring this war to an end.

20.01.2024 - 02:20 [ UN Human Rights, by High Commissioner @volker_turk / Twitter ]

We are reaching yet another staggering milestone in #Gaza – nearly 25,000 people reportedly killed, and 61,500 injured. These horrors must not become normalised – Head of @OHCHR_Palestine Ajith Sunghay reports from the ground

19.01.2024 - 09:50 [ Middle East Eye ]

Thanks to Gaza, European philosophy has been exposed as ethically bankrupt

magine if Iran, Syria, Lebanon, or Turkey – fully backed, armed and diplomatically protected by Russia and China – had the will and the wherewithal to bomb Tel Aviv for three months, day and night, murder tens of thousands of Israelis, maim countless more and make millions homeless, and turn the city into a heap of uninhabitable rubble, like Gaza today.

Just imagine it for a few seconds: Iran and its allies deliberately targeting populated parts of Tel Aviv, hospitals, synagogues, schools, universities, libraries – or indeed any populated place – to ensure maximum civilian casualties. They would tell the world they were just looking for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet.

Ask yourself what the US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia and Germany in particular would do within 24 hours of the onslaught of this fictional scenario.

18.01.2024 - 03:45 [ MilitaryTimes.com ]

The fight in Gaza will be hell, military experts in urban combat say

(20.10.2023)

Yahalom Unit: a specialized Israeli Defense Forces combat engineering corps commando unit trained to find, clear and destroy tunnels. The unit is one of the largest in the world focused on underground warfare.

The Yahalom carries a toolkit of specialized gear for such operations, including ground and aerial sensors, ground-penetrating radar, drilling equipment, radios and navigation equipment designed for use underground, thermal equipment and a suite of flying and ground robots for mapping tunnels. Once discovered, the unit has ground-penetrating munitions such as the GBU-28, which can penetrate 100 feet of soil or 20 feet of concrete.

18.01.2024 - 00:13 [ 972mag.com ]

‘A mass assassination factory’: Inside Israel’s calculated bombing of Gaza

(November 30, 2023)

Nothing happens by accident,” said another source. “When a 3-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it’s because someone in the army decided it wasn’t a big deal for her to be killed — that it was a price worth paying in order to hit [another] target. We are not Hamas. These are not random rockets. Everything is intentional. We know exactly how much collateral damage there is in every home.”

According to the investigation, another reason for the large number of targets, and the extensive harm to civilian life in Gaza, is the widespread use of a system called “Habsora” (“The Gospel”), which is largely built on artificial intelligence and can “generate” targets almost automatically at a rate that far exceeds what was previously possible. This AI system, as described by a former intelligence officer, essentially facilitates a “mass assassination factory.”

17.01.2024 - 22:44 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Hadash MK Cassif: ‘They Want to Silence Us’

MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash) is being threatened with expulsion from Israel’s parliament after he signed a petition supporting South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, accusing it of acts of genocide. Cassif says the impeachment is based on an antidemocratic law that suppresses free speech. “They want me and my friends to shut up,” he says of the far-right government’s persecution of dissenting legislators in an interview to Amy Goodman broadcasted by Democracy Now! “We’ve been against the war from the beginning because we are against bloodshed.”

17.01.2024 - 22:37 [ nd.Aktuell / Twitter ]

Israelische Truppen rücken zum Al-Nasser-Krankenhaus in Khan Junis vor. Für diese Panzer will die Bundesregierung nun Munition liefern und wird dadurch mitverantwortlich für alle Verbrechen, die Israel im #Gazakrieg begeht, meint @matthimon.

(heute)

17.01.2024 - 22:31 [ Sulaiman Ahmed, Investigative Journalist, MA Philosophy, PGCE Mathematics / Twitter ]

61% OF GERMANS SAY ISRAEL’S MILITARY ACTIONS ARE UNJUSTIFIED