He now has the political capital for negotiations that could set the country‘s next budget and allow him to continue to call the shots for at least another year in the multi-front regional war Israel is fighting.
„He feels he is winning,“ one of Netanyahu‘s aides told Axios.
The six-time prime minister will outlast President Biden, who has largely failed in his attempts to contain the conflict in the Middle East and rein in Netanyahu.
Even more surprising is the Israeli public’s near-total embrace over the last three weeks of Netanyahu’s declared desire to prosecute a war for “total victory”. Prior to this, hundreds of thousands of people were out on the streets, demanding a “deal now” and accusing the prime minister of prolonging the war for his own ends.
Now, it seems the majority of Israel’s Jewish public, from Ben Gvir supporters to fans of the centre-left Zionist Yair Golan, wants a never-ending war. Even the first casualties from the ground invasion of Lebanon are not shifting this support – at least so far.
One year in, Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza has exacted an unprecedented and horrific toll on Palestinian journalists and the region’s media landscape.
At least 128 journalists and media workers, all but five of them Palestinian, have been killed – more journalists than have died in the course of any year since CPJ began documenting journalist killings in 1992. All of the killings, except two, were carried out by Israeli forces.
In 12 months, more journalists were killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza and Lebanon than in any similar recorded period since 1992, says the CPJ
That confluence of factors, combined with Ukraine’s perennial challenge to replenish its combat units and its focus on a large operation inside Russia, has allowed Moscow’s forces to claim territory in the Donetsk region with speed and aggression not seen since the full invasion in 2022. Ukrainian forces have been retreating along dozens of miles of a front line being pushed to its breaking point.
But now Netanyahu’s support is starting to bounce back, right?
Yes, we’re seeing trust in the government recover pretty consistently across all surveys — starting in April [when Israel assassinated an Iranian Quds Force commander in Damascus, and Iran responded with a missile attack]. A series of polls in recent weeks have shown that Likud would win the most votes if elections were held today, and Netanyahu himself is once again coming out on top in head-to-head surveys against opposition leader Benny Gantz. He’s not in a stellar position, but he is more or less where he was before the war.
This recovery is linked to the new threats from Iran and Hezbollah following Israel’s assassinations in Beirut and Tehran.
(11.04.2024)
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told his German counterpart on Thursday that Iran is determined to respond to Israel‘s bombing of its consular building in Damascus last week, but will do so in an „appropriate“ and limited way, a source with direct knowledge of the call told Axios.
Die «Rheinische Post» beruft sich dabei auf einen Brief der Ausschussvorsitzenden Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP) an Bundestagspräsidentin Bärbel Bas (SPD). Darin heißt es demnach, an der fraglichen Sitzung hätten insgesamt etwa 105 Personen teilgenommen, «darunter zahlreiche Vertreterinnen und Vertreter der Bundesregierung und der Landesvertretungen».
«Es ist also nicht zwingend, dass die Informationsweitergabe aus dem parlamentarischen Raum erfolgt ist», schreibt die FDP-Politikerin demnach weiter. Sie bittet Bas, eine Ermächtigung zur Strafverfolgung wegen Verletzung des Dienstgeheimnisses und einer besonderen Geheimhaltungspflicht zu erteilen.
(27.01.2018)
Lüge, Betrug, Verrat, Vergewaltigung, Mord, Folter, Ausbeutung, Unterdrückung, Krieg, Genozid und deren strukturelle Manifestation durch Politik, Staat und Kapital zu hassen ist eine ganz normale menschliche Emotion. Sie kann allerdings genau dazu benutzt werden was sie bei Menschen normalerweise hervorruft.
(…)
Des Weiteren gibt die Akzeptanz des politischen, letztlich unweigerlich repressiven Begriff “Hate Speech” (Hass-Sprache) repressiven Organen die Option einer maximal perfiden und zynischen Dialektik: mehr Lüge, mehr Betrug, mehr Verrat, mehr Vergewaltigung, mehr Mord, Folter, Ausbeutung, Unterdrückung und Krieg gegen Ausgelieferte und Hilflose anzuwenden, mit der ganz normalen menschlichen Reaktion der Betroffenen zu rechnen, diese einzukalkulieren, sogar gezielt zu provozieren und diese dann als “hateful” zu bezeichnen und noch mehr entsprechende Maßnahmen gegen diese anzuwenden, da diese ja “hateful” seien, abnormal und gefährlich.
The Matryoshka campaign takes a different approach.
Instead of sharing the fake news pieces themselves, accounts re-share posts from other accounts in the same network, and post them directly on the feeds of known fact-checking outlets. These “reshares” are formulated as a fact-checking request.
The accounts simulate the behaviour of a typical social media user, who might be sceptical of a piece of news, and would like the opinion of a trusted fact-checking source.
However, this process of resharing is repeated by other accounts in the network, ad nauseam. The “stacking” of posts containing false news reports is akin to how Matryoshka dolls operate, which is where the campaign gets its name from.
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.
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.
(July 30, 2014)
Higgins‘s article is worth reading in full. He goes on to outline the type of assistance the Israelis initially gave Yassin, whom the PLO at one time deemed a „collaborator,“ and Gaza‘s other Islamists:
Israel‘s military-led administration in Gaza looked favorably on the paraplegic cleric, who set up a wide network of schools, clinics, a library and kindergartens. Sheikh Yassin formed the Islamist group Mujama al-Islamiya, which was officially recognized by Israel as a charity and then, in 1979, as an association. Israel also endorsed the establishment of the Islamic University of Gaza, which it now regards as a hotbed of militancy. The university was one of the first targets hit by Israeli warplanes in the [2008-9 Operation Cast Lead].
Yassin‘s Mujama would become Hamas, which, it can be argued, was Israel‘s Taliban: an Islamist group whose antecedents had been laid down by the West in a battle against a leftist enemy. Israel jailed Yassin in 1984 on a 12-year sentence after the discovery of hidden arms caches, but he was released a year later. The Israelis must have been more worried about other enemies.
Such is modern warfare. It‘s all ‚your proxy force against mine‘, and theatrical ‚force-posturing‘ because, if any real war were to break out between countries with sizable arsenals, the global economy would be wrecked.
Relevant transcript, on Iran telling the US exactly where and when they would strike the US base in northern Iraq:
„I had Iran in check. We hit them very hard [via the assassination of Soleimani], and they had to hit back, I understand that.
Do you know they called me to tell me they‘re going to hit a certain location [at al-Asad airbase], it‘s gonna be outside the perimeter.
They let us know. We had 16 missiles [targeting the base]. They said ‚don‘t move, we‘re going to have to hit you back‘.
Psychologically, they had to do that because we hit them. So they aimed those missiles [outside the base] and said ‚please don‘t attack us, we‘re not gonna hit you‘.“
And, on Israel backing out of the plot:
„When we took out Soleimani, you know, Israel was supposed to do it with us. Two days before the takeout, they said, ‚We can‘t do it, we can‘t do it.‘
I said, ‚What? We can‘t do it?‘
Then I had a certain general, who‘s great, and I said, ‚So, General, do we do it ourselves?‘
He said, ‚We can, sir, it‘s up to you.‘ I said, ‚We‘ll do it.‘
But Israel was a part of it, you know. Bibi [Netanyahu] was a big part of it. And we had everything planned, everything.“
(28.01.2024)
Nine countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, have suspended funding to UNRWA following allegations that several Agency staff were involved in the 7 October terror attacks in southern Israel
Mr. Lazzarini said that the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), the highest investigative body in the UN system, has already been seized of the matter.
“An investigation by OIOS into the heinous allegations will establish the facts,” he said.
Die UN-Sonderberichterstatterin für die Palästinensergebiete, Francesca Albanese, hat den Zahlungsstopp mehrerer Länder an das UN-Hilfswerk für palästinensische Flüchtlinge (UNRWA) als möglicherweise rechtswidrig kritisiert. Die Entscheidung der Länder, darunter die USA und Deutschland, werde „rechtliche Verantwortung nach sich ziehen“ …
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said he was shocked such decisions were taken as “famine looms” in Gaza, which has been devastated by nearly four months of relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed more than 26,000 people.
The agency, with its 13,000 employees in Gaza, is the main organisation aiding Gaza’s population amid the humanitarian disaster. More than two million of the besieged enclave’s 2.3 million people depend on the UNRWA for “sheer survival”, including food and shelter, Lazzarini said, warning this lifeline can “collapse any time now”.
@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.
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.“
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.
(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.
(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.
(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.”
(3. August 2021)
24. Juni 2019: Der damalige U.S.-Außenminister Mike Pompeo fordert eine „globale Koalition“ gegen den Iran. passenderweise vorgetragen bei einem Blitzbesuch Pompeos in Saudi-Arabien.
4. August 2019: Ich lege mich fest und prognostiziere, dass „Bundeswehr-Marine .. noch vor Weihnachten unter Oberbefehl einer ausländischen Macht in den Persischen Golf entsandt“ wird.
(…)
20. Januar 2020: Monate vor der Ausrufung des bis heute andauernden Ausnahmezustands und bereits im Windschatten von SARS II („Coronavirus“), beschließen die Staatsführungen von Frankreich, Deutschland, Griechenland, Italien, der Niederlande, Belgien, Dänemark und Portugal in einer gemeinsamen Erklärung die „European-led maritime surveillance mission in the Strait of Hormuz“ (E.M.A.S.O.H.), von der Sie und 80 Millionen Andere bis heute nie gehört haben.
The United Nations says more than half a million people are starving in Gaza because not enough food has entered the besieged territory as Israel keeps up its blistering campaign of airstrikes and ground operations.
Palestinian officials said Friday that the death toll has now exceeded 20,000 — around 1% of the territory‘s prewar population.
Between 24 November and 7 December, over 90 percent of the population in the Gaza Strip (about 2.08 million people) was estimated to face high levels of acute food insecurity, classified in IPC Phase 3 or above (Crisis or worse). Among these, over 40 percent of the population (939,000 people) were in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and over 15 percent (378,000 people) were in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5).
Between 8 December 2023 and 7 February 2024, the entire population in the Gaza Strip (about 2.2 million people) is classified in IPC Phase 3 or above (Crisis or worse). This is the highest share of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity that the IPC initiative has ever classified for any given area or country
“It doesn’t get any worse,’’ said Arif Husain, chief economist for the U.N.’s World Food Program. “I have never seen something at the scale that is happening in Gaza. And at this speed.”
Israel says it is in the final stages of clearing out Hamas militants from northern Gaza, but that months of fighting lie ahead in the south.
International humanitarian law, or the laws of war, prohibits the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court provides that intentionally starving civilians by “depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies” is a war crime. Criminal intent does not require the attacker’s admission but can also be inferred from the totality of the circumstances of the military campaign.
In addition, Israel’s continuing blockade of Gaza, as well as its more than 16-year closure, amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population, a war crime. As the occupying power in Gaza under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel has the duty to ensure that the civilian population gets food and medical supplies.
The group said Israel’s actions could constitute a war crime.
It cited statements by senior Israeli leaders to support its claim that depriving Gazans of necessities was a policy implemented by the country’s armed forces.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday accused Israel of intentionally starving the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, citing comments from high-ranking officials and interviews with displaced Palestinian people. According HRW using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, goes against international humanitarian law and constitutes collective punishment. The group charged that as the occupying power in Gaza, Israel is responsible for the population getting food and medical supplies.
Yotam Haim, Samar Talalka and Alon Lulu Shamriz managed to escape Hamas captivity before they were mistakenly shot dead by troops on Friday. (…)
Meanwhile, sounds of someone shouting “Help” in Hebrew were heard by troops in the area.
Moments later, the third man came out of the building to which he had fled, and another soldier opened fire at him, killing him.
Hagari said the IDF bears full responsibility for the “tragic incident,” which took place on Friday morning, “in an area where the soldiers encountered many terrorists, including suicide bombers.”
Hagari named the hostages as Yotam Haim, who was abducted by Hamas from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and Samar Fouad Talalka, who was abducted from Nir Am. The third hostage was later named as Alon Shamriz, also from Kfar Aza.
(November 17, 2023)
While an endless military operation allows the prime minister to cling to power, it also fulfills a larger ideological goal: preventing Palestinian statehood.
(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.”