Jewish Terrorism Continues in Palestine

Illegal Israeli immigrants burn Palestinian crops
Adam Schrader
Sun, June 30, 2024



Illegal Israeli settlers occupy an illegal outpost near the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba near the Palestinian city of Hebron in the West Bank in 2022, before Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023. File Photo by Abir Sultan/EPA-EFE


June 30 (UPI) -- A group of illegal Israeli immigrants to Palestine have burned crops on land near the town of Asira al-Qibliya, south of Nablus, the head of the village council Hafez Saleh has said.

The issue of Israeli settlers in the West Bank is deemed illegal under international law, violating the Fourth Geneva Convention. These settlements lead to the displacement of Palestinian communities, the expropriation of land, and frequent conflicts.

The presence of settlers complicates peace efforts and contributes to a cycle of violence caused by the Israelis. The Israeli government's support for settlements exacerbates tensions and undermines the prospects for a two-state solution.

Israeli settlers set up a tent on Palestinian lands near the village of Artas, south of Bethlehem, on the way to establishing a colonial outpost, the Palestine News and Information Agency reported.

The settlers raised the Israeli flag after taking the land, Palestinian activist Hassan Brijiyeh told the official Palestinian news agency.

Earlier this month, Israel's Security Cabinet said it was considering proposals to "strengthen" its illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank where some 700,000 illegal Jewish immigrants live.

Ultimately, Israel said it had authorized five more West Bank outposts, violating international law. Foreign governments including Kuwait have now expressed outrage over Israel's expanded occupation.

Meanwhile, controversial Israeli politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, who lives in an illegal settlement, welcomed the arrest of 13 "Shebaim" who entered Israeli territory without permits.

"Zero tolerance!" said the minister.

 

Donald Trump's Despicable Racism on Full Display

Opinion

The most despicable things Trump said at the debateDean Obeidallah
Mon, July 1, 2024

Editor’s Note: Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio’s daily program, “The Dean Obeidallah Show.” Follow him on Threads. The views expressed in this commentary are his own.

Since last week’s presidential debate, we’ve seen nearly nonstop news coverage about whether President Joe Biden should drop out as the Democratic presidential contender, expressed in numerous op-eds, on political podcasts and on cable television.

But while Biden’s performance on Thursday is a legitimate issue, the media’s laser-focused coverage of it has resulted in former President Donald Trump all but being given a pass for vile and — in the opinion of many — racist remarks he made at the debate. And Trump’s comments were far, far worse than anything Biden said.

For starters, there was Trump’s use of the word Palestinian as a slur. This came up during a discussion of the war in Gaza, with Trump saying, “Let Israel finish the job.” He then criticized Biden for, in his view, restraining Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military action. That’s the same military, it should be noted, that has left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead and dying, including many women and children, and according to the United Nations has unleashed an ever-growing humanitarian catastrophe along with the widespread destruction of residential homes.

My late father was a Palestinian immigrant. Trump used his heritage as an insult during the exchange when he said Biden “has become like a Palestinian.” To make matters worse, Trump repeated the use of Palestinian as a smear on Friday at a rally in Virginia, where he said about Democratic US Senator Chuck Schumer, “He’s become a Palestinian. He’s a Palestinian now.” The remark presumably meant to suggest that Schumer, who is Jewish, is somehow not supportive enough of Israel.

If Trump, in an effort to insult the president, had said that Biden had “become just like a Black person” or “become just like a Jewish person,” we would have rightfully heard cries of outrage. But after he used Palestinian as a slur, we have heard relatively little condemnation. True, some organizations criticized the vile comment, but it deserves far more pushback than it has received. This insensitive use of Palestinian identity as an epithet is a reminder that their lives mean nothing to some politicians who believe they can score points by demonizing and even dehumanizing them.

Trump’s use of Palestinian as a slur is a new low in an effort to erase and deny Palestinian humanity. But it wasn’t the only example of US politicians’ callous indifference to their plight. Last week, the House voted to bar the State Department from citing statistics from the Gaza Health Ministry on the number of Palestinians killed or wounded in Gaza by the Israeli military.

In short, the Republican-led House is seeking to silence the US State Department from even being allowed to cite the health agency’s statistics, apparently because the number of Palestinian men, women and children slaughtered poses a PR problem for Netanyahu.

Then there was Trump’s baseless comment during the debate claiming that migrants coming to our nation were “taking Black jobs.” Given Trump’s documented history of anti-Black remarks and his defense of white supremacists, the remark rightly raised red flags. And immigration groups and think tanks that have studied the issue have long asserted that immigrants to this country for the most part do not take jobs from Americans.

Some correctly noted that Trump revealed his view that Black Americans are relegated to working in low-paying, menial jobs that anyone could fill. Rep. James Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, speaking Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, noted that Trump’s “Black jobs” remark shows that Trump has “a low opinion of Black people.” But that’s nothing new, Clyburn added. “He’s demonstrated that all of his life.”

Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, also slammed Trump’s remarks, stating, “There is no such thing as a Black job. That misinformed characterization is a denial of the ubiquity of Black talent. We are doctors, lawyers, schoolteachers, police officers and firefighters. The list goes on.” He added, “The divisive nature of this comment is not surprising for Donald Trump.”

The truth is, when it comes to the world of work, Black Americans have done very well under Biden.

Black unemployment fell to its lowest level ever during his presidency when it hit 4.8% in April 2023. But Trump was not talking about hard data or certifiable facts; Trump has long insisted that he’s not a racist, but he was peddling what sounded to many of his critics like racist drivel — presumably to attract voters he believes would be conned into supporting him.

Same goes for Trump’s assertion that migrants were coming to take “Hispanic jobs,” a term that once again reveals Trump’s own bigotry when it comes to the types of jobs he believes Latino Americans hold — in contrast, presumably, to “White jobs.” Under Biden, it should be noted, Hispanic unemployment tied a record low 3.9% in September 2022.

People can debate Biden’s performance on Thursday. But there’s no debating that Trump is once again trafficking in what sounds an awful lot like bigotry, because he believes it will return him to the White House. The only question is whether enough Americans will reject Trump’s vileness to ensure that he never gets there again.

 

Nazi Germans - after 75 years - Disapprove of Israel's Palestinian Land Theft

Westerners who have supported or ignored the rape of Palestine by their own Jewish European colonial settlers for the past 75 years are now finally waking up. They have watched, and indeed encouraged, the foreign racist Zionists over several decades steal the land of Palestine and dehumanize the Palestinian people. And now they realize the monstrosity of having encouraged the creation of a fake Jewish colony in a land that belongs only to the Palestinian people. It might be that the westerners no longer bear the guilt of their grandparents' Fascist murder of 6 million of their own Jews, while also fearing that the cancerous "Israel" gangrene will morph into cataclysmic wars and massive waves of migration toward Europe. But isn't it too little too late?

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Berlin slams Israeli moves to approve West Bank settlements

DPA
Fri, June 28, 2024

Annalena Baerbock (L), Germany's Foreign Minister, and Oliver Owcza, Head of Germany's Representation Office in Ramallah, look over part of the West Bank. During her visit to the Middle East, Baerbock will hold talks with officials from Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon. Hannes P. Albert/dpa

Germany on Friday sharply condemned Israeli government moves to approve settlements and legalize settlement outposts in the West Bank and called on Israel to reverse the decisions.

"The Israeli policy of settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian areas constitutes a serious violation of international law and undermines efforts towards a two-state solution," a Foreign Office spokesman said in Berlin.

"The expansion of settlements jeopardizes peace and security for all people in the region," he added. "We therefore urge the Israeli government to reverse the decisions immediately," the spokesman added.

"We see as particularly disturbing and cynical" the notion that the plan, introduced by extreme right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, was a response to the recognition of Palestine by a number of countries, he said.

A durable solution to the conflict could only be achieved with, and not in opposition to, a reformed Palestinian Authority (PA), the spokesman said. "We strongly reject all measures leading to a weakening of he Palestinian Authority," he added.

The Israeli security Cabinet earlier approved the legalization of five settlement outposts, along with sanctions on a number of PA representatives.

Israeli media have reported that Smotrich intends to take steps in return to release tax revenues owed to the PA amid fears in the international community that it could collapse.

The United States and its allies plan for the PA to continue to play a significant role in the Gaza Strip as well after the current war there ends. The Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement expelled the PA from the Gaza Strip by force in 2007.

Smotrich recently announced he planned to withhold PA funds and pay them out to Israeli victims of terrorism. Israel collects taxes and customs levies owed to PA under the Oslo Accords.

Norway Divests $69M Stake in Caterpillar's pro-Israel Settler Movement

The BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement is a nonviolent Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against racist colonial apartheid Israel. 

Unlike the BDS movement against apartheid South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s, which succeeded in toppling the white-supremacist government there, the BDS movement against apartheid racist Israel has faced difficulties because of the stranglehold that Zionists have on world affairs. But the movement is gaining momentum in the aftermath of the genocide and land theft perpetrated in Palestine (Gaza, West Bank and Jerusalem) by the colonial Zionist settlers.

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Norway pension fund sells $69m stake in Caterpillar over alleged involvement in Gaza destruction [and illegal settlements in Palestine]

Nina Lakhani
Fri, June 28, 2024



An Israeli contractor's Caterpillar excavator [demolishing Palestinian homes] in the West Bank village of Az-Zawiya on 1 July 2004. Photograph: David Silverman/Getty Images

Norway’s largest pension fund has cut ties with Caterpillar due to the US bulldozer company’s alleged contribution to the construction of illegal settlements and other human rights violations by Israel’s armed forces in the West Bank and Gaza.

KLP took the decision to divest its $69m stake in the Texas-based industrial manufacturing group earlier this month after Caterpillar failed to provide satisfactory assurances that it was taking action to reduce the risk of its equipment being used by the Israeli military against Palestinians in violation of international law.

“For a long time, Caterpillar has supplied bulldozers and other equipment that has been used to demolish Palestinian homes and infrastructure to clear the way for Israeli settlements,” said Kiran Aziz, head of responsible investments at KLP.

“It has also been alleged that the company’s equipment is being used by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) in connection with its military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas attack on 7 October last year. Since the company cannot provide us with assurances that it is doing anything in this regard, we have decided to exclude the company from investment,” Aziz added.

Caterpillar did not immediately return requests for comment.

KLP is a $90bn pension fund managing retirement assets for more than half a million Norwegian city, health and other public sector workers.

In recent years, KLP has excluded around 200 companies from its portfolio due to evidence of human rights violations, environmental harms, corruption and other “unacceptable risks” – often in response to pressure from rights groups, harmed communities and the Norwegian government.

In 2021, KLP excluded telecom equipment company Motorola among other corporations linked to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Allegations about Caterpillar in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories – which has been ruled illegal by the ICJ – go back decades.

Reports centre on the Israeli military retrofitting Caterpillar D9 bulldozers with armoured driver cabins and weapons. The converted bulldozers have allegedly been used in demolishing houses and other infrastructure to facilitate the construction of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, according to reports by multiple rights groups and journalists.

In one recent example, Caterpillar’s D9 bulldozers were reportedly used by the IDF in connection with attacks on the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm in the West Bank in July 2023. The UN estimates that around 700,000 people now live in illegal settlements in the West Bank. Norway has always maintained that this occupation is illegal under international law.

More recently, Caterpillar’s equipment has also allegedly been used by the Israeli military in Gaza, where at least 38,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Hamas 7 October attack left almost 1,200 people in Israel dead.

In December, rights groups and journalists accused the Israeli army of using bulldozers to bury wounded Palestinian civilians alive outside the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza following a nine-day siege.

In January 2024, the international court of justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza. In May, the ICJ ordered Israel to halt its assault on the southern city of Rafah, which Israel has ignored, forcing more than 1 million Palestinian refugees to flee again, enduring dangerously high temperatures without adequate shelter, water or food.

Last week, Caterpillar was among several companies mentioned by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as potentially “complicit” in Israel’s war on Gaza. “These companies, by sending weapons, parts, components and ammunition to Israeli forces, risk being complicit in serious violations of international human rights and international humanitarian laws,” the UN experts said.

International legal experts have said Israel is committing domicide – the mass destruction of homes and living conditions to make a territory uninhabitable – and ecocide.

Despite months of back-and-forth – and the steadily worsening situation – KLP said that Caterpillar was unable to demonstrate that it had made any real changes to reduce the risk that its equipment wasn’t being used to violate humanitarian law and cause harm to Palestinians.

“Although Caterpillar has shown itself willing to engage in a dialogue with KLP, the company’s responses failed to credibly substantiate its ability to actually reduce the risk of violating the rights of individuals in situations of war or conflict, or of violating international law,” said Aziz.

Donald Dumb Trump: Palestinian, Philistine, and Black Jobs

As has been the case since biblical times, the native indigenous people of Palestine, once known as "Philistines" (which is almost the same exact word in Arabic, "Filistini", that refers to the modern Palestinian people), have seen their name tarnished by Hebrew, Jewish and Zionist propaganda.

Because the Philistines fought back against the invading hordes of nomadic Hebrews during the Bronze Age, Jewish propaganda began using the name "Philistine" as some sort of derogatory term because it was the name of their adversaries. 

Looking up "Philistine" in the dictionary, you find: "a person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts", i.e. a barbarian. 

Whereas the reality is that the invading desert nomads known as Hebrews were the goat-stinking barbarians who were attacking the native sedentary city-dwelling Canaanite Philistines. But history, as they say, is written by the victors. That was some 3,000 years ago, yet the derogatory term has remained.

Fast forward to 2024. The same thing is happening again with the name "Palestinian". The name of the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine has become a derogatory term by white supremacist racists and their Jewish Zionist racist allies who ethnically cleansed - and continue to ethnically cleanse - the native indigenous people of Palestine. 

Here is the racist white supremacist jackass Donald Dumb Trump accusing his rival Joe Biden of "becoming like a Palestinian", a clearly racist comment that reveals the darkness of Trump's mind. He did not mince his racist comments about Black African-Americans or Hispanic Americans either when he said that immigrants are stealing "Black jobs" and "Hispanic jobs", somehow typecasting the entire African-American and Spanish-speaking population of the United States into low skilled jobs.

How can Americans vote for this creep unless they are themselves racist numskulls like him? And that is half of the American people. It seems that the United States is still far from outgrowing its inhumane racist beginnings and becoming a decent civilized country.

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Trump criticized for 'Palestinian' insult in debate with Biden

Kanishka Singh

Sat, June 29, 2024

The idiot Donald Dumb Trump looking tough and "presidential" by frowning and slanting his lips downwards, while bereft and void of any substance. It's all looks and perception for him. This is the man who dodged the Vietnam draft by having his daddy say that he has bone spurs in his stinking feet, and who now calls US soldiers who sacrificed their lives for their country "suckers" and "losers".

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Human rights advocates on Friday condemned former President Donald Trump's references to Palestinians, and immigrants allegedly taking Black American jobs, during Thursday's debate with President Joe Biden, calling the remarks racist or insulting.

Biden and Trump had a brief exchange on the war in Gaza but did not have a substantive discussion on how to end the conflict which has killed 38,000 in the enclave, according to the Gaza health ministry, and caused a massive humanitarian crisis with widespread hunger.

The war began when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting some 250 others, according to Israeli tallies.

"The only one who wants the war to continue is Hamas," Biden said. Trump responded by saying Biden has "become like a Palestinian," which rights advocates said came across as a slur.

"Actually, Israel is the one (that wants to keep going), and you should let them go and let them finish the job. He (Biden) doesn’t want to do it. He's become like a Palestinian but they don't like him because he's a very bad Palestinian. He's a weak one," Trump said.

On Friday, Trump again used the term 'Palestinian' in a similar way, this time saying in a rally that Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish, was Palestinian. "He's become a Palestinian because they have a couple more votes or something," he added.

The Council on American Islamic Relations advocacy group said Biden was wrong to claim that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants the war to end, while adding it viewed Trump's Palestinian comment in the debate as a racist insult.

"Former President Trump's use of 'Palestinian' as an insult was racist. President Biden's touting of his military support for the Israeli government's genocide in Gaza was callous," Corey Saylor, research and advocacy director at CAIR, said in a statement. Israel denies allegations of genocide.

"To insinuate that being Palestinian is somehow a bad thing, as former President Trump did when he called President Biden Palestinian, reeks of racism and anti-Arab hatred," Paul O'Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA, told Reuters.

Human rights advocates have reported a rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bias and antisemitism in the U.S. since the latest eruption of conflict in the Middle East. The war in Gaza and Washington's support for Israel has also led to months of protests across the United States calling for an end to the conflict.

Trump also faced criticism for using the term "Black jobs" and "Hispanic jobs" while claiming immigrants who were coming into the United States from its border with Mexico were taking away those employment opportunities.

The Trump campaign did not have an immediate comment to the criticism.

Immigration is a key election issue and Trump has claimed Biden has failed to secure the southern U.S. border, ushering in scores of criminals. Studies show immigrants do not commit crimes at a higher rate than native-born Americans.

"The fact is that his (Biden's) big kill on the Black people is the millions of people that he's allowed to come in through the border," Trump said during the debate. "They're taking Black jobs, and they're taking Hispanic jobs."

Civil rights organization NAACP wrote on X: "What exactly are Black and Hispanic Jobs!?!". It added: "There is no such thing as a Black Job."

Amnesty International's O'Brien told Reuters that Trump's comments on immigration were grounded in white supremacy.

"It is disheartening that false narratives grounded in white supremacy and racism about people seeking asylum at the border and immigrant communities in the United States continue to permeate our national discourse," he added.

Adrianne Shropshire, executive director of BlackPAC, an organization that works to mobilize Black voters, said Trump's remarks were not true and that Biden should have pushed back harder on such false claims.

"That there are specific Black jobs for Black people that immigrants are coming to take. Utter nonsense," Shropshire said.

Trump's campaign has made an effort to court Black voters, with the former president visiting Detroit and Philadelphia in recent weeks. Some polls have shown a downtick in support for Biden among Black voters, who historically have been among the Democratic Party’s most loyal voting blocs.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Kat Stafford and Alistair Bell)

 

Foreword from Iznogood: 

The term "Arab" used by Israel and the media to refer to the Palestinians is demeaning and hides agendas. By referring to the Palestinians as "Arabs", Zionist propaganda aims to dilute the specific identity of the people of Palestine and make their "transfer" (i.e. their ethnic cleansing) to other Arab countries more palatable: "They're Arabs, so they can go live in any other 'Arab' country", the terrorist Zionists argue. 

Moreover, "Arab" is a linguisitic group, and is neither an ethnicity, nor is it a religion; the construct of an "Arab world" is a western colonial fallacy as it groups together a variety of ethnic, religious and linguistic groups that happen to speak the Arabic language that was imposed on them by the Muslim colonial conquest (Al-Fatah Al-Islami) of the 7th-9th centuries. Would you refer to the Irish, Scots, Welsh, Australians, Canadians, Americans, Jamaicans etc. as "Englishmen" because they all speak English and were all formerly colonized by the English crooks? Would you refer to the Swiss, Austrians, Alsatians, Dutch, Luxembourgers, Sudeten Czechs and other German-speaking people in Europe as Germans? Hitler did!

On the other hand, "Jewish" is a religion and not an ethnicity either. There are blond blue-eyed Caucasian Jews, Indian Jews from Indian subcontinent, Black African Jews, Iranian and Arab Jews... How can all these diverse people be called an ethnic group? The "Jewish people" is a fallacy invented by the European colonial Zionist invaders of Palestine to bring together a variery of different ethnic groups on the basis of their religion.

I took the liberty of replacing all "Arab" referent terms in the piece below by "Palestinian" to emphasize the unique Palestinian identity of the people who lived, and continue to live in historic Palestine, despite continuous attempts by foreign Zionist settlers to ethnically cleanse them out of their native country.

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Israel's top Palestinian MP says his people 'hunted' over Gaza support

Jack MOORE

Fri, June 28, 2024

Ahmad Tibi, a Palestinian MP in Israel's parliament, speaks during an interview in his office (MENAHEM KAHANA)

In the office of one of Israel's most recognisable Palestinian politicians, framed pictures show him posing with famous figures like Bill Clinton, Yasser Arafat and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In front of Ahmad Tibi's desk is the Arabic slogan, "The more beautiful days are those we did not yet live," which the parliamentarian says is a poignant reminder for his people as they face increased scrutiny after Hamas's October 7 attack.

The attack resulted in the death of 1,195 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 37,765 Palestinians, also mostly civilian women and children, according to data from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

This has put pressure on Israel's Palestinian minority, who make up about 20 percent of the population and say they face escalating hate crimes and unjust police action.

"After October 7, hundreds of Palestinian citizens were hunted down, chased by the Israeli police for writing a post or a story empathising with the children of Gaza or saying no to the war," Tibi, the 65-year-old leader of a Palestinian-majority party, told AFP.

"It was, and still is, tough days for Palestinian citizens of Israel."

Adalah, an organisation advocating for Palestinian minority rights in Israel, said community members who expressed sympathy for Gazan civilians have been unfairly punished.

Between October 7 and March 27, Israeli police arrested 401 people, the majority Palestinians, for speech-related offences it says were tantamount to "incitement to terrorism", its figures showed.

In the same period, there was a total of 667 suspects for speech-related offences -- with only 13 Jewish Israeli citizens compared with 590 Palestinians.

"The crackdown on freedom of speech has created a situation in which Palestinian citizens... can neither protest nor freely voice their opinions," it said in a report after October 7.

- Anti-Palestinian rhetoric -

But Tibi says he and other Palestinian citizens of Israel were against the October 7 civilian deaths.

"We said here and everywhere that we are against targeting civilians... in the south of Israel -- any child, any woman," he said.

"Meanwhile, we are talking about more than 15,000 Palestinian children killed in Gaza."

Yet in some schools Jewish students have called for the removal of Palestinian classmates who faced disciplinary procedures, even if some were acquitted.

At one central Israel dormitory protest following October 7, students shouted "Death to Palestinians!" and tried to break down doors.

In November, right-wing Israelis protested against a Jerusalem shop employing Palestinians.

But the lawmaker -- who says he has lost 13 Gaza relatives to Israeli bombings -- believes anti-Palestinian rhetoric is not getting the same reaction.

"All those on the Jewish side who called to deport Palestinian citizens, to kill all Palestinians, to destroy all of Gaza... no one was arrested," Tibi said.

Israel's government points to Palestinian roles in courts, hospitals and parliament as a sign of their acceptance in society.

But in 2018 Israel angered Palestinians by adopting a law defining the country as the "nation-state of the Jewish people", and Tibi only sees inequality getting worse.

"After October 7, it was ethnocracy, only for Jews," he said.

- 'We will remain' -

Tibi himself faced the ire of Jewish Israelis after October 7.

"I received not tens, but hundreds of threats by ordinary Israelis. When there is a war... everyone is considered to be a legitimate target."

Asked if he fears being attacked, he replied: "No, but I am cautious."

The one-time adviser to former Palestinian leader Arafat criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right ally National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for the worsening treatment of Palestinians.

"He's a terrorist, according to the Israeli law," he said of Ben Gvir, a settler convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organisation over his ties to a banned Jewish extremist group.

Ben Gvir has in turn called Tibi a terrorist and for his removal from parliament over his pro-Palestinian statements.

"The general atmosphere in Israel... it's almost fascist," said Tibi.

But, between dramatic hand gestures, Tibi says he still has hope Jews and Palestinians can rebuild bridges.

"I am realistic, but I am optimistic always, because I am on the right side of history," he said.

If the Gaza war ends, he says "democracy is the only way" to solve the crisis, with a Palestinian state that offers full rights.

"It is a natural right for Palestinians," he said.

Switching to Arabic, Tibi had a combative message for his people and their opponents.

"We face attempts at intimidation. We have withstood in the past, and we will withstand this wave of fascism and racism," he said.

"We were here, and we will remain here."

jfx/jd/mj/dv

 

Hezbollah's Threats against Cyprus and Greece

Hezbollah has the weapons to carry out its threat against Cyprus
Paul Iddon
Fri, June 28, 2024

The leader of the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon threatened the Republic of Cyprus for the first time this month, underscoring the risks of the Middle East crisis spreading beyond the region. The threat against Cyprus is also an indirect threat against NATO member Greece, which has close ties with Israel.

"The Cypriot government must be warned that opening Cypriot airports and bases for the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon means that the Cypriot government has become part of the war and the resistance (Hezbollah) will deal with it as part of the war," Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's secretary-general, declared in a June 19 speech.

Hezbollah has a vast arsenal of drones, anti-ship, ballistic, and cruise missiles that makes it capable of following through on Nasrallah's threat against the Eastern Mediterranean island.

"Hezbollah is attempting to use all possible means to cause fear in Israel and its partners, in this case, the Republic of Cyprus," George Tzogopoulos, a senior fellow at the Centre International de Formation Européenne, a French policy research institute, told Business Insider.

"I would consider Hezbollah's tactics as psychological warfare," Tzogopoulos said. "Although the Republic of Cyprus and Israel have enjoyed strategic cooperation for years, the current timing is crucial. That is perhaps why threats were made public a few days ago."

Cyprus is a divided island. The republic, which Nasrallah threatened, in the south is a member of the European Union. Aside from Turkey, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the north is internationally unrecognized. These sides are split by a UN-patrolled buffer zone. The United Kingdom also has exclusive control over two military bases on the island's south, Akrotiri and Dhekelia, which are officially known as Sovereign Base Areas.

The EU predictably denounced Nasrallah's threats, as did the republic's main ally, Greece. Turkey, conversely, warned Cyprus "to stay away from the conflict" in the region.

The armed forces of Cyprus have hosted training exercises with their Israeli counterparts on the island. Cyprus has maintained an official policy of neutrality in Israel's ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza, which it has reiterated since Nasrallah's threat. The island serves as a hub for the maritime humanitarian corridor the US and the EU have tried to establish for shipping aid to Gaza. According to officials, relations between the US and Cyprus recently "reached their highest level yet," raising hopes that the US will fully lift its arms embargo on the island. Warming ties will undoubtedly help Cyprus weather Hezbollah's threat.

"Public threats are taken seriously, and they can generate a political response," Tzogopoulos said. "The Republic of Cyprus is able to expose the tactics of Hezbollah at the EU level and simultaneously seek support by the US."

"Hezbollah's public threats could turn out to be a double-edged sword for it," Tzogopoulos added. "In terms of security, I would not expect a country like the Republic of Cyprus, which is so close to the US and Israel, to start preparations against a possible attack as a result of public threats."
The cross-border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah have forced tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes. Here, an Israeli firefighter douses a blaze started by a downed drone launched from southern Lebanon.Jack Guez/Getty Images

Nevertheless, Hezbollah could harm Cyprus if it carries out its threat. The group flew three unarmed drones over Israel's Karish gas-drilling platform in 2022, demonstrating its capability to threaten targets within Israel's maritime zone. Tzogopoulos suspects that Hezbollah could "perhaps employ similar tactics" inside Cyprus's economic exclusive zone, which is also well within the range of the group's drones and missiles.

"The Israeli capacity to shoot down Hezbollah's drones in 2022 could be a model for the Republic of Cyprus," Tzogopoulos said. "In fact, this is the substance of the strategic cooperation between Israel and the Republic of Cyprus."

Israel, the analyst noted, is also "prepared to share part of its technological and military know-how" with the island republic. Before the Gaza war that began in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attacks, reports emerged that Cyprus was negotiating the acquisition of Israeli Merkava Mark III main battle tanks and even Israel's well-known Iron Dome air defense system.

Existing air defenses in the Cypriot National Guard are limited to short- to medium-range systems like the Russian Tor and Buk. These systems are no match for the powerful surface-to-surface missiles in Hezbollah's arsenal, which include the Iranian-designed Fateh series of short-range ballistic missiles, many of which have the range to reach the Cypriot capital Nicosia roughly 180 miles away.

Hezbollah's expansive arsenal includes up to 150,000 rockets and missiles and approximately 2,000 drones of various types, many of them based on Iranian designs. These include a Syrian variant of the Iranian Fateh-110 missile, the M-600. That GPS-guided missile is almost 9 meters long.

Hezbollah's drones have recently posed significant challenges to Israel's sophisticated, multi-layered air defenses, including the Iron Dome. While many of these drones are relatively low-tech, such as the cheap and locally assembled Mersad and Ayoub models, others are more advanced models based on Iranian designs like the Ababil, Mohajer, and Shahed series. In addition to launching barrages of one-way explosive drones, Hezbollah attacked a military post in northern Israel in May using a drone that fired two missiles inside Israeli airspace.

Hezbollah has also amassed an arsenal of increasingly sophisticated anti-ship missiles in recent years, most notably the Russian-made Yakhont, which boasts a range of 186 miles.

Such capabilities would undoubtedly pose a significant threat to Cyprus in the event of war.

Experts have already noted that such missiles also enable Hezbollah to target Britain's Akrotiri air base on the island, which supported US-led airstrikes against Hezbollah's ally, the Houthis in Yemen. "For Hezbollah to target British bases in Cyprus would be a high risk," Tzogopoulos said. "The British-American response to such a scenario would be strong. Nothing is to be excluded in times of general instability, but Hezbollah will pay a heavy price if it targets British bases in Cyprus."

Nicholas Heras, senior director of strategy and innovation at the New Lines Institute, believes that Nasrallah's threat is also directed at other countries, specifically Greece. Hezbollah seeks to send the message "that all of the Eastern Mediterranean is within range of its attacks" if the group "feels existentially threatened" by a full-scale war with Israel, he said.

"Cyprus, although it could serve as a route for the Israeli Air Force to target Hezbollah in Lebanon, or Hezbollah assets in Syria, is nowhere near as important a security partner to Israel as Greece has become over the past several years," Heras told BI.

The New Lines analyst noted the Israeli Defense Forces has used Greece as a "key site" for training for another potential war in Lebanon. Greece allows the Israeli Air Force to train over parts of the country with "topographical similarities" to Lebanon.

"Greece, a NATO country, is not a likely target for Hezbollah, but Cyprus, a country with close cultural and other ties to Greece, serves as a stand-in for Greece for potential intimidation purposes," Heras said.

"Hezbollah's longer-range, Iranian-supplied missiles could strike Greece."

Commentary: An Israel-Hezbollah War Could be in the Making

 

Opinion

Daniel DePetris, Chicago Tribune
Thu, June 27, 2024


AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

As the Israel-Hamas war is supposedly entering a new phase of more targeted raids in Gaza, another war is raging along the Israel-Lebanon border.

Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault in southern Israel, the Israeli military and Hezbollah have engaged in deadly clashes in the border area. Israel said it has struck thousands of Hezbollah targets throughout Lebanon, killing at least 300 Hezbollah fighters.

According to the Israeli military, Hezbollah has fired more than 5,000 rockets, drones and missiles into northern Israel, killing Israeli civilians and troops and forcing tens of thousands of Israelis to leave their homes.

The danger in this conflict shouldn’t be understated. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could conclude at some point that large-scale military action is required to push Hezbollah from its borders. During a June 5 visit to the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, Netanyahu emphasized that security will be restored to the north sooner or later. Plans for a large-scale Israeli operation against Hezbollah have reportedly been approved, which means the only thing standing in the way of another war in Lebanon is a political decision by Netanyahu.

For months, the Israel-Hezbollah tit-for-tat was confined to within 5 or 6 miles of the Blue Line, the United Nations-demarcated border between Israel and Lebanon. But the scope of hostilities is getting wider. It’s no longer rare for Israeli airstrikes to hit deep into Lebanon’s interior.

On June 10, Israel conducted its deepest strike in Lebanon yet, hitting a Hezbollah facility in the Baalbek region. Israel killed Hezbollah field commander Taleb Abdallah the next day, which prompted Hezbollah to retaliate with hundreds of rockets into northern Israel. Hezbollah is employing more sophisticated weapons to pierce Israeli air defenses.

Israeli military operations in Lebanon have a long history, with the military taking action in 1978 and 1982 against the Palestine Liberation Organization and in 1993, 1996 and 2006 against Hezbollah. None of those operations was especially successful. Israel’s 1982 invasion forced PLO leader Yasser Arafat to Tunisia but also resulted in an 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon that arguably produced Hezbollah. The 1993 and 1996 air campaigns were at best tactical successes. The 2006 war hit Hezbollah hard and restored deterrence along the border, but the Lebanese group quickly reconstituted its military power courtesy of Iranian assistance.

It’s difficult to see another large-scale Israeli invasion of Lebanon succeeding where others failed. Hezbollah is no longer an insurgency with limited reach — it’s the dominant political faction in Lebanese politics, and its military wing is larger than the official Lebanese army. Hezbollah’s arsenal, complete with as many as 200,000 missiles, attack drones, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms and Iranian-supplied precision munitions, would all be used in a war with Israel. Israeli cities and towns far beyond the border region would sustain extensive damage. Hezbollah’s missiles can hit all of Israel, and the group has enough of them to confuse Israeli air defense systems.

President Joe Biden’s administration clearly understands just how destabilizing a war in Lebanon would be. U.S. officials have reportedly told their Israeli counterparts that a limited war against Hezbollah would likely force Iran, Hezbollah’s primary sponsor, to become more involved.

The U.S. has tried to broker a deal that would at least deescalate the situation. Amos Hochstein, Biden’s special envoy, engaged in another round of shuttle diplomacy with Israeli and Lebanese officials last week. But his efforts have been unsuccessful thus far. Hezbollah insists no diplomatic arrangement is possible until Israel ends the war in Gaza.

There is an agreement in sight, but both sides need to ditch maximalism to make room for common sense.

Israel wants Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani River, roughly 20 miles away from the Israel-Lebanon border. Yet it’s difficult to envision Hezbollah acceding to this demand since this would force the group to vacate its main base of support. However, depending on what Israel offers in return, Hezbollah could conceivably withdraw 6 or 7 miles from the Israeli border. This won’t satisfy the hard-liners in Israel, but it’s better than the current arrangement in which northern Israel is written off as a de facto military zone devoid of civilians.

To make these terms palatable to the Israelis, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon could verify the pullback and the Lebanese army could be redeployed to areas vacated by Hezbollah to ensure the militia doesn’t renege.

Israel, of course, won’t get this concession for free. While no Israeli prime minister would agree to limit Israel’s ability to act in self-defense — nor should they — Israel could stop daily incursions into Lebanese airspace or at least limit them to an agreed-upon number. Israeli ground troops would need to withdraw from the small pockets of Lebanese territory they still occupy in contravention of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Assuming all of this succeeds — admittedly a big assumption — Israel and the Lebanese state could then get on with the task of negotiating a permanent border.

In the interim, the Biden administration must get brutally honest with its friends in Israel: Not only would the U.S. not join a war in Lebanon, but it also would oppose it on principle. Israel must be under no illusions that the U.S. would bail it out in the event the Israeli government initiates a large-scale offensive.

A good-enough diplomatic resolution, even if it’s a placeholder, is preferable to a war that would cause immense suffering in the region, undermine U.S. policy objectives in the Middle East, and draw the U.S. and Iran into a direct conflict neither wishes to fight.
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Daniel DePetris is a fellow at Defense Priorities and a foreign affairs columnist for the Chicago Tribune.

The US won't Flee from Hezbollah Like in 1983: This Time it has a Job to do for Israel

When Hezbollah, backed by the Stalinist Syrian regime and the newly born Islamic Theobarbarity in Iran, blew up the US Marines Headquarters in Beirut on October 23, 1983, what did the "patriotic" republican asshole Ronald Reagan do? He packed his remaining Marines on board the USS New Jersey and fled like a rabbit, abandoning Lebanon to Syria and Iran. Those two countries then proceeded to complete their takeover of Lebanon: hijacking flight TWA 847 and killing US Navy Diver Dean Stethem, kidnapping dozens of western academics, journalists, and Christian clergymen from the streets of Beirut, holding them hostages and trading those whom they did not kill for concession after concession from the US. 

Those concessions included selling weapons to Iran, bombing the Lebanese Christian enclave that was still resisting this unholy US-Syria-Iran-Israel alliance, evicting the last free Lebanese government in 1990 thanks to an agreement that allowed Syria to cross the Israeli red line of using its airforce over Lebanese airspace, and installing a Syrian puppet regime in Lebanon. It was after that absolute surrender by the US to - or collusion with -  the Syrian-Iranian alliance that Hezbollah began to grow and arm itself from Iran through Syria and into Lebanon, to become the threat that is causing the US today to send  warships to the Lebanese coast.

All of this treachery by the US - mostly by the Republican administrations of Reagan, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr - was geared to take us where we stand today: Israel needs the Hezbollah threat along its borders with Lebanon to use it as a pretext to invade and annex south Lebanon. Which is why the acquisition by Hezbollah of its 150,000 missiles and other advanced military paraphernalia over the past 30 years was tolerated, indeed encouraged. When in 2000, Israel decided to withdraw from the southern strip it had occupied since 1982, it handed over the region back to Hezbollah, supposedly its worst enemy. It could have coordinated with the UN force (UNIFIL) stationed there and handed over the Lebanese south to the UN and the Lebanese Armed Forces, thus preventing a return of Hezbollah to the border region.

This would have given the Lebanese government breathing space to recover the attributes of a sovereign state, and it would have prevented the collapse of Lebanon that we are witnessing today. But Israel preferred to maintain the useful Hezbollah threat along its northern border and the associated instability and collapse of the Lebanese state.

Therefore, we are faced with the following scenario in the south of Lebanon: With Hezbollah, Syria and Iran now in full control of Lebanon (unlike in 2006 when Hezbollah was not part of the government structure), and posing an "existential" threat to Israel, the legal pretext for invading and annexing south Lebanon, including the historic Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon, is now available for Israel. 

Contrary to repetitive assertions by US officials that the movement of warships (see below) towards the Lebanese coast is merely a "deterrent", the US is essentially pooling its military power behind the Israelis as the latter prepare to invade south Lebanon. The US is indeed backing the Israeli project, as the declarations by Yoav Gallant in Washington DC indicate, and is now sending its warships to assist Israel in completing its invasion. Because it has been hired by Israel to do this job, the US is not likely to flee from Hezbollah like it did in 1983. Unless or until, as is often the case, the body bags begin to pile up stateside. 

One thing is for certain: Tiny Lebanon stands to lose 15 % of its territory to the expansionist Zionist colony of Israel, thanks to a longstanding collusion between the US, Israel, Iran and Syria. The Shiite population of south Lebanon will be pushed north into the eastern Bekaa Valley where, together with the Syrian refugees (2.5 million), they will form the nucleus of a Muslim Lebanon that will merge with Syria. 

The central western Mount Lebanon range (mostly Christian) will become the nucleus of a small Christian Lebanon that will basically be a return to the Moutassarifiyah (Governorate) of Mount Lebanon that existed between 1840 and 1918 before its expansion into the failed monstrosity of Greater Lebanon. 

Simply put, the price the Christians of Lebanon have to pay for their independence from the Muslims is the loss of the two Phoenician cities of Tyre and Lebanon to the Israeli Jewish colony in Palestine. Having  gained that new territory, the Zionists might give more land to the Palestinians in the Negev desert.
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US moves forces closer to Israel and Lebanon amid concerns of escalating cross-border fire
Oren Liebermann and Haley Britzky, CNN
Fri, June 28, 2024



Rabih Daher/AFP/Getty Images

The US is moving forces closer to Israel and Lebanon amid concerns of escalating cross-border fire, according to two US officials, including forces able to carry out an evacuation of American citizens.

The USS Wasp and its Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), which includes the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), moved into the Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday, the Navy said. The deployment was part of a “long-planned effort,” one official said.

But the concerns of escalation between Israel and Hezbollah led the US to move the ships further into the eastern Mediterranean, the second official said, as Israeli officials have said they are prepared for “intense action” in southern Lebanon.

On Thursday, the State Department once again urged American citizens to “strongly reconsider travel” to Lebanon, warning that the “security environment remains complex and can change quickly.” The US has not ordered an evacuation of US citizens from Lebanon – called a non-combatant evacuation – but the White House has planned for the possibility.

The Wasp ARG, which deployed at the beginning of June, includes the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp, amphibious transport dock ship USS New York, and dock landing ship USS Oak Hill. The Oak Hill was already in the region after transiting the Strait of Gibraltar on June 18, the Navy said Thursday.

The 24th MEU, which operates from the USS Wasp, is capable of carrying out special operations, and one of its mission essential tasks is its ability to execute an evacuation.

In 2006, during the last war between Israel and Hezbollah, the State Department ordered a non-combatant evacuation for American citizens in Lebanon, ultimately evacuating approximately 15,000 Americans in about two weeks.

The U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS Wasp and the Marines aboard are being sent to the eastern Mediterranean to serve as a deterrent and provide the U.S. military with options as tensions continue to rise between Hezbollah and Israel along the border with Lebanon, according to three U.S. officials.

The officials stressed that the ship's movement is not an indication that the U.S. is planning to move American citizens out of Lebanon, but that it is moving for deterrence reasons similar to the earlier deployments of the amphibious ship USS Bataan and the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford following Hamas' Oct. 7 attack against Israel.

Currently on a scheduled deployment to Europe, the Wasp's transit toward the eastern Mediterranean will serve to deter the war between Hamas and Israel from becoming a broader regional conflict, U.S. officials said. The ship's move "is being done for deterrence purposes and to promote regional stability," said one of the officials.

The Wasp will be joined in the eastern Mediterranean by the USS Oak Hill, which has already been operating in the Mediterranean. The USS New York, the third ship that makes up the Wasp's Amphibious Ready Group, will soon join the other two ships in the eastern Mediterranean. a U.S. official said.

Amphibious Ready Groups and the 2,200 Marines aboard are trained for a wide variety of missions, including the evacuation of large numbers of American citizens from conflict zones.

The Wasp is currently equipped with AV-8 Harrier jets and helicopters, but it is not currently carrying tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey aircraft that can transport personnel over long distances and which would typically be used to transport a large number of people.

Another U.S. official stressed that the Wasp's movement toward the eastern Mediterranean is intended to provide American leaders with options. and that no decision has been made for the ship and its Marines to assist American citizens to leave Lebanon.

Recent weeks have seen an escalation in the clashes between Israeli and Hezbollah forces along the border between Israel and Lebanon. increasing concerns that Israel could soon be engaged in a second war.

U.S. efforts to secure a diplomatic resolution to the tensions along that border have so far been unsuccessful.

"We will not accept Hezbollah troops and military formations on the border with Israel," Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters on Tuesday. "We will not accept threats to our northern communities."

"We are willing to do everything in our power to protect our people," he added. "We don't want to get into a war because it's not good for Israel."

The USS Wasp carries most of the 2,200 Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) that left the U.S. in May for its deployment to the Sixth Fleet's area of operations in Europe. The remaining Marines from the 24th MEU are distributed aboard the USS Oak Hill and the USS New York.

Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Navy had announced that the Wasp had transited through the Strait of Gibraltar to enter the Mediterranean Sea after having participated in a large exercise in the Baltic Sea.

The Bronze Age Jewish Colony in Palestine to Send Lebanon Back to Stone Age

The European Jewish colony in Palestine, a.k.a. Israel, wants to send Lebanon back to the Stone Age. Being themsleves stuck in the Bronze Age, what with their nomadic desert hallucinations and the biblical fictional bullshit they still drag behind them into the 21st century, they feel perhaps inferior to more advanced civilizations. 

They did send Lebanon back to the Stone Age many times before, but without much success. Their Israel was born by violence and horror. It will continue to live by violence and cruelty. It will never know peace because it was born of racism and violence. Those European Jewish settlers (and their bastard American progeny) have been reaping what they sowed beginning some 100 years ago. 

Unfortunately for Lebanon and its people, the Iranian cancer has decided to confront the Zionist cancer on Lebanese soil. Abandoned by the international community to these two criminal ultra-religious regimes, Lebanon has been suffering for close to 6 decades, but it will survive. It has survived many interlopers over the millennia: Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Crusader settlers, Seljukids, Mameluks, Ottoman Turks, French, and Syrians. All were great empires and conquerors, except crappy Syria. 

So what? Me worry about crappy Israel? About filthy eastern European converts to Judaism claiming Hebrew ancestry and property rights to Palestine? Their fate will be like that of the Crusaders, sooner or later. 

Welcome to the Stone Age!

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Israel says it can send Lebanon 'back to Stone Age' as UN warns against war
AFP
Thu, June 27, 2024

Israel said it does not want war in Lebanon but could send its neighbour "back to the Stone Age", as the UN's humanitarian chief warned such a conflict would be "potentially apocalyptic".

The border between the two countries has seen daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants ever since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hezbollah's ally Hamas, which triggered the war in Gaza.

Fears those exchanges could escalate into full-blown war have only grown in recent weeks as cross-border attacks intensified, and after Israel revealed it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive, prompting new threats from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said during a visit to Washington on Wednesday that his country could "take Lebanon back to the Stone Age, but we don't want to do it".

"We do not want war, but we are preparing for every scenario," he told reporters.

"Hezbollah understands very well that we can inflict massive damage in Lebanon if a war is launched."

Israel's allies, including key defence backer the United States, have been keen to avoid such an eventuality. A US official said Washington was engaged in "fairly intensive conversations" with Israel, Lebanon and other actors, and believed that no side sought a "major escalation".

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Gallant on Tuesday that another war with Hezbollah could have "terrible consequences for the Middle East", and urged a diplomatic solution.

Germany on Wednesday, echoing a Canadian warning from the day before, "urgently requested" its citizens in Lebanon leave the country.

"The current heightened tensions in the border area with Israel could escalate further at any time," updated foreign ministry advice in Berlin said.

UN humanitarian coordinator Martin Griffiths told reporters in Geneva on Wednesday that Lebanon was "the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints".

"It's beyond planning. It's potentially apocalyptic," warned Griffiths, whose term ends this week.

A war involving Lebanon "will draw in Syria... it will draw in others", he added. "It's very alarming."

Lebanon's national news agency reported about 10 Israeli strikes on areas near the border on Wednesday, including one around 10:00 pm that destroyed a building in Nabatiyeh, wounding five people.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strike.

Hezbollah on Wednesday claimed six attacks against Israeli military positions in the border region.

- Relative calm -

As Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip nears its 10th month, bombardments in the besieged Palestinian territory appeared to ease after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the "intense phase" of Gaza operations was winding down.

Some of those forces would likely then be redeployed to the Lebanese border -- but "primarily for defensive purposes", according to the PM.

US officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken have voiced hope that a ceasefire in Gaza could lead to a reduction in hostilities on the Lebanese border as well.

During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, witnesses reported bombings in areas around the Gaza Strip, and fighting had raged earlier Wednesday between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in Gaza's southern city of Rafah.

The civil defence agency and medics said at least four people, including three children, were killed in a strike Wednesday on a house in Beit Lahia, in the north.

However, agency spokesman Mahmud Basal told AFP "there have been almost no attacks" and "the rest of the areas in the Gaza Strip are calm compared to yesterday".

The war has triggered a humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory, with hospitals struggling to function, and food and other essentials hard to come by.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, warned Tuesday of the war's dire impact on children.

"We have every day 10 children who are losing one leg or two legs on average," Lazzarini told reporters, adding "that means around 2,000 children after the more than 260 days of this brutal war".

Muslim Erdogan's Support for Lebanon is Just Like Western Support: Treacherous Hot Air

Turkey was a malevolent occupier of Lebanon and other countries in the region for 402 years (1516 to 1918). It was one of the most brutal Muslim occupations the world had seen. In fact, Erdogan has been promoting a defunct "Ottoman" Turkey by undermining Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's secular legacy and encouraging the re-islamization of Turkey. He might be dreaming of becoming the new Caliph!

One of his latest regressive actions was to re-convert in 2020 the Hagia Sophia museum back into a mosque. For several centuries prior to the 1453 Ottoman Turkish seizure of the Christian Eastern Roman (Byzantine) capital Constantinople (a name now distorted into Istanbul), Hagia Sophia was a cathedral that was built in 537 AD and served as the center of Christianity in the east until it fell to the barbarian Muslim hordes in 1453. In his widsom, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk turned it into a museum for all faiths in 1935. But the Islamist Erdogan reverted it back to a mosque in 2020.

And now, as the Reuters article below reports, Erdogan is offering his "support" to Lebanon facing an imminent Jewish terrorist attack in the south by the Zionist hordes whose fanatic Jewish ideology is only equal to Erdogan's fanatic Muslim ideology.

In what way, pray tell, will Erdogan express that support on the ground? Will he send troops and weapons to the other fanatic Muslim hordes of Hezbollah for more Lebanese bloodshed? Or to the Lebanese army? We, here in Lebanon, have had plenty of verbal expressions of support over many decades. Yet we keep sinking. What we need is for the West to cease its hypocrisy, stop claiming it wants a de-escalation, and threaten war criminal Netanyahu with serious consequences if he invades Lebanon for the 4th or 5th time (we lost count). 

At the same time, the UN Security Council needs to dispatch an international expeditonary force (like the one it sent to liberate Christian Catholic East Timor from Muslim Indonesia or liberate Muslim Bosnia from Christian Serbia) to the south of Lebanon and empower the legitimate armed forces of the Lebanese government to re-assert its sovereignty over every inch along its border with both Israel and Syria. You see, Israel is not the only mass murderer in the region; Syria is too and is far wrose. 

Why doesn't the West send massive military support to the Lebanese army and the United Nations force (UNIFIL) in the south so they themsleves defeat Iran's Hezbollah and settle border issues with Israel. Alas, the West fled before Hezbollah's terror in the 1980s, remained silent for decades over Hezbollah's buildup of its arsenal (1990s and 2000s), and continues playing coy with the Damascus butcher whose regime has been in place since 1970, violating every human rights law, invading Lebanon and mass murdering its people, then mass murdering its own Syrian people. For decades, the filthy US State Department spoke of Assad (father then son) as "cunning" and "keeps his word" while the same US State Dept placed his regime on its list of state sponsors of terrorism. For decades, the brutal Syrian occupation (1975-2005) of Lebanon was according to State Dept criminals a "factor of stability".

What is so sacred about the Syrian regime that has bombed western embassies and peacekeeping forces, slaughtered and kidnapped and jailed hundreds of thousands of people in Syria and Lebanon? What is so sacred about the Syrian regime that is the lifeline of Hezbollah between Iran and Lebanon? Why can't the Assad regime be toppled by an assassination like the one the CIA did against Pinochet of Chili, or against Mosadeg of Iran? The longevity of the Syrian Assad regime is, in the least, suspicious after most Arab dictators have been toppled. Wouldn't toppling the Assad regime deal a blow to the other butcher in Moscow?

The answer: In 1974, following the October 1973 war between Syria and Israel, war criminal Henry Kissinger made a deal with the Assad regime: Abandon the Golan to Israel and we will let you rule Lebanon. And so it was. Not even a year later, Israel annexed the Golan Heights (Syria pretended to be upset!), then Syria invaded Lebanon and turned it into hell on earth. Yes, Assad kept his word to Kissinger and the agreement has remained in place.

Readers must understand: The ONLY objective of all US policy in the Middle East is the welfare of Israel. Everything else is for sale, including so-called "western values", and once prosperous and liberal Lebanon and its Catholic Christian community (the Protestant-Jewish US has always hated Lebanon's Catholics). By turning Lebanon into a cesspool of violence where all conflicts in the region were contained, the US provided the Syrian regime with deniability (it's not us, say the Syrian criminals, it's these unruly Lebanese and these other non-state groups) and Israel with the "self-defense" pretext to continue wreaking havoc in the south. It is as though the US and the West deliberately want to sacrifice Lebanon by eliminating as a country, break it into pieces to facilitate the settling of the 1 million Palestinian refugees (which would relieve Jewish Israel of its obligations to the Right of Return of those Sunni refugees back to Palestine), and the settling of the 2.5 million Sunni Syrian refugees (which would increase Assad's minority Alawite regime's demographic advantage by relieving it of the burden of having to take them back). 

The plan, as it were, seeks to create an Alawite country along the Syrian coastline north of Lebanon (where the Assad clan rules) and a Jewish country along the Palestinian coastline south of Lebanon. In between, what was a prosperous multicultural, multiethnic, multireligious Lebanon must be destroyed to legitimize a Jewish-only Israel and an Alawite-only Syria. The other fragments of Syria could be recovered by Turkey (northwest), the nascent Kurdistan (northeast), and perhaps Iraq and Jordan (in the east and southeast).

And ,as we are on the verge of yet another Israeli invasion and barbarian destruction of Lebanon, we have the Ottoman imbecile in Istanbul offering his support. Mr. Erdogan: Show us your support in deeds and actions; we don't need words. Perhaps, a withdrawal of your occupation army from Cyprus would help re-unify the island. But you like Hezbollah because it is threatening Greek Cyprus of consequences if it supports Israel. Start there to show us your goodwill and intentions.

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Erdogan says Turkey stands with Lebanon as tensions rise with Israel
Reuters
Updated Wed, June 26, 2024


 

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan

ANKARA (Reuters) -President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey stood in solidarity with Lebanon amid growing tensions with Israel on Wednesday and called on regional countries to also support Beirut.

Cross-border strains between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah have been escalating in recent weeks, stoking fears of an all-out Israel-Hezbollah war. Shelling across Israel's northern border has led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from areas on both sides of the frontier.

In a speech to his AK Party lawmakers in parliament, Erdogan said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned to spread the Gaza war to the region.

"It seems that Israel has now turned its eyes on Lebanon after destroying and burning Gaza. We see Western countries giving Israel support behind the scenes," Erdogan said.

"Netanyahu's plans to spread the war to the region will lead to a big catastrophe," he said, adding that the Western support for Israel was "pitiful".

"Turkey stands with the brotherly people and state of Lebanon. I call on other countries in the region to stand in solidarity with Lebanon," he said.

Erdogan's office said late on Wednesday that the president spoke by phone with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and repeated the message that Turkey stands by Lebanon "against Israel's aggressive policies".

"President Erdogan said in the call that Israeli aggression must be stopped as soon as possible," the statement said.

Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the Turkish government saw a risk of the conflict spreading while commenting on the tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

When asked about Hezbollah's threat to Cyprus, the EU member state in closest proximity to Lebanon, Fidan called on Cyprus to "stay away" from the conflict.

Turkey had intelligence reports that showed Cyprus had become a base for "certain countries'" military and reconnaissance flights over Gaza, Fidan said in an interview with private Haberturk television.

Cyprus has said it is "in no way involved" in the conflict. It has lobbied its EU partners to offer Lebanon financial assistance, and recently set up a maritime corridor to dispatch humanitarian aid to Gaza.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu, Huseyin Hayatsever and Daren Butler; Editing by Alex Richardson and Alexander Smith)

Germany and the West: Collusion or Confusion?

The Germans, who perpetrated the Holocaust against the Jews and pushed them to illegally migrate to Palestine which they ethnically cleansed to create the fake state of Israel, are in total confusion over what to do in Palestine-Israel. 

On one hand, they feel so guilty for the Holocaust that they do not dare criticize the Fascist Israeli state. But they can't bear to watch the horror their former victims have inflicted and are inflicting on the Palestinians.

Here is Germany's Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, criticizing Israel for the first time. She criticizes the "far-right" of Israel as if there is any real difference between mainstream Israelis and the fundamentalist terrorist Orthodox Jews who run the country. There are no "mainstream" Israelis: The whole country is founded on a racist colonial foundation from the day the idea of stealing Palestine from its rightful owners was born in Germanic Europe in the late 1880s. 

By default and by definition, there is no Israeli who is really innocent of the rape of Palestine. The fact of the existence of Israel is itself a crime committed by foreigners against the indigenous people of Palestine. Every Israeli is a migrant from Europe, regardless of whether he or she was born in Palestine a few decades ago from illegal parents or grandparents. Every asshole who claims to be a member of the Jewish religion around the world, and who has never set foot in Palestine, has more rights in the "Jewish democracy" than the native indigenous Palestinians with their ancient villages, stone houses and olive orchards. Israel is the best proof that "Great Replacement" works. Why then is it denounced in the West and applauded in Palestine?

If Germany wants to help resolve the Palestinian nightmare, it should offer those Israelis of German ancestry re-settlement visas so they can put down roots back in their homeland of origin. The Nazis are long gone and Germany and other European countries  are no longer the Fascist countries they once were: It would be much pleasant and safer for German Jews to return to Germany and enjoy a life of peace and happiness, instead of liing in fear and in constant warfare against the rebellious native Palestinians who will never give up despite all the violence that has been visited upon them.

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German minister criticizes Israeli far right on Jerusalem visit



Annalena Baerbock, Germany's Foreign Minister, speaks at a press conference at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. Baerbock holds talks in Israel, the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, during her trip to the Middle East. Hannes P. Albert/dpa 

[Note: The King David Hotel in Jerusalem was the British administrative headquarters for Mandatory Palestine. It was bombed in a Jewish terrorist attack on July 22, 1946 by the militant Jewish right-wing Zionist terrorist organization, the Irgun. 91 people of various nationalities were killed, including Arabs, Britons and Jews, and 46 were injured.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock critized the far-right Israeli government over increased settler violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank during a visit to Jerusalem on Tuesday.

Baerbock accused far-right extremists in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netayahu's government of encouraging conflict in the West Bank. "Parts of the Israeli governing coalition are setting things on fire and endangering Israeli security interests in the long term with their aggressive settlement policy," Baerbock said after a meeting with her Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz.

She also criticized reports of brutal conditions for Palestinians detained by Israel and other reports of alleged rights abused by Israeli forces. "The shocking reports of cruel detention conditions for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli camps and prisons do not match Israel's own claim to be a democracy and constitutional state," Baerbock said.

She called for Israel to offer an explanation for "disturbing" images of the Israeli army's operations in Jenin, which "contradict international humanitarian law." On Saturday, videos showed Israeli soldiers driving with an injured Palestinian bound to the hood of a vehicle.

Earlier on Tuesday, Baerbock travelled to Ramallah in the West Bank to discuss the future role of the Palestinian Authority (PA) with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa.

Critics accuse the right-wing Jewish terrorist parties in the Israeli government of strangling the PA by cutting Israeli payments to the body. As a result, salaries of PA employees can no longer be paid. Israel's terrorist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently said he wanted to withhold funds totalling $32.5 million from the PA.

Baerbock criticized Israeli authorities for completely blocking PA access to customs and tax money that was guaranteed under the Oslo Accords, landmark agreements struck between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the 1990s. At the Herzliya Security Conference near Tel Aviv on Monday, Baerbock condemned these measures. "In the current situation, it's dangerous and self-defeating to destroy and destabilize established PA structures," she said.

As announced at the beginning of April, the German Foreign Office is resuming regular funding of UNRWA with a first tranche of €5 million to support UNRWA activities in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank, particularly in the areas of education and health.

UNRWA hit the headlines in January because of Israeli government lies that employees were involved in the massacre on October 7 and that the organization as a whole had been infiltrated by Hamas. An audit report by independent experts later rejected those allegations as pure lies and concluded that UNRWA had "robust" mechanisms to uphold its principle of neutrality.

The latest announced funding brings Germany's humanitarian aid contributions for the Palestinian Territories to €312 million since last year, primarily focused on food and medical care.

Baerbock is scheduled to travel on from Jerusalem to Beirut on Tuesday, where the threat is growing of further escalation between the US-backed terrorist Israel and the Iranian-backed terrorist Hezbollah organization along the border between Israel and Lebanon.

She plans to meet with the Lebanese hostages of the terror organization Hezbollah, including Iranian puppet Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Iranian puppet Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib. Baerbock called the situation along the Israeli-Lebanese border extremely dangerous. "All those who hold responsibility must therefore exercise the utmost restraint and, above all, Hezbollah must stop firing at Israel," she demanded. But Lebanon's government officials do not hold any responsibility; they are hostage puppets of Hezbollah without any decision-making capability. Because of its arsenal and training, Hezbollah is more powerful than the useless Lebanese Army.

So, why does Baerbock and other western officials continue to negotiate with the Lebanese hostages of Hezbollah instead of negotiating directly with Hezbollah is beyond comprehension. In the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, the international community negotitated with an equally hollow Lebanese government and came up with UNSCR 1701. But Hezbollah has refused to abide by the resolution. So why are westerners repeating the same mistake?

The imbecile American negotiator Amos Hochstein is now proposing that Hezbollah withdraw 8 kilometers north of the border. Whether 5, 8, 10 or 20 kilometers won't make a difference. The underlying problem is the Iranian and Syrian occupations of Lebanon through their proxy Hezbollah. Since the early 1980s, the West has been retreating before the growing Syrian-Iranian threat and has abandoned Lebanon. Several opportunities presented themselves to extricate Lebanon form the Syrian-Iranian hold, but the West either fled or colluded with Syria and Iran against Lebanon, which allowed Hezbollah to grow into the threat it poses today. 

Lebanon is no longer a functioning state. If the international community wants an end to the long-standing conflict in south Lebanon, it must work to empower the Lebanese state, and seriously arm its legitimate armed forces so they take full control of the borders with both Syria and Israel. Otherwise, haggling over 5 kilometers or 20 kilometers is a pathetic way of kicking the can down the road and avoiding facing up to the underlying problem. Lebanon has been plagued by the same problem for the past 6 decades, ever since it was forced in 1969 by the cowardly Arab states to cede its territory in the south to rogue organizations (PLO, Hezbollah etc.).