• Inside the anti-Syria lobby’s Capitol Hill push for more starvation sanctions
    Hekmat AboukhaterMarch 20, 2024

    A week from the 13th anniversary of the US-backed Syrian dirty war, the American Coalition for Syria held its annual day of advocacy in Washington DC. I went undercover into meetings with Senate policy advisors and witnessed the lobby’s cynical campaign to starve Syria into submission.

    On the morning of March 7, as the US Capitol teemed with lobbyists securing earmarks ahead of appropriations week and activists decrying the Gaza genocide, one special interest group on the Hill stood out. In the corridors of the Rayburn building, a group of roughly 50 people prepared for a busy day of advocating for sanctions to be levied against their homeland.

    They were the Anti-Syria lobby — and had I infiltrated their influence campaign.

    Throughout the day, I watched as this group pushed US officials to accept their policy of starvation sanctions while cynically ignoring famished Palestinians in Gaza.

    Among the lobbyists was Raed Saleh, the head of the Syrian White Helmets, who were to propagandize for regime change from behind humanitarian cover.

    I attended a total of seven meetings with policy teams representing Senators Sherrod Brown, Maggie Hassan, Ben Cardin, Mark Kelly, Chris Van Hollen, John Fetterman, and Rick Scott. Throughout these sessions, I witnessed the anti-Syria Lobby attempt to bully and manipulate US officials into accepting their policy of starvation while cynically throwing starving Palestinians in Gaza under the bus.

    At one moment, Raed Saleh, head of the Syrian White Helmets, which was founded by British intelligence, and funded by NATO states, painted Israeli air strikes against Syria in a positive light.

    During a separate meeting, Wa’el Alzayat of the pro-Zionist Muslim outreach Emgage even demanded Senator Chris Van Hollen’s office support the approval of aid for Al Qaeda-linked militias in Syria.

    “Stop freaking out about the stuff going to terrorists,” he insisted, adding that “the Brits are doing it, the Turks are doing it, [and] the Qataris are doing it.”

    Purporting to be a voice for all Syrians, the anti-Syria lobby is spearheaded by the American Coalition for Syria (ACS), an umbrella organization representing opposition groups such as the Syrian American Council (SAC), the Syrian Forum, and a handful of others located in the US and Turkey.

    Emgage, meanwhile, has been credited with getting the diaspora vote out for then-candidate Joe Biden in November 2020. The group has since fallen under criticism for acting as a de facto extension of the Biden White House and Democratic Party within the Muslim community. Emgage board member Farooq Mitha formally went to work for the Biden Pentagon in March 2021. On March 7, Alzayat aimed to weaponize Emgage’s influence against Democratic Senators who seemed uncomfortable with an escalating sanctions policy.

    “I need a good story for my voters,” he explained to Senator Van Hollen’s team.

    Throughout their sanctions campaign on the Hill, Alzayat and his cohorts operated like a miniature version of their Israel lobby allies, supplying roughly 50 volunteers with folders outlining talking points and the biographies of congressional representatives. The bios included a comprehensive list of the Senator or Representative’s recorded stance on Syria, such as their votes on the extension of the AUMF, the US military withdrawal from Syria, and previous sanctions packages targeting the country.



    The handouts also laid out the lobby’s key legislative requests, which largely focused on securing development aid for militia-controlled territory in Syria — including that held by Al Qaeda’s local ally in the country — and ensuring passage of the ‘Assad Regime Anti Normalization Bill,’ which seeks to extend and expand sanctions targeting Damascus.

    The Anti-Syria Lobby’s resemblance to their Israeli counterparts was no mistake. As Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott’s chief of staff reassured us, “the Israelis want you guys in charge.”


    Syrian Civil War map|Syrian Civil War map (November 24, 2023) via Wikimedia Commons. Edited by author
    More Starvation Sanctions

    Ever since the US included Syria on its inaugural State Sponsor of Terrorism (SST) list over Damascus’ support for the Palestinian resistance in 1979, Washington has gradually ratcheted up its financial war on the Syrian people. When decades of covert hybrid war erupted into an all-out proxy battle for the country’s territory—and survival—in 2011, the Anti-Syria Lobby officially began to take shape in Washington.


    Syria is the unrivaled champion of the SST having never been delisted since the list’s inception in 1979.
    In 2019, as Syria’s government emerged victorious from a multi-year battle with foreign-backed militias, Washington decided that while Damascus may have won the war, it would not win the peace. That January, New York Rep. Eliot Engel, a recipient of $1.8 million in AIPAC donations, introduced a sanctions package known as the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act. Trump signed the bill as part of the National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2020.


    The US has a 45-year long tradition of sanctioning and isolating Syria economically in response to the country’s support of Palestinian resistance
    The bill was unprecedented in both the way that it sanctioned broad sectors of the Syrian economy rather than only specific individuals, and in its deployment of so-called “secondary sanctions.” Secondary sanctions are imposed on parties that do business with a sanctioned entity even if those exchanges occur outside of the sanctioning entity’s jurisdiction.

    Syria’s economy has been in free fall ever since the Caesar sanctions came into effect. Today, over 12 million Syrians representing more than half of the total population face food insecurity — a 51% increase from 2019. Meanwhile, 90 percent of the population lives under the poverty line. In 2019, the US dollar exchanged for 500 Syrian Pounds. Today, that number is more like 14,100— figures that represent a 2,720 percent devaluation.


    The Syrian currency has devalued by 35,150% since the initial exchange rate of 40 SYP to 1 USD early 2011
    Though H.R. 3202 appears to be focused on addressing UN aid divergence, and sanctioning previously unsanctioned entities like Asma Al Assad’s Syria Trust for Development and the Syrian Red Crescent, the real agenda of the bill is found deep within its 22-page text.

    With the Caesar Sanctions set to expire by the end of 2024, H.R. 3202 seeks to quietly extend the aggressive financial measures until 2032.


    The new bill’s main aim, which received very little attention, is the extension of the Caesar Act for 8 more years.
    Having passed the House with overwhelming enthusiasm, H.R. 3202’s sister bill in the Senate can only pass with Democratic support. It was introduced by Israeli lobby-funded Republican Idaho Sen. James Risch last September and has since been co-sponsored by arch-neoconservative Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

    Because S. 2935 can only pass with Democratic sponsorship, the Anti-Syria Lobby chose Sen. Ben Cardin, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and sponsor of the anti-Russia Magnitsky Act, as a crucial target for influence.

    After meeting with Sherrod Brown’s office, Cardin’s Research and Legislative Assistant, Christopher Barr, hosted us in the Senator’s office. There, Raed Saleh of the White Helmets complained to Barr that USAID had slashed funding for his organization from $12 million to $3 million in recent years.

    Next, it was time to discuss the true purpose of our visit: the passage of S. 2935.

    Barr appeared uneasy from the outset and even expressed displeasure about the bill, complaining, “What passed the House was kind of a lot… the list of targets is vast.”

    “Syria has already been so heavily sanctioned,” he added.

    In response, Ghanem revealed a critical piece of information about the forces driving the dirty war on Syria, explaining that the impetus to expand and extend Caesar did not come from the Anti-Syria Lobby itself, but someone on Capitol Hill. Ghanem explained that the Hill source actually contacted the American Coalition for Syria to alert them to the fact that Caesar was set to expire, lamenting the fact that its sunset would amount to a loss of “US leverage over the Syrian regime.”

    This line echoed the disturbing language of officials representing both the Biden and Trump administration alike. In 2019, neoconservative operative Dana Stroul declared that thanks to Caesar, Washington “holds a card on preventing reconstruction aid and technical expertise from going back,” to Syria. She lauded the fact that the U.S. could weaponize that “leverage” to keep Syria in “rubble.” Two years later, she would take up post as Deputy Secretary of Defense for the Middle East under Biden.


    Similarly, during an event at the neoconservative think tank, WINEP, the following year, the Special Envoy for Syria under Trump, Joel Rayburn, boasted that Caesar “lowers the bar” for evidence-based sanctions and allows for the broad targeting of any and all reconstruction projects in Syria.


    “We don’t have to prove, for example, that a company that’s going in to do a reconstruction project in the Damascus region is dealing directly with the Assad regime,” Rayburn explained.

    “We don’t have to have the evidence to prove that link,” he continued. “We just have to have the evidence that proves that a company or an individual is investing in […] the construction sector, the engineering sector, most of the aviation sector, the finance sector, energy sector, and so on.”

    These public confessions did not stop the Anti-Syria Lobby from lying to the faces of congressional staffers throughout their March 7 campaign. During a meeting with Sen. Mark Kelly’s office, Ghanem falsely stated that the Caesar Sanctions were “targeted,” “not sectoral,” and “not [an] embargo, nothing punishing to civilians.”

    Yet Alena Douhan, the UN Special Rapporteur on Sanctions who visited Syria to document the effects of Washington’s unilateral sanctions regime on Syria, disagrees. In her 19-page report she clearly states that the sanctions are both illegal and inhumane in the way they affect the average Syrian.

    Stabilization for me but not for thee

    The second legislative ask came in the form of a well rehearsed speech by Ghanem, Zayat, and others, outlining what US tax dollars do and don’t fund in Syria. US aid packages are typically divided into two categories: “humanitarian funding” earmarked for goods such as food, water, and basic medical supplies or “stabilization” funding designed to secure a country as it transitions out of a period of turmoil. Unlike humanitarian assistance, stabilization funding may be used to support major investment and infrastructure projects such as roads, schools, healthcare facilities, and government services.

    The US is the primary funder of humanitarian aid in both North East (NE) and NW Syria. However, while the US spends abundantly on stabilization needs in NE Syria, it spends $0 on the NW. That is because while Washington has long dreamed of establishing a secessionist Kurdish state in Syria’s Northeast, it neglected to send stabilization funds to the Northwest in order to avoid providing direct support to HTS, the Al Qaeda offshoot that governs the territory. The Anti-Syria Lobby was in Washington to change that.

    Leading the push for US funds to Al Qaeda-affiliated elements in Northwest Syria was Wa’el Alzayat, a Syrian expat who proudly served in Iraq’s Green Zone under George Bush’s State Department and more recently published a shocking Washington Post oped begging US officials not to “lift sanctions to help Syria earthquake victims.” In the office of Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Alzayat voiced his frustration with US hesitation in the Northwest.

    “Stop freaking out about the stuff going to terrorists,” he demanded, adding that “the Brits are doing it, the Turks are doing it, the Qataris are doing it.”




    We’re missing out on a golden opportunity here to stabilize the region and leverage it for a political settlement,” he pleaded. In other words, Alzayat was openly lobbying US officials to strengthen Al Qaeda’s position in Syria in order to leverage the terrorist group against the country’s government.

    Alzayat then weaponized his six-figure salary as head of Emgage to bully Van Hollen’s office into bowing before the anti-Syria Lobby, falsely claiming that his AIPAC-linked organization was “behind” the “Uncommitted” vote campaigns that damaged Biden’s primary performance in Michigan and Minnesota.




    Towards the end of the meeting, the regime change lobbyist cynically invoked Israel’s slaughter of 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza to make the case for Al Qaeda in Syria one last time.

    He argued that although “his community” is up in arms about the Biden administration’s funding and arming of the Gaza genocide, they would gladly flock back to the Democratic Party if the US funded roads and schools in Al Qaeda-controlled Idlib.

    “I need a good story for my voters,” Alzayat explained, noting the Muslim community’s disapproval of the Biden Administration’s policy in Gaza and Yemen.

    “You’re upset about all these disappointments,” he continued, play-acting a scenario in which he convinced a Muslim constituent to vote for Biden, again. “Guess what? They’re pumping 50 million into the school sector in the North [of Syria]!”




    Overtures Towards Israel

    The Israel-Palestine crisis loomed large throughout the ACS lobbying trip. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s secretary happened to be a hijabi Muslim woman sporting a pendant outlining the map of Palestine around her neck. As she greeted us, Farouk Belal, the head of the Syrian American Council, grumbled to Ghanem and me: “I hope she’s not with the resistance.”

    When I asked him to clarify what he meant as we exited the office, he explained that people aligned with the Palestinian cause in Washington “don’t like us.”

    Meanwhile, in Sen. Cardin’s office, Raed Salah of the White Helmets painted Israeli strikes on Syria which have crippled Syrian infrastructure, regularly damaged the country’s International civilian airports, and killed hundreds of Syrian Soldiers and civilians alike in a positive light:

    “The situation in Syria is very complicated. Every day we hear of Israeli strikes on the dens, or the bases of the IRGC and its militias. Even we as Syrians did not know the extent to which the Iranians were entrenched in the country…”




    For Saleh, the Israeli strikes do nothing but highlight the presence of the Syrian government-invited Iranian military presence in Syria.

    Later that day, Ghanem attempted to capitalize on Sen. Fetterman’s fanatical pro-Israel antics by describing recent developments in Syria to a 20-something staffer. Referring to the Syrian government’s successful campaign to retake southern territory, he explained that the South is “where they lob missiles on Israel, by the way.” The aide dutifully transcribed this seemingly random piece of information in her notepad. Towards the end of the meeting, Fetterman was discussed as a potential Democratic sponsor of S. 2935 in the Senate.

    In Senator Rick Scott’s office, a Cuban American Government Relations Associate for ACS, Alberto Hernandez, accidentally said the quiet part out loud. When Senator Scott’s ultra-Zionist National Security Advisor, Paul Bonicelli, asked if our group had connected with our “counterparts” in the Israeli lobby so that they could “vet” our proposals — revealing that Scott has apparently outsourced his brain to Zionists — Hernandez remarked: “Formally? No. Informally.”

    He then turned to the rest of the ACS team in the meeting room and said: “You didn’t hear me say that.”

    That admission prompted Bonicelli to suggest that ACS directly coordinate with groups such as the Aramaic Church in Israel, which has supported regime change efforts in Damascus despite overwhelming Christian support of the government within Syria itself.

    As the meeting wound to a close, Bonicelli informed us that he agreed with ACS on the necessity to oppose Iran and Russia.

    “If Obama had done the right thing in 2012, we wouldn’t be here,” he lamented, adding: “the Israelis want you guys in charge.”


    At one point during the meeting in Rick Scott’s Office, Alberto Hernandez, and Sarah Salas, a Cuban American legislative aide, expressed full agreement with US use of unilateral sanctions as means to “push” governments that “we don’t like.”
    Starving Syrians Without A Mandate

    Though several ACS volunteers shared painful personal encounters with the Syrian government throughout the day, many were simply too far removed from Syria to truly represent the voice of Syrian people, especially the 12 million plus civilians currently living in Syrian government-controlled territory.

    One 24-year-old woman who did not speak Arabic and has not been to Syria since 2003 described the Syrian Army’s 2016 liberation of Aleppo from Al Qaeda-linked militants as “the fall of Aleppo.”

    Other Syrians like myself experienced the terror of the West’s proxy war in Syria firsthand. In 2012, my aunt and cousins watched in horror as the Turkish-backed Liwa’ Al Tawhid, an umbrella group of takfiri jihadist militias, arrived on their street in the Seryan El Jdideh neighborhood of Aleppo. The militants proceeded to execute a local pick-up truck driver and steal his vehicle, leaving his bleeding corpse on the street. Shahba, where my family lived up until 2015, was located just a stone’s throw away from these sectarian death squads during our final months there.

    The Syrian dirty war was bloody and gruesome, yet the picture that ACS paints is entirely one-sided. Unfortunately, while organizations like ACS have flocked to the Beltway swamp throughout the last 13 years, there are no Syrians present in Washington DC to counter them. While these groups claim to speak on behalf of the Syrian people, those of us who have lived and still live in areas controlled by Syrian government — regardless of our political affiliations—are rendered voiceless in the very center of power where our perspective should matter most. Even Syria’s embassy has been shuttered since 2014, while Syrian diplomats at the UN in New York are heavily monitored and restricted from traveling beyond the NYC metro area.

    As I witnessed on Capitol Hill, there are few obstacles to the anti-Syria lobby’s ruthless push to prevent the majority of Syrians from emerging from the ruins of war.

    https://thegrayzone.com/2024/03/20/anti-syria-lobbys-capitol-hill-sanctions/
    Inside the anti-Syria lobby’s Capitol Hill push for more starvation sanctions Hekmat AboukhaterMarch 20, 2024 A week from the 13th anniversary of the US-backed Syrian dirty war, the American Coalition for Syria held its annual day of advocacy in Washington DC. I went undercover into meetings with Senate policy advisors and witnessed the lobby’s cynical campaign to starve Syria into submission. On the morning of March 7, as the US Capitol teemed with lobbyists securing earmarks ahead of appropriations week and activists decrying the Gaza genocide, one special interest group on the Hill stood out. In the corridors of the Rayburn building, a group of roughly 50 people prepared for a busy day of advocating for sanctions to be levied against their homeland. They were the Anti-Syria lobby — and had I infiltrated their influence campaign. Throughout the day, I watched as this group pushed US officials to accept their policy of starvation sanctions while cynically ignoring famished Palestinians in Gaza. Among the lobbyists was Raed Saleh, the head of the Syrian White Helmets, who were to propagandize for regime change from behind humanitarian cover. I attended a total of seven meetings with policy teams representing Senators Sherrod Brown, Maggie Hassan, Ben Cardin, Mark Kelly, Chris Van Hollen, John Fetterman, and Rick Scott. Throughout these sessions, I witnessed the anti-Syria Lobby attempt to bully and manipulate US officials into accepting their policy of starvation while cynically throwing starving Palestinians in Gaza under the bus. At one moment, Raed Saleh, head of the Syrian White Helmets, which was founded by British intelligence, and funded by NATO states, painted Israeli air strikes against Syria in a positive light. During a separate meeting, Wa’el Alzayat of the pro-Zionist Muslim outreach Emgage even demanded Senator Chris Van Hollen’s office support the approval of aid for Al Qaeda-linked militias in Syria. “Stop freaking out about the stuff going to terrorists,” he insisted, adding that “the Brits are doing it, the Turks are doing it, [and] the Qataris are doing it.” Purporting to be a voice for all Syrians, the anti-Syria lobby is spearheaded by the American Coalition for Syria (ACS), an umbrella organization representing opposition groups such as the Syrian American Council (SAC), the Syrian Forum, and a handful of others located in the US and Turkey. Emgage, meanwhile, has been credited with getting the diaspora vote out for then-candidate Joe Biden in November 2020. The group has since fallen under criticism for acting as a de facto extension of the Biden White House and Democratic Party within the Muslim community. Emgage board member Farooq Mitha formally went to work for the Biden Pentagon in March 2021. On March 7, Alzayat aimed to weaponize Emgage’s influence against Democratic Senators who seemed uncomfortable with an escalating sanctions policy. “I need a good story for my voters,” he explained to Senator Van Hollen’s team. Throughout their sanctions campaign on the Hill, Alzayat and his cohorts operated like a miniature version of their Israel lobby allies, supplying roughly 50 volunteers with folders outlining talking points and the biographies of congressional representatives. The bios included a comprehensive list of the Senator or Representative’s recorded stance on Syria, such as their votes on the extension of the AUMF, the US military withdrawal from Syria, and previous sanctions packages targeting the country. The handouts also laid out the lobby’s key legislative requests, which largely focused on securing development aid for militia-controlled territory in Syria — including that held by Al Qaeda’s local ally in the country — and ensuring passage of the ‘Assad Regime Anti Normalization Bill,’ which seeks to extend and expand sanctions targeting Damascus. The Anti-Syria Lobby’s resemblance to their Israeli counterparts was no mistake. As Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott’s chief of staff reassured us, “the Israelis want you guys in charge.” Syrian Civil War map|Syrian Civil War map (November 24, 2023) via Wikimedia Commons. Edited by author More Starvation Sanctions Ever since the US included Syria on its inaugural State Sponsor of Terrorism (SST) list over Damascus’ support for the Palestinian resistance in 1979, Washington has gradually ratcheted up its financial war on the Syrian people. When decades of covert hybrid war erupted into an all-out proxy battle for the country’s territory—and survival—in 2011, the Anti-Syria Lobby officially began to take shape in Washington. Syria is the unrivaled champion of the SST having never been delisted since the list’s inception in 1979. In 2019, as Syria’s government emerged victorious from a multi-year battle with foreign-backed militias, Washington decided that while Damascus may have won the war, it would not win the peace. That January, New York Rep. Eliot Engel, a recipient of $1.8 million in AIPAC donations, introduced a sanctions package known as the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act. Trump signed the bill as part of the National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2020. The US has a 45-year long tradition of sanctioning and isolating Syria economically in response to the country’s support of Palestinian resistance The bill was unprecedented in both the way that it sanctioned broad sectors of the Syrian economy rather than only specific individuals, and in its deployment of so-called “secondary sanctions.” Secondary sanctions are imposed on parties that do business with a sanctioned entity even if those exchanges occur outside of the sanctioning entity’s jurisdiction. Syria’s economy has been in free fall ever since the Caesar sanctions came into effect. Today, over 12 million Syrians representing more than half of the total population face food insecurity — a 51% increase from 2019. Meanwhile, 90 percent of the population lives under the poverty line. In 2019, the US dollar exchanged for 500 Syrian Pounds. Today, that number is more like 14,100— figures that represent a 2,720 percent devaluation. The Syrian currency has devalued by 35,150% since the initial exchange rate of 40 SYP to 1 USD early 2011 Though H.R. 3202 appears to be focused on addressing UN aid divergence, and sanctioning previously unsanctioned entities like Asma Al Assad’s Syria Trust for Development and the Syrian Red Crescent, the real agenda of the bill is found deep within its 22-page text. With the Caesar Sanctions set to expire by the end of 2024, H.R. 3202 seeks to quietly extend the aggressive financial measures until 2032. The new bill’s main aim, which received very little attention, is the extension of the Caesar Act for 8 more years. Having passed the House with overwhelming enthusiasm, H.R. 3202’s sister bill in the Senate can only pass with Democratic support. It was introduced by Israeli lobby-funded Republican Idaho Sen. James Risch last September and has since been co-sponsored by arch-neoconservative Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Because S. 2935 can only pass with Democratic sponsorship, the Anti-Syria Lobby chose Sen. Ben Cardin, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and sponsor of the anti-Russia Magnitsky Act, as a crucial target for influence. After meeting with Sherrod Brown’s office, Cardin’s Research and Legislative Assistant, Christopher Barr, hosted us in the Senator’s office. There, Raed Saleh of the White Helmets complained to Barr that USAID had slashed funding for his organization from $12 million to $3 million in recent years. Next, it was time to discuss the true purpose of our visit: the passage of S. 2935. Barr appeared uneasy from the outset and even expressed displeasure about the bill, complaining, “What passed the House was kind of a lot… the list of targets is vast.” “Syria has already been so heavily sanctioned,” he added. In response, Ghanem revealed a critical piece of information about the forces driving the dirty war on Syria, explaining that the impetus to expand and extend Caesar did not come from the Anti-Syria Lobby itself, but someone on Capitol Hill. Ghanem explained that the Hill source actually contacted the American Coalition for Syria to alert them to the fact that Caesar was set to expire, lamenting the fact that its sunset would amount to a loss of “US leverage over the Syrian regime.” This line echoed the disturbing language of officials representing both the Biden and Trump administration alike. In 2019, neoconservative operative Dana Stroul declared that thanks to Caesar, Washington “holds a card on preventing reconstruction aid and technical expertise from going back,” to Syria. She lauded the fact that the U.S. could weaponize that “leverage” to keep Syria in “rubble.” Two years later, she would take up post as Deputy Secretary of Defense for the Middle East under Biden. Similarly, during an event at the neoconservative think tank, WINEP, the following year, the Special Envoy for Syria under Trump, Joel Rayburn, boasted that Caesar “lowers the bar” for evidence-based sanctions and allows for the broad targeting of any and all reconstruction projects in Syria. “We don’t have to prove, for example, that a company that’s going in to do a reconstruction project in the Damascus region is dealing directly with the Assad regime,” Rayburn explained. “We don’t have to have the evidence to prove that link,” he continued. “We just have to have the evidence that proves that a company or an individual is investing in […] the construction sector, the engineering sector, most of the aviation sector, the finance sector, energy sector, and so on.” These public confessions did not stop the Anti-Syria Lobby from lying to the faces of congressional staffers throughout their March 7 campaign. During a meeting with Sen. Mark Kelly’s office, Ghanem falsely stated that the Caesar Sanctions were “targeted,” “not sectoral,” and “not [an] embargo, nothing punishing to civilians.” Yet Alena Douhan, the UN Special Rapporteur on Sanctions who visited Syria to document the effects of Washington’s unilateral sanctions regime on Syria, disagrees. In her 19-page report she clearly states that the sanctions are both illegal and inhumane in the way they affect the average Syrian. Stabilization for me but not for thee The second legislative ask came in the form of a well rehearsed speech by Ghanem, Zayat, and others, outlining what US tax dollars do and don’t fund in Syria. US aid packages are typically divided into two categories: “humanitarian funding” earmarked for goods such as food, water, and basic medical supplies or “stabilization” funding designed to secure a country as it transitions out of a period of turmoil. Unlike humanitarian assistance, stabilization funding may be used to support major investment and infrastructure projects such as roads, schools, healthcare facilities, and government services. The US is the primary funder of humanitarian aid in both North East (NE) and NW Syria. However, while the US spends abundantly on stabilization needs in NE Syria, it spends $0 on the NW. That is because while Washington has long dreamed of establishing a secessionist Kurdish state in Syria’s Northeast, it neglected to send stabilization funds to the Northwest in order to avoid providing direct support to HTS, the Al Qaeda offshoot that governs the territory. The Anti-Syria Lobby was in Washington to change that. Leading the push for US funds to Al Qaeda-affiliated elements in Northwest Syria was Wa’el Alzayat, a Syrian expat who proudly served in Iraq’s Green Zone under George Bush’s State Department and more recently published a shocking Washington Post oped begging US officials not to “lift sanctions to help Syria earthquake victims.” In the office of Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Alzayat voiced his frustration with US hesitation in the Northwest. “Stop freaking out about the stuff going to terrorists,” he demanded, adding that “the Brits are doing it, the Turks are doing it, the Qataris are doing it.” We’re missing out on a golden opportunity here to stabilize the region and leverage it for a political settlement,” he pleaded. In other words, Alzayat was openly lobbying US officials to strengthen Al Qaeda’s position in Syria in order to leverage the terrorist group against the country’s government. Alzayat then weaponized his six-figure salary as head of Emgage to bully Van Hollen’s office into bowing before the anti-Syria Lobby, falsely claiming that his AIPAC-linked organization was “behind” the “Uncommitted” vote campaigns that damaged Biden’s primary performance in Michigan and Minnesota. Towards the end of the meeting, the regime change lobbyist cynically invoked Israel’s slaughter of 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza to make the case for Al Qaeda in Syria one last time. He argued that although “his community” is up in arms about the Biden administration’s funding and arming of the Gaza genocide, they would gladly flock back to the Democratic Party if the US funded roads and schools in Al Qaeda-controlled Idlib. “I need a good story for my voters,” Alzayat explained, noting the Muslim community’s disapproval of the Biden Administration’s policy in Gaza and Yemen. “You’re upset about all these disappointments,” he continued, play-acting a scenario in which he convinced a Muslim constituent to vote for Biden, again. “Guess what? They’re pumping 50 million into the school sector in the North [of Syria]!” Overtures Towards Israel The Israel-Palestine crisis loomed large throughout the ACS lobbying trip. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s secretary happened to be a hijabi Muslim woman sporting a pendant outlining the map of Palestine around her neck. As she greeted us, Farouk Belal, the head of the Syrian American Council, grumbled to Ghanem and me: “I hope she’s not with the resistance.” When I asked him to clarify what he meant as we exited the office, he explained that people aligned with the Palestinian cause in Washington “don’t like us.” Meanwhile, in Sen. Cardin’s office, Raed Salah of the White Helmets painted Israeli strikes on Syria which have crippled Syrian infrastructure, regularly damaged the country’s International civilian airports, and killed hundreds of Syrian Soldiers and civilians alike in a positive light: “The situation in Syria is very complicated. Every day we hear of Israeli strikes on the dens, or the bases of the IRGC and its militias. Even we as Syrians did not know the extent to which the Iranians were entrenched in the country…” For Saleh, the Israeli strikes do nothing but highlight the presence of the Syrian government-invited Iranian military presence in Syria. Later that day, Ghanem attempted to capitalize on Sen. Fetterman’s fanatical pro-Israel antics by describing recent developments in Syria to a 20-something staffer. Referring to the Syrian government’s successful campaign to retake southern territory, he explained that the South is “where they lob missiles on Israel, by the way.” The aide dutifully transcribed this seemingly random piece of information in her notepad. Towards the end of the meeting, Fetterman was discussed as a potential Democratic sponsor of S. 2935 in the Senate. In Senator Rick Scott’s office, a Cuban American Government Relations Associate for ACS, Alberto Hernandez, accidentally said the quiet part out loud. When Senator Scott’s ultra-Zionist National Security Advisor, Paul Bonicelli, asked if our group had connected with our “counterparts” in the Israeli lobby so that they could “vet” our proposals — revealing that Scott has apparently outsourced his brain to Zionists — Hernandez remarked: “Formally? No. Informally.” He then turned to the rest of the ACS team in the meeting room and said: “You didn’t hear me say that.” That admission prompted Bonicelli to suggest that ACS directly coordinate with groups such as the Aramaic Church in Israel, which has supported regime change efforts in Damascus despite overwhelming Christian support of the government within Syria itself. As the meeting wound to a close, Bonicelli informed us that he agreed with ACS on the necessity to oppose Iran and Russia. “If Obama had done the right thing in 2012, we wouldn’t be here,” he lamented, adding: “the Israelis want you guys in charge.” At one point during the meeting in Rick Scott’s Office, Alberto Hernandez, and Sarah Salas, a Cuban American legislative aide, expressed full agreement with US use of unilateral sanctions as means to “push” governments that “we don’t like.” Starving Syrians Without A Mandate Though several ACS volunteers shared painful personal encounters with the Syrian government throughout the day, many were simply too far removed from Syria to truly represent the voice of Syrian people, especially the 12 million plus civilians currently living in Syrian government-controlled territory. One 24-year-old woman who did not speak Arabic and has not been to Syria since 2003 described the Syrian Army’s 2016 liberation of Aleppo from Al Qaeda-linked militants as “the fall of Aleppo.” Other Syrians like myself experienced the terror of the West’s proxy war in Syria firsthand. In 2012, my aunt and cousins watched in horror as the Turkish-backed Liwa’ Al Tawhid, an umbrella group of takfiri jihadist militias, arrived on their street in the Seryan El Jdideh neighborhood of Aleppo. The militants proceeded to execute a local pick-up truck driver and steal his vehicle, leaving his bleeding corpse on the street. Shahba, where my family lived up until 2015, was located just a stone’s throw away from these sectarian death squads during our final months there. The Syrian dirty war was bloody and gruesome, yet the picture that ACS paints is entirely one-sided. Unfortunately, while organizations like ACS have flocked to the Beltway swamp throughout the last 13 years, there are no Syrians present in Washington DC to counter them. While these groups claim to speak on behalf of the Syrian people, those of us who have lived and still live in areas controlled by Syrian government — regardless of our political affiliations—are rendered voiceless in the very center of power where our perspective should matter most. Even Syria’s embassy has been shuttered since 2014, while Syrian diplomats at the UN in New York are heavily monitored and restricted from traveling beyond the NYC metro area. As I witnessed on Capitol Hill, there are few obstacles to the anti-Syria lobby’s ruthless push to prevent the majority of Syrians from emerging from the ruins of war. https://thegrayzone.com/2024/03/20/anti-syria-lobbys-capitol-hill-sanctions/
    THEGRAYZONE.COM
    Inside the anti-Syria lobby's Capitol Hill push for more starvation sanctions - The Grayzone
    A week from the 13th anniversary of the US-backed Syrian dirty war, the American Coalition for Syria held its annual day of advocacy in Washington DC. I went undercover into meetings with Senate policy advisors and witnessed the lobby’s cynical campaign to starve Syria into submission. On the morning of March 7, as the US Capitol teemed with lobbyists securing earmarks ahead of appropriations week and activists decrying the Gaza genocide, one special interest group on the Hill stood out. […]
    1 Reacties 0 aandelen 3215 Views
  • ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 166: Israel kills Gaza officials handling food delivery to the north; Canada votes to halt arms sales to Israel
    Mustafa Abu SneinehMarch 20, 2024
    Palestinians embrace in a bombed out building that was attacked by Israeli airstrikes in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing 27 members of the same family (Photo: APA Images)
    A view from the damaged buildings after Israeli airstrikes on Nuseirat in central Gaza killed 27 members of the same family on March 20, 2024. As a result of the attack, many buildings were destroyed and surrounding buildings were damaged. Palestinians in the area carried out search and rescue operations in the rubble of buildings destroyed in the attack. (Omar Ashtawy/apaimages)
    Casualties

    31,923 + killed* and at least 74,096 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
    435+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.**
    Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
    594 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.***
    *Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on Telegram channel. Some rights groups put the death toll number at more than 40,000 when accounting for those presumed dead.

    ** The death toll in West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to PA’s Ministry of Health on March 17, this is the latest figure.

    *** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.”

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    Key Developments

    Israel bombs members of Palestinian clans and officers of Gaza’s emergency committee who handled aid supplies and delivery in north Gaza.
    Among people Israel killed on Tuesday evening is Amjad Hathat, director of Gaza’s emergency committee. On Monday, Israel assassinated Faiq Mabhouh, head of police operations in Gaza, who handled delivery of food in north Gaza.
    Hamas accuses Israel of spreading chaos in north Gaza in bid to create “administrative vacuum” by targeting members of emergency committee.
    In north Gaza, every 25 individuals share one kilogram of flour, or 20 loaves of bread, over one or two days. However, thousands of others cannot get a single loaf.
    Doctor who visited Gaza tells UN that “infections are getting worse and worse,” with whole families suffering from explosive injuries and burns.
    Israeli airstrikes on houses in Nuseirat refugee camp kill at least 27 Palestinians from the Habbash family.
    Israel’s Finance Minister says expanding settlements is “holistic Zionist response to [EU] declaration” of planned sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
    Israeli forces and settlers kill two Palestinians in the West Bank in separate incidents.
    Canada to halt arms sales to Israel after non-binding vote in parliament.
    Agreement made between White House and U.S. Congress bars U.S. funds to UNRWA until March 2025, according to a Reuters report.
    Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says, “We will reiterate our opposition to military action on the ground by Israel in Rafah that could have even more catastrophic consequences for the civilians crowded in that area.”
    Israel bombs north Gaza’s Kuwait roundabout, targeting authorities tasked with aid delivery

    Israeli forces bombed a gathering point of dozens of Palestinians near the Kuwait roundabout in Gaza City, killing at least 23 people and injuring dozens on Tuesday evening.

    Most of them were members of Palestinian clans and officers of Gaza’s emergency committee who handled aid supplies and deliveries to starving people in north Gaza.

    Since Saturday, they had successfully ensured the arrival of 35 aid trucks at the Kuwait and Nabulsi roundabouts, unloading the deliveries in shelters and centers of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza’s Al-Tuffah neighborhood and Jabalia refugee camp.

    Such a mission could not have been successful without Gaza Police directing Palestinians not to gather around aid trucks on Al-Rashid and Sala El-Din streets in north Gaza and allowing the emergency committee to do its job of unloading and distributing food.

    The missions between local police, the heads of clans in Gaza, and UNRWA were coordinated in an effort to protect civilians in the north after numerous attacks in recent weeks in which Israeli forces shot and killed hundreds of Palestinians as crowds attempted to get food and flour from trucks in Gaza since late February; a number of the dead were also reportedly killed in the crowd crush.

    In the past few days, Palestinians lined up to get their rations of flour inside the premises of the humanitarian centers in Jabalia and Gaza. Among the people Israel killed on Tuesday evening is Amjad Hathat, the director of Gaza’s emergency committee.

    Hamas says Israel is ‘spreading chaos’ in north Gaza

    In response to the targeting of the local officials in north Gaza, Hamas accused Israel of “spreading chaos” in a bid to create an “administrative vacuum” by targeting the emergency committee. Ismail Al-Thawabteh, a media government spokesperson, told Al-Jazeera Arabic that Israel allows aid trucks to enter north Gaza and then bombs people approaching it.

    On Monday evening, Israel assassinated Faiq Al-Mabhouh, the head of police operations in Gaza, who handled the entry of food trucks and managed to deliver 13 of them to north Gaza. Israel said Mabhouh was “the head of Operations Directorate of the Internal Security Service of Hamas.”

    Tel Aviv is trying to create an authority in the Gaza Strip in place of Hamas, and it views the successful coordination between local clans, Gaza Police and UN agencies to deliver aid as a sign of Hamas’s ability to administer in Gaza.

    Israel is still trying to use food and medical deliveries as a tool to strengthen and push some clan leaders to the front seat and put them in charge of handling the aid, coordinating with Israel and the international agencies.

    However, several Palestinian clans in the Gaza Strip refused to be “an alternative political regime” in the Gaza Strip and coordinate humanitarian missions with Israel.

    One kilogram of flour for every 25 people

    Although dozens of aid trucks reached north Gaza in the past days, where thousands of Palestinians are at risk of famine and starvation, the loads remain short to meet people’s needs.

    Al-Akhbar reported that a flour truck arrived at Abu Bakr al-Razi shelter center in Gaza’s Al-Tuffah neighborhood on Monday, where 8,000 people currently live, and contained 1,000 bags of flour, each weighing 25 kilograms.

    “We give each family what is sufficient for one or two days only. We have no other choice,” a member of the emergency committee told Al-Akhbar’s correspondent.

    “Every 25 individuals share one kilogram of flour. Knowing that a kilogram is enough to make 20 loaves, it means that a large number of people… won’t get even a single loaf of bread,” in Gaza, he added.

    Children in Gaza face grave injuries, malnutrition as hospitals struggle to operate

    A few trucks were also loaded with medical supplies and delivered to the UNRWA clinic in Jabalia, to Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals in north Gaza, which are depleted and partially operating. Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are still short of fuel, medicine and medical machines, while other hospitals like Al-Shifa in Gaza City have been under Israeli attack since Sunday.

    The World Health Organization (WHO) has long warned that Israel is generating a famine in north Gaza, and that “over a million people are expected to face catastrophic hunger unless significantly more food is allowed to enter Gaza.”

    Children have already started dying of malnutrition in Gaza, which has long-term effects, such as “low consumption of nutrient-rich foods, repeated infections, and [the] lack of hygiene and sanitation services slow children’s overall growth,” the WHO added.

    Israel has killed more than 13,000 children in bombing Gaza since October 7, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

    Four doctors from France, the U.S. and the U.K., who visited the Gaza Strip, said during a UN event in New York that the healthcare system in the enclave is collapsing and that they treated children severely burned by Israel’s bombs.

    Nick Maynard, a cancer surgeon with British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, saw a Palestinian girl so badly burned in an Israeli bombardment that he could see her facial bones.

    “We knew there was no chance of her surviving that but there was no morphine to give her,” Maynard said. “So not only was she inevitably going to die but she would die in agony.”

    Maynar said that an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah “will be apocalyptic, the number of deaths we’re going to see.”

    Amber Alayyan, a pediatrician doctor, said hospitals in Gaza are operating on patients and the injured amid lack of supplies and in dire conditions.

    “The infections are getting worse and worse,” she said.

    “We have seen patients who traveled, who were victims of explosive injuries, a family of 11, for example, a whole family that arrived at our hospital in the south from the north,” Alayyan told the UN.

    “They’ve been moving for three months looking for hospital care. They were victims of explosions. Eleven members of the family were burnt,” she added.

    Israeli attack on Nuseirat refugee camp kills 27 family members

    In the past 24 hours, Israeli forces committed 10 massacres in various areas of the Gaza Strip, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health on Telegram, killing at least 104 people and injuring 162. Thousands remain under the rubble of bombed buildings, and nearly 32,000 Palestinians were killed and 74,000 injured.

    Israeli air strikes on houses in Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza, killed at least 27 Palestinians from the Habbash family and injured dozens, Wafa news agency reported.

    In north Gaza, Israel bombed Al-Rimal and Al-Daraj neighborhoods. Palestinian rescue team recovered the bodies of 20 people in Gaza City following an Israeli bombardment.

    In Beit Lahia and Deir Al-Balah, Israeli artillery bombed several areas, while in Bureij refugee camp, six Palestinians were recovered from under the rubble of a bombed house.

    Italian PM opposes Rafah Invasion, Canada votes to stop arms transfers to Israel

    The Israeli government has vowed to press on with its planned invasion of the crowded city of Rafah in southern Gaza, despite warnings from international leaders and humanitarian groups. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has joined the chorus, saying that her country opposes the planned offensive.

    “We will reiterate our opposition to military action on the ground by Israel in Rafah that could have even more catastrophic consequences for the civilians crowded in that area,” Meloni told lawmakers in the Senate.

    Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said during a meeting with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi this week, that she is “concerned about the risks a full-scale offensive in Rafah would have on the most vulnerable civilian population. This needs to be avoided at all costs.”

    An Israeli invasion of Rafah, the southernmost town in the Gaza Strip where 1.2 million Palestinians are sheltering, could spike tensions with Egypt which watches the western side of the border.

    Some Israeli officials and ministers said their wish is to evacuate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt. However, Egypt is closing its borders firmly, and is not allowing mass flux of Palestinians to its territories.

    Meanwhile, Canada’s House of Commons voted on Tuesday to halt arms sales to Israel, with Canadian foreign affairs minister, Mélanie Joly, reaffirming the vote, saying her government would halt future arms shipments to Israel, saying “it is a real thing.”

    Smotrich calls settlements ‘holistic’ response to sanctions

    Israel’s Finance Minister and far-right settler Bezalel Smotrich, suggested that expanding settlement was the “holistic” response to an agreement by the EU on Monday to sanction Israeli settlers, who assaulted Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

    “There is one holistic Zionist response to this [EU] declaration, strengthening and entrenching settlement in all parts of the Land of Israel,” Smotrich said on Tuesday.

    He claimed that the Israeli justice system could deal with incidents of settlers’ violence on Palestinians. Israeli authorities systematically fail to investigate and prosecute ideological crimes against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and are often documented joining the settlers in their attacks on Palestinian communities.

    The far-right minister is a vocal opponent of the establishment of Palestinian state, and is a supporter of annexing the West Bank into Israel. In January, he said Israel should “encourage the migration of Gaza residents as a solution to the humanitarian crisis”.

    The U.S. has recently sanctioned several Israeli settlers involved in attacks against Palestinians, including two entire outposts for the first time.

    Israeli forces and settlers kill two Palestinians in West Bank

    Two Palestinian were killed in separate incidents in the West Bank on Tuesday afternoon.

    Ziad Farhan Diab Hamran, 31, from the Al-Hashimiyah village in Jenin, was shot by Israeli forces near the entrance of Beit Fajjar village and the settlement of Gush Etzion, near Bethlehem. His body remains in Israel’s custody.

    Israel said that Hamran shot two intelligence officers from the Shin Bet, who were injured in the attack. Hamran succumbed to his wounds on Tuesday evening.

    In Nablus, Israeli settlers killed Fakher Bassem Bani Jaber, 43, from Aqraba village, south of Nablus.

    Wafa reported that Jaber was taken to Rafidiya Hospital where he died. Settlers attacked Khirbet al-Tawil area, near Aqraba village, which prompted Palestinians to defend their lands.In occupied Jerusalem, only 20,000 Palestinians performed Ramadan’s Al-Tarawih prayer on the tenth night as Israeli authorities kept restricting the numbers of Palestinians who could enter Jerusalem from the West Bank. It was also rainy and cold in Jerusalem on Tuesday night, Wafa reported.

    BEFORE YOU GO – At Mondoweiss, we understand the power of telling Palestinian stories. For 17 years, we have pushed back when the mainstream media published lies or echoed politicians’ hateful rhetoric. Now, Palestinian voices are more important than ever.

    Our traffic has increased ten times since October 7, and we need your help to cover our increased expenses.

    Support our journalists with a donation today.


    https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-166-israel-kills-gaza-officials-handling-food-delivery-to-the-north-canada-votes-to-halt-arms-sales-to-israel/


    👉https://telegra.ph/Operation-Al-Aqsa-Flood-Day-166-Israel-kills-Gaza-officials-handling-food-delivery-to-the-north-Canada-votes-to-halt-arms-sales--03-20
    ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 166: Israel kills Gaza officials handling food delivery to the north; Canada votes to halt arms sales to Israel Mustafa Abu SneinehMarch 20, 2024 Palestinians embrace in a bombed out building that was attacked by Israeli airstrikes in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing 27 members of the same family (Photo: APA Images) A view from the damaged buildings after Israeli airstrikes on Nuseirat in central Gaza killed 27 members of the same family on March 20, 2024. As a result of the attack, many buildings were destroyed and surrounding buildings were damaged. Palestinians in the area carried out search and rescue operations in the rubble of buildings destroyed in the attack. (Omar Ashtawy/apaimages) Casualties 31,923 + killed* and at least 74,096 wounded in the Gaza Strip. 435+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.** Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147. 594 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.*** *Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on Telegram channel. Some rights groups put the death toll number at more than 40,000 when accounting for those presumed dead. ** The death toll in West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to PA’s Ministry of Health on March 17, this is the latest figure. *** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” Advertisement Follow the Mondoweiss channel on WhatsApp! Key Developments Israel bombs members of Palestinian clans and officers of Gaza’s emergency committee who handled aid supplies and delivery in north Gaza. Among people Israel killed on Tuesday evening is Amjad Hathat, director of Gaza’s emergency committee. On Monday, Israel assassinated Faiq Mabhouh, head of police operations in Gaza, who handled delivery of food in north Gaza. Hamas accuses Israel of spreading chaos in north Gaza in bid to create “administrative vacuum” by targeting members of emergency committee. In north Gaza, every 25 individuals share one kilogram of flour, or 20 loaves of bread, over one or two days. However, thousands of others cannot get a single loaf. Doctor who visited Gaza tells UN that “infections are getting worse and worse,” with whole families suffering from explosive injuries and burns. Israeli airstrikes on houses in Nuseirat refugee camp kill at least 27 Palestinians from the Habbash family. Israel’s Finance Minister says expanding settlements is “holistic Zionist response to [EU] declaration” of planned sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Israeli forces and settlers kill two Palestinians in the West Bank in separate incidents. Canada to halt arms sales to Israel after non-binding vote in parliament. Agreement made between White House and U.S. Congress bars U.S. funds to UNRWA until March 2025, according to a Reuters report. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says, “We will reiterate our opposition to military action on the ground by Israel in Rafah that could have even more catastrophic consequences for the civilians crowded in that area.” Israel bombs north Gaza’s Kuwait roundabout, targeting authorities tasked with aid delivery Israeli forces bombed a gathering point of dozens of Palestinians near the Kuwait roundabout in Gaza City, killing at least 23 people and injuring dozens on Tuesday evening. Most of them were members of Palestinian clans and officers of Gaza’s emergency committee who handled aid supplies and deliveries to starving people in north Gaza. Since Saturday, they had successfully ensured the arrival of 35 aid trucks at the Kuwait and Nabulsi roundabouts, unloading the deliveries in shelters and centers of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza’s Al-Tuffah neighborhood and Jabalia refugee camp. Such a mission could not have been successful without Gaza Police directing Palestinians not to gather around aid trucks on Al-Rashid and Sala El-Din streets in north Gaza and allowing the emergency committee to do its job of unloading and distributing food. The missions between local police, the heads of clans in Gaza, and UNRWA were coordinated in an effort to protect civilians in the north after numerous attacks in recent weeks in which Israeli forces shot and killed hundreds of Palestinians as crowds attempted to get food and flour from trucks in Gaza since late February; a number of the dead were also reportedly killed in the crowd crush. In the past few days, Palestinians lined up to get their rations of flour inside the premises of the humanitarian centers in Jabalia and Gaza. Among the people Israel killed on Tuesday evening is Amjad Hathat, the director of Gaza’s emergency committee. Hamas says Israel is ‘spreading chaos’ in north Gaza In response to the targeting of the local officials in north Gaza, Hamas accused Israel of “spreading chaos” in a bid to create an “administrative vacuum” by targeting the emergency committee. Ismail Al-Thawabteh, a media government spokesperson, told Al-Jazeera Arabic that Israel allows aid trucks to enter north Gaza and then bombs people approaching it. On Monday evening, Israel assassinated Faiq Al-Mabhouh, the head of police operations in Gaza, who handled the entry of food trucks and managed to deliver 13 of them to north Gaza. Israel said Mabhouh was “the head of Operations Directorate of the Internal Security Service of Hamas.” Tel Aviv is trying to create an authority in the Gaza Strip in place of Hamas, and it views the successful coordination between local clans, Gaza Police and UN agencies to deliver aid as a sign of Hamas’s ability to administer in Gaza. Israel is still trying to use food and medical deliveries as a tool to strengthen and push some clan leaders to the front seat and put them in charge of handling the aid, coordinating with Israel and the international agencies. However, several Palestinian clans in the Gaza Strip refused to be “an alternative political regime” in the Gaza Strip and coordinate humanitarian missions with Israel. One kilogram of flour for every 25 people Although dozens of aid trucks reached north Gaza in the past days, where thousands of Palestinians are at risk of famine and starvation, the loads remain short to meet people’s needs. Al-Akhbar reported that a flour truck arrived at Abu Bakr al-Razi shelter center in Gaza’s Al-Tuffah neighborhood on Monday, where 8,000 people currently live, and contained 1,000 bags of flour, each weighing 25 kilograms. “We give each family what is sufficient for one or two days only. We have no other choice,” a member of the emergency committee told Al-Akhbar’s correspondent. “Every 25 individuals share one kilogram of flour. Knowing that a kilogram is enough to make 20 loaves, it means that a large number of people… won’t get even a single loaf of bread,” in Gaza, he added. Children in Gaza face grave injuries, malnutrition as hospitals struggle to operate A few trucks were also loaded with medical supplies and delivered to the UNRWA clinic in Jabalia, to Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals in north Gaza, which are depleted and partially operating. Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are still short of fuel, medicine and medical machines, while other hospitals like Al-Shifa in Gaza City have been under Israeli attack since Sunday. The World Health Organization (WHO) has long warned that Israel is generating a famine in north Gaza, and that “over a million people are expected to face catastrophic hunger unless significantly more food is allowed to enter Gaza.” Children have already started dying of malnutrition in Gaza, which has long-term effects, such as “low consumption of nutrient-rich foods, repeated infections, and [the] lack of hygiene and sanitation services slow children’s overall growth,” the WHO added. Israel has killed more than 13,000 children in bombing Gaza since October 7, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Four doctors from France, the U.S. and the U.K., who visited the Gaza Strip, said during a UN event in New York that the healthcare system in the enclave is collapsing and that they treated children severely burned by Israel’s bombs. Nick Maynard, a cancer surgeon with British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, saw a Palestinian girl so badly burned in an Israeli bombardment that he could see her facial bones. “We knew there was no chance of her surviving that but there was no morphine to give her,” Maynard said. “So not only was she inevitably going to die but she would die in agony.” Maynar said that an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah “will be apocalyptic, the number of deaths we’re going to see.” Amber Alayyan, a pediatrician doctor, said hospitals in Gaza are operating on patients and the injured amid lack of supplies and in dire conditions. “The infections are getting worse and worse,” she said. “We have seen patients who traveled, who were victims of explosive injuries, a family of 11, for example, a whole family that arrived at our hospital in the south from the north,” Alayyan told the UN. “They’ve been moving for three months looking for hospital care. They were victims of explosions. Eleven members of the family were burnt,” she added. Israeli attack on Nuseirat refugee camp kills 27 family members In the past 24 hours, Israeli forces committed 10 massacres in various areas of the Gaza Strip, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health on Telegram, killing at least 104 people and injuring 162. Thousands remain under the rubble of bombed buildings, and nearly 32,000 Palestinians were killed and 74,000 injured. Israeli air strikes on houses in Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza, killed at least 27 Palestinians from the Habbash family and injured dozens, Wafa news agency reported. In north Gaza, Israel bombed Al-Rimal and Al-Daraj neighborhoods. Palestinian rescue team recovered the bodies of 20 people in Gaza City following an Israeli bombardment. In Beit Lahia and Deir Al-Balah, Israeli artillery bombed several areas, while in Bureij refugee camp, six Palestinians were recovered from under the rubble of a bombed house. Italian PM opposes Rafah Invasion, Canada votes to stop arms transfers to Israel The Israeli government has vowed to press on with its planned invasion of the crowded city of Rafah in southern Gaza, despite warnings from international leaders and humanitarian groups. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has joined the chorus, saying that her country opposes the planned offensive. “We will reiterate our opposition to military action on the ground by Israel in Rafah that could have even more catastrophic consequences for the civilians crowded in that area,” Meloni told lawmakers in the Senate. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said during a meeting with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi this week, that she is “concerned about the risks a full-scale offensive in Rafah would have on the most vulnerable civilian population. This needs to be avoided at all costs.” An Israeli invasion of Rafah, the southernmost town in the Gaza Strip where 1.2 million Palestinians are sheltering, could spike tensions with Egypt which watches the western side of the border. Some Israeli officials and ministers said their wish is to evacuate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt. However, Egypt is closing its borders firmly, and is not allowing mass flux of Palestinians to its territories. Meanwhile, Canada’s House of Commons voted on Tuesday to halt arms sales to Israel, with Canadian foreign affairs minister, Mélanie Joly, reaffirming the vote, saying her government would halt future arms shipments to Israel, saying “it is a real thing.” Smotrich calls settlements ‘holistic’ response to sanctions Israel’s Finance Minister and far-right settler Bezalel Smotrich, suggested that expanding settlement was the “holistic” response to an agreement by the EU on Monday to sanction Israeli settlers, who assaulted Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. “There is one holistic Zionist response to this [EU] declaration, strengthening and entrenching settlement in all parts of the Land of Israel,” Smotrich said on Tuesday. He claimed that the Israeli justice system could deal with incidents of settlers’ violence on Palestinians. Israeli authorities systematically fail to investigate and prosecute ideological crimes against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and are often documented joining the settlers in their attacks on Palestinian communities. The far-right minister is a vocal opponent of the establishment of Palestinian state, and is a supporter of annexing the West Bank into Israel. In January, he said Israel should “encourage the migration of Gaza residents as a solution to the humanitarian crisis”. The U.S. has recently sanctioned several Israeli settlers involved in attacks against Palestinians, including two entire outposts for the first time. Israeli forces and settlers kill two Palestinians in West Bank Two Palestinian were killed in separate incidents in the West Bank on Tuesday afternoon. Ziad Farhan Diab Hamran, 31, from the Al-Hashimiyah village in Jenin, was shot by Israeli forces near the entrance of Beit Fajjar village and the settlement of Gush Etzion, near Bethlehem. His body remains in Israel’s custody. Israel said that Hamran shot two intelligence officers from the Shin Bet, who were injured in the attack. Hamran succumbed to his wounds on Tuesday evening. In Nablus, Israeli settlers killed Fakher Bassem Bani Jaber, 43, from Aqraba village, south of Nablus. Wafa reported that Jaber was taken to Rafidiya Hospital where he died. Settlers attacked Khirbet al-Tawil area, near Aqraba village, which prompted Palestinians to defend their lands.In occupied Jerusalem, only 20,000 Palestinians performed Ramadan’s Al-Tarawih prayer on the tenth night as Israeli authorities kept restricting the numbers of Palestinians who could enter Jerusalem from the West Bank. It was also rainy and cold in Jerusalem on Tuesday night, Wafa reported. BEFORE YOU GO – At Mondoweiss, we understand the power of telling Palestinian stories. For 17 years, we have pushed back when the mainstream media published lies or echoed politicians’ hateful rhetoric. Now, Palestinian voices are more important than ever. Our traffic has increased ten times since October 7, and we need your help to cover our increased expenses. Support our journalists with a donation today. https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-166-israel-kills-gaza-officials-handling-food-delivery-to-the-north-canada-votes-to-halt-arms-sales-to-israel/ 👉https://telegra.ph/Operation-Al-Aqsa-Flood-Day-166-Israel-kills-Gaza-officials-handling-food-delivery-to-the-north-Canada-votes-to-halt-arms-sales--03-20
    MONDOWEISS.NET
    ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 166: Israel kills Gaza officials handling food delivery to the north; Canada votes to halt arms sales to Israel
    Hamas slams Israel for “spreading chaos” after an Israeli airstrike killed two local police officers in charge of securing and delivering food to north Gaza. In the West Bank, Israeli forces and settlers kill two Palestinians.
    2 Reacties 0 aandelen 3105 Views
  • The EU approves the European digital ID with 335 votes in favor and 190 against.

    Despite being “voluntary”, it will be mandatory to have it to apply for certain jobs, apply for a place at a university, go to the doctor, request a loan or rent a house.
    The EU approves the European digital ID with 335 votes in favor and 190 against. Despite being “voluntary”, it will be mandatory to have it to apply for certain jobs, apply for a place at a university, go to the doctor, request a loan or rent a house.
    0 Reacties 0 aandelen 886 Views 1
  • WEF Orders U.S. Electors To Not Certify Trump’s 2024 Election Win
    Sean Adl-Tabatabai
    Fact checked
    WEF orders electors to decertify election if Trump wins
    The World Economic Forum has instructed electors in the U.S. to not certify the upcoming presidential election if Trump wins.



    According to the WEF-funded publication The Atlantic, Democrats must prepare to refuse to certifiy the 2024 election in November.



    BYPASS THE CENSORS

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    The WEF mouthpiece put out an article Friday titled, “How Democrats Could Disqualify Trump If the Supreme Court Doesn’t“, outlining a strategy for Democrats to defy the election results if they don’t get their way.

    Infowars.com reports: The editorial lamented the Supreme Court’s recent hearing on the 14th Amendment over Colorado’s unprecedented ruling to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot, and claimed Democrats may have to find another way to stop Trump outside the democratic process.


    From The Atlantic:

    Without clear guidance from the Court, House Democrats suggest that they might not certify a Trump win on January 6.

    Sensing that Trump would likely stay on the ballot, the attorney, Jason Murray, said that if the Supreme Court didn’t resolve the question of Trump’s eligibility, “it could come back with a vengeance”—after the election, when Congress meets once again to count and certify the votes of the Electoral College.

    Murray and other legal scholars say that, absent clear guidance from the Supreme Court, a Trump win could lead to a constitutional crisis in Congress. Democrats would have to choose between confirming a winner many of them believe is ineligible and defying the will of voters who elected him. Their choice could be decisive: As their victory in a House special election in New York last week demonstrated, Democrats have a serious chance of winning a majority in Congress in November, even if Trump recaptures the presidency on the same day. If that happens, they could have the votes to prevent him from taking office.

    In interviews, senior House Democrats would not commit to certifying a Trump win, saying they would do so only if the Supreme Court affirms his eligibility. But during oral arguments, liberal and conservative justices alike seemed inclined to dodge the question of his eligibility altogether and throw the decision to Congress.

    The Atlantic piece was roundly criticized on social media over the left’s hypocrisy of prosecuting hundreds of Jan. 6 protesters contesting the results of the 2020 election while now scheming to halt the certification of the 2024 election.






    This is just the latest example of Democrats projecting their intention to defy the will of the voters if Trump wins the 2024 election.

    Last month, NBC News reported that “a loose-knit network of public interest groups and lawmakers” are preparing to “foil any efforts” for Trump to use the military to carry out his political agenda if he becomes Commander-in-Chief once again.

    JOIN THE FIGHT: BECOME A CITIZEN JOURNALIST TODAY!

    Democrats should expect to go to prison in D.C. for 22 years for trying to overturn the election since they’ve set the precedent by jailing nonviolent J6 protesters for speaking out against the rigged 2020 election.

    https://thepeoplesvoice.tv/wef-orders-u-s-electors-to-not-certify-trumps-2024-election-win/
    WEF Orders U.S. Electors To Not Certify Trump’s 2024 Election Win Sean Adl-Tabatabai Fact checked WEF orders electors to decertify election if Trump wins The World Economic Forum has instructed electors in the U.S. to not certify the upcoming presidential election if Trump wins. According to the WEF-funded publication The Atlantic, Democrats must prepare to refuse to certifiy the 2024 election in November. BYPASS THE CENSORS Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox. You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use The WEF mouthpiece put out an article Friday titled, “How Democrats Could Disqualify Trump If the Supreme Court Doesn’t“, outlining a strategy for Democrats to defy the election results if they don’t get their way. Infowars.com reports: The editorial lamented the Supreme Court’s recent hearing on the 14th Amendment over Colorado’s unprecedented ruling to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot, and claimed Democrats may have to find another way to stop Trump outside the democratic process. From The Atlantic: Without clear guidance from the Court, House Democrats suggest that they might not certify a Trump win on January 6. Sensing that Trump would likely stay on the ballot, the attorney, Jason Murray, said that if the Supreme Court didn’t resolve the question of Trump’s eligibility, “it could come back with a vengeance”—after the election, when Congress meets once again to count and certify the votes of the Electoral College. Murray and other legal scholars say that, absent clear guidance from the Supreme Court, a Trump win could lead to a constitutional crisis in Congress. Democrats would have to choose between confirming a winner many of them believe is ineligible and defying the will of voters who elected him. Their choice could be decisive: As their victory in a House special election in New York last week demonstrated, Democrats have a serious chance of winning a majority in Congress in November, even if Trump recaptures the presidency on the same day. If that happens, they could have the votes to prevent him from taking office. In interviews, senior House Democrats would not commit to certifying a Trump win, saying they would do so only if the Supreme Court affirms his eligibility. But during oral arguments, liberal and conservative justices alike seemed inclined to dodge the question of his eligibility altogether and throw the decision to Congress. The Atlantic piece was roundly criticized on social media over the left’s hypocrisy of prosecuting hundreds of Jan. 6 protesters contesting the results of the 2020 election while now scheming to halt the certification of the 2024 election. This is just the latest example of Democrats projecting their intention to defy the will of the voters if Trump wins the 2024 election. Last month, NBC News reported that “a loose-knit network of public interest groups and lawmakers” are preparing to “foil any efforts” for Trump to use the military to carry out his political agenda if he becomes Commander-in-Chief once again. JOIN THE FIGHT: BECOME A CITIZEN JOURNALIST TODAY! Democrats should expect to go to prison in D.C. for 22 years for trying to overturn the election since they’ve set the precedent by jailing nonviolent J6 protesters for speaking out against the rigged 2020 election. https://thepeoplesvoice.tv/wef-orders-u-s-electors-to-not-certify-trumps-2024-election-win/
    THEPEOPLESVOICE.TV
    WEF Orders U.S. Electors To Not Certify Trump’s 2024 Election Win
    The World Economic Forum has instructed electors in the U.S. to not certify the upcoming presidential election if Trump wins.
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  • https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-130-u-s-senate-votes-to-send-additional-14-billion-to-israel-as-catastrophic-ground-invasion-of-rafah-appears-imminent/
    https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-130-u-s-senate-votes-to-send-additional-14-billion-to-israel-as-catastrophic-ground-invasion-of-rafah-appears-imminent/
    MONDOWEISS.NET
    ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 130: U.S. Senate votes to send additional $14 billion to Israel as catastrophic ground invasion of Rafah appears imminent
    As Palestinians prepare for a catastrophic ground invasion of Rafah, the U.S. Senate votes to send an additional $14 billion to Israel. Amnesty International warns Palestinians in southern Gaza are “facing the real and imminent risk of genocide.”
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  • Absent an objective definition, it’s easy to imagine the last one functioning as a blank check to cover whatever anyone might be offended by.

    EU Votes on Resolution To List “Hate Speech” as a Crime
    https://ift.tt/2B1UH0N - FOLLOW: @reclaimthenet

    🤡 https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/16-01-2024-covid-19-vaccinations-have-saved-more-than-1.4-million-lives-in-the-who-european-region--a-new-study-finds
    Absent an objective definition, it’s easy to imagine the last one functioning as a blank check to cover whatever anyone might be offended by. EU Votes on Resolution To List “Hate Speech” as a Crime https://ift.tt/2B1UH0N - FOLLOW: @reclaimthenet 🤡 https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/16-01-2024-covid-19-vaccinations-have-saved-more-than-1.4-million-lives-in-the-who-european-region--a-new-study-finds
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  • 22% of households who took the shots have a COVID vaccine injury
    The CDC's unstated goal is to get 100% of households having a COVID vaccine injury.

    Steve Kirsch

    Nearly 65,000 votes! Dr. Drew has a broad audience.

    Look how close my poll came to Dr. Drews. Nearly identical. If polls on X are “worthless” how did we get the same results?
    Here’s the math on Dr. Drew’s poll (which gave results nearly the same as my poll):


    So if someone got the shot, over 22% of the households had a vax injury.

    I’d guess that half the people in America would never believe they got a vaccine injury (because they are gaslit by their doctors), so the true estimate is likely over 40% of US households where someone took the jab have someone who is vaccine injured.

    That’s a train wreck, but I’m pretty sure the CDC isn’t going to stop until 100% of households have at least one vaccine injury. Then they will declare “Mission Accomplished” and probably do a dance video such as this one:


    What do my Substack readers experience?

    Summary

    This is a train wreck. Anyone can do this poll if you think the polls are inaccurate.

    For example, if the CDC thinks these surveys are wrong, they should do their own surveys and publish them.

    CNN, NY Times, Wall St. Journal, etc. are never going to do such a poll.

    Nobody really wants to know how many American households have been decimated by COVID vaccine injuries. Everyone who is injured is gaslit into believing they are just the “rare” case of a side effect.

    This is why censorship is so important. So nobody will find out the truth.

    Share

    https://kirschsubstack.com/p/22-of-households-who-took-the-shots
    22% of households who took the shots have a COVID vaccine injury The CDC's unstated goal is to get 100% of households having a COVID vaccine injury. Steve Kirsch Nearly 65,000 votes! Dr. Drew has a broad audience. Look how close my poll came to Dr. Drews. Nearly identical. If polls on X are “worthless” how did we get the same results? Here’s the math on Dr. Drew’s poll (which gave results nearly the same as my poll): So if someone got the shot, over 22% of the households had a vax injury. I’d guess that half the people in America would never believe they got a vaccine injury (because they are gaslit by their doctors), so the true estimate is likely over 40% of US households where someone took the jab have someone who is vaccine injured. That’s a train wreck, but I’m pretty sure the CDC isn’t going to stop until 100% of households have at least one vaccine injury. Then they will declare “Mission Accomplished” and probably do a dance video such as this one: What do my Substack readers experience? Summary This is a train wreck. Anyone can do this poll if you think the polls are inaccurate. For example, if the CDC thinks these surveys are wrong, they should do their own surveys and publish them. CNN, NY Times, Wall St. Journal, etc. are never going to do such a poll. Nobody really wants to know how many American households have been decimated by COVID vaccine injuries. Everyone who is injured is gaslit into believing they are just the “rare” case of a side effect. This is why censorship is so important. So nobody will find out the truth. Share https://kirschsubstack.com/p/22-of-households-who-took-the-shots
    KIRSCHSUBSTACK.COM
    22% of households who took the shots have a COVID vaccine injury
    The CDC's unstated goal is to get 100% of households having a COVID vaccine injury.
    Angry
    1
    1 Reacties 0 aandelen 2786 Views
  • https://www.dossier.today/p/european-parliament-votes-to-keep
    https://www.dossier.today/p/european-parliament-votes-to-keep
    WWW.DOSSIER.TODAY
    European Parliament votes to keep secret Pfizer contracts withheld from public
    Leaked Pfizer contracts revealed that governments surrendered their citizens’ legal rights in exchange for access to what was once labeled a "miracle cure."
    0 Reacties 0 aandelen 259 Views
  • Let’s finish off the KM in 2024
    ByBenjamin Fulford January 1, 2024
    The world, especially the Western world, is in a situation like Japan was in at the end of World War II after it agreed to surrender but before US troops landed take over: it is an interregnum. The British Commonwealth, Asian secret societies, the Russians, the Pentagon and other power centers say they support a white hat proposal for a new planetary arrangement. The Khazarian mafia has also agreed to surrender and a power transition is being arranged. However, there are still fanatical holdouts trying to start Armageddon or at least a big war so, it could be a bumpy ride.

    What cannot be disputed is that the current international system is dysfunctional. “The entire US system, not only internal political but also economic. By the way, as well as foreign political, international, is in deep crisis,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, reflecting the view of most of the world.

    https://tass.com/politics/1727945

    The USrael veto of a call by the world to end the genocide in Gaza is typical of the post-war system. The USrael has been a rogue state causing most of the world’s wars and crises. Until now, the world has been unable to stop the transnational corporate crime syndicate pretending to be the United States. It is now being dismantled.

    The white hat proposal calls for replacing the UN Security Council with a group representing seven districts. These are Africa, the Americas, China, East Asia excluding China, Europe including Russia, India and the Muslim world. Decisions affecting the entire planet will be decided by a majority vote. Vetoes are limited to the district doing the vetoing. So for example, if the majority votes to make electric cars mandatory, regions that still want to use gasoline cars can continue to do so.

    The other proposal calls for taking the functional parts of the World Bank, IMF, BIS etc, and incorporating them into a future planning organization with a multi-trillion dollar annual budget. This would not be a communist-style central planning commission because actual projects would be put out for competitive bidding by the private sector.

    The other proposal is to start off the New Age with a jubilee. This would be a one-off cancellation of all debt, private and public, as well as a one-off redistribution of assets. There would also be an amnesty for most people currently serving jail sentences.

    The real question is how do we get from here to there? There are high-level negotiations now underway to decide exactly that. Last week a representative of “the family” (as the KM like to call themselves) claiming to be the new M1 (the guy controlling the money fountain) contacted the white hats to offer



    The remainder of Monday's newsletter is only available to members of BenjaminFulford.net holding a paid subscription. If you believe this message is being displayed in error, check that you are logged in to your account.

    If you are not logged in or need to make an account, please do so on the main menu.

    If you are still having issues, please email Support@benjaminfulford.net

    Forgot Password

    https://benjaminfulford.net/lets-finish-off-the-km-in-2024/
    Let’s finish off the KM in 2024 ByBenjamin Fulford January 1, 2024 The world, especially the Western world, is in a situation like Japan was in at the end of World War II after it agreed to surrender but before US troops landed take over: it is an interregnum. The British Commonwealth, Asian secret societies, the Russians, the Pentagon and other power centers say they support a white hat proposal for a new planetary arrangement. The Khazarian mafia has also agreed to surrender and a power transition is being arranged. However, there are still fanatical holdouts trying to start Armageddon or at least a big war so, it could be a bumpy ride. What cannot be disputed is that the current international system is dysfunctional. “The entire US system, not only internal political but also economic. By the way, as well as foreign political, international, is in deep crisis,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, reflecting the view of most of the world. https://tass.com/politics/1727945 The USrael veto of a call by the world to end the genocide in Gaza is typical of the post-war system. The USrael has been a rogue state causing most of the world’s wars and crises. Until now, the world has been unable to stop the transnational corporate crime syndicate pretending to be the United States. It is now being dismantled. The white hat proposal calls for replacing the UN Security Council with a group representing seven districts. These are Africa, the Americas, China, East Asia excluding China, Europe including Russia, India and the Muslim world. Decisions affecting the entire planet will be decided by a majority vote. Vetoes are limited to the district doing the vetoing. So for example, if the majority votes to make electric cars mandatory, regions that still want to use gasoline cars can continue to do so. The other proposal calls for taking the functional parts of the World Bank, IMF, BIS etc, and incorporating them into a future planning organization with a multi-trillion dollar annual budget. This would not be a communist-style central planning commission because actual projects would be put out for competitive bidding by the private sector. The other proposal is to start off the New Age with a jubilee. This would be a one-off cancellation of all debt, private and public, as well as a one-off redistribution of assets. There would also be an amnesty for most people currently serving jail sentences. The real question is how do we get from here to there? There are high-level negotiations now underway to decide exactly that. Last week a representative of “the family” (as the KM like to call themselves) claiming to be the new M1 (the guy controlling the money fountain) contacted the white hats to offer The remainder of Monday's newsletter is only available to members of BenjaminFulford.net holding a paid subscription. If you believe this message is being displayed in error, check that you are logged in to your account. If you are not logged in or need to make an account, please do so on the main menu. If you are still having issues, please email Support@benjaminfulford.net Forgot Password https://benjaminfulford.net/lets-finish-off-the-km-in-2024/
    1 Reacties 0 aandelen 8151 Views
  • Israeli officials spell out plans for ethnic cleansing of all Palestinians, as Gaza massacres continue
    14 December 2023
    Following the United Nations General Assembly vote Tuesday for a ceasefire in Gaza, the Israeli government has not only pledged to continue the war but made clear its plan for an onslaught against the Palestinians across the whole region. Its leaders know they have full license to do so, whatever cynical votes are cast at the UN or statements made to the press by its imperialist backers.

    On Wednesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen declared, “Israel will continue the war against Hamas, with or without international support.”

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told military commanders the war would “continue until the end, until the victory, until the elimination of Hamas” and that “nothing will stop us.”


    Palestinians look for the survivors of an Israeli strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, November 14, 2023
    Around 18,800 people have already been killed in Gaza—over 300 in the last day—with thousands more still trapped, dead or alive, under rubble.

    As the World Socialist Web Site explained this week, “When the fascist Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu speaks of ‘Hamas’, he is speaking not of a political organization but of any will to resist on the part of the Palestinian population.”

    The implications of this objective for Palestinians everywhere were spelled out by Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, who commented Wednesday, “There will be no Palestinian state here. We will never allow another state to be established between Jordan and the [Mediterranean] sea.” This was, he said, “our country; the historical property of our ancestors.”

    Israel’s ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely reiterated the point in an interview with Sky News Thursday morning. Asked about the prospect of a future Palestinian state she replied, “Absolutely no. Israel knows today, and the world should know now that the Palestinians never wanted to have a state next to Israel.”

    She added snidely, “They want to have a state from the river to the sea. They are saying it loud and clear.” Hotovely detailed the single Israeli state “from the river to the sea” she and the Zionists want to create in a 2013 essay, “The Five Stage Plan for the Greater Land of Israel”.

    She argues that discussion of a two-state solution has “obstructed the most basic desire harboured by a majority of Israeli citizens—not to give up territory that was conquered through blood.”

    Her five steps involve declaring full Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, adopting as a Basic Law the principle of the State of Israel being a Jewish nation state (achieved in 2018), making full Israeli citizenship conditional on service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and encouraging the migration of a further two million Jews to Israel to ensure a Jewish majority as Palestinian areas are annexed.


    An appeal from David North: Donate to the WSWS today

    Watch the video message from WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North.

    This would necessarily involve an eruption of violence from the IDF and its far-right vigilante allies. It is because the United States knows and supports this strategy that it has delayed the sale of 20,000 assault rifles to Israel—where they are set to be handed out among fascist settler groups—in an attempt to distance the White House from the worst of the crimes it authors.

    What the Israeli state is preparing is a permanent state of war against the entire Palestinian population of the Occupied Territories and Israel itself in pursuit of their expulsion.

    On Thursday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told visiting US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan the war “will require a long period of time—it will last more than several months”. Earlier in the day the Knesset passed a wartime budget adding an additional $7 billion, formally to cover the costs of the Gaza war, though opposition members alleged the funds would be directed to the Settlements and National Projects Ministry.

    The IDF has already massively stepped up its aggression in the West Bank. An operation has been ongoing in the city of Jenin since Tuesday, with 12 Palestinians, including children, reported killed, 10 wounded and over 500 rounded up, with some needing medical treatment after “questioning”—roughly 100 are still detained. Raids and bulldozers have destroyed people’s homes and vehicles, and many families are now struggling to access food.

    IDF soldiers have provocatively delivered Jewish prayers from mosque loudspeakers, forcing their suspension from operations for giving the game away.

    As in Gaza, denying access to healthcare is a clear military objective. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International announced Wednesday, “Yesterday, a man had to carry his 13-year-old son to Khalil Suleiman hospital because Israeli armoured cars blocked ambulances. The boy died soon after.

    “Yesterday and today, Israeli forces tear gassed the hospital in response to children throwing stones at armoured cars…

    “Today, after a patient was discharged from hospital and an ambulance attempted to take her home, the ambulance was fired upon, and the same patient was re-admitted with a gunshot wound.”

    In another post, the organisation recounted the shooting and killing of an unarmed teenager, Musa Ahmed Musa Khatib, inside the hospital. It described how “Israeli forces stopped ambulances taking discharged patients home outside Khalil Suleiman hospital. Paramedics and ambulance drivers were ordered out of the ambulances, stripped and made to kneel in the street.”

    The Jenin operation is now being expanded to local villages, while other raids have been carried out in Ramallah, Qalqilya, Nablus, Jericho, Bethlehem and Hebron. More than 280 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 7, among them 69 children, and at least 4,400 detained.

    Attacks in the West Bank replicate the programme being carried out with unrestrained savagery in Gaza, once again under the cover of a telecommunications blackout.

    The Gaza Health Ministry reported Thursday that IDF forces occupying the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north of the strip prevented medical staff from providing emergency care, leading to the deaths of two people. Soldiers reportedly stopped medical staff from moving between departments, and cut off food, electricity and water, including to 12 infants in the neonatal department. Staff and patients were later forcibly evacuated to the hospital yard.

    Across Gaza, just 11 out of 36 hospitals are still functioning at all, according to the World Health Organization, and nine out of 28 primary health clinics. The UN has recorded 364 attacks on healthcare facilities in the Strip since October 7, and 300 health ministry staff killed.

    The destruction of healthcare infrastructure prepares the way for a catastrophic spread of disease over winter, with flooding that brings with it water borne diseases and hypothermia already a major problem. “The perfect storm for disease has begun,” said UNICEF chief spokesperson James Elder.

    Viruses and bacteria will spread like wildfire amid the overcrowded, squalid and starved conditions Israel has forced the population of Gaza into. According to the UN, over half of its people are now sheltering in the Rafah governate in the far south, in a tent mega-slum which has now been inundated with floodwater. In the city of Deir al-Balah further north, images show ambulance workers wading up to their waist in water trying to rescue the injured.

    UN Palestinian refugee chief Philippe Lazzarini described the situation in Rafah: “It lacks infrastructure and all the basics. It is not a place to hold more than one million people. One warehouse is home to 30,000 people. Families live in tiny spaces only separated by blankets and plastic sheeting.”

    Like the rest of the Strip, Rafah is under regular bombardment, despite the IDF declaring it a safe zone. On Wednesday night, an enormous airstrike obliterated two houses in the city, killing 26 people at a stroke.

    Referring to the lack of aid entering Gaza and the increasing difficulty in distributing it, Lazzarini said people were “desperate and hungry.” He added, “Gaza is not habitable as a place anymore.”

    While continuing its genocidal assault, Israel and its allies are mounting provocations against Lebanon, Syria and Iran in the hope of a wider war in which every Palestinian can be treated as an enemy combatant.

    Iranian Defence Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani warned Thursday of “extraordinary problems” if plans go ahead for a US-led military task force in the Red Sea, on the pretext of Houthi rebel attacks on shipping. NBC reported of the “worries grow[ing]” in Lebanon “that Netanyahu won’t stop with Gaza.”

    Join the fight for socialism

    https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/12/14/fzck-d14.html
    Israeli officials spell out plans for ethnic cleansing of all Palestinians, as Gaza massacres continue 14 December 2023 Following the United Nations General Assembly vote Tuesday for a ceasefire in Gaza, the Israeli government has not only pledged to continue the war but made clear its plan for an onslaught against the Palestinians across the whole region. Its leaders know they have full license to do so, whatever cynical votes are cast at the UN or statements made to the press by its imperialist backers. On Wednesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen declared, “Israel will continue the war against Hamas, with or without international support.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told military commanders the war would “continue until the end, until the victory, until the elimination of Hamas” and that “nothing will stop us.” Palestinians look for the survivors of an Israeli strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, November 14, 2023 Around 18,800 people have already been killed in Gaza—over 300 in the last day—with thousands more still trapped, dead or alive, under rubble. As the World Socialist Web Site explained this week, “When the fascist Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu speaks of ‘Hamas’, he is speaking not of a political organization but of any will to resist on the part of the Palestinian population.” The implications of this objective for Palestinians everywhere were spelled out by Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, who commented Wednesday, “There will be no Palestinian state here. We will never allow another state to be established between Jordan and the [Mediterranean] sea.” This was, he said, “our country; the historical property of our ancestors.” Israel’s ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely reiterated the point in an interview with Sky News Thursday morning. Asked about the prospect of a future Palestinian state she replied, “Absolutely no. Israel knows today, and the world should know now that the Palestinians never wanted to have a state next to Israel.” She added snidely, “They want to have a state from the river to the sea. They are saying it loud and clear.” Hotovely detailed the single Israeli state “from the river to the sea” she and the Zionists want to create in a 2013 essay, “The Five Stage Plan for the Greater Land of Israel”. She argues that discussion of a two-state solution has “obstructed the most basic desire harboured by a majority of Israeli citizens—not to give up territory that was conquered through blood.” Her five steps involve declaring full Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, adopting as a Basic Law the principle of the State of Israel being a Jewish nation state (achieved in 2018), making full Israeli citizenship conditional on service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and encouraging the migration of a further two million Jews to Israel to ensure a Jewish majority as Palestinian areas are annexed. An appeal from David North: Donate to the WSWS today Watch the video message from WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North. This would necessarily involve an eruption of violence from the IDF and its far-right vigilante allies. It is because the United States knows and supports this strategy that it has delayed the sale of 20,000 assault rifles to Israel—where they are set to be handed out among fascist settler groups—in an attempt to distance the White House from the worst of the crimes it authors. What the Israeli state is preparing is a permanent state of war against the entire Palestinian population of the Occupied Territories and Israel itself in pursuit of their expulsion. On Thursday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told visiting US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan the war “will require a long period of time—it will last more than several months”. Earlier in the day the Knesset passed a wartime budget adding an additional $7 billion, formally to cover the costs of the Gaza war, though opposition members alleged the funds would be directed to the Settlements and National Projects Ministry. The IDF has already massively stepped up its aggression in the West Bank. An operation has been ongoing in the city of Jenin since Tuesday, with 12 Palestinians, including children, reported killed, 10 wounded and over 500 rounded up, with some needing medical treatment after “questioning”—roughly 100 are still detained. Raids and bulldozers have destroyed people’s homes and vehicles, and many families are now struggling to access food. IDF soldiers have provocatively delivered Jewish prayers from mosque loudspeakers, forcing their suspension from operations for giving the game away. As in Gaza, denying access to healthcare is a clear military objective. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International announced Wednesday, “Yesterday, a man had to carry his 13-year-old son to Khalil Suleiman hospital because Israeli armoured cars blocked ambulances. The boy died soon after. “Yesterday and today, Israeli forces tear gassed the hospital in response to children throwing stones at armoured cars… “Today, after a patient was discharged from hospital and an ambulance attempted to take her home, the ambulance was fired upon, and the same patient was re-admitted with a gunshot wound.” In another post, the organisation recounted the shooting and killing of an unarmed teenager, Musa Ahmed Musa Khatib, inside the hospital. It described how “Israeli forces stopped ambulances taking discharged patients home outside Khalil Suleiman hospital. Paramedics and ambulance drivers were ordered out of the ambulances, stripped and made to kneel in the street.” The Jenin operation is now being expanded to local villages, while other raids have been carried out in Ramallah, Qalqilya, Nablus, Jericho, Bethlehem and Hebron. More than 280 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 7, among them 69 children, and at least 4,400 detained. Attacks in the West Bank replicate the programme being carried out with unrestrained savagery in Gaza, once again under the cover of a telecommunications blackout. The Gaza Health Ministry reported Thursday that IDF forces occupying the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north of the strip prevented medical staff from providing emergency care, leading to the deaths of two people. Soldiers reportedly stopped medical staff from moving between departments, and cut off food, electricity and water, including to 12 infants in the neonatal department. Staff and patients were later forcibly evacuated to the hospital yard. Across Gaza, just 11 out of 36 hospitals are still functioning at all, according to the World Health Organization, and nine out of 28 primary health clinics. The UN has recorded 364 attacks on healthcare facilities in the Strip since October 7, and 300 health ministry staff killed. The destruction of healthcare infrastructure prepares the way for a catastrophic spread of disease over winter, with flooding that brings with it water borne diseases and hypothermia already a major problem. “The perfect storm for disease has begun,” said UNICEF chief spokesperson James Elder. Viruses and bacteria will spread like wildfire amid the overcrowded, squalid and starved conditions Israel has forced the population of Gaza into. According to the UN, over half of its people are now sheltering in the Rafah governate in the far south, in a tent mega-slum which has now been inundated with floodwater. In the city of Deir al-Balah further north, images show ambulance workers wading up to their waist in water trying to rescue the injured. UN Palestinian refugee chief Philippe Lazzarini described the situation in Rafah: “It lacks infrastructure and all the basics. It is not a place to hold more than one million people. One warehouse is home to 30,000 people. Families live in tiny spaces only separated by blankets and plastic sheeting.” Like the rest of the Strip, Rafah is under regular bombardment, despite the IDF declaring it a safe zone. On Wednesday night, an enormous airstrike obliterated two houses in the city, killing 26 people at a stroke. Referring to the lack of aid entering Gaza and the increasing difficulty in distributing it, Lazzarini said people were “desperate and hungry.” He added, “Gaza is not habitable as a place anymore.” While continuing its genocidal assault, Israel and its allies are mounting provocations against Lebanon, Syria and Iran in the hope of a wider war in which every Palestinian can be treated as an enemy combatant. Iranian Defence Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani warned Thursday of “extraordinary problems” if plans go ahead for a US-led military task force in the Red Sea, on the pretext of Houthi rebel attacks on shipping. NBC reported of the “worries grow[ing]” in Lebanon “that Netanyahu won’t stop with Gaza.” Join the fight for socialism https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/12/14/fzck-d14.html
    WWW.WSWS.ORG
    Israeli officials spell out plans for ethnic cleansing of all Palestinians, as Gaza massacres continue
    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told military commanders the war would “continue until the end, until the victory, until the elimination of Hamas” and that “nothing will stop us.”
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  • Slovakia will not be entering into any international pandemic agreements with WHO, Prime Minister says
    Rhoda WilsonNovember 25, 2023
    During a SMER party conference, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico declared that his government will not sign the World Health Organisation’s Pandemic Treaty and SMER Members of Parliament will not ratify in parliament the Pandemic Treaty with the WHO because it is a project of greedy pharmaceutical companies.

    Let’s not lose touch…Your Government and Big Tech are actively trying to censor the information reported by The Exposé to serve their own needs. Subscribe now to make sure you receive the latest uncensored news in your inbox…

    Robert Fico was appointed as Slovakia’s Prime Minister for the fourth time on 25 October 2023 after his SMER – Slovenská Sociálna Demokracia (“SMER”) party won the election on 30 September and formed a coalition with the centre-left HLAS – Sociálna Demokracia (“HLAS”) and nationalist Slovenská Národná Strana (“SNS”) parties.

    A week ago, during an hour-long speech at the SMER party conference, of which he is chairman, Prime Minister Fico stated that he will not support strengthening the powers of the World Health Organisation (“WHO”) at the expense of sovereign states in the fight against pandemics. “Only insane pharmaceutical companies could come up with such nonsense,” he told the more than 400 guests, ambassadors, delegates and party members present.

    His speech is on YouTube in Slovak. There is no autogenerated translation available so we turn to alternative sources for translations into English. Door to Freedom has published the clip below from Fico’s speech with English subtitles.

    Door to Freedom: Slovakia – Will not sign the WHO amendments,
    23 November 2023 (3 mins)
    Writing about his speech alternative media outlet InfoVojna wrote (Czech to English translation using Google Translate):

    [The Pandemic Treaty] would transfer health powers in times of a pandemic from the national ministries of health of the signatory countries to the World Health Organisation. The WHO would then acquire draconian decision-making powers, which the signatory countries would have to follow, not only in the area of ​​the obligation to purchase vaccines and medicines ordered by the WHO, but it could also happen with compulsory vaccinations ordered by this multinational organisation. And it was Robert Fico who unequivocally rejected this and declared that SMER MPs would not raise their hands for such a proposal.

    Fico called the entire agreement with the WHO a plan of greedy pharmaceutical companies, which began to worry about their business, when it now appears that many countries of the world are ceasing to purchase vaccines, cancelling vaccination mandates and the entire business of the pharmaceutical companies is going down the drain. The Pandemic Treaty is supposed to change this and ensure that, through the WHO, the collection of vaccines will be mandated and authoritatively prescribed to all member countries that sign the Pandemic Treaty and then ratify in the parliaments.

    Robert Fico declared at the ceremonial assembly at Bratislava Castle that Slovakia under his government will not sign the Pandemic Agreement with the WHO, because it is a project of greedy pharmaceutical companies, InfoVojna, 20 November 2023none
    Martin Demirov who describes himself as someone who likes to “post translations of censored press articles and search for various interesting facts” has written about Fico’s speech in a post on Twitter. His post is in Polish, which we’ve reproduced below in English using the translation generated by Twitter.

    Fico Delivered a Speech at the Party Congress “The Previous Government Killed 20,000 People During Covid!”

    By Martin Demirov

    Fico outlined his priorities: If they arrested me, change would not be possible.

    One of the longest-existing parties, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year, held its annual congress.

    SMER won the elections in September, and party chairman Robert Fico immediately reminded more than 400 guests, ambassadors, delegates and party members not to be so serious. “For God’s sake, we won.” In his introductory speech, he presented a vision of change for the coming year. Remembering the “covid madness” and the need to change the law protecting criminal groups associated with the previous government, he did not hide his joy at reuniting with the HLAS party.

    In the first half of his speech, Fico criticised the former government and its leadership (for covid madness, for warmongering), in the second half he talked about the party’s goals, and less than two hours later he ended the speech with the words: “we are here, we move on, they did not break us.”

    According to party vice president Juraj Blanar, Fico’s leadership is important for SMER. Long live the Slovak Republic,” he concluded his speech. What was the direction of change?

    The guests included representatives of Bulgaria, ambassadors of Great Britain, China, the United States of America, as well as Cuba, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

    The Polish ambassador also confirmed his presence. The guests also included the president of the Pensioners’ Union, MichaÅ‚ Kocjan, the president of the Association of Slovak Towns and Villages, Józef Bożek, and the president of the Association of Anti-fascist Fighters, Viliam Longauer. Representatives of employers were also present.

    Among the Ministers present were Defence Minister Robert Kalinak, Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicki and Agriculture Minister Ryszard Takacz. Zuzana Plewikova, deputy chairman of the party and member of the youth organisation, also attended the meeting.

    Thanks to over 20 years of experience, Fico knows how to energise his people and focus on proven electoral topics, thanks to which, although he won electoral votes, he was among politicians leaning towards the alternative scene. “It’s a party convention, it’s not a cabinet meeting, so stop being so serious, we won the election, for God’s sake.”

    Blanard welcomed Fico, the national anthem was played and a minute of silence honoured the memory of the dead

    In his speech, he wanted to present a vision for the next year, but he didn’t get there until the second half of the speech. “We won the parliamentary elections for the fifth time,” he said.

    “We are absolutely the best, and I emphasise this a thousand times, political party in the history of modern Slovakia and we want to remain that way,” he said.

    We naturally reconnected with HLAS.

    At the beginning of his speech, he also touched on the illegal actions of the former government during the Covid-19 pandemic, praised the media alternative to the mainstream and attacked the previous government for repression and compulsory vaccinations. Four Media – Denník N, denník Sme, Markízu and Aktuality – did not receive accreditation. Since last week, they have also been unwanted guests in the government building.

    “Slovakia is talking more and more openly about the 20,000 victims of mismanagement in the country and the government’s senseless decisions,” continued the four-time Prime Minister. He wants to support the efforts of politicians who want to hold the previous government to account and has no plans to support the work of the World Health Organisation to the detriment of sovereign states when it comes to managing the fight against the pandemic. “Such nonsense could only have been invented by greedy pharmaceutical companies,” he said.

    He called SMER a “write-off” party after the 2020 elections, whose opponents were delighted that social democracy split into two groups when Peter Pellegrini left the party to gain the right to vote. “But it is natural that we met again to co-operate in the government. It is no coincidence that we kept emphasising before the early elections that the basis for forming a new government should be the merger of SMER and HLAS,” he said.

    “The shock of our opponents after SMER’s election victory and subsequent decisive steps to quickly form a government was so great that they created an atmosphere as if we had stolen the electoral victory and had to hand it over to the opposition liberal “progressive Slovakia,” he said. In addition to PS, he again criticised President Zuzana Caputova.

    In response to the suspension of membership in the European Socialist Party, Fico said he did not know why they intervened, because it was the same party as in the past. “SMER is not a pennant that turns wherever the wind blows,” he said, adding that Portugal was behind the suspension. Party membership has never served them well, and Fico only remembers a lot of criticism. “When did the party of European Socialists help us over the last 20 years? When? I don’t remember,” he added.

    Andrei Danko’s party, coalition partner SNS, was criticised abroad mainly for choosing a more radical path. Before the elections, SNS merged with three smaller far-right organisations, and several of its members were candidates for the Our Slovakia People’s Party, whose leader, Marian Kotleba, was convicted of extremism and also lost his seat.

    Robert Fico blamed the politicians who led Slovakia in the last parliamentary term for the state of the country it is in. “We were not destroyed because we had a different opinion about covid, we were not destroyed because we had a different opinion about Ukraine and we were not destroyed because of an attempt to arrest us for political activities,” he said.

    “I don’t know if there is an opposition politician in the EU who has been accused four times in three years for his political views. Not because of corruption, but because of his political views,” he told foreign guests. Fico, along with Tibor Gashpar and Robert Kalinak, were accused by the previous authorities of many “crimes.”

    “I was lucky that I didn’t go to prison, because if they had put me in jail for my political views after two press conferences where we told the truth, neither you nor I would be sitting here today because the party would have been destroyed,” he said.

    Fico also touched on the presidential and European elections. “The party’s vice-chairman Lubosz Blaha also expressed interest in the elections, the European Parliament is certainly waiting for you, Lubosz,” Fico said. Recently, the opposition wanted to fire him for hanging a portrait of revolutionary Che Guevara instead of a portrait of President Zuzana Caputova after taking over as deputy speaker of Parliament, but the coalition blocked the session. A few days ago, he also published his book “CHE”

    In addition, he also talked about the need for changes in the Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the need for changes in the special prosecutor’s office. He called, among other things, for an urgent change to the whistle-blower law, which currently protects investigators around Jan Churilla and Lubomir Danek.

    The party’s goal is to stabilise the country and finances and win again. Later, Fico also reached the main political goals of the SMER party. In particular, the most important of them is a successful government that will end in 2027 with victory in the parliamentary elections. In his speech, he outlined what the government should focus on in the coming months. “I don’t see a successful government as a set of numbers, indicators or charts. We will only be successful in 2027 when people realise that it is better, more peaceful and safer,” he said.

    Fico stressed the need for political stability and efforts to minimise conflicts within the coalition. He also called for quick policy solutions to show interest in “stabilising disrupted public finances at a reasonable and sustainable pace.” Sufficient financial reserves must also be created to compensate for high energy prices, especially for households.

    He also wants to reduce the impact of high interest rates on mortgages and subsequent refinancing in 2023, while announcing direct mortgage assistance in 2024. He also confirmed the aim of creating the financial conditions for the payment of the full 13th pension. He also stressed the need to have all the necessary regulatory tools and resources to intervene in the event of significant fluctuations in food prices.

    According to Fico, the government should also immediately decide how to transfer as many European Funds as possible to regions, cities and municipalities and simplify the administrative burden of obtaining them as much as possible. He also called for changes to regulations governing licensing procedures and procurement conditions to be approved “in record time.” According to the Prime Minister, the best proposal for the Education System for practical purposes should also be agreed upon so that the changes come into force at the beginning of the 2024/2025 school year.

    He also confirmed that the government had started negotiations on new foreign investments. “We have something to consider, we are currently reviewing projects. It is always a question of the scale of state aid,” he said. He also considers it his duty to support every Slovak company that wants to operate in foreign markets.

    Within two to three months, the coalition will have to develop a mechanism and regulations to shorten the period during which legal migrants with the qualifications necessary to run a business in Slovakia will be able to obtain all permits. He said the proposed measures are the minimum the government must take. He emphasised that all actions should be undertaken within the framework of broad social dialogue. He also confirmed that talks on the government’s withdrawal will take place in Trenčín in December and in Prešov at the end of January. In addition to Fico, the party’s vice presidents, Lubosz Blaha, Ladislav Kamienicki and Ryszard Takacz, also appeared.


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    James Rickards: When the next financial crisis hits the elites are planning to freeze the financial system, worldwide
    US, China, Israel and others are developing AI killer drones; this poses significant risks
    The latest trends in healthcare and other observations
    DEADLY SECRETS: Unvaccinated account for just 5% of COVID-19 Deaths since beginning of 2023 but 3 & 4x Vaccinated account for Shocking 95%


    Slovakia will not be entering into any international pandemic agreements with WHO, Prime Minister says
    During a SMER party conference, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico declared that his government will not sign the World Health Organisation’s Pandemic Treaty and SMER Members of Parliament will not ratify in parliament the Pandemic Treaty with the WHO because it is a project of greedy pharmaceutical companies...
    https://expose-news.com/2023/11/25/slovakia-will-not-be-entering-into/
    Slovakia will not be entering into any international pandemic agreements with WHO, Prime Minister says Rhoda WilsonNovember 25, 2023 During a SMER party conference, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico declared that his government will not sign the World Health Organisation’s Pandemic Treaty and SMER Members of Parliament will not ratify in parliament the Pandemic Treaty with the WHO because it is a project of greedy pharmaceutical companies. Let’s not lose touch…Your Government and Big Tech are actively trying to censor the information reported by The Exposé to serve their own needs. Subscribe now to make sure you receive the latest uncensored news in your inbox… Robert Fico was appointed as Slovakia’s Prime Minister for the fourth time on 25 October 2023 after his SMER – Slovenská Sociálna Demokracia (“SMER”) party won the election on 30 September and formed a coalition with the centre-left HLAS – Sociálna Demokracia (“HLAS”) and nationalist Slovenská Národná Strana (“SNS”) parties. A week ago, during an hour-long speech at the SMER party conference, of which he is chairman, Prime Minister Fico stated that he will not support strengthening the powers of the World Health Organisation (“WHO”) at the expense of sovereign states in the fight against pandemics. “Only insane pharmaceutical companies could come up with such nonsense,” he told the more than 400 guests, ambassadors, delegates and party members present. His speech is on YouTube in Slovak. There is no autogenerated translation available so we turn to alternative sources for translations into English. Door to Freedom has published the clip below from Fico’s speech with English subtitles. Door to Freedom: Slovakia – Will not sign the WHO amendments, 23 November 2023 (3 mins) Writing about his speech alternative media outlet InfoVojna wrote (Czech to English translation using Google Translate): [The Pandemic Treaty] would transfer health powers in times of a pandemic from the national ministries of health of the signatory countries to the World Health Organisation. The WHO would then acquire draconian decision-making powers, which the signatory countries would have to follow, not only in the area of ​​the obligation to purchase vaccines and medicines ordered by the WHO, but it could also happen with compulsory vaccinations ordered by this multinational organisation. And it was Robert Fico who unequivocally rejected this and declared that SMER MPs would not raise their hands for such a proposal. Fico called the entire agreement with the WHO a plan of greedy pharmaceutical companies, which began to worry about their business, when it now appears that many countries of the world are ceasing to purchase vaccines, cancelling vaccination mandates and the entire business of the pharmaceutical companies is going down the drain. The Pandemic Treaty is supposed to change this and ensure that, through the WHO, the collection of vaccines will be mandated and authoritatively prescribed to all member countries that sign the Pandemic Treaty and then ratify in the parliaments. Robert Fico declared at the ceremonial assembly at Bratislava Castle that Slovakia under his government will not sign the Pandemic Agreement with the WHO, because it is a project of greedy pharmaceutical companies, InfoVojna, 20 November 2023none Martin Demirov who describes himself as someone who likes to “post translations of censored press articles and search for various interesting facts” has written about Fico’s speech in a post on Twitter. His post is in Polish, which we’ve reproduced below in English using the translation generated by Twitter. Fico Delivered a Speech at the Party Congress “The Previous Government Killed 20,000 People During Covid!” By Martin Demirov Fico outlined his priorities: If they arrested me, change would not be possible. One of the longest-existing parties, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year, held its annual congress. SMER won the elections in September, and party chairman Robert Fico immediately reminded more than 400 guests, ambassadors, delegates and party members not to be so serious. “For God’s sake, we won.” In his introductory speech, he presented a vision of change for the coming year. Remembering the “covid madness” and the need to change the law protecting criminal groups associated with the previous government, he did not hide his joy at reuniting with the HLAS party. In the first half of his speech, Fico criticised the former government and its leadership (for covid madness, for warmongering), in the second half he talked about the party’s goals, and less than two hours later he ended the speech with the words: “we are here, we move on, they did not break us.” According to party vice president Juraj Blanar, Fico’s leadership is important for SMER. Long live the Slovak Republic,” he concluded his speech. What was the direction of change? The guests included representatives of Bulgaria, ambassadors of Great Britain, China, the United States of America, as well as Cuba, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The Polish ambassador also confirmed his presence. The guests also included the president of the Pensioners’ Union, MichaÅ‚ Kocjan, the president of the Association of Slovak Towns and Villages, Józef Bożek, and the president of the Association of Anti-fascist Fighters, Viliam Longauer. Representatives of employers were also present. Among the Ministers present were Defence Minister Robert Kalinak, Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicki and Agriculture Minister Ryszard Takacz. Zuzana Plewikova, deputy chairman of the party and member of the youth organisation, also attended the meeting. Thanks to over 20 years of experience, Fico knows how to energise his people and focus on proven electoral topics, thanks to which, although he won electoral votes, he was among politicians leaning towards the alternative scene. “It’s a party convention, it’s not a cabinet meeting, so stop being so serious, we won the election, for God’s sake.” Blanard welcomed Fico, the national anthem was played and a minute of silence honoured the memory of the dead In his speech, he wanted to present a vision for the next year, but he didn’t get there until the second half of the speech. “We won the parliamentary elections for the fifth time,” he said. “We are absolutely the best, and I emphasise this a thousand times, political party in the history of modern Slovakia and we want to remain that way,” he said. We naturally reconnected with HLAS. At the beginning of his speech, he also touched on the illegal actions of the former government during the Covid-19 pandemic, praised the media alternative to the mainstream and attacked the previous government for repression and compulsory vaccinations. Four Media – Denník N, denník Sme, Markízu and Aktuality – did not receive accreditation. Since last week, they have also been unwanted guests in the government building. “Slovakia is talking more and more openly about the 20,000 victims of mismanagement in the country and the government’s senseless decisions,” continued the four-time Prime Minister. He wants to support the efforts of politicians who want to hold the previous government to account and has no plans to support the work of the World Health Organisation to the detriment of sovereign states when it comes to managing the fight against the pandemic. “Such nonsense could only have been invented by greedy pharmaceutical companies,” he said. He called SMER a “write-off” party after the 2020 elections, whose opponents were delighted that social democracy split into two groups when Peter Pellegrini left the party to gain the right to vote. “But it is natural that we met again to co-operate in the government. It is no coincidence that we kept emphasising before the early elections that the basis for forming a new government should be the merger of SMER and HLAS,” he said. “The shock of our opponents after SMER’s election victory and subsequent decisive steps to quickly form a government was so great that they created an atmosphere as if we had stolen the electoral victory and had to hand it over to the opposition liberal “progressive Slovakia,” he said. In addition to PS, he again criticised President Zuzana Caputova. In response to the suspension of membership in the European Socialist Party, Fico said he did not know why they intervened, because it was the same party as in the past. “SMER is not a pennant that turns wherever the wind blows,” he said, adding that Portugal was behind the suspension. Party membership has never served them well, and Fico only remembers a lot of criticism. “When did the party of European Socialists help us over the last 20 years? When? I don’t remember,” he added. Andrei Danko’s party, coalition partner SNS, was criticised abroad mainly for choosing a more radical path. Before the elections, SNS merged with three smaller far-right organisations, and several of its members were candidates for the Our Slovakia People’s Party, whose leader, Marian Kotleba, was convicted of extremism and also lost his seat. Robert Fico blamed the politicians who led Slovakia in the last parliamentary term for the state of the country it is in. “We were not destroyed because we had a different opinion about covid, we were not destroyed because we had a different opinion about Ukraine and we were not destroyed because of an attempt to arrest us for political activities,” he said. “I don’t know if there is an opposition politician in the EU who has been accused four times in three years for his political views. Not because of corruption, but because of his political views,” he told foreign guests. Fico, along with Tibor Gashpar and Robert Kalinak, were accused by the previous authorities of many “crimes.” “I was lucky that I didn’t go to prison, because if they had put me in jail for my political views after two press conferences where we told the truth, neither you nor I would be sitting here today because the party would have been destroyed,” he said. Fico also touched on the presidential and European elections. “The party’s vice-chairman Lubosz Blaha also expressed interest in the elections, the European Parliament is certainly waiting for you, Lubosz,” Fico said. Recently, the opposition wanted to fire him for hanging a portrait of revolutionary Che Guevara instead of a portrait of President Zuzana Caputova after taking over as deputy speaker of Parliament, but the coalition blocked the session. A few days ago, he also published his book “CHE” In addition, he also talked about the need for changes in the Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the need for changes in the special prosecutor’s office. He called, among other things, for an urgent change to the whistle-blower law, which currently protects investigators around Jan Churilla and Lubomir Danek. The party’s goal is to stabilise the country and finances and win again. Later, Fico also reached the main political goals of the SMER party. In particular, the most important of them is a successful government that will end in 2027 with victory in the parliamentary elections. In his speech, he outlined what the government should focus on in the coming months. “I don’t see a successful government as a set of numbers, indicators or charts. We will only be successful in 2027 when people realise that it is better, more peaceful and safer,” he said. Fico stressed the need for political stability and efforts to minimise conflicts within the coalition. He also called for quick policy solutions to show interest in “stabilising disrupted public finances at a reasonable and sustainable pace.” Sufficient financial reserves must also be created to compensate for high energy prices, especially for households. He also wants to reduce the impact of high interest rates on mortgages and subsequent refinancing in 2023, while announcing direct mortgage assistance in 2024. He also confirmed the aim of creating the financial conditions for the payment of the full 13th pension. He also stressed the need to have all the necessary regulatory tools and resources to intervene in the event of significant fluctuations in food prices. According to Fico, the government should also immediately decide how to transfer as many European Funds as possible to regions, cities and municipalities and simplify the administrative burden of obtaining them as much as possible. He also called for changes to regulations governing licensing procedures and procurement conditions to be approved “in record time.” According to the Prime Minister, the best proposal for the Education System for practical purposes should also be agreed upon so that the changes come into force at the beginning of the 2024/2025 school year. He also confirmed that the government had started negotiations on new foreign investments. “We have something to consider, we are currently reviewing projects. It is always a question of the scale of state aid,” he said. He also considers it his duty to support every Slovak company that wants to operate in foreign markets. Within two to three months, the coalition will have to develop a mechanism and regulations to shorten the period during which legal migrants with the qualifications necessary to run a business in Slovakia will be able to obtain all permits. He said the proposed measures are the minimum the government must take. He emphasised that all actions should be undertaken within the framework of broad social dialogue. He also confirmed that talks on the government’s withdrawal will take place in Trenčín in December and in Prešov at the end of January. In addition to Fico, the party’s vice presidents, Lubosz Blaha, Ladislav Kamienicki and Ryszard Takacz, also appeared. The Expose Urgently Needs Your Help.. Subscribe now to make sure you receive the latest uncensored news in your inbox… . Can you please help power The Expose’s honest, reliable, powerful journalism for the years to come… Your Government & Big Tech organisations such as Google, Facebook, Twitter & PayPal are trying to silence & shut down The Expose. So we need your help to ensure we can continue to bring you the facts the mainstream refuse to… We’re not funded by the Government to publish lies & propaganda on their behalf like the mainstream media. Instead, we rely solely on our support. So please support us in our efforts to bring you honest, reliable, investigative journalism today. It’s secure, quick and easy… Just choose your preferred method to show your support belowV support James Rickards: When the next financial crisis hits the elites are planning to freeze the financial system, worldwide US, China, Israel and others are developing AI killer drones; this poses significant risks The latest trends in healthcare and other observations DEADLY SECRETS: Unvaccinated account for just 5% of COVID-19 Deaths since beginning of 2023 but 3 & 4x Vaccinated account for Shocking 95% Slovakia will not be entering into any international pandemic agreements with WHO, Prime Minister says During a SMER party conference, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico declared that his government will not sign the World Health Organisation’s Pandemic Treaty and SMER Members of Parliament will not ratify in parliament the Pandemic Treaty with the WHO because it is a project of greedy pharmaceutical companies... https://expose-news.com/2023/11/25/slovakia-will-not-be-entering-into/
    EXPOSE-NEWS.COM
    Slovakia will not be entering into any international pandemic agreements with WHO, Prime Minister says
    During a SMER party conference, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico declared that his government will not sign the World Health Organisation’s Pandemic Treaty and SMER Members of Parliament will n…
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  • Office Hours: Are you in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza?
    As Palestinian deaths in Gaza mount, so do demands for a ceasefire. But many fear that Hamas would only use it to regroup and rearm.

    Robert Reich

    Friends,

    I don’t recall an issue that has as sharply divided the left in America in recent years as whether the U.S. should support a ceasefire in Gaza.

    More than 11,100 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, including more than 4,500 children — surpassing the number of children killed in conflict zones around the world each year since 2019, according to Save the Children.

    The World Health Organization says that Gaza’s large Al-Shifa Hospital can no longer function because of a lack of electricity, fuel, and water. Other Gaza hospitals have shut down. Hamas accuses Israel of targeting health facilities to cut off a lifeline for residents. Israel alleges that Hamas uses hospitals to conceal their bases, while the injured and displaced living on the grounds act as human shields.

    Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), have joined 15 other House Democrats in calling for an immediate ceasefire. In recent days, demonstrations demanding a ceasefire have occurred in Chicago, Oakland, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Manhattan.

    But is a ceasefire possible with Hamas — an organization committed to the destruction of Israel?

    Bernie Sanders says a ceasefire with Hamas is impossible because Hamas wants “permanent war and the destruction of Israel” and would not abide by a ceasefire. He believes that instead of a ceasefire, Israel should stop bombing and allow for an “extended” humanitarian pause to allow the United Nations to rush in humanitarian aid and for hostage negotiations to continue.

    President Biden similarly argues against a ceasefire but favors a pause to make time for more Palestinians to move out of harm’s way and for more food, water, fuel, and medical supplies to enter into Gaza.

    Both a ceasefire and a humanitarian pause would involve a cessation of hostilities, but a humanitarian pause is temporary, with the specific purpose of improving the humanitarian situation. A ceasefire is meant to last for a more extended time, to encourage the start of peace talks or other arrangements that deal with an underlying conflict. Much more than a pause, a ceasefire cements the situation on the ground until it is violated.

    So, today’s Office Hours question: Are you in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza?

    Are you in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza?

    3326 VOTES · POLL CLOSED

    Leave a comment

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    https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/office-hours-are-you-in-favor-of?r=29hg4d&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
    Office Hours: Are you in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza? As Palestinian deaths in Gaza mount, so do demands for a ceasefire. But many fear that Hamas would only use it to regroup and rearm. Robert Reich Friends, I don’t recall an issue that has as sharply divided the left in America in recent years as whether the U.S. should support a ceasefire in Gaza. More than 11,100 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, including more than 4,500 children — surpassing the number of children killed in conflict zones around the world each year since 2019, according to Save the Children. The World Health Organization says that Gaza’s large Al-Shifa Hospital can no longer function because of a lack of electricity, fuel, and water. Other Gaza hospitals have shut down. Hamas accuses Israel of targeting health facilities to cut off a lifeline for residents. Israel alleges that Hamas uses hospitals to conceal their bases, while the injured and displaced living on the grounds act as human shields. Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), have joined 15 other House Democrats in calling for an immediate ceasefire. In recent days, demonstrations demanding a ceasefire have occurred in Chicago, Oakland, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Manhattan. But is a ceasefire possible with Hamas — an organization committed to the destruction of Israel? Bernie Sanders says a ceasefire with Hamas is impossible because Hamas wants “permanent war and the destruction of Israel” and would not abide by a ceasefire. He believes that instead of a ceasefire, Israel should stop bombing and allow for an “extended” humanitarian pause to allow the United Nations to rush in humanitarian aid and for hostage negotiations to continue. President Biden similarly argues against a ceasefire but favors a pause to make time for more Palestinians to move out of harm’s way and for more food, water, fuel, and medical supplies to enter into Gaza. Both a ceasefire and a humanitarian pause would involve a cessation of hostilities, but a humanitarian pause is temporary, with the specific purpose of improving the humanitarian situation. A ceasefire is meant to last for a more extended time, to encourage the start of peace talks or other arrangements that deal with an underlying conflict. Much more than a pause, a ceasefire cements the situation on the ground until it is violated. So, today’s Office Hours question: Are you in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza? Are you in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza? 3326 VOTES · POLL CLOSED Leave a comment Share https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/office-hours-are-you-in-favor-of?r=29hg4d&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
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    Office Hours: Are you in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza?
    As Palestinian deaths in Gaza mount, so do demands for a ceasefire. But many fear that Hamas would only use it to regroup and rearm.
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  • November 16: Today’s news on Palestine & Israel – Day 41
    Humanitarian & fuel updates, hospital crises, evacuation update, West Bank & Israel news, international community actions, and more

    Kathryn Shihadah November 16, 2023
    November 16: Today’s news on Palestine & Israel – Day 41
    Palestinians walk through the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City (photo)
    Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here. For more news, go here and here. Live broadcast news from the region is here.

    Some people are led to be skeptical of the Al Jazeera news network. However, the network has won several Emmys, a Peabody and the Overseas Press Association’s Edward R. Murrow award, among many other honors. The New York Times reports that “its reporting hews to international journalistic standards and provides a unique view on events in the Middle East.” it’s important to remember that all news sources may potentially have bias. For example, CNN uses anchors who used to work for the Israel Lobby, who have lifelong attachment to Israel, and who often exhibit pro-Israel spin and omission in their broadcasts. Similarly, Fox News is strongly influenced by Rupert Murdoch, who has a similarly strong attachment to Israel, and who may have fired Tucker Carlson, the network’s most popular host, in part due to the host’s opposition to war and his pattern of failing to exhibit sufficient devotion to Israel).

    Latest statistics:

    Palestinian death toll: 11,196* (10,999 in Gaza** (including at least 4,707 children and 3,155 women), and at least 197 in the West Bank). *IAK does not yet include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile is being disputed; although much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, experts are still looking into the incident. Israel is blocking an international investigation.

    Palestinian injuries: 30,076** (including at least 29,000 in Gaza** and 2,750 in the West Bank). **NOTE: it is impossible to offer an accurate number of injuries in Gaza due to the ongoing bombardment and communication disruption. The Associated Press has reported ~32,000 in Gaza, while the UN number is somewhat lower. Our total for Gaza and the West Bank is based on the conservative figure.

    It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties. About 1.6 million people have been displaced; 3,640 are missing (1,770 children) and presumed to be under rubble.

    Israel has now killed more Palestinians in a little over a month than in all the previous 22 years combined.

    Reported Israeli death toll has been reduced to ~1,200*** (The Israeli spokesman said the original figure of deaths on March 7 was an “initial estimate” – killed in West Bank, 53 in Gaza), including 32 Americans, and ~5,400 injured). The names of the 1,175 identified (about 33 of them children) are here.

    ***NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel may have been caused by Israeli soldiers; additionally, since Israel has a policy of universal conscription, it is unknown how many of those attending the outdoor rave a few miles from Gaza on stolen Palestinian land were Israeli soldiers.

    Hover over each bar for exact numbers.
    Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org

    Humanitarian aid: Since 21 October, 1,139 trucks carrying mainly medicines, food and water have entered Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt, representing a fraction of the needs. Due to the absence of fuel, on 14 November, UNRWA’s solid waste removal services began shutting down, posing an environmental hazard, with about 400 tons of rubbish per day accumulating in overcrowded camps and IDP shelters.

    Fuel to Gaza: On 15 November, some 23,000 litres of fuel entered Gaza from Egypt, the first such delivery since 7 October. The Israeli authorities have restricted the use of this fuel only to use for UNRWA trucks distributing aid. The entry of fuel for all other purposes remains banned including for hospital generators and water and sanitation facilities. Given UNRWA requires about 160,000 litres of fuel per day to run basic humanitarian operations, it has had to halt key services. The small amount that entered Gaza was too late in the day to refuel the trucks for aid delivery.

    Deadly attacks over the past 24 hours included: on 14 November, in the afternoon, airstrikes reportedly hit Al Mohophin School, in Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, Gaza city, killing 17 people; the same day, at about 20:30, airstrikes reportedly hit a residential building in As Saftawi area, north of Gaza city, killing 13 people, including six women; on midday 14 November, airstrikes reportedly hit a building in Al Qarara, east of Khan Yunis, killing nine people; on 15 November, at around midday, airstrikes reportedly hit As Salhi Towers area, in Nuseirat, killing 14 people.

    Propaganda photo, then a bullet to the head: The Israeli army released a propaganda photo of one of its soldiers helping an elderly Palestinian man with a walking stick in an attempt to showcase its “safe corridor” for civilians fleeing northern Gaza. Shortly afterwards, 79-year-old Bashir Hajji was executed in cold blood by Israeli soldiers, according to Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.

    Hajji’s granddaughter, Hala Hajji, told the Euro-Med Monitor team that he was executed after the photo was taken with one bullet to the head and back. “He died tired, cold, thirsty & hungry,” she wrote in a post on Instagram, confirming her grandfather’s death.

    OCHA reports arrests, beatings on evacuation route: Those fleeing to southern Gaza along the so-called safe “corridors” established by Israeli forces face arrest and the UN has received reports of beatings and people being stripped of their clothes by Israeli soldiers. (02:57 GMT) Palestinians fleeing south are “reporting the presence of dead bodies in the streets”.

    New evacuation orders in southern Gaza: The Israeli army dropped leaflets last night and in the early hours of this morning ordering residents on the eastern side of Khan Younis, close to the Israel border, to move to the western side because it is “safe.”

    Khan Younis is located in the southern half of the Gaza Strip. Tens of thousands of people displaced from the north have already sought refuge there in schools and tents, causing severe overcrowding amid shortages of food and water.

    RECOMMENDED READING: South Africa: World must urge Israel to stop ‘crime against humanity’ in Gaza

    Israeli troops brought boxes with them into Al Shifa Hospital, produced a weapons cache: When Israeli troops entered the hospital, they brought in boxes marked “baby food” and “medical supplies,” then later released a video it said showed some of the materials it allegedly recovered inside the hospital, including automatic weapons, grenades, ammunition and flak jackets.
    In one hospital department, “the soldiers [allegedly] located an operational command centre and technological assets belonging to Hamas, indicating that the terrorist organization uses the hospital for terrorist purposes,” an Israeli military statement said. According to a video released on X (see below), they found a laptop.
    There is no indication that Israeli troops’ boxes were inspected before they entered the hospital, or that any third party accompanied them on their inspection.
    Israeli army deletes, reposts video allegedly inside al-Shifa Hospital: According to the Israeli publication Haaretz, the Israeli military had taken down a social media post uploaded on X on Thursday, which showed what Israel claimed was proof of weapons being kept inside Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital. The Israeli military did not publish any explanation for the deletion of the post.
    The video, showing Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, was later reposted by the Israeli army with some parts being blurred out, raising questions about the authenticity of the evidence being presented in the clip.
    RECOMMENDED READING: Israel fails to show evidence of Hamas command center at al-Shifa hospital

    Another raid at Al Shifa, including ‘strip searches’ of Palestinians: Israeli forces launched another raid at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in the early hours of Thursday. The Israeli army has confirmed that it is conducting a military operation in the hospital.

    There are reports of some 200 people being blindfolded and interrogated and taken to unknown areas; their fate is unknown.

    An entire building at al-Shifa Hospital – the specialized surgeries building – has been completely damaged from the inside, in addition to Israeli forces blowing up a warehouse for medicine and medical equipment inside the hospital. Israeli bulldozers and vehicles also reportedly completely destroyed the southern entrance to al-Shifa Hospital and all vehicles in its courtyard.

    Medical sources told Wafa that the Israeli army installed facial recognition cameras and electronic gates in the hospital courtyard while strip-searching Palestinians in the medical complex. Israeli forces also reportedly arrested a number of displaced people and the families of those who were killed and wounded, who were seeking shelter there.

    The Red Cross and UNRWA are calling for the evacuation of the 650 patients at al-Shifa Hospital to other facilities. The patients would be put in tents or in a school near the European [Gaza] Hospital. The director-general of Gaza hospitals is demanding that patients be transferred to Egypt.

    Al Ahli Hospital targeted: Journalist Ismael al-Ghoul reported from near the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City that Israeli air strikes have targeted the perimeter of the hospital. The attacks could be seen as an indicator of preparations for raiding the medical facility. Ahli Arab Hospital is only providing basic medical services, as it was targeted earlier in the war. This video shows the intensity of the bombing.

    Out of 24 hospitals with in-patient capacity in the north, only one, Al Ahli in Gaza city, is presently operational and admitting patients. Eighteen hospitals have shut down and evacuated since the start of hostilities, including three – An Nasr, Ar Rantisi and Al Quds – over the past three days.

    RECOMMENDED READING: What we know about the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital blast

    Gaza City will soon be “uninhabitable”: Ha’aretz reports on what Israeli troops are doing besides ransacking Al Shifa hospitals:

    [D]ozens of battalion combat teams…are going from house to house [in Gaza City]…They’re taking no risks, and as nearly all of the million-plus population who lived in the area just six weeks ago have now fled south [NOTE: sources like Al Jazeera report that “hundreds of thousands” still remain in Gaza City]…this means that any building that is any way suspected of harboring weapons or tunnel entrances is bombed or bulldozed, or both.

    We may be very near the point where there are more Israeli soldiers in Gaza City than Gazans, and the issue of trying to avoid more civilian casualties will no longer exist because all those who can will have left.

    Wide swaths of the city and its surroundings have already been destroyed, and it’s only a matter of weeks before the largest Palestinian city is rendered totally uninhabitable.

    The article does not say what will happen to those Gazans who have been unable or unwilling to leave their homes.

    3 Palestinians killed in West Bank in alleged shooting attack: Three suspected Palestinian assailants allegedly opened fire at a checkpoint on a road between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Wednesday, wounding six security force members before the assailants were shot dead. The suspects arrived in a vehicle from the direction of Bethlehem, Shabtai told reporters at the scene, and opened fire when the Israeli forces there began questioning them. They were killed when the Israeli forces shot back, he said. One of the soldiers has died of his wounds.

    RECOMMENDED READING: Reports of harsh conditions and abuse in Israeli security prisons where Palestinians are being held for social media posts

    Palestinian lawmaker in Israel sanctioned: The Israeli Knesset’s Ethics Committee has temporarily sanctioned two Palestinian lawmakers, citing “inflammatory remarks” made after the 7 October Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel. MK Aida Touma-Suleiman of the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality and MK Iman Khatib Yassin of the United Arab List were banned from taking part in Knesset hearings and votes for two months. They also face salary deductions.

    “Knesset Ethics Committee suspended me for 2 months for criticising the Israeli army’s action in Gaza,” Touma-Suleiman wrote on X. “Silencing of critical voices of Palestinian citizens and anti-war activists is rampant these days. The war must cease, persecution must end.”

    “Wake up. This is genocide”: Countries must “wake up” to the massive violations that Israel is committing in Gaza, a Palestinian ambassador told UN member states Thursday, insisting it was a “genocide.” “You should wake up in this room. This is a massacre, this is genocide, and we’re seeing it on TV. It cannot continue,” Palestinian ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi told a gathering of UN member states in Geneva.

    US doesn’t use its veto: The UN Security Council has passed a resolution calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip” to allow for aid delivery and medical evacuations, after four failed attempts to respond to the Israel-Hamas war. It was adopted by 12 votes in favor, zero against and three abstentions – Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom. It additionally asked for the unconditional release of captives held in Gaza.

    “It is binding international law, but we know that there are many Security Council resolutions that are binding international law that Israel does not comply with. But I think it will add added pressure on Israel, particularly as the US allowed this resolution to go through – it could’ve used its veto,” said Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor James Bays.

    Int’l civil society answers call to challenge Israel: An international delegation of writers, lawyers, journalists, and activists arrived in Cairo, Egypt this week to exert pressure to secure the safe passage of food, water, fuel, & medical aid to 2.3 million Palestinians facing starvation and death as genocidal Israeli airstrikes continuously pound defenseless civilians. They have submitted a request to Egypt for permission to travel to Rafah. Their effort is in response to the Palestinian and Arab calls for civil society to challenge Israel’s “deadly occupation.” They add,

    We urge all peoples and governments to act urgently to end this horror. There are hundreds of aid trucks currently parked in the desert waiting to enter the Rafah Crossing. We demand they be allowed to reach Palestinians whose needs are dire and desperate.

    The Washington Post reports: Israel has killed more than 11,100 Gazans. That’s one out of every 200 people, 0.5% of the population.

    US distances itself from Al Shifa raid: The United States has denied giving Israel a green light for a raid on al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip after backing Israeli claims that the medical facility was being used for military purposes. Speaking on Wednesday, US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby countered accusations from Hamas that President Joe Biden’s administration was complicit in the raid.

    The US had previously stated that an intelligence assessment backed up Israel’s claims that al-Shifa Hospital, the largest in Gaza, sat atop a large Hamas command center.

    Americans’ support for Israel, war reaches a new low: A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday shows that 32 percent of respondents said “the US should support Israel” when asked what role Washington should take in the war. This is down from the 41 percent who shared this opinion in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in October. Meanwhile, 68 percent of respondents in the poll said they agreed with a statement that “Israel should call a ceasefire and try to negotiate.”

    RECOMMENDED READING: How Israel and the West smear the Palestinians as antisemitic

    Many groups urge Biden administration to change Israel policy: More than 500 political appointees and staff members representing some 40 government agencies sent a letter to President Biden on Tuesday protesting his support of Israel in its war in Gaza. A group of more than two dozen Democratic members of US Congress has signed a letter urging the Biden administration to agree to a ceasefire and an end to Israel’s assault on Gaza.

    In the past 24 hours, two Israeli soldiers were reportedly killed in Gaza, bringing the total number of soldiers killed since the start of ground operations to 53, according to official Israeli sources.

    The firing of rockets by Palestinian armed groups towards Israeli population centres has continued over the past 24 hours, with no reported fatalities. (Information on rocket attacks is here.) It appears that the last time a rocket killed an Israeli was October 7, as reported by Ha’aretz. Ten Israelis were killed – 4 of them Palestinian Israelis.




    https://israelpalestinenews.org/november-16-todays-news-palestine-israel-day-41/
    November 16: Today’s news on Palestine & Israel – Day 41 Humanitarian & fuel updates, hospital crises, evacuation update, West Bank & Israel news, international community actions, and more Kathryn Shihadah November 16, 2023 November 16: Today’s news on Palestine & Israel – Day 41 Palestinians walk through the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City (photo) Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here. For more news, go here and here. Live broadcast news from the region is here. Some people are led to be skeptical of the Al Jazeera news network. However, the network has won several Emmys, a Peabody and the Overseas Press Association’s Edward R. Murrow award, among many other honors. The New York Times reports that “its reporting hews to international journalistic standards and provides a unique view on events in the Middle East.” it’s important to remember that all news sources may potentially have bias. For example, CNN uses anchors who used to work for the Israel Lobby, who have lifelong attachment to Israel, and who often exhibit pro-Israel spin and omission in their broadcasts. Similarly, Fox News is strongly influenced by Rupert Murdoch, who has a similarly strong attachment to Israel, and who may have fired Tucker Carlson, the network’s most popular host, in part due to the host’s opposition to war and his pattern of failing to exhibit sufficient devotion to Israel). Latest statistics: Palestinian death toll: 11,196* (10,999 in Gaza** (including at least 4,707 children and 3,155 women), and at least 197 in the West Bank). *IAK does not yet include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile is being disputed; although much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, experts are still looking into the incident. Israel is blocking an international investigation. Palestinian injuries: 30,076** (including at least 29,000 in Gaza** and 2,750 in the West Bank). **NOTE: it is impossible to offer an accurate number of injuries in Gaza due to the ongoing bombardment and communication disruption. The Associated Press has reported ~32,000 in Gaza, while the UN number is somewhat lower. Our total for Gaza and the West Bank is based on the conservative figure. It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties. About 1.6 million people have been displaced; 3,640 are missing (1,770 children) and presumed to be under rubble. Israel has now killed more Palestinians in a little over a month than in all the previous 22 years combined. Reported Israeli death toll has been reduced to ~1,200*** (The Israeli spokesman said the original figure of deaths on March 7 was an “initial estimate” – killed in West Bank, 53 in Gaza), including 32 Americans, and ~5,400 injured). The names of the 1,175 identified (about 33 of them children) are here. ***NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel may have been caused by Israeli soldiers; additionally, since Israel has a policy of universal conscription, it is unknown how many of those attending the outdoor rave a few miles from Gaza on stolen Palestinian land were Israeli soldiers. Hover over each bar for exact numbers. Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org Humanitarian aid: Since 21 October, 1,139 trucks carrying mainly medicines, food and water have entered Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt, representing a fraction of the needs. Due to the absence of fuel, on 14 November, UNRWA’s solid waste removal services began shutting down, posing an environmental hazard, with about 400 tons of rubbish per day accumulating in overcrowded camps and IDP shelters. Fuel to Gaza: On 15 November, some 23,000 litres of fuel entered Gaza from Egypt, the first such delivery since 7 October. The Israeli authorities have restricted the use of this fuel only to use for UNRWA trucks distributing aid. The entry of fuel for all other purposes remains banned including for hospital generators and water and sanitation facilities. Given UNRWA requires about 160,000 litres of fuel per day to run basic humanitarian operations, it has had to halt key services. The small amount that entered Gaza was too late in the day to refuel the trucks for aid delivery. Deadly attacks over the past 24 hours included: on 14 November, in the afternoon, airstrikes reportedly hit Al Mohophin School, in Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, Gaza city, killing 17 people; the same day, at about 20:30, airstrikes reportedly hit a residential building in As Saftawi area, north of Gaza city, killing 13 people, including six women; on midday 14 November, airstrikes reportedly hit a building in Al Qarara, east of Khan Yunis, killing nine people; on 15 November, at around midday, airstrikes reportedly hit As Salhi Towers area, in Nuseirat, killing 14 people. Propaganda photo, then a bullet to the head: The Israeli army released a propaganda photo of one of its soldiers helping an elderly Palestinian man with a walking stick in an attempt to showcase its “safe corridor” for civilians fleeing northern Gaza. Shortly afterwards, 79-year-old Bashir Hajji was executed in cold blood by Israeli soldiers, according to Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. Hajji’s granddaughter, Hala Hajji, told the Euro-Med Monitor team that he was executed after the photo was taken with one bullet to the head and back. “He died tired, cold, thirsty & hungry,” she wrote in a post on Instagram, confirming her grandfather’s death. OCHA reports arrests, beatings on evacuation route: Those fleeing to southern Gaza along the so-called safe “corridors” established by Israeli forces face arrest and the UN has received reports of beatings and people being stripped of their clothes by Israeli soldiers. (02:57 GMT) Palestinians fleeing south are “reporting the presence of dead bodies in the streets”. New evacuation orders in southern Gaza: The Israeli army dropped leaflets last night and in the early hours of this morning ordering residents on the eastern side of Khan Younis, close to the Israel border, to move to the western side because it is “safe.” Khan Younis is located in the southern half of the Gaza Strip. Tens of thousands of people displaced from the north have already sought refuge there in schools and tents, causing severe overcrowding amid shortages of food and water. RECOMMENDED READING: South Africa: World must urge Israel to stop ‘crime against humanity’ in Gaza Israeli troops brought boxes with them into Al Shifa Hospital, produced a weapons cache: When Israeli troops entered the hospital, they brought in boxes marked “baby food” and “medical supplies,” then later released a video it said showed some of the materials it allegedly recovered inside the hospital, including automatic weapons, grenades, ammunition and flak jackets. In one hospital department, “the soldiers [allegedly] located an operational command centre and technological assets belonging to Hamas, indicating that the terrorist organization uses the hospital for terrorist purposes,” an Israeli military statement said. According to a video released on X (see below), they found a laptop. There is no indication that Israeli troops’ boxes were inspected before they entered the hospital, or that any third party accompanied them on their inspection. Israeli army deletes, reposts video allegedly inside al-Shifa Hospital: According to the Israeli publication Haaretz, the Israeli military had taken down a social media post uploaded on X on Thursday, which showed what Israel claimed was proof of weapons being kept inside Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital. The Israeli military did not publish any explanation for the deletion of the post. The video, showing Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, was later reposted by the Israeli army with some parts being blurred out, raising questions about the authenticity of the evidence being presented in the clip. RECOMMENDED READING: Israel fails to show evidence of Hamas command center at al-Shifa hospital Another raid at Al Shifa, including ‘strip searches’ of Palestinians: Israeli forces launched another raid at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in the early hours of Thursday. The Israeli army has confirmed that it is conducting a military operation in the hospital. There are reports of some 200 people being blindfolded and interrogated and taken to unknown areas; their fate is unknown. An entire building at al-Shifa Hospital – the specialized surgeries building – has been completely damaged from the inside, in addition to Israeli forces blowing up a warehouse for medicine and medical equipment inside the hospital. Israeli bulldozers and vehicles also reportedly completely destroyed the southern entrance to al-Shifa Hospital and all vehicles in its courtyard. Medical sources told Wafa that the Israeli army installed facial recognition cameras and electronic gates in the hospital courtyard while strip-searching Palestinians in the medical complex. Israeli forces also reportedly arrested a number of displaced people and the families of those who were killed and wounded, who were seeking shelter there. The Red Cross and UNRWA are calling for the evacuation of the 650 patients at al-Shifa Hospital to other facilities. The patients would be put in tents or in a school near the European [Gaza] Hospital. The director-general of Gaza hospitals is demanding that patients be transferred to Egypt. Al Ahli Hospital targeted: Journalist Ismael al-Ghoul reported from near the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City that Israeli air strikes have targeted the perimeter of the hospital. The attacks could be seen as an indicator of preparations for raiding the medical facility. Ahli Arab Hospital is only providing basic medical services, as it was targeted earlier in the war. This video shows the intensity of the bombing. Out of 24 hospitals with in-patient capacity in the north, only one, Al Ahli in Gaza city, is presently operational and admitting patients. Eighteen hospitals have shut down and evacuated since the start of hostilities, including three – An Nasr, Ar Rantisi and Al Quds – over the past three days. RECOMMENDED READING: What we know about the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital blast Gaza City will soon be “uninhabitable”: Ha’aretz reports on what Israeli troops are doing besides ransacking Al Shifa hospitals: [D]ozens of battalion combat teams…are going from house to house [in Gaza City]…They’re taking no risks, and as nearly all of the million-plus population who lived in the area just six weeks ago have now fled south [NOTE: sources like Al Jazeera report that “hundreds of thousands” still remain in Gaza City]…this means that any building that is any way suspected of harboring weapons or tunnel entrances is bombed or bulldozed, or both. We may be very near the point where there are more Israeli soldiers in Gaza City than Gazans, and the issue of trying to avoid more civilian casualties will no longer exist because all those who can will have left. Wide swaths of the city and its surroundings have already been destroyed, and it’s only a matter of weeks before the largest Palestinian city is rendered totally uninhabitable. The article does not say what will happen to those Gazans who have been unable or unwilling to leave their homes. 3 Palestinians killed in West Bank in alleged shooting attack: Three suspected Palestinian assailants allegedly opened fire at a checkpoint on a road between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Wednesday, wounding six security force members before the assailants were shot dead. The suspects arrived in a vehicle from the direction of Bethlehem, Shabtai told reporters at the scene, and opened fire when the Israeli forces there began questioning them. They were killed when the Israeli forces shot back, he said. One of the soldiers has died of his wounds. RECOMMENDED READING: Reports of harsh conditions and abuse in Israeli security prisons where Palestinians are being held for social media posts Palestinian lawmaker in Israel sanctioned: The Israeli Knesset’s Ethics Committee has temporarily sanctioned two Palestinian lawmakers, citing “inflammatory remarks” made after the 7 October Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel. MK Aida Touma-Suleiman of the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality and MK Iman Khatib Yassin of the United Arab List were banned from taking part in Knesset hearings and votes for two months. They also face salary deductions. “Knesset Ethics Committee suspended me for 2 months for criticising the Israeli army’s action in Gaza,” Touma-Suleiman wrote on X. “Silencing of critical voices of Palestinian citizens and anti-war activists is rampant these days. The war must cease, persecution must end.” “Wake up. This is genocide”: Countries must “wake up” to the massive violations that Israel is committing in Gaza, a Palestinian ambassador told UN member states Thursday, insisting it was a “genocide.” “You should wake up in this room. This is a massacre, this is genocide, and we’re seeing it on TV. It cannot continue,” Palestinian ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi told a gathering of UN member states in Geneva. US doesn’t use its veto: The UN Security Council has passed a resolution calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip” to allow for aid delivery and medical evacuations, after four failed attempts to respond to the Israel-Hamas war. It was adopted by 12 votes in favor, zero against and three abstentions – Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom. It additionally asked for the unconditional release of captives held in Gaza. “It is binding international law, but we know that there are many Security Council resolutions that are binding international law that Israel does not comply with. But I think it will add added pressure on Israel, particularly as the US allowed this resolution to go through – it could’ve used its veto,” said Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor James Bays. Int’l civil society answers call to challenge Israel: An international delegation of writers, lawyers, journalists, and activists arrived in Cairo, Egypt this week to exert pressure to secure the safe passage of food, water, fuel, & medical aid to 2.3 million Palestinians facing starvation and death as genocidal Israeli airstrikes continuously pound defenseless civilians. They have submitted a request to Egypt for permission to travel to Rafah. Their effort is in response to the Palestinian and Arab calls for civil society to challenge Israel’s “deadly occupation.” They add, We urge all peoples and governments to act urgently to end this horror. There are hundreds of aid trucks currently parked in the desert waiting to enter the Rafah Crossing. We demand they be allowed to reach Palestinians whose needs are dire and desperate. The Washington Post reports: Israel has killed more than 11,100 Gazans. That’s one out of every 200 people, 0.5% of the population. US distances itself from Al Shifa raid: The United States has denied giving Israel a green light for a raid on al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip after backing Israeli claims that the medical facility was being used for military purposes. Speaking on Wednesday, US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby countered accusations from Hamas that President Joe Biden’s administration was complicit in the raid. The US had previously stated that an intelligence assessment backed up Israel’s claims that al-Shifa Hospital, the largest in Gaza, sat atop a large Hamas command center. Americans’ support for Israel, war reaches a new low: A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday shows that 32 percent of respondents said “the US should support Israel” when asked what role Washington should take in the war. This is down from the 41 percent who shared this opinion in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in October. Meanwhile, 68 percent of respondents in the poll said they agreed with a statement that “Israel should call a ceasefire and try to negotiate.” RECOMMENDED READING: How Israel and the West smear the Palestinians as antisemitic Many groups urge Biden administration to change Israel policy: More than 500 political appointees and staff members representing some 40 government agencies sent a letter to President Biden on Tuesday protesting his support of Israel in its war in Gaza. A group of more than two dozen Democratic members of US Congress has signed a letter urging the Biden administration to agree to a ceasefire and an end to Israel’s assault on Gaza. In the past 24 hours, two Israeli soldiers were reportedly killed in Gaza, bringing the total number of soldiers killed since the start of ground operations to 53, according to official Israeli sources. The firing of rockets by Palestinian armed groups towards Israeli population centres has continued over the past 24 hours, with no reported fatalities. (Information on rocket attacks is here.) It appears that the last time a rocket killed an Israeli was October 7, as reported by Ha’aretz. Ten Israelis were killed – 4 of them Palestinian Israelis. https://israelpalestinenews.org/november-16-todays-news-palestine-israel-day-41/
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    November 16: Today’s news on Palestine & Israel – Day 41
    Humanitarian & fuel updates, hospital crises, evacuation update, West Bank & Israel news, international community actions, and more
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  • ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 41: Israel ignores legally binding UNSC resolution, saying ‘it will not happen.’
    Leila WarahNovember 16, 2023
    Displaced Palestinians near Nasser Hospital and UNRWA schools in Khan Yunis, November 14, 2023. (Photo: © Mohammed Talatene/dpa via ZUMA Press APA Images)
    Displaced Palestinians near Nasser Hospital and UNRWA schools in Khan Yunis, November 14, 2023. (Photo: © Mohammed Talatene/dpa via ZUMA Press APA Images)
    Casualties

    11,255 killed*, including 4,630 children, and 29,000 wounded in Gaza

    196 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem

    Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,200

    *This figure covers the casualties from October 7 to November 14.

    Key Developments

    Israeli airstrikes have targeted the perimeter of the Ahli Arab Hospital on Thursday afternoon, reports Al Jazeera, who believes the attacks could be seen as an indicator of preparation to storm the hospital.
    Israeli forces violently stormed Al-Shifa Hospital twice within 24 hours, destroying the inside of the medical complex despite finding no Palestinian fighters inside.
    The UN Security Council passed a legally binding resolution calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses,” unrestricted aid delivery, including fuel and medical evacuations, and the release of captives inside Gaza; however, Israel says “it will not happen.”
    UNOCHA: Those fleeing to the South using the Israeli force’s “so-called safe corridors” face arrest, and the UN has received reports of “beatings and people being stripped of their clothes by Israeli soldiers.”
    According to a police statement, Israeli security forces killed three people who arrived in a “suspicious vehicle and opened fire towards our forces,” shooting and injuring four people at a checkpoint near Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank on Thursday morning, according to Israeli media.
    Israeli forces have detained 69 Palestinians during overnight military raids on Palestinian homes across the occupied West Bank, including four siblings in Kufr Rai village near Jenin in an effort to force their brother to turn himself in, reported Wafa,
    UNOCHA: The Palestinian Red Cross is no longer able to respond to the hundreds of calls from people seeking assistance in evacuating people wounded or trapped under the rubble.
    As of November 10, about 2,700 people, including some 1,500 children, remain missing and presumed to be trapped or dead under the rubble, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza
    The Red Cross and UNRWA are calling for the evacuation of the 650 patients trapped by the Israeli military in al-Shifa Hospital to other facilities, including in Egypt, as the patients are beyond the capability of Gaza’s already collapsed healthcare system, reports Al Jazeera.
    On Wednesday, Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel warned that Gaza is expected to enter a communications blackout as the company’s data centers and equipment will shut down due to the lack of fuel.
    At least seven staff members at the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza were injured at the ER entrance as they tried “to tend to Palestinians who themselves had been injured in Israeli air strikes,” said a spokesperson for the Jordanian army, adding that Jordan is investigating the incident and holds Israel responsible for the protection of their faculty and staff.
    The Palestine Red Crescent Society has shared a distressing video showing Israeli forces targeting the organization’s paramedics as they shell the vicinity of Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza last Friday.
    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, is publicly calling on the Prime Minister to resign because the public has lost trust in him.
    Bombing, shooting, detaining, and strip searching Palestinains

    Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, has been stormed twice by Israeli forces in the last 24 hours, even though they have only found civilians, including medical staff, patients, and displaced persons. Evidence of an alleged Hamas command center is also absent.

    The first military incursion started at dawn on Wednesday before soldiers withdrew in the evening, maintaining their siege on the medical complex as “the smell of death wafts everywhere,” Al-Shifa Hospital director Muhammad Abu Salmiya told Al Jazeera.

    According to the Gaza government’s media office, Israeli forces expelled several children and patients, “depriving them of treatment and leaving them to face the threats of bombings, snipers and deadly drones” and even attacked several medical staff inside al-Shifa hospital during the incursion.

    “They forced them to take off their clothes, insulted and cursed at them. They asked medical staff to leave their stations so they could interrogate them under the threat of weapons,” the office said.

    Similarly, Wafa news reported that eyewitnesses saw Israeli forces forcing displaced people to strip naked and detaining and interrogating doctors, patients, and civilians.

    The Palestinian news outlet added that Israeli forces were also seen installing facial recognition cameras and electronic gates in the courtyard of the medical complex.

    As Israeli forces stormed Al Shifa hospital on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said on X, “There is no place in Gaza that we cannot reach.”

    “We will arrive, we will eliminate Hamas, and we will return the hostages. These two goals are sacred…Yesterday, I spoke with President Biden again. We will be relentless. We will eliminate Hamas, achieve victory, and return the hostages,” he continued.

    After finding little to no verifiable evidence of al-Shifa Hospital being used as the central operations headquarters for Hamas, Israeli forces launched a second raid on the hospital in the early hours of Thursday, less than 24 hours later.

    Al Jazeera reported that the entire building had been damaged from the inside, stating that the Israeli military tore apart the walls and partitions between rooms and destroyed all the medical equipment.

    Israeli bombardment has also caused “material damage to the specialized surgeries department at the hospital,” the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Telegram.

    The World Health Organization described Israel’s assault on Al-Shifa hospital as “totally unacceptable.”

    “Hospitals are not battlegrounds,” the statement said.

    “Health workers have endured weeks of bombardment and siege and yet continue doing all they can to save lives. The international community must act now to end Israel’s systematic dismantling of Gaza’s health system and secure an immediate ceasefire,” Melanie Ward, the CEO of Medical Aid for Palestinians, said in a statement.

    “Apparently, no crime, no matter how grave, is enough for the international community, including the Security Council, to say to Israel: Stop,” said Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN observer.

    “Calls for restraint are clearly not working,” he added. “The demands for respect of international law must be backed by immediate, serious, collective efforts to enforce the law.”

    According to Al Jazeera, Israeli forces have complete control of the medical complex, and civilians are trapped inside the hospital and detained under Israeli custody. Israeli forces have taken some Palestinians to unknown locations, and their fate is still unknown.

    It is becoming increasingly difficult for anybody to reach any of the medical staff, patients, and displaced people still stuck inside the hospital.

    “I cannot even imagine … the panic among the patients, the panic among doctors and nurses. What they’re [going] through is really something that is unbelievable,” Tommaso Della Longa, spokesperson for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), told Al Jazeera on Wednesday evening.

    Longa added that hospitals being forced to shut down due to the lack of fuel, among other essentials, is “something that is not acceptable” as thousands of Palestinians trapped in the besieged enclave no longer have access to healthcare.

    In a publicity stunt on Thursday, Israel gave UNRWA just over 23,000 liters of fuel to be used inside the Gaza Strip, which is about 9% of what the agency needs to provide support to Palestinians in the besieged enclave.

    “Much more fuel is needed. We need 160,000 liters of fuel every day for basic humanitarian operations,” he said, calling on Israel to “immediately authorize the delivery of the needed amount of fuel as is required under international humanitarian law.”

    Even worse, Commissioner General of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini says Israeli Authorities “restricted the use of this fuel “only to transport the little aid coming via Egypt,” meaning it cannot be used in hospitals or for water purification.

    “It is appalling that fuel continues to be used as a weapon of war,” he added in a statement on X.

    Meanwhile, Israeli politicians continue pushing back on allowing basic humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave, collectively punishing the 2.3 million people living in Gaza because of the possibility that Hamas will use the fuel.

    National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir declared that “Diesel = weapon,” on Wednesday.

    Similarly, transportation Minister Miri Regev said that “fuel for UNRWA is fuel for Hamas.”

    However, the UN reiterated that “Fuel underpins access to and provision of all humanitarian services in Gaza. Without it, access by the people of Gaza to life-saving humanitarian assistance will all but cease.”

    “We are already seeing a cascading collapse in water, sewage, and sanitation services, telecoms, food shortages, and healthcare,” they added.

    Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, highlighted that “Gaza is ‘occupied’ given Israel’s effective control, regardless of Hamas’ existence,” and that Israel “has a right to protect itself but not to wage war” on the Palestinian people who have been kept under Israel’s “belligerent occupation” since 1967.

    Meanwhile, in the South of Gaza, the Israeli army is once again demanding Palestinians to evacuate “immediately,” this time from eastern Khan Younis, including Al-Qarara, Khuza’a, Bani Suhaila, and Abasan.

    It is crucial to note that Israel has been gradually pushing Gaza’s inhabitants farther south, claiming it is for their safety, despite every area being as deadly as the other.

    Notches were dropped from the sky asking people to go to “known shelters,” Yousef Hammash, who works with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), tweeted. “Can someone tell me where these known shelters are?” Hammash stated.

    While most civilians have evacuated from Gaza City, those left in homes surrounding the al-Shifa hospital have been told by the Israeli military to leave, reported al Jazeera.

    However, there have been reports of families being targeted by snipers if they try to evacuate and are not being afforded safe passage.

    Questionable evidence

    As Israel’s operation in the hospital expands, the military has been releasing unverified claims about what its forces found within the medical complex.

    “The army is in the hospital and no one knows what they’re doing or what weapons they brought with them to claim they found them inside the complex,” the Palestinian foreign ministry said on Wednesday evening as Israel released videos claiming they have confirmed that Hamas used al-Shifa Hospital as an operational command center.

    Similarly, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara, questioned Israel’s “evidence.”

    “It’s kind of baffling. Why would Hamas leave the guns and not anything else?” said Bishara.

    The Israeli military “doesn’t have anything to show as justification for the genocide that they’ve carried out against Gaza and for the bombings of the hospitals and other facilities and for the collective punishments,” he added.

    Hamas official Bassem Naim also told Al Jazeera the evidence presented by the army is “ridiculous” and “worthless.”

    Israel has previously claimed to uncover a Hamas tunnel underneath another medical facility in Gaza, which Al Jazeera quickly debunked.

    On Thursday, Israeli media reported the military taking down a video of Israeli spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus claiming to show proof of weapons being held inside al-Shifa Hospital.

    While the army has not commented on the deleted post, online commentators have pointed out various consistencies in the images posted by the military with reports from Fox News, who had a correspondent with them during the raid.

    The Israeli army later reposted the video with parts being blurred out, leading to even more public speculation on the authenticity of the clips.

    Calls for Netanyahu to resign

    As these military operations take place, captives are still being held in Gaza and subject to Israel’s ruthless bombardment of the area, which has led to an outcry among Israelis as Netanyahu puts off negotiations with Hamas.

    While Qatar has reportedly continued mediating negotiation efforts for a deal between Hamas and Israel, nothing has been agreed upon.

    “Israel is still delaying the release of 50 women and children from the captives in exchange for a humanitarian truce, the release of a number of women and children detainees in prisons, and the entry of relief aid to all areas in the Gaza Strip,” Izzat al-Risheq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said on Telegram.

    Israel is not serious about reaching an agreement “but is stalling to continue its aggression and war against defenseless civilians,” Izzat al-Risheq continued.

    As Israel’s poorly woven narrative about Hamas unravels, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, is calling on the Prime Minister to resign because the public has lost trust in him.

    “We need a government that can be trusted,” said Lapid, suggesting that his own party could form a government with Netanyahu’s Likud and other political parties.

    The Times of Israel reported that Likud, Israel’s major right-wing political party, accused Lapid of “play[ing] politics in a time of war.”

    Lapid said, “This government isn’t functioning, we need change, Netanyahu cannot continue to be prime minister, we cannot allow ourselves to conduct a prolonged [military] campaign with a prime minister that the public has no faith in,” reported Al Jazeera, commenting that this is a significant shift in Israeli politics and the first time the opposition has publicly called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign.

    According to Israeli media, Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, believes that replacing the prime minister at this time is “nothing less than crazy.”

    “I hear the voices saying this is not the time. We waited 40 days, there is no more time. What we need right now is a government that will deal with nothing but security and the economy. We cannot afford another election in the coming year,” Lapid continued.

    UN Security Council Resolution passed: Israel does not care

    On Wednesday evening, the UN Security Council finally passed a resolution after four failed attempts to respond to Israel’s war on Gaza.

    Drafted by Malta, the resolution calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses,” unrestricted aid delivery, including fuel and medical evacuations, and the release of captives inside Gaza passed with 12 votes in favor and 0 against.

    Three countries abstained from voting: Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

    The text also stressed the need to safeguard civilians, especially children, and called for “corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days,” yet it made no mention of a ceasefire.

    Malta’s ambassador to the UN said the resolution “aims to ensure respite from the current nightmare in Gaza and give hope to the families of all victims.”

    The fact that Washington “finally stopped paralyzing the Security Council on Israel and Palestine” demonstrates to Israel that “global concern, even among its allies, is strong,” said the UN director at Human Rights Watch, Louis Charbonneau.

    In response, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said the resolution is “disconnected from reality” and has “no meaning.”

    Erdan said point blank, “It will not happen.”

    “Israel will continue to act until Hamas is destroyed and the hostages are returned,” he continued, maintaining that Israel’s assault on Gaza is in keeping with international law despite the repudiation of several experts.

    Although Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor James Bays says the resolution is “binding under international law,” there have been “many” other binding Security Council resolutions “that Israel does not comply with.”

    “Israeli authorities, who have already lost their legitimacy in the conscience of humanity, will not be able to conceal the crimes they committed by bombing hospitals and killing women and children in front of the whole world,” the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

    Before you go – we need your support

    At Mondoweiss, we understand the power of telling Palestinian stories. For 17 years, we have pushed back when the mainstream media published lies or echoed politicians’ hateful rhetoric. Now, Palestinian voices are more important than ever.

    Our traffic has increased ten times since October 7, and we need your help to cover our increased expenses.

    Support our journalists with a donation today.


    https://mondoweiss.net/2023/11/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-41-israel-ignores-legally-binding-unsc-resolution-saying-it-will-not-happen/
    ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 41: Israel ignores legally binding UNSC resolution, saying ‘it will not happen.’ Leila WarahNovember 16, 2023 Displaced Palestinians near Nasser Hospital and UNRWA schools in Khan Yunis, November 14, 2023. (Photo: © Mohammed Talatene/dpa via ZUMA Press APA Images) Displaced Palestinians near Nasser Hospital and UNRWA schools in Khan Yunis, November 14, 2023. (Photo: © Mohammed Talatene/dpa via ZUMA Press APA Images) Casualties 11,255 killed*, including 4,630 children, and 29,000 wounded in Gaza 196 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,200 *This figure covers the casualties from October 7 to November 14. Key Developments Israeli airstrikes have targeted the perimeter of the Ahli Arab Hospital on Thursday afternoon, reports Al Jazeera, who believes the attacks could be seen as an indicator of preparation to storm the hospital. Israeli forces violently stormed Al-Shifa Hospital twice within 24 hours, destroying the inside of the medical complex despite finding no Palestinian fighters inside. The UN Security Council passed a legally binding resolution calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses,” unrestricted aid delivery, including fuel and medical evacuations, and the release of captives inside Gaza; however, Israel says “it will not happen.” UNOCHA: Those fleeing to the South using the Israeli force’s “so-called safe corridors” face arrest, and the UN has received reports of “beatings and people being stripped of their clothes by Israeli soldiers.” According to a police statement, Israeli security forces killed three people who arrived in a “suspicious vehicle and opened fire towards our forces,” shooting and injuring four people at a checkpoint near Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank on Thursday morning, according to Israeli media. Israeli forces have detained 69 Palestinians during overnight military raids on Palestinian homes across the occupied West Bank, including four siblings in Kufr Rai village near Jenin in an effort to force their brother to turn himself in, reported Wafa, UNOCHA: The Palestinian Red Cross is no longer able to respond to the hundreds of calls from people seeking assistance in evacuating people wounded or trapped under the rubble. As of November 10, about 2,700 people, including some 1,500 children, remain missing and presumed to be trapped or dead under the rubble, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza The Red Cross and UNRWA are calling for the evacuation of the 650 patients trapped by the Israeli military in al-Shifa Hospital to other facilities, including in Egypt, as the patients are beyond the capability of Gaza’s already collapsed healthcare system, reports Al Jazeera. On Wednesday, Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel warned that Gaza is expected to enter a communications blackout as the company’s data centers and equipment will shut down due to the lack of fuel. At least seven staff members at the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza were injured at the ER entrance as they tried “to tend to Palestinians who themselves had been injured in Israeli air strikes,” said a spokesperson for the Jordanian army, adding that Jordan is investigating the incident and holds Israel responsible for the protection of their faculty and staff. The Palestine Red Crescent Society has shared a distressing video showing Israeli forces targeting the organization’s paramedics as they shell the vicinity of Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza last Friday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, is publicly calling on the Prime Minister to resign because the public has lost trust in him. Bombing, shooting, detaining, and strip searching Palestinains Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, has been stormed twice by Israeli forces in the last 24 hours, even though they have only found civilians, including medical staff, patients, and displaced persons. Evidence of an alleged Hamas command center is also absent. The first military incursion started at dawn on Wednesday before soldiers withdrew in the evening, maintaining their siege on the medical complex as “the smell of death wafts everywhere,” Al-Shifa Hospital director Muhammad Abu Salmiya told Al Jazeera. According to the Gaza government’s media office, Israeli forces expelled several children and patients, “depriving them of treatment and leaving them to face the threats of bombings, snipers and deadly drones” and even attacked several medical staff inside al-Shifa hospital during the incursion. “They forced them to take off their clothes, insulted and cursed at them. They asked medical staff to leave their stations so they could interrogate them under the threat of weapons,” the office said. Similarly, Wafa news reported that eyewitnesses saw Israeli forces forcing displaced people to strip naked and detaining and interrogating doctors, patients, and civilians. The Palestinian news outlet added that Israeli forces were also seen installing facial recognition cameras and electronic gates in the courtyard of the medical complex. As Israeli forces stormed Al Shifa hospital on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said on X, “There is no place in Gaza that we cannot reach.” “We will arrive, we will eliminate Hamas, and we will return the hostages. These two goals are sacred…Yesterday, I spoke with President Biden again. We will be relentless. We will eliminate Hamas, achieve victory, and return the hostages,” he continued. After finding little to no verifiable evidence of al-Shifa Hospital being used as the central operations headquarters for Hamas, Israeli forces launched a second raid on the hospital in the early hours of Thursday, less than 24 hours later. Al Jazeera reported that the entire building had been damaged from the inside, stating that the Israeli military tore apart the walls and partitions between rooms and destroyed all the medical equipment. Israeli bombardment has also caused “material damage to the specialized surgeries department at the hospital,” the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Telegram. The World Health Organization described Israel’s assault on Al-Shifa hospital as “totally unacceptable.” “Hospitals are not battlegrounds,” the statement said. “Health workers have endured weeks of bombardment and siege and yet continue doing all they can to save lives. The international community must act now to end Israel’s systematic dismantling of Gaza’s health system and secure an immediate ceasefire,” Melanie Ward, the CEO of Medical Aid for Palestinians, said in a statement. “Apparently, no crime, no matter how grave, is enough for the international community, including the Security Council, to say to Israel: Stop,” said Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN observer. “Calls for restraint are clearly not working,” he added. “The demands for respect of international law must be backed by immediate, serious, collective efforts to enforce the law.” According to Al Jazeera, Israeli forces have complete control of the medical complex, and civilians are trapped inside the hospital and detained under Israeli custody. Israeli forces have taken some Palestinians to unknown locations, and their fate is still unknown. It is becoming increasingly difficult for anybody to reach any of the medical staff, patients, and displaced people still stuck inside the hospital. “I cannot even imagine … the panic among the patients, the panic among doctors and nurses. What they’re [going] through is really something that is unbelievable,” Tommaso Della Longa, spokesperson for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), told Al Jazeera on Wednesday evening. Longa added that hospitals being forced to shut down due to the lack of fuel, among other essentials, is “something that is not acceptable” as thousands of Palestinians trapped in the besieged enclave no longer have access to healthcare. In a publicity stunt on Thursday, Israel gave UNRWA just over 23,000 liters of fuel to be used inside the Gaza Strip, which is about 9% of what the agency needs to provide support to Palestinians in the besieged enclave. “Much more fuel is needed. We need 160,000 liters of fuel every day for basic humanitarian operations,” he said, calling on Israel to “immediately authorize the delivery of the needed amount of fuel as is required under international humanitarian law.” Even worse, Commissioner General of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini says Israeli Authorities “restricted the use of this fuel “only to transport the little aid coming via Egypt,” meaning it cannot be used in hospitals or for water purification. “It is appalling that fuel continues to be used as a weapon of war,” he added in a statement on X. Meanwhile, Israeli politicians continue pushing back on allowing basic humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave, collectively punishing the 2.3 million people living in Gaza because of the possibility that Hamas will use the fuel. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir declared that “Diesel = weapon,” on Wednesday. Similarly, transportation Minister Miri Regev said that “fuel for UNRWA is fuel for Hamas.” However, the UN reiterated that “Fuel underpins access to and provision of all humanitarian services in Gaza. Without it, access by the people of Gaza to life-saving humanitarian assistance will all but cease.” “We are already seeing a cascading collapse in water, sewage, and sanitation services, telecoms, food shortages, and healthcare,” they added. Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, highlighted that “Gaza is ‘occupied’ given Israel’s effective control, regardless of Hamas’ existence,” and that Israel “has a right to protect itself but not to wage war” on the Palestinian people who have been kept under Israel’s “belligerent occupation” since 1967. Meanwhile, in the South of Gaza, the Israeli army is once again demanding Palestinians to evacuate “immediately,” this time from eastern Khan Younis, including Al-Qarara, Khuza’a, Bani Suhaila, and Abasan. It is crucial to note that Israel has been gradually pushing Gaza’s inhabitants farther south, claiming it is for their safety, despite every area being as deadly as the other. Notches were dropped from the sky asking people to go to “known shelters,” Yousef Hammash, who works with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), tweeted. “Can someone tell me where these known shelters are?” Hammash stated. While most civilians have evacuated from Gaza City, those left in homes surrounding the al-Shifa hospital have been told by the Israeli military to leave, reported al Jazeera. However, there have been reports of families being targeted by snipers if they try to evacuate and are not being afforded safe passage. Questionable evidence As Israel’s operation in the hospital expands, the military has been releasing unverified claims about what its forces found within the medical complex. “The army is in the hospital and no one knows what they’re doing or what weapons they brought with them to claim they found them inside the complex,” the Palestinian foreign ministry said on Wednesday evening as Israel released videos claiming they have confirmed that Hamas used al-Shifa Hospital as an operational command center. Similarly, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara, questioned Israel’s “evidence.” “It’s kind of baffling. Why would Hamas leave the guns and not anything else?” said Bishara. The Israeli military “doesn’t have anything to show as justification for the genocide that they’ve carried out against Gaza and for the bombings of the hospitals and other facilities and for the collective punishments,” he added. Hamas official Bassem Naim also told Al Jazeera the evidence presented by the army is “ridiculous” and “worthless.” Israel has previously claimed to uncover a Hamas tunnel underneath another medical facility in Gaza, which Al Jazeera quickly debunked. On Thursday, Israeli media reported the military taking down a video of Israeli spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus claiming to show proof of weapons being held inside al-Shifa Hospital. While the army has not commented on the deleted post, online commentators have pointed out various consistencies in the images posted by the military with reports from Fox News, who had a correspondent with them during the raid. The Israeli army later reposted the video with parts being blurred out, leading to even more public speculation on the authenticity of the clips. Calls for Netanyahu to resign As these military operations take place, captives are still being held in Gaza and subject to Israel’s ruthless bombardment of the area, which has led to an outcry among Israelis as Netanyahu puts off negotiations with Hamas. While Qatar has reportedly continued mediating negotiation efforts for a deal between Hamas and Israel, nothing has been agreed upon. “Israel is still delaying the release of 50 women and children from the captives in exchange for a humanitarian truce, the release of a number of women and children detainees in prisons, and the entry of relief aid to all areas in the Gaza Strip,” Izzat al-Risheq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said on Telegram. Israel is not serious about reaching an agreement “but is stalling to continue its aggression and war against defenseless civilians,” Izzat al-Risheq continued. As Israel’s poorly woven narrative about Hamas unravels, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, is calling on the Prime Minister to resign because the public has lost trust in him. “We need a government that can be trusted,” said Lapid, suggesting that his own party could form a government with Netanyahu’s Likud and other political parties. The Times of Israel reported that Likud, Israel’s major right-wing political party, accused Lapid of “play[ing] politics in a time of war.” Lapid said, “This government isn’t functioning, we need change, Netanyahu cannot continue to be prime minister, we cannot allow ourselves to conduct a prolonged [military] campaign with a prime minister that the public has no faith in,” reported Al Jazeera, commenting that this is a significant shift in Israeli politics and the first time the opposition has publicly called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign. According to Israeli media, Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, believes that replacing the prime minister at this time is “nothing less than crazy.” “I hear the voices saying this is not the time. We waited 40 days, there is no more time. What we need right now is a government that will deal with nothing but security and the economy. We cannot afford another election in the coming year,” Lapid continued. UN Security Council Resolution passed: Israel does not care On Wednesday evening, the UN Security Council finally passed a resolution after four failed attempts to respond to Israel’s war on Gaza. Drafted by Malta, the resolution calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses,” unrestricted aid delivery, including fuel and medical evacuations, and the release of captives inside Gaza passed with 12 votes in favor and 0 against. Three countries abstained from voting: Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The text also stressed the need to safeguard civilians, especially children, and called for “corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days,” yet it made no mention of a ceasefire. Malta’s ambassador to the UN said the resolution “aims to ensure respite from the current nightmare in Gaza and give hope to the families of all victims.” The fact that Washington “finally stopped paralyzing the Security Council on Israel and Palestine” demonstrates to Israel that “global concern, even among its allies, is strong,” said the UN director at Human Rights Watch, Louis Charbonneau. In response, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said the resolution is “disconnected from reality” and has “no meaning.” Erdan said point blank, “It will not happen.” “Israel will continue to act until Hamas is destroyed and the hostages are returned,” he continued, maintaining that Israel’s assault on Gaza is in keeping with international law despite the repudiation of several experts. Although Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor James Bays says the resolution is “binding under international law,” there have been “many” other binding Security Council resolutions “that Israel does not comply with.” “Israeli authorities, who have already lost their legitimacy in the conscience of humanity, will not be able to conceal the crimes they committed by bombing hospitals and killing women and children in front of the whole world,” the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Before you go – we need your support At Mondoweiss, we understand the power of telling Palestinian stories. For 17 years, we have pushed back when the mainstream media published lies or echoed politicians’ hateful rhetoric. Now, Palestinian voices are more important than ever. Our traffic has increased ten times since October 7, and we need your help to cover our increased expenses. Support our journalists with a donation today. https://mondoweiss.net/2023/11/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-41-israel-ignores-legally-binding-unsc-resolution-saying-it-will-not-happen/
    MONDOWEISS.NET
    ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 41: Israel ignores legally binding UNSC resolution, saying ‘it will not happen.’
    Following Israel’s refusal to comply with a new UNSC resolution, the Israeli military stormed Al-Shifa Hospital for the second time, terrorizing civilians and finding no evidence of a Hamas command center.
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