Palestine

[blindpig]

Netanyahu greenlights death penalty bill for Palestinian prisoners

The bill will require three readings in the Knesset before it can be passed into Israeli law

News Desk

NOV 3, 2025


(Photo credit: AFP via Getty Images)

The National Security Committee in Israel’s Knesset is moving forward with a bill to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks and operations that killed Israelis.

According to the Israeli government’s top official on captives’ affairs, Gal Hirsch, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports the move.

Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has long called for the execution of Palestinian prisoners, thanked Netanyahu for supporting the bill in a post on social media.

“I thank the prime minister for his support for Otzma Yehudit’s bill for the death penalty for terrorists, but the court must not have any discretion – every terrorist who goes out to murder must know that the death penalty will be imposed on him. It’s time for justice!” Ben Gvir said.

Israeli media reports said the bill could have its first reading as soon as Wednesday.

“The extremist and terrorist Israeli government once again proves, through this decision, that it feeds off the blood and suffering of prisoners in its jails,” said the Palestinian Center for Prisoners' Defense. “The repercussions of this fascist step will be even more bloody and will drag the entire region into a new cycle of uncertainty whose consequences no one can predict.”

Lawmakers in the Knesset National Security Committee already voted 4-1 in favor of the bill on 28 September.

The bill – which does not apply to Israelis who kill Palestinians – requires another three votes in a full Knesset session before it is passed into law.

At the time of the vote, Ben Gvir came under fire within Israel for pushing the execution bill at a time when Israeli captives were still held in Gaza.

The National Security Minister threatened on 20 October to stop voting with the ruling coalition if the death penalty bill did not pass its first reading within three weeks.

Prior to the formation of Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, Ben Gvir had been demanding the death penalty for Palestinians and, at one point, even made the demand as a condition for his joining the government.

Since assuming the role of national security minister, Ben Gvir has tightened the already repressive measures against Palestinians in the Israeli prison system.

In August, Israeli forces used police dogs and tear gas during a series of repressive raids against women held in Damon Prison.

The assaults took place on 4, 8, 10, and 14 August, when detainees were handcuffed, forced from their cells in a manner described as humiliating, and then led to the prison yard with their heads pushed down.

https://thecradle.co/articles/netanyahu ... -prisoners

Israeli army's top lawyer arrested over leak of Sde Teiman rape video

Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned days earlier for her role in leaking a video of Israeli soldiers raping a Palestinian prisoner

News Desk

NOV 3, 2025


(Photo credit: Reuters)

A former Israeli army legal chief and former military prosecutor have been detained over the leak of a video showing last year’s brutal rape of a Palestinian prisoner by soldiers at the Sde Teiman detention camp.

A court has ruled that the two remain detained until 5 November. It said there was reason to believe the two would attempt to “obstruct” the investigation into the leak.

Former Israeli military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi and former chief prosecutor Matan Solomosh were arrested on Sunday evening.

They are accused of leaking the video and other “serious criminal offenses,” including a cover-up of the leak with false reports, the court said.

Five suspects are being investigated, a police spokesperson told the court.

Days earlier, Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned from her position and admitted in a letter of resignation that she was responsible for the leak.

Tomer-Yerushalmi’s lawyer, Dori Klagsbald, insisted to the court that she was innocent of obstruction since police had already taken testimony from five suspects and two others involved in the probe.

“There is no reason to assume that someone who did not obstruct the investigation from the moment it began would have reason to obstruct it now,” the lawyer said.

Tomer-Yerushalmi went missing briefly over the weekend. Media reports said police were searching for her after losing contact.

According to Channel 12, she left a message for her family before disappearing, prompting them to contact authorities.

Israeli media is now reporting that police have said her disappearance may have been a staged suicide attempt.

The leaked video was broadcast by Channel 12 in August 2024.

It showed an incident from July that year in which soldiers at the notorious Sde Teiman facility took aside a detainee who had been lying face down on the floor. The soldiers then surrounded him with riot shields to block visibility while they beat and rape him.

After the video was leaked, five reserve soldiers were briefly arrested for the abuse, prompting extremist illegal settlers to riot in their defense and storm the bases where they were being held.

According to the indictment filed against the soldiers, the detainee suffered severe injuries, including broken ribs and an internal tear in his rectum.

The high-profile investigation into the abuse caused outrage among coalition politicians, government ministers, and right-wing Jewish activists.

“Anyone who spreads blood libels against IDF soldiers is not worthy of wearing the IDF uniform,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said after Tomer-Yerushalmi’s resignation.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-a ... rape-video

'Anyone who wears an IDF uniform is a Nazi.'

The myth of US peacemaking: Why Washington's mediation in West Asia keeps crumbling

The illusion of American neutrality in West Asia is unraveling as Washington's alliances and coercive diplomacy repeatedly sabotage peace across the region


Peiman Salehi

NOV 3, 2025


Photo Credit: The Cradle

The US has long styled itself as a guarantor of peace and stability in West Asia while systematically undermining both. From the Oslo Accords to the Abraham Accords, Washington's so-called peace initiatives have masked coercion as consensus.

These efforts consistently reinforce the regional status quo, prioritizing Israeli security over Palestinian sovereignty, and maintaining western hegemony over regional autonomy.

The collapse of another US-backed Gaza ceasefire, violated within days by renewed Israeli aggression, exposes the structural flaws in this diplomatic model. Rather than arbitrating peace, Washington serves as an enabler of conflict.

Its diplomacy rests on selective morality and strategic interest, not universal principles. The American insistence on brokering ceasefires while actively resupplying Tel Aviv’s military machinery makes a mockery of its so-called neutrality.

‘No legal basis under international law’

The recent joint letter by Iran, China, and Russia to the UN Secretary-General rejecting Washington's attempt to reactivate the expired “snapback” mechanism under Resolution 2231 further lays bare the fissures between western powers and global legitimacy.

The mechanism, part of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal, formally expired on 18 October 2025. Yet, the US and its European partners are now attempting to revive sanctions via a legal instrument widely considered void.

Tehran’s rejection of the move, supported by Moscow and Beijing, signals a collective refusal to let Washington unilaterally interpret international law. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian affirmed in August that “China reaffirms its commitment to the peaceful resolution of Iran's nuclear issue and opposes the invocation of the UN Security Council's ‘snapback’ mechanism.”

His words echoed a broader conviction across the Global South that legitimacy can no longer be dictated by Washington’s will. Fifteen years ago, Beijing and Moscow joined western powers in imposing sanctions on Iran; today, they stand beside Tehran in open defiance of that same framework.

The world’s center of gravity is shifting from a unipolar order managed by Washington to a multipolar one defined by resistance to its dominance.

Economic multipolarity and the end of American centrality

Nowhere is the erosion of US dominance more visible than in East and Southeast Asia. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), once conceived as a Cold War neutral bloc, has evolved into a robust, self-sustaining economic engine. As reported by the Japan News in March 2024, ASEAN's combined GDP now rivals that of Japan.

Following Washington's 2017 withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the region coalesced around the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Even traditional US allies have joined. As Professor Amitav Acharya argues in ‘The End of American World Order,’ what is emerging is not anti-western, but post-western – a world in which regions increasingly manage their own affairs. Trump's recent visit to East Asia highlighted Washington's growing irrelevance in a region it once dominated.

Yet Washington continues to operate as though the post–Cold War era never ended. Its diplomats still speak the language of the “rules-based order,” even as its actions violate the very norms they claim to uphold.

The attempt to weaponize international law through the snapback mechanism mirrors its broader conduct in Gaza: mediation that enforces control rather than fosters compromise. When the US calls for restraint but resupplies Israel with weapons as civilian casualties rise, its moral authority collapses under its own contradictions.

As former US diplomat Chas Freeman once observed:

“Sadly, theories of coercion and plans to use military means to impose our will on other nations have for some time squeezed out serious consideration of diplomacy as an alternative to the use of force. Diplomacy is more than saying ‘nice doggie’ till you can find a rock … The weapons of diplomats are words and their power is their persuasiveness.”

This transition from persuasion to pressure has degraded Washington's credibility. US diplomacy increasingly resembles an extension of Pentagon strategy – a negotiation backed by bombs, not by principle.

And this is not limited to Gaza or Iran. From Venezuela to North Korea, from Syria to China, Washington’s diplomatic strategy hinges on threats, sanctions, and military posturing. The soft power myth has dissolved under the weight of decades of failed interventions.

A cultural and philosophical disconnect

Western liberalism, historically presented as a universal framework for progress, falters in regions like West Asia, where faith and justice are intertwined. As even Francis Fukuyama – the American political scientist best known for declaring the “end of history” at the Cold War’s close – himself conceded, liberalism is not a universal fit. For Iran and much of West Asia, peace cannot be reduced to the absence of war or bought through economic incentives. It must arise from justice, dignity, and recognition.

This is the blind spot of every US-brokered deal: the failure to grasp that sovereignty and moral legitimacy cannot be negotiated away. The more Washington pressures regional actors into conformity, the more resistance solidifies into a collective identity.

Tehran’s approach reflects this new reality. Rather than reacting impulsively to western provocations, Iran has adopted a hybrid posture combining strategic deterrence with selective diplomacy. Its partnership with Moscow and Beijing is not an alliance of convenience but of conviction – a shared rejection of a system where power masquerades as principle.

In the wake of the failed snapback, Tehran has deepened energy and transport cooperation through the North–South Corridor while maintaining calibrated dialogue with regional states seeking stability beyond US patronage.

The existential failure of US diplomacy

Unlike in previous decades, Iran is no longer isolated. It now commands a regional network of partnerships that reflect mutual interests rather than asymmetric dependencies. From Iraq to Central Asia, Tehran’s outreach has become a model for post-western engagement.

Meanwhile, the Gaza ceasefire serves as a grim mirror of Washington’s diplomatic decay. Within 48 hours of its declaration, Israeli airstrikes resumed under the pretext of “pre-emptive defense,” and the White House responded with silence. For the Arab and Muslim world, this silence is deafening and an unmistakable confirmation that American mediation is designed to manage violence, not end it.

The myth of the western peacemaker has endured because it served both sides: it offered Washington moral legitimacy and offered local elites a pretext for inaction. But that myth is now collapsing under the weight of its contradictions.

A world divided between moral resistance and strategic cynicism cannot be reconciled through the language of “balance.” It demands a new moral vocabulary – one that acknowledges power but subordinates it to justice.

The failure of US mediation in West Asia is therefore not tactical but existential. It stems from a worldview that confuses control with order and influence with peace. Until Washington accepts that peace cannot be engineered through dominance, its diplomacy will remain what it has always been: an empire’s negotiation with its own illusions.

https://thecradle.co/articles/the-myth- ... -crumbling

US drafts plan for international Gaza 'security force,' seeks UN backing: Report

A 'Board of Peace' led by Trump will oversee the establishment of the force and will allow the US and other states to 'govern' Gaza under a 'broad mandate' for at least two years

News Desk

NOV 4, 2025


(Photo credit: AFP)

Washington has sent several UN Security Council members a draft for the establishment of an international Gaza “security force” and its deployment to the strip for a minimum of two years, according to an Axios report.

The draft, obtained by Axios, was designated “SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.”

According to the report, the draft resolution would give the “US and other participating countries a broad mandate to govern Gaza and provide security through the end of 2027, with the possibility of extensions after that.”

Security Council members will negotiate over the coming days and eventually vote to establish the force and deploy the first troops to Gaza by January, a US official told Axios.

The International Security Force (ISF), as it is being called, will be an “enforcement force and not a peacekeeping force.”

The force will be established in coordination with the Gaza ‘Board of Peace’ which US President Donald Trump says he will head, according to the report.

The draft says the ‘Board of Peace’ will remain in place until the end of 2027 at the least.

“The ISF would be tasked with securing Gaza's borders with Israel and Egypt, protecting civilians and humanitarian corridors, and training a new Palestinian police force, with which it's to partner in its mission,” the report said.

It will also “stabilize the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding of military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups,” the draft reads.

This will include the disarmament of Hamas – which the Palestinian resistance group has rejected so far.

It will take on “additional tasks” as well, “as may be necessary in support of the Gaza agreement.”

The force aims to provide “security” for a transition period in Gaza – during which Israel is supposed to gradually withdraw from more of the strip. Gaza must be “free of terror” before Israel carries out a full withdrawal, according to the original text of the Trump plan.

A reformed Palestinian Authority (PA) would, at some point in the future, assume administration of Gaza.

The force will be granted the power to “use all necessary measures to carry out its mandate consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law.”

The Trump-led ‘Board of Peace’ will also serve as “a transitional governance administration” to set the “priorities” and raise funding for Gaza reconstruction, until the PA “has satisfactorily completed its reform program” and after “sign-off” from the board.

The board will be "supervising and supporting of a Palestinian technocratic, apolitical committee of competent Palestinians from the Strip ... which shall be responsible for day-to-day operations of Gaza's civil service and administration," the report cites the draft as saying.

The security force will deploy in Gaza “under unified command acceptable to the Board of Peace.”

The US official speaking with Axios says the board will likely be “operational before the technocratic committee is established.”

States including Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, and Turkiye have shown willingness to contribute to the force. Washington has also discussed the plans with Qatar.

However, Israel has said Turkiye is a “hostile” state that will not be participating. Media reports have also said Tel Aviv rejects both Qatari and Turkish involvement, citing concerns that their presence in Gaza could help bolster Hamas.

Over 150 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes and attacks in Gaza since the so-called US “peace plan” went into effect. On 29 October, Israel killed over 100 people in less than 12 hours after claiming Hamas violated the ceasefire deal.

Trump and other top US officials have defended Israel’s violations.

https://thecradle.co/articles/us-drafts ... ing-report

******

Hezbollah, the State, and the Shattered Balance of Deterrence
Posted by Internationalist 360° on November 2, 2025
Ayman Baydoun



In his 2006 victory speech, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah swore that resistance weapons would never be surrendered as long as Israel continued to occupy Lebanese land or violate its sovereignty. “We did not fight since 1982 for resistance to end while Israel still occupies our land, violates our dignity, and plunders our resources. By God, never.”

For more than two decades, Sayyed Nasrallah kept his words. Apart from the still-occupied Shebaa Farms and occasional airspace violations, no Israeli leader dared order a military advance into Lebanon or seize any part of its territory.

That balance shifted dramatically after the Al-Aqsa Flood operation. During Israel’s 2024 assault on Lebanon, Hezbollah’s fighters waged fierce and disciplined battles along the Lebanese-Palestinian border. The confrontation ended under a so-called “cessation of hostilities” approved by Lebanon’s cabinet on November 27, 2024, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

Under the agreement, Israel pledged to refrain from all offensive operations against Lebanese targets — civilian or military — by land, air, or sea. Both sides, however, retained the right to self-defense in line with international law.

Yet from the very first day, Israel began to systematically violate the deal. It resumed air and ground strikes, carried out assassinations, and even seized seven positions across the Blue Line.

Nearly a year later, these violations continue to mount. What was supposed to end the war has, in effect, reignited it in a new and equally dangerous form. The ongoing escalation means a steady rise in casualties, strikes extending deep into Lebanese territory, and, most ominously, the real prospect of an Israeli reoccupation south of the Litani River.

Such an occupation would face little resistance. By committing to dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure and ensuring its withdrawal from the area, the Lebanese state has effectively left southern Lebanon defenseless. Israel could practically advance undeterred: the army lacks the capacity to fight back, and the resistance is no longer positioned there militarily.

Time, therefore, is working against both the state and Hezbollah, especially as the two stand at odds. The resistance calls on the government to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty, knowing full well that it cannot. It also refuses to surrender its weapons while simultaneously not using them. This stance, internationally interpreted, signals both weakness and acquiescence, amounting to a de facto renunciation of Lebanon’s right to self-defense under Article 4 of the agreement.

The United States, meanwhile, has reportedly offered Israel unwritten guarantees permitting “preventive strikes” against potential Hezbollah targets, a move that further erodes Lebanon’s sovereignty and undermines its deterrent power.

The outcome could be catastrophic. Lebanon risks losing the hard-won gains of its national resistance since the 1970s and squandering the immense sacrifices made since the Israeli occupation of 1982. If the state is unable to defend itself militarily, despite Article 51 of the UN Charter explicitly affirming that right, it can at least suspend the ceasefire agreement, which has effectively collapsed due to Israel’s ongoing violations. International law allows such suspension when an agreement loses its purpose.

At this critical moment, Lebanon must choose a political path and be honest with its citizens. The government should acknowledge its military incapacity and willingness to seek peace with the enemy. Egypt’s intelligence chief’s recent visit to Beirut strongly signals that indirect negotiations, accepted by Lebanese officials, are now underway.

If Lebanon is moving toward a settlement, it must at least preserve the minimum threshold of national sovereignty instead of offering one concession after another, starting with the fundamental right to self-defense. The Palestinian Authority’s experience after the Oslo Accords stands as a stark warning.

The same applies to Hezbollah. If it insists on retaining its weapons, it cannot remain indefinitely silent. It must either outline its future course or reassert its deterrent role.

Ultimately, the looming danger should push all Lebanese factions opposed to normalization with Israel to revive a national resistance front that transcends sectarian divides. Today, Lebanon’s internal polarization over Hezbollah’s arms has become one of Israel’s greatest assets.

Meanwhile, Lebanon stands at a decisive juncture: would it once again descend into the divisions of 1982, giving rise to a new phase of resistance? Or would it submit to regional realignments and accept a US-imposed order in the Middle East?

https://exchange.charter-business.net/o ... /&reason=0

******

Netanyahu Blocks Safe Passage for Hamas Fighters Despite Endorsing Trump’s Gaza Ceasefire Plan

Israel’s prime minister has refused to allow 200 Hamas fighters to evacuate southern Gaza, contradicting his earlier public endorsement of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire plan.


Israeli forces remain deployed across much of Gaza as Netanyahu rejects safe passage for Hamas fighters trapped in Rafah. Photo: HispanTV

November 4, 2025 Hour: 6:34 am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out granting safe passage to about 200 Hamas fighters reportedly trapped in tunnels under southern Gaza, even as he continues to express support for a 20-point ceasefire plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Israeli media, citing an official source close to Netanyahu, reported on Monday that the prime minister “will not allow safe passage for the 200 Hamas fighters” from Israeli-occupied areas of Gaza to zones controlled by the Palestinian resistance group. The clarification followed a Channel 12 report suggesting the fighters, hiding mainly beneath Rafah, might be permitted to leave if they surrendered their weapons.

According to initial military leaks, the corridor would only be considered if Hamas returned the bodies of deceased Israeli captives. The report quickly sparked backlash from across Israel’s political spectrum, prompting Netanyahu’s office to deny any such arrangement was under discussion.


“The prime minister maintains his firm stance on the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, while eliminating terrorist threats against our forces,” the Israeli official said.

The claim drew sharp criticism from far-right ministers. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called the idea “pure madness” and urged Netanyahu to “stop it immediately.” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir also condemned the report, demanding that “the 200 terrorists located beyond the ‘Yellow Line’ be killed or imprisoned,” referring to the demarcation in Trump’s ceasefire plan that stretches from northern Gaza to Rafah.

Opposition figures joined in. Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White party, wrote on X: “We must not allow them to leave the tunnels and reorganize.” Avigdor Liberman of Yisrael Beytenu labeled the plan “total insanity from a weak government under pressure,” warning it should be ruled out entirely.

Later the same day, the Israeli military announced it had killed several fighters who had allegedly crossed the so-called Yellow Line and “posed an immediate threat” to Israeli forces operating in southern Gaza. The Times of Israel reported that ground troops were not always clear on where the boundary was drawn across different areas of the enclave.

The first phase of Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan took effect on October 9 and included a prisoner exchange, though subsequent steps have yet to be negotiated. Israeli forces completed their initial pullback to the Yellow Line on October 10 but continue to occupy about 58 percent of the Gaza Strip.

Despite the declared truce, Israel has continued demolishing homes in Gaza. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reported on Saturday that Israeli forces have killed an average of ten Palestinians per day since the ceasefire began.

According to Euro-Med, at least 68,865 Palestinians have been killed and 170,670 injured since Israel launched its military campaign on October 7, 2023—figures recorded before last month’s ceasefire agreement took effect.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/netanyah ... fire-plan/

[blindpig]

Trump-Netanyahu “Peace” Plan Incompatible With UN Charter and International Law
Jeffrey L. Klump November 3, 2025


[Source: foxnews.com]

By Alfred de Zayas

The Trump-Netanyahu “Peace” for Gaza does not conform to international law and does not augur well for sustainable regional and international peace and reconciliation.

The Trump-Netanyahu construct is incompatible with the UN Charter and with the erga omnes obligation of all UN member States to ensure the enforcement of Security Council Resolutions, including Resolution 242 of November 22, 1967,[1] which ordered the withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied Palestine territory.

The only hope for durable peace in the Middle East lies in the implementation of the concrete, pragmatic Advisory Opinions of the International Court of Justice of July 9, 2004,[2] July 19, 2024,[3] and October 22, 2025,[4] the implementation of the final report of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry,[5] submitted to the Human Rights Council on September 16, 2025, and the implementation of the detailed reports of UN Special Rapporteurs on Palestine John Dugard, Richard Falk, Michael Lynk and Francesca Albanese.[6]

There cannot be a “separate” peace settlement for the Middle East that ignores binding United Nations pronouncements. It would not only be illegal, but it would be illegitimate. A “fait accompli” does not create international law. It only manifests the lack of effective enforcement mechanisms in the United Nations system.

Accepting the Trump-Netanyahu dictate would entail abandoning the whole body of international law and the international order established at the end of the Second World War. It would mean venturing on the slippery road to World War III.

The United Nations bears particular responsibility for what happens in the Middle East, because it was the mid-wife that facilitated the emergence of a new State called “Israel” and failed to ensure the emergence of a second State called “Palestine.”

The UN could have done it, if the right impulse had come from the great powers. It could have been possible in the early years, before the many wars and the growing hostility between Muslims and Jews.

But what is the United Nations but its member States with all their competing values, conflicting interests and endemic contradictions? Over the past 80 years there have not been great visionaries or leaders. All have watched the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians and the ongoing genocide in Gaza, without adopting concrete measures to prevent the genocide and punish the perpetrators.

Admittedly, some academics did anticipate and condemn the crimes, and there have been dozens of General Assembly and Security Council resolutions but, in the absence of enforcement of international law, genocide has become the “new normal.”

In many ways the United Nations is responsible for the existence of the State of Israel, which emerged from a Zionist project that was already anachronistic when conceived, and which is fundamentally at odds with the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Although rooted in the Jewish experience of persecution in Europe and Jews’ historical attachment to the Holy Land, the Zionist experiment belongs in the imperialist and colonial mentality of the end of the 19th century and the idea that Europeans could settle in other parts of the world and displace the local populations. This latter mindset is responsible for endless wars of decolonization in Africa and Asia and for the unending saga of the Palestinian tragedy.

The establishment of the State of Israel, an Apartheid State for Jews,[7] where other ethnic groups did not enjoy the same rights, was only possible because of the enormity of the Holocaust and the solidarity that the world felt for the Jewish survivors. Solidarity and empathy were legitimate, but should not have been implemented at the expense of the native Palestinians.

The irony of history is that the State of Israel, which emerged from the Holocaust, would soon become a practitioner of ethnic cleansing and genocide, that the horror that Jews endured during the Second World War would be visited upon the Palestinians, who had no responsibility for the Nazi crimes.

[…]

The international community knows from experience over the past 80 years: Israel has waged war on all of its neighbors and, thus, has demonstrated in practice that it is not “a peace-loving State.” It has engaged in countless aggressions against Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Egypt, thereby violating the Principles and Purposes of the UN Charter.

This open rebellion against the UN Charter and international law would justify the expulsion of Israel from membership, as envisaged in Article 6 of the Charter, which stipulates: “A Member of the United Nations who has persistently violated the Principles contained in the present Charter may be expelled from the Organization by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.”

Here lies the problem of UN inefficacy: the structural inability to enforce its decisions, because of the frequent abuse of the “veto” power by the Permanent members of the Security Council. We observe that the Security Council does not always act within its terms of reference laid down in Article 24 of the Charter, and allows the five permanent members to act contrary to the purposes of the organization, which are to promote peace, development and human rights.

[…]

It is a disgrace that a State like the United States can abuse the veto power to shield Israel from accountability, to veto resolutions calling for a cease-fire, and to veto resolutions providing for the recognition of Palestine as a member State of the organization.

Under normal circumstances, the Security Council would be expected to ensure the implementation of the Advisory Opinions of the International Court of Justice, but the United States blocks enforcement action against Israel and, thus, becomes complicit in the genocide.

[…]

Trump-Netanyahu “Peace Agreement”

Navi Pillay, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Chairperson of the International Independent Commission on Palestine, stated that the so-called Trump-Netanyahu “Peace Agreement” breaches international law.[12]

This commission of inquiry was established in 2021 and its 72-page report to the Human Rights Council concluded that Israel had committed genocide.[13] In her comments about U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, Pillay said “Israel has committed genocide and is continuing to do so….The conclusions of the commission still stand.”

[…]

While we accept the partial cease-fire as a first step toward justice and peace, the priority now must be to ensure that humanitarian assistance enters Gaza and the Occupied Territories immediately and in sufficient amounts, and that the recipients can safely access this humanitarian assistance.

Under no circumstances should it be administered by the United States or by the pseudo-NGO Gaza Humanitarian Foundation[14]–it should only be distributed by a UN agency like UNRWA,[15] the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine.

In an interview in September 2025 Philippe Lazzarini, Assistant Secretary General, UNRWA Chief and former head of communications at the International Committee of the Red Cross, referred to this so-called foundation as mercenary, whose employees are highly paid former soldiers who come to Gaza to carry out supposed humanitarian activities without knowing what humanitarian work is.

The goal of this foundation was to force the Palestinian population in the north and center of the Gaza Strip to go south to get food. The number of local distribution centers went down from 400 to just a few, forcing the most vulnerable to move.

The end of the daily massacres does not erase the genocide already perpetrated and does not end the genocide—the dying—because of the long-term sequels and trauma. A true peace agreement must be crafted that recognizes that genocide has occurred and there must be accountability. Whatever peace agreement is eventually crafted, it must vindicate international law, international human rights law and international humanitarian law. It is impossible to turn the page, call for tabula rasa and go back to “business as usual.”

Genocide is not “business as usual”—it is the ultimate crime, and any State, government, or individual complicit in it must be held to account.

Thus, the arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Minister of War Yoav Gallant must be followed by the indictment of many other Israeli officials and military, as the International Military Tribunal for Nuremberg indicted 22 German leaders and six Nazi organizations.

Seven Nuremberg Principles were formally adopted by the General Assembly and the International Law Commission in 1950. These principles apply to the Israeli leadership as well.

Enforcement
Enforcement is key to the authority and credibility of any institution, including the United Nations, which has steadily lost authority because judgments and advisory opinions of the International Court of Justice, arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court, and Resolutions of the Security Council and General Assembly have been violated with total impunity.

Why was the genocide possible? Because governments and the media have created a manufactured perception of who are the victims and who are the perpetrators. Because we are surrounded by fake news, fake history and fake law, massive public relations and relentless propaganda have turned the victims into terrorists, and the perpetrators of genocide into leaders entitled to the right of self-defense.

The media have whitewashed Israeli Apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and daily atrocities and humiliations committed against the Palestinians. The Western media dehumanized the Palestinians, not unlike the Nazis dehumanized the Poles, the Czechs, and the Jews. The Western media disseminate a manufactured image of Israel as a country under the rule of law, as the only democracy in the Middle East.

In the conflict with the native population, the Palestinians are depicted as terrorists, while the Israelis are celebrated as good democrats.

The conditio sine qua non for the State of Palestine, for a return of the Palestinians to their homes in Gaza and in the Occupied Territories is a gradual but thorough change of mindset. Governments and the public must acknowledge the enormous crime committed against the Palestinians over the past 80 years.

Since October 2023, we have been witnessing the ongoing genocide, made possible only because of the media brain-washing, the inversion of roles: Israelis as victims; Palestinians as barbarians.

Back in 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote in his book Why We Can’t Wait that “our country was born in genocide”—meaning not the Afro-Americans, the slaves and the discriminated and humiliated blacks—what he meant was the first Nations of the American continent, the Algonquins, Crees, Cherokees, Dakotas, Iroquois, Mohawks, Sioux.

Tough words about our own American history—but true.

I have heard UN colleagues say that “Israel was born in Terrorism”—with reference to the countless terrorist acts by the new colonizers, the settlers that expelled the native Palestinians from their olive orchards, destroyed their houses, forced them into exile.

This, however, is not perceived by everybody, because of the hijacking of the mainstream media by the globalists and the public relations and propaganda campaigns of the “collective West.” In a very real sense, we are surrounded by fake law, fake history and fake law…

Concrete Actions Today
What can be done today to save the Palestinians and to reaffirm the continued validity of the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions and international law? Here are a few scenarios:

1.Expel Israel under Article 6 of the UN Charter. Even if the U.S. vetoes Israel’s expulsion in the Security Council, a strong message will be sent.
2.Alternatively, the General Assembly could withdraw the accreditation of Israeli diplomats, as was done in 1974 with the diplomats of the then Apartheid South African regime.[16]
3.The General Assembly should adopt a Uniting for Peace Resolution, which would allow the implementation of the Responsibility to Protect[17] doctrine – specifically to protect the Palestinians from further depredations by Israel. The R2P doctrine is enshrined in General Assembly Resolution 60/1, paragraphs 138 and 139.[18]
4.The General Assembly should call on member states immediately to stop all military and economic relations with Israel—and impose a total arms embargo.
5.The General Assembly should call on all states to exercise universal jurisdiction within their territorial jurisdiction and arrest any Israeli military or official linked to the genocide against the Palestinians.
6.The international community should cooperate in ensuring the enforcement of the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.
[…]

Via https://covertactionmagazine.com/2025/1 ... ional-law/

https://mekenterprisesblog.com/2025/11/ ... ack_social

(Covert Action is paywalling my poor ass thus this irregular venue.

******

Hundreds of Palestinian fighters trapped in tunnels under Israeli-controlled Rafah: Report

Reports have said Israel has 'ruled out' the possibility of granting the trapped resistance fighters safe passage into Hamas-held territory

News Desk

NOV 4, 2025


(Photo credit: Ashraf Amra)

Hundreds of Palestinian resistance fighters remain trapped in underground tunnels in the southernmost city of Rafah, according to Israeli media reports.

Multiple reports said the number of fighters stands at around 200.

According to Hebrew news outlet Channel 14, there is growing concern within Israel that the tunnels may also contain the remains of deceased Israeli captives, which has reportedly deterred Israeli forces from heavily bombing them in an attempt to destroy them.

Israel’s Channel 12 had reported earlier that Tel Aviv was considering granting the fighters safe passage into Hamas-controlled territory if they agreed to surrender their weapons as well as the bodies of more dead captives.

The outlet later cited an official as saying that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “ruled out” the possibility.

“The prime minister persists in his firm stance on the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of the strip while eliminating terrorist threats to our forces,” the official said.

Hamas has so far released the bodies of 17 Israeli captives. Israel has accused the group of withholding bodies and delaying their release. However, the Red Cross has confirmed the extreme difficulty of locating the bodies due to the massive amounts of rubble.

Using alleged Hamas violations as a pretext, Israel has killed over 150 Palestinians since the ceasefire went into effect in early October.

An Israeli soldier was killed in Rafah on 28 October. Israel responded by killing over 100 people in less than 12 hours.

Earlier that month, a soldier was also killed in Rafah, prompting violent strikes that killed dozens of civilians and assassinated several top Hamas leaders.

Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, released a statement confirming that it has lost contact with its fighters in Rafah, which was destroyed and occupied by Israeli troops during the war.

Attacks against Israeli soldiers in the area may have been carried out by these isolated fighters, who are unable to retreat to Hamas-controlled zones beyond the ‘yellow line’ without surfacing from their tunnels and being detected.

https://thecradle.co/articles/hundreds- ... fah-report

[blindpig]

Gaza – no peace without justice

The liberation struggle of the Palestinian and middle-eastern peoples will continue until imperialism and its proxies have been defeated.
Ella Rule

Saturday 1 November 2025


It is clear that the ‘Trump peace plan’ for Gaza is no more than terms for the complete surrender of the Palestinian resistance. What we are witnessing is therefore not an end to the genocide but a temporary pause as both sides regroup and the imperialists try to work out a way to regain their hegemony over a region that is fast slipping from their grasp.

If two years of live-streamed genocide proves anything, it is that there can be no peace in the middle east while the settler-colonial state of Israel continues to exist.

There can be no permanent peace in the middle east while colonists continue not only to occupy stolen land but additionally continue remorselessly to extend their occupation to wider and wider areas at the expense of untold thousands of Palestinian families, left homeless and without means of subsistence.

Suffice it to say that in 1993, at the time the Oslo accords came into effect, which were, among other things, intended to put a stop to further Israeli encroachment into the West Bank and Jerusalem, there were about 110,000 settlers in the West Bank and around 140,000 in East Jerusalem.

Thirty years later, the settler population in the West Bank had increased to approximately 465,000, and in East Jerusalem to about 230,000. These settlements are connected by an extensive network of highways, also built on confiscated Palestinian land, which only Israelis are permitted to use. In 2023, Israel advanced plans for 12,349 housing units in the West Bank and 18,333 in East Jerusalem.

What sort of person would deny the Palestinians the right to fight back against this continuing and flagrant exercise in dispossession?

Nor can there be any permanent peace while over two million displaced Palestinians live under siege, corralled into a tiny corner of their own country, deprived of freedom of movement of either people or of goods.

It follows that the much Trumpeted ‘peace plan’, which addresses none of these injustices, is not a peace plan at all, and was never intended as such. It is – at best – a proposal for a temporary truce made at a time when both parties to the conflict are much in need of recuperation.

The plan was drawn up by US imperialism in consultation primarily with Israel and to some extent with the various Arab quisling governments in the region. As the paymaster of the Israeli state and of its wars, it is US imperialism that calls the shots, and its aim now is to get the best possible deal for the colonists at a time when their opponents are reeling from genocide, starvation and material devastation, the extent of which is truly horrendous.

“At least 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, though the death toll is likely far higher. According to Israel’s own estimates, more than ten percent of Gaza’s population were injured or killed in the last two years …

“The Israeli military killed at least twenty thousand children in Gaza. Those who survived have endured incomprehensible trauma. As of December 2023, just three months into the genocide, more than 1,000 children in Gaza had lost one or both of their legs to the Israeli military’s relentless onslaught. Today, Gaza has the highest per capita number of child amputees of anywhere in the world.

“By February 2024, Unicef estimated that at least 17,000 of Gaza’s children were now ‘unaccompanied’ or separated from their parents. The sheer number of children made orphans by the Gaza genocide gave rise to a new acronym among medical workers: WCNSF — wounded child, no surviving family.

“Half a million Palestinians in Gaza are currently trapped in Israel’s man-made famine, and even though more aid is flowing in now than before, the damage has been done. Untold numbers of Palestinians have died of starvation, mothers have given birth to malnourished babies, and children in the prime of their development have passed the point of no return, bringing irreversible, life-altering impacts. Beyond those who survived it, the effects of Israel’s famine will be felt for generations to come.” (Five takeaways from the ceasefire, The Wire, 13 October 2025)

We note that “When deaths resulting from imposed deprivation (indirect deaths) are factored into mortality data, the total figures will be higher than those from only violent deaths (direct deaths). Eminent epidemiologist Professor Devi Sridhar (chair of Global Health, University of Edinburgh) reported in an article in the Guardian a ‘conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death’.

“Assuming that deaths from deprivation were four times the violent deaths, then the 136,000 violent deaths after 15.5 months of killing (25 April 2025) would imply 544,000 Gaza deaths from imposed deprivation, and that the total Gazan death toll would accordingly be 136,000 violent deaths plus 544,000 from imposed deprivation, leading to a staggering total of 680,000 deaths by 25 April 2025.

“Most of these victims, as indicated in earlier counts by the Ministry of Health are women and children.” (Skewering history: the odious politics of counting Gaza’s dead by Richard Hil and Gideon Polya, Arena Online, 11 July 2025)

Moreover,

94 percent of hospitals were damaged or completely destroyed as of May 2025; as of October 2025, fewer than half of Gaza’s hospitals were even partially functioning.
More than 80 percent of water and sanitation infrastructure had been destroyed by February 2025.
92 percent of all residential buildings have been damaged or destroyed.
Only 1.5 percent of Gaza’s agricultural land remained undamaged and accessible as of August 2025, 90 percent cattle have died, and half of sheep and goat herds have been wiped out, decimating local food systems.
But Israel has also suffered devastation
If what has happened to the Gazans is truly terrible, it has to be borne in mind that Israel during the course of this war has suffered very badly as well. Of course its suffering may seem to be nothing compared to what has been done to Gaza, but it is nevertheless perceived as devastating from an Israeli point of view.

To start with, more than 900 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the war, with over 6,000 injured. At least 50 have committed suicide. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental illnesses among soldiers is rampant.

Over 2,000 soldiers have deserted and draft dodging is estimated at 14,600. The result has been that even the high command of the IDF opposed the idea of invading Gaza city. They were overruled but were saved, for the time being at least, by the ‘ceasefire’.

At the same time, as one blogger has noted: “Israel’s economy is experiencing what 130 of its top economists describe as a ‘spiral of collapse’, with an almost unprecedented ‘brain drain’, a nosediving tech industry and a credit rating that is near ‘junk’ levels.”

Besides, “Official data indicates that business sector GDP in real terms went up by a meagre 0.2 percent cumulatively in 2023 and 2024, after growing 7.4 percent in 2022; real aggregate investment declined by a cumulative 17 percent in those years, while GDP per capita has declined by over 1 percent as output growth slows.

“Since early 2023, nearly 170,000 people have left the country, mostly young and skilled, with fewer than 60,000 returning. (Israel’s famed high-tech sector, producing one-fifth of GDP and over half of service exports, employs only 400,000 workers.)

“Military reserve duty and democratic backsliding will intensify this outflow. These days, start-ups are incorporating in the USA, not locally, as potential investors flee. At current rates, the sector could largely vanish as an Israel-based industry in a few years …

“Israel is in the process of turning from a flourishing, human capital-based economy to one that risks dropping out of the group of advanced economies if its military burden does not diminish.” (Netanyahu is undermining Israel’s economy by Eran Yashiv, Financial Times, 28 September 2025)

In addition, according to Tasnim: “Nearly 40 percent of the Israeli regime’s intelligence systems were disrupted during two years of war on Gaza, as resistance-aligned hacker groups launched thousands of cyberattacks targeting sanctions and the huge fall in investment.” (11 October 2025)

The port of Eilat has been bankrupted thanks to the Yemeni blockade of the Red Sea, and Israeli airports have been damaged by Yemeni drones.

Israel’s air defences were also proved not to be insuperable after Iran’s retaliation (operation True Promise 3, launched on Friday 13 June 2025) to Israel’s ill-fated attempt to launch an attack on that country.

Most important, the promise made by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Palestinian resistance in Gaza would be wiped out has not been achieved – not even after two years of genocidal war, and not even with the help of an enormous level of military support from US imperialism and its allies, including Britain.

Since October 2023, the United States has provided Israel with at least $21.7bn in military aid directly related to the Gaza war and associated military operations (all paid for by the American taxpayer!) This aid includes funding for weapons, equipment, ammunition and advanced military technologies.

The USA has delivered massive quantities of arms and equipment. For example, as of May 2025, roughly 90,000 tons of arms and equipment were flown or shipped to Israel on over 800 transport planes and 140 ships.

Beyond direct military aid, the USA has also conducted significant military support activities in the wider middle east, spending an estimated additional $9.65 to $12.07bn on military operations related to or supporting Israel’s campaigns, including strikes against Iranian targets and Yemen’s Ansar Allah national resistance government (the so called ‘Houthi rebels’), bringing the broader two-year regional military support and operations spending to approximately $31.35 to $33.77bn since 7 October 2023.

US allies in Britain and the European Union have also been sending mountains of military aid – and still Israel has been unable to defeat the Palestinian resistance!

Besides the material costs, Israel has also suffered a devastating loss of prestige.

“Hamas has accomplished what most deemed impossible – humiliated one of the world’s most technically advanced militaries, outwitted its intelligence services, and transformed Israel from a western darling into the most hated country on the planet.” (The delusional ceasefire and the inevitable resumption of fighting by Jassim Al-Azzawi, Middle East Monitor, 11 October 2025)

The best news is that jewish people are beginning to free themselves from the zionist virus. According to a Washington Post poll, US jews are turning against the Israeli regime: 61 percent say Israel has committed war crimes, 40 percent say what Israel has done is genocide, 48 percent overall disapprove of Israel’s policies and 46 percent support them.

It is not easy to discard a supremacist ideology once it has taken root in a community, so these figures are significant, even if a small percentage of US jews clearly think that although they believe Israel has committed war crimes they still support it.

Trump’s ‘peace’ plan
Aware of the extent that Israel and its backers have been damaged, resistance negotiators know not to meekly accept the enemy’s terms. In actual fact, despite all the hardships, suffering and reverses, the resistance is in a better place to fight on if necessary than is Israel.

The zionist settler-colonial state would in all probability be finished if it did not take a break, albeit at a terrible price for the Palestinian people.

The world was presented on 22 September with a 20-point ‘peace’ plan summarised by the BBC as follows:

Gaza will be a de-radicalised terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbours.
Gaza will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza, who have suffered more than enough.
If both sides agree to this proposal, the war will immediately end. Israeli forces will withdraw to the agreed upon line to prepare for a hostage release. During this time, all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment, will be suspended, and battle lines will remain frozen until conditions are met for the complete staged withdrawal.
Within 72 hours of Israel publicly accepting this agreement, all hostages, alive and deceased, will be returned.
Once all hostages are released, Israel will release 250 life-sentence prisoners plus 1,700 Gazans who were detained after 7 October 2023, including all women and children detained in that context. For every Israeli hostage whose remains are released, Israel will release the remains of 15 deceased Gazans.
Once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who commit to peaceful coexistence and to decommissioning their weapons will be given amnesty. Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries.
Upon acceptance of this agreement, full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza strip. At a minimum, aid quantities will be consistent with what was included in the 19 January 2025 agreement regarding humanitarian aid, including rehabilitation of infrastructure (water, electricity, sewage), rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries, and entry of necessary equipment to remove rubble and open the roads.
Entry and distribution of aid in the Gaza strip will proceed without interference from the two parties through the United Nations and its agencies, along with the Red Crescent, in addition to other international institutions not associated in any manner with either party. Opening the Rafah crossing in both directions will be subject to the same mechanism implemented under 19 January 2025 agreement.
Gaza will be governed under the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza. This committee will be made up of qualified Palestinians and international experts, with oversight and supervision by a new international transitional body, the ‘Board of Peace’, which will be headed and chaired by President Donald J Trump, with other members and heads of state to be announced, including former prime minister Tony Blair.
This body will set the framework and handle the funding for the redevelopment of Gaza until such time as the Palestinian Authority has completed its reform programme, as outlined in various proposals, including President Trump’s peace plan in 2020 and the Saudi-French proposal, and can securely and effectively take back control of Gaza. This body will call on best international standards to create modern and efficient governance that serves the people of Gaza and is conducive to attracting investment.

A Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energise Gaza will be created by convening a panel of experts who have helped birth some of the thriving modern miracle cities in the middle east. Many thoughtful investment proposals and exciting development ideas have been crafted by well-meaning international groups, and will be considered to synthesise the security and governance frameworks to attract and facilitate these investments that will create jobs, opportunity and hope for future Gaza.
A special economic zone will be established with preferred tariff and access rates to be negotiated with participating countries.
No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return. We will encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza.
Hamas and other factions agree to not have any role in the governance of Gaza – directly, indirectly or in any form. All military, terror and offensive infrastructure, including tunnels and weapon production facilities, will be destroyed and not rebuilt.
There will be a process of demilitarisation of Gaza under the supervision of independent monitors, which will include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning, and supported by an internationally funded buy-back and reintegration programme, all verified by the independent monitors. New Gaza will be fully committed to building a prosperous economy and to peaceful coexistence with its neighbours.

A guarantee will be provided by regional partners to ensure that Hamas and the factions comply with their obligations and that New Gaza poses no threat to its neighbours or its people.
The United States will work with Arab and international partners to develop a temporary international stabilisation force (ISF) for immediate deployment to Gaza. The ISF will train and provide support to vetted Palestinian police forces in Gaza, and will consult with Jordan and Egypt, which have extensive experience in this field.
This force will be the long-term internal security solution. The ISF will work with Israel and Egypt to help secure border areas, along with newly-trained Palestinian police forces. It is critical to prevent munitions from entering Gaza and to facilitate the rapid and secure flow of goods to rebuild and revitalise the strip. A deconfliction mechanism will be agreed upon by the parties.

Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza. As the ISF establishes control and stability, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) will withdraw based on standards, milestones and timeframes linked to demilitarisation that will be agreed upon between the IDF, ISF, the guarantors and the United States, with the objective of a secure Gaza that no longer poses a threat to Israel, Egypt or its citizens.
Practically, the IDF will progressively hand over the Gaza territory it occupies to the ISF according to an agreement it will make with the transitional authority until it has withdrawn completely from Gaza, save for a security perimeter presence that will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat.

In the event that Hamas delays or rejects this proposal, the above, including the scaled-up aid operation, will proceed in the terror-free areas handed over from the IDF to the ISF.
An interfaith dialogue process will be established based on the values of tolerance and peaceful coexistence to try and change mindsets and narratives of Palestinians and Israelis by emphasising the benefits that can be derived from peace.
While Gaza redevelopment advances, and when the PA reform programme has been faithfully carried out, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognise as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.
The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous coexistence.

A term in an earlier draft of the proposals to the effect that Israel would not annexe the West Bank was omitted from this final draft, which of course makes no mention of how Israel would be prevented from violating the agreement. It amounts to a list of terms for the resistance’s surrender – but the resistance has no intention of surrendering, nor any reason to do so.

Agreement on the ‘first phase’
On 29 September, President Trump effectively turned his proposal into an ultimatum by standing alongside Benjamin Netanyahu and vowing that if ‘Hamas’ did not accept the plan by 5 October, then he would stand by and let Israel “do what it had to do”.

For the first time, the resistance became a party to negotiations and on 9 October it announced that it would accept the terms of an agreed ‘first phase’, ie:

President Trump will announce the end to the war in the Gaza strip, and the parties have agreed to implement the necessary steps to that end.
The war will immediately end upon the approval of the Israeli government. All military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment and targeting operations, will be suspended. During the 72-hour period, aerial surveillance will be suspended over the areas from which IDF forces have withdrawn.
Immediate commencement of full entry of humanitarian aid and relief, as determined in the proposal, and at a minimum in consistence with the 19 January 2025 agreement regarding humanitarian aid.
The IDF will withdraw to the lines agreed upon … and this will be completed after President Trump’s announcement and within 24 hours of Israeli government’s approval. The IDF will not return to areas it has withdrawn from, as long as Hamas fully implements the agreement.
Within 72 hours of the withdrawal of Israeli forces, all Israeli hostages, living and deceased, held in Gaza will be released.
a. As soon as the IDF completes the withdrawal, Hamas will commence investigating the status of the hostages and collect all information pertaining to them. Hamas will provide feedback on its findings through the information-sharing mechanism under 5e (see below). Israel will provide information on the Palestinian prisoners and detainees from the Gaza strip held in Israel.

b. Within the 72 hours, Hamas will release all living hostages, including those held by the Palestinian factions in Gaza.

c. Within the 72 hours, Hamas will release the remains of the deceased hostages in its possession and those in the possession of the Palestinian factions in Gaza.

d. Hamas will share, within the 72 hours, all the information it obtained relating to any remaining deceased hostages through the information-sharing mechanism. Israel will provide information on the remains of the deceased Gazans held by Israel.

e. Establishment of an information-sharing mechanism between the two sides through the mediators and the ICRC, to exchange information and intelligence on any remaining deceased hostages that were not retrieved within the 72 hours or remains of Gazans held by Israel. The mechanism shall ensure that the remains of all the hostages are fully and safely exhumed and released. Hamas shall exert maximum effort to ensure the fulfilment of these commitments as soon as possible.

f. As Hamas releases all the hostages, Israel will release in parallel the corresponding number of Palestinian prisoners as per agreed lists.

g. The exchange of hostages and prisoners will be done according to the mechanism agreed upon through the mediators and through the ICRC without any public ceremonies or media coverage.

A task force will be formed of representatives from the United States, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey and other countries agreed upon by the parties, to follow up on the implementation with the two sides and coordinate with them.
The ‘ceasefire’ duly commenced on 10 October.

Implementation of the first phase of the agreement
While large-scale bombardment and wholesale slaughter of Gazans did initially cease, Israel did not stop killing Palestinians. As at 20 October, according to Al Jazeera: “Israel has killed at least 97 Palestinians and wounded 230 since the start of the ceasefire, and violated the truce agreement 80 times …

“The Israeli military has killed dozens of Palestinians in a wave of air raids [on 19 October] that it said were in response to a ceasefire violation by Hamas, which the group has denied.”

In addition, Israel has not opened the Rafah border, on the excuse that all the bodies of dead hostages have not been returned. By closing various crossings on the pretext of facilitating prisoner and hostage exchanges, Israel allowed only a much reduced amount of aid to enter Gaza.

It unilaterally changed the list of Palestinian prisoners that it had agreed to release, in particular preventing the release of the esteemed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti. And all the while it kept accusing ‘Hamas’ of breaching the terms of the agreement as ‘justification’ for its own breaches.

The Israelis have even tried using the excuse that it was somehow in breach of the agreement for the resistance to be executing ‘civilians’ – in actual fact a few people who have proved themselves to be traitors and spies.

This could not be a breach of the agreement, which is entirely silent on this issue. But at any rate for Israel, which has killed tens of thousands of civilians, mostly women and children, to level such an accusation against its opponents is frankly surreal.

The main excuse for Israel’s breaches has been that the resistance had not handed over all the bodies of deceased hostages. However, the agreement had specified that ‘Hamas’ would hand over the bodies that were in its possession. As had been made clear in negotiations, many of the bodies were not in its possession, as they were buried deep under the rubble from which they could not be unearthed without special equipment that Israel was preventing from entering Gaza.

It is probably safe to assume that Israeli shirt-losers are running to their American masters on a daily basis, begging to be allowed to keep going with their genocide, but so far they have not had the green light that they are hoping for.

There are rumours that a false flag operation is being prepared aimed at achieving that result. Be that as it may, at the time of writing the ‘ceasefire’ is still holding in its imperfect way, but who knows whether this will still be the case when we go to print.

What now?
While there is every reason to worry that after the resistance has handed over all the hostages that are still alive, as it has done, there is nothing to stop Israel from resuming the genocide, in actual fact things are not as straightforward as that.

As has been mentioned, Israel has a lot to lose if it does resume its killing spree. But more importantly, so has its US imperialist master.

The present US imperialist hegemony over the middle east has come under threat from several quarters:

The genocide has angered the predominantly muslim population of the region to the extent that it is endangering the position of the various quisling governments that are seen to be collaborating with Israel’s biggest supporter – US imperialism.
Israel’s attack on Qatar on 9 September, in a failed attempt to murder leading Palestinian resistance ceasefire negotiators, not only intensified popular anger but in addition demonstrated that the very expensive anti-missile defence equipment that Qatar had bought from the United States was quite useless – thereby turning not only the Qatari government but also other avid purchasers of US weaponry to look for other sources of supply.
Palestine’s biggest ally, Iran, has proved itself capable of bypassing Israel’s Iron Dome and hitting the country with sophisticated modern weaponry independently developed. Until US imperialism feels confident that it can counter Iran’s weapons, it will be reluctant to risk further confrontation with it, which is only too likely if the genocide resumes.
China and Russia are standing by with a great interest in breaking the stranglehold of US hegemony in the region. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have already joined Brics, and Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar have also purchased military equipment from China. Continuing to offend and embarrass middle-eastern governments by supporting a continuing genocide in Gaza can only accelerate the process of drawing those countries closer to China and Russia at US imperialism’s expense.
To preserve its hegemony, US imperialism has to act with extreme caution. Israel disobeys orders only at the risk of losing the billions of dollars of US aid that it receives every year and without which it could not remain afloat.

Nevertheless, if Israel were to proceed against US orders, the USA would still have to think very carefully about suspending aid, since Israel is by far its most dependable servant in the area – its unsinkable aircraft carrier; its reliable source of cannon fodder. But to follow it, at great expense, down the path of its own self-destruction? That would remain to be seen.

The challenges of the next stages of the agreement
Hamas has made it clear time and time again that it is not prepared to disarm except in the event that the Palestinian people have their own state with their own regular army to defend them. Nor will it accept such a notorious war criminal as Tony Blair having any role whatsoever in the administration of Gaza.

These are just two of the major sticking points to proceeding past the first phase of the US ‘peace plan’. Moreover, there is no provision under the present proposals for the lifting of the siege of Gaza, or for halting (let alone rolling back) the creeping annexation of the West Bank,

As Jasim Al-Azzawi has pointed out: “The current ceasefire does not address any of the fundamental realities that drive this conflict, including occupation, statelessness, and the imbalance of power between Israel and the Palestinians. It is a transactional pause designed to gain short-term gains – the return of hostages – while delaying the inevitable confrontation.

“Without credible international guarantees, without resolving the question of Palestinian sovereignty, and without tempering Israel’s desire for military retribution, this accord will soon shatter. The world may hail this temporary cessation, but those who look closely recognise it for what it is: the calm before the next storm – a truce written in disappearing ink.” (Middle East Monitor, op cit)

There can be no peace – for the Palestinian people or the wider Arab masses – while Israel continues to exist and while Anglo-American imperialism backs her to the hilt and has a free hand in the region, acting via Israel and its other client states and proxies.

https://thecommunists.org/2025/11/01/ne ... t-justice/

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Israel Is Still Starving Gaza, And Other Notes

They’re using bureaucratic red tape and arbitrary restrictions to put as much inertia on the effort to rush aid into Gaza as possible.

Caitlin Johnstone
November 6, 2025

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Israel is still blocking humanitarian groups from delivering the aid necessary to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.

In an article titled “Not enough tents, food reaching Gaza as winter comes, aid agencies say,” Reuters reports that “Far too little aid is reaching Gaza nearly four weeks after a ceasefire” due to Israeli restrictions preventing aid trucks from getting to their destinations, and that according to an OSHA report last week “a tenth of children screened in Gaza were still acutely malnourished.”

A report from the UK’s Channel 4 News shows warehouses full of food that aid groups say isn’t being allowed into Gaza nearly as rapidly as needed.

In an article titled “‘Under the Guise of Bureaucracy’ — Israel Blocks Humanitarian Groups From Delivering Essential Aid Despite Calm in Gaza,” Israeli outlet Haaretz reports that “Israel has implemented a new procedure requiring all humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza and the West Bank to reapply for official approval, with many denied, despite the relative calm in Gaza following the cease-fire.”


They’re using bureaucratic red tape and arbitrary restrictions to put as much inertia on the effort to rush aid into Gaza as possible. As Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimah put it, Israel has “successfully rebranded its genocide as a ‘ceasefire.’”

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Still can’t wrap my head around the fact that internationally renowned activist Greta Thunberg said she was tortured and sexually humiliated by Israeli soldiers when she was abducted for trying to bring aid to starving civilians, and the world just shrugged and moved on.

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It’s so silly when US empire apologists cite “the Monroe Doctrine” to defend US warmongering in Latin America, as though “the entire western hemisphere is our property” is a perfectly legitimate policy to have.

The Monroe Doctrine was just American imperialists telling Europe, “You see all these brown people over here south of our border? These are our brown people. You can do whatever you want to those brown people over there in Africa and Asia, but these brown people over here belong to us. Only we get to dominate and exploit them.”

That’s all it has ever been, and people cite it to justify warmongering toward Venezuela or wherever as though saying “yeah well that’s the Monroe Doctrine” is a complete argument in and of itself. It’s bat shit insane nonsense and it should be rejected in its entirety.

US regime change interventionism is reliably disastrous wherever it happens. It always causes immense suffering and instability, it’s always justified by lies, and it never accomplishes what its proponents claim it will accomplish. No amount of bleating the words “Monroe Doctrine” will ever change that.

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The US empire backs genocidal Gulf state monarchies like the UAE and Saudi Arabia because if those states were democratically governed their people would prioritize their own interests over the agendas of the west. They wouldn’t permit US military bases on their territory, and they never would have tolerated Israel and its abuses in the region. Fossil fuel policy would be set without regard for western interests. The entire region could long ago have united into a superpower bloc which rivaled or outmuscled the western power structure using its critical resources and trade routes.

That’s why you see the US and its allies preaching about the values of Freedom and Democracy to the public while privately telling these tyrannical monarchies they can do whatever they want and receive the backing of the imperial machine. Not until their pet tyrant fails to sufficiently kowtow to the interests of the empire does the west suddenly get interested in advancing Freedom and Democracy in their nation.

This is one of the major dynamics at play in Sudan. The United Arab Emirates has been backing the genocidal atrocities of the RSF and the US empire is placing no pressure on them to stop, because that’s part of the deal. As long as the UAE plays along with the agendas of the empire, the empire will tolerate or actively facilitate its abuses.

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I saw a clip of Joe Rogan telling Elon Musk that AI music is his “favorite music now,” gushing about how soulful and moving it is.

Imagine admitting this about yourself in public. AI art is shallow, vapid sensory stimulation made for shallow, vapid people who don’t have enough depth and dimensionality in their consciousness to be moved by profound arisings from the human spirit. They’re just stimulus-response amoebas.

If you tell me you love AI art I won’t try to convince you, I’ll just side-eye you, because while you may not realize it, you are telling me something very revealing about yourself.

People who think AI art is awesome are the AI art of people.

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We’ve all known someone like Israel. Someone who lies and manipulates all the time. Someone who’s always stirring up conflict and acting like the victim. Someone who’s obtained everything they have by stepping on top of others.

Healthy people avoid such individuals like the plague. We have labels that we use to warn others to stay clear of them. Drama queen. Narcissist. Compulsive liar. Sociopath. Manipulator.

Under ordinary circumstances such people gradually find themselves socially alienated by all but the most gullible and malleable codependents, because normal people can’t stand being around them.

Israel is like if everyone was being forced to be that person’s friend at gunpoint. Say nice things to the sociopath and pretend to believe their lies or you’re getting your head blown off.

Nations who oppose Israel’s crimes find themselves in the crosshairs of the imperial war machine. Organizations who oppose Israel’s abuses find themselves smeared, targeted, and proscribed as terrorist groups. Individuals who oppose Israel’s atrocities get fired, slandered, marginalized, censored, and silenced.

The healthy impulse we all have in ourselves to pull away from such loathsome entities is being overridden by brute force. All normal people want to turn against Israel and do whatever is necessary to end its tyranny and abuse, but the imperial institutions are doing everything in their power to coerce them to comply.

That’s the only reason Israel has any remaining support at all. Hopefully someday they won’t even have that.

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/11 ... her-notes/

******

The beast’s bargain: Arab states, Israel, and the price of ‘peace’

When peace is demanded from the weak and defined by the strong, it ceases to be peace at all – it becomes submission disguised as justice.


Radwan Mortada

NOV 5, 2025


Photo Credit: The Cradle

In the aftermath of the Israeli war on Lebanon, a whisper began circulating in political corridors: the possibility that Lebanon might join the Abraham Accords. This surfaced even before US envoy Tom Barrack floated direct negotiations with Israel – a proposition Beirut rejected in favor of the established “mechanism” of indirect talks mediated by Washington.

Today, the evidence shows that Washington is not pushing for immediate normalization with Tel Aviv, but rather for direct negotiations over an “American paper” as a first step on the so‑called “peace” road. The paradox is stark; these calls for peace ignore the reality on the ground with continued acts of aggression.

Israel has yet to honor a ceasefire, while voices in Lebanon are calling for peace with a party that remains at war. That contradiction traps advocates of “diplomatic solutions” in a genuine dilemma.

Indeed, Lebanon’s army commander, Rudolphe Haikal, found himself forced to order fire on Israeli drones violating Lebanese airspace, before the president instructed him to respond to any ground incursion following the incident in which Israeli troops stormed the southern village of Blida, and killed a civilian municipality employee in his sleep.

When ‘peace’ equals ‘surrender’

Two years on from the launch of Operation Al‑Aqsa Flood in October 2023, after Israel's atrocious massacres and genocidal war on Gaza that killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, and the war on Lebanon that also killed thousands of Lebanese, the question of peace resurfaces in Arab discourse. Amid renewed calls for peace with Israel from Arab states and media, one truth is unavoidable: peace from a position of weakness does not end domination; rather, it often enshrines it.

Peace under those terms does not reverse the equation of power unless the strong acknowledges a partner of equal standing. That is not Israel’s agenda. Tel Aviv does not seek equal peace; it seeks domination and expansion.

The late, martyred Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani captured this succinctly when asked why he rejected dialogue with Israel. His response:

“What is the point of dialogue between the sword and the neck?”

What kind of dialogue exists when the strong alone hold the decision‑making power while the weak simply ask?

The more accurate question is: is Israel even seeking a just settlement that ends occupation and establishes sustainable peace – or is it instead forging security–economic arrangements that cement its superiority and require Arab and Palestinian submission in return for what is misleadingly called “peace”?

On 21 January 2024, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over all the territory west of the Jordan [River],” which directly contradicts the idea of a sovereign Palestinian state.

This political posture coincides with unprecedented settlement acceleration. Reports by European and UN agencies show that 2023–2024 recorded record levels of settlement and land seizure in the occupied West Bank, erasing even the possibility of the two‑state solution.

In the Arab world today – especially in Lebanon – media lines now say: “We want peace”; “It’s not a crime to ask for peace”; “Breaking the taboos is a duty.”

Lebanese broadcaster Marcel Ghanem declared in his program opener: “Break the taboos … we cannot endure more procrastination … Yes, we demand peace. It’s not a crime to demand peace.” Makram Rabah, managing editor at Now Lebanon and an Assistant Professor at the American University of Beirut (AUB), opined that “There is no shame in peace when peace is made by a sovereign people. The only shame is to keep dying for the wars of others.”

The desire for peace is not in itself misguided. But what if the other party views peace only as a tool to deepen its dominance, further subjugate the region’s people, and seize their wealth and land? When ‘peace agreements’ are signed by a weak actor conceding massively while the strong retains its colonial structure, then peace becomes absolute surrender. That dynamic reinforces the notion that Israel loses far more in peace than in war – hence “peace,” properly defined, is a threat to Israel.

The Qatar model of mediator-enabled domination

Far from the frontlines, the state of Qatar invested in its role as an international broker with ties to Washington and indirectly to Israel. The UN in March 2022 designated Qatar as a “Major Non‑NATO Ally” (MNNA).

On paper, such a status grants Doha special defense and security privileges. Qatar sponsored talks, funded aid to Gaza, invested in Israeli business ventures, and maintained strong relations with the US, which uses Al‑Udeid Air Base as a major forward hub.

The irony: despite this strategic positioning, Qatar still found itself targeted by Israel. On 9 September 2025, Israel carried out a strike in Doha targeting members of a Hamas negotiation delegation inside Qatar. That raises a foundational question: as long as Israel attacks even a mediator with no record of fighting it, can its aggressive nature ever change?

Qatar’s experience shows: for “peace” to have meaning, it cannot simply be the weaker party’s initiative – it must be sought and accepted by the strong. Otherwise, it is meaningless.

Consider the example of the Palestinian Authority (PA) led by Mahmoud Abbas. Over decades, it has become a security partner to Israel – coordinating in the occupied West Bank, detaining resistance cadres, handing over lists, and cooperating under the label of “security coordination.”

Yet Israel accuses it of “funding terrorism” because of prisoner stipends. Even full collaboration, it seems, does not guarantee peace; submission remains the default.

In contrast, the model of the UAE shows a different dynamic: normalization with Israel based on economy and investment, not justice or the end of hegemony. When the weaker becomes an economic partner, “peace” turns into a lucrative commodity for the strong – peace defined as “a service to the strong in return for temporary stability.”

In Sudan, the third Arab state to join the Abraham Accords, Israel never saw Khartoum as a strategic partner; it was a security outpost to monitor the Red Sea and trafficking routes. Normalization came “from above,” not from equal partners.

This shows that Israel is not opposed to peace – but it is opposed to ‘equal’ peace, or peace that transforms power relations.

Historic peace treaties, but no justice

Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in March 1979, which mandated Israel’s full withdrawal from the Sinai within three years, and created security arrangements and demilitarized zones. Despite formal normalization since 1980, the relationship is widely described as a “cold peace.” The maxim remains: Arab state signatures do not equate to popular normalization.

On the ground, rare but illuminating security incidents illustrate the fragility, such as June 2023 and May 2024 near Rafah. Meanwhile, energy cooperation deepened: Egypt, Israel, and the EU signed an agreement on 15 June 2022 to expand Egyptian gas exports via liquefaction plants.

The reality is a dual image of security–energy partnership coupled with popular resistance. That balance illustrates how “peace” as currently structured serves Tel Aviv’s security and energy needs – not Palestinian justice.

Jordan offers another case. Its 26 October 1994 treaty set water and border frameworks. But 30 years on, peace remains elusive. In November 2023, Amman recalled its ambassador over the Gaza war; it froze the signing of a “Water-for-Energy” project.

Yet practical cooperation continues: water, gas, security channels remain open. Jordan even opened its airspace to the Israeli Air Force to intercept Iranian drone/missile threats –showing Israel offers token arrangements to capitals that serve its interests, without political resolution of the Palestinian issue.

In Syria, the new Al-Qaeda-rooted government offered “goodwill” gestures, returning the remains of Israeli spy Eli Cohen, declaring hostility to Iran, and intercepting weapons bound for Hezbollah’s fight with Israel.

Yet Israel never engaged in real peace talks. Instead, it occupied more territory, struck Damascus airport, seized Mount Hermon, water resources, and declared it would never leave. Israel does not want strong states – it wants them weak enough to act as border police for its own security, not to defend their land.

In Lebanon, the daily killings, massacres, and occupation will not be forgotten easily. How can Lebanon be asked to sign a peace that ignores justice? Israel killed thousands of Lebanese and continues bombing villages and assassinating people daily.

How can peace be demanded on soil where war crimes remain unaddressed and the blood still flows? How can arms be surrendered to an enemy that has never shown goodwill?

Though Lebanon’s prime minister, president, and most ministers share a stance against non-state weapons, they also confirm that Israel never honored what Lebanon did. How then can negotiations be discussed while the enemy has not even respected the ceasefire that Lebanon upheld?

And what of the voices now advocating peace as if it is a possible salvation, coming only after the Lebanese state wins full sovereignty and monopolizes arms? These voices ignore that the presidency and government in Lebanon, despite internal dispute, agree: Israel is not after peace but limitless gains.

Syria was ravaged, sans firing a single bullet at Israel – and yet Israeli assaults persist. What is the difference then between Lebanon and Syria? The issue is not about the resistance movement, Hezbollah, but Israel’s continual appetite for expansion and control.

These ambitions were revealed in the maritime border deal, where Tel Aviv aimed to maximize gains, then cancelled it after the assassination of Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah. Territorial greed surfaced again when Netanyahu held up a “new Middle East” map at the UN that omitted Lebanon and Syria.

That map belonged to the “Greater Israel” fantasy – not political reality. Echoing this, Tom Barrack in Damascus claimed Lebanon and Syria are “one country, not two” in eerie synchrony with Israeli discourse that erases borders and redraws the region to its liking.

Those demanding peace today arrived decades late, over 30 years after the 1991 Madrid Conference, which Israel rejected.

What does Israel mean by “peace”?

Combine the preceding elements – perpetual security control west of the Jordan, accelerated settlements, pushing Arab capitals into bilateral cooperation detached from final resolution or the Palestinian question – and you arrive at the definition of “peace” as Israel sees it. A system of deterrence and subjugation that neutralizes states while perpetuating control over Palestinians.

Netanyahu’s own statements rejecting a Palestinian state after the war and his government’s West Bank policies confirm this conclusion politically and practically.

Peace demanded from a position of weakness is not sufficient. Real peace begins when the strong is compelled to treat the other side as an equal – not a subordinate. Israel sees itself as the “master,” and the rest as its created subordinates.

This is the core of its thinking – driven by the myth of a Greater Israel. Weak states cannot rely merely on claiming peace; they must create power equations that enforce respect and force recognition of their rights.

The risk here is that Arab appeals for peace become a pact of submission – branded “peace,” yet in reality a continuation of hegemony.

The first step toward genuine peace is not a signature or press release – but this simple question:
Does this “peace” change reality – or does it legitimize ongoing submission? Is the strong side willing to surrender occupation and aggression?

It is not enough for us only to say “we don’t want peace.” If the other side wants only domination in the name of peace, then our calling for peace is from one side a mere wish, from another side a reward for genocide.

Demonizing the resistance

For years, a massive Arab and western media machine has generated methodical propaganda to reframe the moral map in Arab consciousness. Iran, Hezbollah, and anyone who resists the US-Israeli project are presented as the root of regional collapse – while invaders and their allied regimes are portrayed as champions of peace and stability.

Every day, the memory of the people is cleansed through one-sided discourse about the “Iran threat,” the “Hezbollah expansion,” the “Shia crescent” – while the crimes committed under the banners of “freedom” and “democracy” by western alliances or Arab proxies are hidden.

The truth remains, it was not the resistance that destroyed Lebanon, it was those who surrendered. Those who colluded with the siege, facilitated the invasion, and funded the media-political-military degradation that swept the region in the name of modernity and enlightenment.

For two decades, Arab and western media have constructed a distorted narrative that made Iran and Hezbollah public enemy number one – and muffled the real causes of our tragedies.

When Afghanistan was devastated under US occupation, no one asked how many were killed or how many millions suffered under the “war on terror.”

When Iraq was illegally invaded in 2003, hundreds of thousands died, infrastructure collapsed, and chaos reigned – all branded “a march to democracy.”

Lebanon is repeatedly targeted by Israeli aggression, and forbidden from building a genuine independent state – because its independence threatened Israel’s “superiority.” Yet media campaigns portrayed the resistance as the source of crises, ignoring those who imposed siege, funded division, and shot the economy.

In Syria, the destruction was not caused by “Iranian influence” as popularized, but by an international project that mobilized thousands of fighters from ISIS, the Nusra Front, and other groups with Persian Gulf funding and western complicity. Iran was one of the few powers that helped prevent Damascus’s collapse. The government eventually fell under crushing economic siege, not from Iranian projection.

As for Yemen, the war was not a proxy conflict, as simplified by the media, but direct aggression by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, backed by Washington, turning the country into one enduring some of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in the 21st century.

In Palestine, people have been slaughtered and killed by bombs and siege for decades, yet their resistance movements are demonized more than the perpetrators. The mainstream media denies the occupied people's right to self–defense, demonizing their rockets while ignoring the occupation's fighter jets that annihilate families and destroy cities.

In Sudan, systematic ethnic cleansing is unfolding – led by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Darfur, accused of mass killings, forced displacement, and genocide. Militias regionally backed by the UAE and Israel are implicated. The mainstream treats the conflict as a marginal crisis.

The propaganda effort has flipped the narrative on its head – those who invade and occupy are cast as peacemakers, while those who resist them are branded as threats. If Arab appeals for “peace” continue on these terms, they will read not as a quest for justice, but as a quiet signal of submission.

https://thecradle.co/articles/the-beast ... e-of-peace

[blindpig]

Blair emerges on the Lebanon scene as "Israel" escalates aggression on southern towns

As Trump fails to disarm the regional Resistance on behalf of "Israel" - Blair is brought in to further pressure Lebanon to disarm the local Resistance
vanessa beeley
Nov 07, 2025



Information obtained by Al-Akhbar newspaper reveals preparations are underway for a visit by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to Beirut next week. He will head a delegation whose nature and nationality remain unknown, though it is likely to include the team of experts assisting him on the Gaza file.

Informed sources stated that Blair will meet with the three presidents, but the dates have not yet been set. The objectives of the visit and any message Blair may be carrying are also unknown. Some circles speculate that he may later be tasked with overseeing the implementation of a new colonial plan intended to be imposed on Lebanon, similar to what is happening in Gaza.

These sources added that they have linked the visit to what the Americans are saying about the future of the situation on Lebanon’s southern border, particularly the project to establish a civilian council to manage the affairs of the southern region. The Americans claim they want to transform this region into an economic zone and an area for tourism, industrial, and agricultural investment. This is very similar to the “Free Trade Zone” plan for Gaza that has been floated periodically for years. Tony Blair’s influence has become more apparent since the fall of Damascus in December 2024 which brought his former security advisor, Johnathan Powell, back into the region to coach and rebrand Jolani and the Takfiri entourage as political Empresarios.

(Video at link.)

It is no coincidence that, with Blair’s visit looming, the Zionists have increased their bombing campaign in southern Lebanon, targeting villages close to Sour (Tyre) - in Taybeh and Tyr Diba - yesterday, after issuing evacuation demands for civilians to move at least 500 metres away from the designated targets. While claims from the Zionist side are that these are buildings with connection to Hezbollah - it is no different to the bombing campaigns in Gaza that claim to be targeting Hamas while obliterating civilian infrastructure and homes.

The following is a summary of the most recent Zionist ceasefire violations in southern Lebanon:

During the night of November 6, 2025, Israeli warplanes and drones, operating with U.S. support, carried out a series of airstrikes and bombardments across multiple locations in southern Lebanon.

Details of the attacks:

• Ras Naqoura: An Israeli aircraft dropped four bombs along the coast. No casualties reported.

• Abbasiyah (Sharafiat area): Enemy warplanes targeted the outskirts of the town, resulting in one martyr and eight wounded.

• Aytoron (Dabsha area): A hostile drone strike occurred. No casualties reported.

• Multiple southern towns were hit by Israeli air raids following a series of warnings from the occupation army:

• Ayta al-Jabal — No casualties

• Tayr Daba — One wounded

• Kfar Dunin — No casualties

• Al-Tayba — No casualties

• Zawtar Sharqiya — No casualties

• Yaroun: Israeli forces fired flares over the town’s sky.

• Wadi Hunin: Targeted with heavy machine-gun fire. No casualties reported.

• Alma Shaab: Machine-gun sweeps carried out along the town’s outskirts. No casualties reported.

• Rumtha and Majidiya sectors: The occupation army conducted intense machine-gun sweeps from the Rumtha position toward Bsatra, and from occupied Gajar toward Majidiya. No casualties reported.

The trigger for these events is an open letter from Hezbollah published yesterday 6th November:

In an open letter addressed to His Excellency the President of the Republic, General Joseph Aoun, the Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, the Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, and the Lebanese people, Hezbollah emphasized its commitment to national sovereignty. It categorically rejected any attempt to drag Lebanon into new negotiation rounds that serve the interests and aggressive objectives of the Zionist enemy.

The party affirmed that the ceasefire declaration of November 27, 2024—which followed the Zionist aggression against Lebanon—constitutes part of the implementation of International Resolution 1701. This declaration obligates the enemy to withdraw beyond the Blue Line. However, as usual, the Zionist entity has continued its violations by land, sea, and air, defying all calls to cease its attacks and persisting in the violation of Lebanese sovereignty without restraint.

In its statement, the party indicated that the government, through its hasty decision regarding the “exclusivity of arms,” provided the enemy with an opportunity to exploit the situation and resurrect the issue of disarming the resistance. Hezbollah described this as a national transgression, emphasizing that the weapons that protected Lebanon are not subject to bargaining or negotiation. They stated that such discussions can only occur within a comprehensive national framework, as part of an overall strategy for defending the country.

Hezbollah stressed that the Israeli enemy is not only targeting the resistance but also seeks to weaken Lebanon in all its components and impose political and security subservience upon it. It called for a unified national stance against blackmail and aggression, affirming that negotiating with a treacherous enemy supported by the American hegemon will only result in further concessions. The party asserted that the national stance must focus on implementing the ceasefire agreement in its entirety and pressuring the enemy to abide by it, rather than being drawn into new negotiating proposals that pave the way for normalization or compromise Lebanon’s right to resist occupation.

In conclusion, Hezbollah affirmed that defending Lebanon “is not a decision of war or peace, but a legitimate right and a national duty in the face of an enemy that imposes war and continues its aggression.” It renewed its pledge to stand alongside the army and the people to protect the land, sovereignty, and national dignity.

The letter concluded: “We pledge to our proud people that we will remain steadfast in our position of honor and righteousness, neither wavering nor retreating, as long as there is occupation and aggression on our land, and as long as the pulse of resistance beats in our hearts—a resistance that knows no defeat.”

This week, President Aoun had instructed the Lebanese Armed Forces to intervene to prevent any Zionist incursions into Lebanese territory. On November 6th: An Israeli infantry unit crossed the blue line in the Kroum al-Marah sector, on the outskirts of the town of Meiss el-Jabal, Lebanon. In response the Lebanese army deployed reinforcements to the area, the Israeli infantry unit then retreated back to Israeli territory.

What we are seeing is an increase in frustration from the Trump envoys to the region - economic hawk Tom Barrack and his sidekick Morgan Ortagus. Zionist media has been pushing the narrative that Hezbollah is rebuilding its strength and military capabilities to an unacceptable threat level for “Israel”. Blair’s arrival suggests that Washington is moving to Plan B, perhaps the idea of an ‘international body’ presided over by Blair.

What is very clear, the war against the Resistance Axis is not going to end. It is an existential war that the Resistance fights - to preserve their culture, heritage and independence that rejects the incoming Zionist expansion and supremacy in the region.

These events in Lebanon follow on from the threats issued to the Iraqi Defence Minister, Thabit Al-Abbasi, by the US War Minister Pete Hegseth:

Abbasi reported the warning in a Nov. 2 interview with local media, saying that US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in a call alluded to “imminent military operations” in the region. The following from a report in Amwaj Media.

According to Abbasi, the conversation also involved an explicit US demand that “no faction in Iraq” should intervene in such a scenario.

Hegseth is said to have concluded the call with a pointed threat: “This is your final warning—and you know very well how this administration will respond.”

Highlighting the apparent gravity of the exchange, Abbasi emphasized that the 11-to-12-minute conversation was held in the presence of Iraq’s top military leadership.

The contention over the alleged US warning follows recent reports in Israeli media which claim that “pro-Iran militias” are preparing “long-range missile and drone” attacks on Israel.

Israel’s Walla News also suggested that Shiite armed groups may be planning “ground maneuvers” in Israel through Jordan and Syria.

Washington’s project to disarm the Iraqi Resistance factions has also been a failure. Hegseth’s warning suggests an imminent regional escalation.

https://beeley.substack.com/p/blair-eme ... dium=email

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Hezbollah reaffirms right to resist Israel, warns against US-imposed 'negotiation traps'

In an open letter addressing Lebanon’s top officials, the group reiterated that the issue of restricting weapons to the state should not come as a response to foreign demands

News Desk

NOV 6, 2025


(Photo credit: Reuters)

Hezbollah released an open letter to the Lebanese government on 6 November, reaffirming its right to armed resistance against occupation and calling on Lebanon to reach a “unified and dignified national stance” to Israel’s daily attacks and ceasefire violations.

The resistance slammed and rejected US calls for direct talks between Lebanon and Israel, which it described as “negotiation traps” that would “only grant further gains to the Israeli enemy.”

It also said it released this message out of “commitment to … the protection of sovereignty, and the preservation of security and stability in Lebanon,” and “in order to block attempts to drag the Lebanese state into new rounds of negotiations serving only the goals and interests of the Zionist enemy and the powers of tyranny hostile to truth and justice.”

“While the facts confirm that Lebanon and Hezbollah have implicitly and strictly abided by the content of the ceasefire declaration from the moment it was issued until today, the Zionist enemy has continued its violations of the declaration by land, sea, and air – and still does so now – disregarding all calls to cease its hostile actions,” Hezbollah added.

“Instead, the enemy has exploited such calls to blackmail Lebanon, impose conditions, and evade halting its aggression – persisting in its project to subjugate Lebanon, humiliate its state, people, and army, and drag it into a political agreement that would force Lebanon to recognize the enemy’s interests in our country and the region, as well as to acknowledge the legitimacy of its armed occupation of Palestinian land.”

It also said that the “hasty” Lebanese government decision on disarmament was a “goodwill gesture to the enemy,” but Israel “exploited this governmental misstep to impose the disarmament of the resistance throughout Lebanon as a precondition for halting hostilities – something that was not stipulated in the ceasefire declaration and can neither be accepted nor imposed.”

The statement reaffirmed Hezbollah’s commitment to the ceasefire agreement. The group made clear that it has withdrawn from the southern Litani River area with its weapons and armed personnel, in line with the deal.

“The issue of exclusive arms cannot be discussed in response to foreign demands or Israeli blackmail, but only within a national framework that produces a comprehensive strategy for defense, security, and the protection of national sovereignty,” the resistance movement said.

“As a founding component of Lebanon, which we have pledged as a final homeland for all its citizens, we reaffirm our legitimate right to resist occupation and aggression, and to stand alongside our army and our people in defending the sovereignty of our country,” the statement went on to say.

The letter was addressed to Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Right after the letter was issued, Israel launched a violent attack on southern Lebanon, striking between the towns of Toura and Abbasiya.

UPDATE | Locals report that Israeli warplanes targeted a sawmill and iron factory in their attack between the towns of Toura and Abbasiya in southern Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/5pqTN4FGwr

— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) November 6, 2025

Israeli warplanes targeted a sawmill and an iron factory, local reports said.

The Israeli army said in a statement that it “attacked … terrorists operating in terror infrastructure of the ‘construction unit’ in the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the Tyre area in southern Lebanon.”

US officials have been calling on Lebanon to open direct channels of communication with Israel, in violation of the country’s own laws.

Israel has significantly escalated its strikes on Lebanon over the past few weeks. It says Hezbollah is repairing and refilling weapons stocks and is managing to smuggle in arms and equipment from Syria – despite authorities in Damascus working to intercept the shipments.

Recent Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon have destroyed reconstruction equipment to prevent Lebanon from rebuilding. Israel claims the equipment is used by Hezbollah to reconstruct infrastructure.

Over 300 people have been killed by Israel since the ceasefire agreement was reached on 27 November 2024.

Since the start of October 2025 alone, at least 37 Lebanese people have been killed by Israeli strikes.

“Hezbollah is playing with fire and the president of Lebanon is dragging his feet,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a social media post on Sunday. “The Lebanese government's commitment to disarm Hezbollah and remove it from southern Lebanon must be carried out.”

“The strictest enforcement will continue and will even deepen – we will not allow a threat to the residents of the north,” the defense minister added.

Washington has publicly backed Tel Aviv’s position. US envoy Tom Barrack recently warned that Lebanon faces a new Israeli war if it does not immediately disarm the resistance.

https://thecradle.co/articles/hezbollah ... tion-traps

Gaza officials warn thousands remain trapped under rubble, say aid flow 'critically insufficient'

Only 4,453 aid trucks have been allowed into Gaza out of the 15,600 trucks that were supposed to have entered as part of the ceasefire agreement

News Desk

NOV 6, 2025


(Photo credit: Reuters)

The bodies of over 10,000 Palestinians remain trapped under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israel, Gaza’s National Committee for Missing Persons warned in a statement on 6 November.

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza requires urgent intervention to end the suffering of thousands of families waiting to know the fate of their children,” the committee said, calling for the urgent entry of specialized international rescue teams and heavy equipment to help recover the bodies of trapped and missing Palestinians.

Israel’s continued prevention of crucial equipment from entering Gaza is a “clear violation of international humanitarian law,” it added, demanding urgent action from the international community “to save as many lives as possible and preserve human dignity.”

Meanwhile, Israel continues to block the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza in complete violation of the ceasefire agreement, which went into effect last month.


Only 28 percent of the required number of aid trucks have entered the Gaza Strip since the US ‘peace plan’ was announced, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.

The office said in a statement on Thursday that Israel is carrying out “its policy of strangulation.”

According to the statement, only 4,453 trucks have been allowed into Gaza out of the 15,600 trucks that were supposed to enter as part of the agreement.

The media office went on to say that “these limited quantities do not meet the minimum … needs, and the strip urgently needs a regular flow of no less than (600) trucks,” as is stipulated in the deal.

“On the other hand, the occupation allows the entry of larger quantities of nutritionally worthless goods such as: soft drinks, chocolate, processed meals, and chips, which reach the markets at prices more than 15 times their real value due to the occupation's control over supply chains. This confirms the occupation's reliance on a policy of engineering starvation, controlling food security, and directly targeting civilian lives.”

The lack of specialized equipment entering Gaza has made it nearly impossible for authorities to continue the search for the thousands of victims of Israel’s genocide who remain trapped under destroyed infrastructure.

Israel has not stopped violating the ceasefire agreement.

Using alleged Hamas violations as a pretext, Israel has killed over 150 Palestinians since the ceasefire went into effect last month.

An Israeli soldier was killed in Rafah on 28 October. Israel responded by killing over 100 people in less than 12 hours.

Earlier that month, a soldier was also killed in Rafah, prompting violent strikes that killed dozens of civilians and assassinated several top Hamas leaders.

Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, released a statement confirming that it had lost contact with its fighters in Rafah, which was destroyed and occupied by Israeli troops during the war.

Around 200 Palestinian resistance fighters remain trapped in underground tunnels in the southernmost city. Attacks against Israeli soldiers in the area may have been carried out by these isolated fighters, who are unable to retreat to Hamas-controlled zones.

Israel is “close to killing” the 200 trapped fighters, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said this week, after Tel Aviv was said to have rejected granting safe passage to the resistance operatives.

According to reports, the US is trying to convince Israel to allow the fighters to hand over their weapons to a third party (Egypt, Qatar, or Turkiye) and surrender in exchange for amnesty.

“Some of the Hamas militants in the Rafah tunnels are murderers. They cannot be granted amnesty. They can either be killed or surrender and be detained by the IDF,” an Israeli official told Axios.

A US official told the outlet that Israel “needs to grow up” and not allow a “tactical” issue such as this to undermine the Gaza agreement.

https://thecradle.co/articles/gaza-offi ... sufficient

******

Israeli Forces Target Aid Seekers in Gaza, Dozens Killed in Consecutive Attacks

Israeli forces carried out another deadly assault on Palestinians awaiting food aid in central Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than 70.


Massacres continue at Gaza food lines as civilians are killed while waiting for aid. Photo: @QudsNen

June 18, 2025 Hour: 7:26 am

Israeli forces carried out another deadly assault on Palestinians awaiting food aid in central Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than 70. The attack took place near a distribution site operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a U.S.- and Israeli-backed organization, as hundreds of starving civilians gathered in hopes of receiving flour.

The assault, involving gunfire and tank shelling, occurred near the Netzarim Corridor. Victims were transported to Al-Awda Hospital, where medical staff confirmed the rising death toll and described scenes of chaos and trauma.

This latest incident came less than 24 hours after Israeli forces bombarded another GHF distribution point in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, killing 60 people and injuring over 200. Thousands had gathered early Tuesday morning at newly opened aid points when the strikes began.


“Israeli drones fired at the citizens. Minutes later, tanks fired multiple shells,” said Gaza Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal. “The people were simply waiting for flour. This was a massacre.”

Eyewitnesses described terror and panic. “Tens of thousands of hungry civilians gathered for the aid. Two Israeli shells were dropped in the middle of the crowd. Dozens of civilians, including children, were killed, and no one could help or save lives,” said Saeed Abu Liba, 38, in a video shared widely on social media. “May God punish the Israelis for their crimes.”

“It was a massacre,” said Yousef Nofal, who witnessed the scene. “People were bleeding and lying motionless. The soldiers kept shooting as we ran.”

Another survivor, Mohammed Abu Qeshfa, recalled the moment of the attack: “There was a loud explosion followed by heavy gunfire. I survived by a miracle.”

Since GHF began operations on May 26, Israeli forces have repeatedly targeted aid seekers at its distribution points, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry reports over 397 Palestinians have been killed and more than 3,000 injured while attempting to access humanitarian assistance.

No official response has been issued by Israeli authorities, as international scrutiny intensifies over attacks on civilians and the weaponization of hunger.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/israeli- ... e-attacks/

Put yourself in that photograph.

[blindpig]

Israel announces two-year zero tax incentive in bid to reverse settler exodus

Over 150,000 settlers have left the occupied territories since 2023, three times the number of new arrivals

News Desk

NOV 7, 2025


(Photo credit : Jack Guez / AFP)

Israel will grant new immigrants and returning residents arriving in 2026 a two-year exemption from income tax, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on 6 November.

“This is a Zionist and economic revolution,” Smotrich said during the ceremony at the offices of Nefesh B’Nefesh, a state-supported immigration group. “It’s worthwhile being a new immigrant.”

The measure forms part of Israel’s 2026 state budget and is intended to attract professionals, investors, and entrepreneurs at what officials describe as a time of “rising antisemitism abroad and shifting tax policies in western countries.”

According to the Israeli Finance Ministry, new immigrants and returning residents who lived abroad for at least 10 years will pay no income tax in 2026 and 2027.

Rates will rise to 10 percent in 2028, 20 percent in 2029, and 30 percent in 2030, up to an income ceiling of one million shekels (about $305,000) per year.

The plan expands existing incentives that include a 10-year exemption on foreign income and various tax credits.

“This is a data-based process that aims to ensure optimal integration for new immigrants and contribute to economic growth,” Immigration and Absorption Minister Ofir Sofer said.

Smotrich and Sofer have advanced a series of similar initiatives, including a 170-million shekel ($52 million) program to accelerate professional licensing and a government partnership with private firms to secure jobs for immigrants upon arrival.

Officials argue that immigration has become an economic necessity. Avichai Kahana, director general of the Immigration Ministry, has said that every shekel invested in immigrants yields four in return.

Ministry data claims that 54,000 new immigrants have arrived since the beginning of Israel’s genocide in Gaza; however, government data shows a simultaneous and unprecedented exodus of citizens.

According to a Ynet report, Israel lost a net 145,900 residents between 2020 and 2024, with 49,000 leaving and only 12,100 returning in the first eight months of 2024 alone.

Knesset member Gilad Kariv described the outflow as “a tsunami,” warning that it “threatens the resilience of Israeli society.”

Kariv blamed the government for “fracturing Israeli society before the war and neglecting the civilian front,” calling mass emigration “a real strategic threat.”

The Knesset’s Research and Information Center noted that eight in 10 Israelis abroad have no intention of returning, reflecting deep disillusionment after years of political unrest and war.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-an ... ler-exodus

Israel ramps up propaganda spending targeting US churchgoers, ChatGPT users

Tel Aviv is funneling millions into the so-called 'eight front' of its war in hopes of reversing public opinion and silencing anti-genocide voices by weaponizing AI and online propaganda

News Desk

NOV 7, 2025


(Photo credit: Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
Israel has launched a multimillion-dollar campaign to reshape US public opinion through coordinated influence operations that combine digital marketing, AI, geotagging, and religious messaging, according to a report by Haaretz published on 7 November.

The campaign is aimed at conservative and evangelical communities in particular.

Documents filed under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act show that Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Tourism Ministry, and Government Advertising Agency (LAPAM) have contracted a network of US firms via Havas Media Germany to run extensive “hasbara” campaigns.

The largest contract, worth $6 million, was signed with Clock Tower X, owned by Trump’s former digital campaign chief Brad Parscale, to produce and distribute roughly 100 core pieces of pro-Israel content per month and thousands of derivative versions, primarily on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

Messages will circulate through Salem Media Network, a conservative Christian conglomerate that Parscale now helps lead.

ISRAEL SPENT $56M OUT OF $190M BUDGET

These are the FARA registered companies plus Google (who apparently doesn’t need to register) propagandizing America on behalf of Israel:
- SKDK
- Google
- Clock Tower X
- Bridges Partners (Israelis)
- Show Faith by Works

After SKDK was…


— GenXGirl (@GenXGirl1994) October 11, 2025

A second proposed $3 million initiative, by evangelical consultant Chad Schnitger’s Show Faith by Works, targets declining support among young evangelicals.

Using “biblically based arguments,” the campaign seeks to link Palestinians to Hamas and Iran while portraying Israel as divinely central to Christianity.

Plans described “the largest geofencing campaign in US history,” mapping churches and Christian colleges in four western states to identify and track worshippers for ongoing ad targeting, an operation projected to reach around 12 million people.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry denies that the plan was carried out, calling such claims “disinformation.”

Additional filings reveal contracts with Democratic-aligned firm SKDKnickerbocker to run bot networks that “flood” social media with pro-Israel messaging, and with Targeted Communications Global to promote Israeli tourism through influencers.

Another project, “Esther Project,” managed by Bridges Partners, recruits 14 to 18 influencers to post hundreds of times monthly in support of Israel, echoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's efforts to mobilize online personalities as “digital soldiers.”

Project Esther is a plan led by the Heritage Foundation to criminalize Palestine advocacy in the U.S. It seeks to equate support for Palestinian rights with terrorism, pushing for firings, deportations, defunding, and censorship. It’s a blueprint to silence a movement and… pic.twitter.com/xPohmV38dp

— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) May 19, 2025

One clause in Parscale’s contract outlines a “Search and Language Operation” designed to influence both search engines and generative AI systems, including ChatGPT and Claude, marking what Haaretz calls the first documented attempt by a state to shape how AI chatbots frame discourse about Israel.

Internal documents cited by Haaretz show that Israel’s state-backed nonprofit Voices for Israel defines artificial intelligence as a “core tool” for perception management.

THREAD

Israel is hiring a San Diego-based firm called Show Faith by Works, LLC to “target” American Christians with Zionist propaganda.

Let's look at some of the details of their multimillion-dollar scheme, as revealed in their recent FARA filings... pic.twitter.com/FClM0vhM3g

— Decensored News (@decensorednews) October 4, 2025

Israel’s campaign expands what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the “Eighth Front” of Israel's genocidal war, a digital offensive to erase evidence of its war crimes in Gaza and reshape global opinion.

Dubbed the “Digital Iron Dome,” it merges AI surveillance, mass reporting, and influencer networks to suppress and replace resistance narratives.

Platforms like TikTok and Meta have deleted millions of posts critical of Israel, while paid ad campaigns flood feeds with pro-Israel propaganda.

Netanyahu’s government has spent over $145m on projects such as “Project 545” and the “Esther Project,” contracting Trump-linked firms and influencers to influence social media and even AI tools like ChatGPT and Grok.

Investigations by OpenAI and the New York Times exposed Israeli-run networks using fake accounts to push anti-Palestinian content and defend Tel Aviv’s actions.

Through this system, Israel seeks to digitally launder war crimes and create a controlled online reality, a model for global information repression beyond Gaza.

A Reuters-Ipsos poll published in October shows that nearly 60 percent of US citizens support recognizing Palestine, marking a clear shift in public opinion against Israel’s crimes in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-ra ... tgpt-users

******

Ahmad Al-Abed: The occupation is battling a suicide crisis among its genocidal ranks

Over 10,000 soldiers are currently receiving mental health treatment, while 3,769 have been officially recognized as suffering from PTSD.

November 08, 2025 by Al Akhbar


Israeli soldiers in a ceremony in September 2024. Photo: IOF Spokesperson's Unit

The wave of suicides among Israeli soldiers who took part in the genocidal war on Gaza continues to grow, despite the military establishment imposing a veil of secrecy. The phenomenon appears far deeper than what has been made public, with censorship concealing a crisis that threatens to erode the army’s morale.

According to Haaretz, a senior air force officer recently committed suicide after serving in a drone command unit that participated in the assault on Gaza. Weeks passed without any official acknowledgment of his death. The officer, whose name remains undisclosed, suffered severe trauma after witnessing and taking part in “scenes of killing and destruction”. He was described as “one of the most experienced and prominent drone operators in the Israeli military.”

Citing his colleagues, the report said he had shown clear signs of mental collapse, unable to live with the atrocities he had witnessed. “He saw everything. He knew exactly what was happening on the ground. We watched him wither day by day,” one said. Air force officers confirmed that he had been receiving mental health treatment before his death and that the army kept him in service despite having knowledge of his condition, considering him “indispensable” during Israel’s multi-front war.

Other officers revealed a wider crisis within Israeli drone units, where many soldiers face “moral and psychological breakdowns” after witnessing the carnage they unleashed. “We see everything clearly, hear the explosions, and know exactly who’s hit or killed,” one said. At times, they are instructed to attack targets that later prove harmless. They have killed children “by mistake”.

Another operator recounted a “haunting” incident: “I was ordered to fire on two figures near Nitsarim Road. They turned out to be children, probably searching for food. At first, I felt nothing, but afterward, I kept seeing their faces whenever I closed my eyes. I was filled with shame. I wasn’t the same person anymore.”

A military medical officer told Haaretz that the officer’s suicide “exposes the system’s failure to assess psychological risks.” The immense pressure, constant exposure to death, and lack of post-service support “create a deadly mix of isolation and guilt.” Many soldiers, he added, now feel “abandoned with their memories and nightmares,” and some “battle suicidal thoughts” after returning from Gaza.

Meanwhile, France’s Le Figaro highlighted the deteriorating mental health of Israeli soldiers, featuring the case of Yisrael Hayat, a medic who fought in Gaza and confessed to longing for “a bullet between the eyes.” “I’m a walking corpse,” he said. The French article added that he’s now unfit for service and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Appearing recently before Knesset members, he screamed at lawmakers: “Do you know what it’s like to lift your friends’ bodies? Every time I sit down, I see corpses, I see my friends exploding before me. I try to kill myself every day. My psychiatrist prescribed me 15 pills a day, enough to sedate a horse. Help me.”

Israel’s public broadcaster, KAN, recently reported 279 suicide attempts in the army over the past 18 months, 36 of which resulted in death. A Knesset Research and Information Center report noted that 12% of the attempts were classified as severe. Since 2017, 124 Israeli soldiers have taken their own lives, 68% of them in compulsory service, 21% in the reserves, and 11% in permanent service. The report noted a sharp rise in suicides among reservists since 2023, linking it to the increased mobilization after the Gaza war.

Yedioth Ahronoth warned that the growing suicide crisis, especially among reservists, poses “a major threat to Israel”, despite the army’s efforts to downplay its gravity. Israeli expert Yossi Levy Pelts cautioned that the Israeli entity could face a “mass wave of suicides”, explaining that wartime mobilization against an external enemy does not necessarily increase suicide rates, but when the fighting ends, many soldiers experience the delayed psychological collapse.

Israeli media revealed that over 10,000 soldiers are currently receiving mental health treatment, while 3,769 have been officially recognized as suffering from PTSD and are receiving specialized care.

This article was written by Ahmad Al-Abed and first published by Al-Akhbar.[/i]

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/11/08/ ... dal-ranks/

[blindpig]

‘No surrender in our dictionary’: Qassam Brigades addresses ‘Rafah tunnel crisis’

Hebrew media reports that the US is trying to work out a deal to solve the issue of the 200 resistance fighters trapped in tunnels under Rafah

News Desk

NOV 9, 2025


(Photo credit: X)

Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, released a statement on 9 November rejecting any “surrender,” addressing Israel over what is being referred to in Hebrew and western media as the ‘Rafah tunnel crisis.’

“The occupation bears full responsibility for the clash with our fighters in Rafah who are defending themselves within an area under its control,” the Qassam Brigades said. “Let the enemy know that the principle of surrender and handing oneself over to the enemy does not exist in the dictionary of the Qassam Brigades.”

"We are placing the mediators before their responsibilities, and they must find a solution to ensure the continuation of the ceasefire, and prevent the enemy from using flimsy pretexts to violate it and exploit this to target innocent civilians in Gaza," the statement added.

"The process of extracting captives’ bodies during the past phase took place in complex and extremely difficult circumstances, yet we adhered to what was required of us in the agreement, and we confirm that extracting the remaining bodies requires additional technical teams and equipment,” the Qassam Brigades went on to say.

Around 200 Palestinian resistance fighters are currently trapped in underground tunnels in the southernmost city of Rafah, which was destroyed and occupied by Israeli troops during the genocide.

Last month, two Israeli soldiers were killed in Rafah in two separate instances. Both times, Israel responded by killing dozens of civilians.

The Qassam Brigades announced at the time that it had lost all contact with its fighters in Rafah and bears no responsibility for any attacks on Israeli troops. It is likely the Israeli soldiers were killed by members of this besieged Hamas force, which may not have been aware that a ceasefire was reached.

Israel’s finance minister said days ago that Tel Aviv was “close” to killing the fighters.

Axios recently reported that Washington was pressuring the Israeli government not to hold up the ceasefire deal over the issue, and to agree to allow the fighters to hand over their weapons to a third party (Egypt, Qatar, or Turkiye) and surrender in exchange for amnesty.

Israel was reportedly reluctant to grant safe passage to the fighters. However, new developments related to the issue of a dead Israeli captive have prompted reports that a deal is being advanced.

The Qassam Brigades announced on Sunday that it has found and will hand over at 2:00 PM the body of Hadar Goldin, an Israeli officer who disappeared during clashes with the resistance in the 2014 war on Gaza.


According to Israel’s Broadcasting Corporation (KAN), troops have spent a year searching for Goldin’s body in the tunnels of Rafah.

An Israeli official speaking with Channel 12 said a deal on the matter is ruled out.

However, Channel 12 also said, citing a US official, that the “Trump administration has pressured Hamas in recent days to return the remains of officer Hadar Goldin, in order to pave the way for an agreement to end the crisis of the stuck Hamas militants.”

“The US sees the militants remaining in the Rafah tunnels as a focal point of tension that led to two serious escalations and undermined the ceasefire, and they want to dismantle this political and security mine,” the report added. “If Goldin is indeed returned to Israel, American pressure on Israel to agree to this deal in Rafah will increase.”

US envoy Steve Witkoff and former advisor Jared Kushner may visit Israel in the coming days to try reaching a solution, the report goes on to say.

“It is clear that Hamas has exerted pressure to achieve its goals, including the release of the dozens of militants located in tunnels in the Rafah area,” wrote Amir Bohbot, a journalist for Israel’s Walla news site.

https://thecradle.co/articles/no-surren ... nel-crisis

Israeli soldiers confirm Palestinian civilians murdered 'without restraint' in Gaza 'free for all'

A new film shows that Israeli troops were encouraged to exterminate Palestinians, including women and children, by their politicians and Jewish religious leaders

News Desk

NOV 10, 2025


(Photo credit: Omar al-Qattaa, AFP)

In a new documentary film, Israeli soldiers have described a “free-for-all” in Gaza, in which they killed civilians “without restraint” with the encouragement of politicians and rabbis, The Guardian reported on 10 November.

“If you want to shoot without restraint, you can,” stated Daniel, the commander of an Israeli tank unit.

He and other soldiers gave testimony about killings they perpetrated during combat tours in Gaza for the film ‘Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War,’ which will be broadcast in the UK on ITV on Monday night.

The soldiers who agreed to talk confirmed they routinely used Palestinians as human shields and opened fire unprovoked on civilians seeking aid at militarized distribution points set up by the US-Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Captain Yotam Vilk, an Israeli armored corps officer, said that in basic training, they were taught to only fire at a target that has the means, shows intent, and has the ability to cause harm.

But in Gaza, “there’s no such thing as ‘means, intent and ability,’” Vilk stated in the film.

“No soldier ever mentions ‘means, intent, and ability.’ It’s just a suspicion of walking where it’s not allowed. A man aged between 20 and 40,” he explained.

Another soldier, identified in the film as Eli, says individual commanders had the freedom to determine who was killed and who was allowed to remain alive.

“Life and death aren’t determined by procedures or opening fire regulations. It’s the conscience of the commander on the ground that decides,” Eli said.

“If they’re walking too fast, they’re suspicious. If they’re walking too slow, they’re suspicious. They’re plotting something. If three men are walking and one of them lags behind, it’s a two-to-one infantry formation – it’s a military formation,” he added.

Eli describes an incident in which a senior officer ordered a tank to destroy a residential building, crushing civilians to death inside, because a man was hanging laundry on the roof.

“The officer decided that he was a spotter. He’s not a spotter. He’s hanging his laundry. You can see that he’s hanging laundry,” he said.

“Now, it’s not as if this man had binoculars or weapons. The closest military force was 600–700 meters away. So, unless he had eagle eyes, how could he possibly be a spotter? And the tank fired a shell. The building half collapsed. And the result was many dead and wounded.”

The Guardian notes that according to the Israeli military’s own intelligence data, 83 percent of those killed in Gaza were civilians, a historic high for modern conflicts. More than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war started, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, with tens of thousands more likely not counted as they remain buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings.

The Israeli military publicly claims its forces seek to protect civilians. However, some of the soldiers interviewed for the film said they were influenced by genocidal language used by Israeli politicians and religious leaders who claimed that no Palestinians in Gaza were innocent after the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023.

For example, a UN commission pointed to comments made by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who claimed after 7 October that, “It is an entire nation out there that is responsible. It is not true, this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved, it’s absolutely not true.”

Roughly 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed in the Hamas attack. Israel blamed all these deaths on Hamas; however, the military itself killed hundreds with attack helicopters, drones, and tanks, per a special order known as the Hannibal Directive.

The order was given for Israeli pilots to fire on their own civilians to prevent them from being taken to Gaza as captives that Hamas could use to liberate Palestinians in a prisoner exchange.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly referred to Palestinians in Gaza as “Amalek,” citing a story from Jewish scripture in which the Hebrews were ordered to exterminate the entire Amalekite nation, killing every man, woman, and child – even babies.

Daniel, the tank unit commander, said that this type of rhetoric influenced the behavior of soldiers in his unit. “You hear that all the time, so you start to believe it,” he stated.

Jewish rabbis in the Israeli army also advised soldiers to exterminate Palestinians in Gaza.


“One time, the brigade rabbi sat down next to me and spent half an hour explaining why we must be just like they were on 7 October. That we must take revenge on all of them, including civilians. That we shouldn’t discriminate, and that this is the only way,” said Major Neta Caspin.

Rabbi Avraham Zarbiv, who participated with his unit in the genocide in Gaza, stated in the film that, “Everything there is one big terrorist infrastructure.”

Zarbiv personally drove military bulldozers and boasted about destroying Gaza, stating that the army spent “hundreds of thousands of shekels to destroy the Gaza Strip. We changed the conduct of an entire army.”

The soldiers speaking in Breaking Ranks also confirmed their use of Palestinians as human shields, known as “Mosquitos,” to clear tunnels and homes where booby traps may be present. That way, a Palestinian would be killed rather than an Israeli soldier.

“You send the human shield underground. As he walks down the tunnel, he maps it all for you. He has an iPhone in his vest, and as he walks, it sends back GPS information,” said Daniel, the tank commander.

“The commanders saw how it works. And the practice spread like wildfire. After about a week, every company was operating its own mosquito.”

A private contractor, identified as Sam, confirmed that Israeli soldiers opened fire on and killed unarmed civilians seeking food at GHF distribution sites.

He described witnessing Israeli soldiers murder two Palestinian men.

“You could just see two soldiers run after them. They drop onto their knees, and they just take two shots, and you could just see … two heads snap backwards and just drop,” Sam explained.

In another case, he saw a tank destroy “a normal car … just four normal people sat inside it.”

At least 1,889 Palestinian civilians were killed by Israeli soldiers while seeking food in Gaza between 27 May and 18 August 2025, according to UN figures.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-s ... ee-for-all

Israel demands Lebanese army raid civilian homes in south: Report

The Lebanese military was said to have rejected the demand out of fear it would cause civil strife and be viewed as ‘subservience’ to Israel

News Desk

NOV 10, 2025


(Photo credit: Reuters)

Israel is pressing for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to launch raids into civilian homes in south Lebanon in search of weapons belonging to Hezbollah, Lebanese sources told Reuters on 10 November.

The report coincided with new drone strikes on southern Lebanon, and came hours after an Israeli army force raided near the Lebanese town of Hula and blew up two homes.

“Israel is pressing Lebanon's army to be more aggressive in disarming … Hezbollah by searching private homes in the south for weaponry,” three Lebanese security sources said.

The demand “has been rejected” by the LAF, the sources added. Army leadership fears such a move could trigger civil strife and derail its overall disarmament plan, which the Lebanese military views as “cautious but effective.”

Israel requested these “raids” indirectly in October via the ceasefire mechanism, which includes Washington, Tel Aviv, Beirut, Paris, and the UNIFIL.

The request was followed by an increase in Israeli attacks and ground operations in the south, where Israeli forces have established an occupation in violation of the ceasefire deal.

The escalation was seen “as a clear warning that failure to search more intrusively could prompt a new full-blown Israeli military campaign,” the sources went on to say.

“They're demanding that we do house-to-house searches, and we won't do that ... we aren't going to do things their way,” one of the officials told Reuters. “Residents of the south will see house raids as subservience to Israel.”

Since the start of the year, the Lebanese army has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure and confiscating arms south of the Litani River in line with the ceasefire deal reached in November 2024.

But Israel is accusing Lebanon of “dragging its feet,” and says Hezbollah is rearming faster than the Lebanese army is dismantling.

The US is pressuring Lebanon to establish direct channels of communication with Israel, a violation of the country’s own laws.

Washington has also threatened Lebanon with a new Israeli war if Hezbollah is not disarmed immediately.

The resistance says it would eventually be willing to discuss incorporating its arms into the Lebanese military as part of a defensive strategy that would keep the weapons available for use if Lebanon is attacked.

However, it rejects any discussion of the matter while Israel continues to attack Lebanon and occupy several areas along the southern border.

The Reuters report on Monday coincided with new Israeli attacks.

An Israeli drone strike targeted the outskirts of the town of Hmayri in the Tyre district in south Lebanon.

Earlier, an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle in Bisariyeh, on the Sidon–Tyre highway, claimed the life of Lebanese citizen Samir Faqih.

The night before, Israeli troops raided an area near the southern Lebanese town of Hula, rigging and detonating two homes.

“Israeli soldiers entered the Subeih hill in northeast Hula (south Lebanon), planted explosives in two homes, and detonated them. The hill is near a Lebanese army checkpoint, where several soldiers stand with one or two vehicles,” Lebanese journalist Khalil Nasrallah wrote.

“It is the only checkpoint. The army personnel are not to be blamed under any circumstances. Believe me, those who know the area know what I mean. The army personnel are not weak, and their blood is not cheap to us, but precious. The blame lies with those who gave the army orders to confront without reinforcing it and strengthening its presence in many sensitive areas near the border,” he added.

Over 40 Lebanese people have been killed by Israel in the past month and a half. Tel Aviv has vowed to continue escalating.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-de ... uth-report

US replaces Israel as ‘overseer’ of Gaza aid deliveries: Report

The Israeli army has killed over 150 Palestinians since the US-brokered ‘peace plan’ took effect last month

News Desk

NOV 9, 2025


(Photo credit: US Embassy in Jerusalem)

The US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC), established by Washington last month, is replacing Israel as the “overseer” of humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip, the Washington Post reported.

According to informed sources, the first weeks of operations have been “chaotic and indecisive.”

A US official said Israel remains “part of the conversation” but overall decisions will be made by the new center, established weeks ago in Kiryat Gat – a city just north of the besieged strip.

“The move relegates Israel to a secondary role in determining how and what humanitarian relief can enter Gaza as CMCC takes the lead,” other familiar sources told the outlet.

More than 40 countries are participating in the US-led center.

“One of the benefits … of bringing them all together is that enables you to really sort through fact from fiction and get a clearer understanding of what is happening on the ground, where the needs lie,” US Navy Captain Tim Hawkins said.

Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said having the US in charge of aid is a “very good thing” because Israel has been “blocking the Trump plan’s humanitarian clauses.”

“Our appeal is to make the plan a reality,” Egeland added. “Of course, the credibility of the US is at stake here.”

There are no indications on what Israeli restrictions, if any, will be lifted now that Washington has assumed control of aid.

“The Americans will be integrated into the formulation and implementation of coordination, supervision, and control mechanisms in the context of humanitarian aid, in full cooperation with the Israeli security services,” said the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli body which has traditionally overseen aid operations.

However, unnamed Israeli officials told the Post that “this does not constitute a transfer of authority or responsibility from COGAT to the Americans.”

The officials said there is “no change in policy.”

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – a deadly, US-Israeli aid scheme responsible for the killing of thousands of Palestinians – halted operations as part of Trump’s ‘peace plan’ for Gaza.

As part of the agreement, 600 aid trucks must enter Gaza every day. Yet Israel continues to severely restrict the entry of aid.

Only 28 percent of the required number of aid trucks have entered the Gaza Strip since the US ‘peace plan’ was announced, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.

The office said in a statement on Thursday that Israel is carrying out “its policy of strangulation.”

According to the statement, only 4,453 trucks have been allowed into Gaza out of the 15,600 trucks that were supposed to enter as part of the agreement.

While the US-led CMCC is meant to oversee the ceasefire agreement, aid remains critically low, and over 150 Palestinians have been killed since the truce was reached.

The New York Times (NYT) reported in late October that the US military began operating surveillance drones over Gaza.

According to Israeli and US officials, the operation aims to verify that both Hamas and Israel are adhering to the terms of the truce. The aircraft are controlled from the newly established US command center in Kiryat Gat.

https://thecradle.co/articles/us-replac ... ies-report

[blindpig]

Israel builds new border wall as tensions with Lebanon escalate

Tel Aviv says it will not withdraw from Lebanon or end its daily attacks until the resistance surrenders its weapons

News Desk

NOV 11, 2025


(Photo credit: Ali Shoeib/Al-Manar)

The Israeli military is constructing a new, large wall along the border with southern Lebanon, Al Manar correspondent Ali Shoeib revealed, coinciding with an escalation of Israeli airstrikes and threats of a broad campaign against the country.

Shoeib released photos from southern Lebanon on his Telegram account showing “enemy forces building a new concrete wall at the border with occupied Palestine, behind the Blue Line between the settlement of Evfim and the Jall al-Deir, opposite the towns of Maroun al-Ras and Aitaroun.”

“The newly established Israeli site inside Lebanese territory in Jabal al-Blat is about one kilometer away from the border [wall],” Shoeib added, referring to one of the Lebanese border areas occupied by Israeli troops during the ceasefire.

“The wall is being built behind the Blue Line, inside the occupied territories, and it does not violate Lebanese territory. The violation occurs at the newly established military site on Jabal al-Blat, south of Aitaroun, which extends one kilometer deep, and not because of the wall,” Shoeib clarified later, responding to a social media user who claimed the wall was currently being built on Lebanese territory.

Israel had already begun constructing a border wall in 2018, located near the Shtula settlement in the western Galilee. By 2020, 15 kilometers of concrete wall had been erected as part of an Israeli plan to construct a barrier, worth $470 million, along the entirety of the border with Lebanon.

Israeli troops occupied several areas along the border during the 2024 ceasefire, in violation of the deal. Tel Aviv insists that it will not consider withdrawal until Hezbollah is disarmed.

Washington has backed Tel Aviv’s position and recently threatened that Lebanon will face a widespread Israeli campaign unless the resistance surrenders its arms.

Israel has escalated airstrikes on Lebanon in recent weeks. Fifteen people have been killed since the start of November alone.

Israeli artillery shelling targeted the border town of Aita al-Shaab on 11 November. Israeli forces also carried out an incursion into Aitaroun and blew up four homes.

The new violations came hours after large fires erupted across southern Lebanon due to Israeli airstrikes on Monday. The Israeli army also bombed eastern Lebanon on 10 November, claiming it struck Hezbollah infrastructure and weapons sites.

Hezbollah has rejected a Lebanese Cabinet decision issued in August, which called for the group’s disarmament.

The resistance says it would eventually be willing to discuss incorporating its arms into the Lebanese military as part of a defensive strategy that would keep the weapons available for use if Lebanon is attacked.

However, it rejects any discussion of the matter while Israel continues to attack Lebanon and occupy several areas along the southern border.

“Hezbollah is playing with fire and the President of Lebanon is dragging his feet,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a social media post at the start of this month. “The Lebanese government's commitment to disarm Hezbollah and remove it from southern Lebanon must be carried out.”

“The strictest enforcement will continue and will even deepen – we will not allow a threat to the residents of the north,” the defense minister added.

Tens of thousands of Israelis were forced to flee from the northern settlements when Hezbollah opened its support front in October 2023. Two years later, many of them have not returned.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-bu ... n-escalate

Israeli army short of 12,000 troops as threat of new Lebanon war looms: Report

Tel Aviv plans to extend mandatory service to 36 months and increase annual reserve duty to 70 days within five years

News Desk

NOV 10, 2025


(Photo credit: Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

The Israeli military is facing a shortage of 12,000 recruits, including 7,000 combat troops, as it prepares for a potential confrontation with Hezbollah, Ynet reported on 9 November.

Israeli Brigadier General Shai Tayeb, head of the army’s Planning and Personnel Administration Division, told the Knesset Subcommittee for IDF Personnel that Israel “needs to expand the base of those serving,” adding that troop numbers would sharply decline by January 2027.

He said the army was preparing for 36 months of mandatory service and 70 days of annual reserve duty within the next five years.

The announcement follows Tel Aviv’s demand that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) begin house-to-house raids in south Lebanon to confiscate Hezbollah weapons – a move rejected by the LAF.

Lebanese security sources told Reuters on 10 November that Israel has been “pressing Lebanon's army to be more aggressive in disarming … Hezbollah by searching private homes in the south for weaponry.”

The sources said the Lebanese army refused the demand, warning that such actions could ignite civil strife and be seen by residents “as subservience to Israel.”

One Lebanese official told Reuters, “They’re demanding that we do house-to-house searches, and we won’t do that.”

The demand was delivered through the ceasefire mechanism involving Washington, Tel Aviv, Beirut, Paris, and the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL. The LAF's rejection was followed by intensified Israeli air raids and cross-border attacks.

Lebanese journalist Khalil Nasrallah reported that Israeli troops detonated two homes near Hula, while drone strikes killed a Lebanese civilian, Samir Faqih, in Bisariyeh.

Over 40 Lebanese civilians have been killed by Israeli attacks in the past six weeks, with Tel Aviv vowing to continue escalating operations.

Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz accused Hezbollah of “playing with fire” and demanded that Lebanon “disarm the group and remove it from the south.”

Meanwhile, Israeli media reports a growing manpower crisis. Israeli Military Police chief Lieutenant Colonel Muni Amar told the Knesset that 1,232 draft evaders were arrested this year – double the annual target – as enforcement expanded across the country.

Tayeb said roughly 80,000 ultra-Orthodox graduates are under enforcement, including 48,000 with formal draft-evasion notices, though ultra-Orthodox enlistment rose 60 percent last year to nearly 2,900 recruits.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-a ... oms-report

Israeli soldiers confirm Palestinian civilians murdered 'without restraint' in Gaza 'free for all'

A new film shows that Israeli troops were encouraged to exterminate Palestinians, including women and children, by their politicians and Jewish religious leaders

News Desk

NOV 10, 2025


(Photo credit: Omar al-Qattaa, AFP)

In a new documentary film, Israeli soldiers have described a “free-for-all” in Gaza, in which they killed civilians “without restraint” with the encouragement of politicians and rabbis, The Guardian reported on 10 November.

“If you want to shoot without restraint, you can,” stated Daniel, the commander of an Israeli tank unit.

He and other soldiers gave testimony about killings they perpetrated during combat tours in Gaza for the film ‘Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War,’ which will be broadcast in the UK on ITV on Monday night.

The soldiers who agreed to talk confirmed they routinely used Palestinians as human shields and opened fire unprovoked on civilians seeking aid at militarized distribution points set up by the US-Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Captain Yotam Vilk, an Israeli armored corps officer, said that in basic training, they were taught to only fire at a target that has the means, shows intent, and has the ability to cause harm.

But in Gaza, “there’s no such thing as ‘means, intent and ability,’” Vilk stated in the film.

“No soldier ever mentions ‘means, intent, and ability.’ It’s just a suspicion of walking where it’s not allowed. A man aged between 20 and 40,” he explained.

Another soldier, identified in the film as Eli, says individual commanders had the freedom to determine who was killed and who was allowed to remain alive.

“Life and death aren’t determined by procedures or opening fire regulations. It’s the conscience of the commander on the ground that decides,” Eli said.

“If they’re walking too fast, they’re suspicious. If they’re walking too slow, they’re suspicious. They’re plotting something. If three men are walking and one of them lags behind, it’s a two-to-one infantry formation – it’s a military formation,” he added.

Eli describes an incident in which a senior officer ordered a tank to destroy a residential building, crushing civilians to death inside, because a man was hanging laundry on the roof.

“The officer decided that he was a spotter. He’s not a spotter. He’s hanging his laundry. You can see that he’s hanging laundry,” he said.

“Now, it’s not as if this man had binoculars or weapons. The closest military force was 600–700 meters away. So, unless he had eagle eyes, how could he possibly be a spotter? And the tank fired a shell. The building half collapsed. And the result was many dead and wounded.”

The Guardian notes that according to the Israeli military’s own intelligence data, 83 percent of those killed in Gaza were civilians, a historic high for modern conflicts. More than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war started, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, with tens of thousands more likely not counted as they remain buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings.

The Israeli military publicly claims its forces seek to protect civilians. However, some of the soldiers interviewed for the film said they were influenced by genocidal language used by Israeli politicians and religious leaders who claimed that no Palestinians in Gaza were innocent after the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023.

For example, a UN commission pointed to comments made by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who claimed after 7 October that, “It is an entire nation out there that is responsible. It is not true, this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved, it’s absolutely not true.”

Roughly 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed in the Hamas attack. Israel blamed all these deaths on Hamas; however, the military itself killed hundreds with attack helicopters, drones, and tanks, per a special order known as the Hannibal Directive.

The order was given for Israeli pilots to fire on their own civilians to prevent them from being taken to Gaza as captives that Hamas could use to liberate Palestinians in a prisoner exchange.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly referred to Palestinians in Gaza as “Amalek,” citing a story from Jewish scripture in which the Hebrews were ordered to exterminate the entire Amalekite nation, killing every man, woman, and child – even babies.

Daniel, the tank unit commander, said that this type of rhetoric influenced the behavior of soldiers in his unit. “You hear that all the time, so you start to believe it,” he stated.

Jewish rabbis in the Israeli army also advised soldiers to exterminate Palestinians in Gaza.


“One time, the brigade rabbi sat down next to me and spent half an hour explaining why we must be just like they were on 7 October. That we must take revenge on all of them, including civilians. That we shouldn’t discriminate, and that this is the only way,” said Major Neta Caspin.

Rabbi Avraham Zarbiv, who participated with his unit in the genocide in Gaza, stated in the film that, “Everything there is one big terrorist infrastructure.”

Zarbiv personally drove military bulldozers and boasted about destroying Gaza, stating that the army spent “hundreds of thousands of shekels to destroy the Gaza Strip. We changed the conduct of an entire army.”

The soldiers speaking in Breaking Ranks also confirmed their use of Palestinians as human shields, known as “Mosquitos,” to clear tunnels and homes where booby traps may be present. That way, a Palestinian would be killed rather than an Israeli soldier.

“You send the human shield underground. As he walks down the tunnel, he maps it all for you. He has an iPhone in his vest, and as he walks, it sends back GPS information,” said Daniel, the tank commander.

“The commanders saw how it works. And the practice spread like wildfire. After about a week, every company was operating its own mosquito.”

A private contractor, identified as Sam, confirmed that Israeli soldiers opened fire on and killed unarmed civilians seeking food at GHF distribution sites.

He described witnessing Israeli soldiers murder two Palestinian men.

“You could just see two soldiers run after them. They drop onto their knees, and they just take two shots, and you could just see … two heads snap backwards and just drop,” Sam explained.

In another case, he saw a tank destroy “a normal car … just four normal people sat inside it.”

At least 1,889 Palestinian civilians were killed by Israeli soldiers while seeking food in Gaza between 27 May and 18 August 2025, according to UN figures.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-s ... ee-for-all

PA sacks finance minister for new stipends to families of Palestinian detainees: Report

Ramallah had said in September that it ended the policy of payments to prisoners detained for resistance, which Tel Aviv refers to as 'pay-to-slay'

News Desk

NOV 11, 2025


(Photo credit: Reuters)

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has sacked his finance minister for continuing payments to the families of prisoners, sources told the Times of Israel on 10 November.

The payments were made in violation of a new mechanism reached this year that ended PA payments to the families of prisoners involved in attacks and resistance operations against Israelis and Israeli forces.

Official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Monday that PA Planning and International Cooperation Minister Estephan Salameh replaced Omar Bitar as finance minister. The report did not provide a reason for the switch-up.

“Bitar’s dismissal followed an internal investigation revealing that he had authorized payments to some Palestinian security prisoners outside the new system that the PA established earlier this year, which conditioned those welfare stipends strictly on financial need, rather than on the length of one’s sentence,” two sources told the Times of Israel.

For years, the PA paid stipends to the families of Palestinian prisoners jailed for resistance attacks against Israeli forces or killed by troops. As a result, Ramallah was accused of encouraging terrorism and incentivizing attacks on Israelis through what Tel Aviv called the ‘pay-to-slay’ policy.

In September this year, Abbas officially announced the end of the stipends policy at the UN General Assembly after signing a decree on the matter in February. The US had long pressured the PA to end the stipends, known as the Martyrs Fund.

“While the vast majority of payments under the old system had indeed ceased, as the new system came into place, a small portion of prisoner families managed to receive recent stipends through the old payment mechanism, including inmates who were incarcerated after the reform was announced,” the sources went on to tell the Israeli newspaper.

“Abbas’s decision to fire Bitar demonstrates that Ramallah is serious about implementing the prisoner payment reform,” one of the sources, a Palestinian official, said.

The report also says the families of Palestinian prisoners are angry about the new policy.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in response to the Times of Israel report that sacking the finance minister was not enough.

“Dismissing the Palestinian Authority’s finance minister will not absolve the dismisser, Mahmoud Abbas, and the PA of their complicity in pay-to-slay and responsibility for the ongoing payments to terrorists and their families,” Saar said. “The Palestinian Authority is trying to fool the world. It won’t work. The truth is stronger.”

A spokesperson for the PA did not respond to a request for comments.

The report comes as the ceasefire in Gaza has entered its second month, despite constant violations from Israel. At least 240 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the deal went into effect.

Around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for Israeli captives, as part of the deal.

In past exchange agreements, many released prisoners ended up being rearrested by Israeli forces.

https://thecradle.co/articles/pa-sacks- ... ees-report

[blindpig]

US to build internment-style camps for Palestinians in Israeli-controlled Gaza

The initiative includes a US-built military base for international forces and could cement a lasting partition of the strip

News Desk

NOV 12, 2025


(Photo credit: Bashar Taleb/AFP)

US President Donald Trump's administration is advancing a controversial plan to build what US officials called “Alternate Safe Communities” for displaced Palestinians inside the Israeli-controlled areas in Gaza that make up half of the strip, The Atlantic reported on 10 November.


According to The Atlantic, the initiative envisions a string of US-backed settlements for Palestinians screened and approved by Israel’s domestic intelligence service. Anyone – or their relatives – found to be affiliated with or supportive of Hamas would be barred from entry, effectively separating them from the majority still living under Hamas administration on the western side of what Israeli troops now call the “yellow line.” Those who cross this barrier without authorization have been repeatedly shot at by Israeli soldiers.

Lieutenant General Patrick Frank, tasked with executing Trump’s post-war “peace plan,” told officials that each community would include temporary housing for up to 25,000 people, along with schools and clinics.

A US engineering firm, Tetra Tech, has reportedly received the first contract to clear rubble and ordnance at a pilot site near Rafah.


The plan is supported by Trump’s son-in-law and former advisor, Jared Kushner, and real estate magnate and West Asia envoy Steve Witkoff, both involved in shaping Washington’s wider reconstruction agenda for Gaza.


But US State Department officials and humanitarian agencies have raised alarms that the communities could serve as controlled zones where residents are confined and monitored.

Those allowed in would not be permitted to return to areas still under Hamas authority.

Trump has said “no reconstruction funds will go into areas Hamas still controls,” promoting instead a “new Gaza” to be built under Israeli oversight and financed by “Arab and Muslim nations.” So far, none have agreed.


Officials involved in the project admit that ownership of the proposed sites remains unclear and that no Palestinian representatives were consulted. Critics warn the plan resembles past US experiments in “strategic hamlets,” fortified enclaves meant to pacify restive populations, with predictable results.


The so-called yellow line now cuts Gaza in two, turning what was meant to be a temporary ceasefire demarcation into a hard barrier marked by Israeli concrete blocks and gunfire, raising fears of an entrenched partition.

Control of the Israeli-held half of Gaza is meant to pass to a yet-to-be-formed multinational force, but neither Israel nor Hamas has endorsed the idea. With no governing body in place, the “peace plan” remains little more than a blueprint drafted far from Gaza’s ruins.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that US Vice President JD Vance joined Kushner in unveiling Washington’s proposal to restrict Gaza’s reconstruction to areas under Israeli control until Hamas is disarmed and removed from power.

Officials said Israel currently controls about 53 percent of the enclave under the Trump-brokered ceasefire, with maps marking a “yellow line” intended to shrink over time as conditions are met.

Arab states and mediators have reportedly rejected the plan, refusing to deploy forces or endorse any arrangement that cements Israeli control.

Meanwhile, the Israeli outlet Shomrim reported that Washington plans to establish a large military base near Gaza’s border to host international troops overseeing the ceasefire and post-war security arrangements.


The facility, expected to cost around $500 million and accommodate several thousand soldiers, would mark a major shift in Israel’s long-standing opposition to foreign involvement in occupied territories, and underscore the depth of US control over Gaza’s future governance.

https://thecradle.co/articles/us-to-bui ... olled-gaza

(What is it with this 'safe' bullshit anyway? safe this, safe that...more infantile regression on a societal scale. It's about control.)

US to establish 'large military base' on Gaza border: Report

Washington has recently taken control of Gaza aid coordination from Israel through its new command center in Kiryat Gat

News Desk

NOV 11, 2025


(Photo credit: Delil Souleiman/AFP)

The US plans to establish a large military base near the Gaza Strip to host international forces tasked with maintaining the ceasefire, Israeli outlet Shomrim reported on 9 November.


According to the report, the base will accommodate several thousand troops and cost an estimated $500 million.

A security official told the outlets the project marks a major shift for Israel, which has historically resisted foreign involvement in occupied territories.

The move underscores Washington’s intent to assume direct control over Gaza operations.

Michael Milshtein, a senior researcher at Tel Aviv University’s Dayan Center and former head of Palestinian affairs in Israeli military intelligence, said the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) in Kiryat Gat “will be responsible for most operations in Gaza, and Israel’s status as the central player in the strip is about to change.”

The planned facility is expected to serve as headquarters for the International Stabilization Force (ISF) for Gaza, part of the post-war framework outlined by US President Donald Trump.

The ISF would include troops from Egypt and Qatar and work alongside vetted Palestinian police units to secure borders and prevent weapons smuggling.

Shomrim reported that the US has already advanced talks with Israeli officials and is surveying sites along Gaza’s perimeter. Security sources quoted by the outlet said the establishment of the base “would indicate a strong role from Washington in post-war Gaza.”


The US, however, has repeatedly denied plans to deploy troops inside Gaza itself, insisting that any troops on the ground would only take on supervisory roles.

The CMCC in Kiryat Gat, established last month to coordinate ceasefire monitoring and aid delivery, is already replacing Israel as the main “overseer” of humanitarian operations, according to the Washington Post.

Over 40 countries participate in the center’s work, which US Navy Captain Tim Hawkins said helps “sort through fact from fiction and get a clearer understanding of what is happening on the ground.”

Despite Washington’s takeover, aid flow into Gaza remains severely restricted.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said that since the US-backed plan took effect, only 28 percent of the agreed 600 daily aid trucks have entered the enclave, and that over 240 Palestinians have been killed under the so-called ceasefire that took effect last month.

https://thecradle.co/articles/us-to-est ... der-report

Israel destroys over 1,500 buildings in Gaza since start of ceasefire

New satellite images show that Israeli demolitions have wiped out entire neighborhoods in less than a month

News Desk

NOV 12, 2025


(Photo credit: AP)

The Israeli military has destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire deal was reached last month, according to new satellite images – the latest of which was captured on 8 November.


The images, analyzed by BBC Verify, show that the Israeli army has wiped out entire neighborhoods in less than a month, mainly through demolitions.


“The destruction of buildings in Gaza by the Israeli military has been continuing on a huge scale,” the investigation says.

The BBC used a change-detection algorithm to analyze radar photos – taken before and after US President Donald Trump’s ‘peace plan’ came into effect – which revealed the scale of damage and the number of visibly destroyed buildings.

The images show buildings beyond the Yellow Line, the perimeter to which Israeli forces agreed to withdraw their troops as part of the agreement.

Many of the demolished buildings did not appear to have sustained damage before their destruction, for example, near Rafah, Khan Yunis, and parts of Gaza City.

“According to the agreement, all terror infrastructure, including tunnels, is to be dismantled throughout Gaza. Israel is acting in response to threats, violations, and terror infrastructure,” the Israeli army claims.

Trump's ceasefire plan calls for the destruction of all “terror infrastructure” under the “supervision of independent monitors.”

However, the satellite imagery and testimonies from Palestinians confirm the destruction of civilian homes and residential sites.


“This is definitely a violation of the ceasefire,” Dr. H. A. Hellyer of the UK-based RUSI think tank told BBC. “But [Washington] DC is unwilling to recognize it as such, insisting that the ceasefire has to hold, even when it isn't actually holding.”

Hugh Lovatt, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said these demolitions would continue to pose a problem until Israel withdraws from Gaza, and could jeopardize the ceasefire.

Yet the US plan allows Israel to maintain a presence in the strip until the resistance is completely disarmed.

“Ultimately, the sense that Israel is stalling its withdrawal and looking to create new permanent facts on the ground, as it has in the West Bank, will become an increasingly greater threat to the maintenance of the ceasefire,” Lovatt added.

Israel continues to violate the ceasefire agreement with attacks, airstrikes, and the restriction of aid. At least 240 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in Gaza since the deal went into effect last month.

Israeli strikes hit Gaza City on Monday, after violent bombardment on the southern city of Khan Yunis the night before.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-de ... e_vignette

Israeli army short of 12,000 troops as threat of new Lebanon war looms: Report

Tel Aviv plans to extend mandatory service to 36 months and increase annual reserve duty to 70 days within five years

News Desk

NOV 10, 2025


(Photo credit: Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

The Israeli military is facing a shortage of 12,000 recruits, including 7,000 combat troops, as it prepares for a potential confrontation with Hezbollah, Ynet reported on 9 November.


Israeli Brigadier General Shai Tayeb, head of the army’s Planning and Personnel Administration Division, told the Knesset Subcommittee for IDF Personnel that Israel “needs to expand the base of those serving,” adding that troop numbers would sharply decline by January 2027.

He said the army was preparing for 36 months of mandatory service and 70 days of annual reserve duty within the next five years.

The announcement follows Tel Aviv’s demand that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) begin house-to-house raids in south Lebanon to confiscate Hezbollah weapons – a move rejected by the LAF.

Lebanese security sources told Reuters on 10 November that Israel has been “pressing Lebanon's army to be more aggressive in disarming … Hezbollah by searching private homes in the south for weaponry.”

The sources said the Lebanese army refused the demand, warning that such actions could ignite civil strife and be seen by residents “as subservience to Israel.”

One Lebanese official told Reuters, “They’re demanding that we do house-to-house searches, and we won’t do that.”


The demand was delivered through the ceasefire mechanism involving Washington, Tel Aviv, Beirut, Paris, and the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL. The LAF's rejection was followed by intensified Israeli air raids and cross-border attacks.

Lebanese journalist Khalil Nasrallah reported that Israeli troops detonated two homes near Hula, while drone strikes killed a Lebanese civilian, Samir Faqih, in Bisariyeh.

Over 40 Lebanese civilians have been killed by Israeli attacks in the past six weeks, with Tel Aviv vowing to continue escalating operations.

Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz accused Hezbollah of “playing with fire” and demanded that Lebanon “disarm the group and remove it from the south.”

Meanwhile, Israeli media reports a growing manpower crisis. Israeli Military Police chief Lieutenant Colonel Muni Amar told the Knesset that 1,232 draft evaders were arrested this year – double the annual target – as enforcement expanded across the country.

Tayeb said roughly 80,000 ultra-Orthodox graduates are under enforcement, including 48,000 with formal draft-evasion notices, though ultra-Orthodox enlistment rose 60 percent last year to nearly 2,900 recruits.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-a ... oms-report

[blindpig]

“On the first day I was raped twice”: PCHR report exposes sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli forces

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights has released new testimonies describing the sexual abuse of Palestinian captives by Israeli forces.

November 13, 2025 by Ana Vračar


Detainees in Gaza have been subjected to inhumane treatment, humiliation, and torture. Photo: Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor

New testimonies collected by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) confirm the widespread and systematic nature of sexual abuse of Palestinian captives by Israeli forces. In a statement published on November 10, the PCHR detailed several cases of rape and other sexual assaults against both female and male prisoners, emphasizing that such violence constitutes a purposeful method within Israel’s occupation forces.

“These accounts reveal an organized and systematic practice of sexual torture, including rape, forced stripping, forced filming, sexual assault using objects and dogs, in addition to deliberate psychological humiliation aimed at crushing human dignity and erasing individual identity entirely,” the PCHR wrote.

The organization’s most recent findings reinforce what earlier publications had already documented: sexual harassment, groping, and the sexualized nature of strip searches through which Israeli soldiers routinely objectify and dehumanize Palestinian prisoners. According to the PCHR, these acts of sexual violence must be understood as part of Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians, representing an attempt to inflict destruction, both physical and psychological, upon an entire people.

One of the captives interviewed by the organization, a 42-year-old woman, recounted being raped multiple times during detention, alongside relentless humiliation, beatings, and threats. “On the first day I was raped twice; on the second day I was raped twice; on the third day I remained without clothes while they looked at me through the door slit and filmed me,” she described. “I cannot describe what I felt; I wished for death every moment.”

Over the past months, the PCHR and other human rights groups have documented dozens of similar testimonies from survivors of sexual violence in Israeli prisons and camps. However, the numbers reported certainly represent only a fraction of the true scale of the crimes. Prisoners who have suffered this kind of abuse often remain silent due to the stigma still associated with sexual abuse. At the same time, restrictions imposed by occupation forces on legal visits limit the ability to collect detailed testimonies.

Even with this in mind, evidence of sexual assaults, including video recordings, has further corroborated the organization’s findings. One such video, originally broadcast by Israeli media in August 2024, showed Israeli soldiers in Sde Teiman camp raping a male prisoner with an object. The new report includes similar testimonies. An 18-year-old Gazan prisoner described being raped anally with a bottle along with other detainees. “I saw what they were doing to the others while they did it to me, and I realized it was a bottle,” he said. “There was also a dog behind us, as if the dog was raping us. They violated our dignity and destroyed our spirits and our hope for life.”

The physical and psychological toll of these assaults runs deep. Prisoners interviewed by PCHR spoke of overwhelming shame, trauma, and a sense of dehumanization. One of them, a 35-year-old man abducted from Al-Shifa Hospital in March 2024, told PCHR that he and others were collectively beaten and pepper-sprayed while he was also sexually assaulted, again involving a dog. “I suffered a severe psychological breakdown and deep humiliation,” he said. “I lost control because I could never have imagined experiencing such a thing.”

In light of the mounting testimonies of rape, sexual assault, and other forms of torture, alongside recent moves in the Knesset to expand the death penalty for Palestinians, the PCHR is calling for urgent international action to stop further Israeli crimes and to hold occupation authorities accountable.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/11/13/ ... li-forces/

*****

Internal US documents reveal officials ‘deeply concerned’ over Trump’s Gaza plan: Report

No real initiative has been drafted to implement the terms of the deal, including the deployment of the International Security Force and the disarmament of the resistance

News Desk

NOV 12, 2025


(Photo credit: White House)

Private US documents cited by POLITICO on 11 November have revealed that Washington has no “clear path forward” for the implementation of its ‘peace plan’ in Gaza.


US officials cited in the report are “deeply concerned” that the agreement could collapse due to the difficulty of implementing it.

The documents were presented in October during a symposium for US Central Command (CENTCOM) and the newly formed Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) – established by Washington in the city of Kiryat Gat weeks ago.

Among the documents is a 67-slide presentation detailing the major concerns and hurdles in the way of implementing the deal.

“Divorced from the peace deal is a plan of how to actually implement this peace deal. Everyone is floating around at 40,000 feet and nobody is talking operations or tactics,” a participant in the symposium involved in the planning process told POLITICO.

The presentation highlights significant uncertainty and does not propose any real solutions, the report reveals.

One of the slides includes a question mark near a column of items, including Hamas disarmament, Israeli army withdrawal, and transitional Palestinian governance – highlighting that no real initiative has been drafted to achieve these things.

“The US military has some plans about how to support a transition, but the State Department, weakened by cuts to foreign assistance and other changes, is yet to play a significant role in developing options,” one of the US officials cited in the report says.

David Schenker, who served as assistant secretary of state for the region during US President Donald Trump’s first term, said that “this is an enormous endeavor and you need sustained, high-level attention.”

“You also need empowered bureaucrats to see the project through. The administration took its victory lap after the initial ceasefire and hostage release, but all the hard work, the real hard work, remains,” he added.

One of the major concerns detailed in the presentation is whether the International Security Force (ISF) envisioned in the US plan can actually be deployed.

The are huge challenges to deploying the force, including its legal mandate, rules of engagement, and how it will be composed.

The US recently began circulating a draft resolution at the UN to authorize the formation of the ISF.

Washington is planning a donor conference once the Security Council resolution passes, yet there is no clear timetable.

“We’re waiting on the UN right now, after which there’ll be an international donor conference, then countries will start pledging security forces. Right now, that’s the focus,” a defense official said.

The participant in the symposium told POLITICO that there is a “struggle to get any country in the area to commit forces,” adding that some countries would “happily write a check but they don’t want to send manpower.”

The draft submitted to the UN includes giving the US a broad mandate to govern Gaza for at least two years. It mentions that the ISF will be established in coordination with the Gaza ‘Board of Peace,’ which Trump will head.

It will also serve as an “enforcement” force and not a “peacekeeping” one. A top Emirati official recently criticized the draft, saying it lacks a clear framework.

Reports have highlighted that Arab states are uncomfortable with the idea of being forced to clash with Hamas in order to force its disarmament.

Additionally, the POLITICO report notes US concerns about Israel’s hesitation to withdraw from Gaza, as well as its opposition to the Palestinian Authority (PA) playing a role, as is stipulated in the Trump plan.


Other concerns include Hamas’s ability to reassert control and influence in Gaza, and the resources needed to train and advise Palestinian police forces.

“Security and police forces may need outside funding and advising for decades,” one of the presentation slides reads, adding that Gaza will need “long-term US and international support.”

The slide also reveals uncertainty on how to make sure Gaza gets the aid it needs, in light of continued Israeli restrictions.

The ceasefire deal stipulates that 600 aid trucks must enter Gaza daily. Last week, Gaza’s Government Media Office said only 28 percent of the required number of aid trucks have entered the Gaza Strip since the US ‘peace plan’ went into effect.

According to an Israel Hayom report published on 11 November, Tel Aviv is uncomfortable with recent changes made to the US draft resolution submitted to UN member states, regarding aid specifically.

“One of the most problematic changes is the removal of the sanction for removing international aid organizations that cooperate with terror. The original text of the resolution explicitly stated that ‘any organization found to have engaged in the misuse of such aid shall be deemed ineligible to provide ongoing or future assistance.’ These words are missing from the new draft. In their place, it merely states the need ‘to ensure that such aid is used solely for peaceful purposes and is not diverted to armed groups,’” the Israeli newspaper notes.

Israel has accused UNRWA employees of participating in the 7 October attack, but has not provided sufficient evidence for its claims.

The report notes, however, that other changes to the US draft were in Israel’s favor.

“On a more positive note, the revised text indicates that the IDF's withdrawal will be conditioned on full demilitarization and coordination with the US and Arab states,” it adds.

The new text says the ISF will be responsible for making sure Hamas does not rebuild infrastructure once disarmament takes place. It adds that Israel will be permitted to maintain a limited military presence in Gaza to make sure that “terror does not return.”

https://thecradle.co/articles/internal- ... lan-report

Russia presents ‘counterproposal’ to US draft UNSC resolution for Gaza

The US mission at the UN has accused Russia of ‘attempts to sow discord’ by putting forward its own draft

News Desk

NOV 14, 2025


(Photo credit: Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images)

Russia has proposed its own draft resolution on the Gaza Strip to counter a US proposal submitted to the UN earlier this month, Reuters reported on 13 November.


In a note to the UN Security Council (UNSC) members seen by the outlet, Russia’s UN representative said Moscow’s “counter-proposal is inspired by the US draft.”

“The objective of our draft is to enable the Security Council to develop a balanced, acceptable, and unified approach toward achieving a sustainable cessation of hostilities,” the note went on to say.

According to the report, the Russian draft requests that the UN Secretary General identify “options” for the International Stabilization Force (ISF), which is supposed to be deployed to Gaza as part of US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan.

“Attempts to sow discord now – when agreement on this resolution is under active negotiation – has grave, tangible, and entirely avoidable consequences for Palestinians in Gaza. The ceasefire is fragile and we urge the Council to unite and move forward to secure the peace that is desperately needed,” said a US mission spokesperson in response to Russia’s proposal.

The US submitted its draft in early November and is seeking UN backing. While the language of the US resolution has reportedly been updated, much of it remains the same – particularly regarding the ISF.


The US draft includes a broad mandate for Washington to govern Gaza for at least two years. It also mentions that the ISF will be established in coordination with the Gaza ‘Board of Peace,’ which Trump will head.

According to Reuters, the ‘Board of Peace’ idea has been removed entirely from the Russian draft.

It remains unclear how Trump’s plan will be executed. Israel continues to oppose the eventual return of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to Gaza – a central element of the ceasefire initiative.

Private US documents cited by POLITICO on 11 November have revealed that Washington has no “clear path forward” for the plan’s implementation.

US officials cited in the report are “deeply concerned” that the agreement could collapse due to the difficulty of implementing it.

Israel continues to violate the ceasefire agreement with attacks, airstrikes, and the restriction of aid. At least 260 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in Gaza since the deal went into effect last month.

New satellite imagery analyzed by the BBC reveals that Israeli demolitions have destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire deal was reached.

https://thecradle.co/articles/russia-pr ... e_vignette

Israel in talks with Washington for 20-year, $80bn military 'cooperation agreement'

Israel is seeking a longer-term deal at the expense of US taxpayers, fearing support among conservatives is fading

News Desk

NOV 14, 2025


(Photo credit: Jack Guez/Getty Images)

Israel is seeking a new security agreement with the US that would provide Tel Aviv with around $80 billion in military aid over 20 years – double the length of the previous 10-year agreement – despite falling support for Israel among the US public.


Citing US and Israeli officials, Axios reported on 14 November that negotiations are underway to renew the 2016 agreement that allotted $38 billion ($3.8 billion annually for 10 years) in military aid to Israel.

“Israel is likely to seek at least that much going forward,” on a yearly basis, Axios wrote, but over an even more extended period of time.

Israeli officials are seeking a 20-year deal this time, anticipating that locking in similar agreements may only become more difficult in the future as support for Israel among the US public continues to decline.

Axios noted this concern, writing that even now, “Passing such a deal will now be more complicated because of growing frustrations with Israel, including within Trump's MAGA base.”

“The negotiations are both technically and politically complicated, given MAGA's opposition to foreign aid and bipartisan concerns over Israel's conduct in Gaza,” Axios added.

In 2024, Congress and the White House approved an additional emergency military assistance package to fund Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. This has provided an extra $14.1 billion in aid on top of the $3.8 billion annual package from the previous 10-year deal.

Tucker Carlson highlights Mark Levin's bloodlust: "Mark Levin has repeatedly called for just murdering civilians—children—in Gaza because they're 'Amalek' or whatever, they're stained by blood guilt."

"The Prime Minister of Israel said exactly the same thing." pic.twitter.com/SphKxjqU4f

— Chris Menahan (@infolibnews) November 13, 2025

In addition to extending the length of the deal, Israeli officials have proposed a change that would allow using some of the money for joint US–Israeli research and development, including to fund defense technology, defense-related AI, and the Golden Dome missile defense project.


The proposal for joint US–Israel projects is intended to “appeal to the Trump administration's ‘America First’ instincts, because it could benefit the US military rather than just being sent to Israel,” Axios reported.

“This is out-of-the-box thinking. We want to change the way we handled past agreements and put more emphasis on US–Israel cooperation. The Americans like this idea,” one Israeli official said.

A growing number of Trump's supporters in the US, represented most prominently by conservative journalist Tucker Carlson, have begun to criticize US support for Israel.

They say Israel's deliberate killing of civilians in Gaza, including women and children, is immoral and based on the false idea that all Palestinians in Gaza are somehow guilty for Hamas's 7 October attack on Israeli military bases and settlements.

They argue that the funds being sent to Israel to kill Palestinian civilians should be used instead to improve life for US citizens at home.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-in ... -agreement

Unchecked Israeli violence displaced 30,000 West Bank Palestinians in 2025

Israeli military operations and settler violence have quietly wreaked havoc across the West Bank since the start of the genocide in Gaza

News Desk

NOV 13, 2025


(Photo credit: Wahaj Bani Moufleh)

Over 30,000 Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank have been internally displaced by the Israeli army and settlers since January of this year, UNRWA reported on 13 October, amid a spike in settler violence in recent weeks.


The Israeli army has displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians by destroying homes and essential civilian infrastructure in refugee camps in the West Bank, including in Jenin and Tulkarem.

Israel has used tank fire, air strikes, and bulldozers to destroy buildings, dig up roads and infrastructure, and severely restrict Palestinians' freedom of movement using checkpoints and roadblocks.


In addition, Israeli settlers have intensified their attacks on Palestinian villages in recent weeks.


"October 2025 is on track to be the most violent month since UNRWA began tracking settler violence in 2013," the UN agency for Palestinian refugees stated on Thursday.


Settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has intensified, despite garnering little attention amid Israel's horrific crimes against Palestinians in Gaza.

The UNRWA statement came after Jewish settlers torched and defaced a mosque in a Palestinian village of Deir Istiya in the central West Bank overnight Wednesday.


Villagers reported that settlers wrote hate messages in Hebrew on the Mosque wall in response to a rare condemnation by Israeli authorities of a separate settler attack days before


A reporter from AP visited the town on Thursday and confirmed that a wall and at least three copies of the Quran and some of the carpeting at the mosque in the Palestinian town had been torched.

The settlers graffitied the walls with statements including “We are not afraid of Avi Bluth,” “We will take revenge again,” and “Keep on condemning,” after the Israeli army chief condemned settler violence on Wednesday.

Settlers also vandalized the Deir Istiya mosque in 2012 and again in 2014.


Israeli officials often characterize settler violence as the work of a few Jewish religious extremists, despite providing them protection as they often rampage through Palestinian villages.

The Israeli army chief issued the rare condemnation after a mob of masked settlers set fire to vehicles and other property in the Palestinian villages of Beit Lid and Deir Sharaf on Tuesday.


Despite official condemnations from Israeli leaders and politicians, including from President Isaac Herzog, three of the four Israelis arrested over the incident have already been released.

Over the past two decades, about 94 percent of all investigations opened by the Israel Police into settler violence ended without indictment, according to the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din.


During the same period, just 3 percent of case files opened into settler violence have led to full or partial convictions.

Israeli leaders, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, have expressed their desire to violently drive Palestinians from their land and annex the West Bank to Israel, just as they wish to do in Gaza.

https://thecradle.co/articles/unchecked ... ns-in-2025

White House buried intel on Israeli army's rampant use of Palestinian human shields in Gaza

The practice ensured that abducted Palestinians, rather than Israeli soldiers, would be killed in booby trapped homes or tunnels

News Desk

NOV 13, 2025


(Photo: YOSSI ZELIGER | Credit: REUTERS)

The US gathered intelligence last year of Israeli officials acknowledging the use of abducted Palestinians as human shields in Gaza, a practice that is illegal under international law, but kept the information private, Reuters reported on 13 November.

The Israeli officials discussed how soldiers had forced Palestinians to enter Gaza tunnels they believed were lined with explosives, according to two former US officials familiar with the matter who spoke with the news agency.


Soldiers used Palestinians as human shields, which they called “mosquitos,” to clear tunnels and buildings. The practice ensured that Palestinians would be killed if any booby traps were triggered, rather than Israelis.

Israeli media has documented the use of human shields, but it has not been previously reported that the US collected its own evidence of the practice.

The information was shared with the White House and analyzed by the intelligence community in the weeks before former US president Joe Biden's term ended, the officials said. Though the intel revealed evidence of war crimes, US officials did not make the information public or take action against Israel.


The evidence gathered by the US “raised questions inside the White House and the intelligence community about how widely the tactic was being used and whether Israel's soldiers were acting on guidance issued by military leaders,” Reuters wrote, citing the US officials.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national security information.

Reuters said it could not determine whether White House officials raised the issue or discussed the intelligence with their Israeli counterparts.

The Israeli government did not respond to questions about whether it discussed the intelligence with the US.


The White House also gathered intelligence that Israeli lawyers warned there was evidence that could support war crimes charges against Israel for its war in Gaza, which is widely viewed as genocide, Reuters previously reported.


If US officials had determined the Israeli military was guilty of war crimes, the US could have been held liable for providing weapons for use in Gaza and required to halt intelligence sharing with Israel.

But lawyers from multiple US agencies dismissed this evidence, determining in the final weeks of Biden's term that the US could continue supporting Israel with weapons and intelligence.


In a new documentary film, “Breaking Ranks,” Israeli soldiers described a “free-for-all” in Gaza, in which they killed civilians “without restraint” with the encouragement of politicians and rabbis, and used Palestinians as human shields.

Daniel, a tank commander in Gaza, explained in the film that, “You send the human shield underground. As he walks down the tunnel, he maps it all for you. He has an iPhone in his vest, and as he walks, it sends back GPS information.”

“The commanders saw how it works. And the practice spread like wildfire. After about a week, every company was operating its own mosquito,” he said.

https://thecradle.co/articles/white-hou ... ds-in-gaza

******

American-Palestinian Doctor Recounts the Horrors He Witnessed in a Gaza Hospital
Posted by Internationalist 360° on November 12, 2025



Reason2Resist with Dimitri Lascaris

On Reason2Resist, we spoke this week with American-Palestinian emergency physician, Dr. Dhiaa Daoud. Dr. Daoud lives in Florida, but his parents come from Gaza.

In early 2024, after witnessing from his home the atrocities Israel was inflicting upon his people, Dr. Daoud travelled to the Gaza Strip to work in the emergency department of the European Hospital. There, he witnessed suffering of unspeakable proportions.

After returning to the United States, Dr. Daoud volunteered for the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. In October 2025, as a passenger on a humanitarian vessel named “The Conscience”, Dr. Daoud was kidnapped by Israeli terrorists on the high seas. He then was forced to spend several days in an Israeli dungeon, in appalling conditions.

Dimitri Lascaris spoke with Dr. Daoud this week about the horrors that he witnessed in occupied Palestine, and his unbreakable determination to stand with his people.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2025/11/ ... -hospital/

[blindpig]

Trump considers skipping disarmament phase of Gaza plan amid deadlock: Report

Washington has been unable to convince countries involved in the ‘stabilization force’ plan to confront Hamas and other factions militarily

News Desk

NOV 16, 2025


(Photo credit: Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images)

The US is looking to “forgo” the stage of the Gaza ceasefire initiative, which involves deploying an international security force to the strip to disarm Hamas and other Palestinian resistance factions, Israeli media reported over the weekend.


The October ceasefire agreement remains in its first stage as talks continue to stall over the issue of Hamas’s disarmament and post-war administration of Gaza.

This potential change in US direction is causing ongoing negotiations to “deadlock,” an Israeli security source told Hebrew news outlet Channel 13.

The source said Washington is struggling to get commitments from countries to directly participate in disarming the factions.

As a result, it has started to look for “interim solutions, which are currently unacceptable to Israel.”

“This interim solution is the worst there is,” the source added, referring to the plan to forgo disarmament and skip ahead to reconstruction.

“Hamas has been strengthening in recent weeks since the end of the war. There can be no rehabilitation before demilitarization. It is contrary to Trump’s plan. Gaza must be demilitarized,” the Israeli source went on to say.


Channel 13 notes that there has been a collapse in ceasefire talks over Washington’s inability to form the international force – referred to in Donald Trump’s ‘peace plan’ as the International Stabilization Force (ISF).


The US recently submitted a draft for the establishment of the force, and is seeking UN backing to implement the plan along with the rest of Trump’s 20-point ceasefire initiative.



The draft includes a broad mandate for Washington to govern Gaza for at least two years. It also mentions that the ISF will be established in coordination with the Gaza ‘Board of Peace,’ which Trump will head.

Russia has proposed its own draft, which entirely removes the ‘Board of Peace’ clause and calls on the UN to identify “options” for the ISF.


The US draft is expected to be put to a vote at the UN on Monday. On 14 November, the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, the UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan, and Turkiye issued a joint statement backing the US draft. That day, Indonesia said it had readied 20,000 troops for the plan.

Arab and Islamic states have “leaned toward supporting the US draft because Washington is the only party capable of enforcing its resolution on the ground and pressuring Israel to implement it,” a source told Asharq al-Awsat, adding that there is “firm American intent to deploy forces soon, even if that requires sending a multinational force should Moscow use its veto.”

However, multiple reports in western and Hebrew media over the past several days have revealed an Arab unwillingness to directly force Hamas’s disarmament through a confrontation.

“Most countries that have expressed interest in participating in the ISF have said they would not be willing to enforce the disarmament … and would only act as a peacekeeping force,” Times of Israel wrote.

Israel’s Broadcasting Corporation (KAN) reported on Saturday that Tel Aviv is expecting the resolution to pass, and is preparing for the entry of thousands of foreign soldiers into Gaza.

https://thecradle.co/articles/trump-con ... ock-report

(The net effect of said deployment would be to free up Zionists troops from occupation duties that they might attack Lebanon.)

US outlines plan for a divided Gaza under Israeli, foreign troop control

The proposal limits reconstruction to Israeli-controlled sectors, while millions of Palestinians remain trapped in Gaza’s devastated coastal strip

News Desk

NOV 15, 2025


(Photo credit: Moiz Salhi/Anadolu)

The US is planning the long-term division of Gaza into a reconstructed “green zone” under Israeli and foreign military control and a “red zone” left in ruin, The Guardian reported on 14 November.


According to the scheme, the enclave would be split along the Israeli-controlled “yellow line,” with international soldiers initially positioned on the eastern side alongside Israeli forces.


A US official, speaking anonymously to the UK publication, said these proposals remain “fluid” and subject to rapid change, describing the situation as “very dynamic” and controlled by “only a few people who actually understand and have their hand on the wheel of this thing.”

The official acknowledged that the earlier US concept of fenced-off interment-style camps, referred to as “alternative safe communities,” had already been abandoned.



Humanitarian groups told The Guardian they had not been informed of any change to the ASC plan.

Without a clear plan for international deployment, Israeli withdrawal, or large-scale rebuilding, mediators warned that Gaza risks slipping into a state they described as “not war but not peace,” characterized by ongoing Israeli attacks, absence of Palestinian governance, and limited reconstruction.

Drafting for an international stabilization force (ISF) forms the backbone of Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, with Washington seeking a UN Security Council resolution to mandate the deployment. The US has ruled out sending its own soldiers or funding reconstruction.

The official said the priority is the passage of the resolution before countries confirm troop numbers.

Earlier this month, US Central Command (CENTCOM) drafted a proposal envisioning European units at the core of the ISF, including British, French, and German contingents.

Another US document cited Jordan as a possible contributor, despite King Abdullah’s explicit refusal.


Washington, however, still expects commitments from a broad set of “NATO and partners” across Europe and Asia.

The ISF would operate only inside the “green zone,” starting with several hundred soldiers and gradually expanding to around 20,000. Planners anticipate foreign forces manning crossing points after “integrating” with Israeli units stationed along the line.

The Israeli army would “consider conditions for withdrawing” only once international security is in place. No timeline has been given.

Reconstruction inside the green zone is presented as a path to “reunifying Gaza” by drawing Palestinians across the line of control. The US official said progress would depend on civilians “beginning to thrive” in the rebuilt zone, prompting others to follow voluntarily.

Trump’s plan assigns only a limited role to a future Palestinian police force, beginning with 200 recruits and later expanding to 3,000 - 4,000 over one year.

As the US scheme moves forward, Israel has continued to block the adequate entry of shelter supplies, leaving families across the Strip exposed to heavy rainfall that flooded dozens of tents in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Yunis, according to the Gaza Civil Defense.


Emergency crews said they were attending to additional flooded camps. At the same time, Gaza’s Government Media Office warned that the arrival of winter has intensified the crisis for roughly 1.5 million displaced people living in makeshift tents.


Hamas called on the UN, the Arab League, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to take immediate action to secure humanitarian, medical, and shelter relief, accusing Israel of obstructing the entry of aid, tents, and mobile housing units.

UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Palestinian families remain vulnerable to severe weather and noted that Israel has rejected 23 requests to allow essential supplies since the ceasefire.

https://thecradle.co/articles/us-outlin ... op-control

(So what's it gonna be then, eh?)