Palestine

[blindpig]

Kill them all: Israel’s extermination of Palestinians in Gaza

Tel Aviv’s plethora of horrific war-crime strategies – from the Hannibal Directive to the Dahiyeh Doctrine – were nothing compared to the existential peril Palestinians face under Israel’s new Generals’ Plan: a systematic blueprint for ethnic cleansing and Jewish re-settlement of the strip.


William Van Wagenen

OCT 24, 2024


(Photo Credit: The Cradle)

The holocaust engulfing Palestinians in Gaza has reached unimaginable levels of horror, epitomized by a harrowing video that swept across social media of 19-year-old Shaaban al-Dalou, burning to death while still connected to an IV drip. This was no isolated tragedy – it was emblematic of the escalating genocide.

On 13 October, an Israeli airstrike ignited the makeshift tents sheltering dozens of displaced Palestinian families in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. Amidst the inferno, Dalou’s 17-year-old brother Mohammed described his agony: “I can’t describe the feeling. I saw my brother burning in front of me, and my mother was burning.”

Mohammed had managed to escape when he heard the strike, but his brother Shaban and their mother did not. His father saved his 10-year-old brother from the flames, only for the child to succumb to his burns days later, according to the New York Times.

No more services in North Gaza

The horrifying video was followed a week later by photos showing soldiers expelling Palestinians from half-destroyed residential blocks at gunpoint.

Israeli drone footage published by Israel’s public broadcaster Kan captured images of Palestinians rounded up and forced to walk south through Gaza’s post-apocalyptic landscape without any possessions.

Many Palestinians who refused to obey evacuation orders, often delivered by announcements made by hovering quadcopter drones, were massacred by Israeli artillery and airstrikes.

Rescue workers and civilians attempting to save others have been shot at by Israeli forces or simply rounded up and ‘disappeared.’ There have been reports describing numerous instances where Palestinians were targeted while trying to help injured individuals. This has left the people of Gaza without any medical or emergency services, forcing a complete halt on health and civil defense services.

Even hospitals were not spared. Critically injured patients and the doctors treating them faced the same impossible ultimatum – evacuate or die.

After returning home, western doctors who had volunteered in Gaza expressed their shock at how many children arrived at the hospitals, shot not only once but twice, directly in the heart and head.

“No toddler gets shot twice by mistake by ‘the world’s best snipers.’ And they’re dead-center shots,” surgeon Mark Perlmutter told CBS News.

Israeli snipers and drones opened fire deliberately not only on children but on those trying to rescue them.

Palestinian families fleeing were forced to pass through checkpoints where soldiers separated the men from women and children.

The soldiers then dressed the men in white jumpsuits, bound their hands, covered their eyes, and loaded them into beds of military trucks to be taken away by night to Israel’s notorious torture camps.

In detainee camps such as Sde Teiman over the past year, Israeli soldiers have starved, beaten, and anally raped Palestinian detainees. They shackled the limbs of detainees so tightly that prison doctors were regularly forced to amputate limbs.

When these practices came to light, due to leaked videos and testimony from prison guards and released detainees given to the Israeli and US media, Israeli society quickly rallied around the sadistic soldiers and announced that “everything is legitimate,” including forcing “a stick into a person’s rectum” when a captive is merely accused of being a Hamas member.

Fearing such a fate and knowing that the Israeli army planned to repeat the Nakba of 1948 and never allow them to go back to their homes and lands, many Palestinians in northern Gaza refused to flee.

Those who were forcibly expelled saw images of occupation forces lighting the remains of their apartment blocks ablaze and proudly posing for selfies and group photos posted as ‘trophies of war’ across social media platforms.

The General’s Plan

The indescribable horrors underway in Gaza are part of a carefully calculated Israeli strategy known as the “Generals’ Plan.”

This blueprint, which aims to “change the reality” on the ground and forcibly expel as many as possible of the 300,000 Palestinians remaining in north Gaza while starving or killing those who resist and remain, was presented by retired Major General Giora Eiland to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet in September. Eiland’s words were chillingly clear:

We have to tell the residents of north Gaza that they have one week to evacuate the territory, which then becomes a military zone, [a zone] in which every figure is a target and, most importantly, no supplies enter this territory.

After Netanyahu was briefed on details in a closed-door meeting with the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, he declared that the plan “makes a lot of sense.”

The effort to initiate the Generals’ Plan began when Israel’s military spokesman announced “evacuation” orders had been issued for Palestinians in cities and camps across the North Gaza governorate on 7, 10, and 12 October.

Israel then laid siege to northern Gaza, in particular the Jabalia refugee camp, in what Amnesty International described as a “terrifying escalation of the long list of horrors inflicted on people living in the area north of Wadi Gaza since October 2023.”

In addition to surrounding Jabalia with tanks and pummeling it with airstrikes, Israeli authorities quickly blocked the entry of all humanitarian aid, sending the message that Palestinians must either leave north Gaza or starve.

Empty threats from Washington

The use of starvation as a weapon of war proved embarrassing to Netanyahu’s backers in the White House, who enthusiastically support the genocide but also wish to avoid backlash from American voters that may cause them to lose power in the upcoming US presidential election.

On 13 October, the White House issued a letter publicly demanding Netanyahu increase aid to Gaza, otherwise Washington’s “continued offensive weapon shipments” to the Israeli army would be in jeopardy.

The letter, written by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, noted that the amount of aid delivered had “dropped by more than 50 percent” since the spring and that the amount delivered in “September was the lowest of any month during the past year.”

However, Blinken wrote in the letter that Netanyahu had a 30-day window to comply, deliberately ensuring the Israeli prime minister could ignore it without consequence.

As the Times of Israel observed, “The letter was sent just weeks before the 5 November US presidential election.” As a result, “its 13 November deadline would ostensibly mitigate some of the political fallout, given that US President Joe Biden will be a lame duck when deciding whether Israel has taken the necessary steps to ensure compliance” with the US demand.

In other words, no matter how many Palestinians are burned to death, torn to pieces, or starved, Blinken will continue to play his role in ensuring that Israel’s supply of bombs continues to flow unimpeded.

Israeli atrocities in north Gaza over the past weeks show the barbarity the Israeli leadership is capable of when all political and military restraints are lifted. As Reuters understatedly reported on 18 October:

With US elections approaching, Israel is rushing to inflict maximum damage on Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon and seizing the moment to carve out de facto buffer zones in a bid to create an irreversible reality before a new president takes office in January.

The race is on for a Final Solution in Gaza

Israel is now taking full advantage of an opportunity first created on 7 October last year.

When Hamas launched Operation al-Aqsa Flood, the Israeli military used attack helicopters, drones, and tanks to not only kill the attacking Hamas and other Palestinian resistance fighters, but also to burn hundreds of its own Israeli citizens to death in settlements (kibbutzim) and at the Nova rave, under the Hannibal Directive.

By framing these horrific deaths as Hamas’ doing and claiming it had suffered its own 9/11, Israel created a “unique and rare opportunity to evacuate the entire Gaza Strip,” in the words of the Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy.

In a policy paper issued shortly after 7 October 2023, the institute wrote, “There is no doubt that in order for this plan to be enacted, many conditions need to exist in parallel. At the moment, these conditions exist, and it is unclear when such an opportunity will arise again, if at all.”

As the absolute carnage in Gaza unfolds, activists and politicians from Israel’s ruling Likud, Religious Zionism, and Jewish Power parties are waiting and watching for the mass expulsion and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians to be complete.

Resettling Gaza

On the hills overlooking Gaza, Israeli settlers watch the falling bombs, eagerly awaiting the chance to re-enter the Strip and confiscate the land and property of the Palestinians being torn apart by US-made missiles and artillery.

At the same time, lawmakers from Israel’s ruling political parties held a conference to plan for Jewish re-settlement on the ruins of what they soon hope will be Gaza’s depopulated cities and refugee camps.

The settler movement’s leader, Daniella Weiss, told the crowd that Palestinians in Gaza would soon “disappear.”

We have political support, we have public support, and we have the experience … We plan to take what we have acquired in the years of settling Judea and Samaria and to do the same thing here in Gaza.

While Netanyahu continues to deny that the Generals’ Plan is being implemented, a journalist from his own propaganda outlet, Amit Segal of Channel 12, was not embarrassed to acknowledge the contrary.

We can keep denying that what’s happening [in north Gaza] is an implementation of the Generals’ Plan – emptying of the Strip, starving the terrorists, eliminating them, capturing them. In my opinion, that’s what’s happening here.

While celebrating the implementation of the Generals’ Plan, Israel’s political and media class are now awaiting the election of Donald Trump as US president to officially “change the borders of the Gaza Strip” for good.

This is not merely a regional conflict or war but a deliberate attempt at erasure and ethnic cleansing being carried out in real-time while the entire world, other than West Asia’s Axis of Resistance, watches on silently.

https://thecradle.co/articles/kill-them ... ns-in-gaza

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Final phase of polio vaccination in Gaza suspended amid Israeli attacks

The final stage of Gaza’s polio vaccination campaign has been suspended due to Israeli assaults on northern regions, leaving nearly 120,000 children without their second dose

October 23, 2024 by Ana Vračar


UNRWA staff during the second round of polio immunization in southern Gaza. Source: UNRWA/X

The final phase of the polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip was suspended today as Israeli assaults on northern regions continued, making it impossible for medics and families to safely reach immunization points. Despite multiple attempts by UN teams to negotiate humanitarian pauses during the vaccination drive, Israel refused to provide the necessary security guarantees.

Health workers had managed to vaccinate 94% of children under ten in central and southern regions over the past week, but attacks on civilian infrastructure in the north are leaving nearly 120,000 children without their second dose, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported. The head of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that this disruption will affect the overall impact of the vaccination campaign.

Israeli obstructions to the delivery of medical supplies and direct attacks on hospitals have exacerbated the health crisis further. Kamal Adwan Hospital, for example, experienced relentless bombardment during a WHO-led medical evacuation mission on October 20-21. The mission, which finally managed to transfer 14 patients to Al-Shifa Hospital, was delayed multiple times. Israeli authorities refused to allow the team to bring fuel, blood supplies, and food to Kamal Adwan. While en route to Al-Shifa, ambulances were halted for security checks, and patients on stretchers were left lying on the ground during the screening. “Some partner staff faced humiliating treatment,” the WHO noted.

Despite the hospital operating on almost no supplies, the number of patients further increased over the past day as attacks on surrounding areas continued. Dr. Mohammed Obeid of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) described the horrific scenes inside Kamal Adwan: “We have 30 people dead inside the hospital, and around 130 injured patients who need urgent medical care. Medical staff are exhausted, and many are injured as well,” Obeid stated. “We feel hopeless. I just don’t have words.”

Al-Awda Hospital and the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza are likely facing the same situation, but full assessments have been hindered by communication breakdowns attributed to Israeli operations.

Israel’s extermination campaign in northern Gaza raises concerns about the fate of Lebanon’s health centers, which have also become targets of Israeli attacks and propaganda. Al-Sahel Hospital in Beirut, for example, has been accused of harboring resistance funds. Fearing that a physical attack will follow the allegations, as seen on multiple occasions in Gaza, health workers transferred patients to other facilities and invited journalists to inspect the hospital. Despite media reports documenting that there is no evidence to corroborate Israel’s statements, grounded fears persist that Lebanon’s health infrastructure could face the same fate as Gaza’s.

In Palestine, the public health crisis deepens. Over one million cases of acute respiratory infections have been reported in the Gaza Strip, alongside widespread diarrhea and skin infections. The suspension of the polio vaccination campaign now threatens to exacerbate the situation further. On top of it all, hunger continues to spread, with a recent report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) projecting a threefold increase in the number of people facing catastrophic food insecurity between November 2024 and April 2025. Tens of thousands of young children and pregnant women are expected to become acutely malnourished in the coming months. “Whether people are on the verge of famine or in famine, they are in absolutely desperate conditions, and this is completely man-made,” said Sam Rose from UNRWA.

The elderly population is another group suffering disproportionately as a result of the destruction. Thousands of elderly people remain trapped in their homes, unable to flee due to mobility issues, living in fear of Israeli bombs with no access to food. Approximately 40,000 are estimated to be living in forced displacement, without medicines or adequate care for chronic diseases.

With northern Gaza’s health infrastructure collapsing under relentless Israeli attacks, the situation is expected to deteriorate further—if that’s even imaginable. “A complete lack of health care in North Gaza would make an already catastrophic situation worse, and lead to more lives being lost,” the WHO said.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/23/ ... i-attacks/

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The strategic mistake of handing over the THAAD system to Israel
23 Oct 2024 , 3:18 pm .


The United States sent an anti-missile system and a hundred soldiers to Israel (Photo: EFE)

The Islamic Republic of Iran's counterattack on Israel on October 1 has exposed both the weaknesses of US military strategy and the lack of a coherent framework for US foreign policy decision-making.

The Biden administration, stepping up its support for Israel in the region and in response to future Iranian responses, recently announced the deployment of a Thaad (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) anti-missile defense system.

A move that is accentuated by the dispatch of a hundred US soldiers, an unprecedented action in the context of the ongoing Israeli regional offensive - centered in Lebanon and Gaza - which is openly supported by Washington.

In Operation True Promise 2 , Tehran demonstrated the possession of advanced indigenous missiles that can penetrate Israel's air defense systems. These, while presented as homegrown, are heavily dependent on American technology and funding.

According to an article titled " What will Thaad do? " by Ali Ahmadi, an analyst specializing in US foreign policy and economics in West Asia, published in The Cradle , this decision is based on a misunderstanding of Iranian capabilities.

The April counterattack, which initially appeared ineffective, was in fact an intelligence-gathering operation on Israeli air defenses, a "soft warning" that Washington and Tel Aviv ignored.

"If it were left to more intelligent and less impetuous leaders, it would be a conundrum that would almost certainly trigger a strong pivot to diplomatic settlements rather than a broader military confrontation," Ahmadi said.

An analysis by the West Point Military Academy, cited by the author, recommended that Israel build more bomb shelters, noting that "using air defenses against Iranian missiles is, to a certain extent, a futile activity."

The report highlights the growing ineffectiveness and high cost of air defenses such as the Thaad system, which, in addition to entailing significant expenditure, puts U.S. military personnel deployed in the region at risk.

Iran's own Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the United States of putting its troops' lives at risk by deploying them in Israel to operate missile systems.

Impulsiveness and lack of doctrine
American political culture favors presidential flexibility in responding to “threats” to national security, a term that conveniently suits Washington’s particular interests. Few members of Congress show interest in reining in this authority, creating a situation in which “going to war is much easier than making peace,” says Ali Ahmadi .

This concentration of power in the hands of the president and his inner circle has led to "US foreign policy taking on an unusually impulsive character for a democracy." The lack of a clear doctrine that precisely defines national interests results in decisions taken without a coherent strategic framework.

This trend has been observed in recent administrations, regardless of their ideological orientation. A clear example is the unconditional support that both Trump and Biden have given to Israel, which ends up being supported "by vague notions like 'Israel has the right to defend itself' rather than any kind of broader strategic logic."

This approach contrasts sharply with decision-making processes in countries such as Iran and China, where there are more robust consultative structures and more stable doctrines. In Iran, the decision-making process on national security is collective and involves various government representatives through the Supreme National Security Council. Similarly, in China, decisions are made within a highly consultative framework and based on a relatively immutable doctrine, the analyst explains.

Ideological projects against strategic needs
The article in The Cradle highlights that US foreign policy decisions are “continuously hijacked” by interests in West Asia, even though this region is becoming less and less relevant to its strategic affairs. The Obama administration attempted a “ Pivot to Asia ” in 2011 with the primary goal of reorienting US attention and resources to countering the growing rise of China, and created a network of military alliances on the Asian country’s periphery.

However, as senior officials revealed , 85% of National Security Council meetings remained focused on West Asia.

Successive administrations promised a shift in strategic focus to East Asia, and while military presence in the region has indeed increased, Ahmadi concludes that the pivot has not materialized and the U.S. focus remains on the Arab region, with the one notable exception being Ukraine.

"The Biden administration came to power insisting that West Asia would take a backseat in American strategic considerations. Instead, attention is clearly more fixed on the region than anywhere else, with the possible exception of Ukraine."

This situation illustrates a fundamental problem in American foreign policy: the absence of a consultative and doctrine-based decision-making process. According to the analyst, this deficiency has led administrations, regardless of their political affiliation, to focus on "ideological projects" to the detriment of the country's strategic needs.

Washington's failure to recognize Iran's "capacity and willingness to retaliate directly" is seen as one of the most significant failures arising from this issue. This lack of understanding exposes the US to a dilemma, on the brink of a possible military escalation that could have been avoided with a deeper analysis of the balance of power.

Instead, decision-makers in the White House and the National Security Council, described by Ahmadi as “less subject matter experts and more political operators,” have engaged in a series of “misjudgments” that have dangerously exacerbated current tensions.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/el ... euu-israel

Google Translator

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Hamas official praises Russia's 'commendable stance on Palestine' during Moscow visit

The visit coincided with the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan, where bloc members called for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza

News Desk

OCT 24, 2024


(Photo credit: Reuters)

Senior Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk said during a trip to Moscow on 24 October that the release of two Russian citizens held captive in Gaza would be given “priority,” but only as part of a broader ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal.

“The movement is prepared to give priority to releasing two Russian prisoners held in the Gaza Strip, but within the framework of a prisoner exchange deal with Israel,” Abu Marzouk told Sputnik.

Abu Marzouk explained that Hamas released two Russian captives during the brief ceasefire and exchanges that took place in November last year. They were released as part of an agreement with Moscow and without compensation.

The Hamas official said it was a “tribute to President Putin for his honorable stance towards the Palestinian cause.”

He also confirmed that Hamas has “not yet chosen a head of its political bureau to succeed Yahya Sinwar,” the late head of Hamas in Gaza, who replaced Ismail Haniyeh following his assassination in Tehran earlier this year.

Sinwar was killed in a clash with Israeli troops on 16 October, following a year-long Israeli manhunt. He has been hailed as a hero of the Palestinian cause for remaining on the battlefield for the course of the war and personally fighting alongside the members of the movement’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades.

“Israel wants to eliminate Hamas and the Qassam Brigades, but it has so far failed to achieve these goals and will certainly not be able to reach them,” Abu Marzouk told Sputnik.

Ceasefire and captive-exchange talks have remained stalled in recent months. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government have refused the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip, particularly from key areas such as the Philadelphi corridor on the Gaza–Egypt border. Tel Aviv also insists on having the ability to continue fighting in Gaza after captives are exchanged.

Hamas remains insistent on a full ceasefire and withdrawal, and is committed to a proposal accepted by Hamas in early July, based on the initiative announced by US President Joe Biden in May. Hamas was reportedly informed previously that Israel had accepted this proposal, before Netanyahu continued to block an agreement from going through.

Following Sinwar’s death, Hamas confirmed that it would hold fast to its terms – effectively refuting western reports and analyses that the leader’s killing would facilitate the conclusion of an agreement in Gaza.

Abu Marzouk praised Russia’s “commendable role in the Security Council in defense of justice and the Palestinian people’s right to life.”

He confirmed that he discussed with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov the issue of Palestinian national unity, under the framework of Russian-sponsored talks between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) earlier this year. These included talks of a joint Palestinian committee to administer post-war Gaza.

The Hamas official told Russian news outlet RIA Novosti that Hamas has asked Moscow to encourage PA President Mahmoud Abbas to begin negotiations on the formation of a Palestinian unity government to govern Gaza after the war.

Abu Marzouk’s visit coincided with this year’s BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan, during which the bloc’s members called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Abbas attended the summit at Putin’s invitation.

Israel is currently carrying out an extermination and ethnic cleansing campaign in northern Gaza under the General’s Plan, which aims to expel or kill the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who remain in the north, and transform the area into a military-controlled zone.

It is also carrying out a massive and destructive aerial assault, as well as ground operations, in Lebanon.

https://thecradle.co/articles/hamas-off ... scow-visit

(Little Andy ain't gonna like this...)

'Unable to advance': Hezbollah details staggering Israeli losses in three weeks of war

The Israeli army has incurred about 700 casualties since beginning ground infiltrations into Lebanon early this month

News Desk

OCT 24, 2024


(Photo credit: Hezbollah Military Media)

Hezbollah fighters have killed over 70 Israeli army soldiers and officers in southern Lebanon and have injured hundreds, the resistance group’s Operations Room said in a statement on 23 October.

“The enemy's losses, according to what the Islamic Resistance fighters monitored, amounted to more than 70 dead and more than 600 wounded officers and soldiers of the Israeli enemy army,” the statement said.

It adds that 28 Merkava tanks, four military bulldozers, an armed vehicle, and an armored troop carrier were destroyed by the Lebanese resistance.

The toll “does not include the Israeli enemy's losses in military bases, sites and barracks in the north and depth of occupied Palestine.”

The statement confirms that Israeli forces have not been able to establish control over or occupy any villages and that the troops have only been able to advance short distances into southern Lebanese villages, given the intensity of the resistance’s operations.

It detailed several recent operations on the different axes in which the Israeli army is trying to advance into numerous villages.

“The enemy forces attempted to infiltrate towards the town of Taybeh … but our fighters confronted them with machine guns and rockets, resulting in a large number of dead and wounded among the infiltrating force. When an enemy support force attempted to advance to retrieve the casualties, our fighters confronted them, inflicting more losses on them and forcing them to retreat,” Hezbollah said.

Fierce clashes at close range have inflicted heavy losses on Israeli forces, as well as longer-range rocket attacks that target troops as they attempt to advance.


In one incident in which Hezbollah’s fighters ambushed troops in a municipality building in one of the villages, Israeli army evacuation operations took hours due to the resistance repeatedly attacking the rescue forces.

Hezbollah confirmed that its rocket, missile, and drone operations are “gradually increasing day after” on the border and “all the way to the depths of occupied Palestine.”

It also confirmed that precision missiles have recently been used for the first time.

The Israeli army has not released an updated figure of the number of soldiers who have been killed in south Lebanon ground operations. Strict military censorship is also regularly imposed on Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks deep in Israel.

A Hezbollah drone exploded into the window of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Caesarea home on 19 October. Less than a week earlier, at least four Golani Brigade soldiers were killed and dozens wounded when a Hezbollah drone attack hit their military base south of Haifa.

https://thecradle.co/articles/unable-to ... eks-of-war

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Israel Continues Its War On Journalism

Israel hates truth, which is why it kills journalists at every opportunity and blocks them from entering Gaza. This is because truth tends to have a marked anti-Israel bias.

Caitlin Johnstone
October 24, 2024


An Israeli airstrike destroyed the press office of the Lebanese news broadcaster Al Mayadeen on Wednesday night, continuing Israel’s historically unprecedented military assault on the press.

Also in continuation of Israel’s war on journalism, the IDF has published the names of six Al Jazeera reporters who it claims are actually members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, citing as evidence documents which it claims Israeli forces found in Gaza. These allegations would mark these journalists as legitimate military targets.

Al Jazeera has denounced these claims as unfounded, saying in a statement, “The Network views these fabricated accusations as a blatant attempt to silence the few remaining journalists in the region, thereby obscuring the harsh realities of the war from audiences worldwide.”


There is of course no reason to ever believe any claim Israel makes about anything whatsoever absent mountains of independently verifiable evidence, after the mountains of lies it has churned out over the last year. The fact that western news outlets are treating these allegations as plausible is evidence of their propagandistic nature.

Israel claims everyone it wants to kill is Hamas. The journalists are Hamas, the hospitals are Hamas, the UN is Hamas, the aid trucks are Hamas, the schools are Hamas, the mosques are Hamas, the water infrastructure is Hamas, the civilian homes are all Hamas, and Hamas is hiding behind every woman and child in Gaza. The only exception to this rule is in Lebanon, in which case everyone Israel wants to kill is Hezbollah.

Israel hates truth, which is why it kills journalists at every opportunity and blocks them from entering Gaza. This is because truth tends to have a marked anti-Israel bias.


We saw this illustrated recently when Israel announced that there’s a secret Hezbollah bunker underneath a hospital in Beirut, so the press simply sent a bunch of reporters to go investigate because Israel can’t block the press from entering Lebanon like it can in Gaza. Even western outlets like the BBC and Sky News entered the hospital and interviewed medical staff, reporting that they found no trace of evidence supporting Israel’s claims and that the hospital staff all denied the existence of any Hezbollah bunker on the premises. And you may be sure those outlets would have eagerly reported any sign of Hezbollah if they were given the opportunity.

Criminal institutions need to function in the dark. They cannot function in the light of visibility and critical journalism and inconvenient video footage. That’s why the mafia murders witnesses. That’s why the inner workings of the US war machine are shrouded in government secrecy. That’s why Julian Assange spent five years in a maximum security prison. And that’s why Israel does everything it can to kill and obstruct journalists who tell the truth about its crimes.

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2024/10 ... ournalism/

[blindpig]

Israeli Intelligence Leaks: An Ugly Glimpse into a Dark Future
Posted by Internationalist 360° on October 25, 2024
Scott Ritter


A ROCKS ALBM (painted orange) mounted on an Israeli F-16I fighter

Whoever leaked the documents provided a crystal ball that shows what could be. It is the job of the American people to make sure it never is.

The leaking of two highly classified documents which, upon examination, appear to contain sensitive US intelligence information about Israeli military preparations for an attack on Iran, has created a storm of controversy in the United States. As US law enforcement scrambles to discover the source of the leak, very little concern is being expressed by US politicians or the American public at large over the implications not of the leaked documents, but rather the information they contained—that Israel is preparing a massive strike on Iran that could trigger a larger conflict which, realistically, could end up involving the use of nuclear weapons.

According to the leaked intelligence documents, Israel was preparing some 40 ROCKS ALBMs for a possible strike against Iran, along with 16 “Golden Horizon” ALBMs, which appear to be what is known publicly as the “Blue Sparrow” missile, an adaptation of a target missile developed by Israel to mimic the Iranian Shahab-3 ballistic missile. The ROCKS has a demonstrated range of more than 500 miles, while the “Blue Sparrow/Golden Horizon” has a range of around 1,200 miles.

The daily air strikes carried out by Israel over Lebanon and Syria provide the perfect cover for a strike on Iran. The Israelis are striking Syrian air defense sites in southern Syria daily to create a pattern of behavior while at the same time carving a path through Syrian airspace that can be used by Israeli aircraft to penetrate western Iraq, from which long-range ALBMs can be launched against Iran.

This appears to be the tactic used by Israel on April 19 of this years, when an Israeli strike package that bombed two Syrian air defense locations in southern Syria went on to enter Iraq and fire three probable ROCKS ALBMs against an Iranian S-300 air defense battery outside of Isfahan. The ROCKS ALBM uses a “Blue Sparrow” booster, one of which was found in a field south of Baghdad following the attack.

An assessment of the missile mix being prepared suggests that Israel is preparing for a major attack against a major military production facility in the vicinity of Tehran (the Parchin missile production facility comes to mind, as well as the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group) or—more likely—a decapitation strike against Iranian leadership targets in and around Tehran. The ALBM attacks would be supported by armed covert drones which would be used to track mobile targets in real time and engage if necessary, using onboard weapons.

By way of comparison, the attack conducted by the United States on the opening day of Operation Desert Storm against the eight Iraqi targets in the vicinity of Baghdad used 35 air-launched cruise missiles. Most of these missiles struck the Taji missile production and storage facility north of Baghdad. The weapons mix being prepared by Israel suggests a similar-size target package.

But there is an additional target possibility.

In a speech delivered on September 30—three days after Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a three-minute speech in English addressing the Iranian people, declared that “There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country.” Netanyahu noted that the Iranian government was bringing Iranians “closer to the abyss,” adding that Iran and Israel would be at peace only when Iran is “finally free,” something Netanyahu said would “come a lot sooner than people think.”

If Tehran is the target, then Israel will need to neutralize Iranian air defense systems along the path of attack. If Israel repeats its past pattern of behavior, a large package of F-15I’s, supported by F-16I’s which would suppress Syrian air defenses, would penetrate western Iraq via Syria, would enter western Iraq. The initial salvo of ALBM’s—most likely ROCKS—would be released, their intended targets being the radars associated with Iranian air defense located along the attack path. The final missiles released would be the “Blue Sparrow/Golden Horizon” missiles, which would strike their targets in and around Tehran.

These targets could include the residences of senior Iranian leadership targets, including the Supreme Leader, as well as buildings associated with the symbols of government, such as the Guardian Council, the Ministry of Intelligence, the IRGC Headquarters, and other targets identified as being supportive of the Islamic Republic.

Israel would probably follow up such an attack with an appeal to the Iranian people to revolt against the regime. This appeal would be done in concert with actions undertaken by anti-regime entities operating at the direction of Israel, the United States, and other regional actors. These would include pro-monarchy groups, the MEK, and various Kurdish, Azeri, Baluch and Arab independence movements.

Israel, the CIA, and other foreign intelligence organizations hostile to Iran attempted a similar revolt against the Iranian government in September 2023, following the death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody. What started as localized demonstrations exploded into outright insurrection which took the lives of some 550 protestors/ insurgents and nearly 70 Iranian security personnel before being violently suppressed.

Israel would be looking to repeat this kind of insurrection, but this time helping it by preemptively dealing a fatal blow to Iranian leadership.

The odds of Israel being able to pull such a decapitation strike off are slim. Likewise, given the recent suppression of anti-regime groups by the Iranian government, it is unlikely those the Israeli government are hoping will revolt against the Iranian regime have reconstituted themselves in any meaningful manner.

Moreover, by focusing on a decapitation strike, Israel will have done little to prevent Iran from launching its own massive retaliation attack on Israel. Perhaps the Israeli leadership believes that once it takes out the senior-most levels of Iranian leadership, the resolve to strike back will wane. It’s a heavy gamble, however, and Israel risks suffering existential levels of damage from any concerted Iranian retaliatory strike.

US intelligence indicated that Israel’s nuclear deterrence capability, in the form of its Jericho missiles, were not being readied for action. This, however, would not be the case if Iran launched missile attacks against Israel that threatened its very existence. This is the very scenario that the Israeli “Jericho Option” (i.e., nuclear weapons capability) was created for.

The fact is, if Israel launches a decapitation strike against Iran, it will likely fail. The Iranian counterstrike, however, will be very much on target. And the Israeli nuclear retaliation, at that point, becomes probable.

Americans should let this sink in as we ponder the meaning of the leaked intelligence documents. If the purpose of the leak was to wake the American people, and by extension the American government, up about the danger posed by an Israeli strike against Iran, so far it appears that the mission has failed.

In that case, we will reap what we have sown.

Wake up, America.

It’s your future on the line.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2024/10/ ... rk-future/

Yahya Sinwar
Posted by Internationalist 360° on October 24, 2024
United World International



In his own words.

The leader of Hamas Yahya Sinwar was martyred by Israeli forces.

The images showing Sinwar fighting until the last drop of his blood deeply affected the people all around the world.

The testament of Sinwar, who made history with his life and resistance, was published after his martyrdom.

We share this political and moral manifesto with our readers.

I am Yahya, the son of a refugee who turned exile into a temporary homeland and turned a dream into an eternal battle.

As I write these words, I recall every moment of my life, from my childhood in the alleys, to the long years in prison, to every drop of blood spilled on the soil of this land.

The long road to freedom

I was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp in 1962 during a time when Palestine was a torn memory and forgotten maps on the tables of politicians. I am the man whose life was woven between fire and ashes, and I realized early on that life under occupation means nothing but a permanent prison. From my earliest days I knew that life in this land is not ordinary and that whoever was born here must carry in their heart an unbreakable weapon, understanding that the road to freedom is long. My will to you starts here from that child who threw the first stone at the occupier, who learned that stones are the first words we speak in the face of a world that stands silent before our wounds.

I learned in the streets of Gaza that a person is not measured by the years of their life, but by what they give to their homeland. And so my life was: prisons and battles, pain, and hope. I entered prison for the first time in 1988 and was sentenced to life, but I never knew fear. In those dark cells I saw in every wall a window to a distant horizon and in every bar a light that illuminated the path to freedom. In prison, I learned that patience is not just a virtue but a weapon, a bitter weapon, like drinking the sea drop by drop.

“Do not negotiate over what is rightfully yours”

My will to you: do not fear prisons, for they are just part of our long journey toward freedom.

Prison taught me that freedom is not just a stolen right, but a concept born from pain and shaped by patience. When I was released in the “Wafa Al-Ahrar” prisoner exchange deal in 2011 I did not emerge the same. I emerged stronger, with a greater belief that what we’re doing is not just a passing struggle but our destiny; one that we carry until the last drop of our blood.

My will is for you to remain steadfast, clinging to your dignity and to the dream that never dies. The enemy wants us to abandon resistance, to turn our cause into endless negotiations, but I say to you: “Do not negotiate over what is rightfully yours”. They fear your steadfastness more than your weapons. Resistance is not just a weapon we carry, but it is our love for Palestine in every breath we take, it is our will to remain despite the siege and aggression.

My will is for you to remain loyal to the blood of the martyrs, to those who have left us this thorn filled path. They paved the road to freedom with their blood, so do not waste those sacrifices in the calculations of politicians or the games of diplomacy. We are here to continue what the first generation began, and we will not stray from this path no matter the cost. Gaza was and will remain the capital of steadfastness, the heart of Palestine that does not stop beating even if the world closes in around us.

“Everyday I felt the pain of my people under the siege”

When I took over the leadership of Hamas in Gaza in 2017 it was not just a transfer of power, but a continuation of the resistance that began with stones and continued with the rifles. Every day, I felt the pain of my people under the siege and I knew that every step we take toward freedom comes at a price, but I tell you “The cost of surrender is much greater”. So hold on to the land as firmly as roots cling to the soil, for no wind can uproot a people who have chosen to live.

In the Al Aqsa flood battle, I was not the leader of a group or movement, but the voice of every Palestinian dreaming of liberation.

I was driven by my belief that resistance is not just an option but a duty. I wanted this battle to be a new chapter in the book of Palestinian struggle, where the factions unite and everyone stands in the same trench against an enemy that never distinguishes between a child and an elder, or between stone and a tree. The Al Aqsa flood was a battle of spirit before it was a battle of bodies, and of will before it was a battle of weapons. What I leave behind is not a personal legacy, but a collective one for every Palestinian who dreamed with freedom, for every mother who carried her son as a martyr on her shoulder, for every father who wept bitterly for his daughter who was killed by a treacherous bullet.

My final will is that you always remember that resistance is not in vain, nor is it just a bullet fired; but a life lived with honor and dignity.

Prison and siege have taught me that the battle is long and the road is hard, but I also learned that people who refuse to surrender create miracles with their own hands. Do not expect the world to be fair to you, for I have lived and witnessed how the world remained silent in the face of our pain. Do not wait for fairness, but be the fairness. Carry the dream of Palestine in your heart and make every wound a weapon and every tear a source of hope.

The last will

This is my will: do not lay down your weapons, do not throw away stones, do not forget your martyrs and do not compromise on a dream that is rightfully yours.

We are here to stay in our land, in our hearts and in the future of our children.

Do not forget that the homeland is not just a story to be told, but a reality to be lived, and with every martyr born from this land a thousand more resistance fighters are born.

If the flood returns and I am not among you, know that I was the first drop in the waves of freedom and I lived to see you continue the journey.

Be a thorn in their throat, a flood that knows no retreat, and do not rest until the world acknowledges that we are the rightful owners, and that we are not just numbers in the news.

Yahya Sinwar, born October 29th, 1962 [died as a martyr October 16th, 2024




Jon Elmer provides an in depth look at Yahya Sinwar’s life and death.

This is a segment from The Electronic Intifada’s day 383 livestream. Ali Abunimah, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Jon Elmer and Asa Winstanley were joined by writer and analyst Justin Podur. You can watch the entire broadcast

[youtube]https://youtu.be/cor7VqVAtxE[/youtube]

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2024/10/ ... ya-sinwar/

How Zionists Invented ‘Terrorism’
Posted by Internationalist 360° on October 25, 2024
Kit Klarenberg



Impassioned chants of “We are all Palestinians!” have been a frequent fixture at these events. This rallying call is highly apposite, for in addition to expressing sympathy and solidarity with the Palestinian people, it is urgently incumbent upon us all to reflect upon how the very same techniques and technologies of control and oppression to which they have been so cruelly subjected daily for decades are now firmly trained on us as well, as a result of Israel’s invention of “terrorism.” It is no exaggeration to say Palestinians are canaries in the coalmine of humanity.

Since the Zionist entity’s 21st century Holocaust in Gaza began, Israeli officials, pundits, journalists, and their Western opposite numbers have endlessly invoked the sinister spectre of “terrorism” to justify the industrial-scale slaughter of Palestinians. It is because of “terrorism”, twice-failed US Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton representatively wrote for The Atlantic in November 2023, “Hamas must be permanently erased.” Destroyed hospitals and schools and civilians killed en masse are reasonable “collateral damage.” Such is the unparalleled evil of “terrorists.”

Yet, the relentless stream of heart-rending clips documenting the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) Holocaust deluging social media feeds the world over, and the ever-ratcheting child death toll has compelled countless citizens to ask, “if Hamas are terrorists, then what are Zionists?”. Similar questions were posed during the Empire’s long-running “War on Terror”. Then, the purported global threat of “terrorism” was exploited throughout the West to savage civil liberties and demonise Muslims at home, while waging relentless criminal “interventions” abroad.

Mainstream usage of the term precipitously plummeted thereafter. It is only now regaining popular currency due to the Gaza genocide. This is no accident. As we shall see, Zionists – specifically Israel’s veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu – were fundamental to concocting mainstream conceptions of “terrorism”, explicitly to delegitimize anti-imperial struggles, while validating Western state violence directed at oppressed peoples across the Global South. The impact of this informational assault can be felt in every corner of the world today – not least Gaza.


Usage of the term ‘terrorism’ 1960 – 2020, per Google

‘First Strike’

In fact, one might reasonably conclude the specific foundations of Nakba 2.0, which continues to unfold in grisly real-time right now, were laid decades ago, as a result of the connivances of Netanyahu, the international Zionist lobby, and US Central Intelligence Agency. What follows is the little-known history of how “terrorism” came to be. A majority of the world’s population – the Palestinian people in particular – live with the monstrous consequences every day.

Our story starts in 1976, at the peak of détente between the US and Soviet Union. After two-and-a-half decades of bitter enmity, the two superpowers had resolved to peaceful coexistence at the start of the decade. They collaborated to systematically dismantle structures and doctrines that defined the immediate post-World War II era, such as Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.).

In May that year, the CIA produced its annual National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), a comprehensive report combining data from various intelligence agencies, intended to be a basis for crafting foreign policy. In keeping with the past five years, it concluded the Soviets were in severe economic decline, favoured diplomacy over conflict, and desperately sought an end to the Cold War. Such findings lay behind Washington’s push for détente, and Moscow’s eager acceptance of major disarmament and arms control treaties.

However, newly-appointed CIA director George H. W. Bush categorically rejected these conclusions. He sought a second opinion, so constructed an independent intelligence cell to review the NIE. Known as Team B, it was composed of hardcore Cold Warriors, defence industry-funded hawks, and rabid anti-Communists. Among them were several individuals who would later become leading figures in the neoconservative movement, such as Paul Wolfowitz. Also present were infamous CIA and Pentagon dark arts specialists who had been professionally ostracised due to détente.

Team B duly reviewed the NIE, and rubbished each and every one of the Agency’s findings. Rather than dilapidated, impoverished and teetering on total collapse, the Soviet Union was, in fact, more deadly and dangerous than ever, having constructed a vast array of “first strike” capabilities right under the CIA’s nose. To reach these bombshell conclusions, Team B relied on a confounding hodgepodge of peculiar logical fallacy, paranoid theorising, crazed conspiratorial conjecture, unsupported value judgments, and amateurish circular reasoning.


An explainer on Team B authored by one of its members, in a Zionist rag

For example, Team B repeatedly assessed that a lack of evidence Moscow possessed weapons systems, military technology, or surveillance capabilities comparable or superior to Washington’s own was inverse proof the Soviets, in fact, did. Moscow’s innovations were just so sophisticated and innovative, Team B concluded, they couldn’t be detected or even comprehended by the West. Team B’s analysis was confirmed to be a total fantasy after the USSR collapsed. Yet, its methods informed all subsequent NIEs throughout the Cold War, and likely endure today.

On June 27th of that year, mere weeks after Team B was set to work on reigniting the Cold War, Air France Flight 139, en route to Paris from Tel Aviv, was hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Redirected to a Ugandan airport, the plane was greeted on the runway by Idi Amin’s military, who ushered the passengers – the majority being Jewish or Israeli – into the terminal, watched over by scores of soldiers, intended to prevent their escape or rescue.

The hijackers relayed a demand to the government of Israel. Unless a ransom of $5 million was paid to them and 53 Palestinian prisoners were released from jail, the hostages would be executed. In response, 100 elite IOF commandos launched an audacious action to free the hostages. Their mission – known as the Entebbe Raid – was a stunning success. All but four hostages were rescued alive, and the IOF lost just one commander – Yonatan (Jonathan) Netanyahu, the older brother of Israel’s current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.


Israeli commandos with a Mercedes Benz resembling the car owned by Idi Amin, used during the Entebbe Raid for deception purposes

For years by that point, Israeli officials had been attempting to popularise the term “terrorism” to explain the motivations and actions of Palestinian freedom fighters. That way, their righteous fury at repression could be reframed as a destructive ideology of violence for violence’s sake without rationale, and Zionist colonial tyranny as warranted self-defence. This effort became turbocharged in September 1972, when the kidnapping of 11 Israeli athletes at that year’s Olympics in Munich by Palestinian militants ended with all hostages murdered.

This particularly public bloodshed centred world attention on Israel, and left Western citizens wondering what could’ve possibly inspired such violence. Zionists had hitherto managed to largely conceal their systematic, state-enforced repression and displacement of Palestinians from the outside world. Journalists were kept well away from the scenes of major crimes. At the same time, Amnesty International’s Israeli branch was secretly financed and directed by Tel Aviv’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to whitewash facts on the ground.

For the Netanyahu family, the Entebbe raid was a tragedy – but also an ideal opportunity to validate and internationalise the concept of “terrorism,” as espoused by Zionists. In 1979, Benjamin Netanyahu founded the Jonathan Institute, in honour of his slain brother. Its purpose, he said, was:

To focus public attention on the grave threat that international terrorism poses to all democratic societies, to study the real nature of today’s terrorism, and to propose measures for combating and defeating the international terror movements.”

In July that year, the Institute convened the Jerusalem Conference on International Terrorism (JCIT) in Jerusalem’s Hilton Hotel. It gathered together a 700-strong mob of Israeli government officials, US lawmakers, intelligence operatives from across the ‘Five Eyes’ global spying network, and Western foreign policy apparatchiks. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many representatives of Team B were in attendance. Over four days and seven separate sessions, speaker after speaker painted a disturbing picture of the worldwide phenomenon of “terrorism.”

They unanimously declared that all “terrorists” constituted a single, organised political movement that was being secretly financed, armed, trained, and directed by the Soviet Union. This devilish nexus, it was claimed, posed a mortal threat to Western democracy, freedom, and security, requiring a coordinated response. Eerily, as academic Diana Ralph later observed, the JCIT’s collective prescription for tackling this purported menace was precisely what transpired just over two decades later during the “War on Terror”:

“[This included] pre-emptive attacks on states alleged to support ‘terrorists’; an elaborate intelligence system apparatus; slashed civil liberties, particularly for Palestinians targeted as potential terrorists, including detention without charge, and torture; and propaganda to dehumanize ‘terrorists’ in the eyes of the public.”

Israel’s then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin addressed the JCIT’s opening session. He set the tone by claiming Western state violence was ultimately “a fight for freedom or liberation” and, therefore, fundamentally opposed to “terrorism.” He concluded his remarks by imploring the assembled throng to go forth and promote the conference’s message once it was over. Which they did.

‘Insufficient Evidence’

Among JCIT’s attendees was American author and journalist Claire Sterling, who cut her teeth as a reporter decades earlier at the Overseas News Agency, an MI6 propaganda operation seeking to boost US public support for entering World War II. Following the conference, she frequently amplified the claims of JCIT speakers in articles for prominent newspapers, leading to an epic March 1981 front-page exposé in The New York Times – Terrorism: Tracing The International Network.

A book published later that year, The Terror Network, expanded significantly on Sterling’s oeuvre, and firmly cemented the notion of Moscow as a grand spider sat in the middle of a vast, globe-spanning web of deadly political violence in the Western public mind. It caused a sensation upon release, receiving rave reviews from major news outlets, being translated into 22 languages, and becoming a bestseller in several countries.

The Terror Network had a particularly potent impact on newly-inaugurated President Ronald Reagan and his CIA chief William Casey. Committed anti-Communists, they entered office desperately seeking a pretext for brutally crushing left-wing, nationalist opposition to US imperialism in Latin America. Sterling’s work provided ample ammunition for achieving that bloodsoaked objective and was key to the White House decisively shattering détente, a process begun by Team B five years earlier.

Consequently, “The Terror Network” was circulated among US lawmakers and heavily promoted overseas on the Reagan administration’s dime. Casey furthermore tasked his Agency with verifying its thesis. They quickly assessed Sterling’s work to be irredeemable garbage, ironically enough, as it was heavily influenced by CIA black propaganda. Enraged, Casey demanded the evaluation be revised. An updated appraisal was less scathing but nonetheless stressed the book was “uneven and the reliability of its sources varies widely,” while “significant portions” were “incorrect.”

Still dissatisfied, Casey asked a CIA “senior review panel” charged with scrutinising Langley’s formal estimates to write their own report on the subject. They concluded the Soviets did offer limited financial, material and practical assistance to a handful of anti-imperial Global South liberation movements, some of which were labelled “terrorists” by Western powers. But there was “insufficient evidence” of Muscovite culpability for the entire global phenomenon of “terrorism,” let alone funding and directing such entities as dedicated policy.

Undeterred, when Casey personally delivered the report to Reagan, he allegedly said of its findings, “of course, Mr. President, you and I know better.” So it was CIA-backed death squads ran roughshod across Washington’s “backyard” throughout the 1980s, in the name of neutralising alleged Soviet influence in the region. Their actions were heavily informed by the Agency’s guerrilla warfare manual, which encouraged assassinations of government officials and civilian leaders and deadly attacks on “soft targets” such as schools and hospitals. “Terrorism”, in other words.

‘We Are All Palestinians’

Another example of Reagan’s “terrorism” was sponsoring Afghanistan’s Mujahideen resistance fighters in their battle with – ironically enough – the Soviet Red Army. This policy endured after the “Evil Empire” was vanquished. The same militants were transported by the CIA and MI6 to Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s, to aid and abet Yugoslavia’s painful, forced death.

When these covert actions produced “blowback” in the form of the 9/11 attacks, several individuals who attended the JCIT, and their acolytes, were elevated to the Bush administration due to their supposed “terrorism” expertise. Meanwhile, with public and state-level fears of “terrorism” ramping up significantly the world over, many Western countries turned to Israel for advice and guidance on how to tackle the issue. As Nentyahu bragged in 2008:

“We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq.”

This was not only because 9/11 “swung American public opinion in [Israel’s] favour.” In a blink, Zionist repression and slaughter were transformed from a source of international embarrassment and obloquy into a compelling sales pitch and unique selling point for Tel Aviv’s welter of “defence” and “security” firms. The Occupied Territories became laboratories, their inhabitants test subjects, upon whom new weaponry, surveillance methods, and pacification techniques could be trialled by the IOF, then marketed and sold overseas.

It is not for nothing that graphic videos showcasing IOF “surgical strikes” on Palestinians, their homes, schools, and hospitals are proudly displayed at international arms fairs, while private demonstrations of invasive surveillance tools such as Pegasus routinely wow repressive foreign security and intelligence agencies behind-closed-doors.

On top of a significant financial benefit, there is a diplomatic dividend too. Israel secures invaluable censure-stifling goodwill from customers, therefore permitting the Zionist project of permanently purging Palestine of its indigenous inhabitants to persist untrammelled. While the streets of almost every major Western city have regularly teemed with pro-Palestine fervour ever since the entity’s attack on Gaza began in October 2023, protesters’ elected representatives are at best silent, at worst actively complicit.

Impassioned chants of “We are all Palestinians!” have been a frequent fixture at these events. This rallying call is highly apposite, for in addition to expressing sympathy and solidarity with the Palestinian people, it is urgently incumbent upon us all to reflect upon how the very same techniques and technologies of control and oppression to which they have been so cruelly subjected daily for decades are now firmly trained on us as well, as a result of Israel’s invention of “terrorism.” It is no exaggeration to say Palestinians are canaries in the coalmine of humanity.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2024/10/ ... terrorism/

Rewriting Resolution 1701: Hochstein’s Diplomatic Cover for Israeli Expansion
Posted by Internationalist 360° on October 25, 2024
Anis Raiss



Amos Hochstein’s latest diplomatic mission to Lebanon, far from fostering genuine peace, seems designed to use diplomacy as a covert strategy to achieve what military force could not.

On 21 October, Amos Hochstein, born in Israel in 1973 and once an Israeli tank crewman, returned to Lebanon as a US envoy, not to protect peace but to redefine it on Tel Aviv’s terms.

The irony is undeniable: Israel, having lost 28 tanks in almost as many days during its latest invasion attempt, now sends one of its former tank crew members, not in battle, but in diplomacy – to achieve through words what military force could not secure: control over Lebanon through revisions to UN Resolution 1701.

Hochstein’s mission may appear to be an act of diplomacy, but is it really about fostering peace? Or is he aligning with Israeli policy to reframe control while eroding Lebanon’s sovereignty? The diplomatic veneer only thinly conceals the underlying agenda of control.

From Oslo to 1701: Reinterpreting peace for control

The Israeli playbook of manipulating peace processes is nothing new. In a 2001 leaked video, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted about his manipulation of the Oslo Accords, using vague phrases like “military facilities” to tighten Israeli control over contested areas.

Netanyahu openly stated, “America is something that you can easily maneuver,” hinting at the ease with which Israeli influence shapes US diplomacy – a dynamic that is evident today in Hochstein’s actions.

The Israeli army veteran’s push for amendments to Resolution 1701 is a clear continuation of this strategy: advancing the occupation state’s interests under the guise of diplomacy from Washington. Just as Netanyahu reinterpreted the Oslo Accords to solidify Israeli control, Hochstein’s proposed changes to 1701 seek to turn it into a tool for extending Tel Aviv’s influence. This is not diplomacy for peace; it is diplomacy for power.

1701: Israel’s unfinished battle

Resolution 1701, passed by the UN Security Council on 11 August 2006, marked a critical point for Israel, which found itself unable to defeat Hezbollah during the July War despite its advanced military capabilities.

Brokered by then-US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the ceasefire allowed Israel a face-saving exit under the guise of diplomacy rather than face a prolonged, unwinnable battle. But the resolution has since been a point of ongoing contention – one Israel has repeatedly violated.

One notable violation is Israel’s continued occupation of Shebaa Farms, which contravenes both Resolution 1701 and the earlier Resolution 425. Hezbollah’s decision to remain armed, often criticized internationally and in some quarters domestically, becomes a logical and legally justified response under international law, given Israel’s occupation of Lebanese land. The ongoing presence of Israeli forces undermines the very peace that Resolution 1701 aimed to establish.

Tel Aviv’s disregard for the resolution extends beyond territorial occupation. Since 2013, Israel has repeatedly violated Lebanese airspace to conduct strikes on Syria, treating Lebanon’s skies like an unguarded backdoor for foreign interventions.

This belligerent behavior is akin to a trespasser using a neighbor’s yard to attack another – an act that undermines Lebanon’s sovereignty entirely. In August 2019, a significant escalation occurred when Israel launched a drone strike in Beirut, which then-president Michel Aoun condemned as a “declaration of war.”

Moreover, Israel’s occupation of the northern part of Ghajar village further violates both the Blue Line and Resolution 1701. Despite UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces deploying south of the Litani River, Israel’s persistent refusal to withdraw ensures that peace remains elusive, leaving Lebanon under the constant threat of Israeli aggression.

Rewriting 1701

The amendments proposed by Hochstein to Resolution 1701 reveal Israel’s broader strategy of using international mechanisms to further its objectives. These changes would extend UNIFIL’s jurisdiction two kilometers north of the Litani River, allowing international forces to conduct searches, patrols, and inspections without requiring approval from Lebanese authorities. These inspections can include searching vehicles, private properties, and suspected weapons sites.

Effectively, this is a demand for Lebanon to cede control over its own territory – a clear infringement on its sovereignty. Under the guise of peacekeeping, this would grant Israel indirect control over Lebanon’s internal security dynamics, especially since intelligence for these operations may be influenced by, or even originate from, Israeli sources.

Eyes on the south

Hochstein’s proposal raises critical concerns about intelligence oversight: Who will guide these operations, and how might covert Israeli interests be served? The potential involvement of Israeli tech companies like Toka, co-founded by former prime minister Ehud Barak, is telling.

Toka specializes in advanced surveillance technologies that can hack into and manipulate live or recorded video feeds from public and private security cameras, including those in ports, airports, and border crossings.

If Toka’s technology is deployed in southern Lebanon, it could potentially compromise the very systems used by UNIFIL. This technology, which leaves no trace, could be exploited to monitor Hezbollah and Lebanese military movements, all under the guise of international peacekeeping operations. The consequences would be profound: a complete erosion of Lebanon’s security, replaced by a surveillance network manipulated by Israel to serve its own strategic interests.

Israel’s covert surveillance approach can be seen in how it handles Beirut’s southern suburbs. The infamous Dahiya Doctrine advocates for overwhelming destruction of civilian areas to target Hezbollah strongholds, yet Israel seems to avoid fully enacting this policy – possibly due to its desire to preserve infrastructure that supports covert operations.

Technologies like Toka’s suggest a more calculated plan, enabling 24/7 monitoring of Hezbollah-controlled areas under the Litani River. Armed with precise intelligence, Israel could execute targeted strikes or assassinations akin to those witnessed during the 2006 war, turning southern Lebanon into a zone of perpetual surveillance and intermittent violence – all under the pretense of adhering to Resolution 1701.

Berri’s rejection

Nabih Berri, long-time leader of the Amal Movement and a staunch ally of Hezbollah, immediately opposed Hochstein’s proposed amendments. As Speaker of Parliament since 1992, Berri has been a key figure in resisting Israeli encroachments and defending Lebanese sovereignty.

His longstanding relationship with Hezbollah and the broader Shia political movement positions him as a critical figure in Lebanon’s struggle against foreign intervention. Upon receiving Hochstein’s proposals, Berri recognized them for what they were: an attempt to undermine Lebanese sovereignty under the guise of enhanced peacekeeping.

While Hochstein framed these amendments as necessary for stability, Berri’s response was clear: the real issue is not a lack of oversight but Israel’s continued violations of Lebanese airspace and territory. As Berri emphasized, any genuine pursuit of peace must begin with holding Israel accountable for its aggression and ensuring it abides by existing UN resolutions.

He also announced that “the consensus among the Lebanese on Resolution 1701 is a rare consensus, and we are committed to it,” adding, “We reject any amendments to Resolution 1701, whether by increase or decrease.”

In an interview with Al Arabiya TV, Berri also stated, “I have been mandated by Hezbollah since 2006, and it agrees to 1701.”

Resolution 1701, meant to establish peace, is being reshaped into a surveillance tool – a mechanism for Israel to achieve what it could not through military means. The use of sophisticated surveillance technology, the selective enforcement of ceasefire terms, and the involvement of international forces all serve to undermine Lebanon’s sovereignty, rendering “peace” a hollow word.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2024/10/ ... expansion/

******

What Has Israel Achieved In The Last Year? - by Arch Bungle

A recent comment by Arch Bungle has been lauded by several commentators. It deserves, slightly edited, its own thread.

Exile | Oct 25 2024 7:49 utc | 145

Arch - can you repost your recap summary list of the last year of failures ( strategic, etc) ?
Arch Bungle | Oct 25 2024 8:28 utc | 148

Posted by: Exile | Oct 25 2024 7:49 utc | 145

Gladly (with some recent additions):

What has Israel achieved in the last year?
Let's take a stone cold sober recap, I've compiled a list of the top 29 accomplishments of Israel in 2024:


1. Israel has essentially lost territory in the north of Occupied Palestine. Hezbollah's rocket barrages over the last eleven months has driven the settler population out of the North. This is likely permanent. Israel's settler population in the Gaza envelope has also been thinned out since the 7 October attacks.
Moreover, current ongoing attacks from Yemen, Iraq, Iran and Lebanon are depopulating Israel.
2. The Houthi have put an unbreakable chokehold on the Red Sea and all Red Sea shipping. There is no way to break this chokehold. The USN and all other Western navies have tried for almost 12 months and failed utterly.
Attempts to conduct strikes on the Houthi, including massive strikes on core infrastructure in Hodeida have yielded ZERO results over a period of almost a year. The Israelis are to thank for this achievement.
3. The cementing of Hezbollah as the primary military force in Lebanon: Hezbollah's Radwan forces have proven capable of protecting Lebanon's southern borders with Palestine. All attempts by the IDF and their supporting American Special Forces to take control of this area and drive the Radwan forces back have failed.
4. The ensured survival of Hamas: Hamas in the Gaza strip persists after almost a year. For months they've demonstrated ability to strike IDF forces daily, destroying IDF ground equipment and troops. This is true, even if incremental in nature. Hamas is still able to launch rockets on the Gaza envelope.
This means their rocket manufacturing facilities are still functional. Hamas has demonstrated staying power and resilience. Compared to Fatah in the West Bank, Hamas has demonstrated an ability and willingness to actualize the Palestinian desire for self determination.
Due to Israel's excessive response to 7 October, Fatah has been permanently sidelined. Hamas will forever be known as the true face of Palestinian resistance.
5. The validation of Hezbollah's resilience: Despite eliminating one (1) component of the Hezbollah leadership, Hezbollah has reconstituted its leadership structure. It's most senior leadership council, the Shura is still intact.
Despite a technically brilliant infiltration of the communications infrastructure supply chain by Israel and after a massive air strike involving rarely used bunker buster missiles, Israel has failed to dent the combat capability or even morale of Hezbollah.
6. Hezbollah has established, for the first time in history, a buffer zone cleared of Israelis within the held territory of 'Israel' (Occupied Palestine).
7. Recent and previous strikes carried out by the IRGC on Tel Aviv showed the failure of the Iron Dome and the failure of ALL Israel's air defense systems. David's Sling. Arrow. Patriot. Moreover, the air defense systems of Israel's satraps (Jordan) were also proven to fail. Further, the interception systems of the USN were proven to be inadequate.
This has massive implications for war-gaming a conflict between the US and Iran. It means that the US will have to consider the fact that regardless of what it may inflict on Iran, it will not be able to shield anyone and itself against a concurrent Iranian retaliation.
Moreover, the US must now acknowledge that Iran has the ability to destroy it's carrier groups.
Marine power projection is therefore no longer of any use in the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean, Red Sea, Gulf of Oman ... It must now recalculate all it's previous attack plans.
8. The hardening of Hezbollah positions in the South of Lebanon: Despite the spectacular and tragic strikes Israel has carried out on Beirut the essential damage is limited to civilian blocks and civilian villages in the south. It appears that very little of Israel's considerable air firepower has harmed Hezbollah itself. Hezbollah not only remains lodged there but the creation of rubble and destruction has provided them future cover and shelter.
The net effect of these strikes has been to galvanize Hezbollah's fighters, drive Hezbollah recruitment, set world opinion firmly against Israel. The global environment for Israelis, Zionists and sadly, even non-Zionist Jews has been polluted on account of Netanyahu's actions in Beirut.
On the other side of the equation, the IDF has wasted substantial amounts of materiel on killing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure. Infrastructure which has nothing to do with the threat posed by Hezbollah.
While the US has put its entire arsenal at Israel's disposal these materials are far from infinite and will run out soon - or become so expensive that it begins place further pressures on the U.S economy and logistics chains.
9. The US' ongoing Iraq Occupation is coming apart at the seams: Despite the US presence in Iraq, it is demonstrably unable to exert any influence on the Iraqi resistance movements there, who launch increasingly sophisticated missile and drone attacks from Iraqi territory under the noses of US garrisons.
In addition, the behavior of Israel has stimulated anti-US activity in Iraq and will shortly result in a violent ejection of U.S forces from that country regardless of the current puppet government's attempts to retain the U.S presence. It may take years to complete but the ejection of American forces from Iraq is all but assured now that the Hashds have demonstrated the ability to use substantial lethal force.
10. The Syrian occupation is coming apart at the seams: Strikes against U.S bases in Syria have become a weekly occurrence now. The resistance movements in Syria have shown that they have the capability to put American bases under constant pressure. The U.S will shortly lose it's comfortable perch on the Conoco oil fields in Syria and with it, control of the spigot to the various anti-government militant movements in the region ... and with that, control of Syria. Turkey and Russia have become confident to bomb ISIS and Kurdish proxies in Syria.
In short, Israel's needless bloodlust has imperiled the US' ongoing occupation of the entire Middle East.
11. Israel has destabilized Jordan. Iran has pushed Jordan (and others) into showing their cards at the middle eastern poker table. The government of Jordan has been exposed as a completely controlled satrap of Israel. Its national interests are completely subordinate to Israel and the USA above and beyond the interests of Jordanian people.
This begins the countdown to the end of the regime of King Abdullah of Jordan and his administration.
12. Israel has sown the seeds of destabilization in Egypt. Iran has pushed Jordan and Egypt into showing their cards at the middle eastern poker table. Egypt has been exposed as a complete satrap of the US and Israel, completely subordinate to the needs of the Zionist entity. Every Egyptian, with warm memories of Gamal Abdel Nasser would probably be weeping at this point.
The only thing that keeps the Egyptian population from toppling their government at this time is the Egyptian military. It will unfortunately remain so until the right catalyst arrives to light the spark of revolution ...
However, the net result of all these increasing strains within Egypt is to increase sympathies for the Palestinian people, opening up smuggling lines into Gaza.
13. The perception of Western Moral and Civilizational Superiority has been utterly destroyed. The fact that Western Colonialism is alive and well and that Western Civilization is morally bankrupt has been been exposed to the Global South.
This moral bankruptcy has been manifested firstly at the level of it's governments and secondly at the level of it's apathetic populations who support the actions of their governments.
The result of this is that the Global South is now able to weaponize diplomacy in every forum with Western powers.
In the past, every diplomatic discourse between Western powers and non-Western countries used to begin with brow-beating and embarrassment of those countries around their human rights records.
Today, every diplomatic discourse between the West and a global south nation begins with a refutation of Western moral high ground. The recent BRICS conference in Kazan underscores this.

14. The neutralization of weaponize Western sanctions: Israel's actions, triggering Iran's, Yemen's and Hezbollah's actions have revealed that western sanctions against The Middle Eastern Resistance have been useless in stopping the technological and military advance of these powers.

Moreover, these sanctions have served to push the middle east into the BRICS trade sphere and away from the G7 trading sphere. It is a self-strangulation of the Western economies carried out by the USA on behalf of it's garrison in Occupied Palestine.

Ultimately, these sanctions backfired spectacularly, resulting effectively in the global sanction and blockade of Western shipping through the Red Sea and "tit-for tat" oil tanker confiscations in the Persian Gulf.

15. The compromise of the integrity of Western Supply Chains. The compromise of Western mobile device supply chains, which could only have happened through the collaboration of multiple Western states, including the collusion of parties in Taiwan (outside of the control of Beijing) and Hong Kong (controlled loosely by Beijing) has resulted in complete loss of trust in Western telecommunications equipment and alerted Beijing and Moscow to potential compromise in their own supply chains.

While the implications of this are still unfolding the future success of western exports and Israel's inclusion in the supply chains are now in question.

China is now, even more than before, not only the "supplier of volume" but also the "supplier of trust".

16. Due to the actions of Israel, the US has been exposed to its people and the UN community (UNSC, UNGA) as completely under control of the Zionist Lobby. It is no longer a government of the people by the people (if ever it was!). In the past, it was suspected that Israel had some influence over American foreign and home policy, but now it is certain that Israel controls American foreign policy in totality. The question of which part of the dog is the tail and which the dog has become meaningless - it's all "dog". Moreover, this compromise of the State, the subversion of Western governments to the purposes of the Zionist lobby, has been repeated on other Western governments like Germany, France, Britain.

We have just witnessed the destruction of 'Pax' Americana and its replacement by 'Pax' Judaica. Thus, the prediction of Sheikh Imran Hossein has been fulfilled.

17. Well done on the genocide front! Israel has progressed quite far in it's genocide of the Gazan Palestinian population within the last 12 months. The depopulation of the Gaza strip is well on it's way by means of sickness, starvation more than missiles and bombs.

For this there will be a price to pay in the eyes of history, for the Zionists if Israel have provided the excuse (not justification) for some enterprising tyrant to commit future persecutions and genocides against the Jews - and others.

18. Israeli economy is destroyed along multiple vectors for the foreseeable future. MNCs with offices in Israel have been negatively impacted. Affected business range from individual companies that cannot operate in Israel anymore due to instability and loss of workforce, to larger corporations whose ethical compliance measures require them to decouple from Israel. The impact extends to companies that cannot tolerate the disruption to energy infrastructure and logistics lines.

19. New, persistent threats that cannot be remedied by the West have been created. The Houthi and the Iraqi Hashds being one case in point.

There's just no end in sight here. These actors are going to be around for years, threatening the viability of Israel as a "peaceful place for the Jews" and turning it into merely another American garrison in the Levant.

20. Degraded Israeli gas and Oil infrastructure in the Mediterranean. Recent strikes have not only destroyed some of Israel's gas platforms in the Med but demonstrated that Iran has the ability to wipe out Israel's energy infrastructure. Israel will now have to recalculate the security of its energy supply. Any customers of Israel's gas and oil production will have to recalculate their energy security equations.

21. Ensured continuity of the Resistance. The further radicalization of Hezbollah by removal of the conservative elder leadership has resulted in the younger, more aggressive, less restrained commanders to take the lead. Moreover, the remaining elder leadership in the Shura council have been painfully reminded that there is no negotiating with the Israelis and the Americans and that the only way out is to fight.

The murder of national heroes like Hassan Nasrallah has very likely galvanized the youth of Lebanon.

In a similar vein, the next generation of Hamas and Al Qassam fighters, now still children, have been created in the camps of Gaza, the West Bank, Ein Al Hilwe and other Lebanese Palestinian camps and the Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan and Syria.

This is the primary reason for the American and Israeli murder campaign against Palestinian children and babies.

22. A distraction for the USA and the Western Imperium: Ultimately the debacle in Occupied Palestine, engineered and sustained by Benjamin Netanyahu has posed a major drain on American resources.

It is a distraction from confronting bigger, more threatening adversaries like China and Russia.

The more cognitive energy, financial resources and political capital the USA has tied up in the Middle East conflict, the less it has left to confront serious developments on the Russia and China fronts.

The BRI, for example continues apace. Chinese and Russian space and marine developments proceed by leaps and bounds. Chinese chip manufacture has reached the 7 nm scale and 4 nm is in testing. Hypersonic missile development in Russia and China has outpaced American developments by leaps and bounds. China has achieved a 6g Transmission network implementation. China operates the biggest space station human kind has ever deployed.

23. The UN has been exposed as an impotent and in fact detrimental organization: Israel, through it's own behavior at the UN has exposed the entire organization, from the ICC, ICJ, UNSC, UNGA and even organizations like UNRWA as completely impotent for all tasks that do not support the interests of the Western Powers. While this has been obvious since the comprise of the OPCW some years ago, the rot has been exposed at all levels of the UN and repeatedly hammered home by the Israeli representatives at the UN.

Nobody can ignore it anymore, nobody other than those benefiting from the grift.

24. It Bleeds: The vulnerability of Israel, it's economy, it's military and it's allies has been exposed by non-state actors who have now demonstrated that they are able to keep this so called regional 'superpower' bleeding for a straight year while being severely under-supplied, outgunned, outnumbered.

Should other Arab countries decide at any point that Israel no longer serves their purposes in the Middle East, they've seen the evidence that Israel is not invincible and on the contrary, remarkably vulnerable.

25. Weakening of the Lebanese, Iraqi, Syrian and Yemeni State is a Strengthening of Hezbollah and the Houthi Movement: Israel, in taking the wrecking ball to Lebanese and Yemeni civilian government and sovereignty has created an environment in which the state will never be able to hold a monopoly on violence. The entire extent of Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen will therefore remain free and open for Hezbollah and Ansarallah to operate without government restraint. Even if this "freedom" is the freedom of chaos.

26. It can be terrified into paralysis: The delayed response of Israel to Iran's latest hypersonic attack has been uncharacteristic. It demonstrates that the mere use of violence is sufficient to paralyze not only the Israeli Occupation State Apparatus but also that of the wider Anglo-American Empire, which itself seems scared of retaliating directly against Iran.

27. The World notes this. For perhaps the first time in history, war crimes accusations leading to actual arrest warrants have been issued against Israeli individuals (by the ICJ). Yes, with much reluctance, but it indicates that even the Zionist dominated West is beginning to crack under the stress of it's own contradictions. These contradictions will merely expand further ...

28. The utter failure of the Lebanon Ground invasion and discredit of the IDFs power: It is clear that the IDF's ground invasion of Lebanon is a failure when compared with Israel's previous invasion and occupation of Beirut. In an era where the IDF/IOF should have enhanced military technology and training, the full support of the West, it's performance on the ground has only been a fraction of what it could once demonstrate. Even if the IDF/IOF ever manages to grind its way to Beirut, it will arrive there a bruised and battered remnant of itself. Then, the real war will begin ...

29. The IDF/IOF and the so called 'State' of Israel has been exposed to be a fully dependent and indivisible organ of the American Empire: The complete dependence on massive airlifts of American weapons, THAAD, American Political Intervention in the U.N and other arenas has exposed Israel as nothing without life support infrastructure provided by the Americans. The image of Israel as a viable future state for the Jews has thus been utterly shattered. It cannot exist for now or ever without Uncle Sam behind it. When the Empire Falls. Israel goes with it. Israel's enemies (and allies) will note this and plan accordingly.

How will all these "sensitive initial conditions" - these "achievements" - combine over the next 6 - 12 months to form greater unintended effects?

It's anyone's guess but the picture doesn't look good for Israel regardless of how it looks for the rest of the Levant.

Winning!

Posted by b on October 25, 2024 at 12:49 UTC | Permalink

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/10/w ... .html#more

[blindpig]

'Difficult security incidents': Hezbollah bloodies Israeli troops in south Lebanon

Hezbollah fighters killed at least nine Israeli soldiers in the past hours in separate attacks across the southern Lebanese border area

News Desk

OCT 25, 2024


(Photo credit: AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli forces got caught in a number of Hezbollah ambushes while infiltrating southern Lebanon in recent hours, resulting in several casualties among their ranks, according to Hebrew media reports.

Hebrew media outlets reported in the early hours of 25 October several “difficult security incidents” in Lebanon. Helicopters were heard and seen transporting the wounded to northern Israeli hospitals.

“During the night, a Hebrew website published news that the occupation army had received a painful blow and that there were many dead and wounded. Suddenly, the news was withdrawn and blacked out, but the number of rescue and ambulance aircraft and the wailing exposed everything,” said Palestinian journalist and analyst in Israeli affairs, Azzam Abu al-Adas, who closely monitors Israeli media.

A number of other Hezbollah ambushes and attacks hit Israeli forces as they were operating in southern Lebanon on Thursday evening.

“Last night, Hezbollah terrorists launched towards the area where our forces are operating … One of the rockets hit near a building inside the village – where a force from the battalion was staying. Inside the building were also fighters from the 89th Battalion, as well as fighters from a logistics convoy,” Israeli military correspondent Doron Kodosh reported on 25 October.

He added that five were killed and around two dozen injured.

פרטי התקרית שבה נפלו 5 לוחמי שריון במילואים מחטיבת ״הזקן״:

- האירוע התרחש בגדוד 89 של חטיבת הזקן, שפועל תחת חטיבת אלכסנדרוני במרחב הגזרה המזרחית בדרום לבנון. החטיבה נמצאת כבר כמה ימים בהתקפה על אותו כפר, ובימים האחרונים הכוחות חיסלו עשרות מחבלים בהיתקלויות, פשטו על מבנים ששימשו… pic.twitter.com/1yQDRzqQLB

— דורון קדוש | Doron Kadosh (@Doron_Kadosh) October 25, 2024

Israeli Army Radio admits that five soldiers and officers from the 89th battalion of the 8th 'HaZaken' Brigade were killed and 19 injured in southern Lebanon, after Hezbollah fighters targeted a house they were holed up in with a barrage of rockets yesterday evening.

Israeli… pic.twitter.com/A00VWiwH6c

— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) October 25, 2024

Hebrew media outlets reported on Thursday that Hezbollah fighters killed four Israeli soldiers and injured six, including three in critical condition.

The fighters emerged from a tunnel and fired grenades at Israeli soldiers, leading to the casualties. Israeli forces returned fire but were uncertain if any Hezbollah fighters were hit, according to the reports.

Israeli media reports that in a recent attack, Hezbollah fighters killed 4 soldiers and injured 6, with 3 in serious condition. The fighters emerged from a tunnel and fired grenades at Israeli soldiers, leading to casualties; Israeli forces returned fire but are uncertain if any… pic.twitter.com/viF1bdoFOg

— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) October 24, 2024

It was also noted that the area from which Hezbollah fighters emerged had been targeted by airstrikes prior to the ground forces’ arrival. Despite this, Hezbollah fighters managed to fortify their position and launched several hand grenades when they detected the advance of Israeli troops.

An Israeli army spokesman said on 24 October that 57 Israeli soldiers and officers have been killed since the start of ground confrontations in Lebanon early this month.

“We are fighting Hezbollah and our hand is the upper hand in the battles, but we are paying a heavy price,” the spokesman said.

Hezbollah’s Operations Room said in a statement on 23 October that its fighters have killed over 70 Israeli army soldiers and officers and wounded more than 600.

https://thecradle.co/articles/difficult ... th-lebanon

Israeli forces storm Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital, abducting patients and staff

Israeli strikes continued overnight, killing and wounding 150 in Jabalia and at least 26 in Khan Yunis

News Desk

OCT 25, 2024


(Photo credit: AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli forces stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Beit Lahia early on 25 October as part of Israel's ongoing siege, bombing, and ethnic cleansing campaign in northern Gaza.

Last night, the hospital was surrounded, with Israeli military vehicles firing on the facility, endangering patients receiving treatment inside, including many children, and shattering patient room windows, WAFA News Agency reported.

In the morning, Israeli troops stormed the hospital and abducted dozens of people, forcing them to strip and gathering them in a large open dirt area.


Scenes from Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, one of the remaining few partially operating. This is what Israeli occupation forces surrounded. They fired onto the sick, dying, dead and mourning. This is a Holocaust. pic.twitter.com/IgVdiKeMvf

— Jennine K (@jennineak) October 25, 2024

Additionally, soldiers blocked essential aid from reaching the hospital, preventing doctors from performing urgent surgeries on 15 severely injured patients.

Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the hospital director, stated by phone, “If medical aid does not arrive in the next few hours, people here will die. While we wait for help, we are being directly targeted … Instead of receiving aid we received tank shells!”


Al Jazeera reported that Israeli forces have bombed the oxygen station at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, resulting in the deaths of several child patients who relied on the oxygen to breathe.

While laying siege to the hospital, Israeli troops abducted dozens of people from the hospital, forcing them to strip and gathering them in a large open dirt area.

Among those abducted was Aboud Battah, a 17-year-old journalist who has been covering Israel's war on Gaza since it began over a year ago.

The head of Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, Ramy Abdu, stated that the military tortured Battah and then took him to an unknown location before he was released.

The Gaza Ministry of Health issued a statement saying, “We do not understand how the world allows itself to stand by and watch the most heinous genocide and the most widespread systematic operation to destroy the health system and kill and arrest patients and medical staff without moving a finger.”


Last night, the Israeli military carried out a major massacre in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, blowing up 11 residential buildings.

Local sources and journalists reported that around 150 people, including women and children, were killed and injured in the attack, Quds News Network reported.

Israeli forces also carried out attacks in southern Gaza overnight, CNN reported.

In Khan Yunis, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 26 Palestinians, civil defense officials reported.

The victims include fourteen members of the Al-Farra family, including many children, whose home was struck by an Israeli missile in the Al-Manara area south of the city center.

Israeli strikes on residential homes killed six people in the areas of Al-Manara and Kizan al-Najar southeast of Khan Yunis, hospital officials reported.

Israel has laid siege to northern Gaza since 5 October in an effort to ethnically cleanse the area and destroy Palestinian refugee camps and cities. Israel is implementing the so-called Generals' Plan, which seeks to forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in preparation for establishing Jewish settlements in their place.

Israel's war to conquer, annex, and settle Gaza has killed nearly 42,800 people, mostly women and children, and injured more than 100,400 since October 2023.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-f ... -and-staff

******

A stunning de-capitation? The Netanyahu “madness”

Alastair Crooke

October 27, 2024

All the war “games” played over successive years have resulted in America losing.

A major war between Israel and Iran is soon likely to erupt – so says Israel’s Defence Minister Gallant. It will be initiated when Israel launches its long mooted strike on Iran. Gallant has promised that Israel’s strike on Iran will be “lethal, precise and especially surprising”, adding that Iran “won’t understand what happened to it, or how”.

‘How’ so – an interesting choice of words.

As of this morning, there is no sign of the lethal response promised by Gallant. It would appear that Israel which initially attached importance to responding swiftly and directly, is awaiting the THAAD anti-ballistic missile batteries to be set up – and for the U.S. troops that will operate them to arrive in Israel.

THAAD likely is no ‘game-changer’. Iran proved on 1 October its ability to saturate and overwhelm Israeli Air Defence capabilities through two successive volleys of incoming ballistic missiles. The point here about the THAAD arrival is that, on the one hand, Israel is running short of intercept missiles, and secondly, that drawing the U.S. into a war between the U.S. and Iran – is hugely more important for Netanyahu than keeping to timetable.

The THAAD batteries paradoxically might do just that (draw the U.S. into the war). With U.S. forces now deployed on the ground in support of Israel’s military kinetic action against Iran, Israel effectively inserts an American ‘tripwire’ into the war drama: Should American soldiers be killed, then the U.S. is at war with Iran; It would feel bound to react forcefully to the deaths of American soldiers.

Netanyahu has been wanting this war for 25 years. He can now see it taking solid shape – directly in front of his eyes. It comes too, from his perspective, at an benign juncture – just before the U.S. elections in which almost every candidate vies to pronounce his or her fealty to Israel.

To be clear, this is no ‘small beer’. It may evolve into a major conflict with Russia, should Tehran be threatened. Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its inhuman – beyond all Rules of War – bombing of civilians in Lebanon to force a terrorised submission, has turned Russia into a full partner with Iran. Russia therefore, has worked hard to supplement Iranian defences with their own top-of-the-line defence systems.

Russia’s role however likely will be confined to providing Iran with this defence assistance: Russian ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance); its latest electronic warfare system; certain missiles; and possibly S-400 Air Defence missiles (though their arrival in Iran has not been confirmed).

Russia will have a prime interest in observing how these weapons perform against an Israeli strike.

Should they function well, it will provide a major boost to Russian general deterrence.

And here lies the key point: For Israeli Zionists and American neocons, the path to a de-fanged Moscow is viewed as passing through a de-capitated and defeated Tehran. Iran winning – the Resistance winning therefore – is very much a Russian interest.

Excited by Israel’s de-capitation of much of the Hizbullah senior leadership, and heartened perhaps by unauthorised (and wrong) signalling from Iran that it might respond perfunctorily to an Israeli strike, Team Biden might well perceive a new Zionist-led Middle East about to be born.

Will the Joint Chiefs at the Pentagon intervene to stop the march to conflict – as they did over Blinken’s escalation plans in Ukraine? It seems unlikely. They have unreservedly supported Israel up to now. And they have agreed to send the THAAD batteries.

The Joint Chiefs certainly will have experienced the strong pro-Israeli sentiment in Congress, in marked contrast to the growing disenchantment with Ukraine.

Yet, taking on Iran – supported by Russia and China – is no small thing: Is it truly ‘winnable’? What if it isn’t? What if Israel loses – and therefore America loses? It would be an earthquake; a humiliation that would shake the western world.

One commentator, James Kroeger, intriguingly predicts that “Israel’s attack, if it comes, will be yet another decapitation strike: This time executed in even more stunning fashion than the one they pulled off vs Nasrallah”.

“You see, the Pentagon won’t sign on to IDF’s plans to attack Iran’s oil fields or even Iran’s buried nuclear industry; but they have a history of supporting Israel when it targets the Resistance leaders who oppose Israel. Didn’t the IDF just use 82 – 2,000lb U.S. bombs in Beirut to kill Nasrallah? With full U.S. complicity?

“As a basic concept, the U.S. is likely to approve and possibly even enable a ‘decapitation’ strike on Iran’s key leaders in Tehran in the belief that Iran would be too stunned to respond with a ‘total war’ attack on Israel. After all, what did Iran do after Nasrallah was killed? Attack some IDF Air Bases in a way that killed no Israelis? Did it deter Israel from daring to attack Iran once again?”

“What the Pentagon would not be likely to approve is the use of nukes to decapitate Iran’s government – because it just might be enough to trigger the all-out war that the Pentagon so fears: But what if cunning Israel, after accepting America’s assistance in an operation to deliver a conventional ‘bunker buster’ bomb attack on the Supreme Leader, decides on its own, to also deliver a tactical or strategic nuke on Tehran that completely devastates Iran’s chain of command?”

“Understand, Israel’s intent is not to avoid an all-out war with Iran, but to ignite one & using a nuke on Tehran would do just that. 100% guaranteed. Bibi understands that after such an attack, if Iran responds by attacking Israel with everything it’s got, he’ll be able to get Congress to pass a Declaration of War vs Iran”.

“MSM and the State Dept [together with Congress] would be marshalled first, to deny that nukes were used, and then to make emotional excuses for why Israel needed to use its nukes “to defend itself”. The theme they’ll endlessly repeat: Poor Israel, threatened with annihilation by terrorists, resorted to the only weapons it had left to defeat the evil it was facing …”.

“Madness? Yeah. Netanyahu ‘madness’” … Yet, Gallant’s enigmatic “lethal, precise and especially surprising: Iran won’t understand what happened to it, or how” – odd wording fits neatly with this Kroeger thesis.

Big unknown: Will the Pentagon be able to take a stand and refuse to comply? Indeed the Pentagon consistently has opposed all-out war between the U.S. and Iran.

Why? All the war ‘games’ played over successive years have resulted in America losing.

https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/ ... u-madness/

******

Summary.

As if this hasn't been clear before.

1. For "journos"--"explosions in Tehran" don't mean "explosions IN Tehran". Most of the time those are the work of air defense and "explosions in the skies OVER Tehran";

2. Salvo model and issue of "leakers" describe perfectly any SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defense). Israel has NO resources to conduct this against Iran;

3. Whatever "leakers" there were--they were very few and, sadly, managed to kill 4 Iranian servicemen;

4. Whatever Israel launched--most of it was intercepted. I don't know the percentage but it is very high. NATO is reeling from recognition of the effectiveness of the Iranian AD, as is Israel;

5. Deterrence worked, that much is clear--Israel never recovered from tour de force of Iranian strike capabilities on October 1st, and now Iran demonstrated that it can defend herself--this is not what NATO and Israel are used to when killing defenseless civilians;

6. US President Joe Biden has expressed hope that the IDF strikes mark the end of the escalation in the Middle East.“It looks like [Israel] didn’t hit anything other than military targets. My hope is this is the end,” he told reporters in Philadelphia. He added that he’d been briefed on the matter by the American intelligence community.

That's right, the only thing which is left for Israel and Washington is hope that Iran doesn't retaliate because it could be much worse than October 1st and Israel better hope that Putin is engaged and is calming things down with his Iranian counterparts.

That was feeble from Israel, to put it mildly--militarily it is not in the same league. I wonder if Iranians want to get THAAD which will be provided to Israel, if they decide (hopefully not) to retaliate.

And here is the post in comments from evidently hugely successful discussion yesterday between Nima, Larry and me.


As a Sunni Muslim, Andrei is correct about what’s going on in the Sunni world. About half are doubling down in their hatred of all things Shia and getting more entrenched in secular nationalism, but half are seriously considering a united Muslim world under the leadership of Iran. We Sunnis are starting to think Allah has blessed Iran.

Many people still cannot grasp a gigantic mental shift in Ummah against the background of Iran not talking but coming out swinging. It is really metaphysical. It is so gigantic that I cannot find proper terms to describe it--the Arab street took a note... big time.

http://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2024/10/summary.html

[blindpig]

Palestinians mourn beside the shrouded bodies of loved ones killed during an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Jabaliya refugee camp, 21 October. (Hadi Daoud APA images)

Israeli forces carry out death marches in north Gaza

Originally published: The Electronic Intifada on October 24, 2024 by Nora Barrows-Friedman (more by The Electronic Intifada) | (Posted Oct 26, 2024)

The following is from the news roundup during the 23 October livestream. Watch the entire episode here.

Israel is continuing to systematically destroy the northern Gaza Strip, carrying out ethnic extermination campaigns and forced mass expulsion.

For nearly three weeks, Israel has blocked food, water, medicine and fuel from reaching the areas north of Gaza City, as the remaining reporters and health workers there describe scenes of catastrophic horror.

On Saturday, images and video emerged of what journalists have described as a death march near the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya.

Reporter Hossam Shabat stated that Israeli occupation forces dug a quote “deep hole in one of the squares surrounding the Indonesian Hospital, and placed male Palestinians in it with their hands tied and their eyes blindfolded.”



Shabat had reported that in the days leading up to this death march, the hospital had been surrounded by tanks as Israeli soldiers cut the electricity, bombed the building and targeted the second and third floors with artillery shells.



In the Jabaliya refugee camp, Israeli troops forced families to leave their homes and attacked a school turned into a shelter on Monday.



Hossam Shabat reported that they “lined people up and shot anyone who dared to move. Any male over the age of 16 is being detained, tortured and investigated. Many people who are being lined up are sick individuals, such as amputees, cancer patients and young kids who are being asked to stand in line for hours. The situation is catastrophic.”





Novelist Ahmed Masoud, who has been on this livestream before and has family in Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya, tweeted on Tuesday that his relatives have been separated from each other by gender, with Israeli soldiers detaining the men. He added that he has had no contact with his family members since.

On Tuesday, reporter Anas al-Sharif stated that Israeli drones with loudspeakers ordered more than 10,000 displaced Palestinians to leave a school shelter in Beit Lahiya. People in the school would be bombed or shot if they refused.

These mass expulsions come on the heels of relentless massacres across northern Gaza.

Along with the Indonesian Hospital, al-Awda Hospital was also directly hit in Israeli attacks on Friday. And on Tuesday, the acting director of al-Awda stated that Israeli forces were again besieging the hospital.

Also on Tuesday, Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya issued a distress call, saying that Israeli forces had bombed the gate of the hospital and that quadcopter drones were dropping bombs. The upper floors of the hospital were being shot at and that all services had collapsed, he said.



“There are no blood units or tubes to drain bleeding from the chest, and most of the medical supplies are not available,” adding that people who evacuated were shot on the way out of the hospital. Abu Safia warned,

Kamal Adwan Hospital will turn into mass graves.

In a statement on Tuesday, Munir al-Bursh, the director of the health ministry in Gaza who is currently in the north, said that hospitals “have run out of coffins to prepare the dead, and we have asked people to donate any fabric they have at home.”

Palestinian health officials and the civil emergency corps say that dozens of bodies of people killed by Israeli fire remain scattered on roads and under rubble, with rescue teams unable to reach them.

On 17 October, Israel bombed a UN school in Jabaliya refugee camp hosting displaced people, killing at least 28 Palestinians and wounding 160.

On 19 October, Israel bombed several houses in Jabaliya, killing at least 33 and injuring dozens more.

Later that day, dozens of people were killed in Beit Lahiya as Israeli warplanes razed entire residential blocks.

The Gaza health ministry reported that at least 87 people were killed and people were trapped under the rubble.



Journalist Hossam Shabat reported that Israel has “rigged residential zones” with explosives.

Israeli soldiers, he says,

are setting explosive barrels at night and detonating them during the day, resulting in devastating destruction and death. They are moving closer to densely populated areas, where residents are unable to flee due to surveillance by quadcopters that target anyone who attempts to move. Israel’s goal is to destroy every building in the Jabaliya refugee camp and kill its residents in order to annex the land.

Starvation deepens
Amid the total closure of northern Gaza to any food, medicine or water, Israeli forces killed six Palestinian men when they tried to access drinking water in Jabaliya camp on Monday, according to Al Jazeera.

Israel also killed workers on their way to repair a water line in the south, in Khan Younis. The international aid group Oxfam stated on Monday that Israel bombed a clearly-marked vehicle belonging to engineers and workers from the Khuzaa municipality in coordination with Oxfam’s partners at the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility.



The four men were killed on their way to conduct repairs to water infrastructure in Khuzaa, east of Khan Younis, and their movements had been coordinated with the Israeli military beforehand.

The Government Media Office in Gaza says Israeli forces have prevented the entry of “more than a quarter of a million trucks of aid and goods” since the war began last year, adding that it was part of Israel’s strategy of “reinforcing the starvation policy and using it as a weapon of war against civilians and against children, especially by preventing the entry of food, baby milk and nutritional supplements.”

Capitulating to Israel’s severe restrictions or outright preventions of aid deliveries by land into Gaza as people starve, international air-dropped parcels have somewhat resumed.

One of those parcels killed a 3-year-old boy, Sami Ayyad, in the southern city of Khan Younis on Saturday, according to his relatives and reported by CNN.

“The family was eating breakfast when pallets dropped from airplanes and careened towards the displacement area,” CNN reported, quoting the boy’s grandfather, who is also called Sami Ayyad.

Several family members, the network added,

attempted to take cover inside their improvised tents but the falling parcel killed the 3-year-old instantly, Ayyad recalled. Sami’s aunt and cousin were also wounded on their foot and face, respectively, Ayyad added.

Ayyad told CNN that he was “sitting here with the boy, and the moment I left him … the package fell on him … There was only a second between me and him. I carried him and started running.”

We have no hospitals. I ran like crazy, but the boy died instantly. I couldn’t save him. Blood started coming out of his nose and mouth.

Young farmer killed
Our contributor Yousef Aljamal said on Monday that a young man he interviewed for a story we just published on The Electronic Intifada was killed.

Yousef Abu Rabee, a farmer and food provider, was killed Monday in a drone strike near his plant nursery after he was delivering fresh produce to people in Beit Lahiya.

In the days before he was killed, Yousef Aljamal writes, Abu Rabee posted a short video on his Instagram account documenting him and another person ducking for cover on a narrow street. They had come under fire while distributing parcels of food in bright blue plastic bags, the gunshots audible in the video.

Writer, chef and journalist Laila El-Haddad stated that “Israel assassinated farmer Yousef Abu Rabee and his two colleagues today as they were delivering seedlings to his neighbors in the north. He was a true hero, resisting genocide in impossible circumstances.”

Yousef Aljamal, who interviewed Abu Rabee at length about his agricultural project in northern Gaza, writes:

That Palestinian farmers were even able to plant during a genocide is a marvel, and the loss of any food producer is devastating to society as a whole while Israel uses starvation as a weapon of war.

The killing of a young farmer like Abu Rabee, who provided a lifeline to his community, leaves other Palestinians in Gaza’s north, where almost no food has been allowed in since the beginning of the month, much more vulnerable.”

Meanwhile, Michael Fakhri, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the right to food, admonished members of the so-called international community this week in a UN hearing.

“One year ago, I stood before you and told you that food is increasingly used as a weapon against civilians,” Fakhri said.

Exactly one year ago, I, amongst other mandate holders, raised the alarm for the risk of genocide against the Palestinian people. Unfortunately, you did not take sufficient action, and as my colleagues and I predicted, Israel’s war proved to be a genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people. The Palestinian people have faced genocide for a year, with no signs of Israel abating.

He added:

What the world has learned is no amount of facts and figures, no amount of horror, no amount of death and pain is enough to trigger a global response to starvation and genocide.

Broadening assaults on Lebanon
Turning northwards, Israel has escalated its bombing attacks against civilians across Lebanon in recent days. Israeli forces carried out several strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday, including one near the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the capital’s main government hospital.

The attack killed more than a dozen people, including a child, and injured more than 50, according to Lebanese health authorities.

Administrators at the Sahel Hospital in south Beirut reported that the medical facility was evacuated following warnings issued by Israel.

On Monday, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari claimed that Hizballah was holding millions of dollars in gold and cash in assassinated leader Hasan Nasrallah’s personal bunker underneath the Sahel Hospital, the same kinds of baseless claims of hidden military bunkers underneath hospitals in Gaza that Israel made in order to justify bombing them.

On Monday, Israeli airstrikes targeted residential apartment buildings in southern Beirut.

The number of people killed since Israel’s offensive in Lebanon began has risen to more than 2,500 with nearly 12,000 more injured. And some 1.2 million people—a quarter of Lebanon’s population—have been displaced from their homes.

On Sunday, signaling a further broadening of its assault on civilian life, Israel bombed branches and offices of al-Qard al-Hassan, a credit union that gives out small loans to citizens, but that Israel claims is part of the financial infrastructure of the Lebanese resistance group Hizballah.

Highlighting defiance
Finally, as we always do, we wanted to share videos of people expressing defiance and resilience in the face of Israel’s widening campaign of destruction.

This video shows a woman in Lebanon making coffee in her destroyed home:

[youtube]http://x.com/i/status/1847292235999547422[/youtube]

And this video, recorded and shared by the Gaza Sunbirds paracycling team, shows one of its members in the central Gaza Strip preparing bread and manakish amid the rubble of his home, enjoying this classic Palestinian breakfast.

https://mronline.org/2024/10/26/israeli ... orth-gaza/

******

The Israeli attack on Iran: what do we know? And what does it mean?
October 27, 2024

Alternative Media commentators from among intelligence veterans and military veterans had their time ‘on air’ on Friday, well before the Israeli attack on Iran carried out during the night of 25 – 26 October. For that reason, their evaluations of the attack have not yet appeared on youtube.

Accordingly, what I present here is based on my own layman’s evaluation of the Israeli attacks without reference to what the Martyanovs, Larry Johnsons or Scott Ritters will say eventually. My primary raw inputs are what major media in the West, in Russia and in the Middle East itself have published about the attack. I can point in particular to the video images from Teheran during the attack posted on this morning’s BBC World News.

The text message from all sides repeats the Israeli claims to have struck 20 military targets in Iran comprising missile and drone manufacturing facilities, as well as radar systems of the Iranian air defense. The former targets require no explanation; the latter are targets that are usually chosen by the attacking side to prepare the way for jets that will bomb substantial infrastructure at some time in the future.

As for Iran, the text of major Western media is that Iran denies any substantial damage was done. Such denial is considered to be a face-saving measure enabling Teheran not to respond to this latest Israeli aggression without appearing to be weak even if their losses were serious.

So far so good. We are left with an impression that we are being systematically underinformed by all sides in what is called ‘the fog of war.’

However, even a modest effort shows that there is something that we can divine from these sketchy inputs plus certain diverse information that has appeared in unofficial internet sources but was not tied together to any big-picture interpretation.

First, note that the Israeli attack on targets in and near Teheran was made by air to ground missiles. This is an entirely different type of attack from what Israel has been doing in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Syria. In those fronts the Israelis are primarily using their jets to drop bombs over or from near their targets, including the multi-ton highly destructive glide bombs that the United States has shipped to Israel in lavish quantities because of their destructive power and lethality.

We do not know the nature of the Israeli attack on two provinces of Iran close to the Iraqi border. No video images from there have been published. Perhaps the Israelis crossed the border into Iran, perhaps not. But they clearly hit the Teheran area from missiles fired at a great distance and the reason should be fairly obvious: because the Iranian air defense is robust and has been further strengthened in recent months by installation of Russia’s advanced S400 ground to air missiles.

Moreover, there is likely a second reason for the Israelis not flying very far into Iran: the lack of refueling tanker jets from the USA, which surely have not been offered to them. The Pentagon wants to prevent escalation of the conflict that would draw the States into the war and potentially into a direct clash with Russia, which will likely stand by its protégé in the region. We saw that in the ‘leak’ of highly confidential intelligence papers setting out the details of a devastating attack on Iran which Netanyahu had been planning. Here, too, by denial of refueling assistance we can discern the same resistance in the high ranks of the US military to the inane policies of the civilian leadership as represented by Biden and Blinken out of considerations of realism.

What do I hear and read in ‘unofficial’ internet sources, mostly Russia-based, that bears on the question at hand? It is that Russia provided to Teheran advance warning of the impending Israeli attack coming from its own technical means of intelligence gathering, presumably meaning satellites and/or AWACS. If this is true, then it demonstrates that Russia will provide effective and highly useful assistance to Iran as the conflict with Israel evolves, even though no binding mutual defense treaty has been signed, let alone ratified. The lack of a treaty in place is simply to prevent Iran from abusing a blank check and behaving irresponsibly.

How much damage was done to Iranian military infrastructure by the Israeli attack? The BBC video images show clearly that their air defense was operating and apparently blowing up incoming missiles. Therefore, we may well believe the Iranian claims that the damage to themselves was relatively minor. We may assume that Russia will be rushing in replacement missiles for those of its S400 expended in resisting the Israeli attack, or where needed to replace damaged Iranian air defense locations. Thus, Tel Aviv will be given pause when planning any deep incursions to stage bombing raids.

To put it in simpler language: for the Israelis Iran is not the relative child’s play of Gaza or Syria just as Hezbollah is not relative sitting duck, Hamas, but is a serious peer military force.

*****

This morning, I had the opportunity to set out some of the above observations in my status one of two panelists on a live broadcast carried by Iran’s Press TV. My fellow panelist was an expert based in Beirut. As soon as the link is made available, I will post it here.

©Gilbert Doctorow, 2024

https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2024/10/27/ ... s-it-mean/

******

Israel's limited counter to Iran's massive attack

After weeks of grandiose threats, Israel struck a number of military sites in Iran over the weekend. While many details of the attack remain unclear, Iran's leadership suggests that a qualitative response is on the horizon.


Fereshteh Sadeghi

OCT 27, 2024


Photo Credit: The Cradle

Twenty-five days after Iran’s massive 1 October missile attacks on Israel, and following weeks of threats and bluster about its huge preparations, Tel Aviv unleashed its own offensive against military sites of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the early hours of Saturday, 26 October.

The Israeli attack started in the capital, Tehran, where at around 02:15 local time (22:45 GMT), very loud explosions were heard on the western side of the city. Reports which usually are published immediately on the social media platform X, suggested six explosions had been heard.

A multi-wave attack

Footage surfacing afterward — though scarce in number — showed Iranian anti-aircraft guns firing into the sky over Tehran, but no sign of missiles were recorded in those videos. The lack of visible missile evidence sparked debate among analysts, with some suggesting that the occupation state employed tactics designed to evade traditional detection methods, potentially by using low-altitude or stealth drones. But others have questioned whether Israeli jets even entered Iranian airspace.

The second and third waves of strikes came two to four hours later when aerial defense systems became active in Iran's western province of Ilam and the southwestern province of Khuzestan. This multi-wave strategy indicated a calculated attempt to wear down Iran's defenses, probing their response times and resilience in multiple regions simultaneously.

With news about the initial raids ebbing, western media began to frame the Israeli strikes as enormous as well as successful. These evidence-free portrayals were met with skepticism from Iranian officials, who emphasized the effectiveness of their air defenses in minimizing any damage from Israeli strikes.

The New York Times wrote, “Israeli jets first targeted air defense batteries and later struck Iran’s missile arrays and production sites.”

Axios quoted Israeli officials as claiming, “Israel had sent a message to Tehran, ahead of the airstrikes, warning the Iranians not to respond.”

In the morning, the Israeli military issued a statement saying “it had completed its strikes but that if Iran makes the mistake of carrying out another attack, Israel will have to fight back.”

The Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base — the central command in charge of defending the skies of Iran — meanwhile announced that:

“Despite all previous warnings from the Iranian authorities to the criminal, illegal Zionist regime against engaging in any form of adventurism, that fake regime in an escalating move struck military locations in Tehran, Ilam, and Khuzestan. The joint aerial defense of the country successfully intercepted and thwarted the aggressor’s raids. Despite that, limited damage was done to some sites with the extent of the harm being investigated.”

The Iranian army later in the day announced the death of at least four officers, including a colonel, killed during Israeli air raids in Khuzestan. An informed source speaking to The Cradle on condition of anonymity reveals that the number of Iranian casualties is higher than what is officially being reported.

What were Tel Aviv’s tactics?

More than 24 hours on, details about the Israeli air raids or the extent of the harm to the Iranian military are unclear and patchy at best. Both sides have a vested interest in controlling the narrative: Tel Aviv to project power and deterrence, and Tehran to maintain an image of resilience and minimize perceived vulnerabilities.

Israel says it deployed over 100 F-35 fighter jets to conduct the offensive. However, an Iranian conservative lawmaker on Saturday morning claimed that the strikes in Tehran were actually carried out by small drones or quadcopters.

Hamid Rasaei wrote on his Telegram channel that “the Zionist regime’s agents in Tehran were involved in those attacks and Iranian anti-aircraft guns fired at those microdrones.”

The narrative in the west of the country was different. Images of an Israeli missile’s booster falling in Iraq’s Salahuddin province suggest Israel used the Golden Horizon Air launched Ballistic Missile to hit Iranian radars in the western belt of the country.

The use of Iraqi airspace by Israel was confirmed by the Khatam Al-Anbiya Air Defense Base. It has blamed the US military for allowing Israel to fire air-launched ballistic missiles into Iranian territory from 100 kilometers deep inside the Iraqi soil. No such permission had been granted from Iraqi authorities.

Baghdad was joined by other Arab capitals in strongly condemning the Israeli attack on Iranian soil without referring to the use of its airspace by Israel. The Cradle’s correspondent in Baghdad says, “Iraq did not approve of the use of its skies, but Prime Minister [Mohammed Shia] al-Sudani has no say in this matter because Washington controls the Iraqi airspace, while Iraqi radar systems are old.”

Khatam al-Anbiya has not mentioned Jordan, a country that denies involvement in the Israeli aerial attack despite its track record of defending the occupation state from previous Iranian retaliatory strikes.

Limited success or major damage?

Although the official Iranian media have downplayed the extent and strength of the Israeli strikes, University of Tehran academic and political analyst Mohammad Marandi tells The Cradle that “it was a big operation on the side of Israel and actually a considerable one, as Israelis did harm Iranian radar and defense systems.”

Iranian academic Foad Izadi believes “the Israeli attack was not something that many had expected, much less than what was thought it would do.” But, he emphasizes, “(In essence) Israel has no right to strike Iran, whether the strikes are small, medium or large. Iran is an independent country, and attacking another country is a violation of international law.”

Izadi dismisses western claims that Israel's patently illegal strikes on Iran are justified as “self-defense,” pointing out that, in all cases, Tel Aviv launched the original aggressions while Tehran was legally retaliating.

“Iran fired a barrage of missiles on Israel for the first time in April in the wake of an Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, that had been conducted despite Tehran’s previous warnings. The second encounter happened following Israel’s assassination of Hamas’s leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Iran had the right to respond to the killing of its guest, as well as the events that unfolded in Lebanon including Nasrallah’s assassination.”

Izadi points to a stellar performance by Iran's air defense systems, in which “Iran was basically able to minimize the effect of this aggression” by Israel.

Marandi, who served as a consultant for the Iranian negotiating team at the last round of Vienna nuclear talks, agrees with the assessment that Iran’s air defenses performed well:

“Iranians had conducted security and intelligence operations ahead of the strikes and succeeded in limiting the extent of damage by dummies and decoys as well as spreading misinformation about sensitive sites.”

As he tells The Cradle, the damage inflicted on Iranian military sites was not grave because “the possibility of a direct confrontation with the United States convinced Iranians many years ago to relocate almost all sensitive sites and strategic production facilities underground. Neither warplanes nor missiles are able to penetrate into those underground facilities.”

“What remains on the ground are small workshops producing missile spare parts and they are scattered across the country, but not near borders, that’s why the strike failed to leave a significant harm,” Marandi adds.

True Promise 3?

Saturday's direct hits on the Iranian capital and Iran's provincial military facilities were the first since 1987, when former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s military forces rained missiles on Tehran and other Iranian cities. The psychological impact of targeting Tehran itself cannot be overstated; it represents a symbolic blow that challenges Iranian security and sovereignty and will likely necessitate a meaningful and calibrated response.

That notion was reiterated by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has the final word on all national security matters. During a meeting with“Martyrs of Security” family members earlier today, Khamenei pointed out that Israel has yet to learn its lesson:

“They (the Israelis) need to understand the power, determination, and innovation of the Iranian nation and its youth. How to convey this power and resolve of the Iranian nation to the Zionist regime is for our officials to determine, and what is in the best interest of the nation and the country should be done.”

Foad Izadi believes a third Iranian attack against the occupation state is likely because “Iran's leaders are very much in line with the analysis that attacking the country should not become normalized. Mohammad Marandi says Tehran's retaliation isn't a matter of if, but when: “Even if Tehran had not been struck and only Ilam had been targeted by the Israelis, the Iranian leadership would have reacted,” he tells The Cradle.

“Iran’s retaliation to the April’s Damascus strike took days. After Haniyeh’s assassination, it took months for Tehran to strike back,” Marandi elaborates. Following the Israeli strikes, Iran's Supreme National Security Council met to get briefed on the targets that were hit and assess the extent of damage. While a possible Iranian military response was reportedly discussed, there is no information yet on whether that decision has been made.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israels-l ... ive-attack

Netanyahu’s allies demand ‘military pressure’ over revival of Gaza truce talks

Israel’s premier has approved an Israeli delegation’s trip to discuss ceasefire and exchange efforts with officials in Qatar

News Desk

OCT 25, 2024


(Photo credit: AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition allies in the National Security and Finance Ministries continue to obstruct ceasefire and exchange negotiations, as a new round of talks is expected to take place in the coming days.

“The formation of the negotiating delegation was not in accordance with the opinion of the members of the Israeli government. The minister opposed sending any delegation on the basis that at the current stage, pressure must be continued on Hamas, especially after the assassination of Sinwar,” Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said on 24 October.


“It is forbidden to give Hamas oxygen,” he added. “[Israel must] continue working against it. This is the safe and correct path that will lead to victory and the return of the kidnapped to their homes, not the path of deals that will allow Hamas to reorganize its forces.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also strongly denounced the initiative to revive the negotiations and blasted Qatari involvement in the process.


“I strongly do not support the Prime Minister's decision to approve the Mossad chief's trip to the negotiations,” Smotrich said. “Qatar is an enemy state and supports Hamas and its positions in the negotiations,” he added.

“Negotiations alone will not return the kidnapped soldiers, and continued military pressure on Hamas is the best option, just as our soldiers are doing now in the northern Gaza Strip.”

Washington and Doha announced on Thursday that talks would be held over the weekend in the Qatari capital. Netanyahu’s office announced that night that Mossad chief David Barnea will head to Doha on Sunday for talks on a potential agreement.

According to Egypt’s Al-Qahera News TV, a delegation of Hamas officials has met with an Egyptian security delegation in Cairo to discuss the efforts.

Hebrew news outlet Walla reported this week that Shin Bet head Ronen Bar presented an Egyptian proposal for a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of the limited number of Israeli captives.

Cairo has not commented on the proposal allegedly floated by Egypt. An Egyptian source told Al-Qahera News that “Egypt insists that any steps towards calm must lead to a comprehensive cease-fire in the region.”

Hamas has held fast to its terms for a permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, particularly in the aftermath of Yahya Sinwar’s killing. Tel Aviv is still insistent on maintaining a troop presence in key areas of the strip and continuing the fighting against Hamas until the goals of the war are achieved.

A Palestinian leadership source told Al Mayadeen on 25 October that Israel is trying to avoid a comprehensive agreement through “partial deals," and that Hamas will reject this.

The revival of the negotiation process comes as Israeli forces are implementing the General’s Plan in the northern Gaza Strip. Hundreds have been killed and hundreds of others displaced as part of the plan, which aims to exterminate or expel the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who remain in north Gaza and transform the area into an isolated military zone.

Hamas said on Thursday that it had launched an “intensive” political and diplomatic campaign in order to thwart the General’s Plan.

https://thecradle.co/articles/netanyahu ... ruce-talks

*******

Israel’s Biblical Wars of ‘Self Defense’: The Myth of the ‘Seven War Fronts’
Posted by Internationalist 360° on October 27, 2024
Ramzy Baroud



Israeli officials keep repeating that Israel is fighting on multiple fronts. The truth is that Israel chooses to fight on multiple fronts. The two claims are fundamentally different.

Recently, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went as far as saying that his country is fighting on seven different war fronts, all driven by the objective of “defending ourselves against … barbarism.”

These supposedly defensive wars are also carried out in the name of protecting “civilization against those who seek to impose a dark age of fanaticism on all of us,” Netanyahu said in a speech in early October.

There will be no need to counter Netanyahu’s diatribes. It should be obvious that neither genocide is classified as self-defense, nor does preserving human civilization include burning people alive, as was the case with Sha’ban Al-Dalou, who was horrifically killed alongside his family in the recent Israeli shelling of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

But is Israel being forced to fight on seven fronts?

According to Netanyahu, but also other top political and military officials, the fronts are Iran, Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and groups in Syria, Iraq and the West Bank.

Though the major fighting is only taking place in Gaza and Lebanon, the official Israeli line is keen on exaggerating the number of war fronts to continue capitalizing on the generous US and western military and political support. More wars for Israel also translate into more money.

Of course, Israel is fighting actual wars too; a war of extermination and genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, which has killed and wounded more than 150,000 people in the course of one year.

There is also a war in the West Bank, carried out with the precise aim of subduing all forms of resistance, so that Israel may accelerate its settler-colonial project in the occupied territories.

The above is not an inference, but a statement of fact, based on Netanyahu’s own declared policies. “Israel must have security control over all the territory west of the Jordan,” he said during a news conference last January. To be more precise, “between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty,” he said. ‘Security control” is an Israeli euphemism for territorial expansion.

In an interview with the European public service channel, Arte, Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich said Israel would expand “little by little” to eventually encompass the whole of the Palestinian territories, in addition to Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and other Arab countries.

“It is written that the future of Jerusalem is to expand to Damascus,” he said.



Religious prophecies are particularly dangerous when they are embraced by unhinged extremist politicians who wield the political clout and military power to put them into action.

Netanyahu is a leading member of the same group. He has already justified his genocide in Gaza and wars everywhere according to religious texts, where he sees his army as the Israelites fighting the Amalekites.

These religious sentiments are common in Israel’s political discourses throughout history. However, they have taken center stage in recent years under a succession of far-right governments, mostly formed by Netanyahu. They see in the Gaza war an opportunity to bring about what Smotrich, then the vice-chairman of the Knesset called in 2017 as “Israel’s decisive plan”.

Ironically named ‘One Hope’, Smotrich’s plan is primarily centered on the annexation of the whole of the West Bank, which he, like Netanyahu and others, refers to as ‘Judea and Samaria’. The plan entails “imposing sovereignty on all of Judea and Samaria”, with the “concurrent acts of settlements”, as in “the establishing of cities and towns”, with the aim of “creating a clear and irreversible reality on the ground”.

Smotrich’s plan, which is being implemented, now that he is one of the two kingmakers in Netanyahu’s government – the other is Itamar Ben-Gvir – was prepared years before the ongoing war on Gaza, and is being implemented, per his own admission, “little by little” ever since.

Israel may claim that it is fighting a war on seven or seventy fronts. It may also assign itself the role of the savior of civilizations. But the truth cannot be hidden, especially when the Israelis themselves are the ones who are disclosing their sinister intentions.

Even the ongoing war on Lebanon, which Israeli leaders, along with their US backers, have dubbed a defensive war, is now being promoted by some Israeli politicians and their rightwing supporters as another expansionist war, or more accurately a quest for “Greater Israel”

There is a difference between a country fighting a defensive war on multiple fronts and another fighting for colonial expansion, for regional hegemony and for military dominance driven by religious prophecies. Those who have chosen the latter path, as Israel has, cannot claim to be in a state of self-defense.

“Self-defense in international law refers to the inherent right of a State to use of force in response to an armed attack,” the International Red Cross states on its website. This definition does not apply to a state that is itself a military occupier, thus is in an active state of hostility and unlawful use of violence.

Netanyahu and Smotrich, however, are hardly concerned about international or humanitarian laws. They are driven by ominous, expansionist agendas. If they succeed, more deadly wars are sure to follow. The international community must do everything in its power to ensure their failure.

– Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is ‘Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out’. His other books include ‘My Father was a Freedom Fighter’ and ‘The Last Earth’. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net



https://libya360.wordpress.com/2024/10/ ... ar-fronts/

Resistance Education: Palestine and the Responsibility of Intellectuals
Posted by Internationalist 360° on October 24, 2024
Tim Anderson


Palestinian guerrilla fighters in Jordan studying Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong, 1970 | Source: The Gates of the Great Continent: Palestine, China, and the War for Humanity’s Future

Reason and evidence remain important in human debate, but it should be clear that the truth alone cannot “set us free.”

Israeli atrocities in Gaza over 2023-2024 have galvanized world public opinion against the Zionist regime. Sufficient room was available even in the heavily censored US social media to show the repeated massacres and Zionist reprisals against the civilian population, including children. The reputation of the Israeli colony is stained forever, it can never recover from this disgrace.

Nevertheless, the Anglo-American propaganda machine remains powerful and some important elements of the Palestinian struggle require clarification, at least to honest and curious people. This is a cause which calls on the moral responsibility of intellectuals, to explain more fully the character of Western censorship and, in particular, the importance of resistance and its key role in the path to liberation and self-determination.

The colonial powers almost all abstained on the 1960 Declaration on Decolonisation, the lead principle of which (the right of a people to self-determination) entered the twin covenants of the International Bill of Rights. After that the hegemonic powers tried to deny (but could not block) UN declarations and conventions on the right to resist colonialism, occupation, and apartheid. The result is that today most anti-colonial resistance groups are banned as “terrorist”, but only in the hegemonic regimes. International law clearly supports the right to resist (further, Palestine and Lebanon as recognised nations enjoy the UN chartered right to national self-defence) while the Anglo-Americans and their collaborators live in denial. This hegemonic denial of the right to resist (including the legitimacy of Palestinian insurrection) creates a culture which confuses and must itself be resisted. Proponents of resistance education should inform, encourage and build confidence in support of legitimate popular resistance.

In this paper I will outline the need to (1) support and promote the free flow of honest information over the Palestinian struggle, (2) explain the principles and forces of resistance and (3) support the main counter hegemonic forces which back the Palestinian liberation struggle.

1. Support and promote the free flow of honest information

First, we must recognise the key elements of this struggle, based on the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, opposed by the Zionists and their sponsors, above all Anglo-American imperialism with its exceptionalist, arrogant and hegemonic pretensions.

Contrary to Zionist mythology, there is no Jewish right to self-determination in the lands of other peoples, as self-determination cannot be colonial and chauvinistic.

Back in the 1960s, all nations were forced to either support or at least accept the right of a people to self-determination, first put up in the Declaration on Decolonization, and the way it relates to the people of Palestine, and their consequent right to resist denial of that right. Many different cultures came together to recognise this great consensus, which was itself an initiative of the Global South and went on to form the basis of the UN’s twin covenants on human rights.

Of course, the collective right to self-determination necessarily implies a right to resist denial of that right. Western perspectives on human rights typically focus only on individual rights.

In face of relentless distortion and censorship of pro-Palestinian voices, responsible intellectuals should correct distortions and promote the free flow of honest information over the Palestinian struggle. That includes opposing attacks on pro-Palestinian voices, those who are de-platformed, banned, dismissed, and otherwise repressed for speaking up.

Similarly, the relentless war propaganda (especially over the Palestinian Resistance) must be exposed and deconstructed. What are the key aims of this propaganda and censorship?

Firstly to eulogise the colonists, for example through spreading fake slogans like the Israelis being ‘the only democracy’ in their region
Secondly to allow mild but not overly harsh criticism of the colonists and their sponsors,
Thirdly, by banning, so far as possible, any resistance voices or platforms which allow resistance voices.
As a consequence, the Anglo-American countries and their subordinates ban Palestinian and allied Resistance groups, usually as “terrorists”, while endlessly funding, arming, and humanising the Israeli colonists. They run a huge network of mass media (including NGOs and compliant academics) which repeat and amplify these messages. Meanwhile opposing voices are censored, de-platformed, removed from their positions and otherwise abused.

The first and central role of responsible public intellectuals must be to counter this virtual tsunami of misinformation, unmasking the vicious myths created against the Palestinian and regional Resistance.

2. Explain and support resistance principles, forces and voices

Self-determination is not a posthumous medal for helpless victims, it is a great right that must be fought for and taken from the imperial and colonial forces which try to deny and block self-determination. This is not well recognised in colonial cultures, which embed paternal myths.

Yet it is well recognised by anti-colonial leaders, like the great 19th century Cuban patriot Jose Marti who said in 1880, “You take your rights, you do not beg for them. You do not buy them with tears but with blood.”

While the Palestinian cause is popular in Western countries, this support begins as sympathy for the victims and is often simply an abstract call for an end to the violence. To take a further step and support the Palestinian and regional Resistance implies confronting Western regimes which have tried to ban and criminalise all Resistance groups.

Because of a natural instinct to avoid conflict and due to the avalanche of neocolonial propaganda, the resistance is poorly understood and poorly represented in colonial cultures. That calls for systematic popular education, stressing:

The need to recognise anti-colonial liberation movements, in particular the Palestinian struggle, as a key contemporary expression of the right of self-determination;
The inherent right to resist, by all appropriate means, denial of that basic right;
That the right to resist invasion, occupation, and apartheid by armed struggle is recognised in international law, in the Geneva Conventions, and in UN declarations over the right to resist occupation and apartheid “by all available means”;
The right of the Palestinian people to national Self-Defence (Article 51, UN Charter);
While passive resistance, like the steadfastness of remaining on one’s land, is important, it cannot survive without active support;
There is no moral equivalence in the character of armed resistance and armed occupation; one is legitimate and the other is not; suggestions that one should be “even handed” over Palestine-“Israel” are colonial deceptions.
Exposing myths around these issues is important for several reasons:

It can blunt the ideological attacks from colonial cultures on liberation movements;
It can inform false moral equivalence arguments, by which the resistance is urged to disarm, alongside the forces of occupation and apartheid;
Wider international recognition of the right to resist colonialism, apartheid, and genocide can be an effective antidote to imperial propaganda;
Clear moral argument, with evidence, may not be decisive in the propaganda wars, but it can inform honest and curious people in colonial cultures while vindicating the political will, morale, and achievements of Resistance forces.
Reason and evidence remain important in human debate, but it should be clear that the truth alone cannot “set us free”, as the entire world has watched the Gaza genocide and the sponsors of these great crimes remain stubbornly unrepentant. Truth alone is not enough; resistance is necessary.

3. Support the counter-hegemonic powers which back the Palestinian struggle

Recognition of the role of resistance must be accompanied by respect and in principle support for ALL the Palestinian Resistance groups, as well as those of the regional Resistance which materially support the Palestinian Resistance.

This means, for example, support for all the Palestinian factions, regardless of political preference or persuasion. They should be allowed to work out the form of their liberation and self-determination.

It means support for the Islamic Republic of Iran, the principal supporter of all the Palestinian factions, as these factions freely acknowledge. It is precisely Iranian support for the independent peoples of the region that makes it the focus of such hostility from the Israelis and Washington. No other regional nation has such capacity and political will.

It means support for Syria, the key link in the Axis of Resistance, which both supplies and bridges Iran to the Palestinian and Lebanese Resistance; and support for the resistance groups of Iraq and Lebanon. The dirty war on Syria, which made use of huge proxy armies, was run by Washington to divide and weaken the regional Axis of Resistance and has ended up with a triple occupation of Syria, with the Israelis (in the south) and NATO’s two largest armies (Turkey and the USA) in the north and east.

It means support for the Ansar Allah-led coalition government in Yemen (the National Salvation Government) dubbed “Houthi Rebels” by the UNSC, which has betrayed the Yemeni people by making the UN itself responsible for legitimising the ongoing siege and dirty war on Yemen.

It means support for the rising role of China in West Asia, a nation which recognises the legitimacy of the Palestinian Resistance and has been developing good relations with Axis of Resistance nations and entities.

Along with most of the international community, notably the BRICS group, China has called for the admission of Palestine to the United Nations. Beijing has recognized Palestinian statehood and also the Palestinian right to resist occupation. In February 2024, China’s representative, Ma Xinmin told the International Court of Justice that the Palestinian “use of force to resist oppression is an inalienable right” and cannot be equated with terrorism. This is an important step, as it helps undermine the Anglo-American propaganda wars and fosters an inclusive basis for all Palestinian factions to participate in a potentially democratic outcome.

China has repeatedly backed the need to admit Palestine to the United Nations, as a means of correcting historical injustice. While the form of this admission is yet to be seen, it seems likely that China will review its earlier commitment to a “roadmap” towards the so-called “two state solution”. That road faces many difficulties in view of the genocidal actions of the Israeli regime and the repeated designation of “Israel” as an apartheid state, a crime against humanity which international law says must be dismantled. A single democratic state in historic Palestine, with equal rights for all, is a path similar to the South African process of the late 1980s and, with some provisos over land and refugees, seems a superior objective.

The series of UNSC resolutions since 1967, referring to a return to (the non-existent) 1967 borders and creation of the long promised but mythical “two states”, have become obsolete. When this is fully considered, China may well contemplate the Iranian leader’s proposal for a referendum on a single democratic state, involving all the people of historic Palestine. Consistent with this trend, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for a peace conference to end the ‘tremendous suffering’ in Gaza.

Beijing has already taken several important steps in the West Asian region, in recent years. It not only verbally opposes the Unilateral Coercive Measures (unilateral “sanctions”) imposed on independent countries like Iran, Syria, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, it has set up strategic relations and economic groups – especially through the BRICS and the SCO – to include those nations held under siege by Washington and the Europeans. In 2021, China signed a strategic partnership with Iran (a statement of “Comprehensive Cooperation”). In 2024 China, Russia, and Iran carried out joint naval drills near the Gulf of Oman. China is gradually playing an important counterweight role in the region, as in the world.

China played a key role in bringing together Iran and US allies Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE. The Iran-Saudi deal was said to have led to a “wave of reconciliation” in the region, including the readmission of Syria to the Saudi dominated Arab League. Iran, the Saudis, the UAE, and Egypt were subsequently invited to join the BRICS group in January 2024. Iranian and Egyptian rapprochement began in mid-2023, several months before their BRICS accession. China’s role in reconciling tensions in West Asia is now widely recognised.

In early 2024, both China and Russia made a deal with the revolutionary government in Yemen to guarantee the safety of Red Sea shipping that was not destined for the Israeli regime. That may be a step toward overturning a series of bad UNSC resolutions which have subjected the Yemeni people to war and siege, following the UNSC’s failure to recognise the revolutionary government, an Ansar Allah led coalition called the National Salvation Government. Since 2015 the Ansar Allah led coalition has controlled more than 70% of the populated areas of Yemen.

China is cautiously filing gaps left by the trail of disastrous invasions and hybrid wars initiated by Washington. Of course, Beijing has its own interests, but in general, it advances mutual interest without coercive political demands, and is opening up new forms of coercion-free international cooperation far more amendable to the needs of independent Global South countries, including Palestine.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2024/10/ ... llectuals/

[blindpig]

Iran enters a new phase of conflict with Israel

Israel’s strategically questionable strikes against Iran fully ended Tehran’s long spell of ‘strategic patience.’ With no ceasefire in sight, Tel Aviv has recklessly paved a road of no return, leaving the field open for Iran and its regional allies to determine the next phase in the battle.


Khalil Nasrallah

OCT 28, 2024


(Photo Credit: The Cradle)

After weeks of saber-rattling, Israel followed through on its threats to attack Iran following Tehran’s 1 October military response to the assassination of Resistance Axis martyrs Ismail Haniyeh and Hassan Nasrallah.

Tel Aviv’s missile strikes targeted a variety of Iranian military bases and intelligence facilities, including air defense systems deep inside Iran, as per Israeli claims.

Both sides have provided conflicting accounts of what happened on the morning of 26 October. Israel, with its narrative echoed by western media, described the strike as precise and successful, while Iran claimed to have intercepted and thwarted most of the attacks.

Regardless, the gratuitous Israeli salvo introduced new dynamics into the West Asia battlefield. The attack early on Saturday morning revealed why Israel, backed by its western allies, deemed the strike necessary in the first place. And it has prompted new Iranian strategic calculations amid the widening regional war.

Upholding Iran’s Promise

It must be remembered that when Tel Aviv carried out its highly provocative attack targeting the Iranian consulate in Damascus on 1 April, the Iranians responded with two key demands: end the war in Gaza and de-escalate the broader regional conflict – or face a direct military response.

Less than 10 days later, frustrated by Israeli belligerence and US complicity, Iran struck back. Operation True Promise, launched on 14 April, saw an unprecedented barrage of Iranian drones and both cruise and ballistic missiles directed at three Israeli military bases, including two in southern occupied Palestine and one in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

This marked a turning point for Iran – shifting from a phase of what it termed “strategic patience” – enduring provocations while building strength – to a stage of “empowered retaliation,” undermining the occupation state’s deterrence precepts.

True Promise signaled Tehran’s intent to directly confront Israel, similar to its retaliation against US-occupied bases on 8 January 2020, just days after Washington assassinated Quds Force commander General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.

Iran’s readiness to use force dealt a strategic blow to Israeli and US ambitions, which aimed to weaken Iranian influence and curtail support for resistance forces in Palestine and Lebanon. Despite the exchange of blows, it became evident that a new balance of deterrence was emerging – one that neither Washington nor Tel Aviv could easily tip in their favor.

On 22–23 September, as Israel expanded the war into Lebanon, Tel Aviv conducted an assassination inside Iran, targeting the head of Hamas’ political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, who was visiting as a guest at the inauguration of the newly elected Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian.

The assassination was seen as both a strategic and personal affront to Iran. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed revenge, calling it Iran’s duty to avenge its fallen guest.

Escalation by assassination

This Iranian threat was taken seriously by western and Israeli decision-makers. It briefly even opened the door to potential de-escalation through a temporary 21-day ceasefire to resolve contentious issues.

However, the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah on 27 September disrupted those efforts, especially after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at the UN, upped the rhetoric against Iran, committing to continue the war until a power shift occurred in the region – aiming to neutralize resistance forces and alter the dynamics across West Asia.

After Iran’s response on 1 October, Israel, with US backing, carried out a limited strike to achieve several aims. Other than desiring a face-saving response to the massive Iranian strikes, the Israeli response sought to force Tehran to reconsider its regional strategies and alliances, including the prevention of further Iranian strikes inside Israel.

Moreover, by acting aggressively when matters could have ended at Iran’s retaliation, Israel sought to stack any ceasefire agreement in favor of its own security interests, particularly with regard to Iranian interests in Lebanon and Palestine.

Reasserting Tel Aviv’s deterrence capabilities was also a key objective, as was countering Iranian efforts to undermine Israeli normalization with Arab states, especially following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, which derailed rapprochement efforts with Arab leaders yet to formally establish ties with Tel Aviv, notably Saudi Arabia.

Tehran gets proactive

Iran has now acknowledged the Israeli strike and vowed to respond as circumstances dictate. Crucially, the Iranians successfully managed to shield their oil, nuclear, and economic assets from harm, by signaling readiness to retaliate harshly if provoked further.

Khamenei’s response encapsulated Iran’s stance: “The evil perpetrated by the Zionist regime (Israel) two nights ago must not be exaggerated or minimized,” he said in a post on X.


Iran’s supreme leader, the ultimate authority on Iranian national security affairs, stressed the need to counteract Israel’s faulty calculations. This represents Iran’s shift away from absorbing attacks to actively disrupting Israel’s strategy. Tehran reaffirmed support for the region’s Axis of Resistance, refusing to back down from its broader goals of liberating Palestine and supporting Lebanon’s fight against aggression.

Iran’s position also underscores its commitment to maintaining unity among its allies against Israeli and US designs to reshape the region – a “new Middle East” – in their favor. While the immediate threat of escalation lies largely in Israeli and US hands, the choices are stark – either adapt to the current balance of power and work towards de-escalation or risk a conflict that could spiral into an uncontrollable war.

Israeli officials’ assurances that they do not wish to escalate are not sufficient – concrete steps toward ending hostilities are required, with little patience left for the diplomatic trickery played by Tel Aviv and Washington over the past year.

As Iran asserts its “right to respond,” and with the world watching the upcoming US elections, the situation in West Asia remains highly unpredictable. Until then, and in the absence of a politically devastating ceasefire for the Netanyahu government, the battlefield will continue to dictate the terms, leaving the door open to further destabilize and erode the security of the occupation state.

https://thecradle.co/articles/iran-ente ... ith-israel

Israel continues campaign of destruction in Lebanon's Tyre

The deadly attacks come days after Israel leveled several residential buildings in Tyre, a UNESCO World Heritage city

News Desk

OCT 28, 2024


(Photo credit: X)

Israel carried out several violent attacks on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre (Sur) on 28 October, a UNESCO World Heritage city that has been under increased bombardment lately.

“Enemy aircraft launched a series of raids on the city of Tyre,” Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) correspondent reported on Monday afternoon.

Video footage on social media showed massive clouds of smoke over the city. At least five raids targeted clusters of adjacent buildings in one go.


The strikes came after Tel Aviv issued new evacuation orders telling residents to leave several specific residential buildings and evacuate to around 40 kilometers north of the Awali River.


Earlier on 28 October, at around dawn, an Israeli airstrike on a building in Tyre’s Al-Raml neighborhood killed seven people and injured around 17.

The attacks on the city come just days after Tyre was subjected to heavy “fire-belt” bombing on 23 October, which destroyed several residential buildings.

At least 200,000 people inhabited the city of Tyre before the expansion of Israel’s war on Lebanon in September. The ancient city has been continuously inhabited for more than 4,000 years, also rising to prominence as a key maritime and trade hub in the Mediterranean under different empires.

Large parts of the city have now been evacuated.

Nearly 2,000 people have been killed and over a million displaced in Lebanon since Israel expanded its military campaign against the country in September.

Israeli forces are also carrying out ground operations in southern Lebanon, but have been unable to advance deeper than a few hundred meters into certain border villages, and are taking heavy losses.

According to a recent report by Axios, Israel has rejected any ceasefire for Lebanon that does not ensure its ability to continue ground incursions into the country and to have unrestricted access to Lebanese airspace.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-co ... anons-tyre

Israel fails with ultra-Orthodox draft as only 4 percent show up for service

The Haredi community is threatening to block the passage of Israel's budget if its community is not exempted from military service

News Desk

OCT 29, 2024


(Photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Less than 4 percent of the 3,000 Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Israelis who received recruitment orders since July to join the military have done so, Israeli army radio reported on 28 October.

The head of the Israel Beiteinu party, Avigdor Lieberman, criticized the Haredi community for its failure to participate in Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza and invasion of Lebanon.

Lieberman criticized the government for failing to enforce conscription orders, stressing that “the army is violating the law” and that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “must ensure that the law is applied to everyone.”

“The government has extended regular service by four months and reserve service by a year,” Lieberman told Yedioth Ahronoth, adding: “No more quotas, targets and exemptions - one people, one conscription,” stressing that “the whole story of quotas must end.”

Members of the Haredi community who are studying at Jewish religious schools are currently exempt under the law from army service. In practice, the exemption has extended even to Haredi men not actively engaged in religious study.

Israel's ultra-Orthodox argue that by studying the Torah, its young men are doing a greater service to the state of Israel than by fighting.

The Haredi parties in Israel's Knesset threaten to block the passage of regular laws, including the general budget, until the law exempting Haredim from military service is enacted.

The Haredi parties said that no law not related to war would be promoted until the conscription law was enacted and the budget for housing religious students was settled.

The Israeli media reported that Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir was siding with the Haredi Jews, saying: “Against coercion, for military service.”

In a cabinet meeting on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich made it clear that the budget must be approved on time.

Smotrich said that national-religious Jews are “paying a price disproportionate to its size in the population” as they fight in the army in Lebanon and Gaza.

“I strongly reject irresponsible statements by coalition officials who threaten to oppose the state budget until the conscription law is approved,” Smotrich added.

Smotrich argued that “Israel is at war and is desperate for soldiers and manpower” and called on his fellow ministers to “take responsibility” and “listen to the cry” of a national-religious community “kneeling under the burden” of military service.

The Haredi leadership, he says, must “act in a real way to help the war effort and recruit many thousands of members of the ultra-Orthodox sector to the IDF and the security forces.”

“The IDF needs you, we need you, the people of Israel need you,” he says.

The Israeli military continues to suffer losses among its troops at the hands of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, despite the devastation caused by Israeli bombing in both war theatres.

Funerals were held on Sunday for five soldiers who died in battle against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon the previous evening, including the rabbi of a Jerusalem high school, as well as two other religious Zionist educators.

Another 14 soldiers were wounded in the battle by Hezbollah fighters.

Twenty-four Israeli soldiers were killed over the past week, including one who on Sunday succumbed to wounds sustained in the Gaza Strip earlier this month.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-fa ... or-service

Israeli minister threatens Bashar al-Assad: ‘You are in danger’

Syria, a close ally of Hezbollah and the Resistance Axis, has been under constant Israeli attacks for several years

News Desk

OCT 28, 2024


(Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Israeli government minister and war cabinet member Gideon Saar threatened Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad on 27 October, warning that he will be “in danger” if his country continues to act as a “conduit” for Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah.

Saar – who rejoined Benjamin Netanyahu’s government late last month – said during a conference that Tel Aviv “missed an opportunity” to “collapse” Assad’s government, which was “saved” by Iran and Hezbollah.

Syria must not be permitted “under any circumstances to be a conduit for weapons supply from Iran to Hezbollah,” the minister went on to say, adding that “Israel must make clear to Assad that if he chooses to harm Israeli security in this manner, he places his regime in danger.”

Israel “will not agree to Hezbollah’s renewed buildup of power through Syria, and will not agree to the opening of a front against it from Syrian territory,” he said. “Removing Assad from the Iranian axis will have far-reaching consequences for Israel’s security.”

Israel was heavily involved in supporting extremist groups against the Syrian government at the start of the US-led regime change war against Damascus, which began in 2011.

Fighters from Al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front were given Israeli air cover during the 2014 battles against Syrian government troops and Hezbollah in Quneitra. Wounded Nusra Front fighters were also treated at Israeli hospitals in the occupied Golan Heights.

Over the past several years, Israel’s air force has been waging an unofficial campaign of indiscriminate attacks against Syria, which aim to stifle the flow of weapons from Iran via Syria to the resistance in Lebanon. According to Lebanese analyst and journalist Khalil Nasrallah, this unofficial campaign – dubbed the ‘battle between wars’ – has failed.

Israeli attacks on Syria have increased since the start of the war in Gaza and Lebanon in October last year.

Since Israel’s massive escalation against Lebanon last month, nearly 2,000 people have been killed and over a million displaced. Israel has begun to target Lebanese–Syrian border crossings under the pretext that they are used to facilitate the delivery of Iranian weapons to Lebanon.

Hezbollah has promised its follower base recently that its military capabilities and weapons are in “great shape,” despite Israeli claims to the contrary.

The group has not yet used its more sophisticated and destructive weaponry against Israel.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-m ... -in-danger

Israel traps 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza extermination zone

The number of Palestinians killed in Israel's war on Gaza has now surpassed 43,000

News Desk

OCT 28, 2024


(Eyad BABA / AFP)

Israeli tanks thrust deeper on Monday into northern Gaza, trapping around 100,000 civilians, while the air force carried out airstrikes that brought the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces during the war above 43,000.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said around 100,000 people were stuck in Jabalia, Beit Lahia, and Beit Hanoun without medical or food supplies as a result of the siege imposed by Israeli forces.

The emergency service said it was forced to end its operations because of the three-week-long Israeli assault on Gaza's north.

The Israeli military says it is seeking to destroy Hamas and claimed it had captured 100 "suspected Hamas militants" during a raid of the Kamal Adwan hospital in the Jabalia camp in recent days.

Hospital officials said that Israeli forces detained members of the hospital staff, patients, and Palestinians sheltering in the hospital complex.

Since the start of the war, Israel has claimed that Hamas uses hospitals as command centers as a pretext to deliberately destroy Gaza's hospitals and health system.

Israeli forces carried out multiple airstrikes across Gaza on Monday, killing five people and bringing the number killed by Israel during the war on Gaza to more than 43,000.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that an Israeli drone struck a group of people in the Beit Lahia area Monday, killing one and injuring several others.

WAFA reported a drone struck a group of people in eastern Gaza City's Shujaiya neighborhood, killing three people and injuring three others.

In central Gaza, at least one Palestinian was killed and others injured Monday dawn as the Israeli army struck a home in the Nuseirat refugee camp, the agency added.

North Gaza residents told Reuters that "Israeli forces were besieging schools and other shelters housing displaced families, ordering them out before rounding up men and ushering women and children out of the area towards Gaza City and the south."

However, only a few families fled to southern Gaza as directed by the Israeli army, Reuters noted. The majority insisted on going to Gaza City, fearing Israel would never allow them to return to their homes if they went further south past the Israeli-army-controlled Netzarim Corridor.

Some said they had written their death notices in case they died from the constant bombardment, saying they would prefer death to displacement, Reuters added.

"While the world is busy with Lebanon and new nonsense talk about a few days of ceasefire (in Gaza), the Israeli occupation is wiping out north Gaza and displacing its people," a resident of Jabalia told Reuters by a chat app.

"(But) neither (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu nor Eiland will be able to take us out of northern Gaza."

According to comments from Israeli soldiers, the army is now carrying out a plan to forcibly expel Palestinian civilians from northern Gaza and then starve to death any civilians and Hamas fighters who refuse and remain by cutting them off from all food and water.

The so-called General's Plan was proposed by Giora Eiland, a former general and head of Israel's National Security Council.

The Hamas-led Palestinian resistance continues to attack invading Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets, mortars, and explosive devices planted in buildings, streets, and wherever Israeli forces establish positions.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-tr ... ation-zone

*****

Israel’s Limited Counter to Iran’s Massive Attack
Posted by Internationalist 360° on October 27, 2024
Fereshteh Sadeghi



After weeks of grandiose threats, Israel struck a number of military sites in Iran over the weekend. While many details of the attack remain unclear, Iran’s leadership suggests that a qualitative response is on the horizon.

Twenty-five days after Iran’s massive 1 October missile attacks on Israel, and following weeks of threats and bluster about its huge preparations, Tel Aviv unleashed its own offensive against military sites of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the early hours of Saturday, 26 October.

The Israeli attack started in the capital, Tehran, where at around 02:15 local time (22:45 GMT), very loud explosions were heard on the western side of the city. Reports which usually are published immediately on the social media platform X, suggested six explosions had been heard.

A multi-wave attack

Footage surfacing afterward — though scarce in number — showed Iranian anti-aircraft guns firing into the sky over Tehran, but no sign of missiles were recorded in those videos. The lack of visible missile evidence sparked debate among analysts, with some suggesting that the occupation state employed tactics designed to evade traditional detection methods, potentially by using low-altitude or stealth drones. But others have questioned whether Israeli jets even entered Iranian airspace.

The second and third waves of strikes came two to four hours later when aerial defense systems became active in Iran’s western province of Ilam and the southwestern province of Khuzestan. This multi-wave strategy indicated a calculated attempt to wear down Iran’s defenses, probing their response times and resilience in multiple regions simultaneously.

With news about the initial raids ebbing, western media began to frame the Israeli strikes as enormous as well as successful. These evidence-free portrayals were met with skepticism from Iranian officials, who emphasized the effectiveness of their air defenses in minimizing any damage from Israeli strikes.

The New York Times wrote, “Israeli jets first targeted air defense batteries and later struck Iran’s missile arrays and production sites.”

Axios quoted Israeli officials as claiming, “Israel had sent a message to Tehran, ahead of the airstrikes, warning the Iranians not to respond.”

In the morning, the Israeli military issued a statement saying “it had completed its strikes but that if Iran makes the mistake of carrying out another attack, Israel will have to fight back.”

The Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base — the central command in charge of defending the skies of Iran — meanwhile announced that:

“Despite all previous warnings from the Iranian authorities to the criminal, illegal Zionist regime against engaging in any form of adventurism, that fake regime in an escalating move struck military locations in Tehran, Ilam, and Khuzestan. The joint aerial defense of the country successfully intercepted and thwarted the aggressor’s raids. Despite that, limited damage was done to some sites with the extent of the harm being investigated.”

The Iranian army later in the day announced the death of at least four officers, including a colonel, killed during Israeli air raids in Khuzestan. An informed source speaking to The Cradle on condition of anonymity reveals that the number of Iranian casualties is higher than what is officially being reported.

What were Tel Aviv’s tactics?

More than 24 hours on, details about the Israeli air raids or the extent of the harm to the Iranian military are unclear and patchy at best. Both sides have a vested interest in controlling the narrative: Tel Aviv to project power and deterrence, and Tehran to maintain an image of resilience and minimize perceived vulnerabilities.

Israel says it deployed over 100 F-35 fighter jets to conduct the offensive. However, an Iranian conservative lawmaker on Saturday morning claimed that the strikes in Tehran were actually carried out by small drones or quadcopters.

Hamid Rasaei wrote on his Telegram channel that “the Zionist regime’s agents in Tehran were involved in those attacks and Iranian anti-aircraft guns fired at those microdrones.”

The narrative in the west of the country was different. Images of an Israeli missile’s booster falling in Iraq’s Salahuddin province suggest Israel used the Golden Horizon Air launched Ballistic Missile to hit Iranian radars in the western belt of the country.

The use of Iraqi airspace by Israel was confirmed by the Khatam Al-Anbiya Air Defense Base. It has blamed the US military for allowing Israel to fire air-launched ballistic missiles into Iranian territory from 100 kilometers deep inside the Iraqi soil. No such permission had been granted from Iraqi authorities.

Baghdad was joined by other Arab capitals in strongly condemning the Israeli attack on Iranian soil without referring to the use of its airspace by Israel. The Cradle’s correspondent in Baghdad says, “Iraq did not approve of the use of its skies, but Prime Minister [Mohammed Shia] al-Sudani has no say in this matter because Washington controls the Iraqi airspace, while Iraqi radar systems are old.”

Khatam al-Anbiya has not mentioned Jordan, a country that denies involvement in the Israeli aerial attack despite its track record of defending the occupation state from previous Iranian retaliatory strikes.

Limited success or major damage?

Although the official Iranian media have downplayed the extent and strength of the Israeli strikes, University of Tehran academic and political analyst Mohammad Marandi tells The Cradle that “it was a big operation on the side of Israel and actually a considerable one, as Israelis did a harm to Iranian radar and defense systems.”

Iranian academic Foad Izadi believes “the Israeli attack was not something that many had expected, much less than what was thought it would do.” But, he emphasizes, “(In essence) Israel has no right to strike Iran, whether the strikes are small, medium or large. Iran is an independent country, and attacking another country is a violation of international law.”

Izadi dismisses western claims that Israel’s patently illegal strikes on Iran are justified as “self-defense,” pointing out that, in all cases, Tel Aviv launched the original aggressions while Tehran was legally retaliating.

“Iran fired a barrage of missiles on Israel for the first time in April in the wake of an Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, that had been conducted despite Tehran’s previous warnings. The second encounter happened following Israel’s assassination of Hamas’s leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Iran had the right to respond to the killing of its guest, as well as the events that unfolded in Lebanon including Nasrallah’s assassination.”

Izadi points to a stellar performance by Iran’s air defense systems, in which “Iran was basically able to minimize the effect of this aggression” by Israel.

Marandi, who served as a consultant for the Iranian negotiating team at the last round of Vienna nuclear talks, agrees with the assessment that Iran’s air defenses performed well:

“Iranians had conducted security and intelligence operations ahead of the strikes and succeeded in limiting the extent of damage by dummies and decoys as well as spreading misinformation about sensitive sites.”

As he tells The Cradle, the damage inflicted on Iranian military sites was not grave because “the possibility of a direct confrontation with the United States convinced Iranians many years ago to relocate almost all sensitive sites and strategic production facilities underground. Neither warplanes nor missiles are able to penetrate into those underground facilities.”

“What remains on the ground are small workshops producing missile spare parts and they are scattered across the country, but not near borders, that’s why the strike failed to leave a significant harm,” Marandi adds.

True Promise 3?

Saturday’s direct hits on the Iranian capital and Iran’s provincial military facilities were the first since 1987, when former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s military forces rained missiles on Tehran and other Iranian cities. The psychological impact of targeting Tehran itself cannot be overstated; it represents a symbolic blow that challenges Iranian security and sovereignty and will likely necessitate a meaningful and calibrated response.

That notion was reiterated by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has the final word on all national security matters. During a meeting with“Martyrs of Security” family members earlier today, Khamenei pointed out that Israel has yet to learn its lesson:

“They (the Israelis) need to understand the power, determination, and innovation of the Iranian nation and its youth. How to convey this power and resolve of the Iranian nation to the Zionist regime is for our officials to determine, and what is in the best interest of the nation and the country should be done.”

Foad Izadi believes a third Iranian attack against the occupation state is likely because “Iran’s leaders are very much in line with the analysis that attacking the country should not become normalized. Mohammad Marandi says Tehran’s retaliation isn’t a matter of if, but when: “Even if Tehran had not been struck and only Ilam had been targeted by the Israelis, the Iranian leadership would have reacted,” he tells The Cradle.

“Iran’s retaliation to the April’s Damascus strike took days. After Haniyeh’s assassination, it took months for Tehran to strike back,” Marandi elaborates. Following the Israeli strikes, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council met to get briefed on the targets that were hit and assess the extent of damage. While a possible Iranian military response was reportedly discussed, there is no information yet on whether that decision has been made.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2024/10/ ... ve-attack/

[blindpig]

October 28, 2024 by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR
Israel’s ‘zugzwang’ moment with Iran


Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , Tehran (Undated file photo)

A senior US official told Washington Post that the toned-down early morning Israeli strike Saturday on military targets in Iran was a “proportional strike,” which “was moderate enough to quiet the conflict without provoking Iran into a counterattack.”

However, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted in a speech on Sunday: “We hit hard Iran’s defence capabilities and its ability to produce missiles that are aimed at us. The attack in Iran was precise and powerful, and it achieved all its objectives.”

But within Israel itself, there is scepticism. Israel’s most popular news outlet Channel 12 called the operation insignificant and demonstrated Iran’s status as a major power in the region. Netanyahu has not released any reliable documentation to back up his claim, which he usually does.

NourNews lampooned that Israeli psychological war against Iran has not worked. Israel hoped to stir up panic that there might be attack on Iran’s nuclear installations but normal life continues in Iran. It appears that Israel was not either inclined to carry out an extensive attack or was incapable of conducting such an operation without greater American involvement — or both. Iran’s attack on October 1 badly exposed the weakness of Israeli air defence system.

So, the bottom line is that Israel may have succeeded in conducting a limited predawn operation against Iran without excessively increasing the chances of an all-out war.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Sunday that the “evil committed by the Zionist regime two nights ago should neither be downplayed nor exaggerated”. Khamenei added: “Of course, our officials should be the ones to assess and precisely apprehend what needs to be done and do whatever is in the best interests of this country and nation. They [the enemy] must be made to realize who the Iranian people are and what the Iranian youth are like.”

Khamenei’s remark suggests that an immediate military response is not planned. Indeed, Tehran has been playing down the Israeli strike, saying it caused limited damage.

The foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday that given Iran’s “inherent right of legitimate defence” under UN Charter, “Tehran will utilise all material and spiritual capabilities of the Iranian nation to defend its security and vital interests, and firmly stand by its duties towards regional peace and security.”

The statement drew attention to Israeli operations in Gaza and Lebanon, but, notably, kept silent on any Iranian response to Saturday’s air strike.

Iran will no doubt weigh the unprecedented diplomatic support from the regional states. This is a moment that Tehran cherishes, as apparent in Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s words: “Since yesterday [Saturday] until now, we are regularly receiving messages from different countries, the statements they issued, the level of condemnation from different countries both in the region. It is really remarkable that it took place at this international level.”

Other statements at the military level played down the Israeli attack saying the air defences intercepted it and only successfully “some limited damage was caused in some areas, the dimensions of which are being investigated.” The public mood in Tehran is one of high expectations from the Pezeshkian government on the economic front.

Javad Zarif, former foreign minister and current strategic adviser to the government, also made no direct threat of retaliation, saying, “The west should move away from its outdated and dangerous paradigm. It must condemn Israel’s recent acts of aggression and join Iran in efforts to end the apartheid, genocide and violence in Palestine and Gaza, and in Lebanon. Recognising Iran’s confident resolve for peace is essential; this unique opportunity should not be missed.” [Emphasis added.]

The Israeli strike did not take Tehran by surprise. In a “scoop”, Axios reported that Israel sent a message to Iran on Friday ahead of its air strikes warning the latter not to respond in “an attempt to limit the ongoing exchange of attacks between Israel and Iran and prevent a wider escalation.”

The message from Tel Aviv conveyed through third parties “made it clear to the Iranians in advance what they [Israelis] are going to attack in general and what they are not going to attack.”

Apparently, the US pressured Israel to calibrate its proposed attack as a “proportionate response”. This becomes hugely important in the downstream, as the Biden Administration’s efforts will continue to prevent conflict between Israel and Iran escalating into a confrontation.

To be sure, Iran will press ahead on the diplomatic track. Interestingly, the Jerusalem Post newspaper highlighted that Araghchi’s hectic tours of regional capitals are “important because he is not only visiting countries that are close to Iran historically or where Iran has interests, such as Lebanon or Iraq; rather, he is doing outreach to countries that have peace with Israel and which are close to the West, such as Jordan and Egypt…

“This shows how Iran is gaining influence in Jordan and Egypt. Egypt and Iran have been on a road to reconciliation, for instance. In addition, Iran and Saudi Arabia have reconciled with China’s backing. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince was also in Cairo this week, illustrating how a triangle of ties between Cairo and Tehran is emerging.”

Meanwhile, Tehran will closely watch the November 5 presidential and Congressional elections in the US. In the event of a Kamala Harris presidency, the resumption of nuclear negotiations is highly likely. On the contrary, a Donald Trump presidency may presage a difficult 4-year period ahead, but here too, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proximity with Trump to calm down tensions between Washington and Tehran should be factored in.

A paradigm shift cannot be ruled out, either. Trump is a quintessential pragmatist who disregarded criticism to engage North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un in a dramatic turnaround, and is not known to be enamoured of Zionism.

Trump boasted on Wednesday of almost daily conversations with Netanyahu. “Bibi called me yesterday, called me the day before,” Trump said. Trump had already reported a telephone conversation with Netanyahu on Saturday, claiming that the latter “wants my view on things.”

Conceivably, Trump’s repeated call for Israel to swiftly defeat Hamas and wrap up the war in Gaza, stems from the apprehension that otherwise, if he wins the upcoming November 5 election, a clash with Iran may become unavoidable.

The US is a far superior military power compared to Iran. But this is a war of attrition that is being fought on multiple fronts. And there is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare. Actually, it. was Sun Tzu, the Chinese military strategist and philosopher who lived during the Eastern Zhou period (771–256 BC) who first wrote about it.

Besides, Trump abhors open-ended US military interventions. And Iranians are known to be highly nationalistic, and subjugating them is impossible. A prolonged war can entail US retrenchment from West Asia and the destruction of Israel — and may jeopardise Trump’s mesmerising MAGA movement.

Against such a tumultuous backdrop, what are Israel’s options? There seems to be no way out of the war in West Asia but the catch is, it won’t be the sort of war Israel is hoping for, let alone win.

Seymour Hersh wrote in Substack on Tuesday, “I’ve heard nothing from contacts in Beirut close to Hezbollah — whose troops are putting up a stiff fight as they did in Hezbollah’s 2006 war against Israel — that suggests anything other than a long war ahead…”

Israel is a small country. It keeps its head above the water line thanks to American money. It lacks the capacity to wage a war with Iran on its own steam. The Israeli planes reportedly flew to Iran through US-controlled air space in Syria and Iraq and refilled by Pentagon’s planes that were propositioned accordingly!

The situation is turning into a ‘zugzwang’ in real life for Israel. Anything that Israel does will only make the situation worse, and it doesn’t have a choice not to make a choice, either.

https://www.indianpunchline.com/israels ... with-iran/

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Israeli Bombing Kills at Least 93 Palestinians in a Building in Gaza


The body of a Palestinian woman hangs from the window of the bombed building, Beit Lahia, Gaza, Oct. 29, 2024. X/ @ahmedgaza24

October 29, 2024 Hour: 8:40 am

For 24 days, the Israeli military siege has combined an intense bombing campaign with a ground incursion.
Israeli occupation forces killed 93 Palestinians, including 25 children, in an airstrike on a residential building in Beit Lahia, located in the northern Gaza Strip, where the Zionist Army has maintained an intense military siege for 24 days.

The five-story building housed hundreds of displaced civilians who reported that the Israeli siege on the three main hospitals in northern Gaza now prevents dozens of wounded people from receiving medical care due to a lack of resources and doctors.

Palestinian media reported another airstrike shortly afterward near the Kamal Adwan Hospital, also in Beit Lahia, where some of the bombing victims had already been taken. The Gazan government confirmed that more than 40 people are currently missing under the rubble of the bombed building.

“The Israeli occupation army knew that this residential building housed dozens of displaced civilians, and that the majority were children and women,” criticized the government of Gaza.

[i\]BREAKING:

According to the ministry of Health in Gaza, 115 Palestinians killed in Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip since dawn today, 109 of them in the northern Gaza Strip

Out of the 109 in the North, 93 were killed in the Beit Lahia massacre earlier this morning. pic.twitter.com/ljNtzhq2fF

— Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws) October 29, 2024[/i]

“The Civil Defense work system has been completely dismantled by Israeli aggression in northern Gaza, the arrest of its workers, and the displacement of others,” said Mahmud Basal, spokesperson for the emergency services, noting that they continue to receive alerts about this attack in Beit Lahia.

Videos shared after the massacre show dozens of bodies wrapped in blankets lying beside the rubble of the attacked building. For 24 days, Israel has maintained a military siege on northern Gaza, combining an intense bombing campaign with a ground incursion, which has killed over a thousand people.

On Monday night, two additional Israeli attacks on homes in Beit Lahia killed at least seven people, reported Wafa, which also mentioned a fire caused by the Army—without specifying if it was due to troops or a projectile—at the Al Fakhoura school, linked to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

Since the start of the offensive against Gaza in October 2023, Israeli occupation forces have killed at least 43,020 Palestinians and injured 101,110 people, according to records from the Gazan Health Ministry.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/israeli- ... g-in-gaza/

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The Western Diplomatic Offensive on Lebanon Fails
Posted by Internationalist 360° on October 29, 2024
Khalil Harb



To control Lebanon’s sovereignty from within, the US and Israel seek a plaint new wartime president, styled after the sycophantic figure of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. But as western diplomats pitching this deal have just learned, Lebanon has many cards left to play.

The diplomatic maneuvers led by Washington and other western capitals, alongside the sprawling US embassy in Beirut, are built on a faulty premise – that Lebanon is fractured and vulnerable, ripe for a kind of ‘Palestinianization.’

This illusion has emboldened Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who believes that with steadfast diplomatic support from western powers – notably, the Israeli-born US envoy Amos Hochstein – he can gain political ground in Lebanon, especially as his Palestinian war remains unresolved after a year, a perpetual thorn in his side.

Netanyahu is betting on Lebanon’s divisions, exploiting sectarian, religious, and demographic tensions and banking on the complicity of pro-west Lebanese figures who portray themselves as defenders of “sovereignty.”

Yet, their ambitions hardly exceed those of Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), who remains, improbably, the most visible sycophant of all Arab leaders in West Asia. Some of these Lebanese figures are champing at the bit, ready to act as Lebanon’s version of Abu Mazen – willing to cede power by disarming the resistance, accepting limited sovereignty akin to that of the PA, and allowing enemy forces to enter cities and villages at will, carrying out assassinations and raids under Tel Aviv’s orders.

This scenario is not just theoretical. What Israel wants from Lebanon, according to sources speaking to The Cradle, resembles the ill-fated 17 May agreement of 1983 – a controversial peace deal signed between Beirut and Tel Aviv under US mediation which aimed to end hostilities but effectively undermined Lebanon’s sovereignty, deepened internal divisions, and sparked widespread backlash, eventually fueling a new phase of resistance.

Israel’s strategy to destabilize Lebanon

Current events, coinciding with Israel’s intensified aggressions on Lebanese territory, although met with formidable resistance by Hezbollah, point to a deliberate western strategy aimed at destabilizing Lebanon. This is evident through several key developments:

First, the “Maarab meeting” – hosted by the Lebanese Forces Party’s Samir Geagea at its headquarters – brought together resistance opponents to discuss the “day after” a hypothetical defeat of Hezbollah. Geagea, of course, is the head of the Christian supremacist party-militia that butchered Palestinians in their refugee camps and never encountered a US-Israel policy suggestion he didn’t like.

Speaking at the event, titled ‘In Defense of Lebanon,’ the notorious warlord insisted that “all of this does not mean that one party will be victorious and another defeated. Rather, Lebanon will be the victor for the benefit of all its people, its security, stability, and prosperity.”

Their agenda included electing an ‘amenable’ president – a top demand on Hochstein’s wish list – and resurrecting international resolutions like UN Resolution 1559, which “calls for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias” – a clear jab at Hezbollah – at the height of the battle against the Israeli invasion.

Geagea’s timing, despite notable absentees, can only be seen as a political gamble to position himself as a presidential candidate amid Hezbollah’s presumed defeat.

Second, Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader Gebran Bassil’s sudden media appearances on Saudi channels Al Arabiya and Al-Hadath served to announce his split from Hezbollah, effectively blaming them and Iran – but not Israel – for the current war. He also criticized Geagea and US-favorite Army Commander Joseph Aoun – both of whom are presidential hopefuls. Note that the FPM has been in a political alliance with Hezbollah since 2006 and that Bassil has been a key spoiler over several nominations in the past years.

Third, the western diplomatic flurry in recent months has been little more than a charade, devoid of genuine attempts to curb Israeli brutality and reach a ceasefire in either Lebanon or Gaza. Led by the US, these proposals center around stopping Hezbollah’s support front for Gaza, sweetened with empty promises of aid for Lebanon’s struggling electricity sector.

Diplomatic charades

Recent interventions by US envoy Hochstein and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also fell flat. Hochstein basically conveyed Israeli demands, while Baerbock had the gall to arrive in Beirut after publicly endorsing Israel’s right to attack civilians if ‘terrorists’ were supposedly among them. She came to Lebanon believing, as she stated, that the occupation state had “greatly weakened Hezbollah by taking out Nasrallah.”

Events since then have proved otherwise – it is the Israeli military that is on the run from southern villages where its troops have encountered deadly resistance.

Political analyst Dawood Ramal tells The Cradle that Hochstein carried a proposal to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which would dismantle Hezbollah’s military wing and extend the “armed presence-free” zone to the Awali River, not just south of the Litani River, as originally stipulated.

Germany’s proposals about monitoring Lebanon’s ports and borders to prevent arms shipments – as well as tying reconstruction aid to Hezbollah’s disarmament – align closely with US and Israeli interests. As Ramal points out, “They want a capitulation agreement that echoes the 17 May Agreement of 1983.”

Lebanon’s official stance remains that Resolution 1701 is the basis for any solution. Beirut is open to expanding the UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) mandate but insists on reciprocal action from Israel – namely, ending its daily airspace violations and discussing the status of the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms.

Meanwhile, Israeli sources, through the US website Axios, leaked a document outlining Israel’s terms for ending the conflict. According to the report, citing an Israeli official, “One Israeli demand is that the IDF be allowed to engage in ‘active enforcement’ to make sure Hezbollah doesn’t rearm and rebuild its military infrastructure in the areas of southern Lebanon that are close to the border.”

The official added that Tel Aviv also demands its air force have “freedom of operation” in Lebanese air space. So much for sovereignty.

Western mediators dangled $350 million in financial and military aid for the Lebanese army to bolster its southern deployments, while Hochstein pushed for expanded UNIFIL authority to move freely and conduct inspections without Lebanese army coordination.

While many reject the election of a president amid war, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated his call for Lebanon to fill the presidential vacuum – a clear signal of misplaced priorities.

In search of a ‘Lebanese Abu Mazen’

Security analyst Abdullah Qamh tells The Cradle that Israel’s calls to ‘liberate’ Lebanon from Hezbollah and elect a president aim to sideline Amal Party leader and Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, a longtime Hezbollah ally who has overnight become the most powerful authority in the country. In response to Hochstein’s demands, Berri firmly rejected the so-called ‘1701+,’ which involves amending the UN resolution to favor Israeli terms. He also dismissed any discussion of a presidential election while Lebanon remains under assault.

Israel opposes Berri’s mediation role and prefers to secure a ceasefire with a compliant president, bypassing Hezbollah’s allies. Qamh sums up Hochstein’s mission as essentially an attempt to press the Lebanese state into exerting pressure on Hezbollah.

He points out that Berri’s insistence on keeping Resolution 1701 unchanged was met by Israeli attacks targeting Amal Movement strongholds, from Beirut’s Jnah area to the southern cities of Nabatieh and Tyre. According to Qahm, “Hochstein’s mediation is over, as Berri described the American envoy’s visit as a ‘last chance.’”

Ramal, for his part, says that Berri is in the “danger zone,” with Israel seeing him as Hezbollah’s mouthpiece and, therefore, a potential target for Tel Aviv. The surge of foreign mediation activity came after three key developments: direct Israeli attacks on European-led UNIFIL forces, successful resistance strikes deep into Israeli territory (including Netanyahu’s Caesarea residence), and Hezbollah’s effective pushback against Israeli incursions in southern Lebanon.

Before and after Hochstein’s visit, Israel sent clear signals – most notably, intense air raids on Beirut’s southern suburbs – that “mediation” was more about gauging Lebanon’s willingness to capitulate. But on the ground where the real battles take place, Hezbollah’s resistance, far from defeat, was already bolstering Lebanon’s negotiating stance.

Paradoxically, the caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a holdover from the last Lebanese government, criticized Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Qalibaf over Tehran’s “blatant interference in Lebanese affairs and an attempt to establish an unacceptable guardianship over Lebanon,” even as he welcomed Hochstein, a former Israeli tank crewman, and remained silent on the tons of US missiles aiding Israel’s slaughter of thousands of Lebanese civilians.

The Lebanese fear their leaders may falter again, as Mikati recently did, undermining the unified stance that Berri has worked to maintain against external pressures. While Lebanon’s resistance in the south remains a crucial asset, some politicians appear too eager to revisit the humiliations of the 17 May Agreement era or resign themselves to a weak, symbolic role akin to that of a Lebanese Abu Mazen.



https://libya360.wordpress.com/2024/10/ ... non-fails/

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Israeli lawmakers vote to ban UN agency for Palestinian refugees

Officials say the unprecedented decision will mean the collapse of the humanitarian process as a whole across the occupied Palestinian territories

News Desk

OCT 28, 2024


(Photo Credit: Omar al-Qattaa/AFP)

The Israeli Knesset on 28 October passed two laws banning the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) from operating inside Israel, Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and occupied East Jerusalem.

In a 92-10 vote, the Knesset approved the first law, which says that the UN agency cannot “operate any institution, provide any service, or conduct any activity, whether directly or indirectly.” Moments later, lawmakers voted 87-9 for the second law, which states that no Israeli government official or agency may contact UNRWA, effectively prohibiting Israeli officials from providing services or dealing with UN employees.

“It’s outrageous that a member state of the United Nations is working to dismantle a UN agency which also happens to be the largest responder in the humanitarian operation in Gaza,” Juliette Touma, spokeswoman for UNRWA, told AFP on Monday.

Ahead of the Knesset vote, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the bills a “catastrophe.” At the same time, European Commission Vice President Josep Borrell warned that the move “would have disastrous consequences.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also expressed “concern” over the bills, saying that the “enactment of such restrictions would devastate the Gaza humanitarian response,” as well as the provision of “vital” services in occupied East Jerusalem.

UNRWA was created over 70 years ago to provide essential services — education, healthcare, and emergency aid — to Palestinian refugees across Gaza, the West Bank, and neighboring countries following the Nakba and colonization of Palestinian land by Jewish settlers.

Since the start of the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza last October, Tel Aviv has conducted a wide-ranging smear campaign against the UN agency, accusing its members of being allied with Hamas.

At least 188 UNRWA installations, including shelters, schools, and medical facilities, have been bombed by Israeli forces over the past year.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-l ... n-refugees

Lebanon's Bekaa Valley under 'most violent' Israeli attacks since start of war

The Lebanese Health Ministry said 60 people have been killed in the Bekaa region since the previous day

News Desk

OCT 29, 2024


(Photo credit: AFP)

Israel continued to launch violent and indiscriminate airstrikes across eastern and southern Lebanon on 29 October, committing massacres against civilians as Tel Aviv persists with its nationwide campaign across the country.

“The number of martyrs from the massacre committed by enemy warplanes in the town of Al-Ram in the northern Bekaa has risen to 11 martyrs,” Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported on Tuesday.

Israel also bombed the town of Yohmor in the Bekaa on 29 October, killing at least two people, while several were wounded in an Israeli airstrike on the town of Qaliya.

According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, at least 60 people have been killed and over 58 wounded in the Bekaa since Monday.

60 شهيدا و 58 جريحا في حصيلة غير نهائية لغارات العدو الإسرائيلي على بعلبك الهرمل والبقاع
صدر عن مركز عمليات طوارئ الصحة العامة التابع لوزارة الصحة العامة بيان أعلن أن الغارات المتتالية للعدو الإسرائيلي على مدن وبلدات محافظتي بعلبك الهرمل والبقاع أدت في حصيلة غير نهائية إلى سقوط

— Ministry of Public Health - Lebanon (@mophleb) October 29, 2024
Bashir Khodr, Governor of the Baalbek–Hermel region in east Lebanon, called Monday “the most violent” day since the start of the war.

Israel also continued heavy strikes on southern Lebanon on Tuesday.

Israeli strikes targeted the towns of Beit al-Siyad and Al-Ameriyeh south of Tyre, the entrance to the town of Deir al-Zahrani, the town of Habboush, the town of Jbaa, and several other villages.

Over nine airstrikes have destroyed at least a dozen buildings in Jbaa since midnight, according to the NNA. Three people were also killed shortly after midnight when an Israeli airstrike destroyed a home in Jibchit’s al-Maghriqa neighborhood in south Lebanon.

The Israeli army issues evacuation orders for the south and Bekaa daily, often with insufficient time for people to flee before starting the attacks.

Much of Beirut’s southern suburb has also been destroyed since Israel escalated its strikes on Beirut.

Around 2,000 people have been killed, and over a million internally and externally displaced as a result of Israel’s massive escalation against Lebanon, which began last month.

Hezbollah has significantly escalated its resistance operations as a result, launching daily rocket attacks targeting settlements and military sites deep inside Israel while confronting Israeli ground troops in the south and inflicting heavy losses on them.

https://thecradle.co/articles/lebanons- ... art-of-war

US ambassador to Lebanon promotes 'internal uprising' to assist Israel: Report

A Lebanese security source has revealed the US ambassador is calling on her allies to 'do your part' to destroy Hezbollah

News Desk

OCT 29, 2024


(Photo credit: X)

A high-ranking Lebanese security source revealed to Al-Akhbar newspaper that the US Ambassador to Lebanon, Lisa Johnson, is continuing her agenda to prepare Lebanon for a "post-Hezbollah era" by mobilizing "internal" forces against the Islamic resistance movement while it fights the Israeli Army.

In discussions with Lebanese politicians, Johnson reportedly said, "Israel cannot achieve everything through war; it's time for you to do your part and launch an internal uprising under the banner of 'Enough.'"

The ambassador added, "The Lebanese people must show their desire to rise up and get rid of Hezbollah and return to the context that emerged after the assassination of Rafik Hariri, especially since the regional, international, and field circumstances are in your favor."

According to the source, the ambassador asked the politicians, "Why do you seem afraid? Hezbollah has been defeated, its leadership is destroyed, and we are with you, and the entire free world stands by your side."

Johnson encouraged her Lebanese allies to advocate for the election of Lebanese Armed Forces Commander General Joseph Aoun as President of Lebanon, saying, "He (Aoun) will appoint a strong commander for the Lebanese Army, and we will support the Army in restraining all Hezbollah supporters. You will have backing from Arab states and the West. But the time to act is now."

According to the high-level Lebanese security source, Ambassador Johnson's allies are conducting incitement operations to stoke internal sectarian tensions in areas where displaced persons, mostly Shia from Beirut's southern suburbs and the south of Lebanon, are now staying after fleeing their homes due to Israeli bombing.

Lebanon's society is multi-confessional and multi-national, making the country susceptible to division by outside forces. Lebanon is comprised of Christians (Catholic and Orthodox), Muslims (Sunni and Shia), Druze, and Palestinian and Syrian refugees.

Civil war engulfed Lebanon's multifaceted society between 1975 to 1990. An estimated 150,000 people were killed.

The source speaking with Al-Akhbar added that "mobilization operations" are being carried out in some neighborhoods and areas controlled by the Lebanese Forces, a right-wing Christian political party, under the pretext of "protecting our areas from the chaos of the displaced and so that they do not turn into occupiers."

In an effort to weaken Hezbollah, Johnson has also begun calling on politicians, civil organizations, and media professionals with whom she has influence to drive a wedge between Lebanon's Shia community and Hezbollah.

The source said that Johnson has clearly stated her wish to take advantage of the current Israeli war to completely eliminate Hezbollah, not only militarily but politically as well.

"We do not only want to limit Hezbollah's influence, but we will strike its support lines, and we are working non-stop to bring down the regime in Iran as well," Johnson reportedly said.

https://thecradle.co/articles/us-ambass ... ael-report

[blindpig]

Is the Gaza Resistance Diminishing? Data From February and October 2024
October 29, 2024



By Tim Anderson – Oct 23, 2024

Given the inability of the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority (PA) to even slow down the pace of land theft and ethnic cleansing on the West Bank, or break the siege on Gaza, Palestinian public opinion has turned against the PA and has become more favourable to the Resistance.

A number of theories are circulating about the capacity of the Palestinian and allied armed resistance, as the Israeli reprisal slaughter of civilians in Gaza proceeds. Information gathered by Iran’s Press TV for the month of February 2024 allows us a better perspective. Overall, despite the widely denounced genocidal bombing and siege, there is little sign that Gaza Resistance activity is diminishing.

Press TV lists items of Resistance activity on a daily basis, with brief descriptions of each. The list includes regional resistance actions by Hezbollah (Lebanon), the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, and the Yemeni armed forces (called ‘the Houthis’ by Western governments and media, which do not want to recognise Yemen’s revolutionary government).

Most of the Palestine resistance activity listed is in Gaza, the Hezbollah activity is in the northern parts of occupied Palestine as well as parts of occupied Lebanon and Syria.

Details in the listings afford us a rough idea of which activities involved heavy weapons, such as artillery of 100mm or above, or heavy rockets (e.g. heavy Katyushas, Falaq and Burkan rockets) and long-range drones. However, this information is insufficient.

Put into numerical form, the raw data (1-27 February 2024) appears in the graphic below. It is mostly for the militia of six Palestinian Resistance factions: Al-Qassam (Hamas), Al-Quds (Palestinian Islamic Jihad), Al-Aqsa and Al-Asifah (both Fatah), Mujahideen, Abu Ali Mustafa (PFLP) and Omar al-Qasim (DFLP). Data also appears for Hezbollah, Iraq’s Islamic Resistance and the Yemeni armed forces.

Key points which can be drawn from this data are as follows:

1. Rumours that Hamas’s armed wing(al-Qassam) has been decimated are false. Al Qassam carried out multiple operations on most days in February and 88 in total, many of them with heavy weapons such as 105 and 107 shells. One-third of their operations were in the last week of February.

2. Hamas is far from alone. There were almost the same number of operations each by the Al-Quds (PIJ) and the Al-Aqsa and Al Asifah Brigades (Fatah) – 90 and 81 respectively. However, it seems that Al-Qassam may have used more heavy weapons. Overall Al-Qassam accounted for about one-quarter of the combined Palestinian Resistance operations. All this makes even more illusory the supposed Israeli aim of eliminating “Hamas”.

3. It is notable that the militia of Fatah (the dominant party of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority: PA) is very active in armed resistance, given that the Fatah-led PLO ‘recognises’ “Israel” and the Fatah-dominated PA’s prestige is at an all-time low, given its collaborationist role in recent decades. The Fatah Resistance groups (mainly the Al-Aqsa Brigades but also Al-Asifah) may be vindicating the party to some extent, in the eyes of Palestinian people.

4. Hezbollah is the most active force imposing itself on the Israeli military, with 202 operations in February. Hezbollah does not operate in the Gaza theatre but is certainly drawing a substantial part of the Israeli military away from Gaza. The descriptions at Press TV do not allow too much analysis of the weapons used, but many have included heavy weapons. It is well known that Hezbollah has heavy weapons and that much of its missile arsenal remains in reserve.

5. There is no real sign of the armed resistance flagging. The Al-Qassam, Al-Quds, Al-Aqsa and Hezbollah militia all carried out more operations in the second half of February than in the first half. Of course, this has come at a cost. Hezbollah reported on 27 February that it has lost 209 fighters in the current round. Yet, as the data shows, its operations also are not slowing down.

6. Smaller resistance groups linked to the PFLP (Abu Ali Mustafa) and the DFLP (Omar al-Qasim) carried out another 21 operations in February. Two operations were also recorded for the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades (on 21 Feb and 22 Feb).



Given the inability of the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority (PA) to even slow down the pace of land theft and ethnic cleansing on the West Bank, or break the siege on Gaza, Palestinian public opinion has turned against the PA and has become more favourable to the Resistance. In November-December 2023, most of those polled (72%; 82% in the West Bank and 57% in the Gaza Strip) supported the offensive of October 7. 95% believe the Israelis committed war crimes in their attacks on Gaza; while only 10% believed Hamas committed war crimes.

The two most popular options for future governance of Gaza were Hamas (60%) or a Palestinian Unity government excluding PA ‘President’ Mahmoud Abbas (16%). Another recent poll showed that 79% of Palestinians think unelected ‘President’ Mahmoud Abbas should resign. The Fatah-led PA has not faced an election since 2006, when it lost to Hamas. Nevertheless, propped up by funding from Washington, the EU, and some Arab monarchies, Abbas and the PA still present themselves as the municipal rulers of the occupied Palestinian territories. Polls say that 80% in the West Bank and 61% in the Gaza Strip believe Hamas will succeed in returning to rule over the Gaza Strip despite the Israeli operations.

On the other side, Washington has been trying to reshape the PA and use it as a tool to control Gaza, after the US-enabled bombing ends. Hence the resignation of the entire PA Cabinet, under US pressure, but not that of the most unpopular figure, Mahmoud Abbas. Demanding even greater compliance with the Israelis will hardly add legitimacy to Abbas or the PA, in the eyes of the Palestinian population.

The Resistance is here to stay, and with even greater popular support.

Update, October 2024


Photo: rally for Palestine in Sanaa, capital of Yemen. Through 2024 Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Ansarallah-led revolutionary government and the Iraqi resistance (Hashid al Shaabi) have played an increasingly important role in defending the Palestinian people

In February this year I asked the question “Is the Resistance in Gaza diminishing?” under the pulverising blows of genocidal Israeli operations. Thanks to data collected by Press TV on resistance operations against the Israeli regime, cited according to each resistance group, it was possible to give some tentative answers, both in February 2024 and again in Sept-October 2024.

More recently the attacks by al Qassam (Hamas) have decreased and have been overtaken by those of the al Quds (PIJ) and al Aqsa (Fatah) brigades, while the role of Hezbollah and the regional resistance has increased. Overall resistance activity remains about the same, when we combine the activity of both Gaza groups and Hezbollah.

Notwithstanding the fact that individual operations vary in scale and character, including the extent to which they used heavy weapons, these were the answers in February 2024.

1. Rumours that Hamas’s armed wing (al-Qassam) has been decimated were false. Al Qassam carried out multiple operations on most days in February and 88 in total, many of them with heavy weapons such as 105 and 107 shells. One-third of their February operations were in the last week of February.

2. Hamas was far from alone. There were almost the same number of operations each by the Al-Quds (PIJ) and the Al-Aqsa and Al Asifah Brigades (Fatah) – 90 and 81 respectively.

3. It was notable that the militia of Fatah (the dominant party of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority: PA) remained very active in armed resistance operations in Gaza.

4. Nevertheless, Hezbollah was the most active force imposing itself on the Israeli military, with 202 operations in February.

5. There was no real sign of the armed resistance flagging. The Al-Qassam, Al-Quds, Al-Aqsa and Hezbollah militia all carried out more operations in the second half of February than in the first half.

6. Smaller resistance groups linked to the PFLP (Abu Ali Mustafa), the DFLP (Omar al-Qasim) and others carried out another 21 operations in February.

In September-October (10 September -7 October 2024), one year after 7 October 2023, an updated assessment was made, with details shown in Table 1. The main conclusions were:

1. September saw consistent but fewer attacks by al Qassam (an average of 1.25 per day compared to 3.6 in February), though this was supplemented by steady activity from PIJ’s al Quds Brigade (1.6 per day compared to 3.4 in February) and Fatah’s al Aqsa (2.25/day compared to 3.6 in February).

2. The big change was a large increase in Hezbollah activity, from the northern border of occupied Palestine, with 13 attacks per day in Sept-Oct compared to 7 in February.

3. Combining the activity of all Gaza groups and Hezbollah there were 20.5 attacks per day in February and 20 in Sept-October. Hezbollah thus played a more important role, contributing almost 2/3 of resistance attacks on the Israeli regime.



4. Added to this was increased activity from the Iraqi resistance and Yemen, about double the number of attacks were made in Sept-October compared to February. On top of this is the increasing role of Iran, with its missile attacks of October 1-2 on Israeli military bases having a more direct impact compared to its volley of drone and missiles in April, which were mainly probing the air defences of the regime and its allies.

5. In other words, Hamas (al Qassam) activity did fall off later in 2024, even forming a smaller minority of overall Gaza resistance activity, but the increased regional resistance activity, particularly that of Hezbollah, played a much larger role, such that overall resistance activity remained at about the same level.

6. There was no decrease in Hezbollah attacks after the 27 September assassination of the group’s Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and there was an increase in Hezbollah activity after the 1 October attempt by the Israelis to invade south Lebanon.

Table 1: Resistance Operations against the Israeli regime – September-October 2024
Sept 2024 Al Qassam (Hamas) Al Quds (PIJ) Al Aqsa (Fatah) Others Hezbollah ALL Pal+Hezb ops Iraq+ Yemen
10 Sept 1 3 3 3 6 16 0+0
11 Sept 1 2 6 2 9 20 0+0
12 Sept – 2 2 – 10 14 0+0
13 Sept – 3 – – 9 12 0+0
14 Sept 2 2 2 1 12 19 0+0
15 Sept 2 2 1 – 10 15 1+1
16 Sept 1 – 1 – 13 15 1+0
17 Sept – 2 1 – 6 9 0+0
18 Sept 1 5 4 1 4 15 1+0
19 Sept 2 3 2 1 16 24 0+0
20 Sept 4 3 4 1 16 28 0+0
21 Sept 2 3 – – 11 16 0+0
22 Sept 3 1 4 – 9 17 2+0
23 Sept 2 2 2 4 7 17 1+0
24 Sept – 2 6 19 27 0+0
25 Sept 2 2 2 3 11 20 5+0
26 Sept 1 2 2 – 11 16 0+0
27 Sept ** 3 1 1 – 8 13 2+3
28 Sept 1 – 4 1 8 14 3+1
29 Sept – – 3 – 11 14 3+0
30 Sept 2 2 1 – 12 17 4+1
1 Oct *** 3 1 2 1 16 23 1+5
2 Oct 1 – – – 27 28 1+1
3 Oct – – – 1 32 33 0+1
4 Oct – – 1 2 23 26 1+0
5 Oct – – 2 1 18 21 2+0
6 Oct – 2 2 – 17 21 –
7 Oct 11 6 5 5 13 40 1+2
Source: Press TV 2024, #ResistanceOps, online: https://www.presstv.ir/Section/151 ** 27 September the Israelis assassinated Hezbollah leader Sayed Hassan Nasrallah *** 1 October the Israelis began another attempt to invade Lebanon
With the catastrophic damage done to the entire Gaza population, the role of the regional resistance – Hezbollah, the Iraqi resistance, the revolutionary government in Yemen and the Islamic Republic of Iran – seems likely to continue and perhaps increase its importance in weakening the Israeli regime.

(Centre for Counter Hegemonic Studies)

https://orinocotribune.com/is-the-gaza- ... ober-2024/

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Hezbollah elects Sheikh Naim Qassem as new Secretary General

Just one month after several of its top leaders were assassinated by Israel, the Lebanese resistance group has demonstrated its resilience and bounced back from the significant setbacks.

October 29, 2024 by Aseel Saleh


Sheikh Naim Qassem. Photo: Screenshot

The Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah declared on Tuesday, October 29, the election of Sheikh Naim Qassem as its Secretary General, succeeding Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated by Israel on September 27. The declaration came days after the group confirmed the assassination of the head of its executive council, Hashem Safieddine, in an Israeli airstrike three weeks earlier. Prior to his assassination, analysts speculated that Safieddine was proposed to take the helm of Hezbollah after Nasrallah.

Sheikh Naim Qassem was named as Hezbollah’s new chief after the group’s Shura Council agreed to elect him, according to a statement published on Hezbollah-run Al Manar news network.

Following the announcement of Qassem’s election, Palestinian resistance movements hailed the decision congratulating Hezbollah new Secretary General on his appointment. The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas described the election of Qassem as an evidence of Hezbollah’s recovery, reaffirming its support for the new leadership. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement also congratulated Hezbollah, saying that Qassem’s appointment demonstrates the group’s “high capability to confront the enemy, thwart its aggression, and foil its plans”, at this sensitive stage.

Explicitly threatening Hezbollah, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant shared a photo of Qassem on his account on X, on Tuesday, saying in the caption: “Temporary appointment. Not for long”.

Who is Sheikh Naim Qassem?
Sheikh Naim Qassem was one of the religious scholars who contributed to the establishment of Hezbollah in 1982 in response to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. In 1991, Qassem was appointed by Abbas al-Musawi, Hezbollah’s Secretary General at that time, as the group’s deputy chief. One year later, al-Musawi was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike, and Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah took over as Hezbollah Secretary General. Qassem remained deputy chief until Nasrallah’s assassination.

Qassem was known for his frequent public appearances since Nasrallah largely went into hiding after Israel’s aggression on Lebanon in 2006. A couple of days after Nasrallah was assassinated, Qassem appeared in a televised speech mourning his companion and confirming that Hezbollah will continue fighting Israel to support Gaza and Palestine, and to defend Lebanon and its people.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/29/ ... y-general/

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A “heroic” preference for self-destruction is taking hold in Israel

Alastair Crooke

October 29, 2024

Israel teeters at the edge: it will not be able to impose itself over the plurality of resistance that it faces.

Centuries ago a boy was born. His parents understood that he had a remarkable fate before him which reflected the Will of the Great Shaman. His hair was light, his eyes were light green, and his skin was pale. It seemed obvious that he enjoyed divine favour. But then, one day, the boy’s father – a figure of standing – was killed. The family thus became unprotected, and nomads smashed the remains of his home. They made him a slave. They put wooden stocks over his legs so that he could not walk. He lived like a dog, and grew up like a dog, chained outside, eating rotten food, freezing on winter nights, wishing for death.

Death however spared him. When finally he did escape, his psyche was tortured. The voices inside his head; the screams of his father; the scorching fire; his mother being tortured and killed; All whispered, just destroy everything that is in your way, and these memories will be purged.

But they weren’t. His army killed millions. Nonetheless, he founded a nation of more than one million vassals. He expurgated all concepts of tribal loyalty and old identities for obedience to his State.

He did all this with a tiny army; no more than 100,000. His name comes down to us today as Genghis Khan.

What has this to do with today’s war in the Middle East? Well, firstly we have moved – in this American-facilitated Israeli war – to ‘war without limits’. The rules of war have been evicted; human rights have been discarded; international law has been shed; and the UN Charter is no more. And, as it expands, anything goes – children in Gaza decapitated by bombs, Gaza’s hospitals bombed, and the continuous displacement and massacre of civilians.

The roots to this shift are complex. In part, they spring from the western postmodern zeitgeist. But also they reflect the same dilemma that faced a tormented, twisted Genghis Khan: How would he control the world without a big army; in fact, with only a tiny one.

“Everything that’s happened today was planned out just 50 years ago – back in 1974 and 1973”. I want to describe how the whole strategy that led to the United States today, not wanting peace, but wanting Israel to take over the whole Near East took shape gradually”, Professor Hudson has explained (here and here).

Hudson relates:

“I met many [neocons] at the Hudson Institute, where had worked for five years in the mid ‘70s; some of them, or their fathers, were Trotskyists. They picked up Trotsky’s idea of permanent revolution. That is, an unfolding revolution – whereas Trotsky said what began in Soviet Russia was going to spread around the world: The neocons adapted this and said, No, the permanent Revolution is the American Empire. It’s going to expand, and expand, and nothing can stop us – to the entire world”.

In their ambition, they were another Genghis Khan: the U.S., lacking the military means, would seize the Middle East using Israel as its proxy on the one hand, and Saudi-facilitated Sunni fundamentalism on the other. The Hudson Institute, under Herman Khan, persuaded the dominant political figure Scoop Jackson that Zionism could be America’s battering ram in the Middle East. That was in the early 1970s. By 1996, Scoop Jackson’s former Senate aides had crafted –specifically for Netanyahu – its Clean Break Strategy.

Explicitly, it was the blueprint for ‘a new Middle East’. It argued that the Israel proxy would be served best by regime change in surrounding countries. In March 2003, Patrick J. Buchanan, referring to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, wrote, “Their [Clean Break] plan urged Israel to [pursue regime change through] ‘the principle of preemption'”.

Professor Michael Hudson points out the design’s fatal flaw: The Vietnam War had shown that any attempted conscription by western democracies was not viable. Lyndon Johnson in 1968 had to withdraw from running for election precisely because everywhere he’d go, there would be nonstop stop-the-war demonstrations.

So what then was left to the United States and Israel? Well, what is available – if your objective is to found Greater Israel – is ‘war without limits’ [i.e positively seeking huge collateral deaths] – a war without limits such as that which Genghis Khan practised: the total annihilation of other peoples and the suppression of their separate identities. A single power – the Hobbesian ‘Leviathan’ – achieved through disarming everyone. The ultimate aim being to suppress any plurality of wills.

The flaw is that the Israelis, as the U.S. proxy force, have limited forces, both by numbers (it is a small army, dependent on reservists), and by being constrained by its ranks being drawn from a westernised, postmodern culture.

“Postmodern thinking has swept God, Nature, and Reason away. The individual replaces everything. Facts are only what he wants them to be … There are only fictions left—but these fictions are also all of reality. Western society thus begins to look very much like an insane asylum. Of course, this is only a collective paranoia: one bomb falls somewhere in our country, and very real realities, which mock our discourses, are destroyed and this philosophy collapses”, warns Dr Henri Hude.

This statement, directed more broadly at the West, however summarizes Israel exactly. The latter tries to substitute the Talmud as the epistemological basis of its society, yet young Israel is largely the same TikTok generation of individualists as in the West, whose ‘facts’ come only from what the government tells them to be. And as the bombs fall on Tel Aviv, the country sinks into collective paranoia and events mock the state panglossian discourses.

At bottom, postmodernism places the highest priority on Life and individual freedom. The capacity to adapt to the brutalities of this style of limitless war therefore hangs very much on culture. To successfully adapt to the horror of death and destruction, one must accept the very idea of sacrifice and suffering – the spilling of blood to feed the earth towards new growth.

Israel does not have a culture of sacrifice, but its adversaries do. If culture is unable to offer a meaning to the notion of sacrifice and loss, it does not put man in a position to face the tragedy of his condition.

The war without limits ideology – purely theoretically – could be a thinkable solution: Ron Dermer, a former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. and confidant of Netanyahu, was asked a few months earlier what he saw as the solution to the Palestinian conflict. He replied that both the West Bank and Gaza must be totally dis-armed – “yes”. Yet more important than disarmament, Dermer said, was the absolute necessity that all Palestinians be “de-radicalised”. (This has now been extended to the whole region that must be ‘de-radicalised’).

When asked to expand, Dermer pointed approvingly to the outcome of WW2: The Germans were defeated, but more plainly the Japanese were fully ‘de-radicalised’ at the end of the war.

‘De-radicalisation’ therefore means installing a Leviathan-esque “despotism that reduces the majority to total powerlessness, including spiritual, intellectual and moral powerlessness. The total Leviathan is a unique, absolute and unlimited power, spiritual and temporal, over other humans”, as Dr Henri Hude has observed.

Thus, as postmodern culture sinks into the inhuman and favours the Leviathan – with the total annihilation of other peoples and the suppression of their separate identities – the question arises, could ‘war without limits’ work? Could such terror impose on the Middle East an unconditional surrender “that would allow it to change profoundly, militarily, politically and culturally, and to transform as a satellite within Pax Americana?”

Hude goes on to note, “The conditions demanded of Japan by the USA were exorbitant, and it was to be expected that Japan would put up a tremendous resistance. The atrocious use of the bomb broke this resistance”.

The clear response that Dr Hude gives in his book Philosophie de la Guerre is that war without limits cannot be the solution, because it cannot deliver long-lasting ‘deterrence’ or de-radicalisation. “On the contrary, it is the most certain cause of war. Ceasing to be rational, despising opponents who are more rational than it is, arousing opponents who are even less rational than it is. The Leviathan will fall; and even before its fall, no security is assured”.

The latter gives two insights as to how Hude’s analysis might apply to today’s wars: One is that whenever postmodern culture capsizes into ‘necessary’ violence (which it hyper-culpabilises, since it prioritises life, rather than suffering), it can only justify the violence through evoking a more than absolute evil – the demonized enemy.

Secondly, Hude identifies such extreme ‘will to power’ – without limits – as necessarily containing the psyche of self-destruction within it too. For the Leviathan to function, it must remain rational and powerful. Ceasing to be rational, despising opponents who are more rational, and angering opponents who are less rational than itis itself, the Leviathan then must fall.

One respected military observer – Maj. Gen. (Res.) Itzhak Brik, a former senior IDF commander and a former long-serving IDF ombudsman – has warned again of Israel’s looming fall:

Netanyahu, Gallant and Halevi are gambling with Israel’s very existence… they never think for a moment about the day after. They are disconnected from reality and exercise no judgment … When the catastrophe strikes, it will already be too late … These three megalomaniacs imagine that they are capable of destroying both Hamas and Hizbullah and ending the ayatollahs’ regime in Iran … They want to accomplish everything through military pressure, but in the end, they won’t accomplish anything. They have put Israel on the brink of two impossible situations [–] the outbreak of a full-fledged war in the Middle East, [and secondly] continuing the war of attrition. In either situation, Israel won’t be able to survive for long. Only a diplomatic agreement has the power to extricate us from the quagmire into which these three men have dragged us.

Israel teeters at the edge: It doesn’t have the necessary forces; it doesn’t have a culture of tolerating persistent suffering; and it will not be able to impose itself over the plurality of resistance that it faces. Reason already is cast aside, its opponents are ridiculed: a ‘heroic’ preference for self-destruction has taken hold. ‘Masada’ is being spoken of.

https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/ ... in-israel/

******



Yeah, Yeah, UNRWA Is Hamas. Everyone Israel Hates Is Hamas.

The Israeli Knesset has banned UNRWA, an absolutely critical agency for getting humanitarian aid into Gaza, with the architect of the bill saying this was happening because “UNRWA equals Hamas”.

Caitlin Johnstone
October 30, 2024

❖

The Israeli Knesset has banned UNRWA, an absolutely critical agency for getting humanitarian aid into Gaza, with the architect of the bill saying this was happening because “UNRWA equals Hamas”.

In addition to everything else this genocide has been, it’s been a colossal insult to our intelligence. UNRWA is Hamas. Hospitals are Hamas. Journalists are Hamas. Civilian infrastructure is Hamas. Ambulances, schools and mosques are Hamas. The women and babies — okay maybe they’re not technically Hamas, but Hamas is definitely hiding behind them and using them as human shields.

We are asked to believe self-evidently idiotic things, and if we don’t, we get called Nazi Jew-haters. We are being asked to turn ourselves into empty-headed morons to advance the information interests of a foreign state that’s allied with our government. Stupidity is being framed as a sign of patriotism. Gullibility is being framed as a sign of rejecting antisemitism. In this morally bankrupt and perverse civilization, the noblest thing you can be is a blithering imbecile.

❖

Axios and its Israeli intelligence insider Barak Ravid have penned yet another White House press release disguised as a news story about how “concerned” the Biden administration is about Israel’s actions in Gaza.

“The Biden administration is ‘deeply concerned’ that two bills passed by the Israeli Knesset on Monday will exacerbate the already dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza and harm Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank,” Ravid writes.

Oh shit you guys the Biden administration is deeply concerned that Israel is doing something bad in Gaza! You’re in trouble now, Bibi!

Like I said. Just one nonstop insult to our intelligence.

❖

CNN has issued an apology after its panelist Ryan Girdusky told fellow panelist Mehdi Hasan “I hope your pager doesn’t go off” after Hasan said he supports Palestinians. Israel supporters have been directing this “hurr hurr you should be murdered with an explosive pager” wisecrack at Israel’s critics for weeks, and apparently Girdusky just forgot where he was in the heat of the moment.

CNN was like, This network is shocked and appalled that our panelist joked about murdering a British Muslim journalist with an explosive beeper. That kind of language is only appropriate when directed at Muslims who live in the middle east.

❖

Per the rules of the western empire you are a religious extremist if you want to fight against an occupying force who has been abusing you your entire life, but you are not a religious extremist if you want to carpet bomb the middle east to help fulfill a Biblical prophecy.

❖

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow is back to pushing her “Russians are interfering in the US election” narrative, so we know what we’ll be hearing again if Kamala loses. No matter who wins we can expect a bunch of outraged shrieking from the other side that the election was unfairly stolen from them.

The US presidential race is very openly a contest between two oligarch-owned Zionist war whores, and yet after the results are announced next week you’re still going to hear half the country going “OMG election interference! The election was stolen from us!”

It already was, you dopes. It was stolen before the race even started. The rest is just narrative.

❖

I sure hope all the US progressives who obediently stopped talking about Gaza these last couple of months remember to start that thing up again after the election is over.

❖

I’m just gonna say this ahead of time so it’s out there: you don’t get to campaign on continuing a genocide and then blame other people when you lose. That is not a thing.

❖

“Trump will be worse on Gaza” is such an obnoxiously dishonest argument. It’s completely unfalsifiable and can’t even be tested after the election since abuses keep getting worse in Gaza anyway, and it’s based on nothing but the claim that very vague statements made by Trump prove he’ll facilitate Israeli atrocities more than the current administration already has been. It’s completely empty narrative fluff with no basis on the facts in evidence.

There are all kinds of legitimate cases to be made that Harris would be a little bit better than Trump on some aspects of domestic policy and the environment, but there is no case whatsoever to be made that he’ll be worse on Gaza than the administration that’s already committing genocide there. He could be worse, he could be a bit better, or he could be exactly the same. There’s no way to know, and there won’t be any way to know in a universe where we can’t observe alternate realities to compare what each presidential candidate would have done if they’d won. It’s an entirely unanswerable question that people are just pretending to know the answer to.

Harris and the Democrats have repeatedly attacked Trump for not starting a war with Iran when he was president. She criticized him for making John Bolton sad when he refused to bomb Iran. How is that less insanely pro-Israel than anything Trump has said?

If you want to argue that Harris will be better on reproductive rights or something then go ahead, but when it comes to Gaza don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining.

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2024/10 ... -is-hamas/

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No Foreign Warplanes Have Entered The Skies Over Tehran

I, like others, do not know what exactly happened during the recent Israeli air attack attack on Iran.

I do know however that this, as claimed by the Washington Post, did not happen at all.

What visuals reveal about the impact of Israeli strikes on Iran
Satellite imagery analyzed by The Washington Post shows damage to two air defense installations and at least three sites associated with missile production.

The Israeli attacks — which saw foreign warplanes in the skies over Tehran for the first time since the Iran-Iraq war — showcased the depths of Iran’s vulnerability after a string of recent setbacks.

No foreign warplanes entered the skies over Tehran.

Israeli pilots will not dare to enter a well defended Iranian airspace.

They attacked Iran from the U.S. controlled air spaces of Syria, Iraq and Jordan with long range air-launched missiles.

We know this because the booster parts of those missiles fell within Iraq:

Images and videos on social media from Iraq appear to show booster sections of missiles used by Israel in its overnight strikes on Iran.
The fragments of the missiles appear to have fallen in an area north of Baghdad.
...
Israeli jets conducted strikes on military targets throughout the Islamic Republic in retaliation for Tehran’s ballistic missile barrage on the country earlier this month.

Iraq has lodged an official protest note with the United Nations about the abuse of its airspace by Israeli warplanes.

The Defense Minister of Iran has confirmed that no Israeli fighter jets had entered Iranian airspace.

There were eye witness reports from Iran which described an attack on a industrial building as having come from cruise missile like drones in a northern to southern direction. This would be consistent with drones launched by Israeli (proxy?) forces from Azerbaijan.

In total the outcome of the attack seems to have been minor. An old HAWK anti-air missile site seems to have been destroyed. A S-300 air defense site showed some signs of disturbances but those might have been caused by the launch of its missiles. Three industrial buildings, allegedly used for solid fuel missile motor production, have been hit. But there have been no reports of secondary explosions at those sites which one would expect if fuel had been hit.

The Israeli attack thus ended up to be, intentionally or not, a minor affair.

Posted by b on October 30, 2024 at 10:53 UTC | Permalink

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/10/n ... l#comments

*******

Washington ignored 500 reports saying Israel killed Gaza civilians with US weapons: Report

The US government has consistently provided Israel with weapons and political cover to continue its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza over the past year

News Desk

OCT 30, 2024


(Photo Credit: AFP)

The US State Department has ignored nearly 500 reports over the past year highlighting that Israel is using US weapons to cause “unnecessary harm to civilians in the Gaza Strip,” according to informed sources who spoke with the Washington Post.

The reports were submitted by US government agencies, international aid organizations, NGOs, media reports, and eyewitness accounts. They included “photo documentation of US-made bomb fragments at sites where scores of children were killed.”

“Yet despite the State Department’s internal Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidance, which directs officials to complete an investigation and recommend action within two months of launching an inquiry, no single case has reached the ‘action’ stage,” the officials revealed.

“More than two-thirds of cases remain unresolved, they said, with many pending response from the Israeli government,” they added.

The Washington Post report comes just a day after an Israeli air strike on a single residential block in the north Gaza Beit Lahia neighborhood killed over 100 Palestinians, many of them women and children.


“Everything is being wiped out in Beit Lahia: shelters, schools, hospitals, houses. The past couple of days had the most horrific air raids in residential areas … We are talking about a siege for the past three weeks, meaning no water, no food, or aid. People are now forced to drink dirty water,” Al Jazeera's correspondent in central Gaza, Hind Khoudary, reported on Wednesday.

The bodies of at least 43,000 Palestinians have been retrieved since the start of the US-Israeli genocide campaign in Gaza. Nevertheless, tens of thousands more are believed to remain buried under the rubble.

Earlier this month, US State Secretary Anthony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a letter to Israeli officials giving them 30 days “to ensure noncombatants have access to food and other necessities,” implying that military aid could be cut off.

However, just days later, POLITICO revealed that a top White House official told the heads of humanitarian aid organizations that Washington “would not consider withholding weapons from Israel for blocking food and medicine from entering [Gaza].”

Since October 2023, the US government has provided Israel with more than $23 billion in military assistance.

https://thecradle.co/articles/washingto ... ons-report

[blindpig]

A Cartography of Genocide: Israel’s Conduct in Gaza Since October 2023 ← Forensic Architecture
Posted by Internationalist 360° on October 31, 2024



Report: A Spatial Analysis of the Israeli Military’s Conduct in Gaza since October 2023

Introduction

Since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in October 2023, Forensic Architecture has been collecting data related to attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure by the Israeli military. Our analysis of this conduct reveals the near-total destruction of civilian life in Gaza. We have also collected and analysed evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military directing Palestinian civilians to areas of Gaza designated as ‘safe’. These orders have resulted in the repeated, large-scale displacement of the Palestinian population across Gaza, often to areas which subsequently came under attack.

The patterns we have observed concerning Israel’s military conduct in Gaza indicate a systematic and organised campaign to destroy life, conditions necessary for life, and life-sustaining infrastructure.

Forensic Architecture’s monitoring and research consists of:

An interactive cartographic platform: ‘A Cartography of Genocide’
An 827-page text report: ‘A spatial analysis of the Israeli military’s conduct in Gaza since October 2023’
The platform and report present a comprehensive mapping of military conduct in Gaza since 7 October 2023. They deploy spatial and pattern analysis to observe the ways in which Israel’s military operations entailed widespread civilian harm.

To identify patterns in Israel’s conduct, the platform turns thousands of datapoints into a navigable ‘map’ of Gaza, within which it is possible to define regions, periods in time, and categories of events. This filtering can reveal trends within datasets and relationships between different datasets (for instance, between the military ground invasion and the destruction of medical infrastructure).

In our analysis, we understand patterns to mean the repetition of same, similar or related incidents, at different times and places. Such patterns may indicate that these attacks are designed, formally or informally, rather than occurring at random.

Our report analyses Israeli military conduct between 7 October 2023 and 16 September 2024. It interrogates the scale and nature of attacks, the extent of damage and the number of victims, as well as the organised nature of the acts of violence and the improbability of their random occurrence.

View the Video – Read More >> https://forensic-architecture.org/inves ... f-genocide

NEW: ‘A Cartography of Genocide’.

Since October 2023, we have collected and analysed data related to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. We are now publishing this data as an interactive web platform and text report.

Our findings indicate that Israel has systematically targeted all aspects of civilian life in Gaza.

Analysing patterns between incidents at a regional scale, this research brings together data including attacks on medical facilities and healthcare workers, destruction of agricultural land and civil infrastructure, including schools, shelters, and religious buildings, Israel’s abuse of humanitarian measures including evacuation orders and ‘safe zones’, and the construction of new military infrastructure inside the Gaza Strip.

View the platform at gaza.forensic-architecture.org, https://t.co/UUxYqpTF72 pic.twitter.com/lpqv78S5c4

— Forensic Architecture (@ForensicArchi) October 29, 2024

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2024/10/ ... hitecture/

Banning UNRWA: Israel’s New Way to Kill Palestinian Children
Posted by Internationalist 360° on October 31, 2024
Maureen Clare Murphy


The head of Amnesty International said that Israel’s ban on UNRWA amounts to ”criminalization of humanitarian aid.”

Palestinian human rights groups say that new Israeli legislation banning a UN agency from providing services to Palestinians under occupation “aligns with a broader pattern of Israel’s genocidal intent.”

On Monday, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, passed into law – with near unanimity – two bills that would effectively ban UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, from operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

One of the laws bars state authorities from having any contact with UNRWA, which provides health, education and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees in the occupied Palestinian territories as well as Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

“The legislation also terminates the 1967 agreement between Israel and UNRWA with immediate effect,” according to three prominent Palestinian human rights groups: Al-Haq, Al Mezan and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

The second law bans the agency from operating in so-called Israeli territory and “will go into effect three months after the passing of the laws – approximately by the end of January 2025,” the rights groups said.

If enacted, the new laws will shutter UNRWA’s headquarters in eastern Jerusalem, which Israel has unlawfully occupied since 1967 and annexed in violation of international law. UNRWA’s Jerusalem headquarters are the administrative hub for its operations across the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

According to media reports, Israel plans to build settlements on the site of UNRWA’s headquarters, which state authorities ordered vacated in May.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has the authority to block the legislation. But he is unlikely to do so, despite international pressure, especially after his foreign minister declared António Guterres, the UN secretary-general, persona non grata.

Israel’s unbridled hostility toward the United Nations will only escalate with every attempt towards accountability through the world body’s organs.

On Wednesday, the UN Security Council issued a statement declaring its support for UNRWA and warning “against any attempts to dismantle or diminish UNRWA’s operations and mandate.”

“Criminalization of humanitarian aid”

Three prominent Palestinian human rights groups – Al-Haq, Al Mezan and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights – said that the passage of the laws is part of a “calculated, decades-long campaign to dismantle UNRWA and undermine the inalienable right of return” of Palestinian refugees.

“Now more than ever, amid Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, UNRWA’s role is not only essential but irreplaceable,” the groups added.

The new legislation “amounts to the criminalization of humanitarian aid and will worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis,” Agnès Callamard, the head of Amnesty International, said on Tuesday.

Joyce Msuya, the acting UN relief chief, said “this decision is dangerous and outrageous.”

“If UNRWA is unable to operate, it’ll likely see the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza,” warned James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children’s agency UNICEF. “So a decision such as this suddenly means that a new way has been found to kill children.”

UN officials say the decision to ban UNRWA amounts to collective punishment – a war crime – for the alleged involvement of a handful of agency staff in the 7 October 2023 attack on Israeli military bases and colonies along Gaza’s periphery.

“The implementation of the laws could have devastating consequences for Palestine refugees” in the West Bank, including eastern Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, according to the UN secretary-general.

National legislation cannot alter Israel’s obligations under the UN charter and international law, Guterres added.

UNRWA is the agency with the largest humanitarian footprint in the West Bank and Gaza and one of the largest employers in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“Dismantling UNRWA will have a catastrophic impact on the international response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, told the president of the General Assembly in a letter on Tuesday. “It will also sabotage any chance of recovery.”

In the absence of any other entity to provide government-like services, the effective ban on UNRWA will leave more than 660,000 children in Gaza without an education. “An entire generation of children will be sacrificed,” Lazzarini said.

The Palestinian rights groups observe that 2.4 million Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and Gaza “will be deprived of essential services – particularly education and healthcare – that only UNRWA has the mandate and capacity to deliver.”

UNRWA staff killed and tortured

Addressing Israel’s allegations, Lazzarini said that UNRWA provided Israel with a list of its staff on an annual basis for 15 years. Personnel that Israel never raised concerns over are now included in its lists of alleged fighters, he said.

Repeated requests to the Israeli government appealing for evidence regarding its allegations against UNRWA staff have gone without a reply, he added.

“UNRWA is therefore in the invidious position of being unable to address allegations for which it has no evidence, while these allegations continue to be used to undermine the agency,” Lazzarini said.

He added that at least 237 UNRWA staff have been killed in Gaza and more than 200 of its facilities have been damaged or destroyed in attacks that have killed more than 560 people “seeking UN protection.” Meanwhile, “dozens of UNRWA staff have been detained and report being tortured,” Lazzarini said.

Israel has abused UNRWA employees detained in Gaza in order to extract forced confessions incriminating the agency.

Israel’s attacks on UNRWA “are an integral part” of the crumbling of “the rules-based international order … in a repetition of the horrors that led to the establishment of the United Nations,” Lazzarini added.

Passage of the bills, strongly opposed and viewed as extreme even by Tel Aviv’s allies, will increase international pressure on Israel.

In March, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to “ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale … of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.”

The Palestinian research group Badil has said that instead of adhering to the orders of the UN court, western colonial states were abetting “Israel’s aim to oust UNRWA” from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“The demise of UNRWA is a strategic goal that serves Israel’s colonial-apartheid aspirations to eliminate the Palestinian refugee issue,” Badil added.

The group has called on governments around the world to “freeze Israel’s membership in the United Nations in view of its failure to fulfill its membership obligations.”

Right of return

This includes Israel’s failure to implement UN General Assembly resolution 194 of 1948.

Around 800,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homeland during the Zionist conquest of hundreds of towns and villages ahead of the declaration of the state of Israel.

Resolution 194 calls for those refugees to be allowed to return to their homes “at the earliest practicable date” and for compensation for loss of property.

Israel’s admittance to the UN was conditioned on recognition of the right of return of Palestine refugees.

According to international law expert Shahd Hammouri, denial of that right “is perplexingly at the heart of the Israeli state’s ideology despite being a condition of its membership.”

Adalah, a group that advocates for the rights of Palestinians in Israel, said that the laws banning UNRWA “violate the provisional measures ordered by the [International Court of Justice] and may also breach the Genocide Convention and the [International Criminal Court’s] Rome Statute.”

The US secretaries of state and defense warned Israel earlier this month that there would be potential consequences including the suspension of military assistance if Israel didn’t allow a surge of aid into Gaza.

International monitors warn of a persistent risk of famine across all of Gaza. With winter approaching, and after more than a year of Israel using food and water as weapons of war, “the lives of two million Palestinians are already in grave danger,” the three Palestinian human rights groups said.

Disruption of UNRWA’s operations “would have devastating consequences and inevitably contribute to imposing conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza,” the groups added.

The US and some European countries have reportedly warned Israel that the ban on UNRWA could undermine the state’s defense at the International Court of Justice, where it stands accused of genocide.

The International Criminal Court also appears to be particularly focused on Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid in its investigation into suspected war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Norway has already initiated a UN resolution requesting an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legality of Israel’s “systematic obstacles” that prevent the provision of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians under occupation.

In a statement published on Tuesday, Norway stated that the ban on UNRWA “will have severe consequences for millions of civilians already living in the most dire of circumstances.”

“It also undermines the stability of the entire Middle East,” the Norwegian statement added.

An unnamed diplomat whose comments were paraphrased by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz said that international courts may rule against the state and its leaders if there are further decreases in aid, “making it more difficult for Israel’s allies to defend the country.”

At the time that Israel’s Knesset voted to ban UNRWA, some 100,000 Palestinians were under siege in the northern Gaza areas of Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya and Jabaliya refugee camp without food, water or medical supplies.

“The entire population of north Gaza is at risk of dying,” Joyce Msuya, the acting UN relief chief, stated two days before the vote.



https://libya360.wordpress.com/2024/10/ ... -children/

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'Done in the south already?' New Hezbollah chief asks Israel, vows resistance ready for 'long war'

Naim Qassem challenged Israeli ground troops, who are taking severe losses on the border, to advance deeper into southern Lebanon

News Desk

OCT 30, 2024


(Photo credit: X)

Hezbollah’s new leader, Naim Qassem, confirmed on 30 October in his first speech as secretary-general that the Lebanese resistance is prepared for a long war against Israel, while also challenging the Israeli army’s ground forces to advance deeper into Lebanon.

“All our preparations are based on the possibility of waging a long-term war,” Qassem said, one day after he was announced as the successor to assassinated secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah.

“We will continue to confront the aggression … if the enemy wants to stop it, we will accept the conditions that we see as appropriate, and any solution will remain through indirect negotiations,” he added, stressing that Hezbollah will continue to support Gaza.

“The enemy will not be able to rely on time because its losses are great, and it will be forced to stop its aggression,” the new secretary-general went on to say, vowing that Hezbollah “will emerge from this confrontation stronger and victorious.”

He also confirmed that his role as secretary-general will be “a continuation of the work program of our leader His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,” and that Hezbollah will “continue to implement the war plans laid out by [Nasrallah] with the leadership of the resistance.”

Qassem praised the “bravery” and “steadfastness” of the resistance fighters confronting Israeli ground forces in southern Lebanon, who have taken heavy losses since entering Lebanese territory in early October.

He confirmed that Israeli troops have still not made it past the edges of the border out of fear of the resistance’s ambushes, challenging them to advance deeper into Lebanese territory. “We say to Israel, are you already done? Don’t you want to reach the Litani or at least go a little bit deeper into Lebanon? You haven’t even managed to gain a single victory.”

Officials cited by Israel’s Broadcasting Authority said last week the Lebanon ground invasion may be in its final days.

“The enemy must know that its bombing of our villages and cities will not make us retreat … the resistance is strong and was able to send a drone to Netanyahu’s bedroom,” Qassem added, referring to the operation which saw a Hezbollah drone explode into the window of Netanyahu’s bedroom at the premier’s private residence in Caesarea on 19 October.

Qassem noted that Hezbollah targets military infrastructure, while Israel focuses its attacks on civilians.

The Hezbollah chief also warned that this is not just an Israeli war on Lebanon, but “an American-Israeli-European world war to eliminate our people from the entire region.”

He referred to recent comments by the US Ambassador to Lebanon, Lisa Johnson, in which she said Lebanon should prepare for a “post-Hezbollah” phase and urged an “internal uprising” against the resistance as it confronts Israel.

“I assure the American Ambassador Lisa Johnson that she will not witness the defeat of the resistance, not even in her dreams. Instead, she will witness the defeat of the US alongside the defeat of Israel,” Qassem asserted.

Qassem mourned the loss of Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, who was killed in a violent Israeli attack on Beirut’s southern suburb early this month, just a week after Nasrallah’s assassination. “We have lost him, but he has gained the ultimate reward.”

In a message to Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s new secretary-general said, “You have always been and will remain the banner of victorious resistance, the beloved of the resistance fighters, the reservoir of hope, and the herald of victory.”

“Just as we triumphed in July [2006], we will prevail now,” he promised. “The era of defeats is over, and the era of victories has come,” he added, echoing a famous quote by Nasrallah.

https://thecradle.co/articles/done-in-t ... r-long-war

After displacing tens of thousands Israel carpet bombs ancient city of Baalbek

The heavy attacks on Baalbek coincided with a speech by Hezbollah's new Secretary-General Naim Qassem

News Desk

OCT 30, 2024


(Photo credit: X)

Israel launched violent air raids on the ancient city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon on 30 October after ordering evacuations across the whole city for the first time and forcing civilians to flee in fear.

“Israeli warplanes continue to launch raids on the city of Baalbek and its surroundings, reaching towns that were not included in the enemy army's warning alert,” Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported on Wednesday afternoon.

The residential neighborhoods of Ras al-Ain Hills, Amashki, al-Asira, Al-Kayyal Road, and the northern and southern entrances to the city were all targeted.

“Enemy warplanes also targeted the Ain Bourdai neighborhood, Douris, and the surrounding fuel tanks, as well as the outskirts of the town of Shmastar,” NNA said.

Video footage circulating social media shows massive explosions over Baalbek.

Israeli jets continued attacks across eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa region on 30 October, hitting the towns of Sohmor and Labaya. Israeli bombs have resulted in several massacres in the Bekaa, with Lebanon’s Health Ministry reporting at least 60 deaths between Monday and Tuesday alone.

Deadly airstrikes also continued to target southern Lebanon, killing a child and injuring several others in the city of Tyre.

After the evacuation orders in Baalbek on Wednesday, tens of thousands of civilians fled their homes in a panic.

Around 2,000 people have been killed, and over a million internally and externally displaced as a result of Israel’s massive escalation against Lebanon, which began last month.

Consequently, Hezbollah has escalated its resistance operations, launching daily rocket attacks targeting settlements and military sites deep inside Israel while confronting Israeli ground troops in the south and inflicting heavy losses on them.

The resistance group recently issued evacuation orders to over two dozen Israeli settlements and has begun escalating rocket attacks against them.

The attacks on Baalbek coincided with a speech by Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem, his first speech as the resistance movement’s new leader.

“The enemy must know that its bombing of our villages and cities will not make us retreat,” he said.

https://thecradle.co/articles/after-dis ... of-baalbek

[blindpig]

Israel asks for help
November 1, 19:06



Israel asks for help

What happened?

1. Israel asks Russia to help with a peaceful settlement of the war in Lebanon and to act as a mediator in negotiations with Hezbollah (Lebanon in 3 days did not work out, 80 to 100 missiles fly from Lebanon to Israel every day, not counting drones, killing civilians cannot solve this problem)

2. Israel asks Russia to help with the release of hostages held by Hamas. Earlier, Hamas stated that out of respect for Putin, it is ready to release several hostages of Russian origin.

3. Israel is considering the possibility of satisfying Putin's request to transfer the Alexander Compound in Jerusalem to Russia.

As various funny characters like to say, "Russia has lost its influence in the Middle East!"
Of course, we have the opportunity to act as a mediator in such situations thanks to the successful operation in Syria, which again made the Russian Federation a factor player in the Middle East, from where we essentially fled after the collapse of the USSR and returned only during the Syrian war.

This situation also clearly shows what the mantras about "international isolation of Russia" are worth if a junior ally of the United States asks Russia, which is under US sanctions, to become a mediator to achieve peace in a war that is going badly for Israel.

The Kremlin reported that Russia has never refused to participate in the negotiations as a mediator, since the Russian Federation has not broken pots with anyone and communicates with all participants in the war. Therefore, under the right conditions, Moscow is ready to help achieve peace.

However, given the cardinal contradictions between the parties, it is problematic to conclude a real peace (at least for a while) in the current reality.

P.S. Iran, meanwhile, is threatening an imminent "True Promise 3" operation.

P.S. 2. And here too.

Germany has fled from the Houthis.
Germany's defense minister said "German efforts" to protect shipping off the coast of Yemen had been unsuccessful. German ships had failed to prevent or reduce attacks by Houthis on merchant ships.
Therefore, German ships sent against the Houthis on the coast of Yemen are being recalled home.
They felt the power of the Houthi missile slipper. The Houthis just yesterday declared that they intend to continue attacks on ships connected to Israel, the US and Britain. They actually did not pay much attention to Germany (they did not even hang out the German flag as an enemy flag during exercises), mentioning it only in a list of minor US snatches.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/9472553.html

Google Translator

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From Promise to Peril: Israel’s Ground Invasion of Lebanon is Unraveling
Posted by Internationalist 360° on November 1, 2024
Robert Inlakesh



On Oct. 1, Israel announced a limited ground invasion in southern Lebanon. Now, a month and roughly 100 soldier casualties later, Israeli officials appear to be searching for an exit, insisting that their goals have been fulfilled.

At the outset, Israeli officials described the ground invasion as “limited, localized, and targeted,” with the stated aim of neutralizing Hezbollah’s ability to fire on northern Israeli settlements. Yet, within days, Tel Aviv mobilized four additional divisions along the southern Lebanon border, signaling a clear escalation in its military engagement.

By late December, Israel’s assassination operations had reportedly decimated much of Hezbollah’s senior leadership—alongside hundreds of civilians caught in the crossfire. Even so, Reuters and other media outlets reported that the Lebanese resistance group managed to re-establish its command just weeks later.

By mid-October, the Israeli military was still struggling to break through the Lebanese border area, hampered by a series of persistent setbacks. Israeli forces faced relentless shelling along their supply routes, fell into ambushes, and encountered numerous booby traps. Andreas Krieg from the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London noted that Israel “has not made the progress that I expected them to make in 16 days, which suggests that it is far more difficult. There is certainly more fierce resistance than Israelis initially expected.”

On Oct. 28, Hezbollah’s “Operations Room” issued a communiqué claiming its forces had confirmed the deaths of at least 90 Israeli soldiers and officers. The statement also reported that at least 750 had been wounded, and 38 of Israel’s renowned Merkava tanks had been destroyed. These figures, Hezbollah asserted, apply solely to the casualties and losses inflicted on Israeli forces operating within Lebanese territory.

Hezbollah vs IDF at Ramya: Back-to-back Almas top-attack anti-tank guided missile strikes vs IDF troops at a border position opened in the wall west of Ayta ash-Shab in south Lebanon. [Hezbollah 21/10] pic.twitter.com/nYe6P1RDBK

— Jon Elmer (@jonelmer) October 21, 2024

Israel has released footage showing its forces demolishing numerous civilian homes in Lebanese border villages such as Mhaibib. However, Hezbollah contends that Israel has yet to capture and hold a single village. The Israeli military justifies the widespread destruction by claiming it targets tunnel infrastructure, while Hezbollah argues that the demolitions aim to prevent ambushes on Israeli soldiers.

These significant losses, which Israel has not fully acknowledged due to military censorship that obscures battlefield defeats, are beginning to affect its troops psychologically. Recently, the Israeli Hebrew outlet Yediot Aharonot reported growing distrust and tensions within the elite Egoz commando unit, highlighting concerns over poor decision-making in southern Lebanon and raising questions about the effectiveness of Israel’s military strategy.

Earlier this week, former Israeli Brigadier General Yitzhak Brik criticized the Israeli military’s limited progress, revealing that forces have managed to advance only three kilometers into Lebanon, well short of the Litani River, which lies about 27 kilometers from the border. “Why? Because this army is tiny. In ’78 it reached Litani and in ’82 it arrived in Beirut. Now it is only three kilometers,” he stated, highlighting the difficulties faced by the military.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, known for making exaggerated claims about military achievements in Gaza, asserts that Israel has destroyed 80% of Hezbollah’s missile stockpile. However, Hezbollah continues to escalate its strikes on a near-daily basis, insisting that its stockpile remains largely intact, and the ongoing barrage of fire targeting Israeli settlements and troop gatherings suggests that the military has achieved little in the way of degrading Hezbollah’s capabilities.

Despite its assurances that the military campaign would drive Hezbollah back behind the Litani River and facilitate the return of 60,000 to 100,000 settlers to their homes in northern Israel, the number of displaced Israelis has continued to grow. Hezbollah’s new Secretary General, Sheikh Naem Qassem, has firmly vowed to persist in the fight for Gaza and Lebanon, signaling a steadfast refusal to bow to Israeli demands.

Hezbollah’s strategy has involved deploying ground forces to ambush Israeli troops, with anti-tank units effectively targeting enemy vehicles both within Lebanon and across the border. These operations are complemented by artillery units that shell Israeli supply lines and troop gatherings, which not only complicates rescue missions for the Israeli military but also prolongs the extraction of their dead and wounded, raising concerns about the safety of civilians caught in the crossfire.

Additionally, air defense units are actively targeting Israeli aircraft, while missile and rocket units focus on settlements and military bases. Attack drones are being utilized against strategic targets. This well-coordinated effort suggests a deliberate plan that Israel has struggled to counter, potentially leading to reckless decisions that endanger not only soldiers but also civilians in the region.

The US amb in Lebanon, Lisa Johnson, is doing what Robert Ford did in Syria: promoting a bloody civil war to advance US and Israeli objectives in the region

She reportedly told local allies: “Israel cannot accomplish everything through military means alone. The time has come for… https://t.co/TPqy6PCkQJ

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) October 30, 2024

There are growing discussions about a potential ceasefire agreement, with Israeli officials claiming that the ground invasion has achieved its intended goals, though those objectives remain vague. Meanwhile, Israel appears to be trying to incite civil unrest within Lebanon, seeking to leverage proxy forces to carry out its agenda.

Feature photo | A young girl carries a Hezbollah flag during the funeral procession of a Hezbollah commander killed while fighting ISIS in Syria. Photo | Shutterstock





https://libya360.wordpress.com/2024/11/ ... nraveling/

The Perils of Silence on the Forced Displacement of Palestinians: Escalating Zionist Crimes
Posted by Internationalist 360° on October 30, 2024
Ansarollah



In response to a question from an attendee at a meeting of the Jewish Agency’s Executive Committee in 1938—ten years before the establishment of the Israeli entity—David Ben-Gurion stated his stance on forced displacement: “I support compulsory transfer, and I don’t see anything unethical about it.”

For 76 years under Israeli occupation, Palestinians have endured daily displacement and ethnic cleansing as the world witnessed silently. This plan, carried out meticulously in northern Gaza today, has been implemented for decades in other Palestinian areas. Major cities in the temporary entity like Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Safed were once Palestinian cities inhabited by Arab Muslims, but due to forced displacement, the homeland has been entirely occupied.

Historically, in 1948, the establishment of “Israel” carved itself into the Middle East, resulting in one of the largest forced migrations in modern history. Nearly one million people were expelled from their homes by armed force, villages were destroyed, and massacres were committed with the assistance of post-World War II colonial powers, and with widespread international silence and complicity.

Ethnic cleansing is universally condemned as a “crime against humanity.” The United Nations officially and strongly opposes any policies or ideologies promoting ethnic cleansing. However, today, the UN remains silent on Zionist policies that forcibly displace Palestinians from their lands and often sides with the oppressors over the oppressed.

An Expansionist Project to Control the Region

Israel continues to pursue normalization with Arab states to achieve significant goals. Mainly, normalization means public Arab recognition that Palestine is no longer Arab but “Israeli,” signaling Arab concessions to the Zionist project in the region. It also implies silent approval of Israeli practices against Palestinians and Arabs, the acceptance of a “New Middle East” project, and the rearrangement of the region’s map, dividing the Arab world in favor of Zionist interests, allowing Israel to become the region’s military, political, and economic power at the expense of Arab solidarity.

Sayyid Abdul-Malik Badruldeen al-Houthi emphasizes that the Zionist project seeks to dominate Arab lands, subjugating them entirely, and imposing a state of humiliation and suffering upon them to achieve global control. This vision aligns with a broader goal of “Greater Israel,” as they call it, from which they intend to expand Zionist control worldwide.

Northern Gaza: The Latest Ethnic Cleansing Plans

Today, history repeats itself with notable distinctions. Israel’s strategic goal remains to expel Palestinians through military force and countless atrocities. The situation in northern Gaza exemplifies “ethnic cleansing.” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi aptly described it to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, stating that “ethnic cleansing is taking place in northern Gaza, and the Israeli government listens to no one.”

Gaza has become a death trap for Palestinians, subjected to relentless airstrikes, including internationally banned bombs, destroying homes and claiming countless lives. While all of Gaza suffers, the situation in the north is especially dire, where Israel implements the so-called “Generals’ Plan,” denying basic survival essentials like food and medicine, killing civilians on sight, destroying hospitals, and dismantling every semblance of life. The aim is clear: to drive the residents out of Gaza, forcing them to search for livelihood around the world. Only to pave the way for new Zionist settlements, adhering to their policy of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing practiced since Israel’s inception in 1948.

Sayyid Abdul-Malik al-Houthi describes these Zionist crimes as “horrific,” highlighting that while all of Gaza suffers, the brutality in the north is particularly severe, with Israel committing forced displacement and genocide.

Sayyid Abdul-Malik brings to mind part of the horrific scenes happening in northern Gaza, where the occupation raids overcrowded shelters, protected by the United Nations and UNRWA. Armed Israeli soldiers invade these shelters, separating men from women, detaining many men, and forcibly removing women and children, shooting at them and beating them with rifle butts. They herd families down designated streets, which they then target with various weaponry, including tanks and snipers who intentionally shoot the civilians.

Violence is a tool most often used by the Israeli entity in its goal in clearing Palestine of its native population and replacing it with settlers, establishing the foundation of a Zionist state that excludes any race other than non-Jewish components. This strategy has been systematically followed throughout Israel’s 76 years of occupation of Palestine.

A Great Responsibility on the Nation

Nevertheless, the Palestinian people, especially in Gaza, show extraordinary resilience, bolstered by support from Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. This resilience, along with this growing support network, has created a significant obstacle to the U.S.-Zionist agenda, hindering the completion of their dominance over the region.

Sayyid Abdul-Malik al-Houthi believes the entire Arab and Islamic world is targeted—not just Palestine. This is why he continually calls upon the people and free individuals of the Arab and Muslim world to remain vigilant and act decisively, noting that the responsibility grows with each Zionist escalation.

He states, “The area surrounding Palestine is also directly targeted, and that is undeniable regardless of the ignorance or blindness of some. Ignoring this reality does not change the facts, which should be considered.”

In this context, decisive action remains the only path forward for the free people of the Arab and Muslim world to counter the criminal Zionist project and its American counterpart. The two operate in tandem with a shared agenda. Should the nations choose silence and submission, the consequences will be dire, the losses immense, and regret will serve little purpose when it’s too late.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2024/10/ ... st-crimes/

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“Too Much Evidence” Of Genocide

South Africa’s legal team has submitted hundreds of documents containing what it calls “undeniable evidence” as part of its ongoing genocide case against the state of Israel, with the South African representative to The Hague telling Al Jazeera that “The problem we have is that we have too much evidence.”

Caitlin Johnstone
November 1, 2024

South Africa’s legal team has submitted hundreds of documents containing what it calls “undeniable evidence” as part of its ongoing genocide case against the state of Israel, with the South African representative to The Hague telling Al Jazeera that “The problem we have is that we have too much evidence.”

The Israeli outlet Haaretz reports that IDF soldiers are actively blocking the return of Palestinians they have driven out of northern Gaza as part of the so-called “General’s Plan” — a land grab of Palestinian territory using ethnic cleansing by violent force.

Haaretz has been far more critical of Israel’s actions than western media outlets have been. It recently published an editorial titled “If It Looks Like Ethnic Cleansing, It Probably Is”. Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken is now publicly advocating international sanctions on the Israeli government for its apartheid abuses and opposition to a Palestinian state, drawing an outraged response from the Netanyahu regime.

“A Palestinian state must be established, and the only way to achieve this is to apply sanctions against Israel.”

Haaretz publisher called for sanctions against Israeli leaders who oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state, describing the policies as an "apartheid regime" pic.twitter.com/IMXsL6wNOP

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) October 31, 2024

Last week there was a two-day rally attended by multiple Israeli government officials called the “Preparing to Resettle Gaza Conference,” which was exactly what it sounds like: high-profile Israelis gathering to discuss the agenda to drive Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and replace their territory with Jewish settlements.

Humanitarian aid in Gaza has reportedly fallen to its lowest level since Israel’s genocidal onslaught began, with just a few hundred truckloads entering the enclave from October 1 to October 22 and nothing getting through to the north. The UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs recently warned that “The entire population of North Gaza is at risk of dying,” a warning that was issued shortly before the Israeli Knesset voted to cut off UNRWA aid throughout all the territories it controls.

According to a new report from The Washington Post, the US State Department has been inundated with hundreds of reports of US-supplied weapons being used to needlessly kill and harm civilians in Gaza, but in violation of its own rules it has failed to take any action on a single one of them. According to one WaPo source, investigations of these reports have tended to stall out at the “verification” stage, which consists of asking the Israeli government for its side of the story.


Israeli forces reportedly killed 109 Palestinians in a single massacre on Tuesday — including dozens of children — when Israel blew up an apartment building where hundreds of civilians were sleeping.

The IDF killed five journalists in a single day last Sunday, bringing the total number of journalists murdered in Israel’s genocidal assault to at least 180. This occurred shortly after Israel published a kill list of six Al Jazeera journalists who it claims are secret Hamas fighters, although no Al Jazeera reporters were among the five killed.

And this is just in Gaza. Israel has already killed some 164 healthcare workers in its ongoing assault on Lebanon, where the Netanyahu government is sabotaging ceasefire negotiations by inserting ridiculous non-starter demands like Israeli planes being allowed to enter Lebanese airspace and Israeli forces being allowed to police the ceasefire deal with military operations in southern Lebanon as they see fit.

Every day there’s more and more ugly news in the middle east, perpetrated by Israel and its powerful western backers who make its abuses possible. It’s getting harder and harder to stay on top of. There really is “too much evidence” to keep up with.

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2024/11 ... -genocide/

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Why Israel targets Syria: The geopolitical stakes of Damascus's support for the resistance

According to Israel, Syria is the key weapons transportation hub for the Resistance – and has simultaneously withdrawn from the Axis to save itself. As Tel Aviv continues to strike Syrian soil with abandon, which of its claims are true?


Mohamed Nader Al-Omari

NOV 1, 2024


Photo Credit: The Cradle

Over the past decade, Syria has faced hundreds of Israeli air attacks claiming to primarily target weapons manufacturing, transport, and storage facilities. According to Tel Aviv, these strikes are intended to "cut off supply routes" from Iran to Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Most recently, on 31 October, the Israeli military announced it had struck weapons depots and headquarters used by Hezbollah in the Qusayr area, reportedly killing at least 10 people, mostly civilians.

With the launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood more than a year ago, Israeli strikes on Syria intensified, reaching 29 by the end of 2023. And since the start of this year, Syria has been subjected to 69 air attacks targeting multiple geographical areas, in addition to 17 attacks on Syrian–Lebanese crossings since mid-September.

The attacks coincided with the occupation state’s rapid military escalation against Lebanon six weeks ago, beginning with the pager and walkie-talkie terror attacks on 16-17 September and culminating in the assassinations of high-ranking leaders of the Lebanese resistance, including Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.

Supporting or stepping back from the resistance?

The accusations levied against Damascus by Israel and the US reveal contradictory narratives, suggesting on one hand that Syria remains the central supporter of the Lebanese resistance, while on the other hand implying that it has reined in support for both Lebanese and Palestinian factions.

After the Qusayr attack, the occupation army stated: "With the support of the Syrian regime, the Hezbollah terrorist organization endangers the security of Syrian and Lebanese civilians by embedding command centers and forces in civilian areas in both these countries."

On the flip side, amid speculation that Damascus has distanced itself from Hezbollah, Seth Frantzman, an adjunct fellow at the US-based Foundation of Defense of Democracies, claims the Syrian government's reluctance to take active measures against repeated violations by Israel "likely stems from the regime's sense that it has nothing to gain by escalation and much to lose."

In fact, there are several indicators that confirm Syria's firm support of the resistance against Israel's attempts to reshape West Asia, including efforts to "eradicate Hezbollah" in Lebanon—a goal often repeated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel’s long-term plans for Syria

Israeli leaders often accuse their foes of things that mirror their own ambitions. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for expanding the Jewish state to include parts of Syria: “It is written that the future of Jerusalem is to expand to Damascus,” he was quoted as saying in a French-language documentary.

This was followed by a statement by former Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman at the Hebrew University of Reichmann earlier this month, emphasizing the need to seize parts of Syrian territory in Mount Hermon to establish a new defense line for Israel:

“If Syria continues to serve as a logistical base for our enemies, we will seize the Syrian part of Mount Hermon and will not relinquish it until further notice."

Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz has directly threatened Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, vowing to change the Syrian political system due to its support for the resistance. It is a stance backed by ultra-nationalist minister Gideon Saar: "Israel must make clear to Assad that if he chooses to harm Israeli security in this manner – he places his regime in danger."

Since the launch of Al-Aqsa Flood, Israeli strikes have focused on repeatedly targeting Hezbollah positions at security groups like 133, the Golan Heights Unit, Unit 4400, and Unit 108, and have targeted units tasked with transporting drone components and other technology from Syria to Lebanon. Storage facilities, whether domestically produced or imported from Russia and Iran, have also been hit.

Tel Aviv has also increasingly targeted Syrian civilian infrastructure since October 2023 and the subsequent opening of multiple resistance support fronts in Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen. Israel has bombed Aleppo and Damascus international airports 12 times, alleging these civilian facilities are used to transport materials for producing and assembling missiles, either for use in Syria or for shipment to Lebanon.

Israeli targets have also expanded to elite Syrian army units, focusing on facilities allegedly involved in weapons storage, manufacturing, and training, such as the 75th Brigade of the First Division in Jabal al-Mana near Damascus, the 106th Brigade of the Republican Guard, and the Fifth Division in Tal al-Jumu'.

Radar and air defense installations in southern Syria, particularly in Suwayda and the coastal areas of Tartus, have also come under fire, as well as repeated attacks on research centers Israel claims are focused on missile production and development—most notably in Masyaf, Hama, on 9 September.

Targeting Hezbollah supplies

Netanyahu’s allegations in his 16 October interview with Le Figaro, echoed by Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari, have sought to entrench that Israeli narrative further: The 646th Reserve Parachute Brigade reportedly discovered “state-of-the-art” Russian weapons during its inspection of Hezbollah's Radwan Unit bases in southern Lebanon.

Photos published by Israeli military correspondent Doron Kadosh showed weaponry in a wooden box marked with “English inscriptions” indicating Russian origin that were allegedly shipped to Syria via the Tartus port.

Additionally, Hezbollah's use of Fadi 1, 2, and 3 missiles—first showcased in a video from the Imad 4 facility—was deployed against targets in Haifa in late September, drawing parallels to a 2020 interview with Nasrallah on Al Mayadeen, where he revealed that Kornet missiles used by Hezbollah were initially purchased by Syria from Russia and transferred to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

Strategic challenges facing Damascus

A report by the Indonesia-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) echoes the assessments of various Israeli military and security research centers:

“From Lebanon to Iran, militants have infinite hiding places and hundreds of miles of underground tunnels to transport supplies and personnel.”

Hezbollah's arsenal includes a diverse range of missile systems, such as the Khaybar 1, a non-guided artillery missile developed in Syria, and the M-600, also known as the Tishreen missile, which is the Syrian version of the Fateh-110. Other components of the arsenal include the B/C/D Scud missiles, Burkane missiles, several generations of the famed Russian Kornet anti-tank missiles, and Igla-S surface-to-air missile systems.

Additionally, Hezbollah has been reported to possess Yakhont anti-ship missiles since 2006, obtained from Syria, which have a range of up to 300 kilometers. The capability to down Israeli drones has raised Israeli suspicions that the Pantsir air defense system, along with advanced Russian SA-22 systems, has also been transferred from Syria to Hezbollah.

These indicators, coupled with Israel's military mobilization along the Golan front, shifting lines of engagement, and capitulatory demands conveyed by US special envoy Amos Hochstein for deploying international forces to monitor the Syrian–Lebanese border, all reflect the predicaments facing Damascus - and make clear that Israel intends to expand its war to the Syrian front.

Israel's repeated accusations against Syria's support for the Lebanese resistance, even when it merely provides humanitarian assistance during Lebanon's crisis, reveal the motivations behind the occupation state’s continued targeting and threats against the Syrian state.

But can a little country like Israel triumph against Syria's vast, complex geographical terrain, where, unlike Lebanon, there are thousands more miles, and thousands more hidden sites for weapons and supplies to proliferate?

https://thecradle.co/articles/why-israe ... resistance

'Existential threat' can bring changes to Iran's nuclear doctrine: Tehran
In the 1990s, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa banning the production or use of nuclear weapons

News Desk

NOV 1, 2024


(Photo credit: France 24)

Head of the Strategic Council for Foreign Policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran and adviser to Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, Kamal Kharrazi, stated in an interview with Lebanon's Al Mayadeen that the Islamic Republic may change its nuclear doctrine "if the nation faces an existential threat."

"We now have the technical capabilities necessary to produce nuclear weapons, and we have no problem with that, while the fatwa of the leader of the revolution and the Islamic Republic, Sayyed Ali Khamenei, is the only thing that prevents that," Kharrazi claimed.

Khamenei issued a fatwa in the 1990s stating that the development and use of nuclear weapons is ‘un-Islamic.’ As a result, Iran's nuclear program has so far remained for civilian use.

However, calls from within Iran to update the doctrine are growing as Israel continues to escalate its wars on Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza.

Iran and Israel have traded tit-for-tat missile and drone attacks in recent months.

Israel most recently launched a missile and drone attack on Iran on 26 October, and is awaiting the next Iranian response.

Deputy Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Ali Fadavi, confirmed that Iran's response to the recent Israeli attack is "inevitable," noting that the Islamic Republic has not left any attack unanswered for over 40 years.

Al Mayadeen TV quoted Fadavi as saying, "We can target everything Israel has in one operation."

Kharrazi raised the possibility of producing longer-range missiles, which European nations have until now warned Iran against.

"When they do not notice our concerns, especially regarding Iran's sovereignty and territorial integrity, we no longer have any reason to take their concerns into account, so it is likely that the ranges of Iranian missiles will be developed and increase," Kharrazi said.

https://thecradle.co/articles/existenti ... ine-tehran

[blindpig]

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi: the US could restrain Israel, but has chosen not to
Peoples Dispatch spoke to the prominent Palestinian politician regarding the impact of the Biden administration and the upcoming presidential elections on the Palestinian cause.

November 01, 2024 by Aseel Saleh


Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

According to a report released by Brown University’s Costs of War project, from October 7, 2023 to September 30, 2024, the US sent 17.9 billion dollars in military aid to Israel, which accounts for the largest amount of military funding ever granted to Israel in a single year. Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people, as well as its 76-year project of colonization of Palestine would not be possible without the vital military, financial, diplomatic, and political support of the United States.

The US presidential elections, which will see Democrat Kamala Harris face off against far-right Republican Donald Trump, are set to be held on Tuesday, November 5. The elections are being held over a year into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, and the result of the elections may cast a shadow on the current situation in particular, and the Palestinian cause in general.

To discuss more about the impact of US policy, and the possible repercussions of the US presidential elections on the Palestinian cause, Peoples Dispatch interviewed prominent Palestinian politician, physician, and activist Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi.

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi is the Secretary General and co-founder of the Palestinian National Initiative, and member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC).

Peoples Dispatch: What has the last year of Israeli genocide revealed about US policy towards the region?

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi: It has revealed that the United States can restrain Israel if it wants, but it did not, which makes the United States complicit in the genocide being carried out by Israel against the Palestinian people. A clear example that proves that the US has an influence on Israel, is its ability to restrain the Israeli aggression on Iran.

Peoples Dispatch: Were people expecting more from Democrat Joe Biden?

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi: The Palestinian people were completely disappointed by Biden and his administration, including his State Secretary, Defense Secretary and National Security Advisor, who all came to take part in Israel’s war cabinet meetings, and gave their blessing to Israel during its genocidal aggression on Gaza. They further sent American fleet, ships, aircrafts to support Israel. Biden has provided Israel with no less than 17.9 billion dollars of military equipment, and more than 50,000 tons of explosives and weapons. All of that was used in committing the genocide against the Palestinian people.

Peoples Dispatch: Are any major changes expected if either Kamala or Trump gets elected? Does the outcome of these elections impact the Palestinian struggle?

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi: Trump’s election may make the situation even worse, while it is still unclear about Kamala Harris, who maybe will be more sensitive regarding the changes that are happening inside the Democratic Party, where the majority of the younger generation are against the policy of Biden in relation to what has been happening in Gaza and to Palestinians in general.

However, so far she could not make any definite decision or take any definite position to stop the genocide against the Palestinian people. Like Biden, Harris continued with the biased approach towards Israel. This needs to be completely changed, because when it comes to the reputation of the United States it has been negatively affected by the policy of this administration, not only in Palestine but also worldwide. We shouldn’t forget that Kamala Harris was the US vice president during the genocide, she was not outside the administration. Perhaps, she will adopt a different approach in comparison to Biden, but that needs to be proved in reality and in action.

Peoples Dispatch: With regards to the broader region, one of Trump’s pet projects while president was advancing normalization with Israel. What is your view of how Israel’s genocide has impacted the process of normalization? Have there really been major setbacks? Will these setbacks be recovered or is it irreversible?

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi: The war crimes in Gaza did not affect the existing normalization agreements between three Arab countries and Israel. Unfortunately, it has not changed at all, but the war crimes in Gaza and the genocide have restrained other countries from proceeding in normalization with Israel. Even the countries that maintained normalization agreements with Israel, are very embarrassed about the current situation, because their peoples are against normalization. It is not apparent yet whether the genocide will have further impact on normalization. The largest popular protest against normalization is happening in Morocco, and it is the most important country among the three countries that normalized with Israel”, the prominent Palestinian politician said, referring to Morocco, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, which signed the US-backed normalization agreements with Israel known as “the Abraham Accords” in 2020.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/11/01/ ... en-not-to/

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Netanyahu Clarifies Zionist Position: The War Will Continue and Expand in the Region
November 1, 2024


Youths walk in Khiam, Lebanon, past Hezbollah's mock rockets at the former Zionist prison that was destroyed in the 2006 war. Photo: Mahmoud Zayyat/Agence France-Presse.

By Ibrahim al-Amin – Nov 1, 2024

There is nothing better than clarity in war. This is precisely what Benjamin Netanyahu practices without ambiguity. All his theatrics do not prevent him from being explicit when it comes to the core of his project. What he declares reflects—as facts indicate—the project of the vast majority of the settlers in the occupation entity, a project that enjoys genuine support from a world that has interests in supporting everything carried out by this “Hitler of the era.”

Yesterday, Netanyahu summarized in a short speech the essence of what he has been working on for many years. He told his people, as he told us, to prepare for a long and wide-scale war throughout the region. This challenge must be redirected to all those who speak to us about peace and settlement with the Zionist entity, or call us to bow before the storm, or hold us accountable for its open crimes across the region. Netanyahu’s allies have been clear that their expansionist project knows no bounds. While the Americans, along with some Europeans, want to convince Palestinians that surrendering to the enemy is the best way to curb its aggression, what they have done and continue to do for over a year in Gaza has resulted only in more killing.

The day before yesterday, the clown Amos Hochstein returned with a new proposal. To be fair, the problem does not lie with the man who does what he is skilled at or is required to do, but with those who still listen to him and take his words to heart, and those who believe that the Americans are in a position to pressure “Israel” to stop the war on Lebanon.

Practically, we face one truth: “Israel” is an enemy operating with the same mindset, spirit, and tools against Gaza and Lebanon, having initiated the same in Syria, is preparing to move to Iraq, and later Yemen. Meanwhile, Netanyahu is not hiding his ongoing preparations to strike Iran.

Those who call for separating the fields refuse to understand that what “Israel” is doing, with clear backing from the United States, Britain, Germany, and the partnership of some Arab countries, is forcefully unifying these fronts. Those who call for keeping the fronts separate fail to understand that the enemy, through its very existence and actions, is the one forcing these fronts to unite and escalating the struggle against all those who believe that “Israel” is an evil that must be eliminated.

Given this situation, the project of resistance is the only option, the alternative being a life or death of hunger, oppression, and humiliation. Those who lecture us about sovereignty, freedom, and national dignity, yet are willing to throw the country into crisis over something as minor as a political appointment or forest guard position, must understand that life’s most important lesson is taking the right stand on truly crucial issues. Those who continue to blame the resistance of being responsible for what is happening must know that from now on that they are partners in this aggression. They must understand that taking a clear position on the root nature of “Israeli” aggression is essential. If they choose to shirk their national duty—even as they claim to defend sovereignty—then they have no right to question why others are fulfilling their duty, sacrificing everything to defend their existence, fighting for their right to live freely, and pursuing genuine independence.



Lebanese people must grasp that the American and “Israeli” agreement that is being offered to them is nothing but surrender. And they must understand that in this country, there are those who will not surrender.

As for those who speak endlessly about independence while steering the country toward a dangerous gamble, they should be aware of the grave danger in agreeing to and participating in placing the state’s political, military, security, judicial, and financial institutions under American colonial control. It must be said to those who think that the current harsh war allows or permits the American occupier to impose realities on the internal mechanisms in Lebanon, that they are deluded if they believe this will occur without resistance. Those among the Lebanese, Arabs, and Westerners—foremost the United States—who have not read history well, should only look back to the time when “Israel” occupied Beirut, installed a president for the republic, and brought in NATO forces to protect its interests, only for everything to dissipate in just a few years. This happened because what was imposed was neither real nor representative of the aspirations of the people of this country.

As for those who raise their voices today, wielding the “Israeli” stick to threaten us and behaving arrogantly towards the resistance and its popular cradle, should ask themselves: what prevents this monstrous army, with all its unprecedented firepower and aerial capabilities, from occupying a village in southern Lebanon? When they receive the obvious answer [about why “Israel” can’t occupy Lebanese villages], they should understand that the Lebanese people need only to mobilize to stop any collaborator with the occupation from creating internal discord. And these same people have both the courage and capability to hold the enemy’s Western partners accountable – particularly the Americans, British, and Germans. It seems these people are confused in how they handle their “Lebanese affairs,” so we might as well help them understand this reality: The same “rational thinking” that has guided the masses and urged them to maintain the “appearance of state institutions” for decades—this same public can use that very “rational thinking” to do what is necessary in defense of our sacred existence!

The fortunate thing about what has happened is that Netanyahu has made things easier for everyone to understand by announcing that his war is ongoing. He publicly stated his intention to expand the war further against Lebanon and across the region, all the way to Iran. And it is beneficial that he addressed the Americans directly, so that those betting on US intervention will understand that this war is ongoing and will be long-lasting. And then, no voice will be louder than the voice of the battlefield.

(Al-Akhbar)

https://orinocotribune.com/netanyahu-cl ... he-region/

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Reflections on the ‘Global Student Intifada’
01/11/2024
By Faisal Al-Asaad

In a May 2024 communique, the student movement in Gaza issued a salute as well as a challenge to the global student movement. Published through the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, the statement acknowledged student organisations across the globe as ‘a revolutionary fighting vanguard, and a natural and integral part of our Palestinian Liberation movement’. Commending the student mobilisations which culminated in a wave of university encampments across Northern America in April, the Secretariat of Palestinian Student Frameworks in Gaza at the same time called for a ‘revolutionary escalation of the global student intifada for Palestine’.

Amidst the broadest and most sustained campaigns of international solidarity with Palestine witnessed in recent years, what grants students pride of place in the salutations, as well as exhortations, issued by the besieged in Gaza?

A ‘revolutionary vanguard’?
Next to the regional armed movements which provide the bulk of military and logistical support to the Palestinian struggle for national liberation, the Western student body is surely a marginal figure, at best playing an auxiliary role. Yet the encampments have highlighted the centrality of university campuses as key battlegrounds for Palestine solidarity in the global North, and perhaps even the potential of students to accede to the exacting title of a ‘revolutionary fighting vanguard’. To produce such a force though, the Western student movement must reckon with the conditions of its possibility as well as the contradictions of the present moment.

On the whole, it’s possible to characterise the current movement as an organic recomposition of at least three social forces or political valences present in the imperial core, each bearing a distinct historical stamp. First, it is a natural outgrowth of an anti-racism revitalised and radicalised in recent years by the George Floyd uprisings and the Black Lives Matter movements, as well as the protest camps of NODAPL Standing Rock. Second, it inherits decades of strident campaigning by the Palestinian diaspora and Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions organising. Third, it has revived the legacy of student opposition to imperialist wars and Apartheid, most notably in Vietnam and South Africa. As Aziz Rana recently put it, this movement can be seen as marking an indisputable return of the ‘language of empire’ to public consciousness.

While the language of anti-imperialism and internationalism has no doubt returned, however, the material demands of these ideologies pose a real and formidable challenge to student movements in the North. In this regard, the Research and Destroy collective is correct in its assessment that the student intifada has to contend not only with state violence and secondary antagonists, but also with ‘the difficulty in the alignment of form and content, of tactics and goals, given its position as a solidarity movement distant from its primary antagonists and its primary purpose, the liberation of Palestine’. What the movement inherits and combines by way of anti-racist, BDS, and anti-war campaigning is by no means a guarantee of strategic efficacy.

From ‘anti-war’ to the people’s war
Despite the strong affinities built over the years between black, Indigenous, and Palestinian activists, this affinity has yet to translate into tangible and sustainable forms of internationalism. And while BDS has provided an effective strategy on several fronts, its impact is and continues to be blunted on others, not least that of the university-finance-military nexus. Thanks to the rise of asset management as a mode of enclosure and capital accumulation in recent decades, universities have been lavishly equipped with the means to out-manoeuvre student organisations and their already limited capacity to enforce and realise demands for divestment. Indeed, and as noted elsewhere, the challenge of divestment today often involves not so much specific investments in single companies as it does market performance in entire sectors, meaning that students are really faced with the entire architecture and ‘overarching system of finance capital guiding the ways their universities now accrue value.’

Moreover, while the language and clarion calls of the student movements of the 60’s and 70’s may still resonate with considerable force today, this resonance belies a telling ideological shortcoming. While struggles in Vietnam and Algeria inspired movements for peace in the West, they were received as a call for war in the Third World – namely a people’s war. The difference is striking, and it remains palpable today in the widely divergent aims and respective strategies employed to achieve them, including in the largely pacifist orientation of much Palestine solidarity organising in the West.

Finally, there is the reality of Israel today, which is neither Apartheid South Africa, or French Algeria, or even the US in Vietnam. It is rather the purest expression of militarised settler colonialism acting as a lynchpin of Western imperialism and fossil capitalism as a whole, and its fate has implications of world-systemic and world historical proportions. More than a geostrategic bulwark and forward base for the US empire, the Zionist state is a key and integral component of the cycle of capital accumulation in the region, described by Ali Kadri as ‘accumulation through waste’. Centred on the production and circulation of oil and weapons, this system ensures the recursive de-development and degradation of state capacities in the region, undercutting social reproduction on a societal scale. Far from being epiphenomenal, systemic destruction through instability and war is an elementary feature of this logic and, therefore, of the totality of capital. Israel plays several of key roles in securing the continuation of this cycle, including that of arms producer, geopolitical irritant, as well as a catalyst of region-wide militarisation.

These realities, and the challenges they pose, have not gone unnoticed by the wider student body. Calls for a ceasefire are only the most audible and visible demands of the movement, and underwriting them is an ideological shift which is likely to push the movement beyond the simple opposition to a genocidal war. As the encampments’ organising cadres have been at pains to highlight, Israel’s onslaught has been but a catalyst for a process that was already underway in the politicisation and conscientisation of a broad swathe of the student body in the US. A consequence of this has been the critical grasp on a fundamental quality of the world system which Israel embodies outright, and which makes opposition to it a material necessity and not just a moral imperative. This is the basic fact that core and periphery are interlocked through value flows which determine political, economic, and social life at the most intimate level.

The student’s movement beyond itself
Formalised into concrete and lasting strategy, this basic fact stands to make the student intifada a potent force indeed. To that effect, the groundwork has already been laid by the mobilisations across campuses worldwide. What distinguishes today’s student movement from those of yesteryear is that it has finally stood the critique of ‘financialisation’ the right way up. Since at least the turn of the century, financial capital has been identified by the Western left as its principal adversary, and successive waves of revolt have rallied under the banner of anti-austerity.

Within this vision, ‘neoliberalism’ has been, at best, understood as a capitalist broadside against labour, with finance acting as an instrument of plunder, despoliation, and new waves of enclosure. Vast, almost incalculable, transfers of wealth is both the goal and consequence, and where the periphery is taken into account, it does not complicate the picture so much as simply add a bottom layer to this upward transfer. For perhaps the first time in these two decades, a movement has now emerged in the North which is incorporating into practice an urgent corrective to this overall vision.

Unlike their predecessors, the current revolts on campus are not staged in protest to job cuts or student debt, but to the leveraging of universities as a link in the value chain between core and periphery. While it remains to be seen whether their momentum will be regained in the autumn term, the initial thrust of the encampments struck in the right direction, This struggle realises on the level of practice what has so often been posited only in theory. That is, that finance and the financialisation of higher education does not simply represent an attack on the ‘commons’ or a public good, but rather the acquisition and burning of social surpluses in the core to fuel the wasting and immolation of human lives in the periphery.

This process can doubtless be said to hold for any number of sectors and institutions commandeered by finance and ‘rentier capitalism’ in the North, but the extent to which its contradictions have been heightened and politicised on campuses seems unparalleled. Of course, this has much to do with the student’s contradictory position itself, which is somewhat ‘liberated’ from the fetters of the wage through the peonage of debt.

The political consequences for campuses are significant, with state repression dismantling one of the few traditional bastions for political organising left intact, if teetering, by neoliberalism. Whatever its outcome for universities, this unravelling crystallises a fundamental observation by organisers themselves, which is that the student activist is but a ‘transitional figure that ideally helps to broaden the movement for Palestinian liberation beyond itself from the campus as battlefield, generalising it into a struggle that engages with the material contradictions and antagonisms of society at large.’

Whither Palestine solidarity?
In this transitional process, it is not just the figure of the student whose destiny becomes manifest in its own dissolution. The question of Palestine ‘solidarity’ itself now meets a belated reckoning, its erstwhile self-evidence cracking under the historical force of Al-Aqsa’s Flood, and its faultlines revealing new depths and divergences. This is precisely as it should be: the Palestinian resistance has sought nothing less than to ‘crack history open’ and divulge the latent possibilities seemingly foreclosed by the hegemony of empire.

In the region itself, ‘normalisation’ named the total victory of fossil capitalism and systemic destruction. October 7th derailed this consensus and charted a different course, one which has recentered Palestine as the fulcrum of class struggle and which moreover insists on its final determinacy through what can only be described as a people’s war. The importance of the latter as a political project and strategic horizon cannot be over-stated, and its meaning has yet to become clear for Western solidarity movements. While it is unlikely that the resistance leadership fully anticipated the abyssal depths to which Israel would sink in exacting bloody retribution, the destructive and vindictive nature of the response was well within its expectations.

The Flood was nevertheless unleashed as an opening salvo of a war, the outcomes, stakes, and risks of which would implicate the masses of Palestine and the Arab world as a whole. The objectively incalculable cost incurred as a result is not the price of a negotiated ceasefire or a phased return to normalisation, but that of a concrete and calculated set of objectives which would give the resistance an advance position and a firmer footing in its anticipated popular war. These include but are not limited to: the liberation of a maximal number of Palestinian captives, the delegitimisation of the Vichy government of the Palestinian Authority, the undermining and demoralisation of Israel’s military and security apparatuses, and the deepening of its internal political crisis. These are the intended advances in a war of manoeuvre for which the resistance had been painstakingly preparing and capacity-building for years.

Across the West Bank and the wider region, the Flood continues to rally the masses and popular armed movements, crystallising political alignments and opening up new fronts of resistance. Beyond the region, however, such lines have yet to be drawn, and Palestine solidarity remains imprisoned in the form it acquired through its interminable war of position. If it is to have any meaningful role in the political terrain opened by the Flood, the solidarity movement must re-examine both its form and content in line with the people’s war, including its current objectives as well as its long-term ambitions.

In concrete terms, this will of course depend on a practical evaluation of the movement’s situation and conditions in any one locale. All the same, the task likely entails a reappraisal of some broad and characteristic features, which should provide the movement with a departure point rather than a terminus. Key among these is its spontaneity, which may have been a necessary condition for its emergence, but which is wholly insufficient for and antithetical to its continuation, let alone its escalation. Without a concerted political program giving it strategic and ideological clarity, the movement is unlikely to acquire a form adequate to the task at hand.

The university encampments, for instance, are paradigmatic in this regard. As a tactic which is naturally and necessarily contained, in terms of both space and time, the barricaded camp is potentially far-reaching if harnessed to a wider strategy within which disclosure and divestment campaigns are situated as initial or transitory phases. The camps could serve as both muster and training ground, bolstering the movement logistically and numerically, arming it politically and ideologically, and furnishing it with the organisational means to deploy beyond the camp itself. To date, however, this potential does not seem to have borne fruit. Whether through repression or concession or a combination, universities effectively dismantled the encampments within weeks of their emergence. But the end of the encampments need not have spelled a setback for the movement, which seems to be the case currently. It could have instead meant its expansion and re-deployment beyond campuses given a longer-term strategy with sufficient collective buy-in, successive phases for escalation, and/or multiple alternatives for redirection. In lieu of this, however, and once the disclosure and divestment campaigns reached a (rather predictable) impasse, the movement failed to initiate any manoeuvres to that effect.

At present, therefore, it appears that while the ‘student intifada’ has invigorated the Western solidarity movement and perhaps the left in general, it remains ill-equipped to rise to the challenge of escalation issued by Palestinian comrades. The failure to develop a political program can reasonably be attributed to a number of causes, all of them instructive. Of course, they include material challenges of forming broad and sustained coalitions in the context of a neoliberal, repressive, and Zionist university apparatus, but they also concern the class composition of the student body and the ideological consequences thereof. Both these dimensions and others deserve attention elsewhere, but it is worth noting in conclusion at least one precondition for escalated action.

Whether or not student organisations are really, truly answerable to their Palestinian comrades will likely depend on whether or not they see themselves as actually implicated in the latter’s historic mission and the people’s war which now seeks to fulfil it.

https://www.ebb-magazine.com/essays/ref ... t-intifada

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Why the Israeli army only knows how to kill civilians
Robert Inlakesh

1 Nov 2024 , 4:11 pm .



Although it may sound hyperbolic, the Israeli military is only truly prepared to commit high-tech civilian massacres and cannot face well-prepared adversaries. The Zionist regime's history of asymmetric warfare languished into a false sense of security that complemented their racist worldview, proving catastrophic for them in their modern-day multi-front war.

Who are the soldiers that make up the army?
To understand the Israeli military and how it fights, we first have to understand the society that shapes its soldiers. All Israelis are indoctrinated from a young age with a supremacist ideology through their school system and then marched into military service upon exiting their mother's womb. They believe that their army is the "most moral" on Earth, while at the same time believing in the concept of their own supremacy over others.

Any discussion of the Zionist military must begin by acknowledging who the Israeli public is, because when each of them graduates from high school, they are required to serve two to three years of mandatory service, which usually continues with reserve duty for a while. While there are types like the ultra-Orthodox (haredim) who do not perform military service for religious reasons and liberals who often cite mental health issues as an excuse, the majority are enlisted in some section of the military.

Those soldiers entering their mandatory service years, who will actually experience real combat scenarios, will not engage in direct warfare and will instead be stationed at checkpoints, performing crowd control or participating in night raids aimed at arresting teenagers doing things like throwing rocks. This is why many young Israelis find greater mental stimulation by joining the air force or working in the intelligence services. It is common to find soldiers sitting at checkpoints , looking harried and frustrated. To journalists covering the West Bank protests, soldiers who are deployed to shoot children/teenagers burning tires and throwing rocks act as if they are playing paintball .

These soldiers, too, rise through the ranks quickly, earning in a few years what in most other armies is usually conferred on their forces after 10 to 15 years of service. These are self-important individuals whose minds are not focused, who especially in recent decades have become undisciplined, allowing them to get away with all kinds of decisions they make on an individual basis. It is an army of citizens, which means that they are very much part of society as a whole.

If we look at the actions they have been able to perpetrate during armed clashes, especially inside the Gaza Strip, it should come as no surprise that they feel emboldened to take matters into their own hands in these times as well. This is exemplified by the trend in recent years where their fighters film themselves committing all sorts of crimes and nefarious activities, posting them on social media.

These videos, which are happily posted on online platforms such as TikTok, where soldiers wear the underwear of Palestinian women they displaced and killed, or blow up houses, or bulldoze civilian homes, are not only a reflection of a lack of discipline, but also undermine the objectives of the Zionist entity.

These would be two instances that highlight how soldiers damage the Israeli military’s war efforts: 1) The instant publication of information along with photos/videos of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, which prevented his superiors from creating a false story about what happened, dealing a psychological blow, 2) Israeli forces taking the Rafah Crossing in May, filming themselves ruthlessly destroying the site and insulting the Egyptian military while carrying out an action that technically violated the normalization agreement between Cairo and Tel Aviv.

So why doesn't the Israeli military just clear up this problem? Well, we all saw what happened when ten soldiers were arrested for the gang rape of a Palestinian prisoner, who had been held in the Sde Teiman detention center without charge. This led to protests where thousands of Israelis rioted and attacked military installations in demonstrations they called "the right to rape." However, it wasn't just protesters. The idea of ​​soldiers' right to mass rape prisoners was expressed by members of parliament, the Knesset, and received support from large segments of the population.

It is therefore reasonable to assume that if the Israeli high command orders its soldiers to be prosecuted for posting videos of themselves burning down houses in Gaza and defecating on their floors or committing a litany of other disgusting actions, they would face an internal uprising against that decision.

What is the Israeli army's strategy?
Understanding that Israeli society is inextricably linked to its military also helps shape how we look at the mentality of its military. For example, while in most societies around the world a civilian death is perceived as more damaging than that of a soldier, for Israelis it is exactly the opposite. This partly comes down to the supremacist myth of Israeli superiority and also to the fact that soldier deaths have not been all that common, with the exception of the occasional lone wolf attack here or there.

The Israeli military's doctrine is broadly consistent with that of the US counterinsurgency model that emerged during the so-called "war on terror" years of the early 2000s, but it differs in key dimensions that make it far less effective than that of the US military.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, the military benefited from asymmetry on the battlefield, relying heavily on its air force to respond to aggression with a significant force that could complete missions and achieve tactical victories at a very low cost to military personnel. While they were able to rely on their superiority in vehicles and aircraft during the years of the Second Intifada (2000-2005), the Israelis managed to defeat resistance groups based in the West Bank, the most significant blow being during Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, which resulted in around 500 Palestinians killed.

In 2000, the Zionist regime withdrew from southern Lebanon as the situation became too difficult for its forces. Then, in 2005, they decided to do the same in the Gaza Strip after failing to crush Hamas during a battle in the north in October 2004.

However, the Zionists discovered in their 2006 war on Lebanon and then in their countless wars on Gaza that they were now facing a new kind of threat that they now describe as “terrorist missile armies.” Over the past nearly two decades, the Zionist military believed that it could handle the threats posed by both the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance, needing only a periodic strike to maintain “deterrence.”

But between 2019 and 2020, the military began to recalculate and published two important documents: “The Plan for Multi-Year Momentum” and “The Operational Concept of Victory.” In these materials, it was clear that they were seeking to adapt to the new challenges they faced. Both present a plan to integrate the technological developments of the “fourth industrial revolution” with military planning, pointing out that the short-term operations they had undertaken were not conveying the desired image of victory in the face of Iran’s ever-increasing military power.

Therefore, the Israelis sought to implement a system that could link all their surveillance, reconnaissance and spying technologies in an integrated way. We thus see that in 2021, this new system is beginning to be put into practice as the Zionists boast about their AI systems that helped them conduct the 11-day war in Gaza in May of that year. The idea here was not to implement this system that would eventually be fully integrated to enable the Zionist entity to strike first and deliver undeniable blows that would result in a strategic victory.

Then came October 7, when the Hamas-led Al-Aqsa Flood turned the world upside down in the face of an arrogant military and leadership. Suddenly, they were the side that had to muster a response to a coup that had utterly embarrassed them on every level, taking on the least powerful bastion of resistance they faced.

Understanding the Israeli strategy, it should also not come as a surprise that Hezbollah instantly began attacking the Zionist regime's spy and reconnaissance technology during the first phase of the war.

If we look at the counterinsurgency strategy on the ground in Gaza, we see that unlike the US military, they do not allow infantry to advance and clear buildings before tanks enter the area; instead, they rely on armor to protect their soldiers and reduce the number of deaths. But the problem with this American-made counterinsurgency strategy is that, by reducing the number of soldiers killed, it also makes it virtually impossible to actually engage the fighters they are supposed to be looking for.

This is because the Israelis are simply too cowardly to pursue a traditional counterinsurgency strategy, attempting to carry out their tasks without the requisite risk involved. In the absence of anything to learn from their ground operations, which are designed to keep untrained and undisciplined soldiers out of harm's way, they began to destroy more and more civilian infrastructure.

What has happened before our eyes is that the Israelis have reverted to their strategies of the 1970s, where today we see that they are trying to besiege the Palestinian resistance in northern Gaza in the way that they did with the Egyptian army in 1973. But in the current war inside the Strip, the ground forces are not prepared for these kinds of strategies that were implemented during the October War.

They needed to reestablish their military dominance and suddenly they found themselves in the worst possible position. Only knowing how to use their technology to kill from a distance, and appearing to have no coherent strategy on the ground, they were forced to use this rather useless army to achieve extremely difficult objectives that neither their air force nor their AI technology could do for them. In light of this idea, genocide became the decision and the strategy.

In the past, massacres against civilians were simply not used for the purpose of senseless bloodshed - although the Zionist regime has never had any kind of problem with this - the massacres we have seen periodically in Gaza were committed with the purpose of inflicting real psychological blows on the Palestinian resistance and public, in addition to sending the message to the wider region. This time, it is a massive, bloody campaign out of control, which allows its racist and unbridled soldiers to do whatever they want to kill innocent people and completely destroy the infrastructure of the Strip.

Why? The Zionist entity realized that it had no military options left and that the only way to achieve a victory and rescue the image of strength that it had lost was to unleash genocide, to kill, displace and destroy everyone and everything. Even its tactical achievements in Lebanon in about a month are now being swept away by Hezbollah, to which it has had no real response. At its peril, it has become obvious that assassinations and traps cannot achieve a strategic victory and that, in face-to-face combat, the Lebanese resistance is clearly superior.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/es ... ar-civiles

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Israeli commandos carry out kidnapping operation in north Lebanon

Twenty-five commandos raided a chalet on the beach to abduct a man attending a maritime training course

News Desk

NOV 2, 2024


(Photo credit: Israel Defense Forces)

Israeli naval commandos conducted a raid in northern Lebanon on 1 November, abducting one Lebanese man, prominent journalist Hasan Illaik reported for Al-Mahatta.

Some 25 soldiers landed Friday on the Lebanese coast in Batroun, a Christian town south of Tripoli. They raided a chalet near the beach and abducted a Lebanese man before escaping in speedboats, the report says.

Illaik provided surveillance camera footage from the incident showing a group of soldiers taking the abducted person with them.

The abducted man has been identified as Imad Amhaz, who had been attending a month-long captain's training course at a maritime institute located in the area.


Illaik reported further that Lebanese security forces are investigating the incident and suspect the Israeli commandos collaborated with German naval forces deployed to the Lebanese coast as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

By collaborating with German naval forces, the Israeli commandos could ensure that the Lebanese Navy, which is active in the region to combat smuggling to Europe, would not be able to disrupt the operation.

Illaik suggested that the Israeli commandos were likely from the Shayetet 13 or Sayeret Matkal divisions of the Israeli military.

Shayetet 13 specializes in sea-to-land incursions, sabotage, maritime intelligence gathering, maritime hostage rescue, and boarding.

Sayeret Matkal is a special reconnaissance unit (sayeret) of Israel's General Staff (matkal).

On Saturday afternoon, Lebanon's Caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transportation, Ali Hamieh, told the media that “The kidnapped person is a sea captain of civilian and commercial ships and is receiving his education at a civilian institute.”

He added that the government and security institutions are conducting the necessary investigations.

Saudi news station Al-Hadath claimed that the abducted man was a top Hezbollah operative, citing sources within the Islamic resistance movement.

However, Hezbollah's media relations department rejected the Al-Hadath claim.

The media relations department issued a statement, saying: "Our policy is very clear; we have previously explained and confirmed in past statements that there are no sources in Hezbollah or sources close to Hezbollah that would provide such alleged information to Al Hadath and its affiliated channels, which are openly engaged in the Zionist propaganda machine against our resistance and the Lebanese people."

https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-c ... th-lebanon

US bolsters Israel defense, deploys B52 bombers, warships to West Asia

Tel Aviv is awaiting Tehran's retalitation for its 26 October attack on Iranian radar and anti-aircraft batteries

News Desk

NOV 2, 2024


(Jockel Finck / Associated Press)

The Pentagon is sending additional bomber aircraft and Navy warships to West Asia to strengthen the US presence in the region, US officials announced on 1 November.

The AP reported that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered several B-52 Stratofortress bomber aircraft, tanker aircraft, and Navy destroyers to deploy to West Asia, citing four US and defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The officials stated that an aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, and its warships are preparing to leave the region. The additional bombers and warships are allegedly being sent to fill the gap until a replacement aircraft carrier arrives.

The announcement comes as tensions remain high between Iran and Israel. The Israeli Air Force attacked anti-aircraft batteries and radar sites across Iran on 26 October.

The US has vowed to defend Israel, which is now awaiting Iran’s retaliation.

On Saturday, the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, threatened Israel and the US with “a crushing response” over attacks on Iran and its allies in the Axis of Resistance.

The AP notes that long-range nuclear-capable B-52 bombers have been repeatedly deployed to West Asia to threaten Iran and that the “addition of bomber aircraft beefs up US combat strength.”

The AP adds that the warships now being sent “are capable of shooting down ballistic missiles,” which are a key weapon in Iran’s arsenal.

Earlier this month, B-2 stealth bombers were used to strike underground military facilities in Yemen.

The Yemeni armed forces regularly attack Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.

“This was a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified,” Defense Secretary Austin stated after the strikes.

Any US and Israel war on Iran would require hitting Iranian ballistic missile sites buried deep underground.

https://thecradle.co/articles/us-bolste ... -west-asia