The Israeli military launched a major offensive in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Tuesday focused on the northern city of Jenin, which came just days after the ceasefire in Gaza took effect.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said at least nine Palestinians had been killed and 40 had been wounded by the Israeli attack on Jenin. Several doctors and nurses were among the wounded, according to the director of the Jenin Governmental Hospital.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel had “begun an extensive and significant military operation to defeat terrorism in Jenin – ‘Iron Wall'”
The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that Israeli warplanes and drones launched airstrikes on Jenin, and Israeli forces invaded the city with many armored vehicles. Israeli snipers were also deployed for the assault.
The Quds Brigade, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), said its fighters based in Jenin were confronting the invading Israeli forces and fired “heavy volleys of bullets.” So far, there’s been no word of Israeli casualties.
PIJ said the purpose of the offensive was for Netanyahu to save his “faltering government coalition” as he faced resignations for the Gaza ceasefire deal. “We call on our people throughout the occupied West Bank to confront this criminal campaign by all means, thwart its goals, and consolidate the enemy’s defeat in subduing the will of our people in the West Bank and Gaza,” PIJ said.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who threatened his Religious Zionism party would quit the government if the genocidal war doesn’t resume in Gaza, said the West Bank offensive was part of a deal he made with Netanyahu. “This is part of the war goals that were added to the cabinet’s demand for Religious Zionism on Friday,” he wrote on X.
Smotrich, a West Bank settler who has long called for the annexation of the territory, said the operation was launched to protect illegal settlements. “‘Iron Wall’ will be a strong and ongoing campaign against the elements of terrorism and its perpetrators, to protect the settlement and the settlers, and for the security of the entire State of Israel, of which the settlement is the security belt,” he said.
The Trump administration is expected to be more supportive of the Israeli government’s plans to expand settlements in the West Bank, which was demonstrated by President Trump lifting sanctions the Biden administration placed on violent settlers.
The offensive in the West Bank could have been part of the deal made between Netanyahu and Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to seal the Gaza ceasefire deal.
"The Trump administration is expected to be more supportive of the Israeli government’s plans to expand settlements in the West Bank' No surprise. Except for the Arabs voters in Michigan who voted against Harris thinking that Trump would be better for the Palestinians.
It wasn't about who was better. We took a play out of the Zionist play book. You don't support candidates, you punish those who go against your interest. The Democrats were made to pay for presiding over a war of extinction. Actually, we prefer Trump more because he and his zionist idiot friends do more to galvanize, rally and unify the Muslims for resistance against Israel than the feeble Democrats. He did it with the "Abraham Accords" which triggered Oct. 7th. Now he gives them the West Bank. Let's see how the Jordanians and Palestinians next door will ultimately react to that. If Israelis were rattled by rockets coming out of Gaza, let's see how they like rockets and infiltrators coming out of the East Bank?
It unifies Muslims and it Unifies Americans. No longer would there be any impediment for Democrats to sit out pro-Palestinian marches and demonstrations for the sake of their incumbent and Dem politicians might just start to stand up for students on campus and the 1st Amendment.
The pro-Palestinian side has certainly demonstrated its value …. but when parties are trying to put together multiple constituencies to get a plurality or majority, they have to take losses as well as gains into account.
Personally, I suspect that as a practical matter they have nothing to lose by throwing in with the pro-Palestinian side, because the pro-Israel side has demonstrated that it will only act to support pro-Israel Democrats in Democratic primaries for “safe” seats, but has gone whole-hog pro-GOP in competitive general elections.
The pro-Israel side is conflicted.
Some want to resume the genocide after they get their people back but the more pragmatic can see how damaging this is to Israel existentially..
One can only hope
That is so true. Biden and Harris constantly lied to their base about doing all they can to bring the hostages back and get a cease fire while shipping more bombs and money to Israel at the same time. It made it hard to really fight back at such "heart felt compassionate politicians".
Instead Trump goats what he is doing or is going to do feeling totally in the right. That it easier to confront, challenge than the former.
The Gaza war has shown that both sides can make each other very miserable. The Gaza war has shown that neither side is going to pack up and go away. There were very few winners. For those who are really "antiwar", let there be a time out ,a step back. Hoping for rockets being fired from the East Bank, another ,perhaps even great bloodbath, in other words,a civil war, might cause mass slaughter and expulsions. Who would be happy then?
The Gaza war has shown that both sides can make each other very miserable.
Not even close on the misery scale. Nice try. Again.
Yeah the Israelis are far more miserable. Did you see the Parliamentarian balling like a child in the Kennesset being consoled by some women. They lost it when they saw those pretty smiling girls come out of Hamas captivity healthy looking. Don't get me wrong they probably went through a nightmare experience but their faces show the humanity Palestinians showed toward Israelis compared to the depravity Israel shows its Palestinian prisoners. No comparison.
"Cause Mass slaughter…" That has already been going on for 76 years and now in Gaza.
"…make eachother very miserable." Faulty equation. Israelis kill so they can control the land. Palestinians kill so they can stay on the land. (Aggressor v Defender, Occupier v. Occupied)
"…neither side is going to pack up and go away." Palestinians welcomed the "immigrants" until it was clear that they were there to displace. They tried it again in Gaza and failed. Palestinians don't need to kick them out because already now tens of thousands are leaving on their own. When the Palestinians gain their rights, those Israelis who want to stay and live under the new reality are welcome.
Continuation…
Antiwar does not mean pacifism. Human beings have an innate right to defend themselves. Israel miserably failed to ethnically cleanse Gaza after 16 months with the support of the Western world and America's backing and couldn't do it. And even if they kick out the Palestinians of the West Bank it would be short lived. Many experts and pundits are oblivious to the outrage that has been simmering in the muslim world and just needs a small spark to ignite a conflagration. I don't "hope" for rockets. They are definitely coming. If they can come all the way from Yemen it saves a lot of fuel just to lobby them over to the settlement next door.
If they are in possession of a brain – and not voting for Harris is pretty solid evidence to that effect – exactly no one in Michigan would be under the illusion that Harris would not have done the same at bare minimum ànd she would have, no pause, carried on with the genocide that she already owns, in Gaza. By the same token no one in Michigan would have been under any illusions about Trump whatsoever, saying much about what about you need to know about the future of the Democratic Party.
I voted down by clicking, did not intend on doing so as I prefer constructive dialogue.
Every day it gets harder and harder for Israel to implement this plan and that. Netanyahu used to ride high on a chrome horse with his diplomat carrying on his head a kippah hat. Ain't it hard when Ben-Gvir discovered that Zionism really wasn't where it's at. Like the British left India in seconds flat, the Zionists will leave Palestine as quick as a rat. And all this talk of Trump promising Israel this and that. The best-laid plans of mice and men often go this way and that. –Courtesy of Dr. Bobby D. Zeus
The West Bank genocide, with greater population spread over much much greater land mass, and 700k Israeli 'settlers' mixed in, could present a greater degree of difficulty.
The US needs to invest in a good dictionary for blessed Israel!!!
Ceasefire!
End the Occupation! And the senseless war!
Let's face it- Israel NEEDS "terrorism" to "justify" its very existence! It is "fighting terrorism" in one hand while sowing the seeds of future "terrorists" in the other! You can't have it BOTH ways in ANY reasonable world! "By deception thou shalt wage war." This Mossad motto is spot on to explain EVERYTHING Israel does! Does the world expect Palestinians to just sit there and have their friends and family molested/murdered/kidnapped without doing anything? This is the hypocrisy the USA and Israel present to the world!
Meanwhile Mahmood Abbas remains quiet…!
My belly is empty
i cant hold anything down anyway
my heart speeding
my mind is a storm
within a impenetrable whirlpool
im just a ghost
i cant be seen
i shant be heart
yet i scream and shout
i quake like as a microseism
So many
i know
going through
this very same thing
utter helplessness
Who am i
just a ghost
in this hole in the wall
inefevtual
unknowable
unknown
Yet
still
i wail out with odin thunder
with righteous kindness and logic
i convince those who heed
a ghost
just a ghost
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/27d82b458f5128e57afbd7e64574ca05dc8031b2a555e147bde102cf6ab5ec49.png in this swirling cloud of ether
Truly haunting and honest…!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bd0c2fe6d57bbfa1f38bdd227792659eeaa849da96d73827df6cc4d25140539b.png
When Israel says it is launching "major offensive" it sounds like porn to watch the next slaughter.
Seriously, how can you take this country seriously when they launch a major offense in the “Israeli occupied” West Bank?
That’s like dad breaking the door down because little Jimmy spends too much time in the bathroom.
Leave it to the Israeli Thugocrats in power to think of something despicable to do after signing a ceasefire agreement. These people obviously pride themselves on finding new lows.
Love thy neighbor as thy self!…