Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced Thursday that Israel will send more troops to Rafah and “intensify” operations in the city where around 1 million civilians are sheltering.
“This operation will continue with additional forces that will enter [the area]. Several tunnels in the area have been destroyed by our forces and more tunnels will be destroyed soon,” Gallant said, according to The Times of Israel.
“This operation will intensify, and Hamas is not an organization that can regenerate itself now,” he said.
The announcement from Gallant comes despite the US claiming that it’s opposed to a major Israeli operation in Rafah. President Biden has threatened to withhold certain types of weapons from Israel if it launches a major assault on “population centers,” but so far, he hasn’t imposed any consequences. Instead, his administration is moving forward with a $1 billion arms package for Israel.
According to aid groups, about 450,000 people have fled Rafah since Israel launched its operation. Before Israel captured the Rafah border crossing last week, it was estimated that about 1.4 million civilians were sheltering in the city, which has a pre-war population of 275,000. The Israeli operation has cut off the vital Rafah border crossing, adding to the starvation blockade on the Strip.
Israel has also escalated in northern Gaza in areas where it previously claimed to have defeated Hamas. Israel has ramped up strikes across the Strip, killing scores of Palestinians in the past week.
The Israeli military has faced fierce resistance on the ground in both Rafah and the Jabalia refugee camp, and at least one Israeli soldier has been killed in Rafah. The Israeli military said Thursday that five IDF soldiers were killed by “friendly fire” in Jabalia.
I tbough US made it clear that Rafais a red line. Required plan for protecting civilians. Food and medicine delivery.
All forgotten as tanks arr rolling in, UN vehicles hit, Israelis attack food trucks and tods out contents, school sheltering refugees bombed. Every building marked as shelter targeted. Feeble State Department robotic spokesperson kerps on droning about “tools” US is presumably using to asses actual situation on the ground. Is there anyone on the ground to apply those “tools”. Anyone came by those mass graves? All forgotten, apparently, So many things already down the media memory blackhole, Any more lines? Pier is finished. Let us see what for.
… there’s always “redefining” and hair-splitting by the Yale Law types.
Free the hostages
And then Israel will stop the onslaught? Again, do you listen to Israeli officials?
Freeing the kidnapped victims is a first step. The second step is the surrender of Hamas. But Hamas, like other losers in so many other wars, wants to fight on regardless of the cost to their people.
Tim,
Are you suggesting that the Likud is killing civilians as a way to blackmail Al-Qassem ?
The first step is allowing entry of sufficient food and water.
You are not superior to Palestinians.
Nobody said anything about superiority.Where did you see this?
Now I know you NEVER listen to what Israeli officials are saying.
Israel isn’t going to stop regardless of what Hamas does. Like other terrorists, they don’t value human life.
Disagree. Israel left Gaza alone and even allowed them to get billions of dollars in aid. However, Hamas – which is a true terrorist organization that illegally occupied Gaza – choose to slaughter men, women, children, and babies instead of building a healthy economy.
There is also the popular trope that Israel benevolently ended its occupation of Gaza in 2005 only to come under repeated attack by Hamas. But while Israel withdrew military forces and settlers from Gaza, it has remained an Occupying Power by virtue of its continued control of the strip. Nothing and nobody go into or out of Gaza without Israel’s permission. Gaza remains, as it was described in 2004 by Head of Israel’s National Security Council Giora Eiland, “a huge concentration camp.”
-” choose to slaughter men, women, children, and babies instead of building a healthy economy.”
And Israel made Hamas look amateurish in comparison since Oct 8th
1. I didn’t say that Israel “benevolently” ended the occupation of Gaza; those are your words. Obviously all countries act in their own self-interest. I said they left Gaza. That is a fact. However, Hamas is illegally occupying Gaza; they have no legal basis for being there; they are not a legal government. They simply took Gaza away from the legal government (the PA) in a violent coup.
2. Having a border with a group of people who are sworn to kill you – which no one doubts – is not something outrageous. All nations have borders, especially against hostile neighbors. The same is true for all nations in a state of conflict, such as North/South Korea, India/Pakistan, etc. You also ignore the fact that Egypt also borders with Gaza, but they closed their checkpoints because of the perceived threat from Hamas, which is part of the Muslim Brotherhood.
3. No, it is grotesque to compare the Oct. 7 barbarism with the war in Gaza. Hamas slaughtered 1,300 innocent civilians in a few hours, including rapes and mutilations. If they weren’t stopped they would have done more. It was a deliberate act of butchery.
The number of civilians who have died in the war in Gaza is unknown, although the numbers provided by the Hamas terror group have been proven to be false, and Hamas militants may make up as much as 50% of the true number.
And wars, tragically, result in civilian casualties. The best way to avoid them is to not start a war with a powerful neighbor; you can’t dispute that all of the people in Gaza would be alive today if Hamas had not attacked Israel, and then used their people as human shields.
But if you feel Israel did not respond appropriately to the slaughter of its men, women, children, and babies – tell me – what was the appropriate response? A stern letter to the NY Times? Or a speech at the United Nations? Please explain what approach would have protected Israelis from further rocket, missile, and armed attacks? Let’s hear it.
Those weren’t my words.
https://original.antiwar.com/jeremy_hammond/2024/02/22/the-israeli-states-assault-on-gaza-must-stop/
And read this about Hamas “illegally occupying Gaza”:
US plotted to overthrow Hamas after election victory
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/mar/04/usa.israelandthepalestinians
3. No, it is grotesque to compare the Oct. 7 barbarism with the war in Gaza. Hamas slaughtered 1,300 innocent civilians in a few hours, including rapes and mutilations
There were over 300 military personal among those killed and the IDF did their own rapes and have been mutilating Palestinians for over 7 months running. They even shot their own people who were waving a white flag. Their grotesqueness makes Hamas grotesqueness look timid in comparison.
But if you feel Israel did not respond appropriately to the slaughter of its men, women, children, and babies – tell me – what was the appropriate response?
Israel responded by slaughtering men, women and children in numbers that made Oct 7th look like child’s play in comparison. And the majority of them were woman and children because that makes up the majority of the people in Gaza. Knowingly killing them while targeting Hamas is hardly what I would call “appropriate”. And if you add the ongoing famine Israel has forced upon the people of Gaza, it’s not hard to label Israel as terrorists without peers.
1. As we both agree that I didn’t say Israel was “benevolent,” then no need to discuss that topic. Israel – like every country – acts in its own self-interest and does what it needs to survive.
2. The actions of the United States are not relevant to the legitimacy of Hamas. The facts are clear: Hamas is not a legal government. They won local elections only, but they were dismissed by the legal authority, the PA. In response, Hamas started murdering PA officials and declared themselves the rulers of Gaza – something that is not recognized the international community. The legitimate government in Gaza is the PA; therefore, Hamas is illegally occupying Gaza, by international law. This is unambiguous.
3. Yes, many Israelis and Palestinians hate and want to kill each other. This has been true for centuries, especially since the 1920s, when the relaxed immigration policies by the British allowed an increase in Zionist Jews to move to Israel (although Jerusalem had a Jewish majority since the 1850s, and Gaza has a Jewish history that goes back centuries).
However, many Israelis felt that Jews and Arabs could live together; ironically, many of these people were slaughtered in the 10/7 attack. Now, most Israelis feel they can never live in peace with people capable of such acts. So, with the broad support of the Israeli people, I expect the Israeli military to do whatever is necessary to liquidate Hamas.
The sensible thing for Hamas to do would be to surrender and release hostages, but they won’t do that.
4. You did not answer the question. How should Israel have responded to the slaughter and deliberate brutality of the Hamas attack? If their response was wrong, what was the correct response?
5. Calling a nation that defends its people is not the definition of terrorism; it is violence, which is the point of war. Hamas is clear about its aims: it seeks to destroy Israel and kill Jews.
The leader of Hamas said unequivocally: “The state will come from resistance, not negotiation. Liberation first, then statehood. Palestine is ours from the river to the sea and from the south to the north,” he said in a speech. “There will be no concession on any inch of the land. We will never recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation, and therefore there is no legitimacy for Israel… We will free Jerusalem inch by inch, stone by stone. Israel has no right to be in Jerusalem.”
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/doctrine-hamas
So – if one people are dedicated to exterminating you, there are two choices:
1. Agree to be exterminated.
2. Refuse to be exterminated.
Perhaps you think the Israelis should choose option 1, and simple disappear, or “go back to Poland”. However, I don’t think being exterminated would gain much support in Israel; so, they will choose option 2.
If Israeli refuses to be exterminated, then the question is how. Their enemy has said – and demonstrated – that they seek to kill all Israelis; their enemy has said they will never negotiate or compromise or accept anything less than the complete annihilation of Israel. Based on that, the only logical option is the use of violence to destroy Hamas.
This may upset you, but complete destruction of Hamas will happen. You can protest, you can vote against Biden (and elect Trump, who loves Netanyahu), and you can wear your keffiyeh and call Israel’s actions “genocide”. The US can even cut off aid to Israel, forcing Israel to get weapons from Russia, China, or even North Korea; but Hamas will cease to exist, and Israel will survive – regardless of what we say or think. So it goes.
2. The actions of the United States are not relevant to the legitimacy of Hamas. The facts are clear: Hamas is not a legal government. They won local elections only, but they were dismissed by the legal authority, the PA. In response, Hamas started murdering PA officials and declared themselves the rulers of Gaza – something that is not recognized the international community. The legitimate government in Gaza is the PA; therefore, Hamas is illegally occupying Gaza, by international law. This is unambiguous.
I see you completely ignored this:
US plotted to overthrow Hamas after election victory
https://www.theguardian.com…
3. Yes, many Israelis and Palestinians hate and want to kill each other. This has been true for centuries, especially since the 1920s, when the relaxed immigration policies by the British allowed an increase in Zionist Jews to move to Israel (although Jerusalem had a Jewish majority since the 1850s, and Gaza has a Jewish history that goes back centuries).
However, many Israelis felt that Jews and Arabs could live together; ironically, many of these people were slaughtered in the 10/7 attack. Now, most Israelis feel they can never live in peace with people capable of such acts. So, with the broad support of the Israeli people, I expect the Israeli military to do whatever is necessary to liquidate Hamas.
The sensible thing for Hamas to do would be to surrender and release hostages, but they won’t do that.
Which includes a man-made famine and willfully slaughtering civilians. Both war crimes. But for some reason you think Israel is above the law. They’re not. And whether Hamas is being “sensible” doesn’t change the fact that Israel is committing war crimes.
4. You did not answer the question. How should Israel have responded to the slaughter and deliberate brutality of the Hamas attack? If their response was wrong, what was the correct response?
I’ve said it repeated ly to other idiots who think genocide/ethnic cleansing/collective (capital) punishment is legitimate. NOT genocide/ethnic cleansing/collective (capital) punishment. But for some reason you think Hamas’ brutality is something that should be responded to with brutality that makes them look like boy scouts in comparison to Israel’s own vicious DELIBERATE brutality..
5. Calling a nation that defends its people is not the definition of terrorism; it is violence, which is the point of war. Hamas is clear about its aims: it seeks to destroy Israel and kill Jews.
I won’t copy and paste that whole long winded load of bullshit as to why Israel has the right to conduct an ongoing genocide/ethnic cleansing/collective (capital) punishment. I suggest you read what Israeli official are now saying and what they’ve said in the past. You talk as though this is a one-sided hate fest when in fact Israel has been the main culprit when it comes to the use of brutal force. Not hard to figure out that the occupied will end up with the ones being brutalized. Especially when the superpower on the other side of the world continues to enable that brutality. And need I remind you what Netanyahu has said?
“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas…” Netanyahu said in an address to the Israeli Knesset. “This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank… It’s impossible to reach an agreement with them … Everyone knows this, but we control the height of the flames.”
Killing innocent women & children is always terrorism no matter who the perpetrators are. The IDF HAS BECUM THE MOST IMMORAL ARMY ON THE PLANET WITH THEIR GAZA GENOCIDE. IT IS A TERRIBLE THING THAT THEIR ZIONIST LEADERS HAVE DONE TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE TO BE AS BAD AS HITLERS NAZIS!! OR BECAUSE OF THEIR TARGETING OF CHILDREN EVEN MORE EVIL & DEGENERATE THAN THE NAZIS!!
Yes, the Israeli people will remove Hamas, even if it upsets coddled college students at Harvard.
However, a nation that defends itself is not a “terrorist,” by definition, unless you deny that Israel is a recognized nation.
And, by international law, Israel is fighting a designated terrorist group (Hamas), a group that seized power by force and has no legitimacy.
As with the US and other nations fighting Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and Boko Haram, such actions cannot be labeled as “terrorism” in any legal sense.
Yes, the good guys can never be called terrorists. So, let’s just call them war criminals. Does that make you feel better? It doesn’t change the fact that Israel’s actions if done by those deemed as “designated terrorists”, would be considered acts of terrorism. But for argument sake, let’s just call them war crimes. Now add the “terrorism” that Hamas did on Oct 7th and beyond and then add up Israel’s “war crimes” on Oct 7th and thereafter and the numbers will be starkly one sided in favor of Israel.
Yes, if the Hamas numbers are to be believed (a doubtful choice, but let’s ignore that for now), then this is what happens when you attack a stronger nation.
This is why Ukraine doesn’t invade Russia, and Taiwan doesn’t attack China. The result is that a lot of your people get killed.
Call it whatever you like.
Why are Hamas’ numbers hard to believe? Israel dropped 25,000 tons of bombs on a densely populated area, mostly women and children, in the first 6 weeks of the war. 33% of Gazans were food insecure BEFORE the invasion and 96% of their water was contaminated. Add that to the fact that a tiny fraction of that aid is now what Gazan’s are forced to live with. But such is life in an outdoor concentration camp. Am I right? So, saturated bombing on a largely civilian population and creating a man-made famine is ok with you? Just use ridiculous analogies like Ukraine invading Russia or Tawain invading China and somehow that will make Israel’s over the top brutality legitimate.
What BULLSHIT!!!!!! MURDER OF THE INNOCENT IS TERRORISM NO MATTER WHO DOES IT!!!!! And the GENOCIDAL ZIONISTS WHO HAVE MORPHED INTO NAZIS IN ALL BUT NAME CERTAINLY GET NO PASS FOR THEIR SLAUGHTER OF CHILDREN & THE INNOCENT
YOU THINK MANY OF AMERICANS ARE BUYING YOUR SLAUGHTER OF CHILDREN & THE INNOCENT IN THE TENS OF THOUSANDS CAN PASS AS SELF DEFENSE, YOU ARE DUMBER THAN THE FISH.
Please reread my replies. I have no idea how you think I was defending Israel.
Terrorism is a tactic. And that tactic can be used even by “a nation that defends itself.”
Yes, I can’t think of a country that did not engage is some form of terrorism at some point. Maybe Switzerland?
Genocide of women & Children is no defense against armed fighters.
KILLING THE WORLD KITCHEN WORKERS WAS TERRORISM AND KILLING 20 plus thousand CHILDREN CERTAINLY MUST QUALIFY AS TERRORISM. EVEN THE NAZIS DID NOT TRY TO “ERASE THE CHILDREN” like these ZIONISTS ACTING OUT THEIR NAZI FANTASIES. IN GAZA. When Germany. Went NATZI THEY LOST HALF OF THEIR COUNTRY!!! PAST TIME FOR THE UN TO TAKE BACK THE STOLEN LAND THAT THE UN GAVE TO THESE EVIL ZIONISTS CHILD KILLERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Huh? People in a war zone get killed; that’s what happens in a war. That is why it is recommended to stay out of a war zone, especially driving around at night – especially a war that involves a terror organization like Hamas that uses ambulances to move militants and weapons.
Your figure of 20,000 children is absurd; the figures from Hamas (a designated terrorist group well-known for lying) have zero credibility; there is no reliable source, and all reports must include large numbers of Hamas militants.
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/gaza-fatality-data-has-become-completely-unreliable
Your understanding of the Nazi regime is frankly grotesque and pathetic; the Nazis killed more than 1 million Jewish children.
No, Israelis don’t have “Nazi fantasies”. They simply don’t want to be murdered and have made peace with any Arab nation that doesn’t try to murder them (Jordan, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, etc.) In fact, Israeli Arabs live better than most Arabs; they have more freedom, more rights, more education, and better health. In fact, Israeli Arabs have the longest life expectancy in the Arab world.
No, the Israelis did not “steal land”, and the UN didn’t give the land to them; the proposed a division of land between Arabs and Jews; the Arabs refused and started a war; the Arabs lost.
Your comments are remarkably uninformed, unless you are a history major at Harvard or Columbia, in which case, you must be top of your class.
They have to, because the sole purpose of Hamas is to kill Israelis.
They had every opportunity to create a prosperous territory in Gaza; instead, they spent billions preparing for a pointless war that has brought horror to their people.
bs – they were put on a starvation diet and no independence in any way whatsoever.
False myth. Gazan received billions of dollars in aid. Look at the late model cars, luxury apartments, up-to-date hospitals, and brand new million dollar MRI machines. They had every opportunity to create a peaceful, prosperous society. All they had to do was stop killing Jews. That’s it.
Instead, Hamas chose terror, and put those billions of dollars into tunnels, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-tank weapons, rockets, missiles, and other instruments of war.
Even Egypt closed off the border with them. Like their parent organization – the Muslim Brotherhood (which used to be funded by the Nazi government) – they seek to dominate, not co-exist.
And don’t forget “mowing the grass”.
Better than going meekly to the gas chambers, like they did in the 1940s.
For the Palestinians, Hamas represents what the “French Resistance” represented to the French in Occupied France or what the IRA represented to the Irish people. You can’t “surrender” a People’s dream for Nationhood.
That is false. The French were occupied by a hostile foreign nation; Gaza has a long history of Jews living there (until recently, when they are not allowed). Israel left Gaza in 2005 and would be content to leave them alone, if they would just stop murdering its people. Gaza could be a thriving territory – like Singapore – under peaceful leadership.
Also, many people seek “nationhood”. The Kurds seek that; so did the US South, which dreamed of a slavery based-nation.
However, the Palestinians were offered a nation in 1947; this is an undisputable fact. They did get part of the British Mandate, which became Jordan; but they wanted all of what is now Israel, and decided to settle the issue by violence (war). They lost.
When you lose a war, you don’t get to dictate the outcome. They have also been given plenty of opportunities since then, but constantly refuse, because they feel they are entitled to the entire territory; a one-state, Muslim-only solution. That’s not going to happen. The Israelis aren’t going anywhere – no matter how many pampered college students march around wearing keffiyehs to show how “brave” they are.
Does some other state party control all land and sea access to Singapore, conduct piracy operations and assert jurisdiction claims over its coastal waters, demand that it get to “inspect” everything coming in and seize anything it likes, etc.?
Israel’s internationally recognized borders were set in 1947 in UNR 181 and have never since been altered. This is an indisputable fact.
1. If Singapore attacked and sought to destroy its neighbors, how do you think they would respond? I assume all nations would act to protect themselves. You may disagree, in which case you should advocate your own country – such as the US – stop protecting its own borders or using its Coast Guard to protect its shores.
2. Are Israel’s actions “piracy” according to international law, or is that just your opinion?
3. Hamas is illegally occupying Gaza after killing members of the legal government (the PA); they are not a UN member or a recognized state. However, the UN has no legitimacy in the conflict; they failed to criticize Hamas for murdering Israeli civilians; they promote a false narrative about Palestinians; and they provide illegal “refugee” status (in defiance of their own definition) to people who are not refugees.
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2023/11/16/10-things-to-know-about-the-un-and-hamas/
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/why-are-palestinian-refugees-different-from-all-other-refugees/
“You may disagree, in which case you should advocate your own country – such as the US – stop protecting its own borders or using its Coast Guard to protect its shores.”
Getting warmer …
Hamas won an electoral majority in Gaza in 2006. They haven’t allowed elections since, and thanks to continued Israeli support they were able to suppress demonstrations against their misrule. But last August that started looking dicey. They were down to executing Palestinians who opposed them as “Israeli spies,” and finally had to call in Israel proper to be the Badder Guy.
Hamas won local elections and tried to form a coalition government with the PA but negotiations failed, and the PA dismissed the Hamas-led government. Then Hamas seized the Gaza strip in June 2007. So, to say they “won a majority” doesn’t provide a legal basis for seizing Gaza. It was an illegal action, regardless of the circumstances.
Well, which is it — is there a state of Palestine or not? If the latter, there’s no “illegality” possible.
There is no confusion or ambiguity. By international law, there is no nation called “Palestine,” and there never was.
There is the Palestinian Authority, which has treaties with the state of Israel that cover parts of the West Bank and the Gaza strip.
Historically, the areas known as the West Bank and Gaza had Muslim, Christian, and Jewish populations for millennia, with populations changing based on various wars, Crusades, invasions, conquests, etc. After the 1947-48 war, Jordan claimed the West Bank and Egypt claimed Gaza, but both countries gave up their claims, so essentially both territories have no nationality.
“By international law, there is no nation called ‘Palestine,’ and there never was.”
In your imagination, perhaps.
In reality, the state of Palestine is a UN observer state, an Interpol member state, an International Criminal Court member state, and a state recognized by 143 other states.
And if the PA isn’t that state, then it doesn’t have an “treaties” with Israel. States make treaties.
The PA is not a nation; it is a governing body for people who identify as “Palestinian,” who live in parts of the West Bank and Gaza. Agreements between Israel and the PA were not treaties, which can only be signed by nations. The Oslo Accords were not treaties.
Also, Gaza is no longer under the control of the PA, so any agreements with the PA no longer applies there, whether the UN, Interpol, or the international Ping Pong and Judo Association recognizes them.
Logic’s not your strong suit, is it?
No, it’s either a machine bot or a hasbara bot.
It would remove the causus belli.
Once more, do you listen to Israeli officials?
do you really think that Israelis enjoy seeing their young people go off to war? They want them home.
And do those people make the decision to continue on? Of course not. Once more, listen to what Israel’s government is SAYING.
The war in Gaza is very popular in Israel, and they believe in defending their nation – something that pampered American college students can’t understand, as they hate their country but demand the privilege they enjoy by the sacrifices and suffering of others.
Do you think the German nazis really enjoyed seeing their young people go off to war?
Good idea to free the 10,000 Arab hostages – Jake well done !
Anyone who does not have blood on their hands should be released.
But they won’t be. Regardless of whether there is blood on their hands.
What if they have blood on their feet or shirts?
So the 3,000 children held in Israeli dungeons can be released ?
Do you mean the criminals who attack Israeli civilians, or the prisoners of war from an enemy whose sole purpose is to murder as many Israelis as they can?
Held without trial or charges
As the occupying power the Likud gov‘t needs to respect international law
“Occupying power” is a false term. Like all nations, borders are established by wars and treaties. They are not “occupying” anyone. That is international law.
International law clearly defines Israel’s only internationally recognized borders in UNR 181. Anything outside those borders is someone else’s, and occupied territory if there are Israeli troops/police on it.
Really? 181? That was a recommendation in 1947 and the Arab nations rejected it, so it does not apply. Further, it was superseded by 242 in 1967.
A resolution is not “world law”, and 181 was just the opinion of 33 countries 77 years ago.
Further, if you say areas outside of 181 are “somebody else’s” – whose are they? Jordan claimed the West Bank and Egypt claimed Gaza, but both countries gave up their claims. The Oslo Accords recognized the PA as the governing entity for these two territories, but the PA no longer controls Gaza, having been kicked out in a coup by Hamas. So – who is this “somebody else”? Do you believe that the UN intended Hamas – which occupies Gaza by force – to be the legitimate government? That makes zero sense.
UNR 181 represents Israel’s only internationally recognized borders.
That’s a fact.
You don’t have to like the fact that it’s a fact. It’s a fact whether you like the fact that it’s a fact or not.
No, your “fact” is meaningless in the real world. The UN is not a world government but a collection of sovereign nations, and it has no authority to establish borders over sovereign nations. Borders are constantly disputed and change all the time, based on wars, treaties, and other factors. The borders of Israel are based on treaties (as with Jordan and Egypt), accords (as with the PA), and other agreements, which are not “overruled” by a UN vote in 1947 with a small number of countries.
It has nothing to do with what I “like”.
UNR 181’s map remains the only internationally recognized borders of Israel (and Israel agreed to those borders as a condition of UN membership).
One consequence of that (among many) is that since Palestine (the borders of which were also set in UNR 181) is a member state of the International Criminal Court, any Israeli war crimes committed on Palestinian territory come under ICC jurisdiction.
Israel can certainly continue fucking around for at least a little while longer. But if it does continue fucking around, it’s eventually going to find out, and that won’t be pretty.
I don’t believe you – or anyone – is so naive as to think that the UN or ICC make any difference.
Look at Russia. It invaded a sovereign UN-member nation – not a territory that currently occupied by a terrorist organization. What was the consequence of that from the UN? Or from the ICC?
No, the UN is not a world government. It is a cheap façade, a collection of corrupt governments that the US cobbled together for its own self-interests. The very fact that the Security Council is the real power of the UN shows how fake the design is. The UN has no army, no enforcement capability, other than expulsion, which at this point, Israel might welcome.
Further, I don’t think you have actually ever read 181. It was a plan but it was never implemented, and all parties did not agree to it, as the Arabs states rejected it and opted for war instead of the plan.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/United_Nations_General_Assembly_Resolution_181.
But you are free to believe that 181 is the solution to whatever problems you believe exist.
So, what exactly will Israel “find out” if it continues “fucking around” (whatever that means…I guess you consider trying to not be killed is an unforgivable violation of “international law”)?
Can we expect a Lincoln Battalion – comprised of keffiyeh-wearing Columbia and Harvard students – conquering Jerusalem, like a modern Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub? Yes, the prospect of that must inspire terror among Israeli military planners.
The balance of forces in the region has been changing for decades now, and not in Israel’s favor.
Once the US aid stops coming — and that WILL happen eventually — if Israel hasn’t figured out a way to live within its borders and make peace with its neighbors, Israel will cease to exist.
I wish them luck, but luck probably isn’t enough.
Well, anything is possible, but what “forces”? And if anything, most of Israel’s neighbors are in bad shape or not a threat. Jordan and Egypt are pro-Western; Syria is a basket case, and Lebanon isn’t much better. Hamas has just lost about 50% of its fighters, most of its weapons, and all of its territory. And it’s hard to imagine that Saudi Arabia would be considering diplomatic relations with Israel even 5 years ago, but they are now. Meanwhile, Iran is running out of oil and population.
Contrast this war to the war where Iraq was shooting scuds at Israel – and they could do nothing about it. This time, after their attack on Hamas, no one cared, outside of trust-funder babies at Columbia University, who detained janitors and other blue color workers to show their bravery and commitment to a region they don’t understand in the slightest.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13368143/columbia-university-janitor-protest-hamilton-hall.html
Sigh – the only internationally recognized borders of the Jewish State are those described in UNR 181. The UNSC and ICJ have been steadfast in describing Israel as the occupying in the other territories.
You can whine and argue but that’s the fact Jack
Permanent peace, a******, and they’ll come home. Bibi doesn’t want that.
In other worlds,your arguments failed.
No, yours do.
Free the prisoners.
I saw a woman in the US with a Tee-shirt saying she opposed solitary confinement.I said to myself-how are prison authorities supposed to deal with inmates r who assault prison employees or other inmates.Time for an end to this liberal delusions.
WTF …… is Jake back, or was he nrver gone. Just as well, his feeble banter is a betrayal the fecklessness of America. Nothing but a load of zhiit and lies!!!!
All the consequence of Gaza attack on Israel.
The consequence of Israelis treating other humans as subhuman.
False. First of all, Israeli Arabs live much better lives than their counterparts in Arab countries; they have more rights, better opportunities, and better health.
Second, Israel left Gaza in 2006; it was then illegally occupied by Hamas, which never held elections after killing the legitimate government officials (the PA).
But how about the 300,000 civilians killed in Syria? I guess they don’t count.
And yet, by law, only Jews have the right to self-determination in Israel. Saying Arabs have better lives in Israel than other Arab countries doesn’t change that.
There is also the popular trope that Israel benevolently ended its occupation of Gaza in 2005 only to come under repeated attack by Hamas. But while Israel withdrew military forces and settlers from Gaza, it has remained an Occupying Power by virtue of its continued control of the strip. Nothing and nobody go into or out of Gaza without Israel’s permission. Gaza remains, as it was described in 2004 by Head of Israel’s National Security Council Giora Eiland, “a huge concentration camp.”
“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas…” Netanyahu said in an address to the Israeli Knesset. “This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank… It’s impossible to reach an agreement with them … Everyone knows this, but we control the height of the flames.”
False. Israel is treating Gazans as subhuman, because the Israelis believe themselves to be superior.
Meanwhile, there ARE Arabs living in Israel,but no Jews in the Arab world,after being driven out.
There are obviously Jews in the Arab world, and the Arabs in Israel face inequality and sometimes persecution.
However, it’s none of my business. I oppose only the extreme wrongs being done in Gaza and similar wrongs (eg water and food shortages) done elsewhere. Otherwise, I just want the US out.
Assad is brutal, but he’s not to blame for all those deaths. No one has ever seen anything, in recent times, like what Israel is doing right now.
If Turkey reduces water flow to Syria, that’s not Assad’s fault. If the US occupies Syria’s oil and crop lands, that’s not Assad’s fault.
He’s blameworthy of things, but you never see anyone attempt an honest criticism of him.
Regarding Hamas, Israel supported them. It’s like Al Qaeda in Syria: Israeli supported.
Attempting genocide/ethnic cleansing/collective (capital) punishment is the consequence of a terrorist group that has run amok. Israel has no peers when it comes to terrorism.
Because infinite violence is justified as a response to any attack? It is not.
Even holocoast survivors are critical of Israels genocide against Palestinians.
America’s Support for Israel is ONE BIG SCAM
Israel is the proverbial turd in the world’s punch bowl. And the US “leaders” who enable Israel’s atrocities are ALL war criminals and should be prosecuted!
All war criminals and their accomplises including the war profiteers ought to be held accountable 100% my friend.
However – even though we have things like international laws the Geneva conventions treaties and what not – there’s nothing to enforce these laws [while the US has already given itself permission to extract their own by force from the Hague [ICC] in case they’ve ended up at there.
What I fear is that ”the long term planners” are priming the masses so they become more likely to accept a one world government which would then be able to provide solutions.
So there’s another reason to eject the pandemic treaty.
“The culture in the military, when it comes to Palestinians, is that they are only targets. They are not human beings. This is how the military teaches you to behave.” “Breaking the Silence” https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/159dc147644bfa5524ec468ffc333e9adb68cfbe2b3edfe165b72801335a9496.jpg
The road to Hell is paved with such intentions Israel.
When is enough simply put, enough?…………………………………………….
When every hostage is released.
And then what? Please tell us how Israel will then stop terrorizing Palestinians. And not just in Gaza.
Doesn’t Jake mean free the 10,000 Arab hostages ?
The issue partly is they don’t know how many hostages live.
If this was a pro-Israel site,I would point out the validity of the Arab perspective. Since on Oct 7,this site mainly had denial and joy,I must defend Israel.
No, you don’t HAVE to defend Israel. Any more than Israel had to respond to the Oct 7th attack with complete reckless regard for human life. You, and they, made your own choices. Stop blaming others.
Denying reality again.
How am I denying reality? Nothing I said was untrue.
When Oct 7 occurred,the commentswere either of denial of atrocities, or support for Hamas actions.
Denial of exaggerated propaganda is more like it. The 40 beheaded babies bullshit came from the same source as the rest of the claims Israel made. Why should anyone believe any of them? Hamas attacked, that is a given, and Israel responded with a slaughter beyond our imagination. That is what happened whether anyone supports Hamas or not.
Historical amnesia for events prior to Oct 7?
It seems to be contagious RM!
Wish peace was contagious!
Not at all-two nations locked in a death struggle,with very strong ties to the same small bit of land,and who understandably hate each other,after 100 years of strife.
Hopefully,Netty will be out of office, and someone wiser will come in. Unfortunately,many leftists were killed and their village wiped out on Oct 7,and the country will move further right.
Right, Israel was moving to the “left” right before Oct 7th. Even you know that’s bullshit. But now the stifling of the leftward movement of Israel can also be blamed on Hamas. Good work.
If the hostages are so valuable why did the IDF kill so many of them?
Only in your mind. hamas killed them.
Israeli witnesses admitted it.
Well, if we are making deals Jake, do you think you can bring back the thousands of dead Palestinians, then I’d be willing to deal.
Maybe you believe that the dead can be brought back to life. all that can be done is to end the fighting,so that no more people will die.
US special forces soldier ( 3 combat tours in Iraq ) testifies it’s a genocide and needs to stop:
Located at Twitter – partisangirl
Her post from Wednesday
( I can’t get link to work )
i really don’t know what to say any more.
every govt on this planet seems to seek dominance over the little guys.
is there any govt that can claim otherwise? that is a serious question yalls.
meanwhile here is a blast from the past =
MC5 “kick out the jams” & “Ramblin’ Rose” 1972
these dudes were the very drug highest on the entire planet at that time.
and yet they retained their integrity.
green jacket guy on the left is actually playing a Montgomery-Wards guitar cost $22.00
you couldn’t make this shit up
ok i got nothing to make the world a better place, so at least i have some amusements
And when the dust clears and we have another unimaginable slaughter, the US will do a face palm and say that they were told it wasn’t going to be a major operation. Who knew Israel was lying? Right?
Round up of Arab military actions today ;
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/in-a-joint-operation-resistance-roundup-day-223/
Comment: reach your own conclusions
Israel needs to hunt down those pigs that killed young people at a music event and kept their bodies in a tunnel for 7 months. If that takes military operations in a highly population area which result in civilians losses, that is on the hands of those that order the attack.
You might want to read proper news channels. Or just use your head.
Our friend Tim refuses to believe the Israelis who witnessed IDF gunships and tanks massacre 400+ Israelis that day.
His beef should be with the IDF and the Hannibal Directive .
You mean those young people that were sacrificed by the IDF because they refused to give the organizer of the music festival a heads up that an attack by Hamas was possible? Like the 3-day warning Egypt gave them? Like the warning their own troops gave them about suspicious activity by Hamas on the other side of a chain link fence? I think you’re getting your pigs mixed up. So no, the ongoing genocide/ethnic cleansing/collective (capital) punishment is on those who are in the process of carrying that out. And that would be the peerless terrorists of Israel.
It appears the Israeli government enabled the events of Oct 7th in order to have their unconvincing excuse to ethnically cleanse and kill Gazans because “God gave us this land” bs, and because of the resources waiting to be extracted under Gaza and off-shore.
Hell yes. They needed a big number of dead people to conduct their ongoing genocide/ethnic cleansing/collective (capital) punishment. And it was obvious. Mossad knows when someone farts in Gaza before anyone smells it and yet they were completely caught off guard. My ass.
The Hamas attack was not impromptu-it was well planned for a long time
No it wasn’t; it was not more than a few weeks in the planning stages and the Israeli Border/Fence Guards saw the preparations, warned their superiors, but their warnings were ignored.
You don’t turn out trained fighters in a few weeks-you can see videos of Hamas training for years.
And if so, why didn’t Israel know about it? Oh wait, they did. But they needed a bunch of dead people otherwise their normal disproportionate response would have been over with, and the ongoing genocide/ethnic cleansing/collective (capital) punishment wouldn’t have been acceptable. What’s a measly couple of thousand dead Palestinians as compared to thousands upon thousands dead and injured, a man-made famine and making the strip uninhabitable for humans. So, mission accomplished.
So let Hamas release the hostages,and the people of Israel will wan’t to cut their losses and stop the war.
It’s not a war; it’s a massacre/genocide/mass murder.
Oh,you must mean Oct 7. The people of Israel remember the Babylonian captivity,the Roman Captivity,and the Dhimmitude. Hamas can end this now,it chooses to prolong everyone’s suffering.
You go back far enough the people of every nation remember their servitude, slavery, and killings. It’s just that a certain religion/country seem to dwell on it far more than others, as if their ancestors (not them) were the only ones who were captive, killed, or taken into slavery. It’s called a victimhood mentality.
The people of Israel don’t have a say. And if they did, the majority agree with Netanyahu.
Do the people anywhere have a say? Bring the boys home!
For the most part, no they don’t. In Israel’s case, the people’s wishes are being followed. They want the war to continue.
They want the hostages back,and their own kids at the front home. They want the missile strikes from Hamas and in the north to stop. A quarter of a million Israelis are now displaced.Both sides. would benefit greatly from an end to this.
From TIME:
Despite thousands of protesters gathering in Tel Aviv to demand the release of the hostages held by Hamas, only 10% of Israeli Jews in the Israel Democracy Institute poll said they would support a pause in fighting in order to exchange hostages. Meanwhile, 44.3%, the plurality of Israeli Jews, said they want the government to negotiate for the hostages immediately without pausing the fighting.
Speaking of the tunnels, Hamas just released a video showing them capturing an Israeli tunnel robot. In addition, Jon Elmer in the last Electronic Intifida report said that originally the Israeli estimate was that Hamas had 500km of tunnels under Gaza, then they revised it to 750km, and he read a report in the British press that they now think it’s 1000km of tunnels. In other words, they have no clue how many tunnels are under Gaza or where they are located.
The Israelis have given up going into tunnels because the tunnels are booby-trapped. As Scott Ritters says, the Israelis go into one, discover that it’s a dead-end, then BOOM. They all die.
Israel is losing this conflict with Hamas and Hezbollah badly. Watch the Electronic Intifida Youtube reports from Jon Elmer and also follow Richard Medhurst who posts Hamas and Hezbollah videos as well.
Many of us realized that thousands of Palestinian civilians would be blown away by the IDF in revenge for the October 7 attack that killed 1,200 Israelis. But nobody could have imagined that Israel would kill over 35,000 (70% of them women and children) and basically obliterate the Gaza Ghetto so as to make it unlivable. In a moment of frank candor President Biden described Israel’s response as being “over the top”. He later said he was going to have a “Come to Jesus” moment with Netanyahoo. That obviously proved to be as effective as telling Putin, “Don’t”.
Correction:
900 people died that day
400+ were killed by IDF applying the Hannibal Directive
300+ were IDF or paramilitaries
200+ were Arabs that died
I’m relying on info that we hear on the US propaganda media. That includes allegations that Hamas attackers decapitated babies and also put babies in ovens.
Also the little Arab kid with the Uzi that single handily killed 50 Israelis
/s
Figures from where-?
Israeli witnesses and IDF troops engaged in the massacre on 7.Oct
Let there be Peace on Earth and let it begin with me, with every step I take a Peace for eternity. With God as the father, Christ as his son, let us walk with the mothers of every single dead human being……………..
Bravit!
Gallant can kill defenseless Palestinian civilians but he cannot do jackshit to Hamas…!
they can chop off many of the Hydra’s heads.
‘We Must Settle Gaza Now’ | Netanyahu Ministers Join Israeli Far-right ‘March to Gaza,’ Demand Palestinians’ Expulsion
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for Israel to ‘encourage emigration’ by Gazans, while Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said that ‘this is the only true way to make the Hamas Nazis pay a price
https://archive.fo/U0UNh
What Will Happen When the Holocaust No Longer Prevents the World From Seeing Israel as It Is?
For anyone who wanted to see, the truth was already abundantly clear in 1955: “They treat the Arabs, those still here, in a way that in itself would be enough to rally the whole world against Israel,” wrote Hannah
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2024-05-13/ty-article-opinion/.premium/what-happens-when-the-holocaust-no-longer-prevents-the-world-from-seeing-israel-as-it-is/0000018f-6e29-d336-abdf-feff0ed60000
Parents rush out onto the open street and get shot at by the Israeli sources sending out the artficially created sounds of the cries of the babies .
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/canary-mission-israel-covert-operations/
https://theintercept.com/2024/05/16/university-college-professors-israel-palestine-firing/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The%20Intercept%20Newsletter
https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/ben-gvir-wants-israeli-police-to-create-local-response-teams-to-protect-jews-outside-of-israel/
https://thegrayzone.com/2024/03/06/leaked-israel-lobby-officials-war-gaza-mass-rape/
https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/eric-adams-israel-campus-lies/
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/05/04/enforcing-silence-on-genocide/
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/05/03/the-israeli-connection-to-the-raid-on-columbia-university/
https://thecradle.co/articles/probe-shows-israel-sympathizers-sparked-ucla-violence
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/05/03/roaming-charges-tin-cops-and-biden-coming/
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/04/us/politics/jerry-seinfeld-antisemitism-jewish-identity.html?unlocked_article_code=1.pk0.q_dQ.dLyZbzAB1gHD&smid=url-share
https://www.yahoo.com/news/jerry-seinfeld-no-longer-nothing-154115876.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/06/opinion/antisemitism-act-free-speech.html