A competitor to the Suez Canal is being planned to cut across Israel and connect the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea.
This canal would give the U.S. and Israel control over a key chokepoint in the world for military ships, grain exports, energy and other commodities.
The planned route of the canal goes right through northern Gaza, and many analysts believe that Gaza is being destroyed and wiped out right now to make way for the construction of this canal, which would bring in billions of dollars a year for Israel (and grant Israel control over its access).
P.S.Don't miss our huge Black Friday event which starts this Thursday at 11 am central time. We have some major offers and many new products available in limited quantities.
Israel captives Protest in Tel Aviv criticising government.
Israel Gaza Conflict Euro News 7th November2023
Hezbollah chief to US:
'Halting attacks on Gaza will prevent regional war'
'The United States is 'entirely responsible for the Gaza War .. ' ..
Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasralah said on Friday in his first speech since the conflict broke out last month between Israel and Hamas..
" What is happening in Gaza today is not like any other previous war...
Israel Gaza Conflict Euro News 7th November 2023 P1A
... is not like any other previous war...
Israel-Hamas War - Hezbollah Leader Threatens All-Out War
In Bayrout Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah has made his first comments on the Israel Hamas War ..
Nasraĺlah said Hezbollah not deterred by US warnings to stay out of war.
He praised Hamas for attacking Israel and talking hostages, and said his malitia are already enhaged in cross border fighting in Israel of the Lebanon Border...
But he also threatened to escalate the attacks ..
Israel Gaza Conflict Euro News 7th November 2023 P1b
... it's unlike anything that has happened before..
Israel Gaza Conflict Euro News 7th November 2023 P2
.... It's not just another battle ... it's a decisive and historic one...
Israel Gaza Conflict Euro News 7th November 2023 P3
.. What unfolds after it will differ significantly from what was before..
Israel Gaza Conflict Euro News 7th November 2023 P4
"Regarding our Lebonese front, as some were saying:
IsraelGazaConflictEuroNews7thNovember2023_P5
.. 'His eminence is going to announce joining the battle ....
well we entered the battle on October 8th 2023.'
Israel Gaza Conflict Euro News 7th November 2023 P6
IsraelGazaConflictEuroNews7thNovember2023_P6A
IsraelGazaConflictEuroNews7thNovember2023_P6B
Irish Independent
Fierce fighting in Gaza as US says Palestinians must govern Gaza post-war
Israeli forces battled Hamas militants through shell-blasted buildings in Gaza City on Thursday as some 80 countries and organisations met in Paris to coordinate humanitarian aid and find ways to help wounded civilians escape the siege.
Residents in Gaza City said Israeli were fighting Hamas and other militants and that tanks were stationed around the city. They said Israeli forces were moving closer to two hospitals where thousands of displaced Palestinians were seeking shelter.
The Israeli military said its troops had advanced into the heart of Gaza City, Hamas' main bastion and the biggest city in the Palestinian coastal enclave, while the Islamist group said its fighters had inflicted heavy losses.
Hamas' armed wing on Wednesday released a video that appeared to show intense street battles alongside bombed out buildings in Gaza City.
Israeli tanks have met heavy resistance from Hamas fighters using underground tunnels to stage ambushes, according to sources with Iran-backed Hamas and the separate Islamic Jihad militant group.
As the Israel-Hamas war enters its second month, the United States said when the war does end Palestinians must govern Gaza.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday outlined Washington's red lines and expectations for the besieged coastal territory, pushing back at Israeli comments that it would be responsible for security in Gaza indefinitely.
There should be "no reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends. No attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza," Blinken said at a press conference in Tokyo.
While Blinken said there may be a need for "some transition period" at the end of the conflict, but that post-crisis governance in Gaza must include Palestinian voices.
"It must include Palestinian-led governance and Gaza unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority."
The Palestinian Authority (PA), which exercises limited self-rule in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, says the Gaza Strip, where Hamas has ruled since 2007, is an integral part of what it envisions for a future Palestinian state.
Israeli officials have clarified they do not intend to occupy Gaza after the war, but they have yet to articulate how they might ensure security without maintaining a military presence. Israel withdrew its forces from Gaza in 2005.
Israel launched its military assault on Gaza in response to a cross-border Hamas raid on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which gunmen killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took about 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Palestinian officials said 10,569 people had been killed as of Wednesday, 40% of them children. Israel says 33 of its soldiers have been killed.
SEA LANES FOR AID AND WOUNDED
A conference in Paris on Thursday, attended by Arab nations, Western powers, G20 members and NGO groups such as Doctors Without Borders will discuss measures to alleviate the suffering in Gaza, but without a pause in fighting expectations are low.
"The object is really to work with all the participants and also with Israel ... to allow improved access," a French presidential official told reporters ahead of the conference
Among the options discussed will be setting up a maritime corridor to use sea lanes to ship humanitarian aid into Gaza and see how ships could be used to help evacuate the wounded.
Thousands of Palestinian civilians trudged in a forlorn procession out of the north of Gaza on Wednesday seeking refuge from Israeli air strikes and fierce ground fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants.
The exodus took place during a four-hour window announced by Israel, which has told residents to evacuate encircled northern parts of Gaza or risk being trapped in the violence. But the central and southern parts of the enclave also came under fire again.
Huge numbers of displaced people from among Gaza's 2.3 million population are already crammed into schools, hospitals and other sites in the south.
Thousands of others remain in the north, including at Gaza City's main Al Shifa hospital.
Israel has blamed Hamas for civilian deaths in Gaza, saying that it is using them as human shields and hiding arms and operations centres in residential areas.
"As deaths and injuries in Gaza continue to rise due to intensified hostilities, intense overcrowding and disrupted health, water, and sanitation systems pose an added danger: the rapid spread of infectious diseases," the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday.
WHO said that more than 33,551 cases of diarrhoea had been reported since mid-October, the bulk of which was among children aged under five.
Israel Gaza Conflict text from Euro News 7th November 2023
News Flash 7th November 2023
An Australian woman accused of killing her parents-in-law with a toxic mushroom lunch..has appeared in court, where she faces 3 counts of murder and a string of other charges..
A massive fire at a drug rehsbilotation centre in Northern Iran has killed at least 27 people, the Iran juduciary says..
World democracy in decline says international report.. Nearly half of the world's countries are seeing a drop in their levels of democracy ..
according to a report published the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.
Israeli ground troops encircled Hamas stringhold of Gaza City on Friday .. as close ally the United States urges "concrete steps" to minimize civilian casulties..
Europe is aiding and assisting Israel's war in Gaza with vital weapons.
Hezbollah chief to US:
'Halting attacks on Gaza will prevent regional war'
'The United States is 'entirely responsible for the Gaza War .. ' ..
Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasralah said on Friday in his first speech since the conflict broke out last month between Israel and Hamas..
Schiools were shut down across India's capital on Friday ..as a noxious grey smog engulfed the megacity and made life a misery for 30 million inhabitants..
Thousands of workered entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom Crossing..some seemed to be relieved to be back as they entered Gaza ..through the Kerem Shalom Crossing in the far south of Gaza... others were is desperate need of aid....some still had plastic stickers carrying numbers around their legs..
Israel revoked more than 18,000 work permits given to Palestinians on October 10th 2023...
Palestinian workers said they had been detained and misteated by Israeli authorities
According to a senior Palestinian Official just under 5,000 then fled to the occupied West Bank..
Thousands more were detained in Israel ..
Israel has transformed the war to an enclave and killed 9,200 Palestinians with almost half of them being children...and more than one million people have been displaced.
Israel-Hamas War
Hezbollah Leader Threatens All-Out War..
In Bayrout Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah has made his first comments on the Israel Hamas War ..
Nasraĺlah said Hezbollah not deterred by US warnings to stay out of war.
He praised Hamas for attacking Israel and talking hostages, and said his malitia are already enhaged in cross border fighting in Israel of the Lebanon Border...
But he also threatened to esculate the attacks ..
" What is happening in Gaza today is not like any other previous war.... it's unlike anything that has happened before..
It's not just another battle..it's a decisive and historic one...
What unfolds after it will differ significantly from what was before..
Analysts believe that Hezbollah are keeping is Malitia engaged with Israel on it's borders with Lebonon ... but doesn't want an all out war..
"Regarding our Lebonese front, as some were saying:
'His eminence is going to announce joining the battle ... well we entered the battle on October 8th 2023.'
Lebanon and Hezbollah have fought several bloody wars in past decades..
In recent days Israel has said Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon have killed dozens of militants and civilians and up to seven Israeli soldier and one civilian have died in Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel in the latest clashes..
With the backing of Iran...Israel considers that Hezbollah as its biggest threat...
US bombs Syria in effort to provoke Iran into world war III
Israel Gaza Conflict Update 9
Israelc Gaza Conflict Upates-Netanyahu Announces
Second Phase of Israel Military Operation in Gaza To Completely Destroy and Wipe out Hamas
Meet Mr Wijat and His Team Working For Truth and Justice
Mr Wijat, work has dedicated his life to exposing and righting wrongs committed b y powerful people and powerful organisations against the defenseless little guy or gal, who have tried to abuse their power in a wrongful, immoral or unjust way...
Magic Rabbit At The 2008 New York Easter Parade Saying
INL News Corporation Limited Bringing The World The Latest Uncensored News
INL News Corp Ltd Publications are not afraid of publishing the whole truth
Get The Latest Breaking News In Your INL Newspaper Now !!!!!! INL News Breaks the latest political Scandal Meet Mr Wijat and His Team fighting for Justice and Truth INTERNATIONAL NEWS LIMITED (INL News Corporation Limited) has been bringing entertaining uncensored real news, information and opinions to the World for over 30 years .
Yothu Yindi- Treaty
Another One of ERF the Worms Favourite Aussie Songs of All Time
" Aussie Band Yothu Yindi's amazing spiritual Rock Song SOLID ROCK brings an important message to everyone .. a must listen to by all..." ERF the Worm
Words of the Treaty song by Yothu Yindi
Treaty M
Treaty now..
Treaty M
Treaty now
I heard on the radio
I heard it on the television..
Back in 1988..
All thse words of politicians
Words are easy..
Words are cheap..
This is our promised land
Promises can be given.. but promises can disappear....
Treaty M
Treaty now..
Treaty M
Treaty now
This land was never given up
This land was never brought and sold
The planting of the Union Jack
Never changed our law at all...
Our rivers run their course.
Separated for so long..
I am dreaming of brighter day when our cause will be won..
THE HEAD OF the UN agency for Palestinian refugees told an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting that “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire has become a matter of life and death for millions”, accusing Israel of “collective punishment” of Palestinians.
Philippe Lazzarini warned that a further breakdown of civil order following the looting of the agency’s warehouses by Palestinians searching for food and other aid “will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the largest UN agency in Gaza to continue operating”.
Briefings to the Security Council by Lazzarini, the head of the UN children’s agency Unicef, and a senior UN humanitarian official painted a dire picture of the humanitarian situation in Gaza 23 days after Hamas’s 7 October attacks in Israel and its ongoing retaliatory military action aimed at “obliterating” the militant group, which controls Gaza.
According to the latest figures from Gaza’s Ministry of Health, more than 8,300 people have been killed – 66% of them women and children – and tens of thousands injured, the UN humanitarian office said.
Unicef executive director Catherine Russell said that toll includes over 3,400 children killed and more than 6,300 injured.
“This means that more than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza each day – a number which should shake each of us to our core,” she said.
Lazzarini said: “This surpasses the number of children killed annually across the world’s conflict zones since 2019. This cannot be collateral damage.”
Many speakers at the council meeting denounced Hamas’s attacks on Israel that killed over 1,400 people and urged the release of some 230 hostages taken to Gaza by the militants.
Nearly every speaker also stressed that Israel is obligated under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and their essentials for life including hospitals, schools and other infrastructure.
Israel was criticised for cutting off food, water, fuel and medicine to Gaza and cutting communications for several days.
Lazzarini said “the handful of convoys” allowed into Gaza through the Rafah crossing from Egypt in recent days “is nothing compared to the needs of over 2 million people trapped in Gaza”.
“The system in place to allow aid into Gaza is geared to fail,” he said, “unless there is political will to make the flow of supplies meaningful, matching the unprecedented humanitarian needs”.
US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged the divided Security Council – which has rejected four resolutions that would have responded to the Hamas attacks and the ongoing war – to come together, saying “the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is growing more dire by the day”.
Stressing that all innocent civilians must be protected, she said the council must call “for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, address the immense humanitarian needs of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, affirm Israel’s right to defend itself from terrorism, and remind all actors that international humanitarian law must be respected”.
She reiterated US President Joe Biden’s calls for humanitarian pauses to get hostages out and allow aid in, and for safe passage for civilians.
Israel’s UN ambassador Gilad Erdan was sharply critical of the council’s failure to condemn Hamas’s attacks and asked members: “Why are the humanitarian needs of Gazans, the sole issue, the sole issue you are focused on?”
Recalling his grandfather who survived Nazi death camps but whose wife and seven children perished in the Auschwitz gas chamber, Erdan told the council he will wear a yellow star – as Hitler made his grandfather and other Jewish people wear during the Second World War – “until you condemn the atrocities of Hamas and demand the immediate release of our hostages”.
The ambassador then put a large six-pointed yellow star of David saying Never Again on his suit jacket, as did other Israeli diplomats sitting behind him, and said: “We walk with the yellow star as a symbol of pride, a reminder that we swore to fight back to defend ourselves. Never again is now.”
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, also urged the Security Council to end its paralysis, and demand “an end to this bloodshed, which constitutes an affront to humanity, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and a clear and imminent danger for regional and international peace and security”.
He said: “Save those who still can be saved and bury in a dignified manner those who have perished.”
Israel Gaza Conflict Update 6
Millions protest worldwide as Israel unleashes deadliest bombing campaign against Gaza since October 7
World Socialist Web Site
The Gaza Strip, which some have called “the world's largest open-air prison,” is a narrow piece of land between Israel and Egypt. More than 2 million Palestinians live in the 140-square-mile enclave, making it one of the most densely populated places on earth. In 1947, the newly formed U.N.17 Oct 2023
During the Iron Age, two related Israelite kingdoms, Israel and Judah, controlled much of Palestine, while the Philistines occupied its southern coast. The Assyrians conquered the region in the 8th century BCE, then the Babylonians in c. 601 BCE, followed by the Persians who conquered the Babylonian Empire in 539 BCE.
‘Reason’ senior editor Robby Soave and FOX Business anchor Liz Claman discuss what the media have done right and wrong during this war period on ‘MediaBuzz.’
He was passionately against the Vietnam War, but also wary of protestors using violence, as he declared in the song "Revolution":
"You say you want a revolution, well you know, we all want to change the world… But when you talk about destruction, don’t you know that you can count me out, in?"
He held weeklong bed-ins for peace with Yoko, in Amsterdam and Montreal. In his signature song "Imagine," he challenged the world to move past war:
"Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too. Imagine all the people, livin’ life in peace." And of course, he wrote "Give Peace a Chance."
Paul McCartney had political views, but he rarely interjected them into songs, and very subtle – "Blackbird," for instance, was an allegory about America’s civil rights struggles.
I bring this up, as you probably know, because the last Beatles song is being released today, based on Lennon’s lyrics and piano.
"Now and Then" was recorded by Lennon on a cassette a few years before his life was tragically cut short in 1980. The tape was labeled "For Paul." Yoko Ono sent it to McCartney in 1994. The three surviving Beatles were able to record and release two songs based on the cassette, "Real Love" (which I thought was terrific) and "Free As a Bird."
John Lennon (1940-1980) formed the Beatles in 1960 with Paul McCartney (1942-), George Harrison (1943-2001) and Ringo Starr (1940-). Before being signed to Parlophone in 1962 The Beatles were found playing in the Cavern Club in Liverpool and venues in Hamburg, Germany. They went on to become the most successful pop group of all time and finally split in 1970. In 1965 Lennon, along with the other Beatles, was awarded the MBE, although he later returned his as a protest about British involvement in the Vietnam War. Lennon married the Japanese avant-garde artist Yoko Ono in March 1969. The Beatles finally split in 1970. Lennon was murdered in New York on 8 December 1980 by Mark Chapman. (SSPL/Getty Images)
They tried on the third song, but the quality was just too low. George Harrison called it "f*** rubbish." And it was scrapped until recently, when technology used by producer Peter Jackson made it possible to isolate the vocals.
"There it was, John’s voice, crystal clear," McCartney said. "It’s quite emotional. And we all play on it, it’s a genuine Beatles recording. In 2023, to still be working on Beatles music, and about to release a new song the public haven’t heard, I think it’s an exciting thing." That’s an understatement.
Ringo Starr said: "It was the closest we’ll ever come to having him back in the room so it was very emotional for all of us. It was like John was there, you know. It’s far out." And groovy.
I heard a bit of it yesterday in a short documentary on YouTube, and liked what I heard. First there was John’s vocal, which was strong, resonant and so achingly familiar. Then Paul and Ringo added bass and drums, and a souped-up version of George’s guitar solo.
The opening lyrics:
"I know it’s true
"It’s all because of you
"And if I make it through
"It’s all because of you."
LONDON - 30th DECEMBER: Paul McCartney and John Lennon (1940-1980) from The Beatles posed backstage at the Finsbury Park Astoria, London during the band's Christmas Show residency on 30th December 1963. (Photo by Val Wilmer/Redferns) (Val Wilmer/Redferns)
"Now and Then" is a ballad, not one of John’s all-out rockers, and it does sound like the Beatles. It won’t rank up there with the group’s greatest hits, but it’s a gift. With McCartney at 81, and Starr at 83, touring right now, we should be grateful. (So much for "when I’m 64.")
Consider the backdrop: John, Paul, George and Ringo were working-class Liverpool kids who played in sometimes sleazy clubs, and were turned down by every major record label, until Parlophone’s George Martin decided to take a chance on them.
Then they became the greatest band in rock history, and Lennon-McCartney became one of the greatest songwriting teams in history, their work covered by hundreds of top musicians. They were a cultural phenomenon, surrounded by what was dubbed Beatlemania. And as they experimented and matured with such albums as Sgt. Pepper’s and Abbey Road, they changed the face of music forever.
(Original Caption) 6/1966-The Beatles are shown performing on the Ed Sullivan TV show. (Getty)
More than 60 years later, they still have an enthusiastic following, including some grandchildren of the original fans, and have their own channel on Sirius XM.
Lennon was the early leader (Paul and George joined his band, the Quarrymen) and sang lead on most of the early Beatles songs.
But he also had long fallow periods, especially in the late sixties when he developed a serious addiction to heroin and other drugs.
Lennon’s anti-war crusading had consequences as the Nixon administration went after him. After he met with radical activists in New York, friends such as Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, in 1971, the FBI put the ex-Beatle under surveillance. A year later, immigration authorities tried to deport him, using an old marijuana conviction as the pretext.
The bureau’s files, obtained by NPR, said "Lennon should be arrested, if at all possible, on possession of narcotics charges, which would make him more immediately deportable."
In a letter from J. Edgar Hoover to Richard Nixon’s chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, the FBI chief began: "John Winston Lennon is a member of The Beatles singing group." As if, what, nobody knew that? And there was a Keystone Kops aspect at times: the bureau sent out a purported photo of Lennon, one of the world’s most recognizable figures, that was actually an East Village folksinger.
After a four-year legal battle, Lennon won a green card once Jerry Ford was president.
He was a remarkably creative, witty, unconventional and rebellious figure. And now, with this last Beatles song, Lennon’s voice lives on.
Howard Kurtz is the host of FOX News Channel's MediaBuzz (Sundays 11 a.m.-12 p.m. ET). Based in Washington, D.C., he joined the network in July 2013 and regularly appears on Special Report with Bret Baier and other programs.
Does the West Bank legally belong to Israel?
General Assembly resolution 58/292 (17 May 2004) affirmed that the Palestinian people have the right to sovereignty over the area. The International Court of Justice and the Supreme Court of Israel have ruled that the status of the West Bank is that of military occupation.
HAMAS–the acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (Islamic Resistance Movement)—is the largest and most capable militant group in the Palestinian territories and one of the territories' two major political parties.
Things are escalating much faster than we anticipated. The U.S. has just bombed multiple targets in Syria, clearly in an effort to provoke Iran into a missile response.
Meanwhile, U.S. naval forces are converging in the Middle East, obviously in preparation for a major war that risks ballooning into a world war.
Today I bring you a detailed analysis of these latest events, plus an interview with a former Soviet Union naval engineer who is now an author and geopolitical analyst. His analysis of the situation in both Ukraine and the Middle East is spot-on.
An alternative to the Suez Canal is central to Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians
Marwa A
A "Welcome to Egypt" sign can be seen across the Suez Canal on 30 March 2021 in Ismailia, Egypt
I hate conspiracy theories and fake news. They degrade my profession as a journalist and incite fear, hate and tribulation with the deliberate intention of causing a public backlash. Naturally, there have been all sorts of speculation and rumour around the war in Gaza and the 7 October surprise Hamas attack on the occupation state.
It has been said that the attack was two years in the planning in Gaza, a tiny patch of land riddled with Zionist infiltrators and spies who cajole, bribe and threaten ordinary Palestinians to betray their comrades.
So the question many are asking, with some justification, is why there was such a catastrophic intelligence failure which meant that the attack caught the Israeli military sleeping on the job. In terms of access to eavesdropping technology and defence there is probably no better-equipped military in the world other than in the US, and the Americans maintain secret supply bases in the Zionist state. Israel’s Mossad has earned itself a reputation of being among the finest intelligence gatherers and infiltrators in the world. And yet 7 October saw Hamas fighters breach security fences, invade a music festival and local kibbutzim, and fly in on paragliders without a single challenge. How did this happen?
Some of Israel’s most brutal attacks on innocent Palestinians are made citing “national security” and Israel’s alleged right to defend itself. If it was being attacked by another nation state, fair enough. But an attack by people living under Israel’s brutal military occupation provides no such legal defence. It doesn’t exist.
A good contact and friend of mine who watches the region’s events closely told me simply: “Follow the money.” And that is how, after being nudged and pointed in a variety of directions with annoyingly vague clues, I found myself pouring over a network of paper trails that led to the National Archives, where British secrets lie unseen for at least 30 years and in some cases much, much longer.
By the time they surface, it’s usually far too late to do anything as the guilty have taken their secrets to the grave, but some disclosures do explain the terrible behaviour of governments and rogue politicians. Many of my colleagues are waiting with bated breath for the March 2030 deadline to pass to find out how the Iraq war came about, and if our suspicions about former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s role are as bad as we believe.
The Ben Gurion Canal Project
This particular paper chase, though, took me to the origins of the Suez Canal, which opened with a grand ceremony on 17 November 1869, 154 years ago this month. Today, 10 per cent of the world’s cargo ships sail through this strategic route between the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea, heading to and from the Indian Ocean and connecting Europe and Asia.
Egypt owns, controls and operates the canal now, but it was once owned by French investors who held half of the canal company’s stock with Egypt’s ruler Sa’id Pasha holding most of the balance. In 1875, a cash crisis forced Sa’id’s successor, Isma’il Pasha, to sell the country’s shares to Britain. The Suez Company operated the canal until Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser tore up the concession in 1956 and transferred the canal’s operation to the state-owned Suez Canal Authority. There then followed the Suez Crisis, also known as the second Arab-Israeli war.
On the same day that the canal was nationalised Nasser also closed the Straits of Tiran to all Israeli ships. The crisis saw the UK, France, and Israel invade Egypt. According to pre-agreed plans prepared by Britain and France, Israel invaded Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on 29 October 1956, forcing the Egyptians to engage its troops. This gave the excuse for the Anglo-French alliance to declare the fighting to be a threat to stability in the Middle East and enter the war, officially to separate the two forces but, in reality, to regain control of the Suez Canal and bring down the Nasser government.
What does it have to do with 7 October 2023? Well, it just so happens that Gaza is slap bang in the middle of the proposed path of a major second canal in the region.
Gaza is currently being bombed to oblivion by the deranged Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu who wants to deliver The Ben Gurion Canal Project. Yes, Tel Aviv already has a name for the canal which was first proposed back in the Sixties. It would connect the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and would even be named after the first prime minister of Israel.
The canal would rival Egypt’s Suez Canal, causing a major financial threat to the country and this major trade artery. Remember the global trade disaster caused the huge container ship Ever Givengot stuck in the famous canal in 2021? The Straits of Tiran and Suez Canal remained formally closed to Israeli vessels from the creation of Israel in 1948 and the Nakba until the Suez Crisis in 1956. When all land trade routes were blocked by Arab states, Israel’s ability to trade with East Africa and Asia, mainly to import oil from the Persian Gulf, was severely hampered. There have been other obstructions involving Israel forcing its closure in 1956-7 and 1967-75.
If it goes ahead, this new canal will be almost one-third longer than the 193.3 km Suez Canal, at around 292.9 km and an estimated cost of between $16 and $55 billion. Whoever controls the canal will have enormous influence over the global supply routes for oil, grain and shipping. With Gaza razed to the ground, it would enable the canal planners to literally cut corners and reduce costs by diverting the canal straight through the middle of the territory.
Around 12 per cent of the world’s trade passes through Suez on 18,000 ships a year, so you can imagine that a lot of countries will be lining up for a share of the deal. The Suez Canal is worth a staggering $9.4 billion to Egypt, which has enjoyed record-breaking revenues this year.
The only thing stopping the newly-revised project from being revived and rubber-stamped is the presence of the Palestinians in Gaza. As far as Netanyahu is concerned they are standing in the way of the project; a project which may earn him forgiveness in Tel Aviv for the intelligence and military shortcomings on 7 October. However, his treacherous sleight of hand will never by forgiven or forgotten by the people of Palestine given the horrors which have descended upon Gaza in the past few weeks.
If this is all being done in the name of potential business deals then it compounds the political and diplomatic disgrace of the shameless Western governments who are complicit in the Palestinian genocide.
The biggest shame, though, belongs to Egypt. Already on the verge of bankruptcy due to President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s profligacy, the emergence of a new canal would have a devastating impact on the Egyptian economy and its people. Heartless dictator Al-Sisi may come to regret putting his trust in Tel Aviv and Western governments above the interests and welfare of two million Palestinians in Gaza.
None of the Middle East leaders, Netanyahu, Biden and Sunak et al in the West emerge from the carnage in Gaza with any degree of integrity intact. Together, they are guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, or at the very least are complicit in such awful crimes leading to genocide.
This didn’t all begin on 7 October; the bombing of Gaza is simply the latest stage of Israel’s slow genocide of the people of Palestine, which has now got up to speed again with the full backing of the Western sponsors of the apartheid state. If they think that killing innocent children and women will bring peace, they are deluded.
Unbridled neoliberal capitalism has destroyed many countries and killed millions of people, and peace and security have rarely been the result. I hope that the evil people responsible will burn in Hell for what they have done to the children of Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and numerous other countries around the world. The survivors need freedom and justice now.
Civil order' breaking down in Gaza, US official says: Live updates
A Cabinet minister said it will be judged at a “later date” whether Israel has complied with international law in its fightback against Hamas.
Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan said it was not for her to say whether global rules were being broken in Gaza, with 8,000 Palestinians reported to have died during Israeli strikes.
She said the UK continues to “call for a pause” in the violence to allow aid into the region and permit people to leave.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s administration has stopped short of demanding an outright ceasefire.
"It is very difficult to get to Hamas without hurting innocent civilians"
Michelle Donelan, Cabinet minister
Layla Moran, a Liberal Democrat MP who has family trapped in Gaza, accused the UK and its allies of “failing” in their diplomatic approach to the conflict.
Israeli ground forces, including tank columns, pushed into Gaza over the weekend as Tel Aviv’s military continued to pound the Hamas-ruled territory from air, land and sea.
Bombardments knocked out communications in the 25-mile strip late on Friday – a blackout that followed an Israeli blockade on water, food, fuel and other essentials reaching 2.3 million Palestinians who are effectively trapped.
Communications were restored to many people in Gaza early on Sunday, according to local reports.
Ms Donelan, asked on Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme whether the UK Government was confident Tel Aviv had obeyed international law, said: “I’m not an international lawyer and it is not in my jurisdiction to make that decision.
“Those judgments will be made in due course, based on all of the evidence.
“It is a fast-paced environment, things are happening that we aren’t even aware of on the ground.
“Those judgments and views will be made at a later date by the relevant and appropriate bodies.”
The senior Conservative said the UK has not set Israel any so-called “red lines” in the conflict as she argued rules governing war situations were “well established”.
Hamas’s deadly raids on Israel on October 7 killed 1,400 people, mainly civilians, and Palestinian militants took more than 200 people hostage.
In retaliation over the past three weeks, Tel Aviv has besieged the Occupied Palestinian Territory and pummelled it with bombs as Israel’s leadership vowed to eradicate Hamas.
Around 8,000 Palestinians have died since the war began, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, with most said to be women and children.
Ms Donelan said the preservation of civilian life is a “priority” for the UK but Hamas is using the Palestinian people as “human shields” and putting them in harm’s way by building tunnels underneath houses.
“It is very difficult to get to Hamas without hurting innocent civilians,” she told Sky.
But after telling the BBC the Government is still arguing for a pause in the fighting, Ms Donelan faced criticism from Ms Moran, the Lib Dem foreign affairs spokeswoman who has extended family in Gaza.
Ms Moran said it is “deeply offensive” for the minister to suggest it is Hamas preventing people such as her Palestinian Christian family, who are currently sheltering in a church, from leaving northern Gaza when there is “nowhere” safe in the territory due to Israeli shelling.
Speaking to Victoria Derbyshire on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, she said: “When I hear from the Government that they want to minimise civilians casualties, I have to say to them that they are failing – the strategy of the UK Government, America, and what they are effectively sanctioning in the way that Israel is responding.
“Israel has every right to respond and I agree that if it was us, we would respond too, but how they respond is so important because at the end of this, we want to get to a point where we don’t see this kind of carnage ever again.
“We need to get to that two-state solution, that is what we need to aim for.”
Ms Moran is calling for a humanitarian ceasefire which gives “political space” to “take the temperature down” following “escalatory language from the Israeli government” and allows for peace talks to begin.
Further pro-Palestinian demonstrations demanding a ceasefire are expected to take place in the UK on Sunday, with a march planned in Bristol.
It follows protests on Saturday in London, Glasgow, Manchester and Belfast.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said about 100 people had been arrested at demonstrations held since the Hamas attack on Israel three weeks ago, with “many more” arrests expected in the near future.
Nine people were arrested in central London during a mainly peaceful pro-Palestine demonstration on Saturday, with at least 100,000 thought to have attended.
Seven of the arrests were alleged public order offences, a number of which are being treated as hate crimes, while two were for suspected assaults on officers.
Five people have since been charged, the Met said on Sunday. One incident related to a placard being displayed which was threatening and racist in nature near Piccadilly Circus, police said.
The Met also posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday that two women had been arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred following an incident in Trafalgar Square on Saturday.
It follows alleged chanting that referenced the Battle of Khaybar – a massacre of Jews in 628 by Islamic forces.
Officers also followed up on reports that a pamphlet was being sold along the route of the march that praised Hamas, the force confirmed on social media.
Hamas is a proscribed terror organisation in the UK, with expressions of support for it banned.
Sir Mark told Sky his officers are limited by legal definitions of extremism and arresting people without cause could risk “inflaming” the situation with the protesters.
He said he would support a review into the legal definition of extremism and how it should be policed.
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove is understood to have ordered officials to draw up a new official definition of extremism in a move designed to counter hate, including antisemitism.
His Cabinet colleague Ms Donelan argued that current laws for dealing with extremism are “robust enough” but said the definition is kept under “constant review”.
Russian news reports said protesters shouted antisemitic slogans and tried to storm the plane belonging to Russian carrier Red Wings, prompting police in Makhachkala to close the airport.
Video on social media showed protesters attempting to overturn a police car, some on the landing field waving Palestinian flags and others checking the passports of passengers who had arrived in Makhachkala from Tel Aviv.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel "expects the Russian law enforcement authorities to protect the safety of all Israeli citizens and Jews wherever they may be and to act resolutely against the rioters and against the wild incitement directed against Jews and Israelis."
Hundreds of demonstrators, some shouting antisemitic slogans, crowd into an airfield of the airport in Makhachkala, Russia on Sunday to protest the arrival of a plane from Tel Aviv, Israel. Show less
AP
Israel-Hamas War Developments
∎ The Israeli military said it struck targets in Lebanon and Syria on Sunday after rockets were fired into Israel, in a continuation of hostilities that began shortly after the war started. Israel said it shot down a drone and killed a militant in Lebanon.
Internet and cellphone service have been partially restored to the Gaza area, the U.N.'s relief agency for Palestinians reported Sunday. Connectivity dropped dramatically Friday and the blackout halted humanitarian convoys into the area. "Tensions and fear are made worse by the cuts in the phones and internet communication lines," White said. "They feel that they are on their own, cut off from their families inside Gaza and the rest of the world."
∎ In addition to dropping leaflets written in Arabic to urge Palestinians to move to the southern part of Gaza, the Israeli military has been using them to encourage residents to put down their weapons and surrender. "Hamas leaders are exploiting you," the flyers read. "They and their families are in safe places, while you die in vain."
∎ Humanitarian aid is intermittently arriving and isn't meeting the needs, White said. So far, 80 aid trucks have entered Gaza from the south via Egypt but are being slowed by exhaustive inspections, including a ban on bringing in fuel, he said. "The needs of the communities are immense, if only for basic survival, while the aid we receive is meager and inconsistent," he said.
Emad Shehada has felt helpless and hopeless since war broke out between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7. It's a hopelessness that keeps "creeping into my soul every day," he told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network.
The 47-year-old pulmonologist hasn't taken a break from work at his private practice — in part because he says he has an obligation to his patients, but also because the second he comes home: "everything comes back."
When Shehad is not working, he's at home anxiously watching the Arabic news channel Al Jazeera. Sometimes he turns off the TV, frustrated with what he'd witnessed, only to turn it back on 10 minutes later.
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have killed thousands of people and Shehad has lost 20 family members, including cousins and their children. He fears one day, his sister, Asmaa Shehada — who is sheltering in her Gaza home with her husband, two young daughters, and about 50 other loved ones — will also be killed.
"There’s nowhere to go. Families are hiding together, and they are going to be targeted together," said Shehada of West Bloomfield, Michigan.
A little more than 500 children have been killed in the 18-month-long war in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian authorities who acknowledge the total is imprecise, but whose numbers are in line with the U.N.'s tally.
In the three weeks since the Israel-Hamas war began this month, nearly 3,200 children have been killed in Gaza alone, in addition to 33 in the occupied West Bank and 29 in Israel.
Those figures come from the health ministries in Gaza and Israel, according to the international charity Save the Children. And while the Gaza agency is under Hamas rule and its numbers were questioned by Biden last week, The Associated Press reported they've held up to independent scrutiny in previous wars.
The 3,195 reported deaths among minors in Gaza, where more than 40% of the population is under 18, are more than the number of children killed in armed conflicts anywhere in the world for a whole year over the last three years, Save the Children said Sunday.
“The numbers are harrowing and with violence not only continuing but expanding in Gaza right now, many more children remain at grave risk,” said Jason Lee, the organization's Country Director in the occupied Palestinian territory. “One child’s death is one too many, but these are grave violations of epic proportions. A cease-fire is the only way to ensure their safety.”
The Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City, which is treating 400 patients and providing refuge to about 14,000 displaced Palestinians during the persistent bombardment, was damaged Sunday by Israeli airstrikes, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.
A video posted by the organization on X, formerly Twitter, shows people struggling to breathe amid dust in a room with blown-out windows and debris on the floor.
"The Israeli occupation forces deliberately continue to launch rockets directly near Al-Quds hospital in #Gaza to force medical staff, displaced individuals, and patients to evacuate the hospital,'' the PRCS post says. "This has caused significant damage to hospital departments and exposed residents and patients to suffocation.''
In Muslim territories, the Red Cross is known as the Red Crescent. The society said it was warned by Israeli forces to evacuate in advance of a bombardment, but said that's impossible: "We don't have the means to evacuate," spokeswoman Nibal Farsak said on X, citing the challenge of moving people from the ICU. "Evacuating them means killing them."
Israel says more IDF soldiers were killed inside Gaza as ground operation against Hamas continues
The Israeli military reported additional casualties inside the Gaza Strip as the Israel-Hamas war enters its 26th day. Israeli forces entered the second stage of their war with Hamas in what is expected to be a lengthy military operation. Until this week, Israel had largely relied on airstrikes and artillery to retaliate against Hamas' massacre in Israel on Oct. 7. More than 9,900 people have been killed in the war on both sides since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack.
Israel has entered its fourth week of war against Hamas after the terrorist group infiltrated the country on October 7, firing thousands of rockets at residential areas and butchering civilians
As many as 9,900 people have been killed in the war on both sides, including at least 1,400 Israeli civilians and soldiers and 35 Americans. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claims 8,525 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and 111 in the West Bank. At least 10 Americans are feared to be among the 240 people held captive by Hamas
Israel has greatly expanded its ground operations in Gaza over the weekend, marking a new stage in the conflict
The first foreign passport holders were permitted to leave Gaza and enter Egypt through the Rafah crossing, although American citizens are still struggling to leave the warzone
President Biden on Israel-Hamas war: 'I think we need a pause'
US President Joe Biden speaks about his Bidenomics agenda at Dutch Creek Farms in Northfield, Minnesota, on November 1, 2023.
President Biden said there should be a "pause" in the Israel-Hamas War to provide humanitarian aid to Gazans and get those trapped in the Gaza Strip released.
The comment came during a campaign event in Minnesota on Wednesday evening, when a member of the audience shouted: "As a rabbi, I need you to call for a ceasefire right now.”
The president — who has not supported a ceasefire since the war began on October 7 — said that he would support a "pause."
“I think we need a pause," Biden began. "A pause means give time to get the prisoners out.”
In his comments, Biden was exerting pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to give Palestinians a brief reprieve from Israel's retaliatory military operation. He also said he convinced both Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to allow aid into Gaza.
Biden later said that he understood the "emotion" over the war and said it is "incredibly complicated for Israelis."
"It’s incredibly complicated for the Muslim world as well… I supported a two state solution, I have from the very beginning," he continued. "The fact is the matter is that Hamas is a terrorist organization. A flat-out terrorist organization."
Biden's call was a subtle departure for the president and top White House aides, who throughout the Mideast crisis have been steadfast in stating they will not dictate how the Israelis carry out their military operations in response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
The Democratic president has faced intensifying pressure from liberal members of his own Democratic Party, fellow world leaders, and human rights groups, who say that the Israeli bombardment of Gaza is collective punishment and that it is time for a cease-fire.
A plane from Israel was greeted Sunday by an angry crowd of hundreds who stormed onto the landing field of the main airport in the predominantly Muslim region of Dagestan in Russia, protesting the airliner’s arrival.
Russian news reports said protesters shouted antisemitic slogans and tried to storm the plane belonging to Russian carrier Red Wings, prompting police in Makhachkala to close the airport.
Video on social media showed protesters attempting to overturn a police car, some on the landing field waving Palestinian flags and others checking the passports of passengers who had arrived in Makhachkala from Tel Aviv.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel "expects the Russian law enforcement authorities to protect the safety of all Israeli citizens and Jews wherever they may be and to act resolutely against the rioters and against the wild incitement directed against Jews and Israelis."
No injuries were immediately reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose country has been fighting a Russian invasion since February 2022, tweeted that antisemitic sentiment is common in Russia and emanates from its leaders.
"This is not an isolated incident in Makhachkala," Zelenskyy said, "but rather part of Russia’s widespread culture of hatred toward other nations, which is propagated by state television, pundits, and authorities."
Hundreds of demonstrators, some shouting antisemitic slogans, crowd into an airfield of the airport in Makhachkala, Russia on Sunday to protest the arrival of a … Show more
AP
Developments
∎ The Israeli military said it struck targets in Lebanon and Syria on Sunday after rockets were fired into Israel, in a continuation of hostilities that began shortly after the war started. Israel said it shot down a drone and killed a militant in Lebanon.
∎ Internet and cellphone service have been partially restored to the Gaza area, the U.N.'s relief agency for Palestinians reported Sunday. Connectivity dropped dramatically Friday and the blackout halted humanitarian convoys into the area. "Tensions and fear are made worse by the cuts in the phones and internet communication lines," White said. "They feel that they are on their own, cut off from their families inside Gaza and the rest of the world."
∎ In addition to dropping leaflets written in Arabic to urge Palestinians to move to the southern part of Gaza, the Israeli military has been using them to encourage residents to put down their weapons and surrender. "Hamas leaders are exploiting you," the flyers read. "They and their families are in safe places, while you die in vain."
∎ Humanitarian aid is intermittently arriving and isn't meeting the needs, White said. So far, 80 aid trucks have entered Gaza from the south via Egypt but are being slowed by exhaustive inspections, including a ban on bringing in fuel, he said. "The needs of the communities are immense, if only for basic survival, while the aid we receive is meager and inconsistent," he said.
Emad Shehada has felt helpless and hopeless since war broke out between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7. It's a hopelessness that keeps "creeping into my soul every day," he told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network.
The 47-year-old pulmonologist hasn't taken a break from work at his private practice — in part because he says he has an obligation to his patients, but also because the second he comes home: "everything comes back."
When Shehad is not working, he's at home anxiously watching the Arabic news channel Al Jazeera. Sometimes he turns off the TV, frustrated with what he'd witnessed, only to turn it back on 10 minutes later.
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have killed thousands of people and Shehad has lost 20 family members, including cousins and their children. He fears one day, his sister, Asmaa Shehada — who is sheltering in her Gaza home with her husband, two young daughters, and about 50 other loved ones — will also be killed.
"There’s nowhere to go. Families are hiding together, and they are going to be targeted together," said Shehada of West Bloomfield, Michigan.
A little more than 500 children have been killed in the 18-month-long war in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian authorities who acknowledge the total is imprecise, but whose numbers are in line with the U.N.'s tally.
In the three weeks since the Israel-Hamas war began this month, nearly 3,200 children have been killed in Gaza alone, in addition to 33 in the occupied West Bank and 29 in Israel.
Those figures come from the health ministries in Gaza and Israel, according to the international charity Save the Children. And while the Gaza agency is under Hamas rule and its numbers were questioned by Biden last week, The Associated Press reported they've held up to independent scrutiny in previous wars.
The 3,195 reported deaths among minors in Gaza, where more than 40% of the population is under 18, are more than the number of children killed in armed conflicts anywhere in the world for a whole year over the last three years, Save the Children said Sunday.
“The numbers are harrowing and with violence not only continuing but expanding in Gaza right now, many more children remain at grave risk,” said Jason Lee, the organization's Country Director in the occupied Palestinian territory. “One child’s death is one too many, but these are grave violations of epic proportions. A cease-fire is the only way to ensure their safety.”
The Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City, which is treating 400 patients and providing refuge to about 14,000 displaced Palestinians during the persistent bombardment, was damaged Sunday by Israeli airstrikes, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.
A video posted by the organization on X, formerly Twitter, shows people struggling to breathe amid dust in a room with blown-out windows and debris on the floor.
"The Israeli occupation forces deliberately continue to launch rockets directly near Al-Quds hospital in #Gaza to force medical staff, displaced individuals, and patients to evacuate the hospital,'' the PRCS post says. "This has caused significant damage to hospital departments and exposed residents and patients to suffocation.''
In Muslim territories, the Red Cross is known as the Red Crescent. The society said it was warned by Israeli forces to evacuate in advance of a bombardment, but said that's impossible: "We don't have the means to evacuate," spokeswoman Nibal Farsak said on X, citing the challenge of moving people from the ICU. "Evacuating them means killing them."
Another video posted previously showed dozens of women and children resting on blankets and cushions inside the hospital's lobby.
Jagan Chapagain, the secretary general and CEO of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said he's "deeply alarmed" about the hospital's fate: "I cannot stress this further. There is an urgent need to de-escalate to protect civilian lives, hospitals & doctors," he posted on X.
Many Gazans have sought shelter at hospitals, hoping they will escape the violence there but also because they are more likely to have electricity and running water. Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals, mosques and schools to hide weapons and train its fighters.
The U.N.’s Palestinian relief agency warns that “civil order is starting to break down” in Gaza as thousands of desperate people broke into warehouses and distribution centers to take food and other supplies after Israeli ground forces moved in.
Thomas White, the Gaza affairs director of the U.N.’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said Sunday in a statement that the current system for delivering humanitarian aid isn’t working. He said displaced Palestinians are crowding into homes in the middle and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, with up to 50 people sheltering in some households.
Israel has been bombarding Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack led by Hamas killed more than 1,400 people on Israeli soil and ignited a war that has killed more than 8,000 people in Gaza, according to the latest count by the Hamas-run Health Ministry. As it has increased its military response, Israel ordered people in northern Gaza to move south, concentrating residents in an area without adequate food, water or other services, according to humanitarian officials.
On Saturday, Gaza residents took food and hygiene supplies from warehouses and distribution centers, White said, an indication they are growing desperate. “This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege on Gaza,” he said in a statement. “People are scared, frustrated and desperate.”
President Joe Biden and Netanyahu discussed Israel's right to defend itself and the need to do so while protecting civilians in Gaza, according to a readout of their Sunday morning call.
Hamas frees two more hostages; US pushes for delayed Gaza invasion
Hundreds in Russia try to storm plane from Israel; 3,200 children have died in Gaza: Updates
A plane from Israel was greeted Sunday by an angry crowd of hundreds who stormed onto the landing field of the main airport in the predominantly Muslim region of Dagestan in Russia, protesting the airliner’s arrival.
Russian news reports said protesters shouted antisemitic slogans and tried to storm the plane belonging to Russian carrier Red Wings, prompting police in Makhachkala to close the airport.
Video on social media showed protesters attempting to overturn a police car, some on the landing field waving Palestinian flags and others checking the passports of passengers who had arrived in Makhachkala from Tel Aviv.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel "expects the Russian law enforcement authorities to protect the safety of all Israeli citizens and Jews wherever they may be and to act resolutely against the rioters and against the wild incitement directed against Jews and Israelis."
No injuries were immediately reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose country has been fighting a Russian invasion since February 2022, tweeted that antisemitic sentiment is common in Russia and emanates from its leaders.
"This is not an isolated incident in Makhachkala," Zelenskyy said, "but rather part of Russia’s widespread culture of hatred toward other nations, which is propagated by state television, pundits, and authorities."
Hundreds of demonstrators, some shouting antisemitic slogans, crowd into an airfield of the airport in Makhachkala, Russia on Sunday to protest the arrival of a … Show more
AP
Developments
∎ The Israeli military said it struck targets in Lebanon and Syria on Sunday after rockets were fired into Israel, in a continuation of hostilities that began shortly after the war started. Israel said it shot down a drone and killed a militant in Lebanon.
∎ Internet and cellphone service have been partially restored to the Gaza area, the U.N.'s relief agency for Palestinians reported Sunday. Connectivity dropped dramatically Friday and the blackout halted humanitarian convoys into the area. "Tensions and fear are made worse by the cuts in the phones and internet communication lines," White said. "They feel that they are on their own, cut off from their families inside Gaza and the rest of the world."
∎ In addition to dropping leaflets written in Arabic to urge Palestinians to move to the southern part of Gaza, the Israeli military has been using them to encourage residents to put down their weapons and surrender. "Hamas leaders are exploiting you," the flyers read. "They and their families are in safe places, while you die in vain."
∎ Humanitarian aid is intermittently arriving and isn't meeting the needs, White said. So far, 80 aid trucks have entered Gaza from the south via Egypt but are being slowed by exhaustive inspections, including a ban on bringing in fuel, he said. "The needs of the communities are immense, if only for basic survival, while the aid we receive is meager and inconsistent," he said.
Emad Shehada has felt helpless and hopeless since war broke out between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7. It's a hopelessness that keeps "creeping into my soul every day," he told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network.
The 47-year-old pulmonologist hasn't taken a break from work at his private practice — in part because he says he has an obligation to his patients, but also because the second he comes home: "everything comes back."
When Shehad is not working, he's at home anxiously watching the Arabic news channel Al Jazeera. Sometimes he turns off the TV, frustrated with what he'd witnessed, only to turn it back on 10 minutes later.
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have killed thousands of people and Shehad has lost 20 family members, including cousins and their children. He fears one day, his sister, Asmaa Shehada — who is sheltering in her Gaza home with her husband, two young daughters, and about 50 other loved ones — will also be killed.
"There’s nowhere to go. Families are hiding together, and they are going to be targeted together," said Shehada of West Bloomfield, Michigan.
A little more than 500 children have been killed in the 18-month-long war in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian authorities who acknowledge the total is imprecise, but whose numbers are in line with the U.N.'s tally.
In the three weeks since the Israel-Hamas war began this month, nearly 3,200 children have been killed in Gaza alone, in addition to 33 in the occupied West Bank and 29 in Israel.
Those figures come from the health ministries in Gaza and Israel, according to the international charity Save the Children. And while the Gaza agency is under Hamas rule and its numbers were questioned by Biden last week, The Associated Press reported they've held up to independent scrutiny in previous wars.
The 3,195 reported deaths among minors in Gaza, where more than 40% of the population is under 18, are more than the number of children killed in armed conflicts anywhere in the world for a whole year over the last three years, Save the Children said Sunday.
“The numbers are harrowing and with violence not only continuing but expanding in Gaza right now, many more children remain at grave risk,” said Jason Lee, the organization's Country Director in the occupied Palestinian territory. “One child’s death is one too many, but these are grave violations of epic proportions. A cease-fire is the only way to ensure their safety.”
The Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City, which is treating 400 patients and providing refuge to about 14,000 displaced Palestinians during the persistent bombardment, was damaged Sunday by Israeli airstrikes, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.
A video posted by the organization on X, formerly Twitter, shows people struggling to breathe amid dust in a room with blown-out windows and debris on the floor.
"The Israeli occupation forces deliberately continue to launch rockets directly near Al-Quds hospital in #Gaza to force medical staff, displaced individuals, and patients to evacuate the hospital,'' the PRCS post says. "This has caused significant damage to hospital departments and exposed residents and patients to suffocation.''
In Muslim territories, the Red Cross is known as the Red Crescent. The society said it was warned by Israeli forces to evacuate in advance of a bombardment, but said that's impossible: "We don't have the means to evacuate," spokeswoman Nibal Farsak said on X, citing the challenge of moving people from the ICU. "Evacuating them means killing them."
Another video posted previously showed dozens of women and children resting on blankets and cushions inside the hospital's lobby.
Jagan Chapagain, the secretary general and CEO of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said he's "deeply alarmed" about the hospital's fate: "I cannot stress this further. There is an urgent need to de-escalate to protect civilian lives, hospitals & doctors," he posted on X.
Many Gazans have sought shelter at hospitals, hoping they will escape the violence there but also because they are more likely to have electricity and running water. Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals, mosques and schools to hide weapons and train its fighters.
The U.N.’s Palestinian relief agency warns that “civil order is starting to break down” in Gaza as thousands of desperate people broke into warehouses and distribution centers to take food and other supplies after Israeli ground forces moved in.
Thomas White, the Gaza affairs director of the U.N.’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said Sunday in a statement that the current system for delivering humanitarian aid isn’t working. He said displaced Palestinians are crowding into homes in the middle and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, with up to 50 people sheltering in some households.
Israel has been bombarding Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack led by Hamas killed more than 1,400 people on Israeli soil and ignited a war that has killed more than 8,000 people in Gaza, according to the latest count by the Hamas-run Health Ministry. As it has increased its military response, Israel ordered people in northern Gaza to move south, concentrating residents in an area without adequate food, water or other services, according to humanitarian officials.
On Saturday, Gaza residents took food and hygiene supplies from warehouses and distribution centers, White said, an indication they are growing desperate. “This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege on Gaza,” he said in a statement. “People are scared, frustrated and desperate.”
President Joe Biden and Netanyahu discussed Israel's right to defend itself and the need to do so while protecting civilians in Gaza, according to a readout of their Sunday morning call.
They also talked about the efforts to locate hostages and gain their release, the White House said. Hamas and other militants are believed to be holding about 220 captives, Americans among them, most likely in different locations.
The leaders also covered the topic of aid coming into Gaza, which Biden has said is not happening as much as he'd like. "The President underscored the need to immediately and significantly increase the flow of humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of civilians in Gaza," the readout said.
In a video statement Saturday, Lt. General Herzi Halevi of the Israel Defense Forces said the response against Hamas had moved into a new phase, with soldiers deployed into Gaza for what's expected to be vicious fighting in the tunnels Hamas operates in the enclave.
"The best soldiers and commanders − well-trained and prepared − are now operating in Gaza," Halevi said. "The ground forces are currently carrying out an important and complex operation. The objectives of this war require a ground operation. Achievements demand risks, and as we know, every victory comes at a price.''
In a series of messages posted to X, the website formerly known as Twitter, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is doing all it can to minimize civilian casualties during the ground offensive. In a prelude to the ground offensive, the IDF said its jets hit 150 underground targets in the northern Gaza Strip, attacking tunnels and "underground combat spaces" and killing several Hamas members.
"This is the second stage of the war, the goals of which are clear: Destroying Hamas's military and governing capabilities, and bringing the captives back home," Netanyahu said in a post. "The IDF does everything to avoid harming non-combatants. I again call on the civilian population to evacuate to a safe area in the southern Gaza Strip. In contrast, the cynicism of the enemy knows no bounds. He carries out war crimes by using civilians as human shields, by using hospitals as terrorist command centers and to supply fuel to its war machine."
People mourn as they collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli air raids on Oct. 28, 2023, in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Heading into a … Show more
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a massive pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul in which he said his country planned to formally accuse Israel of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
“Israel, we will proclaim you as a war criminal to the world,” Erdogan said, without elaborating on the mechanism he intended to employ or what the action would mean. “We are making our preparations, and we will declare Israel to the world as a war criminal.”
In response, Israel said it was pulling its diplomats from Turkey, although some had already left for security reasons.
Erdogan, whose ruling party has roots in Turkey’s Islamic movement, has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians since coming into office in 2003. Turkey is a NATO member, which means it's closely allied with the United States militarily. Israel is not a NATO member but is also militarily close with the U.S.
Turkey and Israel have long been at odds, but there were signs of a diplomatic thaw last year when then-Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid met with Erdogan at the U.N. and the countries agreed to resume formal relations for the first time since 2010.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Hamas “is hiding behind the civilian population in Gaza,” as Israel expands its ground incursion into the territory. While Israel has a right to defend itself, Sullivan said, it also needs to protect Palestinian citizens in Gaza.
Israel has a “responsibility under international humanitarian law and the laws of war to do all in their power to protect the civilian population,” Sullivan said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”
Sullivan deferred to Israel to answer about its plans for the siege of Gaza, but said the U.S. “will continue to ask hard questions about how they are thinking this through, how they are proceeding.”
In his weekly address from St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis called Sunday for a ceasefire and for hostages to be released. He also asked the faithful to pray for an end to the violence and for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
"Stop, brothers and sisters: war is always a defeat − always, always," Francis said, according to the Vatican.
U.S. officials have not called for a ceasefire, which they said would help Hamas, but they have called for periodic humanitarian pauses in Israel's attack on Gaza.
Contributing: The Associated Press
View |14 Photos
Palestinians flee Gaza after Israel declares war on Hamas
Israel has called for the immediate relocation of 1.1 million people in Gaza amid its massive bombardment in retaliation for Hamas's attacks.
The U.N.'s Palestinian relief agency warns that "civil order is starting to break down" in Gaza as thousands of desperate people broke into warehouses and distribution centers to take food and other supplies after Israeli ground forces moved in.
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Israel-Hamas war updates: Hundreds in Russia storm plane from Tel Aviv
Thomas White, the Gaza affairs director of the U.N.'s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said Sunday in a statement that the current system for delivering humanitarian aid isn't working. He said displaced Palestinians are crowding into homes in the middle and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, with up to 50 people sheltering in some households.
Concerns are also growing at the Al-Quds hospital, where an estimated 1,400 people, mostly women and children, have taken refuge. Officials at the hospital said they have been warned by Israel that the hospital could be bombarded.
Israel has been bombarding Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack led by Hamas killed more than 1,400 people on Israeli soil and ignited a war that has killed more than 8,000 people in Gaza, according to the latest count by the Hamas-run Health Ministry. As it has increased its military response, Israel ordered people in northern Gaza to move south, concentrating people in an area without adequate food, water or other services, according to humanitarian officials.
Palestinians collect boxes and bags from a UN-run aid supply center, distributing food to local Palestinians and people displaced following Israel's call for more than … Show more
MOHAMMED ABED, AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
On Saturday, people took food and hygiene supplies from warehouses and distribution centers, White said, an indication they are growing desperate.
“This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege on Gaza," he said in a statement. "People are scared, frustrated and desperate."
Developments
Internet and cell phone service have been partially restored to the Gaza area, the U.N.'s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East reported Sunday. Connectivity dropped dramatically on Friday and the blackout halted humanitarian convoys into the area. "Tensions and fear are made worse by the cuts in the phones and internet communication lines," White said. "They feel that they are on their own, cut off from their families inside Gaza and the rest of the world."
∎ Humanitarian aid is intermittently arriving and isn't meeting the needs, White said. So far 80 aid trucks have entered Gaza from the south via Egypt but are being slowed by exhaustive inspections, including a ban on bringing in fuel, he said. "The needs of the communities are immense, if only for basic survival, while the aid we receive is meager and inconsistent," he said.
The Story of the Gaza Strip explained
The History and Ethics of the Israel Palestine Conflict with Dr. Benny Morris
Doron Keidar_The Frontlines of the Israel - Hamas War - Danger Close with JackCarr
Hundreds of Jewish activists were arrested Friday after they staged a sit-in at New York City's Grand Central Station protesting the war. The Times of Israel reported that police detained around 200 people, some wearing shirts saying "Not in our name," as they protested the violence and called for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. The rush-hour protest was organized by the group Jewish Voice for Peace.
In a video statement Saturday, Lt. General Herzi Halevi of the Israeli Defense Forces said the response against Hamas had moved into a new phase, with soldiers deployed into Gaza. Israel heavily bombarded Gaza following the Oct. 7 attack, and many experts believed that was a prelude to what could be vicious fighting in the tunnels Hamas operates from beneath Gaza.
"The best soldiers and commanders -- well-trained and prepared -- are now operating in Gaza," Halevi said. "The ground forces are currently carrying out an important and complex operation. The objectives of this war require a ground operation. Achievements demand risks and as we know, every victory comes at a price."
In a series of messages posted to the website formerly known as Twitter, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is doing all it can to minimize civilian casualties during the ground offensive. In a prelude to the ground offensive, the IDF said its jets hit 150 underground targets in the northern Gaza Strip, attacking tunnels and "underground combat spaces" and killing several Hamas members.
People mourn as they collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli air raids on Oct. 28, 2023, in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Heading into a … Show more
"This is the second stage of the war, the goals of which are clear: Destroying Hamas's military and governing capabilities, and bringing the captives back home," Netanyahu said on X. "The IDF does everything to avoid harming non-combatants. I again call on the civilian population to evacuate to a safe area in the southern Gaza Strip. In contrast, the cynicism of the enemy knows no bounds. He carries out war crimes by using civilians as human shields, by using hospitals as terrorist command centers and to supply fuel to its war machine."
Concerns are growing about the fate of the Al-Quds hospital in Gaza, where 1,400 people have taken refuge while 400 patients are being treated, officials said. Video posted by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society showed dozens of women and children resting on blankets and cushions inside the hospital's lobby.
The society said it has been warned by Israeli forces to evacuate in advance of a bombardment, but said that's impossible: "We don't have the means to evacuate," spokeswoman Nibal Farsak said on the social media platform X, citing the challenge in moving people from the ICU. "Evacuating them means killing them."
Jagan Chapagain, the secretary general and CEO of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said he's "deeply alarmed" about the hospital's fate: "I cannot stress this further. There is an urgent need to de-escalate to protect civilian lives, hospitals & doctors," he posted on X.
In Muslim territories, the Red Cross is known as the Red Crescent.
Many Gazans have sought shelter at hospitals, hoping they will escape the violence there, but also because they are more likely to have electricity and running water.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a massive pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul on Saturday in which he said his country planned to formally accuse Israel of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
“Israel, we will proclaim you as a war criminal to the world,” Erdogan said, without elaborating on the mechanism he intended to employ or what the action would mean. “We are making our preparations, and we will declare Israel to the world as a war criminal.”
In response, Israel said it was pulling its diplomats from Turkey, although some had already left for security reasons.
Erdogan, whose ruling party has roots in Turkey’s Islamic movement, has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians since coming into office in 2003. Turkey is a NATO member, which means it's closely allied with the United States militarily. Israel is not a NATO member but is also militarily close with the U.S.
Turkey and Israel have long been at odds, but there were signs of a diplomatic thaw last year when the Israeli prime minister met with Erdogan at the U.N. and the countries agreed to resume formal relations for the first time since 2010.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Hamas “is hiding behind the civilian population in Gaza,” as Israel expands its ground incursion into Gaza. While Israel has a right to defend itself, Sullivan said, it also has a “responsibility” to protect Palestinian citizens in Gaza.
Israel has a “responsibility under international humanitarian law and the laws of war to do all in their power to protect the civilian population,” Sullivan said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”
Sullivan deferred to Israel to answer for what its plans were for its siege of Gaza but said the U.S. “will continue to ask hard questions about how they are thinking this through, how they are proceeding.”
In his weekly address from St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis called Sunday for a ceasefire and for hostages to be released. He also asked the faithful to pray for an end to the violence and for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
"Stop, brothers and sisters: war is always a defeat—always, always," Francis said, according to the Vatican.
U.S. officials have not called for a ceasefire, which they said would help Hamas, but they have called for periodic humanitarian pauses in Israel's attack on Gaza.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Doron Keidar_The Frontlines of the Israel - Hamas War - Danger Close with Jack Carr
Ex-Israeli Peace Negotiator Daniel Levy Decries Israel’s Actions in Gaza
Yothu Yindi- Treaty
Another One of ERF the Worms Favourite Aussie Songs of All Time
" Aussie Band Yothu Yindi's amazing spiritual Rock Song SOLID ROCK brings an important message to everyone .. a must listen to by all..." ERF the Worm
Rejecting police intimidation and the lies of every major imperialist government, millions of people around the world participated in mass demonstrations over the weekend demanding an end to the US and NATO-backed Israeli genocide against Gaza.
Mass outrage is growing with each war crime committed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Hospitals, churches, residential buildings and the last remaining bakery in Northern Gaza have been targeted by the IDF, with over 4,700 Palestinians killed in the last two weeks. This includes nearly 2,000 children. Some 1,400 people are missing, with many feared dead under the rubble.
The past 24 hours have been the deadliest since the Israeli bombardment began on October 7, with more than 400 killed. Al Jazeera, citing the Palestinian news agency Wafa, reported that “at least 25 Israeli air attacks were recorded on residential areas in the Palestinian territory.”
The past 24 hours have been the deadliest since the Israeli bombardment began on October 7, with more than 400 killed. Al Jazeera, citing the Palestinian news agency Wafa, reported that “at least 25 Israeli air attacks were recorded on residential areas in the Palestinian territory.”
According to the United Nations, more than 400,000 Palestinians are now categorized as “internally displaced persons.” Hundreds of thousands have packed into UN sheltering facilities, which are severely overcrowded.
Israel is bombarding not only Northern Gaza, but Southern Gaza as well, including the border crossing city of Rafah. More than a dozen people were killed in one airstrike on a house in Rafah on Sunday, including children. There are also reports that Israel is carrying out raids in the occupied West Bank.
Following the Israeli bombing of a hospital last week, which killed nearly 500, the IDF has sent bombs in the vicinity of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex and the Al-Quds Hospital. The Netanyahu government has demanded that all hospitals in the north shut down, which would mean a death sentence for many receiving critical care.
On Saturday, Palestinians still remaining north of the Wadi Gaza river awoke to thousands of leaflets being dropped by the Israeli Air Force. The leaflets warned that their “presence North of Wadi Gaza is putting your lives at risk.”
It added, “Anyone who chooses not to evacuate from the North of the Gaza Strip to the South of the Gaza Strip may be identified as a partner in a terrorist organization.” In other words, anyone not willing or able to leave behind their home, or one of the few remaining functioning hospitals, is subject to slaughter by the IDF.
Gazans show genocidal flyer dropped by Israeli Air Force, October 21, 2023. [Photo: @sentdefender]
300,000 demonstrate in London against Israel’s war on Gaza
The largest anti-war demonstration in Britain since 2003, when over a million protested the illegal invasion of Iraq, saw 300,000 people march and rally in London Saturday against Israel’s war on Gaza.
The march assembled at Park Lane and proceeded through central London, ending with a rally in Whitehall, where the prime minister’s residence, 10 Downing Street is located.
The march was so big that in the middle of the rally it was announced from the stage that the left and right part of the demonstration in Whitehall would have to go into nearby Parliament Square to prevent a possible crush, as so many were still arriving from Trafalgar Square.
A fraction of the 300,000 people who protested the Israeliwar on Gaza in London, October 21, 2023.
The turnout was despite London being deluged by Storm Babet during the afternoon and restrictions on transport in the capital. At some points demonstrators were walking through several inches of rain on the streets. The march would have been even larger had not trains and other transport from the north of England been halted due to flooding and landslides.
A crowd of people on the platform at Marble Arch underground station having to wait there before being able to exit the overcrowded station prior to joining the march
The police ludicrously still tried to claim it was smaller than last week’s 150,000-strong demonstration, saying that around that 100,000 attended. This vast playing down of its size was faithfully repeated by the media, including the Guardian.
Young people, students and workers carried the Palestinian flag and chanted, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free”, in defiance of the Conservative government’s attempts to criminalise these actions. Noticeable was the number of homemade banners, with slogans such as “Stop killing children”, “Free, free Palestine” and “End the Occupation”. A large number of Jewish protesters took part.
Massive numbers of police were again mobilised, including counter-terrorism officers and specialised public order units among the 1,000 on the streets.
A London Underground train driver led a chant of “Free, Free Palestine” on his speaker system, adding, “Hope you all have a blessed day today and look after yourselves.”. A video of the incident on X/Twitter was viewed millions of times. London Underground Limited immediately announced that they had asked British Transport Police to investigate the “incident”.
Hashim, originally from Sudan, spoke at the Socialist Equality Party’s stall. “What you’re seeing in Gaza is a neo-liberal colonisation of the Middle East. It has its own economic and historical background. They are pushing their agenda by getting rid of any resistance in Palestine, to establish their new order.
Hashim
“Look at all the war zones within this area and you will understand how fake this ‘international community’ are. They don’t care about humanity.
“Sudan is still under colonisation, despite independence since 1956. When you look at the position of the United States towards Sudan, they don’t care about the Sudanese. They only care about their own interests.
Hashim cited Saudia Arabia’s war in Yemen, backed by Britain and the US, “They want to take over the world and they don’t care about the people. We Have to fight back, otherwise the whole world will see some sort of catastrophe. Gaza is a warning to the world.”
Laura said, “Like many people I feel sick to the stomach that the leader of the opposition is complicit in genocide, refusing to call it out as a genocide, or even the simplest thing of calling for a ceasefire.
Laura with a banner denouncing Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer's support for Israeliwar crimes
“I’ve voted Labour in the past but I’m not going to in the next election because I can’t in good conscience. Then there’s also what’s come out from the leadership about no councillors or senior Labour Party members can be seen at protests. They aren’t allowed to show support for people who are being ethnically cleansed.
“It’s basic human rights. You’re meant to be a political leader and you can’t stand for people’s freedom, freedom not to be bombed!
“I’m not surprised by attempts to demonise protestors. That’s why it’s important so many people turn out because it counters the narrative. Try and argue with 500,000 people on the streets.”
Saskia said, “It’s another example of a marginalised group who are being completely ignored, and Britain is complicit in it through its history with the British Mandate for Palestine, after the Ottoman Empire fell.
Saskia with placard reading Sunak, Starmer, Lammy and Thornberry - Complicit in Genocide. David Lammy and Emily Thornberry are members of Starmer's Shadow Cabinet
“It feels like a responsibility to act and speak up. Palestinians are living in an open-air prison; they’re being cut off from the internet, electricity, food, water. They are being blockaded by the Israeli government.
“This current Labour leadership, I don’t stand with them or support them in any way. Starmer, and all of them, can’t take back the words they’ve said. They claim to speak for the people, but they don’t. They’re the same as the Tories.”
Scarlet, a retail worker, said, “I was scared of being branded a terrorist sympathiser, but something needs to be done about what is happening. This is genocide. There are millions of people in Gaza, half of which are children. Our media and our government stand with Israel, Palestinian’s are fighting for their existence and we need to stand with them.
“Workers are the majority in this world. They have the real power. The unity of people of conscience in Israel and Palestine is the only way things are going to change.”
Steve, a care worker, said, “The media is telling a one sided narrative, most of it is lies. What we are seeing on the internet, social media, I can’t sleep looking at it. Killing children non-stop, the cutting of food, water, electricity. I do not know where to start with the hospital bombing, it was sickening. Most of us grow up idolising America, but it’s not what you think it is. The government of Biden is very dark.”
Protests in Salford, Leeds and Sheffield, UK: “It’s a genocide happening there and the media are just lying about it.”
Protests mobilising thousands took place in Salford, Leeds and Sheffield on Saturday, just some of the mass demonstrations in cities throughout the UK. The Salford and Leeds protests both targeted BBC broadcasting facilities, due to the outrage generated by its biased coverage of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza.
Salford
Ibrahim, 25, came to the UK with his family from Yemen when he was four. “We want people to know the truth,” he said. “Israel has a say in what goes on in the media in the UK.” The poster he was carrying showed himself as an eight-year-old on a pro-Palestinian demonstration, “It’s been going on the whole time I’ve been alive”, alongside a picture of himself with an anti-Zionist rabbi. “He supports the Palestinians. So many Jews don’t support the state of Israel. Jews, Christians and Muslims used to live together in harmony. It’s happened before and it can happen again.
Ibrahim
“[Israeli Prime Minister [Netanyahu] says the whole world is watching, but everyone is watching him massacring kids in hospitals. What they did to the Jews in the Holocaust, they’re doing to the Palestinians. Gaza is an open prison. They’re being pushed into a small piece of land and there’s nowhere to go. It’s ethnic cleansing. They want to kill all the Palestinians. The Israeli Defence Minister said kill them all, starve everyone, like Hitler.”
Leeds
William, a student, said, “Palestinians have faced oppression for years now. The Israeli government needs to stop the genocide, the ethnic cleansing and the bombing of all Palestinians because they have just the exact same right to be there as the Israelis.”
Will (right) and friend Abbie
Abbie said, “It’s a genocide happening there and the media are just lying about it. The Israeli government has killed way more Palestinians than Israelis that have died. All these people are dying and we don’t even know their names or their stories. It’s just horrific to see. The government is trying to keep us quiet.”
Saba, a student, said, “It’s not about Palestine anymore. It’s about genocide. It’s about mass killing. And that’s unacceptable whoever it is, ever.
Saba
“Everyone should know about everything in the history books on Palestine. In the media they’re only showing one side of the story. Its propaganda. This is not going to stop opposition because there is a lot of people against Israel. Even Jews themselves. You can’t stop this many people.”
Sheffield
A section of the demonstration marching through Sheffield city centre, October 21, 2023
Abdul, a student, said, “When Russia invaded Ukraine many opposed that regime and Putin, but when Israel commits proven war crimes against civilians there is no support. The United States has vetoed a ceasefire resolution.
“My best friend is half Palestinian and I see what’s happening to them and that country. It’s a disgrace for the world. I am from Egypt. Our borders are important for the situation in Palestine. Israel carpet-bombed the Gaza strip and the border. We are trying to support them, but we are unable to.
Abdul
“To topple a government, you need to have the workers united for a cause. For now, we’re united to oppose the Israeli apartheid regime. Many major companies and fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s support Israel and other oppressive regimes. We should boycott them. You can’t support a company that props up ethnic cleansing and apartheid.
Jane, a council worker, said, “It’s appalling that our government is supporting the Israeli government, which is openly racist and carrying on a genocide against the Palestinian people.
Jane
“These large protests around the world show that people still have sense, understand the situation, and know who’s at fault in this war. I don’t have anything against the Israeli people but clearly their government is racist and conducts war and genocide.
Palestine. Some interviewees denounced the media blackout of the mass protests around the world. Another protestor commented “The mdeia is not covering the protests because they understand the power that comes with people uniting and waking up and shaking up the system, causing an uproar. They are not covering this because they are in fear of people doing just that. I think we do need to justly stand with Palestinian people or else we will find ourselves on the brink of World War III.”
“For Biden to continue to fund all these murders,” a young Egyptian-American told the WSWS, “is unacceptable.”
Millions protest worldwide as Israel unleashes deadliest bombing campaign against Gaza since October 7
Rejecting police intimidation and the lies of every major imperialist government, millions of people around the world participated in mass demonstrations over the weekend demanding an end to the US and NATO-backed Israeli genocide against Gaza.
Mass outrage is growing with each war crime committed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Hospitals, churches, residential buildings and the last remaining bakery in Northern Gaza have been targeted by the IDF, with over 4,700 Palestinians killed in the last two weeks. This includes nearly 2,000 children. Some 1,400 people are missing, with many feared dead under the rubble.
The past 24 hours have been the deadliest since the Israeli bombardment began on October 7, with more than 400 killed. Al Jazeera, citing the Palestinian news agency Wafa, reported that “at least 25 Israeli air attacks were recorded on residential areas in the Palestinian territory.”
According to the United Nations, more than 400,000 Palestinians are now categorized as “internally displaced persons.” Hundreds of thousands have packed into UN sheltering facilities, which are severely overcrowded.
Israel is bombarding not only Northern Gaza, but Southern Gaza as well, including the border crossing city of Rafah. More than a dozen people were killed in one airstrike on a house in Rafah on Sunday, including children. There are also reports that Israel is carrying out raids in the occupied West Bank.
Following the Israeli bombing of a hospital last week, which killed nearly 500, the IDF has sent bombs in the vicinity of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex and the Al-Quds Hospital. The Netanyahu government has demanded that all hospitals in the north shut down, which would mean a death sentence for many receiving critical care.
On Saturday, Palestinians still remaining north of the Wadi Gaza river awoke to thousands of leaflets being dropped by the Israeli Air Force. The leaflets warned that their “presence North of Wadi Gaza is putting your lives at risk.”
It added, “Anyone who chooses not to evacuate from the North of the Gaza Strip to the South of the Gaza Strip may be identified as a partner in a terrorist organization.” In other words, anyone not willing or able to leave behind their home, or one of the few remaining functioning hospitals, is subject to slaughter by the IDF.
Gazans show genocidal flyer dropped by Israeli Air Force, October 21, 2023. [Photo: @sentdefender]
300,000 demonstrate in London against Israel’s war on Gaza
The largest anti-war demonstration in Britain since 2003, when over a million protested the illegal invasion of Iraq, saw 300,000 people march and rally in London Saturday against Israel’s war on Gaza.
The march assembled at Park Lane and proceeded through central London, ending with a rally in Whitehall, where the prime minister’s residence, 10 Downing Street is located.
The march was so big that in the middle of the rally it was announced from the stage that the left and right part of the demonstration in Whitehall would have to go into nearby Parliament Square to prevent a possible crush, as so many were still arriving from Trafalgar Square.
A fraction of the 300,000 people who protested the Israeliwar on Gaza in London, October 21, 2023.
The turnout was despite London being deluged by Storm Babet during the afternoon and restrictions on transport in the capital. At some points demonstrators were walking through several inches of rain on the streets. The march would have been even larger had not trains and other transport from the north of England been halted due to flooding and landslides.
A crowd of people on the platform at Marble Arch underground station having to wait there before being able to exit the overcrowded station prior to joining the march
The police ludicrously still tried to claim it was smaller than last week’s 150,000-strong demonstration, saying that around that 100,000 attended. This vast playing down of its size was faithfully repeated by the media, including the Guardian.
Young people, students and workers carried the Palestinian flag and chanted, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free”, in defiance of the Conservative government’s attempts to criminalise these actions. Noticeable was the number of homemade banners, with slogans such as “Stop killing children”, “Free, free Palestine” and “End the Occupation”. A large number of Jewish protesters took part.
Massive numbers of police were again mobilised, including counter-terrorism officers and specialised public order units among the 1,000 on the streets.
A London Underground train driver led a chant of “Free, Free Palestine” on his speaker system, adding, “Hope you all have a blessed day today and look after yourselves.”. A video of the incident on X/Twitter was viewed millions of times. London Underground Limited immediately announced that they had asked British Transport Police to investigate the “incident”.
Hashim, originally from Sudan, spoke at the Socialist Equality Party’s stall. “What you’re seeing in Gaza is a neo-liberal colonisation of the Middle East. It has its own economic and historical background. They are pushing their agenda by getting rid of any resistance in Palestine, to establish their new order.
Hashim
“Look at all the war zones within this area and you will understand how fake this ‘international community’ are. They don’t care about humanity.
“Sudan is still under colonisation, despite independence since 1956. When you look at the position of the United States towards Sudan, they don’t care about the Sudanese. They only care about their own interests.
Hashim cited Saudia Arabia’s war in Yemen, backed by Britain and the US, “They want to take over the world and they don’t care about the people. We Have to fight back, otherwise the whole world will see some sort of catastrophe. Gaza is a warning to the world.”
Laura said, “Like many people I feel sick to the stomach that the leader of the opposition is complicit in genocide, refusing to call it out as a genocide, or even the simplest thing of calling for a ceasefire.
Laura with a banner denouncing Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer's support for Israeliwar crimes
“I’ve voted Labour in the past but I’m not going to in the next election because I can’t in good conscience. Then there’s also what’s come out from the leadership about no councillors or senior Labour Party members can be seen at protests. They aren’t allowed to show support for people who are being ethnically cleansed.
“It’s basic human rights. You’re meant to be a political leader and you can’t stand for people’s freedom, freedom not to be bombed!
“I’m not surprised by attempts to demonise protestors. That’s why it’s important so many people turn out because it counters the narrative. Try and argue with 500,000 people on the streets.”
Saskia said, “It’s another example of a marginalised group who are being completely ignored, and Britain is complicit in it through its history with the British Mandate for Palestine, after the Ottoman Empire fell.
Saskia with placard reading Sunak, Starmer, Lammy and Thornberry - Complicit in Genocide. David Lammy and Emily Thornberry are members of Starmer's Shadow Cabinet
“It feels like a responsibility to act and speak up. Palestinians are living in an open-air prison; they’re being cut off from the internet, electricity, food, water. They are being blockaded by the Israeli government.
“This current Labour leadership, I don’t stand with them or support them in any way. Starmer, and all of them, can’t take back the words they’ve said. They claim to speak for the people, but they don’t. They’re the same as the Tories.”
Scarlet, a retail worker, said, “I was scared of being branded a terrorist sympathiser, but something needs to be done about what is happening. This is genocide. There are millions of people in Gaza, half of which are children. Our media and our government stand with Israel, Palestinian’s are fighting for their existence and we need to stand with them.
“Workers are the majority in this world. They have the real power. The unity of people of conscience in Israel and Palestine is the only way things are going to change.”
Steve, a care worker, said, “The media is telling a one sided narrative, most of it is lies. What we are seeing on the internet, social media, I can’t sleep looking at it. Killing children non-stop, the cutting of food, water, electricity. I do not know where to start with the hospital bombing, it was sickening. Most of us grow up idolising America, but it’s not what you think it is. The government of Biden is very dark.”
Protests in Salford, Leeds and Sheffield, UK: “It’s a genocide happening there and the media are just lying about it.”
Protests mobilising thousands took place in Salford, Leeds and Sheffield on Saturday, just some of the mass demonstrations in cities throughout the UK. The Salford and Leeds protests both targeted BBC broadcasting facilities, due to the outrage generated by its biased coverage of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza.
Salford
Ibrahim, 25, came to the UK with his family from Yemen when he was four. “We want people to know the truth,” he said. “Israel has a say in what goes on in the media in the UK.” The poster he was carrying showed himself as an eight-year-old on a pro-Palestinian demonstration, “It’s been going on the whole time I’ve been alive”, alongside a picture of himself with an anti-Zionist rabbi. “He supports the Palestinians. So many Jews don’t support the state of Israel. Jews, Christians and Muslims used to live together in harmony. It’s happened before and it can happen again.
Ibrahim
“[Israeli Prime Minister [Netanyahu] says the whole world is watching, but everyone is watching him massacring kids in hospitals. What they did to the Jews in the Holocaust, they’re doing to the Palestinians. Gaza is an open prison. They’re being pushed into a small piece of land and there’s nowhere to go. It’s ethnic cleansing. They want to kill all the Palestinians. The Israeli Defence Minister said kill them all, starve everyone, like Hitler.”
Leeds
William, a student, said, “Palestinians have faced oppression for years now. The Israeli government needs to stop the genocide, the ethnic cleansing and the bombing of all Palestinians because they have just the exact same right to be there as the Israelis.”
Will (right) and friend Abbie
Abbie said, “It’s a genocide happening there and the media are just lying about it. The Israeli government has killed way more Palestinians than Israelis that have died. All these people are dying and we don’t even know their names or their stories. It’s just horrific to see. The government is trying to keep us quiet.”
Saba, a student, said, “It’s not about Palestine anymore. It’s about genocide. It’s about mass killing. And that’s unacceptable whoever it is, ever.
Saba
“Everyone should know about everything in the history books on Palestine. In the media they’re only showing one side of the story. Its propaganda. This is not going to stop opposition because there is a lot of people against Israel. Even Jews themselves. You can’t stop this many people.”
Sheffield
A section of the demonstration marching through Sheffield city centre, October 21, 2023
Abdul, a student, said, “When Russia invaded Ukraine many opposed that regime and Putin, but when Israel commits proven war crimes against civilians there is no support. The United States has vetoed a ceasefire resolution.
“My best friend is half Palestinian and I see what’s happening to them and that country. It’s a disgrace for the world. I am from Egypt. Our borders are important for the situation in Palestine. Israel carpet-bombed the Gaza strip and the border. We are trying to support them, but we are unable to.
Abdul
“To topple a government, you need to have the workers united for a cause. For now, we’re united to oppose the Israeli apartheid regime. Many major companies and fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s support Israel and other oppressive regimes. We should boycott them. You can’t support a company that props up ethnic cleansing and apartheid.
Jane, a council worker, said, “It’s appalling that our government is supporting the Israeli government, which is openly racist and carrying on a genocide against the Palestinian people.
Jane
“These large protests around the world show that people still have sense, understand the situation, and know who’s at fault in this war. I don’t have anything against the Israeli people but clearly their government is racist and conducts war and genocide.
“It’s a very good idea to unite workers in Palestine and Israel. For the first time in many years there is an opposition within Israel to their government’s reaction to the terrorist attacks. We should build bridges with people within that country and those outside who support the recognition of a Palestine state. There should be negotiation, not war.”
Hundreds rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan: “The media is not covering the protests because they understand the power that comes with people uniting.”
In Ann Arbor on Saturday, over 300 protestors gathered to protest the genocide in Gaza. There was a noticeable anger directed specifically toward the Biden Administration’s role in embracing the slaughter of Palestinians by the Israeli military. A major chant at the event, repeated many times throughout the day, was “Biden Biden What Do You Say? How Many Children Did You Kill Today?”
A noticeable feature of the rally was the dominant presence of young people in attendance, with some as young as nine years old speaking out powerfully in opposition to the attack on Gaza. Placards called for an end to the unfolding genocide, denounced the Israeli attacks on Gaza as war crimes, and opposed US-Israeli apartheid of Palestinians. There were also denunciations of University of Michigan President Santa Ono, who twice refused to specifically oppose the US-Israeliwar crimes against Palestinians in official communiques.
A team of SEP and IYSSE members campaigned throughout the event, and passed out the WSWS perspective Biden’s demand for $105 billion in military spending: A declaration of war against the working class. The statement was warmly received. Attendees spoke powerfully about their opposition to the horrific war crimes unfolding in Gaza. They also spoke out against Biden’s proposed $105 billion spending bill on war.
One protestor said “It’s interesting how he goes to fund the genocide that’s impacting the Palestinians then also funds humanitarian aid at the same time. I find it very hypocritical. Every year they give, with our US tax dollars, $3.8 billion to Israel, which I think is something that should instead be put into American citizens, funding education, housing, food. We have a lot of issues here that could be of much better interest than sending it to the Israeli army, which has been causing and unfolding genocide in Gaza.”
Many protesters were Palestinian or had deep family connections to Palestine. Some interviewees denounced the media blackout of the mass protests around the world. Another protestor commented “The mdeia is not covering the protests because they understand the power that comes with people uniting and waking up and shaking up the system, causing an uproar. They are not covering this because they are in fear of people doing just that. I think we do need to justly stand with Palestinian people or else we will find ourselves on the brink of World War III.”
“For Biden to continue to fund all these murders,” a young Egyptian-American told the WSWS, “is unacceptable.”
I’m sorry if this makes me an evil terrorist-loving baby-raping sieg-heiling Nazi, but in my humble opinion genocidal massacres are bad.
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Israel and its allies get away with a lot by marketing this as a “war”. It’s not a war. Israel launches high-tech military explosives at civilian buildings in a huge concentration camp while Hamas fires back with glorified fireworks which do light property damage. That’s not a war, it’s a massacre.
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I was upset when I saw that Israel has killed seven thousand people in its Gaza bombing campaign but then a really smart Israel apologist told me Hamas might be exaggerating those numbers and maybe it’s more like four thousand, so now I think it’s fine.
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What kind of drooling, knuckle-dragging, tapioca-brained moron can look at the satellite images of the damage caused by Israeli airstrikes and believe Gaza is lying about its death toll?
CNN has just published completely shocking before and after satellite images showing the extent of the obliteration of Gaza neighborhoods. Israel was not lying when it claimed to be focused on damage rather than accuracy: https://t.co/grJx0HyKpipic.twitter.com/mPF5TTVOIv
Look it’s very simple: if your words say “we’re not targeting civilians we’re targeting Hamas” but your actions say you’re inflicting siege warfare on the civilian population and carpet bombing entire city blocks into rubble, then you’re not really targeting Hamas.
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Israel-Palestine is a very complicated, confusing, highly nuanced debate between those who think murdering thousands of children is fine and those who do not.
This is a very complicated genocidal massacre. Most complicated genocidal massacre in the history of genocidal massacres. There’s two sides to this genocidal massacre. This genocidal massacre requires nuance.
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Normal person: Israel is killing children by the thousands as we speak
Crazy person: WHY AREN’T YOU CONDEMNING HAMAS??
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When you realize your government and all its allies bet all their middle east foreign policy chips on a psychotic cult leader. https://t.co/9wHSIqlYJS
Israel apologists are the worst. The absolute worst. I’ve sparred with countless political factions over the years, and I’ve never encountered a group so profoundly morally bankrupt and psychologically malformed. They’re so awful that their apologia actually hurtsIsrael’s image. Nothing will reassure you of the moral correctness of your opposition to Israel faster than interacting with Israel apologists online.
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It keeps surprising me that Israel apologists still expect to be taken seriously. Israel is massacring children by the thousands and turning Gaza into rubble and they still expect you to listen to them receptively when they defend its actions. It’s actually starting to get morbidly fascinating.
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In the old days murderous thugs just grabbed whatever land they wanted and killed anyone who tried to stop them. That still happens today too, but now the thugs have to make up liberal-sounding, sympathy-pulling justifications for it, like “spreading freedom and democracy” or “Israel has a right to defend itself.”
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Israel has lost the argument. Permanently. There’s no coming back from this.
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I cannot adequately express the immensity of my respect for the many, many, many Jewish voices I’ve seen taking a firm and forceful stand against the Gaza massacre. I’m just over here getting yelled at by strangers online and I find it pretty intense; you’re having much harder arguments with family, with friends, with people you’ve known your whole lives. You’re out there protesting, taking action and moving the needle, typically with far more skill and incisiveness than anyone else in the world.
Big, big, big-hearted love to all of you. You amaze me.
Engineered atrocities are committed against civilians to provoke Arab response that leads to world war
Engineered atrocities are committed against civilians to provoke Arab response that leads to world war
Today I've published my list of 22 disastrous consequences that are about to be unleashed if Israel launches its full-scale ground attack on Gaza. Among other things, it leads to the destruction of Israel and the total demise of the entire western financial system.
Also today, I have a bombshell interview with Major Jeffrey Prather that reveals how the atrocities the world is now witnessing the Israel / Palestineconflict are deliberately engineered to provoke a regional Arab response that will thrust the USA into World War III.
And why would the leaders want that? To cover up their generations of crimes against We the People. They need a scapegoat... a cover story. So they need Iran and Russia to get involved as rapidly as possible. Once they do, the great reset will be initiated and Iran / Russia will be blamed for everything, including the widespread financial losses experienced by those foolish enough to keep holding US dollars in US banks.
Today I've published my list of 22 disastrous consequences that are about to be unleashed if Israel launches its full-scale ground attack on Gaza. Among other things, it leads to the destruction of Israel and the total demise of the entire western financial system.
Also today, I have a bombshell interview with Major Jeffrey Prather that reveals how the atrocities the world is now witnessing the Israel / Palestineconflict are deliberately engineered to provoke a regional Arab response that will thrust the USA into World War III.
And why would the leaders want that? To cover up their generations of crimes against We the People. They need a scapegoat... a cover story. So they need Iran and Russia to get involved as rapidly as possible. Once they do, the great reset will be initiated and Iran / Russia will be blamed for everything, including the widespread financial losses experienced by those foolish enough to keep holding US dollars in US banks.
It gets harder and harder for the imperial propagandists to frame empire-targeted powers like Hamas as Evil Villains who are simply Evil because they are Evil. As our society gains a better and better collective understanding of psychology and trauma and why individuals do what they do, fewer and fewer people are swallowing such infantile propagandistic frameworks. When something scary and traumatizing happens, more and more people are beginning to ask, “Why? Why did that happen? What were the antecedents which led those people to do what they did?”
When people start asking such questions, answers are revealed which are very inconvenient for the information interests of the western empire. Oh it turns out Israel is an abusive apartheid state and Gaza is a giant concentration camp where Palestinians are deprived of basic human needs. Oh it turns out NATO was amassing war machinery near Russia’s border in ways the United States would never in a million years permit near its own borders. Oh it turns out western powers were funneling weapons to murderous extremist groups in Syria with the goal of ousting Assad and installing a puppet regime in Damascus.
More and more people understand that nobody is just plain evil because they are evil; if they’re doing something violent and scary, it’s a safe bet that something violent and scary was done to them, either immediately before or in their formative years. You see this expanding awareness manifest today in popular movies and shows with the rise of the anti-hero and complex villains with traumatic pasts that you can understand and sympathize with. Modern storytelling has largely abandoned the Virtuous Protagonist vs Villainous Antagonist model, simply because audiences are too conscious to buy it anymore. It loses their interest and attention.
And of course this expanded awareness extends to Israel as well. A people who had just suffered an unfathomable collective trauma were told they have a place that they can call their own in the Holy Land where they can feel safe, and then we saw the kind of violence and abuse we’d expect to see from a highly traumatized population who suddenly had power over the indigenous people who were living there previously. That trauma went into the psyches of the Palestinians, who sometimes do things only highly traumatized people would do.
And round and round it goes.
Really we’re all just lost little kids stumbling around from jump scare to jump scare in a frightening world that we do not understand. Some of us are better at faking self-assuredness than others, but really none of us know what this big mysterious world is all about and we only do what we do because we are whipped around by forces within ourselves we can’t really see, which were put there when we were too young to understand the trauma that was happening to us.
That’s all this really is. It comes out in some ugly, horrifying ways, like what we’re seeing in Gaza right now, but underneath it all it’s ultimately just scared little kids frozen in grown adult bodies trying to feel like they have a little bit of control in this wild chaotic world so they maybe won’t get hurt and scared again.
It comes out in some dark, dark ways and leads our species down some dark, dark paths. It might even get us all killed in a nuclear holocaust one day. But underneath it all we were always just a bunch of scared little primates, getting thrown around by psychological forces we hadn’t made conscious in a world our newly evolved brains aren’t equipped to comprehend.
I don’t know where our strange adventure is taking us or what we’ll endure on the remainder of our winding road together. But there does seem to be a light growing, even amid all the violence and the screams. Maybe we’ll wake up one day and stop acting out these terrible patterns. Maybe we’ll wake up one day and build a healthy world.
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As conflict continues to unfold around our world I have found myself in a phase of stepping back further and further to get as big a picture of what’s going on as possible.
The motivation behind this is to be sure I’m examining my own bias’ or limited views, and to take a moment to collectively witness the emotions, perspectives and stories - lived and observed - of fellow humans around the world.
When the shit hits the fan, it’s the EASIEST time to get lost in emotion, certainty, and taking sides.
A mentor of mine years ago said to me: as you move toward mastery, bombs can go off around you and you’ll still have access to remaining grounded.
What he meant was not literal bombs, but that as things become frantic and chaotic in our world or lives, you can remain attuned to yourself enough to not get pulled in as you continually practice remaining centered.
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I liken this to my days of performing under high pressure while playing competitive baseball. Those BIG moments in playoffs or championships require one to stay in the flow as much as the less tense moments at the beginning of the season.
With conflict building so deeply in our collective moment, fears, divisions, and emotions are high. How can we acknowledge this without being unnecessarily overtaken by it?
You may be familiar with the iceberg model often used in systems thinking or personal transformation.
It essentially states that the tip of the iceberg, what we see, is not just based on our thinking or actions in that moment, but is driven by MANY factors hidden beneath the surface.
Here is a visual example:
The iceberg model was a driving factor in creating Collective Evolution well over a decade ago. I wanted to understand the totality of what was driving humanity’s current moment by looking all the way to our worldview and consciousness, and seeing how that shapes what occurs in our human experience.
The idea was that if we went THERE, we’d be able to define problems better and thus know how to bring about a solution - which of course would include a shifting of consciousness, getting out of dogmatic thinking, healing trauma etc.
The iceberg model has been a big part of my ideas around embodied sensemaking over the years as well. If we can focus our attention on our WHOLE being - body, mind, emotions etc - and the interplay that exists there, we can better sense what is driving ourselves and others, and better sense into future solutions that aren’t coming from the limited levels of mind that are a record of the past, often clouded by pain and emotion.
What embodied sensemaking does is it better prepares us to have the capacity to hold complexity without feeling overwhelmed, which can push us into black and white thinking.
With this in mind, I have compiled a series of videos I have watched to better make sense of this situation and feel into the various emotions, ideas, perspectives, and realities surrounding this situation.
I am not asking you to hear these videos and choose a side and jump to conclusions but to really connect with what people are saying and how they might feel within this conflict. For the purpose of this, ignore the headlines and titles of these videos. They are used to gain clicks, not necessarily to convey the spirit of the video.
In these videos there are many perspectives from differing layers, see what it feels like to stay connected to and remind yourself of each of these layers without losing sight of the other and choosing simplification.
Can they be held at the same time? This is a practice of increasing our capacity for complexity. It is built via awareness, intention, and consciousness.
➤ It is not simple to understand the political situation in Palestine and how that intersects with the conflict with Israel. I alluded to this in a previous article when I stated “Hamas does not represent Palestinians as a whole” because they literally do not. It’s also like saying corrupt oligarchy governments of the West represent their people. They often do not. Below is an interview with a Palestinian politician Hanan Ashwari who gives insight into how things are perceived from a greater umbrella of the Palestinian perspective.
➤ This is a video of an Israeli woman conveying what is being felt among citizens of Israel as it relates to fear, worry, anxiety and uncertainty. This is a way of connecting to humanity in this, beyond politics. I imagine the same can be said for some Palestinians. This reminds us to be careful not to dehumanize or lose connection to humans during this. It’s so easy to look at the politicians in a country and feel they represent real people, but this reminds us they often do not.
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➤ Below is a discussion around the debate of collective punishment with an Israeli politician. It includes discussion around who is supporting these acts and why we are having a hard time coming to an agreement about the idea of ‘justification’ and ‘defending oneself.’ What does that mean? What does that truly look like? Finally, it gets into a discussion around racism and double standards around ethnic cleansing of regions.
➤ The video below is of Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely discussing the atrocities of this current conflict and also shares her feelings that Israel must eradicate all evil. She does not believe there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza right now. This video conveys much emotion that can be reflective of SOME people within Israel's government and citizenry. I’ve seen people calling her perspective disgusting, and perhaps that is valid for some, but the pain she is feeling colors her words and perspective. What do we gain by witnessing her pain vs. judging her words? Is it not a reflection of why conflict carries on? Does it ask us to stop and think longer before reacting with more violence?
➤ The video below indicates why a former US State Department official resigned during this conflict and how little balanced discussion there is around this conflict within Western governments. He makes the point that all actions up to this point in this long conflict have not led to peace. He asks why are we doing the same thing over and over. Is this getting us to where we need to be?
➤ The video below is a breakdown of how we tend to look at sides of a conflict and decide who is more or less in the right, or who is the terrorist, and how this can then lead to double standards of this framing depending on the situation. It especially points to looking at conflicts in a narrow timeframe and not the full timeline of events. I felt it was a meaningful way of expanding our perspective to consider the bigger picture.
➤ An older clip of Noam Chomsky and a CBS journalist going back and forth to work out the nature of this conflict, the legalities, and the responses from other countries going back multiple decades. It appears there have been many attempts to avoid finding peace and a solution here.
I don’t want to overwhelm beyond this. There is plenty more that can be discussed and there are certainly more perspectives to include, it’s impossible to include everything.
We’d love to hear from you on this topic in the comments below. Also, feel free to share this article with friends and family to help spread a different approach to observing global conflicts.
The Washington Post has a new article out explaining why it and other mainstream media outlets have been citing the Gaza Health Ministry as a source on the daily death toll from Israel’s ongoing bombing campaign, noting that the ministry has an established track record of reporting such deaths truthfully and accurately.
“Everyone uses the figures from the Gaza Health Ministry because those are generally proven to be reliable,” Human Rights Watch’s Omar Shakir told the Post. “In the times in which we have done our own verification of numbers for particular strikes, I’m not aware of any time which there’s been some major discrepancy.”
This point is inconvenient for Israel apologists — including the president of the United States — who’ve been suggesting in recent days that the Gaza death count is untrustworthy on the basis that the Gaza Health Ministry operates under Hamas governance.
“I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed,” Biden told the press on Wednesday, adding, “I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using.”
Adam Taylor, the author of the aforementioned Washington Post article, correctly notes that Biden’s statements are a bit odd given that his own State Department considered Gaza’s Ministry of Health reliable enough to cite their death counts in its own reports as recently as a few months ago.
What changed? The information interests of the US empire changed.
When I drew attention to all this on Twitter a few hours ago I immediately started getting comments from Israel apologists dismissing the information I was providing because Human Rights Watch is bad and unreliable and because The Washington Post is bad and unreliable, in order to defend their belief that the Gaza Ministry of Health is bad and unreliable.
These are the tactics of people who have lost the argument. They understand that the soaring death counts from Israel’s ongoing massacre of Palestinians in Gaza is devastating to the information interests of the side they support, so they need to make up fairy tales about how The Washington Post, Human Rights Watch and the US State Department have been engaged in a years-long conspiracy to make Israel look bad.
Which is of course not to say that anyone should ever believe claims made by The Washington Post or Human Rights Watch on blind faith — I’ve had major criticisms of both of these institutions myself over the years. Believing they’re infallible would be as misguided as believing they’re always lying.
Which is exactly the point I’m trying to make here: it’s not about the source, it’s about the strength of the argument. Attacking the source instead of attacking the argument is what people do when they can’t attack the argument. It’s a standard ad hominem.
A lot of people think an ad hominem is when you say something that hurts the feelings of somebody you disagree with, but that’s not what that term refers to. An ad hominem is when you attack the character or motives of the person making the argument instead of attacking the argument itself; it’s a fallacious debate tactic designed to move the conversation away from the pursuit of truth and facts to just dismissing someone’s claims because you don’t like them. It can be entirely appropriate to interrogate someone’s motives and character when that’s the only information you’ve got to work with and is relevant to the conversation, but when it’s used as a substitute for addressing evidence and argumentation it’s a fallacy.
And that’s the only tool Israel apologists seem to have in their toolbox these days. It’s exactly what they are doing when they accuse you of being a “terrorist supporter” or an “anti-semite” when you criticize Israel; they cannot address your actual criticisms because Israel’s actions in Gaza are indefensible, so they attempt to malign your character or your motives to shut down the debate and keep people from listening to you.
The “you can’t trust those death counts because they come from the health ministry of an enemy government” line can be used in literally any war against literally any enemy. People who care about facts don’t look at what governmental loyalties a source has, they look at whether the institutions in question have a track record of being reliable or not, and whether its claims are supported by evidence.
This is what Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron, Ursula von der Leyen and the rest of the West are supporting. pic.twitter.com/I4fQXYgPn0
You’d have to be a complete idiot to look at the photos and videos showing entire city blocks reduced to rubble in an area known to be packed full of children and not assume that there is a massive number of civilian deaths in Gaza right now. As Antiwar’s Dave DeCamp recently noted, dramatic increases in death counts in Gaza correspond directly with Israeli government statements about having increased the number of bombs dropped. This is what you would expect to see if the ministry was accurately reporting deaths.
Israel apologists are doing everything they can to minimize and justify Israel’s crimes in every way possible, because if westerners start looking objectively at the crimes themselves they will cease consenting to this horrific genocidal massacre that western governments are fully supporting.
They don’t have truth on their side, and they don’t have morality on their side, so all they can ever do is attack the sources of the ideas and information that are opening people’s eyes to the criminality of Israel and its western allies.
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