Tag: israel

Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, former ZAKA head, dies year after attempted suicide

Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, creator of ZAKA and alleged rapist, has died at the age of 62, a year after he attempted suicide and less than a month prior to his 63rd birthday.

One of the most well-known and colorful characters of Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox, anti-Zionist communities, Meshi-Zahav founded the famed medical search and rescue group, but his life was tainted by revelations of numerous allegations against him of rape, sexual assault and pedophilia.

Meshi-Zahav was an 11th generation Jerusalemite who, in his youth, headed the anti-Zionist demonstrations in the capital, and demonstrations against Sabbath violators, including throwing rocks at passing cars.

A grandson of Rabbi Yosef Scheinberger, the secretary of the Eida Hareidit Rabbinical Court, and with blood ties to the Rivlin family on his mother’s side, Meshi-Zahav was considered nobility in ultra-Orthodox circles.

He developed a special relationship with the police, despite being arrested several times after organizing anti-Zionist rallies.

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Biden in Israel: You don’t need to be a Jew to be a Zionist

US President Joe Biden reaffirmed his Zionism and the strong ties between the US and Israel in his remarks upon landing in Israel on Wednesday.

“You need not be a Jew to be Zionist,” he said, repeating past comments to which Prime Minister Yair Lapid referred in his remarks at Ben-Gurion Airport.

The two-day visit to Israel is Biden’s 10th, but his first as president.

Remarking on his first trip to Israel in 1973, during which he met then-prime minister Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin, who later became prime minister, Biden said he had “the great honor of living part of the great history of this great country.”

“Every chance to return to this great country, where the ancient roots of the Jewish people date back to biblical times, is a blessing,” he said. “The connection between the Israeli people and the American people is bone deep, and generation after generation that connection grows. We invest in each other. We dream together.”

“The connection between the Israeli people and the American people is bone deep, and generation after generation that connection grows as we invest in each other and dream together.”Joe Biden

Biden spoke of the US and Israel partnering on “the most cutting-edge defense systems in the world,” shortly before he went to a presentation by the Defense Ministry that included an Iron Dome battery and the laser-based Iron Beam missile-defense system.

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Indonesia To Send First 1,000 Troops To Gaza By April For ‘Stabilization Force’

Indonesia is readying 1,000 troops to be deployed in Gaza as early as April as part of the UN-mandated International Stabilization Force, an army spokesperson said on Monday.

A total of 8,000 Indonesian soldiers will be ready for deployment by June, while the final decision will be made by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. “The departure schedule remains entirely subject to the political decisions of the state and applicable international mechanisms,” the spokesman said in a text message to news agency Reuters.

Indonesian Army Chief of Staff Maruli Simanjuntak previously estimated that between 5,000 and 8,000 military personnel could be deployed, with final numbers “still being negotiated”. 

On Saturday, Indonesia’s foreign ministry said that its military’s participation in Gaza as part of the peace plan devised by US President Donald Trump should not be interpreted as a normalization of political relations with Israel. 

“Indonesia consistently rejects all attempts at demographic change or the forced displacement or relocation of the Palestinian people in any form,” the ministry said.

The deployment, which has a non-combatant, humanitarian mandate, could only be carried out with the consent of the Palestinian Authority, the ministry said.

“Indonesian troops will not be involved in combat operations or any action leading to direct confrontation with any armed group,“ the statement said. Indonesian troops would also have no mandate to demilitarize any party, it added.

However the mandate of the stabilization force includes ensuring “the process of demilitarizing the Gaza Strip” and “the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”. The resolution authorizes the force to “use all necessary measures to carry out its mandate”.

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Israeli soldier confesses to murder, sexual assault in Gaza during live stream

A video shared on social media platforms has ignited widespread anger online after an Israeli soldier openly confessed to committing atrocities, including murder and rape, in the Gaza Strip during two years of genocidal war against Palestinians in the besieged coastal territory.

In a live TikTok broadcast featuring American YouTuber Jeff Davidson, the soldier said, “We don’t just kill, we also rape,” alluding to acts committed by Israeli forces against women and children in Gaza.

In the live stream conversation, held during the Gaza onslaught but only made public recently, Davidson first inquired about the soldier’s identity and military connection. The individual claimed to be part of the Israeli military and broadcasting from inside Gaza.

When confronted by Davidson with the reality that the Israeli army caused the devastation in Gaza, the soldier acknowledged it without hesitation or any sign of regret.

The soldier directed the camera outward and detailed widespread devastation in the area, as the American interviewer requested him to display his surroundings.

“You wanna see Gaza? Don’t be surprised, there’s no house here. Flat, all flat,” the soldier said.

Davidson responded, “You guys flattened it?” The soldier replied: “Oh yeah.”

The discussion heated up when the soldier tried to rationalize attacking children by presenting a picture of a child with a gun, asserting he discovered it in a destroyed house.

Davidson rejected his assertion, emphasizing that children protecting themselves from an invading military can never warrant killing or attacking them. He also held the Israeli regime accountable for the dire situation in Gaza.

In a surprising turn, the soldier continued, stating, “We have killed women and children,” and coldly added: “And by the way, don’t worry…we rape them too.”

Human rights organizations have highlighted the video as strong proof of grave war crimes perpetrated by the Israeli military against Gaza civilians, asserting that backing from successive US administrations and Western allies fosters a perceived culture of impunity for such offenses.

Gaza’s Health Ministry announced on Sunday that 726 bodies have been retrieved since the ceasefire agreement with Israel came into effect on October 10 last year.

The ceasefire concluded Israel’s two-year genocide that started on October 7, 2023.

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Trump’s Board of Peace rallies ‘thousands’ of troops for Gaza deployment

US President Donald Trump has said members of his newly formed Board of Peace have pledged “thousands of personnel” and billions of dollars to a potential international stabilization force that will be tasked with administering Gaza.

In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump said countries taking part in the initiative will formalize their commitments at a meeting on February 19 in Washington, describing the deployment as part of efforts to maintain “security and peace” in the Palestinian enclave.

“Member States have pledged more than $5 BILLION DOLLARS toward the Gaza Humanitarian and Reconstruction efforts, and have committed thousands of personnel to the International Stabilization Force and Local Police,” he wrote, adding that Hamas must uphold its commitment to full and immediate “demilitarization.”

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‘Wet tent syndrome’ is killing Gaza’s infants

Last week, Mohamed Abu Jarad returned to his tent in Gaza City’s Al-Daraj neighborhood to find his three-month-old daughter, Shaza, freezing cold and no longer breathing. The family rushed the baby to hospital, where doctors pronounced her dead from hypothermia. 

This tragedy came only a week after one-month-old Aisha Ayesh Al-Agha had died of hypothermia in Khan Younis, and two weeks after two more Palestinian babies died from the cold in the north and center of the Strip within a few hours of each other: Mahmoud Al-Akra, only one week old; and Mohammed Wissam Abu Harbid, two months old. 

In total, 10 infants under the age of 1 have died from hypothermia and extreme cold this winter, taking the total to around two dozen since the beginning of Israel’s onslaught on the enclave in October 2023, according to local health officials and Save The Children. All of them died while living in tents, their families helpless to keep them warm amid the freezing winter temperatures.

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Israel Launches New Raids into Southern Syria, Troops Fire on Civilians

Israel has launched new incursions into southwestern Syria since Wednesday night, first firing artillery toward a village in the northern part of Quneitra Governorate and then, Thursday morning, sending troops in outright.

New checkpoints were established by the IDF, with the first reportedly in Sayda al-Hanout, where they restricted the movement of villagers, and then another in Jabata al-Khashab, further north in Quneitra. Both checkpoints are likely temporary, as Israel tends to establish them, hassle locals for a few hours, then withdraw.

The northern checkpoint appears to have been a more serious problem for locals, as the Israeli troops fired on civilians and news reporters in the nearby village of Ofaniyah. There were no reports of casualties, but it is fairly unusual for a checkpoint to involve shooting at people in the next village over.

In addition to the ground operations in Quneitra, there were reports of increased activity by Israeli warplanes over the neighboring Daraa Governorate. Though drones overhead in Israel-adjacent parts of Syria are not uncommon, the warplanes are an unusual escalation, despite no attacks having yet been reported.

Israel invaded Syria in December of 2024, immediately following the ouster of the Assad government. The territory that Israel has claimed is largely within the demilitarized zone, in Quneitra, though their ground operations continue and often go substantially deeper into Syrian territory, targeting both Daraa and Quneitra as well as the Rif al-Damashq Governorate further north.

Syria and Israel have been in negotiations meant to reduce tensions in the region, though Israel has ruled out withdrawing from the demilitarized zone and are instead demanding Syria created a whole new one adjacent to the old, now-occupied one.

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Australia seeking criminal charges over aid workers slain by IDF in Gaza

Canberra is demanding criminal charges over an Israeli drone attack on Gaza that left aid workers dead, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said.

Seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers were killed in a 2024 Israeli airstrike, which the NGO has described as “targeted.” The victims included Australian Zomi Frankcom, three British nationals, a Polish national, a dual US-Canadian citizen, and a Palestinian.

The issue was raised this week as Israeli President Isaac Herzog is visiting Australia to express solidarity with the country’s Jewish community in the wake of a deadly mass shooting which took place in December.

Albanese told Australia’s parliament on Wednesday that he had confronted Israel regarding the slain aid workers, calling it “a tragedy and an outrage” and saying Canberra had made clear its “expectation that there be transparency about Israel’s ongoing investigation” into the incident.

“We continue to press for full accountability, including any appropriate criminal charges,” he said, noting that Herzog had agreed to “engage.”

The aid workers were traveling through a de-conflicted zone in central Gaza in two armored cars with the WCK logo on them as well as a soft-skin vehicle when struck, despite the WCK coordinating its movements with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), according to the NGO.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged that the IDF was behind the airstrike but is insisting that it was an accident.

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Netanyahu Visits Trump for the Seventh Time Amid More Threats of a U.S. Attack on Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has by far spent more time with President Trump than with any other world leader. Netanyahu, on Wednesday, will make his seventh visit to the U.S. since Trump’s second term began a little over a year ago, on top of the visit to Israel made by Trump in October. No other leader has visited the White House during Trump’s second term more than twice. The duo will once again meet at the White House.

The Israeli leader is traveling to Washington this time in order to impose as onerous conditions as possible on Trump’s desire to sign a deal with Iran that would avert a second U.S. attack on that country in the last eight months. “I will present to the President our positions regarding the principles of the negotiations,” Netanyahu said before boarding his presidential plane this morning.

In June, Trump ordered the U.S. military to bomb several of Iran’s underground enrichment facilities in the midst of Israel’s 12-day bombing campaign. After those strikes, Trump pronounced Iran’s nuclear facilities “completely and totally obliterated.”

Yet over the past two months, Trump has ordered the deployment of what he called a “massive armada,” led by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, headed to Iran. On Truth Social, Trump emphasized that the deployment of military assets to Iran is larger than what he sent to Venezuela prior to the removal of that country’s president by the U.S. military. Trump added: “Like with Venezuela, [the U.S. armada] is ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary.”

Indeed, Trump has explicitly and repeatedly threatened Tehran with “violence” and “very steep” consequences in the event that the two countries fail to reach a long-term agreement governing Iran’s nuclear program — the same one that Trump insisted had been “obliterated” last June.

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Israel to expand its control in West Bank, make settlers’ land seizures easier, media say

Israel’s security Cabinet approved a series of steps on Feb 8 that would make it easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land while granting the Israeli authorities more enforcement powers over Palestinians, Israeli media reported.

The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

Citing statements by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defence Minister Israel Katz, Israeli news sites Ynet and Haaretz said the measures included scrapping decades-old regulations that prevent Jewish private citizens buying land in the West Bank.

They were also reported to include allowing the Israeli authorities to administer some religious sites, and expand supervision and enforcement in areas under PA administration in matters of environmental hazards, water offences and damage to archaeological sites.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the new measures were dangerous, illegal and tantamount to de-facto annexation.

The Israeli ministers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The new measures come three days before Prime Minister 

Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet in Washington with US President Donald Trump.

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