Tag: israel

Israel slated to shut ‘pro-Hamas’ network Al Jazeera run by Qatar

The Qatar state-owned network Al Jazeera is facing intense criticism that it is assisting the Hamas terrorist movement in its war against the Jewish state, prompting the government to declare that Al Jazeera’s operation will be outlawed in Israel for transmitting “sensitive information to our enemies.” 

When asked about a ban on Al Jazeera and two additional reportedly pro-Hamas news outlets, foreign ministry spokesman, Lior Haiat, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday “The government is working on something. And it is being led by the Communications Ministry and the Defence Ministry. The idea is if they are crossing the line in assisting Hamas, we can shut out the entire channel. “

He added that the closure of a network is “directed at channels that are crossing the line in assisting Hamas.”

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Israel floods social media to shape opinion around the war

A photo with a bloody dead baby whose face is blurred has been circulating on X for the last four days. 

“This is the most difficult image we’ve ever posted. As we are writing this we are shaking,” the accompanying message says. 

The footage is not from a reporter covering the conflict in Israel and Gaza, or from one of the countless accounts sharing horrifying videos of the atrocities. 

It’s a paid message from the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Since Hamas attacked thousands of its citizens last week, the Israeli government has started a sweeping social media campaign in key Western countries to drum up support for its military response against the group. Part of its strategy: pushing dozens of ads containing brutal and emotional imagery of the deadly militant violence in Israel across platforms such as X and YouTube, according to data reviewed by POLITICO.

Israel’s attempt to win the online information war is part of a growing trend of governments around the world moving aggressively online in order to shape their image, especially during times of crisis. PR campaigns in and around wars are nothing new. But paying for online advertising targeted at specific countries and demographics is now one of governments’ main tools to get their messages in front of more eyeballs. 

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Instagram sorry for adding ‘terrorist’ to some Palestinian user bios

Meta has apologised for adding “terrorist” to the biographies of some Instagram users describing themselves as Palestinian.

Meta said it fixed a problem “that briefly caused inappropriate Arabic translations” in some of its products.

“We sincerely apologise that this happened,” it told the BBC.

The platform has also faced accusations of suppressing content voicing support for Palestinians during the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Some users say they have been “shadow banned” on Instagram over pro-Palestinian posts. This is when a platform intervenes to make sure posts do not appear in other people’s feeds.

The users claim 24-hour posts on Stories referencing the conflict have had fewer views than others and that their accounts cannot be found as easily in search.

The tech giant acknowledged a bug had affected Stories but said it had nothing to do with subject matter.

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Unconfirmed ‘Beheaded Babies’ Report Helped Justify Israeli Slaughter

There’s perhaps no more serious a time for journalists to do their jobs responsibly than during a war.

But corporate media have not been, as evidenced by their repetition of the shocking, unsubstantiated claim that Hamas had beheaded 40 babies in its violent attack on a kibbutz in southern Israel on October 7.

It all started with television reporting by journalist Nicole Zedek, who works for the 24-hour Israeli cable news channel i24, now embedded with the Israeli Defense Forces. In one October 10 report, she said, “I’m talking to some of the soldiers, and they say what they’ve witnessed…babies, their heads cut off.” In another report later that day, she says, “About 40 babies at least were taken out on gurneys,” prompting the host to interject: “Nicole, I have to cut in—that’s such a shocking, jarring statement there…. You’re saying 40 babies, dead babies?”

Zedek’s reporting was cobbled together into the viral claim that 40 babies were beheaded, despite that, by her own account, she had not seen the bodies herself, and relied solely on Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers as her sources. This might not have mattered as much if she were reporting on a less inflammatory subject, or had a more reliable source, but the IDF is known for misleading journalists.

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A Separate View of the Israel/Hamas War

The understanding that has informed my work for over a decade now is this—that there is a eugenics program afoot and that it is being expressed in certain domestic agendas, such as the war against the elderly and disabled being deployed via court authorized guardianships and also potentially  through a pandemic agenda. The understanding includes the recognition that there are certain demographic groups slated for removal, including the elderly, people of color and Jews and that in pursuit of the removal of the latter, it is more than likely that a war will be launched against Israel.

Following the decimation of that tiny country, a selectively delivered pandemic will be released in the US and other countries, to “mop up” the remaining people of Ashkenazi or Sephardic origins who did not choose to move to the ghetto known as Israel, as well as other “inconvenient” racial and political groups. It was initially suggested that the coming pandemic could selectively be delivered through the weaponized wáter system, thoroughly documented in my 2021 book, At the Breaking Point of History and and elsewhere. This thesis was later expanded to include the possibility of the deployment of other selectively delivered weapons systems, such as a selectively delivered “vaccine” or other impostor pharmaceutical.

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‘Russia Will Pay The Price!’ Israeli Official Amir Weitmann Threatens Russia is Next After Gaza

Amir Weitmann of Israel’s ruling Likud Party threatened Russia that Israel will come after them once their war with Gaza is over for supporting Hamas “Nazis” who “beheaded babies” and “raped” women.

Weitmann claimed everyone has seen such atrocities with their own eyes (I guess like Biden).

From Newsweek:

Amir Weitmann, the head of the libertarian caucus in Israel’s Likud Party, appeared on Russia’s state-run RT News network this week and spoke about fighting between Israel and Hamas militants, as well as Russia’s war with Ukraine.

While speaking about recent claims relating to al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, Weitmann criticized Russia, saying that “we’re gonna finish this war, we’re going to win because we’re stronger. After this, Russia will pay the price, believe me, Russia will pay the price.”

“Russia is supporting the enemies of Israel. Russia is supporting Nazi people who want to commit genocide on us and Russia will pay the price,” Weitmann said. “We’re gonna win this war. Afterwards, we’re not forgetting what you’re doing, we’re not forgetting, we will come, we will make sure Ukraine wins. We will make sure that you pay the price for what you have done, you as Russia.”

You can see the full interview on RT’s Odysee channel.

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UN agency: There aren’t enough body bags in Gaza

As the war between Israel and Hamas escalates, the U.N.’s special agency for Palestinian refugees warned Monday that under-siege Gaza is short of body bags.

“The number of killed is increasing. There are not enough body-bags for the dead in Gaza,” the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said in a press release.

Since Hamas launched its violent surprise attack in Israel nine days ago — killing more than 1,400 Israelis and triggering retaliatory air strikes from Israel and a siege of the Gaza Strip — 2,329 Palestinians have been killed, according to the report.

“Gaza has had no electricity, pushing vital services, including health, water and sanitation to the brink of collapse, and worsening food insecurity,” the agency added in the report.

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Pentagon Officials Say US Ready to Fight War with China While Supporting Ukraine and Israel

Defense Department officials said US military assets in East Asia are sufficient to confront China as the Pentagon supplies the Israeli and Ukrainian armies with weapons. One official described 2023 as a “banner year” for Washington increasing its military presence in the region surrounding China. 

On Tuesday, the Pentagon held a press conference to discuss 180 “unsafe…unprofessional… corrosive and risky” encounters between Chinese and American aircraft over the past two years. However, reporters asked the officials, Commander of Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) Admiral John C. Aquilino and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Dr. Ely Ratner, about the Pentagon’s ability to deter China as it arms Israel and Ukraine. 

Aquilino said that INDOPACOM has not seen any reduction in military assets available in the region, and the US was ready to win a war with China. “What I’ll tell you is I haven’t had one piece of equipment or force structure depart. The US is a global power, and that means we can deliver effects and execute our deterrence responsibilities across the globe, but I don’t think any other nation can do that at this time, but the US can,” he explained. “INDOPACOM prepares every day to ensure we execute both of the missions the Secretary gave me. Number one, to prevent conflict in the Indo-Pacific; and number two, if mission one fails, be prepared to fight and win.”

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Dozens of Israelis arrested for social media posts defending Gaza, advocates say

At least 100 Israelis have been arrested for social media posts supporting Palestinians in Gaza and 70 remain in detention, according to a legal advocacy group in the country. Adalah, which represents Arab Israelis in human rights cases, said the arrests are part of an unprecedented crackdown on freedom of expression in Israel.

“We’re seeing things we didn’t see before,” Adi Mansour, an attorney in Adalah’s civil rights unit, said in an interview. “There’s a change in the perception of what is allowed and what is prevented.”

Police arrested Dalal Abu Amneh, a prominent Palestinian-Israeli singer, for “incitement” after her social media team posted a Palestinian flag with the caption: “There is no victor but God,” her lawyer told The New Arab.

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INSTAGRAM CENSORED IMAGE OF GAZA HOSPITAL BOMBING, CLAIMS IT’S TOO SEXUAL

INSTAGRAM AND FACEBOOK users attempting to share scenes of devastation from a crowded hospital in Gaza City claim their posts are being suppressed, despite previous company policies protecting the publication of violent, newsworthy scenes of civilian death.

Late Tuesday, amid a 10-day bombing campaign by Israel, the Gaza Strip’s al-Ahli Hospital was rocked by an explosion that left hundreds of civilians killed and wounded. Footage of the flaming exterior of the hospital, as well as dead and wounded civilians, including children, quickly emerged on social media in the aftermath of the attack.

While the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip blamed the explosion on an Israeli airstrike, the Israeli military later said the blast was caused by an errant rocket misfired by militants from the Gaza-based group Islamic Jihad.

While widespread electrical outages and Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s telecommunications infrastructure have made getting documentation out of the besieged territory difficult, some purported imagery of the hospital attack making its way to the internet appears to be activating the censorship tripwires of Meta, the social media giant that owns Instagram and Facebook.

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