Tag: israel

Israel: White Phosphorus Used in Gaza, Lebanon

Israel’s use of white phosphorus in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon puts civilians at risk of serious and long-term injuries, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing a question and answer document on white phosphorus. Human Rights Watch verified videos taken in Lebanon and Gaza on October 10 and 11, 2023, respectively, showing multiple airbursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port and two rural locations along the Israel-Lebanon border, and interviewed two people who described an attack in Gaza.

White phosphorus, which can be used either for marking, signaling, and obscuring, or as a weapon to set fires that burn people and objects, has a significant incendiary effect that can severely burn people and set structures, fields, and other civilian objects in the vicinity on fire. The use of white phosphorus in Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, magnifies the risk to civilians and violates the international humanitarian law prohibition on putting civilians at unnecessary risk.

“Any time that white phosphorus is used in crowded civilian areas, it poses a high risk of excruciating burns and lifelong suffering,” said Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “White phosphorous is unlawfully indiscriminate when airburst in populated urban areas, where it can burn down houses and cause egregious harm to civilians.”

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Israel knew of Hamas attack in advance – US lawmaker

Three days before Hamas’ large-scale assault on Israel, the Egyptian authorities warned their counterparts in Tel Aviv that such an operation was imminent, US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul told reporters on Wednesday.

“We know that Egypt has warned the Israelis three days prior that an event like this could happen,” McCaul said following a closed-door intelligence briefing on Capitol Hill. 

“I don’t want to get too much into classified, but a warning was given,” McCaul continued. “I think the question was at what level.” 

The Associated Press reported on Monday that Israeli officials ignored repeated warnings from Cairo that Hamas was planning “something big.” Citing a source within Egyptian intelligence, the news agency claimed that the Israeli government felt that an attack was unlikely to come from Gaza, and would probably take place in the West Bank instead.

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Marines on the move in Middle East ‘as a result of emerging events’

A special operations Marine Corps unit participating in exercises expected to last through Oct. 22, departed early this week “as a result of emerging events,” according to reports.

On Tuesday, the Marines issued a press release saying marines and sailors of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit would be participating in Marine Air-Ground task force training exercises in Kuwait, Oct. 8-22.

The training started with the USS Bataan, an amphibious ready group and USS Carter Hall, which would arrive near Kuwait and offload elements and equipment for the exercises.

The day before the exercises began, Oct. 7, Hamas-led militants conducted a deadly surprise attack on Israel, killing at least 22 U.S. citizens, leaving at least 17 still unaccounted for, and some being held hostage in Gaza.

Marine Corps Times reported Wednesday that the sailors and Marines who are part of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Kuwait and traveling on the Bataan and Carter Hall, “are no longer in vicinity of Kuwait.”

The publication learned the news from Capt. Angelica White, spokesperson for the unit, on Wednesday.

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Israel war: Leaders of Iran and Saudi Arabia hold first-ever phone call, pledging united support for Palestinians

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi talked on the phone for the first time ever, pledging united support for the Palestinian cause.

The conversation lasted for roughly 45 minutes, according to SAMAA, and it focused on the war in Gaza. Iranian state media reported that the two affirmed the “need to end war crimes against Palestine,” according to Reuters. The Saudi Press Agency reported that Salman affirmed his support for the Palestinian cause and urged against the targeting of civilians.

“He also stressed – may God protect him – the Kingdom’s firm position towards supporting the Palestinian cause and supporting efforts aimed at achieving a comprehensive and just peace that guarantees the Palestinian people’s access to their legitimate rights,” the Saudi Press Agency said in a statement.

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Israeli official says government cannot confirm babies were beheaded in Hamas attack


The Israeli government has not confirmed the specific claim that Hamas attackers cut off the heads of babies during their shock attack on Saturday, an Israeli official told CNN, contradicting a previous public statement by the Prime Minister’s office.

“There have been cases of Hamas militants carrying out beheadings and other ISIS-style atrocities. However, we cannot confirm if the victims were men or women, soldiers or civilians, adults or children,” the official said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that people had been beheaded by Hamas in an appearance beside Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, but did not specify if they were children.

The explosive allegations that children had been decapitated at the kibbutz of Kfar Aza emerged Tuesday in Israeli media. Israel Defense Forces later described the scene as a “massacre” in a statement to CNN. Women, children toddlers and the elderly were “brutally butchered in an ISIS way of action,” the IDF said.

Tal Heinrich, a spokeswoman for Netanyahu, said on Wednesday that babies and toddlers had been found with their “heads decapitated” in Kfar Aza.

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It’s All About Provoking Your Reaction

With terrorism, as with all asymmetric political action, “the action is in the reaction of the opposition,” as Saul Alinsky, the leftist activist, put it in his book Rules for Radicals.

This isn’t conspiracy stuff, nor impossible “4th dimensional chess”—it’s just plain, old 2-dimentional chess. That’s all:

Hamas, al Qaeda, and similar groups slaughter civilians—beheaded babies or not, they certainly murdered hundreds and hundreds of innocent, civilian Israeli non-combatants in this one (including an extended family member of mine) just as they slaughtered thousands on September 11—for a reason, not simply because they are angry or devils. It’s a tactic. They are trying to provoke a reaction.

They are trying to make you angry, to make you hate, even drive you crazy. Yes—yes—for the purpose of making the more powerful force (i.e. the United States, Israel) do even worse to their own people, such as getting the U.S. to invade Afghanistan and getting Israel to bomb the Gaza strip. Not that al Qaeda was from Afghanistan, but that’s where they were and that’s who they knew were gonna get it. (Also, by the way, U.S. support for Israel’s crimes in Palestine and Lebanon was a huge part of the motive for al Qaeda’s war against the United States in the first place, including for some of the most important pilot hijackers and organizers of the plot.)

This is then meant to provoke still further counter-reactions. It “heightens the contradictions” as the commies used to say. It forces leaders of Muslim states and armed groups everywhere to take a stand. It destroys stability and negotiations and progress, radicalizes new groups and forces everyone back into the fight on one side or the other. It makes every sock-puppet princeling of the Gulf take a stand in support like the Ayatollah or sell out in silence in the most embarrassing way, like Crown Prince bin Salman, etc.

It’s the same reason Bosnian Muslim forces butchered Serbs and Chechen Muslim forces butchered Russians and ISIS slaughtered Shi’ites: to provoke a worse crisis for everyone in the hopes that the overall situation changes to their advantage.

I would note that terrorism is usually as stupid as it is evil; see Bosnia, where they got less and less; Chechnya, Syria and Iraq Wars II and III where they lost outright. Osama’s nemesis, the Saudi monarchy, still stands, and with as degenerate a self-worshiper in the Crown Prince position as he could have ever feared. Hamas may very well not survive this.

But for Israel to completely destroy them would require a level of violence that the civilian population of the Gaza strip, one half of them under 18 years old—all of them trapped with no where to go—simply cannot withstand. Hundreds have already been killed.

Ramzy Baroud argues that a land invasion of the strip will be a catastrophe for Israel too.

The longer this goes on, the greater the danger to the Israeli hostages as well.

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State Media: Syria’s Two Main Airports Disabled by Simultaneous Israeli Missile Strikes

Syria’s two main airports were taken out of service Thursday by simultaneous Israeli missile strikes, Syrian state media said, in the first such attack since Hamas terrorists launched their assault on Israel.

AFP reports Israeli missile strikes have caused the grounding of flights at the airports in the capital Damascus and northern city Aleppo, both of which are controlled by the government of war-torn Syria.

The “simultaneous” strikes “damaged runways in the two airports, putting them out of service”, state media said, citing an unidentified military source via Reuters.

Sources told the outlet the strikes on the airports are intended to disrupt Iranian supply lines to Syria and thence Israel.

A Syria military source cited by state news agency SANA said “bursts of missiles” hit the two airports at the same time, in what he said was a bid to distract the world’s attention from Israel’s war with Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

The Israeli military said it does not comment on such reports.

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Shani Louk Is Still Alive, Mother Reveals

The mother of Shani Louk, a 22-year-old German national believed to have been kidnapped by Hamas fighters during the militant group’s surprise attack on Israel on Saturday, said on Tuesday that her daughter is alive.

Louk, a tattoo artist, was attending the Tribe of Superova music festival in the plains of the Negev Desert near Urim, close to the Gaza Strip, on Saturday when Hamas fighters stormed the event. She’s believed to have been seized by the militants and paraded through the streets in the back of a pick-up.

Her mother, Ricarda, feared she was dead after seeing a video showing Louk unconscious in a car after being kidnapped by Hamas fighters. In an appeal shared on social media, she said the family was sent a video “in which I could clearly see our daughter unconscious in the car with the Palestinians and them driving around the Gaza Strip.”

While the video doesn’t show the woman’s face, Louk’s family said they were able to identify her by her dreadlocks and tattoos. In the clip, she asked for anyone to send help or news about her daughter.

On Tuesday, Louk’s family announced they had proof that Louk—who grew up in Israel—was alive. Swiss German-language news website Blick reported that her mother said she was in a hospital in Gaza with serious head injuries.

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Egypt’s Border Crossing With Gaza Closed Off as Palestinians Have Nowhere to Flee

The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza has been closed off as Palestinians have nowhere to flee amid relentless Israeli airstrikes that started in response to the Hamas attack on southern Israel.

The Israeli military on Tuesday revised a recommendation for Palestinians to “get out” of Gaza through the Rafah crossing into Egypt. “Clarification: The Rafah crossing was open yesterday, but now it is closed,” the office of spokesman Lt-Col. Richard Hecht said, according to Reuters.

The New Arab reported that Egyptian officials said the crossing was closed off indefinitely. “The crossing will be closed indefinitely, for the situation has become quite dangerous after the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip has had an impact on the Egyptian side of the crossing,” an Egyptian security source told the outlet.

Another source said Egypt was trying to ensure “no attempts of infiltration by Palestinians into Egypt can take place.”

According to the Red Crescent, three Israeli airstrikes hit the Rafah border crossing within 24 hours after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a “complete siege of Gaza,” which involved cutting off food, water, electricity, and fuel.

Israeli Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, the head of an Israeli military agency in charge of policies in the West Bank and Gaza, said on Tuesday that Israel was turning Gaza into “hell.”

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Zelensky Bizarrely Blames The Israel-Gaza Conflict On Putin

Clearly, Ukraine’s war effort will suffer even further setback given that the attention of international media coverage has seemingly in an instant switched from the Russia-Ukraine war to the shocking scenes to have emerged from Israel. The world has pivoted from the battlefields of the Donbas to beholding scenes of southern Israel and the Gaza Strip.

On social media for example, masses of Americans have switched their Facebook profiles from Ukrainian flags to Israeli flags, or on the other side of it… to Palestinian flags. Perhaps trying to regain some of the lost spotlight and media focus, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has bizarrely laid blame on Russia for the outbreak of fresh conflict in the Middle East.

Zelensky said in Monday statements that Moscow stoke war in the region in an effort to weaken global unity and spread destabilization.

“Based on available information — very clear information — it is in Russia’s interests to inflame war in the Middle East to create a new source of pain and suffering that would weaken global unity, create divisions and help Russia in undermining freedom in Europe,” Zelensky said in a nightly video address.

Of course, he cited no evidence for the claims. The new talking point seems a desperate attempt to link ‘the current thing’ to the Russian invasion and the plight of Ukrainians. Zelensky in a series of messages has expressed solidarity with Israeli victims of Hamas terror.

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