Tag: perpetual war

Ex-POW Of Hamas Says She Most Feared Israeli Bombs, Not Her Captors

An Israeli intelligence soldier who was taken prisoner by Hamas during the militant group’s Oct 7 2023 invasion of Israel says the greatest threat to her life during her 477 days in captivity came from the Israeli bombing campaign — and not the men who were holding her. In a speech at a Tel Aviv rally demanding an end to Israel’s war in Gaza as well as new elections, 20-year-old Naama Levy gave a visceral account of what it was like to live under constant Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) bombardment: 

“They come by surprise. First you hear a whistle, pray it doesn’t fall on you, and then — the booms, a noise loud enough to paralyze you. The earth shakes. I was convinced every single time that I was finished, and it’s also what put me in the greatest danger: one of the bombardments collapsed part of the house I was in. The wall I was leaning on didn’t collapse, and that’s what saved me.”

Adding her voice to the many in Israel that want an end to the obliteration of Gaza and the return of their fellow citizens held captive, Levy noted that the detainees continued to live the hellish existence she did:

“That was my reality, and now it’s their reality. At this very moment, there are hostages who hear those same whistles and booms, shaking with fear. They have nowhere to run, they can only pray and cling to the wall while feeling a horrible powerlessness.”

Levy said she also endured another kind of pain being intentionally inflicted on every man, woman and child in Gaza — hunger and thirst:  

“There were entire days without food and little water. One day, I had nothing left, not even water. Fortunately, it started raining. My captors put a pot outside the house where I was held, and the rain filled it. I drank that rain water, which was enough for a pot of rice. That’s what kept me going.”

She enjoyed a weekly glimpse into what has happening back home in Israel: Her captors let her watch television every Saturday. She said the images of Israeli protesters pushing for the release of civilian hostages and prisoners of war buoyed her spirits. “I saw thousands standing here wrapped in flags, shouting, singing, holding pictures of the hostages, including mine. You made me feel that I was not forgotten,” she said. 

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Ukraine Tried To Attack Putin’s Helicopter Mid-Flight, Russia Alleges, Responds With Massive Strikes On Kiev

The Kremlin as well as Russian state media are alleging a huge, potentially conflict-altering incident which will surely escalate the war in Ukraine – an attempted attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin himself.

A high-ranking Russian military commander on Sunday described that last week, as Putin traveled to the Kursk region for the first time since is liberation after 6+ months of Ukrainian occupation, Ukraine tried to attack Putin’s helicopter mid-flight, sending a wave of drones to swarm the flight path of the chopper.

The presidential helicopter was caught in the “epicenter” of a massive Ukrainian drone attack, commander of an air defense division in Kursk, Yury Dashkin, told Russian media. The headline is the top featured story of English-language RT on Sunday, something which suggests the allegations are largely aimed at grabbing the attention of the West.

The incident is said to have happened Tuesday as the helicopter transported Putin to tour Kursk – a southern oblast which has suffered much destruction since the initial Ukrainian cross-border incursion of last August.

Commander Yury Dashkin told Russia 1 in an interview which aired Sunday said that Putin’s helicopter had found itself “in the epicenter of an operation to repel a massive drone attack by the enemy” in Kursk Region.

He went on to describe that this “unprecedented” attack was successfully repelled by anti-air defenses in the region. Air defense units in the area had to “simultaneously conduct anti-aircraft combat and ensure the safety of the president’s helicopter in the air. The task was accomplished,” Dashkin stated. “The attack of the enemy drones was repelled, with all aerial targets being hit.”

While this could just be a mid-level officer’s attempt to toot his own horn, given the world is just hearing about what’s tantamount to an ‘assassination attempt’ on one of the world’s most powerful leaders being alleged – and coming belatedly a number of days after the incident in question – this seems part of Moscow’s ongoing messaging that the UAV incursions are an attempt to derail the US-brokered peace talks between Moscow and Kiev. 

The drones are being launched on Russia in record numbers, with literally multiple hundreds sent over the past week, in some cases halting inbound and outbound flights at major airports, including in the Moscow area. Ukrainian officials have boasted that the operations is trying to disrupt and destabilize daily life in Russia, in hopes that the government could lose control.

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Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian homes in northern West Bank

Israeli settlers set fire to several Palestinian homes on Thursday evening after storming the outskirts of Bruqin town, west of Salfit province in the northern occupied West Bank.

According to WAFA, the official Palestinian news agency, a group of settlers attacked the area, setting fire to a number of homes. The fires caused extensive damage and led to large-scale blazes across parts of the town. Footage circulating on social media showed flames spreading in several locations in Bruqin.

The arson attack took place just hours after Israeli forces re-entered the town on Thursday evening, following a brief withdrawal earlier in the day. WAFA reported that the army returned in large numbers with military vehicles, blocked several internal roads, and raided multiple houses, launching thorough searches.

Earlier on Thursday, Israeli troops had withdrawn from Bruqin and the nearby town of Kafr ad-Dik after a nine-day military operation. The campaign included the killing of a Palestinian man, widespread arrests, and the conversion of several homes into military outposts, under the pretext of searching for the person behind a shooting incident that killed an Israeli woman and injured her husband.

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British Airways Extends Suspension Of Israel Flights As More Houthi Missiles Target Airport

Another ballistic missile fired from Yemen has targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in central Israel on Friday, in reportedly the third such attack on Israel within 24 hours.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree announced the fresh attack in a televised statement, saying “The Houthi forces targeted Ben Gurion Airport with a hypersonic ballistic missile” and that the attack “successfully achieved its goal.”

While the Houthis have repeatedly claimed “hypersonic” missile attacks over several weeks, there’s as yet no evidence that they possess this advanced technology. Still, it has become clear that Israel’s advanced air defense systems at time have trouble intercepting the inbound projectiles, as a May 4th attack demonstrated.

The Houthis spokesman claimed of this new Friday attack that it caused “millions of Zionist settlers to flee to shelters and halted airport operations.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged an inbound missile, which set off warning sirens in central Israel, but did not indicate any ground strikes or damage:

Early on Friday morning, sirens blared across Tel Aviv as a result of the Yemeni missile. The Israeli army said in a statement that it intercepted the missile. 

A Yemeni missile was also intercepted by Israeli air defenses on Thursday afternoon, following an earlier missile attack, which Tel Aviv also said it intercepted.

The Houthis have been stepping up attacks on Israel in recent weeks, and after a few major waves of Israeli strikes on Yemen, which destroyed the international airport in Sanaa. 

While such Israeli retaliation has clearly caused much damage and death inside Yemen, the constant Houthi fire is also impacting Israel – at least on an economic and logistical level. 

Times of Israel reports Friday on more foreign carriers suspending operations at Israeli airports:

British Airways joins the growing list of companies extending their cancellation of flights to and from Israel following the Houthi missile strike near Ben Gurion Airport at the beginning of the month.

Hebrew media reports that British Airways has extended its suspension until the end of July.

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Closer To Peace? Watch Russian Ballistic Missile Destroy US Patriot System In Ukraine

There’s been little progress in Russia-Ukraine talks, which the Trump administration has backed – the latest held in Istanbul a week ago – and by all appearances the war continues to heat up and possibly expand.

Russia’s defense ministry (MoD) has published battlefield footage which purports to show a Russian Iskander-M operational-tactical missile system destroying a US-supplied Patriot air defense system operated by the Ukrainian military.

A Thursday Telegram post by the MoD showed the strike on a position in Dnepropetrovsk region, which it says destroyed a multifunctional AN/MPQ-65 radar, a control unit, as well as two Patriot launchers.

Russian state media has touted that this amounts to a loss of advanced military hardware worth over $1 billion. President Zelensky has already for months been complaining US-supplied air defense systems

European allies, including Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, and Spain – have long worked to donate and transfer the anti-air system with Washington’s approval.

Greece has continued to refuse to send Ukraine any of its Patriot batteries, citing the need to defend its homeland, also given Turkey is an ever-present threat amid a spat over maritime rights and sovereignty. Likely Greece also realizes any Patriot it donates could just as quickly be destroyed by Russia’s superior aerial power.

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Rep. Randy Fine: Pro-Palestine Movement Are ‘Demons’ Who ‘Must Be Put Down by Any Means Necessary’

Newly elected Florida Rep Randy Fine rushed to blame “Muslim terror” for the shooting of two Israeli embassy aides in DC on Wednesday night and declared that the pro-Palestine movement are “demons” who “must be put down by any means necessary.”

“Muslim terror has come to our Nation’s Capital tonight,” Rep. Fine said on X. “Two Jews were assassinated by a gunman sporting a terror rag and yelling ‘Free Palestine.'”

“It is high time for us to acknowledge there is nothing peaceful about this movement and that these demons must be put down by any means necessary,” Fine, who is Jewish, demanded.

The suspect within hours of the shooting was swiftly identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez, an Hispanic left-wing activist from Chicago. There are no indications he’s a Muslim.

The aides were named as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim. The two were reportedly a couple. A former teacher of Lischinsky’s said he was “a Christian who served in the IDF, and dedicated his life to Israel and Zionism.”

Ken Klippenstein published Rodriguez’s alleged manifesto in which he characterized his planned action as an “armed demonstration” against the genocide in Gaza. The manifesto had nothing in it about Islam and contained no indications that religion was a motivating factor.

Rep. Fine, despite now being a member of Congress, couldn’t even wait a few hours for the facts to come in before calling for the mass slaughter of his political enemies.

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China has an off-switch for America, and we aren’t ready to deal with it.

Imagine waking up tomorrow and your phone has no signal. Your smart home isn’t working. Your Ring camera is offline. You get in your car, but your GPS won’t route. Worse, every traffic light in town is out. Intersections are a mess of blaring horns and confusion. Sirens echo in the distance. You drive to an ATM, hoping to grab some cash. The screen flickers, then goes black. It’s not just your neighborhood. It’s not just your state. The entire nation has gone dark.

This scenario is digital darkness, caused by China’s “off-switch” for America. It is the penultimate step in China’s strategy to defeat America before gunning for global control.

So-called “assassin’s maces” play a central role in China’s plan to become the world’s sole superpower by 2049. Of the many known assassin’s maces, four demand immediate attention:

1) Tactical Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Weapons: China develops tactical EMP weapons that can disable entire regions by targeting civilian infrastructure America relies on to function. These compact pulse generators can hover above unprotected data centers, destroying electronics inside with pinpoint electromagnetic blasts. Several dozen well-coordinated EMP strikes could wipe out cloud infrastructure, disrupting America’s power, transportation, communications and financial systems nationwide.

2) Deep Sea Fiber Cuts: Over 95 percent of global internet traffic travels through undersea fiber cables. China recently unveiled deep-sea cable cutters capable of severing cables at extreme depths. Recent disruptions near Taiwan and the Baltic Sea suggest these tools are already in use. Cutting a few lines disrupts global communications instantly and fractures U.S. military coordination.

3) Anti-Satellite Weapons: As America stockpiles low earth orbit satellites, China expands its anti-satellite arsenal to include missiles, parasitic satellites and lasers designed to disable or destroy orbital assets. In March 2025, the U.S. Space Force reported that Chinese satellites performed aggressive “dogfighting” maneuvers in orbit. This capability allows China to carry out precise strikes designed to trigger the dreaded Kessler Cascade, a chain reaction of satellite collisions capable of destroying all low earth orbit satellites within days, crippling internet, communications and surveillance systems. 

4) Cyber Attacks: China’s cyber weapons are the most deeply embedded assassin’s mace. Just this week, U.S. investigators uncovered rogue communication devices hidden in Chinese-made solar inverters and batteries. Such undocumented components can bypass firewalls, allowing China to remotely monitor, destabilize and disable critical infrastructure. Chinese-made chips, routers and switches embedded throughout U.S. networks contain dormant firmware that, upon activation, could place critical U.S. infrastructure under Chinese Communist Party command.

The Chinese army’s “blended domains” philosophy strips traditional boundaries between war and peace. An omnipresent battlefield erases any line between military and civilian enterprise. The doctrine is described in “Unrestricted Warfare,” the 1999 book in which Chinese military leaders promote the use of psychological, technological and informational attacks to undermine and subsequently overwhelm America.

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Putin Orders Army To Establish Big Border Buffer Zone Inside Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin is revisiting a strategy first proclaimed last year, but which appeared to be thwarted or put on hold by Ukraine’s Kursk invasion. But now with Kursk liberated from the over six-month Ukrainian troop occupation, Putin is talking a ‘buffer zone’ along the southern border once again.

Russian troops are seeking to carve out a large security buffer zone along the Russia-Ukraine border, Putin announced Thursday during a meeting with ministers and Kremlin officials. “We have approved the creation of a necessary security buffer zone along our borders. Our armed forces are actively working to accomplish this task,” the Russian leader stated.

Putin is fresh off his in-person tour of Kursk region, which happened Tuesday, which was a first since the August cross-border invasion by Ukraine. 

Yet the southern oblasts are still threatened by near-daily artillery and drone fire. A big part of the rationale for a buffer zone is for full stability to return to Russian border towns and villages, for example especially in Belgorod:

He emphasized that, given the recent developments in the Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk regions, immediate efforts are required to restore and rebuild areas affected by recent events. This includes assisting local residents in returning to their native villages, provided security conditions allow. Furthermore, it is essential to rehabilitate transportation networks and other infrastructure, ensure the smooth operation of industrial and agricultural enterprises, and support entrepreneurs and their employees.

This month alone has seen hundreds of drones launched from Ukraine onto southern oblasts, with some drones targeting as far as Moscow, which has resulted in commercial flight stoppages this week (not for the first time).

The timing of Putin’s buffer zone plan is very significant, as President Trump is currently being widely perceived as ‘stepping back’ from pursuit of a final peace settlement.

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Israeli doctor compared killing Palestinians in Gaza to ‘eliminating cockroaches’

An Israeli doctor serving as an army reservist has compared killing people in Gaza to “eliminating cockroaches” in a post on social media.

Writing on X on Sunday, Sabo Amos, who works as a surgeon in Israel’s public healthcare system, said he had volunteered to take part in “eliminations” after his battalion had killed “dozens of terrorists” the previous day.

Amos said he had requested to take part in operations “within the framework of preventative medicine”, but said another doctor had suggested his involvement was a matter of “public health”.

“On second thought, he’s right. After all, we’re talking about eliminating cockroaches and other loathsome insects,” Amos wrote in the now-deleted post.

Later on Sunday, he posted an image which he said showed Israeli soldiers participating in an afternoon Jewish prayer service in a mosque in northern Gaza.

“Every few minutes, machine gun fire or tank shells hit Gaza. Grind them,” he wrote.

Amos previously called for Gaza to be “erased” in a post on X in August 2024.

“There are no uninvolved people there,” he wrote.

Amos works for Maccabi Healthcare Services, one of Israel’s main public healthcare providers, which offers services to all Israeli nationals, including Palestinian citizens of Israel.

According to Maccabi’s website, he is based in a mixed city in northern Israel with a large Palestinian population.

MEE has contacted Maccabi Healthcare Services for comment.

A Palestinian doctor working in the public healthcare system in Israel, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told MEE he was not surprised by Amos’s comments.

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Gaza Health Ministry Publishes Names of 16,506 Children Killed by Israeli Military Since October 2023

On Thursday, Gaza’s Health Ministry published a list of 16,506 Palestinian children it has identified who have been killed by the Israeli military in Gaza since October 2023.

The first 27 pages list 917 babies who didn’t make it to their first birthdays. The list also includes 4,365 children killed between the ages of one and five, 6,101 who were between six and 12, and 5,124 who were between 13 and 17 years old.

The full 486-page list includes names, ID numbers, birth dates, ages, and how the children were confirmed killed, whether by the Health Ministry’s own records or through reports from their families.

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