Tag: perpetual war

Israel says it knew Bibas family was dead despite claiming they might be alive

The Israeli military acknowledged on Friday it knew the Bibas family was dead in captivity in Gaza despite previously insisting they might be alive.

Hamas said in November 2023 that Shiri Bibas, 32, and her two children, Ariel, aged four, and nine-month-old Kfir, were killed in an Israeli air strike. 

However, the Israeli military continued to demand their release alive.  

Military spokesperson Daniel Hagari on Friday confirmed the death of the two babies “no later than November 2023” following the return of their bodies by Hamas as part of the ceasefire agreement. 

During a news conference, Hagari said the Israeli military had intelligence that they were already dead but could not announce it to the public. 

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Media Afraid to Call Ethnic Cleansing by Its Name

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump said that the US will “take over the Gaza Strip” and “own” it for the “long-term” (AP, 2/5/25), and that its Palestinian inhabitants will be “permanently” exiled (AP, 2/4/25). Subsequently, when reporters asked Trump whether Palestinians would have the right to return to Gaza under his plan, he said “no” (BBC, 2/10/25).

After Trump’s remarks, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (Reuters, 2/5/25) said “it is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing.”

Navi Pillay (Politico, 2/9/25), chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said that

Trump is woefully ignorant of international law and the law of occupation. Forcible displacement of an occupied group is an international crime, and amounts to ethnic cleansing.

Human Rights Watch (2/5/25) said that, if Trump’s plan were implemented, it would “amount to an alarming escalation of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza.”

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ADL’s Stats Twist Israel’s Critics Into Antisemites

Media outlets continue to print headlines about antisemitism based on Anti-Defamation League statistics known to be faulty and politicized. In doing so, they grant undeserved credibility to the ADL as a source.

Producing statistics helps the ADL to claim objectivity when they assert that antisemitism is increasing dramatically, prevalent in all fields of society, and emanating from the left as well as the right. Those “facts” are then used to justify policy recommendations that fail to respond to actual antisemitism, but succeed in undermining the free speech rights of Palestinians and their supporters, including those of us who are Jews.

While it frames itself as a civil rights organization, the ADL has a long history of actively spying on critics of Israel and collaborating with the Israeli government (Nation, 1/31/24). (FAIR itself was targeted as a “Pinko” group in ADL’s sprawling spying operation in the ’90s.)

Though it professes to document and challenge antisemitism, it openly admits to counting pro-Palestinian activism as antisemitic: In 2023, the ADL changed its methodology for reporting antisemitic incidents to include rallies that feature “anti-Zionist chants and slogans,” even counting anti-war protests led by Jews—including Jewish organizations the ADL designated as “hate groups.”

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Three Buses Explode in Israel in Suspected Terror Attack Prompting “Intense” Military Operation in West Bank

Three buses exploded in central Israel on Thursday in what authorities are calling a “suspected terror attack.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded swiftly, ordering an “intense military operation” in the West Bank to root out terrorist networks responsible for the attack.

Israeli police confirmed that three explosive devices detonated, while two additional bombs failed to go off.

The buses, located in a parking lot in Bat Yam and Holon, south of Tel Aviv, were not in service at the time, miraculously preventing mass casualties, according to The Time.

However, intelligence suggests the terrorists had intended for the bombs to detonate on Friday when the buses would have been packed with passengers.

Each device was equipped with a timer, and one bore a message in both Hebrew and Arabic: “Revenge from Tulkarem,” a reference to a recent Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, according to the Times of Israel.

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DOGE About To Hit DOD

Having the biggest and best military ever to ensure we don’t get into a War and at the same time cutting funding is not incompatible. It is actually very wise and do-able.

The reality is, we’re spending more on defense than we ever have (as a percentage of GDP Defense spending is slipping down from 3.5% of GDP). The reality is that we are getting less available aircraft, ships, missiles, and service members for that increase in spending.

That is wrong.

To rectify this mess, it first starts with re-setting or “plucking” military leadership. That means firing Uniformed Generals and Admirals and also career civilian senior executives.

As far as military leadership, Chairman of the Joint Staff, CQ Brown certainly has to go. It’s very likely he is on the list to be fired. Admiral Franchetti, the Chief of Naval Operations is also likely to be sacked.

P.S. one of the first things one does when they are promoted to General or Flag Officer is that they sign a letter of resignation, it’s kept on file and then dated when they are asked for their resignation.

The next thing is cutting costs. Research and Development is very important and we have lost the art of R&D. Around $146 Billion a year goes to R&D of which about $6-10 Billion goes to what are known as Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) as part of Research and Development. The big three are the Mitre Corporation, Rand, and The Aerospace Corporation. I worked at one of those for six years after leaving Government.

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The Rise and Fall of Agent Zelensky

That Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s political fortunes have been on a downward trajectory over the course of the past year is undeniable. The accelerated collapse of Zelensky as a legitimate governing authority in Ukraine that has transpired over the course of the past few days was unimaginable. That Zelensky would double down by carrying out a personal attack against Donald Trump is unthinkable.

Back in the summer of 2023, I tried to warn the American people, and the world, about the illegitimacy and inherent instability of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. I helped write and produce a two-part exposé of the one-time comedian titled “Agent Zelensky.”

Part One was well received when I published it on YouTube.

Too well received.

The Ukrainian intelligence services, which had flagged me as a Russian disinformation agent and marked me for death by putting me on an infamous liquidation list, reached out to their FBI contacts in the Legal Attache office of the US Embassy in Kiev, and demanded that action be taken.

The appropriate authorities at YouTube were approached by the FBI, and soon the Agent Zelensky video was removed from the platform.

Part Two of Agent Zelensky suffered the same fate within hours of being published.

Then the Department of Justice tasked the FBI with eliminating the source of Agent Zelensky—me.

They targeted me for allegedly being an unregistered agent of the Russian government, trampling my status as an independent journalist whose speech was protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

The FBI raided my home and seized my computers, all to intimidate me while the Department of Justice scrambled to make a case against me as an unregistered Russian agent.

They failed.

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Could the US Military’s Recruitment Problem Be a Good Thing?

Some experts worry that, if the country went to war, many reserve units might be unable to deploy. A U.S. official who works on these issues put it simply: ‘We can’t get enough people.’”

“Vietnam Syndrome” hasn’t gone away! It resulted in the elimination of the draft and ultimately morphed into “Iraq Syndrome” – so it seems – and even though those lost, horrific wars are now nothing but history, the next American war is ever-looming (against Canada?… against Greenland?). And yet, good God, the military is having a hard time recruiting a sufficient amount of patriotic cannon fodder.

“We can’t get enough people” – you know, to kill the enemy and to risk coming home in a box. And maybe that’s a good thing! The public is kind of getting it: War is obsolete (to put it politely). War is insane; it threatens the future of life on the planet – even though a huge swatch of the American media seems unwilling to get it and continues to report on war and militarism as though they literally equaled “national defense.” After all, we spend a trillion dollars annually on it.

Indeed, war unites us… in hell.

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Yves Engler: I’m Being Charged for Responding to Anti-Palestinian Hate on X (Twitter)

UPDATE:  After writing the report below, the Montreal police claimed that Engler was victimizing the police by writing the report below.   Engler wrote this update before being taken into custody.  Engler says that a new investigator has told him that the Montreal police will be charging me with intimidation, harassment, harassing communication and “entrave” (interference) towards the original police investigator.

Canadian activist Yves Engler was arrested in Montreal on Thursday for pro-Palestinian posts on Twitter (X).  He was charged with harassment and indecent communication on the social media platform.  He will be arraigned on Friday.  Thousands of people have already written to the Montreal police urging them to drop the charges.   We urge our readers to do the same.

Engler has written 65 articles that have appeared on Antiwar.com here and here.  He is the author of 12 books.  Engler was notified in advance and wrote this on his website the day before his arrest.

Tomorrow the Montreal police will arrest me for posting to social media against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Today I received a phone call from a Montreal police officer by the last name of Crivello. She asked me to come to a downtown police station where I will be charged for harassment and indecent communication. Crivello said a complaint was submitted against me months ago by a legal firm on behalf of racist media personality Dahlia Kurtz. Crivello said I had described Kurtz as a “genocide” supporter and “fascist” on Twitter. Guilty as charged.

On dozens of occasions I’ve responded to Kurtz’ racist, violent anti-Palestinian posts on X. Six weeks ago I wrote an article noting:

Amidst this ever-worsening holocaust in Gaza, the media and politicians want us to believe Canadian Jews are the real victims. In an egregious example, the Winnipeg Sun just published “Dahlia Kurtz mobilizing pushback on Canada’s Jew-hate problem.” Palestinian suffering is omitted from the long profile of an unhinged Jewish supremacist. The article describes Kurtz combating “‘Free Palestine’ hatefests” and selecting Justin Trudeau “winner of my 2024 Jew-Hater of the Year Award.”

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US official demands Zelenskyy return to talks over critical minerals deal

US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser has demanded that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy return to negotiations over a critical minerals deal with the US, amid a deepening rift between Washington and Kyiv.

Zelenskyy had on Wednesday rejected US plans to strike a deal for a share of Ukraine’s mineral wealth to repay Washington for wartime aid, saying the US offered no specific security guarantees in the agreement.

“He needs to come back to the table,” Mike Waltz said of Zelenskyy at a press briefing on Thursday.

“President Trump is obviously very frustrated right now with President Zelensky, the fact that he hasn’t come to the table, that he hasn’t been willing to take this opportunity that we have offered,” he said.

The comments came shortly after the US cancelled a planned news conference with Zelenskyy and a US envoy in Kyiv.

The Ukrainian leader had planned to address the media alongside Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, the US envoy for Ukraine, following talks in Kyiv on Thursday.

“At the request of the American side, the format of the meeting provides for protocol filming and does not include statements or questions,” Ukrainian presidential spokesperson Serhii Nikiforov told reporters.

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US switches stance on Ukraine war, seeking $500bn in payback

Ukraine’s diplomatic situation was upended during the past week, as its main ally, the United States, reversed several positions.

US President Donald Trump announced on February 12 that he was beginning direct talks with Russia to end the war, overturning his predecessor’s promise that there would be “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine”.

On the same day, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed Russian diplomatic language invoking “realism”, when he told Ukraine Defence Contact Group partners in Brussels that “returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,” and that “the United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.”

Eventual NATO membership has been a US promise to Ukraine since 2008, and the US has, throughout the war, supported a restoration of the border Russia recognised with Ukraine in 1991.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius called the one-sided concessions “clumsy” and “a mistake”.

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