It doesn’t matter whether they recognise it, regardless of diplomatic status, they can’t go anywhere that does

The US dont just not recognise it. They have a specific law saying the president is authorised to use any means necessary  to free US military or allies who have been detained on the orders of the ICC.

I genuinely don’t understand why the western media aren’t reporting the claims by the International Criminal Court that its officials are being threatened and intimidated, even sections of the Israeli media are reporting it.

Dropped out of the news cycle, along with the very selective reporting by limited news agency’s regarding the attacks on the university campus by outside interests, little mention of the brutality used by the police to break them up including the attacks on college professors such as Steve Tamari who was hospitalised with 9 broken ribs and wrist.

ap news – Steve tamari

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzqC_TM37NE

Worth a long watch

The IDF might not have killed him but the German government is helping to silence him.

Ghassan Abu-Sitta, who was due to speak in French senate, is told Germany has enforced Schengen-wide entry ban

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/04/uk-surgeon-who-described-gaza-massacre-denied-entry-to-france

I was reading this a while back. It’s just awful what’s going on.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cer3740ddj3o

I have been to a local PSC meeting where a British doctor who was recently working in Gaza (for Medical Aid for Palestine) spoke. He told us how the “safe house” for medical staff which he was staying in was deliberately targeted by an IDF missile.

What made it particularly sinister was that on that morning the israeli military authority had denied them permission, without any explanation being given, to leave the safe house and travel to the hospital.

He showed us photos of the safe house. It was only categorised as a safe house for two reasons. Firstly because the Israeli military authorities were fully aware that it contained only medical staff. And secondly because it was totally insolated, surrounded by only desert and no other buildings (it had previously been someone’s holiday home) and so could not be mistakenly hit.

He showed us photos of this alledgedly safe house including from Google earth and after the missile strike. Luckily no one was killed, he said something about the fact that there was no buildings next to it plus the desert sand the explosion was dispersed or absorbed, I can’t remember. Also undoubtedly plenty of good luck.

I have been to a local PSC meeting where a British doctor who was recently working in Gaza (for Medical Aid for Palestine) spoke. He told us how the “safe house” for medical staff which he was staying in was deliberately targeted by an IDF missile.

That can’t be true. The IDF are the most moral army in the history of the universe. They tell us so on a regular basis.

Israel closes Al Jazeera news agency, they’ve tried their best to target and kill the journalists so I figure this is the next logical step for the far right facist government under Netanyahu

Israel closes Al Jazeera

Israel closes Al Jazeera news agency

The timing is probably significant. I suspect that the Israeli government is preparing for its assault on Rafah.

The one thing that the Israeli government fears the most during its military operations in Gaza is the world knowing what is actually happening – they fear the truth more than they fear Hamas fighters.

I originally thought that the attack on Rafah would never happen because firstly the huge Western opposition and secondly I doubt that it will have any significant military purpose – Hamas could not possibly have had more warning and with their tunnels mostly intact they aren’t sitting there waiting for an Israeli assault.

However many in the Likud party and its far-right allies would like Gaza to be absorbed into Israel. Obviously the Gazans pose something of an obstacle to that, they can’t all be killed, but the million plus sheltering in Rafah could probably be pushed, or “encouraged”, into the  Sinai Desert across the border.

Also destroying homes and infrastructure including Palestinian university, schools, and hospitals, is necessary if a Palestinian Gaza is to be no longer viable, so Rafah cannot be spared.

None of this will bring security for Israel of course, but the far-right bigots and racists who are dictating events are firstly, not rational, and secondly really really desperate – Israel is currently experiencing the greatest crisis in its history.

An excellent platform to get some alternative (establishment) views:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSQC5wV_s64

None of this will bring security for Israel of course, but the far-right bigots and racists who are dictating events are firstly, not rational, and secondly really really desperate – Israel is currently experiencing the greatest crisis in its history.

That’s what I consider Netanyahu and his government want, a permanent state of war will keep them in power and the military aid and money will keep the government propped up.

Israel and it’s supporters are now at the stage of turning over stones, pointing at woodlice and shouting “antisemite”.

I hadn’t realised that it only applies for 45 days. I guess that the Israeli government could just simply ignore the outcry for 45 days and then simply say “what’s the problem, we are allowing them to broadcast again” after having done whatever it is that they don’t want Al Jazeera to focus people’s attention on.

Most other broadcasters operating in Israel are probably much more compliant with the wishes of the Israeli government.

Al Jazeera despite being pro-western has a long record of covering stuff that western broadcasters don’t really bother with, and doing it fairly.

https://www.instagram.com/jonstewartdaily/reel/C6gspfluJXh/

We’ve ignored the Israeli concentration camp of Gaza for 20 years. The vast majority of Israelis approve of the actions in Gaza.

In a minute, JS condensed 100 years of the Middle East reality. pic.twitter.com/aSvxIlkduc

— Abier (@abierkhatib) April 20, 2024

Here^^ one of my very favourite American Jew sums up American/Western interference of the last 100 years in the Middle East perfectly in a matter of seconds.

An excellent platform to get some alternative (establishment) views:

That was a good watch,

We’ve ignored the Israeli concentration camp of Gaza for 20 years. The vast majority of Israelis approve of the actions in Gaza.

That’s basically what was discussed in the above video by BillMC, except they mention that it’s been largely ignored for 60 years despite the UN sanctions so it’s carried on and developed into a twisted and corrupt regime masquerading as a government that feels it can do whatever it likes.

That link is broke Ernie,

Yeah thanks, I’ve edited it with a link that works

That Jon Stewart sketch is ace.

Well, there’s stuff going on…

Germany was taken to the ICJ by Nicaragua “concerning alleged breaches of certain international obligations in respect of the Occupied Palestinian Territory”. Germany was able to show that its licensed supply has reduced massively from €200mn in October to €1mn by March and that only four licences were granted and those were for test and training purposes.

Why Germany? The US withdrew from compulsory jurisdiction in 1986 after Nicaragua v. US and Germany is another large supplier to Israel https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/193/193-20240430-sum-01-00-en.pdf

Axios reports that the US withheld a weapons shipment for the first time. The Axios report was re-reported by CNN and no doubt others https://www.axios.com/2024/05/05/israel-us-ammunition-shipment-hold

It looks like the Israeli government banned Al Jazeera just in time – the onslaught on Rafah appears to have begun.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-calls-on-palestinians-to-evacuate-eastern-rafah-ahead-of-planned-offensive/

Military uses flyers, texts, phone calls to tell Gazans to leave specific areas; Gallant to US: Israel has ‘no choice’ but to launch operation in Strip’s southernmost city

ernielynch
Full Member
It looks like the Israeli government banned Al Jazeera just in time – the onslaught on Rafah appears to have begun.

Yep, quiet the coincidence, eh!

I’ve been watching Al Jazeera a fair amount in recent months and I can’t see their reporting as being any more critical/ “biased” than the Beeb/ ITV etc.

It looks like the Israeli government banned Al Jazeera just in time – the onslaught on Rafah appears to have begun.

I mean….why wouldn’t they bomb Rafah and turn it into rubble? – everywhere else is so at least the genocidal ideology of Netanyahu and his goon squad is consistent.

…and anyone who doesn’t get out of the way in considered fair game.

And in another stunning coincidence, and with absolutely perfect timing, the IDF claims that Hamas launched a mortar attack from, yup, you’ve guessed it – Rafah.

Everyone seems to be following the script word for word. Which is great because it proves how necessary it is for the IDF to raze Rafah to the ground.

and anyone who doesn’t get out of the way in considered fair game.

Not only that but everyone who stays behind is classed as an enemy combatant and is counted as Hamas.

I wonder what the “strongly worded response” will be from Biden/sunak etc?

According to CNN

Political figures in Europe, including those representing France and the European Union, have reiterated their objections to Israel’s threatened ground assault on Rafah.

“France reiterates its firm opposition to an Israeli offensive on Rafah, where more than 1.3 million people are taking refuge in a situation of extreme distress,” the French foreign ministry said on Monday. The ministry also repeated calls for a ceasefire and the release of hostages.”

The White House has made clear that they are extremely skeptical of any incursion into Rafah over concerns about the potential humanitarian impact. ”

Firm opposition?, Objections?, extremely skeptical?….gosh…..with such a vicious swipe at the trigger happy ghouls I imagine France and the US is next on the list for a Netanyahu bombing campaign.

On the one hand we have this report from the UN

UN experts :’Over 390 bodies have been discovered at Nasser and Al Shifa hospitals, including of women and children, with many reportedly showing signs of torture and summary executions, and potential instances of people buried alive,’ https://t.co/JuEXbIssAp

— Alex Crawford (@AlexCrawfordSky) May 6, 2024

And on the other hand we have this

“Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan said on Monday that he expects the United States to stop funding the United Nations if it votes to grant the Palestinian Authority (PA) full UN membership.

In a statement issued days ahead of Friday’s General Assembly meeting, Erdan said passing a resolution granting status and rights of a state to the PA is against the UN Charter. If successful, he said he expects the US to “completely” stop its funding to the UN and its institutions, citing American law.

“The Palestinians are once again taking advantage of the automatic majority and the moral decay of the UN,” Erdan said. “After failing to obtain the status of a member state through the Security Council as required, they bypass the Council while trampling all the rules and bring the decision to the General Assembly.”
Erdan also said the resolution, if passed, will not change the situation on the ground but instead will “prove how disconnected the UN is from reality and rewards terrorism.”

Friday’s meeting comes after the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution in April that would have recognized a Palestinian state.”

Hamas could not possibly have had more warning and with their tunnels mostly intact they aren’t sitting there waiting for an Israeli assault.

It seems that rather than sitting there waiting for an IDF assault, which as previously suggested they could not possibly have been given more warning about, Hamas have been busy using their tunnels to their advantage and redirecting their operations to Northern Gaza, where they had supposedly been defeated.

https://www.ft.com/content/9fb2b735-0d8b-4363-b7a4-af28d2698c3e

Israeli troops are engaged in close-quarters combat with resurgent Hamas fighters in devastated north Gaza, an area they previously claimed to have largely cleared of the Palestinian militant group.

And they are still capable of firing rockets into Israel.

The attack on Rafah was never about the final defeat of Hamas, which the Israelis cannot achieve and Hamas were clearly not going to hang around waiting for. It was about destroying the last bit of Gaza which had largely been left intact, and possibly pushing the Palestinians into the Sinai.

It’s about destroying the Palestinian people and any hope they might have of having their country. But that will be no more possible than destroying Hamas. Sadly logic is not historically a far-right strength, especially when they are in crisis and the situation seems so hopeless to them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2BJAaGJkp0

Was impressed at the number of Palestinian flags I saw being waved at the Giro.

.

Was impressed at the number of Palestinian flags I saw being waved at the Giro.

Lucky Italy is not Germany, or the cops would be bearing  the cycling fans with clubs.

Yup…. Agreed. Germany’s got a bit of a guilt complex going on.

One German state were even considering making a pledge to Israel part of the process for German citizenship.

I’ve always thought that post WW2/Holocaust part of Germany should have been handed over as a Jewish homeland.

It’s a huge country and providing one of the German states as a zionist homeland would have been fair reparation for the crimes committed by Germans and other Europeans against the Jewish people.

But I can obviously understand why the Germans thought that instead it would be a great idea to kick the Palestinians off their land.

It might be more accurate to say that Palestine lost WW2 rather than Germany.

Netanyahu’s “rent ‘a’ mob” stopping aid

stopping aid seems to part of the plan

I think of all the unspeakable horrors inflicted by the Israelis over the last 7 months, this feels like in some ways the worst – systematic cold-blooded sadism.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/06/middleeast/doctor-israel-hospital-conditions-intl/index.html

https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/city-of-tents-israeli-defence-official-vows-every-building-in-gaza-will-be-destroyed-in-ground-manoeuvre/news-story/203242e24af1dd4757e0250001e7ed8a

‘City of tents’: Israeli defence official vows every building in Gaza will be destroyed in ‘ground manoeuvre’

Exactly seven months ago Israel promised to destroy every building in Gaza and reduce Gaza to “a city of tents”.

No doubt the current IDF operations in Rafah will achieve that goal.

What it won’t have achieved though is of course security for Israel. Seven months on Israel now has considerably less friends and far more enemies.

And Hamas has not been defeated. In fact Israel’s actions will have undoubtedly helped Hamas to recruit more fighters to replace those they have lost.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-69026059

She battled hail, rain and fog as she cycled for six hours to the climb’s summit at 1,910m (6,270ft) above sea level.