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Category: War

Only an anti-fascist front can save Israelis from the abyss

Only an anti-fascist front can save Israelis from the abyss

Orly Noy writes: “What’s happening to you?” That was the question Yoana Gonen posed, in her recent column for Haaretz, to the so-called “leftists” vowing to vote for Israel’s right-wing former prime minister, Naftali Bennett. The fact that such a trend exists is bewildering, but the answer to Gonen’s question is clear. What is happening to these “leftists” is the same thing that’s happening to all of Israeli society: a profound and accelerating slide toward fascism. Nine months into a…

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Israeli generals, low on munitions, want a cease-fire in Gaza

Israeli generals, low on munitions, want a cease-fire in Gaza

The New York Times reports: Israel’s top generals want to begin a cease-fire in Gaza even if it keeps Hamas in power for the time being, widening a rift between the military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has opposed a truce that would allow Hamas to survive the war. The generals think that a truce would be the best way of freeing the roughly 120 Israelis still held, both dead and alive, in Gaza, according to interviews with six…

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Israel’s next headache: who will run post-war Gaza?

Israel’s next headache: who will run post-war Gaza?

Reuters reports: The plan for post-war Gaza that Israel pitched to U.S. allies is to run the strip in cooperation with powerful local families. But there’s a problem: in a place where Hamas still wields ruthless influence, none want to be seen talking to the enemy. Israel is under pressure from Washington to end the loss of human life and wind down its military offensive after nearly nine months, but does not want Hamas in charge after the war. Israeli…

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The U.S. and Israel missed many opportunities for peace with Hamas

The U.S. and Israel missed many opportunities for peace with Hamas

Sandy Tolan writes: The continued failure of the Biden administration to secure a full and lasting ceasefire in Gaza may go down as the most terrible and deadly diplomatic catastrophe of our time. The principles have been in place for weeks; Hamas has agreed to the general terms, and endorsed the June 10 ceasefire resolution by the UN Security Council. Yet US deference to Israeli intransigence – no matter that it stubbornly blames Hamas – is costing thousands of Palestinian…

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Israel: Police launch probes into cops who told protester ‘I’ll rape your mother,’ shoved Knesset member

Israel: Police launch probes into cops who told protester ‘I’ll rape your mother,’ shoved Knesset member

The Times of Israel reports: The Department for Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) said Sunday it had opened probes into a police officer who was filmed telling a demonstrator that he would rape his mother, and other officers who clashed with a lawmaker. In a statement, the DIPI said it would contact the protester and Labor MK Naama Lazimi, and that the incidents would be investigated in depth. At the weekly protest at Jerusalem’s Paris Square, near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s…

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Israelis envision indefinite confinement for Palestinians who denounce Hamas

Israelis envision indefinite confinement for Palestinians who denounce Hamas

Denounce Hamas and you get to live under military guard in a smaller prison camp within a larger prison camp? What an inducement. https://t.co/c8QC1LcASt — Megan K. Stack (@Megankstack) June 29, 2024 The Wall Street Journal reports: A plan that is gaining currency in the government and military envisions creating geographical “islands” or “bubbles” where Palestinians who are unconnected to Hamas can live in temporary shelter while the Israeli military mops up remaining insurgents. Other members of Prime Minister Benjamin…

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U.S. has sent Israel thousands of 2,000-pound bombs since Oct. 7

U.S. has sent Israel thousands of 2,000-pound bombs since Oct. 7

Reuters reports: The Biden administration has sent to Israel large numbers of munitions, including more than 10,000 highly destructive 2,000-pound bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles, since the start of the war in Gaza, said two U.S. officials briefed on an updated list of weapons shipments. Between the war’s start last October and recent days, the United States has transferred at least 14,000 of the MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600…

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62 Democrats join 207 Republicans in vote to conceal Gaza death toll

62 Democrats join 207 Republicans in vote to conceal Gaza death toll

The Intercept reports: The House of Representatives has voted to effectively conceal the death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza. On Thursday, lawmakers voted 269-144 on an amendment to prohibit the State Department from citing statistics from the Gaza Health Ministry. The measure is part of the annual State Department appropriations bill. It was led by Democratic Reps. Jared Moskowitz, Fla., and Josh Gottheimer, N.J., and Republican Reps. Joe Wilson, S.C.; Mike Lawler, N.Y.; and Carol Miller, W.V. In total,…

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Pyongyang says it will send troops to Ukraine within a month

Pyongyang says it will send troops to Ukraine within a month

Kyiv Post reports: Last week, President Vladimir Putin made an official state visit to the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (DPRK) – North Korea, his first for almost a quarter of a century. As part of that visit Putin and Kim Jong Un signed a so-called defense pact in the North Korean capital on June 19. The military treaty states: “In the event that any one of the two sides is put in a state of war by an armed…

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U.S. intel indicates war between Israel and Hezbollah is increasingly likely unless there is a ceasefire in Gaza

U.S. intel indicates war between Israel and Hezbollah is increasingly likely unless there is a ceasefire in Gaza

Politico reports: A large-scale confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah is likely to break out in the next several weeks if Jerusalem and Hamas fail to reach a cease-fire deal in Gaza, U.S. intelligence indicates. U.S. officials are trying to convince both sides to deescalate — a task that would be significantly easier with a cease-fire in place in Gaza. But that agreement is in tense negotiations and U.S. officials are not confident Israel and Hamas will agree to the deal…

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Out of 25,000 patients in need, 19 sick and injured children leave Gaza in first medical evacuation since May

Out of 25,000 patients in need, 19 sick and injured children leave Gaza in first medical evacuation since May

The Associated Press reports: Israeli authorities say 68 people — 19 sick and injured children plus their companions — have been allowed out of the Gaza Strip and into Egypt in the first medical evacuation since May, when the territory’s sole travel crossing was shut down. The Israeli military body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, known by its acronym COGAT, said Thursday that the evacuation was carried out in coordination with officials from the United States, Egypt and the international…

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Analysis reveals damage and destruction of cultural heritage sites in Gaza

Analysis reveals damage and destruction of cultural heritage sites in Gaza

Bellingcat Investigation Team reports: Bellingcat and our partners at Scripps News have identified damage at dozens of religious and cultural heritage sites in Gaza since the Israel-Gaza conflict began in October last year. Satellite imagery as well as videos and images were used to identify the impact on sites that include archaeological treasures dating back thousands of years, as well as religious facilities such as mosques and cemeteries. The findings add to research being carried out by UNESCO and others…

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J Street helped transform Jamaal Bowman’s view of Israel but the ‘pro-peace’ group remains soft on genocide

J Street helped transform Jamaal Bowman’s view of Israel but the ‘pro-peace’ group remains soft on genocide

Last week, Politico reported: In late 2021, Jamaal Bowman stepped out of a tour bus into the heat in Hebron. The then-rookie New York congressman was visiting the H2 area of the ancient city in the West Bank, which remains under Israeli military occupation with barbed wire-covered checkpoints every few blocks. Bowman had been in the Middle East for just three days, but he was already seeing sights that were changing the way he understood the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That day,…

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Prominent Israelis calling on Congress to disinvite Netanyahu

Prominent Israelis calling on Congress to disinvite Netanyahu

David Harel, Tamir Pardo, Talia Sasson, Ehud Barak, Aaron Ciechanover and David Grossman writes: The leaders of the U.S. Congress have invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to address a joint meeting of the Senate and the House of Representatives on July 24. Normally, we Israelis would consider the invitation recognition of our two nations’ shared values and a welcome gesture from our closest friend and ally, to whom we are deeply and morally indebted. But Congress has made…

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One in five households in Gaza go whole days without food, draft UN report says

One in five households in Gaza go whole days without food, draft UN report says

The Guardian reports: More than half of households in Gaza have had to sell or swap their clothes to be able to buy food, the UN is to report, as a high risk of famine remains across the whole of the territory after a new round of violence in recent weeks. The latest “Special Snapshot” of Gaza from the UN’s hunger monitoring system, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), that will be published on Tuesday also says that one…

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Israel’s top court rules ultra-Orthodox Jews must be drafted into military, in blow to Netanyahu

Israel’s top court rules ultra-Orthodox Jews must be drafted into military, in blow to Netanyahu

CNN reports: Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the government to draft ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, delivering a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that has the potential to unravel his ruling coalition. The court also ordered the government to withdraw funding from any religious schools, or yeshivas, whose students do not comply with draft notices. “The government wanted to distinguish at the level of law enforcement between individuals based on their group affiliation,” the court said in its…

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