Demonstrations and protest events continued in several Arab and Islamic cities denouncing the Israeli aggression on Gaza and the Baptist Hospital massacre, which was committed by the Israeli occupation forces and left more than 500 martyrs.

• Tunisia
  Several demonstrations were launched in Tunisian cities denouncing the Israeli massacre, and the National Salvation Front and the Tunisian General Labor Union called for protests in the Tunisian capital. The demonstrators raised slogans demanding an end to the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, and stressing solidarity with the Palestinian people.

A number of Tunis residents also went out in a demonstration in front of the French embassy to express their protest against the massacres committed by the Israeli occupation.

• Sultanate of Oman
  Dozens of Omanis participated in a protest in front of the US Embassy in Muscat, denouncing the Israeli massacres against the Palestinian people. The demonstrators raised slogans in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance and rejected normalization with the occupation.

• Iraq
  Iraqi institutions witnessed several protests denouncing the bombing that targeted the National Baptist Hospital in Gaza.

At the University of Baghdad, thousands of students and professors organized a protest in which they declared their solidarity with the Palestinians, during which they demanded an end to the Israeli attacks.

Yesterday, Tuesday, Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani directed employees and members of all state departments, facilities and formations, and students of universities and schools throughout Iraq, to perform a stand of solidarity and mourning in their workplaces in loyalty and reverence for the innocent souls of the Palestinian people who were martyred in the attack on the Baptist Hospital in Gaza.

• Iran
  Iranians demonstrated this Wednesday morning in the cities of Mashhad, Tehran, Diyar Kariman and Arak, in solidarity with the people of Gaza and to denounce the Baptist Hospital massacre in which hundreds were martyred.

• Jordan
  Jordanian pages published a live broadcast of dozens of students at Al-Hussein Bin Talal University in Jordan, in a demonstration of solidarity with the people of Gaza and the massacres they are being subjected to.

• Lebanon
  Demonstrations took place in Palestinian refugee camps and cities in Lebanon, in solidarity with Palestine, and hundreds of people from Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, gathered in a solidarity stand called for by Hezbollah in solidarity with Gaza and in denunciation of the massacres against children.

Lebanese media platforms published scenes of a protest by health teams in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp.

• Morocco

In Morocco, lawyers stood in Casablanca in protest against the crimes of the occupation against the Palestinian people.

• Idlib
  Dozens of Atma residents in the Idlib countryside, northern Syria, went out in a demonstration, raising Palestinian flags, in solidarity with Gaza and the crimes it is being subjected to by the occupation army.

• Egypt
  Dozens of students from Minya University in Upper Egypt, Mansoura University and Fayoum University organized a massive demonstration on Wednesday in support of the Palestinian cause, rejecting the Israeli aggression on Gaza, and denouncing the bombing of the Baptist Hospital, which left hundreds of martyrs.

A number of lawyers also organized a protest in the city of Alexandria, Egypt, to denounce the massacre.

• Türkiye
  Thousands of Turkish citizens demonstrated in front of the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul, denouncing the massacre at the National Baptist Hospital in Gaza. The demonstrators chanted slogans against the Israeli occupation, describing the massacre as a war crime against the people of Gaza. The city of Istanbul also witnessed demonstrations in both parts of the city, in addition to other demonstrations in the capital, Ankara, and the cities of Van, Kayseri, and Diyarbakir.

In a call with Andrew Miller, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs, on Monday, leaders of the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic community criticized the administration of US President Joe Biden “for being insensitive and even reckless in its rhetoric after the Hamas attack on Israel last week,” which puts the community in the circle of being targeted by Before racist extremists, according to what was published by the American newspaper Politico on Wednesday.

“The discussion was a frank expression of concerns about the conduct of President (Biden) and his team. It came at a particularly sensitive time: in the wake of the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American child in the Chicago area, which authorities described as “It is a hate crime,” according to Politico.

The newspaper said that in a call on Monday, (which was first reported by Politico), Zaha Hassan, a human rights lawyer, addressed what she believed was the Biden administration’s problematic language, noting that: “At a press conference last week, a State Department spokesperson declined to say specifically Directed that Israel should stop cutting off medicine, water and humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, although he said he expected Israel to abide by international law.

“He gave the impression that it was okay to do this to Palestinians because they are Palestinians,” she said in the call. "This is inhumane, and it opens the door for people to think that some things are okay because they must be bad people. They must be terrorists."

Also on the call, Warren David, president of Arab America, told Andrew Miller, deputy assistant secretary of state for Israeli-Palestinian affairs, that his members were “angry — outraged — to say the least about the rhetoric coming out of the Arabs.” The last few days” of the Biden administration.

David warned against the “demonization of Palestinians in Gaza and Arabs in general,” which “has already led to an escalation of hatred” against them. Miller asked what the State Department and President Joe Biden intend to do to “undo their negative rhetoric” in light of the killing of Wadih Fayoum.

“We feel that significant damage has been done in terms of the image of Arabs in the United States,” David said on the call. “In some ways, this is worse than what happened on September 11.”

In response, Miller stressed that "the Biden administration's intent was certainly not to stir up anti-Arab sentiment" and welcomed further discussions "to make sure we're not inadvertently contributing to a problem." He also said that "the Palestinian people are not responsible for the actions of Hamas" and that the administration takes the safety of minorities "very seriously."

The call starkly highlighted how fearful Arab Americans and Muslims across the country are of becoming victims of a 9/11-style backlash following the Hamas rampage. It also highlighted the growing frustration they felt with the administration's stance, even as the president's tone evolved.

These frustrations, as well as the uneasiness expressed in the call, may become more important as the conflict in Israel escalates. As Biden prepared to travel to Israel this week, an explosion in a hospital in Gaza killed hundreds of people and heightened international alarm about civilian casualties. Israel and Hamas made conflicting accusations of responsibility for the explosion

With its continuous bombing of Gaza, Israel has killed more than 3,500 Palestinians (as of Wednesday morning) since the start of the war it launched against the besieged Strip, while the death toll in Israel rose to 1,400, according to the Israeli authorities.

“We cannot lose sight of the fact that the vast majority of Palestinians had nothing to do with the horrific attacks by Hamas and Hamas, and that they are suffering as a result as well,” Biden said in a statement.

He made similar comments at a Human Rights Campaign dinner this weekend, denouncing the “humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” After the killing of the Fayoumi child, Biden said he was "shocked and disgusted" by the news. He added: "This horrific act of hate has no place in America."

But some Arab American and Muslim leaders, as well as their allies, dismissed Biden's latest comments as too little, too late. They said in interviews that they were horrified by recent statements by foreign policy hawks such as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), who described the war between Israel and Hamas as a "religious war." But they said they were also troubled by statements often made by Biden officials and other Democrats who align with them.

Many expressed disappointment in comments made last week by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who called progressive lawmakers' call for a ceasefire "disgraceful," "wrong" and "abhorrent." They were particularly frustrated given that two of the top liberal politicians calling for a ceasefire are Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). The two members, the first Muslim women elected to Congress, were among a group of progressive lawmakers of color who received a security briefing from Capitol Police amid escalating threats.

White House officials said Biden stood firm against Islamophobia and anti-Semitism throughout his presidency. They noted that he has repeatedly stated that Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people, ordered his top national security officials to meet with Muslim leaders last week, and called on law enforcement officials to identify any potential domestic threats that may arise in relation to Israel. - Hamas war.

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute and a member of the Democratic National Committee, told Politico that he was “deeply concerned” by the recent rhetoric of Biden and his aides.

“There was no language of sympathy for the Palestinians in the initial statements. He added that there was no call for a ceasefire or restraint.

In turn, Khalil Jahshan, executive director of the Arab Center in Washington, D.C., who participated in the call on Monday, said that in previous discussions with Biden officials last week, Arab American and Muslim leaders raised “the issue of domestic violence here and the need to combat domestic violence.” Let the president open his mouth and say that this is not a war against his fellow Americans.”

Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), stressed on Wednesday that Gaza is witnessing an “unprecedented catastrophe,” and said that “the world seems to have lost its humanity.”

Lazzarini indicated in a statement carried by the Arab World News Agency that an UNRWA school housing 4,000 displaced people was bombed yesterday, killing at least 6 people and wounding dozens. He added that “horrific images” are still coming from Al-Maamdani Hospital in Gaza.

He pointed out that thousands of civilians were killed during the past 12 days. Including women and children.

Last night, an Israeli bombing on Al-Maamdani Hospital in Gaza, which was crowded with wounded and displaced people, caused the death of hundreds of Palestinians.

Palestinian television said that 500 people were killed in the Israeli bombing that targeted the hospital, which is one of the oldest hospitals in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Information Center said that another 600 people were injured in the bombing.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that more than 3,200 people had been killed and 11,000 injured. Most of them are children and women, since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip.

Confrontations broke out between citizens and Israeli occupation forces on Wednesday evening in Nablus and Jerusalem.

In Nablus, the occupation forces fired live bullets, rubber-coated metal bullets, and poison gas bombs at citizens in the village of Osrin, south of Nablus, and on the outskirts of the village of Deir Sharaf to the west.

In northwest Jerusalem, clashes broke out between young men and the occupation forces in the town of Beit Daqu, north of Beit Daqu, and no injuries or arrests were reported.

Two Palestinian teens were killed by live bullets today, Wednesday, after the Israeli occupation forces targeted them at the entrance to the village of Shuqba, west of Ramallah.

According to local sources, the occupation soldiers targeted the two teenagers, Qais Taim Shalash (17 years old) and Khalil Muhammad Khalil (15 years old) at the entrance to the village with live bullets, resulting in their death.

Today, Wednesday, Israeli settlers and occupation forces attacked Palestinian citizens while they were picking olives in the West Bank.

In Nablus, a group of settlers opened fire on a group of citizens while they were picking olives in the village of Burqa, northwest of the city.

Settlers also bulldozed areas of land in the village of Tal, west of Nablus, and uprooted its olive trees.

Meanwhile, a group of settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles on the Tal-Madama road, west of Nablus.

In Salfit, the Israeli occupation forces stormed the “Umm Hanoun” area in the town of Kafr al-Dik, west of the city, and forced the residents to leave their lands and prevented them from picking olives.

The media advisor to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, Adnan Abu Hasna, said that the agency’s food supplies are only enough for half a day, and that what Gaza is currently being exposed to has never been exposed to in all previous wars with the Israeli occupation.

Abu Hasna added: In previous wars, Israel was coordinating with UNRWA, reopening the crossings to bring in relief aid, and opening humanitarian corridors, but this complete closure has not happened since 1967.

The UNRWA media advisor confirmed that fuel in Gaza is about to run out, the health sector is collapsing, and all of Gaza is now drinking polluted water. The population in the Gaza Strip drinks directly from wells, its salinity level is 9 times the global average, and all desalination plants are stopped, in addition to the fact that sewage flows directly into the Gaza underground reservoir and its services are stopped, and after all of that, there has been a siege on the Gaza Strip for 16 years.

In an attempt to alleviate the catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip, Adnan said that the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, made contacts with regional countries, the US administration, and the European Union, and the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, visited Cairo and met with Egyptian officials in order to coordinate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. . But in practice and on the ground, the crossings are still closed.

The occupation forces committed a horrific massacre, the largest in decades in the history of the Palestinian conflict, when they bombed those fleeing from death in the courtyard of the Baptist Hospital in Gaza, which led to the death of 500 Palestinians, the majority of whom were children, and the injury of hundreds of others.

The Arab National Hospital (Baptist) is a local institution that provides health care to residents of different areas of the Gaza Strip. It belongs to the Anglican Episcopal Church in Jerusalem, and is considered one of the oldest hospitals in Gaza.

“Al-Mamadani” is located in one of the residential squares in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in the Gaza Strip, surrounded by the Church of St. Porphyrius, the Al-Shamaa Mosque, and the cemetery of Sheikh Shaaban, according to a report on “Al-Jazeera Net.”

“Al-Baptist” is one of the oldest hospitals in Gaza City. It was founded at the end of the 19th century AD by the missionary mission of England. It was managed by Reverend “Elliot” and was succeeded by Dr. Bailey, then Dr. Stirling. It was the only hospital in the region between Jaffa and Port Said, and provides its services to approximately 200 people. A thousand people.

In World War I, “Al-Maamdani” was destroyed, stolen, and looted. Then it was rebuilt and called “Arab National Hospital” in 1919. It remained under the management of Dr. Stirling until 1928, then its management was transferred to Dr. Alfred until 1948.

At that time, the Evangelical missionary mission affiliated with England decided to close the hospital with the end of the British mandate over Palestine, but the Baptist mission took care of the hospital, so they took it and transferred its management to it, and Gaza at that time belonged to Egypt.

A dispute occurred over the ownership of this hospital in the 1940s and 1950s, following the Egyptian administration’s abolition of the Civil Endowment Law in Gaza, which exposed the hospital’s property and lands to an ownership dispute.

It continued to provide its services despite the Israeli occupation of the area, and its officials also continued to develop it, building a second floor, which included an office for two doctors, a laboratory, and three rooms allocated for various therapeutic purposes. The laboratory also included services for training local students and accrediting them as laboratory technicians. The hospital established the first physical therapy unit in the sector.

In 1976, UNRWA cut off aid to Al-Maamdani and stopped its support for the hospital’s nursing school, so its work declined and the number of its employees was reduced. At the beginning of 1977, the hospital had only 3 doctors and 28 nurses, and the number of patients it received began to decrease. By the end of the seventies, its ownership returned to the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.

At that time, the name of the “Ahli Arab Hospital” was changed and it was funded by the United Palestinian Society of America, and it continued to provide its services and receive patients and injuries during the various wars, starting with the first Palestinian Intifada (December 1987) and ending with the “Al-Aqsa Flood” war in October. 2023.

The hospital has developed significantly and its departments have multiplied, becoming an integrated health institution containing different departments, namely:

– Emergency Department, which operates around the clock.

- Department of Surgery.

– Department of Orthopedic Surgery.

– Operations Department.

- maternity section.

– Pharmacy Department.

- Department of Physical Therapy.

– Burns Department.

- Laboratory Department.

– Department of Radiology and Mammography.

– The outpatient department provides its services seven days a week except Sunday.

The Anglican Church condemns the massacre

The Anglican Episcopal Church in occupied Jerusalem condemned the massacre carried out by occupation aircraft at the Baptist Hospital in Gaza.

The church said in a statement issued by it that, coinciding with the day of fasting and prayer for peace, which was declared by the patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem, the Arab National Hospital in Gaza, which is affiliated with the Anglican Episcopal Church, was brutally attacked, according to the Palestinian News Agency (Wafa).

She added, “Hospitals are considered safe havens, according to the principles of international humanitarian law, but this attack exceeded those sacred boundaries.”

He continued: “We responded to the call of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who called for the protection of medical facilities and the cancellation of evacuation orders. “It is unfortunate that Gaza is still deprived of safe havens.”

The Anglican Episcopal Church said, “The destruction we witnessed, along with the desecrated targeting of the church, strikes at the core of human morality,” stressing that the Israeli attack “deserves international condemnation and punishment.”

The Church issued an urgent appeal to the international community “to fulfill its obligations to protect civilians and ensure that such horrific, inhumane acts are not repeated.”

The Church expressed its grief over the loss of countless lives who lived in its facilities, declaring a day of mourning in all its churches and institutions, and appealed to “friends, partners and individuals of good will to stand in solidarity, denouncing the heinous attack on our dedicated staff and vulnerable patients.”

Since the attack launched by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on October 7, the world's attention has been entirely focused on the escalating attack launched by the Israeli army on the Gaza Strip, without anyone paying attention to the growing political persecution inside Israel against the Palestinians and some Jews who oppose the destruction of Gaza. And its siege.

With this introduction, the Israeli magazine "972" began - a joint investigation between Ghosn Bsharat, Oren Ziv, and Baker Zoabi - in which they shed light on what is happening inside Israel, amid the world's preoccupation with the events in Gaza, including suspension of studies, expulsion from jobs, and nightly arrests, due to posts on social media.

The magazine reviewed - as an example of the growing climate of repression in Israel since the start of the war - a letter addressed to an Israeli Jewish faculty member at Central Israel College reprimanding him for changing his profile picture on Facebook with the comment that “the Gaza ghetto will be liberated,” concluding that “in view of the danger Your posts have resulted in you being suspended pending a disciplinary investigation that will be conducted with you in the coming days.”

Increasing climate of repression

The magazine pointed out that the day before Monday, the Attorney General’s Office asked the heads of higher education institutions - who contacted it following cases of students who published words praising terrorism - to send the details to the Israeli police so that their case could be investigated at the criminal level outside the disciplinary level with which the educational institution deals. .

But the increasing persecution in recent days has not been limited to academic institutions, as the Civil Society Coalition for Emergencies in the Arab Community reported that at least 30 Palestinian citizens of Israel have been fired from their jobs, due to social media posts seen as supporting an attack. Hamas, and the Israeli police revealed that about 170 Palestinians had been arrested or submitted for interrogation, at a time when the Attorney General’s Office said that it had “zero tolerance” for those who express “support for the enemy,” and for those who wish to harm Israeli soldiers “as they fight the deadly enemy.” .

Director of the Justice Center, Hassan Jabareen, said that his center “has received reports of illegal arrests carried out often brutally and late at night without justification, all based on posts on social media,” which reflects “a worrying trend of deliberate persecution and banning of expression.” Project,” and indeed the center has received reports of people being summoned for police investigation or interrogated simply for “liking” posts on social media.

Help the enemy

In another strange case seen last week, Amer Al-Huzayel, the candidate for the position of mayor of the Bedouin city of Rahat, was arrested on suspicion of “aiding the enemy during wartime” on the basis of a brief political analysis he wrote and shared on Facebook, in which he presented his interpretation of the possibilities of Israel reoccupying the Gaza Strip. Police representative Muhammad Mohamed said. Ibrahim Al-Huzail “published several posts, including one that we believe helps the enemy.”

In the same context, the famous Palestinian singer Dalal Abu Amna - who has more than a million followers - was arrested because of a post in which she wrote, “There is no victor but God,” when she was filing a complaint at the Nazareth Police Station against right-wing activists who sent her several threatening messages, so he called her. One of her children told her that there were police officers knocking on the door and asking to see her. After the call, the officers returned to the police station and arrested her.

This campaign against freedom of expression extends beyond the level of the state and academic institutions to the broader society, as the magazine says, as Israel Frey, the left-wing Jewish journalist and outspoken critic of Israeli policy, was subjected to a campaign of intimidation in his home carried out by the extreme right, and demonstrators fired flares at his apartment and chased him as he fled, and he stated that The police officers who took him for interrogation spat on him, physically assaulted him, and accused him of “supporting Hamas,” which the police denied.

Today, Wednesday, thousands of citizens participated in vigils, demonstrations and marches denouncing the crimes of the Israeli occupation and its continuing aggression against the Gaza Strip, in the West Bank and the camps in Lebanon.

In Bethlehem, a large crowd of citizens and health personnel in the city participated in a protest denouncing the crimes of the Israeli occupation and its continued aggression against the Gaza Strip since the seventh of this month.

The participants gathered, in response to the invitation of the Factional Coordination Committee, federations, unions, institutions, events and churches in the Bethlehem Governorate, on the court of the Church of the Nativity, raising Palestinian flags and banners on which expressions were written condemning the crimes being committed, the most recent of which was the Baptist Hospital massacre.

Father Mitri Al-Raheb said in a speech he delivered on behalf of the churches of Bethlehem: We stand today in front of the Church of the Nativity united and denouncing a crime that shames humanity if there is some humanity left in the world that does not do anything in the face of the crimes being committed in the Gaza Strip, the latest of which is the Baptist Hospital massacre.

He added that the pain of the crime hurt us all as one indivisible people. Gaza is Bethlehem and Bethlehem is Gaza. We are one people, and our message to the occupier is that we will remain steadfast on this land and the occupation war machine will not be able to uproot us from a land that witnessed the birth of Jesus Christ.

The monk called on the world and the international community to intervene to stop the crimes in Gaza, and to open safe humanitarian corridors to supply our brothers with medicine, food, and water, stressing that our people want freedom, independence, justice, and human dignity, sending a message to the world to hear Christ’s message, which is, “I have come so that you may have a better life.”

For his part, the coordinator of the factional coordination committee in Bethlehem Governorate, Muhammad al-Jaafari, said, “We came today and in front of the Church of the Nativity to deliver a message to the world that the attacks and crimes against the Baptist Church and the hospital are a bloody massacre committed in front of the world, which did not move. Where are your consciences?”

Al-Jaafari warned against the fifth column, which is exploiting the situation to stir up chaos and strife, which would harm the social fabric to achieve agendas outside the national ranks. Therefore, we absolutely reject harming the security establishment, and the compass must remain directed to the struggle towards the brutal occupier.

The Mayor of Bethlehem, Hanna Hanania, stressed that what is happening in Gaza is an attempt at human genocide, and the world must stand up to its responsibilities to do justice to our people by achieving independence and establishing their Palestinian state with Holy Jerusalem as its capital.

In Ramallah, thousands of citizens demonstrated in the city, denouncing the massacres committed by the Israeli occupation army, for the twelfth day in a row, against our people in the Gaza Strip.

In response to factional and popular calls, thousands took part in the demonstration that took place in the streets of Ramallah, where the Palestinian flag was raised, banners denouncing the crimes of the occupation and demanding their immediate cessation, chanted slogans denouncing the occupation’s plan to displace the people of the Gaza Strip, and affirming our right to freedom, independence and national unity.

In Tulkarm, crowds took part in an angry march denouncing the Israeli occupation massacre, at Al-Baptist Hospital.

The participants raised Palestinian flags, chanted national takbirs and chants of anger at the crimes of the occupation in the Gaza Strip, and demanded urgent action from all countries of the world to support our people and end their suffering.

The march was preceded by a massive stand in the middle of Gamal Abdel Nasser Square, at the invitation of the National Action factions, during which speeches were given that emphasized the necessity of supporting our people in the steadfast Gaza Strip, and condemned the occupation’s massacres against our people, especially children, women and the sick.

It stressed that national unity to confront the occupation and strengthen the steadfastness of our people on their land is the only guarantee for achieving victory and freedom.

Last night one of my closest Palestinian friends who live in Sheikh Jarah in East Jerusalem called me crying “did you see what they did, they bombed a hospital in Gaza – so many dead children”. It was already late evening, I was zapping between the talking heads on Israel’s three main channels – and nada, no report, no pictures, no denial yet of any wrong doing.  Then there were news flashes and some windows of pictures from foreign news services.  Then the spinners got spinning and the Israeli channels produced all of the denials – no, it can’t be Israel. Then they started screening videos of rockets being fired from Gaza with one appearing to fall on the hospital – according to their claim. The experts sat around the studio and came to the conclusion that it wasn’t Israel, it was Islamic Jihad. Many rockets from Gaza fall in Gaza. I got sick and tired of these television stations jumping to baseless conclusions and joking about Jihad and Hamas killing their own people while a genuine human tragedy was taking place just over the border.

I opened up some Palestinian and Arab news channels and saw the pictures from the other side. Heart wrenching scenes of carnage – there is no other way to describe it. Then came the scenes of the massive demonstrations of anger and pain from Ramallah, Amman, Istanbul and throughout the Arab and Islamic world. There will for sure be massive demonstrations all around Europe today and in Asia against Israel. There is no way that any human being can be neutral in viewing the human tragedy in Gaza. Just as I expected no human being to be neutral to the horrific terror attack on Israel on October 7, we cannot be obtuse to the catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. 

Before going to bed last night, I posted on my social media: The hit on the hospital in Gaza is a criminal act of war. Whoever did it, Israel as claimed by Palestinians, or Jihad as claimed by Israel, should admit their guilt. If it was intentional it is even more horrific.

This is a turning point in the war. The narrative has been set and no evidence brought by Israel will convince the Palestinian people, the Arab world, and much of the West that Israel did not do it. I have no way of knowing who did it. I have not seen Hamas or Jihad rockets with the fire power of the size of the explosion at the hospital that we saw on our TV screens. All of the talking heads on Israeli television refused to admit that Israeli precise bombings, the last world in the technology of death, can at times miss their target. What they did not say, is that sometimes they do, sometimes pilots make errors, sometimes the technology does not work and sometimes they are even given wrong targets to hit. 

What was totally absent in the reporting in Israel was compassion. We demanded compassion from Palestinian citizens of Israel when Israel was brutally attacked and more than 1300 innocent victims were killed. We wanted to hear the compassion of the world. I know that Israel is traumatized by what happened on October 7, but have we lost our humanity as a result? The Palestinian people are our neighbors and will always be our neighbors.

My heart bleeds for all of the innocent victims of this conflict and this war. While I cannot see a scenario of this war ending with Hamas still in control of Gaza and posing an ongoing threat to Israel, I cannot tolerate the thought of how many more innocent victims will be in the path of removing Hamas. War is ugly, they say. War is much more than ugly. This must be the last war that we fight over this land. It is time that we begin to sanctify the people who live here and not the stones and symbols of our separate identities. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that the occupation forces' targeting of the Baptist Hospital in Gaza is a tragedy and a humanitarian catastrophe, as it led to the martyrdom of more than 500 Palestinians, noting that the occupation provided more than one account of the Baptist massacre.

Putin stressed his country's permanent support for the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Putin believes that the main players do not want the conflict to deepen.

27 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, on Wednesday afternoon, in an occupation bombing that targeted a house in the town of Jabalia, north of the Strip.

The occupation aircraft launches violent and intense raids on various areas of the Gaza Strip, while the Palestinian resistance responds with missile barrages at a number of targets.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced in its latest statistics that the number of martyrs in the Gaza Strip had risen to more than 3,300,000 martyrs during the occupation’s aggression, while the number of martyrs in the West Bank had reached 61 martyrs and more than 1,250 wounded since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa flood.

The mask that has long obscured the true nature and purpose of “international law”, the supposed foundation of the current global order, is finally off. As Palestinian cries for help from Gaza remain unanswered, the sinister truth is now undeniably out in the open: international justice, more often than not, is used as a tool to advance imperial interests, and not justice.

This was, of course, long known by anyone who has ever examined, even superficially, the history of imperialism, from the European scramble for Africa to more recent United States interventions in Latin America, and traced how that dark past has helped shape the way the world functions at present.

Sure, at first glance, international law appears to be a noble concept, promoting peace, universal application of human rights, cooperation and justice among nations. However, scratch beneath the surface, and a different narrative emerges, shaped by the ghosts of imperialism past.

Just look at how international law was eagerly used, and is still being used, to defend, heal and deliver justice to the Ukrainian people in the face of Russian aggression. Now compare that with how the same laws, norms and principles were reduced to mere footnotes and suggestions in the West’s response to the ongoing Israeli assault on the Palestinians. The West, led by the United States, clearly only champions adherence to international law and the rules-based global order when it suits its agenda.

So how did we get here?

For centuries, colonial expansion and exploitation, driven by a thirst for resources and geopolitical dominance, defined Western history. A handful of European states carved the world up between themselves, conquering lands, stealing resources, and brutally subjugating and enslaving peoples. Throughout this period of colonial dominance, Western states acted as if sovereignty and self-determination were their natural right and privilege and no one else’s.

The two world wars, which devastated European powers and sped up the deterioration of their control over most of their colonial territories, disturbed this unjust and untenable status quo.

In the late 1940s, with European states struggling to rebuild and national independence movements in Africa and beyond gaining pace, a new rules-based international order began to take shape and concepts like human rights and right to self-determination of nations started to be codified in law. With the formation of the United Nations, and establishment of bodies like the International Court of Justice and the UN Security Council, an illusion was created that these new set of rules applied to everyone – both the powerful Western states and their (former) colonies – equally and permanently.

While promoting the idea of national sovereignty and human rights on the surface, however, Western powers continued their habit of controlling, stealing from and exploiting other nations. They started to use this newly crafted “rules-based” order to covertly further their colonial policies and hinder similar efforts by their rivals. An initial test of international law and the institutions established to preserve it, came in the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company case before the International Court of Justice in early 1950s.  When the results did not serve imperial interests, the US and UK initiated Operation Ajax.

The US also wreaked havoc in Latin America throughout the latter half of the 20th century, toppling democratically elected governments, arming murderous militias and propping up dictators favorable to its agenda. Not only did it never face any sanction for these actions that blatantly broke international law, ridiculed the concept of national sovereignty and violated the basic human rights of millions, as embodied in Operation Condor.

The ongoing siege of Gaza under the umbrella of Operation Iron Swords, and the Western world’s support for it, is the latest – and perhaps the most obvious – example of the hypocrisy at the core of international law.

Israel, which has been illegally occupying Palestinian land and subjecting Palestinians to apartheid for decades, is now keeping over two million Palestinians, half of them children, under total blockade in Gaza, and indiscriminately bombing them.

In the face of such blatant violations of international law, and the declared intent to commit many more, how did the Western leaders of the international community, the self-assigned defenders of human rights across the world, respond?

They announced their unwavering support for Israel.

Why is this?

The strategic location of the region, rich in oil and gas reserves, has always served as a magnet, attracting the attention of those who seek to secure their energy interests, and historically influenced Western policies in the region. Prior to 1948, it was oil interests in the Iraq-Petroleum Company spanning from Kirkuk, Iraq to Haifa, Palestine. Today it is the developing Mediterranean natural gas interests of Chevron and British Petroleum. These may not be the sole reasons, but important variables for consideration in making sense of current geopolitical positions. The parallels between historical events and contemporary actions are striking. The Palestinian Question has long served as a wrench in these imperial ambitions and now they see an opportunity to dictate their own final solution.

So, now, the mask is off.

The Western powers can no longer claim that “international law” is supreme, and applies equally to everyone. As they shamelessly greenlight an unlawful and inhumane assault on Gaza, they cannot stop the conscientious citizens of the globe from questioning the integrity of the international legal system and challenging the notion that it is an impartial arbiter of justice. They can no longer hide the fact that international law is a tool created to serve imperial interests – a tool that allows them to act with impunity.

The Palestinian struggle is not just a struggle against occupation, apartheid and colonialism; it is a struggle against imperialism.

We need and deserve a new, just and equitable international order –  one that truly upholds the principles of fairness, equality and respect for the rights of all nations, regardless of their size or geopolitical significance.

Only by acknowledging the true nature of international law, and its utter uselessness in delivering any sort of justice to people trying to resist imperial dominance, can we hope to dismantle the current global order and start building a world where justice prevails over power, and humanity triumphs over politics. It is a daunting task, but one that is essential if we are to create a future where the rights and dignity of every individual, regardless of their nationality, are respected and protected – a future where international law applies to everyone and is not weaponized by powerful states against their rivals.

By Wesam Ahmad

Palestinian human rights advocate at Al-Haq NGO in Ramallah, Palestine.

Source: Al Jazeera

by Yousef Al-Helou

From the moment Israel woke up in shock at the unprecedented Hamas operation on 7 October, its propaganda machine has pushed fake news to justify its all-out war of vengeance against the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip. From allegations such as Hamas beheaded babies to rape, burning bodies and even killing dogs, the resistance movement was demonized, and thus dehumanized. All of the claims were accompanied by tears and emotional speeches by Israelis and pro-Israel allies and supporters.

Despite the lack of evidence, world leaders including US President Joe Biden repeated them and stressed Israel’s “right” to self-defense. The White House retracted Biden’s statements, but the UK’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman have not apologized for pushing this propaganda.

A few international journalists also circulated the lies, naming an Israeli soldier who spread them in the first place. Their professional ethics require journalists to check the veracity of the “facts” that they use in any suspect story. This has not been done. Moreover, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared a photo of what he claimed was the charred body of an Israeli baby killed by Hamas. However, the original image has since been claimed to have been that of a dog which was photoshopped.

Social media companies have been censoring and removing pro-Palestinian content

With claims and counterclaims filling social media, some apologies have been received from international figures, but not from Israelis. What’s more, the social media companies have been censoring and removing pro-Palestinian content. Many accounts belonging to Palestinians have been restricted, while others have been taken down altogether. No such censorship by the companies has been heard of about Israeli propaganda and hate-filled messages in Hebrew directed at the Palestinians.

Citizen journalists are enthusiastic and plentiful across occupied Palestine, especially in Gaza. The internet has allowed them to raise awareness of their plight around the world in an instant. The Zionist massacres and colonization didn’t start in 2008 with Operation Cast Lead, or even in 1967 with the Naksa. They began in the 1940s in the run up to the creation of the colonial state of Israel and the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. The Nakba (Catastrophe) is ongoing.

While Israeli propaganda seeks to make out that the issue at stake here is the Hamas attack last weekend, Palestinians and their supporters point out that the cause of the issue Israel’s occupation of Palestine. As the Palestinian Permanent Representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said last week, “Regrettably, history for some media and politicians only starts when Israelis are killed. We will never accept a rhetoric that denigrates our humanity and reneges our rights, a rhetoric that ignores the occupation of our land and oppression of our people.”

It seems that many people agree. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in major cities across the world to demonstrate their opposition to Israel’s bombing of Gaza. Their demand is to end Israel’s apartheid and military occupation of Palestine.

Israel’s propagandists at home and abroad have been working hard to try to counter this. They are desperate to divert attention away from the occupation state’s war crimes and crimes against humanity. The so-called Israel “Defense” Forces have played their part by bombing the Gaza Strip’s main telecommunications company, leading to the disruption of landlines and internet services. International pressure meant that the collective punishment of cutting internet services to Gaza was not implemented.

During the devastating Israeli military offensives against Gaza in 2008/9, 2012, 2014, 2021 and 2022, Palestinian journalists and social media activists won the online battle in countering the pro-Israel mainstream media and political narrative. In doing so, they opened up events in Gaza to vast numbers of people around the world. Today they are doing the same again, even as Israel commits genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Source: MEMO

Arab and international condemnations continued for the Israeli army’s bombing of the Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip, leaving more than a thousand martyrs among the displaced civilians who took refuge in the hospital run by the Anglican Episcopal Church in Jerusalem after their homes were destroyed as a result of the Israeli occupation’s attacks.

President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning, stressing that the occupation’s bombing of the Baptist Hospital was a crime of genocide and a humanitarian catastrophe.

The Arab Republic of Egypt condemned in the strongest terms, in a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Israeli bombing of Al-Ahly Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip, which resulted in hundreds of innocent victims, wounded and injured Palestinian citizens in Gaza.

Egypt considered this deliberate bombing of civilian facilities and targets a serious violation of the provisions of international and humanitarian law, and of the most basic values of humanity, calling on Israel to immediately stop its policies of collective punishment against the people of the Gaza Strip.

Egypt called on all countries of the world, especially major and influential countries, to intervene to stop these violations and condemn them unequivocally, and to demand that Israel stop targeting the vicinity of the Rafah crossing to enable Egypt and any other countries and international and relief organizations it wishes to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip as quickly as possible.

The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned in the strongest terms the heinous crime committed by the Israeli occupation forces by bombing the Baptist Hospital in Gaza, which led to the death of hundreds of civilians, including children and the wounded.

The UAE also strongly condemned the Israeli attack on the hospital in Gaza.

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said, “Hundreds of martyrs fell in the Baptist Hospital in Gaza as a result of Israeli criminality and the global conscience that is silent about injustice and truth, so for how long?”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman considered Israel’s targeting of the Baptist Hospital in Gaza a “crime of war and genocide.”

The Mauritanian government expressed its "condemnation and denunciation of the heinous crime and horrific massacre committed by the Israeli war machine," and declared "national mourning for the souls of the martyrs of this painful massacre and the flags to be flown at half-mast for a period of 3 days."

It also called on the international community to "assume its legal and humanitarian responsibilities and impose an immediate halt to the genocide against the Palestinian people, and provide them with urgent protection."

The Algerian presidency strongly condemned Israel's "deliberate attack" on a hospital in the Gaza Strip.

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry held Israel responsible for this dangerous development and condemned in the strongest terms the attack on the Baptist Hospital.

Iraq also declared a state of official mourning for 3 days across the country "in honor of the innocent lives that fell victim to international silence before falling victim to the fire of barbaric aggression."

Basem Al-Awadi, the official spokesman for the Iraqi government, said in a press statement, “We declare general mourning throughout the Republic of Iraq for a period of 3 days, out of loyalty and honor to the innocent souls who fell victim to international silence before they fell victim to the fire of barbaric aggression.”

The Iraqi spokesman called on the Arab countries, friendly countries, and the free world to adopt a unified position by issuing an urgent and immediate resolution from the UN Security Council to “stop this ugly, blatant aggression.”

The head of the Libyan National Unity Government, Abdul Hamid Al-Dabaiba, confirmed that targeting Al-Baptisti Hospital is a brutal crime that exceeded all limits.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Libyan unity government stated that "the Israeli occupation's deliberate bombing of Al-Ahly Baptist Hospital is a war crime in accordance with international and humanitarian law, and its perpetrators must be punished."

The League's Secretary-General, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said, "What kind of hell is the mind that bombs a hospital with its defenseless inmates? The West must stop this tragedy immediately."

Morocco strongly denounced the bombing by Israeli forces of the Baptist Hospital in Gaza, which left hundreds dead and wounded.

In a statement to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Kingdom renewed its "demand that civilians be protected by all parties and not be targeted."

In the statement, she emphasized "the urgent need for concerted efforts by the international community to stop hostilities as soon as possible, respect international humanitarian law, and work to avoid the region sliding towards further escalation and tension."

The Gulf Cooperation Council condemned the Israeli bombing of the Baptist Hospital in Gaza, describing it as “brutal.”

On Wednesday, the head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, accused Israel of committing a “war crime.”

Faki said in a post on the X platform (formerly Twitter) that “there are no words that adequately express our condemnation of the Israeli bombing of a hospital in Gaza today, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people.”

The President of the African Commission called on the international community to take action, stressing that "targeting a hospital considered a safe haven under international humanitarian law is a war crime."

The United Nations Secretariat strongly condemned the attack on the Baptist Hospital and called for an end to attacks on civilians and health facilities.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations said that he was shocked by the killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians in a strike on a hospital in Gaza, which I strongly condemn and condemn, and my heart goes out to the families of the victims in Gaza.

The World Health Organization strongly condemned the attack on the Baptist Hospital in Gaza, which claimed hundreds of lives, saying it was “unprecedented in its scope,” and condemned the attack.

Richard Peppercorn, the World Health Organization's representative in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said, "This attack is unprecedented in scope. We are witnessing continuing attacks on health care in the occupied Palestinian territories."

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) strongly condemned the attack on the Baptist Hospital in Gaza, and called for an immediate ceasefire.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, condemned the “completely unacceptable” bombing that targeted a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday evening.

Turk said in a statement, "Words are inexpressible. Tonight, hundreds of people were killed in a horrific way in the attack on the National Arab Hospital, including patients, health care providers, and families who took refuge in the hospital and its surroundings. Once again, the most vulnerable people are being injured. This is completely unacceptable." .

US President Joe Biden expressed his "anger and deep sadness over the explosion in the Al-Ahli Hospital" in Gaza.

The US President offered his "deepest condolences for the innocent lives lost in the explosion in a hospital in Gaza," wishing "a speedy recovery for the wounded," according to what the White House announced Tuesday.

The US Department of Defense said that it provides Israel with security systems to eliminate Hamas, but this does not mean killing innocent civilians.

Dmitry Polyansky, Russia's deputy delegate to the United Nations, said that Russia and the UAE requested a UN Security Council meeting to be held tomorrow, Wednesday, after the Israeli air strike on a hospital in Gaza.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed that the news received about Israel's bombing of the Baptist Hospital was disastrous, and said that it was "a terrible and unacceptable matter."

European Council President Charles Michel said that Israel's bombing of a hospital in Gaza and the "comprehensive siege" of the Palestinian Strip "are not in line with international law."

Meanwhile, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, wrote on his account on the “X” platform that the attack on the Gaza Hospital is “a tragedy unfolding before our eyes.”

"Once again, innocent civilians are paying the heavy price," Borrell added.

The European official stressed that "responsibility for this crime must be clearly determined and its perpetrators held accountable."

The British Foreign Office said that it was monitoring reports of a “visibly visible raid” that targeted a hospital in Gaza.

French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Wednesday on the X social media platform that France condemns the attack on the National Arab Hospital in Gaza.

He wrote, "France condemns the attack on the National Arab Hospital in Gaza, which claimed many Palestinian victims. Our hearts are with them. The circumstances must be revealed."

He continued, "Humanitarian aid must be re-entered the Gaza Strip without delay."

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly urged on Wednesday to wait for the facts regarding an explosion in a hospital in the Gaza Strip that occurred on Tuesday, and said that many had already jumped to conclusions.

He continued, saying: “Understanding this incorrectly will put more lives at risk.” Wait for the facts and convey them clearly and accurately. "Calm minds must triumph."

The bombing of the National Arab Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip yesterday, Tuesday, caused a huge number of deaths and injuries and cast a shadow over the visit of US President Joe Biden to Israel.

Palestinian officials said that an Israeli air strike was the cause of the explosion, while Israel says that the cause was a missile fired by the Islamic Jihad movement that did not reach its target, which the movement denied.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi warned on Wednesday of the continuation of military operations in the Gaza Strip, and that they will have security and military repercussions that could get out of control. Al-Sisi said, in a press conference, while receiving German Chancellor Olaf Schulz, that displacing the Palestinians to Sinai means transferring the fighting there and it will be a base for attacking Israel, adding that the siege of the Gaza Strip ultimately aims to transfer the Palestinians to Egypt, according to what Egyptian television reported in a live broadcast.

Al-Sisi added: “If I ask the Egyptians to come out and reject the idea of displacing Palestinians to Sinai, and support the position of the Egyptian state, the world will see millions in the streets of Egypt.” He continued: “Egypt is sincerely keen on peace, and we need not to squander that with an idea that is not implementable.”

The Egyptian President explained that the matter would not be limited to the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, but would also extend to their displacement from the West Bank to Jordan. He pointed out that it is possible to transfer the Palestinians to the Negev Desert until Israel ends its operation in Gaza.

The Egyptian President said that he discussed with the German Chancellor Egypt's efforts to calm the situation in Gaza, and added that "Egypt has not closed the Rafah crossing since the beginning of the crisis," calling for allowing humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip.

For his part, the German Chancellor said that Egypt and Germany agree not to expand the conflict in Palestine.

Source: Middle East

On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden accused Palestinian resistance factions of being behind the Al-Ahly Baptist Hospital massacre in the Gaza Strip.

Biden said during a joint press conference with Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after his arrival in Tel Aviv: “I was sad and angry about the explosion in the Baptist Hospital yesterday.”

Addressing Netanyahu, he added: “It seems that the other side is behind this, not you,” referring to the resistance factions in the Gaza Strip.

The American President stressed his country's determination to ensure that the occupying state has what it needs to respond to the attacks of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.

He stressed that his visit to the occupying state came "so that the people there and in the entire world know that we stand with Israel," claiming that Hamas "committed atrocities against Israel," as he put it.

For his part, Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Biden’s visit is the first by an American president during a time of war,” pointing out that “today’s level of cooperation with the United States is unprecedented.”

Addressing Biden, he added: “I know that you share our determination to recover those kidnapped by Hamas.”

The US President's visit comes after the cancellation of the Quartet summit, which was scheduled to be held in the Jordanian capital, Amman, with the participation of the United States, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, and Jordan, against the backdrop of the Israeli occupation bombing of the Baptist Hospital in Gaza, which resulted in more than 500 martyrs and hundreds injured.

Since October 7, the Israeli occupation has continued its aggression against the Gaza Strip, in an attempt to exterminate all forms of life in the Strip and forcibly displace its population by deliberately targeting residential areas and neighborhoods, in addition to convoys of displaced persons and medical service providers.

In a toll likely to rise, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced that the death toll from the aggression had risen to more than 3,200 martyrs and about 11,000 people with various injuries, most of them children and women.

The history of Israel has often been a history of conflict. A partial list includes the 1948 Arab–Israeli War that followed Israel’s birth, the Israeli–British–French attempt in 1956 to seize the Suez Canal and topple Egypt’s Arab nationalist leader, the 1967 Six-Day War, the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

 There are also the two Palestinian intifadas and numerous smaller conflicts. To this list must now be added Hamas’s October 2023 invasion of Israel. Thousands of short-range rockets were launched from Hamas-controlled Gaza against towns and cities in western Israel. Hundreds if not thousands of Hamas fighters crossed into Israel by breaking through defensive barriers, flying over them or sailing around them. 

The human toll of these attacks is enormous and growing. More than 900 Israelis have lost their lives. Several thousand have been injured. Some two hundred Israelis attending a concert were killed in cold blood. At least 100 have been abducted. It was terror—the intentional harming of innocents by a non-state actor—on a large scale. It was also a colossal Israeli intelligence failure. The most likely explanation for Israel’s being caught unprepared is less a lack of warning than a lack of attention. As was the case in 1973, the attack has demonstrated that complacency and an underestimation of the adversary can be dangerous. 

It was a defensive failure as well. Deterrence broke down. Expensive physical barriers were overrun. Israeli military readiness and troop levels were woefully inadequate, possibly because attention had shifted to protecting settlers in the occupied West Bank. There will surely be official inquiries and independent investigations. Why Hamas attacked remains a subject of debate. The most likely explanation is that the group wanted to demonstrate that it alone—not the Palestinian Authority that rules the West Bank and not Arab governments—is able and willing to protect and promote Palestinian interests. The timing of the assault is another matter. It’s possible that the date was chosen to coincide with the last successful surprise attack against Israel, carried out by Egypt and Syria 50 years ago almost to the day. 

But the planning and training for the attack took place over months, which suggests a strategic purpose not tied to a specific event. The timing may have been motivated by a desire to disrupt the growing momentum in negotiation to normalize diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, an outcome strongly opposed by Iran, the principal backer of Hamas. Hamas may also have sought to take advantage of Israeli political divisions. Or all of the above. The Hamas attackers took hostages back to Gaza for two reasons: to limit Israel’s freedom of action lest those individuals be placed at even greater risk, and to exchange them for Hamas operatives held in Israeli jails.

Israel now faces an acute dilemma. It wants to deal a decisive blow to Hamas, both to weaken the organization militarily and to discourage future attacks and Iranian support for them. And it wants to accomplish this without bringing Hezbollah, which has some 150,000 rockets in Lebanon that could reach much of Israel, directly into the conflict. It also doesn’t want the war to expand to the West Bank. Restoring meaningful deterrence without widening the war will be difficult. 

There is the additional consideration that Israel’s military options are limited. The hostages are one reason. In addition, occupying—or, more precisely, reoccupying—Gaza would be a nightmare. There are few, if any, military undertakings more difficult than urban warfare, and Gaza is one of the most densely populated urban environments in the world. Many Israeli soldiers would lose their lives or be captured in such an operation. Massive attacks from the air, designed to avoid the need for a ground invasion, will inevitably kill or injure a significant number of innocent inhabitants of Gaza, thereby decreasing international sympathy and support for Israel. 

Efforts to shut off Gaza’s supplies of food, water, fuel and electricity will also be counterproductive. Regional and international pressure for a ceasefire would surely mount. There’s also the question of the operation’s strategic objective. Hamas cannot be eliminated, because it represents an ideology as organization. Efforts to destroy it risk building support for it. 

What comes to mind is the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the famous question posed by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who wondered whether American drone strikes on suspected terrorists, which at times killed innocents, were effective. His question—‘Are we creating more terrorists than we’re killing?’—remains worth asking. All of which is to say that while there must be a military component to Israel’s response to its security challenge, including reconstituting Israel’s ability to defend itself from attacks and targeted strikes on terrorists in Gaza, there is no solely military answer. 

A diplomatic element will need to be introduced into the equation, including a credible Israeli plan for bringing about a viable Palestinian state. There’s an American saying that you can’t beat something with nothing. Rewarding those Palestinians who are willing to reject violence and reach an accommodation with Israel is still the best way to marginalize Hamas.

AUTHOR 

Richard N. Haass is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations- Australia 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, condemned the brutal Israeli bombing of Al-Ahly Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip, which claimed the lives of hundreds of sick and injured people, health workers and civilian residents who took refuge in the hospital in search of safety.

Turk also condemned the bombing of a UNRWA school in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, which was housing more than 4,000 civilians who were forced to flee their homes, stressing the need to immediately stop the violence and killing.

Turk called on influential countries to work to end the bloodshed, protect civilians and allow urgent access to humanitarian aid to all who need it, and hold accountable those responsible for flagrant violations of human rights and international law.

Reports: Biden’s visit is not the reason for postponing the ground invasion. * American military support “will bring a price, represented by an American attempt to demarcate the borders of the battle front, especially for the Israeli government, and expectations now are that we will allow humanitarian steps in the southern Gaza Strip.”

Israeli reports said today, Wednesday, that the visit of US President Joe Biden did not lead to the postponement of an Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, and that the unprecedented American support for Israel in the war on Gaza is aimed at defining the borders of the war and not expanding it to other fronts.

Maariv newspaper reported, “The entry of Israeli army forces into Gaza was not postponed due to Biden’s visit. The considerations are different and related to military considerations and the approval of plans and orders, as a result of the missions that have changed.”

The newspaper added, "It is very clear that showing American power will bring a price, represented by an American attempt to demarcate the borders of the battle front, especially for the government in which there are ministers and members of the Knesset who do not stop criticizing the Biden administration."

The newspaper reported that the Israeli army believes that the war on Gaza will last at least four months, “and it is not certain that this is what the Americans want, as there is a huge possibility that this war will affect the entire stability in the region.”

Regarding the humanitarian crisis taking place in the Gaza Strip, the newspaper “Haaretz” quoted the former head of the political department in the Ministry of Defense, Zohar Balti, as saying, “The Americans give us time to work in Gaza. There is no pressure on us regarding time, but there are expectations of us to allow “With humanitarian steps in the southern Gaza Strip, to which we asked Palestinian citizens to move.”

The newspaper considered that American military support would lead, in the future, to demanding that Israel make concessions, and that if contacts were resumed regarding an agreement to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia, these contacts would not be isolated from “the issue of advancing relations with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.”

...a text entitled “On the Iron Wall” (1923), Jabotinsky mocked Zionists who were trying to promote that the Arabs in Palestine were either “idiots who can be deceived by a diluted formulation of our true (Zionist) goals,” or “that they are a greedy tribe that will cede to us their right to Palestine vs...”

Israeli follow-ups on the repercussions of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood focus, among other things, on the miserable failure that befell the security wall that Israel erected in the border area with the Gaza Strip. It described it at its inauguration as “smart!” and boasted that it could not be penetrated at all. Most of these follow-ups do not stop at the fact that the flood of resistance swept away this wall as if it were a “layer of dust,” according to one analyst. Rather, they go beyond this to acknowledge that the matter includes something that would deal a strong blow to the image that Israel has built for itself in the world with regard to the structure of its meaning. A very advanced country in the field of production of defense technologies. According to the Israeli website "Israel Defense", which specializes in security affairs, the sudden attack by the Palestinian resistance on October 7, 2023 may lead, from the point of view of the security industries, to pulling the rug from under the feet of the bright promises that these industries made to the Israeli public, and to many of their customers in the country and the outside.

Thinking about building this wall began in 2014, following the aggressive war launched by Israel on Gaza that year, during which the Israeli army was unable to eliminate the attack tunnels or predict their location. Work on its construction continued between the years 2017-2021 and its cost amounted to more than a billion dollars. It is six meters high above the ground, and extends to a depth of tens of meters below its surface.

However, the most important result that can be drawn from the stream of Israeli analyzes in this axis remains in acknowledging the fact of the lack of military deterrence in the face of resistance in the Gaza Strip, even though since the rise of Hamas to power in the Strip in 2007 until now, Israel has launched ten attacks. Warfare, including the current aggression called "Iron Swords", under various names, as follows: "Hot Winter" (2008), "Cast Lead" (2008-2009), "Re-Echo" (2012), "Pillar of Clouds" (2012), “Protective Edge” (2014), “Black Belt” (2019), “Keeper of the Walls” (2021), “Rising Dawn” (2022), “Shield and Arrow” (2023). Prior to these aggressions, and coinciding with the last years of the second Palestinian Intifada, the “First Rain” (2005) and “Summer Rains” (2006) attacks were launched.

In another context, there were those who pointed out that Israel seems to have been fascinated, since its establishment, by the doctrine of the “iron wall” developed by the leader of the revisionist movement in the Zionist movement, Ze’ev Jabotinsky, and adopted by the founding generation led by David Ben-Gurion, which is based on the necessity of establishing a defense force for the Jewish settlers. It acts as an "iron wall that the indigenous people will not be able to penetrate."

In this regard, it is right to point out that in one of the texts about this doctrine, a text entitled “On the Iron Wall” (1923), Jabotinsky mocked Zionists who were trying to promote that the Arabs in Palestine were either “idiots who can be deceived by a diluted formulation of our true goals (Zionism). ) or “they are a greedy tribe that will cede to us their right to Palestine in exchange for cultural and economic gains.”

He made it clear that he categorically refuses to accept this opinion regarding the Arabs of Palestine, declaring: They are just like us, knowledgeable of the interior of our souls, keen observers, and trained in the method of sharp argumentation, and no matter what we tell them, they will understand what is going on in the depths of our souls just as we understand what is going on in the depths of their souls. . He literally wrote the following: “They look at Palestine with the same instinctive love and the same organic fanaticism that accompanied the relationship of the Aztecs with their Mexico, and the Sioux with their desert. The illusion of some among us that they will be satisfied with the embodiment of Zionism in exchange for the cultural and economic returns that the Jewish settler brings with him stems from a view of contempt based on the idea of Preconceptions about the Arab people, and from unsubstantiated opinions, consider this race a group of rabble chasing money and willing to give up their homeland in exchange for a good railway network. Presenting matters in this way is completely baseless.”

Source: Arab 48

The Israeli occupation forces continue to carry out arrest campaigns against citizens in the West Bank as part of the comprehensive aggression against our people and systematic mass revenge operations. Last night and at dawn on Wednesday, the occupation forces launched a new arrest campaign, targeting at least 65 citizens from the West Bank, including Jerusalem.

The arrest operations were concentrated in the Hebron Governorate, where the number of detainees at dawn today reached (34) citizens, followed by the Aida camp in Bethlehem, which also witnessed an arrest campaign that affected at least (16) citizens, while the rest of the arrests were distributed in the Nablus and Jerusalem governorates.

Since the seventh of this October, arrests in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, have reached at least 750 arrests, and this statistic does not include workers or detainees from Gaza, as institutions have not been able to date to obtain accurate and clear numbers of detained workers, as well as detainees from Gaza.

It is noteworthy that the highest percentage of detainees in the West Bank was recorded in Hebron Governorate, amounting to about (220) arrests.

In light of the ongoing arrest operations, we confirm a number of facts:

First: The violence and criminality used by the occupation forces is escalating in an unprecedented manner, reaching the point of threatening families and detainees by shooting them.

Second: The majority of those arrested are either transferred to administrative detention, or charges are brought against them on grounds of incitement, specifically in Jerusalem.

Third: There are extreme difficulties in accessing information related to detainees in the first days of detention due to the occupation’s activation of military orders that contributed to this.

Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, confirmed that the situation in Gaza is “becoming out of control” due to the inability to deliver ready-to-deliver humanitarian aid.

Ghebreyesus said on the X platform (formerly Twitter): “With every second we delay bringing in medical assistance, we lose lives,” stressing that medical supplies have been stuck for four days at the border.

In its latest statistics, the Ministry of Health announced that the number of martyrs in the Gaza Strip had risen to more than 3,000 martyrs and 12,500 injuries, while the number of martyrs in the West Bank had reached 62 martyrs and more than 1,250 wounded since the start of the aggression on October 7. .

By Muhammad Hussein Abu Al-Hassan

Israel resembles the remora fish, which attaches to the stomach of the shark and feeds on its waste and leftover food. It moves freely in the oceans, safe from monsters. Because she is in the company of the biggest predator.

The beginnings of the Hebrew state were with the Balfour Declaration when Great Britain, and by declaring the state in 1948, was recognized by the two superpowers at that time, the United States and the Soviet Union. Even today, Israel remains the pampered girl of the West, supported by America and Europe with money, weapons, and influence, in its brutal war on Gaza. And its quest to “change the Middle East”; Which threatens waves of anger in the Arab and Islamic worlds, and the return of extremist groups and terrorism everywhere. And severely destabilize the world, even though the solution is possible and available!

Thank you America!

When you follow the media coverage and the statements of American and European officials about what is happening in Gaza and its environs, you realize that they are talking about a “people returning from exile” to their land (Israel), and not about a people who were forcibly exiled from their land (the Palestinians). As for the Arabs, they are trying to prevent the people. The Israelis are unable to live in peace in a homeland they built from nothing, in a land that did not have a people... This “Western hump,” so to speak, is confusing and deplorable. Because it violates all values, ethics and international law.

Imagine the scale of the “war crimes” that Israel commits every minute against the people of Gaza, including genocide, starvation, and displacement, with Western blessing, support, and support that are a blessing to humanity. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Thank you to America for standing with us today, tomorrow and always.” In response to US President Joe Biden’s statements in strong support of the aggression against Gaza, and his sending of the largest aircraft carrier, “Gerald Ford,” off the Israeli coast to show the “red eye” of any party that intervenes militarily to save the Palestinians, in contradiction to the values of freedom and human rights that Washington calls for in its foreign policies. In fact, it contradicts the supposed American interest with Arab and Islamic countries. Not surprisingly, Biden once described himself as a “Zionist,” and that if Israel did not exist, it would have to be invented; Therefore, it can be understood why Biden comes to the region supporting the Israeli plan - and Europe also supports him - to liquidate the issue forever and displace the Palestinians to Sinai and Jordan if possible.

The blatant American bias towards Israel is not new. Minutes after announcing the founding of Israel, on May 14, 1948, US President Harry Truman recognized the new state. There is a revealing quote by Yitzhak Rabin, the former Israeli Prime Minister: “American support for our country cannot be compared to any other support.” In modern history, we receive the largest American military and economic support at approximately $500 per Israeli annually.” Politicians and decision-makers in Washington disagree on almost all issues, but they often agree to support Tel Aviv.

A special relationship

The relationship between Israel and the West is a complex topic; The war of extermination waged by the Jewish state against the Palestinian people imitates the wars of annihilation of the indigenous peoples of the American Indians and others in North and South America. The underlying reasons for the West’s relationship with Israel vary between interest-based, material, and historical motives related to the legacy of the colonial era and the identity of the Protestant Christian American state influenced by Judaism, to the point of emergence of the term “Christian Zionism,” whose followers believe in the necessity of establishing a Jewish entity in Palestine. In preparation for the second return of Christ and his establishment of the thousand-year kingdom, in addition to other strategic, political and economic motives; As Dr. Abdel Wahab Al-Messiri explained in his book “The Jews, Judaism, and Zionism.”

The Americans, Stephen Walt, professor of international relations at Harvard University, and John Mearsheimer, professor of political science at the University of Chicago, tried to search for the secret of the special relationship between the United States and Israel. Walt pointed out that the usual saying that Israel is a vital strategic asset for America, and that they share the same values, cannot explain all this unconditional support from the United States; Noting that this American support for Tel Aviv is one of the underlying causes of terrorism, and a strategic burden on America’s security and stability. With regard to values, Israel's racist treatment of its Arab and Palestinian citizens contradicts American values.

Walt attributes American support for Tel Aviv to the pro-Israel “lobby” in America, which is a loose coalition of individuals and groups that works to influence American policy in support of the Hebrew state, and includes American Jewish organizations, such as “AIPAC” and Christian Zionist groups, and this lobby works in two tracks: intervention In the various American elections, by supporting specific candidates and facilitating their access to government positions, also providing incentives for them to implement the required policies and enact legislation. So much so that most members of the House and Senate realize that any attempt to limit American support for Israel is “playing with fire.” It exposes its perpetrator to a serious accusation of "anti-Semitism." Indeed, US President Jimmy Carter, the sponsor of the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, was not satisfied with that. When he published his book “Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid,” which pointed out that any American politician criticizing Israel is like committing political suicide, warning against the continuation of the current Palestinian reality; Israeli pressure groups attacked him, demanding that he apologize for what he wrote.

Great anger

The influence of the pro-Israel lobby extends to all aspects of American cultural, media, military, scientific, economic, and political life. John Mearsheimer investigated the negative effects of that lobby’s pressure on American foreign policy and its interests. He gave, as an example, the repercussions of America’s support for Israeli brutal practices against the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, as they lead to great anger. In the Arab and Islamic worlds; Which fuels extremism and terrorism, explaining that supporting settlement in the Palestinian territories and protecting Israel from international condemnations by using the veto and other things, was one of the most prominent motives for the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks, and explaining that the lobby led Washington to invade Iraq, which is one of the biggest blunders in history. American.

Despite the strength of the Israeli lobby’s influence in Washington, it did not always succeed in seizing control of the White House, as happened when US President Barack Obama signed the nuclear agreement with Iran. Israel, with the help of the lobby supporting it, sought to stand in the way of the deal and sabotage the agreement, to the point that Netanyahu He went to Congress speaking and challenging the American president in his home, and when he was succeeded by Donald Trump, he actually took the initiative to freeze the agreement. Gerard Baker wrote an article in the British newspaper "The Times" in which he alluded to the dissatisfaction of some in Washington with the influence of the lobby, and its push by America and the West to stand behind the Israeli aggression against defenseless Palestinians. Baker referred to the protest songs of the 1960s by the American artist Bob Dylan, who won the Nobel Prize, and one of them describes... Israel as a “neighborhood thug,” pointing out that despite Washington’s understanding of the motives for Israeli positions, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party has become openly hostile, not only to specific Israeli actions, but, it seems, to Israel itself, indicating that the United States cannot It continues to give Netanyahu's right-wing government billions annually to commit crimes and atrocities against the Palestinians. For this reason, John Mearsheimer called for America to deal with Israel in a normal manner that takes into account American national interests, and does not deepen the imbalance in regional and international geopolitical balances.

The only guarantee for the stability of the region is that the Palestinian people obtain all their legitimate rights. As for Netanyahu’s boasting that he will change the “Middle East,” it is blind bullying, based on a feeling of power. Depending on the fact that Israel is sheltered in the corner of the American-European West; But it is a feeling full of false arrogance, because it ignores the will and vitality of the people. Even remora fish sometimes become food for predators while they are in the shark's embrace!

A former American official, who directly managed the Israeli-Palestinian file, believes that the time has come to fundamentally reconsider the relationship between the United States and Israel, arguing that “American support for Israel no longer serves American strategic interests.”

“The United States needs to move beyond Israel”

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz says that Stephen Simon, the former director of the US National Security Council for the Middle East and North Africa, under the Obama administration, recently published a book entitled “The Great Illusion: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East.” In it, he delves into decades of American policy in the Middle East, which has remained largely unchanged during successive administrations.

Haaretz says that Simon's arguments are considered more realistic, because Israel is now witnessing a major turning point in its own democracy, its relations with the Palestinians, and a possible normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia, all against the backdrop of US involvement in all of these matters.

Simon does not believe the United States is to blame for any of Israel's current problems. “Everyone is very interested in this current crisis precisely because it feels like a turning point,” he says of the simmering pro-democracy protests against the Netanyahu government’s extremist efforts to weaken the judiciary.

“What we are looking at now goes back to at least the 1930s,” Simon said. “There are technical problems, but the real problems are much deeper.”

“There is no specific strategic interest with Israel”

This brings us to the heart of the matter in Simon's eyes: issues related to Israel are purely political, not strategic. He says: “Why would the administration choose a battle with the current government in Israel over something over which the United States has no control? There is no specific strategic interest, and in the absence of a strategic stake, it is just a matter of politics.”

Simon points to the current political environment, whose roots go back to the late 1990s, as one that creates a structural disadvantage for Democrats, because the party as a whole is moving in a different direction than the Israeli government. “Based on that, why would there be an upcoming US election, where the stakes are really huge, is the Biden administration going into a minefield for this? It seems to me very unwise,” he says.

He claims that matters ostensibly related to strategic affairs such as military assistance are in fact political matters at heart. “It's easy to provide the things Israel wants from the United States,” he says. “A lot of it is primarily financial. We have a GDP of $21 trillion, so who cares if you give $4 billion of that every year (in military aid)? In practice, It's a small amount of money, and it's well spent, so you have to do it,” he says.

“American efforts to resolve the conflict are in vain.”

This extends to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the peace process. Simon says that the United States began to realize during Barack Obama's first term that its efforts were in vain, and also when the efforts of then Secretary of State John Kerry were not met with much enthusiasm.

According to Simon, the foundations of the US-Israel relationship rest on “the liberal mood of a particular era,” first established by Harry Truman. He said: “He was deeply disturbed by the Holocaust and what happened to the Jews, there is no doubt about that... Truman recognized the Jewish state only 15 minutes after declaring the establishment of the State of Israel.”

The Israelis liked it, because they thought it would be more durable than commitments based on shared values. By the end of the Cold War, the United States had done what it set out to do: defeat its adversaries and emerge as the most powerful player in the Middle East, Simon says.

The change took hold during Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, during which he made his claim for office partly on the basis that Obama had seemingly abandoned Israel. This was the first time Israel had been “blatantly used to attack an opposition party,” Simon said.

Manipulating American domestic politics

Simon believes that the Obama administration's decision to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan during the second term is due to personalities and not to a specific strategy. He says, "Why did the Obama administration make that play in the second term to try to do something about the Palestinians? Obama really wanted to do it, so he told them just do it, and it worked more or less how people expected it to work."

If the relationship between Israel and the United States is more about politics than strategy, as Simon argues, then the strategic elements within this relationship exist only as wedges that simply cause further separation between the two parties, such as Iran's nuclear program.

“Israel has the power to go its own way while still extracting resources from the United States,” Simon says. He adds: "Historians may view Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as strategically great for Israel because he succeeded in achieving independence from the United States while at the same time manipulating American domestic politics."

A clear shift in the position of Americans towards Israel

At the same time, the American street itself no longer has the same old mood towards Israel, as opinion polls indicate a clear shift in the position of Americans towards Israel, especially young people.

An opinion poll conducted by Gallup in March 2023 showed that the majority of American voters from the Democratic Party had shifted away from supporting Israel and had become more inclined and sympathetic to the Palestinians, for the first time ever.

Another opinion poll was conducted by the Jewish Electoral Institute in America in July 2021, the results of which showed that 35% of American Jewish voters believe that Israel has become a “racist state” that applies against the Palestinians the apartheid system that the white South African government was applying against citizens. Black people.

Many American writers and analysts attribute the clear shift in American public opinion towards Israel, which is considered Washington's first strategic ally in the Middle East and enjoyed unwavering support from both the Republican and Democratic parties, to Benjamin Netanyahu, the extreme right-wing politician and the person who served as Prime Minister in Tel Aviv for a longer period of time than any other politician.

But the Gallup poll was conducted last February, and the current Netanyahu government, which is described as the most extreme government in the history of the Jewish state, had not spent more than two months in power, which means that the striking change in the positions of the majority of American youth cannot be reversed. Only to that government.

The poll conducted by the Jewish Electoral Institute in America was conducted in July 2021, and at that time Netanyahu was not prime minister. Rather, the Israeli government was an alliance of left-wing parties and also included Arab parties for the first time. It was led by Naftali Bennett and then Yair Lapid, and the American politicians were They describe it as a "reconciliation government."

Therefore, one of the reasons for the shift in the position of American youth, which is becoming closer to the Palestinians than to Israel, may be linked - in no small part - to the Israeli shift towards the right in a fierce and accelerating manner. Extremist religious parties, parties defending settlers in the occupied territories, and politicians convicted of terrorism by Israeli courts, such as Itamar Ben Gvir, Minister of Internal Security in Netanyahu’s current government, have become remarkably in control of Israel and its policies, and they are sparing no effort in eliminating any hope of establishing a state. Palestinian one day.

First went US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, followed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. US President Biden is on his way to Israel, and they are not coming for no reason. Blinken does not enjoy interrupting a meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister to take shelter, because Hamas fired a rocket salvo. Americans come to Israel; Because they know that Netanyahu is unqualified and floundering, and they also know that there must be a responsible person, and that no one can be trusted to discuss what will happen in this confrontation with Gaza, as the Israeli newspaper Maariv says.

According to reports, Blinken participated in Israeli war cabinet discussions, and Biden receives regular reports on this situation. This reminds us of the air train of American officials that headed to Israel more than ten years ago, when they feared that Netanyahu would attack Iran. Their fear at the time was unjustified, as Netanyahu did not have the courage to attack Iran, as the Israeli newspaper says. Now, the circumstances are different. It is not that Netanyahu suddenly became brave, that did not happen, but that he simply lost the ability to manage events after the sudden Hamas attack, and therefore the Americans are taking responsibility. Because Netanyahu doesn't.

“Netanyahu has never taken responsibility for anything.”

Maariv says Shin Bet director Ronan Bar admitted responsibility for his agency's failure to warn of the Hamas attack in a letter to his subordinates. The Chief of Staff, Major General Herzi Halevy, acknowledged a few days ago that the intelligence department in the Israeli army, which is under his authority, had failed in its mission.

But only one person is not responsible. What is his responsibility? Netanyahu has never taken responsibility for anything. Not in the Meron disaster, not in the Mount Carmel forest fire, not in Iran's approaching transformation into a nuclear state, nor in the disastrous release of more than a thousand Palestinians in the Shalit deal. He will always find someone else to hold accountable. This is the world champion in long distance responsibility. At the time of receiving medals, honors, or coupons, you find him at the head of the class. But when you look for someone to bear responsibility for failures, he disappears and cannot be found.

And this man's wife, in closed conversations, blames everyone. She says that the Chief of Staff, the head of the Mossad, and the head of the Shin Bet are responsible for the failure. Her husband only did what they told him to do. It's not him who's responsible, it's them. Netanyahu's toxic propaganda machine publishes, in exchange for a fee, leaflets attacking the head of the Mossad. His outdated and ridiculous tactics in the media constantly undermine the position of military leaders and the intelligence system. And his corrupt comrades attack the few men who have taken responsibility for their actions.

The newspaper that launched an attack on Netanyahu says that it is necessary to remember that this man never established a government investigation committee. He is the prime minister who has been in office longer than anyone else, but he never thought about forming any investigative committees. Not even after the deadliest civilian disaster in history at Mount Meron. Nothing to investigate. Everything is clear: Netanyahu is not responsible, and anything else does not matter.

“Netanyahu will not succeed this time in escaping responsibility.”

The newspaper adds: What is amazing is that he thinks this will work this time as well. That he will be able to close his eyes again, that he will find a scapegoat to hold him responsible, and that he will somehow escape his greatest enemy: responsibility. But he is wrong. We will not leave him until he admits the obvious: that he is most responsible.

He is the head of state, the prime minister. He did not hold this position half a year before the disaster, but has been striving for it and clinging to it for more than 15 years. In all these years, he personally formulated the most prominent strategy for his administration: concessions to Hamas. He admitted it, his comrades admitted it, and he said it, wrote it, and called it: We must strengthen Hamas and weaken the Palestinian Authority in order to justify the settlements. In this way, which relies on the principle of divide and rule, he legitimizes this status quo and stagnation, while doing nothing but enjoying his time.

This strategy was not devised by the chief of staff, the head of the Shin Bet, or any other military entity. The Israeli army and defense establishment receive directives from the political authority and put them into practice. When the Israeli army's presentation was leaked, in the midst of Operation Protective Edge, in which it said that the occupation of Gaza would lead to the death of hundreds of people, he wanted to hide behind it to explain to the public why he fled again, avoided taking any action, and once again broke his electoral promise that he had made. 2009.

But the rescue mission has ended this time, Mr. Netanyahu. All your life you have been evading responsibility. In the end, I caught up with you. It is unfortunate that the price we pay for this pursuit is very high, Maariv says.

Blinken's trip to the Middle East was chaotic

In this context, the American newspaper The New York Times said, on Tuesday, October 17, 2023, that the trip undertaken by US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, to the Middle East extended from two to six days, during which he stopped at 10 stops until the morning of Tuesday, October 17. October 2023, which indicates the size and complexity of the diplomatic crisis facing the American Secretary, with the escalation of the war between Israel and the Palestinian resistance factions.

While speaking to reporters in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, last Sunday, Blinken said: “I think I forgot how many countries my plane landed in.” But he quickly mentioned the correct number of countries he had visited since leaving Washington on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 11, 2023, which are: Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, and the Emirates, in addition to two visits to Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

This trip conducted by Blinken, which the newspaper described as “chaotic,” began a few days after the Hamas attack, as Blinken advanced the date of his visit to the region that was planned for the following week, and the State Department announced that he would leave to visit Israel and Jordan on October 11. , before returning on Friday, October 13th.

However, with the escalation of the war between Israel and the resistance factions, this plan was quickly canceled, after State Department officials expanded the itinerary of Blinken’s trip to include several other major capitals, in coordination with the White House.

The American newspaper indicates that Blinken has not yet succeeded in achieving one of his goals, which is to secure passage for American citizens from Gaza to Egypt through a border crossing, as hundreds remained stranded at the closed crossing until Monday, October 16, 2023.

But Blinken spared no effort despite his failure so far. After his arrival in the region, on Thursday, October 12, 2023, Blinken and his aides set their trip schedule for the next day, and settled on visiting four countries: Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.

Blinken intensified his meetings by traveling on a quick day trip from Riyadh to the Emirates on Saturday, October 14, 2023, then returned to the Saudi capital again, and prepared on Saturday evening to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

According to the American newspaper, the reporters traveling with Blinken were asked to prepare for the minister’s convoy to leave the residence hotel at any moment in order to go to meet the Crown Prince, but the wait continued for hours from midnight until two in the morning, and then four in the morning after that.

In the end, the prince agreed to meet Blinken after 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning inside his private residence on his farm, which meant denying entry to journalists who had stayed up almost all night.

Officials said it was common for the crown prince to keep his most important visitors waiting. However, the incident was rare and likely frustrating for the sleep-deprived Blinken, who is accustomed to foreign officials accommodating him.

The Russo-Ukrainian war is no longer the only cuisine forging a new world order. Chefs have moved to a new cuisine in the Middle East.

The October 7 war between the Israelis and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip may expand its tables for new players who are not in agreement in the ongoing political calculations. But the moment of war imposed its rules and defined its parties.

This round is not like all previous rounds, in terms of gains and losses. The shock and surprise confused Israel's calculations, and even revealed the emptiness and failure of its multiple intelligence agencies, as acknowledged by the head of the Israeli National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi. The blow is painful for Ben-Gurion's grandchildren in power.

The historical circumstance during which Israel was established is no longer appropriate for the dictionary of the twenty-first century. Palestine, which experienced the Nakba during the Israeli rise under international sponsorship, is no longer the traditional Palestine that lived for 75 years as a stage for players from different parts of the world. She was exhausted by promises and maneuvers. Its patience lasted long, and it paid heavy prices for its freedom, its people, its economy, and its stability. Half of its people are displaced and refugees, and the other half lives under the harshest occupation in history, committing the most heinous types of crimes against humanity. This occupation has not been deterred by all initiatives, agreements, nor international laws and covenants from continuing to implement its old, renewed plans that aim to expel the Palestinian brothers from their lands. , and replacing the settlers in their places, in the same way from which the idea of Israeli presence began before 1948.

This time in the wars taking place between the two sides, generations, rules, and balances of power differed. Israel came through a global system that marked the end of World War II in 1945. It is the same system that ignored the Palestinian right. Now this world order is cracking, with cracks in its walls caused by the Russian-Ukrainian war. Features of a phase for a new world order, but this time it will be signed on the morning of October 7, 2023.

The occupant of the White House was still asleep as the clock was a quarter past twelve Eastern time in the United States of America, while the master of the Kremlin was just awake to follow the last point reached by the Russian army in eastern and southern Ukraine. At the same time, the “Chinese Dragon” was trying to decipher the code. The complexities of the new American strategy in the Indo-Pacific region. Everyone was surprised by an unprecedented bloody scene, in one of the Israeli-Palestinian wars, and the cards were mixed up in Washington, Moscow, and Beijing.

Accounting fears chased the ambition of the Big Three. What is going on in the Middle East? Are the pawns of the three-way race moving to the region? Global support for Israel revealed the West's concerns about the new players establishing themselves in the Middle East, as Washington was the quickest to send the newest aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean. The messages carry more than one meaning, messages to its opponents in the region, and other messages that the Russian bear understands, and the Chinese dragon thinks well about.

There is no doubt that amidst these bloody messages, there are losing parties and others who are winning. The initial reading of what is happening now in the Palestinian-Israeli arena will rearrange the regional and international balances once again.

If Washington had openly announced its full support for Israel, showed the red eye to its competitors in the region, took the initiative to provide military, political, diplomatic and media assistance, and blessed the violent Israeli position from the first moment, then this was an incentive for Washington’s allies to move in the same direction. Indeed, they They traveled long distances in a short time in the direction of attacking the Palestinians, and this may have increased the complications of return or self-examination. America is moving according to geopolitical calculations that are broader than Gaza and Palestine, and even broader than the Arab region and the Middle East. The White House wears magnifying glasses with which it sees the future of its seat in the world order, the features of which this war has become part of shaping. Therefore, American calculations will not ignore the alliance of its competitors, which It includes Iran and its arms in the region, in addition to Russia, China and their allies.

If we look at American calculations, Washington sees the importance and necessity of resolving this Palestinian-Israeli conflict quickly, so as not to enter into a war on more than one front, and become divided between Ukraine and Israel. In addition, America has equations that say that a quick resolution will preserve Washington’s position in The prospective international system. At the same time, Moscow sees this conflict as an opportunity to prove itself and the validity of the Russian point of view that it has tried to market since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war. In addition, the Kremlin sees American involvement in this Palestinian-Israeli conflict as a beginning to ease Western pressure on Russia on the Ukraine front, and reduce NATO support for Ukraine; Especially since he will be heading towards Israel.

Beijing also has its own calculations. Everything it has accomplished in the Middle East during the past periods, it wants to confirm and build on to deepen its political and economic presence, as it is concerned with Taiwan and the South China Sea, in addition to the fact that China has a belief that America’s preoccupation with the events of the Middle East will ease the burdens on the Chinese shoulders in the Indo-Arabic region. “Pacific,” not to mention the Chinese vision that sees the heavy American presence in the Middle East as a great opportunity for people to side with Beijing’s policy and not Washington’s policy.

Therefore, this historical round between the two sides, the Palestinian and the Israeli, will not end without redrawing the borders of international balances and powers again, leading to writing a “new edition” of the world order.

Jamal Al-Kashki - Editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram Al-Arabi magazine. Member of the Board of Directors of Al-Ahram Foundation

Source: Asharq Al Awsat

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a television speech on Wednesday, accused Israel of bombing the Baptist Hospital in Gaza and causing the deaths of hundreds. He said that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “crossed all red lines.”

Abbas described the incident as "a great tragedy and a hideous war massacre that cannot be tolerated or allowed to pass without accountability," pledging not to allow Netanyahu's government to escape punishment. He added that he cut short his visit to Jordan and decided to return to Ramallah. He said, "I agreed with Egypt and Jordan to cancel the summit with President Biden," referring to a four-way summit that was scheduled in Amman on Wednesday in the presence of the US President, the Jordanian King, and the Egyptian President.

Abbas continued, "We will not allow a new catastrophe and the displacement of our people again, and we will not leave, no matter the sacrifices. We will not accept any talk other than stopping the war in Gaza." The Palestinian President called on the Security Council to "assume its responsibilities and take the initiative to issue a resolution condemning this crime and stopping the aggression."

He said that the "Israeli plan" to displace Palestinians from their land will not pass. He added, "We will not allow anyone to deport us from our land, as happened in the past... and the past will not be repeated."