UN probe accuses Israel of 'extermination',
other crimes against humanity
AFP|Ahram online, Wednesday 12 Jun 2024
The independent Commission of Inquiry's report is the United Nations' first in-depth investigation into the events of the war that erupted on October 7.
It found that Israel had committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL).
The report noted "a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population in Gaza."
"The commission found that the crimes against humanity of extermination; murder; gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys; forcible transfer; and torture and inhuman and cruel treatment were committed," it added.
Israel rejected the conclusions by accusing the UN commission of "systematic anti-Israeli discrimination".
The Commission of Inquiry was established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged violations of IHL and IHRL in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Since October 7, the three-member commission has focused on the Gaza war.
"It is imperative that all those who have committed crimes be held accountable," said the commission's chair Navi Pillay, a former UN rights chief and an ex-International Criminal Court judge. "Israel must immediately stop its military operations and attacks in Gaza.
In their war on Gaza, the commission found the Israeli authorities "responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, murder or wilful killing, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, forcible transfer, sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention and outrages upon personal dignity".
Starvation will affect the Gaza population, particularly children, "for decades to come", the report said, while "the siege it imposed... constitutes collective punishment and reprisal against the civilian population, both of which are clear violations of IHL."
In the West Bank, the commission found that Israeli forces committed acts of sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment and outrages upon personal dignity, "all of which are war crimes".
Israel's government and forces "permitted, fostered and instigated a campaign of settler violence against Palestinian communities" in the territory, the commission added.
"Israel obstructed the commission's investigations and prevented its access to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory," it added.
The commission aslo found that in the Hamas October 7 operation on Israel, members of the military wings of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups and Palestinian civilians committed war crimes, as well as violations and abuses of IHL and IHRL.
Majority of US citizens reject arming Israel: Poll
The Craddle, JUN 10, 2024
The majority of US citizens say the US government should not send weapons to Israel but should send humanitarian aid to Gaza, a poll published on 7 June by CBS News and YouGov shows.
The poll asked, “Regarding the situation with Israel and Hamas, which one of these should the US do or not do now?”
Sixty-one percent of US citizens responded, saying the US should not send weapons to Israel.
Among Democrats, 77 percent said the US should not send weapons, compared to 38 percent of Republicans.
At the same time, 62 percent of US citizens said the US should send humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, while 38 percent opposed it.
The poll highlights the weak influence of US public opinion and the strong influence of the Israel lobby and pro-Israel US officials over US foreign policy.
Despite strong opposition from voters in his own Democratic Party, US President Joe Biden has prioritized sending unprecedented amounts of weapons to Israel since the start of its war on Gaza on 7 October last year.
“What the US started to do almost immediately was send an extraordinary flow of weapons,” a former US Army officer told the New York Times.
The Times adds that “there were so many arms shipments to Israel that a senior Pentagon official said the Department of Defense sometimes struggled to find sufficient cargo aircraft to deliver them.”
Biden's Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has played a vital role in advancing weapons deliveries to Israel.
“I come before you not only as the United States secretary of state,” Blinken told Israelis during a live-streamed press conference in Tel Aviv, “but also as a Jew.”
In April, only 37 Democrats and 21 Republicans voted against a bill to provide military aid to Israel. A large majority, 173 members in total, voted to approve the bill.
Putin hopes to meet Erdoğan
Daily Sabah [Turkey] Jun 11, 2024
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hopes to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at an upcoming summit next month, as he hailed growing relations between Russia and Türkiye during a meeting with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Tuesday.
"I hope that very soon, on the 3rd or 4th of July, he will be in Astana as far as I know," Putin told Fidan, referring to the capital of the former Soviet state Kazakhstan. "This is part of an international event, and he and I will have an opportunity to meet and discuss all current issues."
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a regional grouping of nations and Türkiye often takes part in meetings as a "dialogue partner."
Putin praised Ankara's desire to help resolve the Russia-Ukraine war, which began in February 2022, as well as resolving other "crisis situations."
"Together we played a very significant role in resolving the Syrian crisis," Putin said about efforts under the Astana format to encourage a long-term settlement in civil war-torn Syria.
"I think it would be right to continue the Astana format, fight terrorism, do everything that depends on us so that the situation returns to normal in this direction that is most important for us," he added.
Putin welcomed Türkiye's interest in the work of the BRICS bloc of emerging economies.
"We welcome Türkiye's interest in the work of BRICS. Of course, we will strongly support this desire to be together with the countries of this association, to be together, closer, to solve common problems," Putin said...
The BRICS bloc was originally made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, with Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates having joined this January.
War on Gaza: The death of American exceptionalism
Jess Salomon, Middle East Eye, 14 June 2024
For more than eight months, Israel’s US-backed assault on Gaza has killed tens of thousands of civilians. It has levelled Gaza’s buildings and infrastructure to such a degree that it is noticeable from space.
Under the rubble, along with an untold number of people still unaccounted for, saturated with toxic matter and unexploded ordinances, lies whatever pretence remained of the United States as a country that upholds its obligations under international law - including, but especially, the prevention and punishment of genocide.
It’s not a revelation to say that international law is applied unequally. We know the international rules-based order created in the wake of World War II favours the victors of that war.
The five veto-endowed permanent members of the UN Security Council are a snapshot of the world in 1946; who was rewarded, who was punished, and some consideration for regional representation (ie China).
We know people are treated differently, that exceptions are made for the powerful - but generally speaking, the pretence remains intact: everyone has, if not a fair shot, a shot.
In a recent interview, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour: “I’ve had some elected leaders speak to me and be very blunt. ‘This court is built for Africa and thugs like Putin,’ was what one senior leader told me.”
Khan gave this interview on the heels of announcing he was seeking arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders, along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It marks the first time an American ally has been targeted by the international criminal tribunal; this is apparently all it took for the quiet part to be said very much out loud.

I always assumed the US would try to maintain some level of plausible deniability around the equal application of international law...
If it is simply a rogue nation acting outside the law and using its immense power to undermine the system for no other reason than its own (and its allies’) self-interest, what are we left with? What then becomes of the international rules-based order? [..}
The International Court of Justice has repeatedly ordered provisional measures against Israel, citing an urgent need to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the plausible risk of genocide. And yet, US President Joe Biden’s spokespeople stand at the White House podium day in and day out, sharing what sounds like Israeli fan fiction, as reporters ask them serious and pointed questions. [..]
In this world, we’re told the ICC doesn’t have jurisdiction, because Israel’s independent judiciary can be trusted to hold its leaders accountable for atrocity crimes - as if we aren’t all watching Netanyahu preside over a genocide to avoid personal accountability for much (much) lesser crimes. As if, prior to being interrupted by 7 October, this government wasn’t specifically working to take away the judiciary’s independent authority to review government actions.
Gaza, and the broader Palestinian cause, has exposed the hypocrisy of western governments in ways it’s hard to imagine coming back from.
We’ve seen anti-democratic repression of peaceful protests, and of academic and artistic freedoms; and a McCarthyite blacklisting of people who advocate for Palestinian liberation.
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Ehud Barak describes 'absolute victory' as empty slogan:
'We are closer to total failure'
Middle Wast Monitor, June 15, 2024
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak confirmed: “Israel is at the height of a developing crisis that is far from being over. It’s the most serious and dangerous crisis in the country’s history. It began on October 7 with the worst failure in Israel’s history.”
Barak remarked in an article published by Haaretz newspaper that the current crisis: “Continued with a war that, despite the courage and sacrifice of soldiers and officers, appears to be the least successful war in its history, due to the strategic paralysis in the country’s leadership.”
“We are now facing difficult decisions between terrible alternatives with regard to continuing the fighting in the Gaza Strip, expanding the operation against Hezbollah in the north and risking a multifront war that would include Iran and its proxies.
And all this is happening while in the background the judicial coup continues, with its goal of establishing a racist, ultranationalist, messianic and benighted religious dictatorship,” he explained.
Barak stated: “The crisis requires us to mobilise everything that’s strong, good and effective within us to return to the path of growth, empowerment, enlightenment and hope that Israel trod during most of its history. That would be a real victory.”
He noted: “At this point in time, we can’t afford any more mistakes. We need to look directly and courageously at what happened to us and why, and then we need the determination to fix it quickly, despite the opposition that doing so will generate.
This will require decisiveness, courage and action – from members of the opposition, from members of the governing coalition with spines and also from us, the entire citizenry.”
“This is a genuine emergency! The crux of our disaster is that in the midst of a catastrophe, Israel is being led by a government and a prime minister who are patently unfit for their offices.
Barak concluded by writing: “What is needed now is an immediate deal to bring the hostages home, even at the price of committing to end the war; calming the situation in the south; calming the north through a diplomatic agreement, even if only temporary, mediated by Washington; returning the people evacuated from southern and northern Israel to their homes; replenishing our arsenals and letting our troops recover; and restoring the economy to normal operation.”
See also: Israel at war (The Gaza War 2023|2024)
No normalization with Israel without Palestinian state,
Saudi ambassador to UK says
Arab News, 21 June 2024
LONDON: Saudi Arabia will not normalize ties with Israel at the expense of Palestinian statehood, the Kingdom’s ambassador to the UK said on Thursday.
Speaking at Chatham House’s London Conference, Prince Khalid bin Bandar said that normalization remained important to Saudi Arabia and other nations in the region because it would ensure peace, stability and security.
He admitted that “compromises would have to be made” to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, which he said affected the world in a way other conflicts did not.
“If what is happening (in Gaza) keeps happening, we are going to go down a path that is irreversible,” Prince Khalid said.
“The further we get away from finding a solution, the more people lose hope, the more we’re at that point, it’s going to spread to a regional conflict. It’s important for everyone to recognisze the danger of what lies ahead. The conflict will not remain regional, it will become international very quickly,” he said.
Prince Khalid said that normalization would be “irrelevant” until the plight of Palestinians was resolved.
“We believe in the creation of a Palestinian state and a solution to the conflict,” he said. “If it was easy, we’d have done it by now but without that, normalization is irrelevant. There is no point having normalization because we would still have conflict and conflict is the problem, not normalization.
“There is no point in discussing everything else until we find a solution...."
"For that to happen, Israel “needs to play ball as well,” he siad, adding that the price for finding a solution was an independent Palestinian state.
“It’s important to recognize our position, which has never changed, despite people never listening to us,” Prince Khalid said.
“The crown prince’s positon, Saudi Arabia’s position, his majesty (King Salman)’s position, the government’s position and the will of almost every Saudi I know is we need a Palestinian state.
“The offer was made in the Arab Peace Initiative; on 1967 borders, a Palestinian state, a two-state solution and everyone lives happily ever after. It goes back to 1982, King Fahd presented the same offer, it has not been taken up, I find it mystifying.
The Arab Peace Initiative
The Arab League members unanimously endorsed the peace initiative on March 27,2002. It consists of a comprehensive proposal to end the entire Arab–Israeli conflict. It provides in a relevant part:
(a) Complete withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the 4 June 1967 line and the territories still occupied in southern Lebanon; (b) Attain a just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees to be agreed upon in accordance with the UN General Assembly Resolution No 194. (c) Accept the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since 4 June 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.
In return the Arab states will do the following: (a) Consider the Arab–Israeli conflict over, sign a peace agreement with Israel, and achieve peace for all states in the region; (b) Establish normal relations with Israel within the framework of this comprehensive peace.
Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia made a speech to the Arab League on the day of its adoption saying that:
"In spite of all that has happened and what still may happen, the primary issue in the heart and mind of every person in our Arab Islamic nation is the restoration of legitimate rights in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon....
We believe in peace when it is based on justice and equity, and when it brings an end to conflict. Only within the context of true peace can normal relations flourish between the people of the region..."
Egypt condemns new Israeli decision to legalize
five settlement outposts in West Bank
Ahram Online , Saturday 29 Jun 2024
Egypt condemned on Saturday the Israeli government's decision to approve the legalization of five more settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank and its plans to build thousands of new settlement units in clear violation of international law and the UN Security Council resolutions.
In an official statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly denounced Israel's exploitation of the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip to perpetuate more illegal settlement expansion and its attempt to change the legal status in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.
In addition, the foreign ministry stressed that Israel's continuation of these illegal measures aims to undermine the implementation of the two-state solution, which is based on respect for the legitimate, inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, and is the only path to comprehensive and lasting peace.
On Thursday, the Israeli Security Cabinet legalized five outposts in the occupied West Bank; Evyatar, Givat Assaf, Sde Efraim, Heletz, and Adorayim, imposing further sanctions on the Palestinian Authority, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
The Israeli government's decision sparked international criticism, with the Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemning the approval as detrimental to the prospects for a viable Palestinian State.
The Egyptian foreign ministry statement called on the international community to intervene to stop the illegal Israeli procedures, practices and ongoing violations of the rights of the Palestinian people, and to intensify efforts to immediately end the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
Iran’s presidential election goes to runoff
Tehran, IRNA, 30-6-2024
Results in Iran’s 14th presidential election show that the votes have gone to a runoff between Massoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili slated for July 5, according to the spokesperson for Iran’s election headquarters, Mohsen Eslami.
Voters cast their ballots on Friday to elect the successor to President Ebrahim Raisi, who lost his life in a helicopter crash on May 19.
The ballot boxes of 58,640 polling stations across the country and 344 others abroad have been counted, Eslami announced on Saturday.
The results of Iran’s 14th presidential election show a tight race between Pezeshkian and Jalili.
After counting 24,535,185 votes, Pezeshkian won with 10,415,991 votes while Jalili had 9,473,298.
Another candidate, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, gained 3,383,340 votes while Mostafa Pourmohammadi gained 206,397.
On May 19, 2024, a helicopter carrying late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, late Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and several other officials crashed while flying from Khudafarin to Tabriz, northwestern Iran, and the Iranian president and the entire accompanying delegation were martyred.
Iran Election Analysis - Masoud Pezeshkian,
the president-elect of the Islamic Republic of Iran
By Press TV Website Staff, Saturday, 06 July 2024
Masoud Pezeshkian, a seasoned lawmaker and former health minister, has been declared the winner of the Iranian presidential runoff election, defeating his opponent Saeed Jalili.
According to the final vote count announced by the election headquarters early on Saturday, Pezeshkian has been elected as the ninth president of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
He received 16,384,403 votes out of the total 30,530,157 votes, while his opponent Jalili garnered 13,538,179 votes in Friday’s runoff election, which saw a significantly high voter turnout.
Pezeshkian will replace Ebrahim Raeisi, who passed away in a helicopter crash on May 19 in northwestern Iran, along with seven others.
Born on September 29, 1954, in Mahabad, West Azarbaijan province, Pezeshkian has represented the northwestern city of Tabriz in the 12th Iranian parliament.
His political journey has been remarkable, rising through the ranks to hold the important cabinet portfolio of Health Minister under President Mohammad Khatami (2001-2005).
A seasoned parliamentarian, Pezeshkian was elected to the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th parliaments. Between 2016 and 2020, he also held the position of first deputy speaker.
He previously ran for the presidency in 2013 and 2021 but failed to make significant progress both times.
A cardiac surgeon by training, Pezeshkian also served as the chancellor of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences and is currently a member of the academic staff at this prestigious university in northern Iran.
After receiving approval from the country’s top election supervisory body to run in the June 28 election last month, he took to X (formerly Twitter), using ‘For-Iran’ as his campaign slogan.
He introduced his plans, emphasizing the importance of entrusting tasks to experienced and knowledgeable individuals in his administration.
He also announced Javad Zarif, the former Iranian foreign minister, as his choice to head the country's foreign ministry.
In the presidential runoff debates, Pezeshkian highlighted the significance of upholding and fulfilling promises as a pivotal factor in maintaining moral standards.
He stressed the importance of showing respect towards individuals, ensuring their voices are heard, and advocating for actions based on principles of justice and righteousness.
He reiterated the guiding principle of the country's foreign policy as "Neither East nor West," outlining his government's commitment to advancing national interests in the foreign policy sphere.
Flashback: Zarif in exclusive interview with Tehran Times:
"The biggest obstacle to the realization of the two-state solution
has been and will always be Israel"
By Mona Hojat Ansari, Tehran Times, March 12, 2024
Iran's Masoud Pezeshkian: Reformist hope or conservative trap?
Middle East Eye, 6-7-2025
While Pezeshkian did not promise radical reforms to Iran’s theocratic method of government, which holds Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as the final arbiter in significant matters, he pledged to make changes.
The reformist candidate said he would reach out to the West, contrasting Jalili’s strong support for deepening ties with Russia and China.
Pezeshkian also promised to ease restrictions on Iran’s mandatory headscarf law, which sparked mass anti-government protests and a violent government crackdown in late 2022.
“We will respect the hijab law, but there should never be any intrusive or inhumane behaviour toward women,” he said during the first round of the election.
The 69-year-old reformist will preside over an Iranian parliament still largely held by principlists.
His election comes as Israel’s war on Gaza rages on after a Hamas-led attack on 7 October.
Hamas, the Palestinian group part of the Iran-backed “axis of resistance”, is engaged in fierce fighting against Israel. Meanwhile, the Lebanese group Hezbollah, Iran’s strongest ally, is engaged in lower-level skirmishes with fears of a wider war still looming.
Western states remain concerned about Iran advancing its nuclear programme, with negotiations on the matter having reached a stall.
Iran’s new president is not expected to cause significant policy shifts on the nuclear file or the backing of armed groups in the Middle East. However, he can influence the tone of domestic and foreign policy while managing the government’s day-to-day affairs.
Türkiye prepares invitation for Assad in thaw with Syria
by Daily Sabah, Jul 07, 2024
Speaking to reporters on his way home from Germany, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sunday that Türkiye will extend an invitation to Syrian leader Bashar Assad and consider steps to restore ties between the two countries disrupted over unrest that began in Syria in 2011.
It was the first time the president openly invited the head of the Syrian regime, who was once a close friend.
Türkiye is prepared to always stand by a united, prosperous and peaceful Syria after a fair, honorable and inclusive agreement, Erdoğan said last Friday amid a tentative possibility to restore Turkish-Syrian ties.
“We are now at a point that the moment Bashar Assad takes a step to restore relations with Türkiye, we will exhibit the same approach,” Erdoğan was quoted saying on Sunday.
“We were not adversaries in the past. Our families were seeing each other,” Erdoğan said. He was referring to their meeting in southwestern Türkiye, where Assad took his family for a vacation in Türkiye after he had taken over the leadership of the regime in 2000.
Erdoğan and his family welcomed the Assads during their vacation in 2008.
The 2011 unrest, which evolved into a civil war, changed Türkiye’s stance on the Damascus regime and the two leaders severed ties, except for attending a group photo session with leaders of Arab Muslim countries during a summit in Riyadh in 2023.
“We will extend our invitation and by God’s will, we want to return Turkish-Syrian relations to the same level as in the past through this invitation. It can be any time,” he said.
Erdoğan said Russian President Vladimir Putin, a close ally of Assad with whom Erdoğan last met at a recent summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Kazakhstan, told him that a meeting could be held in Türkiye...
Israel News: Liberman calls on French Jews
to move to Israel after election result
By Sam Sokol, Times of Israel, 8-7-2024
In the wake of the far left’s strong showing in France’s parliamentary election yesterday, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman calls on French Jews to “to leave France and immigrate to the State of Israel,” adding that there is “no time” to lose.
No party won a majority in the second round of France’s parliamentary elections on Sunday, in which all 577 seats of the National Assembly were in play. According to Le Monde, the left-wing New Popular Front alliance won 182 seats while the centrist Ensemble, backed by President Emmanuel Macron, won 168.
Following the election, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the French far-left leader, promised “to recognize the State of Palestine.”
Mélenchon, says Liberman, “became famous with quite a few statements against Jews and the State of Israel. His party represents pure antisemitism and expresses a significant increase in hatred of Israel and antisemitism.”
Wikipedia Info:
Mélenchon's Political positions
Jean-Luc Mélenchon (born 19 August 1951) is a socialist republican and historical materialist, inspired primarily by Jean Jaurès (the founder of French republican socialism). Observers have assessed his political positions as far-left.
He is a proponent of increased labour rights and the expansion of French welfare programmes.Mélenchon has also called for the mass redistribution of wealth to rectify existing socioeconomic inequalities.
Domestic policies proposed by Mélenchon include a 100% income tax on earnings over €360,000 a year, full state reimbursement for health care costs, a reduction in presidential powers in favour of the legislature, and the easing of immigration laws.
Mélenchon supports same-sex marriage and women's right to abortion. He also supports the legalisation of cannabis.
Mélenchon believes in the "créolisation" of French culture and society, a term coined by poet Martinican Édouard Glissant, who defines it as "a blend of cultures that creates something new", that "belongs to none of the cultures that comprise it".
During a campaign rally in December 2021, Mélenchon told his supporters: "Whatever one's gender, colour or religion, we are called upon to love one another, and so we pool together our tastes and our cultures. That's créolisation. Créolisation is the future of humanity."
Mélenchon is an outspoken critic of the European Union (EU), which he views as having been corrupted through neoliberalism.
During his 2012 campaign, Mélenchon positioned himself against the trend towards economic globalisation, which he denounced as disproportionately profiting the financial industry and "high income earners" at the expense of the poor.
He insisted international organisations such as the EU threatened to "strangle the voice of the people".
UK wants ‘balanced position’ on Israel and Gaza
as it seeks diplomatic reset
The Arab Weekly|Reuters, Monday 08/07/2024
Britain wants a balanced position on the war in the Middle East and will use diplomatic efforts to ensure a ceasefire is reached and hostages held by Palestinian militant group Hamas are released, its new foreign minister David Lammy told Reuters.
Lammy is on a visit to Germany, his first international trip following the Labour Party’s thumping victory in Britain’s election on Friday, which ended 14 years of Conservative government and propelled Keir Starmer to power as prime minister.
“The time has come for the United Kingdom to reconnect with the outside world,” Lammy said in an interview in Berlin.
“I want to get back to a balanced position on Israel and Gaza. We’ve been very clear that we want to see a ceasefire … We want to see those hostages out.”
He added: “The fighting has to stop, the aid has got to get in, and I will use all diplomatic efforts to ensure that we get to that ceasefire.”
Lammy also said Britain would seek to reset its position globally on issues including the climate crisis as well as key relationships, such as with European and emerging powers.
“Let us put the Brexit years behind us … there’s much that we can do together,” Lammy said, pointing to a previously floated idea of a UK-EU security pact.
Israeli and German Navies Sign a Two-Year Work Plan
IDF website, 4-7-2024
As the Israeli Navy continues operating in multiple arenas in the ‘Swords of Iron’ War, a two year Joint Working Plan was signed by RADM Ulrich Reineke, Director of Plans and Policy on behalf of the German Navy, and RADM Guy Goldfarb, Deputy Commander in Chief and Chief of Staff on behalf of the Israeli Navy.
During the visit, RADM Ulrich Reineke received various operational briefings regarding the Israeli Navy’s activity throughout the current war, conducted a visit of the Israeli Naval MOC, and viewed an exhibition focusing on the horrors of the October 7th Massacre perpetrated by the Hamas terrorist organization.
There is longstanding cooperation between the two navies based on the mutual sharing of knowledge, joint naval training and exercises. The newly signed Joint Working Plan will expand and further the cooperation...
Herzi Halevi: 'IDF applying military pressure in all sorts of ways'
By Jerusalem Post Staff, 10-7-2024
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi visited the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and conducted an operational assessment in the center of Gaza.
"The common denominator" between the various combat zones in Gaza is "determination," Halevi said.
"We go on missions to destroy as much infrastructure as possible, kill as many Hamas terrorists as possible, kill as many commanders as possible.
In the end, it lowers the capabilities of Hamas, allows us to move forward with the achievements, allows us to carry out a very important task - pressure - we will not stop to return the hostages either."
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry stated on Wednesday that the death toll in Gaza has reached 38,295 since the war started on October 7 of last year. A further 88,241 have thus far been wounded in the conflict, the Gazan ministry added.
Wikipedia info: Herzl "Herzi" Halevi (born 17 December 1967) is the Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, having taken the oath of office on 16 January 2023. He previously served as the commander of the Israeli Southern Command, the chief of the Military Intelligence Directorate, the commander of the 91st (Territorial) Division, the commander of the 35th Paratroopers Brigade, and the commander of the Sayeret Matkal.
Halevi was the first practicing Orthodox Jew to serve as the head of Israeli military intelligence. Halevi resides in Kfar HaOranim, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. He is married to Sharon and has four children. He grew up religious and still attends synagogue on the Sabbath.
Europe turns blind eye as arms flow to Israel amid Gaza conflict
Daily Sabah, Turkey, Jul 12, 2024
European nations persist in supplying arms to Israel amid its ongoing military operations in Gaza, despite accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), France, Italy, Germany and the U.S., collectively accounted for 81% of arms imports to the Middle East from 2019 to 2023.
While some European countries, including Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, decided to halt arms sales to Israel, press reports suggest that this trade has continued.
Germany remains Israel's largest European arms supplier, providing approximately 30% of Israel's imports between 2019 and 2023. In 2023, German arms deliveries to Israel increased tenfold to 326.5 million euros, peaking after Oct. 7.
Most of France's arms exports from 2019 to 2023 went to countries in the Middle East, accounting for 34% of its total exports. The country provides components for Israel's missile defense system, known as the Iron Dome.
Despite laws restricting arms sales to human rights violators, Italy sold 2.1 million euros worth of weapons to Israel in the last quarter of 2023. Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto claimed there have been no new arms transfers to Israel since Oct. 7, although reports indicate ongoing sales by companies such as Leonardo.
Pezeshkian's Message to the New World
Fars News Iran, 12-7-2024
Iran's President-Elect Masoud Pezeshkian underlined that the decision-makers in the US should come to realize that divisive policies in West Asia have resulted in nothing but failure, calling on Washington to recognize the reality and refrain from escalating tensions.
In an op-ed for the Tehran Times titled "My Message to the New World, Pezeshkian stated his administration will prioritize bolstering ties and bilateral relations with neighbors.
“We will champion the establishment of a ‘strong region’ rather than one where a single country pursues hegemony and dominance over the others,” he said.
The former heart surgeon and health minister added that he firmly believes that “neighboring and brotherly nations should not waste their valuable resources on erosive competitions, arms races, or the unwarranted containment of each other".
“Instead, we will aim to create an environment where our resources can be devoted to the progress and development of the region for the benefit of all,” the president-elect stated.
“We look forward to cooperating with Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and regional organizations to deepen our economic ties, bolster trade relations, promote joint-venture investment, tackle common challenges, and move towards establishing a regional framework for dialogue, confidence building and development,” Pezeshkian continued.
He went on to say that “nations endowed with abundant resources and shared traditions rooted in peaceful Islamic teachings, we must unite and rely on the power of logic rather than the logic of power."
Pezeshkian wrote that the “United States also needs to recognize the reality and understand, once and for all, that Iran does not—and will not—respond to pressure".
“We entered the JCPOA in 2015 in good faith and fully met our obligations. But the United States unlawfully withdrew from the agreement motivated by purely domestic quarrels and vengeance, inflicting hundreds of billions of dollars in damage to our economy, and causing untold suffering, death and destruction on the Iranian people,” he said, referring to Iran's nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
He added that the US “deliberately chose to escalate hostilities by waging not only an economic war against Iran but also engaging in state terrorism by assassinating [Lieutenant] General Qassem Soleimani".
“Today, the world is witnessing the harmful consequences of that choice,” he noted.
Pezeshkian also stressed that Iran’s relations with Europe have known its ups and downs.
“After the United States’ withdrawal from the JCPOA in May 2018, European countries made eleven commitments to Iran to try to salvage the agreement and mitigate the impact of the United States’ unlawful and unilateral sanctions on our economy,” he said.The president-elect complained that European countries “reneged on all these commitments, yet unreasonably expect Iran to unilaterally fulfill all its obligations under the agreement".
“Despite these missteps, I look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue with European countries to set our relations on the right path, based on principles of mutual respect and equal footing,” he continued.
The Iranian president-elect praised China and Russia for consistently standing by Iran “during challenging times". “We deeply value this friendship,” he wrote.
“Our 25-year roadmap with China represents a significant milestone towards establishing a mutually beneficial ‘comprehensive strategic partnership,’ and we look forward to collaborating more extensively with Beijing as we advance towards a new global order,” he said.
Turkish President Erdogan calls for
support in effort for peace in Syria
Middle East Monitor. 12-7-2024
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday stressed the importance of efforts for peace in neighboring Syria, urging all peace advocates to support this pivotal call.
“We want peace in Syria, and we expect everyone who stands for peace to support this historic call,” Erdogan told journalists on his return flight from Washington, DC, where he attended a NATO leaders’ summit this week.
On Turkiye’s peace efforts in Syria, Erdogan said: “US and Iran should welcome these positive developments and support the process to end immense suffering.”
“A fair peace in Syria would benefit Turkiye (among neighboring countries) the most,” Erdogan said, adding: “The most important step in this process is to start a new era with Syria.”
Erdogan noted that progress has been positive so far, and he hopes for concrete steps soon.
“We have been striving for years to extinguish the fire in our neighbor, Syria,” said Erdogan, referring to the over decade-long Syrian civil war, which sent millions of migrants into Turkiye and created a power vacuum near the Turkish border that terrorist groups tried to exploit.
Our main expectation is that no one will be disturbed by the process in which Syria builds a new future as a united and whole country.”
He added: “Terrorist groups will do everything they can to poison the peace process in Syria. They will plot provocations and set traps. We are aware of all these plans and are prepared.”
Daily Sabah, 18-7-2024:
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad said last week that his potential meeting with Erdoğan depended on the “content” as the two countries attempt to revive years of frozen relations.
"If the meeting were to lead to results or ... achieve the country's interests, I will do it. But the problem ... lies in the content of the meeting," Assad told journalists.
He noted that he would attend such a meeting if it addresses the withdrawal of Turkish troops from northwest Syria.
He continued by saying that Damascus was “positive” toward initiatives to improve relations with Türkiye but he added: “That doesn't mean we go (to a meeting) without rules."
Israel’s Gaza violations in spotlight
as Russian foreign minister chairs UN Security Council meeting
Ephrem Kossaify, Arab News, July 18, 2024
Speaking on behalf of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday, his chef de cabinet, Courtenay Rattray, called for the violence in Gaza to end and all parties involved in the conflict to “reach a deal, now.” He said the humanitarian situation in the territory has become “a moral stain on us all.....”
Speaking during a meeting of the Security Council to discuss Palestine, he underscored the importance of “ensuring that governance is restored in Gaza under a single, legitimate Palestinian government,” support for which is “critical.”

lavrov - erdan - mansour
Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s permanent observer at the UN, accused Israel of killing those people most deserving of protection, “including children, humanitarians, doctors (and) journalists,” and of defying “every nation on earth” and “every organ ever set up to uphold the most fundamental rules.”
He said: “What is happening in Gaza will go down as the most-documented genocide in history. How cruel could you be? How criminal must you be to bomb the same population, over and over and over again?"
“(Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu does not care about Palestinian lives or even the hostages’ lives. He does not care about international law or human decency....
The Palestinian envoy vowed that his people would live “in freedom and dignity on their ancestral land. They will accept nothing less, they will accept nothing else but fulfilling this right.
Mansour called on the Security Council to “strengthen those who seek peace rather than arm those who seek extermination; sanction those who colonize rather than allowing them to punish those who oppose the uprooting and displacement of communities; protect the victims rather than the perpetrators; recognize the state of Palestine rather than witness the destruction of the two-state solution.”
In his speech to the council, Israel’s envoy to the UN, Gilad Erdan, focused solely on Iran, accusing the regime in Tehran of being “obsessed with killing Jews everywhere, not only in Israel.”
“Iran has a global reach and it’s exporting its bloodshed and destruction to the four corners of Earth..."
Erdan said that since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas last year, Israel has also come under assault from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, and that “all of the terrorist groups targeting us have one thing in common: they are directed from Tehran.”
He warned: “If we reach a situation of full-scale war in Lebanon, it is only because Hezbollah has shot thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians with the support and funding of Iran. You cannot say you didn’t know.”
Erdan also warned the regime in Tehran that if it continues to threaten the region “it will find that its days are numbered..."
Russia holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council this month and the meeting was chaired by Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister.
He said a “frank and honest conversation” is needed about how best to immediately stop the bloodshed in Gaza and move toward the long-term settlement of “both long-standing and relatively new conflicts in the region.”
He added: “From the outset, we have highly valued the constructive potential of the Arab Peace Initiative launched by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2002. At the same time, we respected the decision of a number of Arab states to normalize relations with Israel prior to the resolution of the Palestinian question.”
Lavrov accused the US of becoming a direct accomplice in the conflict in Gaza “by providing diplomatic cover for Israel's actions and supplying (it with) arms and ammunition, just as it has done with the situation in Ukraine.
“If the US were to end its support, the bloodshed would stop but the US is either unwilling or unable to do so...”
Israel's Knesset overwhelmingly rejects Palestinian statehood
Ahram Online, Thursday 18 Jul 2024
The Israeli parliament voted decisively on Thursday against the establishment of a Palestinian state, amid renewed global momentum for Palestinian statehood sparked by the Israeli war on Gaza.
The resolution, passed by a vote of 68 to 9, firmly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state -- even through negotiations with Israel.
It comes ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled visit to the United States, where he is expected to address American lawmakers to shore up support for his country’s war on Gaza.
This resolution marks a significant shift from a February resolution that rejected what it described as the "unilateral establishment of a Palestinian state", insisting on a negotiated settlement between both sides.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the official spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, denounced the vote, emphasising that there can be "no peace or security for anyone without the establishment of a Palestinian state" that includes the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem as its capital.
He pointed out that 149 member states in the United Nations already recognise the State of Palestine and asserted that Palestinian statehood "does not require permission or legitimacy from anyone."
Türkiye: Israel's Palestinian statehood rejection 'null and void'
by Daily Sabah with Agencies, 18-7-2024
Türkiye on Thursday condemned the Israeli parliament's passing of a resolution rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state, calling it an indication that Israel disregards international law.
"The acceptance of a resolution in Israeli parliament rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state is another indication that Israel disregards international law and agreements," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. It labeled the decision as "null and void."
The establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, is a requirement of international law, the ministry added...
Egypt endorses ICJ’s advisory opinion on
unlawfulness of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
Ahram Online, Saturday 20 Jul 2024

ICJ Website
Egypt has welcomed the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which deemed Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, as unlawful.
Issued on Friday in response to a 2022 UN General Assembly request, the ICJ's opinion deems th e continued Israeli occupation as a violation of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and a breach of the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force.
The landmark opinion urges Israel to swiftly end the occupation, halt new settlements, and remove existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The advisory opinion, while non-binding, was the first time the ICJ has expressed its view on the legality of Israel’s presence in territories it captured in the 1967 war.
ICJ 19 JULY 2024, ADVISORY OPINION
Legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem
Flashback: Israel does not want just peace
Rejectionism is embedded in Israel's most primal beliefs.
By Gideon Levy, Haaretz, Jul. 4, 2014
Jabotinsky & Zionist morality
Either Zionism is moral and just, or it is immoral and unjust. But that is a question that we should have settled before we became Zionists.
Actually we have settled that question, and in the affirmative.
We hold that Zionism is moral and just. And since it is moral and just, justice must be done, no matter whether Joseph or Simon or Ivan or Achmet agree with it or not.
There is no other morality. (Zeev Jabotinsky, The Iron Wall, 1923)

Ze'ev Jabotinsky will be inscribed in the annals of the history of the Jewish People as a distinguished politician, journalist and philosopher; a visionary and inspirational leader who fought unceasingly and passionately for the establishment of the State of Israel and the return of the Jewish People. The Jabotinsky Institute
"I concede with sorrow that the baseless fanaticism of our people is in part to be blamed for the awakening of Arab distrust." Sigmund Freud, 26-2-1930
Arab nations welcome ICJ ruling on
Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories
Ismaeel Naar, The National, 20 July, 2024
Several Arab states have welcomed the International Court of Justice’s decision that Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories and its settlement policy are unlawful.
The UAE’s Foreign Ministry said the ruling “stresses its rejection of all measures aimed at changing the existing historical and legal situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, and all practices that violate international legitimacy resolutions...
Saudi Arabia's Foreign ministry said in a statement on social media platform X that the advisory opinion “confirms the illegality of the Israeli presence in the occupied Palestinian territories over the past 57 years”.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Al Safadi described it as “a clear ruling on the side of Palestinian people’s right to justice, freedom and statehood” in a post on X. “The end of occupation is the only path to peace that will guarantee the rights and security of all.”
Along with Egypt, Jordan is one of the few Middle East countries with established diplomatic ties with Israel.
However, it has been highly critical of the Israeli army’s conduct in Gaza, accusing it of trying to remove Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank.
Jordan, which borders the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is home to more than two million Palestinian refugees, according to the United Nations. Jordan also serves as the custodian of Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, Al Aqsa compound.
The Palestinian Authority administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Its forces were driven from Gaza when Hamas seized power in 2007, and it has no influence there.
Riyad Malki, the Palestinian Foreign Minister, commended the decision by the ICJ to label Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories and settlement policy as unlawful.
“The ICJ fulfilled its legal and moral duties with this historic ruling. All states must now uphold the clear obligations: No aid, no assistance, no complicity, no money, no arms, no trade, no nothing. No actions of any kind … to support Israel’s illegal occupation,” Mr Malki said from outside the courtroom.
He represents the Palestinian Authority at the International Court of Justice, and other UN courts, and was in the courtroom when Friday’s decision was read.
The US criticised “the breadth” of the top UN court's opinion, with Washington saying it will complicate efforts to resolve the conflict.
Netanyahu address to Congress faces boycott and protests
Middle East Monitor, July 24, 2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to address the US Congress on Wednesday, an event which is expected to draw crowds of protesters.
At least 21 Democrats are planning to boycott the speech, including Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen, as well as Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib.
Sanders announced his decision to boycott the speech by insisting that Netanyahu should not be welcomed into the US Congress. “On the contrary, his policies in Gaza and the West Bank and his refusal to support a two-state solution should be roundly condemned.”
According to Chris Van Hollen, it was a “big mistake” to invite Netanyahu to address Congress. “The actions and words of Prime Minister Netanyahu and his ultra-right extremist coalition, both before and since the 7 October attacks, have weakened the ties between the United States and Israel,” he said in a speech in the Senate yesterday.
Noting that Netanyahu is the leader of the most “extreme, right-wing government coalition in the history of Israel,” Van Hollem said it sends a “terrible message” to bring him to the US right now.
The Israeli leader landed in Washington on Monday afternoon. He is scheduled to have several meetings, including one with President Joe Biden in the White House on Thursday. He will then be hosted by former president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at his Florida home on Friday.
Netanyahu’s previous address to Congress was on 3 March, 2015, during which he criticised the Iran nuclear deal under negotiation by the Obama administration, describing it as “so bad”.
Netanyahu Repeatedly Lied to Congress about Iraqi “Nukes,”
and now Wants US War on Iran
Juan Cole, 07/24/2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a master of misdirection, the technique master illusionists use to divert the viewer’s attention from the trick and to pull the wool over their eyes.
Ben Norton at The Real News Network has reviewed Netanyahu’s long history of blatant warmongering lies:
In 1990, when Netanyahu was deputy foreign minister of Israel, he alleged that Iraq’s nuclear program was “fast accelerating.”
In December, 1990, he said on the NBC News Today Show of Iraq’s ruler Saddam Hussein: “The question is, really, how do we ensure that these weapons of destruction, these missiles, these chemical weapons, the nuclear program that is fast accelerating in Iraq, that these do not pose a threat in the aftermath of the crisis, assuming, assuming it gets out of Kuwait? This is an issue for the entire international community.”
Iraq’s chemical weapons were used on Kurds and on Iranian troops but were not in a form where they could be deployed outside the country. Iraq engaged only in anemic and sporadic nuclear experimentation that never amounted to anything (they did not have centrifuges, then or later).
Iraq was third world country, not a threat to Europe or the United States. Netanyahu just had a wish list of wars he wanted other people to fight for him, and his exaggerations and fantasies were tools toward that end.
Netanyahu addressed a US Congressional hearing September 2002, saying:
“If you take out Saddam, Saddam’s regime, I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region. And I think that people sitting right next door in Iran, young people, and many others, will say the time of such regimes, of such despots, is gone. There is a new age, something new is happening.”
Actually, all the Arab countries are dictatorships, monarchies or failed states after the disastrous US invasion and occupation of Iraq, which left tens of thousands of veterans wounded and killed 4,492 US military personnel. The US operation in Iraq gave rise to ISIL, which roiled the region for several years and conducted terrorism against France, Belgium and other countries to which Saddam Hussein had posed no challenge.
As for Iran’s ayatollahs, the US destruction of the Baath regime in Iraq and the installation of a Shiite-majority government strengthened them enormously.
Netanyahu told Congress before the Iraq War, “There is no question whatsoever that Saddam is seeking and is working and is advancing towards the development of nuclear weapons. No question whatsoever. And there was no question that once he acquires it, history shifts immediately.
There is no question that he had not given up on his nuclear program. None whatsoever. There is also no question that he was not satisfied with the arsenal of chemical and biological weapons that he had and was trying to perfect them constantly. Saddam is hellbent on achieving atomic bombs, atomic capabilities as soon as he can.”
Netanyahu also said, “The question is what’s your next step, knowing that three nations are developing nuclear weapons? This is not a hypothesis. It is fact. Iraq, Iran, and Libya are racing to develop nuclear weapons.”
None of them were racing to develop nuclear weapons. None. And none have the capacity to hit the US with missiles. It is all intense and delusional fearmongering.
Once the US military was on the ground in Iraq, it became clear that it had never had a serious nuclear weapons program, and the little it had was mothballed by UN inspectors in 1995... All those “no questions” were expressions of a false certainty or outright lies.
Iraq was not the only butt of his calumnies. In 2012, Norton shows, Netanyahu told the UN General Assembly, “By next spring, at most by next summer, at current enrichment rates, they [Iran] will have finished the medium enrichment and move on to the final stage. From there it’s only a few months, possibly a few weeks, before they get enough enriched uranium for the first bomb. A red line should be drawn right here, before Iran completes the second stage of nuclear enrichment necessary to make a bomb.”
Iran has had a civilian nuclear enrichment program since 2000. If it wanted a nuclear weapon, it could have one by now.
Netanyahu has long tried to get the US into a war with Iran: “Obviously we’d like to see a regime change, at least I would, in Iran, just as I would like to see in Iraq. The question now is a practical question...
It’s not a question of whether you’d like to see a regime change in Iran, but how to achieve it. The application of power is the most important thing in winning the war on terrorism.
The more victories you amass, the easier the next victory becomes. The first victory in Afghanistan makes a second victory in Iraq that much easier. The second victory in Iraq will make the third victory that much easier, too.”
After his decades of lies, misrepresentations, undermining of the US government’s foreign policy, and now his maniacal war in Gaza, no one in Washington should be willing to listen to a word he says..
"There is no place for the weak"
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Israeli parliament votes to label UNRWA
(UN relief agency) a terror organisation
By Reuters, July 22, 2024
The Israeli parliament gave preliminary approval on Monday to a bill that declares the main United Nations relief organization for Palestinians a terrorist organisation and proposes to sever relations with the body.
The vote against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) is the latest step in a Israeli push against the agency, which Israeli leaders have accused of collaborating with the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza.
The bill was approved in a first reading and will be returned to the foreign affairs and defence committee for further deliberation, the Knesset information service said.
The bill's sponsor, Yulia Malinovsky, was quoted as describing UNRWA as a "fifth column within Israel".
UNRWA provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
It has long had tense relations with Israel but relations have deteriorated sharply since the start of the war in Gaza and Israel has called repeatedly for UNRWA to be disbanded.
"It's another attempt in a wider campaign to dismantle the agency," UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma said. "Such steps are unheard of in the history of the United Nations."
Both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority condemned the Israeli vote, and Hussein Al-Sheikh, a senior ally of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called on the international community to resist attempts to dissolve the agency.
US defends UNRWA
after Israel moves to deem it terror group
Euractiv News|AFP, 25-7-2024
The United States on Wednesday (24 July) criticized an Israeli bill that would declare the UN agency for Palestinian refugees a terrorist organization, saying that such efforts are “incredibly unhelpful.”
“UNRWA is not a terrorist organization, and we urge the Israeli government and the Knesset to halt the movement of this legislation,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
He added that “the attacks that the Israeli government has leveled on UNRWA are incredibly unhelpful. They do nothing to advance the cause of getting humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.”
UNRWA, which has more than 30,000 employees serving some 5.9 million Palestinian refugees in the region, has been accused by Israel of employing “more than 400 terrorists” in the Gaza Strip.
The United States suspended its financial contributions to the agency after unproven Israeli allegations were made that some UNRWA staff were involved in Hamas’s 7 October attacks. Since then, US lawmakers have prohibited Washington from releasing funds to the agency.
Putin hosts Syria's Assad in the Kremlin
to discuss ties with Turkey
AP|Ahram online, Thursday 25 Jul 2024
Russian President Vladimir Putin met President Bashar Assad of Syria in the Kremlin.
Putin told Assad he was concerned that tensions were rising in the Middle East, but neither leader provided further details on their talks. Russia has waged a military campaign in Syria since September 2015, teaming up with Iran to allow Assad’s government to fight armed opposition groups and reclaim control over most of the country. While Russia now concentrates the bulk of its military resources in Ukraine, it has maintained a military foothold in Syria and keeps troops at its bases there.
The Kremlin did not provide details on Putin and Assad's talks but one potential point of discussion was around Russia and Turkey restoring diplomatic relations.
Russia is one of the strongest backers of Assad’s government but also has close ties with Turkey and has been pushing for a return to restart relations.
Turkey and Syria cut their ties in 2011 as mass anti-government protests in Syria spiralled into the still-ongoing civil war. Turkey-backed Syrian insurgent groups seeking to overthrow Assad and still maintain forces in the opposition-held northwest, angering Damascus.
 
In December 2022, the Turkish, Syrian and Russian defence ministers held talks in Moscow, the first ministerial-level meeting between Turkey and Syria since 2011. Russia also brokered meetings between Syrian and Turkish officials last year.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Assad recently signalled they are interested in restoring diplomatic ties.
Speaking to reporters on July 15, Assad said that for relations to return to normal Turkey would have to withdraw its troops from northern Syria and stop backing insurgent groups that Damascus describes as “terrorists.”
Vladimir Putin met with President Bashar al-Assad.
The Kremlin, Moscow, July 25, 2024
President of the Syrian Arab Republic Bashar al-Assad (retranslated):
Mr President, I am happy to see you again. My visit coincided with the anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries. Over the past decades, our countries have gone through difficult trials. These decades also saw complex transformation processes in our countries. However, throughout all these years, relations between our nations have been based on trust, which is evidence of our nations’ maturity.
Considering the current developments in the world, and in particular in the Eurasian region, our meeting today is extremely important for discussing the details of all these developments, as well as potential outlooks and scenarios. Thank you.
Harris 'will not be silent' on Gaza
AP|Ahram online, Friday 26 Jul 2024
Kamala Harris signaled a major shift on US Gaza policy Thursday, with the presidential hopeful telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seal a peace deal and insisting she would not be "silent" on the suffering in the Palestinian territory.
Ripping up outgoing President Joe Biden's playbook of mostly behind-the-scenes pressure on Israel, the vice president said after meeting Netanyahu that it was time to end the "devastating" war.
"What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating. The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time," Harris told reporters.
"We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not be silent."
The 59-year-old -- now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee after Biden said over the weekend he would not stand in November's election -- said she pressed Netanyahu on the dire situation in the "frank" meeting.
She said she "expressed with the prime minister my serious concern about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians." "And I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there."
Harris also called for the establishment of a Palestinian state and, similar to Biden, urged both Netanyahu and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire and captive release deal to end Israel's nine-month war on Gaza.
"As I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done," she said.
Harris's outspoken comments were a stark contrast to the largely amiable greetings between Biden and Netanyahu earlier in the day, even if it masked months of tensions between the two men as well as questions over the US president's relevance.
"From a proud Zionist Jew to a proud Zionist Irish American, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the State of Israel," Netanyahu said in tribute to Biden at the start of the Oval Office meeting.
Israel's relentless bombardment and ground invasion have killed at least 39,175 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded more than 90,403 others, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Erdoğan blasts US for platforming Netanyahu
by Daily Sabah [Turkey], Jul 26, 2024
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday blasted the U.S. Congress for applauding and providing a platform to Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The whole world saw how the genocidal murderer was applauded in the U.S. Congress,” Erdoğan told a technology incentive promotion program in Istanbul. “Those who give lessons of democracy and human rights to the world do not show an ounce of shame when they crown the Hitler of our time."
“We are face to face with an eclipse of reason that not only hosts a butcher with the blood of Gazans on his hands but also applauds him for his speech full of delirium,” he said.
The Israeli leader drew dozens of standing ovations from those assembled within the August Chamber, but about half of all congressional Democrats chose to boycott.
The American public has also shown growing sympathy for Palestinians in recent years, and thousands of demonstrators took to Washington to protest Congress' decision to grant a highly sought platform to Netanyahu as Israel faces allegations of genocide at the U.N.'s top court.
Netanyahu called pro-Palestinian demonstrators outside the Congress during his speech “Iran's useful idiots.”
Türkiye has been a virulent critic of Israel, has hosted Hamas leaders and welcomes the Palestinian resistance group as a liberation movement, unlike the majority of the Western world.
Eight EU Countries Call for European Engagement
With Syrian Government
by Dave DeCamp, antwar.com, July 25, 2024
Eight European Union countries are calling on the 27-nation bloc to reconsider its policy toward Syria and suggested engaging directly with the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad.
In a letter to the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, the foreign ministers of Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Slovakia, and Slovenia said their goal is a “more active, outcome-driven, and operational Syria policy.”
“This would allow us to increase our political leverage [and] the effectiveness of our humanitarian assistance,” the letter reads, according to Euractiv.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that the purpose of the sanctions regime on Syria is to prevent the reconstruction of the country. Naturally, the sanctions have a devastating impact on the civilian population of Syria.
Assad visiting China in 2023
One of the suggestions made in the letter was to create an EU-Syrian envoy that would engage directly with the Assad government and other regional actors. The EU cut off relations with Assad back in 2011 and maintains sanctions on Syria, along with the US.
Another suggestion the EU members made was to assess the impact the bloc’s sanctions are having on ordinary Syrians. The economic campaign against Syria has contributed to migrants continuing to seek refuge in Europe, and the eight EU members said the bloc should work to create the conditions for the return of migrants to Syria...
The US has maintained that it’s opposed to any countries normalizing relations with Syria, but it hasn’t been able to stop the trend of regional countries re-establishing ties with the Assad government.
Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei formally endorses
Masoud Pezeshkian as Iran’s new president.
PressTV [Iran] Monday, 29 July 2024
High-ranking dignitaries from different countries have arrived in the Iranian capital Tehran to take part in President Masoud Pezeshkian’s inauguration ceremony.
Pezeshkian, Iran’s ninth president since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, formally began his four-year mandate on Sunday when Ayatollah Ali Khamenei endorsed his victory in the second round of the presidential vote on July 5.
During the endorsement ceremony, Pezeshkian vowed to follow “the path of fairness and justice,” serve the people and address their problems, adding that these tasks would be “impossible without sticking to the law and unity.”
In a speech, Ayatollah Khamenei praised Pezeshkian as a “competent president,” saying, “We all have to help him and his government do great jobs.”
In a decree, giving his official approval for Pezeshkian, Khamenei said the new Iranian president was a “wise, honest, popular, and scholarly” person.
Iran's new President Masoud Pezeshkian faces reform dilemma
K-Y Oweis & Lizzie Porter, The National, 30 July, 2024
Hardly a day goes by in Iran without its incoming President Masoud Pezeshkian updating the country on progress in forming his new cabinet. His overwhelmingly reformist candidates for ministers have already riled conservatives who were defeated in the presidential poll last month.
So far, he has appointed Mohammed Reza Aref, an aide to former reformist president Mohammad Khatami, as his First Vice President while Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s former chief nuclear negotiator, is expected to become Foreign Minister.
Mr Pezeshkian is the latest in a line of political figures who have pledged to bring social and political change to Iran, while staying clear of directly challenging the limits of the theocracy that replaced Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s reign after the 1979 revolution.
A turnout rate of 50 per cent in the presidential elections indicated mass dissatisfaction with the system, and the reformist movement has been beleaguered by clampdowns and internal disputes that have undermined its credibility.
“The golden era of the reformists was during Mr Khatami’s era and at no other time have they been able to repeat it,” said conservative Iranian commentator Mohammed Mohajeri.
“The reformists have not been able to return to their golden era – and the possibility of them doing so is not very high.”
Mr Khatami, a cleric who left power after his second term expired in 2005, espoused non-violence. He was the driving force behind the decision to open up the political space, including the move to allow political parties and organisations not linked to the government.
Mr Pezeshkian was health minister at the time. His ability to effect change will remain checked by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and a council under his control, with de facto veto power on who can hold office.
“Most people are not very hopeful,” said a Tehran resident. “Now, we will have to see if, in the next four years, they [the reformists] can change people’s minds. Of course, that’s going to be hard.”
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