Israel vs Palestine/Lebanon/Iran/Yemen/Syria: a New Middle East War

[Ravenlocke]

Text:

The Israeli war cabinet approved regulations to allow the government to close foreign stations whose broadcasts "threaten national security".

The decision comes as Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi presses for the closure of Lebanon's #AlMayadeen networks in occupied #Palestine.

https://x.com/MayadeenEnglish/status...88276610666615

[Ravenlocke]

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🇿🇦🇵🇸 Thousands march in Cape Town in solidarity with Palestinians

Tens of thousands of South Africans took part in a march in Cape Town on Saturday in support of Palestinians living in Gaza, demanding that the Israeli ambassador be expelled.

The marchers were led by clergy from different faiths chanting "free Palestine", including cleric Allan Boesak, who called for the Israeli embassy to be shut down.

"That apartheid state that’s been waging a war of extermination for the last 75 years against our people,” he said to the crowd amid cries of “shut it down”.

“That apartheid state that cannot stop murdering the children. For every Palestinian child in a coffin, we say shut it down. Every piece of land stolen from our people in Palestine, shut it down," he said.

africaintel

https://x.com/dana916/status/1723893269338181710

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TASS has collected the main messages from the adviser to the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia Daniil Martynov:

◾️ The first group of Russians evacuated from Gaza will leave for Moscow on the morning of November 13;

◾️ Citizens of the Russian Federation reached the operational headquarters in Cairo safe and sound;

◾️ The operational group of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations will be in Egypt until all Russians who have expressed a desire to leave are evacuated from Gaza;

◾️ Members of the operational group of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations will again go to the Rafah checkpoint on November 13 to evacuate the next group of Russians.

https://x.com/dana916/status/1723882146903822726

https://x.com/WizardSX0/status/1723861973362753891

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🇨🇦 ❤️ 🇵🇸 Toronto went hard... But Montreal went WAY harder! 50,000 people on the streets of Quebec's largest city, calling 'Israel' a terrorist regime and ripping Trudeau a new one! 🇨🇦 ❤️ 🇵🇸

Solidarity with Palestine is what Montrealers do best! 🇨🇦 ❤️ 🇵🇸

Cultures_of_Resistance

https://x.com/dana916/status/1723864398370890162

[Ravenlocke]

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⚡️Lebanese minister of culture, in response to Gallant's threat : “What we do in #Gaza we can do in #Beirut" :

O descendant of the enemies of humanity, O slaughterer of children and women, you and your entity may give lessons to the devils in criminality and brutality, but you
You are unable to harm Lebanon, and we know that if you were able, you would do so without threatening.
In any case, try it, we are tired of waiting for the moment when it blows in the south direction.
Try, you foolish fool, and we promise you that you will witness destruction in Tel Aviv and all your cities, like the destruction of #Gaza!

https://x.com/ME_Observer_/status/1723858758122533176

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/QudsNen/status/1723830209789481461

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https://x.com/OnlinePalEng/status/1723734800530350320

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https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/1723886488247501027

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https://x.com/AJEnglish/status/1723851626568372707

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/21WIRE/status/1723464990580265040

¤=[Post Update]=¤

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'Israeli Rogue Intentions Towards Gaza’s Gas Fields Behind the Official and Declared Causes of Invading Gaza’s Strip'
RUSSIA'S ROLE:
"On 23 January 2014, in the meeting between Palestinian President Abbas and Russian President Putin, the possibility of entrusting the exploitation of the gas field in the waters of Gaza to the Russian Gazprom was discussed.
This was announced by the Itar-Tass agency, underlining that Russia and Palestine intended to strengthen cooperation in the energy sector. In this framework, in addition to the exploitation of the Gaza field, the exploitation of an oil field near the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the West Bank was envisaged. In the same area, the Russian company Technopromexport was ready to participate in the construction of a thermoelectric plant with a capacity of 200 MW."

https://x.com/robinmonotti/status/1721778521813528690

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/makhoury1946/status/1721688991794356420

https://www.planetcritical.com/p/eve...ants-gazas-gas

CLIMATE CORRUPTION
Everybody Wants Gaza's Gas
The $500 billion windfall shoring up EU supplies

While its citizens take to the streets demanding a ceasefire, the silence of Europe’s leaders is deafening. Allyship runs deep, apparently, although their weak calls for “humanitarian pauses” are ignored by the Israeli state which has rained down more bombs on Gaza in the past weeks than in the years combined. Over 8,000 are dead, unable to escape the onslaught as hospitals and refugee camps are targeted. Amnesty International estimates more children have been killed in Gaza than in the past year in every other conflict zone.

Still, Biden and his European pets champion Israel’s right to defend itself, suggesting the Palestinian Health Authority is inflating the numbers of their dead. The UN can only squawk while international law is revealed, yet again, to be upheld only when enemies break it, as Israel cuts off water, food, electricity and the internet to 2 million people trapped in the world’s biggest open-air prison, delivering collective punishment for the heinous crimes of Hamas on October 7.

But while bombs rain down, business continues as usual, with Israel granting 12 licences to six companies to explore for natural gas off the country's Mediterranean coast on October 30th. This is the latest venture to exploit one of several gas fields discovered on the Mediterranean coast over recent decades, aiming to solve Israel’s energy dependency and, crucially, Europe’s supplies.

The total oil and gas reserves were valued at a staggering $524 billion in 2019. But Israel does not have sole legal entitlement to the $524 billion, according to a UN report published in the same year. Not only is some of the $524 billion sourced from within the Occupied Territory of Palestine, much of the rest sits outside national borders in the deep sea, and thus should be shared with all relevant parties. The report questions the national right to these resources given they took millions of years to form—and that Palestinians occupied the whole territory until Israel’s recent formal creation.

The authors also note it is another war crime for the occupying power to deny the citizens the right to use their own natural resources, including diverting Palestine’s water supply, cutting off access to their fisheries, grabbing agricultural land and destroying olive groves. The financial costs are massive. “To date, the real and opportunity costs of the occupation exclusively in the area of oil and natural gas have accumulated to tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars.”

Why share when you can export?

The USA’s and EU’s allyship with Israel has been steadfast since the state’s creation in 1948, with agreements strengthening ties ever since. In June 2022, under pressure to find another source of gas since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a different colonising force to import gas from the Leviathan gas field. This gas field, the biggest of recent discoveries, holds 22 trillion cubic feet in recoverable natural gas and could meet Israel’s domestic demands for 40 years.

The USA went one further, creating a USA-Israel energy cooperation agreement which stipulates that “United States-Israel energy cooperation and the development of natural resources by Israel are in the strategic interest of the United States”, promising to assist Israel with “regional safety and security issues”.

Natural gas is seen as a resource to “positively impact regional security”, which is policy jargon for building trading bridges with neighbouring Arab countries. Egypt began importing gas from the Leviathan field in 2020, and signed the MoU with Israel and the EU last year.

Natural gas, or “LNG” is being used as a political ploy around the world to deepen political relationships and economic interdependence as the world shifts from oil not out of morality but simply because oil reserves are running dry. Branded as a transition fuel by everyone from fossil fuel chiefs to the French President, LNG is the darling fossil fuel with 40% less carbon dioxide emissions than coal (a low bar), and 125 years of global supply in current reserves.

The USA, the world’s biggest producer and exporter of LNG, is banking on the energy transition going gassy before it goes green. 20 new LNG terminals, transporting gas from Southwest’s Permian Basin, are expected to be approved by Biden’s administration this year. Bookmarked for exports, analysts say the greenhouse-gas emissions associated with it would be twenty times larger than those from the oil drilling at Willow, the much-protested new oil field in Alaska.

Gas is the currency to curry political favour. In 1999, Gaza almost did just that.

Gas in Gaza

In 1999, BG Group (BGG) discovered a large gas field between 17 and 21 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza. According to the Oslo II accords, the Palestine National Authority has maritime jurisdiction up to 20 nautical miles off of Gaza’s coast. In November 1999, the PNA signed a 25-year contract for gas exploration with BGG.

The reserves were estimated at 1 trillion cubic feet and would meet Palestine’s demands and allow for exports. Ehud Barak, Israel’s Prime Minister at the time, approved authorisation for BGG to drill the first well in July 2000. They struck gas gold. Palestine and Israel began to negotiate and the deal was seen to benefit both Israeli demand and Palestinian supply.

However, a change in Israeli leadership soured the deal, with Ariel Sharon’s government allegedly driving the rejection of a supply deal between the Palestinian gas field and the state-owned Israel Electric Corporation. In May 2002, the UK’s then-PM, Tony Blair, got involved and Sharon agreed to negotiate an agreement for the annual supply of 0.05 trillion cubic feet of Palestinian gas for a period of 10 to 15 years.

However, he changed his mind in 2003 stating that the funds could be used to support terrorism.

Ehud Olmert’s government, spurred on by the new PM, agreed to reopen negotiations with BGG in April 2007. Starting 2009, Israel would purchase 0.05 trillion cubic feet of Palestinian gas for $4 billion annually, creating a good atmosphere for peace, it was argued.

However, the 2007 Battle of Gaza in which Hamas took control of the strip changed the deal once more, with Hamas looking to increase the original 10% Palestinian share in the BGG deal. An Israeli team of of negotiators was set up by the Government of Israel to formulate a deal with BGG, bypassing both the Palestinian government and PNA, effectively nullifying the contract signed in 1999 between BGG and PNA. However, in December 2007, BGG withdrew from negotiations with the Israeli government.

In June 2008, the Israeli government recontacted BGG to urgently renegotiate the deal. The UN report states: “The decision to speed up negotiations with BGG coincided, chronologically, with the planning of an Israeli military operation in Gaza, whereby it would appear that the Government of Israel wished to reach an agreement with BGG prior to the military operation, which was already in an advanced planning stage.”

Israel’s invasion of Gaza in December 2008 brought the Palestinian gas fields under Israeli control—without regard for international law. BGG has been dealing with the Israeli government ever since. The UN estimates billions of dollars in loss for the Palestinian people.

But more gas for everyone else.

The situation in Palestine is more complex than the location of gas fields, but geopolitics and geology map similar courses. In the EU, demand for ally-approved gas is higher than ever, perhaps fuelling the audacity to champion Israel’s war crimes whilst decrying Russia’s own. As for the USA, a network of pipelines is a network of dependents who are less likely to threaten hegemony if their own energy depends on the USA’s 51st state. Through all of these calculations, Palestinians are being murdered—another externality of petrostates which will never be taken into account by our current leaders.

[Ravenlocke]

https://www.newarab.com/analysis/gaz...stines-economy

Gaza's gas fields: A symbol of Palestine's shackled economic potential

Most Palestinians of a certain generation can remember the September day in 2000 when PLO leader Yasser Arafat appeared on Palestinian national TV to announce the discovery of natural gas off the coast of Gaza.

From the bridge of a fishing boat, and with a wide smile on his face, the Palestinian leader described the discovery as “a gift from God” to the Palestinian people for generations to come.

"This will provide a solid foundation for our economy, for establishing an independent state with holy Jerusalem as its capital,” he added.

Confidently, in his usual theatrical manner, Arafat signalled to the British Gas (BG) engineers to light the flare on top of the floating platform, sending a column of flames into the sky.

Fresh out of failed negotiations at Camp David with Israel and virtually on the eve of what would soon become the Second Intifada, the timing was convenient for the Palestinian leadership.

"Since the beginning of the Second Intifada, Israel has established de facto control over Gaza’s offshore gas reserves"

In retrospect, Arafat’s optimism was perhaps premature; boosting the Palestinian economy, like everything else, was Israel’s decision.

With the eruption of the Second Intifada, the gas field was shut down, and negotiations in the following years to revive it proved fruitless, often marred by Israel’s security and political considerations.

Following the end, last week, of the fourth Israeli war on Gaza in 13 years, which left 274 Palestinians, including 66 children, dead, the detrimental impact of these restraints on Palestine’s economic development has only been further reinforced.

Background

The 1995 Oslo II Accords, Annex I, between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel granted the former maritime jurisdiction of up to 20 nautical miles (23 statute miles) from the Gaza coast, which enabled the PA to sign a 25-year contract with British Gas in November 1999 for gas exploration.

The British company had already discovered a large gas field in the area, the Gaza Marine, earlier that year, approximately 22 miles offshore, at a depth of 2,000 feet and with a capacity of 1 trillion cubic feet of good quality natural gas.

Yam Thetis, a consortium of three Israeli companies and a US firm assigned to the adjacent Israeli gas fields, protested that the PA wasn’t a sovereign state and, therefore, lacked the authority to sign gas exploration contracts.

Nevertheless, Israel’s then prime minister Ehud Barak, in July 2000, granted BG security authorisation to drill the first well, Marine-1, and later in November, Marine-2.

It was a political decision, not a legally binding recognition of the PA’s jurisdiction over the Palestinian territorial waters, marking, in fact, a pattern of Israel’s interpretation of the Oslo Accords, often favouring Israeli full control over Palestinian decision-making and livelihoods.

Since the beginning of the Second Intifada, Israel has established de facto control over Gaza’s offshore gas reserves. In the wake of Operation Cast Lead in December 2008, the Israeli government effectively brought the gas field under its control with no regard for international law.

Bypassing the PA and Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli defence authorities in 2007 wanted to sign a deal with BG, where Israel would deprive the Palestinians of financial revenues from Gaza’s gas and, instead, pay them in goods and services.

For Israel, the system fitted two long-standing colonial policies. First, to keep Palestinians on the verge of a humanitarian crisis but never in complete meltdown, therefore reducing the political struggle to mere daily survival, and, second, to maintain control over Palestinian economic lifelines, effectively using them as a tool for political pressure and collective punishment when needed.

Unrealised potential

According to the Brookings Institute, exploitation of the Gaza Marine was projected to produce revenues of $2.5-7 billion. It was to provide a domestic energy source, sufficient power for Gaza’s water desalination efforts, as well as eliminate the PA’s debt, currently estimated at $3.9 billion, or 89% of the annual GDP.

As the gas field remains inaccessible, Palestinians continue to accumulate losses of billions of dollars that would have otherwise, at least, stabilised the Palestinian economy and, more importantly, solved the chronic energy crisis in the Gaza Strip.

"Israel maintains control over Palestinian economic lifelines, effectively using them as a tool for political pressure and collective punishment when needed"

The densely populated territory requires about 560 megawatts of electricity to meet the population’s needs. What is available now is only 200 megawatts - 60% of which comes from Israel via 10 power lines, the rest from Gaza’s diesel-run power plant with fuel provided by Israel and paid for by Qatar. The power plant produces electricity for roughly 12 hours a day. The gap is bridged through unsafe methods such as generators, which continue to cause accidents and claim lives.

As an alternative solution, reported in February this year, a plan is being formulated by a quartet of Israel, Qatar, the PA, and the EU to provide Gaza with gas from Israel’s deep-water Leviathan field through a pipeline that would come directly from Israel.

Part of the pipeline would be funded by Qatar and the section in Gaza paid for by the EU. If an agreement materialises, construction could commence within the year, according to media reports. The flow of Israeli gas to Gaza would double, or even quadruple, the output of Gaza’s power plant, achieving a 24/7 supply of electricity.

Despite having the potential to be a desperately needed humanitarian intervention for Palestinians in Gaza, whilst also providing economic benefits for Israel, the project’s political sustainability remains in question.

There are concerns it would put Palestinian energy supplies, more than ever, at Israel’s mercy, further tightening its grip on Palestinian economic resources. Any new escalation in Gaza could also see Israel simply turning the gas off, a pattern similar to Israel’s repeated imposition of fishing zone restrictions and the withholding of PA tax revenues as a form of collective punishment.

Recent efforts

Almost parallel to the Qatari-EU effort to supply Gaza with Israeli gas, Egypt’s Energy Minister, Tareq Al-Molla, visited Ramallah in February to sign a memorandum of understanding on developing the Gaza Marine Gas Field. Palestinians hope that Egypt’s efforts and regional relations will allow them to develop the Gaza gas field after years of Israeli objections.

Chair of the state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), Magdy Galal, stated that the company will cooperate with the PA to reach an agreement that will ultimately lead to the extraction of gas, its transfer to Palestinian areas, and possibly even its sale to Egypt. Only short pipelines will be used “to deliver Palestinian gas to Egyptian territories and then export it abroad,” Galal added.

This week, it was reported that new initiatives were underway to discuss the demarcation of borders between Egypt and the PA, which would include Palestine's maritime borders and an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off Gaza's coast.


A proposal to discuss the demarcation of borders was also reportedly discussed in recent ceasefire efforts between Egypt and Hamas.

On the surface, the Palestinian position on energy appears unified, but the PA-Egypt deal in February proved that this wasn’t the case. To Hamas, the PA acted unilaterally. In February, Moussa Abu-Marzouk, deputy chairman of Hamas’s politburo, tweeted “Gaza must be present in any understandings about the gas fields on its shores,” demanding to “know more details about the deal.”

Hussain Al-Sheikh, the PA's minister for civil affairs, was quick to respond by saying that “the agreements are signed with states, not with factions and organisations,” seemingly implying that Hamas’ status in Gaza is de facto and therefore doesn’t qualify as a state-level government.

For Gazans, the Hamas-Fatah verbal jousting is just white noise. What matters is a solution to the large-scale socio-economic deterioration devastating the besieged coastal territory, which has since 2014 worsened dramatically, to the extent of forcing thousands of Gaza’s youth to leave, most never to return.

"The question for most Palestinians is whether any guarantees actually exist to prevent Gaza’s energy sources from simply becoming another means of pressure, if not collective punishment, when fully developed"

The big question

In theory, a functional Gaza Marine will improve people’s lives. However, any speculation would be premature given it’s all tied to Israel’s decision to allow Palestinians to benefit from their own gas resources.

At present, the specifics of Egypt’s role in convincing Israel to ‘release’ the Gaza Marine field are unclear. It is likely, however, that Cairo’s diplomacy will stem from its role as the founder and largest producer in the newly established East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF), which also includes Cyprus, Greece, France, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine.

The EMGF creates a new geopolitical reality where Israel can sit at the same table as the Palestinian Authority. With a scaled-down US presence in the region, Egypt’s “energy alliance” is supplementing international diplomacy with an active regional one, which views economics as a path toward political stability. Gaza’s gas is part of the equation.

In theory, at least, shared economic interests lead to shared values and make the costs of losing such mutual economic benefits higher than those of conflict. However, so far, the approach of ‘solving the conflict’ through economic initiatives has only served to emphasise the severe power asymmetry between Israel and the Palestinians.

As Rawan Odeh writes in a study for The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR), each proposed economic plan revolves around Israel remaining in control of macroeconomics in Palestine, and a Palestinian dependency on Israel.

According to 2019 United Nations figures, since 2000 the occupation has cost Palestinians $50 billion. Another UN report stated that as of 2020, the siege and frequent Israeli military operations have cost Gaza about $16 billion, equivalent to six times the value of its GDP.

What applies to the overall dynamics of the Palestinian economy under Israel’s control also applies to Gaza’s gas potential. Therefore it’s unrealistic to expect that an economic boom in Gaza is possible without lifting the siege and ending Israel’s control over the territory.

Experience has shown, above all with the most recent Israeli war, that the restrictions on Palestinian lives have created a volatile situation only conducive to further conflict.

The question for most Palestinians is whether any guarantees actually exist to prevent Gaza’s energy sources from simply becoming another means of pressure, if not collective punishment, when fully developed.

Without a political solution, such guarantees don't exist. In the recent conflict with Hamas in Gaza, as in all other previous escalations since Oslo, Israel has closed the crossings, blocked the flow of goods, including medical supplies, and caused severe damage to Gaza’s infrastructure - currently estimated at $244 million in losses and increasing.

[gini]

London November 11: ONE MILLION march for Palestine -

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Cqk6VXiFm6c

Nov 13, 2023
"In the second biggest demonstration ever seen in the UK, around one million people marched for Palestine, demanding a ceasefire, an end to the occupation and an end to apartheid.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman's disgusting attempts to ban the peace march (which she ludicrously called a "hate" march) - and then when the police refused to ban it, to encourage fascists onto the streets to mobilise against it, failed spectacularly.

The result was an unforgettable day, with a wonderful atmosphere, and completely peaceful - in stark contrast to the fascist mobilisation a mile away at the Cenotaph, who ended up fighting with the police, chanting during the 2 minute silence to honour the dead in previous wars, and upsetting many of those who had gathered there for Armistice Day.

We haven't bothered giving those dimwits any exposure in this video - but make no mistake, the struggle for a free Palestine is an anti-fascist struggle, and a struggle against both anti-semitism and islamophobia, as pointed out by people in the huge Jewish bloc on the march.

Now the struggle needs to go up another notch yet again. Braverman is a dangerous idiot who needs to be forced out of office, while the huge support in the UK for a ceasefire needs to be turned into more serious action.

Keep building the demonstrations, but now we need to seriously increase the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign (boycotting MacDonalds and Starbucks would be a good start), and crucially, use our power as workers to halt the arms trade to Israel.

Yesterday showed how big - and how potentially powerful - this movement is getting. Now let's use that power to bring this horrific genocide to a halt."

[Tintin]

Some more technical detail provided by Craig Murray here regarding the Genocide Convention.

Of note, I would suggest, in my application and interpretation of its principles, would be anyone using social media and posting, in an ill-considered emotional state, potentially inflammatory comments, that could be applied under Article III section (c). Perhaps not, but, "incitement" could be imputed I'd imagine. Still.

Source: Craig Murray

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Activating the Genocide Convention
November 13, 2023 in Uncategorized by craig

There are 149 states party to the Genocide Convention. Every one of them has the right to call out the genocide in progress in Gaza and report it to the United Nations. In the event that another state party disputes the claim of genocide – and Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom are all states party – then the International Court of Justice is required to adjudicate on “the responsibility of a State for genocide”.

These are the relevant articles of the genocide convention:

Article VIII
Any Contracting Party may call upon the competent organs of the United Nations to take such action under the Charter of the United Nations as they consider appropriate for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III.

Article IX
Disputes between the Contracting Parties relating to the interpretation, application or fulfilment of the present Convention, including those relating to the responsibility of a State for genocide or for any of the other acts enumerated in article III, shall be submitted to the International Court of Justice at the request of any of the parties to the dispute.

Note that here “parties to the dispute” means the states disputing the facts of genocide, not the parties to the genocide/conflict. Any single state party is able to invoke the Convention.

There is no doubt that Israel’s actions amount to genocide. Numerous international law experts have said so and genocidal intent has been directly expressed by numerous Israeli ministers, generals and public officials.

This is the definition of genocide in international law, from the Genocide Convention:

Article II
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

I can see no room to doubt whatsoever that Israel’s current campaign of bombing of civilians and of the deprivation of food, water and other necessities of life to Palestinians amounts to genocide under articles II a), b) and c).

It is also worth considering Articles III and IV:

Article III
The following acts shall be punishable:
(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide.

Article IV
Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.

There is, at the very least, a strong prima facie case that the actions of the United States and United Kingdom and others, in openly providing direct military support to be used in genocide, are complicity in genocide. The point of Article IV is that individuals are responsible, not just states. So Netanyahu, Biden and Sunak bear individual responsibility. So, indeed, do all those who have been calling for the destruction of the Palestinians.

It is very definitely worth activating the Genocide Convention. A judgement of the International Court of Justice that Israel is guilty of genocide would have an extraordinary diplomatic effect and would cause domestic difficulties in the UK and even in the US in continuing to subsidise and arm Israel. The International Court of Justice is the most respected of international institutions; while the United States has repudiated its compulsory jurisdiction, the United Kingdom has not and the EU positively accepts it.

If the International Court of Justice makes a determination of genocide, then the International Criminal Court does not have to determine that genocide has happened. This is important because unlike the august and independent ICJ, the ICC is very much a western government puppet institution which will wiggle out of action if it can. But a determination of the ICJ of genocide and of complicity in genocide would reduce the ICC’s task to determining which individuals bear the responsibility. That is a prospect which can indeed alter the calculations of politicians.

It is also the fact that a reference for genocide would force the western media to address the issue and use the term, rather than just pump out propaganda about Hamas fighting bases in hospitals. Furthermore a judgement from the ICJ would automatically trigger a reference to the United Nations General Assembly – crucially not to the western-vetoed Security Council.

All this begs the question of why no state has yet invoked the Genocide Convention. This is especially remarkable as Palestine is one of the 149 states party to the Genocide Convention, and for this purpose would have standing before both the UN and the ICJ.

I am afraid the question of why Palestine has not invoked the Genocide Convention takes us somewhere very dark. Anyone who, like George Galloway and myself, cut their political teeth in left-wing politics of Dundee of the 1970s has (long story) their experience and contacts with Fatah, and my sympathies have always very much lain with Fatah rather than Hamas. They still do, with the aspiration for a democratic, secular Palestine. It is Fatah who occupy the Palestinian seat at the United Nations, and the decision for Palestine to call into play the Genocide Convention lies with Mahmoud Abbas.

It is more and more difficult daily to support Abbas. He seems extraordinarily passive, and the suspicion that he is more concerned with refighting the Palestinian civil war than with resisting the genocide is impossible to shake. By invoking the Genocide Convention he could put himself and Fatah back at the centre of the narrative. But he does nothing. I do not want to believe that corruption and a Blinken promise of inheriting Gaza are Mahmoud’s motivators. But at the moment, I cannot grab on to any other explanation to believe in.

Any one of the 139 states party could invoke the Genocide Convention against Israel and its co-conspirators. Those states include Iran, Russia, Libya, Malaysia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil, Afghanistan, Cuba, Ireland, Iceland, Jordan, South Africa, Turkey and Qatar. But not one of these states has called out the genocide. Why?

It is not because the Genocide Convention is a dead letter. It is not. It was invoked against Serbia by Bosnia and Herzegovina and the ICJ ruled against Serbia with regard to the massacre at Srebrenica. This fed directly through to ICC prosecutions.

Some states may simply not have thought of it. For Arab states in particular, the fact that Palestine itself has not invoked the Genocide Convention may provide an excuse. EU states can hide behind bloc unanimity.

But I am afraid that the truth is that no state cares sufficiently about the thousands of Palestinian children already killed and thousands more who will shortly be killed, to introduce another factor of hostility in their relationship with the United States. Just as at this weekend’s summit in Saudi Arabia, where Islamic countries could not agree an oil and gas boycott of Israel, the truth is that those in power really do not care about a genocide in Gaza. They care about their own interests.

It just needs one state to invoke the Genocide Convention and change the narrative and the international dynamic. That will only happen through the power of the people in pressing the idea on their governments. This is where everybody can do a little something to add to the pressure. Please do what you can.

Hat tip to the indefatigable Sam Husseini who has been pressing the Genocide Convention on the White House.

[Rizotto]

Scott Ritter explains how Isreal is conducting pre-emptive strikes in Syria, in order to get at Hezbollah's capabilites.

Scott Ritter: Israel bombed Lebanon, Hezbollah will beat them with one hand tied behind their back

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=_Ze7kFr77zM

[grapevine]

Roger Waters & Abby Martin on Gaza Genocide

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ScNHE78Lye0

(54:39)
Legendary Pink Floyd musician Roger Waters joins Empire Files to discuss his long-time advocacy for Palestine and the crisis in Gaza.

[ExomatrixTV]

• Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter interviewed by Mike Adams on the Israeli-Hamas War:

[Ernie Nemeth]

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/202...sons-director/

Isrealis knocked out a terrorist cell of 21 combatants hiding amongst hospital staff and patients at the entrance to the hospital.

Lovely bunch, these Hamas terrorists, using their own people as human shields. With people like that looking out for you, who needs enemies...
Last time it was ambulances they were hiding in, amongst the infirm - cowards.

[Bright Skies]

Posted by Ernie Nemeth (here)
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/202...sons-director/

Isrealis knocked out a terrorist cell of 21 combatants hiding amongst hospital staff and patients at the entrance to the hospital.

Lovely bunch, these Hamas terrorists, using their own people as human shields. With people like that looking out for you, who needs enemies...
Last time it was ambulances they were hiding in, amongst the infirm - cowards.

That's what the Zionist propagandists would like you to believe.

The Zionist propagandists would also like you to believe that on 7th October 2023 the most powerful intelligence apparatus in the world (remember Bibi calls Israel the "sixth eye" in the five eyes intelligence alliance) was completely and utterly bamboozled by a surprise attack launched by Hamas using hang gliders, bulldozers and motorbikes which penetrated multiple points of the most heavily surveilled border wall in the world. The multiple penetrations somehow triggered no alerts allowing Hamas to run riot for several hours wreaking havoc on the civilian population of southern Israel. (Some also still believe a man in a cave in Afghanistan master-minded the 9/11 attacks.)

Even if the most powerful intelligence apparatus in the world was completely fooled on 7th October 2023 they now claim to know the whereabouts of every Hamas terrorist hiding within buildings, refugee columns, refugee camps, hospitals and even which ambulances they are driving! 🚑 Not only that, they can now also count the exact number of terrorists they have "knocked out" amongst the debris and shredded body parts of innocent civilians. 🖐🦵🦶

The Zionist propagandists would also like you to believe that forty Jewish babies were beheaded. 👶 The atrocity propaganda that was pushed was proven to be a cruel hoax in order to elicit an emotional response and to garner support for yet more "mowing the grass". 🚜 However this time the grass has been mowed, the clippings set alight and the earth salted so that no more grass will ever able to be grown again.

The point of my post is to state that this is not the time we should be falling asleep and blindly believing the IDF, our captured governments or the controlled mainstream media (and that includes certain so-called 'alternative' media acting as limited hangouts). 📺

But I guess one either sees, or they choose not to see. 🙈

[Rizotto]

"Geopolitical analyst and journalist Pepe Escobar discusses his take on Russia's strategic and diplomatic maneuvers related to the war taking place in Gaza and argues that Putin and the Kremlin is pivoting to Gaza's aid."

Pepe Escobar: Russia CHANGES EVERYTHING as Putin Turns to Gaza in Israel's War

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=eJ7kbChOKU0

[shaberon]

ICJ once made Milosevic pay more or less for what Clinton did.


Here is the Zionist attitude about "genocide":


The United Nations is unlikely to help resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Israeli Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi said on Monday.

"I doubt that the UN will be able to resolve our conflict because up to now I haven’t seen a single conflict settled by the United Nations," he said. "The UN is a waste of space because this organization has done nothing positive for Israel in our conflict."


Before going any further, let us heed the word upon the street:


"On Nov. 12 around 11:58 p.m. in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, Secret Service agents encountered possibly three individuals breaking a window on a parked and unoccupied government vehicle. During this encounter, a federal agent discharged a service weapon and it is believed no one was struck," the statement said.

The suspects immediately fled the scene, and the authorities issued a regional bulletin to supporting units, the Secret Service added.


Ok. Let me see if I have this. You can't count to three. When I look over yonder, I might say "that's possibly three hundred". So you can't count to three but you can shoot and miss. And then you can't detain anyone and they get away.

Ok.

Despite a signed State Department memo on genocide:


The Biden administration unilaterally blocked calls by dozens of countries at the UN to institute a ceasefire in Gaza last month.
President Biden reiterated last week that there was “no possibility” for a ceasefire in Gaza..."


American advice is to speed up in Gaza, and avoid Lebanon like the plague. In fact they accuse Israel of potentially enflaming it trying to get the Americans involved.

Shoes.






Enduring an enigmatic agony following the devastating loss of her mother and not one, but three beloved daughters in a ruthless Israeli airstrike on Lebanon’s Aynata last week, Huda Hijazi, courageously emerges on Al-Manar on Monday, conveying messages both compassionate and resolute to both friends and foes.

In an interview with Al-Manar TV, Huda recounts the harrowing incident that unfolded on Sunday, November 5, when her car became the target of an Israeli strike, resulting in the tragic deaths of her mother and three daughters—Rimas, Talin, and Layan.

With all the pain and the love in this world, Huda reflects with a bittersweet smile on the moments when she and her family packed their belongings in their southern hometown before embarking on their journey to Beirut.

However, the journey was tainted by the malevolence of an Israeli drone that awaited them, snatching away Huda’s mother and her three daughters, leaving an indelible scar that refuses to fade. She stresses that the strike was deliberate, stating, “It was evident that civilians, particularly women and children, were on board the car.”

“We packed our stuff. I cooked for my daughters. They took their toys and bags. After we took the road, we had a top in Aytaroun where I bought candies, chocolate and water for them,” Huda says as she lays on a bed at Sheikh Ragheb Harb Hospital in the southern town of Toul.

Despite the profound loss etched into the very fabric of her being and the injuries sustained during the fatal strike, Huda steadily directs her words towards the perpetrators responsible for the deaths of her cherished mother and daughters—Rimas, Talin, and Layan.

She emphasizes that unlike the Israeli enemy, the Lebanese and Palestinian people harbor no fear, boldly declaring, “We are the owners of this land, and we will soon expel you.”

Asked about her message to the Israeli enemy, Huda tells Al-Manar: “To the enemy I say: You killed me in my land. I will kill you in my land as well…the land that you have stolen… the land of Palestine… in Al-Quds, where we will pray.”

In the wake of Hijazi’s interview, social media erupted with admiration for her unwavering courage, steadfast faith, and remarkable patience. The video resonated widely, becoming a beacon of inspiration as online communities hailed Huda’s resilience in the face of the unimaginable loss. Her compelling words and spirit struck a chord, fostering a collective acknowledgment of her strength.

[Rizotto]

Kim Iversen's keen observations on the IDF raw footage & their claim that there is evidence linking Hamas to Gaza's hospital.

Debunking the IDF’s Alleged Hamas Tunnels: Exposing the Truth Behind Misleading Claims

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=4zPDVOU58mY

[Rizotto]

Both Roger Waters and Abby Martin have been to Palestine, and observed first-hand the oppression Palestinians go through every day.

Roger Waters & Abby Martin on Gaza Genocide

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ScNHE78Lye0

[grapevine]

Rare access to a rescue worker during the Gaza war | Witness Documentary

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=eZmhTOs-s_4

(25:20)

Warning: Graphic and harrowing footage
This was shown on Al Jazeera TV channel today (posted on YT 7 days ago) and I watched it to the end in tears and with literally a deep pain in my chest, yet I could not look away. If you cannot spare, or bear, the 25 minutes, then watch from 13:18, at its zenith.

This is the reality and an unjustified attack on defenceless people who cannot fight back or support themselves, a nation whose basic necessities for life have been withheld from them by a heartless and corrupt power who has no feeling for them or their suffering.

This HAS to stop.

[Tintin]

Here, for anyone who may be interested in signing this

Justice for Gaza Petition

Shared via X/Twitter by Ione Belarra

***

Would you join an international popular initiative to advocate for the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and prosecute the Israeli government for the crimes and collective punishment committed in Gaza since 7 October 2023?

That is #JusticeForGaza : an initiative that aims to bring together diverse voices from international civil society, political leaders and representatives, and citizens from around the world to support the call for investigating the government of Israel for crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, as part of the International Criminal Court's ongoing investigation against Israel for war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza. Crimes against the civilian population include daily indiscriminate bombings, including of civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, schools and shelters, in addition to the total siege and cutting off of water, food, electricity and fuel supplies, as well as the use of white phosphorus. This is in addition to forced displacement, psychological warfare, ethnic cleansing plans and the threat of a military offensive by land, sea and air by Israeli forces ever since.

To this end, a group of civil society organizations, political representatives and activists from various countries wish to submit a communication to the ICC Office of the Prosecutor requesting the investigation of various Israeli government authorities for documented crimes.

Among them, the communication requests the investigation of:

Benjamin Netanyahu, current Prime Minister of Israel,

Yoav Galant, the current Minister of Defense of the Israeli government,

Benjamin Gantz, member of the political and security cabinet of the Israeli government,

Bezalel Smotrich, current Minister of Finance of the Government of Israel,

Itamar Ben Gvir, current Minister of Security of the Government of Israel,

Hertzi Halevi, current Chief of Defense Staff of the Israeli army,

among others.

For crimes of:

Genocide (provided for in Article 6 of the Rome Statute);

Crimes against humanity (provided for in Article 7 of the Rome Statute);

War crimes (provided for in Articles 8(2)(a) and 8(2)(b) and subparagraphs of the Rome Statute).

Given the gravity of the crimes documented and described in the communication, the alleged responsibility of the above-mentioned persons (among others) and the fact that the crimes are currently, repeatedly and intentionally being carried out, it is also considered that the prerequisites for the issuance of an arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Galant exists.

The communication also calls for greater speed and decisiveness in the ongoing investigation into war crimes committed in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem, and in Gaza, as well as the provision of financial and human resources for this purpose. This request to the Prosecutor's Office is an initiative to end the impunity of the Israeli government for its crimes in Gaza. It takes place in a context of continued genocide, ethnic cleansing and siege against the Palestinian population trapped in the Strip, which today suffers the worst consequences of a colonization that has lasted 75 years, decades of illegal occupation and years of blockade and apartheid against the Palestinian people.

A conflict that will only be resolved with justice, peace, freedom and dignity for the whole of Palestine, from the river to the sea. This means demanding that Israel comply with international law and also means acting to end genocide, occupation, apartheid and the expansion of the colonial project of the State of Israel, as well as supporting the processes of accountability for those responsible for crimes against the Palestinian people . Today, more than ever, it is time to act.

To support the #JusticeForGaza initiative and for the ICC to act: