ah yes, because school's in session and nobody's evacuated Gaza City so this totally vindicates "human shield" claims
State Department bypasses Congress to send thousands of munitions to Israel By Natasha Bertrand, CNN In this handout photo from the Israel Defense Forces released on December 7, an Israeli soldier looks on from a Merkava tank while operating in a location given as Gaza. Israel Defense Forces/Reuters/Handout CNN — The US State Department transmitted an emergency declaration to lawmakers late Friday night for the sale of thousands of munitions to Israel, the agency announced, bypassing the standard 20-day period that congressional committees are typically afforded to review such a sale. The declaration followed a request by the State Department earlier in the week for Congress to approve the sale of 45,000 shells to Israel for its Merkava tanks. A source with direct knowledge of the matter told CNN that the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which have oversight over military sales, had been under “pressure” from the State Department to approve the request quickly amid Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. The committees typically have 20 days to review foreign military sales, allowing lawmakers to raise questions about a transaction and delay it if needed. But late Friday night, the State Department transmitted an emergency declaration to the committees for over 13,000 of the tank shells, worth about $106 million, for immediate delivery to Israel, the source said Saturday. “Effective immediately, the items can be transferred,” the source said. “No further information, details or assurances were provided.” The administration’s move to transfer some of the munitions comes as the US is under growing domestic and international pressure to support a ceasefire in Gaza and place conditions on some of the weapons it is providing to Israel. A State Department spokesperson confirmed to CNN on Saturday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken notified Congress on Friday “that he had exercised his delegated authority to determine an emergency existed necessitating the immediate approval of the transfer” of the tank munitions. “The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability. This proposed sale is consistent with those objectives,” the spokesperson said. “We continue to be clear with the government of Israel that they must comply with [international humanitarian law] and must take every feasible step to avoid harm to civilians.” Separately, the State Department disclosed in an announcement on Saturday that the sale would be for “13,981 120mm M830A1 High Explosive Anti-Tank Multi-Purpose with Tracer (MPAT) tank cartridges.” Reuters first reported the initial administration request for 45,000 shells. In early November, the State Department formally notified congressional leaders that it would transfer $320 million worth of precision-guided bomb equipment to Israel, CNN previously reported. Israel has received 200 cargo planes of military equipment from “several countries” since the Hamas terror attack on October 7, including ammunition, armored vehicles and weapons, according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense. The Israeli ministry said more than 10,000 tons of military equipment have been delivered since the start of the war. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense said the aid had come from “several countries,” but declined to say what other countries had sent aid or how much of it had come from the United States. The shipments of US military aid began soon after the war began. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in Israel on October 13 as a C-17 cargo plane landed with security assistance to Israel. “There’s a lot more that follows this,” Austin said at the time. Unlike security assistance to Ukraine, where the US details types of weapons and capabilities, the shipments to Israel have been far more discreet, with the Defense Department rarely acknowledging or announcing what types of weapons or equipment it is sending. In late October, a senior defense official said the US was expediting the delivery of precision-guided joint direct attack munitions (JDAMs) to Israel, which turn unguided bombs into smart weapons. The US has also expedited the delivery of Iron Dome interceptor missiles for Israel’s primary aerial defense system. The use of US weapons in Israel’s war has drawn increased scrutiny following an Amnesty International report this week that claimed that US-made JDAMs were used in two strikes in October that killed 43 civilians. The human rights organization said it “did not find any indication that there were any military objectives at the sites,” a conclusion the Israeli military rejected as “flawed, biased and premature.” The US State Department and the Defense Department both said they are reviewing Amnesty International’s report. “We have made clear in our discussions with Israeli leaders that we are deeply concerned about the protection of civilians in this conflict,” State Department spokesman Matt Miller said Wednesday. “We expect Israel to only target legitimate targets and to adhere to the laws of armed conflict.”
Matthew 15:14 New American Standard Bible Leave them alone; they are blind guides of blind people. And if a person who is blind guides another who is blind, both will fall into a pit.” Jeremiah 14.... 11 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people. 12 Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.” 13 But I said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! The prophets keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’” 14 Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds. 15 Therefore this is what the Lord says about the prophets who are prophesying in my name: I did not send them, yet they are saying, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ Those same prophets will perish by sword and famine. 16 And the people they are prophesying to will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them, their wives, their sons and their daughters. I will pour out on them the calamity they deserve.
Hanukkah — also spelled Chanukah or other transliterations from Hebrew — is Judaism’s “festival of lights.”
'Far from democratic': Study says US military intervention in the world is backfiring' A new study finds America's 800 military bases and counterterrorism presence in 78 countries could be backfiring. "There are more militant groups than there were when we started the so-called war on terror in 2001," says Stephanie Savell of Brown University's Costs of War Project. "There's a ton of blowback to all of this military action around the world. The more devils one imagines in their head, the more they are created.
Israel warns it can ‘no longer accept’ Hezbollah on its border James Shotter Dec 10, 2023 https://www.afr.com/world/middle-ea...ccept-hezbollah-on-its-border-20231210-p5eqci Jerusalem | Israel’s national security adviser has warned that Israel “can no longer accept” the presence of Hezbollah forces on its northern border, and said it would have to “act” if they continued to pose a threat. Tensions between Israel and the powerful Iran-backed Lebanese militant group have been running high since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted two months ago, with repeated bouts of cross-border fire. Hussein, brother of Hezbollah fighter Ali Hassan al-Atat, who was killed by an Israeli strike, lies on top of his brother’s coffin during his funeral procession in Beirut last week. AP Despite the frequent exchanges which have led to casualties on both sides, Israel and Hezbollah have so far avoided being drawn into a full-blown conflict amid intense diplomatic efforts by the US and other countries to prevent an escalation. However, national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) that Israel could not accept a situation in which residents of Israel’s north, who were evacuated in the early weeks of the war, were afraid to return to their homes because they feared Hezbollah ’s elite Radwan force could launch a cross-border attack as Hamas did in the south. “We can no longer accept the Radwan force sitting on the border … The Israeli public ... understand that the situation in the north needs to change. And it will change,” Hanegbi said in an interview with Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 news. “If Hezbollah agrees to change it diplomatically, that’s good, if not – we will have to act. We will have to ensure that the situation in the north is different.” Mr Hanegbi’s comments are the latest sign of Israel’s unease at Hezbollah ’s deep entrenchment in southern Lebanon. Last month, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen warned that there was a risk of war if UN resolution 1701 – a 2006 decision that bars Hezbollah from entering a demilitarised zone in southern Lebanon – was not enforced. The remarks came as Israeli forces and Hezbollah engaged in their latest bout of fire on Saturday night, with Israeli fighter jets hitting targets including a Hezbollah command centre in Lebanon after militants launched rockets at Israel. Hezbollah is one of the world’s most heavily armed non-state actors, with a complex arsenal of missiles capable of reaching anywhere in Israel. It withstood a 34-day conflict with Israel in 2006 and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has since boasted that he has 100,000 fighters at his command. Mr Hanegbi said that Israel did not want to fight Hezbollah at the same time as Hamas. He added that it was “making clear to the Americans that we are not interested in war” in the north, but that Israel would have “no alternative but to impose a new reality” if Hezbollah ’s forces continued to pose a threat. Israel declared war on Hamas after its fighters stormed into the south of the country from Gaza on October 7, killing about 1200 people, according to Israeli officials, and taking a further 240 hostages in the deadliest ever attack on Israeli territory. Israel’s retaliatory invasion of Gaza has killed more than 17,700 people, according to Palestinian health officials. As the death toll has soared, there has been mounting international pressure for a humanitarian ceasefire. However, the US vetoed a widely supported UN security council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire on Friday (Saturday AEDT), and Mr Hanegbi said that the duration of the conflict would not “be measured in weeks … and I’m not sure it can be measured in months”. He added that he believed that Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ leader in Gaza, would never surrender. But if he was killed, other Hamas leaders might choose to leave Gaza rather than fight to the bitter end, he added, arguing that this meant killing Sinwar could help achieve Israel’s goal of freeing its hostages.
As the war between Israel and Hamas passes the two-month mark, it’s still unclear how the fighting will end and how long it will last, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday. “We have these discussions with Israel including about the duration as well as how it is prosecuting this campaign against Hamas. These are decisions for Israel to make,” Blinken said Sunday during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But Hamas has decisions to make, too. It could get out from hiding behind civilians tomorrow. It could put down its arms tomorrow. It could surrender tomorrow and this would be over,” he added. Keep drinking the koolade, clueless Blinken and Biden. Why do they think Palestine would wish to continue being oppressed and subjected to years more of humiliation instigated by corrupt American and Israeli politicians. It's obvious to me the way Biden has played his hand in this, the guy is untrustworthy to be representing the leader of the free world and democracy.