White House disputes Netanyahu’s claim that US is withholding weapons from Israel Robert Tait Thu, June 20, 2024 The White House says that only 2,000lb bombs are under review, with the rest of the weapons shipments ‘moving as [they] normally would’.Composite: AFP via Getty Images, Pool via Reuters The Biden administration has reacted furiously to criticisms by Benjamin Netanyahu that the US is holding back weapons and ammunition from Israel in its war in Gaza, reportedly cancelling a high-level meeting with Israeli officials on Iran in retaliation. Netanyahu made the claims of a supposedly deliberate weapons delay in a video posted on X in which he implied that Israel’s ability to prevail in the nine-month war with Hamas was being hampered as a result. Speaking to the camera in English, Netanyahu said he had expressed gratitude in a recent meeting with Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, for American support since last October’s attack on Israel by Hamas, which killed about 1,200 and saw another 250 taken hostage. Give us the tools and we'll finish the job. pic.twitter.com/eQHpyd9q0X — Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) June 18, 2024 “But I also said something else,” he said. “I said it’s inconceivable that in the past few months the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel – Israel, America’s closest ally, fighting for its life, fighting against Iran and our other common enemies.” Invoking Winston Churchill, Netanyahu continued: “During world war two, Churchill told the United States, ‘Give us the tools, we’ll do the job.’ And I say, give us the tools, and we’ll finish the job a lot faster.”
Israel committed ‘extermination’ of Palestinians, broke war laws: United Nations Reuters Published: June 19, 2024 United Nations logo. File Photo. Geneva: Israeli forces may have repeatedly violated the laws of war and failed to distinguish between civilians and fighters in the Gaza conflict, the United Nations (UN) human rights office said on Wednesday. Separately, the head of a UN inquiry accused the Israeli military of carrying out an "extermination" of Palestinians. In a report on six deadly Israeli attacks, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said Israeli forces "may have systematically violated the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack". "The requirement to select means and methods of warfare that avoid or at the very least minimise to every extent civilian harm appears to have been consistently violated in Israel's bombing campaign," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said. Israel's permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva characterised the analysis as "factually, legally, and methodologically flawed". "Since the OHCHR has, at best, a partial factual picture, any attempt to reach legal conclusions is inherently flawed," it said. In a separate meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the head of a UN Commission of Inquiry, Navi Pillay, said perpetrators of abuses in the conflict must be brought to account. She repeated findings from a report published last week that both Hamas militants and Israel have committed war crimes but said that Israel alone was responsible for the most serious abuses under international law known as "crimes against humanity". She said the scale of Palestinian civilian losses amounted to "extermination". "We found that the immense numbers of civilian casualties in Gaza and widespread destruction of civilian objects and infrastructure were the inevitable result of an intentional strategy to cause maximum damage," Pillay, a former UN rights chief and South African judge, told the meeting. Israel, which does not typically cooperate with the inquiry and alleges an anti-Israel bias, chose the mother of a hostage to speak on its behalf and criticised the report on the grounds that it did not give due attention to hostages taken by Hamas on October 7. "We can do better for them. The hostages need us," Meirav Gonen, the mother of 23-year-old hostage Romi Gonen, said in a tearful appeal. Heavy weaponry Israel's air and ground offensive has killed more than 37,400 people in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory, according to health authorities there. Israel launched its assault after Hamas fighters stormed across the border into southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli tallies. File Photo. The United Nations Rights Office report details six incidents that took place between October 7 and December 2, in which it was able to assess the kinds of weapons, the means and the methods used in these attacks. "We felt that it was important to get this report out now, especially because in the case of some of these attacks, some eight months have passed, and we are yet to see credible and transparent investigations," said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN human rights office. She added that in the absence of transparent investigations, there would be "a need for international action in this regard". Pillay also condemned Israel's military methods in Gaza, saying the use of heavy weapons in densely populated areas "constitutes an intentional and direct attack on the civilian population". Commissioner Chris Sidoti later told reporters that its findings, which are being shared with the International Criminal Court, showed that Israel was "one of the most criminal armies in the world." He said the inquiry, which aims to investigate the treatment of hostages, as well as that of thousands of Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails, had so far been hindered by Israel. "Far from having cooperation, what we have encountered is obstruction," he said.
It's like this Mick... If Hamas/Hezbollah layed down their arms permanently... there would be peace. If Israel layed down theirs... Israel would disappear from the face of the Earth. That's a fact. Now.... should the country of Israel exist? I have no idea....it was created post WWII and that particular part of history, I have not delved into. That's not the point however, and again, since I have not "delved" into it... I am far from being qualified to opine on the late 1940's post WWII re-defining of the world's borders... BUT.... what I am sure of is what I stated above. So if Israel does in fact have the right to exist based on whatever geopolitical decrees were established way back when... then these Hamas f's.... and any of their allies.... need to be wiped off the face of the Earth because they are not playing by the established rules of civilized human existence. Their entire charter is a crime against humanity as we currently define it. ~case closed
The problem with food in Gaza is distribution, not delivery. Experts: ICC and UN blamed Israel for a famine that never happened in Gaza - exclusive ‘We found that the food supply entering Gaza is more than sufficient to feed all 2.2 million Gazans according to what is considered a normal diet in North America" https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-806739 Columbia University Professors Awi Federgruen and Ran Kivetz have analyzed available data and conducted research whose “findings demonstrate that sufficient amounts of food are being supplied into Gaza,” they noted in a summary of their findings presented to The Jerusalem Post. They note that it is “a myth that Israel is responsible for famine in Gaza.” They argue that the International Criminal Court and UN have joined Hamas in blaming Israel for a “famine that never was, hoping to stop the war [in Gaza].” The two professors spoke to the Post in early June and they provided an abstract and details about their findings regarding the issue of famine in Gaza. Professor Awi Federgruen is the Chair of Columbia University Business School’s Decision, Risk and Operations Division. He is an expert in supply chains, logistics, and data science. Ran Kivetz is the Philip H. Geier Professor at Columbia University Business School. He is an expert in decision-making, including the intersection between behavioral economics and political science. ICC issues arrest warrants The two experts noted that the ICC has sought arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, on the grounds that Israel is “causing starvation as a method of war including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies [and] deliberately targeting civilians in conflict.” The two professors examined the “hard data, available from such sources as COGAT and the UN” and note that sufficient amounts of food are being supplied into Gaza. According to their research they “demonstrate that 250 truckloads suffice to feed the entire Gazan population, in accordance with a normal diet in North America.” Hamas fired rockets at the Kerem Shalom crossing on May 5, killing five soldiers, which briefly shut down the border. However the supplies have resumed and “Israel intends to increase it to the 400-500 trucks per day level. Furthermore, Israel regularly halts offensives for 4 hours a day to facilitate these deliveries.” “Nevertheless, food is not consistently distributed inside Gaza,” they note and point to reports that suggest that food aid is sabotaged and stolen by Hamas. They argue that “the ICC, the UN, and the international community should blame Hamas,” which started the war by mass slaughter, rape and kidnapping. Misinformation on Gaza THE EXPERTS ARGUE that mainstream media organizations have distorted information from Gaza, framing Israel. “In fact, the mainstream media keep vacillating between (false) allegations that Israel is causing famine, is perpetrating genocide, and is sabotaging hostage deals with Hamas. Such a defamatory narrative is intended to end the Israel-Hamas war at all costs, including a Hamas victory, a bleak future for Gazans and Israel, and an endless cruel captivity for the hostages and their families. The false famine narrative has also been exploited by the ICC, ICJ, and UN to support their unjustified rulings and actions against Israel.” Federgruen and Kivetz maintain that claims relating to famine in Gaza can be traced to problematic reports. For instance, “in March 2024 an organization called the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an arm of the UN, issued a report predicting the advent of a major famine in Gaza provoked by Israel. That IPC report was cited by OXFAM, which accused Israel of ‘making deliberate choices to starve civilians’ and claimed (without any substantiation) that a group of North Gazans were subsisting on as little as 245 calories per day.” The two say they followed the data closely since the beginning of the war. “The hard data on food supplies are not difficult to obtain. Our analysis is based on data from COGAT, as well as reports and data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report... a totally different picture from what the ICC and UN are trying to paint, and directly refute the baseless claims that Israel is causing a famine or using starvation as a method of war.” COGAT is the IDF coordination unit that is responsible for dealing with aid entering Gaza. It also publishes information on the amount of aid entering. Rafah crossing closure Aid that enters Gaza through Israel, especially after Egypt closed the Rafah crossing on May 8 “is in Israel’s hands because Israel is the major force that controls what comes into Gaza. Once the food enters Gaza, however, the supply chain is no longer under Israel’s control, as the food is taken over by NGOs, the UN, and interventions by Hamas,” the academics note. They note that their calculation of sufficient food entering Gaza is based on each truckload carrying 20 tons of food. This means that 250 truckloads provide five million kilograms, about 2.25 kg. per person in Gaza. “This is almost identical to the 2.36 kg. of food per day that the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates the average individual consumes in North America.” Each Gazan provided 3,374 Kcal per day The professors note that “our findings have been recently independently corroborated by a working paper written by researchers from Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University, University of Haifa, Ben-Gurion University, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, and The Israeli Health Ministry. The conclusion of that paper is that every Gazan was provided 3,374 Kcal a day, while only 2,100K cal is needed.” While enough aid is entering Gaza, they note that it may not always be distributed to people due to other factors, such as war and Hamas control. “We can say with a high degree of professional confidence that if there was a famine somewhere in Gaza, it is not instigated by Israel. To the contrary, Israel is engaged in a variety of efforts to ensure that sufficient food enters Gaza through land crossings,” they assert. Their data examination joins a growing body of evidence against claims of Gaza famine. However, Israel will continue to be blamed for what is occurring in Gaza, even if Israel is not to blame for the failed distribution of food. Hamas not only appears to hijack aid trucks but benefits from pushing the famine narrative by leveraging these claims to pressure Israel to stop the fighting. =============================================== Looting renders aid delivery too dangerous for UN as trucks languish in Gaza - WSJ On Sunday, Israel announced a “tactical pause of military activity” along the road stretching from the Kerem Shalom crossing to the Salah al-Din Road before continuing north. https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-806690
Wiki lays down some history.... History_of_Israel 1948 to present https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Israel_(1948–present) Fighting and arguing will continue, Israel constantly feels entitled to land grab. Israel carries the sympathy of the majority of the West through its spreading its story of religious superiority. In my opinion there are no winners as such. Israel may carry military superiority due to USA involvement, but they'll always have conflict because of their attitude problem. Imo, the west are suckers for emotionalism. Religious emotionalism and jewish victimhood story emotionalism. During WW2, the jews became victims for one reason or another, and they still play this card today... "If Israel layed down their arms... Israel would disappear from the face of the Earth". BS! Never mind that its actually the Palestinians being currently wiped out and displaced, the jews still trumpet they are the victims. Israel gets billions of dollars of aid annually, have superior technology, continue to land grab and build, bomb the shit out of Gaza, treat Palestinians as slaves, but Israel still scream "we are the victims". I just laugh incredulously at the lies coming out of Israel, the godless country.
Hamas has murdered the majority of the hostages. Other estimates have the number of hostages left alive at a mere 30, 50 is the high end possibility as noted by the article. Only 50 hostages still alive in Gaza, US officials say - Wall Street Journal US officials estimate only 50 out of 120 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are still alive, amid ongoing rescue and negotiation efforts. https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-806995 Only 50 out of the remaining 120 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza are believed to still be alive, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Thursday morning, citing US officials. According to the report, following the rescue mission of four Israeli hostages in Gaza, many more were returned to Israel dead, which led to growing concerns regarding the remaining hostages' return home and the government's objective to dismantle the terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza. At the beginning of the war, the report noted that people were hoping for a phone call from the IDF saying that their loved ones were expected to return safely. However, “what is happening now is that the families have the opposite feeling,” said Gili Roman, whose sister, Yarden Roman Gat, was released from Hamas captivity. Roman has another relative, Carmel Gat, who is among the remaining hostages still held in Gaza. “It’s about who will get a phone call saying the body of your family member has been found or he has been declared dead,” she added. Hostages estimates Of the approximately 250 people Hamas took hostage on October 7, only 120 are believed to still be held by Hamas in Gaza, some of which died during their captivity. Nonetheless, according to the WSJ mediators in the hostage deal talks and a US official who is familiar with current intelligence claimed that only up to 50 of the remaining hostages are possibly still alive. According to this estimate, there are around 25 more dead held by Hamas than official Israeli reports account for. Officials from the US and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined to comment. Hamas refused to comment as well but has noted to the mediators that it does not know how many of the hostages are still alive.
Bruises and broken ribs – Palestinian deaths in Israeli prisons 23 April 2024 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68780112 By Shaimaa Khalil and Mohamed Madi, Reporting from the West Bank Supplied Abdulrahman Mari died in an Israeli prison after 7 October A few days after Hamas attacked Israel and war erupted in Gaza, Umm Mohamed in the occupied West Bank received a telephone call from her son in an Israeli prison. "Pray for me mum," Abdulrahman Mari said. "Things are getting harder here. They might not let me speak to you again". It would be the last time she heard his voice. Conditions deteriorated for Palestinian prisoners in Israel after 7 October last year, when Hamas mounted its deadly assault on Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip, according to the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority's (PA) Commission of Detainees Affairs. Thirteen Palestinian prisoners have since died in Israeli prisons, "the majority of them as a result of beating or denial of medication", the commission's head, Qadoura Fares, told the BBC. Abdulrahman was one of the first to die. A carpenter in the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan, he had been on his way back home from work in Ramallah in February last year when he was arrested at a mobile checkpoint. He was taken into administrative detention - under which Israel can hold people indefinitely without charge - in Megiddo prison. His brother Ibrahim said the charges against him were minor, such as taking part in protests and possessing a firearm, but said he was also accused of belonging to Hamas although there were no specific charges about any activities within the group. Ibrahim is still trying to piece together how exactly his brother died. He has to rely on testimony from Abdulrahman's former cellmates, as well as reports from court hearings. One former cellmate, who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity, said: "After 7 October, it was total torture. They beat us for no reason, they searched us for no reason. Even if you look at someone the wrong way." He described having seen Abdulrahman heavily beaten in front of him and others. "At 9am, they came into our cell, and began to beat us. One of the guards began to insult Abdulrahman's parents, which he didn't stand for, and he began to fight back. "They beat him badly, and took him away to another cell upstairs for a week. During that time you could hear him crying out in pain." He said he had only found out about Abdulrahman's death after he left prison a week later. The Israeli prison service did not directly address the BBC's questions about Abdulrahman's death or those of the 12 other named Palestinians that the Commission of Detainees Affairs says have died, saying only: "We are not familiar with the claims described and as far as we know they are not true." Getty Images Israel has detained thousands of West Bank Palestinians since 7 October Professor Danny Rosin, a doctor from the group Physicians for Human Rights, attended the examination of Abdulrahman Mari's body. His remarks corroborate what Abdulrahman's cellmate and brother told the BBC. Prof Rosin's report mentioned that bruises had been seen over Abdulrahman's left chest, and that he had several broken ribs. External bruises were also seen on the back, buttocks, left arm and thigh, as well as the right side of the head and neck with no fractures underneath. It also quoted an additional police report which had mentioned "forceful restraint" being used on Mr Mari six days before his death. Professor Rosin said in the report that while no specific cause of death had been found, "one may assume that the violence he suffered manifested by the multiple bruises and multiple severe rib fractures contributed to his death". He also added that "irregular pulse" or a "heart attack" could result from these injuries without leaving any physical evidence. Israel currently holds more than 9,300 security prisoners, the vast majority of whom are Palestinians according to the Israeli rights group HaMoked, including more than 3,600 people in administrative detention. These figures do not include detainees from the Gaza Strip being held in separate facilities by the Israeli military. Mr Qadoura says the change after 7 October "affected every aspect of the prisoners' lives", alleging that prisoners have been subjected to starvation and thirst and some of those with chronic illnesses were denied their medication. Beatings became more regular and more brutal. "I met a detainee who'd lost 20kg in the last three months," he said. "It's as if the war on Gaza was also a war on Palestinian prisoners. It was all a form of revenge." Arafat Hamdan was dead within two days of his arrest The BBC has previously heard from Palestinian prisoners who described being hit with sticks, having muzzled dogs set on them and having their clothes, food and blankets taken away in the weeks after 7 October. The Israeli prison service has denied any mistreatment, saying that "all prisoners are held in accordance with the law while respecting their basic rights and under the supervision of a professional and skilled prison staff". It said prisons had gone into "emergency mode" after war broke out and it had been "decided to reduce the living conditions of the security prisoners". Examples it gave included removing electrical equipment and cutting electricity to cells and reducing prisoners' activities in the wings. In the West Bank village of Beit Sira, Arafat Hamdan's father showed where Israeli police officers had kicked the door of his family home and stormed in at 04:00 on 22 October looking for his son. Police covered his son's face with a thick black cloth and closed it around his neck with a rope. The mask smelled strongly, he said, and Arafat clearly had a hard time breathing with it on. "I kept trying to comfort him." Yasser Hamdan told the BBC. "It's ok. They have nothing against you. They have nothing against us. I kept telling him that as they tied him up outside the house. Then they took him." Two days later a phone call came. Arafat had been found dead in his cell in Ofer prison in the West Bank. Israeli authorities have not explained how he died. Arafat had Type 1 diabetes and would suffer from low blood sugar levels from time to time. His father said one of the police officers arresting Arafat had told him to bring medicine with him, but it was unclear if he had been able to. The BBC obtained a report by Dr Daniel Solomon, a surgeon who was present at the post mortem of Arafat Hamdan at the request of Physicians for Human Rights. Dr Solomon said it had been carried out in Israel on 31 October but added that the condition of the body, due to prolonged refrigeration, had made it harder to determine the cause of death. He also noted the absence of any records showing if Arafat's diabetes medication had been administered and at what dosing. The report also mentioned the need for other tests beyond the post mortem to determine the cause of death. "Until now we don't know how he died. Nothing is clear." Yasser Hamdan said. Umm Mohammed said Abdulrahman had become a leader of his group of prisoners before his death Neither Arafat's nor Abdulrahman's bodies have yet been returned. Their families want to arrange their own post mortems, hold funerals, and say a final goodbye. "He was my flesh and blood. Then he was gone in a moment," Yasser Hamdan said. Photos of his son were everywhere you looked in his apartment. Umm Mohamed showed photos of Abdulrahman on her phone, pointing to one and saying: "Look at him. He was so cheerful." Over time he had become a leader in his group of prisoners, she said. "He'd call me when he was making breakfast for them when they were all still asleep. He was always the most active. He would never sit still, that boy." She broke down. "Bring him back to me. I want to see him one last time. One last look."
Palestinian prisoners in Israel Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been put on trial since 1967. According to Saree Makdisi the cumulative total of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel reached 650,000 in 2005.[10] Of these, according to Tamar Pelleg-Sryck (2011), tens of thousands have been subjected to administrative detention.[11] The incarceration rate was the highest in the world during the First Intifada (1987–1992) – and their conviction rates varied from 90 to 95%, being for the most part secured by plea bargains in 97% of cases. According to Red Cross statistics, in the first two decades of the occupation, from 1967 to 1987, one in three Palestinians, about 500,000, were detained by Israeli forces,[12] and on any given day the courts would be crammed with "children in handcuffs, women pleading with soldiers, anxious people thronging lawyers for information."[13] After the Oslo Accords, courts in Palestinian towns were withdrawn to Area C, causing greater difficulty for lawyers and family of the defendant to get access to the tribunals because of the permit system........ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_prisoners_in_Israel