Israel bans UN chief Guterres from entering the country “Undesirable” label marks major escalation in feud between Israel and United Nations secretary-general. Antonio Guterres issued a short statement Tuesday condemning the “broadening of the Middle East conflict” and calling for a cease-fire. | Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images October 2, 2024 2:08 pm CET By Seb Starcevic Israel declared the United Nations chief “undesirable” Wednesday, prohibiting him from entering the country. “I decided today to declare U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres an undesirable personality in Israel and to ban his entry into Israel,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced on social media. Guterres failed to “unequivocally condemn Iran’s criminal attack on Israel” on Tuesday, Katz said, and as a result “does not deserve to set foot on Israel’s soil.” Guterres issued a short statement Tuesday condemning the “broadening of the Middle East conflict” and calling for a cease-fire but made no direct mention of Iran bombarding Israel with missiles. Barring the U.N. boss from Israel marks a major escalation of the long-running feud between Israel and Guterres. Guterres prompted an angry reaction from Israel when he said that Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack “did not happen in a vacuum,” and has repeatedly denounced the Israeli military’s killings of civilians in Gaza. Katz said, “Israel will continue to protect its citizens and maintain its position and national honor with or without António Guterres.” Guterres’ spokesperson declined to offer immediate comment to POLITICO. Nahal Toosi contributed to this report.
Satire: https://www.normalisland.co.uk/p/is...e&r=519vn&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email Now that Israel has assessed the damage, it has announced that Iran’s missile attack was an embarrassing failure, despite what you might have seen on social media. Please let me explain: The nation that created a generation of orphans measures success in terms of how many civilians you kill, and Iran killed an embarrassing zero. Israel, on the other hand, kills an average of 35 civilians per bomb, which is yet another reason why the IDF is the world’s most moral army. The IRGC explained it targeted military infrastructure in order to comply with international law, so we’re pretending it didn’t hit anything significant. All those videos you saw on the internet were imaginary. Therefore, you are under strict instruction to memory hole them, otherwise you will be deemed a thought criminal. We can’t have people dwelling on the truth for too long, otherwise they might notice the absurd contradictions, and this would be embarrassing for the empire. Iran’s hypersonic missiles cut through the iron dome like it was a piece of wet toilet paper, hitting several of Israel’s air force bases, or as Prime Minister Starmer calls them, civilian targets. Thankfully, Israel didn’t harm any civilians because those missiles missed, and… oh bollocks, we’re getting ourselves in a horrible mess here, aren’t we? Normal Island News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Upgrade to paid Terrorist lovers say the Nevatim air base was struck 32 times and its stock of 36 F-35 Lightning II fighter jets was wiped out, but Israel is not saying anything. Worryingly, these are among the best fighter jets in the world and they could be gone, just like that. Don’t panic though, Israel got revenge by blowing up a hospital and an orphanage in Lebanon. It then wiped out another tent city in Gaza for good measure. This is how self-defence works. Despite its setback, which definitely never happened, Israel explained that in a war with Iran, it would win by killing the most civilians. An Iranian spokesperson said: “We don’t want to kill your civilians, we just want you to stop doing genocide and accept a two-state solution”. Iran is such a fucking loser. As much as Iran is weak and pathetic, it’s also a terrifying monster that leaves Israelis living in fear and might one day conquer the world… No, this is not a massive contradiction, shut up! We are only two weeks away from Iran having a nuke, just like we have been for the past 20 years. Obviously, it would be terrible for the country that has not invaded anyone for 300 years to have a nuke. But if the country that bombs five countries in a day has a vast arsenal of nukes, that is totally fine. Prime Minister Netanyahu has reassured us that war with Iran would be brilliant for the Middle East. The man who said invading Iraq would be brilliant for the region is famously never wrong. Thankfully, the US has reluctantly agreed to fight Israel’s war instead of doing healthcare. Obviously, the UK will do whatever the US tells it to because we don’t have our own foreign policy. No wonder Netanyahu strutted into the war room today and said: “Looks like I’m not going to jail after all, lads”. Just know that when war kicks off, Israel is not going to fight because it can’t face a handful of Hezbollah militants in the desert without running away. Some IDF soldiers have been taken out of action by bee stings, for god’s sake. Therefore, I’m excited to reveal that you will be fighting for Israel! What do you mean, you’re 47 and have arthritis? If 60-year-olds can fight for Ukraine, I’m pretty sure 47 year olds can fight for Israel. Stop being so lazy! When the iron dome runs out, Israel is gonna need an awful lot of meat shields, and let’s be honest, that’s all you’re good for! Please stop murmuring about your reservations. If you don’t support war with Iran, you must hate the Iranian women we’re about to blow up, you fascist! Israel has done everything it can for those Iranian women because it has a proud track record of protecting civilians. For example, the civilian casualty rate in Gaza is only 90%. We can extrapolate this from the number of dead children so please don’t question my figures. Israel’s careful strategy was “de-escalation through escalation”, but disgracefully, Iran responded with unprovoked violence. The IRGC launched a military response to reduce Israel’s ability to further escalate. Just who do these people think they are? Thankfully, Israel is planning a massive attack on Iran’s oil facilities which would cause an environmental catastrophe. I’m old enough to remember when we condemned Saddam Hussein for this sort of behaviour, but let’s not talk about that… President Biden said he’s unfortunately powerless to stop Israel, so instead, he’s helping them plan the attack and he’s supplying the bombs. The fact an oil attack would significantly impact the Chinese economy definitely did not factor into the equation. Just know that if Iran responds to a strike on non-military infrastructure with a strike on military infrastructure, this would count as terrorism. Are you keeping up here? No? Don’t worry, that’s the point of propaganda! You’re not supposed to understand why our politicians do Israel’s bidding, but Boris Johnson let slip Netanyahu once hid a wiretap in his bathroom. You can imagine all the embarrassing shit Johnson was getting up to, can’t you? Now imagine how many other leaders Netanyahu has wiretapped. Imagine how easy it would be to send that information to their wives. No wonder the ones who are funded by AIPAC do as they’re told. You can’t beat the carrot and stick approach, can you? US vice presidential candidate Tim Walz said he considers the “expansion of Israel” to be a “fundamental necessity” and he's a moderate. I’m just relieved we’re openly talking about this now because it makes my life so much easier. (I have a horrible habit of accidentally letting the truth slip out.) You would think Israel’s scheme of bribery and blackmail means World War III would be a walk in the park, but sadly, our puppets in the Middle East have thrown a spanner in the works. Crushing Iran might not be as straightforward as we had hoped… Outrageously, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait will not allow the US to use their airbases because they’re worried about siding with the loser. Plus, ending the influence of the country that subjugates the region would be a massive win for them. It’s gonna be so awkward if they switch sides, isn’t it? You might think this is unlikely because historically, Saudi Arabia and Iran have not been friends, but the Saudi foreign minister is telling Iran he wants to “permanently close the chapter on our differences.” This is fucking terrifying if you’re an imperialist. Iran has the ability to destroy the lightly-guarded US bases in Iraq and Syria, and its submarines have the ability to sink ships that get too close. Just know that when the empire incurs heavy losses, it will all be worth it. The horrible alternative is that Biden stops arming Israel and forces it to accept peace. And peace doesn’t bear thinking about, does it?
Worried Dems fear 'meddler' Netanyahu is trying to 'swing' U.S. election for Trump: report Alex Henderson, AlterNet October 4, 2024 European officials are paying very close attention to the United States' 2024 presidential election, with many voicing support for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris over GOP rival Donald Trump — as they view Harris as a major ally of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and see Trump as anti-NATO. But not all foreign leaders are rooting for Harris. According to The Hill's Alexander Bolton, Democrats "suspect" that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "is trying to interfere in U.S. domestic politics by ignoring President Joe Biden's calls to negotiate a peace deal in Gaza and confronting Hezbollah and Iran weeks before the U.S. election." Almost a year has passed since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Since then, tensions in the Middle East have only escalated. "Netanyahu's relationship with even the most pro-Israel Democrats has becoming increasingly confrontational," Bolton wrote. "Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made headlines in March when he called Netanyahu a 'major obstacle' to peace and urged Israel to hold new elections. Around that time, Biden called Israel's offensive in Gaza 'over the top.'" Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is among the Democrats concerned about Netanyahu. Murphy, during an appearance on CNN, told host Erin Burnett, "I certainly worry that Prime Minister Netanyahu is watching the American election as he makes decisions about his military campaigns in the north and in Gaza. I hope this is not true, but it is certainly a possibility that the Israeli government is not going to sign any diplomatic agreement prior to the American election as a means, potentially, to try to influence the result." A senior Democratic aide, presumably interviewed on condition of anonymity, agreed with Murphy and described Netanyahu as a "meddler" in U.S. politics. The aide told The Hill, "I think he thinks he can get the Jewish vote to swing, but he may get the Arab-American vote to swing…. He understands American politics. They are 100 percent involved in American politics."
Ohhhhhh wow what a surprise. I thought Americans didn't like other countries interfering in their politics. "Ahhh, but we make an exception for 'The God country' ". Hypocrisy is a normal part of America's existence.
China Buys Nearly All of Iran’s Oil Exports, but Has Options if Israel Attacks China has strategic reserves and alternatives like electric cars, should oil imports ever be interrupted. Tugboats docking an oil tanker carrying crude oil imported from Iran at the Port of Zhoushan in China, in 2018.Credit...Imaginechina, via Associated Press By Keith Bradsher Reporting from Beijing Oct. 4, 2024 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/04/business/iran-oil-sales-china.html#:~:text=It buys more than 90,more of its energy needs. Iran’s oil infrastructure has been pushed to the center of the escalating conflict in the Middle East, but an Israeli strike on Iran’s energy facilities would also affect China directly. OnThursday, President Biden said the United States was “in discussion” about the possibility that Israel might strike Iran’s vast oil sector. His comments have already sent oil prices sharply higher in global markets, even though most countries shun Iran’s oil because of international sanctions on Tehran. China is the exception. It buys more than 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports. China relies on imports from around the world for almost three-quarters of its oil consumption. The loss of supply from Iran would have China turning to global markets for even more of its energy needs. For Iran, exports to China are a vital source of funds. The country’s roughly $2 billion a month in oil sales to China represent at least 5 percent of Iran’s entire economic output. They bankroll the Iranian government and provide the cash that Iran needs to pay for its own imports. Iran exports nearly half of its oil production and uses the rest for its own domestic needs. The sliver of Iran’s oil exports that China does not purchase is shipped mainly as economic assistance or barter to two nearly bankrupt allies, Syria and Venezuela, that have little money to pay for fuel. Tehran’s oil refinery south of the capital, in Iran, in 2016.Credit...Vahid Salemi/Associated Press Why does China buy so much oil from Iran? Oil from Iran is cheap, and sold at sizable discounts to world prices because sanctions have left so few buyers. Oil from Iran sells for even less than oil from Russia. While China, India and some developing countries continue to buy Russian oil despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, practically no one except China is willing to purchase Iranian oil. China needs to buy a lot of energy to keep its economy going. It is the world’s biggest oil importer and the second-largest oil consumer behind the United States. Yet China has done much to limit its overall reliance on oil. While oil accounts for 40 percent of energy used in the United States, it is only about 20 percent of China’s overall energy supply, said Gabriel Collins, a China energy researcher at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston. Slightly more than half the cars sold in China now are battery electric or plug-in gasoline-electric hybrid cars. China generates the energy to power those cars mainly by burning coal — China is the world’s dominant producer and consumer of coal — and with solar panels and wind turbines. Much of China’s oil imports is used for the country’s chemical industry, which is the world’s largest, or to refine the diesel that powers trucks. How reliant is China on Iranian oil? An estimated 15 percent of China’s oil imports comes from Iran, according to Andon Pavlov, senior refining and oil products analyst at Kpler, a firm in Vienna that specializes in tracking Iran’s oil shipments. Russia is China’s single largest supplier of oil, but China also buys a lot from Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Angola. Members of the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries produce as much as five million barrels per day of oil less than their full capacity. The group, a cartel of oil producers led by Saudi Arabia, churns out less than it could, so as to keep prices fairly high. If China were unable to buy its usual amount from Iran — about one million to 1.5 million barrels per day — it might find Iran’s neighbors happy to supply it instead. As a result, the damage to China’s economy from even a long-term interruption of oil from Iran would be minimal, provided that other countries stepped up their shipments, oil experts said. “Any interruptions to Iranian oil exports would probably be quickly replaced with increases in China’s other sources of supply,” said Roger Fouquet, an energy specialist at the National University of Singapore. Storage tanks at a port depot in Zhuhai, China, in 2018.Credit...Aly Song/Reuters Does China have reserves in case of an interruption in imports? China has been expanding its oil reserves over the past several years. As home building has slowed with the country’s housing market crash, many construction workers have been redeployed to making oil storage tanks. Analysts have long guessed that China is swiftly increasing reserves in preparation for a possible conflict with Taiwan, which could result in a disruption of all of mainland China’s seaborne imports. But China’s reserves, now estimated to equal more than three months of the country’s entire oil imports and two years of China’s imports from Iran, would provide a cushion in case of an interruption of Iran’s supplies. “If it’s 30 days of madness, China would glide over that like it’s a speed bump,” said Alex Turnbull, a commodities analyst in Singapore. How vulnerable is China if a wider Mideast war erupts? The big question for China is not whether Israel might strike at Iran’s oil infrastructure, but how Iran would respond, according to experts. At least 20 percent of the world’s oil, and an even larger share of China’s oil imports, travels on ships past Iran’s shores through the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea. Most of OPEC’s five million barrels a day of excess capacity lies in oil fields that need to export through the Strait of Hormuz. If Israel were to disable Iran’s ability to export oil, Iran’s rivals in the region could cash in by stepping up their exports to China. But Iran could stop them by using missiles to halt tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Saudi Arabia has tried to bypass the Strait of Hormuz for part of its production by building pipelines to the Red Sea instead. But that waterway is now also dangerous because of attacks from Yemen by Houthi rebels backed by Iran. For China, “it’s not so much what the impact of the strike is,” Mr. Collins said, “but what is the impact of Iran’s response?” Keith Bradsher is the Beijing bureau chief for The Times. He previously served as bureau chief in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Detroit and as a Washington correspondent. He has lived and reported in mainland China through the pandemic. More about Keith Bradsher
Iran humiliated as missile attack 'kills more of its own soldiers than Israelis' Residents nearby are reported to have run out of their homes, as buildings shook and flames soared upwards into the sky. https://www.the-express.com/news/world-news/150650/iran-missile-attack-israel-lebanon-hezbollah A misfiring Iranian rocket is reported to have killed two Iranian Revolutionary Guards and injured another 12. The incident is believed to have happened at a military research base in Karaj, located west of Tehran. A source living close to the site told the SUN that a muffled sound emanating from the base sounded like a malfunctioning rocket. Residents nearby are reported to have run out of their homes, as buildings shook and flames soared upwards into the sky. The apparent launch pad disaster would mean more Iranians than Israelis died in Tehran's retaliatory missile strike. Iran fired over 180 rockets on Tuesday at its arch-enemy, following the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. However, the IDF said no Israelis had been killed in the attack. A Palestinian in Jericho is the only known fatality. Unverified claims suggested as many as five militias had been killed by the misfiring 22.5-tonne Sejil ballistic missile. Iran has not commented on the alleged incident. Israel is reported to have targeted Nasrallah's successor in a bombing raid overnight, that caused massive explosions. Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of the former Hezbollah leader, is widely considered to be his potential successor. Israeli officials told the New York Times that their military received information suggesting Safieddine and other Hezbollah leaders were meeting in a bunker in the southern Dahieh district of the Lebanese capital. Hezbollah has remained tight-lipped on the reports, as it continues to reel under the ferocity of Israel's unrelenting attacks. Meanwhile, Iran's Supreme Leader has praised his country's attacks on Israel earlier this week. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the attack was entirely "legal" and that Iran's actions were the “minimum punishment” for Israel's “astonishing crimes”. He called Israel a “vampire” regime and the US a “rabid dog” in the region, in a belligerent speech. He emphasised twice that Iran will not “hesitate” nor “procrastinate” when it comes to taking action against Israel.
Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon the ‘most intense aerial campaign’ outside Gaza in last two decades By Kara Fox, CNN Fri October 4, 2024 Residents run for cover following an Israeli airstrike in the Dahiyeh neighborhood of greater Beirut on Friday. Hassan Ammar/AP CNN — Israel has pummeled Lebanon with an unprecedented airstrike campaign in less than three weeks, killing over 1,400 people, injuring nearly 7,500 others and displacing more than one million people from their homes, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The bombardment, which Israel says is targeting Hezbollah strongholds in the country, marks the world’s “most intense aerial campaign” outside of Gaza in the last two decades, according to the conflict monitoring group Airwars. Israel’s strikes are occurring at “a level and intensity that Israel’s own allies just simply would not have carried out in the last 20 years,” Emily Tripp, director of the UK-based group, told CNN. She pointed to the United States-led military campaign against ISIS in 2017, where, at the height of the battle for Raqqa – the terror group’s de facto capital – 500 munitions were deployed in a single day. Over the course of two days, on September 24 and September 25, the Israel military said it used 2,000 munitions and carried out 3,000 strikes. In comparison, for most of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan, the US carried out less than 3,000 strikes a year, barring the first year of the invasion, where around 6,500 strikes were carried out – according to data from Airwars analyzed by CNN. “This isn’t normal,” Tripp said of both the scale and size of Israel’s strikes on Lebanon. While Israel’s air campaign is extremely “unusual,” Tripp said its assault on Gaza over the last year – where nearly 60% of buildings are estimated to have been damaged from Israeli strikes – have normalized such mass assaults. Israel says it takes steps to minimize civilian harm, like making phone calls and sending text messages to residents in buildings designated for attack. Human rights groups like Amnesty International say such warnings do not absolve Israel of responsibilities under international humanitarian law to limit civilian harm. CNN has previously reported on Israel’s devastating use of 2,000-pound bombs, which experts blame for the high death toll in Gaza and appear to have been deployed in the airstrikes that killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in Lebanon. The massive munitions have impacted civilian infrastructure in Gaza and now Lebanon. CNN teams in Beirut this week found that many Israeli strikes happened without prior warning. Israel also sends evacuation orders by text in the middle of the night, when most people are sleeping. As a result, the death toll in Lebanon continues to rise, with a fifth of its population now displaced. Umm Mohammed and her five-year-old son who escaped the Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanon, are now sheltering under a tarpaulin on a seaside boardwalk in Beirut. Jomana Karadsheh/CNN Hezbollah and Israel have consistently been exchanging fire since October 8, the day after the Hamas-led attack on Israel, in which more than 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage. Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group, has said that it will not stop striking Israel until a ceasefire in Gaza – where the Israeli bombardment has killed more than 41,000 people in the past year, according to the ministry of health in the territory – is reached. The majority of the fire exchanged between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of the war has come from Israeli strikes, drones, shelling and missiles on Lebanese territory, according to data from ACLED (Armed Conflict Location and Event Data), an organization that collects data on violent conflict. Israel has launched nearly 9,000 attacks into Lebanon since October 8; Hezbollah launched 1,500 attacks in that same time frame, according to the ACLED data. On September 25, Israel further escalated its air campaign with an intense barrage of strikes across swathes of Lebanon, marking the deadliest day for Lebanon since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war – and a turning point in the current conflict. While most of Israel’s airstrikes over the past year have targeted southern Lebanon, Israel has also ramped up its attacks on Lebanon’s capital in recent weeks, with multiple airstrikes in southern Beirut flattening residential buildings and heavily populated civilian areas. A rapid succession of strikes has killed at least seven high-ranking Hezbollah commanders and officials in recent weeks, dealing the most significant blow to the group since its formation in the early 1980s. Those strikes have mostly been concentrated in the city’s southern Dahiyeh neighborhood, a densely packed residential area and Hezbollah stronghold. It was there that Israel assassinated the militant group’s leader in an air raid on his underground bunker on September 27. But as Israel’s campaign to disarm Hezbollah continues, civilians are paying the highest price, including 127 children who have been killed in less than three weeks, according to the health ministry. On September 23 alone, at least 558 people – including 50 children and 94 women – were killed. Women and girls are also particularly affected by the displacement caused by the airstrikes, according to Lebanon’s country director at the humanitarian agency CARE International. Nearly half of the people in Lebanon’s emergency shelters for displaced people are children, and the facilities are operating beyond capacity, Michael Adams said. Now, Israel is targeting central Beirut – not its suburbs – with airstrikes for the first time in nearly 20 years. Meanwhile, a quarter of Lebanese territory is now under Israeli military evacuation orders as Israel intensifies its ground operation in the south, with its inhabitants pushed more than 30 miles north of their homes. More than 100 villages in southern Lebanon have now been issued the evacuation notices, stoking fears of an expanded ground invasion. Residents have no idea when they might be able to return - or what they might find remaining. CNN’s Allegra Goodwin, Eyad Kourdi and Soph Warnes contributed to this report.
There's better ways than assassination though. Ya gotta ask how come Israel and America have so many enemies, do you think perhaps their religious hypocrisy has something to do with it?