Bloody, beaten woman shown in new Hamas hostage video. Hamas hostage Lira Albag, 19, seen ‘pleading for her life’ in new propaganda video https://nypost.com/2025/01/04/world-news/hamas-video-shows-hostage-liri-albag-pleading-for-her-life/ Hamas releases video of crying woman, 19, held hostage for 450 days after capture Liri Albag was taken by Hamas in the barbaric incursion into Israel on October 7, 2023 - Hamas has released a heartbreaking video of her as her family calls for her safe return https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/hamas-releases-video-crying-woman-34421523
Good. The U.S. should be supporting the only democracy in the Middle East and the eliminating of terrorists.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_in_the_Middle_East_and_North_Africa Israel Israel is a parliamentary democracy represented by a large number of parties, with universal suffrage for all citizens, regardless of race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation, who are of voting age. Often recognized as the only functional democracy in Arabia and the Middle East, Israel has been consistently a Jewish and democratic state since 1948 under an elective government with the leadership of prime ministers such as its inaugural, Ben Gurion and its current Benjamin Netanyahu. Apartheid Main article: Israeli apartheid The application of democracy to its Palestinian citizens and the selective application of Israeli democracy in the Israeli-controlled Palestinian territories have been criticized. West Bank and Gaza Strip Some scholars and commentators, including Ilan Pappé, Baruch Kimmerling, and Meron Benvenisti, have characterized Israel as a Herrenvolk democracy due to Israel's de facto control of the occupied territories whose native inhabitants may not vote in Israeli elections. Treatment of Palestinians within the occupied territories have drawn widespread accusations that it is guilty of apartheid, a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute and the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid. The Washington Post's 2021 survey of scholars and academic experts on the Middle East found an increase from 59% to 65% of these scholars describing Israel as a "one-state reality akin to apartheid". The claim that Israel's policies for Palestinians within Israel amount to apartheid has been affirmed by Israeli human rights organization B'tselem and international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din has also accused Israel of apartheid. Accusations of Israel of apartheid were welcomed by Palestinians and the Arab League. In 2022, Michael Lynk, a Canadian law professor appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council said that the situation met the legal definition of apartheid, and concluded: "Israel has imposed upon Palestine an apartheid reality in a post-apartheid world". Subsequent reports from his successor, Francesca Albanese and from Permanent United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Israel Palestine conflict chair Navi Pillay echoed the opinion. In February 2024, The ICJ held public hearings in regards to the legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory including East Jerusalem. During the hearings, 24 states and three international organizations said that Israeli practices amount to a breach of the prohibition of apartheid and/or amount to prohibited acts of racial discrimination. The International Court of Justice in its 2024 advisory opinion found that Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories constitutes systemic discrimination and is in breach of Article 3 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The opinion is silent as to whether the discrimination amounts to apartheid; individual judges were split on the question. Henry Siegman, a former national director of the American Jewish Congress, has said that the network of settlements in the West Bank has created an "irreversible colonial project" aimed to foreclose the possibility of a viable Palestinian state. Israel proper Treatment of Palestinians in Israel proper have also drawn accusations of apartheid. Relation to democracy in Israel According to Henry Siegman, Israel has "crossed the threshold from 'the only democracy in the Middle East' to the only apartheid regime in the Western world". He argues that denying Palestinians both self-determination and Israeli citizenship amounts to a "double disenfranchisement", which when based on ethnicity amounts to racism, and that reserving democracy for privileged citizens and keeping others "behind checkpoints and barbed wire fences" is the opposite of democracy. Criticism Amnesty's claim of apartheid in Israel was criticised by politicians and representatives from Israel and its closest allies such as, the US, the UK, the European Commission, Australia, Netherlands and Germany. Sammy Smooha, Ilan Peleg, Nachman Ben-Yehuda, Adi Ophir, have asserted that characterizing Israel as Herrenvolk democracy is invalid, variously describing the Israeli regime as a liberal democracy, ethnic democracy, illiberal democracy or a hybrid regime.
Herrenvolk democracy is a nominally democratic form of government in which only a specific ethnic group has voting rights and the right to run for office, while other groups are disenfranchised. Herrenvolk democracy is a subtype of ethnocracy, which refers to any form of government where one ethnic group dominates the state, with or without elections. Elections were/are generally free, but voting suffrage was restricted based on race, with governance that reflected the interests of the politically dominant racial group. The German term Herrenvolk, meaning "master race", was used in nineteenth century discourse that justified German colonialism with the supposed racial superiority of Europeans. A ballot paper from the 1960 South African republic referendum, in which only white people were allowed to vote—the first such national election in the union. The Confederate States of America (1861–1865), South Africa under apartheid (1948–1994), and Liberia (1847–1946) are described as examples of Herrenvolk democracy. The State of Israel (1948–) has also been characterized as a Herrenvolk democracy by some scholars, but other scholars dispute this characterization. Characteristics This form of government is typically employed by an ethnic group or groups to maintain control and power within the system. It is often accompanied with a pretense of egalitarianism. As people of the dominant ethnic group gain freedom and liberty and egalitarian principles are advanced, other ethnic groups are repressed and prevented from being involved in the government. The term was first used in 1967 by Pierre van den Berghe in his book Race and Racism.
The Hind Rajab Foundation is led by a terrorist and funded by terrorist organizations. It attempts to get Israeli soldiers who travel to other countries arrested on trumped-up, fabricated charges. The ex-Hezbollah terrorist behind Hind Rajab Foundation, doxxing IDF soldiers A leaked Israeli Diaspora Affairs Ministry profile on Dyab Abou Jahjah described him as a "former Hezbollah operative." https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-836274
You love to continually quote from this rag, that's from the Israel who spends a lot of time hunting down and killing journalists from other media sources to supress an alternate opinion.
Just like all the previous cease-fire efforts, I don't expect much out of this one. Seeing that Hamas will not even provide a list of hostages which are still alive -- which is the starting point for any negotiations. Hurdles remain as Israel and Hamas once again inch toward a ceasefire deal https://apnews.com/article/israel-h...es-prisoners-409a3c76c83e75abb7ff2b1d8a5abd38