Biden reportedly ignored staff caution on ‘beheaded Israeli babies’ The report published by The Washington Post gives accounts of divisions inside the White House. Biden at times seemed to wrestle with his own emotions on the war, report says [Brendan Smialowski/AFP] Published On 27 Nov 202327 Nov 2023 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023...arning-on-hamas-beheading-babies-claim-report US President Joe Biden reportedly rejected the advice of staff to refrain from repeating unverified reports that Hamas had beheaded babies during its attack on Israel on October 7. Some White House advisors appealed to the president to “cut a line about Hamas beheading babies because those reports were unverified”, according to a report by The Washington Post. An Israeli news outlet made the original claim, which was picked up by media outlets across the globe. However, no such beheadings have been verified by any Israeli or international source.
Biden seeks to expand Israeli access to US weapons stockpile If White House request granted, it would enable Israel to access US weapons with less congressional oversight. Israeli troops aim their weapons as they clash with Palestinians during a raid in Jericho in the Israeli-occupied West Bank [Ammar Awad/Reuters] Published On 26 Nov 2023 26 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023...expand-israeli-access-to-us-weapons-stockpile The White House aims to lift nearly all restrictions on Israel’s access to weapons from a crucial US stockpile, enabling a smoother weapons pipeline to Israel, which has paused weeks of its devastating bombing of the Gaza Strip. The White House asked the United States Senate to scrap the restrictions in its latest supplementary budget request on October 20. If granted, the request would enable Israel to access more high-powered US weapons at a reduced cost, with less congressional oversight. The request proposes changes to policies governing the War Reserve Stockpile Allies-Israel (WRSA-I), an Israel-based US weapons stockpile that has smart bombs, missiles, military vehicles, and other ammunition and equipment. The stockpile, set up in the 1980s, gives the Pentagon a strong weapons cache to tap into in the event of regional conflicts. Israel, the US’s principal ally in the Middle East, has also been able to pull some weapons from the reserve in emergency cases and buy them at a reduced cost. However, it has been able to access only certain classes of weapons deemed “obsolete or surplus”. The White House’s request would eliminate such conditions, enabling the US to transfer all “defence articles” from its stockpile to Israel. It would also waive a yearly limit on the amount Washington spends refilling the cache, and curb congressional oversight on the transfers. ‘Free-flowing pipeline’ Josh Paul, a former director in the Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, told The Intercept the request “would essentially create a free-flowing pipeline to provide any defense articles to Israel by the simple act of placing them in the WRSA-I stockpile, or other stockpiles intended for Israel”. Worth $3.8bn per year, the US already sends more military aid to Israel than any other country. Since Israel’s military assault on Gaza on October 7, the US has moved to up this number, with the House of Representatives approving a $14.3bn emergency military aid package to Israel. However, there are signs that the US public’s support for military aid to Israel is waning amid the Gaza war, in which Israeli attacks have killed nearly 15,000 Palestinians, including 6,000 children.
Intense rant by Independent Journo Richard Medhurst: I'm done man you know I've had enough I've had enough of Israel killing 15,000 Palestinians and calling that self-defense I've had enough of the media calling Israeli hostages hostages but Palestinian hostages prisoners you're upset about 200 Israeli hostages but oh you didn't know there are 10,000 Palestinian hostages please enough I've had enough of Israel throwing Palestinians in prison without charge without trial without even telling them the reason why I've had enough of Israel bringing up the Holocaust as it carries out a holocaust against Palestinians what happened to never again or is it never enough I've had enough of Palestinians being punished for European crimes and Europeans giving away land that ain't Theirs to divide I've had enough of seeing children's bodies blown to bits and parents crying their eyes out where are my kids half of gaza's population are children so if you've bombed half the buildings who are you hitting thousands are still under the rubble all of them missing enough of this [ __ ] enough of this killing I've had enough of spoiled Israeli settlers complaining from their cushy hotels while Palestinians sleep in the rain with no clothes no food and no beds and Israelis have the nerve to pretend that they are oppressed shut your goddamn mouth do you know I've lost count how many times Israel have bombed the same refugee camp or the same hospital do you need to bomb a un School 100 times before you've had enough is Israelis driving Palestinians from their homes another neba in plain sight taking more land taking more lives seems It's never enough I've had enough of Israelis always playing the victim even as they victimize Palestinians and commit genocide against them it's tiring exhausting such a bore and no one is falling for that crap anymore Israel claims to be the Jewish state but it's in a state of genocidal Mania doesn't speak for Jews so many Jews around the world hate Zionism they've had enough of this too I've had enough of Israel claiming that Arabs hate Jews this ain't about religion they're lying to you it's about Europeans stealing Palestinian homes and if Israelis were Buddhists Arabs are fighting too I've had enough of talk show hosts acting like Middle East experts Pierce Morgan thinks history began on October 7 so the only trick he knows is B yes Israel then roll and Hounds his guests with do you condemn Hamas no we can them Israel in your rubbish program I've had enough I've had enough of Americans claiming Hamas a terrorists when Uncle Sam's the biggest terrorist on Earth they want to lecture people about human rights and international law but when it comes to Israel they don't give a [ __ ] anymore Afghanistan Pakistan Iraq Syria Libya Somalia Yemen Lebanon those weren't enough how many people have to die before you wake up Israel is carrying out a genocide in broad daylight suffocating the dreams of gaza's children at night when will the world put an end to their plight Jesus Christ haven't they suffered enough 15,000 people killed wasn't enough dozens of doctors and nurses wasn't enough Israel killing journalists across the Levant so many in Gaza went to bed and never woke up what's your excuse when are you going to wake up you need to find your Humanity enough is enough
The support of Israel slaying thousands of innocent lives with impunity and American support is an eye opener to the bullshit in this world and it all more or less revolves around Jewish bs propoganda religion so many people idolise. If you thought Trump was bad for democracy, what Netanyahu and Biden has done is probably worse, but the good point is it has openly exposed the bs and hypocrisy of the West.
The Jews and christian love to create an enemy. Anyone who doesn't believe their bs dogma becomes an enemy or is the devil, oh and with the added benefit non believers are 'thank God off to hell'.
Joe's just being a disobedient catholic https://www.reuters.com/world/pope-...mas-has-gone-beyond-war-terrorism-2023-11-22/ https://www.reuters.com/world/europ...rrorism-remark-seek-clarification-2023-11-23/
American taxpayers supply weapons to Israel for 'self defence'. Killing civilians predominantly women and children is obviously self defense according to the hypocrital and corrupt Biden and Netanyahu. All this has done is create more enemies which 'need to be eliminated' sometime in the future. I suppose wars are good to ensure the world doesn't become overpopulated, maybe more Jews and christian serve a useful purpose for that reason and I think mussies think along the same way.
How Israel keeps hundreds of Palestinians in detention without charge Analysis by Ishaan Tharoor Columnist November 27, 2023 https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...stine-detention-adminstrative-prisoners-jail/ A four-day pause in hostilities between Israel and the militant group Hamas was extended by two more days, instead of expiring Tuesday morning, lengthening the brief reprieve offered to Gaza’s 2.1 million Palestinians, who have endured weeks of relentless Israeli bombardments. The move also gave further hope to the families of Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas during its Oct. 7 strike on southern Israel. Through Qatari and Egyptian mediators, the two sides had agreed on an initial release of 50 hostages in Gaza and about 150 Palestinians, mostly teenagers and some women, imprisoned by Israel, over the four-day period. Sixty-nine hostages — the majority Israeli but also Thai, Philippine, French, Argentine and Russian citizens and others — and more than 100 Palestinians were released over the first four days. The extension raises the possibility of more captive exchanges and more moments of joy for their friends and loved ones. But for freed Palestinians, the context in which they return is more barbed and fraught. In lists distributed to media, Israeli authorities label all the prisoners up for release as “terrorists.” Some were convicted of crimes such as attempted murder; others were detained for activities like “throwing stones” or carrying knives. And a few, like 59-year-old Hanan Barghouti, the eldest female prisoner to be released, were in indefinite Israeli custody without any charge. While there were scenes of jubilation in Ramallah in the West Bank as a group of released prisoners met their families over the weekend, Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, issued directives cracking down on such celebrations in East Jerusalem, where the Israeli police can directly operate. “My instructions are clear: there are to be no expressions of joy,” he said. “Expressions of joy are equivalent to backing terrorism, victory celebrations give backing to those human scum, for those Nazis.” Meanwhile, in the West Bank, most of which is under Israel’s military administration, Israeli authorities have detained roughly as many Palestinians as have been released in the past few days. A post-Oct. 7 crackdown saw the Palestinian population in Israeli custody almost double, by some measures: According to Palestinian rights groups, more than 3,000 Palestinians, mostly in the West Bank, were swept up by Israeli security forces. The majority appear to be held in administrative detention — that is, a form of incarceration without charge or trial that authorities can renew indefinitely. Under international law, the practice of administrative detention is supposed to be used only in exceptional circumstances. But, as Israeli and international human rights groups document, it has become more the norm in the West Bank. Even before Oct. 7, smoldering tensions and violence in the West Bank had led to a three-decade high in administrative detentions. Then, according to the Israeli human rights organization HaMoked, the total number of Palestinians in administrative detention went from 1,319 on Oct. 1 to 2,070 on Nov. 1 — close to a third of the total Palestinian prisoner population. Israel’s critics contend that even those charged with specific crimes face a skewed, unfair justice system. Palestinians in the West Bank are subject to Israeli military courts, unlike the half-million Jewish settlers who live in their midst. These courts have in some years churned out convictions at a 99 percent rate, a state of affairs that raises questions about the due process afforded to Palestinians. “Palestinians are routinely denied counsel, for example, and faced with language barriers and mistranslations that taint testimonies and confessions used in court,” explained Vox’s Abdallah Fayyad. “But it’s not only a lack of due process that plagues this legal system. Oftentimes, these cases are based on specious and far-reaching charges.” The dynamics of the Israeli carceral system for Palestinians have long undergirded anger over the broader nature of Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian territories. “The power to incarcerate people who have not been convicted or even charged with anything for lengthy periods of time, based on secret ‘evidence’ that they cannot challenge, is an extreme power,” noted Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. “Israel uses it continuously and extensively, routinely holding hundreds of Palestinians at any given moment.” The deepening crisis that followed Hamas’s bloody rampage on Oct. 7 has only exacerbated tensions. “Administrative detention is one of the key tools through which Israel has enforced its system of apartheid against Palestinians,” Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement this month, citing numerous reports of abuses suffered by Palestinian detainees in recent weeks. “Testimonies and video evidence also point to numerous incidents of torture and other ill-treatment by Israeli forces including severe beatings and deliberate humiliation of Palestinians who are detained in dire conditions.” Israeli authorities have argued over the years that their practice of administrative detention is in line with policies in other democracies and constitutes a necessary preventive measure, given the security conditions that shape the West Bank. The feeble Palestinian Authority, which has long worked hand-in-glove with Israeli security agencies, has struggled to tamp down rising anger and militancy among Palestinians in the West Bank. In recent weeks, Israeli government officials have lashed out at censure from U.N. officials and organizations like Amnesty International, which an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson described as “antisemitic” and “biased.” But Israel’s widespread use of the practice has been long criticized by international observers. A 2012 European parliamentary report described administrative detention as a tactic employed “principally to constrain Palestinian political activism.” In 2020, Michael Lynk, then the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, called on Israel to abolish the practice. “Administrative detention is an anathema in any democratic society that follows the rule of law,” Lynk said. “When the democratic state arrests and detains someone, it is required to charge the person, present its evidence in an open trial, allow for a full defense and try to persuade an impartial judiciary of its allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.”