[🇧🇩] Israel and Hamas war in Gaza-----Can Bangladesh be a peace broker?

[Saif]

Dhaka calls for holding Israel accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity

Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud has called for an immediate cessation of the conflict in Palestine, ensuring humanitarian access and holding Israel accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity. "We, the members of the OIC should be part of a multi-tracked international engagement to end th

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Dhaka calls for holding Israel accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity
UNB
Published :
May 05, 2024 21:03
Updated :
May 05, 2024 21:03

Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud has called for an immediate cessation of the conflict in Palestine, ensuring humanitarian access and holding Israel accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"We, the members of the OIC should be part of a multi-tracked international engagement to end the Gaza crisis," he said while speaking at the 15th Islamic Summit Conference titled "Strengthening Unity and Solidarity Through Dialogue For Sustainable Development" in Banjul, Republic of The Gambia.

Bangladesh, along with a few other countries, has requested the International Criminal Court for an investigation of 'the situation in the State of Palestine'.

"Accountability and punishment are mandatory so that once and for all the ongoing conflict in Gaza ends and people can start living peacefully in their own land," Hasan said while sharing six specific suggestions on behalf of Bangladesh on Saturday evening.

He sought a solution to the Rohingya crisis through international intervention and implementation of the judgement of the ICJ.

The Rohingya crisis has entered its 7th year, and Bangladesh is hosting the largest refugee camp in the world.

"It is our duty to assist in fulfilling the desire of these homeless people to return to their own country. As solution through the court is a long-term issue, we must keep the momentum going," said the foreign minister.

He appreciated the voluntary contribution and pledge of some countries and urged all Member States to commit to contribute generously to this cause.

The minister said OIC should continue initiating dialogue with the governments and inter-governmental bodies like the UN, EU, and other organisations to diffuse the elements that are instigating islamophobia and creating an environment of intolerance.

"Bangladesh is the largest contributor in force for peacekeeping, and we are ready to assist in this crucial area when the world is facing new conflicts and challenges," he said.

Hasan called for taking appropriate measures to implement the Trade Preferential system of OIC, which will create further trade and investment opportunities for the member states.

Through increased intra-OIC trade "we will be able to resist the unwarranted decision of the global blocs' which are at times detrimental for our interest, he mentioned.

"This is important for the LDCs and the Middle-Income countries, particularly after the Covid 19 pandemic and the ongoing global financial instability," he said.

Hasan laid emphasis on working together in realising the Sustainable Development Goals.

"We need to create a world free of hunger, poverty, and ensure climate resilient development," he said.

OIC is a platform where, as a member of the Muslim Ummah, we share our burdens and responsibilities.

Hasan said it is through their concerted effort that they will be able to build a Ummah of shared peace and stability.

President of the Republic of The Gambia Adama Barrow and OIC Secretary General

Hissein Brahim Taha, among others, were present.​

 

[Saif]

Israel plays down Hamas move on Gaza ceasefire, hits Rafah

Hamas on Monday agreed to a ceasefire proposal in the seven-month-old war with Israel in Gaza, hours after the Israeli military told residents to evacuate some parts of Rafah, which has been sheltering more than a million displaced people

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Israel plays down Hamas move on Gaza ceasefire, hits Rafah

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip May 6, 2024. Photo: Reuters/Hatem Khaled

Israel played down the likelihood of a ceasefire in Gaza on Monday after Hamas said it had accepted a proposal from mediators, even as residents fled the city of Rafah in fear of an Israeli assault.

The last-minute moves towards a ceasefire came as Israeli forces struck Rafah on Gaza's southern edge and ordered residents out of parts of the city, which has served as the last refuge for more than a million displaced Gazans.

Hamas said in a brief statement that its chief, Ismail Haniyeh, had informed Qatari and Egyptian mediators that the group accepted their proposal for a ceasefire.

The Israeli military said all proposals that would release hostages held in Gaza would be considered, while for now its operations were continuing in parallel.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity said the proposal that Hamas had accepted was a watered-down version of an Egyptian offer and included elements that Israel could not accept.

"This would appear to be a ruse intended to make Israel look like the side refusing a deal," said the Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

An official briefed on the peace talks, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said however that the offer Hamas had accepted was effectively the same as one agreed at the end of April by Israel.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington would discuss the Hamas response with its allies in coming hours, and a deal was "absolutely achievable".

"We want to get these hostages out, we want to get a ceasefire in place for six weeks, we want to increase humanitarian assistance," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said, adding that reaching an agreement would be the "absolute best outcome".

RAFAH HIT BY STRIKES

Any truce would be the first pause in fighting since a week-long ceasefire in November, during which Hamas freed around half of the hostages its fighters captured in the October 7 attack that precipitated the war.

Since then, all efforts to reach a new truce have foundered over Hamas's refusal to free more hostages without a promise of a permanent end to the conflict, and Israel's insistence that it would discuss only a temporary pause.

Taher Al-Nono, a Hamas official and adviser to Haniyeh, told Reuters the proposal had met the group's demands, including reconstruction efforts in Gaza, the return of displaced Palestinians and a swap of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

The Hamas deputy chief in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya, told Al Jazeera television the proposal included three phases, each of six weeks, with Israel to pull its troops out of Gaza in the second phase.

Earlier on Monday, Israel ordered the evacuation of parts of Rafah, the city on Gaza's southern edge that has served as the last sanctuary for around half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents.

Asked during a media briefing whether Hamas saying it accepted a ceasefire proposal would impact a planned offensive in Rafah, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said: "We examine every answer and response in the most serious manner and are exhausting every possibility regarding negotiations and returning the hostages."

"In parallel, we are still operating in the Gaza Strip and will continue to do so," he said.

Israel's closest ally the United States has called on it not to assault Rafah, saying it must not do so without a full plan in place to protect civilians there, which has yet to be presented.

Israel said on Monday it was conducting limited operations on the eastern part of Rafah, following a rocket attack claimed by Hamas fighters that killed four Israeli soldiers at the main border crossing into Rafah the previous day.

"We've asked civilians to move out of harm's way. We've been extremely specific about the areas which we'll be targeting...", government spokesman David Mencer said.

Israeli bombardment of eastern Rafah areas continued throughout the day on Monday.

"They have been firing since last night and today after the evacuation orders the bombardment became more intense because they want to frighten us to leave," Jaber Abu Nazly, a 40-year old father of two told Reuters via a chat app.

"Some families already left, others are wondering whether there is any place safe in the whole of Gaza," he added.

Overnight, Israeli planes had hit 10 houses, killing 20 people, Palestinian medical officials said. The Israeli military said it had struck the site in Rafah from which the previous day's rocket had been launched at its troops.

Instructed by Arabic text messages, phone calls, and flyers to move to what the Israeli military called an "expanded humanitarian zone" around 20 km (12 miles) away, some Palestinian families began trundling away in chilly spring rain.

Some piled children and possessions onto donkey carts, while others left by pick-up or on foot through muddy streets.

Abdullah Al-Najar said this was the fourth time he had been displaced since the fighting began seven months ago, as families dismantled tents and folded belongings.

"God knows where we will go now. We have not decided yet."

Nick Maynard, a British surgeon trying to leave Gaza on Monday, said in a voice message from the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing into Egypt: "Two huge bombs have just gone off immediately outside the crossing. There's a lot of gunfire as well about 100 meters from us. We are very unclear whether we will get out."

"Driving through Rafah, the tension was palpable with people evacuating as rapidly as they could."​

 

[Saif]

US pauses ammunition shipment to Israel for first time since Oct 7: reports

The Biden administration paused a shipment of US-made ammunition to Israel last week amid the latter's ongoing attack on Gaza, but the reasons for doing so were not clear, according to media outlets in the US and Israel

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US pauses ammunition shipment to Israel for first time since Oct 7: reports
'Concerned' Israeli officials say shipment was meant to include crucial weaponry for IDF'

The Biden administration paused a shipment of US-made ammunition to Israel last week amid the latter's ongoing attack on Gaza, but the reasons for doing so were not clear, according to media outlets in the US and Israel.

Axios broke the news yesterday citing two Israeli officials. According to its report, it is the first time since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas that the US has stopped a weapons shipment intended for the Israeli military.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the pause of the shipment sparked concerns and prompted Israeli officials to seek clarification from their American counterparts.

It also said that this was the first pause of shipment from the US to Israel since October 7.

Senior Israeli officials told the newspaper that the shipment was intended to include crucial weaponry for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which has killed over 34,000 people–most of them women and children–in Gaza since Hamas's October 7 attack.

Israel is poised to attack the Gaza's southern city of Rafah, where more than 1.5 million people have been driven following Israel's relentless bombing in the northern regions.

Quoting a source familiar with the shipment pause, CNN reported that it is not connected to the potential operation in Rafah and does not affect other shipments moving forward.

Asked about the paused shipment, a National Security Council spokesperson told CNN, "The United States has surged billions of dollars in security assistance to Israel since the October 7 attacks, passed the largest ever supplemental appropriation for emergency assistance to Israel, led an unprecedented coalition to defend Israel against Iranian attacks, and will continue to do what is necessary to ensure Israel can defend itself from the threats it faces."

The Biden administration is facing increasing pressure at home and abroad for its unstinting support to Israel in what has been termed by many rights groups as a genocidal campaign against Palestinians.​

 

[Saif]

US halted ammunition shipment to Israel.

 

[Saif]

US warns Israel that Rafah invasion will jeopardise weapons supply as assault continues

US President Joe Biden for the first time publicly vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if its forces make a major invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza while negotiations in Cairo on a ceasefire plan for the enclave were due to continue on Thursday

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US warns Israel that Rafah invasion will jeopardise weapons supply as assault continues

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 8, 2024. Photo: Reuters

US President Joe Biden for the first time publicly vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if its forces make a major invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza while negotiations in Cairo on a ceasefire plan for the enclave were due to continue on Thursday.

"I made it clear that if they go into Rafah ..., I'm not supplying the weapons," Biden, whose administration has repeatedly asked Israel for its plan to protect civilians in Rafah, said on Wednesday in an interview with CNN.

Biden acknowledged that US bombs provided to Israel have killed Gaza civilians in the seven-month-old offensive aimed at annihilating Hamas.

Biden's comments, his starkest to date, increase the pressure on Israel to refrain from a full-scale assault on Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge after fleeing combat farther north in Gaza.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on Biden's remarks, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the Rafah operation would go ahead. Israel says it must hit Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas fighters it says are there.

Israel, meanwhile, continued tank and aerial strikes on southern Gaza after moving in via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, cutting off a vital aid route.

Biden has been under pressure from his fellow Democrats and growing campus protests to deter Israel from invading Rafah. His support of Israel has become a political liability as the president runs for re-election.

The United States is by far the biggest supplier of weapons to Israel, and it accelerated deliveries after the Hamas attacks on October 7 that triggered Israel's offensive in Gaza. Biden said US weapons for Israel's defense, such as for its Iron Dome anti-missile system, would continue.

US officials confirmed on Wednesday that Washington paused delivery of a shipment of bombs to Israel because of the risk to civilians in Gaza.

Israel's UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, called that decision "very disappointing" but said he did not believe the US would stop supplying arms to Israel.

TALKS IN CAIRO

Palestinian militant group Hamas said late on Wednesday it would not make more concessions to Israel in the truce talks.

In Cairo, delegations from Hamas, Israel, the US, Egypt and Qatar have been meeting since Tuesday. Citing a source familiar with the matter, Egypt's state-affiliated Al Qahera TV reported early on Thursday that areas of disagreement were being resolved and there were signs that an agreement will be reached, without giving details.

But Izzat El-Reshiq, a member of Hamas' political office in Qatar, said in a statement late on Wednesday that the group would not go beyond a ceasefire proposal it accepted on Monday. It would also entail the release of some Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinian women and children detained in Israel.

"Israel isn't serious about reaching an agreement and it is using the negotiation as a cover to invade Rafah and occupy the crossing," said Reshiq.

Israel on Monday declared that the three-phase truce proposal approved by Hamas was unacceptable because terms had been watered down. It did not respond immediately to the Hamas statement.

The US said on Tuesday that Hamas had revised its ceasefire proposal and the revision could overcome an impasse in negotiations. Just a few hours before Hamas' latest statement, Washington continued to say the two sides were not far apart.

"We believe there is a pathway to a deal ... The two sides are close enough they should do what they can to get to a deal," US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.

The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 252 others, of whom 128 remain hostage in Gaza and 36 have been declared dead, according to the latest Israeli figures.

'HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE' LOOMS

Hamas said its fighters on Wednesday were battling Israeli forces in Rafah's east and Islamic Jihad's fighters attacked Israeli soldiers and military vehicles with heavy artillery near the city's long abandoned airport.

Israeli tank shells landed in the middle of Rafah wounding at least 25 people on Wednesday, medics said. Residents said an Israeli air strike killed four people and wounded 16 others in western Rafah.

The Israeli military said it troops had discovered Hamas infrastructure in several places in eastern Rafah and were conducting targeted raids in Rafah and airstrikes across the Gaza Strip.

The UN, Gaza residents and humanitarian groups say further Israeli incursion into Rafah will result in a humanitarian catastrophe.

A UN official said no fuel or aid had entered the Gaza Strip due to the military operation, a situation "disastrous for the humanitarian response" in Gaza where more than half the population is suffering catastrophic hunger.

Palestinians have crammed into tented camps and makeshift shelters, suffering from shortages of food, water and medicine.

"The streets of the city echo with the cries of innocent lives lost, families torn apart, and homes reduced to rubble," Rafah Mayor Ahmed Al-Sofi said, appealing to the international community to intervene.​

 

[Saif]

Where do the weapons for the Gaza genocide come from?

On May 7, Israeli newspaper Haaretz ran a news report on its website, titled “US Slow-rolling Weapons Sale to Israel, Sparking Questions of Policy Shift.”

www.thedailystar.net

Where do the weapons for the Gaza genocide come from?

A Palestinian woman and boy check the rubble of a building following Israeli bombardment in Rafah on January 18. PHOTO: AFP

On May 7, Israeli newspaper Haaretz ran a news report on its website, titled "US Slow-rolling Weapons Sale to Israel, Sparking Questions of Policy Shift." What prompted the story was US President Joe Biden's decision to pause a shipment of weapons to Israel last week, apparently in opposition to Israel's decision to invade Rafah, the southern Gaza city where Palestinians have been forced to seek shelter as Israel's genocidal campaign continues to sweep down upon them from the north.

The Biden administration is clearly under some pressure due to Israel's open brutality and murderous campaign against the Palestinians, and because of the ongoing student protests in US universities urging different institutions to end their support for it. However, for experts to even question whether the US is shifting its policy in regard to the Palestine-Israel issue is completely disingenuous.

For starters, it was only two weeks ago that 12 US Republican senators issued a letter to the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, warning that the institution would face "severe sanctions" if it issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and any other Israeli officials. And their threats were quite clear, "If you move forward with the measures indicated in the report, we will move to end all American support for the ICC, sanction your employees and associates, and bar you and your families from the United States. You have been warned," the letter read.

Secondly, as The Washington Post reported in March, the Biden administration has "quietly approved and delivered more than 100 separate foreign military sales to Israel since the Gaza war began" on October 7. And the military hardware provided to Israel includes "thousands of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, bunker busters, small arms and other lethal aid." These sales, of course, were separate to the ones the Biden administration already gave greenlight to by bypassing Congress as emergency weapons sales to Israel. And the way they were initiated is even more interesting.

According to The Guardian, the Biden administration managed to make these deliveries without Congressional oversight because each transaction was made so small that they did not require Congressional approval. Hence, most of these sales were made without Congress or the public knowing about them—at least up until a point. "This doesn't just seem like an attempt to avoid technical compliance with US arms export law; it's an extremely troubling way to avoid transparency and accountability on a high-profile issue," said Ari Tolany, director of the security assistance monitor at the Centre for International Policy.

It is a known fact that the US is by far the biggest supplier of arms to Israel. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the US accounted for 69 percent of Israel's imports of major conventional arms between 2019 and 2023. Moreover, the US also provides Israel with $3.8 billion in annual military aid under a 10-year agreement so that Israel can "maintain" a "qualitative military edge" over its neighbours—or wipe out the rest of the Palestinian population. After the US comes Germany, which provides 30 percent of Israel's arms import, followed by other countries who provide the rest one percent. In other words, the US and Germany account for nearly all of Israel's weapons imports.

The fact that these are the same weapons that are being used to at least initiate an ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians is also well-known. In a recent report, the Human Rights Watch conclusively showed that US weapons were used by Israel on an emergency and relief centre in south Lebanon on March 27, 2024, to kill aid workers even.

So, for it to be asked whether the US is shifting its policy towards Israel because of the suspension of just one weapon shipment is a joke. The likely reason why the US has suspended this shipment is because of a highly anticipated report on whether Israel is using US military aid in compliance with international law, which the Biden administration is set to delay. Rights groups have been urging the US administration to make this report public. And given the sway in American public sentiment in sympathy for Palestinians—as apparent from the student movement—the Biden administration is probably reluctant to add more fuel to the fire.

Even if the report can be tampered with to downplay just how guilty Israel has been in its use of these weapons and the number of international laws that it has broken can be brought down, there is no way of showing Israel as fully innocent. So, the Biden administration is simply trying to appease some of the protesters and take the heat off of itself through its latest decision, which is nothing short of an attempt to deceive the public.

But ultimately, no matter the optics, the US can, in no way, wash its hands off Palestinian blood which continues to flow, by acting as Israel's primary arms factory that provides the weapons that is allowing Israel to wage its genocidal campaign against the Palestinians.

Eresh Omar Jamal is deputy editor of editorial and opinion at The Daily Star.​

 

[Saif]

OIC denounces Gaza genocide, urges sanctions against Israel

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on Sunday denounced a ‘genocide’ in Gaza, urging its 57 member countries to impose sanctions on Israel in a...

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OIC denounces Gaza genocide, urges sanctions against Israel
Agence France-Presse . Banjul, Gambia 06 May, 2024, 22:57

Students are seen in their encampment outside the Helsinki University in Helsinki, Finland, as they demonstrate in solidarity with the Palestinian people and demand boycott against Israeli universities, on Monday. | AFP photo

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on Sunday denounced a 'genocide' in Gaza, urging its 57 member countries to impose sanctions on Israel in a resolution adopted at the end of its Gambia summit.

The organisation called on its members to impose 'sanctions on Israel, the occupying power, and halting the export of weapons and ammunition used by its army to perpetrate the crime of genocide in Gaza'.

Sunday's resolution, seen by AFP, urged members 'to exercise diplomatic, political and legal pressure and to take any deterrent measures to stop the crimes of the Israeli colonial occupation, and the genocidal war it is waging against the Palestinian people, including by imposing sanctions'.

It also called for 'an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire'.

Founded in 1969 after the burning of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the OIC aims to increase Muslim solidarity, support the Palestinian struggle and defend Muslim holy sites.

In November 2023, it met with the Arab League in Riyadh for a joint summit, condemning the actions of Israeli forces in Gaza, but refraining from setting out punitive economic and political measures against Israel.

But in December 2023, the OIC welcomed the action brought by South Africa against Israel at the International Criminal Court in which it accused it of genocide against the Palestinians.

The 15th OIC summit, which started Saturday, focussed on Egypt's capital Cairo, where a meeting on a proposed truce, linked to the release of hostages in Gaza, was held this weekend without any concrete progress.

Only a handful of African leaders attended the OIC summit in person, most leaders of the 57 member countries sending representatives.

Gaza's bloodiest-ever war began following Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,683 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.​

 

[Saif]

Netanyahu weighs risks of Rafah assault as hostage dilemma divides Israelis

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces competing pressures at home and abroad when he weighs how far to push the operation to defeat Hamas in Rafah that complicates hopes of bringing Israeli hostages home. Street demonstrations against the government by families and supporters of some of the more

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Netanyahu weighs risks of Rafah assault as hostage dilemma divides Israelis
REUTERS
Published :
May 08, 2024 21:01
Updated :
May 08, 2024 21:01

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the opening ceremony marking Israel's national Holocaust Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, in Jerusalem, May 5, 2024. Photo : Reuters/Ronen Zvulun/Files

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces competing pressures at home and abroad when he weighs how far to push the operation to defeat Hamas in Rafah that complicates hopes of bringing Israeli hostages home.

Street demonstrations against the government by families and supporters of some of the more than 130 hostages still held in Gaza have become a constant fixture, with protestors demanding a ceasefire deal with Hamas to get them back.

Others are demanding the government and the Israeli Defence Forces press ahead with the Rafah operation against the remaining Hamas formations holding out around the city which began this week with air strikes an battles on the outskirts.

"We applaud the Israeli government and the IDF for going into Rafah," said Mirit Hoffman, a spokesperson for Mothers of IDF Soldiers, a group representing families of serving military personnel, which wants an uncompromising line to pressure Hamas into surrender.

"We think that this is how negotiations are done in the Middle East."

The opposing pressures mirror divisions in Netanyahu's cabinet between centrist ministers concerned at alienating Washington, Israel's most vital ally and supplier of arms, and religious nationalist hardliners determined to clear Hamas out of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas handed Netanyahu a dilemma this week when it declared it had accepted a ceasefire proposal brokered by Egypt for a halt to fighting in return for an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Israeli officials rejected the offer, accusing Hamas of altering the terms of the deal. But it did not break off negotiations and shuttle diplomacy continues, with CIA chief Bill Burns in Israel on Wednesday to meet Netanyahu.

Internationally, protests have spread against Israel's campaign in Gaza, which has so far killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, and spread malnutrion and disease in the enclave.

Seven months into the war, surveys show opinion in Israel has become increasingly divided since Netanyahu first vowed to crush Hamas in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, took more than 250 hostage, and triggered the campaign in Gaza.

"I understand that it's necessary to defeat Hamas but I think that can wait, and the hostages cannot wait," said Elisheva Leibler, 52, from Jerusalem. "Every second they're there poses immediate danger to their lives."

For the moment, Netanyahu has kept the cabinet together, rejecting the latest Hamas proposal for a ceasefire but keeping the negotiations alive by dispatching mid-ranking officials to Cairo, where Egyptian mediators are overseeing the process.

But the risks he faces by holding out against a deal, as his hard-right partners wish, were highlighted on Tuesday when Washington paused a shipment of weapons to signal its opposition to the long-promised Rafah assault.

DIVIDED OPINION

Despite his image as a security hawk, Netanyahu, Israel's longest serving prime minister, has struggled with a widespread perception that he was to blame for the security failures that allowed Hamas to overwhelm Israel's defences around Gaza.

That has fed a mood of distrust among many Israelis who otherwise support strong action against Hamas.

A survey published on Wednesday for Channel 13 suggested that 56 per cent of Israelis thought Netanyahu's chief consideration was his own political survival against only 30 per cent who thought it was freeing the hostages.

A survey by the Israel Democracy Institute found just over half the population believed a deal to rescue the hostages should be the top government priority, over the aim of destroying the remaining Hamas formations.

But a separate poll by the Jewish People's Policy Institute (JPPI) found 61 per cent thought the military must operate in Rafah no matter what. The Channel 13 poll found 41 per cent in favour of accepting the deal and 44 per cent opposed.

"I don't trust Hamas at all," said 81 year-old David Taub, from Jerusalem. "The only solution is to conquer Rafah, and then maybe, we hope, we pray, the hostages will come back to us."

For the moment, Netanyahu depends on the two hardliners from the nationalist religious bloc, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, both of whom reject any suggestion of compromise.

Both have clashed repeatedly with Benny Gantz, the centrist former army general who joined the emergency wartime cabinet in the wake of Oct 7, and who is the leading contender to replace Netanyahu after new elections.

Gantz and his ally Gadi Eisenkot, another former army chief, are both sworn enemies of Hamas but both have been alarmed at the deterioration in relations with the United States.

For the increasingly desperate hostage families, a mood of deepening exhaustion at the endless uncertainty has settled in, with hopes of a safe return overcoming any other consideration.

Niva Wenkert, mother of 22-year-old hostage Omer Wenkert, said she had no choice but to trust Israeli leaders but that not enough had been done.

"The hostages are still in Gaza, the military actions almost stopped and the feelings are very, very bad. I want Omer back."​

 

[Lulldapull]

Gents have a look here. MIT professor has just destroyed the iron dome Hollywood fantasy narrative. This is a total disgrace and an acknowledgement that hundreds of billions of US taxpayer dollars have been wasted for propaganda. Few days ago Irans vevak intelligence has quietly announced that more than 50 Israeli soldiers have died at HQ 8200 intelligence facility on Golan after signal intercepts of IDF by Hezb revealed this info and more than 220 others injured, most of them seriously. Isra-heel is hiding a lot more deaths and losses. Evidently, Irans broken Israel’s back. How badly is this going to affect all the other US toady around the world now? People who rely on US weaponry for mental comfort? Here in Japan many are questioning the F-35’s and other weaponry after seeing the debacles in both Ukraine and Israel:

 

[Saif]

‘Our lives have completely stopped’

Displaced Palestinian Marwan al-Masri, sheltering in Rafah, said “Our lives have completely stopped” since Israeli tanks and troops entered the city’s east, sending desperate people fleeing north in the besieged territory.

www.thedailystar.net

'Our lives have completely stopped'
Say displaced Palestinians as 'fear' roils in Gaza's southern city of Rafah since Israeli incursion

Displaced Palestinian Marwan al-Masri, sheltering in Rafah, said "Our lives have completely stopped" since Israeli tanks and troops entered the city's east, sending desperate people fleeing north in the besieged territory.

Over 1.4 million people had crammed into Rafah, a city on the Gaza Strip's southern border with Egypt, as Israeli forces pushed their way southward from coastal territory's north during months of offensive.

Many in Rafah have been displaced multiple times during the seven-month offensive, and are now heading back north after Israeli forces called for the evacuation of the city's eastern past, which hosts tens of thousands of people.

"Life has completely ceased in the downtown area of Rafah", said 35-year-old Masri, who has been displaced from northern Gaza. "The streets are empty of people, and markets are in a state of paralysis", he told AFP on Wednesday.

Many in Rafah have been displaced multiple times during the offensive, and are now heading back north.

"We all feel fear of any advancement in the invasion, as happened in the eastern areas, which are now completely empty of residents".

Masri said he and his relatives "are all tense and frightened" by the incessant shelling that they feel is getting closer to them.

Ibtihal al-Arouqi, who was displaced from Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, said she has found herself once again homeless.

"We emerged from under the rubble of our house in Al-Bureij, and now due to intense shelling in Rafah, my children and I are in the street", she said.

The 39-year-old said that only two weeks ago she gave birth by Caesarean section. "We don't know where to go. There is no safe place", Arouqi added.

She spoke from west Rafah, where many Palestinians remain.

While it is relatively calmer than the city's heavily bombarded east, the west has also been hit by shelling, an AFP journalist reported.

Both Arouqi and Masri said incessant shelling has filled the air with dust and smoke that make it hard to breathe. "The situation in Rafah is chaotic," said Mohammed Abu Mughaiseeb, a medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity in Rafah.

Himself displaced from Gaza City, he described "people carrying their things, mattresses, blankets, kitchen items on trucks" to flee east Rafah.

But "there's no space anymore in the west of Rafah," Abu Mughaiseeb told AFP.

The city's Al-Najjar hospital was "closed, evacuated by the medical team to avoid what happened in Al-Shifa or Nasser", he added.​

 

[Saif]

Gents have a look here. MIT professor has just destroyed the iron dome Hollywood fantasy narrative. This is a total disgrace and an acknowledgement that hundreds of billions of US taxpayer dollars have been wasted for propaganda. Few days ago Irans vevak intelligence has quietly announced that more than 50 Israeli soldiers have died at HQ 8200 intelligence facility on Golan after signal intercepts of IDF by Hezb revealed this info and more than 220 others injured, most of them seriously. Isra-heel is hiding a lot more deaths and losses. Evidently, Irans broken Israel’s back. How badly is this going to affect all the other US toady around the world now? People who rely on US weaponry for mental comfort? Here in Japan many are questioning the F-35’s and other weaponry after seeing the debacles in both Ukraine and Israel:

Iran has amply proved that cheap Iranian weapons are enough to kill the so called high tech Israeli weapons made by US money and technology. Iron Dome and Arrow-3 suck big time. People in the know have no faith in them anymore. They are a waste. I would love to get Iranian drones but alas! The US will impose sanction on Bangladesh if we buy Iranian military products.

 

[Saif]

Student protests in the US: Reclaiming the flames of human rights

The protests against US policies staunchly supporting Israel give us purpose and meaning in the face of adversities.

www.thedailystar.net

Student protests in the US: Reclaiming the flames of human rights

The protests in the US may not bring in ready-made solutions to the present crisis in Gaza, but they are a downstream constraint on the illegitimate use of force and exertion of power. FILE PHOTO: RUETERS

I argued a few months back that the genocidal killings of innocent civilians, particularly of children in Gaza, within the context of the Israel-Palestine war, appear not as just another passing of a period but as an episode potentially signalling the impending doom of an objectively trustworthy international human rights law scheme, particularly with five states at the helm as permanent members of the UN Security Council. Four months later, it seems a tad hopeful, particularly with students and staff in the US universities vehemently protesting the US policies that staunch support Israel, and thereby indirectly provide an impetus to the Israeli genocide.

Anti-establishment protests are generally handled with high-handed tactics by those in authoritative positions, essentially because establishment nourishes and sustains those who form part of the authority. And there has been no exception in the present context.

The protesters, with "an understanding of both worlds," stand firmly between the elite decision-makers at the top and the trampled-on Palestinians at the bottom. The protesters thus create an appropriate intermediate space to vernacularise the language of human rights, peace, and justice, upon providing for a corrective to the language of dominance, oppression, and hegemony. True that those in power are biased, that power today is defined by imbalance, and that the sham of balance is rigged, but above and beyond such top-down injustices and unfairness lies the unbending power of the people.

Indeed, the very ideas of fundamental freedom, dignity, and human rights are discursively embedded into multiple sites. Mass movements only show the site where the said ideas find flesh and blood. The protesting students chant "boycott apartheid Israel," thereby denouncing the racist policies that Israel propagates and the US sides with. They ask the university authorities to "divest from Israel," thereby warranting divergence from the deep-seated policies of extending unsighted support to Israel. Thus, the protesters unmask the aberrant intricacies and depraved symbols constructing the premise for the genocide now unfolding. However, the question is: how far can these protests take us?

In January, the International Court of Justice issued six provisional measures, ordering Israel to "take all measures within its power to prevent genocidal acts, including preventing and punishing incitement to genocide, ensuring aid and services reach Palestinians under siege in Gaza, and preserving evidence of crimes committed in Gaza." Israel, to date, continues to violate the said ruling by the world court. Moreover, the US abstained from voting in favour of the UN Security Council Resolution# 2728 on March 25 for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, thereby not explicitly siding with the latest attempt to assuage the enormous humanitarian crisis there. Reportedly, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is considering issuing arrest warrants for Israeli top military and political figures for the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity. However, the fact that neither Israel nor the US recognise the authority of ICC is yet another despairing reality within the international politico-legal spectrum.

Against this backdrop, perhaps it will be irrationally optimistic to imagine a system overhaul through the protests, because nothing short of such an overhaul can bring in true amends to the devastations caused. Indeed, the protests may not bring in ready-made solutions to the present crisis, precisely because racism is but an institutionalised reality in the now prevailing hegemonic-chauvinistic world order. Nonetheless, the protests are a downstream constraint on the illegitimate use of force and exertion of power. Within the illusion of sovereign equality imagining all states standing on an equal footing, the protests of people of various races, religions, sexes, genders and sexualities bring in fresh air of human equality.

In order to reclaim the transformative terrain and flames of human rights, we need to approach human rights from hitherto excluded locations and from the perspectives of hitherto excluded subjects. The task of so approaching is not quite straightforward. The task ought to involve challenging authorities, re-reading the status quos, and contesting the taken-for-granted assumptions. Through such an elaborate process only, "human rights can be remade in the vernacular" for the fringe-dwellers and the marginalised. Indeed, the protesters are an embodiment of both the excluded locations (which for them is the state of Palestine) and the excluded perspectives lying on the fringes of the international human rights paradigm.

The history of mass movements or student protests is not new in the United States. US campuses have witnessed protests during the Vietnam War, and more recently in support of Black Lives Matter movement and against the overturning of Roe v Wade (resisting the rollback of women's reproductive rights). All these movements were anti-establishment and rights-based. Such protests give us both purpose and meaning, through and in the face of adversities. Therefore, at the least, the protests tell us that it perhaps is premature to say that the end of human rights, or international law for that matter, is near. Indeed, the discourse on human rights is all the more relevant now.

Psymhe Wadud teaches International Human Rights Law at the​

 

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US says Israel's use of weapons may have violated international law

The Biden administration on Friday said Israel's use of US-supplied weapons may have violated international humanitarian law during its military operation in Gaza, in its strongest criticism to date of Israel. But the administration stopped short of a definitive assessment, saying that due to the

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US says Israel's use of weapons may have violated international law
REUTERS
Published :
May 11, 2024 10:38
Updated :
May 11, 2024 10:38

The Biden administration on Friday said Israel's use of US-supplied weapons may have violated international humanitarian law during its military operation in Gaza, in its strongest criticism to date of Israel.

But the administration stopped short of a definitive assessment, saying that due to the chaos of the war in Gaza it could not verify specific instances where use of those weapons might have been involved in alleged breaches.

The assessment came in a 46-page unclassified State Department report to Congress required under a new National Security Memorandum (NSM) that President Joe Biden issued in early February.

The findings risk further souring ties with Israel at a time when the allies are increasingly at odds over Israel's plans to strike Rafah, a move Washington has repeatedly warned against.

The Biden administration has already put a hold on one package of arms in a major policy shift and said the US was reviewing others even as it reiterated long-term support for Israel.

The State Department's report included contradictions: It listed numerous credible reports of civilian harm and said Israel did not at first cooperate with Washington to boost humanitarian assistance to the enclave. But in each instance it said it could not make a definitive assessment whether any breaches of law had occurred.

"Given Israel's significant reliance on US-made defence articles, it is reasonable to assess that defence articles covered under NSM-20 have been used by Israeli security forces since Oct 7 in instances inconsistent with its IHL obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm," the State Department said in the report.

"Israel has not shared complete information to verify whether US defence articles covered under NSM-20 were specifically used in actions that have been alleged as violations of IHL or IHRL in Gaza, or in the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the period of the report," it said.

Because of that, the administration said it still finds credible Israel's assurances that it is using US weapons in accordance with international law.

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said the administration had "ducked all the hard questions" and avoided looking closely at whether Israel's conduct should mean military aid is cut off.

"This report contradicts itself because it concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe violations to international law have occurred, but at the same time that says they're not finding non compliance," he told reporters.

More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's seven-month-old assault on the Gaza Strip, say health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave. The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting

252 others, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

"EXCESSIVE" CIVILIAN HARM

Israel's military conduct has come under increasing scrutiny with the soaring death toll and the level of devastation in the Gaza Strip.

US officials at the State Department have been divided over the issue. Reuters reported in late April that officials in at least four bureaus inside the agency have raised serious concerns over Israel's conduct in Gaza, laying out specific examples where the country might be in breach of the law.

Rights group Amnesty International in late April said US-supplied weapons provided to Israel have been used in "serious violations" of international humanitarian and human rights law, detailing specific cases of civilian deaths and injuries and examples of use of unlawful lethal force.

The US government reviewed numerous reports that raise questions about Israel's compliance with its legal obligations and best practices for mitigating harm to civilians, the report said.

Those included Israeli strikes on civilian infrastructure, strikes in densely populated areas and others that call into question whether "expected civilian harm may have been excessive relative to the reported military objective."

According to the report released Friday, in the period after Oct 7 Israel "did not fully cooperate" with US and other international efforts to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. But it said this did not amount to a breach of a US law that blocks the provision of arms to countries that restrict US humanitarian aid.

It said Israel had acted to improve aid delivery since Biden warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call early last month that Washington would withhold some arms supplies if the humanitarian situation did not improve.

The report, Washington has decided to declassify, said individual violations do not necessarily disprove Israel's commitment to international humanitarian law, as long as it takes steps to investigate and hold violators accountable.

"Israel's own concern about such incidents is reflected in the fact it has a number of internal investigations underway," the report said. A senior State Department official confirmed that none of those investigations had yet led to prosecutions.

It also has compiled numerous instances in which humanitarian workers have been killed and military operations had taken place in protected sites but again said it was not able to reach definitive conclusions on whether US weapons were used in these occasions.​

 

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Symbolic gestures help, but the Palestine crisis needs concrete steps

The US must shed its pro-Israel bias to welcome peace

www.thedailystar.net

Symbolic gestures help, but the Palestine crisis needs concrete steps
The US must shed its pro-Israel bias to welcome peace

VISUAL: STAR

As the world tries to process the continued horrors and injustices facing the Palestinians, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday voted overwhelmingly to grant them additional rights in the global body and backed their drive for full membership. We commend UNGA members for their effort. However, it's important to remember that this is only a symbolic gesture as the UNGA cannot enforce membership decisions. Therefore, it has suggested that the UN Security Council (UNSC), which has the authority in this regard, considers the matter "favourably".

Unfortunately, this is where the celebration ends. For as long as the United States—one of five veto-holding members on the Security Council and Israel's closest ally—resists Palestine's admittance as a state, any resolution will remain incomplete. On Friday, 143 UNGA members voted in favour of the resolution, but they remain powerless against the US, which recently vetoed another Palestinian bid for full membership. This is nothing new. The US has always turned down pro-Palestine proposals at UNSC, and this "diplomatic doom loop," as stated by an analyst, has been going on for a long time.

Against this backdrop, the latest UNGA vote should be seen more as a gesture of support for the Palestinians' quest for peace and self-determination amid a devastating war by Israel. The global outpouring of support and mass protests in favour of Palestine all point to the fact that nations are no longer buying Israel's narrative. "We want peace, we want freedom," Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour told the General Assembly before the vote. Under the founding UN Charter, membership is open to "peace-loving states." It's ironic that a number of full members are facilitating wars, with Israel committing war crimes and genocide, and yet little is being done to make them accountable.

More than 34,000 have been killed during Israel's brutal seven-month-long war on Gaza. It has recently started its ground invasion in Rafah, in another potentially bloody campaign. Unless the US government acknowledges that it is actively facilitating this genocide, changes its stance, and stops vetoing pro-Palestine resolutions, Palestinians may see no peace. We hope that the increasing support across the globe—with several European countries planning to recognise a Palestinian state—forces the superpower to do just that, before Israel wipes out any semblance of this long-persecuted community.​

 

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Hamas says another Israeli hostage held in Gaza is dead

Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said on Saturday that another one of the hostages abducted during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel has died

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Hamas says another Israeli hostage held in Gaza is dead

Photo: Reuters

Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said on Saturday that another one of the hostages abducted during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel has died.

Hamas released a video saying that Nadav Popplewell, who was taken hostage from the southern Israeli community of Kibbutz Nirim, died after being wounded in an Israeli strike in Gaza.

The Israeli military did not offer immediate comment on the latest video. It has referred to previous videos of hostages released by Hamas as psychological terror. It has also denied some of the previous accusations by Hamas that hostages were killed by Israeli fire.

Earlier on Saturday Hamas released an undated video of the 51-year-old captive in front of a white wall, with a bruise on his right eye, and speaking his name.

Hours later, in the second video, it said Popplewell died of wounds sustained a month ago in an Israeli air strike.

Hamas said Popplewell, whom it said was also a British citizen, was being detained with a woman hostage when the place they were being held was targeted by an Israeli missile.

"He died because he didn't receive intensive medical care at medical facilities because of the enemy's destruction of hospitals in Gaza," the Hamas armed wing spokesman, Abu Ubaida, said in a statement.

Of 252 people abducted on Oct. 7, 128 remain in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. At least 36 of them have been declared dead by an Israeli forensic committee.

Israel says securing the release of the hostages is the aim of its offensive in Gaza, along with eliminating Hamas, which has ruled the enclave since 2007.Popplewell, according to the hostages support group, was captured with his mother from her home in Kibbutz Nirim. His brother was killed during the attack. His mother was freed during a brief truce in November.​