Warrants could be issued this week against Netanyahu, Defense Minister #YoavGallant and army chief #HerzlHalevi. Some legal experts say the attorney general and army lawyers are partly to blame for not doing enough to prevent Israeli violations of #InternationalLaw
The Israeli military has conducted missile strikes against Iran, a snr #UnitedStates#military ofcl told NPR Thurs. There are also reports of explosions in #Iraq & #Syria.
Iran's Fars News Agency says explosions were heard in the central city of #Isfahan, according to the Reuters News Agency.
The extent of Israel's strikes & the weapons used weren't clear.
They also spoke about the importance of increasing & sustaining the flow of #humanitarian#aid to #civilians in #Gaza, including via the new route from Ashdod Port in #Israel.
A snr US ofcl on Thurs night declined to say whether #Gallant gave #Austin any advance warning of an impending strike.
The Israeli regime's war minister announced that the regime's army forces have withdrawn from #Khanyounis in #Gaza in order to prepare for the upcoming mission in #Rafah.
PS. There are unconfirmed reports that IDF lost 21 soldiers and offices in a single day of operation this weekend.
During #Biden’s speech on #healthcare yesterday he was interrupted by protesters advocating for #Palestinians in #Gaza. Instead of ignoring them & moving on, #POTUS responded, “They have a point; we need to get more care into Gaza.” He added, “Everybody deserves healthcare.”
The meeting came amid growing friction between the 2 #MNNA after the passage of a #UN resolution calling for an immediate #CeaseFire & Israel’s PM, #Netanyahu, cancelled a separate delegation to DC.
Remarks by #Gallant & #LloydAustin before the meeting underscored the divide. While both noted their countries’ commitment to #Israel’s #security, Gallant emphasized what he said was the urgent need to destroy #Hamas, secure the release of Israeli #hostages & “ensure Israel’s military edge & capabilities.”
The #US abstention is likely to further strain US / #Israel relations amid sharp disagreements over Israel’s planned military offensive in #Rafah.
#Israeli DefMin Yoav #Gallant is in DC this wk, as the #Biden admin presses Israel not to attack the southern #Gaza city of Rafah. VP #Harris said such an offensive “would be a huge mistake,” w/ >1M people sheltering there. Asked if there would be “consequences” from the #UnitedStates for an Israeli op in Rafah, she said, “I am ruling out nothing.”
They are all, bar Livni and Herzog, key members of Israel’s War Cabinet. Livni is Israel’s former Foreign Minister & Ambassador to London and Herzog is President of Israel.
They are all, bar Livni and Herzog, key members of Israel’s War Cabinet. Livni is Israel’s former Foreign Minister & Ambassador to London and Herzog is President of Israel.
Israeli war minister Yoav #Gallant, who last year described Palestinians as human animals, sends a #Ramadan message to #Muslims across occupied Palestine.
It's just sickening to see how they now act like humble people who seems to care for Muslims and their religion.
#Israel / High Court is hearing petitions challenging the military exemption for ultra-Orthodox #yeshiva students
This is a contentious issue that has sparked mass protests outside the court in Jerusalem. The "Movement for Quality Government", joined by "Brothers and Sisters in Arms" and 240 citizens, petitioned the court, arguing that Defense Minister Yoav #Gallant is illegally exempting tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox youths from military service, defying the law and court rulings. Last week, the state told the High Court of Justice that unless a military draft bill is advanced by April 1, ultra-Orthodox men will be conscripted to the army.
A reminder of the potential consequences of integrating settlers and ultra-Orthodox into the #IDF/#IOF:
[...] The Netzah Yehuda battalion was originally set up to allow ultra-Orthodox Israelis to serve in the military. But over the years, the unit has attracted not only some of the most religious soldiers, but also a growing number of far-right extremists, including many settlers. Unlike other units, enlistment in Netzah Yehuda is voluntary; until recently, it was deployed exclusively in the West Bank, where its members were in daily contact with Palestinians living under occupation. As such, the unit — whose name is an acronym for “Haredi Military Youth” — was known for getting “a lot of action,” the former member said.
[...] The harassment and dehumanization of Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation are a daily affair, and Netzah Yehuda soldiers are hardly the only culprits. But on some occasions, the unit’s actions in the West Bank escalated into gross human rights violations and potential war crimes. Since 2015, members of the unit have killed several Palestinians and beaten and tortured others with electric shocks, according to documentation submitted by DAWN to the ICC, which in 2021 opened an investigation into alleged crimes committed in the occupied territories.
#israel / Gallant’s Tautological Blood Logic: In Their Death They Obliged Us More and More Death
[…] Not even the most basic generative AI could produce a response as generic, tone-deaf, heartless and thoughtless as the one published by Defense Minister Yoav #Gallant following the killing of 21 reserve soldiers yesterday in Gaza.
[…] Israel embarked on a war whose stated goals are intentionally vague and contradictory, in order to conceal its true objectives: revenge, rebuilding the army's ego, and #Netanyahu's political survival. These are the only goals that have been and are being advanced since its outset, and it must be said, with no small measure of success.
[…] It remains to be seen whether the tragic death of the 21 reservists yesterday will manage to shake the public enough to wake it up from the alternative reality it has become trapped in, and build a broad anti-war resistance movement, as the helicopter disaster did in 1997. If this terrible death manages to extricate us as a society from Netanyahu and Gantz's Orwellian delusion, perhaps their legacy will be life after all.
(1/2) #Israel's Defense Minister #Gallant: "We are fighting human #animals and we act accordingly."
President #Herzog: "It is an entire nation out there that is responsible. It's not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved. It's absolutely not true."
Minister of Heritage #Eliyahu:
"North Gaza is more beautiful than ever. Blowing up and flattening everything is amazing. Once we are finished, we will hand over the lands of #Gaza to the fighting soldiers and settlers"
#DefSec’s Oct 13 arrival in #TelAviv coincided w/rising WH anxiety that events could spin out of control. When #Austin made his low key entry to #Israel#Defense Ministry via underground parking, he embraced his counterpart, Def Min #YoavGallant.
Austin, who knew well the challenges of #UrbanWarfare from his 4★Gen days overseeing the campaign to root out #ISIS in #Iraq & #Syria, had knowledge to share. In private, he urged #Gallant to “think thru what they are trying to achieve” & how to do it.
Israel-Hamas war live: Israeli air attacks pound Gaza through the night
Deadly Israeli air raids continue to hit targets in Gaza overnight killing dozens, according to Palestinian and Arab media reports, as residents mourn the deadly strike at al-Ahli Arab Hospital.
Israeli forces kill at least five Palestinians in the occupied West Bank’s Nablus and Ramallah areas, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
Years of impunity for Israeli crimes against civilians have bred a culture of disregard for international law.
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant used genocidal language and ordered mass war crimes in the occupied Gaza Strip on Monday in response to Hamas’s weekend assault and massacre of Israeli civilians, setting the stage for a large-scale escalation of the violence